2008 October | Mind Of Root

I’m joined by Jesse Trucks, who is a Director of LOPSA, who wanted to give us a little bit of information as to what will be happening at the Ohio Linux Fest University, which is training held the day before the Ohio Linux Fest. One thing that did not get mentioned, along with the cost of the courses, lunch is included. :)

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Steve

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The Next Big Thing

Associations, Career, General Interest October 5th, 2008

I was called out by Jeff Hicks regarding his new meme on "The Next Big Thing" in IT. His post dealt with the increase in virtualization as hardware becomes more powerful and that the network will become the bottleneck that drive speed is now.

I’d like to diverge a bit from what I think other’s ideas and responses will be and offer my opinion on what I think "The Next Big Thing" in our industry should be.

In large part, our industry is focused around technical advancements. Whether it is software or hardware advances, we know that change is constant. I’m not going to hazard a guess as to "The Next Big Thing" in regards to technology. My contribution to this meme is my vision and hope for the IT Pro community at large.

My view of "The Next Big Thing" is the development of the IT Pro community. There are efforts to support user groups and local IT communities (examples: LOPSA and Culminis), but as Greg Shields noted in his column on The State of IT Conferences, that it appears that IT Conference attendance has dropped. Other areas of IT have not noticed this decline (particular the development community - .NET Rocks Show on Building Technical User Communities). In the development community, not only have free or low cost community events become more popular, but attendance at paid conferences is also rising.

I hope to see the increase in a sense of community in the IT Pro world. There are currently community efforts that focus on specific technologies (e.g. the PowerShell community), but I think IT Pros need to reach across technological divides and connect with other IT Pros. There are many things that IT Pros do that transcend specific technologies: task automation, user support, documentation, training, project planning, and more. Additionally, networking with IT Pros that work with different technologies will only improve one’s awareness and ability to respond to situations in their current and future work environments.

As I see it, the development of the IT Pro community can lead to several key benefits:

An increase in professional development opportunities. As local members of a community have opportunities to present on topics, they gain a better understanding of the topic and have a chance to improve their presentation skills, and the community gains from the experience of the presenter.
An opportunity to increase one’s professional network. By interacting with other members in the local, national, and international community, one can develop contacts with people with expertise in areas other than one’s own area and provide resources to draw on in unfamiliar situations.
Increased legitimacy as a profession. By belonging to a user group or professional organization, outside perception of IT Pros by management and executives will improve, as communities and professional organizations lend themselves to the development of standards of behavior and professionalism and can be self-policing of those standards.
Provides a low barrier to entry for new members of the profession. User groups and professional communities provide people new to the profession with access to experienced members, who could become mentors or advisors, as well as providing insight into the job field greater than what one might see in their current role.

I’m sure there are additional benefits to user groups and professional communities, and I am interested in your thoughts.

What do you think is "The Next Big Thing"?

Steve

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Episode 69 - Check Out Winky!

Podcast October 4th, 2008

Recorded: October 1, 2008
Your Host: Keith Albright, Steve Murawski, and Rich Niemeier
Show Length: 1:06:53

This show is sponsored by Idera; Download free tools to help manage your Windows world at Idera.com.

Links mentioned in this show:

Read the full show notes here.

Website Picks

Keith - DragonMount - website for the Robert Jordan Wheel Of Time series.

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Keith

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Hyper-V Server Now Available!!!

Servers October 1st, 2008

Microsoft has released for download the Hyper-V Server, which is just the hypervisor. From the website -

Since Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead.

This version is recommended for Server Consolidation, Test & Development, and Mixed OS Virtualization (Linux and Windows). It does not includes some of the more advanced features for Clustering or Quick Migration.

You will need an instance of Server 2008, Vista with the Hyper-V Manager MMC, or using System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Hyper-V Server is a free download and available today.

You can get it here.

Steve

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