Our country was hard fought for and won on the backs of men and women who gave tirelessly. They sacrificed of their families and themselves never giving up in the face of adversity. Think of where we would be now if the attitude of “me” prevailed. Where would we be? We definitely wouldn’t be the most free, prosperous, giving nation on the face of the earth. Our culture of “me” has consumed our patriots and allowed the voices of discourse and dissension to take the helm as the false majority.

In a letter from John Adams to his wife Abigail he wrote:

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

While Adams date refers to the day that the Continental Congress voted to separate from England it was the signing of that declaration that became our nationally recognized day. Both should always be noted as “the most memorable epoch in the history of America” and that it was only “by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty”.

The United States of America has been one of the most blessed nations on earth in its brief existence thanks to those who founded our country, our biblical values and the freedom to practice (or not if the case may be) the religion of your choice. So too are those who have spilled their blood, given their lives and sacrificed of their families to be commended and remembered. We would not be free to be who we are without you. Even when it is the misguided culture of “me”.

So what say you? Will you join me in laying down the culture of “me” and reviving your patriotism anew so that it carries forward through every day of the rest of your life?

My background beyond basic desktop and application support began in the midrange computer platform as an AS/400 operator. I was using Windows as a desktop OS, experimenting with the brand new Linux, and in school learning Unix System V (now at the core of variants of AIX, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX). In my professional career I had opportunities to transition from a computer operator to assisting with Novell LAN administration. My point to this rant is not that I have a wide range of super-geek knowledge. It is that exposure to a wide range of platforms as a systems engineer will give you the skills necessary to take on diverse systems and be confident in your ability when faced with challenges.

There was a time when a single person could focus on a single platform and nothing else. Those people still exists but they are engineers for the mother ship companies. Most professionals I know who have been in the industry more than five years have had some exposure to supporting an operating system that is not their primary area of expertise. It has become the norm as IT departments are downsized and budgets are slashed. The global market also drives engineers to learn more skills to remain competitive.

Another reason to consider being platform agnostic is connectivity. We have entered an era where interconnectivity between disparate systems is a must and it pays to be platform agnostic. You may be asked to integrate directory services or deploy business software that resides on and interconnects with various platforms (although painful). There is some level of skill required and a diverse background helps ensure you are comfortable with hands on the keyboard in a variety of environments.

The core of my career for over ten years has been Windows (NT to 2008) but I still test drive and use various versions of Linux, work with VMware ESX / vSphere servers, and even on occasion log on to a Sun server. Being a platform agnostic will free you up to look at the right platform for the right solution. Remember that it isn’t about being an expert in every aspect of every platform you touch. It is about the willingness to continually learn new technology, grow from the experience of something different, and become a well rounded professional.

Computer hardware is a commodity now. Regardless of the vendor you have a set number of chip manufacturers, LCD screen producers and distribution channels. The difference in vendors is found in the effectiveness of ancillary products, hardware design, capacity, and customer support that is provided.

Dell successfully escaped the desktop death that plagued Gateway in the late 90′s by having good customer service when it started and a solid product. That led to large businesses adopting Dell as a desktop model to save a few bucks without sacrificing a modest level of quality. Jump to a few years down the line and Dell smartly stepped into the server and storage realm. There were some bad mistakes made and Dell has struggled to come back. Service has been a big disappointing factor. I have also seen higher rates of out of the box disk and component failures than other manufacturers that I have worked with in the past and present.

The service from Dell is lackluster as well. It doesn’t matter if you are dealing with them as a small business customer or an enterprise. The points of contact change very frequently, as an enterprise customer information that is claimed to be readily available is rarely ever delivered in a useable format, and technical support routing is a chore. While all of these things exist I don’t believe it is for lack of trying. Every account executive wants to help and there is an army of people at the ready to come talk to you about any solution you would want to put in place. The failure is in the execution.

What could Dell do to improve? First, keep key people in those job functions. Whether it’s a retention issue or internal shuffle it causes havoc with the customer. Second, add a bit more stability and manageability out of the box. Dell is a commodity hardware vendor but to compete in the market effectively and long-term you have to bring more to the table. It may be in the form of better software or more reliable components and firmware. Lastly, focus on service. Bring the right people and technology together to provide information in a timely fashion.

Dell isn’t a bad company. They make a decent product and they still have a giant foothold in the consumer and business industry. In fact I use Dell hardware effectively every day for PC, server, and storage solutions. Just make sure that you compare all of the features Dell offers to its competitors and don’t just review the dollar sign.

We all talk about our strengths. Often on an interview a candidate may be asked what he or she thinks is their greatest strength. When it comes to carrying this thought pattern through and capitalizing on it, however, the results tend to be lacking. Look at any child’s report card to the latest corporate review. Each one of them has one thing in common. They focus on an individual’s weaknesses and how to make them stronger.

