Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Join the scary/invisible revolution [Follow up]
If you're interesting in applying for a position either as an Architect or a Developer working with Dell's Xanadu framework, the job postings are here:
Application Architect position
Programmer Analyst and another Programmer Analyst
Original post follows...
Ever wanted to work on something really cool, but which will affect the daily work of thousands of people around the world, but is for internal-use-only?
We have an opening for a dev lead / architect to work at Dell on our internal Xanadu project. You can learn more (a little more) here...
With Microsoft now culling stuff left and right from Longhorn, it has become all too clear that you can't wait for MS to set things straight - you need to build your own solutions.
The teaming building Xanadu has a track record of seeding ideas into Microsoft, and staying 3-4 years ahead of them. For example, Microsoft redesigned their early ASP.NET efforts after we showed them what we were working on back in 1999. Many features such as the hierarchical composition model and trace came directly from our internal web publishing system. The day after we saw ASP.NET at the 2000 PDC, we showed MS what we trying to do in terms of creating a pluggable base template that defined the layout of the page controlled what showed up where. 4 years later we got ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages.
It seems likely that by the time Blackcomb arrives (in 2012 or so), MS will have realized there is a way to build a common object / programming model for both web and rich-client apps. But why wait? We're building it today!
So if you are a dev lead / architect (one that writes code, and not just talk about it) with several years of .NET experience and a track record of delivery... and of course if the idea of doing something scarily ahead of the curve interests you, pmail me at my work address: steve_saxon@dell.com.
Application Architect position
Programmer Analyst and another Programmer Analyst
Original post follows...
Ever wanted to work on something really cool, but which will affect the daily work of thousands of people around the world, but is for internal-use-only?
We have an opening for a dev lead / architect to work at Dell on our internal Xanadu project. You can learn more (a little more) here...
With Microsoft now culling stuff left and right from Longhorn, it has become all too clear that you can't wait for MS to set things straight - you need to build your own solutions.
The teaming building Xanadu has a track record of seeding ideas into Microsoft, and staying 3-4 years ahead of them. For example, Microsoft redesigned their early ASP.NET efforts after we showed them what we were working on back in 1999. Many features such as the hierarchical composition model and trace came directly from our internal web publishing system. The day after we saw ASP.NET at the 2000 PDC, we showed MS what we trying to do in terms of creating a pluggable base template that defined the layout of the page controlled what showed up where. 4 years later we got ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages.
It seems likely that by the time Blackcomb arrives (in 2012 or so), MS will have realized there is a way to build a common object / programming model for both web and rich-client apps. But why wait? We're building it today!
So if you are a dev lead / architect (one that writes code, and not just talk about it) with several years of .NET experience and a track record of delivery... and of course if the idea of doing something scarily ahead of the curve interests you, pmail me at my work address: steve_saxon@dell.com.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Why I don't think Kerry will win
So before I leap into my theory, let me just say I'm not a US citizen, so I can't vote in the election ...
As an outsider I've been watching the run-up to the election with an sort of sad kind of resolve, not because of the way the campaigns are going, but because I'm not sure I want either of the two leading candidates in the White House. Its interesting to think back to the last election, and given what happened on 9/11 and what Bush did subsequently, to wonder what would have happened if Gore had won back in 2000. It would have been different, I'm sure of that.
Anyway, back to the campaign at hand...
It seems to me that the Bush campaign is built around three things:
1. Talking about how "we're winning the war on terror" (even though a few weeks ago Bush rather stupidly admitted he didn't think it could be won)
2. Deliberately not talking about Iraq (or at least not the high cost in dollars and lives)
3. Mocking/bad mouthing and generally being nasty to the other guys
What do I see from the Kerry camp? It seems he's pretty much trying to not do any dirty campaigning of any kind, and is trying to stay focussed on the issues.
While I find Kerry's determination not to leap on Bush's troubles, there are some he should be complaining about, such as the high cost of the Iraq campaign, or Bush's going AWOL when he was in the National Guard (maybe the definition of AWOL was different back then, but I thought it meant you were supposed to be with your unit but instead nobody knows where the heck you are).
