Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
Red-Gate software does it again
Finally, Intellicense for SQL Query Analizer - Free http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Prompt/index.htm Get it now (free until September 1st)
Sunday, May 21, 2006
WEB 2.0 and other developments
I am extremely impressed with the latest developments of the web. It is definitely taking on a 2.0 format, where I clearly see the next level of usability and usage advances. First of all the use of AJAX is finally making the web pages usable without going trough the regular "Fill the form" -> Submit -> Wait -> "Correct the Form" -> Repeat procedure. I finally see interfaces that resemble usability of the rich UI that we are all used to in the think client applications. No, there is still room to grow, and SmartClient applications are still safe, however, Web 3.0 might change that completely. Second, I am VERY impressed with the competition that google is receiving. Don't get me wrong, google is great. Search is amazing, I love the pluggable homepage, I use GMail and think that it's a truly great thin email client. However, the competition is getting really close. Even though I like the pluggable webparts, I still like the design of my.yahoo.com better. I prefer to have a two or three section design. I love the site, the idea of tags is just amazing. GMail works, but it is still hard to file the emails, I'd love to be able to have return receipts, multiple tags for emails, etc... Desktop search from MSN Toolbar, has a cleaner interface with the outlook then Google deskbar does. Overall, competition created a lot of great software that can be utilized. Third, I am really, realy, really impressed with the online communities. del.icio.us, Blog explosion, Flicker, WIKIs, etc.... It is really amazing how the community is driving the advances in the technology, and it is no longer a vendor who is making application happen, but rather the people who are using the application. The application is no longer the software that a you as a user gets to use, it is the content that is provided and the way that the content is created and organized by others within the community. Each application is like a giant ant farm, that with the proper display ca become a living and breathing form of art. well, what Web 3.0 will be we can only dream of, Or is it that we can change the world to make it happen :)
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Agile Projects in the real world
It's been a while since I've written a post, but this topic has been on my mind for a while. I've always been in favor of Agile project delivery, the Simplicity and "you are not going to need it" principals. I've seen it time and time again, that projects are overarchitected, overdesigned and are overpromissed. Teams spend months upon months on design meetings, requirements gathering, architecture comeeties. Then before the project is even close to the stable beta stage, multiple things happen:
- A key developer leaves and developers who were not 100% sold on the design start picking parts of the projects to rearchitect
- A new technology is introduced in the market that makes a lot of work already done on the project absolute
- The customer (or business sponsor) changes his mind on the need for the project in the first place because the timeframe for the key deliverable was missed.
The article in the computerworld reflects on these issues, and I found it to be very comforting that I am not the only one thinking about this. http://www.computerworld.com/ managementtopics/management/story/ 0,10801,110951,00.html
