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I mentioned the other day how Microsoft was working with the CIA to monitor US computer networks.
Apparently, this Big Brother partnership was just in time. The major news networks and publications reported yesterday that some countries are using computers to steal your electricity.
Didn’t we read this in a George Orwell book, or see it in some Tom Cruise movie?
Do you remember back in ‘98 when the United States Department of Justice filed the antitrust case against Microsoft? The media speculated that the software monopoly would be broken-up like Ma Bell was in the ‘70s, but in the end, Microsoft got off with a slap on the wrist—and everyone wondered why.
Perhaps, an article in the New York Times last week can offer some clues…
“The electronic spy game has had some real-world impact, they said. For example, they said, after an e-mail invitation was sent by the Dalai Lama’s office to a foreign diplomat, the Chinese government made a call to the diplomat discouraging a visit. And a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities.”
The article went on to quote intelligence analysts who said that many governments and some business organizations use sophisticated computer programs to covertly gather information. This group of 103 countries, they said, includes China, Russia and the United States of America.
The antitrust suit was settled in 2001, shortly after the attacks of 911, when much of our government’s errors were blamed on the Department of Justice’s “antiquated computer systems”.
Busy week, but I wanted to touch base.
I’ve gotten several e-mails asking about my personal websites, hlarledge.com and leadfolloworgetfired.com. The timing for those questions are perfect. I have taken both sites down temporarily. They will launch with entirely new faces before the end of the month, and I am very excited about them.
I’ll keep you posted.
I promised yesterday to give you a sneak-peek at our new web presence…
In addition to the sleek appearance, the site is a game-changer for Decade Software. It is being designed from the ground up as a collaborative community where customers and staff can exchange opinions and ideas—with a section we’re calling “My Decade Software”.
Among other features, it will provide…
In addition to being the home of several EnvisionConnect User Groups, a networking and information exchange tool for clients, and a hang-out for Decade staff, our community forums offer areas of discussion on all Decade products and services and the industries we serve, and—best of all—registered users can subscribe to any forum or topic by e-mail.
Decade knows that user feedback is essential to making a good product great. That's why residents of the My Decade Software community are routinely polled. For example, you may be invited to participate in an in depth survey asking which classes should be presented at the user conference, or you may be invited to answer a single poll question regarding a product's design.
At Project Central, registered users look under the hood at Decade Software Company. In real-time, clients monitor what work is being done, by whom, and when the work is expected to be completed. They also can report defects or submit feature requests and monitor progress of those requests in real-time.
Last week, I was the guest speaker at one of our “global user group meetings”.
I’ve forgotten what the official title is these days, but basically it is a virtual meeting that allows customers to review and discuss new design proposals.
These little webinars were launched in the early days of EnvisionConnect, and they continue to serve us and our customers quite well.
You may recall that EnvisionConnect is the 21st Century reincarnation of Envision for Windows.
Over time, new wings and windows were added, until Envision grew into the most in depth tool available for regulating Environmental Health—but like all mansions that outgrow their original design, Envision became easy to get lost in.
Enter Envision Connect…
EnvisionConnect was designed from the ground-up to have all of the comforts of the old mansion, but with easier passages to move around in.
The new design was developed in those Thursday meetings.
So, why did I attend last week?
I’m building another kind of house to replace our web home page, and for all of the same reasons, I needed our customers to assist in the redesign.
What we came up with will amaze you…
…but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more.
An invitation for you...
Central Valley Software PartnershipAnyone with an interest in the growth and well being of Fresno, California's software development industry.
Continue reading "Public appearance this week, call the assassin" »
Did you see this report?
"Electronic health records, touted by the government as a way to
reduce medical costs, are used by few doctors in the U.S. because they are too expensive for their practices, a Harvard University survey found.
The poll, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that just 4 percent of doctors use software that includes electronic prescriptions and drug-interaction warnings.
A larger group, 13 percent, opted for more basic software that only allowed them to enter notes and medical histories. Those who use the computer systems said they helped improve patient care."
Using computer records to lower cost and eliminate inefficiency has been a recurring theme among both major U.S. presidential candidates this year, and last week, the federal government offered $150 million in grants to promote use of electronic records among 1,200 doctors in 12 communities.
Perhaps, we should collect a fund—or maybe hold a telethon—to help starving doctors buy software and welcome them into the 21st century?
Everyone knows, they're not paid enough, and they are oh-so helpful when we visit.
This reminds me of a quote from Comedian Chris Rock...
"The last thing doctors cured was Polio, and that was back in the first season of I Love Lucy ...That's because when they cure you, they stop making money off you ...I've been watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon for more than 20 years now. Not one stitch of progress whatsoever. "
After my many posts as well as others regarding the fallacies of building enterprise-level applications using ColdFusion and BlueDragon, rumor has it that MySpace has finally dumped them entirely.
Last year, the pulled sections of the flawed application, replacing it with a .Net application, announcing...
"...we wrote a custom configuration section that maps fuseaction URL parameters to ASPX extensions so that we'd maintain link integrity. The only place we aren't doing this is 'Browse' and certain other new features.
Meanwhile, the parts of the site that are running in Cold Fusion (CFML) are essentially doing so in ASP.NET 2.0 (via Blue Dragon)."
MySpace announced today that the all-new MySpace 2.0 will go online next Wednesday, but they are keeping hush-hush regarding the technologies they replaced and with what.
Most likely, their completely ASP.Net now, but we'll know more after Wednesday.
In spite of what Axosoft's sales demo and their Google Ad says, Axosoft OnTime does not support Scrum out of the box, and according to the company's owner, they never intended for it to.
However, they do insinuate that OnTime can be easily configured to support Scrum.
This is not entirely a true statement. 
Since the last time I mentioned this, I've gotten several e-mails asking for clarification...
"How can one of the most successful Scrum shops out there, be using daily a product that doesn't support Scrum?"
Continue reading "Axosoft OnTime does not support Scrum out of the box" »
My friend, Joel "On Software" Spolsky, is steaming mad this week, and frankly he has me concerned about all of the programmers the industry is losing to Microsoft and Google.
When we lost Erwien Saputra to the Borg a couple of years back, we thought he had gone to a better place, but Joel—who was once one of Microsoft's brightest stars—says that couldn't be farther from the truth...
"Why I really care is that Microsoft is vacuuming up way too many programmers. Between Microsoft, with their shady recruiters making unethical exploding offers to unsuspecting college students, and Google (you're on my radar) paying untenable salaries to kids with more ultimate Frisbee experience than Python, whose main job will be to play foosball in the Googleplex and walk around trying to get someone...anyone...to come see the demo code they've just written with their '20% time', doing some kind of, let me guess, cloud-based synchronization... between Microsoft and Google the starting salary for a smart CS grad is inching dangerously close to six figures and these smart kids, the cream of our universities, are working on hopeless and useless architecture astronomy because these companies are like cancers, driven to grow at all cost, even though they can't think of a single useful thing to build for us, but they need another 3000-4000 comp science grads next week. And damn-it, foosball doesn't play itself."
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