Finally, here I am on a real out-of-country assignment. After spending years without knowing which country I lived in anymore, I was starting to get itchy about all this work on the same country. Now I'm finally on the road again - only 400 km away, but hey - that's a start!
Anyway, nice hotel. I'm at the Luxembourg Sofitel, and it's so weird that it looks exactly the same as the Algiers Sofitel when I went there 5 years ago...
Strange.
Anyway, and once again, glad to be back on the road!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Care to join us?
I suppose I should get some advertising money out of this... ;-)
Anyway, if you feel like joining a very dynamic and young company, (profitable as well, might I add) working in the domain of EVERYTHING related to Content Management (or in other words, EVERYTHING), check these links:
- Senior Consultant
- Technical Consultant
When I say everything, you do realize I mean: Enterprise Level Everything. Sorry, no PHP/MySQL around here (not that often anyway). We mostly deal with .NET and J2EE applications, back-end integrations, etc, etc.
XML/XSLT experience is a very valuable asset, willingness to travel, presentation skills, speaking more than one european language (sorry brits - we can still make an exception for you, if you're really good ;-) ), 5 - 10 years IT experience, etc, etc, etc.
PS - I say sorry brits and not sorry franks, because if a french person is reading this, he probably speaks 2 languages already ;-)
PPS - The Senior Consultant link is for a job in Brussels, but we're also looking for 2 in Amsterdam.
Anyway, if you feel like joining a very dynamic and young company, (profitable as well, might I add) working in the domain of EVERYTHING related to Content Management (or in other words, EVERYTHING), check these links:
- Senior Consultant
- Technical Consultant
When I say everything, you do realize I mean: Enterprise Level Everything. Sorry, no PHP/MySQL around here (not that often anyway). We mostly deal with .NET and J2EE applications, back-end integrations, etc, etc.
XML/XSLT experience is a very valuable asset, willingness to travel, presentation skills, speaking more than one european language (sorry brits - we can still make an exception for you, if you're really good ;-) ), 5 - 10 years IT experience, etc, etc, etc.
PS - I say sorry brits and not sorry franks, because if a french person is reading this, he probably speaks 2 languages already ;-)
PPS - The Senior Consultant link is for a job in Brussels, but we're also looking for 2 in Amsterdam.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
I knew I shouldn't have...
Years and years ago, about the time I bought my 386 (60 MB disk + 4 MB RAM!!) technology was not a subject to be discussed at the café's table.
Discussing technology, reverse engineering (of games, mainly) and networks was not for the masses. This was absolutely restricted to a group of friends - geeks as me mainly - with different ideas about the application of technology but with a common love for it.
It was about that time (we're talking early 90's) that I first heard of the Singularity and the implications it would have on everyone's life, and god - did I want the Singularity to arrive. Funny how - at that time already, within a group of people aged from 15 to 20 - we were discussing IA as the means to achieve it rather than AI (see glossary at the end if you're feeling lost - maybe, if you're feeling lost, stop reading ;-)).
Anyway, I then started working and got into the more mundane aspects of life: creating a career, finding a good partner - physical and mentally -, having and raising a daughter. And let all this meta-talk go to sleep inside my brain.
And then, about 2 months ago I stumbled accross Charles Stross's Accelerando. And I knew I should stop reading it. And I didn't.
From there to having re-devoured Neuromancer, filling up my Amazon queue with book orders and spending my nights doing research on all that is to come was a snap. And I'm re-reading Accelerando, just to be sure I got it ;-)
In short, I'm now in that state of mind where communication is not possible in normal terms, and desperately searching for a mind I can speak with about this. Maria is quite smart and very well intended, but I'll bore her to death before I even get to explain the difference between AI and IA.
So, if you live in the Netherlands, if you actually knew what The Singularity is before googling for it, please do contact me...
The Singularity - basically and simply put, the one single time at which the computing power on earth will equal the human brain's computing power. By others, also seen as the moment at which human progress will be at its fastest. By still other groups - and sometimes the same people - the end of humanity and the start of post-humanity. More on this at a later post.
AI - Artificial Intelligence. Come on, this one was easy.
IA - Intelligence Amplification. Instead of coming up with a thinking machine, come up with a machine that amplifies MY intelligence.
Discussing technology, reverse engineering (of games, mainly) and networks was not for the masses. This was absolutely restricted to a group of friends - geeks as me mainly - with different ideas about the application of technology but with a common love for it.
It was about that time (we're talking early 90's) that I first heard of the Singularity and the implications it would have on everyone's life, and god - did I want the Singularity to arrive. Funny how - at that time already, within a group of people aged from 15 to 20 - we were discussing IA as the means to achieve it rather than AI (see glossary at the end if you're feeling lost - maybe, if you're feeling lost, stop reading ;-)).
Anyway, I then started working and got into the more mundane aspects of life: creating a career, finding a good partner - physical and mentally -, having and raising a daughter. And let all this meta-talk go to sleep inside my brain.
