The future of IT will be reduced to three kinds of jobs

The future of IT will be reduced to three kinds of jobs

Takeaway: The IT profession and the IT job market are in the midst of seismic changes that are going to shift the focus to three types of jobs.

There’s a general anxiety that has settled over much of the IT profession in recent years. It’s a stark contrast to the situation just over a decade ago. At the end of the 1990s, IT pros were the belles of the ball. The IT labor shortage regularly made headlines and IT pros were able to command excellent salaries by getting training and certification, job hopping, and, in many cases, being the only qualified candidate for a key position in a thinly-stretched job market. At the time, IT was held up as one of the professions of the future, where more and more of the best jobs would be migrating as computer-automated processes replaced manual ones.

Unfortunately, that idea of the future has disappeared, or at least morphed into something much different.

IT Professionals

The glory days when IT pros could name their ticket evaporated when the Y2K crisis passed and then the dot com implosion happened. Suddenly, companies didn’t need as many coders on staff. Suddenly, there were a lot fewer startups buying servers and hiring sysadmins to run them.

Around the same time, there was also a general backlash against IT in corporate America. Many companies had been throwing nearly-endless amounts of money at IT projects in the belief that tech was the answer to all problems. Because IT had driven major productivity improvements during the 1990s, a lot of companies over-invested in IT and tried to take it too far too fast. As a result, there were a lot of very large, very expensive IT projects that crashed and burned.

When the recession of 2001 hit, these massively overbuilt IT departments were huge targets for budget cuts and many of them got hit hard. As the recession dragged out in 2002 and 2003, IT pros mostly told each other that they needed to ride out the storm and that things would bounce back. But, a strange thing happened. IT budgets remained flat year after year. The rebound never happened.

Fast forward to 2011. Most IT departments are a shadow of their former selves. They’ve drastically reduced the number of tech support professionals, or outsourced the help desk entirely. They have a lot fewer administrators running around to manage the network and the servers, or they’ve outsourced much of the data center altogether. These were the jobs that were at the center of the IT pro boom in 1999. Today, they haven’t totally disappeared, but there certainly isn’t a shortage of available workers or a high demand for those skill sets.

That’s because the IT environment has changed dramatically. More and more of traditional software has moved to the web, or at least to internal servers and served through a web browser. Many technophobic Baby Boomers have left the workforce and been replaced by Millennials who not only don’t need as much tech support, but often want to choose their own equipment and view the IT department as an obstacle to productivity. In other words, today’s users don’t need as much help as they used to. Cynical IT pros will argue this until they are blue in the face, but it’s true. Most workers have now been using technology for a decade or more and have become more proficient than they were a decade ago. Plus, the software itself has gotten better. It’s still horribly imperfect, but it’s better.

So where does that leave today’s IT professionals? Where will the IT jobs of the future be?

1. Consultants

IT Consultancy

Let’s face it, all but the largest enterprises would prefer to not to have any IT professionals on staff, or at least as few as possible. It’s nothing personal against geeks, it’s just that IT pros are expensive and when IT departments get too big and centralized they tend to become experts at saying, “No.” They block more progress than they enable. As a result, we’re going to see most of traditional IT administration and support functions outsourced to third-party consultants. This includes a wide range from huge multi-national consultancies to the one person consultancy who serves as the rented IT department for local SMBs. I’m also lumping in companies like IBM, HP, Amazon AWS, and Rackspace, who will rent out both data center capacity and IT professionals to help deploy, manage, and troubleshoot solutions. Many of the IT administrators and support professionals who currently work directly for corporations will transition to working for big vendors or consultancies in the future as companies switch to purchasing IT services on an as-needed basis in order to lower costs, get a higher level of expertise, and get 24/7/365 coverage.

2. Project managers

IT Project Managers

Most of the IT workers that survive and remain as employees in traditional companies will be project managers. They will not be part of a centralized IT department, but will be spread out in the various business units and departments. They will be business analysts who will help the company leaders and managers make good technology decisions. They will gather business requirements and communicate with stakeholders about the technology solutions they need, and will also be proactive in looking for new technologies that can transform the business. These project managers will also serve as the company’s point of contact with technology vendors and consultants. If you look closely, you can already see a lot of current IT managers morphing in this direction.

3. Developers

Software Development

By far, the area where the largest number of IT jobs is going to move is into developer, programmer, and coder jobs. While IT used to be about managing and deploying hardware and software, it’s going to increasingly be about web-based applications that will be expected to work smoothly, be self-evident, and require very little training or intervention from tech support. The other piece of the pie will be mobile applications — both native apps and mobile web apps. The current changes in IT are “shifting more of the power in the tech industry away from those who deploy and support apps to those who build them.” This trend is already underway and it’s only going to accelerate over the next decade.

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The top 10 features missing from Google Plus

The top 10 features missing from Google Plus

Takeaway: Google+ has captured the attention and the imagination of the technology world. But, it’s easy to forget that it’s still in closed beta. Here are the top 10 things that need to be fixed or added.

Google+'s Features

There’s a lot to like about Google+ and it has the potential to make a major impact on the future of the Internet. After just two weeks in closed beta, it already has 10 million users. Still, it’s far from perfect. I’ve put together my list of the top 10 things Google needs to fix or add in Google+. Take a look at the list and then jump into the discussion and argue with me by adding the fixes that you think deserve more attention in Google+.

Google+ Logo

1) Let us mute someone from the Stream
On Google+ it is a lot easier to find friends and people to follow than any social network that has been built so far. And, with Circles, you can divided them into groups and then easily jump between the various streams of your Circles. However, there is also the big “Stream,” which aggregates all of the people you have in Circles and this is the default view you see on Google+. The one feature missing here is the ability to mute a person from the Stream (while still being able to see their updates in their Circle). You can mute individual posts from the Stream, but you can’t currently mute a person. This is badly needed so that you can stay connected to interesting people but not have the overly chatty people monopolize your Stream.

2) Show list of my +1 items from Google+
The +1 button allows you to gives the thumbs up to really good Google+ posts and updates. However, this should also work like a list of favorites or bookmarks. Right now, there’s no way to see a list of the things where I have clicked +1. If I go to my profile there is a +1 tab, but that’s the list of external items (from web sites or Google search results) where I’ve clicked +1. The items from Google+ itself need to be added to this list.

3) Fix the share and re-share issue
One of the stickiest issues Google needs to figure out is the Share functionality. If you’re familiar with Twitter, this is like a Retweet (RT). However, when you share a post on Google+, it removes all of the comments and +1s, allows you to add your own comments above the post, and then your followers can add their own plusses and comments. That can be pretty cool, except when a bunch of the people you follow all share and re-share the same post. With the approach Google has taken to sharing, there may not be an easy answer, but something will need to be done to sort this out, at least for stuff that gets shared more than 2-3 times in your stream.

4) Let us sort the stream by raw timeline
By default, the big Stream (and the Circle streams as well) are sorted by relevance and popularity, based on the number of +1 votes and shares, so that the most interesting stuff rises to the top of the Stream. However, Google should also give us the option to sort the stream based solely on timestamp, so that we can see the stuff from people who post interesting things but don’t have as many followers to buoy their posts.

