These days, we’re spoiled for choice in what technology we can use. We have multiple office suites, operating systems, client applications, cloud services, and self hosted services.
Most people end up with a sprawling hodgepodge of randomly selected and overlapping software and hardware. The vast majority of people don’t put any though or planning into what systems they use. This leads to a few problems:
- Increased cost by paying for multiple similar tools
- Complexity, such as knowing where a file is saved
- Data loss, because data isn’t backed up
- Lack of coherence in the systems causing loss of productivity
So it is a really good idea to put some thought into how you build your personal ecosystem. It will save you money, time, and effort. And it only takes a few minutes.
Groundwork
In order to build your ecosystem, you have to figure out what exactly you want to achieve. Write down a list of things you want to accomplish first. This will be the ultimate guide to deciding what you want to use.
For example, I need the ability to:
- Test malware samples
- Write reports
- Capture security logs from each device
- Create backups of each device
- Shoot, edit, and color grade Youtube videos
- Create flowcharts
- Manipulate data in CSV files
- Create presentations
- Browse the web
- Check all my email accounts in one place
- Virtualize Windows and Linux systems for testing
So these are most of the things I need to do. Once you have your list put together, we can move on to the next step.
Filtering out the noise
Next, we take our list and make a short list of the software that will be able to accomplish each task. Stick to software you know of, and if you can’t find any, look up what the most popular options are. Try to stick to industry standards unless you have a very specific use case. Also try to limit yourself to vendors that offer products in your price range.
- Test malware samples
- Proxmox, VMWare, or HyperV
- Netgear, Cisco, or Aruba
- Write reports
- Apple Pages, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Libre Office
- Capture security logs from each device
- Wazuh, Splunk, NewRelic
- Create backups of each device
- Veeam, Time Machine, Datto
- Shoot, edit, and color grade Youtube videos
- Davinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere
- Create flowcharts
- Visio, Apple Freeform
- Manipulate data in CSV files
- Apple Numbers, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel
- Create presentations
- Apple Keynote, Google’s presentation software, Microsoft Powerpoint
- Browse the web
- Edge, Safari, Chrome, Orion, Vivaldi
- Check all my email accounts in one place
- Apple Mail, Outlook
- Virtualize Windows and Linux systems for testing
- Proxmox, VMWare, or HyperV
So now we have a short list of each program we are considering for each use case.
Thinning the herd
Now, we need to decide what program to use for each use case. This is something that is somewhat different for each individual, but I’ll do my best to explain my process so that you have a framework to operate within.
I like to pick software based on three criteria:
- Uses industry standard file formats
- This is to ensure I can migrate my work to other platforms if I don’t like the current one for whatever reason
- Is commonly found in my industry of work
- This is so that I can take the experience I build in my personal life and bring it to work with me
- Integrates well with other programs in my environment
- This is to ensure that my various programs can work together
So make a short 3 item list of the top things you want your chosen software to conform to. With these things in mind, I have now a short list of what I choose:
- Test malware samples
- Proxmox
- Netgear
- Write reports
- Microsoft Word
- Capture security logs from each device
- Wazuh
- Create backups of each device
- Veeam
- Shoot, edit, and color grade Youtube videos
- Final Cut Pro
- Create flowcharts
- Apple Freeform
- Manipulate data in CSV files
- Microsoft Excel
- Create presentations
- Microsoft Powerpoint
- Browse the web
- Edge
- Check all my email accounts in one place
- Apple Mail
- Virtualize Windows and Linux systems for testing
- Proxmox
The hardware
Okay, now we know what we want to do and what we need to do it. Now we need to pick out the hardware.
You want the minimum number of devices to run all of the above software. Look at the system requirements for each piece of software and figure out what operating systems and hardware support them. This will dictate what you buy.
For me, I went with Apple devices (mac, iPad) for my end user devices. It works with all the client software I listed above.
For my servers, I went with 3 Lenovo M700 tiny form factor PCs, a couple Netgear switches for networking, and some external hard drives for storage.
This is the part that takes the longest. It is also the most expensive to get wrong, so take your time.
Overview
So now we’ve:
- Written down what we want to do
- Written down what can do it
- Written down what options we prefer
- Written down what hardware/OS can run those programs
And at this point, you should be in a good place to buy your devices and build out your ecosystem.
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