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Friday January 27, 2006

Out of the way, I'm coming through!

Whinge of the week time again, and I'm turning to the roads.

Usually I travel mostly by rail, which despite it's bad reputation hasn't been too bad of late, though extortionately expensive for what you get, particularly in the rush hour. You'd have thought £30 a day would guarantee you a seat... but no....

Anyway, this week is all about the motorways, and you get two whinges for the price of one...

1. Middle Lane Morons. This is where some bumbling idiot fails to return to the inside lane after overtaking something, even though the lane is clear far into the distance. Result, to overtake this idiot, you need to move into the fast lane (pedant alert : I know it's not supposed to be called the fast lane, but tough, ok?) and so you end up with a stream of mostly executive cars all queueing up to over take, whilst the inside lane is empty. Inefficient bandwidth utilisation that is. Great website here about it all btw.

2. HGV (Heavy Good Vehicles) or SGSLs as I prefer to call them (Sodding great slow lorries). You get one of these in the inside lane doing 55.5 mph, and then in the second lane another overtaking at 55.6 mph. These HGVs are of course about 600 metres long so it can take them the entire length of the UK for them to overtake one another. I understand it's not entirely their fault as they have speed limiters aboard, but they are guilty of the heinous crime of occasionally venturing into lane 3 (actually illegal) and blocking the entire country. Trouble is many of our motorways (particularly in my neck of the woods) only have 2 lanes anyway, which means I'm stuffed.

Solutions?

HGVs are easy. They should only be allowed in lane 1. No overtaking whatsoever. What's the point, you can only do .1 mph difference anyway.

Middle lane morons are trickier, though I think the latest round of cars is moving in the right direction...

I notice many car manufacturers are now adopting head up displays on the windscreen. All I want is a few small additions: The words 'Missile Armed', 'Target Locked' and a nice red trigger button....

( Jan 27 2006, 11:16:23 AM GMT / Jan 27 2006, 11:01:27 AM GMT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/concentrate

Thursday January 26, 2006

Signs of the times...

Walked across from London Bridge station yesterday on my way to the office and was confronted by this sign as I left the station which made me laugh. (sorry about the poor quality camera phone pic!)

Obviously this is designed to stop passengers from waving at the train drivers, but it's more fun to misinterprete it as a piece of general advice on the mental health of train drivers... On the whole I guess it's probably a good thing that train drivers aren't off with the fairies, chasing giraffes or talking to themselves whilst driving hundreds of tonnes of fast moving metal! ;-)

More misleading signs on the otherside of the bridge too, a man with a placard bearing the message,"The End is close, turn to Jesus."

I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to indicate either, as, according to my Christianity inclined friends, no one is supposed to know the exact date of the end of the world anyway. Anyone claiming the opposite has, so far, been quite demonstrably wrong, unless as the late Douglas Adams pointed out, the end of the world has already happened and we were all to drunk to notice!

( Jan 26 2006, 01:55:07 PM GMT / Jan 26 2006, 09:45:24 AM GMT ) Permalink
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/signs_of_the_times

Monday January 23, 2006

Thin clients in the news again..

This isn't really my area, but I'm interested in it.

These two chaps...

Mark Hall and Frank Hayes set up a nice little debate (one side and the other) on 'thin client' and where it might be headed in 2006. Now, obviously, Sun has a vested interest in TC's as we produce the SunRay technology and you might expect us to be in favour of it...

I found Mark's (in favour of TCs) arguments quite good and he presented a number of them. I found Frank's (not in favour of TCs) a bit odd. He only had one point, which was that 'users won't like it'. He cites that users need to be able to install bits of software and that this is crucial for them to be able to do their job.

Two thoughts on this.

I bet the vast majority of '3rd Party Software' on users laptops isn't in the 'business critical' category. More likely it's iTunes, Bittorrent and children's 'educational' software.

One assumes that these users are using company supplied equipment. What gives users the right to install other software on their company laptop? You can't go out and modify your company car can you? It's sort of assumed that you just do. If I was in charge of these companies I would ban users owning the root/admin passwords immediately. My own work laptop has nothing on it but Sun supplied software. I have taken the novel step of having my own personal laptop for my stuff (not counting the fact my own laptop is way better than the work supplied one!)

I think they both missed the two real reason TCs haven't yet taken off properly. They need to be wireless (we'd need vpns and WWAN coverage too), and have a laptop form factor. Without the disk drive dragging down the power consumption, laptop style TCs would last for hours longer, be more secure and still be cool enough for users/executives to use on the train to impress everyone else...

( Jan 23 2006, 05:28:15 PM GMT / Jan 23 2006, 05:16:08 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [4]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/thin_clients_in_the_news

Friday January 20, 2006

My family is on its way to Pluto...

