Here I am, finishing some code for a Product Import routine for one of our customers, which I decided to try to write as an updated importer-style tool rather than falling back to the existing one (for 3 reasons: 1. My XSLT skills still dictate that it will be faster for me to write and maintain a c# tool than to write and maintain the XImporter XSLTs; 2. The client's paying for it; and 3. Let's admit it, it's just pure fun!), and as I was finishing the file upload mechanism (always tricky) $#@!#^&!% Visual Studio crashed on me! It's all GONE!
AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!
So, to release some steam, I decided to post back some news and other happy stuff.
AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! GNGNGNGNNGG!. **!@#(((%!@#%()))!@#%^&@#
And this thing keeps on underlining my insults as if they were mailto: links. Got to stop using @ signs on it. %%$###*&^!. That's beter.
Anyway, now that I've released my stress, I've been thinking a lot about the SDL deal lately, and what it means to us. Some of us, blinded perhaps by completely deserved pride on having been in Tridion for very long, might think that we "sold our soul". Others may just not feel that things will ever be the same. I'm part of the latter, and very happy with it. With one move - which I'm sure took quite some time to ponder and decide - we achieved many of our goals:
- Defined our role as the WCM for the Global company;
- Got rid of Venture Capitalists in the board;
- Hooked up with a very successful company whose main goal is to see SDL products on every desktop and server worldwide, developed by SDL developers and installed and maintained by SDL consultants.
All feedback I heard from 3rd party companies (mainly customers) is very positive. They bought Tridion because they wanted to go Global with their website. Our acquisition just means that they don't need to look for a translation company - they already have one. In a way, I'm even slightly disappointed that nothing changes in the next 2 years. Change is GOOD (1).
How simpler could it be: You're a global company, with business in 100+ countries (OK, 6+), and you need a solution for your global presence. Who you're gonna call? LanguageBarrierBusters!
Can't wait to have a proper integration with the SDL translation, and have it as part of the core product. Globalization is the real deal, in case you haven't noticed, and we're not riding the wave for WCM - we're defining the wave. There's many signs out there that analysts share my opinion (or is it the other way around?), so this can only be good.
.nuno
(1) As a consultant that has always been involved in implementation projects, I often bring change to companies. I know what change implies, and I know how people can resist it. But if there was no change, there was no evolution - and no customer would use our software.
