Goodbye to latest Siebel exec, and IMHO, this can’t hurt; maybe the new guy will address the fact that their client interface is basically dependent on the disastrously insecure and single-platform combination of Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls, and start building a proper cross-platform interface. Sticking it to customers with nonstandard platforms is hardly the way to build a multibillion-dollar business, as we all know.
Month: April 2005
Link Post
Vietnamese food vacation. Yum. Sadly, I’m going to miss out on going to a conference in Ho Chi Minh City this May– it turns out there is already someone *in* Asia who can attend, so I have no good excuse to travel halfway around the world for a three-day trade-show. Damn.
And introducing, courtesy of my Mawrtyr friends, the Unitarian Jihad.
Inevitable Mistakes You Saw Coming
You ever see something coming, and know it’s a horrible idea, and it’s going to happen anyway? Like the release of the (ghostwritten) “in her own words” story of Amber Frey and Scott Peterson to inevitably negative reviews: “As compelling and dramatic as a coiled dog turd baking in the summer sun,” says Flak Magazine. You knew, from the moment she appeared on the national stage, that the book would be written, and published, and advertised, and bought. And that nobody would think it was a good idea, but that they’d do it anyway. Because that’s what is done.
Or maybe A Charles Dickens Theme Park, where, presumably, entry fees will be collected directly from your pockets by charmingly malnourished orphans. Oh, nobody on the board of directors thinks it’ll make money or bring people in to Kent, but they can’t quite bring themselves to criticize the legacy of Dickens– or the ideas of the guy who proposed the project, since he’s someone’s boss or uncle or father-in-law. The fact that an abandoned, burned-out Dickens theme park, populated by homeless teenage alcoholics, really will be Dickensian, never really came up. Huh.
Ethicaler than Thou
Novell is one of the year’s top ten most ethical companies. Finally, recognition that I am, in fact, holier than thou!
Late to the party
Why did nobody tell me that Ducati released new versions of its classic cafe racers from the 70s? They started doing this like a year ago– new engines (larger, of course and somewhat unfortunately, in my opinion) and new technologies, but the same classic styling of the old bikes. Way out of my price and power range, but sweet bikes nonetheless.
Return of Classic Games
I like World of Warcraft as much as the next geek, but writing to a limited platform is a real test of creativity and I’m glad to see it in place. A lot of people have lamented the end of the gaming industry, death by expensive art and expensive graphics– but there’s no reason you can’t write a good game with yesterday’s technology. It might well be better. (And if it’s brilliant, then the big studios can pick it up and flesh it out for mass distribution in a high-polygon-count edition).
My guess is it’ll be a lot like independent movies or bands getting signed by major studios: do an album or a movie or a game on a budget with limited equipment, sell out some shows, get a few hundred thousand downloads, and someone in A&R will come over and offer to help you sell your soul. Not easy, not simple, not direct, but not the death of gaming by any means.
Lying for a living
Being a technical writer is not a glamorous or well-paid profession, although it requires the sort of knowledge and attention to detail which can be of use in more glamorous and/or remunerative professions. That is why I am not surprised to see that those who have an ideological interest in lying to children are those who flock to the field, and why I am not surprised to see this sort of blatant lie showing up in our classroom materials.
All I can say is, the right is making it a full-time job just to teach children which lies they’re learning in school. A six year old can tell that most advertisements are lies, but they have to get to about sixteen before they realize they’ve been lied to in school all their lives.
Best Evolution Screenshot Ever
I have succumbed to pencil-sharpening syndrome, wherein one organizes the work instead of doing it.
Secretly Ironic Awards for Technology Journalism
My schedule is hectic beyond words this week but I want to take time out for the periodic Secretly Ironic Awards for Technology Journalism:
The Junket Award goes to someone who attended Brainshare during a warm spell but came away with the impression that it was “icy,” because he appears to have spent the conference skiing in the nearby mountains: Eric Doyle for the Guardian. He manages to be condescending, insulting, and inaccurate, all at once. Congrats on the trifecta, buddy!
And the Bring-a-Pencil award goes to Elizabeth Millard of Enterprise Linux IT (a.k.a. CIO Today), which (before correction) managed to discuss the brand of Novell Linux Desktop while calling it “Novell Desktop System,” obviously confusing it with the Sun Java Desktop System. She also managed to ignore the “SUSE LINUX” in “SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server” while pointing out the increase in Novell branding on Open Enterprise Server, and overlooked the “Powered by SUSE LINUX” tagline on every copy of Novell Linux Desktop. The much-heralded death of journalism seems to have been caused by a lack of taking some notes and doing some fact-checking. This article gets a special bonus for consulting the notoriously misleading Yankee Group hack Laura DiDio.
To both of you, congratulations: you are the reason that journalists have a bad reputation.
Secretly Ironic 