Cloud Storage that makes sense

An interesting article about Ubuntu One cloud storage. One possible application: A bookmarks app, which allows your Firefox bookmarks to be shared and managed among all the computers you use.

Supercomputing the Opteron way

Interesting article regarding Cray Computing's capture of "top dog" of the supercomputer list.

I really like the performance of the AMD x64 dual-core processor in my Compaq V3000CTO notebook, it's still fast after all those Win XP and MS Office patches.

VirtualBox rocks!

I suppose I'm the last one to board the train, but I've recently been test driving VirtualBox and found it to be a slick freeware virtualization solution. It rocks!

A couple of fun articles

Here's a couple of fun articles (with useful information to boot!)

1. Feature-By-Feature: Ubuntu 9.10 Vs. Windows 7 (Tip: Just click past the opening ad).


2. Buy A New Windows 7 System, But Please Don't Upgrade

Enjoy :-)

Forgiveness

Sometimes, I hear things so remarkable that I have to share them with others, so bear with me.

In today's church service, the pastor shared this statement:

If you withhold forgiveness, it's like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die!

Wow; that's profound! It was a great sermon; if you'd like to check it out, visit the WVPC website and select the Sep 20, 2009 message, "Six Words that will Change Your Life".

The Perfect City

I like David Byrne's quirky way of looking at things. Check out his article on "the Perfect City", it's an enlightening and enjoyable read.

Getting Sun Java and Groovy Working on CentOS 5.3

I had a devil of a time getting Sun Java, Groovy, and the GraphicsRenderer class working on CentOS 5.3. Furthermore, Google searches for tips on the Internet failed to turn up any directly relevant results.

Therefore, by research, trial and error, I came up with this simple method which WORKS:

1. Download the Sun Java JDK RPM and install it.
2. Download the unofficial Groovy binary RPM from Codehaus.org and install it.
3. Download the GraphicsBuilder module from Codehaus, too.
4. Unzip GraphicsBuilder in /tmp.
5. export GROOVY_HOME=/usr/share/groovy
6. Drop all the GraphicsBuilder jar files into $GROOVY_HOME/lib.
7. Copy or move the GraphicsBuilder bin directory to $GROOVY_HOME.
8. Add the following lines to your .bashrc:

# Java setup for CentOS

export GROOVY_HOME=/usr/share/groovy
export JAVA="sun"
export JPATH="/usr/java/default"
export JAVA_HOME="$JPATH"
export CLASSPATH="$JPATH/lib:/usr/share/groovy/lib"

*THEN* make sure you add /usr/java/default/bin BEFORE /usr/bin in the shell PATH!

NOW you can use groovy from a bash command prompt (at last!)

What's Going on with CentOS?

Realizing that it's been a while since there's been a CentOS release beyond 5.3, I popped over to the centos.org website and was surprised to read that there have been some project management changes in the wind.

You might want to check it out, too.

Firefox 3.5 vs. IE 8

For me, Firefox v3.5.2 wins hands down vs. Internet Explorer 8.

Here's why:

• FF is more reliable than IE. I've had IE crash and lock up on various occasions, never seen it happen with Firefox.
• The vast number of useful FF plug-ins vs. those for IE is like comparing the selection of iPhone apps vs. the inventory for the Palm Pre. MS has a lot of work to do to catch up.

For now, Firefox is my preferred browser!

The Printed Media Revolution

Something's going on in the world of publishing and reading the written word. Maybe not nearly as big as the printing press at the beginning, but a revolution's brewing never less.

For example, check out the discussion about the Amazon Kindle on C|Net's site, and you'll come away with the feeling of a pending "change in the wind".

I believe the shift to digital publication and reading has the potential to turn the whole concept of printed media on its ear. But the jury's still out on how it will unfold, and the price tag is too high to make paper "yesterday".

What strikes me about the overall discussion are the novel ideas voiced by the end users. Being able to scan a UPC or ISBN from your own library for access on a digital reader, or checking out books from a library website for immediate download, or searching your entire on-board library, etc. Now those are really interesting ideas *:-)

Website evaluation scorecard

Sometimes the best tools are the simplest :-)

I had to review some websites recently for usability, correct implementation, and security. Naturally, I thought there might be some open source tools or perhaps a scorecard to assist the process. Surprisingly, I didn't find much in either category. So, I decided to create a simple spreadsheet template that can be used to evaluate and compare websites in a consistent fashion.