Well, not exactly, but we got to put our names on the 'New Horizons' spacecraft that successfully launched yesterday evening. Well done!

I thought this was quite a good away to capture the imagination of kids. The New Horizons website ran a page where you could submit your name for inclusion on a CD which would be loaded onto the spaceship before launch. That CD with our names on it, (along with 430,000 others!) is now somewhere in interplanetary space between here and Jupiter...

My kids loved watching the launch on the net (no TV coverage mores the pity) and now we have to wait. 'New Horizons' will go past Jupiter in early 2007, but won't reach Pluto until 2015. By then my two sons will be 15 and 12 - scary!

( Jan 20 2006, 09:07:00 AM GMT / Jan 20 2006, 09:07:00 AM GMT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/my_family_is_on_its

Friday January 13, 2006

Incoming space debris...

There is a bit of a tradition in the tech circles of Sun in the UK to find the most esoteric, odd ball or just plain funny URL or email and forward it around to a select group of appreciators on a Friday afternoon. This is the 'Friday URL'.

Occasionally this explodes into a frantic exchange of humour based on how 'good' the URL/email is. Last Friday was one of these.

Robin forwarded us all the unlikely tale of a poor Nigerian spaceman. Particular attention was devoted to the subject of space station exports, which eventually degenerated into mammoth speculation what exactly was done with 'waste products' produced by the occupants of the space station in question.

After applying our brains for a while it was clear that the best bet was to dump the stuff into the earths atmosphere and allow it to burn up. I even coined a new technical term: "The Excreteor." ;-)

Of more serious note would be the ones which didn't burn up completely and actually hit the ground. These are: "The Excreteorites."

If you were unfortunately enough to get hit by one of these and happened to live in the United States (prone as it is to turning nouns into verbs) you might suffer that most terrible of fates....

...Excreteorisation.

Maybe you had to be there, it was a Friday after all!

( Jan 13 2006, 05:19:28 PM GMT / Jan 13 2006, 05:13:54 PM GMT ) Permalink
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/incoming_space_debris

Wednesday January 11, 2006

Computer game generation gap...

My 5 year old son is slowly getting into computer games. He's actually pretty good at driving games inparticular now, he's faster than my wife around a simulated Brands Hatch in a Honda Civic....

Just for fun I thought I'd introduce him to a couple of classic arcade games: Pacman and Asteroids...

Well, Pacman he got immediately, but he was totally stumped by asteroids. He watched me play it and I noticed he was giving me one of his "Dad why are you being so dumb?" looks... I asked him what the problem was.

"Dad, why are you shooting the clouds?"

I guess he's got a point!

By contrast, one of the guests at our Christmas party was an elderly (80 year old) major who used to fly Spitfires in the war (WWII). I happened to mention I had a copy of Combat flight simulator on a PC upstairs (with a force feedback joystick and pedals) and I could tell the old boy was itching for a go...

One thing led to another and we set up a proper multiplayer deathmatch. A few of the young 'playstation generation' were also up for a blast or two. So it became young versis old over Biggin hill, or atleast a reasonable facsimile thereof.

The result? Codgers 15, Whippersnappers 0. Our old major had lost none of his guile in the air and kicked some serious teenage butt, and they were trying hard. I think that did more for community relations around our way than anything else ever. The local kids had serious respect for him after that and, dare I say it, probably learn't something about the war in the process.

And it was fun watching the teenage bravado dissolve rather quickly into gasps of dismay followed by grudging respect and finally sincere admiration. There's no school like the old school! ;-)

( Jan 11 2006, 03:28:33 PM GMT / Jan 11 2006, 03:11:25 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/classic_computer_games

Wednesday January 04, 2006

Snow!

Slightly out of date, but I have a household rule that work PC's are switched off over the holidays, along with mobile phones and any other communication routes...

Whinge of the week is therefore whinge from last week... snow!

Now, you really have to live in the UK to understand our peculiar attitude to snow in this country. We have a strange love/hate relationship with it.

We love it because it's (relatively) rare, looks pretty, you can have fun, there's often a day or two off work/school etc..

We hate it because it obliterates our transport system in minutes, is unpredictable, melt and freezes making things treacherous and we're just not set up to cope with it here.

Me? I love the stuff. I live in East Kent, which is a slightly peculiar part of the UK in that it is the most south east point of this green land and, you would have thought, largely immune to snow. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your outlook) due to the nature of the terrain and the exposed northern coast we often get a curious Siberian wind from the northeast, which blows across the north sea, sucks up loads of moisture and then dumps it on us as snow, leaving the rest of the UK wondering what the fuss is all about. By contrast, we all tend to get the hottest temperatures in the summer too. (The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK was recorded in Kent.)

The results? 4 days effectively snowed in over the Christmas break. Not much of a hardship really! This is what we woke up to on the morning of the 27th. 10 Inches of snow and -6 degrees celsius - what my Dad used to call "Frosty 'round the Grampians" ;-)....

