Mega Comrade

Sun Microsystems Inc. have plan to publish the software code open source server virtualization own and will make a commercial version of the Sun xVM expected to be available next month. xVM Server can make virtualization Software Windows, Linux, and Solaris operating system on x86 hardware products from vendors such as Sun, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, DELL.

Steve Wilson, as Vice-President stated that Sun xVM strategy is focused on the operating system itself and the Sparc chipset. Sun has been doing server virtualization for some time, but most still focus on the platform own course.

xVM Server is now still in the Beta version, but the source code can be downloaded in. Commercial version offered with the support updates, patches, and is available with the October price of U.S. $500 for one physical server for one year. Sun has also launched a second version of xVM Ops Center is a management server to server physical and virtual servers. The new version is expected to facilitate setting a virtual machine, storage management and the use of live migrations xVM feature that allows a running application to move on a virtual server to a physical device other.

Technology is a wonderful thing but sometimes I am left wondering why some things which seem so simple are so difficult. One such thing is data sharing between computers. Now there are a few ways to synchronise your computer but none really work all that well, flash cards are a hassle as is most online hosting. Then there is file sharing. I want to send my friend a picture which I have on my hard drive, simple yes? Except for the fact that printing it off and sending it by carrier pigeon is faster and more reliable than the ‘file send’ in MSN. So I end up hosting the damn thing in rapidshit or some other filehosting service, all that effort for a lame catchphrase picture you found on 4chan? So this is where Dropbox comes in. It isn’t the first of its kind oh no, but it’s easily the best purely because it’s more simple than a inbred child and it just works. After install you get a set of folders, put stuff into those folders and it gets uploaded (you get 2gb in the beta) and shows up in any other computer that is linked to that account. Right click on any file in the dropbox folder and it gives you a public link that works in any browser for anyone. When a change is made to the file it gets automatically reuploaded and the change is made to all the copies of the files on all your connected PCs. This also gives you the ability to undelete files too.

So in summary  :

• Backup files online
• Share files automatically with friends and work colleagues anywhere in the world, on Windows or Mac
• Produce instant weblinks to files to share
• Synchronise files between work and home
• Share pictures

Just look at the video on the main site, it explains it better than I can.

www.Getdropbox.com

The service isn’t perfect, it lacks a Linux version (working alpha version exists but not yet public) and sometimes files can take longer than they should to update but for a system still in beta it works amazingly well. I expect you will have to pay for the service when it goes gold but hopefully they will keep 2gb free and simple charge for more storage. Oh by the way, it is invitation only, so you will have to look around for invites I am afraid, but it’s worth it (even just for the ability to make friends beg for the 10 invites you get yourself on activation)

DEATH TO FLASHCARDS! VIVA THE DROPBOX REVOLUTION !

I reactivated my Facebook account while I was travelling. It is still far from perfect but it beats emailing the 30 odd people you befriend while backpacking.