Open Source and your Bottom Line part 2

In part 1 I discussed a little history behind Open Source software and what it is. In this article I will discuss some possible choices of Operating Systems (OS) that you can implement for yourself. However for a business implementation, hiring a professional is probably the best way to get the best results. There are some instances where open source software can be difficult to configure on platforms other than Windows and there may be a learning curve to using the software. However, this really depends on the software and the operating system your using.

Most computer systems use the Microsoft Windows brand of OS. However there are a few good choices for a non-Microsoft OS such as:

Mac OS X A decent operating system with its unique way of performing day to day tasks. In the past (before OS X) it was hard to manage on a network other than a Mac network and is extremely proprietary. You must own a Mac to have Mac OS X (although there are emulators that you can use in windows). I only mention this OS because there is a small open source market for Macs and didn't want to leave them out. You can check out a sampling here to see some of the great open source software available.

Linux - Linux itself is an open source version of the UNIX operating system and created by a Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds. Linux is implemented in the form of a Distro (short for distribution). There are many versions of Linux but I will only mention a couple here that I think are easy to use and have a lot of support.

Ubuntu is in my opinion the best distro for the non-technical user that I have found. It installs almost as easy as Windows XP/Vista and supports a huge number of hardware types. There is a ton of support for Ubuntu and is still growing. There is specific software written just for Ubuntu as well. Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with most of the software that you will ever need including OpenOffice a free open source office sweet that rivals Microsoft Office. It uses FireFox web browser and has several email clients. It has video and music players, rippers, graphics and so on.

Another thing that is interesting is that you can make or purchase an Ubuntu live CD and run it on your current computer without having to install it. This gives you the chance to test drive it before you commit an asset to it.

Red Hat Linux is probably one of the more well known versions of Linux out there. It has a huge support base and is well documented. RedHat sells service with it's version of Linux. This is how they get around the issue of open source, they sell a service contract and give you the software for free. All in all this isn't a bad thing because it is a very successful OS but sits in that grey area of being truly open source.

Fedora is probably the second most well known version of Linux. Fedora is the foundation for the RedHat Linux and is a true, free open source OS. Like other versions of Linux it is supported and maintained by a large community of programmers and other contributors. The operating system itself is very stable and includes many built in or value added features.

There are many other distributions of Linux and many are also excellent candidates for use at home and the office. However, I cannot describe each and every one. If you want to see many other OS's then just follow this link here or here to see the many others available.

Linux based OS's can be found everywhere from watches to refrigerators, routers to laptops, desktops to servers. Open Source Operating Systems can be a great way to stretch your doller at home or at the office and remain just as productive or in some cases even more productive.

The next article in this series will discuss open source utilities and programs such as Office Suites, Web Browsers, Media Players and more. The Final article will include a wrap up and a do it yourself project to create an opensource media center that you can use to play Movies and TV and Music.

Part 3 coming soon.

So you think you might have a virus?

Who and What
So here it is 2009 and we still have to deal with viruses and hackers. It's funny to think that virus programming including spyware/ad-ware and Anti-virus software are still growth markets after all these years. Many people ask me why computers still get viruses and why do people make them. Well to answer the "why" question, it depends on when in computer history we refer.



From what I found, initially people created and distributed viruses just for "kicks" and bragging rights. Most were harmless pranks like popping a messages on your screen. The more attention from the AV (Anti-Virus) industry and media the more glory you got. Over time, to up the anti and become more infamous, virus programmers became more vicious. I tell people it's like young kids toilet papering a house, the more prominent the location and the size of the job gives the biggest thrill.

These days things have changed

Viruses that are destructive like Code Red, Love Letter and Chernobyl caused huge panic and cost millions of dollars. However it's the ones that you don't hear about that are the ones to worry about. These new data theft trojans are obviously about money. This is one component of virus activity also known asSpy-Ware that is very common. Some people in the tech business do not consider Spy-Ware as a virus but my definition is this: any code executed on a computer system without the knowledge of the user is a virus.

Although, the media and the people who make money on selling counter measures make it seem like identity theft is happening to you right now. The fact is that the information theft does not occur through security breaches of personal computers as one may think. To attain information from a single computer about a single person rarely yeilds enough information. It is easier to spoof an email or even dumpster dive to gain even better information. Moreover, a large source of identity theft actually occurs through large scale inside jobs or hacking of banking and other institutions that handle personal data i.e. social security and credit card numbers.

AdWare, Search engine and browser hijacking are a couple other types of common viruses. Another is a virus that virtually takes control of your computer and does the remote operators bidding. The worst part is you probably can't tell its happening. These are called "robots" or "zombies".