And then, about 2 months ago I stumbled accross Charles Stross's Accelerando. And I knew I should stop reading it. And I didn't.
From there to having re-devoured Neuromancer, filling up my Amazon queue with book orders and spending my nights doing research on all that is to come was a snap. And I'm re-reading Accelerando, just to be sure I got it ;-)
In short, I'm now in that state of mind where communication is not possible in normal terms, and desperately searching for a mind I can speak with about this. Maria is quite smart and very well intended, but I'll bore her to death before I even get to explain the difference between AI and IA.
So, if you live in the Netherlands, if you actually knew what The Singularity is before googling for it, please do contact me...
The Singularity - basically and simply put, the one single time at which the computing power on earth will equal the human brain's computing power. By others, also seen as the moment at which human progress will be at its fastest. By still other groups - and sometimes the same people - the end of humanity and the start of post-humanity. More on this at a later post.
AI - Artificial Intelligence. Come on, this one was easy.
IA - Intelligence Amplification. Instead of coming up with a thinking machine, come up with a machine that amplifies MY intelligence.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
What's in a name?
I seriously think that your choice for Corporate Content Management system should not be based on a given system's name. I also know that - in the front of Web Content Management (so, excluding all the ECM big-boys like Documentum and Oracle) - basically our biggest competitors are based on Open Source.
But this is ridiculous... You just can't be taken seriously by any proper company with a name like this, can you?
Just imagine ABN Amro's VP for technology announcing to his Board of Directors that they would invest xxx Euros (replace xxx by any obscene amount of money) on the next WCM platform, named "Joomla!"
But again, what's in a name?
But this is ridiculous... You just can't be taken seriously by any proper company with a name like this, can you?
Just imagine ABN Amro's VP for technology announcing to his Board of Directors that they would invest xxx Euros (replace xxx by any obscene amount of money) on the next WCM platform, named "Joomla!"
But again, what's in a name?
Thursday, September 01, 2005
What a surprise... (not)
The Register's reporting on a new TCO comparison betweeen Linux and Windows. You know, another one of those "studies" commissioned by one of the big players.
The fun part is that this time it's sponsored by IBM, so, quite "surprisingly" and contrary to all the others we've seen, this time Linux's TCO is 40% cheaper than Windows.
More here.
The fun part is that this time it's sponsored by IBM, so, quite "surprisingly" and contrary to all the others we've seen, this time Linux's TCO is 40% cheaper than Windows.
More here.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Mas quem é que lhe pediu isto?
A política portuguesa nunca deixou de surpreender. Eu ainda tinha esperança, bem lá no fundo, que a Maria de Jesus lhe pusesse a cabeça no sítio, mas pelos vistos nada havia a fazer. O monarca avançou mesmo com a candidatura.
Agora pergunto eu: vamos mesmo votar nele? Acham que ele vai ganhar as eleições? Eu até tenho medo da resposta, pois arrisca-se muito a ser positiva, e vamos mais uma vez mostrar a todos os nossos parceiros europeus que não queremos avançar. O que nós queremos é continuar a viver na utopia do "antes é que era bom" e vamos votar em alguém cujo maior contributo para a nação portuguesa - em tempos recentes - foi criticar publicamente toda a estrutura da União e do próprio parlamento que ele - soi disant - representava. Sim, soi disant porque monsieur Mário Soares por vezes dignava-se a comparecer no PE, quando não estava ocupado a escrever artigos de opinião para revistas conceituadas - artigos esses pagos a peso de ouro, não duvido.
Eu que até já me tinha habituado ao tweetie - e ao seu excelente inglês - vou agora ter que passar pela vergonha de confirmar que sim, voltámos a ter o mesmo presidente, sim, ele tem já mais de 80 anos, sim, arrisca-se a ter funeral de estado, sim, esse mesmo, aquele que dizia viver em Bruxelas, sim, aquele que criticou tudo e mais alguma coisa sobre a união europeia (aqui entre nós, chegados àquela idade não há muito mais para fazer senão criticar os outros).
Cresçam e apareçam portugueses, não se deixem levar por esta farsa.
Dizia - salvo erro - o Pacheco Pereira, e muito bem, que Soares vai possivelmente vencer por ser a alternativa a Cavaco, nunca por mérito próprio. É bom saber que ainda há gente sem papas na língua...
Agora pergunto eu: vamos mesmo votar nele? Acham que ele vai ganhar as eleições? Eu até tenho medo da resposta, pois arrisca-se muito a ser positiva, e vamos mais uma vez mostrar a todos os nossos parceiros europeus que não queremos avançar. O que nós queremos é continuar a viver na utopia do "antes é que era bom" e vamos votar em alguém cujo maior contributo para a nação portuguesa - em tempos recentes - foi criticar publicamente toda a estrutura da União e do próprio parlamento que ele - soi disant - representava. Sim, soi disant porque monsieur Mário Soares por vezes dignava-se a comparecer no PE, quando não estava ocupado a escrever artigos de opinião para revistas conceituadas - artigos esses pagos a peso de ouro, não duvido.
