Little Monkey is tear-assing around the court on his new bicycle. Wearing jean shorts and nothing else.

I don't care what the calendar says, summer is here!

I've got an RDP bleg.



RDP Client

I've got a Windows 2003 server. I've got a legacy application [1] that must be managed (start, run, shutdown) from the console.

The obvious solution - it's free - is to use Terminal services in admin mode, let the RDP client that comes with every windows desktop connect using the magic console [2] switch.

Except there is one little problem. Client A connects, starts doing his thing. Client B, hearing about a problem with the application, connects and knocks out Client A. No warning, it just happens.



Wham!

Imagine trying to concentrate on a chess game while sitting in a bumper car, with a lot of testosterone-laden teenagers driving around you. You're about to checkmate the other bloke and WHAM a kid with a sunburn and a bad hair cut slams into you. Your attention is shot to heck.

How do I keep this from happening? What we'd like to do is force an option that tells the server 'throw up a dialog before bumping' .. or something like that.

Yes, there are a butt-load of solutions (vmware, vnc) that will do that for us - but the preferred (cheap) method is RDP.



[1] I've got the legacy .. the legacy application blues ..

[2] /console

Real World Needs 'Net' Taxes

Do you think that billionaire Internet moguls should continue to benefit from a tax loophole that hurts parks and schools, and makes it harder for your neighborhood bookstore to keep open for business?

The populist appeal from Mr. Gomes really frosts my Wheaties.

For starters, by giving online businesses a permanent advantage over their bricks-and-mortar competitors, it helps those who need it least -- huge, profitable e-commerce companies -- at the expense of often-struggling local retailers

He is only calling out Amazon by name, so I suppose he has in mind Jeff Bezos.

What about all of the non-billionaires that work for Amazon who benefit? What about the mom n' pop shops that benefit? Rammro was pretty much a two person business - if my wife had been able to follow through with the ecommerce idea, she'd benefit from lack of a sales tax ... and we're certainly not billionaires. I know a guy who runs an online comic book store and also a technical video rental outfit - he's certainly no billionaire.

If Texas and New York want to tax internet sales, well that's what the State does - finds new and creative ways to skim money from the the taxpayer. Getting mad at the lege in Austin is like being personally irked at finding a rat snake in your chicken coop. Get rid of the snake, but it's just doing what snakes do.

But don't pretend that all ecommerce sites are run by rich guys with gold-plated servers.

'Cause they aren't.

Do not get me wound up to do something and then ask me to slow down.

...

Ring-ring-ring

Boss: The new server and it's old application ... is not working - can you prep the old host so we can stand it up and take the new one down?

Me: (checking time - 4:30) Sure, I'll go do that.

Me: (moseys down to the data center, warms up the old host, does a bit of this and that, back at my desk in a few minutes)

Ring-ring-ring

Boss: You're ready?

Me: I'm ready.

Boss: Let's do it then. (hangs up)

Me: (Two keystrokes to halt the new server, gets ready to jump up and dash back across the street) ..

Ring-ring-ring

Boss: Hey - call me before you halt the server? The legacy process is still working away ..

Me: Oops.

Boss: (radiates gloom and agony over the phone)

Me: I'll turn it back on so the legacy process can finish ...

Boss: (resigned sigh)