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Happy Birthday, Alan “Big Gay Al” Turing!

Photo: Alan Turing

Alan Turing is the man. He developed the concept of the Turing Machine, which helped helped solidify the concepts of the algorithm and computability, came up with the Turing Test, broke German WWII ciphers, worked on one of the earliest true computers and has earned a place as one of the Giants of Computer Science. He’s been honoured with a computer language named after him (although he’d be appalled at the language itself).

Alan was gay at a time when being so was considered to be a mental disease and acting so was a crime. His career ended when he was outed and was convicted for gross indecency. He was given a choice between imprisonment and chemical castration; he chose the latter. Not long afterward, he was found dead at his home, apparently from suicide.

For his work, which created that field that is my work, my hobby and my passion, I’d like to wish Alan Turing – whom I call “Big Gay Al” as a nickname of endearment – a happy birthday. I salute him with a filet mignon on a flaming sword!

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Like I Said, Netbooks Suck

Netbooks are just like Burger King apple pies

My article from a couple of weeks ago, Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck, got a lot of reactions from both the “You’re right!” and “You’re dead wrong!” camps (the article on Global Nerdy got a fair number of comments, but the same article on the Accordion Guy blog got a hundred comments).

Here’s some evidence to back my theory that netbooks are like Burger King apple pies – that is, they look like laptops, but don’t offer the same capabilities, leading to disappointment: a report from NPD Group, a market research company titled NPD Finds Consumer Confusion about Netbooks Continues.

Some highlights from the report:

  • 60% of the people interviewed by NPD who purchased a netbook instead of a notebook thought their netbooks would have the same functionality as notebooks.
  • 58% who bought a netbook instead of a notebook said they were “very satisfied” with their purchase, compared to 70% who planned on buying a notebook from the get-go.
  • In the 18- to 24- year old group, the group that many commenters said would embrace netbooks, 65% said they bought their netbooks expecting better performance; only 27% said that netbook performance exceeded their expectations.
  • Portability is a big selling point for netbooks and a point that many commenters brought up, but 60% of the people surveyed said that they never even took their netbooks out of the house.

It’s just as I said: the form factor of netbooks – they look like laptops, but smaller – sets up people for disappointment in the same way that Burger King’s apple pies did. They looked like homemade apple pies, but didn’t taste like them.

The Real Point of Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck

When I first wrote Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck, my intent was to post it in the official Microsoft Canada Developer blog, Canadian Developer Connection. I didn’t want the legal department on my back, which is why I referred to Burger King and McDonald’s as “Monarch Burger” and “Jester Burger”, respectively.

I feel that there’s a little too much excitement about netbooks at Microsoft. I think that part of it stems from the old company mantra, “a computer on every desktop and in every home”. The PC is the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, and the closer that a device is to the PC, the more Microsoft “gets” it. I feel that Microsoft sees the netbook as an exciting new space, where I see them as smaller, less powerful laptops. I think that eventually, as technology catches up, netbooks will simply be considered “computers” – just on the small end of the PC size spectrum, and that Microsoft should treat them as such.

The article is also an open letter to Microsoft stating my concern that netbooks are a dangerous red herring distracting us from where the real potential in mobile computing is: the smartphone. It’s an area where Microsoft had an early lead and dropped the ball. It’s an area where I feel that Microsoft is showing a lack of vision, from Steve Ballmer’s ill-considered dismissal of the iPhone (“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”) to Windows Mobile 6, which feels as though it was half-assedly slapped together by PDA designers frozen in an iceberg in 2000.

I think I’ll close with the graphic that summarized Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck:

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LinkedIn Profiles: More Honest Than Resumes

Black and white photo of a late 50s/early 60s-era polygraph exam

LinkedIn logoHere’s an interesting bit of information for those of you who are reviewing prospective hires: people are more honest on their LinkedIn profiles than they are on their resumes. That’s what LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman said at the Social Recruiting Summit held last week at Google.

