Paul Murphy

The real pros and cons of server virtualization

Paul Murphy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:15:58 +0000

PC style virtualization, derived from IBM's zVM ideas and now supported in both AMD and Intel hardware, is a revenant of data processing's failure to adapt to the age of digital computing - an expensive, user punishing, detour into 1920s management ideas in pursuit of that period's holy grail: 100% systems utilization.

Scaring yourself and others

Paul Murphy — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:15:38 +0000

Scary Halloween ghostshosts come in many guises -and the scariest ones in IT, at least for for non AIX users (where ghost processes are still common), are the OS ghosts invoked through virtualization and the ghostly shadows cast by your boss's belief that he knows something about technology and how to manage it.

What Windows7 could mean for Linux

Paul Murphy — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:15:59 +0000

Microsoft visual studio is very nice : slick, easy to use, a good match for Windows7 and Server 2008 - but so completely out of step with the cloud computing and rental applications Microsoft wants to sell that marketing push is already feeling increasing resistance as it approaches the immovable barrier created by the underlying VMS and client-server ideas. And then what? Well, Linux is free and doesn't have those limits...

Of snow, rocks, a book, and another partisan attack on IBM

Paul Murphy — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:15:49 +0000

A collection of comments - about early snow, a ridiculously partisan attack on IBM, Sun's TPC/C result, and a new title for an old book.

Clouds vs. Appliances

Paul Murphy — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:15:44 +0000

Although the evolution of cloud computing toward a kind of connective fog for handhelds and smart phones seems to be proceeding apace it's not remotely keeping pace with the rate at which major companies are proving unable to keep the large scale, public access, services needed for for major business applications to move to the cloud running smoothly.

[Sponsored]

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:15:44 +0000

Net Neutrality vs. "do no evil"

Paul Murphy — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:15:29 +0000

The company that claims its motto is "do no evil" is the biggest private sector supporter out there for "net neutrality" - the doctrine that will directly empower bureaucrats to control the transmission bandwidth available to selected internet hosts and indirectly restrict American national economic adaptation to the internet age.

Linux as Wintel parasite

Paul Murphy — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:15:11 +0000

When Linus Torvalds choose to tie his new kernel to x86 he did so thinking, quite correctly as it turned out, that Microsoft's tendency to software bloat would provide an unending stream of cheep hardware for Linux developers and users. Great! except there's a side effect: Linux is ultimately dependent on Microsoft because its raison d'etre f is almost literally to live on Microsoft's leavings.

Rocky dreams

Paul Murphy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:15:38 +0000

Everyone knows that Sun's ultraSPARC RT is dead. Right? Wrong - the strategic reason for not releasing it disappeared with the Oracle deal.

Pano, Sun Ray, and the Wintel gestalt

Paul Murphy — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:15:33 +0000

The Pano is popular with the PC press, Sun Ray untouchable - and yet, what's a Pano that isn't 15 years behind?

For your safety and convenience

Paul Murphy — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:15:59 +0000

Somewhere deep in Shaw's vault there's a tape of me screaming at a customer "support" representative that I didn't (and still don't) give a star blank star about his script, booting and cabling have nothing to do with the issue because I don't have wintel, and to get his supervisor on the line right f-ing now. I'm mildly embarrased by this because I let the frustration of dealing with bland indifference get to me, but there are deeper and wider lessons to be learnt from their retention of the tape.