The Website Evaluation Scorecard is available for download at sourceforge.net

JMeter - A very handy tool

I suppose some techies will laff when they read this, but I'm getting a first-time intro to JMeter and it's COOL! It's an open source tool, from Apache, which allows the test engineer to codify HTTP and other protocol requests, issue them to a test server, save the responses, and validate them vs. one or more assertions. Since it's written in Java, it runs on Windows or Linux nicely, too.

The UI is a little clunky and you have to make sure to Save your configuration changes before starting a run (it doesn't prompt you to do so), but it provides a lot of testing capability and flexibility.

Amazing robots

Check out the specialized robots from Olin College. The robofish variants are amazing!

Cisco's Networking Forecast

Cisco has published an interesting forecast on network growth and traffic evolution for the next decade (2009 - 2013).

The Semantic Web evolution

Some interesting sites that highlight developments towards the semantic web:

• BetterDot
  
  
• Microformats


• W3C Description


• Radar Networks / Twine


• Nova Spivak's Blog

Keeping product love alive

I saw this interesting lead-off quote, from Jeff James' SharePoint Everywhere article in the June Windows IT Pro print issue:

Microsoft's approach to the SharePoint market has hit pay dirt by focusing less on next-generation feature sets and more on providing solutions that customers truly need.

I think it's important for tech companies to realize this. What led customers to falling in love in the first place is important to keep in mind, too. It's easy to focus on flashy new features and lose sight of the day-to-day functionality that brought customers to the product in the first place. That stuff often remains "pay dirt" and keeping it alive and well is an important consideration, too.

New inflection trends

I've noticed some growing inflection trends - perhaps you have, too:

1. Rich Internet Application (RIA) websites - Popping up all over the web. Many new services are offering more content, context search and interfaces, more appealing and flexible presentations, etc. See My Yahoo, Yelp, Scribd, and RedBubble as examples - there are many more out there, too.


2. New object oriented languages that offer comprehensive web and OS integrations. For example, Ruby on Rails, Ramaze, etc., Visual Studio .NET, Java, and C++.


3. New simple but comprehensive configuration management tools: Atlassian, Git, SVN, etc.
   
4. New web development and testing tools. Far too many to list here - it's tough to keep up with everything that's appearing they're coming out so fast!


5. New interface APIs: Android, Yahoo! BluePrint, Palm Mojo, iPhone SDK, etc.


6. New cloud computing virtual servers and storage, making it easier to stage and test on the open Internet: Aptana Cloud, Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, and Zetta.

Despite the economy, it's a great time to be a developer or a tester :)

Interesting article on "The best smartphone OS"

Heads up: Highly subjective! Make sure to read some of the feedback comments, too. Nevertheless, entertaining and enlightening.

http://mobilitysite.com/2009/01/palmpre-vs-iphone-vs-winmo-vs-android-vs-blackberry-fight/

Fascinating websites

In the course of researching various topics, I came across the following websites, which are really cool:

• CafePress - Find that special T-shirt or (better yet) make your own.


• Git and GitHub - A new version control system and on-line open source repository.


• Google Code - Google's on-line, svn-based open source repository.


• RedBubble - Sort of like CafePress, but for graphic artists and photographers.


• Scribd - An on-line publication site, for free and "for fee" docs.


• Yahoo! Mobile - Yahoo! services for your mobile phone.

Enjoy!

How design completes the picture

For a fresh look at how design completes the picture, I suggest visiting the Michael Graves Design Group website. Here are examples of rethinking familiar everyday items in new and innovative ways. As you look at the items ask yourself, "Which would I rather buy? The design I'm familiar with or this one?" I think the answer will reinforce just how appealing and even compelling good design is.

Web paradigm shift

I reconnected with a friend (Rick) from a past job this week and enjoyed reading some interesting musings on his blog.

I think he raises a good question: Is the web is reaching an inflection point, where a fundamentally new direction will appear? Intuitively, the Web 2.0 stuff sure feels like one flag flapping in the wind.

For example, take the evolution from text-based tools in the late '80s to today's browsers. How many people even remember Archie or Gopher anymore?

Twitter

I tried it, but I came away less than impressed.