It’s understood that people “pad” their resumes. A sizeable portion of the interview process seems to be devoted to determining if the candidate is as good as his or her resume says he or she is. I’ve been in interviews where a prospective employer had a member of the development team to sit in and act as a “bullshit detector”; I’ve also done the same duty when working at companies that were interviewing prospective developers.

I think that Kris “The HR Capitalist” Dunn’s theory about why LinkedIn profiles are more honest is spot-on:

…if you’re truly looking for "what’s up" with a candidate, you need to rely on the LinkedIn profile.  Why is that true?  Because there’s a community of co-workers, friends and past colleagues that always have access to the LinkedIn profile, and there’s no such community with constant visibility to a random resume the candidate sends in, and you have no means to circulate the resume to that type of community to fact check.

Simply put: it’s harder to lie when you’re in front of a group of colleagues who might call you on it.

Kris also talks about how many candidates don’t include the “5 – 6 bullet points that you;re usually used to seeing on the resume” on their LinkedIn profiles. This isn’t the case with me: when I got laid off from my last job back in September, I rewrote my resume completely, starting with my LinkedIn profile, after which I simply pasted the LinkedIn information into a Word document and gave it a little formatting. This approach killed two birds with one stone, affording me more time to concentrate on my (thankfully short – 17 days from my last official day at b5media to my first official day at Microsoft) job search.

I don’t know if it applies in other fields, but in the tech sector, I think that LinkedIn profiles are resumes and that you should based your resume off your LinkedIn profile rather than the other way around. Yes, the social networking aspect of LinkedIn means that you can’t pad your resume as much, but it also means that prospective employers can trust that your credentials are genuine.

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Edmonton Code Camp 2009: September 26th!

Edmonton skyline, with North Saskatchewan River in foreground.

Edmonton is holding a Code Camp on September 26th, 2009! It’s going to take place at Grant MacEwan College’s downtown campus. There’s a call for speakers – if you’ve got a topic that you’d like to present, now’s the time to let them know. You can find out more at the Edmonton Code Camp site and the YEGCodeCamp Twitter account.

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Guelph Coffee and Code: Tuesday, June 23rd

"Code Monkey" coffee mug

If it’s Tuesday, it must be time for Guelph Coffee and Code! See the Coffee and Code blog for details.

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DemoCamp Toronto 21: Tuesday, July 28th

New Location: Rogers Theatre!

Rogers Building at One Mount Pleasant, Toronto.

As David Crow puts it: “It’s time for a DemoCamp Jeffersons-style. That’s right, we’re moving on up! Thanks to Mike Lee from Rogers Communications, DemoCamp 21 will be taking place at Rogers Theatre at One Mount Pleasant.

We’d like to thank everyone who attended, sponsored and survived DemoCamp Toronto 20, which was a great event. We collected your feedback from that DemoCamp, and we’re going to make a few changes that we believe will help improve the event, the hosting and networking opportunities, including:

  • More food. We’re doubling the food order.
  • Timing and flow of the presentations. It felt a little long and disjointed.
  • We’re going to change the questions and reduce the random banter.
  • We’ll make it easier to submit events, job postings and requests for help from the community.

We’re always working on making DemoCamp better! Keep those cards and letters coming!

The Details

Who Should Attend?

DemoCamp Toronto is a show-and-tell for Toronto’s entrepreneurial developers, designers, and marketers. The goal is to see new technology, meet other interesting in emerging technology, early-stage companies, and making Toronto a better place.

How Do I Present?

Everyone who wants to present must submit an application. We are looking for submissions that :

  • Inspire us;
  • Challenge our notions of software, user experience, business models, funding sources;
  • Aren’t mere derivatives or copies (if you’re thinking "we’re the next YouTube/Facebook/MySpace/TagCloud/TechCrunch," DemoCamp might not be a good fit).

The goal is to find projects, people, applications and companies that will inspire, challenge or educate people who have seen the latest and greatest on the web and around the world.

