This is the only logical step for the company. Microsoft and Sony both have their own gaming systems; Nintendo is the only independent company left still making a system that isn't also part of a PC/Media company.
An Apple/Nintendo merger makes quite a bit of sense from a corporate culture perspective as well - Nintendo, like Apple, is the smaller, more personal of the gaming companies, focused on user experience more than sheer graphic/processing power. From a philosophical standpoint, their directions align nicely.
Additionally, Nintendo could help Apple expand into the Japanese / Asian market with other consumer electronics, given Nintendo's HQ and savvy with that marketplace.
Organizations which adopt a process oriented approach to software development have a far greater chance at succeeding than those which do not.
Enterprise frameworks such as ITIL and COBIT, coupled with software development lifecycles such as UP and Agile/XP increase efficiency, improve quality, reduce bugs, and help align deliverables with customer requests and expectations.
Development outside of mature process frameworks is by its very nature ad-hoc; if you have excellent people who are the best in their industry, you can sometimes get away with running your development shop this way; generally, though, projects fail, code is shipped with a high number of bugs, quality is severly impacted, and your customers, clients, or business partners will be disappointed.
Growing up, computer literacy meant the following:
(PC here means either the IBM compatible PC's of the day, or an Apple computer)
1. The ability to setup the physical hardware of a PC without need of an instruction manual or assistance from others. You should be able to connect the PC to the monitor, keyboard, printer, etc. (we didn't have mice in those days). The PC should boot without issue and connect & interact with the attached hardware without issue.
2. The ability to program in at least one, if not two languages. Interaction with the computer in my day was not just running programs, but actually writing them and changing the ones you had as well.
I agree completely. If Apple has access to the API as Cringley has stated in his past two articles, Apple in theory could enable OSX to launch WinXP apps inside a process similar to how it ran "Classic Mode" for OS9 apps. Imagine that, though - WinXP apps running inside OSX without XP itself running.
Given that Vista isn't due until '07, and most orgs are still running apps from the Win2k days, being able to run Win2k/XP apps w/in a more secure OS would certainly be an attractive offering.
Corporate transition plans are actually a critical structure to have in place to ensure the vitality and success of an organization in the event that a key executive needs to depart suddenly, retire, or passes away. Maintaining company focus, shareholder value, quality of deliverables (services, products) can be severly impacted when a company does not have a migration strategy in place, and an event occurs where one or more key players leave or are removed.
The company I work for recently had the COO step down. The exec team had a transition plan in place, though, so day to day operations weren't impacted in the least. The new COO was already familiar w/ operations, the staff, procedures, goals, directions, initiatives of the company, and was able to step in with only a few weeks of transition. Had we not had this plan in place, who knows what the impacts would have been.
Given Jobs' age (50+), this is the appropriate time to begin thinking about succession. It also gives Apple the opportunity to bring a new face to its customers & shareholders to ascertain what the impact on the company's image is; this is a huge concern to Apple, which is one of the few IT companies whose founder/CEO ranks as a 'superstar'.
Apple is a bit like Cuba in this manner; should Jobs/Castro bow out suddenly, the resulting chaos would be catastrophic.
also leaves your firefox unable to get to the web. I had to restart my PC twice before firefox could connect again - oddly enough, it somehow also managed to wipe out gmail notifier, MSIE, outlook, etc. Basically, I was teleported back to the B.I. (before Internet) there for awhile this morning.
While you're planning to recontextualize holistic web services, be sure to whiteboard interactive infomediaries, otherwise you'll fail to embrace one-to-one models.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, make heavy use of the bullshit generator, and you'll be just fine.
RedHat launched Fedora at the same time it killed the idea of internally developing a desktop-ready Linux distro. Fedora - sponsored by the community - was meant to rise up and take control of the desktop, leaving RedHat to concentrate on the more lucrative enterprise / server market.
Unfortunately, Fedora hasn't got a tenth the marketshare of the Debian-inspired upstart, Ubuntu.
RedHat's decision to take more direct control of the Fedora project is a tacit acknowledgement that its strategy of ignoring the desktop in an effort to succeed there has failed. It is apparent that RedHat now knows that in order to win the desktop, you actually have to concentrate on it, nurture it, and grow it as if you mean it.
I won't purchase Vista, nor will I purchase a PC if I am forced to take it with Vista on it.
I'll still use Windows XP and/or 2000 as a dual-boot, either on an Ubuntu AMD system (after converting my HP AMD laptop to Ubuntu), or on an Apple OSX dual boot with XP on it. This is only until/all/ of the software I either need to run is available for OSX and/or Linux.
