Alex Lash, writing in our sister publication The Industry Standard, called it "A Gloomy Day in Redmond." The gloom, though, should spread throughout the world of those who rely on Windows for their livelihoods because Brad Silverberg has left Microsoft, and this time it will most likely be forever.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Last spring (Q2), Novell announced the first consolidated support pack (CSP) for all leading products: a CD containing the most important bug fixes and patches for NetWare, ManageWise, GroupWise and BorderManager. As an added benefit, all the patches on the CD would be tested and released together, thus (Novell says) increasing stability and reducing conflicts. Network professionals could feel safer about immediately installing the new, more reliable support packs.
So there I was, in the concourse at the Georgia World Congress Center outside the Interop exhibit space, just trying to rest my feet and grab a quick smoke when I hear someone roar out: "Dave -- is that you?" I look up and there's a familiar face, but something doesn't look right. Soon enough, though, I learn its my old friend Umesh Verma, from Blue Lance Software -- only he's lost about 23kg since I last saw him. "Have you been ill?" I asked. "No, Dave, it's worry over this new Y2K problem that's done this to me," he replied.
Although there was a fair amount of fallout, most people agreed with my recent assessment, A Flaw in Active Directory, of potential problems with Microsoft's Active Directory replication and synchronisation strategy.
In US Network World Fusion's "Windows NT" newsletter, I've been taking a close look at Active Directory as it is implemented in Windows 2000. In the August 2 newsletter, I outlined the Active Directory replication and synchronisation strategy. But the more I think about it, the more afraid I become.
Novell recently announced availability of its Single Sign-on -- a directory-based package that eliminates the need for users to remember multiple passwords. The software lets them log on to the computer network once and access a variety of applications across multiple platforms. Alongside Novell's announcement was one from Lotus declaring support for Single Sign-on for its Domino servers and Notes client.
It's been a very busy fortnight on the directory services front, especially for fans of metadirectories.
In the past I have commented that server crashes are your fault, which raises quite a few hackles among those with servers that frequently crash. The prevailing view among the critics is that Windows NT is an inherently unstable operating system that even the best network manager can't keep running without frequent crashes.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Often, when discussing new medical or scientific breakthroughs, ethicists will recommend not pursuing a particular technology because it's in some way morally wrong.
Microsoft and Intel recently jointly announced the next "big thing" for small business networking -- the Windows NT Server Appliance. This follows on the heels of Novell's announcement of an Internet caching appliance.
A larger-than-usual number will be reading this on an aeroplane, winging towards Las Vegas for NetWorld+Interop 99. This could be a very exciting show, especially for those of us who have been hunting high and low for applications that effectively leverage directory services.
Recently I made my annual pilgrimage to Salt Lake City for Novell's BrainShare event. While there was a sense of excitement among the attendees, there was also a sense of puzzlement about the show's big announcements.
I've been chortling quite a bit lately watching the privacy and anonymity fanatics jump all over Intel and Microsoft.
There's been a lot of noise on the directory services front over the past few weeks, but Macbeth's words probably best sum up the recent news: "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."