Phone: 314-504-3974 Tony Zafiropoulos -- Tony Zafiropoulos resume
Also check my other sites: Sales and ROI -- Ctitek
Updated Book Info: 11/11/2007
Ok, I am working on the marketing of the book: according to Ted Weinstein Literary Management twliterary.com One has to have a marketing plan and in this plan the book ideas get fleshed out a bit.
So I have fleshed out a few of the crazy titles and ideas - wrote 24000 words - mostly on background of IT, what I think companies can do regarding IT, and comparing some of the book ideas in various books that I have read. Example: In "Good to Great" IT is the last chapter to work on after the company has decided on leaders, direction and execution.
Does this make sense? How can direction be put together without IT?
Thanks - Tony Zafiropoulos
Tony Zafiropoulos 6/4/2007
1. Fix computers . can be as simple as rebooting, and as difficult as recovering data that was cultivated over many months and years. Databases can make things much more difficult. Windows Operating system has improved over the years. I remember the Windows 3.11 version which was the first OS to make Internet access possible on the windows platform. It was very difficult, as the TCP/IP stack and the hardware had to compete with all other programs on top of a somewhat rickety platform (especially in todays standards). But in 1992 it was a good first step. Linux was just being developed (~1991 it germinated), and many other Unix systems were on the Internet and were very solid operating systems. Although the fixing of computers has different meanings to the person fixing, the person asking for help is the yardstick as to what the end result should be. Today . 2007, it likely means unfettered access to the Internet on a variety of platforms. Including XBOX, PS3, and phones The consumer wants a different experience than the business user, but there is an application that is important and must be running on their device. Ultimately it is also the user of the device that drives the availability of the device. Phones have become indispensable and must work, although we have lived with a few dropped calls on the cellphone network. VOIP or Voice over Internet Protocol was bound to become more ubiquitous because of the economies of scale over a switched network architecture. Voip did not become more accepted until it's service level was acceptable. This is because the consumer expects the phone conversation to be clear and not to drop at home or in business. So, VOIP had a tough road to hoe. The computer does not have the same expectations, but certain things are shaping up to this. Including email service.
All devices change a physical characterstic (sound for example) into an electronic impulse, which then gets transferred somehow to the computer program residing on the computer.
The hardware is ultimately the device where humans can interact with the computer. The computer hardware is comprised of silicon fashioned in such a way that it.s gates, logic, diodes, resistors, and capacitors are placed in such a way that they can then connect to other silicon which is shaped so that it can connect and talk to other Hardware.
The most basic of the hardware abstraction is the concept of off and on. In early computers this was a vacuum tube, where the vacuum tube is off (0) or on(1).
Each 0 or 1 fashioned together can represent our alphabet, numbers, special characters, and more.
Some of the interfacing is for our eyes (video), ears (sound), vocal (microphone), touch (mouse/touchscreen), smell (soon to come I am sure ;).
This language that connects the silicon with other interfaces has been abstracted with what is called as the OSI layers.
In the following picture the network architecture is provided within a series of connected bubbles
You can see the physical section at the bottom, this is the hardware. The physical or hardware is set to interface with other physical layers or the data link layer up above it.
The item that all users want to see is the application.
The application is set to translate the presentation layer material to us in the form of printing, video, or other forms of data, as the application is designed to do.
The operating system is the software piece that is most important as the hardware has to connect to the software in some fashion, and the OS is the item that makes this happen.
Typically the software directly on the hardware (BIOS . Basic input output system) flash, is not often referred to as software.
Most consider the software as the applications and operating systems. Operating systems house all the other software on the computer, anf the application is the item that most people are interested in.
Attempting an analogy: the car is the hardware, the steering wheel input output device, the software could be you the driver or the passenger. Highway is the network.
Analogies are not good to show the actual interconnections, they can only cloud the issue.
