A Moment To Remember
Before I get started on what I hope is a light-hearted look at the news, we
should all pause to remember the tragedy of Sept. 11.
I was at NetWorld+Interop in Atlanta, right across from the CNN Center. The
hall was filled with thousands of people, and with planes still in the air,
we thought it best to go to a restaurant, bar or back to our hotels.
Two days later, I drove past New York around midnight. The smoke was still
billowing and a creepy, metallic smell had drifted as far north as the George
Washington Bridge.
I'd like to hear where you were and what your thoughts are six years later.
Write me at [email protected].
An Easy Patch Tuesday
Tomorrow, Microsoft is expected to go easy on IT workers, releasing a scant
four patches.
Even better, there's only one critical patch which involves remote execution
of code, and can apparently be fixed rather easily with a simple reboot of the
Baseline Security Analyzer.
The Long, Hard Slog to 64-Bits
I love software -- when it works! -- and have been covering it nonstop for over
two decades. (It seemed to crash less 20 years ago -- except for the Amiga,
of course.) Hardware, to me, was always a bit boring. I mean, a Pentium or Itanium
can't do anything without software.
And during all of those 20 years, desktop hardware -- as much of a snooze as
I find it to be -- has vastly outstripped software. The only exceptions I can
think of are the old Amigas -- which fully exploited the Motorola 68000 processor
and a host of dedicated sound and graphics chips -- and video game systems,
which likewise push multiple processors to the max.
So here we are, in 2007, years after 64-bit processors became commonplace...largely
running 32-bit apps. Our own Keith Ward looked
into the situation and has good news, in the form of 64-bits becoming more
entrenched for server apps, and bad news in that we'll probably be running 32-bit
PC apps on 64-bit PC gear for years to come.
The Amiga Is Back
I've never hidden my love for the Amiga computer. It's the only machine I've
ever formed a personal bond with. The machine is largely gone now (though a
dedicated group of fans have kept the OS alive), but its games aren't.
Amiga, a company born out of the ashes of Commodore, is shipping a whole
heap of old Amiga games ported to Windows. The best news of all: They cost
less than five bucks each!
I'm still waiting to see if they port Lemmings!
Time To Ask for a Raise
For the third year running, IT salaries have gone up. If you're still making
the same cha-ching as you did in 2004, it may be time for a little heart-to-heart
with the old boss.
If he says no, you might want to show him a copy of Redmond magazine's
latest salary survey, which is summarized here.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.