I read today that he finally started to complain about the bizarre coincidence that the Veep's former company Halliburton got so many of the contracts to fix Iraq up, which is just the kind of nasty cronyism that nobody should be allowed to get away with.
The thing is, the whole thing is like watching a 13 year old and a 6 year old verbally taunting each other. On the one hand you have Bush swaggering around saying how Kerry flip-flops on the issues, Cheney telling journalists to f__k off, and the like... but you don't see the same kind of fire in the Kerry camp. I almost expect behind closed doors to hear Kerry referring to the Bush camp as "meanies" or "dunderheads" or some other equally lame name-calling. Certainly I suspect the Jib Jab "This Land" movie is probably the closest Kerry has ever come to calling someone a "stupid dumbass".
The irony is that while its very commendable to be running a clean campaign, and to not be just bad mouthing the competition, it actually helps to reinforce Bush's message that Kerry is weak. Sadly, while it is no doubt a better thing to have a reasoning mind in the White House than a trigger-happy moron and a foul-mouthed VP, dirty campaigning is a proven way to win elections because it makes you look tough at the expense of the other guy. The trouble is, after burning most of the diplomatic bridges the US had with other nations, and trashing the closest relationship of them all - the one with the UK, I'm not sure the US can afford another 4 years of the same.
While I might not trust Kerry on fiscal policy, I at least would expect him to be a darn sight more diplomatic.
As an outsider I've been watching the run-up to the election with an sort of sad kind of resolve, not because of the way the campaigns are going, but because I'm not sure I want either of the two leading candidates in the White House. Its interesting to think back to the last election, and given what happened on 9/11 and what Bush did subsequently, to wonder what would have happened if Gore had won back in 2000. It would have been different, I'm sure of that.
Anyway, back to the campaign at hand...
It seems to me that the Bush campaign is built around three things:
1. Talking about how "we're winning the war on terror" (even though a few weeks ago Bush rather stupidly admitted he didn't think it could be won)
2. Deliberately not talking about Iraq (or at least not the high cost in dollars and lives)
3. Mocking/bad mouthing and generally being nasty to the other guys
What do I see from the Kerry camp? It seems he's pretty much trying to not do any dirty campaigning of any kind, and is trying to stay focussed on the issues.
While I find Kerry's determination not to leap on Bush's troubles, there are some he should be complaining about, such as the high cost of the Iraq campaign, or Bush's going AWOL when he was in the National Guard (maybe the definition of AWOL was different back then, but I thought it meant you were supposed to be with your unit but instead nobody knows where the heck you are).
I read today that he finally started to complain about the bizarre coincidence that the Veep's former company Halliburton got so many of the contracts to fix Iraq up, which is just the kind of nasty cronyism that nobody should be allowed to get away with.
The thing is, the whole thing is like watching a 13 year old and a 6 year old verbally taunting each other. On the one hand you have Bush swaggering around saying how Kerry flip-flops on the issues, Cheney telling journalists to f__k off, and the like... but you don't see the same kind of fire in the Kerry camp. I almost expect behind closed doors to hear Kerry referring to the Bush camp as "meanies" or "dunderheads" or some other equally lame name-calling. Certainly I suspect the Jib Jab "This Land" movie is probably the closest Kerry has ever come to calling someone a "stupid dumbass".
The irony is that while its very commendable to be running a clean campaign, and to not be just bad mouthing the competition, it actually helps to reinforce Bush's message that Kerry is weak. Sadly, while it is no doubt a better thing to have a reasoning mind in the White House than a trigger-happy moron and a foul-mouthed VP, dirty campaigning is a proven way to win elections because it makes you look tough at the expense of the other guy. The trouble is, after burning most of the diplomatic bridges the US had with other nations, and trashing the closest relationship of them all - the one with the UK, I'm not sure the US can afford another 4 years of the same.
While I might not trust Kerry on fiscal policy, I at least would expect him to be a darn sight more diplomatic.
I was reading about Bush's consumption tax in Business Week. When I think of consumption tax I think of the VAT (value added tax) that we have in the UK - which, much like the local sales taxes in the US, is collected at the register, but way less complicated because it is one rate nationally (set by the government).
