Don MacVittie

By now, everyone even vaguely familiar with information security knows the military maxim of blitzkrieg – burst through the hardened defense at a single point and then rush pell-mell to the rear where the soft underbelly of any static army lies. It is a good military strategy, provided you have the resources to break through the defenses and follow up with a rapid advance into the rear areas. While there are variants of this plan, and a lot of discussion about how/when it is strategically worth the risk, historically speaking it has been a smashing success. Germany did it to France and the Low Countries in 1940, to Russia in 1941, Russia returned the favor in 1943, and the western allies joined used it successfully at Normandy in late 1944. Sherman’s March to the Sea in the American Civil War was just such a ploy (though Sherman was more willing to hit civilian targ... (more)

Marchitecture 101

There was an interesting discussion on one of the table-top wargame lists I belong to (Two Hour Wargames if  you follow the hobby) about the “production value” of a given set of printed products.  While it devolved (as web conversations often seem to) to a comparison with Hollywood, the point was valid. The original reviewer that caused the thread to get started was more interested in how pretty the books were than the quality of the contents. I, personally, don’t care how ugly or mal-produced a wargames ruleset is if the rules are consistent and provide many hours of enjoyable ... (more)

What's in Your Datacenter

There is a series of advertisements for Capital One aired in the US featuring Vikings talking about “more points” from their credit cards that asks “What’s in your wallet?” While they’re entertaining, I never understood what Vikings had to do with a credit card, other than perhaps both like to plunder unsuspecting innocents. Though in fairness, credit card issuers tend to just increase rates, while the Vikings enjoyed wholesale slaughter when they plundered, and took literally everything not nailed down. The author, with Lori and a collection of friends But the question is valid ... (more)

From Point A to Point B

The complexities of life often escape a young child. The Little Man asked me the other day why I had to go work, which was both a compliment to wanting to spend time with me and an unintended backhand slap at Lori, who was going to hang out with him while I took care of business. The answer was the usual stuff, that working paid the bills, and work has its own rewards… It did not include “and I like my job”, though I do, simply because I didn’t want to imply “more than hanging out with you” to a three year old. But children boil everything down to simplicity. The picture over ther... (more)

DevOps. It's in the Culture, Not Tech

It is entertaining to read all that is currently being written about DevOps. Having been a developer, a development manager, an operations manager, and even a CTO, I can attest to the fact that the “throw it over the wall” syndrome is real, and causes real problems for everyone involved. That is about where my agreement with the current round of pundits ends. The thing is that they talk like there is some fundamental technological reason why DevOps isn’t happening. That’s just not true. For those a little behind in your jargon, DevOps is making operations prevalent in the decisio... (more)