The Coming Systems Crisis

Many companies and institutions still use Windows XP for their system networks. Unfortunately, Microsoft service support for XP will end completely in 2014, which is no doubt causing many companies to figure out what they should do. I have done research and found several possibilities:

1. Switch to Linux
Open source software deployment in governments across the world is gaining momentum purportedly to enhance universal access, reduce costs associated with commercial software bridge the digital divide, grow indigenous IT skills, etc. Botswana and South Africa are the economic frontline states in Africa, and their leadership role in this matter among counterparts on the African continent is pertinent (Stephen Mutula, 2010).

Companies all over the world are switching over to free open source software. In just a few years, Linux has grown from a student/hacker playground to an upstart challenger in the server market to a well-respected system taking its rightful place in the educational and corporate networks. A freely redistributable clone of the Unix operating system, Linux is turning up everywhere. People use it for web servers, file servers, and workstations instead of – or alongside - systems from traditional Unix vendors as well as Windows NT. In addition to its role in large networks(Siever, 2000). The Linux Ubuntu OS is cool and very popular with the youth (and it is free!). Linux may not be in the mainstream just yet, but many are confident that Linux will continue to gain momentum.

2. Upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8
Linux systems software is free, but Windows is well known and trusted. Both types of operating systems are good, each having its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and each have a loyal user base. With the release of yet another new version of Windows, the question is being asked again - "Should our company switch to the new Windows?"

Many companies are still using Windows XP and will need to upgrade soon before the customer support ends. But why pay lots of money for Windows upgrades when a Linux upgrade is free? The past few years have been hard financially for everybody. Company savings of hundreds to even thousands of dollars makes perfect sense.

Upgrading a new Windows version over the dinosaur XP brings a sense of security knowing that their files and software that they ran on the old operating system will continue to work on the new operating system - compatibility. Plus, most of the software and hardware around us is designed for Windows, and that gives it a huge advantage. (Kingsley-Hughes, 2012)

Windows has always had better customer service support although you can now pay for Linux support. Not too many years ago Linux customer service was handled primarily within web communities and websites. If you had software problems you posted on a Linux community page. But you were not guaranteed a quick answer or even an answer at all. However, Linux has come a long way and is ever improving.

3. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
And last but not least, you can turn your workplace into a virtual office.Virtual desktop infrastructure uses server hardware to run desktop operating systems and applications in a personal machine. Users access the virtual desktops on their existing PCs. This arrangement eliminates the need for workstation upgrades, and lets a user switch between operating environments (Windows XP and Windows 7). VDI renders administrative and management tasks much easier, as users of each attached PC use the same image. (Harbaugh, 2012)




References:

Harbaugh, L. (2012). The pros and cons of using virtual desktop infrastructure. PC World , p. 32.
Kingsley-Hughes, A. (2012, June 25). Windows 8 downfall still doesn't give Linux a chance. Retrieved September 02, 2012, from ZDnet: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/windows-8s-downfall-still-doesnt-give-linux-a-chance/20975
Siever, E. S. (2000). Linux in a Nutshell (3rd ed.). Sebastopol: O' Reilly & Associates.
 Mutula, S. & T. Kalaote (2010). Open source software deployment in the public sector: a review of Botswana and South Africa. Library Hi Tech, Vol 28 Iss: 1 , 63 - 80.

Conflicts Metaphors

      We are seeds planted in the garden of life; our trials and tribulations, everything we have fought for, are for the benefit of others. The conflicts and hardships that we have endured produce changes for the better that others will enjoy. The rough, rocky, and narrow roads that we have traveled will create bridges of safety and paths of comfort for future generations.

      Conflict produces character. God allows trials and conflict in our lives to shape us and mold us. He never gives us more than we can handle. He gives us experience in our walk so that we can help others out from the same situations we were once in. As we grow, the people around us begin to notice the changes. We can share with them the experiences we have been through and they are inspired by our perseverance through conflict.

