Beta, to the best of my understanding, is a level of completion concerning software development.

There’s the alpha stage, which loosely translates to "this is the very early stage; it’s very rough around the edges".

Then comes the beta stage which usually means "almost everything works but its still somewhat buggy".

After that there may be several beta versions. Beta 1, 2, 3, 3a, etc.

Then comes the release candidate, often abbreviated as RC. The latest downloadable version of Windows 7 at the time of this writing, for example, is an RC. There may be a few versions of that as well. RC 1, RC 2, etc.

Some software titles skip the RC development part altogether and go straight from beta to release.

Speaking of which, the official release is the final version. For example, on my XP computer box I am running Internet Explorer 8. Not 8 beta. Not 8 RC. It’s the official release of 8, period. The long version number is 8.0.6001.18702, like this:

And with Firefox it looks like this:

You get the idea.

Beta to me means unfinished. I have never defined beta as "cool", because anything "cool" is worthless when you’re trying to get things done.

If Apple released an "iPhone 4G beta", the first question by iPhone users would be, "Why would Apple release an unfinished product?"

Upcoming Linux distributions that are in beta stage make it quite clear that everything doesn’t work like it’s supposed to and to expect that. This is perfectly okay because, well, betas are supposed to be buggy.

Generally speaking, the only time beta is misused as "cool" is when it comes to web sites such as Gmail. And in fact this may work against Google, because in all honesty, who wants to subscribe to a service for enterprise use that has "unfinished" tacked right on the title of the product?

Not exactly a confidence booster.

What do you think?

In most enterprise environments the mail server used most often is Microsoft Exchange. This has been the de facto standard for many years. Corporations like it a lot because not only does it do mail but a ton of collaborative features as well. When connected via the Microsoft Outlook client, it is truly a powerhouse setup.

Wondering if there was any Linux messaging platform that would fit the bill as well as Exchange (or at least put up a good fight), I searched around and did in fact find something on the Linux side that’s not too shabby:

Scalix.

There are a few things I like about Scalix up front.

The enterprise version is not free (although the Community Edition is). I appreciate the fact that Scalix has a paid enterprise version because the fact of the matter is that enterprise cannot run solely on community supported stuff. Enterprise is a business after all, and where there’s money to be made, money has to be spent. Paying for an enterprise-class messaging platform is worth the money.

This is truly enterprise-class messaging we’re talking about. This is not some haphazard badly-designed mish-mosh of code. Rather it’s something that took a lot of time and effort to put together.

The fact Scalix works with Evolution, iCal, Thunderbird, MS Outlook and more is a huge plus.

I seriously dig the fact Scalix explains (even if in basic terms) that the TCO is worth checking out – particularly the last paragraph titled "Transition Seamlessly." The biggest gripe about switching over to anything in enterprise is the migration process. It is never easy, but at least Scalix went thru the effort to ensure the migration will be as headache-free as possible.

It’s the migration notes that really caught my eye here. Most Linux advocates are usually of the opinion "You’re just used to Microsoft, just switch and figure it out", which as anyone with a brain realizes is a stupid maneuver. Migrations have to be planned carefully and timed just right. Scalix even went so far as to say (more or less) "Hey, if you’re using Exchange right now, don’t worry – we’ve got tools to migrate you over."

I wish (oh do I ever) that Linux distribution OSes were more like this, as in the kind that give you a sense of confidence if you want to make the jump.

Remember the Community Edition listed above. If you’re interested in running your own enterprise-class mail server, it’s free for download if you want to check it out. Granted, you don’t get the perks of the enterprise edition, but hey, enterprise-class only a download away? Not bad if you asked me.

It’s most likely true that your computer at home runs circles around the computer in the office or in the classroom. You sit at the computer assigned to you and reel in agony due to the slowness. Doing things as simple as loading google.com take up to 20 seconds whereas at home the page is loaded less than a second after you press the enter key.

The box itself you use is old. Really old. In some cases, as old as a Dell Optiplex running a 1.6GHz Pentium 4 processor with only 256MB RAM on board. In addition, the network crawls whenever you try (keyword there) to do some work.

Questions enter the mind such as: "Do people here purposely want me to do my work slower? Why does everyone have to use these crappy boxes? Why is the network so frickin’ SLOW? What’s the deal here?"

Here’s the 101 on how computers are deployed in the office, and why the network is so unbelievably slow:

The purchasing process

The way in which computers are purchased on an enterprise level is, said honestly, stupid.

