Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Linux, I think I have finally adopted you

As some of you may recall, in the past I did a article about JoliOS (Now known as JoliCloud) and how it really made linux more appealing to those of us (like me) that have had a somewhat difficult time adopting the OS. JoliCloud brought the familiar and simplistic interface similar to the iPhone/iPad and Android systems to the desktop. It was clean, easy to use and best of all you didn’t have to mess with the command line!
Plus, how can you not resist that cute little penguin!

I still like JoliCloud and think it’s a great version of Linux but recently, my job took me in the direction of full on linux. I acquired our Jira instance into my HP ALM farm. This had a positive and negative impact on me; the positive was that I was administrating our Jira instance which allowed me the ability to better maintain it and work out the issues we were having with the communication between it and HP ALM. The negative was that it was on a linux server. now, I’m primarily a Windows guy so this definitely made me a little uneasy. I really don’t know that much about linux, especially the command line. What am I going to do if it crashes? What about updates? what about… and the list went on and on.

I’m not bragging here but I think I’m a smart guy, I catch on to things pretty fast and I’ve just been avoiding the inevitable. So over the Memorial Day holiday, I decided I’m going to start learning linux. I tried a few distributions out and settled on Linux Mint. I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with it. mint is based on Ubuntu, the reigning king of Linux distros and vastly becoming the base for all others out there. I set it up in a VirtualBox instance and then on my Compaq Mini 110. I had zero hardware issues on both. it recognized my video card on my desktop and my wireless card on my mini. These were the two problem areas I had with most linux distros. (Except JoliCloud) the other main area of issues I always had was setting up VPN and remote desktop. I could never get those to work. With mint I was able to easily set up VPN and RDP and can now work from home through linux.

At this point I was really digging linux and what it had to offer. I still have to work a little more with the office application that it comes with but other than that, I’m really liking it! So much that I’m actually considering doing a dual boot system now with Mint as my primary OS. I do have a lot of Windows based applications I still use so I’m not quite ready to make the move yet. once I can get them to work in Wine then I’ll be ready.

If you’ve been thinking about trying out linux, I highly recommend Linux Mint! Set it up in a VM or an old PC that’s just sitting around gathering dust. I’m sure you’ll be like me and find it a refreshing breath of minty fresh air!

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Visual Studio 11 Express–No Mas Desktop

In an article written on PCWorld it appears that in the Express versions of Visual Studio 11 there will be no support for creating desktop applications, everything is geared toward the new Metro interface in Windows 8.

For those of you that know me or have read some of my postings about Windows 8 either here or on Facebook, you know I’m not a huge fan of Windows 8. I appreciate the fact Microsoft is trying to expand and grow out from their desktop centric world but this really adds another slap in the face to existing users. Users that are desktop based and not mobile based.

For those of you whom have not tried Windows 8 yet or are aware of the changes it brings, Windows 8 has changed the interface from the normal that you are used to. It now uses what is called “Metro” which is a block icon style layout. It does look cool I will give Microsoft that and does somewhat eliminate that messy old desktop.

“That is cool! What’s wrong with that?” you may ask. Nothing, if you’re on a mobile device. Anyway, I won’t get into why I don’t like Window 8 for desktops here.

In the new express version of Visual Studio 11 (The free versions of Microsoft’s development platform) they have removed the support for building desktop applications. Instead, developers will be forced to design strictly for the Metro interface. Now if you’re all into designing for the mobile world, this is great news, you now have a dedicated Microsoft IDE in which to do that. But if you’re like me and develop primarily for desktop applications, then you’re out of luck. Luckily Microsoft is still making the previous versions available but they won’t contain all the libraries for Windows 8. Luckily in the VS11 Web builder edition, you can still do good old fashioned HTML and Java script development without having to be forced to the Metro only interface.

This move by Microsoft is another huge gamble on their belief that Windows 8 will be adopted by the public like Ralphie on Christmas morning finding his Red Ryder BB gun. Will I stop developing because of this? Probably not. In fact, I may start developing more for the mobile market than before but I will continue to develop for the desktop world as well. Let’s just hope Microsoft doesn’t shoot their eye out with this move.


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Thursday, May 17, 2012

HP Discover 2012 - An epic event

VegasWedding2010 001 HP Discover 2012, my registration is done, my hotel reservations are done and my tracks and sessions are all lined up. All I have left to do is pack my bags and head out!

 

Last years Discover event was mind blowing, well at least to me as it was my first one. All of HP’s products and services under one roof, all the people and sessions were just simply awe inspiring. I’ll admit I was a little (ok, a lot) overwhelmed as I treated this as the one and only conference I’ll probably ever get to go to. I loaded up my days with sessions around Quality Center and attempts at certifications. I was exhausted by the time I got home and my brain hurt!
discover2011

This year I’m a lot more relaxed as I have a feel for how things will go and I have a more narrowed track session. I’m still focused on Quality Center/ALM but more along the lines of HP’s Performance Center. I survived the upgrade and have gotten a lot of ALM experience under my belt, Performance Center is next on the list. I’m also set up to be more involved in the community and working the Vivit booth.

logo-vivit

One of the sessions I have is the Vivit presented “Deep Dive into ALM”. I have a lot of experience from the admin side of ALM but not as much as I would like in regards to the actual use of it. I know enough to get myself in trouble but some of the deeper aspects like scripting the workflow, cross project reporting and sharing of recourses between projects and the OTA still elude me. A lot of my users are asking for things like this and I can’t always deliver what they want, I’m hoping that the deep dive will address some of these issues I have and help me to be a better admin.

HP_ExpertONEI’m also attempting my certification for ALM administration this year. I’m optimistic it will go well, better than last year. There is a new test provider which I feel good about as I walked away from last years tests feeling I really wasn’t given the right tests or the test I signed up for.

whyConnectI also signed up for the free membership in HP Connect. I’m not sure if it will benefit me any but I’ll check it out.

I’ve been pretty active in the HP Forums and the various QC/ALM groups on LinkedIn and I look forward to meeting some of the folks I’ve talked with. I’m curious to see if the assistance I offered helped them and to get some feed back on things I could do better on. I’m not a consultant or charge for my help, I’ve been down the road of where some of those folks are now and know how confusing or frustrating things can be. If I can offer my help and help them get through their issues that’s payment enough for me. I’m happy where I am and maybe someday I might explore the consulting side of things but I’m in no hurry.

If you’re going to be at Discover this year, look me up! I would love to talk shop with you!

What:HP Discover 2012
Learn about HP Discover 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada - June 4-7, the ultimate showcase technology event for business and IT professionals to learn, connect, and grow.
When:Monday, June 4, 2012 (all day)
Where:The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109   United States
Map picture
 
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Thursday, May 3, 2012

CNET: 10 awesome ways to use a USB flash drive http://t.co/EQW06xCE Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/CNET/status/198093398740189185 Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)