Skrocki's Blog: Sun, Cloud, Social Networking, Random Thoughts...

Thanks to the beauty of the social web, we have tons of communication channels that are alive with JavaOne, CommunityOne & Sun Cloud conversations. Here's a quick summary of those channels -- please join the discussions:

Sun Blog Action

• JavaOne blog posts
• CommunityOne blog posts
• Sun Cloud blog posts

Microblogging Action

• All Inclusive JavaOne & CommunityOne Tweets
• JavaOne on Twitter
• CommunityOne on Twitter
• The Sun Cloud on Twitter
• Sun's primary Twitter handle
• Sun's Software Team on Twitter
• Java's Mascot, Duke, on Twitter

Facebook

• JavaOne Conference Fan Page
• CommunityOne Group
• Sun Microsystems Fan Page

Videos

• Sun Microsystems on YouTube
• Sun Total Access Net (or the chicks I refer to as the Barbara Walters & Katie Couric of JavaOne)
• Dude, where's my pass? videos submitted by Java fans around the world. Here's my fave:

Podcasts

Sun Radio on Blog Talk Radio

Conference Tags

If you join any of these conversations & would like to tag your posts, a summarized list of tags are posted here.

Webcasts

If you can't attend the conference, a live webcast will be made available for the CommunityOne General Session and Technical Sessions.

If you are at JavaOne, I'll be at the community corner booth on Monday and the spinning wheel on Tuesday -- drop by to say hello.

Yup, these chicks' JavaOne videos are better than The View. If you're going to JavaOne, be sure to check them out so you're in-the-know on places to go & people to see.

If you're on Twitter, Heidi can be found at @_intellichick_ and Jen can be found at @maybeimright.

Sorry about having to play my annual all caps blog title card, but this is exciting. As a child, I would watch Wheel of Fortune not for the ridiculously easy puzzle solving, but to admire Vanna White's grace -- how she'd float across that floor and sweep her hand over those letters. It was magical, but I have something she doesn't -- a certified background in wheel spinning. That is correct. I spun the wheel at the church bazaar in front of 10s of people holding their raffle tickets filled with dreams of carrying a whole salami home with them! How much training did I require to be such a wheel spinning child prodigy, you ask? The answer may very well shock you.

None! That is correct. None.

And so, it makes perfect sense that I was selected from an abundant pool of people to be one of this year's JavaOne wheel spinners. Never mind that most of the people in the pool said "Pffft! I'm not doing that!" They, my friend, are crazy people. They don't get the whole wheel spinning lifestyle, but I do.

AND, that's not all!

My good buddy, whom many of you know as @ditucci will also be a wheel spinner. On the same day! At the same time! We'll be like Bob Barker's Babes, but different. More modern. More classy. More confident. More approachable. More je ne sais quoi...mysterious. We're kicking around ideas on matching evening gowns, but the people in the brand org might veto that idea...so, no promises there.

So, please join us at JavaOne. Our wheel spinner work schedule is as follows: Tuesday, June 2nd 11AM - 7:30PM

The banner says it all "JAVA + COMMUNITY + WHEEL SPINNERS SKROCKI & DITUCCI = POWERFUL"

And none of this "I can't afford to go" business. Here's how you can possibly have your pass and $1500 in travel expenses covered. Let me know if you submit a video and I'll obnoxiously state my opinion to the judges about how I think it rocks (not that that will help, but you never know -- persuasion is part of my job).

I hope to meet you then!

It's been five amazingly successful years for blogs.sun.com as of today. The success of this site has often been the focal point of corporate blogging done well and while the physical site, statistics, and sensible guidelines are impressive works of art, it's the the less tangible accomplishments that matter most to me.

Similar to the sentiments attached to my childhood home address, "http://blogs.sun.com/lskrocki" is not only the cornerstone for my digital footprint and where I first blogged, but it's where I learned that protecting ones professional voice is worth fighting for. It's a place where I am encouraged not only to communicate openly with the market place and the world about my focus at Sun, but as stated on the front page of this site it's also a place where I'm welcomed to "write about anything". It's through many of us writing about "anything", that I've met people near and far whom I respect, admire, learn from and consider friends.

In my post one year ago today, I wrote "What's in store for Sun Blogs in the future? More great blogging, of course." Facing that same question today amidst micro-blogging and a pending acquisition, I can't really begin to venture a guess at what's next for this site, but what I do know is something I've said in many conversations when asked about providing social tools in the corporate space -- whether tools are conveniently placed in front of them or not, people will find a way to connect and communicate. It's in our DNA.

A million thanks to the Sun Blog founders and anyone who has contributed to this great conversation via a blog post, a comment, or even a leisurely read!

More posts on this topic.

It seems that infusing the precise dose of corporate brand in social sites can make or break you. Too much, you're screwed. Too little, you're screwed.

By "brand" I don't just mean a tight logo with a trendy color palette & volumes of images of happy people action shots where the consumer has to spend time interpreting how the high flying kite somehow represents a product. I mean the whole ball of wax: logo, look & feel, authentic conversation focus & tone from genuine human beings whom people in the market place get to know individually on a personal level because you build commonality with them by sharing non-corporate passions, interests, hobbies, silly pictures of you with your pets, etc. and by taking an interest in not only shoving corporate info in their direction, but by getting to know them as a person not just a potential wallet. It's been said countless times, but people rather stand behind people they personally know, like and trust and/or are recommended by other consumers or friends.

