Blog #4, CEDO510

This class has been extremely relevant to that which I do. I am currently an Architecture and Engineering instructor for Union Grove Union High School and therefore I deal with computers on a daily basis. In addition to dealing with computers, the computers that I deal with are extremely high-end computers so the cost of replacement would be astronomical if I were to have to replace these computers. Because of this fact, this class is instrumental in teaching me how to best protect these computers as well as to maximize that which I already have.

I have always been a curious mind and have explored the innerworkings of the computers I have owned, however, I have never really payed too much attention to what did what and how I could improve these systems. This class has forced me to take a look at what the parts were that I was looking at and how I could improve my components to get the most out of them. In addition, this class has also helped me get the most out of my usage of my computers by addressing the appropriate component accessories to best meet my computer usage needs.

I look forward to completing my perfect computer assingment as I am excited to utilize the information that we've learned and apply that in a fashion that I would do so in a real-world experience. I've never been someone who likes busy work and refuse to do such work if I see no point in it. The work we've done however, I can see the application for it. I can see myself not only saving myself money in the future should I need a new home PC, however, I can also see myself saving my school money by being more knowledgeable of what type of computer I need and how I can best assemble that computer at an affordable price.

CEdO510 WK 3. What would I lose?

If my computer crashed I would lose only a few documents of which I have recently completed and that is about it. I go to great lenghts to protect myself against this because when I was in college I did lose everything and had to learn the hard way the importance of backing things up. My college experience went something to the effect of I had nearly 4 and 1/2 years of documents saved to my computer when the Wisconsin DPI came down with the decision to institute PI-34. Under PI-34 we were asked to complete a portfolio and therefore had to come up with several of our old documents. I got about 1/3 of the way through all of my old documents when my computer crashed and all of my old documents were lost. I was so panicked and worried I thought I was going to die. Here I was stressing about this whole PI-34 crap and now all the sudden things are made even worse by the fact that I could no longer create a portfolio with the required documents. I vowed at that moment from then on I would do whatever it took to make sure that if I were to lose information again, it would not be much as I would always have a relatively new backup handy. In addition, I am paranoid because of this incident so I also keep this information in numerous locations. I have some information on Disks, I have some information on an external hard drive, I have some information on a thumb drive, and I have some information in online storage. The disks and hard drive I keep locked in a fireproof safe as to avoid losing them in a fire and the thumb drive that I once thought would replace these has been slowly fazed out since I broke my first one. The online storage has taken the place of much of that information, however, I'm still a little leary with putting all of my personal information on there so that remains locked in the safe on the external. Every couple of months I make it a point to burn new disc backups and resave to my harddrive so as to prevent the future loss of any information. Someday, maybe I will feel comfortable enough with the online storage to just place everything there and at that point I can stop this constant obsession with securing my data.

CEdO510 The Future of the OS

Well let me begin by saying that I am probably the last person that you'd want to ask this question to as I don't fully understand the operating systems as a whole. I like to think that I have a descent grasp on technology and for the most part the operations of the computer, however, for some reason, I have never been able to fully grasp the concept of the operating system and the differences between the various OS's. I have always used Microsoft Windows XP until recently when I switched over to Windows Vista. At first I thought I would hate it but as I've grown accustomed to it I actually prefer it over XP. I think this will be the general progression with whatever OS the future holds or for that matter the lack there of. I do see a minimalist movement beginning to gain steam, however, I think that with the way our culture is and the fact that people like their bells and whistles, I don't see this truly taking over the market. I do think that society may go in the direction of a more webbased system with less demand for an OS, however, I currently can't see people giving up the OS as a whole. Then again, 5 years ago I would have thought it ridiculous to believe that our students would be working on computers with virtually no CPU as our students do in our library by working on thin client systems. There are some unbelievably intelligent people out there who know way more about this than I do and I guess I will just have to trust that they know better than I do what I want and need and I will just have to go with the flow and learn the systems as I go and I'm sure I will like their system better just as it has always been in the past.