The Return of the Lonely Tech

Things once again got crazy. Everytime that happens, I drop this blog faster than Asus adds Eee-branded products. But normalization has returned and so I'm picking up the blog again. ("Normalization has returned..."? Where did that come from?

Since I last posted,

• the Chrome browser folks have released pre-beta v2. Didn't "pre-beta" used to be called "alpha"? At least it's not a "pre-community technology release" or whatever Microsoft calls it.
• Spiceworks moved to v3.5. They now claim to support 500 devices which is enough for me. I'm seriously considering giving them another shot for my network management. I only dropped them because they couldn't handle all my devices. They are dead-easy to install, include a help desk, look slicker than an Apple UI, and provide access to a pretty good forum of small-business tech pros. I need to verify that they include a syslog server to centralize logs. If they do that, I'll probably switch from Zenoss.
• Speaking of Zenoss, they're up to v2.3. I really like Zenoss. They have both free and Enterprise (read, $$) versions and scale well if you have lots of devices. The interface is nice, but not as slick as Spiceworks'. They lose some points for not being as easy to install or maintain. In fact, the main reason I'm thinking of switching to Spiceworks is because I totally destroyed my Zenoss install while trying to upgrade to 2.3. I'm not blaming Zenoss entirely, but I am saying that Spiceworks is easier to install and upgrade.
• In sad news, Sandy passed on. This was one of the coolest products available. Somebody seriously needs to take that concept and run with it.
  

For those wondering about the ITIL project... It's alive, sorta. GLPI/OCS NG is working pretty well as a helpdesk/change management system. We seem to have hit a bit of a doldrum, though. I thought that ITIL would lead to more communication but that is just not happening. I'll have to find a way to kick that into gear. Any suggestions would be welcome.
So there is the big catchup post. I'll try to get a post comparing Zenoss and Spiceworks here soon.