I've already moved the other PC's in the house - those used by my wife and son - to Ubuntu. Regardless of the OS - XP or Ubuntu - all PCs are running Open Office, Firefox, etc.
I mention Ubuntu for a reason - its the strongest Linux desktop OS that I've encountered thusfar, easy to install, and easy for non-techies (like my wife) to manage on their own (download/install other apps, configure ones already running, use peripheral devices, use already installed apps for communication/productivity, etc.).
If you believe Bob Cringley, Google is building another backbone to the internet already, which it will use to make everyone's connections faster (through caching); this could work to counteract a 2-tiered "pay for better access" internet that the Telcos and their FCC whores are thinking of building.
Read the article. Yeah, the name still sucks eggs. Thanks for the assist though. I still don't feel confident in saying that in front of my boss.
Also read about the EnterpriseDB thing - that's a step in the right direction, though I worry about EDB's and PostgreSQL's mascots getting along. A shark and an elephant? Not a good combination. Someone's bound to get their eye poked out.
Is it "Post Grace"? "Post Grey"? "Poss Grey"? "Poss Gres"? "Progress"? "Platypus"? "Post Raisin Bran"?
Whatever it is, it sounds vaguely French, which is just suspect to begin with. And I'm not dredging up the whole Iraq/UN thing either, although if I have to invoke Freedom Fries to make a point, I've got the mayonnaise ready.
Give me a RDBMS that I can pronounce, and I'll use you in my software. MySQL. Easy. "My SQL". Doesn't get much easier than that, plus it sounds sorta friendly. MS SQL - same thing, slightly different spelling. Maybe not as friendly, but you can put it in a Powerpoint to your boss and not sound like an idiot. Oracle. Now you're talking. Even has a bit of mistique to it, a bit of enigma. DB2. Not as sexy, but still undeniably pronouceable. Sybase. Sock it to me.
What PostgreSQL - however the hell you say that - really needs is a new name. Forget features, forget marketing, forget RDBMS death match performance comparisons. Nobody cares. MySQL lacked tons of features for years, and we all used it then and continue to use it now. Why? You can pronounce it. Simple.
Interesting experience. I can't say that my run-ins w/ ITIL have been the same; I've seen a lot of software projects and infrastructure projects fail, but not when ITIL is at play. But I can certainly see how an antagonistic or apathetic management structure could contribute to the demise of an ITIL-based project; really, with that kind of "leadership", you could sink any project, regardless of how well things were structured.
I'm curious to know your concerns about CA products. I agree that some of the others you've mentioned - peregrine, serena, etc - are good, and I've worked with almost all of them. CA's stuff has always seemed OK by me... their service desk is pretty good, as are the Clarity project management apps. I'm not a fan of everything they do, but generally the stuff they produce is reasonably good.
The issue you highlight is one of implementation of a practice, not within the practice itself. ITIL-based Service Management practices bring a high degree of process management and process maturity to an IT organization when implemented correctly. I would strongly caution against denegrating a product or practice when in actuality the problems lie elsewhere.
Also note that ITIL bills itself as a best-practice theory; think of it as the "logical" structure, not necessarily the "physical" structure. There are plenty of large IT companies that can work with your organization on successfully implementing an ITIL-based service management process framework, along with sophisticated products to back their processes up; Computer Associates (now CA) and IBM are two of the most prominent ones that come to mind.
"Macromedia.com reports on Rusi Taleyarkhan of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who is once again claiming to have achieved dynamic web-sites using Cold Fusion. Other developers in the CS department are sceptical, but Taleyarkhan is keen to have other students check his results."
I did read his answer, and responded accordingly. I'm not throwing my ego around. I gave what I thought to be a reasonable example of one way to solve what is an obvious problem w/ the/. story selection process - allowing users to vote - but also offered other potential options, such as increasing the editorial staff.
In any event, chill out - I'm not trying to be overly critical without offering advice or assistance. At least I'm trying to help find solutions to the problem, rather than just accepting them as the status quo. Instead of just lying down and taking it, why don't you try and come up with some ideas for improving/.'s story selection system?
Slashdot Mirror
This is the only logical step for the company. Microsoft and Sony both have their own gaming systems; Nintendo is the only independent company left still making a system that isn't also part of a PC/Media company.
An Apple/Nintendo merger makes quite a bit of sense from a corporate culture perspective as well - Nintendo, like Apple, is the smaller, more personal of the gaming companies, focused on user experience more than sheer graphic/processing power. From a philosophical standpoint, their directions align nicely.
Additionally, Nintendo could help Apple expand into the Japanese / Asian market with other consumer electronics, given Nintendo's HQ and savvy with that marketplace.
a class-action lawsuit in the making, if you ask me.
