Babies and Fathers

As most of you know I have a 15 month old baby boy and I am sure I didn't appear in any of these videos, but you never know...

Posted at 08:26PM Apr 28, 2008 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

All Ink Must Be Good Ink

Not sure you have all been following the news in Europe this week, but it seems that Jerome Kerviel has found himself a new job. This is the same person who lost more than $7.7 billion for his prior employer -- Societe Generale and almost caused the stock market in Europe to tank. So what job did he get? You are not going to like this answer -- he is now an IT Consultant!

Isn't this just crazy? I would have thought that, assuming he didn't spend the rest of his life in prison, he would have never been able to land a job again. Can you imaging reading the resume and hiring this guy? Absolutely amazing...

Posted at 03:52PM Apr 28, 2008 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[1]  |  | |

Do you need a FedLet?

You know when Daniel posts a blog like this, there can only be something really cool and exciting about to happen.. Unfortunately he has not shared the news with me, but I was hoping that by driving enough traffic and comments to him he might spill the beans!

Come on Daniel.. what is a FedLet? Or is it a Fedlet, fedlet, FEDlet, FEDLET, ....

-Mark

Posted at 09:14AM Mar 24, 2008 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Job Change

I cannot believe that I have not blogged at all this year, and for those still subscribed to the blog I have committed the classic blog error of non-posting. But just like falling off a horse the best course of action is get back on the horse.

My job has changed quite a lot since my last post, I have taken over the marketing around Sun's infrastructure (aka Middleware) products. I am sure I will still muse over OpenOffice and the incredible surge of adoption of this product, but my focus will naturally shift into middleware and where the industry is going.

I am hoping you will enjoy this ride into Software Infrastructure as much as I enjoy this new responsibility

Posted at 08:26PM Mar 09, 2008 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[1]  |  | |

Write buggy code -- Get sued!

I am sure you have all experienced software glitches, from the notorious blue screen of death to mundane rebooting of your wireless router because suddenly it froze. Now if I was running a nuclear reactor, or some mission critical medical machine my tolerance for rebooting would be zero, but for most of us this has become a way of life. I do consider this when purchasing a product, but I can't say this is one of my top purchasing criteria. 

So what you might say! Well here is the story that caught my eye -- "Microsoft Sued Over Halo 3's 'Consistent' Crashes" Wow, what is the world coming to when games are so important to us that we will sue if they crash? I for one will have to monitor this case to see where it goes, but isn't it strange that suing a software maker for a crash has never entered into my mind? Change software vendors, write them a letter, demand a refund... but sue them? Not sure what this will do to software quality, but I am sure some legal eagles will get some money out of this...

Oh well, back to my day job...

-Mark

Posted at 01:42PM Nov 28, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[2]  |  | |

Do we really need to know the truth?

I have just returned from a flight to the East Coast aboard one of my least favorite airlines -- Alaska Air. Why they are at the bottom of the list of airlines that I like is that the really don't have great customer service. Since I fly from Seattle, they are THE airline at the airport and as such the competition hasn't got them to really go out their way to make things right, or really to be pleasant. In addition they have had a few crashes in the past that was blamed on spotty maintenance record and their "Incidents and Accidents" list is a little worrying.

With this as a backdrop, I boarded the plane to Boston without a hitch, and although I knew I was going to be fleeced for food (Sandwich $5) and entertainment ($10) I was pretty happy that we boarded on time. The flight attendants told us to buckle our seatbelts, switch off the cell phone etc. etc. and then we just sat there! About 40 minutes later (yes 40 MINUTES) the pilot comes on the intercom and tells us that there are some maintenance issues and the GPS and flight navigation computers are not working.. but don't worry when we take off we will make up the time because the jet stream is really strong. OK, at this stage, I wasn't worrying about the jet stream, I was worrying about the flight computer! After another 15 minutes the pilot informs us that all is well and we will be departing shortly. And he was right, we were all fine!

But, did we really need to know that the flight navigation system wasn't working? And if we needed to know that didn't we at least need to know what was wrong with it and what the maintenance crew did to fix it? Was it just a Ctrl-Alt-Del reboot that solved it, or had they just done a defrag or fdisk to repair the disk, or had they replaced the whole board? My problem is that if you want to tell me what the real problem is, then tell me how it was fixed and why I shouldn't need to worry about it again! (Also, please tell me we are going to be delayed before I sit there for 40 minutes wondering why nothing is happening!)

Whew, I feel better. There must be something therapeutic about blogging!

On my return flight we were delayed another hour (Sitting in the airplane) while the "Maintenance crew wrote some things up in the log book!" Oh dear.. here we go again!

-Mark

btw: Alaska it would be nice if you apologized for being late, even thought I would be he first to agree that safety comes first!

Posted at 02:55PM Nov 01, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

All I want for Christmas...

For those of you, like me, love gadgets and technology, Terry White has a great blog and an awesome Christmas 2007 Gift Guide.

For those of you wondering on what I want, just pick a page, I am sure I can make use of almost EVERYTHING in this guide!

