It's Time for a Change...

My first post on this blog was back in December 2007.  It's been my release, my therapy, and my toy ever since.   It's been there when my life when very bad, and very good.  But, after seven (7) years of waiting for Google to add some much-needed tools to Blogger, I've finally had to accept the fact that they're not listening.

Blogging just isn't on the Google radar anymore it seems, at least not for little independent blabber-mouths like myself.  Therefore, finally giving in to what many other bloggers have suggested I do long ago: I'm moving my blog to Wordpress.  Wordpress seems to be interested in keeping the blog idea alive and evolving.  I hope this doesn't upset or inconvenience anyone, but hopefully you'll continue reading my stuff.  Thank you!

http://skatterbrainz.wordpress.com

:)

About My Other Blog: Scriptzilla

I've been so "head-down" into multiple projects, work life, home life, no life, that I haven't really put any effort into my other techie-centric blog: "Scriptzilla".  It's worth noting that there are other web sites and products using that name, but I am only affiliated with the one mentioned/linked herein.

I will be putting more work into the Scriptzilla blog as a means for offloading tons and tons of script code I've amassed over the past 30 years in I've spent in IT.  Some of it will be mundane, common stuff, which is very similar to what could be found in a Google search.  Some of it will be very unique and uncommon.  And some will just be somewhere in the middle.  But it will be.

Skatterbrainz Top Blog Posts of 2012

I'm taking a tip from the awesome Mr. Jeffery Hicks, (okay, "taking a tip" is code for "i'm being a copycat") and decided to pull a report of the Top 10 posts on my blog site (for January 2012 to December 2012), in order of most-visited to least-visited.  Call it vanity.  Call it shameless self-indulgence.  Call being a typical American.  Just don't call me Shirley.

Interesting side note: Google rolled their Analytics engine into Blogger a while back, which was a nice improvement.  Except that they dropped a few features during the "upgrade", such as the ability to drag a custom date window on the timeline to filter report results, and the preset option for "Past Year".  I've submitted feedback to ask if they might restore those features.  I'll keep you posted.  And now, on to the show...

Top Ten (10) Most-Visited Posts of 2012:

[1] Windows 8: Scoring My Predictable Predictions:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/windows-8-scoring-my-predictable.html

[2] Windows 8: What I Think About It:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/03/windows-8-what-i-think-about-it.html

[3] Windows 8 on TechNet Not So Great for TechEd Folks:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/08/windows-8-on-technet-not-so-great-for.html

[4] Blog News and Updates:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-news-and-updates.html

[5] Deploy Windows 8 Start Tiles Using Group Policy Preferences:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/11/deploy-windows-8-start-tiles-using.html

[6] Books and More Books and More...
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/books-and-more-books-and-more.html

[7] Merry Christmas! A Few Holiday Thoughts to Share:
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/merry-christmas-few-holiday-thoughts-to.html

[8] Another Book Announcement
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/another-book-announcement.html

[9] Dear CEO's: Be Careful with that Cloud PR Stuff
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/dear-ceos-be-careful-with-that-cloud-pr.html

[10] I Feel That a Feel-Good Feeling Feels Pretty Good
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-feel-that-feel-good-feeling-feels.html

Top Five (5) Visited Posts Since 2008 (aka "All Time"):

[1] Enabling Windows 7 Remote Management via Group Policy (2009)
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2009/08/enabling-windows-7-remote-management.html

[2] Windows 7, MSG.EXE and Group Policy Preferences (2010)
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2010/04/windows-7-msgexe-and-group-policy.html

[3] What Does the AutoCAD "PURGE" Command Do? (2010)
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-does-autocad-command-do.html

[4] Packaging and Deploying Autodesk 2011 Products with Configuration Manager 2007 (2010)
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2010/08/packaging-deployment-autodesk-2011.html

[5] Using PowerShell with Microsoft Access Databases (2009)
http://skatterbrainz.blogspot.com/2009/05/using-powershell-with-ms-access.html

Who is Ralph Grabowski? And Why CAD Pro's Should Read His Stuff

Ralph Grabowski has been writing about the world of engineering-related and design-related software for quite a long time.  And that world has continued to grow and evolve without slowing down.

