Little things usually cause people to make very drastic decisions, sometimes not because they want to, but mainly because they are driven by disgust. Take my experience with Windows Vista for instance. I just got a new computer that came preloaded with Windows Vista 64-bit Home Edition “Premium”. So far, so good. Of course, since the computer came with no productivity software, I had to shell out a few hundred bucks to buy those and install them. As a consultant, you have to know what you are supporting, so the Windows platform is a necessity especially since many business environments have the “Home” edition of Microsoft’s Operating System. I have been using Linux as my main desktop for some time now, and I recently installed Linux Mint 64-bit with OpenOffice 3, Evolution Mail, and about 75 other pieces of software for CRM, project management, network penetration testing, file encryption etc for $0. Naturally, I was probably a little testy with the Operating Sytem than most “regular” users – the ill-advised decision to remove the ability to disable your network adapter with a single right-click, for example, or the contant request for validation even to do relatively minor things.
Linux
Web Filtering for Kids
I have been encouraging many friends with kids to try the Linux Operating System mainly because of one major advantage over the other Operating Systems – free software for kids.
Take the Debian distribution with over 25,000 applications for example. There are all kinds of games and educational software that comes bundled with these distributions that it adds up in terms of savings when you consider that a computer game for a Windows Operating Sytem averages about $20.
But the challenge we had was how to protect the children from the dangers of the internet now that everyone pretty much has broadband connection. That is when we ran into some problems. There were not a whole lot of click and install web filters as is available in the Windows market.
So I started searching and spent the most of two days poring through very tedious instructions for what I thought should be a simple solution. I am not a code writer, but I am very comfortable with the Linux command line interface so editing some scripts was not the problem.
I kept thinking, this should not be this difficult. I especially did not want to go through the whole process of installing a full blown filtering application like ClarkConnect, Untangle or Astaro. So I kept searching and I am glad I did.
I finally found a solution so simple it was exhausting just thinking about it. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I failed to note the web site of the author but I will try to locate that document again and give the author full credit.
Roll Your Own Captive Portal
A lot of businesses these days, especially small cafes, coffeee shops and restaurants, offer free WIFI services to their customers. The problem is, many of these wireless devices are left wide open and unsecured because customers and business owners do not want to deal with the hassle of locked down services. An alternative is to sign … Read more
Proactive steps for the small business owner
Every small business owner has experienced it – the dizzying speed at which technology is evolving, the myriad of solutions out there, the outrageous cost of so-called “solutions” proffered by self-confessed experts, and the tendency to “In-Source” I.T. responsibilities to a technology-savvy employee who quickly becomes frustrated, overworked and under-utilized. The outcome of this scenario is the overwhelming number of small business environments with ill-maintained computer networks that are out of date in terms of security patches, backups, updates and a coherent licensing structure.
Small Business Servers you never heard of!
Now be honest, what do you know about ClarkConnect, Astaro, Untangle. Chances are, you do not have any idea what they are. These are the Open Source equivalents of Microsoft’s Small Business Server. ClarkConnect is a piece of software built on the solid foundation of Red Hat’s code. The application manages to pack a lot … Read more
Ubuntu 9.10 Named
Mark Shuttlworth has announced that the next release of the popular Ubuntu Linux Operating System will be called Karmic Koala.
Here’s the whole message:
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the *Karmic Koala*, the
newest member of our alliterative menagerie.When you are looking for inspiration beyond the looming Jaunty feature
freeze, I hope you’ll think of the Koala, our official mascot for Ubuntu
9.10. And if you’ll bear with me for a minute I’ll set the scene forwhat we hope to achieve in that time.