Archive for February, 2009

Image by Andrew Mason

Look at the vector images above, to the right and below. Try to guess which vector imaging software was used to produce the images. If you’re thinking of either:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Corel Draw
• or Macromedia Freehand

Yes, any of the above vector imaging software allows you to draw and create the images but the best thing about these images, they are created via a free and open source vector imaging software called Inkscape. Life’s peach image by Andrew Mason

Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. Continue Reading »
Free and open source vector imaging software

How many external hard disks do you have?

External storages are so affordable these days that we can have one for documents, one for movies, one for music files and another one just to install and run applications externally.

Having too many external hard disks can be a problem as the disks can sometimes be misplaced. Another challenge, we might have difficulty trying to identify which hard disk contains what files. Unless you tag your disks properly, it can be troublesome to hook up several disks just to find the right file. Photo my matsuyuki

The technology behind hard disk storages advance very quickly. Few years ago, if you have a 160 GB hard disk, it is something to shout about. Today, it becomes a standard hard disk capacity. And in the coming years more and more solid state drives (SSD) will emerge in the market. If you’re not familiar with SSD, it is basically a data storage with no moving parts in it thus providing the following benefits as compared to a normal hard disk:

• Less fragile
• More silent
• Lighter
• Faster
• Lower power consumption

Hey, looks like SSD is really cool, what’s the catch? It’s really expensive right now. But by how much? Wikipedia – SSD has the answer. Another disadvantage of SSD for now is that the capacity is usually much smaller. Continue Reading »
The various types of hard disk capabilities

Whenever a client or a friend asks me about a having a central place to store documents and information, the first solution that I would recommend to them is Sharepoint.

A few days later, they would come back to me and ask, is thereTr a cheaper or free alternative to Sharepoint.

I would tell them that Sharepoint is quite unique and a powerful solution especially for office collaboration purposes. Also, which ever solution he chooses, it all depends on his end goal and business requirements. Photo by lumaxart

From my experience with Sharepoint, it is really good for:

• document management with version control features
• content management
• lists management
• calendar of events
• search capabilities
• and others

He was still interested in a cheaper or free alternative, thus I suggested him some alternatives but they are stand alone products such as:

• document management – KnowledgeTree
• content management – Joomla
• survey management – LimeSurvey
• lists management – Don’t know of a free alternative

So he goes back and Google for the products above, and a few days later came back to me and asks, is there a solution similar to Sharepoint which allows users a single sign on to all the required features. At the moment, if he is to install all three solutions above, his users would have to maintain three IDs for each of the solutions. Also, the user interface and user experience is not standardized since they are three different products altogether.

I did some research and found out that Alfresco seems to be an open source Sharepoint alternative. Continue Reading »
A simple comparison between Alfresco and Sharepoint

As the CIO or IT Manager within a warehouse, is technology currently being utilized to automate processes within the warehouse?

A warehouse typically has a combination of materials and stocks stored in it. Managing the movement of all the materials within a warehouse can be very challenging. If done well, processes can be streamlined and productivity can be enhanced. But if not, a warehouse’s stock and supplies could go missing, get misplaced or even sabotaged.

A solution would be to implement a warehouse management system (WMS) whereby the key aim is to control the movement and storage of materials within the warehouse.  WMS can also help to process transactions, shippings, material location, receivings and others. Photo by goldberg

The typical warehouse management system includes a variety of technology such as:

• RFID scanners
• RFID tags
• Barcode scanners
• Mobile computers
• Long range wireless devices
• High end servers to store (application, database, files)

If your key skills and experience lies in within the warehouse such as managing the processes and staffs, you can rely on third party vendors to help implement a WMS for your warehouse. Continue Reading »
Free warehouse management RFP template