512 Pixels

Paul Rubens claims the prize this time.

Update: Michael Grothaus comes in a close second.

Dave Schroeder is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a member of the Apple University Executive Forum and is on staff at University of Wisconsin-Madison. In short, Schroeder knows what he is talking about. His open letter to Apple about the Xserve being discontiuned is brilliant, and well worth the read:

Some of our smaller departmental or lab users may be able to run Mac OS X Server on a Mac Pro or Mac mini. At a campus level, we cannot, because these systems do not have the required mounting, power, management, and other functionality. While it is possible to rack mount a Mac Pro with third-party hardware, it is a non-starter because of the lack of dual redundant power supplies, management capabilities, and spare parts kits, to say nothing of space considerations.

Please allow virtualization of Mac OS X Server in non-Apple virtualization environments, with a commensurate license and pricing model.

Schroeder is quoted in this article from 2007, when Apple changed the EULA for OS X Server to allow for virtualization on a “Apple-labeled computer.”

What if Apple allowed Lion Server to run virtually on non-Apple hardware? Schroeder shouldn’t be alone in asking Apple to move in this direction.

Of course, this would be a major shift away from Apple’s integrated approach in the consumer realm. That said, Apple replaced the Xserve RAID with the Promise VTrak several years ago.

Running OS X Server on non-Apple hardware could be a great solution for everyone. Gone would be the expensive hardware overhead for companies looking to try OS X Server. IT professionals could simply build a virtual machine and go to town. Apple has always considered itself a software company above all else.¹ This would just be an extension of that philosophy.

I think it’d be a Genius move on Apple’s part. But I’m not holding my breath.

[ via Smoking Apples]

John C Abell at Wired:

But this very new dilemma begs the question: Are we at the dawn of an age in which tablets will become the jewel in your gadget crown, eclipsing the mighty smartphone only a few years into its reign?

I know it did for me.

Holy crap, why can’t this be out yet?

This is a great walkthrough of some forgotten and interesting Apple concepts that have come about over the years.

[ via MacStories]

Ok, this is just pathetic, Adobe. This folder is almost 1GB in size, most of which is for things I uninstalled. With your uninstaller.

( View larger version)

The Consumerist points to this wonderful blog highlighting just how good the iPhone’s auto-correct really is.

Ben Brooks, on using the MacBook Air and/or the iPad:

The iPad is great for wasting small portions of time, the Air not so much. Yes, it is easy enough to pull out the Air and get working on it, but it is far easier to just pull out the iPad. It seems to me that the iPad is made for taking care of the minutia of the day when you only have a short amount of time. By that I mean things like checking RSS feeds, Twitter, Email and OmniFocus are far easier and faster to do with the iPad than they are on the Air in short bursts.

That said everything that I can do on the iPad, I can do faster on the Air, once I get it set up. If I am standing and waiting or lounging on a couch, the iPad is far more convenient to use. If I have a table or more time the Air is a way better option. You never no what situation you may been in, and for only 1.5lbs more I could find a tool to fit most any situation.

A concise way to explain a complex, 21st century problem.

Patrick Rhone on PlainText’s word count feature, which the developer hid in the Copy/Paste UI:

It is quite lovely. Tapping the Word Count gives you even more information including number of paragraphs and characters. Also, now you can see why I have such a geek crush on Jesse at Hog Bay Software. His thoughtfulness and attention to detail are impeccable.

I recently switched to PlainText, replacing Simplenote on my iPad. Since PlainText and Notational Velocity (on the Mac) can sync .txt files via Dropbox, I’ve been able to simplify, cutting out Simeplnote as the middleman.

PlainText is free, and for the month of November, turning off the ads is only 99¢.

Remember to fall back and reset the alarms on your iPhone tonight.

John Welch agrees — removing the Xserve opens a giant hole in Apple’s lineup.

Earlier today, Apple announced that it is discontinuing the Xserve, the company’s rack-mounted server, and are replacing it with a new-fangled “Mac Pro Server.”

For most people, this doesn’t really mean much. For those of us in enterprise-level IT, however, it’s a blow below the belt, for several reasons.

Form Factor

The Xserve is 1U, meaning it fits into server racks with relative ease, living above or below with other servers and network gear without a problem. While there are some products that can make a Mac Pro rack-mountable, the tower takes up a lot more space in a rack. In fact, on its side, a Mac Pro is 5U. That’s a lot more space.

While that might not sound like the end of the world, it is for some IT professionals. If a replacement machine takes up four times the space the original product did, it means future expansion could include some serious re-arranging. This means not only hours of work, but potentially hours of downtime for users.

Lights-Out Management

If you’re unfamiliar with LOM, here’s how Apple describes it:

Lights Out Management (LOM) is Apple’s implementation of the remote monitoring and management protocol Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) developed by Intel.

The addition of Lights Out Management to Xserve provides for the monitoring of over 100 sensors that measure voltage, temperature, fan speeds, etc. Using Server Monitor, one can get a fairly complete picture of the health of an Xserve.

In addition to monitoring LOM can also be used to control some functions of an Xserve. Xserve can be shutdown or restarted from a remote location via the implementation of LOM in Server Monitor. Even if the Xserve is in an unresponsive state, one should be able to gain access via LOM.

In short, LOM offers a backdoor into the Xserve hardware, no matter what state OS X Server¹ is in. Many, many other server include this type of functionality, however neither the new Mac Pro Server or the Mac mini server do.

Other Hardware Features

In addition to LOM, the Xserve is the only Apple system that supports redundant power supplies, a lifesaver when it comes to backbone services. Additionally, the Xserve is the only machine that supports Serial Attached SCSI drives.

SAS drives spin at 15,000-rpm and deliver crazy fast sequential performance. This additional speed is noticeable when pulling data from a server, as most bottlenecking these days happens at the hard drive itself.

Confidence in Apple

This may be the longest-lasting impact of today’s announcement.

Many small businesses never needed an Xserve. Most small businesses don’t have a rack, so a Mac Pro sitting in a closet somewhere isn’t a big deal. That said, most small businesses don’t even need the power of a Mac Pro. In fact, the Mac mini server does very well for a large number of customers.

However, the enterprise runs on 1U systems.

Take a company like FedEx, which is currently looking at adopting the Mac on a much larger scale than it currently does. While FedEx² will never run the majority of their services on Apple hardware, the lack of an enterprise-ready system will surely hamper their migration to additional gear from Cupertino.

Education is also hugely impacted by this. Tons of schools and school districts have Xserves. For school systems looking to move to an Apple-powered backbone, the lack of a 1U solution is laughable. While I’m sure schools that are dependent on Xserves now will move to Mac Pros in the future, I think this takes some wind out of Apple’s sails when trying to land new educational customers.

So, Why Did Apple Pull the Plug?

This is the question on lots of minds this morning. While it is hard to say what factors went into this decision, I’m sure that the fact the Xserve has never sold that well is a major one. Apple hasn’t ever really taken the enterprise seriously. Ask any IT Director with Macs this question, and they will agree with me. While the Macintosh is a great platform that scales well, the enterprise has always taken a backseat to consumers.³

While that’s disappointing, it’s understandable from a business perspective.

I’m having a much bigger problem wrapping my mind around what this means for Apple’s large education customer base. Time will tell, but I think this issue isn’t going to be forgotten in a long time.⁴

I do know this — I’m ordering one for work today.