5) Allow comments to be threaded
This is an issue of intense debate, but I think Google should allow threaded commenting on Google+ so that people can comment on and respond to comments, and not just the original post. That would make the threads a lot easier to follow when they get a lot of comments. And, comments on comments could be collapsed by default and users could simply click a plus sign to expand and view them. However, the threading would only need to go three layers deep to allow a response and a counterpoint.

6) Add more functionality to mobile
It’s impressive that Google had its Android app for Google+ ready to download the moment that it launched the “Field Trial” of the new service, and shortly thereafter it submitted an iPhone/iPad app to Apple for approval in the App Store. Even better, the Android app for Google+ is veyr well done. However, it’s not perfect and it could make the mobile Google+ experience a lot better by adding key functionality — e.g. the ability to +1 a comment, the ability to join a hangout, the ability to easily flip between the big stream and circle streams, etc. While they’re at it, Google should add more core functionality to its HTML app as well. That would be a great way to drive more participation and get a jump on Facebook, which still doesn’t have a great mobile experience.

7) Open it up to Google Apps users
In order to get into the Google+ beta you need a Gmail address (or a Google Account). It does not currently work for the Google Apps domains, which are business accounts where the company is using a corporate version of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other Google web apps. Google has stated that Google+ pages for businesses and brands are coming soon. Hopefully, Google+ for Google Apps users won’t be far behind. Since some people may end up having separate Google+ accounts for personal (Gmail) and business (Google Apps) use, Google should also consider options for letting those users log in to both accounts from different tabs in the Chrome web browser.

8) Integrate private messaging
One of the biggest things Google+ is missing compared to rivals Facebook and Twitter is the ability to send a private message to a mutual contact. Sure, there are a few workarounds and hacks that let you do it, but Google needs to make this part of the product’s primary functionality. It also wouldn’t hurt to integrate GoogleTalk (instant messaging) as well.

9) Set up verified accounts
Since there are already celebrities showing up on Google+ — and a lot of people who are impersonating celebrities — Google needs to set up something similar to Twitter’s Verified Accounts. Just do a search for “Mark Zuckerberg” or “Lady Gaga” on Google+ and take a look at how many accounts there are. There are also plenty of sneaky imposters, like the person who pretended to be Apple’s Jony Ive (the account has been deleted).

10) Show list of interactions with each user
Another useful feature that Google should add is the ability to go to a user’s profile page and see all of that person’s interactions with you — their +1s and comments on your posts, as well as your +1s and comments on their posts. This would help figure out if you should add a person to your Circles, and if so, which Circles you should put them in or add them to.

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Top 15 Sites to Make a Free Website

Top 15 Sites to Make a Free Website

1) Weebly

Weebly

This is probably rated as the best site in free website creation arena. Its main attributes are:

• Over 3 million subscribers who use its various services
• Easy to Use interface features drag and drop support which makes the site creation a breeze
• Several designs to choose from
• Free domain hosing
• SEO support and domain publishing
• Ad free

2) Wix

Wix

Wix offers you to create a Flash website along a whole lot features. Some of them are:

• Easy to use online editor drag and drop support
• Offers a programming free solution
• Good SEO support
• Choose you favorite theme from the vast collection of Templates.
• Add you links, photos, videos and much more like Google maps, social networking links etc. in few simple steps.

3) Webs

Webs

The website offers online solutions for small businesses where the focus is on the product rather than designs.

• Offers paid as well free accounts.
• Web page editor with drag and drop support
• Hundreds of themes and designs to choose from
• Easy widget creation and handling,
• Video sharing and posting
• Email
• Photo sharing and organization

4) Homestead

Homestead

The site offers free website creation along with a whole lot of features like:

• Over 2000 free templates to choose from
• Complete customization of the look is allowed
• Personalized Domain
• E-Mail address
• Visitor Statistics and collection of information
• Also create a blog for your site
• PayPal gateway to send/receive payments

5) uCoz

uCoz

uCoz is also a free website from creating free websites.

• Offers Universal Content Management System(CMS) which focuses on only content and not design
• Free web hosting with unlimited amount of space
• Thousands to templates to choose from
• 99.8 % uptime so that you can be sure that your website never goes down.

6) BlueVoda

BlueVoda

This free website offers simple solutions to website creation and design.

• Drag and Drop interface
• Extensive collection of designs and templates
• Flash support
• Several interactive tutorials on the website
• Can also design logos for your company

7) Google sites

Google Sites

This free service is from our very own Google.

• Pre-designed templates
• Single step page creation
• search engine indexing
• customization of look and feel of site
• Assigning sharing and accessing permissions to various users of your site

8) Terapad

Terapad

This free website also offers support and customization for the Small/Medium Enterprises.

• Offers all the latest features of Web 2.0
• Effective Search Engine optimization.
• Thousands of templates to choose from.
• 24/7 maintenance, updation and backup
• PayPal gateway

9) DoodleKit

DoodleKit

This website offers everything that you need for website building. Its main features are:

• W3C compliant
• Works across all browsers
• Multi Language Support
• Google Adsense Integration
• Photo and Image Repository
• E-commerce integration
• Dynamic Form Generation
• Search Engine Optimization

10) Webnode

Webnode

This free service is specially targeted towards small personal sites and business sites.

• E-Commerce integration
• Mobile connectivity
• SEO marketing
• All in one Web 2.0 features.

11) Webspawner

WebSpawner

This site creates your website within few minutes from your registration.

• Free online website building tools
• Reliable free hosting
• Good uptime
• Free 24/7 online customer support

12) Yola

Yola

This free website creation service offer the following features

• Pay Pal integration
• Google Adsense
• Online Form Generation
• Social Media Ready
• Google Maps
• Stunning templates
• Visitor tracking

13) 350pages

350Pages

This free website creating site offers features like:

• Drag and Drop interface
• Customization of the widgets and tags
• Image Cropping
• Photo galleries and much more

14) SiteW

SiteW

The features of this free service includes:

• A fast and light website builder with Drag and Drop interface
• Free statistics
• Free templates
• Free hosting
• SEO support
• Ad free.

15) Jimdo

Jimdo

This free service is mainly for the small businesses and enterprises. The features includes :

• Custom URL
• 10GB of storage space with Email account
• Professionally designed templates
• Efficient and reliable support
• Password protection for pages

The 10 best ways to visually represent IT data

The 10 best ways to visually represent IT data


In all areas of IT, there are a number of situations where certain ways of presenting data, configuration details, or a sequence of events work best. We often tend to rely on one tool for everything because we’re familiar with it, but that isn’t always the best approach. Here is my top 10 list of the most effective ways to visually represent IT data.


1) Network connectivity — Microsoft Visio


Visio is a capable tool for documenting network connectivity. It’s not the right tool for documenting the configuration, but it does a good job of outlining the logical layout. From a top-down perspective, I feel Visio does this best. Figure A shows a sample network diagram that clearly shows the logical layout of the network.


