Comp-U-News from Comp-U-Talk
January 2012
You will invest your life in something, or you will throw it away on nothing.
Haddon Robinson
A Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully, your Christmas was filled with warmth and laughter and cheer that will continue throughout the new year.
An update on the flood: As reported earlier, a flood in Thailand took out one of the worlds largest manufacturers of hard drives. In good news, the plant has been cleaned up, started up, and supply is beginning to flow again. We don't have an abundance of drives but we are beginning to see prices start to fall. Sometime during second quarter 2012, prices should be back to normal.
In other News: There's a trend in the computer industry that is abbreviated 'aaS'. The aaS is an acronym for "as a Service". The first letter can be replaced by a multitude of letters. The common ones are: S - Software as a Service and H - Hardware as a Service. There are lesser known acronyms like RaaS for Robot as a Service, IaaS for Infostructure as a Service, and Taas for Testing as a Service. The basic premise for "As A Service" is to allow a company (or individual) to rent "S"oftware, "H"ardware, "I"nfostructure, "T"esting services. Renting can be a less painful way of obtaining the latest and greatest features especially when compared to the cost of purchasing the feature outright.
Why should you care? Well there are two reasons.
First, there is a new service being offered: "C"rime as a Service. There is a complete support network available to help you get started in the world of crime. Whether you want to take advantage of stolen credit cards or run a terrorist group, there are advocates for you via the internet. In fact, you might be contributing to CaaS unknowingly. There is an extremely fascinating and frightening video posted on YouTube. Marc Goodman is a crime specialist and speaks of the dangers of social networking. Click here to find the link on the Comp-U-Talk Facebook page. Then click the link to the 2011 Strata Summit. I highly recommend you make time to watch this 15 minute video. If you are stuck on dialup service, feel free to come in to the store and watch it here. This is a must see for anyone who is addicted to facebook or twitter.
And while we are on the subject of facebook, I would suggest you click the like button on the Comp-U-Talk facebook page. We are planning to run specials for our facebook
friends throughout the year. Which brings us back to the second reason you
should care about 'aaS'.
I attended a conference in December where Intel introduced a new HaaS. This is rental of a server at a reasonable price with your choice of software installed. I was so impressed I ordered two of them. Sometime in late February or March I will be doing a "Lunch and Learn", that's where I provide a free lunch and while you eat, I will do a product demo and answer questions about the products. If you would like to be invited to that seminar, definitely click the like button on the Comp-U-Talk Facebook page or call the store and ask to be notified by mail, phone or email when a date is set. (And, if per chance Neal answers when you call: Ask him how much longer it will be before he gets the conference room emptied out and ready for our Lunch & Learn.)
Stay Safe and Warm,
~Janet