Those that know me know I like to play with conspiracy theories for fun. The sheer silliness of them just make me laugh at times.

If you recall in the movie "The Matrix" and even the "Terminator" series, all of it centralized around a large network of computers and machines. In "The Terminator" Skynet was what set everything in motion. Once Skynet took off, it started matrixing other systems into it and so on. (Did you catch the "matrix" reference?) Once the network was established and technologies were acquired such as AI and huge databases of information it was only natural for the machines to start learning and understanding thus leading us to the "Matrix" series. Once the machines took over and nuked the majority of humanity, the remaining survivors were rounded up and was used to help create the power network in "The Matrix".

Cloud computing or computing in the cloud. I'm sure most of you have heard this term at some point or another. It seems to be the big thing in the IT industry these days.

What is cloud computing? Cloud computing is basically thin client applications running on your computer and linked back to a larger central system. For example, Panda antivirus has come out with a cloud based antivirus application. Its a thin client that runs on your local PC and retains all of its primary information (virus definition files, database, ect.) on an optimized server (or servers) in a separate location. This reduces the amount of data that has to be stored on your local pc and increases your storage space which is always good for saving pictures from LOLcats.com. When the application runs, it communicates over the net with the central server instead of referencing the local database other antivirus applications use.

Now some of you older gurus may remember there was a push in the mid 90's for something similar to this. It ultimately failed as it was hard to maintain and quickly got out of control. A lot of that had to do with the technology of the time, the infrastructure just couldn't support it at the time.

There are definite advantages and disadvantages to cloud computing. The use of thin clients instead of bulky applications can help reduce the footprint on the local system which will help in system performance. Maintenance will be much easier, as most applications will just need to be updated on the primary server which then rolls out to the thin clients automatically. Microsoft sort of does this with their automatic update feature.

One of the biggest disadvantages of this would be if the primary system goes down or the network goes down. If that happens, then the application is stranded and may not be able to do anything. In the example of the Panda antivirus in the cloud, if I loose my internet connection, I have little or no antivirus protection until the network comes back online. Now Panda has planned for scenarios like that and does include a very small database that contains the primary "most wanted" of viri. However I am still very vulnerable.

As an IT and application administrator at my employer, cloud computing really appeals to me. Right now we us three applications that could be considered "cloud" applications. I like it for the fact that I can maintain the applications easier and ensure that I can roll out the latest patches and updates to the users easily. This cuts down on the amount of help desk requests I have to put in to have each user updated and I'm sure our currently overworked and under appreciated desktop services group appreciates this. I do have my reservations though, these centralize around infrastructure. If you don't have the infrastructure that is able to support cloud computing then don't make the leap. The last thing you want to have happen is your network go down and whole departments unable to do their work.

I do believe that cloud computing will be more accepted in the future as the technology develops and eventually we may see a real "matrix" so to speak. Systems will be more integrated and data more available. The biggest thing to keep in focus is security. If we're not careful then the real skynet or matrix could happen.

Today I have a WFH day. The weather forcasters were building our storm up to be one of epic proportions, the reality of it is we got barely an inch but the roads out here on the plains were another story. The combination of the wind and moisture usually causes them to freeze and become really treacherous driving. Granted I have a Jeep but as they say, 4 wheel drive means 4 wheel slide.

So today I'm going to focus on trying to get a couple of mashups completed and into test. Luckily my clients have been extremely patient and very understanding regarding the sudden re-adjustment of priorities. I really like my clients and want to make the mashup perfect for them as they have been so awesome to work with.

Hopefully if I have time, I want to go through and do some work with Windows PowerShell. I do a lot of Batch scripting but I think PowerShell will allow me to slim down those batch files and make it faster for me to create them.

Well, off for some coffee and power developing! MUAHAHAHAHA!

As some of you may have seen from my tweets, I've been trying to get Linux loaded onto my laptop. It's been a challenge I will admit. I was able to get Xubuntu installed which is a variant of Ubuntu but scalled down a bit to allow users with less powerful machines to run it graphically.

I would like to move away from Windows all together because I really am not liking the direction Microsoft is going with its future operating systems. this being mostly the cost and so called "anti-piracy" features. the fact i am limited to only being able to install XP 3 times on the same machine is not very fair. I like to go through every couple of years and just wipe the drive and start over to get a clean and fresh system. But I can only do that 3 times. I believe Vista and Windows 7 is the same way.

