Cloudy(y) computing

One of my favourite quotes is: “You’ve reached middle age when all you exercise is caution”.

I read a report recently about 2 organisations moving off their own servers to Google apps and Gmail, thereby saving huge amounts of money. Quite enticing one would think.

This was confirmed in the July issue of Information Age. In the same article it mentions there is a Gartner report endorsing cloud computing. Then the very next paragraph states that the same organisation published a report warning of the dangers of cloud computing.

I have always been quite cautious (first glimpse of my exercise regime) of external suppliers holding all our data, or intellectual property. Why? It’s unlikely they will mine it, there’s too much of it, not just ours, unless of course they have an employee who makes a business of selling our data to our competitors. Which could be the case with one of our employees anyway, so that’s no different.

No, for me it’s the cloudy-ness of the cloud, the lack of visibility. It affects corporate issues such as compliance. And risk.

There are many questions to be answered about the issues surrounding the “safe” (whatever that may mean) use of the cloud, and I believe some questions are still to be asked.

In the meantime, I’ve hit middle age on this one and I’m exercising caution for all I’m worth!

Interaction Technology reflections

Just had to reflect on some of the concepts previewed on Mozilla's site for their Aurora browser interface.

The title above cannot be reduced to IT because what I saw today of the proposed Aurora browser from Mozilla is more than just nuts and bolts.

I have only watched the first video as yet (I will watch the rest), but it has fired my imagination so.

Having been immersed in IT since 1984, I have seen quite a few changes along the way. It is maturing all the time, some areas more quickly than others. What is always gratifying is when someone takes disparate strands and ties them all together.

The browser technology previewed here promises much, not just for the lay user. It has all sorts of wider applications and draws from so many other areas. I look at the interface and I think mind maps. The interface gets more human-like, because as people, one of our distinctives is our ability to reference, see isomorphisms, make connections.

That's for me the biggest positive so far with this.

Watch and enjoy...

http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-the-concept-series-call-for-participation/

Conundrums unite

Using in-house certificates with HTC Tytan II & Exchange 2003

I had problems when our OWA certificate expired, and being the cheapskate that I am, I tried generating the certificate myself.

The house of MS has decreed that you can have your own certificate server, which seemed a little like overkill to me, but after a few abortive attempts of trying to create certificates without the CertServ, I then loaded the darn thing. The problem had to do with root certificates and the WM5 couldn't load them or my half baked attempts were not producing REAL root certs (the more likely scenario).

The upshot of all this was - no contacts on my phone, no emails and me feeling a bit lost without my security blanket - read HTC phone.

Bite the bullet time - load Certificate server, generate root certificate, all done in the phone booth - or was it a Tardis?

So, with the new improved root cert in my hot sticky little paws, I enlisted the support of my mobile phone (cell if you live outside the UK) company - it helps that I pay a monthly support charge!

They were very helpful, despite the fact we were both entering new territory. I followed their further instructions which are found below.

Upgrade the HTC to MW6.1 by registering on the HTC website and downloading the update.

http://europe.htc.com (register your device at the E-Club).

My support chappie said I should do this as:

"Whilst much of this relies upon having exchange 2007 SP1 and Windows Device Manager – it would be worthwhile doing this now as the general improvements to the push email client may resolve this."

Next set of instructions:

http://modernnomads.info/wiki/index.php?page=Copying+certificates+from+your+laptop+to+your+mobile+device

I now had a root certificate on my HTC phone and could once again synchronise my phone - I had contacts again! And emails!

Triumph for technology but of course on reflection, foot and shoot come to mind in terms of availability to the enterprise at large...