Figure A

Figure A

2) Application layout and architecture — Microsoft Visio


Let’s face it: Applications can get complex today. Virtual machines, replicated databases, firewall configurations, virtual IP addresses, mobile applications, and more make documenting an application flow no easy task. Again, I’ve found Visio to be the tool that reigns supreme. In the example shown in Figure B, many complicated aspects of the infrastructure are represented visually in one flow. While it doesn’t address the details of aspects such as the database replication, it is a good springboard to those other areas of key content.


Figure B

Figure B

3) Free disk space — Pie charts


I’m not really a fan of pie charts, but they do the trick for representing free space on a disk. This can be Windows drives as well as critical volumes, such as a VMware VMFS datastore or a drive on a storage area network (SAN). The pie chart is a veteran at representing free space, and in the example shown in Figure C, you can see its effectiveness for this application. But take a pie chart with a grain of salt. We need to visualize how much drive space is used as well as how much free space is available.


Figure C

Figure C

4) Year-over-year performance tracking — Excel 3D bar charts


For tracking performance year over year for a moving target, I find that the 3D bar charts within Excel do a good job of showing the progress. It doesn’t have to be year over year, either; it can represent quarterly assessments or even a comparison of something, such as different offices. In my work experience, I created a simple 3D bar chart within Excel that looked something like the one in Figure D to track progress moving to virtual machines from physical servers.


Figure D

Figure D

5) Consumption compared to other like entities — Excel Bubble charts


Quickly visualizing the consumption in proportion to other like consumers is easy with the bubble chart. One common example is representing the number of servers (or PCs) in a given location, which the bubble chart in Figure E does well. But it’s important to note that there is a significant limitation with the bubble chart: It assumes that all items are equal consumers. A good example would be 100 file servers compared to 100 Oracle database servers. In most situations, the file servers require much less maintenance and resources than the database servers. Nonetheless, the bubble chart is effective in displaying numbers by category.


Figure E

Figure E

6) Performance reporting — Line graphs


The line graph is a good way to represent direct consumption. A number of tools utilize the line graph for this function, including the VMware vSphere Client, shown in Figure F. But the line graph also has a limitation: If the tool displaying the consumption does any normalization of data, there may be missing highs or lows. To be fair, when there is so much data to manage, normalization of performance data is a common occurrence.


Figure F

Figure F

7) Step-by-step procedures — Camtasia Studio


When it comes to showing something onscreen, the de facto standard for recording the activity for replay is Camtasia Studio (Figure G). Camtasia has all the features you would want, including voice overlay and easy uploads to popular sites such as YouTube. This is a good way to practice a presentation and deliver solid emphasis without having to reinvent the wheel every time. I’ve also used Camtasia a number of times for prerecording demos to play during live presentations. Pausing the recording to explain an important point or field a question isn’t as distracting as interrupting a live demo. Even if I am giving a live demo, a Camtasia recording is a nice backup or “emergency demo,” if I need it.


Figure G

Figure G

8) Topics in outline form — Microsoft PowerPoint


There are a number of strategies for creating and delivering PowerPoint presentations (and presentations in general). But PowerPoint is especially useful for creating an outline that can be conversationally discussed (Figure H). I’ve learned a few tricks over the years: Never have a presentation go longer than 59 minutes and 59 seconds; don’t cover more than three main topics per slide; and make the outline focus primarily on the problem, which you can then backfill with the solution.


Figure H

Figure H

9) Customized maps — Microsoft Visio


Visio has map stencil objects (Figure I) you can use to document all kinds of things, such as assigning territories within a business and mapping out network and datacenter connectivity. You can download the map stencils from Microsoft (click the Find Shapes Online option). A U.S. stencil and a world stencil are available for modern Visio versions.


Figure I

Figure I

10) Specific data sets –Webdesigner Depot


This awesome resource has a number of links to tools that provide specific visualizations of things such as Internet trending topics and the Internet as a whole, as well as images of an event or even the history of science. Figure J shows a good way to visualize current events on the Internet using Web Trend Map 4. The popular Infographic series is also a great resource that will inspire new ways to present data in an interpretable manner.


Figure J

Figure J

The Pros and Cons of Tower, Rack, and Blade Servers

The Pros and Cons of Tower, Rack, and Blade Servers

There are three main choices when it comes to buying a new server: tower, rack, or blade. Here are some of the pros and cons about each kind of server.

Tower servers :-

Tower Server

Tower servers seem dated and look more like desktops than servers, but these servers can pack a punch. In general, if you have a lot of servers, you’re probably not using a bunch of tower servers, because they can take up a lot of space and are tough to physically manage since you can’t easily stack them on one another. In some cases as organizations grow and move to rack servers, conversion kits can be purchased to turn a tower server into a rack-mount server.

As implied, tower servers are probably found more often in smaller environments than anywhere else, although you might find them in point solutions in larger places.

Tower servers are generally on the lower end price-wise, although they can expand pretty decently and become really expensive.Tower servers take up a lot of space and require individual monitors, keyboards, and mice or a keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) switch that allows them to be managed with a single set of equipment. In addition, cabling can be no fun, especially if you have a lot of network adapters and other I/O needs. You’ll have cables everywhere.


Rack servers :-

Rack Server

If you run a data center of any reasonable size, you’ve probably used a lot of industry standard 19″ wide rack servers. Sized in Us (which is a single 1.75″ rack unit), rack servers can range from 1U “pizza boxes” to 5U, 8U, and more. In general, the bigger the server, the more expansion opportunities are available.

Rack servers are extremely common and make their home inside these racks along with other critical data center equipment such as backup batteries, switches, and storage arrays. Rack servers make it easy to keep things neat and orderly since most racks include cable management of some kind. However, rack servers don’t really simplify the cabling morass since you still need a lot of cabling to make everything work — it’s just neater. I once worked in a data center in which I had to deploy 42 2U Dell servers into three racks. Each server had to have dual power cables, keyboard, video, and mouse cables and six (yes, six) network cables (six colors with each color denoting a specific network). It was a tough task to keep the cabling under control, to put it mildly. Because everything was racked, there was built-in cable management that made this easier.

Like tower servers, rack servers often need KVM capability in order to be managed, although some organizations simply push a monitor cart around and connect to video and USB ports on the front of the server so that they don’t need to worry about KVM.Rack servers are very expandable; some include 12 or more disks right in the chassis and support for four or more processors, each with multiple cores. In addition, many rack servers support large amounts of RAM, so these devices can be computing powerhouses.


Blade servers :-

Blade Server

There was a day when buying individual blade servers meant trading expansion possibilities for compactness. Although this is still true to some extent, today’s blade servers pack quite a wallop. I recently purchased a half-height Dell M610 blade server with 96 GB of RAM and two six-core processors.

There is still some truth to the fact that blade servers have expansion challenges when compared to the tower and rack-based options. For example, most tower servers have pretty significant expansion options when it comes to PCI/PCI Express slots and more disk drives. Many blade servers are limited to two to four internal hard drives, although organizations that use blade servers are likely to have shared storage of some kind backing the blade system.

