It's really nice that each month has something special – something to look forward to. Is October the changing leaves, the brisk weather, or Halloween? In Florida we're kinda going with Halloween. The changing leaves are hard to spot (but we do have falling leaves! We might not rake, but we do have to scoop them out of the pool), the weather's not brisk, so we better love Halloween. At least it holds off the onslaught of Christmas goods for a little while.
We, of course, are continuing with our regular updating. TechRef® gets updated 24x7, and the seminars are updated several times throughout each year. This October UITJ (Understanding IT Jobs) is getting the makeover. While we're not going to officially change the title, unofficially a complete title would now be UITJP (Understand IT Jobs and People). We've added a discussion of IT people – what makes them tick. In particular, we talk about what they're looking for in a job, and what could help you when you're working with them.
Here's the schedule (or you can view the complete Schedule on our website.
Hot Technology: Embedded Systems
October 4
CSTA Web sessions:
October 17, 18
November 14, 15
December 12, 13
CSTA Classroom session:
Chicago area - November 28
UITJ (Understanding IT Jobs) Web sessions:
November 15
TR Web sessions:
November 8
Keep in touch and keep up with technology!
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Looking at Linux
Linux is obviously here to stay, and its continuing growth is impressive. Linux 1.0 was released in 1994, but was first considered to be a personal tool. It took until the late 1990s for the corporate world to pay attention, but from then on, Linux has shown impressive growth.
Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. The source code for Linux is freely available to everyone, specifically the source code for the Linux kernel. The kernel of an operating system is the heart of the system. It contains the programs that control application execution, connects programs and data, provides security measures, etc. The current kernel is Linux 2.6, or even more specifically Linux 2.6.22, with Linux 2.6.23 in the works.
Operating systems also contain much more than the kernel. They include a file system (the way in which files are named and where they are placed logically for storage and retrieval), a desktop environment (the GUI which allows point-and-click communication with the kernel), a shell (the program that interprets and executes commands), and many other programs. These programs can actually vary. In fact, this is one of the things that makes Linux unique. Other operating systems include all this functionality. With Linux developers can build unique distributions by using different file systems, or desktop environments.
Linux Distributions
The corporate world also chooses between free or commercial distributions, which have a price tag attached. And, it usually chooses commercial! The difference? Commercial distributions provide support, software updates, and documentation, and companies need all. Payment is often in subscription format. The software is actually free; the subscription covers the support, updates, and documentation. All distributions include the Linux kernel, and usually differ in the choice of software applications they offer, in the way these software applications are configured and in the way they are installed and upgraded. Distributions exist for all environments – mainframe, server, desktop, and even embedded systems. The two dominant commercial distributions are Red Hat and SUSE.
Red Hat Linux 5
Red Hat provides both server and desktop distribution. The server system RHEL 5 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) uses GFS (Global File System) file system and JBOSS middleware and is interoperable with both Unix and Windows. It also includes Apache Web Server, Tomcat application server, and a choice of databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, or Ingres. Versions are available for both server and mainframe systems. The desktop system, RHEDL (Red Hat Enterprise Desktop Linux), includes the OpenOffice application suite, FireFox browser, and Evolution email client.
SUSE Linux 10
SUSE is Novell's Linux system and currently SLES 10 (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10) and SLED 10 (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10) are the two systems. SLES runs on server systems and works with WebSphere application server and DB2 Express-C database. The desktop edition includes the KDE desktop environment and also uses OpenOffice, FireFox, and Evolution.
In addition to the two commercial systems, many free distributions are popular.
Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on the Debian GNU/Linux system which runs on desktop and notebook computers. It's an open source system that includes the latest versions of GNOME (GUI interface) and KDE (K Desktop Environment - an office suite). The Ubuntu project plans to ship a new version of Ubuntu every six months and provide security updates for at least 18 months after each version ships. The current release is Ubuntu 7.04. The version numbers refer to release year and month, so this is the April, 2007 release. This release is also referred to as Feisty Fawn.
openSUSE Linux
openSUSE is a community project sponsored by Novell which provides free, easy access to SLED. It too includes both KDE and GNOME. The current version is openSUSE 10.2 which was released in December, 2006.
Debian/GNU Linux
Debian is the father of Ubuntu and is produced by the Debian Project, which is an association of individuals who have worked together to create a free operating system. It includes over 2,500 Linux programs, including the Linux kernel and many GNU programs. The current version is 4.0 which was released in April, 2007.
