Greg_ske

Corporate Gmail

2006-02-11T10:46:00.000+01:00

Google seems to be continually trying new things out. This one could be very disruptive: Google offers the possibility to host your own maildomain on their servers. This means you have all the ease of use of Gmail in combination with your very own @mycompany.com domain.
This is a brilliant move. I am wondering how much this service will cost and if any kind of ads will be added in the same way as Google adds them to the "normal" Gmail accounts.
Of course there are some questions concerning privacy but I am sure they'll work it out as this service is clearly aimed at businesses.

Update:
Now that I think of it this beta could be even more important than I realized. To my knowledge it is the first time that Google plans to offer a service to businesses that hasn't anything to do with ads. Ok they have a Google appliance but that isn't the same. This time we are talking about a service. This is something totally different. They are entering the small and midsized business for emails. A market Microsoft is focusing on with its Small Business Server product.
I am really curious to see how this product will evolve and how Microsoft, Yahoo and the like will respond.

VMware does it again, well just maybe

2006-02-05T20:30:00.000+01:00

Ars Technica has a post rumouring that VMWare might give away GSX. This is the server version of VMWare for workstations. I am curious to see what they will exactly release for free but this seems to be a very interesting move. This would enable IT teams to release virtual production servers as services. This means servers could start automatically when the server starts.
I am very eager to see what they will offer.

Listible

2006-02-04T13:35:00.000+01:00

This site enables everyone to create lists that everyone can update. Put like this I realize it doesn't sound impressive but this is a really cool tool. For all the fans of GTD (Getting Things Done) I created a list on the site: http://www.listible.com/list/the-best-gtd-resources

Corporate USB security: slurp

2006-01-26T21:16:00.000+01:00

Sharp Ideas has created a program that "slurps" data (doc, xls, ...) automatically whenever you plug an usb storage device in a computer. The good thing about this program is that it raises awareness. As USB keys are becoming bigger and bigger this problem grows each day. It is crucial that IT departments explain how easy it has become to move data thanks to those devices.

The good thing for Active Directory users is that there is a simple solution to this problem. It is possible to prevent the usage of removable storage through group policies. Ms has a good document explaining in detail what you can do about this called InformationLeakageMeasuresGuideforWin_en. You can download it at the following link

Firefox extensions

2005-12-03T21:17:00.000+01:00

The question has been asked alot of times but what are THE top Firefox extensions? As I just discovered Session Saver I want to share it with everyone :-) The thing does what it says: if you close Firefox it saves the session as is (tabs and the like). This is really handy as I don't have to save bookmarks I don't really want to keep just to know where I left.

As we are at it, here are other extensions I really couldn't live without (as a figure of speech of course):

Adblock and Adblock Filterset G. They block almost every ad. Need I say more?
Del.icio.us. As I am a big del.icio.us fan, this one is a must have.
IE view. This extensions opens a page in IE instead of Firefox if needed.
Dict looks up words in the dictionary and opens in a new window.
Greasemonkey. This one allows you to apply transformations to websites dynamically and much more. Just click the link and find out for yourself.

I am sure you guys use many more I haven't heard of so don't hesitate to post (yeah you my 2 readers and a half)

Sony DRM

2005-11-15T22:01:00.000+01:00

The Sony DRM debacle.

A lot has been written on the technical side of this story but there are few comments on the broader picture. What does it mean to own a CD nowadays? Lets begin with what you can't do with the CD's you legally buy. Here in Belgium you can't legally lend it to friends. Buying a CD doesn't give the right to remix it, to play it at a party without paying even more, burn a mix CD for friends and believe me this list isn't exhaustive.

Now what can you do with your CD? Well buying a CD gives you the right to listen to the music you purchased whenever and where ever you want, as long you and your close family are the only ones present. If you consider that a normal cd costs 15 € for ten to twelve songs that isn't cheap.

Now lets get back at the DRM issue. When I said that you bought the right to play the music whenever and where ever you want this was without taking DRM into account. Well for Linux people the where ever part doesn't applies to their computers. And that's just for starters. In many cases the DRM protected CD's can't be played in many car CD players and old normal home CD players. Considering the fact that you usually can't get a refund if you unwrapped a CD you can't give it back 15 € looks even more expensive. As I wrote before you don't receive a lot of rights for 15€ and thanks to the DRM you receive even less.

To add insult to the injury this particular type of DRM makes it really difficult to move the songs to an Ipod. Why is that? If you believe the buzz on the Net Sony and Apple don't get along. So because they don't get along Sony punishes the consumer. Now you can't listen to the purchased music whenever and where ever you want because the Ipod isn't an option anymore. So you get even less for those 15 €.

On top of that Sony now even jeopardizes the security of your computer if you dare listen to their protected CD's. In their minds they have to revert to those technical measures to protect themselves from their own consumers. This strikes me as a little odd. Since when do corporations have to protect themselves from their main income?

To understand how this shift occurred I think you have to see that Sony (and others) don't consider the people who buy their stuff as customers but as consumers. With the advent of digital technologies and the possibility to mass copy the consumer even became the ennemy. I don't believe the word ennemy is too strong because they actually try to protect themselves from their consumers.

You might think that's it but no. The DRM cloacking technology goes one step further. It evens calls home to tell how many times you listened to the particular CD. This has nothing to do with DRM but if you consider your consumers as ennemies this could be seen as a way to keep your friends close and your ennemies even closer. In other words on top of giving you less rights for your euros, jeopardizing the security of your computer, considering you, the main income source as an ennemmy, Sony spies on you. The best part is that you pay for it. Don't we live in a beautifull world?

VMware failsafe surf environment

2005-11-05T11:32:00.000+01:00

In my last post I said that I would create a failsafe Internet surf environment and give it to my aunts, uncles, friends that are part of the spyware magnet club. Well it turns out I won't even have to build this as VMware did this already. I haven't tested it yet but I can't wait for the download to be completed.
I'd like to thank my colleague at http://blog.baeke.info/blog/_archives/2005/10/28/1328319.html for this info. He has a very interesting blog concerning Sharepoint, Exchange, VMware and more stuff like that.

VMware launches VMware player

2005-10-22T13:28:00.000+02:00

This is a great idea for many reasons. Lets just explore some possible uses.

You could easily create a safe surf environment. If you crash it with spyare, virii etc. just close the session and nothing really bad happened. I feel that alot of aunts, uncles and friends who happen to be spyware magnets will receive a linux image they can play with as much as they want. :-)

For the IT professionals this also is a really cool feature. You can create images with Ghost transform them to Virtual Machines and ask your colleagues to test them without installing the full version of VMware.

Convincing newbies to try Linux has been made just easier thanks to this. This really is a failsafe metod to try Linux. I wonder how long it will take before we see distros distributed directly on Virtual Machines. This would make a lot of sense: zero installation time and difficulties (not that it was difficult anyway), less driver problems, no dual boot required, basically you just download it and run it.

IT Departments could easily make there VMware test environments available to bigger parts of their teams.

Best of all this tool is free.

If you wonder: no I don't work for them

The very first post

2005-01-16T22:48:00.000+01:00

Well this is my first post as a happy blogger, proud member of the Blogosphere and a late one at that too. I really wonder who is still reading (hi mom I know you're so proud). The good thing about blogging is that I can quit whenever I want. I am really wondering how much time that will take? This was enough about me. What is this blog going to be about? Well first of all IT-ish stuff. And a little bit of politics. And maybe, just maybe fun things on the net. I think I am blending pretty well in the blogosphere.