Further, when it comes to I/O expansion options, blade servers are a bit limited by their lack of expansion slots. Some blade servers boast PCI or PCI Express expansion slots, but for most blade servers, expansion is achieved through the use of specially designed expansion cards. In my case, the Dell M600 and M610 blades have three mezzanines. The first mezzanine consists of dual Gigabit Ethernet adapters. The remaining mezzanines are populated based on organizational need. The blade server doesn’t have quite the I/O selection of other server form factors, it’s no slouch, either.

When raw computing power and server density is the key drive, blade servers meet the need. For example, I have a 10U Dell M1000e blade chassis that can support up to 16 servers. So, each server uses the equivalent of 0.625U of rack space. On top of that, the blade chassis holds four gigabit Ethernet switches and two Fibre Channel switches, so there is additional rack space savings since I don’t need to rack mount these devices to support different connectivity options. In addition, the blade chassis has a built-in KVM switch so I don’t need to buy a third party and cable it up.

Speaking of cabling, a blade environment generally has much less of it than tower or rack environments since a lot of the connectivity is handled internally. You’ll end up with a neater server room as a result.

Another point is adding a new server consists of simply sliding it into an available slot in the chassis. There is no need to rack a new server and deal with a bunch of new cabling. This small size makes heat dissipation a challenge. Blade chassis can put out a lot of heat.

From a cost perspective, blade servers require some initial infrastructure, such as the chassis, so the upfront cost is often higher than for servers of other types.


Bottom line :-

If you need one or two servers, a tower solution probably makes sense. If you need three to 24 servers or massive scalability, then rack servers are for you. When you go need more than 24 servers, I advise you to consider a blade solution to meet your data center needs.

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Google Cloud vs. Apple's iCloud

Google Cloud vs. Apple' iCloud

Google Cloud vs Apple's iCloud

The Google cloud
Google’s entire strategy and approach to the cloud is based on the future, and not the Internet as it is today. Google is betting that the world will have low-cost, ubiquitous Internet access in the not-too-distant future, including fiber connections in offices and homes and super-fast mobile broadband in virtually every nook and cranny of the planet.It is building its cloud for that world, and it’s hoping that by the time it has its application stack refined and running like clockwork that broadband will be everywhere. That’s absolutely necessary, since all of Google’s apps are connection-dependent and all of the data is stored on Google’s servers in the cloud. You’ve got to be online to take advantage of many of the best features, like simultaneous editing of Google Docs where you can see your co-workers’ edits happening in real time.


I love Google’s optimism about the future of broadband, but it’s not going to magically happen on its own solely based on free market forces. There are too many places where it’s just not financially profitable to deploy high speed access — and probably never will be. In order for Google’s vision to come to light, there will need to be more competition in the big markets and much stronger public-private partnerships in the smaller markets.


Google has started talking about making critical apps available offline, especially for Chromebooks. The company has already taken a few baby steps in that direction with Google Gears. However, the fact that offline access is an afterthought and not an intrinsic component of Google’s solution tells you where offline and local syncing rank on the company’s priority list.


The Apple cloud
Apple’s approach is not to use the cloud as the computer-in-the-sky the runs all the cool stuff. It doesn’t want or need everything to happen in the cloud. Instead, it views the cloud as the conductor of 


Grand Central Station who makes sure all of the trains run on time and that they make it to the right destinations.With iCloud, announced on Monday at WWDC 2011, Apple uses the cloud to orchestrate data streams rather than control them. This is the cloud as a central repository for apps, music, media, documents, messages, photos, backups, settings, and more. A decade ago, both Apple and Microsoft talked up idea of the Mac and the PC, respectively, as the central hub of our digital life and work, with a variety of devices relying on it to coordinate content. On Monday, Apple clearly stated that’s no longer the case. For it, iCloud is now the hub.


“We are going to demote the PC to just be a device,” Steve Jobs said.


In this way, Apple is taking an approach unlike Google (which essentially mimics the old mainframe approach). Instead, Apple is doing something similar to what the popular startup Dropbox does. It is allowing users to sync their personal data and media purchases from their computers and mobile devices up to a personalized central repository. Then, that central repository on the Internet syncs all of the data and media files back down to all of the user’s devices, so that all of them have the same data. Users no longer have to worry about constantly managing their files and music libraries in order to keep them up-to-date across a bunch of different machines and devices - a computer, a tablet, and a smartphone, for example.


Geeks, technophiles, and IT pros tend to love this approach because they still control their own data and have local copies of everything. However, syncing can also get a little complicated, especially if you choose to not automatically sync all of your devices (to save on performance and bandwidth). It remains to be seen whether mainstream users and business professionals will grasp the syncing concept and easily make it work.


Still, Apple’s approach is probably more practical for the Internet as it exists today. But, in a world with ubiquitous ultra-fast broadband, will syncing still matter in 5-10 years? That will depend on whether users prefer to have local copies of their data for performance, security, and peace of mind.


Final analysis
All that said, let me try to boil this down into two sentences that shouldn’t surprise you. For Google, the Web is the center of the universe. For Apple, your device is the center of the universe.

Linux GUI vs CLI

Linux GUI(Graphical User Interface) vs CLI(Command Line Interface)

-- GUI makes it easy for the user, therefore makes the OS user-friendly. 
-- GUI interface means the OS is "dumbed down"


-- CLI gives the user more control and options.
-- CLI is stone-aged; it belongs to a "The History of Computers" museum.


-- Xwindows is progress compared to the CLI.
-- Xwindows presents a really big security risk...load it and you are asking to be hacked.


-- Using GUI is faster. Picking and choosing icons sure beats trying to remember and typing command lines.
-- Using CLI is faster. A keyboard is pretty much all you need here, much faster than all that clicking, scrolling, clicking some more, scrolling some more, and more typing, then clicking.


-- GUI consumes too much CPU and memory.
-- With newer and more powerful computers, that is not a problem. And its benefits are well worth it.


My feeling is that people's strong preference for one interface and stern rejection to the other are sometimes more psychological than technical. There are those who are afraid that without the comfort of the colorful clipart they have grown accustomed to seeing on their screen, the blank screen will take them right back to the dark ages, when computers were handled only by a few tech wiz'. At the other end of spectrum, there are those with what's known as the "superiority complex" over GUI. For these people, GUI is totally beneath their über-geek status and mastering CLI is matter of wiz-kids honor.


The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. CLI and GUI are essentially complementary modes of interacting with the computer. CLI is generally easier if you can remember the commands and the options, which is the case if you use them a lot. If you don't use certain functions a lot, a nice GUI can help you find them quickly. Of course whenever you have to repeat a command many times you should automate the process by writing a script, but in theory you could link that script to a button or menu item in a GUI. It doesn't have to stay at the command line.


