Mac Training: Support Essential Day 1

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Dean

The Mac desktop training commenced yesterday and all I can say is that it is full on. The day was go go go from 9:00pm through to 4:30pm with only a 30 minute lunch break. The day consisted of installation and user management from the desktop only. There was a brief introduction to shell scripting, applescript and using Automator. Based on day 1 I would advise anyone thinking of sitting the course prepare for three full on days. Day 2 commences in 30 minutes, looking forward to looking at the guts of Mac OS X further.

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I’m a Prophet

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Dean

About 3 months ago I was made aware of one of my clients that was planning to make the decision to update their corporate fleet to Microsoft Windows 7. Great move, however other applications also need review before a properly managed environment can be attained. Within my Threat Management realm that was tied down to Symantec Anti Virus Corporate Edition 10.x (SAVCE).

When I was alerted to the clients wishes to look into Windows 7 the premise was that they were only looking at it for suitability with their client managed application set. I mentioned quite strongly that SAVCE was an superceded product and offered no support for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Begrudgingly though I gave them an unmanaged client for Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) so that the client could continue on their way.

Knowing what was coming I scoped a SEP solution and submitted it for approval in the vain hope that we could have a managed environment ready for the production rollout. However, the project was not approved, yet the Windows 7 rollout has been performed on 140+ laptops running a standalone SEP client with no ability to manage or report upon the solution health or effectiveness.

So I immediately resubmitted the exact design to the powers that be. Now the project is being resubmitted, unfortunately we will now be under pressure to implement retrospectively quickly and not proactively as I had hoped, and thus prophecy fulfilled.

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#CityRail Fail: Communication

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Dean

Last evening CityRail demonstrated their ability to communicate with its clients yet again. I arrived at platform 14 at 16:20 for the train departing at 17:12. Not surprisingly I was the first there, so I took a seat on the platform. For the next 20 minutes I was told of trains leaving for far flung destinations on other platforms. Pointless information for me, but no doubt someone cared, perhaps the high schoolers making out on the platform, though I suspect they were enjoying the deserted platform more than the announcements.

Anyway, generally the train arrives within 20 – 30 minutes and I would board before anyone else arrives. This occasion in true CityRail consistentcy would be different.

After 40 minutes there was still no sign of thee train and a crowd of 100 people had arrived at the platform. The speakers were silent and the crowd left pondering about what was going on.

At that time a CityRail employee appeared handing out information on the new timetable. She handed her book to the 3 others on the bank of seats and completely ignored me. She toddled off and annoyed the remaining patrons. On her way back she finally handed me a booklet.

Upon reading there is SFA changing for my trip. However, CityRail state that we will continue to receive the same service levels as now. This translates to the same inconsistent and unreliable mess the CityRail experience is for an Illawarra line customer.

After the timetable pixie disappeared the train was still not to be seen and the speaker system silent. At this point I abandoned my seat and head up toward where the front of the train should be. On the way to that position I heard comments about us passengers being treated like mushrooms, rather being told what was going on.

A train then appeared and stopped to wait for tracks to be switched. The train though did not seem bound for our platform. At this point the allottef service driver turned to me and said “It’s not looking good”. Low and behold that train was ours and eventually arrived at 17:12 the scheduled depature time. Thankfully we were in motion by 17:14.

Today the same train was listed as coming in on Platform 12. That is unusual, but not the first time I have seen it. After going to Krispy Kreme’s and purchasing a pie for lunch I checked the board. It was then listed as arriving on the usual platform 14. I casually wandered to down to the end of the platform and took a seat. No sooner had I taken my pie out of the paper bag than the train arrived some 40 minutes early.

So CityRail are exceeding at being consistently erratic. The new timetable offers no improvement. I wonder if a ballsy government willing to build infrastructure and reform CityRail operations can, my fear is that in reality there is no such thing as a ballsy government.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Dean

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#AusVotes … Limbo Results!

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Dean

The limbo has continued today. At one point the ABC had the ALP with 72 seats and the LNP with 69 (3:36pm). That figure continues to vary regularly throughout the day. There are five seats still marked as too close to call, however the projections have been consistent with each side falling short of an absolute majority with 73 seats each.