"You think you can market to people with whom you have no relationship Listen first. Monitor what's being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community."
~ Top 10 Reasons Your Company Should Not Tweet

Similar to how consumers 50+ years ago bought from the local mom and pop shops because they knew the shop owners and the small town chatter was the product review system, we've all become digital influencers and base our purchases on reviews we share at lightning speed -- only now the "small town chatter" happens instantly and globally.

I'm not suggesting that what I call "traditional brand" (logo, look & feel, etc.) isn't important, it is -- just ask those who have been brand-jacked or have opted to hand over the keys to their brand to whomever wants to commandeer it on their behalf via the vast new media channels simply because they (the brand-jacked) chose to not join the conversation. Or, ask those who have over-branded their social net activities via a one way, stuffed-shirt social network presence that looks a lot like traditional web 1.0 content shoved into a web 2.0 pipe -- it doesn't fit.

"If 1.0 was about buying attention, 2.0 is about earning attention by creating great experiences and providing value. In a sense, advertising 2.0 turns marketers into street musicians who must hone their performance and their content. They have to be so good and so relevant that random passers-by will choose to stop and experience the content. The digital manifestation of this is strategies that aim not to drive traffic to your site, but rather, drive your site to the traffic."
~By Jeremy Lockhorn, ClickZ

What I am suggesting is there are interesting brand influencers who don't reside in your brand/marketing organization(s), or company for that matter, at all -- individual humans engaging in the new media arena sharing their knowledge and experiences. Market place conversations about your company and products are happening right now with or without you -- good or bad. You, the human(s) behind the logo, best be sensibly participating in both.

For those already engaged in the new media area, the above is old news. For those new to this space who may be wondering how to join the conversation, have a look at how other companies are participating and decide what best fits your company's style & focus. Here are a couple to get you started:

A collection of resources to help demystify cloud computing...

Cloud Computing in Plain English

About cloud computing as a utility -- much like electrical & water utility services where you pay only for the computing and storage that you use, as opposed to paying the overhead of creating & maintaining your own data center.

Data Center of the Future: Supernap by Switch

It's no longer a thing of the future -- it's a glimpse inside the brick walls that physically house cloud engines. Think of it as being a cloud compute and storage utility site equivalent to an electricity plant.

The Cloud, Virtualization, and All That

A webcast featuring Jonathan Eunice on why cloud computing is relevant -- an IT culture shift from "if we should use it" to "why wouldn't we use it". Comprehensive explanations of public vs private vs hybrid clouds, how virtualization is the grease that enables it all, and definitions of:

SaaS: Software as a Service
PaaS: Platform as a Service
DaaS: Data as a Service
HaaS: Hardware as a Service
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
XaaS: X as a Service, for whatever X

A Guide to Getting Started with Cloud Computing

A free pdf on why the cloud isn't just about inexpensive computing, cloud history & how to use, leverage, build and be the cloud, Sun's Open Source and Interoperable cloud philosophy, how to join the Sun cloud API community and sign up for Sun cloud public beta.

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For me, as is the case with most end-users, I simply want my favorite websites to:

A) Always be available
B) Always be snappy (even during a major events that may cause unexpected traffic spikes); and
C) As Don with SmugMug puts it, I want owners of my favorite sites to focus on "writing great software".

“We really don’t want to operate datacenters anymore. We’d rather spend our time giving our customers great service and writing great software than managing physical hardware.”

— Don MacAskill, CEO, SmugMug

1. A colleague receiving well-deserved recognition for his amazing contributions, brilliance and eagerness to share it. Congratulations, Joe Mocker, for your latest title of Principal Engineer! Not only is Joe able to solve the toughest technology problems, but he does it with such a friendly, humble style.
2. A boss who is willing to persevere through the industrial strength red tape and ridiculous volumes of work by taking the time to ensure his staff are taken care of and rewarded. See #1. Thanks Will.
3. Celebrities who have a soul and genuinely care about others beyond themselves. Well handled, @MrsKutcher!
4. People who are willing take the time to share tips based on their own challenging experiences. Thank you Katy, for your "After the RIF notice, before you leave" blog post.
5. Corporations who get that community tools are for building authentic relationships with members -- real human beings that share commonality -- in the community. Kudos to @cbs4denver for getting this! One of my favorite tweets of yours: "cbs4denver Hello all, we're just sitting down for our afternoon editorial meeting. Please join us." Every day, via Twitter, they invite their fellow neighbors into the news room to pitch ideas on what the collective "we" want to talk about. I love that.
6. This blog, and folks who follow it. Micro-blogging on Twitter is all well and good, but there's nothing like carving out un-rushed time to write down complete thoughts.
7. And lastly, via my home girl, Mary's blog (you'll want to have your lighters ready and someone you love next to you before you click play):

Via a Girl Geek dinner connection, I had an engaging conversation about corporate use of community sites this morning with the CEO of InsideGOOD -- a very cool ratings site for nonprofit organizations. Following are a few resources that came up during the conversation that may help her drive awareness, site build out & participation. I figured these may be of interest to others in the community and small to medium business spaces, so I'm posting them here as well.

