This post is in reply to Nathanael Boehm’s UX for System Architects.
System Architecture is in many ways similar to traditional Engineering or Architecture.
In both cases the end result is almost always going to be used by somebody (Even if it’s just the maintenance team).
In both cases the client will have a number of explicit requirements – I want a three bedroom, two story house, I only have $400k to spend. There will also be a huge number of implied or hidden requirements ...
This post is in reply to Nathanael Boehm’s UX for System Architects.
System Architecture is in many ways similar to traditional Engineering or Architecture.
In both cases the end result is almost always going to be used by somebody (Even if it’s just the maintenance team).
In both cases the client will have a number of explicit requirements – I want a three bedroom, two story house, I only have $400k to spend. There will also be a huge number of implied or hidden requirements – The external doors need to be on ground level, the roof mustn’t blow off in the first rain storm.
Knowing these requirements lets an Architect produce a design that meets the requirements as best as possible. Sane Architects will include some flexibility into the design – say having stronger joists than absolutely required so another floor can be added later.
Even with the most flexible design, there are some fundamentals that can’t be ...
Teched Australia 2010 has just ended, but is having 3100 delegates in one place just too much of a good thing?
Teched Australia has just ended for another year, the second year running they've held it on the Gold Coast.
By all accounts, the event was a success, thanks to the hard work put in by the teams at Microsoft.
Unfortunately, Teched Australia 2010 seems to have been a victim of its own success, with over 3100 delegates attending this year. Many of the 300 and 400 level tracks were held in rooms that were simply not adequate to fit the number of attendees.
A stunning example was Joel Pobar and Nick Gunn's talk - the meeting room it was held in was filled beyond capacity over 15 minutes BEFORE the session was due to start and ended up with people sitting on the stage, in the aisle and beside the podium, just to be able to see the talk. Even then, people were turned away, not being able to even stick their head in the door.
This is not an isolated example, based on the discussions I've had with colleagues and other attendees - many of the In ...
I picked up the Samsung Galaxy S while in the UK for work.
I'm hardly a first-time Android user, having been using Android for about 18 months now.
Look & Feel
The first thing that you'll notice is that Samsung have obviously done a copy-paste job for the physical design of the device from the Apple iPhone 3G/3GS. Right down to the chromed edging, and home key, although it does have a funny little bump on the back at the bottom.
The are two soft-touch keys on the front ...
I picked up the Samsung Galaxy S while in the UK for work.
I'm hardly a first-time Android user, having been using Android for about 18 months now.
Look & Feel
The first thing that you'll notice is that Samsung have obviously done a copy-paste job for the physical design of the device from the Apple iPhone 3G/3GS. Right down to the chromed edging, and home key, although it does have a funny little bump on the back at the bottom.
The are two soft-touch keys on the front - Menu and Back - either side of the physical 'Home' button. To be honest, having a physical button here is quite frustrating - it takes a fair amount of pressure to activate, which contrasts jarringly with the soft-touch keys.
Samsung have made the phone very light - lighter than both the Nexus One, and iPhone 3GS. Given the size, it feels like it should weigh more, which given the size, actually makes it feel less solid than ...
I've been using the Android Platform now for roughly 18 months. In that time I've owned three different Android devices - HTC Dream / G1, Motorolla Milestone, and currently - Nexus One.
The latest release of Android dropped today - and Nexus One owners are the first to get official updates. At the moment the launch appears to be limited to devices in the US, with the rest of the population getting updates as they're progressively rolled out.
It's also available for impatient non-USA&nbs ...
I've been using the Android Platform now for roughly 18 months. In that time I've owned three different Android devices - HTC Dream / G1, Motorolla Milestone, and currently - Nexus One.
The latest release of Android dropped today - and Nexus One owners are the first to get official updates. At the moment the launch appears to be limited to devices in the US, with the rest of the population getting updates as they're progressively rolled out.
It's also available for impatient non-USA Residents such as myself to manually install.
There's a fair number of new features in this release, here's my impression of what the newest iteration of Android is like.
Exchange Calendar + Exchange Global Address List Support
Exchange Calendar is something that I had been waiting for. I use Exchange at work, and keeping one consolidated calendar view for everything is very useful.
Having Exchange Global Address List support is ...
Why Cloud Computing Services have huge stumbling blocks to their adoption for the projects I work on.
One of the projects I'm working on has a need to switch to an service bus / message queue system.
We're after something that's fairly light-weight. Ideally something we can package into our existing distribution and manage the configuration as part of our existing application's configuration.
We also need some level of reliability - we're not expecting clients to go yanking servers out of the rack, but if we send a message, we want to know that it's going to be delivered.
A few people have suggested Cloud based queue systems as a potential solution. Amazon SQS, Azure AppFabric, and Linxter have all been mentioned a few times.
Unfortunately, no cloud solution is going to pass even a preliminary inspection.
When you use a cloud based architecture, you get to offload some of the responsiblity of ensuring the solution is up and running. But at the same time you take a big dependency on the security and stability of not just that cloud provider's infrastructure - but ...
Why a fancy resume is useless if you have no enthusiasm for technology.
One of the things rarely discussed in guides on how to get a job in IT is enthusiasm for technology. I am of the opinion that first and foremost, you need to be a technology geek if you want to work in IT.
Don't confuse being a technology geek with being the stereotypical pimply-faced, pale skinned, greasy haired dweeb. I talk simply of people who have an innate understanding of some area of IT. The kind of person that hears about some new thing and gets a little (or lot) excited.
Personally, I can't understand why would anyone choose a job in IT if they didn't like tech.
It would be like me choosing a career in marketing or interior design. Areas in which I really have zero interest.
Yet when interviewing candidates for software development positions, I find far too many of these people. They tend to express no particular interest in any part of software development in particular, or technology in general.
My only conclusion is that they are ...