-Mark 

Posted at 08:19AM Oct 25, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Google's Developer Pledge Needs Updating

Having just read ZDNet's piece on the Google's developer pledge of allegiance:

I can't help but think that this could be improved:

"I pledge allegence to the web" Why just the web? I love the web just as much as anyone else, but surely this is too limiting? With devices such as mobile phones, Blu-Ray devices, set-top boxes, and the like, I think that pledging allegiance to the Internet makes way more sense.

"One platform" great aspirational goal but is there really only one platform? Each web browser is its own platform, in fact each version of each browser seems to have its own nuances and could almost be considered a platform. As a developer I am also concerned about writing applications that work on way more than one platform.

"DOM" and "AJAX"  Although both these technologies are core to things like HTML/XML rendering and client technologies like Google Maps. These are way to limiting... What about PHP, MySQL, Apache, etc. As a developer I use all of these and, oh yes there is that other little technology out there called Java! How little is Java?

From Java.com: Java powers more than 4.5 billion devices:

• over 800 million PCs
• over 1.5 billion mobile phones and other handheld devices (source: Ovum)
• 2.2 billion smart cards
• plus set-top boxes, printers, web cams, games, car navigation systems, lottery terminals, medical devices, parking payment stations, etc.

Please don't limit me by having me pledge allegiance to only DOM and AJAX!

IMHO, perhaps they should have used this as their pledge of allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the Internet,
and to the innovation and ubiquity for which it stands,
one common vision
of creating liberty and opportunity
for all.

-Mark 

Posted at 02:34PM Oct 24, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Are you ready for Medipedia?

With the news today of Google's heath care platform and Microsoft's entry into this market I am getting more and more worried that it will not be the new killer staph bacteria that will wipe us out, but it will be Medipedia! 

Just try going to Google today and typing in "headache and sore throat" and you get 1.7 million entries! Now how are we going to find out if it is just the common cold, or something more sinister? Surely not by combing through 1.7 million entires, otherwise we will need to add to that sore watery eyes and painful wrists.

So perhaps Medipedia will be born?

All us want-to-be doctors and internet trained surgeons can create our own entries on what the underlying cause and remedy is for any ailment. Medipedia will save tax payers millions by closing down the FDA. Who needs some bureaucracy when the whole internet world can try out our remedies and then vote on them. 5 stars -- it healed me, 4 stars -- I got better, 3 stars -- didn't really work, 2 stars -- it made me worse, 1 star -- oh dear.... While we get rid of the FDA, lets also get rid of medical board exams, I am not sure about the rest of you, but by watching ER and Grey's Anatomy, I think I can handle almost anything!

Perhaps with Medipedia and the new Google medical imaging application, I will be able to take 3D tours of the body, and not just any body, but MY body-- scarey...

Medipedia sure sounds interesting.. quick go get the URL.. OMG.. it is taken!

I for one, am not ready for Medipedia, or for Google and Microsoft to have access to my medical records.

-Mark

Posted at 01:41PM Oct 18, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Announcing: Remix Undefined Mashups Version 2.0

We are on the brink of a new age.

We're about what Web 2.0 is about. An AJAX-driven GUI, this will change everything: Folksonomy. We shall transcend borders. It's all about community. Float this. You need someone who gets it. Tag me. Social is the new push. Cry out, blogosphere!

Clustering. Splog is an aggregate noun. MSM just doesn't get it. Roll your own roll-your-own. It's all changing. Hack it. On-demand streams. The buzz is loud and clear. Single. Word. Sentences! 2.0 is the new New. Label what defies categorization. Clear that. This is newer media. "ASL" is geezer speak. Always be launching. Faster. Faster! The new is old. News clouds.  The words aren't what they were. Podcasts are it.

OK OK enough!!!  

I didn't create this stuff rather it was generated by the Web 2.0 Bullshit Generator What is really scary is that at first pass you probably thought this might be real! Well it isn't, but it does bring home the fact that there is so much hype out there and new buzzwords that you really need to do some checking before believing the next big thing is about to launch.

-Mark

Posted at 01:31PM Oct 17, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[1]  |  | |

Friday Fun Stuff...

The absolute must get T-Shirt for your fellow colleagues, maybe you could even get it customized with your blog address on the back?  You can order it here.

These guys at Dispair Inc, have some great stuff, and their blog is a must read!

Happy Friday

-Mark

Posted at 10:00AM Oct 12, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Startup Camp less than 2 weeks away...

I was just checking out StartUpCamp.org and realized that it is less than 2 weeks away. Being one of the masterminds behind our first StartUp Camp I can't believe how well this is growing and gaining traction. With the first camp back in 2006, we were so worried that we wouldn't get enough people, then we were worried about how unhappy everyone who couldn't get in was going to be. The net result -- register early.. like TODAY! 

For those of you who are new to this whole camp experience let me explain it like this. You get together with a group of like minded individuals (in this case all worried about Startups) and then whoever wants to go talk gets up and proposes a topic and they you think it will be interesting.  Once all the topics are on the board, you basically have the agenda.

Now this is where it really gets interesting. You vote with your feet, if you like a topic you go there, if you get there and it turns into a vendor pitch, you leave! Simple, no pressure. All the rooms we used had glass walls, so it was really easy to see who was hot and who wasn't.