Eu que até já me tinha habituado ao tweetie - e ao seu excelente inglês - vou agora ter que passar pela vergonha de confirmar que sim, voltámos a ter o mesmo presidente, sim, ele tem já mais de 80 anos, sim, arrisca-se a ter funeral de estado, sim, esse mesmo, aquele que dizia viver em Bruxelas, sim, aquele que criticou tudo e mais alguma coisa sobre a união europeia (aqui entre nós, chegados àquela idade não há muito mais para fazer senão criticar os outros).
Cresçam e apareçam portugueses, não se deixem levar por esta farsa.
Dizia - salvo erro - o Pacheco Pereira, e muito bem, que Soares vai possivelmente vencer por ser a alternativa a Cavaco, nunca por mérito próprio. É bom saber que ainda há gente sem papas na língua...
Shaking up the establishment
For a long, long time, XML-Spy has been the dominant (and only) XML/XSL/X-Whatever tool we used in Tridion.
Since our product is extremely heavy on XML and XSL, this is an invaluable tool, and all of us use it - despite its rather steep licensing price.
Then, one day, I needed to debug some XSLT that was not transforming correctly using Xalan. It did work perfectly in MSXML and the internal built-in XML-Spy processor.
Cutting a long story short, I ended up downloading and trying <oxygen/>, and simply fell in love with it. So, I asked our internal IT department to get me a licence.
Up to here nothing unusual. Except for the little fact that Oxygen's licences can cost about 25% of XML Spy's. So, IT is now trying to convince the whole of Tridion to use Oxygen instead. I don't really care which way it goes, as long as I get my Oxygen licence...
Since our product is extremely heavy on XML and XSL, this is an invaluable tool, and all of us use it - despite its rather steep licensing price.
Then, one day, I needed to debug some XSLT that was not transforming correctly using Xalan. It did work perfectly in MSXML and the internal built-in XML-Spy processor.
Cutting a long story short, I ended up downloading and trying <oxygen/>, and simply fell in love with it. So, I asked our internal IT department to get me a licence.
Up to here nothing unusual. Except for the little fact that Oxygen's licences can cost about 25% of XML Spy's. So, IT is now trying to convince the whole of Tridion to use Oxygen instead. I don't really care which way it goes, as long as I get my Oxygen licence...
Getting WebSphere and Tridion to work together
Q: What takes longer when setting up an environment for WebSphere and Tridion interoperability?
A: Downloading and installing Windows 2003 Service Pack 1...
A: Downloading and installing Windows 2003 Service Pack 1...
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
You know something's wrong when...
The replacement car you get has better options than yours (MP3 reader!)
My XP "most used" list
Nothing tells you more about one person than the list of most used applications automagically generated by Windows XP.
I do often reset the whole thing just for the fun of seeing it filling back again. So... here goes my list:
Firefox is constantly open and doesn't show up in the list. The same goes for Outlook and iTunes...
Well, never mind. Care to share yours?
I do often reset the whole thing just for the fun of seeing it filling back again. So... here goes my list:
- Macromedia DreamWeaver MX
- Eclipse
- Remote Desktop Connection
- VMWare Workstation
- Textpad
- Notepad
- Winrar
- Oxygen XML Editor
- Adobe Reader 7.0
- Internet Explorer
- Paint Shop Pro
- Trillian
Firefox is constantly open and doesn't show up in the list. The same goes for Outlook and iTunes...
Well, never mind. Care to share yours?
WinFS Beta 1 out
So, Microsoft finally delivered Beta 1 of Cairo. If it took them approximately 11 years to deliver the first beta (about 200 years Internet-life time) how long until they release the first final version?
And how long until someone decides it is actually a good idea? As with anything database related, a Database-driven file system will only be as good as its data.
Corporate servers know where the data they need is located. And very seldomly need to do versioning.
Home users never know where a file is, but will be too lazy to fill in enough metadata about any file to make such a system useful. And will still not be able to find their files back.
I might be a bit too pessimistic about it, but I just don't see the need for this anymore. Of course, I'm sure MS' marketing team will make it an absolute hit (TM) and manage to squeeze some more licensing money through it.
Anyway, if you're feeling adventurous, here's the link. (You do need to be a subscribed MSDN user).
And how long until someone decides it is actually a good idea? As with anything database related, a Database-driven file system will only be as good as its data.
Corporate servers know where the data they need is located. And very seldomly need to do versioning.
Home users never know where a file is, but will be too lazy to fill in enough metadata about any file to make such a system useful. And will still not be able to find their files back.
I might be a bit too pessimistic about it, but I just don't see the need for this anymore. Of course, I'm sure MS' marketing team will make it an absolute hit (TM) and manage to squeeze some more licensing money through it.
Anyway, if you're feeling adventurous, here's the link. (You do need to be a subscribed MSDN user).
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