Author: Fred

Don’t hide or disable menu items?

I wholeheartedly disagree with this over on Joel on Software.

Actually, I agree with not hiding functionality, but nothing (including menu items) should be enabled in the UI if it is not possible to perform that function. That is not to say developers should be lazy – don’t just disable things because it is inconvenient for you (the developer) to let them do it. If it is reasonable, leave it enabled, and lead the user through what they need to do to perform the task.

However, there are things in most programs which you really cannot do at a certain point in time, and that should be clear to the user, along with why it is not possible, and how to proceed. The user should never be left at a dead end. On the same not, however, the user should never be led to believe something is possible, only to be denied.

As I write this, I figure I do not wholeheartedly disagree, but I do disagree – like most broad, generalized statements,  it is wrong, or at least not entirely right.

Conservative Fundamentalists Scare the Heck Out of Me!

Conservative fundamentalists (of any religion) scare me. Actually, any fundamentalists/extremests scare me. Check out this piece of mindless drivel: A Waste of Taxpayer Money by Rob Hood

By this logic, all scientific research should stop, because our 4 year olds already know the answers.

Where did life come from? God spoke it into existence.

What are the basic laws of science, chemistry, mathematics, etc? Who cares, God makes it work.

Why do people die of cancer, AIDS and other diseases? Because God wants them to (for one reason or another).

How will we survive global warming? No problem, God will fix it.

Maybe this guy is, on his own, proof that evolution is false – natural selection should have emptied his end of the gene pool long ago.

BTW – don’t get the idea that I am anti-religion, because I am not. I am against mindless application of dogma (religious or scientific).

Customer Service RIP – Update

A while back I posted a rant about customer service in general, and about my problems with a particular telescope manufacturer specifically (Celestron). In fairness to Celestron, I think I should post an update on the situation. I did finally receive a response (to my emails) from Celestron customer support, though it did take a couple of weeks. After a number of exchanges over another couple of weeks, I also managed to convince them to pay for the shipping to return the item, and to ship the repaired/replaced item back to me. The item in question is now in transit back to Celestron. I will post another update when I know the final result of the exchange.

Another new toy…

Time for a new bike – as much as I love the VStar 650, it is a little small and underpowered for my current age and weight 🙂

So, my wife bought me a nice Father’s Day present yesterday – a brand new Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic. Pictures below – what more can I say?

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SharePoint in Web 2.0 Fire Starter- Live Meeting

This SharePoint in Web 2.0 Fire Starter- Live Meeting looks interesting.

I also find the following statement on the page interesting:

Did you know that SharePoint is the fastest growing Server product in Microsoft’s history? It’s not only an enterprise darling but also an IT pro dream in terms of maintenance.

SharePoint technologies seem to have a lot of momentum going.

Thoughts in the Middle of the Night

I am just coming off an all-nighter – it has been a long time since I got so wrapped up in coding that I worked all night.

After I got to tired to code effectively, I got reading some blogs and thinking on various topics. One the things I was thinking about (obviously not for the first time) is the whole open source software movement. As always, there is a fair amount rhetoric out there regarding the superiority of open source software, the TCO of OSS applications, the advantages of development under the open source model, etc., and even conjecture about the ultimate demise of all non-OSS development.

A number of questions have always nagged at me about the claims of OSS:

  1. Believers frequently claim that OSS produces better software, with “better” defined in various ways – fewer defects, better functionality, more secure, etc. Is there empirical data to support this on a broad scale? Yes, there are examples frequently given, but usually it is a comparison of one or more highly successful OSS project against one or more bad examples of commercial, closed-source applications. Is there any broad, unbiased comparison of large numbers of OSS projects to large number of non-OSS projects?
  2. Similarly, Believers often claim that the process of open source development is much more efficient, effective, and innovative that its non-OSS counterparts. Again, OSS success stories are frequently compared to horror stories form the non-OSS world. Is there any large scale, unbiased comparison out there? For example, it is often quoted the a very large percentage of software projects are late, over-budget, or complete failures. Is the open source world any better? People always talk about the successes of OSS, but take a browse around SourceForge some time – there are a huge number of projects there that are never completed, never deliver anything, never get past Alpha, etc. The OSS statistics always seem to be somewhat selective.
  3. Many people predict the demise of closed-source development (and have for a long time). Are there any clear statistics out there as to the number of developers working on OSS versus non-OSS development (I know, many do both). Or is there information as to the economic force of OSS versus non-OSS – how much economic activity in the IT world is driven by OSS?

I don’t have answers to any of these right now – just some thoughts which occurred to me through the night – hopefully I will have time to dig deeper into this over the next while.

Microsoft Silverlight « Josh Anderson’s Blog

 Microsoft Silverlight « Josh Anderson’s Blog

I always find the predominant attitude in the software and Internet world amusing – it is important to have alternatives, unless they come from Microsoft!

Also, the installation model for Silverlight is not all that different from Flash – if you go to a site that uses Flash, and you do not have it installed, it asks you to install it.

BTW – given the market share enjoyed by both Opera and Safari, it is fairly generous that any effort is made to support them at all.

Re-focusing

So, the time has come to re-focus my blog a little around what I am currently working on. In the last year, I have gone through a fairly significant transition in my career. After close to a decade in a product-oriented startup, I have moved into a consulting role at T4G. This is a big change for me, at least it feels like it – the mental shift from focusing on products, product features, and product life-cycles  to focusing on client engagements and project-oriented work. My mind tells me that in many ways the two are not so different – they just feel very different.

The main focus of my work (at least initially) is on portal technologies, specifically SharePoint. In addition to the engineering and mechanics of implementing SharePoint solutions, I am focused on a number of other related topics:

  • A repeatable approach to delivery of SharePoint solutions
  • Process/methodology models for SharePoint implementation
  • Estimating models for SharePoint projects
  • The art of the possible – what could clients be doing with SharePoint

I will also be spending a significant amount of time establishing a Moncton office for T4G. By the way, if anyone knows any SharePoint resources (or good .NET or ASP.NET resources in the area, send them my way 🙂 ).

While my new role is as a consultant in an consulting company, I do not plan to abandon my roots in software development, software development processes, and programming. I also maintain a strong interest in innovation processes. Finally, there are a number of technology areas I am continuing to investigate, including Tablet PC applications, Silverlight, Office Business Applications, Social Networking, etc.

I am also hoping to have more time to blog a little more regularly 🙂