      Conflict at the time we are going through it, is not pleasant. We may feel alone, isolated, and uncomfortable, as if nobody seems to understand what we are enduring at the moment. We may feel hopeless at times, as if this current situation will never end; I will never get out of this hole, I am alienated in a prison cell, everyone around me hates me for no reason at all. God, where are you?

      Conflict can be harsh treatment from a misunderstanding. People do not understand you, so they label you and spread a bunch of gossip about you. You have been hurt in your past and you still have wounds on your soul. Sometimes your wounds bleed, coming to the surface in a way that causes others to sense something wrong in you; but they do not understand you so they label you and spread some gossip around. Then they alienate you and treat you like a leper. Many people who experience this end up being left to their own demise and they eventually self-destruct. God wants to use our experiences through conflict to help save these people from self-destruction.

      Conflict is a road map through a trial. As you go through that trial, you are gaining experience on how to deal with the particular situation, and you can share your experience in dealing with it so that others will be able to overcome. Conflicts can cause tears; but with patient endurance, someday those tears will not have been shed in vain. Experiencing conflict produces tools that people can use to their benefit.

      Inner conflicts will weigh you down if they are not dealt with. Inner conflicts can make your life a mess as it stirs up some baggage within you. It is unraveling the bad so that it can be replaced with good. God uses conflict to build character in us and remove sin. Isaiah 1:25, 26 reads “I will turn my hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy………Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city”. Just as the dross rises to the top of silver, refining it, so God uses trials and conflict in our lives to purify us, purge us, and use us for his glory.

      God has a unique plan for each and every person he has created. He calls us out of our old ways to prepare us to be used for something new – His plan for our lives. In the book of Isaiah, God declares that in the midst of conflict he shall provide comfort for his people. “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it will spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.......because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise.”

      Praise God for conflict! It seems strange to think this way at first, but as you begin trusting in God, it only makes sense to be thankful that God has you in his hand. He uses conflict to mold us and shape us. And how much better the experience would be if we willingly surrendered to him instead if trying to fight it! God loves us very much and he loves us just the way we are, but he does not leave us in the condition we were in when he found us. No, he has something better for us, and he uses conflict to perfect and complete us. He wants to make us more like Him.

Human Genetic Engineering - Is It Ethical?

      Genetic technology has been making major advancements over the past decade. Parents may soon be able to genetically modify the traits of their unborn children (Parry, 2013). This would give parents the ability to make their children tall and intelligent, etc. and also check for diseases or deficiencies. People are divided over the ethical grounds of human genetic engineering, and many of us feel that some of the experiments being done are not right, that we are crossing a morally dangerous line. What exactly is human genetic engineering? As the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals put it:
“HGM is a process by which scientists and medical professionals alter the genetic makeup, or DNA, in a living human cell. Ideally, HGM would be used to fix defective genes that cause diseases and other genetic complications” (Clapper, 2013).

      HGM could be used to help fix genes that cause diseases and complications. Scientists have experimented with somatic and germline applications to alter the genes of living cells by inserting a new gene into a virus-like organism. This organism then enters the cells and inserts the new gene into the genome. Somatic engineering treats organs or tissues with an existing condition, whereas germline engineering can genetically modify the sperm and eggs, and embryos in its earliest stages. Germline engineering can replace deficient DNA, but it can also make genetic changes, such as height and intelligence; making permanent changes in the embryo that even affect this being’s future offspring. Man now has the ability to play God by creating ‘designer babies’ – it is sort of like going to McDonalds and “having it your way”. And then there is cloning. There are different methods of cloning, including: DNA cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning – also known as embryo cloning.

