So far I only have good things to say about Linode. The configuration console is great and easy to use. Deploying the server took a few minutes and package installation was done in a few more minutes.

There are still parts that are in development, like most of the forms and the search. But it should be functional and as I said, easier on the eyes when reading.

I’m also considering to make printing to PDF available so you can save some of the information on your local resources.

Hope the new look is satisfactory to everyone reading.

More ads than content

We have all seen these sites. There are thousands out there. On the site there’s so many ads that if you make the mistake of using Internet Explorer when you go to the page it will stall your computer. I see nothing wrong with advertising, it’s a great way to keep some services that otherwise might be per pay free. What I do find bad is cluttering a whole page with ads so you have a hard time finding any content.

Newspapers and magazines are the ones I find worst. For some reason they seem to think they can make the same amount of revenue of a user that uses online services as one ordering the paper. This will never happen. The web is the home of many free services, so if someone over advertises or starts charging for services you can find for free elsewhere you’ll go elsewhere…right.

There has been a lot of talk about this on the web, many large media companies are thinking of charging for the use of their sites. So how will users react? I think, and maybe wrong, that users will find another supplier for their needs. One who still offers their service for free and rely on advertising.

Ad-blockers are the result from many publishers use of intrusive advertising. If advertising tickles my nerves on a site, I won’t be going back if I can’t block them with a ad-blocker. One great example is a Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. Go to their site using Internet Explorer and see how your computer is sent back in time to the twentieth century. It’s like you have 16Mb or RAM and an 33MHz processor. Crazy isn’t it.

The developer of Ad-block Plus has been discussing a new way of handling advertising. I think this approach is great. This would would allow the webmasters of sites who do fair and reasonable advertising to enable advertising for users, but only if the user allows it. This way, if you run intrusive advertising your site will be blocked. There is of course the dilemma of some users who might, even if the ads aren’t intrusive, enable ad-blocking features and some webmasters seam to be really annoyed by this. Well isn’t it better we can get some users to look at our ads than none. There will always be users blocking advertising, you can’t get around that fact.

Now dear readers, would you be so kind to comment and let’s build a list on sites that use to much advertising.

So working with Microsoft products and writing about Microsoft products and technologies made me realize I really need to get certified. Certification for me was a way to prove to myself I know my way around the Windows Server operating system and specifically the Active Directory (AD).

The goals for now are to get the Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator and after that Enterprise Administrator.

The first exam done

Today I took my first exam, the Microsoft exam 083-640 or 70-640, and by doing so receiving my first certification. And now I’m awaiting my email about my MCP status. Next week I have the next test booked and during my learning and training process I’ve noticed I remember things a lot better by writing about them, so this blog will probably get updated more these weeks than it has ever been, so keep a look out for new articles you might be interested in.

Bye for now

This was all for today and as I said, keep a look out for articles you might want to read in the close future.