So, in the user-friendly vs. control and options debates, both sites have a point. But there is a third point: GUI and CLI can be used together to achieve great things that either one alone can't. This is particularly true with Linux where the user is given the flexibility of switching back and forth between GUI and Command Line easily. One example is that Linux CLI and GUI can give the user the ability to work on any computer on the network as if you were sitting at that computer. On Unix/Linux (running X-Windows) all you need to do is use the xhost command to specify which computers you want to allow access, and the DISPLAY environment variable to specify on which computer you want to start the GUI of the program you want to run.(See details on how to do this)

Some common PC File Extension Listing

Some common PC File Extension Listing
This chart is a list of the most commonly found extensions, what type of file they are and what program if any they are associated with.

File Extensions

.$$$ Temporary file
.$$A OS/2 program file
.$$F OS/2 database file
.$$S OS/2 spreadsheet file
.$D$ OS/2 planner file
.$DB DBASE IV temporary file
.$ED Microsoft C temporary editor file.
.$VM Microsoft Windows temporary file for virtual managers.
._DD Norton disk doctor recovery file.
._DM Nuts n Bolts disk minder recovery file.
.--- File used to backup sys, ini, dat, and other important files from Windows 3.1 and above.
.075 Ventura Publisher 75x75 dpi screen characters
.085 Ventura Publisher 85x85 dpi screen characters
.091 Ventura Publisher 91x91 dpi screen characters
.096 Ventura Publisher 96x96 dpi screen characters
.0B Pagemaker printer font LineDraw enhanced characters.
.1ST File used by some software manufacturers to represent a file that should be read first before starting the program.
.2GR File used in Windows 3.x to display the graphics on older 286 and 386 computers.
.386 Virtual machine support files for the 386 enhanced mode.
.3GR File used in Windows 3.x to display the graphics on later 386, 486 and Pentium computers.
.4SW 4DOS Swap file


A
A ADA program file or UNIX library
.A3W MacroMedia Authorware 3.5 file
.ABK Autobackup file used with Corel Draw 6 and above.
.ABR Brush file for Adobe Photoshop
.ACT Adobe Photoshop Color table file.
.AD After Dark file.
.ADF Adapter description files.
.ADM After Dark screen saver module.
.ADR After Dark randomizer
.AI Adobe Illustrator file.
.AIF Auto Interchange File Format (AIFF) Audio file.
.ANI Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT animated mouse cursor file.
.ANS ANSI text file.
.ARJ Compressed file can be used with Winzip / Pkzip.
.ASC ASCII Text file
.ASF Sort for Advanced Streaming Format, file developed by Microsoft. The .ASF file is generally a movie player and can be open with software such as Windows Media Player.
.ASP Microsoft FrontPage Active Server Pages. To open these files use your internet browser.
.AVI Windows Movie file.


B
.BAK Backup file used for important windows files usually used with the System.ini and the Win.ini.
.BAS QBasic program and or Visual Basic Module.
.BAT Batch file that can perform tasks for you in dos, like a macro.
.BFC Microsoft Windows 95 / Windows 98 Briefcase file.
.BG Backgammon game file.
.BIN Translation tables for code pages other than the standard 437.
.BK2 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK3 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK4 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK5 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK6 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK7 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK8 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BK9 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BMP Graphical Bit Mapped File used in Windows Paintbrush.
.BNK Sim City Backup
.BPS Microsoft Works Word Processor File.
.BPT Corel Draw Bitmap master file
.BV1 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV2 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV3 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV4 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV5 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV6 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV7 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV8 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BV9 Word Perfect for Windows Backup file
.BWP BatteryWatch pro file.


C
.C C file used with the C programming language.
.CAB Cabinet file used in Windows 95 and Windows 98 that contains all the windows files and drivers. Information about how to extract a .CAB file can be found on document CH000363.
.CAL Windows Calendar, Supercalculator4 file or Supercal spreadsheet.
.CBL COBOL Program File
.CBT Computer Based Training files.
.CDA CD Audio Player Track.
.CDR Corel Draw Vector file.
.CFB Comptons Multimedia file
.CFG Configuration file
.CFL Corel flowchart file
.CFM Corel FontMaster file / Cold Fusion Template file / Visual dBASE windows customer form
.CHK Scandisk file which is used to back up information that scandisk has found to be bad, found in C root. Because the information within these files are corrupted or reported as bad by Scandisk it is perfectly fine to delete these files, providing you are currently not missing any information. Additional information about scandisk can be found on our scandisk page.
.CL Generic LISP source code.
.CL3 Easy CD Creator layout file.
.CL4 Easy CD Creator layout file.
.CLA Java Class file.
.CLG Disk catalog database
.CLK Corel R.A.V.E. animation file.
.CLL Crick software clicker file
.CLO Cloe image
.CLP Windows Clipboard / Quattro Pro clip art / Clipper 5 compiler script
.CLR WinEdit Colorization word list / 1st reader binary color screen image / PhotStyler color definition
.CLS Visual Basic Class module / C++ Class definition
.CMD Windows Script File also OS/2 command file.
.CMV Corel Movie file.
.CNT Help file (.hlp) Contents (and other file contents)
.CPL Windows 95 / Windows 98 / Windows NT control panel icons.
.CNE Configuration file that builds .COM files.
.CNF Configuration file.
.COB COBOL source code file.
.COD FORTRAN Compiler program code
.COM File that can be executed.
.CPE Fax cover page file
.CPI Code Page Information or Microsoft Windows applet control panel file
.CPP C++ source code file.
.CRD Windows Card file.
.CSV Comma-Separated Variable file. Used primary with databases and spreadsheets / Image file used with CopuShow
.CUR Windows Mouse Cursor.
.CVS Canvas drawing file
.CXX C++ program file or Zortech C++ file


D
.DAT Data file, generally associated or extra data for a program to use.
.DB Paradox database file / Progress database file
.DB2 dBase II file
.DBC Microsoft Visiual Foxpro database container
.DBF dBase II,III,III+,IV / LotusWorks database.
.DBK dBase databse backup / Orcad schematic capture backup file
.DBM Cold Fusion template
.DBO dBase IV compiled program file
.DBQ Paradox memo
.DBT dBase database text file
.DBV Flexfile memo field file
.DBW DataBoss database file
.DBX Database file / DataBeam Image / MS Visual Foxpro Table
.DEV Device Driver
.DIF Document Interchange Format; VisiCalc
.DLL Dynamic Link Library; Allow executable code modules to be loaded on demand, linked at run time, and unloaded when not needed. Windows uses these files to support foreign languages and international/nonstandard keyboards.
.DMO Demo file
.DMP Dump file
.DMD Visual dBASE data module
.DMF Delusion/XTracker Digital Music File
.DMO Demo file
.DMP Dump file
.DMS Compressed archive file
.DOC Microsoft Word Windows/DOS / LotusWorks word processor Windows/DOS /PF S:First Choice Windows/DOS DOT MS Word Windows/DOS.
.DOS Text file and DOS Specification Info
.DOT Microsoft Word Template (Macro).
.DRV Device driver files that attach the hardware to Windows. The different drivers are system, keyboard, pointing devices, sound, printer/ plotter, network, communications adapter.
.DRW Micrografx draw/graph files.
.DT_ Macintosh Data File Fork
.DTA Data file
.DTD SGML Document definition file
.DTF Q&A database
.DTM DigiRekker module
.DTP SecurDesk! Desktop / Timeworks Publisher Text Document / Pressworks Template file
.DUN Dialup Networking exported file.
.DX Document Imaging file / Digital data exchange file
.DXB Drawing interchange binary file
.DXF Autocad drawing interchange format file
.DXN Fujitsu dexNet fax document
.DXR Macromedia director projected movie file
.DYN Lotus 1-2-3 file
.DWG AutoCad Drawing Database


