Yearly Archives: 2012

Sync storage with FTP – part 2

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Already some weeks have passed since we took the decision to use GoogleDrive for Pro-Vélo Genève. But the task is not yet finished. Several problems arised, which I’m still trying to solve.

As it seems that it is missing some best practice guide on Google’ site, I leave here the experience and how we should have done better.

Test all OS

Only after the decision that other members of the association installed GoogleDrive. Bang, it failed to install on OSX 10.6, even though it is supported. I could not test or check myself if this can be circumvent.

Copy in a non-Windows machine

Windows has since its debuts with long file names (Windows 95?) a funny bug: you can have long names for files and folders, but once you want to copy them, there is a limit of 255 characters in the total of “path+filename”. Yes, this is still present on Windows 7.
I agree that it is not the best practice to call a file with a sentence, but it happens for other people. The solution was to use a Mac computer to copy the files form Dropbox to GoogleDrive. (It could have been done also with some utilities for Windows that go around the bug).

Test special characters

Not present in the Known Issues of GoogleDrive is the fact that GoogleDrive has problems with filenames having parenthesis which at my association they use. I’m still trying to go around this problem, removing parenthesis from several folders and filenames.

Do the first synchronization in small batches

We believe these products are robust. So we just copy the 10GB of Dropbox into GoogleDrive. GoogleDrive just can’t stand to sync so many files at the same time. It is part of the known issues. Then it is also very slow. It took 2 days to upload the 10GB… And time to time it would stop, without errors and you have to restart the client. Just unprofessional quality. “We are aware of the problem” answers Google since May 2012.

Do one computer at a time

If you are going to use GoogleDrive in a team with a single account, then do setup one account at a time. Otherwise it will start entering in conflict because of the problems above. At the end on my computer (which was not the one who copy from Dropbox, but it was connected all the time) I had several sub-folders and filenames with (1) at the end, which is the way GoogleDrive solves conflicts. At same point I decided to disconnect my account and download the 10GB again. It was better.

Hopefully these advices help you if you want to use GoogleDrive. But I’m looking forward to have ownCloud.org with a stable version….

Miquel et Migu-el

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Aujourd’hui une collègue de travail écrit mon nom avec Q: “Miquel”. Je le demande pourquoi elle a fait cette erreur et elle ne le sait pas. Elle sait comment s’écrit mon nom mais automatiquement, dans le clavier, elle utilise le Q au lieu de G. Ce n’est pas la première ni la deuxième personne, ne sera pas la dernière.

Une autre variation sont les Français que disent “Migu-el”, en prononçant bien fort le U. Je les demande pourquoi. Ils réfléchissent bien.  Je les rappel la règle du Français (comme en Portugais ou Espagnol) où la syllabe GUE et GE font des sons différents. La réponse est toujours: “Je ne sais pas pourquoi je le dis Migu-el”.

Sync storage with FTP

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One of my first tasks as IT responsible of Pro-Vélo Genève is to replace the usage of Dropbox and the 300USD paid yearly for the service.

Dropbox is a great service, but just too expensive for an association where most of the people are volunteers and the budget is limited.

The problem is:

  • 15 GB to share among 5 people’s computer
  • 3 of them use Dropbox also for other personal projects (but less than 2gb of personal data)
  • Mix of operating systems ranging from XP to 7 and OSX 10.6 to 10.8.
  • Some users are not computer savvy

Other elements to know:

  • Hosted website with PHP 5.2
  • Backup area accessible by FTP without PHP

FTPBox (2.2.3)

My first thought was to use this backup area and have some software that make use of it. I found FTPBox which uses FTP and your own host to keep the files in the cloud and synchronize them.  
After installing it seemed quite nice, until the first error:
And these kind of errors kept appearing with the usage. I could not use this with people that are not at ease with computer. Moreover there is no OSX client.

ownCloud.org (server 4.5 / client 1.1.3)

I went then to ownCloud.org. I’ve installed on my website and after a few errors it worked. Then I installed the latest client, but again I was receiving errors:

When using the old client it worked better. However there were still two problems. The icon in the taskbar does not show the activity. It is always like this: 
And and website of the association, where I want to install it, runs PHP 5.2 while ownCloud requires PHP 5.3. I could request to change but that would mean that I need to make sure that all the rest of the CMS system continues to work.

GoodSync (9.3.8.5)

Still I found GoodSync which is more a backup than a synchronization program. It allows to synchronize FTP site with a local directory but lacks a folder watcher that triggers the synchronization as soon as one of the parties changes a file. It does a periodic check which re-reads the whole directory and can be slow if you have a lot of files. Also if you go to the folder that is being synchronized you never know at which state the files are. It is not geared to teams and it did not take my trust it would work well with open files, multiple saves, etc. Plus it costs 30USD per computer you want to install it, which is a quite high investment. 
I went back to check the Dropbox and alternatives.

Dropbox (1.4.9)

The whole is very well made. The only incovenient is that when you work in teams and go further than the 2GB free, every member of the team which uses his personal account (because of other usage of Dropbox), he is also obliged to buy the 100USD supplement for the files that are shared with him (and so are synchronized to his computer). At some point it is fair, but it is expensive!

Microsoft SkyDrive

This is the best solution of them: cheap (10USD/year for 27GB), easy to install and use. However it requires Windows Vista and OSX 10.7… Old computers you can forget. It is a pity, as the software is very good, even for Mac!

Cubby

This new player does not offer yet paid accounts, so you cannot go further than the 5GB you can get for free.

