It boggles my mind that the year 2007 is almost over and still to my knowledge, there is no standard out of the box Content Management System (CMS) that can just plug & play into a corporate infrastructure. They all need to have a bit of customization to integrate. Some common estimates are that you can spend up to three times the cost of the software. The fact that enterprise CMS systems can run hundreds of thousands of dollars, this is not a cheap solution.

In some recent discussions I've had with various people that have done a CMS implementation, one general feeling kept emerging, an enterprise is better off designing their own. What's available is too generic and trying to solve every business's content management needs with the same solution. This approach assumes that a construction company has the same CMS needs as a financial institution and this is not true. That false impression is what usually drives the cost to the three times cost I mentioned before.

So, what's an IT manager to do? The general conscience is to develop your own or work with a software design company to write your own. Analyze the business needs and build the simplest solution you can think of. Remember, a "CMS" core requirement is to allow users to input content and deploy it to a number of target locations.

The Linux Kernel is the core of what makes the Linux operating systems. The kernel is what controls how your system interacts with hardware and software. Sometimes you may want or need to tune the kernel for a specific type of Linux setup, so I offer a set of steps to assist in tuning your systems kernel. Enjoy!

Have you been called a Geek on occasion and you don’t think that you are a one? Here is a listing of tell tale signs that can be used as a guide to determine if you are, or are not, a Geek.

• You collect funny SPAM E-mails.
• You talk with your computer, and it's not because you're bored, it's because you're afraid they might be.
• Your household ratio of computers to humans is at least 4:1.
• You are completely free of tan lines everywhere.
• When you hear 'organized sports' you think 'LAN party'
• You have forgotten how to use most of your social abilities and you never used them anyway.
• When you must speak with others, you speak a cryptic language of TLA's decipherable only by another geek.
• No 'warranty seal' is completely safe in your presence.
• You have a large box of spare cables that you will never use and you could never be convinced to part with it.
• You want your 22" Trinitron CRT to be buried with you.
• You understand why '42' and 'AYBABTU' are funny, and still laugh at both.
• You prefer to not use the telephone.
• You're always available on Friday nights. Free to play your favorite MMORPG
• You consider 'Geek' a complement.
• Your non geek friends think you just work computers.
• When Camping in the woods, electricity and wireless access is a preferred convenience.
• You have over 10 E-mail accounts, and check them all regularly.
• You understand computers better than people sometimes.

Recently I needed to setup several machines for a training class and there was a need to reinstall the base software the training was being conducted on and reconfigure the setup for the next day’s class. This became very time consuming to say the least and other options needed to be considered to improve this process. We considered Citrix as a option as well but the cost for servers and licensing just to conduct classes internally to our own employees was not within our budget range.

Getting the most out of your database by ensuring that it is running smooth and efficient is mission critical for any webmaster with a popular site. Here is a listing of a few optimization commands that can be used to control how MYSQL behaves to enhance performance. Hopefully this will assist you in making the most out of your data back-end, and help to prevent serious problems in the future. Enjoy.

This is a great video on how to make your own Laser with only a few special parts and a minimag flashlight. Now all we need is to make a few of these and attach them to the heads of a tank full of sharks and we can feel like Dr. Evil. This video really brings out the Star Wars geek in me. Enjoy.

Who ever made this video knows what they're doing. There are a ton of fan-made CG Transformer clips running around the net as of late, but thise one is worth the mention. This clip of a UFO transforming into the U700 phone is a well talented use of time.

With life on the move its nice to know that you can take everything with you. When I remember back to the first computer I owned with a hard drive that was 240 Megabytes I thought that I would never run out of space (I have to laugh). These days you can get 8 Gigabytes hanging on your key ring or around your neck, not to mention all the storage we carry in our phones and Media players.