Organizations which adopt a process oriented approach to software development have a far greater chance at succeeding than those which do not.
Enterprise frameworks such as ITIL and COBIT, coupled with software development lifecycles such as UP and Agile/XP increase efficiency, improve quality, reduce bugs, and help align deliverables with customer requests and expectations.
Development outside of mature process frameworks is by its very nature ad-hoc; if you have excellent people who are the best in their industry, you can sometimes get away with running your development shop this way; generally, though, projects fail, code is shipped with a high number of bugs, quality is severly impacted, and your customers, clients, or business partners will be disappointed.
Growing up, computer literacy meant the following:
(PC here means either the IBM compatible PC's of the day, or an Apple computer)
1. The ability to setup the physical hardware of a PC without need of an instruction manual or assistance from others. You should be able to connect the PC to the monitor, keyboard, printer, etc. (we didn't have mice in those days). The PC should boot without issue and connect & interact with the attached hardware without issue.
2. The ability to program in at least one, if not two languages. Interaction with the computer in my day was not just running programs, but actually writing them and changing the ones you had as well.
That's about it.
I haven't tested it, since I lack an ICBM,
Thank God for that! The world is a safer place, since you don't have an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.
Not sure what this has to do w/ x86 testing, though...
One word: ITIL
Oh wait, I'm answering the wrong post...
I agree completely. If Apple has access to the API as Cringley has stated in his past two articles, Apple in theory could enable OSX to launch WinXP apps inside a process similar to how it ran "Classic Mode" for OS9 apps. Imagine that, though - WinXP apps running inside OSX without XP itself running.
Given that Vista isn't due until '07, and most orgs are still running apps from the Win2k days, being able to run Win2k/XP apps w/in a more secure OS would certainly be an attractive offering.
Corporate transition plans are actually a critical structure to have in place to ensure the vitality and success of an organization in the event that a key executive needs to depart suddenly, retire, or passes away. Maintaining company focus, shareholder value, quality of deliverables (services, products) can be severly impacted when a company does not have a migration strategy in place, and an event occurs where one or more key players leave or are removed.
The company I work for recently had the COO step down. The exec team had a transition plan in place, though, so day to day operations weren't impacted in the least. The new COO was already familiar w/ operations, the staff, procedures, goals, directions, initiatives of the company, and was able to step in with only a few weeks of transition. Had we not had this plan in place, who knows what the impacts would have been.
Given Jobs' age (50+), this is the appropriate time to begin thinking about succession. It also gives Apple the opportunity to bring a new face to its customers & shareholders to ascertain what the impact on the company's image is; this is a huge concern to Apple, which is one of the few IT companies whose founder/CEO ranks as a 'superstar'.
Apple is a bit like Cuba in this manner; should Jobs/Castro bow out suddenly, the resulting chaos would be catastrophic.
windowslive
should be
windowslave
now my boss can site statistical analysis in his list of reasons as to why I should work more overtime.
thanks a lot, guys.
also leaves your firefox unable to get to the web. I had to restart my PC twice before firefox could connect again - oddly enough, it somehow also managed to wipe out gmail notifier, MSIE, outlook, etc. Basically, I was teleported back to the B.I. (before Internet) there for awhile this morning.
While you're planning to recontextualize holistic web services, be sure to whiteboard interactive infomediaries, otherwise you'll fail to embrace one-to-one models.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, make heavy use of the bullshit generator, and you'll be just fine.
RedHat launched Fedora at the same time it killed the idea of internally developing a desktop-ready Linux distro. Fedora - sponsored by the community - was meant to rise up and take control of the desktop, leaving RedHat to concentrate on the more lucrative enterprise / server market.
Unfortunately, Fedora hasn't got a tenth the marketshare of the Debian-inspired upstart, Ubuntu.
RedHat's decision to take more direct control of the Fedora project is a tacit acknowledgement that its strategy of ignoring the desktop in an effort to succeed there has failed. It is apparent that RedHat now knows that in order to win the desktop, you actually have to concentrate on it, nurture it, and grow it as if you mean it.
she doesn't have to wear that stupid hairband over her eyes anymore.
Geordi will be so happy when he learns about this!
I won't purchase Vista, nor will I purchase a PC if I am forced to take it with Vista on it.
/all/ of the software I either need to run is available for OSX and/or Linux.
I'll still use Windows XP and/or 2000 as a dual-boot, either on an Ubuntu AMD system (after converting my HP AMD laptop to Ubuntu), or on an Apple OSX dual boot with XP on it. This is only until
I've already moved the other PC's in the house - those used by my wife and son - to Ubuntu. Regardless of the OS - XP or Ubuntu - all PCs are running Open Office, Firefox, etc.
