17hex

There has been a frighteningly increasing trend I’ve been noticing lately: sales people coming to the District Office where I work and “demoing” a cool/useful/sought-after product (and I use the term demo very loosely. I’ve only seen two where they actually even showed the product), and then… NOTHING. That’s to say, the only responses we can get from them when we inquire about actually getting said product are “We can send a rep out to show you the more advanced features” or “Yes our product has that feature” (followed by the electronic equivalent of dead silence). What ever happened to actually SELLING products to people who are interested in them? We already know about the features. That’s why we want you to get a TECH out here to actually help us implement it! Instead we get immediate response when we want to talk to a sales person, and then either a run-around or flat-out ignored when we want someone to help us USE the product. Are they worried that it won’t work as well as they say it will, and they don’t want to be the ones who set it up (and are therefore liable)? After all, if WE set it up with no help from them, they can always use the “oh, our techs have never had that problem” response. Whatever. The real problem here, and the main reason why we want THEM to send a tech in the first place, is that we don’t have the time that many new technologies require on the front-end to figure them out. We want someone to come out, set it up for us (or at least help us do it so it maybe takes days instead of weeks) and teach us how to maintain it. We’re a public school district. Would real technology support be too much to ask? Apparently so, as that doesn’t translate as easily back to dollars or (to get right to the point) increased stock share value. Maybe this is another part of the reason why technology is always so far behind in education?

So this is my blog. Lot’s of people have blogs, and they are used for all sorts of things. Right now, I’m using mine to complain. I’m complaining about what is (next to Sendmail. I can’t think of anything to say about Sendmail that doesn’t involve overshooting generalization or outright profanity, so I’ll just move on) one of the most complex and incomprehensible aspects of modern network computing: LDAP

LDAP = Lighweight Directory Access Protocol
This is ironic since, on the average network, LDAP is by far the LEAST lightweight of all of the different components (unless you run IIS, but then you probably either don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, or you use Active Directory, in which case you likely still don’t know what the hell I’m talking about).

Now, I do totally understand why people use LDAP and I do appreciate the fact that it neatly fills a niche that would otherwise only be filled by expensive commercial/closed-source software. That is why I’m not just saying that it sucks. I’m saying that it SUCKS TO MAINTAIN and it sucks to connect things like Zimbra to it. The real problem seems to be that some people couldn’t settle for using the standard “good” Ole’ LDAP. but instead had to slightly change it so that some underlying components are different, and then still call it “OpenLDAP” when it is not quite the same as OpenLDAP. No I can’t explain how it is different. If I could I would be fixing the problems I’m having with it instead of complaining on my blog.

And therein lies the “beauty” (as ugly as it may be) of blogs: I can post totally worthless complaints and comments that don’t benefit anyone or anything and really have little or no redeeming value, without really wasting more than a few minutes at work. But on that note…

So it’s been a while since my last post, and life certainly hasn’t “slowed down” for me to keep up. I have a new job now (as the Database System Manager at a mid-sized public school district) and spend quite a bit of my time now keeping up with new technology and figuring out how things work. I have done a lot of thinking within that context, specifically related to software licensing and legitimacy. The bottom line is that in light of the rediculous new legislation being passed in regards to Copy Protection, and the fact that Sony DRM/Copy Protected CDs install a Rootkit with no easy way to uninstall, we really need to start making hard choices about what we will and will not use and do on the computer. Gone are the days when the internet was non-commercial and when most new technology was invented “for the love” (though there are still some). Gone are the days when UNIX was expensive and proprietary, while “WinTel” was cheap and relatively open (or at least ran the straightforward DOS OS). Gone are the days (if they ever existed at all) when the “experts” at technology companies acted in the best interest of consumers, and the computer virus infection was the worst possible thing you could have happen to your computer.

We now live in the “X-Files” world of “Trust No One“, where OPENness (and maybe some strong encryption) is the only real form of security, and use of any resource constitutes support. This means if you buy one of Sony’s copy protected CDs and play it on your computer (without shutting off Auto-Run, which disables the DRM!), or even if you buy it and never play it or buy it off of iTUNES, you are supporting Sony and their cronies in the RIAA and telling them that it is OK to engage in dishonest business practices, it’s OK to charge as much as $2.50 per song, and that it’s OK to operate under a “no disclosure” policy. Companies like Sony and Microsoft and Google and Apple currently have a controlling interest in the digital content that many of us spend our day completely immersed in. I, as a computer professional, musician, and Digital Citizen, do NOT support Sony and definitely DO NOT SUPPORT THE RIAA. What choices you make are up to you, but now more than ever, please consider the effects of the choices you make. They DO affect someone other than yourself….

If you are one who uses the cop-out excuse “what the hell could I do? it’s not like I can do anything to Sony or Microsoft”. First off, everything I know tells me that if you believe that, you are right! We cannot (necessarily) fight a Zaibatsu by picketing outside its doors, but if all of the intelligent, responsible people out there who read and write blogs get pissed enough about it, we CAN engender a change. We can use operating systems and software built within an Open and Free philosophy. We can boycott companies like Sony and download our music from Independent Artists and Labels. We can tell Apple and Microsoft that we would rather use a real Open Source Operating System that promotes security and accountability, rather than their propietary closed/limited derivatives. We can make the Internet about real Freedom of Information and not about money.

But it has to start with each one of us, and it may involve some (uh oh.. here’s the scary word) sacrifice. Take my music for example. I *love* the program Ableton Live. The problem is that it is $400 retail and i think that is rediculous, even if it is arguably the best music software ever. Thankfully my next-favorite music program is of a different flavor entirely: Buzz. Buzz is a FREE windows soft-studio program with a really original interface and nearly limitless potential. The problem is that Buzz still needs a Windows platform to run, and I also think that paying $100 for a copy of XP Home (which, IMHO, is crap anyway) is rediculous. Because of that I, like many many computer-poeple I know, hung my head, ran my software cracked and, by using and furthuring these technologies, supported them without paying a dime. After I got my new job with a spiffy new laptop however, I did some serious thinking about installing cracked software on a work computer, and decided to go “legitimate”. Now my music studio PC runs Ubuntu Linux (which is easier to install than WinXP or MacOSX, IMHO), running CrossOver Office running Buzz. My music software is FREE, open, legitimate, and I’m supporting multiple communities of developers who care about social ethics and responsibility.

What choices will you make?