Archive for January, 2009

Ubuntu Offers “Official” AMI’s on EC2

Ubuntu is now offering images of its Ubuntu Server operating system to EC2 users. The program is still in beta, but allows EC2 users to launch “official” images of the operating system created by Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu)  running within minutes for use on Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing platform. Before, one was either on their own to create their Ubuntu AMIs or rely upon someone in the community to open their AMI’s to the public to be launched. Canonical has also said it will maintain security patches on the AMIs so a freshly launch image will be fully patched as well.

This move should reduce the barrier to entry into Ubuntu for those considering it because there’s very little that has to be invested in getting the OS ready to use. It’s free to sign up for Amazon AWS (of which EC2 is a part of) and for the Ubuntu beta program. The only thing that has a cost associated with it is to actually run an instance. If you are only wanting to try out Ubuntu Server, you can run a small instance for 10 cents an hour. You can run a pre-configured instance for just $2.40 a day. Of course, Amazon AWS is not just for the curious, but it can’t be beat on price for someone who wants to stand up a temporary environment to do some testing. I’ve seen a number of products like Virtualmin using EC2 AMIs to demo their software and it just makes sense. If I wanted to demo Ubuntu in the traditional way, for instance, I’d have to download the .iso, stand up a virtual machine or find a physical machine to install on. After all that work it may not be anything like what I wanted. Now, I just use my EC2 account and launch an AMI and in moments am up and running with whatever software I need. Like I said, it’s not just great for demoing software, but leveraging EC2 in that way just makes sense and is a great move for Ubuntu.

For more information check out the beta sign-up page and their Ubuntu on EC2 quick start guide.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (2) : Jan 21st, 2009

Zimbra Hits 20 Million Paid Mailboxes

Zimbra is reporting that its paid mailbox count is now up to 20 million mailboxes. This is up from June of last year when Zimbra reported 11 million paid mailboxes. The open source Exchange competitor is really gaining some momentum and is surpassing Exchange in feature sets. Zimbra Collaboration Suite version 6.0 is due out later this year which includes full BES support, a stable release of its offline client, and allowing server-to-server sync for better HA and DR. Zimbra was acquired by Yahoo! in September of 2007 and could very well help out Yahoo! in its financial recovery if it keeps growing at this pace. The 20 million mailbox count only includes the pay-for version of Zimbra which offers mobility syncing as well as other features and does not include users of its free open source edition which a lot of companies use as well.

Congrats Zimbra!

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Filed under News : Comments (1) : Jan 20th, 2009

Why Patching Is Important..

The Telegraph reports that security researchers are saying over 8.9 million computers have been infected by a virus in the past two weeks which uses a vulnerability that had been patched by Microsoft months ago. Users have not patched their machines and it is allowing the virus to spread at a rapid rate. The virus spreads through a vulnerability in the Windows server service so it can spread across a LAN and will also use portable storage such as USB flash drives to travel from LAN to LAN. It has been called Conficker, Kido and Downadup and is said to be very difficult to get rid of. If you haven’t updated Windows since the end of October, please take the time to do so now. If you’re not infected already and haven’t patched, consider this your warning. Take the time right now to run your updated (no matter what OS you happen to run). Next to backup, this is one of the biggest things users look back upon and wonder why they didn’t take time before it became a problem.

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Filed under News : Comments (1) : Jan 20th, 2009

Problems with Seagate Drives

There have been a number of problems with Seagate‘s new version 11 of the 7200 class Barracuda hard drives, Seagate has admitted. Users are reporting that the drive will stop working or just outright fail during high I/O load times. The company has said that the problem is due to faulty firmware installed on the drives and is offering a free firmware update to fix the issue. Users who are experiencing issues with the drives are encouraged to contact Seagate support through email and they have said they will work to promptly resolve any issues users have. To tell if your drive is one of the infected ones, on the label you can look at the top right for Barracuda then the version number. At this point, it appears that only the 7200.11 drives are affected.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Jan 19th, 2009

Mainstream Media Blames Ubuntu for Problems in School, Caught in Fanboy Cross-Fire

Whether it was a stunt to boost traffic to their website, or legitimately not knowing the can of worms they were opening, a tv station in Madison, WI ran a story about a girl who ordered a computer from Dell with Ubuntu. The short version goes something like this: A girl orders a computer for college. It was a Dell laptop that cost $1,100. She selected Ubuntu as an option rather than Windows and it wasn’t until after she received the computer that she realized she couldn’t install Microsoft Office or her Verizon Wireless card herself. She did call Dell immediately when she realized it wasn’t Windows and they reassured her that the computer would still perform basic office suite funcitonality and Internet connectivity just fine, so she kept it. Later, after she realized the software/hardware she wanted to install wasn’t going to work, she felt “forced” to drop out of school since she didn’t have the tools necessary to do what she needed for the classes. The story made it far up on Reddit and Digg (front page of the tech. section early this afternoon) and of course drew tons and tons of comments from Ubuntu and Linux lovers everywhere. While the story does blame Dell, it definitely leaves the root of the problem upon the operating system that was preinstalled on the computer. I’m not sure that they realized the holy war they accidentally (or purposely) joined. Allegedly, they had hundreds of phone calls and comments on the story and subsequent blog posts from angry Ubuntu users and contributers. And rightfully so! There is some seriously flawed logic happening and Ubuntu and Dell are getting blamed. I’m going to hop on my soap box here for a minute and discuss what went horribly wrong in this story.

First, the user didn’t get requirements for school. She spent thousands of dollars on tuition as well as $1,100 (which was explicitly listed in the article for some reason, even though it’s nothing compared to the cost of school) on a laptop without finding out exactly what she needed. Different operating systems are better for different jobs and picking the right tool, especially a $1,100 tool, is very important. If someone tells they need me to buy a screwdriver and I pick up a flat head when really I needed a Phillips, is it the store’s fault? No, I bought the wrong tool. When I take it back after I know what I need I don’t really care what they say about whether or not the tool is right for me – I already know it’s not right.

Second, since when can’t you get help? You can go to a public library to use a computer, talk to a professor to try to get an extension, talk to the school, or simply borrow a computer until it gets straightened out. There’s always ways to make exceptions, especially if it’s whether or not she can go to school over something as trivial as a choice in operating system.

Lastly, was it really necessary to drop out of an entire year’s worth of classes? Seriously, she could have gone down to Best Buy and bought Windows Vista for $239. She even could have had Geek Squad install it for her so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. Even if installation costed her $100, that’s drastically better than the time and money lost in dropping out of school. Seriously, why would you not? So, you made a mistake? So what? If the worst mistake you ever made was buying a laptop with the wrong OS and had to spend an extra few hundred dollars to get the right OS you’ll come out much better than everyone else on this planet. It’s much like the person who swerves their car at 60+mph to miss a squirrel they may or may not have actually hit only to wrap the car around a tree and kill everyone on board. Sure, the squirrel is safe, but was it really worth it?

Okay, I’m done ranting. But seriously, let’s stop and place the blame where blame is due. Buy the tool that is right for the job. If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment, take the time to make sure it’s the right one.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (2) : Jan 16th, 2009

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