Jan 30, 2008 Java JDeveloper

I introduced the JDeveloper IDE External Filter Add-in project last weekend. Happy to announce that the project's registration on sourceforge is complete, so full source and downloads are now available from the sourceforge jdevfilter project page.
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Jan 30, 2008 OS/2 Deep thoughts

Staying with my OS/2 reminiscence for a moment, there's a trove of old gems up on YouTube (including the famous quote from Bill "we believe OS/2 is the platform for the 90's").

While IBM ads in the US defied the limits of corny, in Japan it is all so kawaii.

Of course! The correct way to market an operating system is with a TV star/model (Yamaguchi Tomoko 山口智子), a bear and a penguin.

At least we know what Tux was up to before he got his big break with Linux in 96...taking gigs playing "DOS" and living it up in Ropongi!


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Jan 30, 2008 Read

Moving on to some fantasy after the hard sci-fi of Jupiter...

Magician: Apprentice was Raymond E. Feist's bestselling opener for his Riftwar Saga. First published in 1982, I read the 10th anniversary "author's preferred edition" (I gather that basically means he now has the stature to override the original editor's cuts;-)

Fantasy isn't normally my preferred reading material, but I really enjoyed this. Sure the scale is epic, but unlike Tolkien, Feist keeps the pace up and gory action a-plenty. And I'm looking forward to following Pug's development as a magician. Unlike the fast-food, just-get-the-pronunciation-right approach of Harry Potter, magic in this world is hard.

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Jan 29, 2008 TechRead Read

I've heard all the stories about Carly Fiorina from friends in HP - no doubt mangled, misquoted and somewhat misogynistic. All the ills of the company were by her hand of course.

Always found that a bit much to swallow, so when I saw her autobiography Touch Choices on the shelf I picked it up for a read.

I came away from the book with a much greater respect for the hard yards she has done to reach the top, although her rise to the top is a somewhat charmed path within a few large corporates. Which may explain why - although we get only one side of the story of course - she seems to have been so blindsided in the political maneuvers that got her ousted from HP.

The book ends soon after her departure from HP, contemplating where to go next and what she really values in life. And by then she had me won over; I think in truth a sincere, talented and hardworking person who really cares for the people she leads.
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