The sessions I attended ranged from "How to optimize system performance in a horizontally scaled architecture" to "How to raise funds to get your startup funded." The worst pitch was from some vendor discussing how their tools worked... I think we all got up after 2 minutes and went to another session.

My absolute favorite part of startup camp was "speed geeking" -- basically everyone who wants to participate has 5 minutes to tell anyone who comes by their table why their startup is best. Attendees vote with their prized wooden nickel.. and the winner gets prizes!

Below is a video of last years winner -- Kristopher Tate, Founder of Zooomr

Posted at 09:12AM Oct 09, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

Facebook's Achilles Heel

I have been having some great time playing around in Facebook and reconnecting with friends, acquaintances, and work colleges. Facebook is absolutely phenomenal in finding all these people and makes the connections pretty easy, but the big problem is that not all friends are alike. 

Perhaps I am even understating the problem. Consider just a typical set of facebook "friends" Some are going to be close family friends who I would love to share my personal blog, my favorite foods, my anniversary date, my pictures from the last family BBQ, etc. They get to see my "Family Persona" Now for my work friends I have another set of information I would like to share, like my work blog, my photos from the company picnic, my current work travel schedule, etc. Basically my "Work Persona"

We all have many persona's here are a few I think I use every day: Professional Persona -- dealing with customers and partners on behalf of my company; Network Persona -- like linked in, connecting with people who I can either help, or that can help me in my profession; Neighborhood Personal -- the neighbors who I interact with on a semi-regular basis; Son Persona -- how I would like my parents to view my profile; Acquaintance Persona -- for those people who I interact with irregularly; etc. Basically the information is shared between the different personas and everyone gets to see a view of the real me. All these personas together probably form the real me, but I am not willing for that many people to see the real me!

Wouldn't it be fantastic if Facebook had this ability for every widget, application, field etc. Now it so happens I have a great friend of mine who is building this very application and I couldn't be more excited -- Check out his blog on the subject.

 So the good news is that there is a cure for Facebook's aliment, the bad news it isn't out yet! Common Tony get coding!

-Mark

Posted at 08:52AM Oct 08, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |

A Marketeers Worst Nightmare...

I am sure you have all heard the news that Halo is out and if you queued up and got the super special collectors edition of the product and took it home you were less than impressed because the disk just didn't work! All that has been written about the subject talks about the problems Microsoft faces with having to reissue disks, the bad publicity, the problem the company has wrought on the poor gamers, but I have yet to see an article written on the "Poor Marketing Guy/Gal that signed off on the packaging"

Now it is no secret that Microsoft and Sun compete, but you really have to feel for the person behind the blunder. I imagine their day went something like this...

T-1day: So excited that my product is going to hit the shelves tomorrow. I can't wait to see how excited all those gamers are going to be. My packaging I created is absolutely beautiful.. Check it out.. lovely metal box, Disks all in there. Wow I might even get a promotion out of this one. I know there were a few bugs in the product, but no one is going to notice them my awesome packaging. These 150 hour weeks are sure paying off..

T-1hour: OMG this is exciting. I have given out T-shirts with my box design to everyone I can find on campus. The dummy packaging looks great. Told my whole family to check the news when the midnight sales happen. Every box they see.. is MINE! I couldn't be more proud. I know I chose marketing for a reason, this is the best day of my life. Steve is sure to promote me after this!

Launch Time: It is out.. just saw it on TV and heading to the store to see it first hand. Halo 3 is going to rock this world.. Yippee... I am going to be famous. Those engineers scoff at us marketing types, but they will see.. we complete the whole product experience!

T+2 hours: Off to the Halo 3 developers party to bask in my success. I wonder what I will get to work on next, perhaps the whole redesign of Microsoft's visual presence? The opportunities are boundless. Maybe Google will call me and offer me a job? I would never accept -- life is so perfect..

T+2.5 hours: SMS Message "Call Customer Service Immediately" Wonder what they want, don't really speak to them, Oh well I will call them after the party. My speech is next....

T+3 hours: My boss comes over apparently my speech isn't needed and I need to go handle an "Issue" with customer service. WHAT! This is my night... oh well better do what the boss wants, anyway with my performance I will soon be his boss.. who cares...

T+4 hours: OMG the disks are getting damaged by my packaging.. Who checked that? The metal box didn't break, but the disk fell out and got scratched. This can't be happening to me.. I checked the fonts, colors, spelling everything. Not one typo, not one off brand color, it was all perfect. Finance, Legal, Tax, Support, everyone signed off on this... So how could this happen?

T+1week: OK, the crisis is over, Steve has stopped yelling at me (Well he at least he knows I exist now!) My boss thinks it best that I work on another high profile product.. Microsoft Bob... thought we killed that, but maybe not?

 So what's the moral of the story? We all make mistakes, engineers make mistakes called bugs and they get promoted. Marketeers make mistakes and they are called morons and are never seen in public again!

Have a great Friday...

-Mark

Posted at 09:30AM Oct 05, 2007 by Mark Herring in General  |  Comments[0]  |  | |