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1. How do you spell "zome" and what is it?
2. What provides faster data retrieval than relational databases?
3. Which of the following does not belong?
a. Jaguar
b. Leopard
c. Lion
d. Panther
e. Tiger
4. What's the difference between free software and open source software?
5. What tools are used to produce RIA (Rich Internet Application) applications?
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We keep hearing more and more about Web 2.0 and its movement into the corporate world. We're joining in, too. I've started a blog, which actually is a supplement to this newsletter. I've found as I update TechRef® I often hit new products, ideas, systems, etc. that I want to immediately share! It's such a dynamic time in IT. Many of you have heard my comments on the expected changes from 2005-2015. Not what they are specifically, just the expectation that by the end of this time period we'll be shaking our heads and calling pre-2000 the dark ages of IT. And the changes are coming. One of the biggest is the whole idea of Web 2.0 – sites where the content is created by the users. Blogs are considered part of this, as the whole idea of a blog is to share thoughts, and have others comment and add to the original posting. My blog is about technology (to no one's surprise) and I keep a running commentary about the changes I see. The blog has two parts, a major paragraph and a section called "Quickies" that contains two or three newly released or announced subjects. I encourage you to take a look – it's another way of keeping up with what's happening. And, please add to whatever is posted – or add anything new you've heard – or ask questions about things you've heard. No one's commented yet, but we'd love to get a quick forum going – on what's new in IT, from the business point of view.
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Appliances
An appliance is actually a computer – but it's a computer that's dedicated to a specific function. More and more of these systems are appearing, so a look at some of the functions that have moved to become a dedicated system is timely. Some of the following appliances are becoming commonplace.
database appliance Database system that combines hardware and software - a DBMS (DataBase Management System) and an OS (Operating System). Usually both the hardware and software are provided by a single vendor, but "software appliances" also exist where the bundled database and operating system can run on any common hardware. A common use for these systems is data warehousing as they are usually scalable through terabtyes of data. Because they are acquired as a single system, installation, maintenance, and support are simplified.
data warehouse appliance Combination of hardware and software that is dedicated to data warehousing applications. Includes high-performance hardware with database, storage and other types of software. Often preconfigured for specific tasks, such as strategic analysis.
firewall appliance A firewall appliance is a computer running firewall software. All entry into the protected system goes through this computer.
storage appliance Computer system dedicated to managing available storage systems. Often contains NAS (Network Attached Storage) and SAN (Storage Area Network) software.
traffic manager Hardware appliance used to improve network performance .Optimizes traffic by removing redundant traffic, reducing round trips over the network, and other measures.
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1. "Zome" is spelled Xohm (pronounced as starting with a "z" and rhyming with "home." It's communications technology that provides Internet services based on WiMax. It's a WiMax wireless network which should reach 100 million U.S. customers by the end of 2008, including businesses, consumers, government and public-safety agencies. It will provide speeds in the range of 2Mbps to 4Mbps (Million bits per second). The vendor is Sprint, and they're planning a "soft launch" in Chicago and Baltimore / D.C. markets by the end of 2007 with full launch in 2008.
2. Column-based databases are faster! This is a new database design that's similar to relational databases, but the structure is based on the columns, not the rows. This means data is retrieved by columns, putting all the like data together. Column-based databases are up to twenty times faster and require up to 90% less table storage space than traditional RDBMSs and are designed for read-intensive workloads such as data warehouses.
3. The lion is out of place. The other four are versions of Mac OS X. Jaguar came first (2002), then Panther (2003), Tiger (2005), and Leopard is due out this month (numerically version 10.5) and includes many advances including full 64-bit support to enable applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while still running side by side with existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers. It's designed to optimize multi-core processors, and includes Core Animation, which helps developers create intricate animated user experiences in their own applications.
4. Both terms often describe the same software, but not always. Open source software does not have to be free. Open means published, and open source development means that the software is published to the development team throughout the development life cycle. It does not, however, mean that the software will be freely available. Companies often use open source development to produce software that they then sell. IBM is the prime example – they've used open source development to produce proprietary software many times.
5. RIA development follows Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) which uses DHTML (Dynamic HTML) and updates Web pages by refreshing only the part of the Web page that has been changed, or Macromedia's Flash and Flex which can be developed with ASP.NET, Java, JavaScript and other tools.
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