In today's society we tend to try and humanize everything. We gave the tin man a heart because we were afraid of a robot without compassion, we assign human emotions to our pets, and we have even given the computer "a brain!"
If you read articles or books that are an introduction to computing you will commonly find a reference to the CPU as the brains of a computer; but is this really a valid comparison?
If we think about what the brain does, even one inside an ant, it is able to receive data, store that data, determine the best course of action based on previous data (or make an assumption or "best guess" when there is no previous data) and set about the body to perform the needed action. The brain handles so many different functions that we do not even understand how it really works (which is the reason we have so many different medications for emotional and mental problems).
The CPU on the other hand, does one thing and does it well. It performs calculations on information and returns that to the software that requested the CPU get involved.
Now there is no doubt that the CPU does emulate one of the thousands of functions the brain does, hell, the CPU is usually a lot faster than the brain at this one specific task; but that is it. The CPU simply cannot do everything the brain does.
On the other hand, the entire PC does perform most of the functions that the brain does from storing information in short term (RAM) and long term (hard drive) memory to receiving input signals (5 senses vs. keyboard, scanner, mouse, etc) and returning output (vocal or body language vs. monitor, printer, etc).
Even in computers running artificial intelligence software it is the software that emulates thinking not the CPU, still this software is governed by a very simple set of rules while the brain allows us to bend or break the rules that have been applied to us the computer will most often obey the laws it has been given. (If we ignore Chaos theory and errors, the computer will always obey). Three Laws Safe!
The day the CPU becomes the brains of the computer is probably the last day any of us want to see given the results of 2001, Terminator, or I Robot. Until that day the only brain that we will find involved with a computer is the one stored comfortably between the ears of the person at the keyboard!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Log Me In!
One of the greatest little tools out there is the ability to access remote desktops via the Internet. There are several programs out there that can do this such as Gotomypc.com and VNC. One of my favorites is logmein.com. Why is it my favorite? It uses codes that the remote desktop user must provide for remote access and it is free! VNC is great too, but it can be accessed by anyone if it is on and they know the password. Using logmein.com can be a secure way to get where you need to be (assuming someone is on the other end).
Perfect for those IT people who's moms keep calling for help!
Perfect for those IT people who's moms keep calling for help!
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Today I must post!
According to my calendar it says that Wednesday is the day I should post to this blog, now I've been ignoring that for a long time, but figured I'd get this out there and pick on Microsoft a little bit...
We decided that we needed to move from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange, I guess we can save a little money that way (and the iphone the CIO just got only syncs with Outlook).
Anyway, while following Microsoft's excellent instructions (which you can find all over the Internet) to connect Domino and Exchange together so that people on both sides can look up the calendars of the others and the mail users are synced between the two systems.
The mail routes through SMTP so there is no longer a connector there. Which solves some of the horrors of the migration.
Anyway, after following the steps to the letter we were able to sync the users but along the way we had to fight through issues involving security settings. Those are easily solved by checking the event log, so no big deal.
The snag we hit was when we tried to get the calendar to sync. It was easy enough to get the Exchange server to see the Domino side but the Domino side just refused to look into the Exchange world. There were no errors being displayed anywhere and the Internet didn't offer any suggestions. I knew it I called Microsoft they would send me to Lotus and if I called Lotus they would send me to Microsoft so I was stuck in the middle of this mess.
It wasn't until I finally found a person on the Internet that had the very same issue and this has driven me to post the same information for others to find (if they are unlucky enough to have the same issue).
On the Domino server that you set up to do the calendar sync you have to install a program called the Exchange Calendar Connector. This runs as a task on the Domino server and according to Exchange the command is:
load excalcon Exchange
While the command you should use is:
load excalcon
If you follow the Microsoft instructions it will be:
load excalcon ExchFreeBusy
Once you do that, the systems should sync up and you can see the busy times on either side.
This does not allow you to see the details of the calendar though, that is only accomplished by people on Domino accessing Domino calendars and Exchange users accessing Exchange calendars.
We decided that we needed to move from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange, I guess we can save a little money that way (and the iphone the CIO just got only syncs with Outlook).
Anyway, while following Microsoft's excellent instructions (which you can find all over the Internet) to connect Domino and Exchange together so that people on both sides can look up the calendars of the others and the mail users are synced between the two systems.
The mail routes through SMTP so there is no longer a connector there. Which solves some of the horrors of the migration.
Anyway, after following the steps to the letter we were able to sync the users but along the way we had to fight through issues involving security settings. Those are easily solved by checking the event log, so no big deal.
The snag we hit was when we tried to get the calendar to sync. It was easy enough to get the Exchange server to see the Domino side but the Domino side just refused to look into the Exchange world. There were no errors being displayed anywhere and the Internet didn't offer any suggestions. I knew it I called Microsoft they would send me to Lotus and if I called Lotus they would send me to Microsoft so I was stuck in the middle of this mess.
It wasn't until I finally found a person on the Internet that had the very same issue and this has driven me to post the same information for others to find (if they are unlucky enough to have the same issue).
On the Domino server that you set up to do the calendar sync you have to install a program called the Exchange Calendar Connector. This runs as a task on the Domino server and according to Exchange the command is:
load excalcon
While the command you should use is:
load excalcon
If you follow the Microsoft instructions it will be:
load excalcon
Once you do that, the systems should sync up and you can see the busy times on either side.
This does not allow you to see the details of the calendar though, that is only accomplished by people on Domino accessing Domino calendars and Exchange users accessing Exchange calendars.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Windows 7
Microsoft has let it slip that the next version of Windows will be spurned fourth on the world in 2010. The good news is that 2 years before its release it is already better than Vista!
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/86646
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/86646
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Syncronize Contacts in Lotus Notes 8
For the longest time we have been trying to figure out how to get the word "disabled" to go away on the replication page in Lotus Notes 8 for the contacts to sync between the web access and the local file.
We found the issue today...
Under File -> Preferences -> Contacts there is a settings that reads Enable "Synchroize Contacts" on the Replicator that needs to be enabled. We found that setting several weeks ago and enabled it yet the system still said "disabled" on the replication tab.
So today we found the same setting (thanks to notes.net) under the More -> Preferences button in the Contacts database. That setting also has to be checked. It seems that there is a bug in the two linking up.
Anyway, once we checked both the disabled disappeared from the replication tab and the contacts synced up.
So there ya go!
We found the issue today...
Under File -> Preferences -> Contacts there is a settings that reads Enable "Synchroize Contacts" on the Replicator that needs to be enabled. We found that setting several weeks ago and enabled it yet the system still said "disabled" on the replication tab.
So today we found the same setting (thanks to notes.net) under the More -> Preferences button in the Contacts database. That setting also has to be checked. It seems that there is a bug in the two linking up.
Anyway, once we checked both the disabled disappeared from the replication tab and the contacts synced up.
So there ya go!
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)