Jul
9
Preparing for a Linux Desktop Migration: Practical Advice
I recently commented on a discussion about a planned migration to Linux in order to avoid having to deal with Windows Vista. It seems that it takes more searching than one should expect if one is attempting to find positive reviews. Some companies are electing to not to make the switch at all, waiting instead to see what the next version will bring. Vista is easily the biggest flop in the product line since Windows Me. When I purchased a new HP laptop last year, I received a coupon for an upgrade from Windows XP to Vista (the unit shipped with XP), I didn’t bother to redeem it. My laptop is running Mandriva, and though it still dual-boots to XP, I haven’t used the option in more than a year now. The recent discussion got me thinking about my own migration from Windows 2000 to Linux, and what advice I might offer. « Read more »
Jun
23
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Ori Brafman has previously co-written The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations along with Rod Beckstrom. I’ve previously mentioned the book a couple of times, and was looking forward to delving into Ori’s new book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, written with his brother, Rom Brafman. I was pleased when it arrived by FedEx, and I devoured it pretty quickly.
Comparing well with Blink and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Sway, like Starfish, is well-written and entertaining as the Brafmans explain how people’s judgment is swayed in various contexts. Recognizing the types of context in which one’s judgment is likely to be swayed can help avert poor decision-making. As the old saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed.” « Read more »
Tags: Blink, book reviews, books, influence, Malcolm Gladwell, management, marketing, ori brafman, persuasion, rom brafman, starfish and spider, sway
Jan
17
Sun Acquires MySQL… Early Thoughts
I was dropping the kids off at school yesterday when I got a call on my cell phone from an editor I’ve worked with before at CIO.com. It took a minute to sink in, but she was telling me that Sun Microsystems had just purchased MySQL. They wanted to get a story up fairly quickly on what this meant for CIOs, and they thought I’d be a good person to tackle it. Now, the last time I wrote for them about MySQL (of which I’m a fan), I got raked over the coals a little, but then I was writing as the dark horse. Of course I took this one on anyway, and “Sun Acquires MySQL: Impact on the CIO?” was up within a few hours. Go ahead and read it; I can wait, then we’ll carry on. « Read more »
Tags: CIO.com, foo associates, IT, marten mikos, mysql, open source, rich green, sun, technology, zak greant
Dec
19
Googlezilla: is Size Inherently Evil?
I’ve often wondered about the relationship of corporate size and corporate wrongdoing. Is there a connection beyond the coincidental, beyond what one would expect statistically by the fact that more people means more opportunity for wrongdoing? One of Google’s well-known guiding principles has always been “do no evil.”1 I have to credit them for the gutsy move of putting it right out there like that… but you know eventually it’s going to draw criticism. Given Google’s now-gargantuan size, this motto, and a recent event or two, it only makes sense to see if these dots connect with my recurring question about size and evil. « Read more »
Dec
19
After a Lengthy Pause… More Strategic Intuition
Well, I didn’t intend to take a 10-week break from posting here. Nonetheless, there it is… the time goes by before you know it. I have a few things to offer in my defense, though. In the intervening weeks, I’ve written and self-published a little pocketbook on Advent. I’ve begun compiling another book from material I wrote in August and September, spent several days in the Seattle area (including Vancouver BC) and began rewriting the end of the book I was compiling. I agreed to co-edit another book project with a colleague in Kelowna, and I’ve been keeping a steady pace at my pseudonymous blog. As if that weren’t enough, « Read more »
Tags: Blink, blogging, facebook, john gottman, linkedin, Malcolm Gladwell, strategic intuition, william duggan
Oct
3
Two Items of Interest
Firstly, for those who blog — Darren Rowse’s Problogger is giving away almost $60k worth of prizes to celebrate the blog’s birthday… which is certainly one item of interest, at least. What caught my eye today were the LG USB LCD monitors that DisplayLink is giving away as part of the fun, and that’s the second item of interest. USB video has been a long time coming, and should a pair of USB monitors befall me, I certainly won’t miss the existing video cables that chain my monitors too close to my computer tower. If you are a blogger, head over there and see what prizes you might take a shot at.
Tags: blogging, contests, darren rowse, displaylink, lg, problogger, usb video
Sep
11
The Value of Knowing Where you Are and What you Know
Some while back, Execupundit posted an example of assumptions gone wrong in the story of some prisoners planning an escape. He was outlining the importance of stating assumptions, which is crucial. In my last business, when writing a proposal in response to an RFP, we would always keep a list of assumptions that we made about the application, the environment, the business needs, whatever. It might scrawled in the margin of the RFP or on a separate sheet, but it had to be someplace. It’s a critical step… « Read more »
Tags: analysis, assumption, business planning, consulting, current situation, planning, project management, projects, rfp, strategy, unstated assumptions, writing a proposal
Aug
16
Whither the Computer Desktop?
