AIX Archives - The Silicon Underground

Why did IBM fail at PCs?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 11:00:33 +0000

If you ask why did IBM fail, I assume you mean why did IBM ultimately fail in the personal computer market. IBM is still in business, after all. But its exit from the PC market after 24 years, including a

The post Why did IBM fail at PCs? appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 18 May 2017 11:00:38 +0000

I’ve talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of old milestone operating systems. But what were the advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1? That’s a fair question. Advantages of Windows NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 was a landmark

The post Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1 appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

How to keep Excel from dropping zeroes after the decimal point

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 20 May 2015 11:00:44 +0000

At work part of my job is reporting security metrics along with my colleague, and sometimes we report things like the number of machines running a specific operating system. The problem we run into is that when it comes to

The post How to keep Excel from dropping zeroes after the decimal point appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Yes, we need to run vulnerability scans inside the firewall

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:00:24 +0000

I got an innocent question last week. We’d been scanning an AIX server with Nexpose, a vulnerability scanner made by Rapid7, and ran into some issues. The system owner then asked a question: The server is behind a firewall and has

The post Yes, we need to run vulnerability scans inside the firewall appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Why we can’t have nice things: The reaction to IBM’s big black and blue quarter

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 11:00:06 +0000

IBM announced yesterday that it had a terrible quarter. They missed earnings, the stock plunged, and Warren Buffett lost a billion dollars. Everyone assumes Warren Buffett is worried, or livid, and selling off the stock like it’s on fire. Here’s

The post Why we can’t have nice things: The reaction to IBM’s big black and blue quarter appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

How many Fortune 25 companies does it take to change a light bulb?

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:00:22 +0000

I’m working right now for a Fortune 25 company. This story is going to sound like bragging, so I’ll ask forgiveness in advance. Maybe if I mention I’m a contractor, then it’s not bragging quite so bad. Well, said Fortune

The post How many Fortune 25 companies does it take to change a light bulb? appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Social networks can be good or bad for your career

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:10:59 +0000

HR departments and recruiters are watching you on Linkedin and other social networks. That’s an opportunity and a warning. My new employer, I suspect, found me on Linkedin. They wanted something pretty specific: a CISSP type who could fill in

The post Social networks can be good or bad for your career appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

SCO v. IBM winds toward resolution

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:23:48 +0000

Slashdot reported yesterday that SCO v. IBM is back on. Well, it is, sort of. The case never was fully resolved, due to SCO running out of money and filing for bankruptcy. Groklaw has the details. If this sounds vaguely

The post SCO v. IBM winds toward resolution appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Release Watson, IBM. Now.

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:12:43 +0000

Remember Deep Blue? The computer that beat Gary Kasparov? It seems IBM's next target might be a Jeopardy-playing computer.

Whether this computer can ever beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy is irrelevant. If it were commercialized, this thing could change everything overnight.

The post Release Watson, IBM. Now. appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

10/26/2000

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 26 Oct 2000 05:00:00 +0000

That Mac problem again. I snuck up to that Mac server I was referring to earlier this week, you know, the one that was beyond my capability to fix? I continue to maintain that no Mac is beyond any experienced tech's capability to fix (just like no PC is beyond an experienced tech's ability to fix). However, a Mac is a high-maintenance machine. Normal, typical use of a Mac will cause numerous filesystem errors to build up over time. I've heard of people running the full battery of utilities suites once a week to keep their Macs happy. Once a month is probably adequate for most.

Anyway, on with the story. The whole department was out for a long lunch, which gave me an hour and a half. That's long enough to run DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro (this machine has seven drives on it, and some of them are in excess of seven years old so it takes a while). They marveled that afternoon about how their problem had corrected itself. Can a PC do that?

Grrr.... Sure it can. Especially if a tech can get some time alone with it.

Ray, Ray, Ray... Why aren't you running your site on Lotus Domino and Solaris or AIX? I try to connect to Groovenetworks.com, and what do I get?

Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
An error occurred while attempting to establish a connection to the service.

The most likely cause of this problem is that the service is not currently running. You can use the 'Services' Control Panel to verify that the service is running and to restart it if necessary.

Windows NT error number 2 occurred.

On the other hand, an up-and-down Web server is a very good indication that people want your product.

Now that I've seen some screenshots and read some more interviews to get into Ray Ozzie's mind a little deeper, I'm starting to get Groove. This isn't so much warmed-over Notes, I think, as it is instant messaging done right. It's instant messaging. It's file transfer. It's got a sketchpad for drawing ideas for sharing. Of course there's a Web browser window. It's infinitely extensible (like Notes). And it'll let you talk voice if you prefer.

I did finally manage to download it but I haven't had a chance to install and play with it yet. But I can already think of ways I'd use it. I'd even collaborate with myself. Leave stuff I need frequently in my Groove space on my machines at work. So what if I'm in the wrong building, or worse yet, I'm at home? No problem, connect to myself and get it. (Don't laugh; if you think instant messaging myself is bad, you'll love the fact that I sometimes send packages to myself.) For people like me who are called upon to do three peoples' jobs, this could be a Godsend. And once those other two people get hired, we can still use Groove to work together.

Bigger than Netscape 1.0? I think those predictors have gotten sucked into the Cult of Ray a little too deep. Is it a big deal? Oh yeah. Bigger than Notes? Probably.

As for multiplatform support... Groove opted to support, for now, the 85-90 percent of the market that runs Windows. In interviews, Ray Ozzie has said Linux and Mac OS X ports will appear. Seeing as three years ago, Linux looked poised to become a force in the server arena but not yet on the desktop and the classic Mac OS looked to be replaced any day with what became Mac OS X, it looks to me like the company made a practical decision to go with what they knew would be around and adjust course as needed. Notes eventually appeared on every major platform, which contributed to its success. I have no doubt Groove will probably follow. I'm certainly not going to hold it against him that the only version to have reached beta is Win32.

The post 10/26/2000 appeared first on The Silicon Underground.