E
.EEB Button bar for Equation Editor in Word Perfect for Windows
.EFT CHIWRITER high resolution screen characters
.EGA EGA screen characters for Ventura Publisher
.ELG Event List text file used with Prosa
.EMS Enhanced Menu System configuration file for PC Tools
.EMU IRMA Workstation for Windows emulation
.ENC ADW Knowledge Ware Encyclopedia
.END Corel Draw Arrow Definition file
.ENG Sprint dictionary file engine
.ENV Word Perfect for Windows environment file.
.EPG Exported PaGe file used with DynaVox
.EPS Encapsulated Postscript, with embedded TIFF preview images.
.EQN Word Perfect for Windows Equation file
.ERD Entity Relation Diagram graphic file
.ERM Entity Relation Diagram model file
.ERR Error log file
.ESH Extended Shell Batch file
.EVT Event file scheduler file for PC Tools
.EX3 Device driver for Harvard graphics 3.0
.EXC QEMM exclude file from optimization file or Rexx program file
.EXE Executable file.
.EXT Extension file for Norton Commander


F
.FDF Adobe Acrobat Forms Document.
.FF AGFA CompuGraphics outline font description.
.FFA Microsoft Fast Find file.
.FFF GUS PnP bank / defFax fax document
.FFL Microsoft Fast Find file / PrintMaster Gold form file
.FFO Microsoft Fast Find file
.FFT DCA/FFT final form text
.FFX Microsoft Fast Find file
.FON Font files to support display and output devices.
.FR3 dBase IV renamed dBase III+ form
.FRF FontMonger Font
.FRG dBase IV uncompiled report
.FRK Compressed zip file used with Apple Macinotsh computers.
.FRM Form file used with various programs / Microsoft Visual Basic Form / FrameMaker document / FrameBuilder file / Oracle executable form / Word Perfect Merge form / DataCAD symbol report file
.FRO dBase IV compiled report / FormFlow file
.FRP PerForm Pro Plus Form
.FRS WordPerfect graphics driver
.FRT FoxPro report file
.FRX Microsoft Visual basic binary form file / FoxPro report file
.FRZ FormFlow file


G
.GIF CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format.
.GR2 286 grabbers that specify which font to use with DOS and Windows.
.GR3 386 grabbers that specify which font to use with DOS and Windows.
.GRA Microsoft Flight simulator graphics file
.GRB Microsoft MS-DOS shell monitor
.GRF Micrografx draw/graph files.
.GRP Microsoft Program Group.
.GZ Compressed Archive file for GZip


H
.HBK Mathcad handbook file
.HDL Procomm Plus alternate download file listing
.HDR Procomm Plus message header
.HDX Help index
.HEX Hex dump
.HFI GEM HP font info
.HGL HP graphics language graphic
.HH C++ Header
.HHH Precompiled Header for Power C
.HHP Help data for Procomm Plus
.HLP Files that contain the Help feature used in windows, cannot be read from DOS.
.HQX Apple Macintosh Binhex text conversion file.
.HSQ Data files associated with the Qaz Trojan.
.HSS Photoshop Hue/Saturation information.
.HST History file / Procomm Plus History File / Host file.
.HTA Hypertext Application (run applications from HTML document).
.HTM Web page files containing HTML or other information found on the Internet.


I
.ICA Citrix file / IOCA graphics file
.ICB Targa Bitmap
.ICC Kodak printer image
.ICE Archive file
.ICL Icon library file
.ICM Image Color Matching profile file
.ICN Microsoft Windows Icon Manager.
.ICO Microsoft Windows Icondraw / Icon.
.ID Disk identification file.
.IDB Microsoft developer intermediate file, used with Microsoft Visual Studio
.IDD MIDI instruments definition
.IDE Integrated Development Environment configuration file
.IDF MIDI instruments drivers file
.IDQ Internet data query file
.IDX Index file
.IFF IFF/LBM (Amiga) used by Computer Eyes frame grabber.
.IMG GEM/IMG (Digital Research) or Ventura Publisher bitmap graphic
.INF Information file that contains customization options.
.INI Files that initialize Windows and Windows apps.
.IPF Installer Script File / OS/2 online documentation for Microsoft source files.
.ISO Compressed file used for an exact duplicate of a CD. .ISO files can be extracted or opened such programs as Win Image that can be found on our shareware download section.
.IWA IBM Writing Assistant Text file.


J
.JAS Graphic
.JPG Graphic commonly used on the Internet and capable of being opened by most modern image editors.
.JS JavaScript file.
.JSB Henter-Joyce Jaws script binary file
.JSD eFAX jet suite document
.JSE JScript encoded script file
.JSH Henter-Joyce Jaws script header file
.JSL PaintShop pro file
.JSM Henter-Joyce Jaws script message file
.JSP Java server page
.JSS Henter-Joyce Jaws script source file
.JT JT fax file
.JTF JPEG tagged Interchange format file
.JTK Sun Java toolkit file
.JTP JetForm file
.JW Justwrite text file
.JWL Justwrite text file library
.JZZ Jazz spreadsheet


K
.KAR Karaoke File used with some audio players.


L
.LGC Program Use Log File (for Windows Program Use Optimization).
.LGO Contains the code for displaying the screen logo.
.LOG Contains the process of certain steps, such as when running scandisk it will usually keep a scandisk.log of what occurred.
.LNK HTML link file used with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
.LWP Lotus Wordpro 96/97 file.


M
.MAC Macintosh macpaint files.
.MBX Microsoft Outlook Express mailbox file.
.MD Compressed Archive file
.MDA Microsoft Access Add-in / Microsoft Access 2 Workgroup.
.MDB Microsoft Access Database / Microsoft Access Application.
.MDE Microsoft Access Database File
.MDF Menu definition file
.MDL Digitrakker Music Module / Rational Rose / Quake model file
.MDM Telix Modem Definition
.MDN Microsoft Access Blank Database Template
.MDP Microsoft Developer Studio Project
.MDT Microsoft Access Add-in Data
.MDW Microsoft Access Workgroup Information
.MDX dBase IV Multiple Index
.MDZ Microsoft Access Wizard Template
.MEB WordPerfect Macro Editor bottom overflow file
.MED WordPerfect Macro Editor delete save / OctaMed tracker module
.MEM WordPerfect Macro Editor macro / Memory File of variables
.MID Midi orchestra files that are used to play with midi sounds built within the sound card.
.MIX Power C object file / Multiplayer Picture file (Microsoft Photodraw 2000 & Microsoft Picture It!) / Command & Conquer Movie/Sound file
.MOD Winoldap files that support (with grabbers) data exchange between DOS apps and Windows apps.
.MOV File used with Quick Time to display a move.
.MP1 MPEG audio stream, layer I
.MP2 MPEG audio stream, layer II
.MP3 MPEG audio stream, layer III; High compressed audio files generally used to record audio tracks and store them in a decent sized file available for playback. See our MP3 page for additional information.
.MPG MPEG movie file.
.MSN Microsoft Network document / Decent mission file
.MTF Windows metafile.
.MTH Derive Math file
.MTM Sound file / MultiTracker music module
.MTV Picture file
.MTW Minitab data file
.MU Quattro menu
.MUL Ultima Online game
.MUP Music publisher file
.MUS Audio file
.MVB Database file / Microsoft multimedia viewer file
.MVE Interplay video file
.MVF Movie stop frame file
.MWP Lotus Wordpro 97 smartmaster file
.MXD ArcInfo map file
.MXT Microsoft C Datafile
.MYD Make your point presentation file.


