rvanherk's blog

Last week we updated some of the products available in the ZENworks 7 Suite, the updates are available as the “ZENworks 7 Suite with Support Pack 1 Release 2”. The R2 release has the following updates:

• Handheld Management - updated from version 7 SP1 to version 7 SP1 R2
• Linux Management - updated from version 7 IR1 to version 7.2
• Asset Inventory - updated from version 7 SP1 to version 7.5
• Instant Messenger - powered by Novell Messenger; updated from version 2.0.1 to version 2.0.2
• Personality Migration - powered by Unicenter* Desktop DNA; updated from version R11.0.4.6 to version R11.1
• Software Packaging - powered by Macrovision* FLEXnet* AdminStudio* ZENworks Edition; updated from version 7.5 to version 8
• Patch Management - powered by PatchLink* Update; updated from version 6.2 to version 6.3

  Desktop Management and Server Management haven't been updated in this Support Pack 1 Release 2.

  The ZENworks 7 Suite with Support Pack 1 Release 2 is available at Novell Downloads, this also includes the full readme.

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Most of you will know that feeling, looking at some presentations and just getting brain dead after looking at several slides while the presenter just tells you what is on these slides. Did you ever wonder if it might be because you just didn't got enough sleep last night and you've stayed in that bar a little too long? Well, it's not.
At the University of New South Wales they did some study on the "death by Powerpoint" feelings many of you will have experienced in some sessions, and they found that this is just how the human mind works.

"It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

Hmm, something to remember the next time I need to present something. If you want to know how to build a good presentation, have a look at this demo :-)

A few weeks ago I've referred to an article from Joe Wagner where he discusses virtualization (and the need to manage virtualization), and in the past year Jeff Jaffe has written many blog posts about it. Now this week IBM announced they will be spending $1 Billion per year to dramatically increase the level of energy efficiency in IT and they have indicated that virtualization will play a key role in their plan's to get to the "green" datacenters.

Why is virtualization so important?

Today I saw a blog post from Dan Kusnetzky where he mentioned the following:

One of the primary goals of almost all forms of virtualiztion is making the most efficient use of available system resources.
Suppliers of management software for virtualized environments have the ability to move workloads to a smaller number of servers when workload and service level agreements allow it. Then the unused servers can be powered down.

Perfect explanation on what it's all about, tanks Dan :-)

Many of you will have seen the announcement about Dell joining the collaboration between Microsoft and Novell. Like many others I had a look to find some more details about this announcement, one of the places I looked at was the Dell blog “Direct 2 Dell”.

At this point, instead of looking at the info about the collaboration with Novell and Microsoft I had a look at the way they got their blog and the way Dell has integrated video on their blog. Doing a video takes much more effort then just writing down a few words for a quick post so I don't think video will ever replace the blog, but I must say I like the way that Dell has integrated these two.

In the past I've asked myself the question, would it be interesting to combine Cool Blogs and Novell Open Audio and get a mix with blog posts and the Open Audio podcasts. Are there other things we could do to make things more interesting. What do you think, do you like the blog the way it is or would you like us to look at new features like integrating video or audio?

Yes, we've got some great people working at Novell Technical Support, and it's nice to see that we do get recognized for the work we do :-). I just saw the following in a press release we just send out:

On May 2, the Help Desk Institute (HDI), the world's largest membership association for IT service and support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry, honored Novell with its Team Excellence Award for External Support. This award recognizes a support team that has most enhanced the image of the service and support profession by setting and achieving the highest standards of excellence in IT service and support. The selection of the HDI Team Excellence Award winner is based on specific criteria that evaluates the applicants’ ability to demonstrate excellence in three categories: people, process and technology. Ron Muns, founder and CEO of HDI, commented, “This award is a tribute to the standards of excellence that Novell maintains in its day-to-day operations to provide quality customer support. Novell is an exemplary organization.”

Time for a small party :-)

If you follow what happens on the Novell Open PR Blog you might have seen it already, but for the people that don't......

Yesterday Enterprise Networks & Servers published a article from Joe Wagner that discusses the benefits of virtualization and the challenges that come with it. Great reading material for all that have some interest in the future of virtualization.