Software are programs that allow users to use the computer in the manner they wish to. Programs are sets of instructions. And users usually want ot use the internet, listen to music or watch some kind of video. Business applications can comprise of financial transactions, database lookups and much more.
But OS's also reside on phones and cars among other electronic devices.
Need a venn diagram of OS as the inside circle with apps on outside.
Operating systems allow applications to interface with the computer hardware. This hardware interface was complicated in the past as only one application could connect to the hardware at a time. If that was the capability today, imagine only being able to see one app aty a time on your monitor. The OS abstracts and allows for scalability, more than one app to be run on the hardware. More than one app can run on the network card. Internet explorer, email, chat and more can all run at the same time due to the OS abstraction.
How can the OS accomplish this? Initially the OS was told to give each app a certain amount of time to run. But even this caused problems, as one wonders what happens to the apps are put to .sleep. for a minute, or even 1 sec.
Even the CPU has the capability to run several apps at the same time, through buffering and more. The CPU is the device that actually cross connects and tallies at the lowest level. Today CPU.s can easily go at speeds of 4Giga Hertz, or 4 Billion cycles per second. A computer has to have order and sequences when operating. This is what the OS has abstracted.
Today when we think of OS, we usually think of WindowsXP and soon to come Windows Vista. The windows one likely whinks of is the desktop screen, with your icons . The start menu, quick start section, and the taskbar sections.
What is missed by the user and frequently referenced by competent IT personnel is the guts of the system.. usually located in the control panel of Windows. Below the control panel is the registry and system configuration programs. Policies can be established which automate some of the finer details within the OS.
The applications have to use some kind of method to talk to the OS pieces, and Microsoft has evolved into writing into a database like hierarchical storage area called the registry. This registry is actually (unfortunately) easily corruptible. A hiccup in the hardware can casue the registry to fail, and then Windows will fail, since the registry is needed to run windows.
In Windows 3.1 this was accomplished by text files, otherwise known as flat files in database parlance. These were the .ini files which are still in use today by some applications with .old. methodologies.
Programmers are sometimes very risk averse people which means they do not wish to try new things until absolutely necessary. This is a recipe for disaster.
Today WindowsXP has a large security and malware problem. Malware is Malicious software which usually accesses the windows configuration files and methods to burrow inside the computer operating systems unknown and unseen to most users.
This is why Microsoft has attempted to redesign and improve it.s security of it.s OS. The Windows Vista OS now will have application level security just like Unix has had for probably 125 years.
Application level security is where each application can only run with a certain level of permission. Each application will have user level permissions. As long as the user does not run an open computer system, then the OS will be safe from attacks.
I consider an open system where administrator level priviliges are allowed to be run for any user without checks and balances.
Unfortunately we are at a tipping point of security and application ease of use.
Vista will be the start of an attempt to make the computer more secure. By making the computer more secure using more stringent policies and programs, some functionality will be lost. Even if it is something minor, the function is still more difficult.
This is a fundamental pendulum. Either security or application function ease of use.
If Microsoft had mandated both requirements into the specifications of writing an OS, or if they would have just used some of the Unix security practices we would be 10 years ahead of where we are.
Today the source lines of code on an OS are quite large. They are in the millions of lines of code. A single line of code could be Print "this"
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_lines_of_code Windows NT3.1 was 6 million lines of code in 1993, and WindowsXP 40 million in 2001. Windows Vista adds an additional 10 million, to a purported release date of 2005 (it is 2007 and finally it has been released). If we assume 60 million lines of Code for ease and to give the counters a level of margin of error, this means a 10x increase in 14 years.
Even at nine times increase it is significant. The complexity of a 60 million code software project is hard to put ones head around the sheer magnitude.
The problem comes when software has to interface to other pieces of software and hardware. There are many places for potential error or unexpected unexpected issues to arise.
I certainly remember rebooting Windows95 several times a day since it crashed frequently. WindowsXP can now be rebooted once a week if one does not do taxing things. The problem is only a problem if you perceive it as such.