So how can I tell if my computer is infected?

Although there is no one sure fire way to tell if your computer is infected, the following list of methods should reveal some sort of problem. However, you may want to consider having a professional examine your system. Many will give a remote consult free of charge and others are on site and may charge a fee. Sometimes even your local cable provider (if you use their internet service) will help you for free but shop around for someone who knows what their doing.

1. The very FIRST and BEST thing you should do is to have a good and reliable Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software installed. This will obviously tell you if you are infected and is also the first thing you do to eliminate a virus. Some popular choices include:

• Webroot AV (Good, easy to use AntiVirus with built in AntiSpyware)
• BitDefender (Another good all around AV and provides network coverage)
• The Shield Deluxe (Claimed to be the best and esiest to use)
• SpyWare Doctor with AntiVirus (Good Program 3 Users for $40)
• Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Premium (Another highly rated AV)
• Avast (Good all around AV with Anti Spyware and is FREE for home use)
• AVG (A good FREE Anti-Virus) or the Pro at AVG Pro (Not Free but more features)
• Symantec (although I'm not a big fan because it falls under my bloatware category and uses significant system resources which may slow your system down, it works well)
• McAfee (Another popular choice but also heavy use of your system resources)
• Spybot Search and Destroy (This is a good FREE anti Spyware only but should be used with an AV)

This list is not in any specific order and I have only used and tested a few of these so read customer reviews and research carefully.

2. Did I mention that you should call a professional? Ok, so you still want try it on your own. First, watch your computer during boot-up and decide if it just takes a long time because you have a lot of junk installed or does it truly seem to be really slow. Click on the Start Button (Vista and Windows 7 users have the round widget thingy) and click on "run" (Vista and Windows 7 users can do this through the "SEARCH" text box). type "msconfig" in the text box and press Enter. Click on the "startup" tab and there you will see a list of programs that start when you boot your computer. If you have a large number of programs, that is a likely reason your system starts slowly. However, look to see if there are any programs that don't look familiar. If you find a few, don't panic because they may be part of a software you own. But to be on the safe side, you should contact a professional to check these unknown programs out.

3. To determine if a program is running and using a lot of system resources (RAM and CPU) open task list. To do this press the Control key (ctrl) and the Shift key (shift) and hold them down. Now while holding the others down press the Escape key (esc). This should bring up the task menu. By the way this only works in Windows 2000 and above. Look at the list and find the CPU column. now scroll up and down and see if there is a program (listed to the left) that is using more than a couple percent of CPU time. However, ignore the "System Idle Process" because that is usually high and should be 98 to 99 percent. If you find a program using a lot of CPU time, write it down and look it up in Google or some search engine. If your research shows it to be a virus, call a professional.

There are other obvious ways to tell if you have a problem with your system like "pop ups' with advertisements whether your using your internet browser or not; Strange search results; The hard drive appears to always be performing some activity. Anything out of the ordinary may or may not be a problem so I'm going to mention this again. Call a professional.

I will eventually write a very technical guide for virus and malware removal so keep looking here from time to time.

BLOATWARE! and something Amazing

So a couple of years ago I was just cruising the net and came across something I just could not believe. It was an article referring to a first person shooter that was the smallest program in the world. The article claimed it was a mere 96 kilobytes in size. Well of course I had to see this so I followed the provided link http://www.theprodukkt.com/ and came to a page that talked about a 3D programming community and something called "demoscene" that you should look at.

After reading a bit I clicked on the link to kkrieger and downloaded the file. The screen flashed the download Dialog box just briefly and it was done. "Wow, a whole 96k" I thought to myself. I was pretty sure this program probably looks like the original worfenstien or something. Man was I wrong! I was quite blown away with the rich 3D graphics and sound. I shut the program down and tried to figure out how they did it. I though maybe they were pulling content off the web during load so I shut my NIC off and ran it again. Nope, the program ran just as it should. Then I downloaded the .debris and ran it. Another awesome looking program.

So I started thinking about how they can do all of that in such a small size. Back in the day (I can say that now because I'm past the 40 mark) I wrote some code and I remember the biggest goal, besides writing good code was to make the executable as small as possible. Back then we only had 640k of actual execution space so we had no choice. However, it made programmers come up with innovative ways to produce output.