In particular, I found the "all or nothing" tweet privacy model unworkable. I also ran into a fair number of modality holes in the UI, where I couldn't return gracefully to previous areas, without resorting to clicking the browser's "Back" button, which felt unfinished or didn't work well.

I also gotta wonder how they're going to make on-going revenue from it?

I think Twitter is most useful to make others aware of breaking news, articles, books, links, insights, and stuff like that. But with regards to the trivia, nobody cares.

Quality time

OK, this isn't computing related. But as a father I found it inspiring, insightful, and worth sharing.

From Time's April 20 interview, with the champion swimmer Dana Torres:

Q: How did you juggle the demands of new parenthood with the intense training required to prepare for the Olympics?

DT: When I got back into swimming, I can't say it wasn't hard, because it was. I felt guilty. I would call the nanny every 10 minutes. What I do now is, I get my daughter involved in what I do. And that really helps out a lot.

Cloud Computing arrives

I first heard about Cloud Computing at the beginning of the year. At that time, CC was as nebulous as .NET when it first appeared on the scene. Sort of a technological mumbo-jumbo that was touted to become the next computing industry singularity.

After that, I saw how HP was packaging server blades in high-density, portable trailers to allow companies to expand services on demand.

Now, there are multiple cloud computing players, too. VMware has declared virtualization is the way, there are storage players, Cisco is selling computing solutions, and Oracle has snapped up Sun to position itself in the game.

Hmm. I'd say Cloud Computing is no longer just marketing; it's here and it's happening!

Testing Priorities for the new Web

In case it isn't already obvious, the future is Now. Web 2.0 is running in production at many sites; it's no longer sequestered just in research labs and academia.

Because of the increasing collaboration, social, and mash-up (uh, "syndication") features of Web 2.0, I think the following testing categories will gain in importance:

+ Performance (particularly scaling)
+ Security
+ Privacy

These categories will probably remain "about the same":

= Functionality
= Ease of Use
= Test automation

And finally, my intuition tells me that these categories will be "less emphasized":

- Cross-platform
- Multi-browser support
- Exhaustive test coverage

Netbooks: Really worth all the fuss?

They're trendy. Compact and able to surpass PDAs in a single bound. But some questions:

1. Do you have one?

2. Has it been a worthwhile investment?

3. How are you using it?

My assumption: If you're a frequent wireless Cafe visitor, then it's cool and probably indispensible. But personally, I'd rather have a five function PDA that will fit neatly in my pocket :)

iPhone++ (the hallmarks of the new device revolution)

The success of the iPhone shows how including API access for a consumer device will give it a long reach. An predecessor that also leveraged this approach was the original Palm Pilot (which enabled a basic five-function device to become much more).

Including compact database capability is also a compelling feature, since it allows storage of data sets and relational capabilities.

Network access is a "must have", too.

Bonus points: A virtual version of the device (allowing developers and testers to be productive without requiring actual hardware).

Conclusion: Look for devices that include network access, accessible APIs, compact database capability, and virtual simulation to go a long way.

Encrypted backups

A friend recently asked, "I want to copy my files for backup but encrypt them so if I happen to lose a CD, DVD, or USB key that contains personal info, I won't have to worry about it. How can I do this?"

I've found it kind of depends on how you’re doing the backup and the media type you’re storing the backup image to.

• If you want to back up just a few hundred folders and files, then Winzip works OK, and the most recent version includes AES encryption. The cost is $30.
• If you’re storing to a USB flash drive, Winzip will also work, or you can use the flash drive supplier’s vault software (if any). I’ve used the EncryptX software for securely storing a few data file and doc backups OK.
• For large partition image backups, the backup software (for example, Dantz Retrospect or Acronis True Image Home) often includes built-in support for password protection or encryption.

I haven’t used free PGP, full-featured commercial PGP, or Gnu PG for encrypting backup images, but I suppose they will work, too. It's probably worth checking out freshmeat.net for open source options, too.

Remember that encryption has the potential to throw a wrench in the works when attempting to access the file later. I’ve had issues with Windows Vista, and it’s possible on other platforms, too. So make sure you have a secure backup of the root encryption key or certificate for this reason. Most encryption software supports exporting the encryption key or certificate in some fashion. If you are using file and folder encryption on Windows, check out Microsoft's Best Practices article for useful tips.

