There is a simple reason why my blog hasn’t been updated lately, I have been absolutely
snowed under with Uni work. Primarily the work is related to my thesis. You can read
my thesis blog at the Usyd
portfolio website or even read
the RSS feed. The project I am working on is developing a CRM system for a
small/medium business, in this case my employer, Naiman
Clarke. It is an extremely interesting project for me and I really hope that when
it is completed it sparks some interest inside and outside the University. Essentially
it is a best practice framework for a small or medium enterprise (SME) to implement
a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA), and it uses a Customer Relations Management
(CRM) solution as an example. Lots of acronyms I know, but it takes it a lot further
than your standard implementation and reveals some (I think) unique spins on SOA.
Ah well I will publish it on this site once it is completed, perhaps it will get picked
up and published somewhere… 🙂
Microsoft is trying so hard to be cool. It really isn’t fair, why is Apple considered cool just because they have pretty white cases? How has Apple managed to break the nerd image that Microsoft is so desperately trying to shake with the mainstream audience?
The Xbox and now the Zune are Microsoft’s best attempts to break the spell so far. They have recognised the importance of the community and are getting their people out there spreading the message. This personification of Microsoft through blogging breaks down the corporate monolith image and helps evangelise technology.
Blogging has been embraced by Microsoft more than any other company. For example Microsoft flew a group of influential music bloggers to Seattle for the launch of the Zune. This is a clear recognition of the importance of community acceptance and support of their products.
But it goes further than blogging. Just because your friends are talking about somethingdoes not necesarily mean you will find it cool, you need to get some kind of peer interaction and build a community around your products. Xbox gamer profiles, Windows Live Spaces and now sharing music wirelessly with your friends (see picture) are all ways of building communities. This push into people’s personal lives is an interesting change for Microsoft, the Microsoft of the past focused on business efficiency and tools.
Some people may regard this influencing of the blogosphere may be regarded by some as a deceptive form of advertising. This disrespects the community however, as it essentially says that people are not smart enough to differentiate marketing from genuine company insights. If you read any kind of business blogging case you will notice a number of things.
If you are just regurgitating the company line then you are not going to get read. Blogging is about pushing the boundaries and attracting attention through strategic risks. This means breaking the company mould and putting your passion out in the open (then it is up to the community to make or break you). It takes guts to candidly criticise yourself, link to your competitors and ask for public comment on your work.
Taking these risks will get you credit with the community. This two way conversation has benefits for both the company and the blogger, feedback and information flow freely.
In the end blogging is Microsoft’s way of building a corporate persona that is open and people focused. Apple did it a completely different way with people focused products and by trying to make people forget they are a tech company. In the end neither Apple or Microsoft is the winner, the community is. Technology is created to make our lives better (and not just for efficiency and technology’s sake).
Note: This is cross-posted from my original post on TechTalkBlogs.
The following photo set shows the progress of the rack rebuild that I performed yesterday.
It starts with the old rack setup and then progresses through each level of the build:
It was good fun putting all the new equipment into the rack, but it is very time consuming
especially when everything needs to be adjusted to fit. We had to pull all the vertical
rails as well, so everything had to come out and be rebuilt. It is fun doing it while
the everyone is at work as well, you have to plan the build so you only have one shutdown
during the lunch break! It all ended up working out nicely in the end, everything
is on rails and is easily accessible.
My suggestions for anyone looking to build/rebuild a rack are:
Allocate twice as much time as you think you will need
Pull as much out as you can
Don’t start running cables until you have as much equipment in as possible
Get a bag of zip ties
Plan everything beforehand
Get as many decent screwdrivers and spanners as you can
It is worth it in the end. We now have better air flow, if there is water in the room
the servers will be fine, better accessibility (important especially in emergency
hardware failures) and better physical security.
