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Managing L'unix

A free-ranging daily blog on issues related to Unix - including Linux, BSD, and Solaris - with a particular focus on enterprise-level decision-making.

Paul Murphy

Originally a Math/Physics graduate who couldn't cut it in his own field, Paul Murphy (a pseudonym) became an IT consultant specializing in Unix and related technologies after a stint working for a DARPA contractor programming in Fortran and APL. Since then he's worked in both systems management and consulting for a range of employers including KPMG, the government of Alberta, and his own firm. In those roles he's "been there and done that" for just about every aspect of systems management and operation.

Latest Posts

The wikileaks don't add up

The wikileaks don't add up - not only couldn't the leaks happen as described without gross negligence somewhere, but the contents seem remarkably one sided.

December 3, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Hardware

Buying for tomorrow: Cryptography and SPARC/CMT

When in doubt, bet on the future coming sooner rather than later - because it's better to be ahead of the eight ball, than under it.

November 18, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Oracle

Pagan Agnostics

Does the PC empower the user? I don't think so - well, unless you wipe out Windows and install Linux or a BSD, then maybe.

November 5, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Hardware

The iPad in business

When Motorola and Boeing's desktops were taken over by wintel bigots the stacks of abandoned Macs on the loading docks signaled the end of the company's dominance in their fields - now iDevices threaten to reverse those losses, giving control back to the users.

October 29, 2010 by Paul Murphy in CXO

Another open letter to Larry Ellison<

This year's rather one sided polls in the American election suggest that vote cheating won't affect many outcomes - but races in 2012 may be tighter and reducing the uncertainties this creates for the economy is both a technology and a leadership challenge.

October 22, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Enterprise Software

IT cost, ignorance, and the race to the bottom

Look at the new crop of "smartphones" in the context of what happened with the PC - and you'll predict a race to the bottom as claims for the things escalate and both price and actual functionality fall.

October 8, 2010 by Paul Murphy in CXO

Oracle's invisible elephant

From Oracle OpenWorld: nothing but good news - and a missing elephant, or maybe two.

September 24, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Enterprise Software

The CIO role in the Unix Enterprise

There's really not much to running a Unix system in the enterprise: as CIO all you need to do is create your own mini-me s in user departments, continually beat back the wintel/dp bigots, avoid the invisibility that comes with success, and recruit others willing to sacrifice their careers for professional success.

September 17, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Enterprise Software

Unix vs Wintel/DP: the cost/benefit issue

An imaginary wall to wall Wintel/DP to Unix conversion produces what? Operating cost savings and a dramatic turn-around in IT organizational posture: from blocking force to business enabler.

September 3, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Oracle

Tragedy: Waiting for the laughter to start

Usually I ignore idiotic comment but sometimes the idiocy is so apropos that the petty response is the right response - here because the writer is normally sane but produced a stunning indictment of his own position.

August 27, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Enterprise Software

Forces of nature

Answering sparkle farkle - with a detour through history that should be about 10,000 words long but isn't.

August 20, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Enterprise Software

Drones, arrogance, and fate

Sometimes, particularly when you look at someone else's mess, you can see the rock coming but not get them to move out of the way - and in that situation the only thing you can do is speculate about what greased the slide it's on.

August 13, 2010 by Paul Murphy in CXO

Who does client-server serve?

On the surface one of the oddest things about a large client-server operation that grew from an earlier 327X style system is that they didn't meet their SLA terms then, and don't now - but the bigger question is what the transition achieved and for whom?

August 6, 2010 by Paul Murphy in Servers

The real meaning of the service level agreement

I believe that outsourcing It is almost always wrong - but it has its uses if you want someone else to take the hit for forcing IT management change.

July 30, 2010 by Paul Murphy in CXO

Measurement vs. Perception

Sometimes an IT performance problem has nothing to do with computers or applications - but the general rule holds: if you can't measure it, you don't understand it and you can't manage it.

July 23, 2010 by Paul Murphy in CXO