Steve Joubert

Project Rally Trailer 2 Released

Tech-Ed is just around the corner and Project Rally is in full gear. Check out the new trailer at http://www.aspsoft.com/rallytrailer2.html. This project will give .NET the ultimate power.

Look out Java weasels! There is no where to run and no place to hide.

Searching for Jon Morrell

My first programming job was as a PowerBuilder developer on a project called Impresario, which was a combo fund-raising and ticketing system for the New York Metropolitan Opera House. Today this system is used by more than fifty performing arts organizations all around the world. It was an amazing experience for me and one that has shaped my approach to software development ever since.

My wife has a good friend, Jon Morrell, who just happens to be a very talented opera singer. I thought I'd give Jon a boost so I put his name into the software. On one of the primary pages is a tab strip that doesn't quite go to the end leaving some dead space. I put a label control over that dead space and entered the words "Hire Jon Morrell" into the label. I then made the color of the text just a single shade different from the background color. It is literally hidden in plain site.

Anyone who has has ever had this little note pointed out can see it clearly yet, people who haven't had it pointed out to them do not see it all. Eight years after the app first went into production and now that it is installed in over seventy institutions around the world it has finally been seen by someone. Today friend of mine emailed me to say that a client, in a meeting, had finally noticed it.

I hope it stays in the application. Its a part of history now.

Survivor - Did Probst Cross The Line?

If you didn't see last nights episode (4/21/2005) stop here. This blog will give away what happened.

There are very few rules in Survivor. That fact contributes to the creativity in how the game is played.  But, I realized last night, that for better or for worse Jeff Probst - stepped over the line as game master and actually played the game himself for a few minutes.  He manipulated the outcome of tribal counsol and sent the game spinning in a new direction.

Stephanie had to go. That was the conclusion. She is too strong a competitor. Alliances with her were secretly disolved. The dagars came out and Stephanie was headed home.

Janu, wanted to go home. She asked to home but, she was so minimal of a threat that the tribe had no problem keeping her. She was begging and they still said no.

Tribal Counsol. Stephanie says shes willing to kill to stay. Janu says she wants to go home.  The tribe is ready to get rid of Stephanie. Enter Probst, who through asking enough questions in the right way was able to peel back the layers and get Janu to lay down her torch and quit the game. That gave Stephanie three more days on the island - three more days for a very string player to manipulate her own salvation.

I think Probst crossed a line that had not been crossed in Survivor. At least in the way the segment was edited it appeared that without Probst interferance Janu would have allowed the vote and Stephanie would have been out. Probst himself became part of tribe and put it in Janu's mind to lay down her torch.

I am not saying that Janu was coerced into quiting; certainly she was not. She was ready to leave and even happy about it. I am also not saying the Jeff Probst did anything wrong. Certainly within the limited rule set of Survivor what he did was fair game. I have to admit that if I were on the tribe I would have been pretty angry at his manipulation but, the game is the game.

Does this mark a turning point in Survivor where Probst actually becomes more of a manipulator? And then of course the ultimate question: Will Survivor have higher rates with the likable Stephanie over the depressed and sour Janu?

The Code Boat

Check this out.

http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/BlogDefault.aspx?view=plink&id=383

Its amazing the lengths people are willing to go to in order to get cheap code. You can justify that this code boat idea by saying it's not a sweat shop and the that the developers will be treated extremely well.  However the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

This is a clever idea. If they were able to take it one step further and address the quality and maintenance issues that are inherent to low-cost solutions, they may have something. Past that they still have to deal with the same moral and ethical considerations in running a sweat shop...or perhaps they don't.