Anyway, After I got Xubuntu running I was stuck with the default 800x600 video settings. A little to big for me so I wanted to change to 1240x700 but couldn't. So I started playing with the driver options. Now I'm not a linux guru by any means, so a lot of the command line stuff I struggle with. To make a long story short, I had to re-install linux.

This brings me to my question of will Linux ever defeat Windows. Maybe, if Linux OS designers would start to make the systems more user friendly and easier to troubleshoot without having to go to the command line on the second step, then maybe Linux would become far more used than Windows. I think that is the biggest downfall Linux has right now, the intimidation factor of having to do all the extra stuff just to get the system working. Your average user doesn't want to have to sit there for hours trying to get something to work when they can just install Windows and have their system up and running.

In Linux's defense, they are trying to keep the OS footprint as small as possible unlike Windows which includes driver and such to support just about everything out there which is why its so large when installed. I feel that if Linux designers would at least work on support the wide range of video cards out there and at least incorporate that, Linux would make a huge leap forward.

I'm still "experimenting" with the laptop. My goal is to get it running so I can learn more about Linux and how to do things so I can make the big leap to dropping Windows for good.

If you're like me you probably have a lot of things to do, especially on the weekends. Keeping them organized or at least track of them can be a task in itself. I do use To-Do lists which usually consisted of notepad on my desktop or put them in QuickNote, an extension for Firefox. The problem I had with those was that I would either forget about them or completely forget where I saved it. I've also tried using the task list in Outlook and Thunderbird but I keep forgetting about them and really never fully understood the concept of them.

So I did a little googling and found a few applications that might fit what I need. the one that stood out to me was Veedid's Desktop Task List. What I like about this program is the extended feature it has in the sence of using a database for storage, you can email your to-dos or memo notes and you can backup and restore them if needed.

Veedid's Desktop Task List allows me to organize my tasks and break them down into smaller sub-to-dos. this was nice as some of my larger to-dos have sub parts of them that need to be done to accomplish the main to-do. I can also add notes about each to-do in the memo tab.

So lets take a look at Veedid's Desktop Task List.

This is what the To-Do list tab looks like, as you can see I have mine separated in weekend to-dos and long term to-dos. this was cool because I can add the appropriate tasks to whichever list. And lets say it's been raining non-stop, I can move the "mow the lawn" to-do to the long term list.

You'll also notice the number next to the to-dos and the date at the end. this can be controlled by the "View List tasks" and "View Date" buttons next to the Purchase button. (I'm using the trial version right now.)

As you complete to-dos, you can check them off and they will grey out to show that they have been completed. It also color codes the various parent to-dos to help you differentiate between the two.

Now lets look at the Memo list.

The memo list looks similar to the to-do list layout. You can organize them in a parent/child style for better organization and they are also color coded. the sub notes with the button formatting is done by simply creating a sub-memo under the parent. You can also use the "View List Memos" button to give them a number but in this case I didn't.

Lets look at the options screen.

As you can see the options are pretty basic, start when windows starts, run minimized and add a new item while open.

Lets look at the menu bar.

the menu has your standard options, file, edit, view, ect. The file selection has your application tasks. This is where you can backup, restore, import & export and save. (We'll cover those later.)

The edit option has your standard copy, paste, select all and deselect all.

The view option lets you get a little more organized. Here you can select what you want to see or see specific things.

The tasks option gives you some flexibility in what you can do with your lists, here is the option to email them.

the help option provides you with lots of good options such as the standard help. I really liked the "make a suggestion" option. I'll be submitting one to add a grocery list tab!

As I mentioned before, you can also save, backup and restore your lists. this is really handy if you tend to play around with your system and have to re-install windows every other week. When you save a list, its saved in a .txt format and the database backup is in the native .vdx format that Veedid uses.

While researching Veedid's Desktop Task List I found some complaints on a forum about security. Now if you're using a To-Do list to enter super sensitive information then maybe you shouldn't be using a to-do list.

Overall I really like this application and I'm sure you will to. I have lot's of to-dos (especially honey-dos) and this will help me keep track of them and not forget them much to my fiance's chagrin. The only things I would like to see is the ability to prioritize the lists (which may be there but I haven't discovered it yet.) and to add a grocery/shopping list.

You can visit Veedid at their website and download the trial version. As of this posting, the cost for the Desktop Task List was $19.95. Well worth it to help you get a little more organized.

Want a quick way to check if you PC can run Windows 7?

In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. But if you're not running Windows Vista, or are just not sure if your system is ready to run Windows 7, download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta is a pre-release version, and is available in U.S. English only.