When I started working in the "design" field, it was 1984.  The predominant technology of the time was a wooden board covered with a plastic-film graph paper, a cable-mounted "drafting machine", and a stack of stencils and templates.  The medium was one of the following:  Tracing paper, Sepia, or Mylar.  The instrumentation was usually a mechanical pencil with either an H-series graphite lead, or (more often) plastic "lead" of either E0, or E1 grade.

In 1985 that relatively arcane world started to fade away at a steady pace, and a new breed of computers and software began taking its place.  First were the mainframe systems, like Autotrol and CADAM.  Then came a few more, like Computervision, UniGraphics, Pro/Engineer, and Intergraph.  Then wallets started to evaporate.  The cost for mainframe, and later the more compact "workstation" packages, was astronomical. As in: you'd need an observatory telescope to see the end of the price tag.  It was scary.

Renegade companies, with dreams of producing cheaper alternatives on the newer (and more affordable) MS-DOS PC-platform, started springing up, with names like GenericCAD, DesignCAD, Autodesk, FastCAD, Drafix, This-CAD and That-CAD, and too many others to recall now.  Some survived for a while, some died out, and a few remained and exist to this day.  And through a big portion of this timeline, most of it actually, there have been a few journalists who've tried to get a handle on just what this "CAD/CAM" and "CAD/CAM/CAE" stuff was all about, and more importantly: Where it was all going.

One of them has been, and still is, Ralph Grabowski.  His newsletter, upFront.eZine, has been cranking out in-depth reviews, interviews, news, and events for as long as I can remember.  A mix of web-content and e-mailed content, it is an enormously valuable resource for engineers, designers, managers, software developers, start-up visionaries, and anyone just plain curious about this unique segment of the technology world.

Although my personal and professional involvement with the design world somewhat ended a few years back, I'm still tied to parts of it by way of my role as an IT consultant.  I still package and deploy CAD products for various environments, and I still get called in to consult and work with FlexLM and FlexNet implementations.  For that reason alone, I still read the upFront.eZine newsletter to stay current with what's going on.

For continuing to push forward and keep us all clued-in:  Thank you Ralph!

Dear CEO's: Be Careful with that Cloud PR Stuff

Jimmy Bergmark posted an interesting item on Google Plus about some quotes from Autodesk CEO Carl Bass regarding the future of Cloud services.  The quotes were posted on Ralph Grabowski's World CAD Access web site...

"There are a lot of applications that will [still] be done on the desktop. Whether Autodesk does it or not, I can't think of a single function that won't necessarily be done in the cloud." - Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk

As Jimmy commented...

Asked whether there was some resistance by Autodesk users to make the move as fast as the company is making the switch he said that people are already living in the cloud with their personal applications and that there are somewhat different issues for them.

"Foremost in people's mind is security, privacy, reliability, confidential information. Some of those concerns will fall by the wayside."

Here's the rub I have with folks like Carl (not with Jimmy, he's a genius):  When it comes to Public Relations (aka "PR") these guys are making a HUUUUUUUUUUGE mistake and it is already having a detrimental impact on their business.  Let me itemize, if I may...

1. Understand the difference between a PUBLIC Cloud and a PRIVATE Cloud!
   
   I'm not going to spoon-feed you here.  That's what Google and Bing are for.  But, when the CEO doesn't understand how f***ing important this distinction really is, how can anyone beneath them fully grasp the importance of it as well?
   
2. Be prepared to explain that difference to your customers
   
   Every single time a CEO/CIO/CTO/CxO opens their mouth and says with a smile "We're going to the cloud!  Come along with us!" it scares the living shit out of their customers.  Why?  Because they translate that directly into the following:
   
   A. The products are moving into a Public Cloud platform
   B. Customer data is going to move into someone else's sandbox
   C. Customers will lose at some control (possibly even intellectual property rights) over their content
   D. More points of failure will be inserted between the Cloud point and the customer point
   E. The more points inserted in the middle, the more likely potentially interrupting business operations
   
   Rather than saying "Cloud", make damned sure you elaborate on what your vision and execution plans are for both Cloud types.  Reassure your skiddish customers that they will have an option to retain all the control over their operations and content that they currently have, while having the additional (potential) benefit of leveraging the Public Cloud for (possible) cost savings.
   
