Need a memory upgrade

So much information. It’s full of stars. Woah. I’ve just taken the Red Pill. Wow. Thankfully, I am not alone.

 

mu5t   d 0 w nl o a d   n ew   m e M o r y   m o D u l e    4     y  e    o l d e   b  r  a  1  n.

 

Off to Seattle tomorrow. Maybe I can purchase a new memory implant from the US. Sleep on plan good.

For those waiting for the next episode, download WPF/E CTP and play with some XML.

Let the New Journey Begin

So, I reached 7 months before my feet started itching. Or was it that my brain was itching? Either way, I started looking seriously at contributing to the corporate world again.

After resigning from my previous job, it was clear that I was not going to do the exact same role. There were a couple of head-hunter calls, and some projects related to channel sales where I purposely said a firm no. Doing exactly the same type of thing would have probably been the easiest route to boot loads of cash, but the shortest road to insanity. Just putting the new cover pages on TPS reports was not a part of the original game plan.

Working for yourself, building a business and looking for projects to keep some income rolling in, is a tough task. Whilst self employment has it many benefits; professional companionship and intellectual stimulation are not included when self means self. No doubt, there are many things to keep your mind working: new customers, new projects, new languages, new environments, new products – however your power to influence any of these is very limited. Working with other smart people is just too darn attractive.

Knowing that I wanted to return to a technical, customer-facing, software related job filtered number of qualifying jobs diminish dramatically. Staying in Sydney, having a good manager, working for a name-brand company starts to filter down the choice even more.

So when this Microsoft Enthusiast Evangelist role appeared, I was over the moon and as keen as mustard. An excellent, well respected manager. Check. Loads of customers, buckets of technology and a strong desire to connect the two: Tick. Being a conduit; taking feedback, showing and listening in that order. Perfect.

Today, I signed on to Microsoft. Start on Thursday. Let the journey begin. WooT!

FAQs

  1. What are you going to miss about the time off?

    2. Getting up at anytime in the morning, reading lots of books, having the time to be able to research a completely new IT subject and watching TV. Chilling out and doing very little has certainly cleaned out the cobwebs.

  2. You are sucking up to your new boss, already, right?

    3. You read me like a book. No seriously, check him out. I did my reference checks, too!

  3. Microsoft is big. Can you deal with the huge-ness?

    4. Yes, Microsoft is a huge organisation with many people and lots of tools and technologies. Their products touch virtually everyone in the digital world, somewhere. Being a small part of this bigness is coolness.

  4. How much Gardening did you do?

    5. As promised, none. I did however water the garden under the draconian rules of Sydney Water during this period.

  5. So, you are never going to use a Mac nor Photoshop/InDesign again?

    6. I seriously doubt that. Microsoft creates Mac software, and Photoshop/InDesign is ingrained into my system. The world is a much more complex place than “A vs. B”.

Moore’s Law, More Horses, Less Chaff

A major change in the fabrication process, changing a 40+ year old process to make transitors that are 45 nano-meters large/small. At this level, atoms become significant.

Scoble has released a new video detailing the new 45nm process at Intel. What does this mean? Two things: Moore’s Law still applies, and there are going to be more speed using way less power in your PC sometime in 2008. Oh, and they’re already onto development work of the next 32nm process.

On a similar topic, Andrew sent me a link from some crazy Italians who have overclocked a Pentium to 8Ghz.

OK, so we’ve got the hardware processing for the next couple of years sorted. What are we going to do with this power? Intel is not just making processors and shipping across the river to Google (although I am sure Google will be pleased they don’t have to make a Fusion Reactor to power their singularity).

There are two emerging rules of the last 30+ years: don’t bet against Moore’s Law, or against the Internet.

Do we really just need faster HTML rendering and video? Herein lies the fun – software. There’s a myriad of unsolved software problems – time to get back onto the horse.

Crowded House Reforming for a World-wide Tour

Not quite sure how I feel about this: Door opens for Crowded House.

Would I go to a concert? Yes. Would I buy any new material recorded and released? Yes. Would I think that this is the old Crowdies? Probably not. You could probably call me a Crowded House fundamentalist, in a way. Anyway, it’s early days and I can be converted.

After further thought and consideration, it’s about the music. Life goes on, and history will never repeat.

Smartest Accountants in the Room

Mac Geeks vs. Apple Accountants. Fight!

According to The Inquirer, Apple is “blaming” an Enron-inspired US Federal Law Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX) for the need to charge US$2.00 for the 802.11n update to MacOS X 10.4. Following the link at the bottom of the page, there is a slightly longer article on iLounge.

SOX? Probably more important than the Auditing (and that lovely open ended section 404 about ‘Management on Internal Controls‘, which I’ve read) section, its the FASB Revenue Recognition rules. All companies that provide a contract (let’s say a End User License Agreement) have strict controls and rules related to how the revenue from that contract must be accounted for. There are whole teams of lawyers and accountants that know these rules blind, and apply them to company revenue-related activities.

Companies that mis-state revenue, let’s say as it has offered an material update to technology in a following quarter and not correctly accounted for it, and if offered “free” later would have to re-state revenue for previous quarters. Now, if Apple had “pre-announced” their 802.11n plans, and been a more open company, I think there would be no charge. Apple has chosen it’s own destiny.

Yes, accounting can be weird. The world of contract law is weirder. But these are the cornerstone of the capitalist world we find ourselves in, and stable for nearly 500 years. Until Enron bent the rules, too far.

So, now US$2.00 seems like a minuscule amount to pay compared to engaging teams of Apple professionals to this Sisyphean Task. However, the cost to Apple is more chipping away at the information control fortress.

ps: I am neither a rev-rec, nor sox expert!

Update: 21st January 2007: Apple to Charge for Faster WiFi from CNet. Also amended prices above from US$5 to US$2.