Apps Count: iPhone vs Android vs Windows Mobile

I got curious in this comparison, so I decided to do some web search

iPhone - 85,000, dated 28 Sep 2009 (source)

Andriod - 10,000, dated 8 Sep 2009 (source)

WM - 20,000, dated 14 Oct 2009 (source)

Wow, looks like iPhone really leads the pack, considering it has not been around the longest....

Backup Process for Work Laptop Environment

My first quick & practical cycle of EA has led me to define the current state, goal state and gaps for the backup domain.  Now, I want to attempt documenting in greater detail the goal state for the backup process for my work laptop, and all this is still observing my goal of writing “just enough”.

I’ve installed O&O DiskImage (still considering if I should buy.  For now, I have 21 days left on my trial license).

Exclude Files

Using a software called WinDirStat, I can find large files hogging my computer.  I am excluding the following files from the imaging:

• \hiberfil.sys – included by default
• \pagefile.sys – included by default
• \System Volume Information\ – included by default
• Documents and Settings\<my user id>\
  • My Documents\Downloads – can download again
  • My Documents\My Pictures – separate backup strategy due to size
  • My Documents\My Music – separate backup strategy due to size
  • My Documents\My Dropbox – trial software
  • Temp copy from Seagate harddisk – temp storage
• Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\OO Software\DiskImage\Images\*.* – don’t want to backup the backups

Settings

• LZNT1 is preferred over Bzip2 for compression.  Bzip2 saves me 4Gb in disk space, but it took three hours instead of LZNT1’s one hour (36Gb)
• Store the image in my other work laptop
• Frequency – will try doing it monthly

Question

• How long should I keep a backup for?

Current State and Goal State for Backup

Concerns

1. Photos
2. Work documents
3. Personal documents
4. Music

Current State

1. Photos are duplicated across various places
2. Work documents mainly on work laptop, some are duplicated in company’s network drive
3. Personal documents are mainly on work laptop, but are also duplicated to phone through ActiveSync
4. Work laptop environment not backed up

Goal State

1. Process to create backups for photos as they are processed
2. Regular backups of work documents
3. Regular backups for work laptop environment

Not Addressed

1. PDA Phone
2. Music

Focus Areas for Me Inc EA Exercise

How should I start?  The strategy that I have in mind now is to list out the major areas of concern, and then have an iteration (current state, goal state, implementation plan) for each of those areas.

Here’s my shot at listing the major areas:

Area	Applications (items in italics rarely used)
Email	- Gmail - Yahoo mail (my spam account) - Outlook Thunderbird (for my old mails) - Lotus Notes - WM6 Outlook - Work webmail - Facebook inbox
Instant messaging	- pidgin - MSN - SMS - GTalk - ICQ
To-dos & scheduling	- Outlook Tasks - Outlook Calendar - WM To-dos - WM Calendar
Backup	- Sonic Data - O&O DiskImage
Security	- TrueCrypt - Comodo Firewall
Version Control	- ActiveSync
Contacts Management	- facebook - Outlook
Fast computer working environment	- CCleaner - Windows Defrag - WinDirStats - Comodo Firewall - Sun VirtualBox
Research	- BlogSpot - Windows Live Writer - Google Site - Tombo
News	- GreatNews - Chrome - WM RSS Reader

 

I think this list is neither complete nor optimally organised, but I will use this as a starting point and update it at the Google Site version as I go along.

Which area should I start my iterations in?  I think it should be “backup”, since that’s what I have been working on recently.  After that, I can probably move on to “Research” since that will benefit this documenting process directly.

Enterprise Architecture for Me Inc

Like most modern executives, I need to deal with huge amount of emails, documents, applications, websites, devices... And in all these, I need to think about how best to backup important materials, ensure that key information can be located when needed, and that sensitive information is safeguarded. 

Recently I have been interested in Enterprise Architecture, and one core of this subject is about doing the IT Planning for an Enterprise.  Can I apply the same tools and methodology, if I were to treat myself as the enterprise?  I feel that it is possible.

So I intend to give this a try with three objectives: firstly is to bring order to the mess of information and information technologies that I have to deal with.  Secondly is to use this as a practice project for me to understand Enterprise Architecture better.  And thirdly, I hope the lessons I learn here can be generalised to help other executives like myself.

I plan to use the TOGAF methodology, and I hope to do several quick, short iterations so that I can realise benefits very quickly (especially in view that I probably don’t have much time to spend on this) and to figure the best way to do this.  Here’s my plan for each iteration:

1. Current State Analysis
2. Goal State Architecture
3. Implementation Plan

Some principles that I want to adhere by:

1. 80-20 rule.  Don’t be a perfectionist, don’t try to get it perfect in the first round.  Over time, I can go back and refine it and make the architecture and process better and better.
2. Have short, quick iterations that realises benefits quickly. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on this, so this is the only way this will work.  Ideally, I can generate something useful during each iteration of 30minutes.
3. Document, document, document.  I think this is the only way I can ensure coherence across small chunk of time distributed over a long period.