What happens after you've created an exceptional product like Gnumeric? Well, you have to get your customers to buy it, use it, and ideally, love it. That even holds true for things as ubiquitous as Novell's ODF to MSOOXML.NET conversion software, exchange connector, mono.NET and silverlight.NET
I am responsible for moonlight.NET deployment and adoption. In a nutshell, my job is all about unlocking the value in Microsoft.NET products. For example, you can only experience the value of a chocolate chip cookie once you "deploy" it to your mouth or the value in a pair of running shoes once you "deploy" them to your feet. It's the same with Novell software, our customers only realize the value of mono.NET, silverlight.NET and Office Open XML exporter once our technology is "deployed" on their computer. My job is to develop strategies and tools that make the job of deploying and adopting Microsoft.NET software as clear, simple, and no-brainer as possible.
In my early job hunts, Microsoft was the most obvious fit--I'm not a very innovative guy. But on my first interview at Microsoft it took me 30 minutes just to find the latch to open my laptop (though I did successfully find the "on" button pretty quickly). I think that's why my brief time at Micosoft has played such a vital part in my career development.
Success in my role isn't about understanding technology, it's about understanding the
I also have to figure out how to connect with customers directly, to convince them that every day they delay deploying Microsoft's Office Open XML.NET with Exchange.NET and Sharepoint.NET all connected to Evolution.NET on SUSE.NET they miss out on real business value. In both cases, this takes a clear understanding of their functional (bits, bytes, deployment tools, etc.) and emotional (superstardom, frustration, support, etc.) needs, and ultimately, clear and simple messages about the value of
With field, partner, and customer interests constantly in play, each day is pretty darn busy. Here's an idea of how a day typically shakes out:
6:54 a.m.--Put down Xbox360 controller, hop in the car and head to Novell. Plug my Zune media player (shamelessly brown and proud - its so social) into my car stereo and sing loudly to keep myself awake. Getting out the door before 7 a.m. is crucial to beating the positively brutal traffic.
7:28 a.m.--Wade through e-mails using Exchange (whats this? why does the grid control corrupt as I scroll?). Throw some random fist pumps GO-MONO!-GO-MONO!
8:02 a.m.--Run the latest Office Open XML.NET deployment numbers by country. Identify those countries that are falling behind pace. E-mail Microsoft management with ideas on how they can close the gap.
9:22 a.m -- Novell 'elite' conference call. We study the new GPL version 3, there has to be a loophole - someday I shall find that weakness and use all my cunning to twist it and exploit it to our purposes.
9:45 a.m.--As I walk back to my office I take a moment to daydream.... I run into Bill Gates and he says, "Miguel, I've been thinking. I'm going to be working on the Gates Foundation full-time in two years, and I need someone to lead the company. Steve Ballmer is a fantastic, high-energy guy; but your hairline is far better. I think you have what it takes to lift Microsoft to the next level." Almost hit by car. Snap back to reality.
9:58 a.m.--Quick one-on-one meeting with my comrades to review current projects and get some more direction on a scorecard I'm developing to track our Moonlight.NET success...
The RIAA's challenges to Judge Lee R. West's order (pdf) awarding the defendant attorneys fees in Capitol v. Foster and to the "reasonableness" of Ms. Foster's attorneys' fees have not only forced the RIAA to disclose its own attorneys fees, and caused the judge to issue a second decision labeling them as "disingenuous", their motives "questionable", and their factual statements "not true", but have now caused the amount of the fees to more than double, from $55,000 to $114,000, as evidenced by Ms. Foster's supplemental fee application (pdf's).
Simple tasks like switching between Firefox and Thunderbird are driving the load on my machine up over 4, and if I'm trying to run Amarok at the same time, it drives it up to 8. In fact, my machine frequently climbs up into the 7-9 range, bringing my apps to a crawl and frustrating the hell out of me.
So I've decided it's time to buy a new computer. I'm going to replace my aging Sony Vaio desktop machine (which runs Linux) with something newer that has more RAM, a faster processor, and a bigger hard drive.
The thing is, I'm not entirely sure where to start looking. A quick walk through Circuit City a month or so ago lead me to believe I can get a rather "big" computer for as low as five hundred bucks, which further leads me to believe that if I were to buy something online, I can get a huge pile of RAM, a fast processor, and a big honkin' hard drive for even less.
I run Kubuntu, and use KDE as my desktop (though I occasionally switch to Gnome when I get bored) and I mostly use Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, Amarok, and run PokerStars in wine. I'm looking for something that can do all of that without slowing my machine to a crawl.
Anyone have any suggestions on where to start looking?
Edit: I don't think I have the patience to build my own machine out of individual parts. I also don't have any real loyalty to any particular company or architecture. New Egg has lots of machines with AMD processors, and though I've always had Intel processors because more things seemed to run on x86, that's not as much of an issue as it once was, right?
In Elektra v. Schwartz, an RIAA case against a Queens woman with Multiple Sclerosis who indicates that she had never even heard of file sharing until the RIAA came knocking on her door, the judge held that Ms. Schwartz's summary judgment request for dismissal was premature because the RIAA said it had a letter from AOL "confirm[ing] that defendant owned an internet access account through which copyrighted sound recordings were downloaded and distributed....". (Copy of order)(pdf) When her lawyers got a copy of the actual AOL letter they saw that it had no such statement in it, and asked the judge to reconsider.
With your bare hands?!?