To most people surfing a little on the internet, checking their email and doing some word processing is sufficient and WindowsXP is definitively a viable OS program.
Even Microsoft has more stable OS's like the Windows Server platform to run mission critical application.
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IT is a black box to too many people, what is needed is a simplification of IT. First one must explain what is IT, how I would define it.
IT = Information Technology (acronym)
But what does it mean?
To me it means that Information must be used in a proper manner for business or personal uses. Thus Information technology is a must for business as it is constantly striving to make more money or save money so as to survive and/or grow.
This portion of the definition is easy - The hard part is what to do with it and how.
Anyway - this is what I am working on. Once I put together a marketing plan for the book I will promote to literary agents.
Updated outline : June 4th, 2007
Outline for book
BPM - Business Process management
build software - how it is done
type of software = open cathedral
network programming - packetized - streaming programming
ipv4/ipv6 what is difference and what will it mean
systems engineering - how it can help the IT department
waterfall programming - the good and bad (mostly bad)
six sigma QA -
xtreme programming -
quantum computing - the future of computing
Books general flow (Intro--Main--Conclusion)
intro
the problem that the IT department has in a typical company structure
should IT be considered a utility? What else should IT do (besides the utility stuff)
what we can accomplish with the right it dept and right goals
Main
explain the problem and lead to the solution
the challenges of the it department are not easy . keep up with changes while keeping everything running and keeping costs down
The IT department should do more than just keep the ship afloat
Conclusion
What would happen if we did the following:
catalyst for the rest of the company using technologies and techniques which allows more revenue and wealth creation
Fixing Computers - TonyZ Experience
2. Hardware
3. Software
4. Operating system
5. Applications can cause problems
6. Home versus professional
7. Router
8. Wireless
9. Learning cisco routers
10. Switches
11. How to build a computer
12. Moores law
13. Quantum computing
14. internet explorer versus Mozilla/Firefox
15. webservers
16. html
17. java . machine independence
18. javascript
19. visual basic
20. enterprise . what does it mean
21. Quality Assurance
22. change management
23. ITIL http://itil.technorealism.org/index.php?page=Introduction_To_ITIL
24. password security
25. probability distribution and why it is important
26. tables in web pages
27. frames in web pages
28. blades . cooling
29. computer room cooling
30. power requirements
31. ups
32. ip telephony
33. standards . ieee
34. how the internet was formed
35. the internet architecture today
36 viruses
37. bugs
38. first .computers.
39. electronic adding machines
40. babbage.s mechanical adding machine
41. telephone network
42. .good to great. technology must be the catalyst not the reason for business
43 business goals must take IT into account
44. service level management . service level agreements for other departments for clients, users
45. Continuity management
46. total cost of ownership
47. Blogging . why use it what is it?
48. Wiki? Or collaboration tools
49. process Management
50. Capacity Management
51. Customer relationship management
52. change management
53. configuration management
54. incident management
55. disaster recovery
56. application management
57. security management
58. security management.
59. ICT infrastructure management
60. project management
61. SEO
62 Metrics . what does it mean, and which ones to use
63. real time versus batch processing
64. multi-cast versus single point streaming
65. CIO role . what should it be?
66. QA within the CIO branch?
67. Cisco . what made it successful? And what is the fundamental difference with other more hardware centric router and switches
68. Linux vs. Mac vs. Windows
69.New operating systems and the pitfalls with them
70 Why wait for OS upgrades?
71. hard drives . why is it that they are the weakest link in computer uptime?
72. Are thin clients really easier to use?
73. Hackers . black hat and white hat . the difference and why some hacking is good.
74. Extreme Programming, software programming methodology
75. Agile software development
76.six sigma . black belt and keep the probability distribution very thin and tall to make better quality widgets.
