G->TechLink: G->Pointer's Technology Link

By default a domain controller is a read/write domain controller. So, it can be used to authenticate against it, but also to e.g. set a new password. That password will then be replicated out to other domain controllers on your network. Why would you need a read-only domain controller now? In short: for security reasons (not performance, availability, ...). The assumption is that remote offices will be less secured than the company headquarters for many reasons (e.g. reducing IT costs on security). As such it is handy to have a local domain controller that clients can use to authenticate on-site. Yet, those should not be allowed to replicate data back to the central system, as they are assumed to be more vulnerable to attacks and breaches than the (hopefully) fortified HQ. Sources: Introduction to Active Directory Infrastructure in Windows Server 2012 @ ~20:00

Atlassian provides a tool for each and every software development necessity (defect tracking, Wiki, source control, ...). But all those tools have their own brand name, which does not make it obvious for those new to the tool chain. Sources: Jira (Issue & Project Tracking Software) Confluence (Collaborative Software & Wiki) Stash (Git repository management for Enterprise teams) Bamboo (Continuous Integration & Build Server) Crucible (Code Review Tool‎) Crowd (Centralized Identity Management with Single Sign-On‎)

Nice rant for any developer fed up with Microsoft keeping a high pace of discontinuing all kind of tools and platforms rendering investments valueless. "Trust is an important part of any product. If a user can't trust the product and the institution behind it, it is almost inevitable that the product will wither and die. " "The Windows trust and value proposition was always compatibility, low-cost devices, and an open architecture (to name a few). From DOS to Windows, your apps would always just work. If you were a Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS or a WordPerfect for DOS user, everything continued working as you went to Windows 3, 3.1, Win95 (etc)." "At the end of the day, developers walked away from Microsoft not because they missed a platform paradigm shift. They left because they lost all trust. You wanted to go somewhere to have your code investments work and continue to work." Sources: Trust, Users and the Development Divison