Test Your Nerd Knowledge–March 8, 2022
Here’s a review of the questions:
- What process is defined as, “a means of network failover that ensures network availability in case of a network device or path failure and unavailability.”
- What is the name of the web browser, released in 1994, that lost the first “Browser War” to Internet Explorer?
- What is the origin of the name “Adobe,” which John Warnock gave to his new software company when it was launched in 1982?
And here are the answers:
- Network Redundancy. Network redundancy is a process through which additional or alternate instances of network devices, equipment and communication mediums are installed within network infrastructure. Network redundancy is primarily implemented in enterprise network infrastructure to provide a redundant source of network communications. It serves as a backup mechanism for quickly swapping network operations onto redundant infrastructure in the event of unplanned network outages.
- Netscape Navigator. The first “Browser War” during the late 1990’s pitted Netscape’s Navigator against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. In 1995, just as the World Wide Web was receiving tremendous attention in media and culture, Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer 1.0, and included it as part of its Windows 95 Plus! I.E. was ready to take on Navigator, which, after its release in April of 1994, became the go-to browser for early users of this new technology. As Netscape strategized battling Microsoft by partnering with the burgeoning America Online, the company found that it did not stand a chance against the Windows operating system’s dominance in the marketplace. Netscape eventually pivoted and developed Mozilla Firefox, retiring the Navigator brand in 2008.
- Adobe Creek in Los Altos, CA. Initiating his enterprise in the garage of his Los Altos home, John Warnock saw the rich adobe clay in the creek bed as an analogy for the creative spirit of his new company. After refusing Steve Jobs’ $5 million offer to buy the company in 1982, Warnock and his partner, Charles Geschke chose to focus on developing specialized printing software and created the Adobe PostScript. Postscript morphed into Illustrator, and eventually to Photoshop, which Adobe has bundled in various software packages ever since. Somewhere in all that excitement, Adobe also developed the PDF and its accompanying Adobe Acrobat and Reader software.