Sun's Guidelines on Public Discourse: Brief, conversational read that offers Sun employees sensible advice when participating in social sites

Sun Forums Moderator Program: Guidelines and summary about our volunteer community moderators program. The value add has help drive a remarkable improvement in setting a positive tone on the Sun Forums.

Why Your Brand Needs a Managed Community: "The survey included results from over 112,000 people - or about 11% of the total 1 million people represented in the population of the 22 communities surveyed. Social marketing programs achieved nearly 5x the ROI of direct marketing programs and 30x the ROI of traditional media advertising programs." Holy cow!

Sun's Startup Essentials Program: "...designed to help startups get their business off the ground FAST with the right IT infrastructure at the LOWEST COST possible."

Sun's Small to Medium Business Program: Useful SMB information sharing, cost-effective solutions, success stories, SMB offers, etc.

Via Barton's blog, Scott Monty on a couple interesting new media initiatives at Ford (I love the Ford Fiesta initiative -- 100 digital influencers in 100 Ford Fiestas providing unfiltered public digital perspectives):

If you are a Burlington, MA resident, you have an opportunity to vote for Dan Ditucci as Selectman tomorrow. Here's how.

In addition to Dan being an integral part of the Burlington community since before there were paved roads (seriously), he's a family man, a Burlington small business owner, passionate about the direction of his community, and the father-in-law of Liz DiTucci (one of Sun's strongest program managers).

All the best, Dan!

UPDATE: Via @ditucci"He won!" Congratulations, Selectman Ditucci!!!

Yesterday was a great day for Sun. Dave Douglas, Senior Vice President of Cloud Computing and Lew Tucker, Vice President and CTO of Cloud Computing unveiled the Sun Cloud. From an internal view, it feels good to see Sun's power players from various levels and organizations within the company huddled around this effort -- the traction is obvious.

In case you missed it, you can replay the webcast -- following is the portion of the general session where Lew demonstrates the virtual data center:

Via his video blog, Jonathan comprehensively discusses how the Sun Cloud offers storage, compute and bandwidth by cohesively weaving together the use of Sun's open source assets for the entire free software community -- including deployments behind corporate firewalls.

The open cloud API is under a creative commons license -- API info is posted on The Sun Cloud API wiki.

For early cloud access and updates, sign up here.

David Berlind with InformationWeek has an excellent podcast where he interviews Michelle Dennedy, Sun's newly appointed Chief Governance Officer in the Cloud Computing Organization.

Michelle is spearheading an effort to organize a collaborative cloud privacy governance alliance to define a cloud governance framework (What is it? What needs to be regulated?) in the short term with a long term goal of building cloud trust via transparency, open standards & interoperability that is regulated by the cloud governance framework & governments/legislators around the world.

Well worth a listen...

Podcast: Sun Looks To Start Privacy And Governance Alliance For Cloud Computing Industry

I'm not the athletic type. Not even close. Even tho' I am physically active, getting and staying in shape via routine workouts is a tall order.

Last week, I paired up with Thin Guy on a workout routine that seems to be working. Here's the gist of it:

1. Both workout buddies need to complete and report a workout every 24 hours
2. If one doesn't report a workout by that evening, the other has to complete their buddy's workout that evening (ick!)
3. No early banking or making-ups of missed workouts

See how that works? For most of us, it's easy to not take time to take care of ourselves. It's easy to let ourselves down, but not so easy to let others down.

It's only day four for Team BWMB (@ditucci figured it out), but thus far we're winning 4-0.

A couple tips:

1. Twitter makes it easy to record your workouts. I do this by tweeting my status to @twitfit
2. Pick a partner who knows your weaknesses that are likely to sabotage your cadence. Mine just effectively pulled me out of the vortex of distraction:
   
   

A million thanks to Deirdré Straughan, Sun videoblogger extraordinaire for organizing a very successful 1st Colorado Front Range Girl Geek Dinner, held at Sun's Broomfield campus last week. Thanks also to my boss, Will Snow, Sr. Engineering Director, for helping to fund the event.

In case you missed it, Jodi Brooks with CBS Denver News and Deirdre have posted summaries.

If you are a woman in tech in the Denver metro area, please join @DeirdreS and me as we co-host a Girl Geek Dinner at the Sun Microsystems campus in Broomfield. Here are the deets:

Thursday, March 5, 2009
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Sun Microsystems Broomfield Campus
Sun Conference center, Building 1
500 Eldorado Blvd.

Please RSVP via the Facebook page or the wiki.

We look forward to seeing you!

If you haven't signed up for Twitter yet, do yourself a favor & do it now -- nobody wants to be the last adopter of a mainstream utility (as was done w/ electricity, indoor plumbing, television, etc.). You'll thank me later.

Anywho, have you noticed what a polling crazed species we've become? I have a feeling that twtpoll (a super simple Twitter polling tool that can be easily embedded) is going to be huge. Check it out: