Meta-data

Hello again, welcome to #033. Today we have 41 subscribers, so we’re +1. Yay! I’d love to hear what you like, dislike, your feedback, etc.: memo@cote.io. (If you’re reading this on the web, you should subscribe to get the daily email.)

See past newsletters in the archives, and, as always, see things as they come at Cote.io and @cote.

Sponsors

• Come check out cloud hijinks at 451’s HCTS conference Oct 6th and 8th. I’ll be speaking there on developer relations and marketing. Use the code MC200 to get $200 off when registering. Only one person has taken advantage of this snazzy code, so: come on, sign up!

• Free webinar from 451: “Today’s mobile worker and how to best enable them”

Follow-up

• That 451 report of mine on SolidFire’s OpenStack reference architecture is up.

• As you may recall several weeks back, I’ve been discussing what Docker means for service providers internally a bit. We have a piece up on that question now, which is free for everyone, no need to be a 451 client.

Tech & Work World

Quick Hits

I’ve been working to better automate a suggested reading list. This is the first cut. It’s a lot as it covers more than a 24 hour period of my reading (the weekend). My idea here is to share with you the stuff I’ve read that I thought was remotely to very interesting. It sounds egotistical, but what I wanted to try to do was sync up the incremental “industry context” I build up in each 24 hour period. I enjoy lists like that from numerous sources. Tell me what you think as I tune it.

• An Exciting Year for Spark - it’s just an infographic, but Spark keeps coming up, so here we are. We have a March 2014 piece on the topic as well, “Will Spark ignite the next-generation data platform?”
• Microservices for the Grumpy Neckbeard - “Microservices is just wheel reinvention of J2EE!”
• Microservices, or How I Learned To Stop Making Monoliths and Love Conway’s Law - “You ignorant, Neckbear, it’s a massively nuanced difference than J2EE! Conway’s Law! I’m out!”
• Server Refresh Cycle Begins Anew
• DataStax snags $106 million investment for hot database market - see also the 451 analyst note on the topic.
• Why Amazon Has No Profits (And Why It Works) - nice overview of how Amazon’s business works.
• First surprises from the Analyst Value Survey - hey, 451 looks pretty good there. I’m looking forward to the full report from Duncan.
• Compuware Taken Private — Implications - this is a great piece, along with a good history of APM. See also the 451 coverage.
• A telco as cloud powerhouse? CenturyLink might pull it off - I’ve been thinking: making the deal with CenturyLink is that they’re purposefully sandbagging on “we’re a public cloud!” because Rackspace…that is, because it kind of has hurt Rackspace to be clumped with “public cloud.” We’ll see. They certainly have one of the more interesting podcasts coming out of Louisiana. Indeed, rumors are they might pull the SA crowd into the swamp. Can you imagine how awesome the resulting Tex-Mex-Cajun food would be?
• Why Did Docker Catch on Quickly and Why is it so Interesting?This piece from Adrian is nice. As with much of what I think is “nice,” it provides history and context that can be used for future decision making. Also, it provokes a some brief thoughts about crowd-sourcing analyst work.

Anti-pattern: taking my toys home

Over the years, working in teams (small and large), I sometimes find myself in a dangerous zone: waiting for the organization to ask me to help it out. (And, it should be clear that “it” is a “them”.)

It’s easy to get disillusioned and upset at how “ground level” things are annoying, routine, and even “dumb.” The result, in me, is not volunteer ideas or offering to help out. Keep in mind that those two things are the core business of what I do: telling people what I think they should do. So, it’s odd when I shut that pipe off.

I end up doing this, like many things, when you’ve been “trained” to: you’ve suggested things in the past and they go nowhere, or get shot down. You’ve got to watch out for that once you become more “senior.” “Taking your toys home” isn’t part of that job description…but it’s so easy to do.

Fun & IRL

• On ‘Krazy Kat’ and ‘Peanuts’ by Umberto Eco - reality explained through Charlie Brown. If it’s been awhile since your college literature classes, strap yourself in and have some fun. Best line: “since he acts in all purity, without any guile, society is prompt to reject him.”