I mention Ubuntu for a reason - its the strongest Linux desktop OS that I've encountered thusfar, easy to install, and easy for non-techies (like my wife) to manage on their own (download/install other apps, configure ones already running, use peripheral devices, use already installed apps for communication/productivity, etc.).
If you believe Bob Cringley, Google is building another backbone to the internet already, which it will use to make everyone's connections faster (through caching); this could work to counteract a 2-tiered "pay for better access" internet that the Telcos and their FCC whores are thinking of building.
By Choosing Where NOT to Compete, Google Can Win the Broadband Game
Taking over the digital world four ounces at a time.
Let's just hope Bob's right about this one, and that Google won't charge us for usage of their boxen.
Read the article. Yeah, the name still sucks eggs. Thanks for the assist though. I still don't feel confident in saying that in front of my boss.
Also read about the EnterpriseDB thing - that's a step in the right direction, though I worry about EDB's and PostgreSQL's mascots getting along. A shark and an elephant? Not a good combination. Someone's bound to get their eye poked out.
...because I don't know how to pronounce it.
Is it "Post Grace"? "Post Grey"? "Poss Grey"? "Poss Gres"? "Progress"? "Platypus"? "Post Raisin Bran"?
Whatever it is, it sounds vaguely French, which is just suspect to begin with. And I'm not dredging up the whole Iraq/UN thing either, although if I have to invoke Freedom Fries to make a point, I've got the mayonnaise ready.
Give me a RDBMS that I can pronounce, and I'll use you in my software.
MySQL. Easy. "My SQL". Doesn't get much easier than that, plus it sounds sorta friendly.
MS SQL - same thing, slightly different spelling. Maybe not as friendly, but you can put it in a Powerpoint to your boss and not sound like an idiot.
Oracle. Now you're talking. Even has a bit of mistique to it, a bit of enigma.
DB2. Not as sexy, but still undeniably pronouceable.
Sybase. Sock it to me.
What PostgreSQL - however the hell you say that - really needs is a new name. Forget features, forget marketing, forget RDBMS death match performance comparisons. Nobody cares. MySQL lacked tons of features for years, and we all used it then and continue to use it now. Why? You can pronounce it. Simple.
LMAO - yeah baby! that's right, I'm comin' to optimitize ya! :)
Interesting experience. I can't say that my run-ins w/ ITIL have been the same; I've seen a lot of software projects and infrastructure projects fail, but not when ITIL is at play. But I can certainly see how an antagonistic or apathetic management structure could contribute to the demise of an ITIL-based project; really, with that kind of "leadership", you could sink any project, regardless of how well things were structured.
I'm curious to know your concerns about CA products. I agree that some of the others you've mentioned - peregrine, serena, etc - are good, and I've worked with almost all of them. CA's stuff has always seemed OK by me... their service desk is pretty good, as are the Clarity project management apps. I'm not a fan of everything they do, but generally the stuff they produce is reasonably good.
The issue you highlight is one of implementation of a practice, not within the practice itself. ITIL-based Service Management practices bring a high degree of process management and process maturity to an IT organization when implemented correctly. I would strongly caution against denegrating a product or practice when in actuality the problems lie elsewhere.
Also note that ITIL bills itself as a best-practice theory; think of it as the "logical" structure, not necessarily the "physical" structure. There are plenty of large IT companies that can work with your organization on successfully implementing an ITIL-based service management process framework, along with sophisticated products to back their processes up; Computer Associates (now CA) and IBM are two of the most prominent ones that come to mind.
it will train them to fulfill their job functions.
If not, it won't.
It is up to you to decide if it is worth staying with a company that shows this kind of disdain and disrespect for you and its employees.
There are plenty of companies that respect their workers and will train them. I strongly recommend finding one.
"Macromedia.com reports on Rusi Taleyarkhan of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who is once again claiming to have achieved dynamic web-sites using Cold Fusion. Other developers in the CS department are sceptical, but Taleyarkhan is keen to have other students check his results."
I did read his answer, and responded accordingly. I'm not throwing my ego around. I gave what I thought to be a reasonable example of one way to solve what is an obvious problem w/ the /. story selection process - allowing users to vote - but also offered other potential options, such as increasing the editorial staff.
/.'s story selection system?
In any event, chill out - I'm not trying to be overly critical without offering advice or assistance. At least I'm trying to help find solutions to the problem, rather than just accepting them as the status quo. Instead of just lying down and taking it, why don't you try and come up with some ideas for improving