Tidbits & Morsels

The list of tidbits that I wanted to take time to mention on my blog is getting longer so I needed to clean house a little bit.

First up is Openomy. These guys are offering 1GB of free space online. They don't appear to have much of a business model, just a keen sense of "do-it-right"-edness. That's a technical term.

The coolest fact about Openomy is that it appears to be running solely out of a desire to build something useful, learn some lessons, and potential help some people. This may not sound ordinary, but in the universe of online ventures, it can be anything but normal. I recommend you check them out. It's worth making note of their upbeat and positive attitudes and attention to detail. Now, if they'd just make the web services leap...

My next morsel is about Google Analytics. Analytics is a web analysis system that provides site publishers with traffic metrics and marketing data. As you can see, the output reports are really excellent and detailed.

This is based on technology originally developed by Urchin that Google acquired in March. The coolest thing is how smoothly Analytics integrates with the popular AdWords system. Even if you don’t use AdWords you can still use Analytics by adding a simple script to your site.

There are a few other juicy bits still to come, but I'll save them for next time.

Immature Diatribes

Once you have spent long enough in this industry you realize that even the most technically adept can succumb to zeolous bigotry. It's common knowledge I take that stance myself on occasion. Fortunately, this particular post is not about me. An author I have respect for Scott Bellware recently posted a quite considerable flame concerning the recently released Visual Studio toolset. More specifically, his core issue (I believe) was with the prescriptive guidance that was released along with the product.

It's not really relevant to my post that I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Bellware on this particular subject. It's not relevant that his core issue is dead-on, and shares concerted agreement by most of the accomplished in the industry. What is of concern to me, and the reason for this post, is the lack of finesse and precision with which he made his arguments. To say it less than elegantly: he threw the baby out with the bath-water. Thereby reducing the effectiveness of his argument and his credibility as a balanced voice in the industry.

While I share his sentiments over Microsofts obviously ignorant ploy to co-opt the term Test Driven Development (TDD), his slander over the state of the tools and their general worthiness was distressing. What he fails to realize is that for many, the choice to switch completely towards TDD is at best an impossibility. So any tools and support that increase the visibility and perceived value of testing is in itself a Good Thing.

While a trouncing for the hopefully unintentional ignorance and blatant disregard community evidenced by the Microsoft post was certainly in order, it seems excessive to dismiss and deride their entire efforts. I certainly disagree with heavy-handedness in any form, but I harbor that resentment equally towards every voice. Regardless if the voice is from a behemoth the likes of Microsoft, or tech pundit a la Bellware.

Further and Further Downhill

An interesting tidbit was compiled by a tech site today (ARS Technica) that Microsoft is intentionally limiting the number of XBox 360 consoles that will be available. You can check out the article here. It just keeps on getting better and better...

Yet Another Architecture Journal

There is Yet Another Architecture Journal (YAAJ) that has been posting some interesting reads in the last year or so. It has something from pretty much every talking-head, blow-hard, or egomaniacal pundit on the architecture scene today. There are actually a few decent architects and writers represented too. For example the article on Service-Oriented, Distributed, High-Performance Computing actually serves as an excellent primer. While there is nothing new or even translationally creative, it is an excellent starting point which sets the terminology and foundational concept bar at an adequate level. There are several other interesting pieces if you surf around a little.

Oh, and Harry, and I'm still working on getting the reading list published.

NeoFuturism

Just read an interesting post from Steve Maine about Ray Kurzweil’s new book.

Steve always has some interesting insights which stimulate more thinking.