My 4WD Audi was about as much use as a chocolate teapot in this because there is a layer of sheet ice under the snow here, and there is a sharp tilt on the driveway which doesn't show up well in the photo. I gave up after almost hitting the neighbours car after 15 mins of sliding around, so we went for a walk instead...

My two boys and I (Joshua on my shoulders, and Mark) enjoying a 'Winter Wonderland' in the local woods! Priceless!

( Jan 04 2006, 05:16:42 PM GMT / Jan 04 2006, 05:06:57 PM GMT ) Permalink
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/snow

Happy new Year!

Hi Folks!

Welcome to 2006 and all that. I'm happy to report that, due to the wonders of wireless networking, I am now writing to you all from the comfort of my new conservatory! Yay!

It was finished on Dec 24th at 12:30, so, technically, just in time for Christmas. ;-)

I'm officially poor now, funny how these things ALWAYS eat up about 50% more than you budget for!

( Jan 04 2006, 04:45:52 PM GMT / Jan 04 2006, 04:45:52 PM GMT ) Permalink
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/happy_new_year

Monday December 12, 2005

Are you feeling secure now?

Well it's good to see the government seem to be waking up to the fact that the Identity Card *might* be able to combat online fraud, and well done to the Register's John Lettuce for restoring my faith (atleast to an extent) in their analysis.

Apparently the government are looking at secure remote authentication because you'll need this to identity yourself online, apparently PIN numbers just aren't good enough. Insert comedic phrase relating to biological excretions and the fictional inhabitant of 22b Baker Street.

Disappointing to note they still seem to think that biometrics are an 'access' technology, rather than the simple 'authentication' technology they really represent. Anyone, how are biometrics going to be checked online? Can't see every one buying a biometric scanner for their PC, on top of the cost of this card, can you?

Nor can I see the 'one time password' stuff working. It's ok for limited deployments, but the cost for a NID card sized deployment means it shouldn't be on the drawing board.

Now, we've been thinking about this problem of course, and I reckon we've cracked it...

Ah, but Drew, (says my devils advocate) your solution with PKI authentication enabled smart cards requires a smart card reader on every PC doesn't it?

Well, sort of..., ok yes. But it's not as bad as you think, because we're using the new JCOP41 smart cards. These are Java enabled smart cards with a built in USB interface. In practice all that means is that the card can be wired to an USB hub directly, meaning no complex smart card reader. Stuff that could be built into a PC or given away for pennies. A strong smart card, with secure remote authentication, that doesn't cost very much to deploy and run? Now that's using your head. Entire-ID.

( Dec 12 2005, 05:19:32 PM GMT / Dec 12 2005, 05:19:32 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/are_you_feeling_secure_now

Friday December 09, 2005

Why can't the US make decent film adaptions?

Yes, it's 'whinge of the week time' again...

After blasting the UK media last week, I'm turning my guns on the US this time around. I've getting fed up with Hollywood.

I've been to see three films recently which were adaptions of some of my favourite books.

"War of the Worlds" - H G Wells
"The Polar Express" - Chris Van Allsburg
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - Roald Dahl

Now, I'm always wary of film adaptions as they generally come up short of expectations (notable exceptions include Lord of the Rings and the first Harry Potter film).

War of the Worlds

Recently redone by none other than Steven Spielburg, nothing wrong with that. Starring Tom Cruise... expectations lowered appropriately... Now, anyone who has read this book in its original form knows two things. It was called war of the worlds for a reason, there are two worlds involved, Earth and Mars. The aliens are 'Martians'. It was also set in the UK in the Victorian age. There has already been a tolerable US version, so why set it in the US again and give up on the Martians? It has virtually nothing in common with the original book other than the title. Special effects are up to the usual quality of course, but role on a film adaption that goes with the original story, in the meantime buy Jeff Waynes' musical version and imagine what might have been.

Summary: Absolute rubbish.

The Polar Express

Another disappointment. I really hope Chris Allsburg wasn't involved in this film, because it utterly ruins a great book. The book is a wonderful tale of innocence, childhood lost yet regained and a gentle comment on not growing up too fast. The film, on the other hand is a complete mismash of mild horror (what on earth was that stupid ghost about?), insultingly painful political correctness (the ethnic minorities smugly save the day despite the inadequacies of the dumb caucasians...again), tedious special effects and action sequences to keep the playstation generation awake because nothing actually explodes... The final nail in the coffin is a script which is meaningless, making the conductor (Properly known as a 'Guard', by the way) friendly one minute, aggressive the next and incomprehensible inbetween. The only upside was the music was pretty good other than the hotpotch "christmas hits" medleys near the end.

Summary: Execrable, but get the book, it's great.

