CMI TMI? FYI.
Drupal 8's Core Initiatives have been humming along over the last few months, and the 'CMI' Configuration Management Initiative has posted its first major patch. If you're interested in keeping tabs on the bleeding edge future of Drupal, be sure to check it out. Previously, the Configuration Management Initiative scored a big win when support for UUIDs -- allowing simpler synchronization of data across sites -- was added to the development branch of Drupal 8.
Don't Be Evil
Kenyan Startup Mocality had a rude awakening this December, when the businesses they worked with reported confusion about the company's new joint venture with Google. The problem? There was no joint venture: a Google team was spidering Mocality's site, cold-calling businesses in its directory, and offering them a "special discount" on hosting services while pretending to be partners. Crafty analytics helped Mocality prove what was going on, and Google has apologized.
More Drupal Faster
The Canucks at Fuse Interactive have posted a great checklist of Drupal performance tuning tips. Interested in digging deeper? Video of Nate Haug's performance tuning deep-dive from the 2011 Do It With Drupal conference is available for free on Drupalize.me. Related: A fantastic 2011 article that introduces software-focused devs to the exciting world of server management and "DevOps."
Small Teams Do It Efficiently
Fun facts: According to consultancy QSM's database of 4000 projects, smaller software development teams are simply more efficient than larger ones. Blogger Carl Erickson writes about the QSM's study, and his experiences on large and small teams. Meanwhile, one of Netflix's cloud architects explains how the company has used small teams to stay flexible.
Distro vs. Cobra Commander
Bill Fitzgerald of FunnyMonkey writes about the next generation of Drupal complexity: administering sites built on top of distributions. The short version? features, install profiles, and similar tools have given developers more deployment options but the full life cycle of those sites brings new challenges. Drupal devs and product owners will be talking about these issues and more at the DrupalCamp San Diego Distributions Summit. Looking for a Drupal outsider's perspective on configuration-based system design? This post on "Duck Programming" covers some of the dangers and possible solutions.
I've Got A Backup Strategy In My Pocket
In 1956, IBM introduced the ground-breaking IBM 350 hard drive. Capable of storing an astonishing 3.75 Megabytes of data, it was the size of a large washing machine and could be leased for a mere $3,200 per month. At this year's CES convention, Victorinox introduced a Swiss Army Knife with a built-in 1TB solid-state hard drive. Don't let that go through the wash...