Explicitly and without apology a marketing vehicle MaryMaryQuiteContrary

hot story in Business Week just out.

it's about how BMW is using the Java platform to deliver the next generation driving machine.

but you already knew that.

because you were at JavaOne and got to kick those tires first person



there's Bao in front of the car at JavaOne.

Back to the car...

So you've known for months what Business Week readers are just finding out this week. Because you were at JavaOne. And you still remember that mean German lady who was guarding the car and watching you like a hawk the whole time you were sitting behind the wheel.

what, you didn't get to go? are you serious? and you call yourself a Java developer?

ok. relax. don't worry. i've cleaned up bigger messes than this. here's what you do.

1. read my JavaOne coverage. gives you all the color from the show. (color = marketing word for fun stuff that happened). memorize all the details.
2. Subscribe to the JavaOne Online program which costs a meager $99.95 USD but is oh so well worth it as the subscription includes access to the entire 2002-2004 curriculum, BOFs, labs, forums and much, much more. Plus, everybody who was really there got JavaOne Online for free. So if you're going to say you were there, you'd better have JavaOne Online to "prove it."
3. photoshop this picture from Click and Hack's session. get the back of your head in there. post it to your blog.



and when you go next year... act all indignat that all they did for Alumni last year was a stinkin' coffee mug and a lounge.

trust me. it will work.

;-)

mary

Big disaster on the Sun Ray front.

Yesterday, as I was reaching across my desk to get a package of chips that I stole from my firstborn's lunch box, I knocked over my cup of coffee.



The keyboard was saturated with second-rate coffee.

I try to dry it off... turn it upside down and shake out the coffee...

Keyboard is fried.

Maybe overnight it will evaporate and get better.

No dice.

Now what do i do?

I moved heavan and earth to get myself on this Sun Ray at home pilot. I even promised them that I wouldn't ask stupid questions if they let me on.

Then I go and do a brain-dead thing like this....

How am I going to explain it to them?

Honesty is the best policy.

Their reply: "No problem. just plug in any old USB keyboard."

Are you serious?

(This Sun Ray is all high tech. I never imagined that the solution could be that simple.)

Got me thinking...

What if, instead of spilling coffee on my keyboard, I had spilled it on the Sun Ray itself? Would that have gotten me kicked off the pilot --the senseless distruction of state-of-the-art technology? How much would it have cost to replace?

So I actually have no idea. (find out. start a Sun Ray at home pilot in your business. call your sun rep today.)

But I am certain it is orders of magnitude cheaper than replacing a laptop.

But that's not the whole story, people. It's only the beginning. 

If I had spilled coffee and destroyed my laptop I'd be up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I would have lost all my data and apps stored locally. So in addition to the very significant cost of replacing my hardware, I would have had to spend hours and hours installing firewall, vpn client, anti-virus and more.

No trivial task.

With the Sun Ray, the network is my computer.

I can (and do) take my employee badge (which has a Java card smart chip on it) out of my Sun Ray



at home and go to any Sun office;



stick my badge in; input my secret password;  and I've got my personal desktop. Within seconds. 

(editor's note: the picture above is actually taken in my home office as i wasn't prepared to drive 45 mins to the nearest Sun office just to take a picture.)

It's an entirely new model.

It's total mobility.

You don't really get what a huge big deal this is until you start living this life. No laptop to carry around. No patches to install. No system to administer.

Back to the problem at hand... the keyboard... lucky for me we happen to have a home computer that has a USB keyboard.

Plug and play.

Back in business.

I just love this.

mary

p.s. the moral of the story: don't steal chips from your kid's lunchbox. bad things happen when you do stuff like that.

p.p.s. chips = krisps for all you British speakers out there.