DISQUS

Bought my iMac late last year when the iMac update rumors were floating around the 'tubes. I'm happy with what I have...figured my hardware would be "old hat" within six months, but still plenty good enough for me. Now that the updates have been announced, I was right on both counts. Similar reasoning has me sticking with my 2G iPhone for at least another year. Bottom line: you'll got nuts trying to time the hardware market - buy what you need when you need it and be at peace with it.

Apologies for the lack of bullets. This comment just did not play out as a list when I wrote it.

I'm a member of the photo junkie club myself...a Canon guy. Picked up a few lens filters, a boom arm for one of my light stands, and a new 3-in-one reflector over the holidays.

I also got all three levels of Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) in my latest attempt to pick up the language.

As well they should have...a long time ago. No evidence of the intent element necessary to support the charges...big no brainer in light of the evidence.

As for me, well I left the law for a reason: lawyers are rewarded for escalating disputes rather than for resolving them. Not much of a value add. Shakespeare was probably right...

Patent law cases are heard in special federal courts. Why not tech cases? The two big challenges: 1) creating a very clear and focused definition of what constitutes a technical case, and 2) defining the procedural means for bringing a case to the court.

Hmmm...not a bad comment...I knew that law degree and legal experience would come in handy one day!

I'm using Fake Caller ('cause I'm cheap)...it's saved my bacon at least twice just this week.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it's tough for me to buy into a train of thought that intermingles Web 2.0 and Open Source indiscriminately. That being said, I'll play anyway and share the idea that my take on the fate of both is actually stronger in a down economy.

Most organizations sink a huge chunk of their dollars into maintenance for both development environments and enterprise apps. But Open Source gives users a chance to manage maintenance differently. Rather than writing a huge check for support that you may not need, you can opt to self-support with Open Source. If Open Source doesn't work, there is a great variety of arrangements available in the Open Source space (for example, contract with an expert or possibly the software distributor). Most of the available options are less cost than the typical support contract in the closed source space. In a time when companies are looking to cut costs, Open Source can look pretty good.

Web 2.0? In the 80s and 90s, synergy was a pretty groovy word used to describe the good results that come from getting good minds together. Web 2.0 is a natural evolution of that synergy thing. As companies and other organizations face the pressure of tough times and look for "out-of-the-box thinking", bringing disparate groups of people together will be a great source for doing so. Web 2.0 is the means by which we can bring those people together.

The upshot to this rather long-winded comment (sorry Jake)? The economic downturn is not a death knell for Open Source or Web 2.0. In fact, I expect that the momentum for both will build as the downturn deepens.

Don't really care of Office 2008 on the Mac myself. Checking out OpenOffice 3 and NeoOffice 2.5. Even with all that, I'm still setting up Visio on a VM this weekend...no good alternatives when somebody sends me a Visio file.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should tell you that about half my company has gone Mac - and Macs are in our corporate replacement catalog. I'll be wrangling my way into a Mac at work very soon.

On a somewhat related point, I'm also finding that my iPhone, iMac, and logmein.com make a very powerful combo.

Read a great book years ago called "Die Broke". The author encourages all employees to "fire themselves"; forget about the employer-employee social contract (because it died decades ago) and consider yourself as a merchant, selling your services to a buyer (your company). I've found this perspective to be a great one, especially when the economy slows down.

Times like these reinforce this "mercantile perspective." We're all merchants selling services (skills) or goods. When the demand for your service or product falls off, it's time to find new customers or develop something new to sell...or some combination of the two.

Contractors, consultants and the self-employed have have the mercantile perspective close to the forefront of their thoughts. Employees sometimes forget until times get tough...

You know, there's a TCO consideration missing here. A brief story to make my point (and apologies for what will certainly become a long-winded comment): Back in the heyday of Windows 3.x, I lived next door to a guy hooked on his Apple Mac (might even have been an Apple II - I just remember it seemed like an old system). He'd had the Apple box for some time and planned to keep it for several more years - in fact, I think he was using Jazz as his apps package for spreadsheets, word process, etc. (it's been a while, so my recall may not be entirely accurate). I went through Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, 95 and 98 while we were neighbors. I also went through three hardware upgrades (because, shades of collusion, each O/S pretty much compelled me to buy new hardware to support it). And each time I upgraded, I excitedly called over my neighbor to show off the nifty new features in an attempt to prove that the Windows PC environment had finally passed up his Mac. And each time, after I showed off my costly new bells and whistles, my neighbor patiently demonstrated that his Apple system could still do anything my new system could do (with the caveat that it's all about the output - the niftiest power tools don't do a carpenter any good whatsoever unless it allows him to build stuff faster, better or cheaper; ditto with computers. They're a means to an end, not an end unto themselves). I suspect that, over this time period, I spent a whole lot more than my neighbor without any real comparative gain to show for it...he'd win the TCO comparison while at least matching my system's functionality.

So did I convert to Apple for my computer systems? Nope, I just prefer the Windows PC platform at this point. It's like an old truck...there are better and newer trucks out there, but I'm attached to what I already have. But I also know that, over time, the frequency of required software and hardware upgrades makes it seem like I'm still paying a higher TCO than many of the Apple system users.

Right there with you in regards to programming on tape...remember the Radio Shack TRS-80? Wish I still had one, just for old time's sake.

In fact, tape was a step up from the card batches I used in college! Gee, I'm an old bugger...

Naw...the color change is just distracting and doesn't even add entertainment value. Now, if you could get the bar to jiggle or dance, that would be something!

Okay, so I'm a little silly here, but my point is the same...spend your effort on the stuff that adds value. Not much value in changing the bar's color IMHO.

I've been working with the new Schedule Builder since Wed. evening. One hot tip - don't use Firefox! I had some issues with Firefox, but everything worked fine when I switched to IE.

I'm pretty happy with my "classic" iPhone and the 2.0 firmware update. The new 3G looks to me like another case study for the benefits of "trailing edge" technology.

Sure. I really liked the step Oracle made last year with engaging bloggers at OOW. I hope the program evolves to increase the level of that engagement this year...I'm looking for Oracle to take additional, incremental steps for OOW 2008 that will serve to increase the engagement of bloggers.

In that vein, I was disappointed to hear that Oracle won't be covering travel expenses for bloggers attending OOW this year. Doing so would be a great move to increase the interaction between Oracle and bloggers. I know this is only one aspect of the blogger invitation program, so there may be other areas where we take steps to increase the engagement...I'm just disappointed we failed to make progress on this particular point.

I'm still working toward building a loin cloth out of conference ribbons...

So how about some more details on that blogger credential for ACEs thing? I want a nifty blogger ribbon!!!

Take some advice from a guy in the biz: the combination of rockets and fire is not always a good thing.

See you at the ACE dinner!

I'm actually responsible for all those things Margaret mentioned - a result of my over-exuberance in a hunt for a particular trout that has the map to a long-lost Conquistador treasure stamped on his dorsal fin...or was it a snook? Anyway, apologies to all for everything.

Now that we have that out of the way and bygones are bygones, about that meeting for cocktails thing...

Okay, I guess it's time for me to fess up to the world (and give Jake the scoop). Last time I chartered a boat and went deep sea fishin', I guess I wound up draggin' my bait a little too deep. Thought I might have hooked the Mother of All Marlins, but wound up with a tangled mess of wire... Gotta say,though, that the cable put up one heck of a fight!

I'm right there with APC - stuck in Web 1.0 meeting purgatory. In addition, the meeting frequency is so high that it's difficult to find time for "hands on" work during traditional office hours. Despite the all-too-infrequent tidbit of info I might care about, I emerge from most meetings in my shop feeling as though I've been through a virtual lobotomy. My point: it's not just the number of meetings and the physical presence aspect that is disturbing, it's also the length and quality of those meetings.

Jake,

Your intent in starting this round of tag, bringing the Oracle blogger and blogger reader community closer together, was a good one. Personally, I'm getting quite a bit out of it.

For those opposed to the whole tag thing, I'd welcome their thoughts on alternatives for accomplishing the goal. It would be far more constructive than the whole "flame, blame and name-calling" approach. Until that happens, don't sweat the nay-sayers.

I participated, I've been following it, and I like it.

Blogs, like much of the information that comes to us via the Internet, can be both devoid of any personal touch while still being pretty biased. Knowing some personal things about the various bloggers in a community not only injects more of a human touch, but it also gives me clues about any bias in their posts. I think both these aspects of our tag game have value to bloggers and blog readers alike, so I have to take exception with the spammer label folks are attempting to apply here...

That being said, I can see why Howard feels as he does, though I think shutting down the website is more than a little "over the top" (but, it's his site, so he can do with it as he sees fit).

Regardless of how you feel about the result, keep in mind that the original intent in starting this game of tag was a good one...to bring the community of Oracle bloggers and blog readers closer together. Perhaps our discussion might be better spent on coming up with other ways to strengthen the ties in that community?

Rich, you should blog more often. Your stuff is always good and often surprising: Drum Major? Really?

Thanks for playing!