keeping the community informed…

This month our sponsor is Novell, and it has made three important white papers available free of charge for DaniWeb members.

First up is a business white paper for users of Linux operating systems which explains in detail how to Make the Move to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. You've heard the buzz about SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, and maybe even seen a demonstration, but you're still hesitant to migrate. You know that adopting a new operating system is a big step for administrators and users alike. Fortunately, migrating to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is easier than you think, and the benefits you've heard about such as lower cost of ownership, stronger security and greater flexibility and control are all real. With careful planning, your migration can be smooth and highly rewarding.

Next is a competitive guide explaining When and Why to Choose SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Over Windows Vista. Cost is not always the most important consideration, but if you are purchasing hundreds or thousands of desktops, it becomes a vital part of the equation. The total cost of desktops stretches far beyond the initial licensing fee. This white paper helps you to decrease your total cost of ownership.

And finally there is a look at support from Novell for OpenOffice.org in It's Time to Make Your Move. Have you seen the costs associated with Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007? Send the children out of the room and take a look. Now take a look at OpenOffice.org from Novell. It's much more cost effective and includes the office tools your employees need to stay productive. And with full support available from Novell, there's no better time to switch to OpenOffice.org and free yourself from high costs and complicated licensing.

Please support our sponsors so we can continue supporting you!

it's that time of the year again…

Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule, Eid Mubaruk, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa to DaniWeb members everywhere...

super search…

Dani has been hard at it, coding until the wee small hours, and the end result is a brand new search function for all DaniWeb members. Whereas before when you did a site search you would get results for the daniweb.com domain returned from Google, that has all changed. Now DaniWeb has a new and improved search system. This now searches the forums, blogs, code snippets and so on, calculating a quality score for each result. These are then sorted together in order of that score, and displayed along with a navigation 'breadcrumb' link leading to the page so you're always aware of where you are in the site hierarchy.

What this means, especially for new DaniWeb members, is that you no longer have to wade through an overwhelming list of forums and sub-forums, code snippet languages and member blogs but instead can simply type what you are interested in and instantly see a cross-section of DaniWeb results directly relevant to that search.

Try it, we think you will like it.

every month one member makes the DaniWeb hall of fame…

Please welcome our newest member of the DaniWeb hall of fame, DimaYasny who has clocked up more than 600 valuable posts in less than a year. This technical guru spreads his knowledge around the forums, rather than concentrating on just one particular field of expertise. However, you are most likely to find him helping folk in the Networking Hardware Configuration, Windows NT/2000/XP/2003, Getting Started and Choosing a Distro and Network Security forums. DimaYasny is a deserving recipient of the DaniWeb Featured Poster badge of honor. We wanted to get to know the man behind the helpful postings, and here is what we discovered:

How old are you?

27

Where are you from?

I was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in a red army military family back when it was still USSR, and then moved with the whole family to Israel when I was 10. I have recently relocated to Ireland. So I'm from all over, you might say.

What is your occupation?

System administrator is the main job description on my resume history. Right now though, I'm a senior server analyst although I have tried other areas in my time such as programming, banking and freelancing. Eventually everything came down to the fact that I like to do technical work and not deal with accounts, customers and other downsides of self employment.

What brought you to DaniWeb?

I cannot actually remember, but probably like all the forums I am on I was browsing the web for a solution and ended up here. I don't stick around everywhere though!

What were your first impressions of DaniWeb, and have they changed during the time you have been with us?

I thought it was a very nice and welcoming community, with quite a few people that actually know a lot. Unlike many computer forums out there, where you have one or two guys who are able to provide an answer or two, and everyone else is a one time user that signed on for a one time solution. The crowd here is much richer, intellect-wise.

What makes you stay here?

There are enough people here from whom I can learn, that is the main reason. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I never touch the simple PC related topics, like viruses and XP installation issues. I am simply not interested. But when it comes down to complex solutions, such as servers and networking, then I'll be all over the topic.

You spend a lot of time helping people with problems across different operating systems and in such diverse topics as network security and network hardware configuration. It's unusual for someone to be so knowledgeable and active across so many technical forums, what makes you tick?

Simply put, I love what I do. Honestly I can't name many people who would wholeheartedly say the same. I've tried other fields and things, and I've come to knowing what I want to be doing for the next few years at least. After that I'll probably want to go into heavier stuff, like Vmware esx, blades, computation and HA clusters... also, I've had quite a lot of experience with tough customers in my freelancing days. They wanted solutions without paying too much, so I had to find ways to run theoretically impossible things, like heterogenic networks between Linux-Samba, Server2000 and Netware 3.12 on software written for NT3.5. If you're providing solutions for anything out there - you have to know everything, maybe not too deeply, but enough to make anything work.

