http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html Mark Burgess en-br Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:28:47 -0500 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:28:47 -0500 mark@iu.hio.no mark@iu.hio.no http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#approx A talk presented at Amsterdam University on 20th June, in honour of Jan Bergstra's 60th birthday. It discusses how a search for a solution to division by zero confirmed some theory on which CFEngine is based. Fri, 17 Jul 2011 13:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#approx http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#total Research has shown several times that transactional rollback is not a reliable or meaningful operation in IT management. Indeed, it can cause as much harm as the original error one attempts to back out of. Referring to the work of Bergstra and Tucker, this work done with Alva Couch proves a link between "undo" and inverses of operations that have incomplete information. In the case of a policy enforcement, a "rollback" corresponds to division by zero... Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#total http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#velocity The key challenges for infrastructure designers and maintainers today are scale, speed and complexity. Mark Burgess was one of the first people to look for ways of managing these issues based on theoretical analysis. Much of his work has gone into the highly successful software Cfengine, which is still very much a leading light in the industry. In this session, Mark will ask if we have yet learned the lessons of infrastructure management, and, either way, what must come next. Mon, 16 Feb 2011 12:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#think http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#think Today, a growing proportion of the populace aspires to be on a par with experts, and sees real experts as suspicious or even bogus figureheads, like the rich landowners of the industrial revolution who kept the general population poor with malice and greed. I now see this kind of challenge quite often when people don't like the conclusions experts present: a head-in-the-sand rejection of knowledge in what is now seen as a kind of open market for being right. Mon, 16 Feb 2011 12:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#think http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#kmw I recently chaired a Knowledge Management workshop at LISA 2010. I have said on several occasions that Knowledge Management is one of the central challenges of the next decade. Below is a brief summary of the workshop. Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#kmw http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#cmdb Glenn O'Donnel and Carlos Casanova have written perhaps the first worthy analysis of the success and future of the CMDB, with a title befitting a good spy drama. Sat, 23 Nov 2010 08:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#cmdb http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#mandel The death this year (14 October 2010) of the Polish-French-American mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, best known for introducing the idea of fractal dimension to mathematics, reminded me of issues that I have moved away from over the last ten years, but which are every bit as important now as they were back then. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#mandel http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#twp What has beloved physics turned into? Certainly not science, that much is certain. It has become a vanity fair and media circus, often little better than pulp fiction, which overshadows the work of real science. String theorists especially have stolen far too much attention. Wed, 9 Oct 2010 08:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#twp http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#3myths Hierarchy, rollback and ordering ... three words that have haunted me like a sour reflux for the past 15 years. It's time to put pen to paper and explain why I believe these notions are harmful the IT industry. Wed, 9 Sep 2010 00:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#3mthds http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#nordheim June 2010 has seen the passing of one of Norway's most important composers: Arne Nordheim. He was a central figure in Norwegian music, who wrote the opening music for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, and who has stirred controversy as a modernist. Wed, 7 Jul 2010 14:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#nordheim http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#savalue Many, if not most, business leaders see IT services as a cost centre, a sump for funds to disappear into. They tend not to see it as a strategic tool for supporting business growth or developing new opportunities. They need a trusted interpreter. Knowledge Management is a central pillar to developing and measuring system administration value: System Administrators must become teachers. Sat, 8 May 2010 14:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#savalue http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#mij Japan is the most alluring of worlds. Old meets new without obvious disdain, and there is no shame in visual expression, as long as it is tempered by ritual modesty. I spent only 10 days in Japan, travelling with friends between Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Naoshima and Kinosaki Onsen, but this hardly seems to scratch the surface of what must be the most intriguing place I have ever been. Sat, 1 May 2010 14:11:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#mij http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#prvr Cfengine today has developed a broad range of virtualization techniques that simplify the packaging and configuration of computer systems. Still, there is a lot of confusion about what virtualization is and is for. Promise Theory (on which Cfengine is based) could be seen as a form of virtualization itself, so how does Promise Theory help us to understand and manage virtualization and its Cloud Computing dreams? Sun, 29 Mar 2010 18:13:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#prvr http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#vr Recent documentaries by the BBC. Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:13:01 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#vr http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#promises A draft promise theory book is released. Sun, 7 Mar 2010 17:16:45 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#promises http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#efficiency I was recently been moved to think more about the efficiency of the technologies we use... Anyone who has used Windows along side Linux on the same PC, knows about inefficiency from painful experience. Software engineering teaches programmers to be resource hogs. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:16:45 +0100 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#efficiency http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#busval The status of system administrators as experts is at stake as both technology and businesses evolve. To evolve in step, professionals need to become more business aware. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#busval http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#alien This year is the 30th anniversary of Ridley Scott's film Alien, and in commemoration, there is a finally a digitally remastered re-release Gerry Goldsmith's brilliant film score for the movie. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#alien http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#nightmare Knowledge management in organizations is a serious and pressing issue today. As the pace of our world increases and people move more quickly from task to task, or even job to job, knowledge that is locked inside people's heads tends to remain there. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#nightmare http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#phd PhD students learn unique skills in order to develop an overview of their subject: they have to understand the breadth and depths of their topic, embrace common sense, and learn to defend against every kind of criticism. To succeed they have to learn time management and task prioritization. These are exactly the skills needed to run a business. Why is it then that business and academia are such unwilling bed-fellows? Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#phd http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#origami Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language. Steve is a compulsive linguist. In this book, Guy Deutscher (whose name is even indicative of his multi-national life and learnings) describes the state of modern linguistics with enviable skill. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#origami http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#happiness A couple of years ago I came across Richard Layard's book on Happiness. This book describes the research that has been done on what makes people happy. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#happiness http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#research In modern society, academics are not valued very highly; research is often seen by many as a way for unstructured layabouts to get free money for doing something that no one understands. Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:45 -0500 http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark/blog.html#research