The Long and Winding Road

See you when I get back home...until then...

The Long and Winding Road
lyrics by Paul McCartney and John Lennon

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that road before
It always leads me here
lead me to your door.

The wild and windy night
That a rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day.
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way.

Many times I've been alone
And many times I've cried,
Anyway you've always known
The many ways I've tried.

But still they lead me back
To the long, winding road
You left me waiting here
A long, long time ago
Don't keep me standing here
Lead me to your door.

But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me waiting here
A long, long time ago
Don't leave me standing here
Lead me to your door.

I’m starting to feel jittery

It's raining out...and I mean raining - this coming from someone who lives in Oregon...it's raining...

But on with the news...

I knew I wasn’t quite running on US time here, and it wasn’t quite India time, but I had been in the office for the switchover between the EMEA shift and the North America shift. I know I was sleeping according to some sort of time zone, but I wasn’t quite sure until yesterday when I happened to glance at my iPod world clock after waking up in the late morning and noticed that I woke up at a normal time for London. I knew I was a Londoner at heart.

Of course, I was well knocked out the night before from the medication I’m taking for my trip. The warnings mention that I can cause dizziness – thus I opted to take it before bed. Better dizzy as I doze off than dizzy while trying to explain how to set exceptions for Auto-Protect in Symantec AntiVirus. Another fun thing this medication can do according to my prescribing doctor is that it can make you feel just a touch paranoid. Being aware of that side-affect I can try to compensate as best I can, but yesterday I was starting to feel a little jumpy when I was asked a whole series of questions all at once and specifically when discussing support for the Macintosh products. Very weird sensation and fortunately I didn’t turn into a ranting mess, screaming that everyone was out to get me and poison me when dinner arrived.

Speaking of dinner, they’ve taken pity on me and ordered out Domino’s of all things for me. Some things are semi-universal it seems. Semi-universal of course since there is a particular local flair to pizza. Apparently the rather common Hawaiian-style ham and pineapple pizza is totally unknown here in India, and when I asked if I could get it they looked at me as if I was from Mars. Another interesting thing is that they are just introducing calzone to the area at Domino’s. However, they are marketing it as Mexican food to the locals.

Still, right about now I’ve got a serious craving for a Whopper from Burger King right about now and when I get back that’ll be one of the first things I get. That plus a very large glass of milk. I should point out, and I might have before, but I will again to be sure, that the soda pop here is fantastic since it doesn’t have corn syrup as a sweetener like in US, but good old sugar.

I am now starting to know the drive into the office, and if push came to shove, I’d probably be able to navigate it on my own – assuming traffic styles are more American than Indian. But we’ll never know for sure and I certainly won’t get a chance. Since I don’t understand most of what my driver says to me and vice versa, we have a unique method of communication that involves hand waving, speaking in our native tongues and luck. Last night he was apparently trying to ask me if I wanted to get some tea. Seeing as it was very late, no matter what the time zone, it wasn’t in the cards, and after the doorman at the hotel did some quick translating, I begged off and went off to a much deserved slumberland.

It's not just about shopping

But that's what we did Saturday. However, to start the day, we went to the nearby St. Thomas Mount and visited the church at the top of the hill. Dating back to 1523, I'm pretty sure that this is the oldest building I have ever been in. Photography there is discouraged; however Jeremy secured permission for me to snap off a couple shots within the church. Not wanting to draw attention to myself for taking the pictures, I snapped them off fairly quickly. Unfortunately as a result one or two has a bit of blurring, but such is the price you pay. Pictures outside the church are in sharp focus, fortunately.

The top of the hill also afforded us a fantastic view of Chennai and the airport that I flew into and will be flying out of for my trip home through London. All those pictures came out fine and in them you can see the massive amount of tree canopy that the city has. When I get back the pictures will be posted since, as noted earlier, I've given up on the hotel connection, and I don't want to cause any bandwidth issues at the office here. I should note that while the Internet connection at the hotel here is wanting, it is in all other regards a very good hotel and has been a fantastic place to stay.

Once we left the church, it was time for some local shopping and then to check out Mamallapuram to the south of Chennai along the coast. Shopping is shopping and getting stuff is the same pretty much wherever you go. Deciding to save the shopping malls for back home, I and my guide went to a couple smaller shops that cater mainly to locals and those in the know. The first shop was The Museum Company which specialized in older antique goods and newer decorative items, furniture and jewelry. This is where I learned that due to some strict export laws regarding taking antiques out of India, I would not be able to purchase anything older than 125 years old. Other than that, everything was fair game. Then we moved onto the Saga Department Store for further purchases and there I finally got some 5 Rupee coins in my change to go along with the coins I got in Bangkok. Get me some change once I'm in London and we're set.

Once we left there it was time for lunch and we ate in Kabul. Not the capital of Afgahnistan, but a restaurant called Kabul. Had a very good steak there and lime soda. And a Coke...and a Sprite. It was a very soda-heavy lunch even for me. Should also take the short opportunity here to point out that the pop here tastes one hundred times better than it does in the US - that's what you get when you don't use corn syrup and use real sugar instead. After lunch is when the real adventure of the day began. We drove south of of Chennai along the road to Mamallapuram where a tsunami struck about four years ago and covered the area with about eight meters of water. Along the way I saw beach resorts and even an MGM park called "Dizzy Land" (and on the way back spied an actual drive-in theatre still in operation!).

