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Q: Why was the goldfish afraid of the computer?

A: He didn’t want to get caught in the Internet.

Silly joke, but it made me smile.

Are You Afraid?

Are you afraid of the Internet? Perhaps this question would have been better asked in the 1990s when the Internet was starting to make its boom. This question still has merit today due to the risks often heard about in the media regarding data theft, identity fraud, and malware.

Perceived Risk vs. Actual Risk

Bruce Schneier, wrote an interesting article on Perceived Risk vs. Actual Risk. In the blog post, he quotes an applicable point:

People underestimate risks they willingly take and overestimate risks in situations they can’t control. When people voluntarily take a risk, they tend to underestimate it. When they have no choice but to take the risk, they tend to overestimate it

Moving Beyond the Fear

How can the problem of people underestimating the risks of malicious software be solved, when they don’t patch their system, or utilize available security features? How can the issue of someone underestimating the risk of identity theft by using weak passwords, and irresponsible security practices? How can the business and technology industry teach new and experienced users the skills they need to move beyond the fear, and into confident, and better security practices?

A lot of the solution comes down to basic education, training, and moving beyond the fear. This simple education, knowledge of best practices, and heightened awareness increases security posture greatly. Many businesses employ formal training and seminars. While this is a worthwhile endeavor, this isn’t the end all, be all. Find ways to create an informed group, through open communication, such as newsletters. The simpler the better, because folks, while they typically like to be informed, don’t always have time to muddle through the details.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. – Johann von Goethe

I once sat in a one-to-one meeting with a successful entrepreneur who is in his seventies and he described when an organization that he has built into a profitable enterprise decided to hire its first technology employee. When they made the decision to hire him, he thought why would we need a technology person? What purpose will they have? Granted this is still when they still used pencil and paper along with typewriters for day-to-day administrative work.

Years of Change

It was interesting to me as he described the transition that happened within the company and structure of how business was done as the technology effort began to grow and take shape. A natural evolution towards increasing productivity, and ease of sharing information began to produce the need for more technology personnel and infrastructure. Today this organization is a leader in its industry with a strong core technology infrastructure. To quote him, “We just couldn’t do business today without technology.”

Looking Forward

It is no secret, especially to Gordon E. Moore, thinker behind Moore’s law, that innovation with technology happens rapidly and is ever changing. Over the years we have gone from tubes to the cloud, with new standards and concepts being developed daily.

Just as business couldn’t thrive without basic bookkeeping, marketing, and great people, technology has a big part in a business’ success. Whether it is increasing the productivity of employees, to allowing better communication amongst remote working peers, or simply making mundane tasks more interesting, I have a profound interest in observing and impacting business by utilizing and magnifying technology’s strengths.

There are hurdles. The complexities of new software or systems, equipment and software costs, and training where needed. Technology is often seen as a necessary expenditure, but not always the favorite cost center of an organization. This is beginning to change in the industry however as more IT departments and service providers are beginning to acknowledge and accept the customer and consumerism of IT. Things should just work and do what the person wants them to do.

As a self-proclaimed power user, I agree whole-heartedly with the self-proclaimed technology illiterate, that technology when done right just works. It doesn’t overcomplicate all the unneeded bells and whistles, it focuses on the important task at hand and allows you to get your work done without confusion.

I do my best, and my part, to help within the IT and technology industry to promote usability, and stable core infrastructures, and innovation to provide increased possibilities of business growth and success.

As a follow-up to the post, Brief Introduction to Cloud Computing, which I recently wrote and posted, I would like to provide to the public a brief presentation document I used while giving a presentation on Cloud Computing.

You are welcome to download the presentation and distribute or use as desired.

Cloud Computing Presentation (.PDF)

As learned from past events, computing in its purest form, has changed hands multiple times. First from near the beginning when mainframes were predicted to be the future of computing. Indeed mainframes and large scale machines were built and used, and in some circumstances are used similarly today. The trend, however, turned from bigger and more expensive, to smaller and more affordable commodity PCs and servers.

Most of our data is stored on local networks with servers that may be clustered and sharing storage. This approach has had time to be developed into stable architecture, and provide decent redundancy when deployed right. A newer emerging technology, cloud computing, has shown up demanding attention and quickly is changing the direction of the technology landscape. Whether it is Google’s unique and scalable Google File System, or Amazon’s robust Amazon S3 cloud storage model, it is clear that cloud computing has arrived with much to be gleaned from.

In dealing with the abstract term, “the cloud”, it is easy to misunderstand what makes up the structure and function. The basic function is what comes from “the cloud”. This is primarily output, however, not only. Input is what makes the cloud tick.

Do not confuse cloud computing with the term data center, as it typically sits on top of the latter. Viewing the cloud as logical rather than a physical, you can see it object describes it better. (Diagram 1 gives a basic visual example)

(Diagram 1 – credit ICT Watch)

The proposed benefits of using cloud architecture to build applications on top of, are immense. SmugMug, a successful photography community, saved an estimated $2 $1 Million dollars (edit per this link) in 2007 by using Amazon S3 cloud storage. Organizations and individuals can benefit from mass computing and storage, provided by large companies with stable and strong cloud architectures. On the other hand, companies that desire to build massive, scalable environments, utilizing virtualization and cloud computing will increase their future margin of success greatly.

As new technologies emerge, they often tend to build on the success of previous developments. Cloud computing and storage, benefit from years of development and testing of large scale infrastructure. The most important take away is cloud storage is for everyone and every organization. From big to small, groups to individual, the use of grid infrastructure can be deployed for maximum return and efficiency.

Further Reading:

• Cloud Computing Presentation
• The Information Factories
• Cloud computing – Wikipedia
• Amazon S3: Show me the money

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.” – James Anthony Froude

I’d like to welcome you to Progress Forge.  This blog has been in the mill for some time.

Some of the most interesting things that can happen in your life revolve around change.  Change can happen quickly, slowly, voluntarily, and in-voluntarily.  It can come in the form of either minor or life-changing events.  You can adjust, go with the flow, or resist.  There is purpose in everything, however, it’s not always apparent.  Change isn’t the primary focus of Progress Forge, however, to progress, and to forge something, it’s a natural effect.

Goal setting, achieving, leadership, are elements that affect how we forge ourselves into what we want, or desire.  A blacksmith spends time preparing, and manipulating to bend, twist, and strengthen metal and its properties to create something. There are key takeaways from the smithing process. A design, or thought and plan is made, the preparation is done, and the actual work, which can be difficult at times, can produce a finished product which is stronger than it originally was, and now suits its desired purpose.

The Internet is a wonderful medium, to be able to communicate, share thoughts and ideas, participate in a conversation in a world that has become, and will continue to, smaller, and smaller.  The Progress Forge blog is about leadership, communication, learning, and progress; ultimately into something we’d like to, and picking back up when set back.

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Update: 1/1/2025

After a hiatus, Progress Forge is being re-launched again this year in 2025.

Note: The progressforge.com domain was re-registered again in July 2020. Most of the content that was published on the Progress Forge blog / newsletter was restored in January 2025 from Archive.org Wayback Machine. In addition, most of the content has been updated to fix broken links and images, however, the original context remains.

Update: 6/6/2012

For full transparency, the original publish date of this post was on 2/6/10.

Some content between April 2008 to February 2010, was migrated from keenpath.com over to this home on progressforge.com.  You can learn more about that transition here. Just think of a time warp. As Marty McFly would say, “This is heavy”.

I recommend floating around the archives a bit to see what is all available here. Thanks! (Aren’t welcome posts fun?!)