Technology, schmeknology

There was a ZDNet article the other week by Peter Galli about IBM's announcement of Sametime 7.5 on Linux (http://linux.webbuyersguide.com/news/4282-wbglinux_news.html). My favorite quote (by Scott Handy, IBM VP of WW Linux Strategy):

"We have now proven to ourselves that this single programming model that spans Windows, Linux and the Mac is now ready. This follows our single programming model for the server, where we standardized on Java," he said.

Some observations from a customer who has been testing Sametime 7.5, based on "gold" code released by IBM earlier this month:

• Sametime 7.5 client takes 30 to 60 seconds to launch depending upon workstation
• Sametime 7.5 client takes 30 to 60 seconds to authenticate depending upon workstation
• Sametime 7.5 client reported as extremely unstable on Citrix 32-bit and 64-bit test servers
• Sametime 7.5 requires desktop to be rebooted almost daily, or memory leak will consume all resources
• The dependency on the Java Virtual Machine has proven problematic with multiple COE images containing different JVMs
• Issues utilizing AWM web-based tool have been experienced after installing Sametime 7.5. Resolution uninstall Sametime and JVM and reinstall JVM.
• Privacy Settings (allow to see me online/offline) are not saved and must be reset after restart
• Users with a Sametime 6.5 server are unable to save changes to their buddylist
• Intermittent Client Crashes when saving Preferences
• User interface is cluttered and difficult to navigate. Multiple levels of options are difficult to locate. Out of the box settings are not standard/best practice settings.
• Intermittent issues with HTML being transmitted to non 7.5 users during a conversation instead of plain text
• Video Codes have not been updated since 1999 and are not part of IBM's strategic direction for the product, must use third party vendor
• Install file is not SMS compatible and requires the user to have administrative rights to the desktop
• Install file has grown from 10MB to 48MB which impacts the ability to distribute the client
• Intermittent issues with thee Screen capture functionality will not work for 7.5 to 7.5 conversations
• Business Card and Image functionality not supported using Domino authentication (Requires LDAP, which is not possible due to the size of our directory)
• No integration with TeamSites, Outlook or Office Applications - planned for 2H 07
• No integration with desktop authentication/active directory - planned for 2H 07
• No stress tool available to validate capacity information - planned for 1H 07
• User who is removed from Sametime Directory and denied accecss can continue to use Sametime until they logout - planned for 2H 07
• Client is based upon Ecliple platform, however, the implementation has been customized and is no longer a standard Eclipse implementation, therefore standard Eclipse applications do not function as expected with Sametime 7.5 This was done to improve performance, but now limits the integration capabilities

Yep, sounds proven and ready to me...

Touring southern Italy...

I spent two glorious weeks with my wife (no kids!!) wandering through parts of the Amalfi coast. We flew into Naples, and took a bus from there to Sorrento, where we stayed in a small, charming hotel (called Del Mare), just a stone's throw from the bay. Sorrento has two marinas, Marina Piccola (which is actually the larger, commercial marina, where the various boats and ferries which shuttle along the Amalfi coast come into Sorrento) and Marina Grande (the smaller one!) which functions as a small fishing village. Our hotel was at Marina Grande, out of the main tourist crush, among the locals.

From Sorrento, we took day trips. Danielle and I both like ancient ruins, so we visited Herculaneum and Pompeii, both of which were buried (Herculaneum by mud, Pompeii, ash) when Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. The two present some interesting contrasts. Pompeii was a thriving Roman (earlier, it was Greek) city, a center of trade in the Roman empire, which attracted merchants, craftsmen, freed slaves, and all of the requisite "industries" one would expect in any large city. Herculaneum was a seaside resort for wealthy Roman citizens (including many from Pompeii). The modern city of Ercolano sits above the ruins, only 30% of which have been excavated, because of the city sitting over it. What was, prior to the eruption, the beach, is now the base of a 60+ foot wall of dirt, deposited there during the eruption. Because Herculaneum was covered in mud (whereas ash rained down on Pompei), Herculaneum, overall, is in a better state of preservation, with much of the structural wood in the homes, and even some random artifacts like a length of rope, and a wooden clothes press surviving nearly 2000 years.

More in my next post...

Rumsfeld, Pace, Abizaid and the US Senate Armed Services Committee

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Starting a new blog...

I've just returned from about a week and a half in Sorrento with my wife...the experience inspired the title of this blog. The Italians have a phrase, "Il dolce far niente", literally, "the sweetness of doing nothing". Mind you, the people who live where we were are among the hardest working folks I think I've ever seen, but they have an orientation to life which has become lost to us here in the US, I think. When they work, they work harder than anyone I've seen, but when they're not working, they know how to relax better than anyone I've seen...more about this later, but for now, let's get started!

I'm not really sure what this blog is going to be about. A little about life, a little about politics (one of my abiding passions), maybe some about hi tech (another of my passions, and how I earn my living), and who knows what else! Maybe it'll be fun, maybe provocative, maybe a little boring from time to time, but hey, so am I!

Hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I know I'll enjoy writing.