Box

Seems you cannot share files in a personal account and 100€/year is quite expensive for 25GB.

SugarSync (1.99.xxxxx)

It seems to have it all: compatibility, sharing, relatively interface (while I like a lot the possibility to choose any folder to share, I’m affraid it is not the most straight forward idea for ex-dropbox users. Costs 50USD/year for 30GB

GoogleDrive (1.6.xxx)

As the option above, it also provides everything you need and the interface is more similar to Dropbox, which makes it easier to use. The only point against it is that I’m afraid someone uses already GoogleDrive and did not tell me and then it will be difficult to share the account (for free). Google Drive costs 30USD/year for 25GB.

Dropbox portable (1.4.5)

Last but not the least, there is a Dropbox portable, which allows to use multiple Dropbox accounts in the same computer. This solution would decrease the price paid by the association to only one user, or 100USD/year for 100GB. Still more expensive than other solutions above.

Conclusion

While I’m still not 100% decided (I really liked SkyDrive), I think I will have for the moment to decide between SugarSync and GoogleDrive, hoping that during 2013 the FTPBox or ownCloud solutions will be in better shape and easy to install and use by non-technical people on Mac and Windows.
* Dropbox portable allows to skip the requirement that other users have to pay if they also use the software for personal usage.

Passport in 15 minutes

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Today I went to renew my passport. After a bit more than five years I returned to the consulate in Geneva for this operation (see Passport, my friend). The consulate doesn’t take appointments, so every time I have to go to the consulate I think about the best time to arrive. Today I was lucky: arrived at 11:15 and 15 minutes later I was outside, with less 100 CHF (83 €) and my new passport will arrive home in the next 10 days! I’m afraid this rapidity goes with skipping some of the correct procedures, but well, I’m happy, they are happy. I took only my ‘permis B’ and ‘cartão do cidadão’ and was enough. At home I keep my expired old companion with visas and stamps of our world tour. Something I failed last time.

Português

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Estava eu a configurar a nova ROM do meu telefone quando vejo que tenho oportunidade de configurar a língua em “Espanhol (Portugal)”. Procurando um pouco mais abaixo encontro:

Glossaire de la retraite

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De plus en plus important d’en savoir:

Taux de couverture 
On parle d’un taux de couverture de 100% lorsqu’une caisse de pension dispose d’une fortune suffisante pour verser d’un seul coup le montant des cotisations de prévoyance à tous ses assurés, respectivement de s’acquitter de toutes ses obligations à la fois.
Taux de conversion
L’avoir de vieillesse peut être comparé à un gâteau. Le taux de conversion définit la taille des parts de gâteau que nous pouvons couper chaque année. Plus le taux de conversion est bas, plus le gâteau durera longtemps, et vice-versa.
Taux d’intérêt minimum 
Les caisses de pension sont obligées de rémunérer les avoirs de leurs assurés à un taux d’intérêt minimal. Ce taux, qui n’est valable que pour la part obligatoire, est défini par le Conseil fédéral.
Avoir de vieillesse
L’avoir de vieillesse est l’argent que nous versons avec l’employeur au deuxième pilier durant notre vie professionnelle et qui, majoré des intérêts, sera un jour à notre disposition. Dans le régime obligatoire, l’employeur en finance au moins la moitié. L’avoir de vieillesse peut être comparé à un compte que l’on aurait dans une caisse de pension au lieu d’une banque.
Source: LeTemps (letemps.ch)

Virtual offices

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Hopefully sooner than later virtual offices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_office) will be common work  place for many people that currently commute to work to stay all day in front of a computer and next to a phone.

My dream of a virtual office is to have the daily choice to work from home or go to this co-working spaces where you meet people with completely different background and doing something different from what you do.

For this to come true, and in my field as an IT consultant, there are some things that would need to change:

  • short effective (regular) meetings using state-of-art tools to combine video-conference, whiteboard and shared computer screens.
  • clients need to be able to add temporary accesses to their internal network from a known outside source, so the consultant can either SSH or RDP the necessary machines.

In order this to come true, both management, security and technical sides of the companies need to agree and change the way they act today. A closed environment is not anymore possible.

Yes, I also see dangers on this solutions. Companies can start using people from cheaper countries to perform the work that, until now, was done by someone local. But this is already true in my world: some companies hire consultants from France to work couple of days in Switzerland. However Swiss companies luckily prefer people living locally (not necessarily Swiss), I believe because of the state of mind you have when living in the region with a compatible salary and way of living. 

By the way, existing shared-office places in Geneva:

Knowledge Management

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In the last few months (a year?) my interest on knowledge management, both personal knowledge and team knowlegde has increased.

Since the time I started work at CERN, back in 2003, the usage of wikis become part of my daily life. Being creating, feeding, reading or just promoting. I find that knowledge should be shared no matter what.

Being now consultant the knowledge sharing is a topic that not everyone agrees on. Some advocate and practice that your knowlegde belongs to you and when providing some solution to a client you give them the least knowledge possible, so that they are dependent on you. On the opposite side, I promote the share of the knowledge and try to pass as much information as possible to clients so that they are not dependent on me or even on my company. My experience shows that the fact they admire this share of knowledge, they prefer to continue to call me or the company I work for to do the job, even though they have all the information that allows to do themselves (but not the experience).

But my goal has been to know what is the best way to manage knowlegde, both personal (a future blog entry) and collective. To learn more on this, currently I follow on this topic two sources:
Harvard Business Review – www.hbr.org
Harold Jarche – Life in Perpetual Beta – www.jarche.com