Advanced Home Networking

I reconnected with a past engineering friend on LinkedIn this week, and found out that he received the 2007 "Best Overall Home Networking" award from Cisco Systems. Congratulations, Andrew!

Check out his Blog at http://westcoastsmarthome.com/blog/

Scrum

Scrum refers to an Agile product development methodology that was new to me, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and found a good background description there.

We were sort of doing Scrum at my last job intuitively, without knowing it, except the part for "standing up at Scrum meetings" to intentionally keep them short!

Biting off just what you can chew makes a lot of sense. And fixed, incremental cycles of chewing is one way to finish a meal gracefully or, in the case of Scrum, to keep product software moving forward without losing momentum.

Disk drive backup and management

What's your favorite way to manage and backup a Windows or Linux hard drive? Especially if you maintain a dual-boot system?

I've had generally good experience with Acronis True Image because it's flexible. I've also had some issues with it, like when I tried to restore a Linux backup on a dual boot system, and the boot path lost all notions of the Windows OS. In that case, I had to do some creative dancing, just to get the boot path into shape again. But it eventually worked, and all was happy again :)

BTW, I've seen mention that Acronis doesn't work well with the new solid state drives. So heads up there; your mileage may vary.

Bye Bye PDA!

After working through four generations of Palm OS PDAs, it's clear I won't be upgrading to a new one. It's not because I don't want to, it's because Palm's become a phone company. The shift occurred quickly, once the Treo succeeded in integrating phone and PDA functionality.

Now, I'm in a rut. I still like the pocket fit and five-function management of the PDA. Of course, I can upgrade to a smartphone. But I really don't want the on-going cost of the pricey service plan.

The other options are:

• HP iPAQ: A nice device, but it looks pretty lonely out there. Doesn't give me good feelings for its longevity.
• Netbook: Yeah, it'll do what I want. But it won't fit in my pocket, so it's a luggable as far as I'm concerned.
• iPod Touch: Probably my best option, assuming Apple sticks with it. It'll do the basic five functions (calendar, mail, contacts, to do, and notes), sync with a PC, and more.

Hey, I think Apple's found another market opportunity :-)

Jeremiah Grossman

Another "must see" speaker. I've heard him speak twice at local OWASP meetings and both times it was a jaw dropping experience. Jeremiah shows how easy it is for an intermediate or injected proxy to take control of a browser or even the entire Windows desktop. You'll never feel quite as confident spending that next paycheck on-line, but hey, you'll be educated about what to look out for, too. Jeremiah makes it clear why security matters, and why it should be a design/implementation consideration from the beginning for any application on the network.

See his Blog at http://www.jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/

Oh, and check out the WASC website, too.

Secure inter networking?

Something I often wonder about: What will be involved to provide fundamentally secure inter networking?

It's generally accepted that TCP/IP was not designed with security in the forefront. However, considering the increasing amounts of commerce occuring on the Internet, it's ostrich-like to assume current secure networking methods will scale well or eventually become ubiquitous.

I suppose IPsec will help. But without pre-registering end-to-end security, is there a way that a client or server can expect it?

The typical vulnerabilities seem to reside in a few key areas:

• Proxy-based (man in the middle)
• Denial of Service (distributed or otherwise)
• Phishing (impersonation)
• Injection leading to loss of control (trojans, worms, poison packets and pages, botnets, etc.)

Will TCP/IP ultimately have to be re-designed or replaced to address these vulnerabilities? That seems unlikely at best.

Thoughts?

How to tick off your customers

OK, I'm not a Microsoft basher in general. I use Windows daily, and it's generally made my day to day computing life easier and more productive (gasp, a true confession!) However, there have been recent practices that have gotten my goat, so bear with me as I vent.

NB: These are good examples of how to tick off your customers (perhaps others can avoid them!)

1. Start charging for features that were previously free. I'm specifically thinking about the Encrypted File System (EFS), which was included in Windows XP Pro, but now costs $ in Vista.
2. Add injury to insult: Put EFS only in the Windows Ultimate Edition.
3. Require all OEMs to ship only Windows Vista (but not specifically the Ultimate Edition).
4. Inflict a complete Windows recast on the customer, followed by a robust, reliable version a year later (e.g., Vista -> Windows 7) Therefore, after already spending more $ to upgrade to Vista Ultimate, I have nothing better to do than spend $ to upgrade to Windows 7, too, right?