Corporations and educational institutions by nature are cheap. As such they will only purchase computers for their employees that are "adequate". Not good and certainly not great. What this means is that any brand new computer that is placed in the office environment is already slow on delivery.

That brand new computer is part of a lot. Could be 50 PCs or 100 or more. Each PC in that lot is configured the exact same way, meaning all of them equally crappy.

Your company/institution made a deal (most likely with Dell) on purchase to have extended warranty service on all these boxes for five years.

On paper this looks lovely. The company just saved a ton of money by getting extended service and doesn’t have to purchase a new set of boxes for five years. Three cheers, right?

Wrong.

All those boxes are woefully obsolete after the 2nd year. If the company had purchased good machines they would have at least stayed somewhat current until the fourth year. But no, the bottom line is all that matters. So you’re stuck with an ancient piece of crap that the company absolutely will not upgrade or replace "until the refresh". And yes this means three years of using an agonizingly slow PC until that "refresh" happens.

Remember: That crappy box you use is crappy because the company who bought it configured it as such. If that same box had a better processor and double the RAM it would actually be tolerable to use.

The network

Corporate networks are slow for three primary reasons:

1. Security
2. Filtering
3. Lack of network resources

Concerning security:

Security on a corporate network is required but the way in which it’s deployed is usually bungled beyond belief. What normally happens is that a network security system was purchased by the company several years ago that absolutely cannot be removed from the system because it’s tethered to something "important". But then something else is introduced into the network that isn’t compatible with the old system. So now you have two logins that you have to remember. Do you have to connect to a mainframe also? Make that 3.

All these different systems have to somehow work with each other but rarely do and do nothing but slow down the network.

You’ve probably thought "Why doesn’t the company just get one system that works with everything?" Easier said than done. You’ve got the Exchange server that doesn’t "talk" to the AS/400. The AS/400 doesn’t "talk" to the SAP system. And then there’s that idiot who no longer works for the company that has a Microsoft Access database that no one’s been able to figure out how to migrate somewhere else, HAS to exist and resides on a network share.

Concerning filtering:

Your company/institution hates internet. They hate everything about it and deem it an evil thing that should be banned like asbestos. The only reason they use it at all is because it is in fact one of the most cost effective ways to conduct business. Were it not for that fact, internet wouldn’t even exist in the office.

What your office does is put a "nanny" filter on the network like this one. Every time you want to go to anywhere on the internet from work, the filter kicks in and slows everything down. Combine that with the fact your Internet Explorer is "secured" so much that you’re lucky you can even type in a web address and you’ve got a bottleneck both locally and on the network each time you use it.

Concerning lack of network resources:

The network room at your company/institution is set up the same way PC boxes are deployed – only to be "adequate" at best. The routers are old and ancient. The wiring looks like spaghetti-tangled multi-colored mess. When something goes down it takes at least a half-hour to fix it.

Where networks fail the most is in the lack of space. Do you have an Exchange account that’s only limited to 80MB? I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. You might think "Since hard drives are so cheap.. why is it such a bother to upgrade?" Good question. The answer is that it’s not in the budget. Yes, it’s true – the IT Manager is fully aware he could pop in a few server-grade hard drives for less than $500 that would relieve just about all of the space issues, but the CIO says "No can do – not in the budget."

What will happen in the future? Will these dopey issues ever be resolved?

Yes. The future resides in cloud-based computing. Some larger corporations have already taken to this but small-to-medium sized ones have a few years before they realize that the cloud is the way to go.

The cloud will allow for a near-infinite scalable network architecture. What does this mean to you, the guy or girl who works in the office? It means that the brunt of the speed issues will be handled by the cloud itself rather than from your crappy box or a "boxed" network.

Until then, wait for your "refresh" and hope your company or school puts some actual cash into decent PCs for a change.

Yes, I was a cubicle dweller and lived it up (read: down) in the corporate lifestyle for several years. It is the land where the most exciting thing that happens all day is when the server goes down (again).

1. The decorations on someone’s cubicle offends you for no reason at all.

You walk by someone’s cubicle and see all sorts of decor they’ve bought for it. Plants, Garfield figurines and so on. It makes you mad because.. why? You don’t know. But it does.

2. When someone so much as moves your lunch in the “community” refrigerator in the break room, this enrages you.

What? Someone dared move your lunch bag to the lower shelf?! Heresy! You must find this person and destroy them quickly. Maybe it Bob in accounting. Or Marsha in Accounts Receivable. Yeah, it was her… the one who wears perfume that’s too strong and stinks up the whole office. Had to be her. I will move her lunch bag to the bottom shelf even though I can’t prove it was her that moved my lunch bag.

