December 2nd, 2009
An alternative to expensive Microsoft server licences and higher hardware requirements is to use Linux as your server platform. Most server functions can easily be performed by free (yes free, really) Linux servers. This includes company firewalls, file and print servers, web servers, email servers, authentication, database servers, proxy servers, storage servers (such as Openfiler) etc. If it can be done on a server, more than likely, the function can be done for free with Linux. There are commercial Linux server releases such as Suse and Red Hat which are not free but these come with support etc. Most of the high end server manufacturers offer Linux out of the box (HP, IBM, Dell and others)
Most Linux servers have far smaller hardware requirements than Windows servers and will happily run on older hardware. Most of them also only have a terminal interface though rather than a nice graphical interface so configuration and maintenance can be difficult for staff familiar with Windows servers only. There are tools available to make configuration easier. Interaction with Windows PC’s is made possible with a system called SAMBA so the end user does not even realise their servers are not Windows.
If you find the idea of using something a bit unknown worries you, you may be interested to know that (according to a Wikipedia article), over 85% of the worlds super computers run Linux distribution of some description and the big movies studios all use Linux servers for movie production. A lot of web servers that serve you up your internet content (including this site) are also all hosted with Linux servers.
If you want to set up a free Linux server, stick with one of the main distributions such as OpenSuse, Ubuntu or Fedora to make sure you have a wide user base to draw support from. My development Linux server is Ubuntu running under VMWare.
July 18th, 2009
Paint.NET started as a Microsoft sponsored university project to develop a replacement for the generally useless MS Paint. It was not used for this and has been developed further and is now available for free download from www.getpaint.net . It is able to do most basic image manipulation and is far more powerful than its 3 MB download suggests (it does require the MS dot NET framework). It is, however, Windows only. I use this app all the time and it is rare that I need something else for general photo and graphics work.
Another (and more powerful if not easier to use) image manipulation program that is cross platform and open source is GIMP.
June 18th, 2009
Microsoft, the company everyone loves to hate.
Microsoft Windows is the operating system that most users are familiar with when the term “computer” is mentioned. It has been around for many years in one way or another and is supplied pre-installed on most large vendors PC’s (for small orders anyway, large corporates can buy with no operating system but consumers will have to buy generic PC’s to avoid Windows). Microsoft Windows is pretty much the only choice for serious gamers (some big games have been released for Mac and Linux but only a handful) but for business users it is another story with both Mac and Linux being capable of handling most business computing needs.
Microsoft Windows has copped a fair bit of flack over perceptions of stability and security (hacking, viruses etc) but this is to be expected with its complete domination of the world PC market and the sheer volume of people using Windows. Ultimately, the end user is probably just as responsible for this as the software itself. Safe Computing practices (most of which are common sense) will do far more to keep your system safe.
You will probably know Microsoft Windows well but don’t let this make you think that you have to use as much Microsoft software as possible. There are plenty of alternatives. Dont get me wrong though, Microsoft has a lot of good products and has the market share for a reason, but you will pay for the privilege of using it.
Microsoft Windows does, however, require regular maintenance to keep it operating well. All computer systems do, but especially Windows. Lack of proper and regular maintenance will cause you problems. Regular cleaning of the Windows Registry and deframentation are critical to keeping Windows happy.
So why would you choose Microsoft Windows over the alternatives?
- Compatibility with existing systems, clients and customers. As most businesses run Windows, you will probably have fewer issues working with them and sharing documents. This would not be an issue if Microsoft used open standard file formats though, which they don’t…
- Support for Windows operating systems and Microsoft software in general is relatively easy to find (but not actually from Microsoft by the way. Their support is good but will cost you $400 per issue to get resolved unless it is proven to be an issue with the software rather than the configuration)
- The range of software written for the Windows platform dwarfs any other platform (this will be less of an advantage as applications move to online browser based applications).
- Pick your hardware. Unlike Mac, Windows runs on a wide range of hardware (but not nearly as wide as Linux) so you can customise your hardware specifications easily if needed.
- Windows Servers are easy to manage and maintain and have some very nice server software available, eg Exchange Server, Sharepoint, SQL Server, some free, some cheap, some hideously expensive.