That would seem to be a nightmare to implement here. Imagine all the cash registers and online stores that would suddenly need to cope with it, and the infrastructure necessary for businesses to claim refunded on raw materials and services they bought (the assumption is that VAT will be collected on the goods that company produces).
Anyway, one section in the BW article was on the idea of "consumed income tax", which made me think ...
If I think about what it would mean to me directly, it would probably mean I would be trying to save the maximum possible every month, and I'd only spend what I needed to. I'd have direct transfers set up with my bank to move the money the day I got paid so I never even see it.
Now, lets say Apple releases some new gadget, but I don't have the money in my current account to buy it right now. Before I would have kept a float in my current account (because it didn't cost me anything except maybe a few dollars a year in lost savings interest) and I could afford to buy it.
Even today, if money is in Savings I really don't like moving it back to Current, even though I can do it electronically. It just doesn't feel right. With a consumed income tax, I can see myself keeping almost nothing in my current account and cutting down on spending on frivolous stuff.
Another example is cars. Right now I'm taking a long hard look at $55K worth of Infiniti's 2006 M45 (due here next spring), but if I thought I'd end up paying 30% consumption tax on it, I can see me getting something like an Acura TL instead. And you have to think it would be death to vehicles like the Hummer H2, where you'd pay 30% tax up front, and then get killed again at the pump to feed the 6mpg engine.
I don't doubt that over time this reduced consumption effect would wear off, and folks would continue to buy a bunch of stuff they don't need, but I can't help thinking that years 1 and 2 would be pretty hard on companies making cars, computers and other deferable products or luxury goods like $1500 purses. And of course, if everyone decided to save to the max, the government wouldn't pull in enough money to meet their budget...
... which if nothing else, would put the government's incredible military spending into sharp focus.
That would seem to be a nightmare to implement here. Imagine all the cash registers and online stores that would suddenly need to cope with it, and the infrastructure necessary for businesses to claim refunded on raw materials and services they bought (the assumption is that VAT will be collected on the goods that company produces).
Anyway, one section in the BW article was on the idea of "consumed income tax", which made me think ...
Think of an unlimited individual retirement account. You would simply list your income - including, possibly, your fringe benefits and other goodies that are currently excluded - the subtract everything you save and invest and calculate tax on what is left.This seems like an interesting way to do it, not only because its a darn sight simpler than the current system of exemptions and loopholes, but because of the social effect I think it would have.
If I think about what it would mean to me directly, it would probably mean I would be trying to save the maximum possible every month, and I'd only spend what I needed to. I'd have direct transfers set up with my bank to move the money the day I got paid so I never even see it.
Now, lets say Apple releases some new gadget, but I don't have the money in my current account to buy it right now. Before I would have kept a float in my current account (because it didn't cost me anything except maybe a few dollars a year in lost savings interest) and I could afford to buy it.
Even today, if money is in Savings I really don't like moving it back to Current, even though I can do it electronically. It just doesn't feel right. With a consumed income tax, I can see myself keeping almost nothing in my current account and cutting down on spending on frivolous stuff.
Another example is cars. Right now I'm taking a long hard look at $55K worth of Infiniti's 2006 M45 (due here next spring), but if I thought I'd end up paying 30% consumption tax on it, I can see me getting something like an Acura TL instead. And you have to think it would be death to vehicles like the Hummer H2, where you'd pay 30% tax up front, and then get killed again at the pump to feed the 6mpg engine.
I don't doubt that over time this reduced consumption effect would wear off, and folks would continue to buy a bunch of stuff they don't need, but I can't help thinking that years 1 and 2 would be pretty hard on companies making cars, computers and other deferable products or luxury goods like $1500 purses. And of course, if everyone decided to save to the max, the government wouldn't pull in enough money to meet their budget...
... which if nothing else, would put the government's incredible military spending into sharp focus.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Wisdom once gained, not easily lost
Yesterday was baaad. I went in to get my lower two wisdom teeth removed. They were both impacted and gave me some discomfort from time to time, plus they could each compromise the tooth in front, which we didn't want.
