New approaches to Unified Network Management

I've noticed a recent trend among wireless equipment companies to provide both cloud-based and premises-based management mechanisms for campus wireless networks. There are advantages and disadvantages to both; cloud offering "easy management from anywhere" and easy scaling and support, on-premises providing direct control to the network should cloud access drop or become otherwise unavailable.

Now, Netgear has taken the bull by the horns and is offering networking management that will use whatever model, or combination of models, the customer prefers. They obviously "get it!" I expect to see more vendors moving in this direction, too.

Ease of Use

Ever wonder "Wouldn't it be handy if Linux had a command to set permissions along the entire pathname?"

Or "Why can't I click on a process in Windows Task Manager and select Go to File?"

These are examples of why software will never be finished. There will frequently be ease of use improvements that can be made.

I believe such optimizations add compelling value. They should be given serious weight, not just designated to some enhancement request black hole.

Good news: In Windows Vista, you can now do the "Go to File" trick. That's a nice value add :-)