N
.N64 Nintendo 64 Emulator ROM image.
.NA2 Netscape Communicator address book.
.NAB Novell Groupwise address book
.NAP Napster Music security definition file.
.NDF NeoPlanet Browser file
.NDX Indexed file for most databases.
.NES Nintendo Entertainment system ROM image.
.NIL Norton guide online documentation
.NGF Enterasys Networks NetSight file.
.NHF Nero HFS-CD compilation or a general Nero file
.NIL Norton icon lybrary file.
.NLB Oracle 7 data file
.NLD ATI Radeon video driver file,
.NMI SwordSearcher file.
.NON LucasArts Star Wars - Tie fighter mouse options file.
.NOW Extension commonly used for readme text files.
.NRA Nero Audio CD file.
.NRB Nero CD-ROM boot file.
.NS2 Lotus Notes 2 database,
.NS5 Lotus Notes Domino file,
.NSO NetStudio easy web graphics file.
.NT Windows NT startup file.
.NUM File used with some Software Manufactures to store technical support numbers or other phone numbers, should be readable from DOS and or Windows.


O
.OCA Control Typelib Cache.
.OCX Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) control extension.
.OLB Object library
.OLD Used for backups of important files incase they are improperly updated or deleted.
.OLE Object Linking and Embedding object file
.OLI Olivetti text file
.ORI Original file.


P
.PAB Personal Address Book, file used with Microsoft Outlook.
.PB WinFax Pro phone book file
.PBD PowerBuilder dynamic library / Faxit phone book file
.PBF Turtle Beach Pinnacle bank file
.PBK Microsoft phonebook file
.PBL PowerBuilder library file
.PBM UNIX portable bitmap fuke
.PBR PowerBuilder resource
.PBI Profiler binary input file
.PBM PBM portable bit map graphic
.PBO Profiler binary output
.PBT Profiler binary table
.PCX Microsoft Paint & PC Paintbrush Windows/DOS.
.PDA Bitmap graphic file
.PDB TACT data file
.PDD Adobe PhotoDeluxe Image.
.PDF Adobe Acrobat Reader file which can only be read by Adobe Acrobat (to get file downloaded Adobe Acrobat from our Download Page.
.PDL Borland C++ project description language file.
.PDS Graphic file / Pldasm source code file.
.PDV Paintbrush printer driver.
.PDW Professional Draw document.
.PIC Picture / Viewer Frame Class.
.PIF Program Information File that configures a DOS app to run efficiently in windows.
.PJF Paintjet soft font file.
.PL Harvard palette file / PERL program file
.PL3 Harvard chart palette
.PLB Foxpro library / LogoShow Screensaver file
.PLC Lotus Add-in
.PLD PLD2 source file
.PLG REND386 / AVRIL file
.PLI Oracle 7 data description
.PLL Prelinked library
.PLM DisorderTracker2 module
.PLN WordPerfect spreadsheet file
.PLR Descent Pilot file
.PLS WinAmp MPEG playlist file / DisorderTracker 2 Sample file / Shoutcast file / MYOB data file
.PLT AutoCAD HPGL vector graphic plotter file / Gerber sign-making software file / Betley's CAD Microstation driver configuration for plotting
.PLY Autodesk polygon
.PP Compressed archive file.
.PP4 Picture Publisher.
.PP5 Picture Publisher.
.PPA Power Point Add-in.
.PPB WordPerfect Print preview button bar.
.PPD PostScript Printer description.
.PPF Turtle Beach Pinnacle program file.
.PPI Microsoft PowerPoint graphic file.
.PPL Harvard (now Serif) Polaroid Palette Plus ColorKey Driver.
.PPM PBM Portable Pixelmap Graphic.
.PPO Clipper Preprocessor Output.
.PPP Serif PagePlus Publication.
.PPS Microsoft PowerPoint Slideshow.
.PPT Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
.PPX Serif PagePlus publication.
.PPZ Microsoft PowerPoint Packaged Presentation.
.PS2 File to support the Micro Channel Architecture in 386 Enhanced mode.
.PSD Adobe Photoshop image file.
.PST Post Office Box file used with Microsoft Outlook usually mailbox.pst unless named otherwise.
.PWA Password agent file.
.PWD Password file.
.PWF ProCite Workforms
.PWL Password file used in Windows 95 and Windows 98 is stored in the Windows directory.
.PWP Photoworks image file
.PWZ PowerPoint wizard


Q
.QIC Windows backup file
.QT Quick Time Movie File
.QXD Quark Express file
.QXL Quark Xpress element library
.QXT Quark Xpress template file


R
.RA Real Audio file.
.RAM Real Audio file.
.RAR Compressed file similar to .ZIP uses different compression program to extract. See our recommended download page for a program that can be used to extract .RAR files.
.RAS File extension used for raster graphic files.
.RD1 Descent registered level file
.RD3 Ray Dream designer graphics file / CorelDraw 3D file
.RD4 Ray Dream designer graphics file
.RD5 Ray Dream designer graphics file
.RDB TrueVector rules database
.RDF Resource description framework file / Chromeleon report definition
.RDL Descent registered level file / RadioDestiny radio stream
.RDX Reflex data file
.REC Sound file used with Windows Sound Recorder.
.RLE Microsoft Windows Run Length Encoded (Run Length Encoded (bitmap format) file that contains the actual screen logo).
.RMI Microsoft RMID sound file.
.RPB Automotive diagnostic file.
.RPD Rapidfile database
.RPM Red Hat Package Manager / RealMedia Player file.
.RPT Various Report file
.RTF Rich Text Format file
.RWZ Microsoft Outlook rules wizard file


