Unser Konzern hat eine neue Zentrale in St. Leonhard und heute war für viele der erste Arbeitstag dort. Darunter war auch meine Wenigkeit. In der Früh habe ich mir überlegt, welche Variante ich heute wohl nehmen werde, um in die Arbeit zu kommen. Ich entschied mich, mit der Buslinie 63 vom Hauptbahnhof bis zur Haltestelle Merangasse zu fahren. Nun, das werde ich - zumindest um 7 Uhr 26 - nicht mehr machen, weil das ist nicht so gut für meine Magennerven. Es fängt mal damit an, dass der Bus 3 min vor Abfahrt schon voll ist. Dann kommt er fast nicht aus dem Bahnhofsareal raus, weil idiotische Autofahrer die Kreuzung zusperren. Wieso auch nicht, schließlich wird das nicht geahndet und das Gefühl, erster zu sein (auch wenn man es nicht ist) ist doch viel wert, da kann man doch schon mal ein paar Leute behindern und denen Zeit stehlen. Oder, liebe Grazer Stadtverwaltung? Dann ist es im Schneckentempo die Keplerstraße runtergegangen. 10 min hat der Bus vom Hauptbahnhof bis zum Lendplatz gebraucht, genau so lange, wie man auch zu Fuß braucht. Nun, ist schon klar, in der Früh ist viel Verkehr und dass der durchschnittliche Autofahrer gerne in Kauf nimmt, im Stau zu nehmen, weiß ich mittlerweile auch, das Problem ist jedoch, dass das ja nicht erst seit einer Woche so ist sondern seit Jahrzehnten. Sicher, die Sperre der Annenstraße verschärft die Situation noch weiter. Allerdings hätten die Leute, die die Fahrpläne machen - und ja, ich weiß auch, dass das keine leichte Arbeit ist - dies einrechnen können. Immerhin verfügen die Graz AG Verkehrsbetriebe über relativ genaue Verspätungsdaten, welche man ja verarbeiten könnte. Wenn man denn nur wollte. Offenbar klappt bei den Graz AG Verkehrsbetrieben die Mitarbeitermotivation nicht besonders gut, was wiederum angesichts der Tatsache, dass höhere Positionen in solchen Unternehmen ja politisch motiviert vergeben werden, fast logisch erscheint. Über die seit Monaten nicht funktionierenden Fahrkartenautomaten will ich mich erst gar nicht auslassen, nicht zuletzt weil ich ja ohnehin im Besitz einer Jahreskarte bin. Wie auch immer, der Bus hatte dann bis zur Merangasse 10 min Verspätung und für mich war klar, dass ich diese Relation morgen wahrscheinlich nicht mehr nehmen werde. Nächstes mal werfe ich einen Blick in die Keplerstraße und wenn die frei ist, setze ich mich in den Bus, andernfalls gibt's ja noch die (nicht klimatisierten) Straßenbahnen.
Bin ja schon gespannt, was ich morgen dann erlebe, falls ich morgen nicht ohnehin die Kombination Rad-Zug-Rad nehme.
Montag, 28. Juni 2010
Dienstag, 15. Juni 2010
Windows Server 2008 R2: Who has control?
Last Sunday I started setting up a system for testing some new Microsoft technologies that I am interested in. These are:
So, I started installing the operating system - Windows Server 2008 R2. I think in general the installation application is okay so far. When I remembered back in recent Windows clients and servers, the installer told me how long it will approximately need to finish. I have missed this part in the Windows 2008 installer. I have seen that they still haven't removed that poor activation "feature" that makes only problems to people who use Microsoft's software legally (like me) than for those who use illegal copies. If Microsoft thinks that such annoyance helps them increasing their market share, okay. Other operating system vendors think different. Once Windows was up and running, I began to install SQL Server 2008. When I started the setup.exe on the DVD, a message box told me about compatibility problems with my operating system and that I should apply SP 1. But I was a little bit afraid: Will my system still work afterwards? Will it run stable? The message box didn't tell me what could happen. I decided to let it run. As suggested, I installed SP 1 immediately after the SQL Server setup was finished. I tried out SQL Server Management Studio and obviously everything went correct. Then Windows reminded me that new updates for Windows are available. Because I am a good citizen, I let it download and install these updates. Windows wanted to restart and that was okay for me. When it booted up again, there was some message "Configuring updates...". No information on how long it will need, what it really does... Then there appeared a text with a percentage counting up. I still didn't know what Windows does in details, but at least I could estimate how long it will need. When it reached "100%"... no, it did NOT let me log on, it said "Stopping services" and "Shutting down". Then it restarted and the jokes began again. "Configuring updates...", counting up to "100%" and again... reboot! It repeated that procedure three times and all the time there was no information for me what it does or when I will be able to log on again or whatever information that could be useful. Windows just did what it wanted. During that I wondered about the roles of my computer and me. I am used to that I am the master and my computer is my slave. Obviously, Microsoft thinks different about that. If you use Windows, these roles are inverted: Windows does something and you are expected to follow. It is also some kind of behaviour: Just imagine, you want to work with someone together and suddenly this person begins to do something and always says "wait, wait, wait" and you have no idea when you can continue working. Would you like that person? I think it would be a good behaviour of Windows, if it would at least say how many steps it has to complete and how many it has completed already and at least an estimation of how much time this would consume. Then I am able to do something else and are not required to stare at the screen which doesn't tell me much useful.