Presentation Formats

At DemoCamp, presentations are limited to 5 minutes. You get 5 minutes on stage to convey your revolutionary ideas in either a demo or an Ignite presentation.

Demos are limited to 2 slides and showing functional code or a lightning talk that is a presentation with auto-advancing slides. Ignite presentations are 20 slides by 15 seconds per slide (total 5 minutes).

Sponsors, Tickets and Free Tickets

Why do we need sponsors?  Where are the free tickets?

All very important questions. Sponsor tickets are available through EventBrite. I don’t know about you, but an event between 6pm-9pm is right during the dining hours for me. We like to provide pizza/food to help offset the beverages (aka social lubricant). Sponsorship dollars will be put towards the event costs.

There are free tickets. However, in an effort to continue to keep these tickets available, they will be announced a few days before the event. What we don’t want is a land grab, we’re trying to encourage a strong sense of community through participation. Read Joe Thornley’s thoughtful piece on why he is charging a registration fee for Third Tuesday.

We also provide corporate sponsorships at a rate of CAD$250 each. With these, you get:

  • 2 tickets
  • Your logo on event materials including DemoCamp.com web and presentation
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TechDays 2009

Microsoft TechDays Canada 2009Summer may just be starting, but we’re already working on on Microsoft’s big conference for the fall, TechDays 2009. It’s our cross-Canada conference for Developers and IT Pros that covers Microsoft tools and technologies that are available right now.

I was a presenter at TechDays 2008, and this year, I’m in charge the Developing for the Windows Platform track, responsible for choosing the sessions and training their speakers.

When and Where

TechDays 2009 takes place in September, November and December. We start with Vancouver and Toronto, the cities with the two largest venues. We leave October open for the AlignIT conferences. Things pick up again in November, when we hit these cities: Halifax, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg.

Here’s are TechDays 2009’s cities and dates:

TechDays 2009 City Conference Dates
Vancouver September 14th and 15th
Toronto September 29th and 30th
Halifax November 2nd and 3rd
Calgary November 17th and 18th
Montreal December 2nd and 3rd
Ottawa December 9th and 10th
Winnipeg December 15th and 16th

As a track owner, I will be at all the cities for the week around those dates. My plan is to try to hold a “Coffee and Code” event in each TechDays city during that week, so watch this blog for those announcements.

TechDays 2009 Tracks

TechDays 2009 will have five tracks:

  • Developing for the Microsoft Platform (mine!)
  • Developer Fundamentals and Best Practices
  • Windows Client
  • Servers, Security and Management
  • Communications and Collaboration

We’re currently in the process of choosing the sessions for each track, which spans the two days of the conference, four 75-minutes sessions per day.

Here are the details for each track:

Developing for the Microsoft Platform (This one’s mine!)

Key Technology Areas Covered:

  • Silverlight
  • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
  • Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
  • Windows Mobile Development
  • Developing applications for Windows 7
  • Internet Explorer 8
  • ASP.NET

That’s right, I’m in charge of choosing the content and training the speakers for this track. If you have suggestions for particular topics you’d like to see in this track, email me or leave a comment!

Learning key skills to develop rich client and web-based applications on the Microsoft platform is what this track is all about. In this track you will learn how to develop and enhance your web-based applications both locally and for the Cloud. You will also learn how to leverage Visual Studio 2008 to develop applications for Windows 7 and the unique opportunities offered by this exciting new operating system. You will also learn how you can take your applications on the road with Windows Mobile.
Developer Fundamentals and Best Practices

Key Technology Areas Covered:

  • Application Lifecycle Management
  • Visual Studio Team Suite
  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
  • SQL Server 2008
  • Interoperating with Java, PHP, and MySQL
  • VB6 to .NET migration
This track is all about taking your skills up a notch while at the same time ensuring effective and efficient interaction with all members of the development team from architect, to developer, to tester. You will learn about the importance of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and how to leverage the Visual Studio development platform to streamline your efforts. Transitioning to new technologies is never easy so we will provide some best practices on how to transition from technologies like Visual Basic 6, Java, and others to Microsoft .NET and the Windows Platform including SQL Server.
Windows Client

