Revolution: OS and an introduction

So, a technical blog… This is something I’ve toyed around with doing for quite some time.. But, how would I do it?  What would I cover?  How would I start it?  I guess I’ll start it off with a small introduction.

Since before the days of “the net”, back when you had to dial into these things called BBS’s, I’ve gone by the name Sparticus.  I spelled it Sparticus because I really wanted the name, and there was already a dormant account called Spartacus on the first BBS I ever called, but they only ever called in one time.  As I transitioned into more internet-like services such as NNTP and IRC, the name Sparticus was far too common, so I had to throw some numbers at the end of it.  Have somewhat of a concept, even at the age of 15-16, of social engineering and information security, I chose 414 because they meant absolutely nothing!  I still use the Sparticus414 handle, though a few years ago I started also using the name Toupeiro on various technical boards.  The name is Portuguese for the masculine tense of the word Mole, which was nicknamed to me by the girl I was dating at the time.  I was rather fond of the name, so I kept it, and still use it today in several forums and threads, such as ubuntuforums, appdeploy, HP, WineHQ and several other places.  As of this post, I am 28 years old.  I started working in IT during my senior year in High School a few weeks before my 18th Birthday.  At that time I was mainly supporting NT 4.0 systems and a Tokenring network, but would soon graduate on to DG/UX, application packaging and scripting.  I’ve no formal training, or any degree’s at this time, yet today I’m amongst a fantastic team of brilliant IT people working for my companies Technical Computing team.  Oh sure, I’ve taken some formal courses since being employed, but computers and technology was my hobby.  It was one of my first passions, and to this very day I take great satisfaction in the work I do.  Because of this, I am maticulous about it.  Because I am maticulous, I am good.  I’m not egotistical, and I don’t claim to be an expert, though I know this concept of being an expert is something I need to reassess continuously, but I know that I am good because if I was not, I don’t think I would be where I am at today.

So today, I work on several different pieces of IT.  My primary focus, both in my job for the past 2+ years and in my hobbies for the last 9 or so has been in Linux and Open Source.  I am still a windows admin, and if I had to put the expert label on myself towards any facet, I would place it on my windows experience.  Not because I think I am the best there is.  Not because I have all the answers.  But, because I’ve done a whole lot in vast areas of Windows infrastructure support, because I can stand on my own in a situations surrounding even new and unfamiliar windows infrastructure, adapt to the differences and apply what I’ve done, but also because I am more than willing to share any and all of my knowledge with anyone willing to learn.  My supervisor told me something the other day that stuck.  I don’t care how good you are, how much you know, how many degrees you have, or how many years of experience you carry, if you cannot share what you’ve learned you are not an expert.  I wholeheartedly agree.

My work passion is enterprise design.  Why something like enterprise design?  Because its ever changing, there is always something new to learn and to test.  It takes all the components and builds a much bigger picture by effectively tying everything together in a way that works and, if done well, makes sense to even the non-technical.  I like the big picture.  I like making sure all the little projects I work on are in line with a big picture.

Some would think that by now, I would be more burnt out than I am.  Truth is, I did get burnt out at my last job, but I feel 100% recooperated now.  I think I had to leave windows support as my primary focus because as much as I enjoyed what I did, I saw too much that was simply out of my control that I couldn’t do anything about.  That and I was being worked to death from a time perspective..

The biggest problem with windows is Microsoft.  In their philosophy and in their support model.  They make some fantastic products, but its moments where those products become their own limits that the big picture for windows gets fuzzy.  Even if I know exactly how to fix something inherently wrong in a windows product, Microsofts EULA explicitly denies me to change it.  At times, this was a problem for me then. I think I’m ready to be a windows admin again on a more regular basis than I have been recently, because in the last few years I’ve become much more acquainted with FOSS and Linux than ever before, and the bigger picture there is something I’m eager and excited to be a part of.  In other words, I don’t have to dwell on the shortcomings of windows and what I can do that Microsoft will support, because I have linux to apply value to, and in turn receive gratification from the effects of my work.

When I was a full time windows admin, the majority of my hobbies surrounded technologies around windows infrastructure, packaging and scripting being my two most favorite I think.  But, there were things about these that were inherently flawed, by design or by procedure.  I knew it, in fact most support communities knew it, and even some Microsoft staff knew it.  However, it was Microsofts way or no way.  This was especially true with packaging, where Microsoft dictates strict guidelines to follow to ensure things are “Designed for Windows”, that were extremely limiting and most of the time unnecessary and even unsecure at times.  What could I do though?  I had to follow procedure.  I couldn’t really add any value, even if there were value to add, and remain compliant, so I would basically have to script or package something for my employer, knowing full well it was either insecure, or ineffcient.  This is where my burnout came from primarily.  As I mentioned, I am maticulous in my work, so over time, things like this started to make me bitter about Microsoft.

But its in light of all this where FOSS and Linux really take the stage.  Open Source, Free software means I am free to change it however I see fit to make it better, or work how I need it to.  This enables me to add value in ways I couldn’t on Windows systems.  The job started to become way more gratifying again, and I slowly began to be able to handle the workloads I did before.

So there is my introduction.  As I mentioned, this is a technical blog.  Even drenched in all this technology, I have a wonderfully full personal life I share with my beautiful fiance, and my family and friends.  There are also hobbies outside of technology I partake in which may come up from time, but I am really going to focus on making this site an outlet for my career and my hobby; IT.

I will end this post with a link to a video.  Linux and Open Source is still new to a lot of people, but the ideals and practices have been around for a little while now.  The video I am linking is called Operation OS.  It’s an 85 minute documentary filmed in 2001 about the Linux operating system, and the pioneers of the Open Source movement like Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman, the GPL (General Public License) which is the wonderful piece of legal documentation that makes this all work the way it does, and the Free Software Movement which predates linux and originates from proprietary UNIX systems of the 70’s dictating what you can use on a computer, and what a man named Richard Stallman (known also as RMS) did to change all that.  Keep in mind, this was filmed 7 years ago, but if you have an interest in technology, and have had questions about Linux and Free Open Source Software (FOSS), it really is an important documentary to watch.

I think that’ll do for tonight.  Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing what this blog holds.

-T.

~ by sparticus414 on July 2, 2008.