3. Make SURE your products are fully-aligned with both Cloud platforms
   
   A lot of products are being shoe-horned and relabeled to become "Cloud" products/services.  IT administrators and power users can smell that a mile away.  Don't assume your customers are idiots, that's a dangerous place to go.  This is especially true for larger customers (enterprise-level corporate shops, the kind that tend to buy subscription pricing contracts to leverage volume discounts).
   
   If you (Mr./Ms. CEO) are sincere about pursuing Cloud services, on both Public and Private environments, break out your cattle prod and put the fear of God into your chain of command to insure they design, and execute, a strategy that natively works in a real Cloud environment on both environments (public and private).
   
   If you really don't intend to support Private clouds, don't fake it.  But also be prepared for a tougher hill to climb when it comes to winning over big-shop customers.

I'm sure all the CEO's of the world read my blog and will take this to heart.  So by the time you've read this, all will be corrected and working fine.

P.S.  Follow Jimmy Bergmark at JTB World.  Follow Ralph Grabowski at UpFront eZine, and World CAD Access

Writing for 4Sysops.com

I may have mentioned it before, but I've accepted an offer to write articles for 4Sysops.com.  So far, I've submitted two multi-part articles:

• SCCM Right-Click Tools - Part 1
• SCCM Right-Click Tools - Part 2
• SCCM Right-Click Tools - Part 3
• Configuration Manager - The Evolution of Security - Part 1 (coming soon)
• Configuration Manager - The Evolution of Security - Part 2 (coming soon)

You may be wondering (all three of you who read my blog) what impact this may have on this blog.  Or maybe that question never crossed your mind.  That's ok, I'll pretend you were wondering about this and I will pretend to address your pretend concerns.  Mmmkay? :)

First, I will continue to post things here on this blog.  Things I find interesting and, hopefully, you find interesting as well.  I will at least shoot for "peculiar" if I can't attain "interesting", but either way, I will do my best to entertain whilst shoveling loads of techno-babble into your eyeballs.

Second, 4Sysops.com will get first dibs on upcoming topics.  That way I don't create any conflicts with our agreement.  Contracts matter, after all.  Most of what I submit to 4Sysops.com will be purely technical in nature.  Most of what I post here will be a mix of technical and philosophy, with a pinch of stale humor thrown in.

Third, I really don't have a third.  But I will try to avoid confusing readers and do my best to cross-reference things so it doesn't become a chore to access content on either site.  I hope this works for everyone.  After all, trying to please everyone always works well.

Pre-Announcement of a Pre-Announcements

This is just a placeholder for an announcement coming this Sunday.  It will involve a "book promotion" for one of my AutoCAD-related books.

Blog News and Updates!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything mildly interesting here (even if you include the article I just posted before this).  But I have an announcement to make...

I've accepted an offer to write for 4Sysops.com!

I will post an update here when my first article is published, so please stay tuned.  I'm putting a lot of time into it, so I hope you find them useful and entertaining (yeah, I will still insert my stupid humor where I can).

Blog Changes - Pardon the Frustration

I've found the "dynamic" templates on Blogger to be less than ideal, so I'm trying on different template themes and options to see what works best for various browsers, connection speeds and mobile devices.  Please pardon the interruption and frustration as I figure this out?  Thank you!

Why So Quiet?

I know I was going to "retire", and then I was convinced not to, and then I said I was going to tone down my volume of posts, and well, I have.  But lately I've been more quiet than I expected.  Mostly because I'm really buried in several projects and dealing with personal matters.  Nothing bad, just busy as hell.  I promise I'll post something interesting as soon as I come up for air.