My point: Customer satisfaction is a many-faceted gem. It not only includes product features, reliability, and a timely delivery - but subtle factors as well - such as perceived value, clear messaging, and keeping migration and upgrades simple.

Windows 7

The buzz is "They finally got it right" and "Windows 7 is what Vista should have been".

After taking a look I agree :-)

Windows 7 features a "Back to basics, lean and mean" approach. It gets Windows out of the way, and puts the spotlight back on the applications software.

I installed it on a Lenovo ThinkCentre P-IV box with 4GB RAM. A straightfoward desktop, not cutting edge.

Observations:

• It installs faster than previous Windows versions
• It starts up and shuts down faster than Vista
• Just the basic features are evident on the UI and desktop (as mentioned: lean and mean)
• UAC finally works without being so annoying :-)
• It will install and run under the free VMware server. However, the usual vmnet virtual network adapter didn't work for me, so the VM had no networking capability.

Now, will MS sell just a few editions of the OS, instead of the confusing array offered with Vista? Last I heard, the plan is to offer half a dozen different editions, so unfortunately that confusing Vista legacy will remain.

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 :-)

David Chappell

If you ever get a chance to hear David Chappell speak, Go!

David has the uncanny ability to dissect complex technologies to their core capabilities, compare and contrast them effectively, and inject humor and effective conclusions along the way.

He's strongest with Windows based technologies, however he's sufficiently curious to turn his eyes and analysis upon all comers.

One of the most informing, entertaining, and knowledgeable technology analysts I've come across.

The Importance of UI Design

After testing complex applications and their associated configuration/management UIs for some time now, I've come to appreciate the importance and payoff of good UI design.

A good UI must feature simple and intuitive presentation, ultimately meeting the user's skill level on demand. Since most users will deal with the UI on a routine basis, its appeal makes up a big portion of what the customer will find compelling about a product.

This means a little investment up-front will go a long way!

Some design effort should be attempted before any code is written. This yields the following benefits:

• QA gains an opportunity to familiarize with the intended approach, can identify test tool candidates, prototype test cases, and provide early-on usability feedback.
• Developers will communicate effectively among themselves, determining the necessary classes and how functionality can be included ahead.
• Use Cases can be evaluated using the UI design. It's really useful to have use case tutorials made available to the product team up front, so all agree the necessary features are present and will work as intended.

'nuf said!

Shenick diversifEye - Testing with Stateful Network Flows

During my last job, I worked with a Shenick diversifEye unit. The Shenick is a neat tool for providing stateful flows, in contrast to stateless packet blasting equipment such as the Ixia and Spirent Smartbits (Note: See Comment #1 for information about Spirent's stateful testing capabilities).

The Shenick excels at providing a realistic test environment for triple-play (Data, VoIP, Video) service evaluations. It provides a virtual client/server network, which can be hooked up to the DUT for realistic protocol and application behavior testing. This really beats setting up a complex test bench of real or VM guest nodes to achieve the same environment.

For P2P testing, the Shenick includes two emulation modes:

• Simple file transfer mode, where a pre-registered file is transferred between virtual peers
• A more sophisticated capture/replay mode, where a previously recorded live P2P conversation is played back between virtual peers.

Note: The Shenick shouldn't be confused as a performance testing and scaling tool. While packet blasters such as the Ixia and Smartbits can be used to evaluate DUT performance under increasing traffic loads, the Shenick has no "gas pedal". That is, the traffic generated is a function of the number of virtual client/server conversations. Therefore, the Shenick functions best for evaluating DUT behavior in the midst of realistic protocol exchanges, rather than simply scaling the traffic load up and down.

Ruby fever

I've caught Ruby fever. This malady besets the jaded Perl programmer, who has grown comfortable with Perl scripting, but dislikes the forced indentation of Python, and wants something more general purpose than Javascript.

Ruby is really cool! It makes a fresh start with "Everything's an object", so there's no "Bolt on" or "Oh, yeah, we can do objects!" feel that's common with Perl or Python.

It makes programming easy and fun again, keeping desirable tasks simple and intuitive. For example, the notions of iterators, blocks, and collections make the language easy to embrace and compelling to code in immediately.

I also like the interactive Ruby shell (irb), the presence of a decent debugger, and the surprisingly extensive collection of class libraries.

Onward & Ruby-ho!