Today I look at all the software available and what they do and think to myself "does that have to be such a large executable?" In fact look at our current operating systems. The following list is of all the operating systems and their minimum RAM and disk requirements:

• Windows 95 8Megs RAM 50-55 Megabytes of hard drive space
  
• Windows 98 24 Megs RAM 165-355 "" "" ""
• Windows ME 32 Megs RAM 320+ "" "" ""
• Windows 2000 64 Megs RAM 650+ "" "" ""
• Windows XP 128 Megs RAM ~1.5 Gigabytes of hard drive space
• Windows Vista 512 Megs RAM ~5 "" "" ""
• Windows 7 1 Gigabyte RAM ~6 "" "" ""

Now at first glance the size of the operating system code seems exponential but it may be somewhat less than that because each version added more and more hardware driver support and other non essentials. Still, the operating system core code is becoming more and more complicated and in my opinion the reason why the OS's are so vulnerable to problems.

Again, when I learned how to write code it was always Keep It Simple Stupid and smaller is better. However, it is true that the demand for OS's to do more and perform incredible feats has driven all that code that make up an operating system. But I also think that code writers (programmers) these days are tasked to put out as many lines of code as fast as they can. This leads to sloppy programming and loose code as apposed to elegant, small and simple code.

So my point is that software including operating systems can be written well if the time is taken. But as the old adage goes "time is money" and as long as software is written to produce quantity not quality we will continue to see bloat and incur complexity and security issues. To drive the point a little further, look at the Open Source community. Most of the contributing programmers tend to write elegant and tight code because it isn't a solely profit driven industry.

Open Source and your Bottom Line PART 1

A little history can't hurt



Ahhhh.....the age old question "proprietary vs. Open Source". It's hard to believe that Linux has been around since 1991 when Linus Torvalds created it out of his dislike of windows and DOS and his fascination with UNIX. But, even before the creation of Linux, a new generation of software and collaboration called "Open Source" had emerged.

Open Source software has been around long before Linux (To read more click here or here). But it wasn't until the Internet became widespread and the GNU/Linux movement in the early 90's that open source gained momentum and began spreading to mainstream usage. Up to that point and even some time after, Open Source was an underground movement (at least on a corporate level) and few people new about or had access to it.


One of the key successes of Open Source software is the fact that it's "source code", the programming language that the software is made up of is free to use and free to manipulate, change and copy. Notice I did not say "free to own" because in understanding the GPL (General Public License) you will realize that the software belongs to everyone and no one. What this also allows is several programmers or even whole programming communities to collaborate on a project from all over the world and constantly improve upon it. The bottom line here is a constantly evolving and maturing product.


Now you're wondering why anyone would spend hours and hours building software that they give away. Well I'd have to say there are many reasons. first, as you explore open source software certain things are not free. Some software is built as a platform or base product and a group or organization will sell you an easy way to work with that platform. Others (And this is true of the many corporate versions of Linux) will sell you technical support and value added services to go along with the free software. However, if you talk to a programmer that writes code for open source projects you will find it is for the challenge, love, thrill, accomplishment and even just sticking it to the big boys (Microsoft). Continued in part 2

HELLO WORLD!

So here it is my first entry in my blog.  I could say this is a historic event but nah…only I care.  In fact I’m having “writers block” right now, right at this moment.  I can’t think of a single thing to say except to complain about my writers block.

OK seriously now.   My profession is, and what you might consider a Technology Generalist.  That’s basically akin to a medical general practitioner but I work in the information technology field.  I have been in the field a long time.  So long in fact the cows know me…Ok that was stupid.  Anyhow, I’ve been working in IT for more than 20 Years.

Why a generalist and not a specialist?  Well the short answer is that I had little choice.  And why didn’t I have a choice?  Because to survive, I had to constantly learn new things in different fields of technology.  Most know what a specialist is and you could consider me a computer hardware specialist.  But then that leaves out all of the other great skills I have.    Back in the late 80’s I started out writing code in QBasic (Quick Basic) and Visual Basic.  My first gig was writing scheduling and inventory software for a real estate company I was working for.  Then I moved into the world of “C” and didn’t like it that much.

Then I started getting the “oh you know about computers” comments and “my computer is doing this and I can’t fix it...can YOU fix it?”  After I fixed a couple computers word spread around the office and soon around the local real estate crowd.  So began my computer repair career.  I still wrote software from time to time but never made a lot of money from it so I stuck with the repair work.  I began to work on larger and larger systems moving from basic hardware to Windows networking to Servers and Workstations.

Since then I have directed a service and training center, owned a service and training center and provided traing and consulting services to many many indeviduals and companies.  You can check out my web site at www.technopeer.com.

I’m not going to bore you anymore with those kinds of details but just thought you might like to know.  Of course being my first blog entry, it will soon be buried in the blog archives.