S
.SAV File that usually contains saved information such as a saved game.
.SC2 Maps used in Sim City 2000.
.SCP Dialup Networking script file.
.SCR Source files for the .INI files, or sometimes may be used as screen savers.
.SD Sound Designer I audio file
.SD2 Sound Designer II flattened file / Sound Designer II data fork file / SAS database file
.SDA StarOffice drawing file / SoftCuisine data archive
.SDC StarOffice spreadsheet
.SDD StarOffice presentation
.SDF Standard data format file / Schedule data file / System file format / Autodesk mapguide spatial data file
.SDK Roland S-series floppy disk image
.SDL SmartDraw library
.SDN Small archive
.SDR SmartDraw drawing
.SDS StarOffice chart file / Raw MIDI sample dump standard file
.SDT SmartDraw template
.SDV Semicolon divided value file
.SDW Sun Microsystems StarOffice file document file similar to the Microsoft Office .DOC file.
.SDX MIDI sample dump standard files compacted by SDX
.SEA Short for Self Extracting Archive. Compressed file used with the Macintosh.
.SH Archive file
.SH3 Harvard (now Serif) presentation file
.SHB Corel Background file
.SHG Hotspot Editor Hypergraphic
.SHK Macintosh Compressed Archive file
.SHM WordPerfect Shell Macro
.SHP 3D Studio Shapes File / other 3D related file
.SHR Archive file
.SHS Shell scrap object file
.SHW Corel presentation / WordPerfect Slide Show / Show File
.SLK Multiplan file.
.SND Sound Clip file / Raw unsigned PCM data / AKAI MPC-series sample / NeXT sound / Macintosh sound resource file
.SNG MIDI song
.SNM Netscape Mail
.SNO SNOBOL program file
.SNP Snapview snapshot file
.SUM Summary file.
.SWF Macromedia Flash file.
.SWP Extension used for the Windows Swap File usually Win386.Swp. This file is required by Windows and generally can grow very large in size sometimes up to several hundred megs. This file is used to swap information between currently running programs and or memory. If this file is deleted from the computer Windows will be unable to load and will need to be reinstalled.
.SYS System and peripheral drivers.


T
.TDF Trace Definition File used with OS/2
.TGA Targa file
.TIF Tag Image Format that includes most 24-bit color.
.TLB Remote automation truelib files / OLE type library / Visual C++ type library
.TLD Tellix file
.TLE NASA two-line element set
.TLP Microsoft project timeline fie
.TLT Trellix web design file
.TLX Trellix data file
.TMP Temporary files.
.TRM Windows Terminal.
.TXT Text file that can be read from windows of from DOS by using the Edit, Type, or Edlin.


U
.UNI MikMod (UniMod) format file / Forcast Pro data file
.UNK Unknown file type, sometimes used when a file is received that cannot be identified
.UNX Text file generally associated with UNIX.
.URL File used with some browsers such as Internet Explorer linking you to different web pages. Internet Shortcut.


V
.VB VBScript file
.VBA vBase file
.VBD ActiveX file
.VBE VBScript encoded script file
.VBG Visual Basic group project file
.VBK VisualCADD backup file
.VBL User license control file
.VBP Visual Basic project file
.VBR Remote automation registration files
.VBS Microsoft Visual Basic Script file for quick programs and in some cases can be used as a virus file.
.VBW Visual Basic project workplace
.VBX Visual Basic extension file
.VBZ Wizard launch file
.VC VisiCalc Spreadsheet file.
.VCD VisualCADD Drawing file.
.VCE Natural MicroSystems voice file.
.VCF vCard File / Vevi Configuration file.
.VCS Microsoft Outlook vCalander file.
.VCT FoxPro class library.
.VCW Microsoft Visual C++ workbench information file.
.VCX FoxPro class library.
.VDA Targa bitmap
.VDD Short for Virtual Device Driver. Additional information can be found here.
.VDO VDOScript file
.VDX No such file extension - Likely you meant to .vxd
.VM Virtual Machine / Virtual Memory file.
.VMM Virtual Machine (Memory Manager) file.
.VMF Ventura font characteristics file / FaxWorks audio file
.VMH
.VS2 Roland-Bass transfer file.
.VSD Visio drawing.
.VSL GetRight download list file.
.VSS Visio stencil.
.VST Video Template / Truevision Vista graphic / Targa Bitmap/
.VSW Visio workspace file.
.VXD Windows system driver file allowing a driver direct access to the Windows Kernel, allowing for low level access to hardware.


W
.WAB Microsoft Outlook Express personal address book.
.WAD File first found in IdSoftware games such as DOOM, Quake, as well as most new games similar to these.
.WAV Sound files in Windows open and played with sound recorder.
.WB1 Quattro Pro Notebook
.WB2 Quattro Pro Spreadsheet
.WBF Microsoft Windows Batch File
.WBK Wordperfect document / workbook
.WBT Winbatch batch file
.WCD Wordperfect macro token list
.WCM Microsoft Works data transmission file / Wordperfect Macro
.WCP Wordperfect product information description
.WDB Microsoft Works database
.WEB Web source code file
.WFM dBASE Form object
.WFN CorelDRAW font
.WFX Winfax data file
.WG1 Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet
.WG2 Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2 worksheet
.WID Ventura publisher width table
.WIN Foxpro - dBASE window file
.WIZ Microsoft Publisher page wizard
.WK1 Lotus 1-2-3 all versions / LotusWorks spreadsheet.
.WK3 Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows /Lotus 1-2-3 Rel.3.
.WKS Lotus 1-2-3 Rel lA,2.0,2.01, also file used with Microsoft Works.
.WLG Dr. Watson log file.
.WMA Windows Media Audio file.
.WMF Windows Metafile. Also see WMF dictionary definition.
.WMZ Windows Media Player theme package file.
.WPD WordPerfect Windows/DOS.
.WPG WordPerfect Graphical files Windows/DOS.
.WPM WordPerfect Macro file.
.WPS MS Works word processor Windows/DOS.
.WRI Windows Write.
.WRK Lotus 1-2 31.0,1.01,1.1/ Symphony 1,1.01.
.WRI Symphony l.1,1.2,2 / Microsoft Write file.


X
.XIF Wang image file / Xerox image file
.XLB Microsoft Excel File.
.XLS Microsoft Excel File.
.XM Sound file / Fast tracker 2 extended module
.XML Extensible markup language file.
.XNK Exchange shortcut
.XOT Xnetech job output file
.XPM X picsmap graphic
.XQT SuperCalc macro sheet
.XRF Cross Reference
.XR1 Epic MegaGames Xargon File
.XSL XML Style sheet
.XSM LEXIS-NEXIS tracker
.XTB LocoScript external translation table
.XWD X Windows dump file
.XWF Yamaha XG Works file
.XXE Xxencoded file
.XY XYWrite text file
.XY3 XYWrite text file
.XY4 XYwrite IV document
.XYP XYwrite III plus document
.XYW XYwrite Windows 4.0 document


Y
.Y Amiga YABBA compressed file archive
.Y01 Paradox index file
.Y02 Paradox index file
.Y03 Paradox index file
.Y04 Paradox index file
.Y05 Paradox index file
.Y06 Paradox index file
.Y07 Paradox index file
.Y08 Paradox index file
.Y09 Paradox index file
.YUV Yuv graphics file
.YZ YAC compressed file archive.


Z
.Z Compressed file that can hold thousands of files. To extract all the files Pkzip or Winzip will need to be used. UNIX / Linux users use the compress / uncompress command to extract these files.
.ZIP Compressed file that can hold thousands of files. To extract all the files Pkzip or Winzip will need to be used.