Guide: Using Mac OS X Server as a PDC

Mac OS X Server can act as an NT-Style Primary Domain Controller through the use of Samba (SMB).  The Mac OS X Server can provide file and print services as well as host user profiles and home folders and provide authentication services for the domain.  Even complex user and group policies can be implemented through the use of a logon script.  Again, all of this is accomplished through OS X Server’s implementation of the open-source Samba package which is a free software re-implementation of the SMB networking protocol.  Please note this guide focuses on Mac OS X Server 10.6 and Windows XP Pro SP3 clients.  Vista clients (Edit: Windows 7 clients are not supported. See this article.) should work equally as well with a few tweaks (outlined later). (more…)

Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines

This will be short, but I need to address it.  If you haven’t already heard about this, I’d be surprised.  But just in case, here’s the gist: Kevin Smith, yes, THAT Kevin Smith, who is the director of the new Bruce Willis movie “Cop Out,” and previously directed the films “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” got kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight Saturday for being too fat.  Southwest instituted its “Customer of Size” policy over 25 years ago, and the pilot enforced it by deeming Kevin a safety risk to the entire flight and demanded he be removed from the flight.  Knowing that he’s a celebrity, he took advantage of the groundswell and used his Twitter account, @ThatKevinSmith, to turn his massive following against the company.

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What’s all the buzz about Google Buzz?

Google announced yesterday its newest public project, Google Buzz.  Google Buzz lets you, “Go beyond status messages,” allowing you to, “share updates, photos, videos, and more.”  It enables you to “start conversations about the things you find interesting.”  Google has placed Buzz as a link inside of Gmail.  To say it best, Buzz is like the lovechild of Twitter, Facebook, and Google Wave.  From the Twitter perspective, Buzz allows you to post status messages, or microblog your life. From the Facebook angle, it allows you to post content, like photos and videos, and share it with your friends. The Google Wave functionality ties in because all the status updates are real-time with no need to refresh the page.

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