Some of the benefits that are talked about are:

• Superior performance and reliability at lower costs
• Better server utilization and power/cooling efficiencies
• Support for a broad range of hardware and software
• Evolving a modernized IT infrastructure

Redhat is already known as a leader of Open Source Soltuions and the independent software vendor (ISV) ecosystem, including more than 3,000 certified applications, will enable customers to run thousands of Red Hat-certified applications on the Cisco Unified Computing System upon availability.

To read more about the two read Cisco Unified Computing Sytem and Redhat Enterprise Linux.

I personally use Firefox as my browser of choice but, it should be noted that certain websites and developers still require you to use IE.  I don’t like to call people out but, Netflix play now feature only works with Internet Explorer.  So while removing the browser all together may not be a great idea, the choice and flexibility to do so, is a step in the right direction.  IE Tab, is a handy little add-on for Firefox that allows you to switch between the two browsers while still maintaining your other tabs in Firefox.  It should also go without saying that this add-on has it’s bugs and sometimes it will crash Firefox.  Hey, nothings perfect but, this level of choice works best for me and with Firefox, you just reload it and restore your session.  BRILLIANT!

Among other features, are things like Windows Media Center, Media Player, etc.  I must commend Microsoft on their effort to keep the customer happy and finally offer some choice.  I know, this feature is available in current Vista offerings but, they have decided to expand the list.   Looking at the list now, yeah, I would probably get rid of Media Player, games, and maybe a couple others.  WIth VLC Media Player and the CCCP, you can play pretty much anything out there anyway. It should be noted though, that VLC does not use the CCCP in any way.  The Pack comes with Zoom Player and Windows Media Player Classic.  Once again, I would probably keep IE just because of the different sites I visit and some still not wanting to code for anything but, IE.

All in all, this is a step in the right direction and hopefully Microsoft continues to take customer input to tailor Windows to it’s prime audience.  Now, if we could just get some more device drivers to work with Vista, and in turn Windows 7 since they use the same code base, to work Microsoft may just have a decent platform.

If you head on over to Ideaforge you can provide your input and hopefully help foster a new community of Linux users and developers.

Customers of each company benefit from cooperative troubleshooting and support.  They also make a point to disclose the fact that there are no patent or open source licensing issues concerned in this agreement.  They also disclose that there are no financial clauses other than your usual fees.

It seems only time that Microsoft and Redhat start to work to improve overall interoperability and support.  After all, your going to have your die hard MS Fans and your going to have your Open Source Junkies!  Some businesses prefer Microsoft due to customer loyalty or thinking it’s a steep learning curve to work with another OS.  Whatever the reason may be, I think the community as a whole will benefit as long as they keep things balanced.

Straight from the horses mouth, “Through the online provider, the Sign-in Assistant helps a Windows 7 application running on one computer identify and communicate with other computers that are associated with the same Windows Live ID. Just by linking your Windows Live ID to the user account on each Windows 7 computer you own, you enable those computers to identify each other and work together more easily than has been possible in the past.”  This opens up good ol Microsoft to enable things such as document sharing with access controls.  You can now specify who you wold like to access certain items by linking their Windows Live ID to that item.

So for all you testers out there, go have a look and download if you’d like.  Then give us a comment!

Sounds like Apple is taking the low road in this one and saying that by jailbreaking an iphone you are compromising the reliability and security of their great device!  Well then, just don’t support those users who decide to take this route.  Honestly, your going to have those that are perfectly fine with going to the nice little Apple “istore” and downloading these crap, pay for applications.  For those that want to take a chance on some third party applications, I say have at it!  They also whine that this may provide a platform for pirated software!  Well, so does every networked computer in the world Apple!  Doesn’t mean everyone is running pirated software.

I call bullshit on this one and say Apple should let owners do what they want with what they purchased.  Just like you can’t protect a PC once you’ve lost physical control of it; If they have an iphone in their hands, it’s their world as to what they wanna do with it!

The first two talk about application and hardware compatiblilty and the third about integration with Server 2008.  All you can extract from this is that, if your using Vista already, great!  No real change but, if you are still on XP you should migrate to Vista now so that the transition will be seamless to Windows 7.  What kind of strategy is that?  Windows 7 being the successor to the failed adoption of Vista it only seems fair that they aren’t going to try and change the code base again and further screw people over so naturally the transition will be smooth between Vista and 7.