3. You think everyone in the marketing department lives in a place called Happy Fun Land.

In rare instances your cube might be near the marketing department. And every time you go past that place, the people there are laughing and smiling all day long and you can’t figure out why. Don’t worry, nobody else can either.

To note: The IT department always hates the Marketing people because they use Macs when the entire rest of the company uses Windows. Never is there an easy problem to fix whenever Marketing calls. Example: “Hey tech guy, Carla in Sales needs QuickTime on her PC. Well.. yeah I know.. but.. listen, I don’t care if it’s not ‘allowed’ software, my Mac uses QuickTime and she needs it to view my presentation on her Windows sojustgodoitokaythanksbye [click].”

4. You purposely take walking routes that (in)conveniently go around the cubicles of certain people.

The route you take to your cubicle after coming back from the break room looks like you’re playing a game of Radar Rat Race for the Commodore 64 in real life. People give you funny looks whenever you walk thru, but you don’t care because Marsha from Accounts Receivable ticks you off. AVOID AVOID AVOID.. must avoid..

5. The fact your superiors can “get away with anything” bothers you.

A standard conversation statement that happens in every corporation in the world: “How [manager's name] get his/her job I’ll never know. S/he does nothing all day!” The answer is simple as to why they can. The guy or girl who got the job applied for the job, got it, and you didn’t.

6. You lock the file cabinet in your cubicle as if anything matters in there.

To you, pen theft is a class felony, punishable by a kick in the face to whomever does it.

7. When you are forced to park on the far end of the parking lot, this bothers you even though you are completely able to traverse the distance.

You have become so lazy that it bothers you to walk an extra 100 feet to get to the office even though you are completely capable of doing so.

8. When someone is walking slowly in front of you, this bothers you.

You’re making your standard trip to the laser printer to grab a document (probably your résumé you’re going to mail out later) and are forced to wait an extra 30 seconds because another employee is in front of you walking slowly. The only thought that crosses your mind is a wish to able to take down this person rugby style and toss them upside down in a trash can, because.. well.. they’re in your way. And you got other companies to apply to, damn it.

9. You have purposely studied every single way to get around corporate firewalls at home before going into work.

You know ‘em all. Google Translator, proxies, tunnels, “cloaker” sites, etc. Heck, you might have even set up a private tunnel on your PC at home just so you can surf freely without the almighty “WebSense” blocking you at every turn. When you are finally able to bust thru you are overjoyed because you finally can get some entertainment at work.

Is it any wonder why there are so many iPhone users in the office?

Is it also any wonder why all cell phones are “banned” in the office?

10. You hate the I.T. department.

People who work in I.T. are very aware that most people hate them because they can seemingly (and sometimes literally) “do anything” on the corporate internet connection. Yes, they know this. And they also know that if you cop them an attitude you will be placed at the bottom of the stack in their to-do list when you call in with a problem. What’s that? You don’t know your asset tag? And you didn’t call the help desk first to assign a ticket number? Well.. guess you’ll just have to follow the rules then…

For the people that don’t work in I.T., you only call these guys when you absolutely have to, otherwise you want nothing to do with them. If your database app crashes 9 times a day you just deal with it. Better to deal with the app than the “computer guy”, right? It doesn’t matter if the “computer guy” is the nicest person in the world because then you’re going to be forced to go to another cubicle and work on a computer you “don’t know”, right?

I know what you’re thinking. “If the ‘computer guy’ had to do MY job, he’d see how important it is!” Well, he doesn’t. Hate not the computer guy. Hate the company that doesn’t pay you enough for all the work you put in… except for the times you’re busting the firewall to apply for other jobs.

Would you believe me if I told you that 70% of Linux kernel development is performed by PAID employees in commercial enterprise? It’s true.

If you’re a Linux user, does that make you mad? Does that make you hang your head in shame?

It shouldn’t.

Personally speaking I was really happy to discover this. It means that big-biz has a definite interest in keeping Linux alive and productive in enterprise environments. It ensures that Linux as a whole will stick around for a very long time.

By nature, Linux fans are very anti-corporate. Purists want absolutely nothing to do with corporate initiatives and would rather have everything as a strict volunteer unpaid effort.

Big-biz has spoken otherwise. People are getting paid for Linux development and it’s far outweighing the volunteer effort.

Get used to it.

Dave and Rich discuss the subject of why there is so much anti-Microsoft sentiment on the internet. Certain points are discussed including enterprise usage. See video below for details.