Friday, July 25, 2008
Blogging is hard
I never really thought about how hard it would be to blog until I started to blog. I have some helpful newsletters sent to me via e-mail. The two that I find most helpful are www.bizjournals.com, and www.businessknowhow.com. I've recently read an article from businessknowhow that stated when ever you get stuck writing an article, instead of staring at a blank screen. Go do something else, keep a notepad handy, and an idea will come to you. That being said, I need to go do something else with my notepad. Hope this helped someone else.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Computer upgrades
We've been talking about upgrading out computers at work. We're running some heavy duty programs on them and they are basically home computers. So, I've started doing some research to try and find a faster, more powerful computer without buying a $20,000 mainframe. So far it looks like the best solution would be getting a good powerful server, and getting thin clients for the work stations. Now, I've heard of a server before, but I haven't heard of thin clients before. A few more hours of digging and I think I've figured it out.
Thin Clients are basically a striped down desktop PC. They have no moving parts and use convection as a means of cooling. Because of the lack of moving parts, thin clients have fewer breakdowns than desktop PC's. Thin clients are really a short term memory device that use a server to run programs for them. True they do have software programed into them, you can load software onto them, and most have multiple USB and other ports; but for the most part they are a slave computer.
Now, I've looked at a lot of different prices, and I'm pretty sure for what we need at the office, we're looking at $2500 to $3000. If we go with the desktop PC's like we've been doing the last few years, we're looking at $1500 to $2000. So, why go the more expensive route? I feel that instead of spending $2000 a year, and wait for the computers to catch up to the software. We could spend $3000 now and $500 a year in upgrades, and have the computers that are waiting on the software to catch up. And in 3 to 5 years the money will even out and we'll have really good computers still.
I don't control the money, so all i can do is present my findings and point of view. If anyone has any additional info, please feel free to comment.
Thin Clients are basically a striped down desktop PC. They have no moving parts and use convection as a means of cooling. Because of the lack of moving parts, thin clients have fewer breakdowns than desktop PC's. Thin clients are really a short term memory device that use a server to run programs for them. True they do have software programed into them, you can load software onto them, and most have multiple USB and other ports; but for the most part they are a slave computer.
Now, I've looked at a lot of different prices, and I'm pretty sure for what we need at the office, we're looking at $2500 to $3000. If we go with the desktop PC's like we've been doing the last few years, we're looking at $1500 to $2000. So, why go the more expensive route? I feel that instead of spending $2000 a year, and wait for the computers to catch up to the software. We could spend $3000 now and $500 a year in upgrades, and have the computers that are waiting on the software to catch up. And in 3 to 5 years the money will even out and we'll have really good computers still.
I don't control the money, so all i can do is present my findings and point of view. If anyone has any additional info, please feel free to comment.
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