Another of my articles on technology has popped up at CIO.com — this one titled “Divining the Future of the Client Desktop Environment.” In it, I ask if the bell is tolling for the computer (client) desktop as we know it. The piece itself is something I got to thinking about, pulling together various threads following a conversation with Brian Stevens, CTO and VP, Engineering at Red Hat, which I’ve mentioned before. Most of that conversation actually ended up « Read more »
Tags: brian stevens, client desktop, collaborative, computer client, desktop environment, jeff han, linux desktop, new paradigm, olpc, paradigms, red hat, saas, software as a service, sugar, user interface, web applications
Aug
9
Avoid the Worst Web Design Horror
Busiess Week Article: Web Design Horrors: the most egregious of these involve your domain being “held hostage” by a developer who registered the domain in their own name rather than their client’s. As an ISP owner and domain reseller, I saw this too often, and we sometimes had to intervene to help “victims” recover their domains. « Read more »
Tags: code of ethics, domain registration, domains, domain reseller, fiduciary responsibility, professional code of conduct, professions, web designers
Aug
2
Using Linux in the Enterprise
CIO.com has published another article I’ve written, “Seven Financial Reasons to Use Linux in the Enterprise” — like the last one, it’s a point/counterpoint style of arrangement giving reasons to use or not use something. After I got raked over the coals for puppy-kicking last time, my editor said I’d earned a positive assignment. In other words, this time I’m defending the position I actually hold. The premise on this one is restricted to the enterprise (rather than small business) and focuses on financial reasons, both of which make sense given their audience.
Since I’m not on the dark side for this one, « Read more »
Tags: asterisk, brian stevens, CIO.com, daniel dern, hosef, larry wall, linux, mac, mark hinkle, missing the point, penguinista, perl, point of value, rainy day, red hat, redmonk, scott belford, scott toderash, simon phipps, slashdot, stephen ogrady, tco, tina gasperson, windows, zenoss-
Contents
Comments
- Ron McMahon: Brent, I agree with many of the points you make, and it is encouraging to hear of someone running...
- Anne Wayman: am actually starting this process slowly since you gave me a process… no quicken or something like...
- Wally Bock: I understand how it could rub you the wrong way, Brent. On Sunday I posted in my blog about three Google...
- Brent Toderash: Wally, I think you’re right… if size alone were inherently evil, we would have to condemn...
- Wally Bock: Is size inherently evil? I don’t think so. But my life experience leads me to believe that the...
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- Preparing for a Linux Desktop Migration: Practical Advice
- One Laptop per Child, two years on: Nicholas Negroponte on TED.com
- Counting down the Top 10 TEDTalks
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- Are You a Jack or a Specialist?
- Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
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- Marketing Diet?
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Brent Toderash, BA
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writer · thinker · strategist
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- 42 Awesome Business Card Designs 42 Awesome Business Card Designs: when you're handed a lightweight business card with perforation marks around the edges, you've already formed an opinion, right? On the other hand, a stand-out card says something else altogether.
- Marketing Diet? Seths Blog: The stupid diet. One of my cronies is fond of saying about most people's marketing "strategy", "Come on now, take your vitamins." Yes, the parallel is clear: better to keep it up than wait to try the prevention until you're already sick.
- Happy Document Freedom Day Document Freedom Day is an effort to promote the adoption and use of open standards for document and file formats.
- CIO's Most Popular Information Technology Stories of 2007 Turns out one of my articles was #3 in the top ten Most Popular IT Stories of 2007 at CIO.com. Must have been the controversy ;^)
- Small Biz Survival: Favorite online resources Small Biz Survival: Favorite online resources
- Seth Godin: Lying to your customers The subject of Lying to Your Customers came up here not long ago; now Seth Godin opines on Lying to your customers—different example, same conclusion.
- Launched: Google Finance Canada Apparently Canada is the second-highest user of Google's finance pages — and now there's a Canadian version of Google Finance which favours Canadian companies, markets, and mutual funds in search results.
- The Wealthiest Americans Ever The New York Times lists The Wealthiest Americans Ever: I'll save you the suspense, I'm not on it and neither (probably!) are you.
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