A Question About Operating Systems
Many people run Windows (*any version) because it came with their PC and for no other reason. They have a copy of Windows to run games or business applications because that is the platform where those programs run.
The Question
Imagine an ideal world where Windows or MacOS or Linux or any other OS didn’t matter, programs just worked regardless of the OS.
Which OS would you run if all your programs actually ran perfectly regardless of OS?
- Windows-Something ($147)
- MacOS – OSX ($28)
- Linux-Something ($ Free)
- Other (*BSD, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, VMS, MVS, etc).
I’m curious. Please take a second and enter your choice. No registration is needed.
Why do I ask? Well, it is tax time here in the States and all the tax programs run under Windows. Further, I can download a version for much less money than going to a store and buying it, but the download tool only supports Windows. I’d prefer Linux for downloads and running the program, but that isn’t an option – even under an emulator like WINE. So while it appears to the software vendor that I’ve chosen the Windows version, that really isn’t the case. I don’t have any choice. Are you like me?
Is Using the Cloud Really Cheaper?
I watch lots of cloud computing articles. If you follow this blog, you know that I’m not a fan of outside cloud computing, but I love internal virtualization, an internal enterprise cloud, if you will.
Let’s look at some real-world pricing.
Learn to be an Admin from Superman
A brilliant article Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Being a System Admin, I Learned from Superman-
If you are an admin, remember that with great power comes great responsibility. I like Spiderman too. ;)
Automatic QuickStream Fix Processing for VideoRedo Plus 2
Here’s a little program that automates Video Redo Plus Quick Stream Fix, QSF, processing.
Default Samba Behavior Change - Fix 1
The behavior of Samba network shares changed with a recent patch. There was a security issue where unix extensions and softlinks created undefined behavior. I use softlinks, perhaps more than I should, for convenience.
Anyway, after I completely my normal weekly system patching today, I noticed that my samba shares weren’t working below a softlink from my HOME directory. I keep most things down this link since it points to the external RAID5 array, huge and fast. Fortunately, the security announcement included the settings to make it work again.
Just add
unix extensions = no
to the [Global] section of your smb.conf file.
Worked for me.
