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ZDNet Author Biography: Originally a Math/Physics graduate who couldn't cut it in his own field, Paul Murphy a pseudonym became an IT consultant specializing in Unix and related technologies after a stint working for a DARPA contractor programming in Fortran and APL. Since then he's worked in both systems management and...; more about Paul Murphy »

ZDNet Resources

From Chapter one: Data Processing and the IBM Mainframe: This is a purely text based tour of a data processing center - note the acronyms used to distance staff from users and the heavy reliance on secrecy and sharp job boundaries. by Paul Murphy; Tags: IBM Mainframe, Data Center, Data-processing, IBM Corp., Mainframes, Data Centers, Servers, Hardware, Storage, Data Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-25
DTrace and the Linux bunker mentality: Why isn't the Linux kernel group doing what the BSD people did with respect to DTrace: seeing a better idea and grabbing it with both hands? My guess is personal antipathies expressed as a big dose of not invented here syndrome. by Paul Murphy; Tags: DTrace, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-24
How to lose customers by not even trying: "The easiest way to lose a customer? make it clear you don't care about that customer." Tired old wisdom, right? Sure, but checkout how this applies to webstores - and understand the message poorly thought out webstores send customers. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Avis Rent A Car System Inc., Hertz Corp., Sun Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Scripting Languages, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Operating Systems, UNIX, Web Browsers, Servers, Software, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Internet, Hardware, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-23
Apache's open source governance model: Want to know why Apache works so well? There are many partial answers, but an important one is that they do what I suggested yesterday: push control out the edges while centralizing only support services. They call it a meritocracy, I call it a big part of the right answer....; Tags: Software, Apache Software Foundation, Server, Open Source, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-22
If sameness is a recipe for losing, how do you win?: An organizational structure is all about command and control of subunits - manufacturing, engineering, sales, whatever. Within each such sub-unit IT use will have co-evolved with what they do, and be correspondingly difficult and dangerous to change. The system you use to tie it all together tends, however, to be...; Tags: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Information Technology, Competitive Advantage, Strategy, Manufacturing, Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-21

The iPhone meets Journalism: If you read general coverage of Apple's new G3 iPhone you'll soon discover either that it's perfection incarnate or the worst excuse for a cheap handset anyone's ever foisted on an unsuspecting world. Balance is not a feature -of the coverage - and you'd never know, from "journalistic" reports that...; Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-19
From Chapter one: Data Processing and the IBM Mainframe: The controls that developed around the 360 environment were all predicated on the primary concerns expressed by Finance management: that nothing interrupt processing critical to Finance. Thus virtually all of them derive from, or are subsidiary to, the service level agreement. by Paul Murphy; Tags: SLA, IBM Mainframe, Data Center, Mainframe, Data-processing, IBM Corp., CoBiT Framework, CoBiT, Systems Documentation, Disaster Plan, Data Centers, Service Level Management, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, It Operations, It service Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-18
Dreams come true: network guy holds city hostage: What inquiring minds want to know about the Terry Childs business is How? How did a network guy earn $149,269 a year - and how could he have locked the city out of its own system so effectively that remediation is going to cost millions without bringing that system down?...; Tags: Computer Network, Network, Payroll, Computer, Productivity, Payroll Solutions, Operational Accounting, Networking, Finance, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-17
Sun's ZFS/Flash initiative: Sun's forthcoming ZFS/Flash products will be interesting enough, and important enough, that most companies will be justified in exploring the technology a bit and perhaps experimenting with it ahead of time using a ramdisk to emulate the flash components. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Disk, Sun Microsystems Inc., Backup, Memory, ZFS, Storage Hierarchy, Storage, Databases, Hardware, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-15
Do problems with Wikipedia presage social networking's end?: Wikipedia's mission is to provide objective information for all - but even a cursory examination of subjects ranging from the hotly political global warming to the nearly apolitical CPU Architectures show that it simply isn't meeting its mandate. So why not? and what does this tell us about other...; Tags: Social Networking, Network, Global Warming, Wikipedia, Kim Dabelstein Petersen, Connolley, Wiki, Online Communications, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-15
In the information age, IT innovation means everything: As businesses become more competitive the opportunities associated with IT innovation become increasingly important. Software innovation is risky, of course, but the bottom line's simple: enough people trying this will win to ensure that stagnation - staying with the same people, the same ideas, the same software, and the same...; Tags: Innovation, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, Strategy, Leadership, Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-14
From stunned outrage to stunned laughter in two seconds: Or how a guy bragging about forging press passes for American Presidential events casually admits he was slowed .... by WIndows crashes and backup failures. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Template, E-mail, Microsoft Windows, Backups, Online Communications, Operating Systems, Software, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-12
From Chapter one: Data Processing and the IBM Mainframe: "Information engineering." had nothing to do with engineering, but tried to use the PC to draw, store, and link models of complex applications and auto-generate some of the COBOL code needed to implement the models using database products like IMS. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Job, IBM Mainframe, Data, Data-processing, IBM IMS, IBM Corp., Research & Development, Recruitment & Selection, Mainframes, Development Tools, Business Operations, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Servers, Hardware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-11
Reasons to buy a Mac: The bottom line on switching to the Mac is simple: dual boot options and parallels are a con - if these figure in your decision, than your decision is probably wrong. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Dual Boot, Apple Macintosh, Apple MacBook, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple Mac OS, Operating Systems, Desktops, Open Source, Software, Hardware, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-10
Harry Potter and the da Vinci book of Sudoku: The really weird part about a title combining Harry Potter with Da Vinci and Suduko is that there's an open source context in which the linkage makes some sense - but only in part - and that's an open source alternative success too. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Google Inc., Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Title, Blogging, Open Source, Internet, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-09
IT success stories: Linkedin's web infrastructure seems to offer a model for mid range sites: it's fast, it's clean - and development seems to have been based on combining the best of open source products with minimal customization. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Customer Service, Information Technology, Success Story, Sun Solaris, Product Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Open Source, Databases, Operating Systems, Software, Marketing, Enterprise Software, Data Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-08
An IT productivity horror story: This is a story based on extrapolation from hear say where all the questions are unanswered: is a user rebellion against excessive automation coming? is there an economic national accounts consequence to this? how about a business cost? by Paul Murphy; Tags: Information Technology, Story, Carrier, Insurance, Financial Planning, Data Centers, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-07
Internet abuse and Cloud Computing: A recent uproar in the right wing blogosphere about the shutdown of anti-Obama sites on blogger.com has some serious implications for those considering cloud computing. What seems to have happened there was a simple, if pernicious, denial of service attack carried out for political reasons - but there's not much...; Tags: Google Inc., Cloud Computing, Blog, Blogging, Internet, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-05
Helpdesks and productivity: Getting rid of the PC reduces ambiguity in the system, thereby letting you eliminate the help desk and thus lowers your IT costs while increasing user productivity. by Paul Murphy; Tags: PC, Usage Habituation, Help Desk, Call Centers, It Operations, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-03
Costing Sun Ray vs Wintel: If you compare the capital cost of a Wintel server and desktop architecture using Dell gear with 22" screens to that of a redundant SPARC/Sun Ray system with 24" screens, the Sun system comes in about $200,000 cheaper for 1,000 users. by Paul Murphy; Tags: Desktop, Wintel, Dell Computer Corp., Staffing, Sun Microsystems Inc., Difference, Sun Ray, Servers, Hardware, Paul Murphy; Blog posts 2008-07-02