I've recently posted a blog on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect’s role in an organization, another on how the cloud changes a Database Administrator's job, and the last post dealt with the Systems Administrator. In this post I'll cover the changes facing the Software Developer when using the cloud. The software ...

I recently posted a blog entry on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect’s role in an organization, and another on how the cloud changes a database administrator's job. This time I'll cover a few of the changes the cloud brings for the Systems Administrator. The systems administrator shares some similarity with the database ...

I recently posted a blog entry on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect’s role in an organization. In a way, the Systems Architect has the easiest transition to a new way of using computing technologies. In fact, that’s actually part of the job description. I mentioned that a Systems Architect has three primary ...

I know - I said I didn't like the ''cloud'' term, but my better-phrased ''Distributed Systems'' moniker just never took off like I had hoped. So I'll stick with the ''c'' word for now, at least until the search engines catch up with my more accurate term. I thought I might spend a little time on how the cloud affects the way we work - from ...

OK - you've been hearing about ''cloud'' (I really dislike that term, but whatever) for over two years. You've equated it with just throwing some VM's in some vendor's datacenter - which is certainly part of it, but not the whole story. There's a whole world of - wait for it - *coding* out there that you should be working on. If you're a ...

Windows Azure is a platform that allows you to write software, run software, or use software that we've already written. We provide lots of resources to help you do that - many can be found right here in this blog series. There are two primary resources you can use, and it's important to understand what they are and what they do. The Windows ...

When you create something in the cloud, it's real, and you're charged for it. There are free offerings, and you even get free resources with your Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscription, but there are limits within those. Creating a 1 GB database - even with nothing in it - is a 1 GB Database. If you create it, drop it, and create it again ...

I recently read a blog post from a technical professional who’s account had been hacked (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/all/)  – not because he used poor passwords or unsafe practices, but because the hackers used some social engineering to get around the safety he had put into ...

Normally when I diagram a solution for a customer, I use whatever they are comfortable with. I do most of my work these days in OneNote, especially when it’s an Architecture Design Session (ADS), since I can capture notes, handwriting, drawings, web pages, whiteboards, camera shots and even voice. In fact you can search on most of those. ...

I’ve been teaching my daughter about budgeting. I’ve explained that most of the time the money coming in is from only one or two sources – and you can only change that from time to time. The money going out, however, is to many locations, and it changes all the time. She’s made a simple debits and credits spreadsheet, and I’m having her research ...