I blogged about the idea of 'transparent synchronisation' today.
I think it's interesting that the next killer mobile application may not be a mobile application at all, but rather, an application that makes it completely irrelevant and transparent that I am mobile. Regardless of whether I sit down at my desktop at home, my laptop in the airport lounge, or my phone on the go, I get the same, live, consistent view of all of my electronic stuff. This is a hard problem, that's been done quite poorly for the most part. I wonder if Apple has cracked it with Mobile Me?
Am I the only one who thinks this totally banal?
on
How Bill Gates Works
·
· Score: 1
Whenever I hear an insight into the working life of someone like Bill Gates, I am keen to take notice, just to see if there are any nuggets in there that might indicate how they manage to perform at such high levels. After reading this report, I can't help coming away with the simple conclusion that this is the most banal list of behaviours I have ever heard for an allegedyly high-performance executive. In fact, it reads like little more than a laundry list of Microsoft technologies, allegedly espoused by Bill Gates, wrapped up as a diary entry, but really intended as a piece of marketing pap. What a load of tosh.
Yet again, confusing correlation and causation (to misquote Carl Sagan). I'd hazard a guess that it's part of the reason why GWB is there in the first place, because it certainly has nothing to do with democracy!
1. The 'Street Performer Protocol' http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue4 _6/kelsey/
2. rap-x: Request and Proposal Exchange http://www.rap-x.com
The first one is a paper that talks about something almost identical to what IBM is suggesting, and the second one is a web-based service that (more or less) offers the functionality described in the SPP.
I would argue that there are some valid points made regarding the legitimacy of the UN in the referenced article.
However, I suspect that Mr Krauthammer might need to go back and have a look at some of the detail that has subsequently come out regarding the US's intentions with Iraq. WMD? Hardly.
If anyone has read Stephen Donaldson's 'The Gap Series', I think there's a lot of similarities between Holt Fasner's United Mining Companies and a putative United Divisions of Microsoft...
And a colleague of mine just suggested a possible book on XM, called "Extrememe Management Patterns". This could really take off...
New Strategy: Extreme Management (XM)
on
Do You Like Your Job?
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I read a Cutter article the other day that said something like the following:
>... Often, these situations require radical > approaches. For example, it may be necessary > to tell the business that IT cannot meet all of > the commitments it has made, but it wants to > meet the top three or four. If -- and this can > be a big "if" -- the business will at least > identify its top three or four needs, then IT > must meet its commitments. As the first > commitments are met, the next most important > are addressed, and they too must be met. This > is the only way to build a record of success > that can anchor a better business-IT > relationship...
Interestingly, this is similar to the approach taken by XP in matching requirements to functionality over a fixed release cycle.
This observation has lead me to a new idea that I am tossing around which I am calling "Extreme Management".
XM Key Features:
- "Extreme(ly) Testing"
The patience of engineering staff is tested
time and time again as clueless techno-
philistine managers argue the toss over such
business-critical issues as:
- "Is my data interchange format XML?"
- "You should be using Sybase tables as a
persistent message store!"
- "That's easy - it's just a matter of
turning on replication."
- "Messaging! Rubbish, what's wrong with
FTP?"
- "You Aren't Going to Need It (YAGTNI-tm)"
Strategy? What strategy? We don't need no
stinkin' strategy!"
- "Continuous Reorganisation"
Bored? Have a meeting? Better still,
reorganise your team, group or even division!
It's easy if you follow these 4 simple steps:
Step 1: Create new, sexy acronyms for your
team, group or division
Step 2: Move people around, preferably
between buildings and floors
Step 3: Reduce available employee desk space,
particularly for support and
infrastructure staff (ie those with
the most kit)
Step 4: Watch that bonus figure climb!
So, get an XM programme working in your team today!
I was under the imrpression that I would now get 250MB for $65/month, but that all traffic (email, news, internal) was going to be charged. At least that's what I read the other day.
I went and read the details at "http://www/" (which is the cable home page) and it says:
SERVICE ONLY PLANS:
"Basic" and "Standard" plans will be combined into a new "Standard" plan... for $65 per month you get 250MB and the rate after the allowance reduced to 28 cents per MB. "Professional" and "Business" plans will be combined into a new "Professional" plan... for $130 per month you get 550MB and the rate after the allowance reduced to 24 cents per MB.
I think that my original understanding is correct. Although I am pretty pissed off with the whole deal. Paying for content that Telstra essentially "manufactures" by virtue of the network (ie mail, news and internal traffic) is a complete joke. So what... now I have to pay for spam? C'Mon.
I am going to seriously consider switching over to Optus@Home when it comes online. At least with the American influence, they might have _some_ idea of how to run a broadband service.
Slashdot Mirror
I blogged about the idea of 'transparent synchronisation' today.
