…and get it out of my head!
I just listened to the original of Bootylicious [sample on Amazon]. Trust me…this re-mix takes the lyrics to the place they should have gone in the first place.
Category: Random
Stupid Mastiff! Take me on will he?
I like this. Underdog wins again.
Hey CTO, I’d like some software, with open and extensible on the side
The CTO of the blogosphere asks: What kind of software would you like developed?
Option 1: Build a product in 12 months that is simple and easy to use but only meets basic requirements. Upon completion, this company will only fix bugs and provide minimal updates every six months; training through FAQs and some simple documentation; and support through basic email, forums, but no phone contact.
The cost to you to pay for the development and ongoing support of this product is low.
Option 2: Build a product in 24 months that meets all the requirements including features that you might want to use in the future but is complex to configure and use. Upon completion, this company will fix bugs and provide enhancements or new functionality through a elaborate support agreement that includes frequent updates every three months; extensive training through onsite, manual and online and support through 24/7 phone,email and web. However, the cost to you to pay for the development and ongoing support of this product is high.
Option 3: Build a product in 18 months that is simple, basic and easy but an open architecture is developed that will allow others such as end users or other developers to make it as complex as they would like it through the development of addons and extensions. Upon completion, this company will fix bugs or enhance existing functionality only and provide moderate updates, training and support through a combination on in-house and community resources. The cost to you to pay for the development and ongoing support of this product is a little more expensive than Option 1. In addition, you will be on your own regarding support and future development of any additional functionality that is provided by third parties.
Only an idiot or a dinosaur would build software under Options 1 and 2.
Hmmm….
Keynote Announces Settlement of Litigation
HMMMMM…missed this one the first time…bet there’s a story here…
ZoneAlarm Borked…Again!
I hate running Windows.
I hate that the firewall app that I have run for years has suddenly decided to go and melt down into a giant puddle of goo, taking the CPU with it.
About two weeks ago, ZoneLabs released a broken update for their ZoneAlarm product.
Whoops! I did it again!
Yesterday, my Dell laptop slowed to a crawl, and began acting erratically. I thought it was me, and tried to re-boot. The re-boot hung, and I had to pull the battery out to go to shut down. Re-boot, and poof, it happens again.
Oh well, too hot to work anyway. Go to bed.
Get into the office this morning and the same thing begins to happen. Task Manager shows me that vsmon.exe is sucking 90%+ of my CPU. What the hell?
Turns out that this is the Vector Service that ZoneAlarm uses. Ahhh, corrupted ZoneAlarm. Uninstall, re-install, and poof! It happens again.
So I am sitting here, feeling VERY exposed right now. I am not enabling the Microsoft firewall, because it doesn’t play nice with IPSec apps, like my VPN app.
ZoneAlarm was rock solid. What happened?
And would anyone like to donate an iBook or Powerbook to your dear author?
Reader Recommendations: Travel Power Adapters
There is a slight chance that I could be going to Germany at the end of the month, so I need some help.
I am looking for reader comments/suggestion on a solid, robust, multi-country power adapter for my emergency bag (I fly off to foreign countries to solve Web performance issues almost daily — NOT!).
So far I am looking at the Kensington or the Belkin. But I want to hear what you folks out in radio-land can contribute to my buying decision.
Thanks!
Office 2006 — WEB EDITION
NOTE: This was written 11 years before Office 365 was released into the wild.
This week, I had a conversation that included a discussion of whether Microsoft Office applications should be webified.
I think that this is the only way that MSFT is going to be able to get people to support a new version of their product. A web application running on an IIS server (you think they would make able to run on Apache? PSSSHAW!) would support thousands of users, even remotely (HTTPS).
How? Well, once you load the Web app…the load is effectively off the server until the user needs to save, or import, or merge, or speel…spellcheck. Users get to free up cruft and crap from their machines by only loading apps when they need them, and only the apps they need.
OWA is already good enough to replace the bloatware we call Outlook.
As one lunch companion pointed out, there has to be a version of these apps running in a lab somewhere in Redmond right now.
I would buy access to a new version of Office served over the Web in a heartbeat in order to dump the cruft and creep that currently occupies 300MB of drive space.
Toolkit for the Technically Aware
Brendon Connelly hits almost on all cylinders with this post. I was shocked to see someone who relies on almost exactly the same toolbox (in a different configuration) as I do.
- I am off to buy a Moleskine Datebook
- I use http://www.notetab.com/and vim to do most HTML/PHP/SQL/whatever editing
- HyperSnap for screen capture
- SQL in Microsoft/Sybase, MySQL, and Oracle flavours
I have never been able to gracefully integrate a PDA into my life. I have tried 4 times, and all 4 have failed miserably. I am a pen and paper man for contacts, appointments, etc.
Outlook Calendar is good for business meetings…but for the rest of your life?
The one tool that he doesn’t mention: Google. I know that it is so omnipresent that it is easy to miss, but if you do fewer than 5 Google searches a day, and you work in high-tech…what do you do?
Non-Linear Thought: Leaving you changed
I am noted for having an unusual way of approaching problems. In fact, over a decade ago, someone leaned across the cube wall to me at my first real project and said “I need your non-linear approach to help me solve this problem”.
I still consider that the greatest compliment that I have ever received.
Then I stumbled across this post, which quotes the paper Wicked Problems: Naming the Pain in Organizations
“The natural pattern of human problem solving appears chaotic on the surface, but it is the chaos of an earthquake or the breaking of an ocean wave. It reveals deeper forces and flows that have their own order and pattern. The non-linear pattern of activity that expert designers follow gives us fresh insight into what happens when we work on a complex problem. It reveals that in normal problem-solving behaviour, we may seem to wander about, making only halting progress toward the solution. This non-linear process is not a defect, not a sign of stupidity or lack of training, but rather the mark of a natural learning process. It suggests that humans are oriented more toward learning (a process that leaves us changed) than toward problem solving (a process focused on changing our surroundings).”
Have you and your team solved any wicked problems lately?
Johnnie Moore extracts another salient quote from the original paper. He focuses on the last sentence of the large quote above.
I am searching for those things that leave me changed.