Mark Edgington

You know that saying that all PR is good PR? Not sure it always works.

Never before have I seen such an abysmal start to an operating system release. For almost a year, people have been adopting Vista and becoming incensed by how poorly it operates. Not only does it cost too much, it requires more to run than XP, there is still poor driver support, and that draconian licensing scheme is a by-product of Microsoft picking on the wrong people.

The road ahead looks dangerous for Vista and Microsoft must realize that. With Mac OS X hot on its tail, Vista is simply not capable of competing at an OS level with some of the best software around. If Microsoft continues down this path, it will be Vista that will bring the software giant to its knees–not Bill Gates’ departure.

Of course, categorically dumping an operating system is quite difficult and with millions already using the OS, chances are Microsoft won’t find a good enough reason to do it. And while I can understand that argument, there’s no reason the company can’t continue to support Vista and go back to the drawing board for its next OS. Even better, go back to XP–it’s not nearly as bad as Vista.

As a daily user of Mac OS X, XP and Vista (i removed it after 2 weeks), I’m keenly aware of what works and what doesn’t. Mac and XP work.

Read the full article at - Why Microsoft must abandon Vista to save itself

I have recently released content management system that i co-wrote. It’s a lightweight content management system that uses standard data and data structure formats to represent content structure and content. It is Java for platform independence, and utilizes tags or Java objects to incorporate content into HTML pages. It has some great feature for relational content and a rich security system. It’s been used on sites for Daimler Chrysler, Disney, St Gobain and more recently Essent and is soon to be deployed on Sky Travel.

The sourceforge project can be found at Incendiary Blue on Sourceforge infromation will grow and a site created in the coming months.

My team have just launched a site to show off the new Mazda2 . Its written in .Net 2.0 feeding in XML content to a Flash video and integrated into a Sieble Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system across 21 countries.

Mind 42 have just released a free on-line mind mapping tool, The sign-up is fast and you’ll be mapping in no-time.   It’s easy to use, offering some basic functions, but more are on the way.  A great feature is the ability to collaborate by sharing your maps, coupled with other tools like basecamp (for project management)  and you can have great control and communication around your project, especially if it’s open source and the team is at disparate locations. collaboration.

Twice in the last week I have used a quick test to determine how well a team is coding and delivering projects. The test comes from Joel on Software and outlines twelve points to which you provide a yes or no answer:

1. Do you use source control?
2. Can you make a build in one step?
3. Do you make daily builds?
4. Do you have a bug database?
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
7. Do you have a spec?
8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
10. Do you have testers?
11. Do new candidates write code during their interview?
12. Do you do hallway usability testing?

A score of 12 is perfect, 11 is tolerable, but 10 or lower and you’ve got serious problems. Back in 2000 Joel wrote ‘The truth is that most software organizations are running with a score of 2 or 3, and they need serious help’. I would hope and expect that the industry has moved up the points scale since then. My Team scored an 11 (we move office soon so get number 8, quite working environment), its taken 2 years to get there and I would love to get to twelve, but cannot say that we fix bugs before writing new code, every time.

Take the test, its quick and it does give a good idea of weakness in process and provide you with simple, yet effective goals to aim for.

My team have just launched site to advertise the new Mazda CX-7 . Its written in .Net and has an Dynamic interface utilizing Ajax techniques. Its currently deployed in English and German, new languages will be added in the coming weeks.

My team have just launched site to enable pre-ordering of the new Mazda CX-7 . Its written in .Net 2.0 and integrated into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

Yet another fantastic read, this book will have you looking at statistics in a whole new light. You can’t help hear or read statistics in the news without you mind running through a series of questions. Its an eye opener in terms of looking at problems and data in a new way, looking beyond the seemingly obvious in the pursuit of a real truth behind a way of working, interaction or event.