/dev/null/kevin

For Earth Day, I am retiring my old (and dangerous) Sun Blade 2000.  I'm replacing it with a new Ultra 24.  Granted, it's not up the drool-worth specs of Rama's system, but it will do for now.  I expect my office to be much cooler now (and quieter).

This will also allow me to use the latest xVM Server hypervisor technology, which is good because I'm on the xVM Ops Center team and I need to get some of this stuff to work. 

Starring Thin Guy as Sun Ray.  Inspired by a tweet from acworkma.

[Original]

What do I do when I'm not blogging?  Working on this:

xVM stands for The Intersection of Virtualization and Management, if you were wondering.  You'd think it would be written V ∩ M, but no.  It's xVM.  Don't argue!   You obviously don't have an advanced marketing degree with emphasis on set theory.  Also, "x" is still cool, and retro.  "x" is the new "i".

What doesn't a guy wandering alone in a canyon have to do with xVM?  Got me.  But before he's washed away by flash flood waters he can remotely manage his entire data center with just a few clicks!  It's also so easy to use that his replacement will have no trouble learning how to use it.

Anyway, I work on the management side of things, so you know whom to blame congratulate later.

Perhaps you've heard that the One Laptop Per Child group is being sued by a "Nigerian entrepreneur" because he claims they stole a keyboard design he invented.

What, is the 419 scam business slowing down?

Here's what he claims:

Is he saying he invented the AltGraph key?  This key rarely found on US keyboards...

Except for every Sun Microsystems keyboard!!

Here is the Nigerian layout of the OLPC laptop:

And here is (part) of a Sun Type 5 keyboard (Photo courtesy Wikimedia.com):

So, if he really is claiming adding two shift keys is his invention, I submit this as evidence that he's full of it.

More evidence that he's full of it?  Here's a link to what the "stolen" keyboard looks like.  Compare it to the OLPC keyboard and you'll see that's they're not even similar.

Here's another take on the story.
 

April Fools is back.

One of the best financial indicators for Sun is its April Fool's Day prank.  In the good years the pranks are good, and in the bad, they're weak (usually prank web pages).  This year we're back with an actual physical prank.

This year they moved CTO Greg Papadopoulos' office into a Sun Blackbox.   It's got satellite TV, a bed, wine fridge and two EasyBake Ovens.  I'm lame and don't have pictures yet, but I'll add them as soon as I can.

Update 1: I guess they are calling it "Project EcoBox" and it also includes Jonathan's office (thus the two EasyBake Ovens).

Update 2: The EcoBox website is up, with pictures spoofing the old blackbox pictures.

Update 3: Here is the video tour of OpenWork 3.0 (jeez, pick a name, guys).

Tags: april fools | blackbox | sun | ecobox | openwork

Here is the first anti-Sun posting on blogs.sun.com!

<tongue-in-cheek>
If you've been reading all along (and who hasn't!) then you know I have a Sun Blade 2000 at home. I also have a 20 month old daughter, Hayley.

The two don't mix well.

Like most paranoid parents, we spent lots of money on over-priced safety products that include foam pads and double sided tape. We had every sharp corner in the house covered in padding, or so we thought. To date, Hayley has never touched any of these pads, except to bite them or to remove them, but she has never fallen on one.

Enter the Sun Blade 2000, with its dangerous, baby-slicing edges (Sun BLADE, indeed). Tucked next to my desk, three of its razor sharp corners are inaccessible, but the fourth was left negligently exposed at toddler chin level.

Now enter Hayley, bright-eyed and eager to show Daddy her latest trick. Innocently running, she slips and hits the one unpadded corner in the entire house, the Sun Blade 2000. Tears and crying follow, some of it from Hayley. There is blood. There is pain. There is anger and guilt. Murphy and his law is cursed once again. On a side note, Band-Aids on kids don't work. Band-Aid == Food

The Sun Blade 2000, before and after the incident, is shown below.