SxSWi Article

During my brain drain hiatus I've been working, reading, and absorbing things to keep my one-celled brain busy.  Here's a really good article by Josette Rigsby on the future of mobile development as it permeated SXSW this year:  http://www.silverstripe.org/predicting-the-future-of-mobile-development-at-sxswi/

Time to Give Props

With the ever-expanding volume and breadth of information on the Internet today, it's easy to focus on my own thoughts, experiences, ideas, etc.  But I need to give credit to some very worthy people, who's blogs I read daily (RSS feeds are awesome!).  While I'm nowhere near as widely followed as these folks are, I can still shine a light for those that haven't yet discovered their work.  Please check them out as often as you can...

Jimmy Bergmark - JTB World

Jimmy's site covers a lot of topics surrounding the world of Autodesk technologies, as well as FlexLM and FlexNet management.  Tips, tricks, articles, and detailed discussions of a wide range of topics.

Rod Trent - MyITForum

Rod's site is a community actually.  It benefits from a large collective of brilliant people that cover a wide range of Microsoft-oriented infrastructure management.  From System Center products, to Windows Server, to scripting and more.

Johan Arwidmark - Deployment Research

Johan, and his colleague Mikael Nystrom, are two of the most renown people in the world of Windows operating system provisioning.  They focus most on MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit), Configuration Manager OSD, but also on WAIK and advanced tools and topics like DISM, IMAGEX, and much more.  If you work with imaging and desktop/server deployments, you ABSOLUTELY need to check out these guys.

Ralph Grabowski - UpFront E-Zine / WorldCAD Access

For years, Ralph has done an amazing job of delving into the technical and business sides of the engineering and design software world.  He balances both with incredible skill, and without leaving either side in the cold.  One of the most beneficial aspects of his work is that he doesn't favor one vendor or one business model, but strives to remain objective and provide an unbiased view, even when tossing in his own thoughts at the very end.  If you work with CAD/CAM/CAE products or services, you need to read his stuff.

Joe Wilcox - BetaNews

Joe has been around the technology journalism world for a long time.  He has been at BetaNews for a few years and already made his mark with hard-edged articles on current topics that inspire a lot of discussion and debate.  Whether you like the products or vendors he writes about, or not, you will be entertained and enlightened by his writing I'm sure.

Scott Hanselman - Blog

While some might dismiss Scott's work due to being a Microsoft employee, you'd be sadly mistaken and cheating yourself out of some fantastic articles and incredible ideas surrounding software development trends.  Indeed, most of his topics reach far beyond Microsoft or Windows platform issues.  If you like programming in any capacity, check out his blog and see for yourself.

Daniel Petri - Blog

Daniel's site has been around for years, and has grown and amassed an incredible library of articles on almost everything related to Microsoft products, Cisco, Citrix, and VMware, among others.  More recently, he has enlisted more guest writers to help fill out the content and the results are amazing.  If you haven't visited the site, you should.

AppDeploy

If you do ANY work with automating the installation of software, like I do every day, this is a MUST web site to bookmark.  In particular, check out the Package KB library.  Even though it was acquired by Kace, and then by Dell, it's maintained it's original purpose and quality.  I highly recommend it.

I may follow-up with more links in case I forgot any (I'm sure I did).

The Next Milestone

I finally got word that the project I've been supporting will end February 24th.  I'm not sure what I'll do with respect to putting this sick dog down, again, or when.  So I thought I'd put this up for a vote:

If I get at least 10 responses in favor of keeping this blog active, I will heed the call.  Otherwise, I will set a tentative retirement date of February 25th.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has taken time to read my stuff and provide feedback.  I wish I could make it more focused and relevant to the needs of more people, but alas, I didn't go to journalism school (and wasn't blessed with a particularly sharp brain), but I pretend it pretty well I suppose.  In any case.  I will watch and see what the voting reveals.

