When looking to split a large application into parts, often management focuses on the technology layer, leading to UI teams, server-side logic teams, and database teams. When teams are separated along these lines, even simple changes can lead to a cross-team project taking time and budgetary approval. A smart team will optimise around this and plump for the lesser of two evils - just force the logic into whichever application they have access to. Logic everywhere in other words. This is an example of Conway’s Law in action.
The Coconut Plane
@valleyhack Well, Cargo Cults tend to think they’ve got it pretty good until they try and land the coconut plane via the bamboo radar
— Jack Clark (@mappingbabel) July 18, 2014 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Coconut Plane
Microsoft estimates it has 14% device share
At it partner conference, Microsoft’s Kevin Turner portrays the company as having 14% device (PC, smartphone, tablets) share:
In a world of 14 per cent device share, we have a new mindset: you have to have a challenger mindset. Everyone has to have a challenger mindset.
Pretty astonishing if that’s the case, or near it. El Reg covered that a 14% number, from Gartner, earlier as well with more breakout.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
We would spend weeks rewriting systems, an eternity in startup-time, just because a cloud server with 8 gigabytes of RAM was falling over.
There are different divisions within an enterprise that want private cloud, says Cantrill. “A common trend we’re seeing is the mobile group in a company. Mobile groups have the budget, charter, and it’s all greenfield.”
Joyent: SmartDataCenter is Better Cloud for Enterprise than OpenStack
I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good.
Roald Dahl (via kateordie)
Recent podcasts
In case you haven’t noticed, I have a few new podcasts that have been chugging along nicely. If you like my past work at DrunkAndRetired (OK, it’s not officially “done,” but we sure as shit don’t do much there anymore) you’ll like these two:
Under Development - each week Bill Higgins and I talk about the software development, with a lot of “here’s some wisdom from an old guy talk.
Google IO people, London edition
From Tim Anderson on the London IO viewing party:
I found the demographics different than most IT events I attend: a younger crowd, and plenty of start-ups and very small businesses, not at all enterprisey (is that a word?)
That’s, as always, the thing to track: is Google changing to get into the enterprise, or is the enterprise going to have to change if they want to make use of Google?
Digging behind the headlines about factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, Carr explores the hidden costs of allowing software to take charge of our jobs and our lives. Drawing on history and philosophy, poetry and science, he makes a compelling case that the dominant Silicon Valley ethic is sapping our skills and narrowing our horizons.
Blurb from Nicholas Carr’s upcoming book, The Glass Cage