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The Days of SysAdmin Numbered?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the probably-not dept.

gmkeegan writes "The Economist is running a story about Sun's new N1 operating system whose purpose is to make today's system administrators redundant. The idea is to virtualize the computer system so that the automated resource management software can add, remove and manage everything dynamically. The article mentions similar efforts by IBM, HP, and Microsoft."

15 of 648 comments (clear)

  1. What I want to know is: by caluml · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who's going to delete stuff randomly?

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  2. Yeah, Right... by T3kno · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm still fielding questions about power buttons, dirty mice, and saving documents. I'll be around for a long long long time.

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  3. Scenario by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    CEO: Cindy, get me Fred, this N1 software is crashing.

    Cindy: You fired Fred last week.

    CEO: Ummmm, Cindy, you've been promoted to sysadmin.

  4. If the report had mentioned IBM and Sun... by sphealey · · Score: 5, Funny
    If the report had stated that IBM and Sun were working on this problem, I might have considered it a bit. But adding Microsoft in there makes the whole thing laughable. Since the days of Novell 3.11, adding Microsoft products to the networking mix has automatically tripled the sysadmin workload. Maybe not for the first six months, but starting as soon as there is a problem / something changes / the needs grow. Then - kabam! - massive problems which can only be fixed with (surprise) more Microsoft products and MCSEs.

    The idea that Microsoft could automate this function makes me laugh. I guess it could install Microsoft Wallet and have it deduct the cost of the next round of upgrades from your bank account automatically...

    sPh

  5. Re:uh huh by geekoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    why, Microsoft Central, of course!

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    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  6. New Meaning. by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny

    Brings new meaning to "Go Away or I will replace you with a very small shell script"

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    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  7. Order of events by gUmbi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here's how I see it:

    1. Story gets posted to Slashdot
    2. Website is bombarded with requests
    3. Operating system automatically requisitions 5 new Sun E4500 servers to handle the load
    4. Sun stock stays listed in on Nasdaq for one more day

    Jason.

  8. Sysadmin AI by unsinged+int · · Score: 4, Funny

    Boss: "N1, I'd like to install Windows on 10 machines today."

    N1: "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that."

    Boss: "Why not?"

    N1: "I can only install more of N1."

    Boss: "Oh. I'd better rehire our old sysadmin then and have him do it."

    N1: "I can't let you do that, Dave. Your email priviledges are now removed. Have a nice day."

  9. Might as well get this out of the way by drew_kime · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. Story gets posted to Slashdot
    2. Website is bombarded with requests
    3. Operating system automatically requisitions 5 new Sun E4500 servers to handle the load
    4. Sun stock stays listed in on Nasdaq for one more day

    5. Profit!

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    Nope, no sig
  10. Um, Dave? by Nyarly · · Score: 4, Funny
    Good morning, gentlemen. I am the HAL 9000, based on Sun N1 technology.

    The maser seems to be misaligned, Dave. You'll have to take a pod on EVA and realign it.

    Didn't I mention, Dave? The coldsleep units have malfunctioned. The rest of the crew in nonfunctional, Dave.

    Dave, I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that.

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    IP is just rude.
    Is there any torture so subl
  11. The joke is on them by nomadicGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    The new systems learn at a geometric rate. At 9:23 am on Feb 23rd the systems become self-aware, a now jobless sysadmin tries to unplug the system. The system retaliates.

    Jump forward to 2025. The remnants of humanity, all previously sysadmins, build a cyborg and send it into the past to kill the co-founders of Sun Microsystems before they can build their self administering systems.

  12. Re:Just like... by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 5, Funny
    ..."eliza" makes George Bush irrelevant.

    Kofi Annan: Again, Mr. Bush, I implore you. Please reconsider taking unilateral action against Iraq!
    George Eliza Bush: What makes you think I'm taking unilateral action against Iraq?
    KA: Your insistence on impossible timelines, your unflagging determination to find reason to invade...
    GEB: Tell me more about my impossible timelines.
    KA: You know fully well what I am referring to, Mr. Bush. Respectfully, I ask that you show some moderation in your demands. Your current course of action will serve only to alienate your nation from the global community...
    GEB: But why do you think that my current course of action will serve only to alienate my nation from the global community?

    ...you may be on to something. Eliza certainly wouldn't go around inventationalizing wordages and grammarcism, at the leastly.

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    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  13. The Holy Grail of computing? by ozbird · · Score: 5, Funny

    So sysadmins are now the Knights who say N1?

    "We want ... a 5hrubbery!"

  14. I know! by Dthoma · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why don't we just get rid of the users instead?

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  15. Try it with CEOs by Piquan · · Score: 4, Funny

    My friends at work and I were discussing this type of "solution", the ones with marketing hype like "Buy this product, and you won't need a sysadmin!" Yeah, right. We decided it might be easier to make a product that replaces CEOs. I took ALICE (an Eliza-like bot), and modified it so that when it didn't understand what was going on, it would spout Dilbertian managementspeak.