December 08, 2003 In this Issue >> From the Editor: A Different Kind of PC >> Web Services Again: Cornucopia or Bugbear? >> SAN School: Storage Area Networks for Dummies >> More Learning Tools: Feed Your Brain
_____________________________________ SPONSORED BY: IBM How do you build reliable apps as fast as you need them? Start with a high-volume, highly secure foundation. Then, use the best tools to build, test, and deploy your applications. Middleware like IBM WebSphere Application Server can help. It provides both the rock-solid foundation and the tools to develop applications for it. See how. Read the white paper on WebSphere Application Server V5 today. http://www.ibm.com/websphere/news/ftwp _____________________________________ >From the Editor: A Different Kind of PC by Margaret Rouse, Site Editor This week I'd like to talk about a different kind of PC -- PC language. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, politically correct language is intended to "redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation." So what does PC language have to do with technology? In case you haven't heard, the County of Los Angeles has asked vendors to refrain from using the term master/slave when referring to computer hardware and other electronic devices. It seems that a county employee was offended when he saw "master" and "slave" labels on some videotape equipment and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance. In response, the affirmative action office sent a memo requesting that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor "review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature." Several readers wrote in to ask what we thought about the controversy. Because whatis.com is a Web site about words, we often get drawn into discussions about language. In fact, this isn't even the first time we've addressed this particular choice of words. Last year a reader demanded that we remove master/slave from our encyclopedia. We explained that even if we found the term objectionable, it was part of common usage and we had a duty to define it. Now I'm genuinely perplexed. Is the County of Los Angeles right? Have we been insensitive? I'd like to know what you think. Did the County of Los Angeles do the right thing -- or is this an example of politically correct language run amok? Please write and tell us your thoughts on the subject. We'd like to share them with our readers in a future newsletter. If you're a TechTarget member, we urge you to make your opinion known by voting in SearchNetworking.com's poll. >> Write to us mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Vote on SearchNetworking.com's news page to make your opinion known http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/0,289141,sid7,00.html?track=NL-34 >> Definition for master/slave http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci783492,00.html?track=NL-34 Thanks for contributing to whatis.com! Margaret ______________________________________ Web Services Again: Cornucopia or Bugbear? by Lowell Thing, Consulting Editor and Founder A bugbear, it says when I look it up on Google, is "a monster designed to frighten children." Some IT folks see Web services about the same way but perhaps that's because they don't have a 10-step guide for looking it in the eye(s). After all, it used to be just a concept called "application services" - get stuff done for you somewhere else online, maybe in real time - and then XML got added to it (as a way to define data and send both the data and its definition across a network) and it gradually came to be called "Web services." That's it - plus a whole lot of details and enough standards and new ideas and developments to justify an entire Web site called SearchWebServices.com. You can keep up with Web services on our Web site, but if you have a need to cram a lot of information in yourself or regenerate your understanding quickly, I recommend our 10-step "Learn IT: Web Services." This one-page summary takes you through Web services quickly and, at your option, forwards you to highly-vetted and authoritative Web sites for advice and standards. It might also be handy to print out and take to a meeting, we hope. >> Learn IT: Web Services http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci934542_top1,00.html?track=NL-34 _______________________________________ Storage Area Network (SAN) School If this is the first time you are asking yourself, "What's a SAN?" -- SAN School is for you. A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed special-purpose network (or subnetwork) that interconnects different kinds of data storage devices with associated data servers on behalf of a larger network of users. Read our complete definition. SearchStorage.com just launched an exciting new learning tool for Storage Area Network (SAN) newbies called SAN School. Basically, what they did was turn a book written by one of our SearchStorage.com experts, Christopher Poelker, "Storage Area Networks for Dummies" into a series of Webcasts. Each chapter of the book is now a Webcast lesson, complete with printable worksheet. You can think of it as a book-on-tape for storage geeks! In each 20-minute lesson, they'll walk you through everything you need to know about SANs -- beginning with what a SAN is, what it does, and why you need to know about it. SAN School is free and available at anytime. >> SAN School on whatis.com http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid5_gci939268,00.html?track=NL-34 ______________________________________ More Learning Tools >> Learn IT: Unleashing the Power of the Database http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci934543,00.html?track=NL-34 >> Learn IT: The Role of Instant Messaging in the Enterprise http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid4_gci934583,00.html?track=NL-34 >> All our quizzes http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci849655,00.html?track=NL-34 >> All our Words-to-Go glossaries http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci934240,00.html?track=NL-34 >> All our Learning Paths http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212463,00.html?track=NL-34 _______________________________________ A B O U T T H I S N E W S L E T T E R This newsletter is published by TechTarget, the most targeted IT media. 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