Another “thing to know”, is a new technology called Applocker.  Hmm, I disinctly remember another such tool in the SuSe Linux realm called AppArmor.  I’m no big SUSE fan but, can you see the benefits of the Microsoft Novell deal come to fruition?  It’s not surprising though.  A closed source proprietary vendor like Microsoft can’t possibly keep up with a community of developers from around the globe like Open Source projects.  They’ve got Aero which looks like Beryl.  Now applocker which was and still is AppArmor.  Even there exams are in the works of being converted from multiple choice to performance based just like Red Hat.

The rest are trivial taugting enhanced scripting, troubleshooting (which we all know is a requirement in Windows), managing images, etc.  All in all you can take a look at some of the items mentioned by clicking on the link up top and see if anything has changed.

Beta Testers where are you at?  If you have tested Windows 7 let everyone know your initial thoughts.

So the first three talk about training, recognition, and overtime.  There is also another that talks about ignoring your tech savvy employess that I think kinda goes in hand with recognition.  I personally value training very much and I always ask if there are funds available for training.  When your primary role centers around being the best at what you do, you can’t afford to overlook training and certification.  With the economy being what it is today, that may be harder for Companies but, there are training funds available.  Most don’t ask, so they never recieve.

I think one of the areas that is often overlooked is recognition.  Some places also feel overtime is a given in the IT Field and as an employee in the IT Field you should just accept it.  As far as recognition goes, i’m not talking an employee of the month award or anything but, give credit where credit is due!  The worst mistake is when a manage gets all the credit for what his employees are doing and without hesitation they just accept it and act like they did all the work!  That would definetly make me rethink my value as a member of the team and could possibly influence those turnover rates.  Overtime is also, a pain.  I think it’s a given that in todays environment businesses want to remain competitive and part of that is maintaining services but, to automatically assume that you can work an employee to death and not compensate them shows a lack of character and good business sense.  Take salary employess for instance.  If you signed on as a salaried employee and they made it known to you that there may be some overtime then it’s understandble to work an occasional 60+ hours a week at times.  I think the key word is occasional and this time should be compensated some other way such as a day off when it’s not so busy or if there is nothing going on, give them the rest of the day off.  I think management takes for granted that techies are willing to work the extra hours because most, love what they do and if you have been working for a company long enough, there is a since of loyalty.  This should not be interpreted as “I can work them for as long as I want and give them no incentives for it!”  That’s just bad business sense, because they will get burned out and lose that sense of loyalty.

The rest reference proper tools, the decision making process, and how management interacts.  Well, the tools are a given and if you don’t spend the money neccessary to make your team effective then you can’t expect results and timelines that are to the standard.  The decision making process is a 50/50 for me.  Sometimes techies don’t like being bothered with politics.  It really just depends on the person.  If your going to inlcude them in the process though, it would be beneficial to include them at the start of the project.  Too often, management gets carried away and then they bring in some knowledgeable individuals after the fact to help correct the mistakes they made.  If they are inlcuded in the process from start to finish, they feel like you value their opinion and it keeps costs down from having to order and reorder because you made a mistake!  Management interaction should be a no-no when it comes to techno-bable.  It’s quite funny to hear someone who has no idea what they are talking about try and fumble through a technical question or try to make it seem like they know what they are talking about.  I don’t know whether its pride or stupidity but, if you don’t know the answer then you don’t know!  That’s why your in a management position and the techies are working the issues.  Now, I don’t know about most but, I just let them speak and then have a good laugh afterwards.  Some take it offensively if you try to correct them.  I guess they wouldn’t get their feelings hurt if they weren’t trying to fool everyone in the first place.

All in all the article is a good read and something for management to think about.

Due out this Thursday is the latest offering from the OpenSUSE project. OpenSUSE 11.1 releases with some minor tweaks to the license agreement and removes some of the proprietary software that was originally bundled with it such as Acrobat and Java. Not surprising given Novell and Microsoft’s relationship. The modifications to the license should make it easier to distribute which in turn should allow the community to grow. It was also completely developed using the openSUSE build service which allows anyone to submit changes.

OpenSUSE has struggled in the past against the much more popular Fedora Project which is based on the popular Red Hat distro. These changes offer Novell the ability to increase collaboration and hopefully grow the community.

Some of the improvements include the latest offering of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments which offer improvements to Nautilus, F-Spot, and Totem in GNOME. KDE 4.1 will be built into 11.1 as well which now offers cube desktop effects. Other improvements include updates that allow syncing with the Google Android based phones and updates to YaST, the system administration software, including aesthetics.

The new direction is aimed in the right direction offering more of the “Open” in OpenSUSE.