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June 28, 2006
Not why - but how
Ashley is at OSBC and is blogging his thoughts from there.
Posted by Matthew at 02:32 PM | Comments (1)
June 24, 2006
Quiet here - isn't it?
Blogging has been light - apart from the odd World Cup post - over here for a while now. I'm currently busy sorting out various things (like buying a house) and so have not been able to find the time to post.
Meanwhile, next week sees two very interesting Open Source related conferences happening in Europe. OSBC-Europe takes place in London and the Apache people will be be gathering in Dublin to drink Guiness participate in lots of interesting sessions at ApacheCon Europe.
Due to various reasons, I can't attend - but hopefully there will be plenty of coverage and I'll hopefully catch up with some of you later in the year.
Posted by Matthew at 11:41 AM | Comments (1)
June 17, 2006
Germany - rediscovering patriotism
In 1954, Germany won the World Cup in Bern, Switzerland. The victory is often quoted as being one of the factors that led to the countries economic recovery and boom in the following years. It is unlikely that the current World Cup will have much of an economic impact but it does seem that through the event, Germans are rediscovering a new love of their own country. Patriotism. Nearly every car is flying at least one German flag (in fact they are sold out in many shops here in Paderborn), flags are being prominently displayed in windows and people walk the streets decorated in black, red and gold colors.
I have lived in Germany of nearly 30 years and this is the first time I can remember where patriotism has been so visible. Not only that, but there is practically no sign of lengthy discussions in the media as to whether German patriotism is "politically correct". People are just enjoying the gigantic party that is the World Cup 2006. One of Germany's major weekly magazines - der Spiegel - will lead Monday with a focus on "Germany - between parties and patriotism".
Posted by Matthew at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2006
World Cup pictures
A couple of pictures taken at the match yesterday. The whole set is up on Flickr.
Nicolas enjoying his first World Cup.
A German fan (who would have guessed)
A Polish fan celebrating victory (in the table-soccer match held outside the stadium).
Posted by Matthew at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)
Germany 1 - Poland 0
Just back from the World Cup match Germany vs. Poland. A really special event for us being able to actually attend one of the matches - and what a match it was. We got to Dortmund at around 14:00 giving us seven hours to soak up the atmosphere in and around the stadium. I'll put some pictures up later. I wore my England shirt and received plenty of comments.
The press is reporting that 120 German hooligans were arrested in the center of Dortmund, but I'm pleased to say that we saw absolutely none of that and things between the fans were very friendly.
Posted by Matthew at 01:16 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2006
Angie is the new Amanda - *casting jumps the shark
A world-leader first: German chancellor(ette) Angela Merkel releases her first video podcast and threatens to release a new one each week. Watch out Amanda and ZeFrank, your days are numbered. In her first episode, Angie talks about - wait for it - the World Cup. Who would have thought.
Posted by Matthew at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
The virus that is the World Cup
Only slightly more than 24 hours before Germany descends into utter madness until July. Over the past few weeks, the World Cup virus has been on the rampage here. Go into a supermarket and it's obvious the product marketing people were the first to be hit. There is virtually no product available that doesn't come in some special World Cup version. World Cup soup, World Cup cereal, World Cup sausage - you name it - it's there. Add to that the availability of World Cup flags, caps, socks etc. - and you can begin to imagine what things are like here. Yesterday, Berlin staged a pre-World Cup fan event - and 250.000 people turned out. And they haven't started playing yet.
I'm trying to convince my kids that they should at least be partly for the English team - but it does look as though I will be on my own when it comes to the inevitable Germany vs. England match later in the tournament. Of course, it may not happen - but often enough it has and I've been the sad one after the penalties.
The virus has already infected natives of former colonies friends in the US.
Posted by Matthew at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)
June 07, 2006
MacBook Trackpad woes
Before I enter into the depths that is Apple Customer support - here's the problem:
When the MacBook arrived, I noticed that the Trackpad didn't sit properly. It seems to be either bent or stuck down very unevenly. The trackpad itself is "bumpy" (for lack of a better word). In a couple of places (e.g. the lower right corner) the trackpad actually bends up to be higher than the recess. I can push down on it but it pops up again. I think this is perhaps due to the fact that I had extra memory built in before getting it shipped - and something seems to have warped the trackpad.
Did anyone have the same problem and manage to solve it themselves?
Update: Andrew posts some tips - thanks! I have now rung Apple support and the MacBook is scheduled to be picked up and sent back for a fix. Up to now (2 calls), I have no complaints with the support people at all. Yet.
Posted by Matthew at 07:21 AM | Comments (1)
June 06, 2006
Valleyschwag in Germany
My first Valleyschwag parcel arrived today. Contents were a T-Shirt, some stickers, Perplexcity cards and MovableType Keychain. Best was the burlap wrapping - which they are actually going to do away with for the next issues. It will be interesting to see if they can actually scale this and still keep it attractive enough. Fun getting some "Valley" post though.
Posted by Matthew at 06:00 PM | Comments (1)
What's in a number?
My daughter, Victoria, was born on the 06-06-96 and she turns 10 today - 06-06-06.
Posted by Matthew at 02:23 PM | Comments (1)
June 02, 2006
iBook feeding MacBook
Posted by Matthew at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
Enter the MacBook
So, today my wife received her shiny new MacBook (the 1.83GHz model). She has been using my old 500 Mhz G3 iBook for quite a while and has had increasing trouble fitting everything (photos, films, music etc.) onto it. The performance is also not what she needs anymore and so it seemed logical to get her an upgrade. And of course she had the added bonus of actually being able to unpack a new shiny white iBook MacBook.
I must say I'm very jealous quite impressed with the new addition to our Mac household. The screen is gorgeous and the "glossy" factor doesn't make it too reflective. I also think the widescreen adds to the overall visual improvements. The keyboard is fine but together with the trackpad and button, takes a bit of getting used to. The integrated camera is fun to play around with (especially using photo booth), but we don't use iChat that much, so we'll see how necessary the camera becomes.
As reported, the MacBook is quite hot - especially the area towards the back left where the power cord (neat magnet fitting) is plugged in.
The only real quibbles up to now: The surface of the trackpad wasn't "stuck down" properly and looks as though it might come "unstuck" again, even after I pressed it down all over. Does anyone else know of this problem? Also, the migration assistant doesn't seem to have migrated the email contents from the Mail application over correctly. I need to check that.
First impressions.
Posted by Matthew at 07:02 PM | Comments (2)
Open Source border crossing
I'm always interested in seeing how Open Source is making in-roads into various industries. Indiginox has been working in the e-passport (electronic passport) area and establishing an Open Source strategy for one of the vendors there.
Posted by Matthew at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
Open Source and RF*s
Matt has some good advice for young Open Source companies on the subject of RFPs and RFIs. Not only is this advice for Open Source vendors, but also for Open Source SIs (System integrators). I have spent many a day answering RF*s and trying to fit an Open Source based offering into something that will resemble what the requestor seems to be looking for. More often than not, it is obvious that RF*s were written as a way of comparing commercial product scenarios with fixed licensing and "tick-the-box" feature sets.
Today, it is still difficult to answer an RF* with an Open Source based offering in a way that will get you past the first hurdle. Some companies have very strict rules on how they want the RF* answered and being able to present the many advantages of an Open Source offering in an anonymous document often requires creative thinking on your part.
Organizations need to adjust their RF* process so that there is more room for a "try before you buy" period in the project and more room for an Open Source vendor to describe the advantages of the Open Source offering without being dismissed for not having ticked all the boxes in the requested feature matrix.
Posted by Matthew at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)