Next I installed Visual Studio which was no problem. Meanwhile - because staring at the screen is just too boring -, I wanted to watch a video. When I double clicked it in Explorer, I realized that there was no Windows Media Player installed. That's okay I think. Who needs a Media Player on a server anyway? :-) Installing it is easy: I opened an applet in Control Panel that allows me to add Windows features. The feature of choice has the name "Desktop experience", or something like that. It installed Windows Media Player and some other applications and while doing that, it informed me that a restart of Windows would be necessary. What??? I have to restart my operating system because I installed an application? I was wondering. While I was wondering, I opened Firefox and googled for "vlc player", downloaded it, installed it and watched my video.
Unfortunately, it was already late then and I couldn't yet try out the new features, I hope I can do it in the next weeks.
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- SQL Server 2008
- Visual Studio 2010
So, I started installing the operating system - Windows Server 2008 R2. I think in general the installation application is okay so far. When I remembered back in recent Windows clients and servers, the installer told me how long it will approximately need to finish. I have missed this part in the Windows 2008 installer. I have seen that they still haven't removed that poor activation "feature" that makes only problems to people who use Microsoft's software legally (like me) than for those who use illegal copies. If Microsoft thinks that such annoyance helps them increasing their market share, okay. Other operating system vendors think different. Once Windows was up and running, I began to install SQL Server 2008. When I started the setup.exe on the DVD, a message box told me about compatibility problems with my operating system and that I should apply SP 1. But I was a little bit afraid: Will my system still work afterwards? Will it run stable? The message box didn't tell me what could happen. I decided to let it run. As suggested, I installed SP 1 immediately after the SQL Server setup was finished. I tried out SQL Server Management Studio and obviously everything went correct. Then Windows reminded me that new updates for Windows are available. Because I am a good citizen, I let it download and install these updates. Windows wanted to restart and that was okay for me. When it booted up again, there was some message "Configuring updates...". No information on how long it will need, what it really does... Then there appeared a text with a percentage counting up. I still didn't know what Windows does in details, but at least I could estimate how long it will need. When it reached "100%"... no, it did NOT let me log on, it said "Stopping services" and "Shutting down". Then it restarted and the jokes began again. "Configuring updates...", counting up to "100%" and again... reboot! It repeated that procedure three times and all the time there was no information for me what it does or when I will be able to log on again or whatever information that could be useful. Windows just did what it wanted. During that I wondered about the roles of my computer and me. I am used to that I am the master and my computer is my slave. Obviously, Microsoft thinks different about that. If you use Windows, these roles are inverted: Windows does something and you are expected to follow. It is also some kind of behaviour: Just imagine, you want to work with someone together and suddenly this person begins to do something and always says "wait, wait, wait" and you have no idea when you can continue working. Would you like that person? I think it would be a good behaviour of Windows, if it would at least say how many steps it has to complete and how many it has completed already and at least an estimation of how much time this would consume. Then I am able to do something else and are not required to stare at the screen which doesn't tell me much useful.
Next I installed Visual Studio which was no problem. Meanwhile - because staring at the screen is just too boring -, I wanted to watch a video. When I double clicked it in Explorer, I realized that there was no Windows Media Player installed. That's okay I think. Who needs a Media Player on a server anyway? :-) Installing it is easy: I opened an applet in Control Panel that allows me to add Windows features. The feature of choice has the name "Desktop experience", or something like that. It installed Windows Media Player and some other applications and while doing that, it informed me that a restart of Windows would be necessary. What??? I have to restart my operating system because I installed an application? I was wondering. While I was wondering, I opened Firefox and googled for "vlc player", downloaded it, installed it and watched my video.
Unfortunately, it was already late then and I couldn't yet try out the new features, I hope I can do it in the next weeks.
Welcome - Willkommen
Welcome to my first blog! I will use this blog mainly to write about any technical experiences I have during my day. Sometimes I intend to write about personal things too, if there is something interesting. Most things will be in English, but some things will be in German.
Topics I will write about: Software development (Visual Studio, MonoDevelop, C#, C/C++, Vala...), Database related topics (SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS...), Windows Client & Server, Linux (especially Ubuntu), Web technologies (HTTP, HTML, JavaScript, XML...)
Willkommen bei meinem ersten Blog! Ich werde ihn hauptsächlich benutzen um über die technischen Erfahrungen zu schreiben die ich während eines Tages mache. Ich beabsichtige auch manchmal etwas Persönliches zu schreiben, wenn's was interessantes gibt. Das meiste wird in Englisch sein, manche Dinge in Deutsch.
Themen über die ich schreiben werde: Softwareentwicklung (Visual Studio, MonoDevelop, C#, C/C++, Vala...), Themen zu Datenbanken (SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS...), Windows Client & Server, Linux (vor allem Ubuntu), Webtechnologien (HTTP, HTML, JavaScript, XML...)
Topics I will write about: Software development (Visual Studio, MonoDevelop, C#, C/C++, Vala...), Database related topics (SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS...), Windows Client & Server, Linux (especially Ubuntu), Web technologies (HTTP, HTML, JavaScript, XML...)
Willkommen bei meinem ersten Blog! Ich werde ihn hauptsächlich benutzen um über die technischen Erfahrungen zu schreiben die ich während eines Tages mache. Ich beabsichtige auch manchmal etwas Persönliches zu schreiben, wenn's was interessantes gibt. Das meiste wird in Englisch sein, manche Dinge in Deutsch.
Themen über die ich schreiben werde: Softwareentwicklung (Visual Studio, MonoDevelop, C#, C/C++, Vala...), Themen zu Datenbanken (SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS...), Windows Client & Server, Linux (vor allem Ubuntu), Webtechnologien (HTTP, HTML, JavaScript, XML...)
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