Charlie and the Chocolate factory (starring Johnny Depp)

This had me fuming from almost the start. This story is set in North England, against a backdrop of mid twentieth century recession (coal mining towns going out of business). So what do we get? Daft fake english accents done by the american actors, people buying 'candy' bars (what is a candy bar?)... worst of all (YE GODS!) people using 'dollars' in the UK! Not only are you insulting the whole of the UK by implying we don't actually exist, but you're insulting the intelligence of the whole of the US by assuming they can't actually cope with another country having a different currency. Dumbing down or what? Christopher Lee (Wonka's father, a dentist) was way too typecast for this role as well, I kept expecting him to get out his drills whilst wrestling with a stubborn molar and say "The force is strong with this one..." or "Open wider young halfling." Johnny Depp did a pretty good job though. Get the other version starring Gene Wilder back in 1971, far superior.

Summary : Fun, but badly flawed.

( Dec 09 2005, 02:23:56 PM GMT / Dec 09 2005, 01:43:33 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [3]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/why_can_t_the_us

Yep, did it!

Got to shake Jonathans hand at the Niagara launch, got the set now... ;-)

More importantly, got a chance to talk to him about Entire-ID... keep you all posted.

( Dec 09 2005, 01:00:37 PM GMT / Dec 09 2005, 01:00:37 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/yep_did_it

Monday December 05, 2005

Will I get to meet Jonathan Schwartz then?

I'm off to our 'Niagara Launch' tomorrow in London.

Now, being a software guy, you could write all I know about 8 core multithreaded chips on the back of, well, an 8 core multithreaded chip. But Jonathan will be here in the UK, and he's the last person left to cross out on my 'Top Sun execs I have met scratchcard bingo' card. Got to have a handshake to qualify though, none of this namby pampy 'saw him at a distance' lark.

I'll be on the 'Entire-ID' stand talking PKI, smart cards and security. So, if you're reading this Jonathan, pop over and make a software guy really happy! ;-)

( Dec 05 2005, 09:48:17 PM GMT / Dec 05 2005, 09:39:13 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/will_i_get_to_meet

Saturday December 03, 2005

Register fails to register...

Is it me or is the quality of stuff being reported on the register going bit downhill?

Now I don't have a problem with the BOFH and stuff like mp3 breast implants as it gives me something to read on a late friday afternoon, but when you get unqualified quotes from people like Gavin Clarke such as "rather poorly architected application server" it makes you wonder where the quality is. How many applications servers have you architectured then mate? And did he totally miss the point of the 'free software' thing or what?

I used to find their 'analysis' quite insightful, even when it was pretty hostile to Sun (hey, we screwed up a few times, fair do's ;-), but I'm picking and choosing nowadays. It's like some of their commentators just like making waves to get noticed, and that's just cheapo journalism.

ps. Gets even worse... This diatribe by Andrew Orlowski on web 2.0 is just comical. Er, guys, I think you need to stop taking your 'surveys' quite so seriously. Every new wave of technology gets over-hyped, live with it. Doesn't make it any less relevant in the long term.

( Dec 03 2005, 10:29:43 PM GMT / Dec 03 2005, 09:26:18 PM GMT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/register_fails_to_register

Friday December 02, 2005

Free software : Our new big bet...

Well, I guess you've seen the whole free software thing by now ;-)

Funny how most of the negative comment has been from the official media, and most of the positive comment has come from the blogosphere...

I'm looking at it from a pre-sales perspective (as that's my job) and to be honest it won't make much of a difference to me in the short term, but I think the long term is all upside.

I work in pre-sales and see the world as follows.

1. We will still be responding to tenders etc as we usually do. Nobody runs unsupported software at the enterprise level.

2. None of my customers have ever evaluated software using closed door in house resources. They are always POCS (proof of concept) bake offs between competitive companies run by us (pre-sales geeks). Can't see them starting to pay for their own resources to do a job that us suppliers perform as part of the 'cost of sale'.

3. If a few more geeks and techies out there start mucking about with our software and writing up answers to installation/configuration queries etc, then Fan-bloody-tastic I say. (Eg. Do a search on google for help installing php and mysql on apache webserver, then do the same thing installing php and mysql on sun webserver - both can be done, but it's a damn sight easier to do on apache today from a standing start using just the internet as a support resource... community/volume wins)

Jonathan is right on the money still, keep up the good work! ;-)

( Dec 02 2005, 10:49:12 AM GMT / Dec 02 2005, 10:49:12 AM GMT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/free_software_our_new_big

Aloha!

Hey! Got somebody in Hawaii! Hello! :-)

Little things please little minds!

Though conversely: "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." !

( Dec 02 2005, 09:08:55 AM GMT / Dec 02 2005, 09:08:55 AM GMT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/Drew/entry/aloha

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