English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

For my third research blog, I've chosen to highlight some case studies I've located on small schools that are having success using open source software. Many times "success" is defined by the school as simply the software does everything the closed source alternative can do, but it's up front cost is zero. The only costs associated with this type of software are management, maintenance, and loss (loss can be functionality, downtime, missing features, etc.)

For my second research blog I'm analyzing the best research I've found to date. This is a comprehensive article that compares open source products to their Microsoft counterparts in lots of ways including cost and performance. The article specifically considers Apache vs IIS, OpenOffice vs Office, GNU/Linux vs Windows, and Mozilla vs IE. These are identified in the research as being at the forefront of the open source software movement, and are the easiest to use and transition to from Microsoft products.

Thus far, I have outlined what the problem is that we propose to argue, that being a lack of collaboration in the small business work environment. My later research shows precisely why such a problem exists in modern business and how severe it could potentially be. The final portion of my preliminary research concerns the resolution, that is, how companies can salvage work habits to increase and improve collaborative efforts.

I've been researching studies that involve costs and other related material of software in both education and business settings. A helpful resource I've located is a study completed by Gartner in late 2008 that attempts to make some predictions on the open source software model and its future trends.

This week was a big week on our project. I designed a thumbnail for our group, which was frustrating for me, because I struggle with formatting in Microsoft Word. I hate that the lines never go where I want them to go, and usually just use InDesign, but I wanted to stay in Word since I knew it was probable that my group members wouldn't necessarily have this program at their disposal. In the end, we chose to use InDesign, and did incorporate a few elements of my thumbnail into our final version.

In this last blog, I wanted to cover security protocols and also get some general statistic information about wireless users for our introduction. I thought this information might be helpful to establish why a salesperson might want to know about these different routers.

For our group's white paper, my area of research is focused on horizontal closed-loop heat pumps. This category of heat pumps is one of several that collectively define the main array of geothermal heat pumps used today. My first thought, before beginning research, was to decide on a course of action. I really wanted to stay with our white papers purpose, which is essentially to provide accurate, unbiased information concerning geothermal heat pumps, in such a manner that the primary reader, the contractor, will be able to tailor a specific product or technology for the homeowner.

The preliminary research for the white paper project that I am responsible for primarily concerns the introductory information. This introduction can be decomposed into three separate topics. First, what exactly is the problem? Next, why should small businesses be concerned about said problem. Finally, how do we propose to resolve this issue.

The preliminary research for the white paper project that I am responsible for primarily concerns the introductory information. This introduction can be decomposed into three separate topics. First, what exactly is the problem? Next, why should small businesses be concerned about said problem. Finally, how do we propose to resolve this issue.

My third research blog summarizes the information found at http://www.heatpumpcentre.org/. The site operates under the International Energy Agency and also claimed to be the world’s leading information center on heat pumps. Their goal is to speed up the use of heat pumps and related technologies. Again there could be some biased information on the site being that their goal is to promote the use of heat pumps, we will have to make sure to take only the relevant information from this source.