77. viruses history . for apple too? Linux viruses? Why is it more difficult for Unix/Linux to receive viruses, and how Vista has finally caught up to user and application level permissions
78. difference between virus and worms
79. urban myths and now computer myths and hoaxes
80. phishing . what is it and who is behind it. Email issues ---http://www2.sendmail.org/misc/other-non-sendmail-links.html
80b. email relaying and the spam problem --- some ISPs filter port 25 outgoing requests to mail servers because of spam concerns, there is a way to change your server to accept email on a different port and then automatically redirect to port 25 one persons. http://rimuhosting.com/support/settingupemail.jsp?mta=sendmail&t=blockingisp#blockingisp
81 the disparate nature of the internet has caused criminals to change as well. They are very much like terrorists . with cell like non connected structures. Instead of ideology they work with economic incentives. Political always influences things.
82. CERT, CERN and some other orgs that did a lot
83. how to truly protect your computer from viruses, worms and other malware.
84. the unique challenges of a university IT department . students require high tech with a driven demand for speed and performance in an ever changing environment.
85. old viruses were boot sector viruses, Melissa, presaged the email viruses . what does .in the wild mean.?
86. stacheldraht the first mass control of machines . what some virus/Trojan/malicious code has morphed into which causes
87 email lists, automated and blind carbon copy
88. newsletters via emails and the erson who made an excellent one. www.lockergnome.com/
89. creating good decryption tools and why it is important.
90. If you find a flaw in a piece of software should you notify the company? What if it is also a security flaw? Is it better to contact the company and then wait for them to fix? Or should you publish in various industry circles? Thus pushing the envelope and forcing the manufacturer to deal with this.
91. filtering? Or packet inspection? Firewalls require a new level of awareness.
92. Honeypot, a way to find hackers and their methods
93 crackers, and back doors. their own language . L0pht, etc.
94 it is not illegal to create a virus, it is illegal to send one to others http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus_(computing) look at the section of why people create viruses. - It is not in there so by omission it is true, the key is that most virus writers will eventually talk themselves into releasing it, - so I do not recommend getting into the mindset of creating viruses, as it is a sslippery slope.
95. DRM . and encryption method to safeguard music rights.
96. risk assessments
97. self-assessments . proper use of consultants . outside analysis
98. incident responses . forensic analysis.
99. strategic assessment . how to help business goals with technology . as in .Good To Great.
100. The technology department is an integral part of the company, not an expense sinkhole, it must be cared and treated as such. Do not treat it as a utility, only needed when problems arise.
101. tripwire, the concept of, the heisenberg principle -- http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm why is this apt for computing , and actually life in general. If someone is watching you your actions now change, because you are compensating for the act of watching. In an electric circuit if you test the resistance or amperage of a circuit you are altering the actual circuit characteristics.
In Quantum mechanics one does not know the actual location and speed of a particle (usually electron). One can guess, using probability theory but one can not know with certainty. Heisenberg: analysis showed that uncertainties, or imprecision always turned up if one tried to measure the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. (Similar uncertainties occurred when measuring the energy and the time variables of the particle simultaneously.)
Chapter2 -
Strictly speaking hardware is silicon, metal, and plastic that comprise the computer. Most computer professionals speak of hardware as the silicon only . What is interesting is that the silicon shaped and fashioned into very complex chips is actually also programmed instructions that do not change. The chips are set u so that they drive the input and output devices that allow the electronic impulses to mean something to the person. In the future this could be done with thought waves, but today it is still done with mice, keyboards, monitors, and printers (among other devices. Sound is a good one. Chapter3 - Software
Software is the set of instructions or programs that are not in the hardware realm . it can be a software driver . a piece of programming that connects the hardware to the operating system. Chapter 4 - Operating System
When one says operating system, one usually means windows, and these days it means XP, although this is changing to Vista. Servers run on Windows Server or Linux, or Unix. But client machines usually do not run on Linux. There are apple operating systems, the X, which incidentally is based out of FreeBSD, a unix-like derivative.
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