Silicon Shecky

Windows 7, overall I love it. It works on my laptop like a champ. No real issues, nor any odd things occurring. My desktop on the other hand, seems to have some really odd issues with it.

I’ve written about the problems I’ve had with homegroup working properly, and those issues are still there. Yet I am beginning to believe they are just a symptom of some other problem with my desktop and Windows 7.

Let me start by saying that my desktop is an Athalon 4200+ with 4 GB of Ram and a 320 GB SATA drive. Yes, its around 4 years old now, so its not the best machine out on the market. Still it works and at a high level for the most part.

The machine needed to be wiped and reloaded last year. Too much crap, too many things tested and removed, it was running like a dog. I wanted a clean registry, a system that didn’t have a bunch of crap on it, and of course to use Windows 7.

Now, 5 months later, I’m seeing weird activity. Out of nowhere I won’t be able to save things to either my local or external hard drive. Everything will be fine and then I go to save something and get a permission error. So I reboot the machine to get it to work again. Then there is the homegroup issue, which I am convinced is due to the Desktop. My laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate (which is what the desktop is running), has 4 GB of Ram and a Centrino 2 Processor, and has no issues with writing to drives at all.

So we come to the troubleshooting, which right now consists of a lot of research, and looking at logs. Is it a problem with the AMD processor not integrating with Windows 7 nicely, or is it a problem with Windows 7 itself. That is the question I will try to answer, and take all of you along with me for the ride.

Apple has announced the long rumored iPad. Will the iPad bring about a new age of tablet PC growth or not is the real question. I say no.

It will bring about a series of wars with the eBook readers. Looking at the specs and what the iPad does, I can’t call it a tablet PC. You load software from the app store like the iPhone. You can’t just go out and buy software for it. There is no CD/DVD drive. Heck even the developer kit is included as part of the new iPhone developer kit. How is this a tablet PC instead of an overgrown iPod touch (there is no phone or camera on the iPad also) with eBook capabilities?

Microsoft has been trying to crack the whole tablet PC area for years. They have come a long way, but its still not perfect. The plus side is that if you get a tablet from a vendor like Lenovo, its a laptop with a special screen than can rotate into a position on top of the keyboard so you have a tablet. You get the best of both worlds, even though the OS is still shaky (I have not seen the tablet features of Windows 7 to make a comparison with).

Lets look at the other issue with the iPad. The versions with cellular capabilities are partnered with AT&T. We all know about the overtaxed network due to the iPod. Not only that but most of AT&T’s coverage areas are still 2G compared to 3G. If the iPad takes off as a gadget, and that is what I look at it as, AT&T is going to have more problems.

The iPad’s price could be its downfall in the near term. With the way the economy is, I can’t see why someone would choose this over a lower end laptop in the same price range.

I am a geek. I post here, I twitter, I read a number of tech sites. I also am a Network Engineer and have Microsoft certifications. Oh yeah, I have the CompTIA A+ and Network+ Certifications. I went with the CompTIA certifications because of the standard they are. They are entry level, and never need to be renewed, or at least that was the case for all but a few days this year.

While going through my tech news this morning, Ars Technica had an article up titled, “ Thought that A+ cert was good for life? Think again.” It talks about how CompTIA was making the entry level certifications renewable, and making it retroactive. Yes, you would have to pay a yearly fee to keep the certification plus do continuing education or take the exam over again every three years. Also if you had originally been certified over 3 years ago, you would have to take the newest version of the exam to get recertified.

The announcement was originally made back on January 11, 2010. The geek world went ballistic. Discussions on forum after forum popped up. Grass roots organizations started on Facebook. Finally, Ars Technica got a hold of the info and posted it. The embers of discontent were fanned into an even larger fire. CompTIA has backed down and made adjustments to when changes would occur.

The question is, how much has it hurt CompTIA in the computer world. Yes they are honoring the Lifetime Certifications as valid again, plus if you get the certification before the end of 2010 it will be lifetime still. The new rules take effect Jan 1, 2011.

The dropping of the ball on this was two fold. First off, CompTIA gave no forewarning that they were thinking of changing the terms of the 3 certifications (A+, Network+, Security+). The surprise factor of the announcement would have caused a large ruckus anyway, but then you had to add factor 2. They were revoking thousands, if not millions of people’s certifications. One of the first certifications most people get is the A+, because it shows a basic knowledge of the computer world. All of a sudden, the agreement we had signed saying we were getting a lifetime certification was null and void.

Don’t get me wrong, I can’t complain that they would make the exams renewable. It makes sense. Think of the people who will pass the A+ and then never use it. It is time for it to loose the lifetime certification. Cisco, Microsoft, and most of the other certifications out there expire and have to be upgraded or renewed. Time frames differ, but it makes sense. CompTIA though went about it the wrong way. CompTIA deals with enough certifications that it will survive this. The question is, will the exams affected by this PR disaster survive, and will CompTIA be looked at differently for a long time, or will this just pass into oblivion?