Now, Discover Your Strengths covers 34 themes. The online test assesses the individual based on answers given much like a typical personality test. The focus in this instance is to gain an understanding of the strongest characteristics. The results are tabulated into the top 5 signature themes. These are then presented to the reader with examples. These signature themes offer an avenue to build your talents and thus capitalize on your strengths.

Recently as part of a non-corporate leadership exercise I had to read Now, Discover Your Strengths. The focus is on changing a mindset, building on strengths, and capitalizing on those strengths to be successful. Quite the contrary approach taken in corporate america today. The book is a fast read since nearly half of it is dedicated to detailing out the varying strengths of a person. Each book comes with a code which can be used to take the Strengths Finder test. There are additional resources including a 2.0 version of the test and a new book that can be found at the website for the book at Gallup’s website here.

I highly encourage this book or one of the latest versions, Strengths Finder 2.0 or Strengths Based Leadership. Successful leadership fostered in every person within an organization builds confidence in its people, committment in its mission, and success in its endeavors.

1. Organization

If there is one thing system administrators and engineers everywhere have in common it is the fact that they have a specific way of organizing access to systems and applications. Remote Desktop Manager allows for connections to be organized by grouping them together however you see fit. The term group and folder are used interchangeably but the result is the ability to manage and browse an expandable tree of all connections.

Remote Desktop Manager also has a convenient filter box that will return results of a named connection based on a full or partial name. This is very handy when managing a large number of connections.

2. Price

There is no better price than free. Remote Desktop Manager is offered as a free download with certain features being offered only in the paid enterprise version.

The free version offers all of the basic functionality that you would expect from a connection manager tool. Far more than others such as RoyalTS which only allows for 10 connections to be managed in their free download or Microsoft which is still behind the game when it comes to multiple connection management even with their updated version 2.2 of Remote Desktop Connection Manager.

The enterprise version adds on the ease of use. It includes the ability to batch edit connections, use of an enterprise SQL server to store and share connection information, storing contact information for a connection, and the ability to execute commands before connecting or after disconnecting.

Even with the cost of $600 for a global license to cover an enterprise it is well worth the investment.

3. Dashboard

The dashboard is a new addition to Remote Desktop Manager. It allows for fast access to opening a specified type of session for a connection. The dashboard also provides quick links to remote server management.

The main section allows for sessions to be opened in a variety of ways regardless of the default settings. Connection options will also allow for a VPN tunnel to be established before opening the session as well. Fast access to basic troubleshooting tools specific to the connection type round out the dashboard.

These features give the administrator a full range of access at their fingertips without having to access the session context menus.

4. Flexibility

The ability to customize the look, feel and response of Remote Desktop Manager is one of the highest aspects of appeal. The program allows the user to customize the experience to fit their own personal preferences beyond just how connections are sorted. The interface can be changed to suit the user as is the ability to launch multiple sessions in either a standard or admin mode.

5. Integration of existing system tools

Remote Desktop Manager integrates well with both Windows and other session tools. For the Windows administrator all of the familiar graphical interfaces are there – services, computer management and event viewer. For the Unix administrator both the GUI interfaces of VNC and the command line access of SSH via Putty can be managed. All of these can be managed in a tabbed interface or external windows.

6. Favorites

Managing anything over ten connections can often be a chore. Take that count up into the hundreds and regardless of how organized the tool is it can be near impossible. Favorites offer a way to tag and gain access to those connections that are used on a frequent basis. Remote Desktop Manager makes it easy to tag a connection as a favorite and offers the user multiple ways of accessing the favorites list.

7. Number of available connection types

Terminal Server and VNC connections used to be the two most common GUI interface sessions that administrators wanted to manage. Now with the expansion of technology and the introduction of both platform and application virtualization there is an abundance of connections to have to manage and use as an administrator.

Remote Desktop Manager offers 25 different connection types from remote desktop management to virtualization management and file share access. There are also 11 additional add-on connection types that can be downloaded and installed by simply extracting them into the program folder.

Remote Desktop Manager is a product developed by Devolutions Inc. Download is available here from the vendor website. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is a prerequisite for this product.

Technology is abundant in life today. Web 2.0 is in full swing with integration points between every popular social media website and handheld device on the market. People are a click away whether you are taking advantage of social networking, blogs (like this one), instant messaging, or participating in an online class.

Leadership is a key ingredient in any successful enterprise. Strong leaders are needed to innovate new products, power business, and provide continuing generations of leadership. Effective leadership takes a tremendous amount of listening and consistent vision and goal setting.

We’ll explore both here. Together. Technology and life intertwined.