So they put me on the gas and started injecting away. This was my first experience with the gas, and I've got to say I was high as a kite. I have a friend that can't do the gas - he says it freaks him out. I definitely went through a layer of that on the way down, and occasionally got some more freakout as I bounced along the bottom (not sure how else to describe it) but the rest was pretty awesome!
Anyway, my dentist spent two hours trying to coax out the worst of them, and eventually gave up. He said in 30 years this is only the third tooth he didn't succesfully remove. So on one hand I feel like "I totally rock". But on the other hand I failed because I couldn't even get through something as run of the mill as getting my wisdom teeth out.
Now I have a referral to the same oral surgeon that removed all of the wife's wisdom teeth and three others in one hour-and-a-half sitting.
And I get to go through the surgery recovered phase a whole second time.
And the worst part is that he totally knocked her out, so I wouldn't even get the gas again. Nightmare.
So they put me on the gas and started injecting away. This was my first experience with the gas, and I've got to say I was high as a kite. I have a friend that can't do the gas - he says it freaks him out. I definitely went through a layer of that on the way down, and occasionally got some more freakout as I bounced along the bottom (not sure how else to describe it) but the rest was pretty awesome!
Anyway, my dentist spent two hours trying to coax out the worst of them, and eventually gave up. He said in 30 years this is only the third tooth he didn't succesfully remove. So on one hand I feel like "I totally rock". But on the other hand I failed because I couldn't even get through something as run of the mill as getting my wisdom teeth out.
Now I have a referral to the same oral surgeon that removed all of the wife's wisdom teeth and three others in one hour-and-a-half sitting.
And I get to go through the surgery recovered phase a whole second time.
And the worst part is that he totally knocked her out, so I wouldn't even get the gas again. Nightmare.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Join the scary/invisible revolution
Ever wanted to work on something really cool, but which will affect the daily work of thousands of people around the world, but is for internal-use-only?
We have an opening for a dev lead / architect to work at Dell on our internal Xanadu project. You can learn more (a little more) here...
With Microsoft now culling stuff left and right from Longhorn, it has become all too clear that you can't wait for MS to set things straight - you need to build your own solutions.
The teaming building Xanadu has a track record of seeding ideas into Microsoft, and staying 3-4 years ahead of them. For example, Microsoft redesigned their early ASP.NET efforts after we showed them what we were working on back in 1999. Many features such as the hierarchical composition model and trace came directly from our internal web publishing system. The day after we saw ASP.NET at the 2000 PDC, we showed MS what we trying to do in terms of creating a pluggable base template that defined the layout of the page controlled what showed up where. 4 years later we got ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages.
It seems likely that by the time Blackcomb arrives (in 2012 or so), MS will have realized there is a way to build a common object / programming model for both web and rich-client apps. But why wait? We're building it today!
So if you are a dev lead / architect (one that writes code, and not just talk about it) with several years of .NET experience and a track record of delivery... and of course if the idea of doing something scarily ahead of the curve interests you, pmail me at my work address: steve_saxon@dell.com.
We have an opening for a dev lead / architect to work at Dell on our internal Xanadu project. You can learn more (a little more) here...
With Microsoft now culling stuff left and right from Longhorn, it has become all too clear that you can't wait for MS to set things straight - you need to build your own solutions.
The teaming building Xanadu has a track record of seeding ideas into Microsoft, and staying 3-4 years ahead of them. For example, Microsoft redesigned their early ASP.NET efforts after we showed them what we were working on back in 1999. Many features such as the hierarchical composition model and trace came directly from our internal web publishing system. The day after we saw ASP.NET at the 2000 PDC, we showed MS what we trying to do in terms of creating a pluggable base template that defined the layout of the page controlled what showed up where. 4 years later we got ASP.NET 2.0 Master Pages.
It seems likely that by the time Blackcomb arrives (in 2012 or so), MS will have realized there is a way to build a common object / programming model for both web and rich-client apps. But why wait? We're building it today!
So if you are a dev lead / architect (one that writes code, and not just talk about it) with several years of .NET experience and a track record of delivery... and of course if the idea of doing something scarily ahead of the curve interests you, pmail me at my work address: steve_saxon@dell.com.