I think it's interesting that the next killer mobile application may not be a mobile application at all, but rather, an application that makes it completely irrelevant and transparent that I am mobile. Regardless of whether I sit down at my desktop at home, my laptop in the airport lounge, or my phone on the go, I get the same, live, consistent view of all of my electronic stuff. This is a hard problem, that's been done quite poorly for the most part. I wonder if Apple has cracked it with Mobile Me?
M@
TSSIA
Whenever I hear an insight into the working life of someone like Bill Gates, I am keen to take notice, just to see if there are any nuggets in there that might indicate how they manage to perform at such high levels. After reading this report, I can't help coming away with the simple conclusion that this is the most banal list of behaviours I have ever heard for an allegedyly high-performance executive. In fact, it reads like little more than a laundry list of Microsoft technologies, allegedly espoused by Bill Gates, wrapped up as a diary entry, but really intended as a piece of marketing pap. What a load of tosh.
Yet again, confusing correlation and causation (to misquote Carl Sagan). I'd hazard a guess that it's part of the reason why GWB is there in the first place, because it certainly has nothing to do with democracy!
Are you kidding me? The US has 300 million people, give or take a few. Australia has 20 million, plus or minus. You do the math.
There's even a term for persistent incitement of litigation. It's called 'barratry'. In most jurisdictions, it's illegal. Check it out: barratry
Here are two examples of prior art:
4 _6/kelsey/
1. The 'Street Performer Protocol'
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue
2. rap-x: Request and Proposal Exchange
http://www.rap-x.com
The first one is a paper that talks about something almost identical to what IBM is suggesting, and the second one is a web-based service that (more or less) offers the functionality described in the SPP.
Can anyone spell 'prior-art'?
M@
I would argue that there are some valid points made regarding the legitimacy of the UN in the referenced article.
However, I suspect that Mr Krauthammer might need to go back and have a look at some of the detail that has subsequently come out regarding the US's intentions with Iraq. WMD? Hardly.
Very true. As I think I saw quoted in the editorial of Scientific American recently: "Science is not a body of knowledge, it's a process".
Greg Egan's 'Permutation City'
Amazon
Also, he has a great site:
Greg Egan
If anyone has read Stephen Donaldson's 'The Gap Series', I think there's a lot of similarities between Holt Fasner's United Mining Companies and a putative United Divisions of Microsoft ...
And a colleague of mine just suggested a possible book on XM, called "Extrememe Management Patterns". This could really take off ...
I read a Cutter article the other day that said something like the following:
>
> approaches. For example, it may be necessary
> to tell the business that IT cannot meet all of
> the commitments it has made, but it wants to
> meet the top three or four. If -- and this can
> be a big "if" -- the business will at least
> identify its top three or four needs, then IT
> must meet its commitments. As the first
> commitments are met, the next most important
> are addressed, and they too must be met. This
> is the only way to build a record of success
> that can anchor a better business-IT
> relationship
Interestingly, this is similar to the approach taken by XP in matching requirements to functionality over a fixed release cycle.
This observation has lead me to a new idea that I am tossing around which I am calling "Extreme Management".
XM Key Features:
- "Extreme(ly) Testing"
The patience of engineering staff is tested
time and time again as clueless techno-
philistine managers argue the toss over such
business-critical issues as:
- "Is my data interchange format XML?"
- "You should be using Sybase tables as a
persistent message store!"
- "That's easy - it's just a matter of
turning on replication."
- "Messaging! Rubbish, what's wrong with
FTP?"
- "You Aren't Going to Need It (YAGTNI-tm)"
Strategy? What strategy? We don't need no
stinkin' strategy!"
- "Continuous Reorganisation"
Bored? Have a meeting? Better still,
reorganise your team, group or even division!
It's easy if you follow these 4 simple steps:
Step 1: Create new, sexy acronyms for your
team, group or division
Step 2: Move people around, preferably
between buildings and floors
Step 3: Reduce available employee desk space,
particularly for support and
infrastructure staff (ie those with
the most kit)
Step 4: Watch that bonus figure climb!
So, get an XM programme working in your team today!
I was under the imrpression that I would now get
... for $65 per ... for
... now I have to pay for
250MB for $65/month, but that all traffic (email,
news, internal) was going to be charged. At least
that's what I read the other day.
I went and read the details at "http://www/"
(which is the cable home page) and it says:
SERVICE ONLY PLANS:
"Basic" and "Standard" plans will be combined
into a new "Standard" plan
month you get 250MB and the rate after the
allowance reduced to 28 cents per MB.
"Professional" and "Business" plans will be
combined into a new "Professional" plan
$130 per month you get 550MB and the rate after
the allowance reduced to 24 cents per MB.
I think that my original understanding is
correct. Although I am pretty pissed off with the
whole deal. Paying for content that Telstra
essentially "manufactures" by virtue of the
network (ie mail, news and internal traffic) is a
complete joke. So what
spam? C'Mon.
I am going to seriously consider switching over
to Optus@Home when it comes online. At least with
the American influence, they might have _some_
idea of how to run a broadband service.
M@