Key Technology Areas Covered:

  • Windows 7
  • Application Compatibility Tools
  • XP Mode
  • Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
  • Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)
  • System Center Configuration Manager
  • Forefront Client Security
  • DirectAccess
  • BranchCache
As a new version of the Windows client operating system gets released you find yourself thinking about a number of issues – Will it run on my hardware? How can I deploy it efficiently across my organization? Will all of the applications we need work with the new Windows version? What are my options to ensure key applications will function properly? How can I secure our organization’s desktops? How can I provide my users with easier and secure access to our network? In the Windows Client track you will learn the skills to allow you to answer all of these questions and more. You will learn how to implement key technologies like DirectAccess and BranchCache providing a richer user experience, as well as easier administration, with the combination of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Servers, Security, and Management

Key Technology Areas Covered:

  • Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Hyper-V
  • System Center Suite of Products
  • Forefront Suite of Products
  • SQL Server 2008
In these tough economic times organizations are looking to you to help them implement technologies that will streamline operations and reduce costs. In this track you will learn how to migrate to and implement a virtualized infrastructure while also increasing availability. You will see how Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V, and the System Center suite of products provide a robust solution to deploy and manage your datacenter. You will learn how to take advantage of new enhancements in Windows Server 2008 R2 to enhance scalability and availability, as well as how to secure your organization from external and internal threats with the Forefront suite of security products. Automating administration allows you to focus more on key issues for the business, and we will show you how to leverage the System Center suite of products to reduce your workload while increasing your effectiveness. As well, you will learn how to take advantage of these and to use best practices to ensure your SQL Server and other server components are operating efficiently and securely.

Communications and Collaboration

Key Technology Areas Covered:

  • Microsoft Exchange 2007 and 2010
  • Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
  • Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint Development
  • Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite
  • SQL Server 2008
When it comes to ensuring your users are happy, two things might be top of mind – make sure that users can always get to their email no matter where they are; and, provide them with access to files and documents they need to work with when they need them. This track is all about teaching you the skills to keep your users happy. You will learn how to migrate to the most recent versions of Exchange and SharePoint to take advantage of the many new enhancements to safeguard your users’ data including integrated archiving in Exchange 2010, version and content management in SharePoint, and much more. You will learn how to develop enhancements to SharePoint using SharePoint Designer, and Visual Studio. You will also learn how to manage both your SharePoint and Exchange infrastructure more efficiently and ensure higher availability. Finally, you will learn how the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) can be used to reduce costs and increase availability, while also integrating it with your existing Active Directory and Exchange environments.

Who’s Presenting

Photo: Microphone in foreground, auidence in background. TechDays isn’t just about technology presentations; it’s also about building up local developer communities. We provide the session topic and presentation materials, but we want you, the developer community, to do the presentations. Whenever possible, we want people from the region to speak: developers and IT pros from Vancouver, Victoria and parts surrounding speaking at TechDays Vancouver, developers and IT pros from in and around Toronto speaking at TechDays Toronto, and so on.

As I write this, we’re contacting developers and IT pros across Canada, asking them if they’d like to present at session at the TechDays conference nearest to them. If you’ve got the presentation skills (and yes, we’ll help you sharpen them, too!) and think you might do a great job presenting at TechDays 2009, drop me a line and we’ll talk.

How Much?

It’s very, very reasonable: the early bird rate is CAD$299 – and that’s for the full two days, five tracks and breakfast and lunch and an opportunity to network with both Microsofties and your local developer community, Even if you’re in a startup living on ramen noodles, TechDays 2009 won’t break your budget.

Find Out More

You can get the full scoop on TechDays 2009 at the TechDays site, techdays.ca.