Blog Status Update

Those of you that read this blog are probably aware I had planned on retiring it back in December, and then fired it back up to help someone with an ongoing beta test project.  That project is still ongoing but will wrap up in a few weeks I'm told.  At that point, barring any monetary offers (I can joke around here), it will most likely mean this will still be retired.  I appreciate the support and feedback from you and I'm glad if I can help you in some way, or just provide meager entertainment value.  In any case, my time is getting more and more squeezed and time for blogging (worse yet, coming up with ideas to blog about) is getting tougher.  I will keep you posted when I know more.  Until then: enjoy the mindless rants and gibberish. :)

Well. There Goes the Neighborhood

I had planned on retiring from blog writing for the past year.  I've given it up before, back in 2008 actually, but came back to it for a variety of reasons.  This time it's a little different.  Is it because I was inundated with e-mail begging me to continue on?  No.  Is it because I really didn't want to retire it in the first place?  Not really. Is it because I'm going to make a pitch for revenue?  Oh, HELL no.  It's actually because someone at fairly large company asked me to keep going as part of a beta program.  I'm not permitted to say any more than that so don't ask, and even if you asked, I wouldn't tell, and even if I told you, it would push you into a coma from shear boredom.

New Ground Rules:

1. No more shotgun blast posts. Once or twice per week at most, but probably much less than that.

2. Topic focus:  The philosophical aspects of merging Software Development with Systems Engineering and Architecture with the world of Business and Social engineering.

3. Whatever I want to say beyond that.

Clear enough?

So, let me revisit some numbers.  Where is the blog at with respect to traffic statistics?  As of today, this blog as drawn 127,500 page views since May 2009 (the farthest back the new statistics engine will report).  The blog was brought back online in December 2007 after a brief hiatus from an earlier start in 2006.

The peak traffic was in November 2011, at around 25,000 page views.  January 2012 is somewhere around 10,000, which is expected.

I have some articles lined up for posting soon.  Because hardly anyone has spoken up to request topics or general interests, I'm picking my own (big surprise).  This should be interesting since I have no idea whether anyone (you) will care.  That doesn't matter.  The goal is to (A) help out a team of nice folks asking for my help, and (B) exercise my brain while I recover from chemo treatments (I'm doing very well, thank you).

Stay tuned.

Looking Back. Looking Ahead

December 24, 2011 will mark 5 years to the day that I started this blog.  It's been through some interesting times.  Some good.  Some not so good.  It was my crutch when dealing with depression following my being laid off back in 2008.  It was my pressure vent at all other times.  Sometimes I just needed to share some crazy thought with whomever read it.  Sometimes I just wanted to make someone chuckle a little.  I pissed off a few people. I let a few people down.  I made a few people smile and a few speak up in agreement.

The time has come to put a fork in it though.  I may post occasionally, but not nearly as frequently as I have in the past.  I spend more time on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook anyway, and those are my pressure relief valves at the moment.  If you still want to follow what I'm ranting about, you can hit me up at one of the following links.  I'd love to hear from you.

I will likely post an update when my next book is released, which I'm hoping will be in January.  That's an aggressive target date, so it might slip if I can't knock out the research I need to finish it up in time.

In any case, I want to THANK YOU for following me this long, or however long you've been following me, even if this is the first post you've read (go back and read some of my older ones if you have time).  I also want to wish you and your family and friends a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan or just a Happy ___(fill in your preferred celebratory event) _____.  May you be happy, healthy and prosperous and may you make those around you happier as well.

Twitter
Google+
Facebook

Six Days and Counting

I've still been posting things as you can tell, but the days are winding down fast.  Six more left.

Meanwhile, I've been working on my next book, and it's killing me.  I'm hoping to have it out in January.  It's the biggest book I've done yet, and much more complex and challenging.  That's all I'm going to say for now because it's still not a 100% done deal at this point.  I will post something when it's for certain.

Counting Down and Catching Up

Only 16 days left until this blog is retired.  To catch up on my boring stuff.  Warning: This post contains a lot of aimless rambling, but with the name "skatterbrainz" I hope you didn't expect anything else...

I'm still working on multiple projects and another book (maybe).  The book is becoming a much bigger project than I expected (not the book on packaging either, totally different topic), so I may be having to make a go/no-go decision soon.  It will depend on how well I can reign in the scope and keep it manageable.  Otherwise it will be yet another scrapped project.  I'll keep you posted on Twitter and Google+, which is where I will be spending most of my time from now on.  Some Facebook as well.  Friend me or follow me, whatever you like. I could use more friends on Twitter, but I'm using Google+ more than anything else right now.  I just like the vibe at this point.  It reminds me of Facebook in 2006-2007, before it got bloated and stupefied.

