20 Jul 2006
The Onfolio plugin makes it that much more compelling.
But visiting websites without the Firefox Adblock filtering all the crap is a shock. I’d come to take Adblock for granted. It removed so many of the distractions of using the Internet. But with IE7 all that junk just pops off the webpage.
There isn’t any truely decent alternatives to Adblock for Internet Explorer. There are quite a few want-to-be’s. Many of them are only spyware in disguise.
The one avenue that looks promising is a web browser feature that Netscape introduced a while back. It is the automatic web proxy configuration script. A bit of JavaScript that manages how the browser retrieve stuff from the web.
There have been a few cool hacks to show the potential of this approach. I figure that with a little more hacking and a bit of polish could produce a really good cross browser ad blocking tool. So now I need to find the time….
18 Jul 2006
Acronis Universal Restore system – disaster recovery plan template for Windows XP and other OS
A P2V solution?
There are tools to convert physical computer systems into virtual machines. The Acronis Universal Restore may be better because it appears to provide the flexibility to target more than one virtualization technology.
I downloaded the trial version of Acronis’ backup. It is extremely easy to use. But to use the Universal Restore that is needed to convert physical systems to virtual machines a purchased license is needed. It does look like a good value/investment. Problem is I need to budget it in with all the other needs.
17 Jul 2006
Microsoft and XenSource to Develop Interoperability for Windows Server Longhorn Virtualization: Collaboration will enable customers to virtualize Xen-enabled Linux on Windows Server.
Microsoft has had a pretty rocky relationship with the Open Source communities. But it looks like things are looking better.
VMware doesn’t like this because they are currently the market leader. But in the end I believe the end users will benefit by Microsoft’s collaboration with XenSource.
16 Jul 2006
VMware Delivers Free VMware Server
The VMware Server is out of beta. This software is a great value. It will definitely not hurt VMware market position. VMware is making some smart moves to support the market.
Couple appliances with the free player and server software to run the appliances and you begin to see why VMware is the market leader
16 Jul 2006
Mark’ s Sysinternals Blog
It looks like Mark will receive the title of “Technical Fellow”. It is well deserved. Mark is probably best known for exposing the Sony Rootkit. At Sysinternals they have created perhaps the best set a utilities for troubleshooting PC problems and released them for free!
At Microsoft it sounds like Mark will be working on MS’s virtualization technology. WOW. This stuff is really heating. Between VMware, XenSource, and Microsoft with Mark, virtual machine technology is going to be interesting in the near future.
A lot of folks are concerned that the free utilities will be a thing of the past. That would be a real shame. It is a real fear after watching the antispyware tool that Microsoft acquired. When it was first released in Beta form it was perhaps the best tool available for dealing with spyware. But over the next year it was slowly neutered. I guess some of Microsoft’s business partners (ie spyware producers) got to complaining.