Technology Musings
Open source applications have a natural inclination to be compiled for multiple operating systems. Although many OS’s and tools are converging in functionality, it’s nice to have a homogeneous environment of favorite programs to make the transition from machine to machine more seamless. I use Windows and work and Linux at home, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up anything in the process. Below are – in no particular order – some of my favorite cross-platform open source applications.
In: VirtualBox
22 Jan 2009Sun has released VirtualBox 2.1.2. This is a maintenance rather than feature upgrade, but there are a few highlights including better Windows 7 guest support.
What is it? It’s a bidirectionally synchronized folder in The Cloud. I’m amazed. It works on every major platform. It works seamlessly. It just works.
In: SQL Server
5 Jan 2009Unfortunately, setting up a linked server to Oracle is not as easy as it should be. In fact, you’ll have to install some software on your server to make things work. I’ve put together a short guide on connecting to Oracle from SQL Server.
In: SQL Server
5 Jan 2009SQL Server provides a great notification system for alerts and jobs. There are many options to be set and multiple dialog boxes to step through, but once finished, you’ll always be the first to know when a problem is immanent. Below is a detailed reference to get this running on a new server.