What are your interests outside of IT and outside of DaniWeb?

I play guitar a lot and I like to travel. I really want to go see the Far East whenever I have the chance, and probably South America as well. The rest is pretty mundane I suppose: books, music, movies...

Name the best thing about DaniWeb, and one thing you would change if it were in your power?

The best thing on here are the people. This is probably one of the only IT forums online that doesn't have a snobby attitude, where you have to tear through dozens of RTFM comments before someone actually suggests a solution to a problem, or at least kicks you in the direction for Google keywords. I currently am active on about 15 different IT forums and communities, and this is one of the friendliest places.

One thing to change... well, I'm no ergonomics expert, but the less banners I see anywhere, the better for me I suppose. Though I understand something needs to be done to pay for hosting and traffic.

How long do you spend, on average, on DaniWeb every day?

Long enough to run through the new threads, filter out the ones I am interested in, and answer on the threads from before. I check the sites three-four times a day.

You know a lot about Windows and Linux, but which do you prefer and why?

That really depends on the purpose. At home I am running a stripped down XP Pro, which right on the startup boots a Linux system under Vmware. So basically I am in Linux most of the time, with the option to shut it down if I need windows specific stuff. But coming back to the purpose of the OS, it really depends on what I would need the machine to do. If it is possible on Linux or FreeBSD, I'd prefer that because of the security, versatility and stability. But if not then I've no problem setting up any Windows and Netware system. I even had a chance to touch some OS/2 and Unixware as well as other not so common systems.

by Brian.oco

Scary reading from the pages of Fortune magazine this week.

In the business weekly's November 19 edition, an article entitled "The End of the Tech Stock Party" goes down like a tofu turkey on Thanksgiving night.

Before I get into what Fortune has to say, it's pretty clear that technology stocks are in a decline. Quarterly numbers from heavyweights like HP, Apple, and even Cisco, who I touted last week, seem okay at first glance. But a closer look reveals that bean counters at the big technology companies believe that the run on computers and other high tech gadgets will slow down, and significantly, in 2008.

The industry fully expects consumers and business customers to tighten their belts next year, pulled back by a rising tide of fresh credit problems on the home lending side that could bleed into the credit card market -- a major, if negative, event for consumers who use plastic for high-end purchases.

Not helping matters is the rising cost of oil and energy. With oil at $100 a barrel, even if it falls back to $70 or $80 or so, as I expect it will, will leave less money in the pockets of buyers who might otherwise buy an iPhone or an HP laptop.

That's pretty much the take from Fortune this week. The editors there are, metaphorically speaking, draping the black bunting and calling the next of kin when it comes to technology stocks. Take the article's lead sentance: "Break out the orange juice and aspirin: Wall Street’s tech party is officially in hangover mode."

Fortune points to Apple shares being down 14 percent from their high of $192 earlier this month, while Google shares are down 15 percent, and Research in Motion off by 22 percent.

"Why the buzz kill?," asks Fortune. "Blame the subprime mortgage fiasco, gas prices and a credit crunch that is slowly infecting other parts of the economy. Because the consumers and businesses who have driven tech industry growth for the past few years are finally getting skittish, they’re knocking tech’s growth prospects into a lower gear."

The magazine points out that the tech sector isn't declining gradually, it's falling off a cliff. "The Nasdaq Computer index — which includes computer services, Internet, software, computer hardware, electronic office equipment, and semiconductor companies — was up about 30 percent for the year until it lost nearly 10 percent this month. By comparison, the S&P 500 had gained only about 11 percent for the year before it gave up more than half of those gains over the last two weeks."

My take on the article is that there some merit to the big-picture economic consensus that credit woes and high energy prices could drag the tech sector down in 2008. What's giving me pause is the amazing resiliency of the U.S. consumer. We've had high oil prices and a bad credit picture for months now, yet technology stocks, by and large, should be up for the year. People are still buying big-ticket items.

Maybe it's more likely that there will be a downturn in the technology market, but it shouldn't be as nasty as Fortune is saying. It's an election year next year and, historically, markets don't gyrate too much in such years -- the markets like to play it conservatively until it knows who will be residing in the White House come November.

That should help the technology sector repel any drastic market losses. Even so, I don't think 2008 will be a banner year for technology stocks.