Whilst Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott both debate whether primary of two party preferred counts as a negotiation point I think we should move forward (sorry) from that insane debate and examine what this mean for Australia?

What it means simply is that the 1 Green and 3 Independent MP’s all of a sudden become the most powerful Australians within current society. Deals will need to be cut between the major parties and the smaller, usually insignificant, MP’s. This is a good thing as real negotiations will need to occur and the electorates generally forgotten by successive governments will finally receive attention. In terms of who goes where is an interesting one.

The Greens MP, Adam Bandt, would logically side with the ALP as they are further left than the LNP. Further, policies such as the NBN are common to both the ALP and the Greens. The good news is that the proposed internet filter/censor would likely be ditched under such negotiations. Noises to date indicate that this allegiance is the most likely outcome, however there are no guarantees.

The 3 independents though are probably even more important. These 3 MP’s are all from regional Australia and all were previously associated with the conservative side of the fence. All though have valid can varying reasons to why those allegiances are in the past. This was very evident on election night with the stouch between Barnaby Joyce and Tony Windsor. Further evidence suggests that Bob Katter and Barnaby Joyce have a similar distaste for one another. Clearly their past conservative allegiances do not mean that they will automatically side with the LNP. Negotiations with Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are likely to see vast improvements for regional Australia, primarily in the electorates they represent. However, I get the feeling that all three see their importance as an opportunity to bring regional matters to the forefront.

There is also the new Independent National Party MP, Tony Crook. Mr Crook has just ousted seemingly perennial representative (and known loose cannon) Wilson Tuckey from the seat of O’Connor in Western Australia. Mr Crook has been hasty to let it known that he does consider himself allied to the LNP, rather as another crossbencher. Mr Crook has reportedly put his support on auction with a price tag of $850 million for regional Australia. Not sure if Mr Crook’s approach is the best long-term approach for his constituents, but it does make his position on the matter clear.

Regardles, what is clear is that the combination of the gang of four regional MP’s that are not strictly aligned with the LNP are going to ensure Australia pays attention to the needs of regional Australia. Not a bad thing by any measure, the bush is often neglected.

It will be very interesting to see what the LNP and ALP offer in order to secure the support of these MP’s in order to form a government. The LNP ofcourse have the conservative moral ground and are traditionally strong in encouraging exports. Typically these tie in with the goals of regional Australia, they also have the position on the mining super profits tax, that is it will be scrapped. Again a strong concern for Regional Australia. Other issues though remain.

Clearly telecommunications is going to play a large part within these electorate. Of all the candidates that were interviewed on election night it was these three that had to communicate with the nation by crackly telephone lines with a still picture on screen. It was a throw back to the early 80′s, with the only thing missing the presence of the bakelite phones with ring dials. Telstra has never served these areas particularly well, and never will as new infrastructure is not seen as instantly commercially viable for the TelCo with its goals defined by short to medium term success, not in the longer term gain. Should the TelCo be forced into servicing these area and taking the hit? In my opinion no, but this goes back to when Telstra was privatised. The public should have retained ownership of the infrastructure and leased capacity to Telstra and any other player, in much the same way that the national broadband network is modelled.

Reportedly Bob Katter would like to see more made of ethanol fuels and Rob Oakshott wants an emissions trading scheme (ETS). Though Kevin Rudd fell short on environmental matters both of these are more likely to play to the ALP side than the LNP. Especially when you consider that there are severe question marks on whether Tony Abbott:

  1. Accepts the scientific studies that clearly demonstrate global warming exists.
  2. Believes oil supplies are not finite as evidenced in the leaders forum.

Like him or hate him, he floundered badly here. Ethanol deserves a great deal of attention and could be a good alternative fuel source with appropriate research. It of course will also give the sugar farmers another market for their product.

I will finish with a prediction that we will be back at the polls in the next 6 to 18 months. Whichever side forms government will then try and put runs on the board quickly and try to win an absolute majority. If it is the LNP we will be back to the polls sooner than the ALP who will need more time for the electorate to forget the mess of the first term and the shocker of a campaign. Interesting and nervous times remain.

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