TooMuchGreen

Back end systems don’t really move at the same pace of the front end (or the pace it thinks it does) and most major developments are less flighty to instigate and adopt, there’s too much at stake and it’s invariably such a mammoth undertaking to totally replace or migrate a full business enterprise platform it’s done only when absolutely necessary, i.e when the back end dies or available system resource restricts adoption of newer enterprise functionality with a resulting impact on cross-business integration and communication.  Read more... (estimated reading time 2:50 mins)

Empowered by the (Mark) Shuttleworth Foundation (as it says in the ad) ‘Freedom Toasters‘ are vending machines created by Breadbin.co.za to burn & distribute a variety of free software in countries where a restrictive and sub par communications infrastructure means reliable downloads just aren’t possible (South Africa for example), just turn up with your CD’s and burn……how cool is THAT..!  Read more... (estimated reading time 1:17 mins)

As an alternative to MobileME I thought I’d evaluate a replacement cloud calendar service, preferably with desktop sync, preferably with a To Do or Task list (I’m a staunch list maker) and preferably both viewable and editable on the iPod Touch (or iPhone), in fact never mind *preferable*, I demand all three, not only that I want them for nothing (If I had to support myself as a user I’d hate me).

Although I don’t have a GMail account Google calendar had to be the starting point, as did the superb open source mail client Thunderbird for my IMAP mail as it’s no big deal integrating the Lightning calendar add-on and getting it to talk to Google, here’s how.  Read more... (estimated reading time 3:24 mins)

In todays global financial meltdown we’ve never been as aware of our cashflow, I’m certainly more on the case than I’ve ever been although do suspect moving from a regular job with a regular wage dropping in month in month out to a more *interesting* income stream may have contributed somewhat, in fact yes, most definitely.  Read more... (estimated reading time 1:38 mins)

This was mentioned briefly in the Linux section however it’s such an incredibly cool and inspiring story I felt it most definitely warranted further expansion with a dedicated post.

I was highlighting cost savings in relation to software licensing against an open standards platform as adopted by the French ‘Gendarmarie Nationale‘ (National Police Force) over the past few years, the results are literally amazing.  Read more... (estimated reading time 2:06 mins)