I finally ditched the Blackberry.  My 11th Blackberry device since 2000 actually.  I now have a shiny new iPhone 4S 16Gb, and I love it.  I can't stop playing with the damn thing.  I spent a few days in and out of the Verizon store comparing the Androids and iPhones (they didn't have any WP7 models on hand, go figure), and decided on the iPhone 4S mainly for two reasons:  The price and the form/size.  Some folks refuse to accept that I don't want to friggin huge screen.  I want something I can carry and drop in my pocket without looking like a brick.  I don't watch a lot of movies on a mobile device, I'll use a laptop or a TV (gasp!  a real TV?!)  So I'm happy with this for now.  Maybe later I'll grow tired of it and yearn for something different, but I'm good for now.

The Windows Web Admin project is long dead, but a lot of it lives on a much bigger project I've been building for a customer.  I have to say I love working on it and it's turning into much more than I ever expected.  I'm glad the customer likes it as well, that makes it a win-win.

My current arsenal of gadgets to entertain my life:

• Windows 7
• Google Chrome 17 /dev
• Office 2010
• Paint.NET 3.x
• TextPad 5
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• VMware Workstation 8
• Calibre (for authoring e-books)
• System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 and 2012 RC1 (lab setup)
• WSUS 3 SP2 (at home, yes, at home)
• InstallShield AdminStudio 10 SP2
• SQL Server 2008 R2
• iPhone 4S (foshizzle!)
• Kindle 3 (love it!)
• A 1995 Subaru Legacy with 160,000 miles (runs like a champ)
• A dog, standard model Beagle, female
• A cat, standard model black-n-white, female

In a short while all of these will appear outdated, including myself.

Thought:  As a systems engineer / consultant / architect / developer / nerd / geek, I've come to accept that all that I work on will eventually be replaced and forgotten.  I think back to all of the folks who pioneered new things in the 1980's, 1990's, and early 2000's, who's efforts paved the roads for progress.  Most, if not all, of their accomplishments have been replaced and forgotten.  My grandfather made furniture.  I'm sure there are people still rocking in his chairs he made decades ago.  Sometimes I wonder what "progress" really is.

Ticking Down the Days

Looking at my Calendar, it looks like there about 45 days until I retire from blogging.  I'm kind of looking forward to it actually.  Sounds odd.  I have various reasons for sticking to this self-imposed plan, but most of all it's about running dry on interesting topics to blabber about.  I admire guys like Scott Hanselman, who can chug along blogging for over a decade.  God bless him.  I don't have that much to say, at least not that much interesting stuff.

I suppose if any of this tied into my personal income in some way I'd have a bonafide reason to push myself harder and squeeze a few more drops of precious kool-aid mojo from my raisin-sized brain, but alas, that is yet another fine quality I do not possess.  I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my time and to which I will impart my usual verbal slaughtering.  I'll keep you posted if anything comes up.

The picture below is of the chairs on the beach that I will never be able to afford to enjoy, but I can gaze at them and imagine being there.  Not so bad.  I'm sure a lot of people stuck in a hospital bed would gladly trade places with me.

What's Next?

A few people asked why I haven't been on Twitter as much lately.

I responded without saying much, but in reality, it's because I'm just not "feeling it" anymore.  The level of response and interaction has dropped to almost nothing lately.  Either I'm not tweeting enough interesting things, or I've offended some followers (hence the gradual drop in that area), or both.  In any case, it's just something I'm not cut out for.  I loved it for a while, but the love is wearing off.

A few other people asked what will I do after I stop posting to this blog.

I will continue to participate on other community sites, as far as technology is concerned.  MyITforum, TechNet, StackOverflow, AppDeploy, and a few others.  For the non-technical stuff, I will still hang around Google+, and share Google Reader items (with the same stupid comments).  I've thought long and hard about the date, and see no reason to move it back (or sooner), so I'm just going to meander to the next fork and decide where to turn when I get there.