Biz Tech Talk

How Much Computing Power Do You Need?

Some of you may be old enough to remember the birth of the personal computer. Back then it was all about hardware speed. The software at the time was advancing (getting bloated) so fast that hardware manufacturers scrambled to keep up.

My first computer had an Intel 8088 processor. At work I had an Intel 386 with 8mb ram and a math coprocessor. That machine had to be upgraded because the scanning software was too much for it, so I got a 120MHz Pentium with 24mb ram. Meanwhile at home I had upgraded to a Cyrix-based, (IBM produced home processors for a while) 150MHz machine that could only run Windows 95. On and on it went, upgrading hardware so I could run the latest software.

The Internet Is At Full Capacity?

That’s right, according to AT&T the Internet is to hit full capacity by next year.  As an IT guy, I’m always wondering why a company that makes its living selling bandwidth is now telling us there will be no more capacity by next year.  I understand what AT&T is trying to say.  The Web 2.0 change has now moved the Internet from a medium where we mostly viewed static web pages, to a media extravaganza where we can watch HD movies, listen to music, upload videos and enjoy entertainment content at the click of a button.  This change in content means there’s a much greater need for bandwidth.  But why yell it to the masses?  Why not just upgrade your infrastructure and satisfy your customers?  The cynical side of me can’t help but wonder if AT&T is throwing this out there so that next year they can up their monthly rates to “Pay” for the upgrades that need to happen. 

 

Windows 7, To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade

Windows 7 is here, and while anyone can go to a number of places to learn about the technical bells and whistles of the newest operating system from Microsoft, most business owners don't use bells and whistles as a business reason for upgrading. From a business perspective, why would anyone want to plan the move to Windows 7?

How Should We Be Communicating

In the "Olden Days", the list of communication vehicles was quite small. Face to face, Parcel Post or Telephone were pretty much the only normal modes of exchanging information. Then in the late 1980's the fax machine started its rise to power as the new "instant" form of 1-way communication, and the information race started.

20 years later we have so many ways to communicate, it's daunting. Land lines, VoIP, Cellular, Twitter, Texting, Facebook, LinkedIn, IM, "snail" mail, E-Mail, Fax, etc. Many of these technologies have huge overlaps so you can email, text, websurf, IM and twitter directly from your cell phones. The computing power in a plain old "Dumb" cellular phone far surpasses the computing power the Apollo 11 Astronauts had at their disposal while the "smart" phones, PDA's, iPhones and Blackberries are just phenomenally-complex and intricate devices that we take for granted.

PCA Group Launches PCA Programmers Web site

The PCA Group launches the PCA Programmers Web site, www.pcaprogrammers.com.

Corporate Computers vs Home Computers

Just about every company out there has some sort of computer system. Whether it's a single PC running Quickbooks, a peer-to-peer system in a small office or a full-fledged domain-controlled network in a large office, PC's are everywhere. A lot of times it is obvious as to what kind of PC or network you should have. The problems arise when a company starts with one kind of network or PC because that's all they can afford. Later, when they grow larger, the choices they made while small can cause problems, costing significant amounts of money to fix.

WOOT!

Ok, not all my posts are technical, informative or even coherent.  This is probably one of them, but I am excited about my bags of crap.

Let me back up a sec.  If you’ve never been to www.woot.com, you might want to take a gander.  They sell one thing a day.  It’s usually electronic in nature and at a very good price.  If it sells out, it says “Sold Out” until Midnight when another product comes on.  Sometimes the product doesn’t sell out, so there’s a few left over.

VIRAL VIDEOS, OR ARE THEY?

As an avid IBM supporter I am the first person to tell you that Microsoft trounces IBM when it comes to marketing their products.  This has bothered me for years.  Every time I go to Lotusphere in Orlando, FL I see all the cool new products that IBM is releasing and then I hear absolutely nothing for an entire year until the next Lotusphere.  IBM marketing just doesn’t seem to exist anywhere!

Memory leak found in final Microsoft Windows 7 version

As reported in the attached posting from InfoWorld, there is a massive memory leak that occurs when the chkdsk.exe utility of Microsoft Windows 7 is run.   The issue occurs when scanning a secondary disk and may cause the PC to stop operating.

 

For more read: http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/infoworld-confirms-critical-windows-7-bug-397?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_2009-08-05

Microsoft Office 2010

Testing of Microsoft Office 2010 is in Beta and on track for release in early 2010.  Microsoft is adding ways to work simultaneously on documents, updating email organization and editing video and photos, with this new package.  Plus, for the first time, introducing a Web-based component, which is still under wraps.  Cost has not been released but there will be variations of the suite for big corporations, consumers and small businesses.