Many Users Cling To Windows XP In The Face Of Vista Problems

It is interesting to see that MS ususally comes full circle when they rollout a new OS. This happended when they went from 95-98 and 98-XP, etc. I work for a very large company that runs Microsoft as its standard desktop and we are prudently waiting for Vista to make its way into the mainstream over the next year and provide enough time for the vendors to catch up and make their equipment compatible. I have been using my home desktop with XP for seven years and do not plan on upgrading anytime soon unless forced.

According to the article, 96% of peripheral devises (mice, keyboards, etc) are compatibal with Vista as are 2000 applications. If you are interested, read more at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201200080&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

Working in IT is a challenge, more or less

I read this article about the challenges IT workers face with the constant change in technology and how it impacts our work and outlook. We are constantly looking for challenging work to keep our motivation and skills at the highest levels. The article, By John Soat InformationWeek July 14, 2007 12:00 AM (From the July 16, 2007 issue) compares IT work to lawyers, engineers and doctors where they are constantly learning new skills or methods but the underlying foundation is still the same. IT, on the other hand seems to reinvent itself everyday and you must hone your skills to remain sharp.

I thought it was interesting to see the survey results troubling IT prtofessionals around their satisfaction about their job and an astonding number of CEOs, VP, etc are unhappy with their jobs. Always trying to do more with less resources and expected to realize costs savings immediately even though their business counterparts are not focusing on the technology and business changes, etc.

I manage production support and new projects with a staff of four and support 15 customers and are challenged everyday to improve system fucntionality and processes to reduce their costs of IT but not on the business side. Go figure!

PHP tips

I thought the timing of this article was quite timely in that we are discussing PHP in class today.
It seems straight forward enough and most helpful for anyone doing this sort of work either for a career or as a side job. Unitl I become somewhat comfortable with html and Java, I will store these tips for a later date.

Every database driven Web site uses alternating row colors when displaying a list of records, a concept used all over the Internet. You've seen it used, you like it, and now you want to do it yourself. But you're not sure how to accomplish it. Well you've come to the right place. I'm going to discuss the basic idea behind achieving this and give some concrete examples demonstrating different ways to implement it.

http://www.webreference.com/programming/php_color/

Ebay to present at the SOA conference

I thought this artcile was particularly interesting in that my company is also moving in the direction of SOA. We have formaly created an Enterprise Architecture organization to advance our technology. Our internet is using the .NET platform for our internet and intranet and the focus is to move in the SOA/AJAX direction.
I am going to recommend this conference to several of our leaders within our IT organization to ensure they are aware of the specifics of presentation (best practices, challenges, etc.)

http://soa.sys-con.com/read/335193.htm

Article on Javascript Animation

To make an animation on your computer, we want to move an image in a similar way, but you do not have "frames" to work with. Instead, we have milliseconds in which we can execute commands. We can change what's on the screen every millisecond in order to create the appearance of motion. We don't have to change the screen nearly that fast, though. The human eye can only register motion at a rate of approximately 24 frames per second. Faster than that, and the brain just doesn't recognize the difference. For the ease of calculation, then, it's simple to consider an optimum image change rate or 25 frames/1000 milliseconds. That's the same as saying 1/40, or 1"frame" change every 40 milliseconds.