Adventures of an Eternal Optimist

Gotta love Gizmodo, this thread on possible shenanigans with the iPhone 4 ordering process netted this gem from a commenter:

Joe Baguley from Quest put me onto this HYSTERICAL clip from a UK comedy radio duo on Identity Theft. It highlights the culpability question brilliantly:

Update: This one’s fantastic too, the “Identity Killer”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20bpV50uZ5Y

Glue 2009.  Where to start.   This is the conference entry — learnings and philosophical interpretation to follow separately :)

My impression of the group was that it consisted mostly of the “maker” community — developers, entrepreneurs, and funding bodies working to create solutions in the cloud.   Everyone was bound by a common philosophy driven from a common business model and delivery mechanism.  I loved the esprit de corps that I saw among this diverse group.

Most vendors were new to me, and walking the booths was anything but humdrum. Given that so many of the attendees also had services of their own, I would have loved it if Eric and Kimberly could have set up some kind of fun elevator pitch or Pecha Kucha session where each of the attendees could run up and explain what they were up to, in the constraints of a social, time-boxed, creativity-encouraged event.

Speaking of Kimberly and Eric (the organizers of Glue) — bravo.   This was not a case of catering to a community.  This seemed to me to be a case of creating bonds anew.  It is really easy for conference communities to become inbred – eventually it becomes the same set of people viewing the world all in the same way, and agreeing and disagreeing in unison as if the “truth” was universally obvious.  The great joy of this space is that there is no universally accepted “truth” yet — but the danger is in repeating historical mistakes.   I think that Eric’s agenda choices were calculated to do two things:  to introduce those on the front lines to the cautions of the past but also to introduce those who make their livings through cautionary tales to the infectious optimism of this new generation of solution providers.   The best part about it was seeing just how much fun Eric and Kim have working together to make it happen – it was smooth, but still personal.

I’m really excited about the new people I’ve met, please don’t be strangers, you are are sharp and you are pursuing some incredible opportunities.  I can’t wait to see where you go.

Somehow, I was thinking of Windows 7 as being far far away, but apparently it could be here in as little as six months.  Now that details of what will ship under which SKU are starting to come out, I am dying to try and get the skinny from the Federated Identity team on whether Windows 7 users will get the old CardSpace bundled with .NET 3.5 sp1, or whether they will in fact get a bright shiny new CardSpace Geneva Selector!

Kim? Mike? Don? Can you give us the scoop?

As an aside, I hear that both fax services and full-image backup will be included in Windows 7 home edition — thank HEAVENS.   Whatever dim bulb removed those features from most/all of the the many and oh-so-confusing array of home versions in Vista caused me a WORLD of grief, in my capacity as reluctant amateur PC support for my family & friends.

Photo attribution:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/marioraffin

http://www.pingidentity.com/vid-test.html

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this — but I did.  There are some great lines, you just have to get past the obligatory intro scenes :)    The plot is familiar — not because I’ve seen the movie but because I’ve lived the integrations.

My favorite — princess Leia having to stop transmitting her plea for help because the “storm-consultants” were coming…. there are more but I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.

Your blog makes it into the pr0n search index:

My mom would be so proud :)

On facebook, I can munge my birthday in several ways. I can provide good data and configure my settings so that nobody can see it. Alternatively, I can provide bad data and open it up to the world to draw their own conclusions.

The second choice does change my user experience in one way:

free razors for women 50-65

With respect to Lloyds being pants:

Telephone Support: Good morning, Lloyds TSB,  how may I help you?

Mr. Jetley:  Hello, I would like to see my balance.

TS:  May I have your password sir?

MJ:  Lloyds is pants.

TS:  Excuse me sir?

MJ:  Lloyds is pants!

TS:  Sir, there is no need to be rude!

MJ:  My password.  That’s my password.

TS:  Lloyds is pants?

MJ:  Yes, Lloyds is pants

TS:  No  it’s not.

MJ: Not what?

TS:  Lloyds is pants!

MJ:  Well what is it then?

TS:  No it’s not.

MJ:  Yes, I understand my password is not “Lloyds is pants”, but what is it?

TS: It is, no it’s not

MJ:  Make up your MIND!!!

TS:  Sir, your password is “No it’s not”.

MJ:  No it’s not?

TS:  Yes that’s it.

MJ:  No it’s not.

TS:  No it’s not your password or yes it’s “No it’s not”?

MJ:  BOTH!!!

*giggle*

I suppose this is nicer than telling people to RTFM before continuing :)

Anyone in the consulting biz will tell you that there times when, despite your best efforts to explain things to your clients and understand in return, communications break down.

Finally I’ve found the perfect link with which to express those moments…

I love the internet.

Update: apparently I have not inspired everyone enough to click the link… so here is the link again, with the domainname showing (I suggest you check it out): http://heresabunnywithapancakeonitshead.com