      Experts in the HGE field gathered together back in February to discuss whether or not HGE should be banned in the United States. Those in favor of the human genetic engineering argued that it would help parents ensure that their children would have a healthy life. Those who were opposed are sticking up for the sanctity of life and protection for the unborn – that such testing is unethical. The subject brings up horrible memories of Hitler and the way many innocent people were used as experiments and killed in the Nazi concentration camps. It is possible that such experimentation, known as eugenics, would follow HGE legalization and acceptance in the United States. One of the experts present who opposes it, Sheldon Krimsky, stated that the hundreds of thousands of failed specimens of tested animals and crops are thrown away like garbage. This is not good. Allowing HGE on human embryos would further cheapen the value of life and would have devastating moral consequences on our society – these scientists are tampering with nature!




References:
Clapper, R. (2013, April 09). Human genetic engineering: A very brief introduction. Retrieved from redOrbit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112819269/human-genetic-engineering-a-very-brief-introduction/
Parry, W. (2013, February 18). Designing life: should babies be genetically engineered? Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/27206-genetic-engineering-babies-debate.html

God Has a Plan for You!

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you. - Jeremiah 1:8

      Have you ever been disappointed because something did not turn out the way you wanted it to? Have you ever felt betrayed - wasting your time trying to please someone or a group that had little or no value for you in return? Have you experienced inner turmoil because you were being what your friends thought you should be, and not who your conscience says you are? Do you really know who you are? Sad to say, many people waste most or all of their life because they were never able to discover their God-given purpose - the very reason for their existence.

      We can discover God's will for our life by committing ourselves to God and reading His word - the Bible. Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." God has a mission - to deliver, liberate! all people from sin and to give them true and abundant life that comes from having a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Abundant life now, and a hope of eternal life with God in heaven. And he wants to deliver you, and then he wants to use you to help bring the people around you there too! Sometimes he calls people to a far and distant land, but many times he uses people right where they are. Our awesome purpose is to accept his gift of salvation and become his children, and then to help him build his kingdom of Heaven. Have you discovered your God-given purpose yet?

Growing Up WIndows & Meeting Mr. Linux

      Most of us in our mid-forty's and younger grew up with one of the hot home items of the 80's - a home PC. My mother bought an IBM Dos PC for the family in 1984, when I was 16. I enjoyed the floppy disk games, but I had just read 1984 by George Orwell, and I was afraid of computers!

      I purchased my first PC – Windows 3.1 – in 1995 after hearing my friend brag about how he balances his checkbook on a computer. He also had an encyclopedia CD for his PC. And he got an email the other day. An email, what’s that?  It did not take me long to drive down to Circuit City and purchase a brand new Windows 3.1 PC. Hot off the shelf, right? Well, I kid you not, only several months later Microsoft released the new Windows OS version – Windows 95. “Scandalous!” I thought. Why can’t they stay with the old version? Well, a couple of years passed until I finally gave in and purchased the Windows 95 upgrade CD;  just in time for the release of (you guessed it) Windows 98.  I was beginning to sense some sort of a conspiracy. The pressure of having and using the latest upgrade was getting expensive. I got Windows 98, then XP, and I have had XP for over 10 years until I finally purchased a Windows 7 laptop for my college assignments, and I also just upgraded my desktop to Windows 8. But up until 3 years ago I did not realize that there was a thing called Open Source Software - you can have a computer and surf the web, and the OS software is free. System upgrades are free. Millions of people did not know, and many millions probably still do not know about Open Source software. They have Windows. Windows was everywhere, but not so with Linux. Why not?

      People are just used to Windows. Linux, compared to Windows, is like turning the easy mode to "OFF" in a video game. It is for the hardcore programmer (which I still am not). It is an adventure of one’s passion for the advanced user, but still, it can be basic enough for everyday use. You can become more enlightened and go off into the programming codes at the command prompt, but you do not have to. You could just simply do the things you normally do on a PC – email, uploading photos and mp3 files, games, etc. But then, it is different from Windows. Linux is not Windows!

      Finally, after several years of having Ubuntu OS on my slave drive, Windows is still my OS of choice. Hey, I guess the old sayings are true - we are creatures of habit. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks! Ubuntu is still cool, but I grew up with Windows, and Windows 8 is great.