Our goal was to visit a temple that was built centuries ago and was over time buried in the sand until discovered by the British while India was still a colony. Well, sometimes these things don't work out. We arrived at 6:05 and they closed the gate, no exceptions, no pleading, no bribery, no nothing at 6:00. More's the pity. HOWEVER, I was able to snap a picture of the temple from the perimeter gate (again, after securing permission) and when I checked the picture out in Picassa here on the Think Pad, it came out FANTASTIC, or as fantastic as can be when you factor in the distance from the structure, time of day and my desire to avoid getting chain link in frame. Yes, I think all told, I did very well, and when the picture is posted, I hope you'll feel the same.

According to the guide that we got at the temple there had been stories of another temple that had been covered by the sea for centuries, but nobody was sure - until the tsunmani and it was uncovered briefly when the waters receeded. Since that time and after the water levels returned to normal there have been archeological teams out to the site to examine, catalog and document the area. We also got to look up close at some remnants of another, smaller temple structure that had also been recently discovered on the beach. It was fenced off, sorta, and there were no signs advising people to stay away from the dig site. There had been a partial excavation of the area and there apparently is going to be a return to the site to continue the dig later on. As always, we took only pictures and left only footprints. The remants did date back 1000 years I recall and the carved stone outcroppings that were nearby dated back 1300 years. To prevent myself from being beaten and bloodied by my archeologist sister upon my return to the states, I took what I hope to be ample photographic coverage of the site area for her review.

Unfortunately, by that time the camera's battery was getting pretty weak (it's time for a new battery, or a new camera - not quite sure which yet) and our last few photos of the day didn't turn out as we had hoped as sunlight was also working against us fairly agressively. However, I did manage to get at least one good shot of a structure that had been carved out of rock. Carved out of just one, rather large, piece of rock I might point out. It was an impressive sight to see all told. But the sun was setting and it was time to head north again back into Chennai and it's maddening, wonderful traffic and then the hotel where I was dead to the world exhausted. Next week is the last week here in Chennai and then my madcap dash back home via London. An hour and a half layover as I now realize and according to the British Airways website it takes an hour and twenty minutes to get from my arrival terminal to my departure terminal - will I make it in time? Stay tuned...

Clothing update!

I now officially have the rest of my clothes packed for the trip and I never thought I would be so happy to be wearing a pair of Levis in my life. But there you have it. The bag has been delivered and the ordeal is over. It looks like I'll be in the office between 5:00 pm to 1:00 am local time and then come back to the hotel, sleep until 9 am local or so and then get ready for the day. Being a day behind home is a little odd still. But not much that can be done about that. It's actually great fun helping everyone over here and answering questions, or doing my best to get answers for questions. Friday, local Friday, which means Thursday in the US, I'll be doing some presentations on top call generators and what to look out for when working with the product. Should be exciting and I get to try to channel Chairman Steve so I'm not stuttering and stumbling through the three presentations I have to do.

Some addendums to what I had to say about driving. I got a good, closer look at a passing Tut-Tut last night and there IS a central, functional headlight, so what I saw the other day must have been just bling. Still, the idea of red and blue flashing LEDs on the front of any vehicle does slightly boggle the mind. When I get driven in today while I will snap a couple pictures I'll find out when the traffic dies down at night. Driving back to the hotel last night the streets that I had grown accustomed to being manically crowded and thriving were now for all intents and purposes empty. There were other cars on the road, but in a city of a similar size of Los Angeles it didn't have the number of cars on the road that you would expect. Instead of a 1:00 am traffic flow similar to Los Angeles, it seemed more like the traffic flow of 1:00 am Eugene. Totally weird, and after what I had been observing before, sorta creepy in it's own way. I for one welcome our new high density traffic overlords and look forward to my next breakneck journey to the office here.

It would also appear that as of today I have officially brought the rain with me as it seems to be coming down pretty hard off and on. I'm used to it, and I'm sure it's also a lifesaver for easing any heat that I might have been facing. It might also help to avoid minor issues like the other day when after getting back to the hotel I got out of the car and its the air conditioning and into the heat and humidity that my glasses fogged over instantly. So now with vision mostly obscured I started to stumble to the door trying to get my bearings I looked over my glasses and I did manage to notice the doorman barely containing himself as he held the door open, and I really can't blame him, I was starting to crack up myself a little bit. Fortunately as I hit the lobby the lenses cleared up fairly quickly. All in all, a somewhat spectacular entrance could have been made if my glasses stayed foggy I suppose.

Flipping through the channels here I see that they do get several US shows here along with a very interesting cross section of international faire. What appear to be German, French, Italian and Arabic channels along with BBC World for news are featured along side local programming and an India regional version of CNN. I watched a few minutes of Batman the Animated series dubbed into Hindi and I gotta say while Robin's voice was OK, they seemed to get Batman all wrong. But it's a tough act to follow from Kevin Conroy as Batman's voice in the English-language version. I also noted that they are showing On the Lot here as well. Fantastic! I'll skip right by that and get caught up with its suckitude when I get home. They're also running The OC in the daytime and (for those of you who followed the show), they've reached the point where Ryan's brother, Trey gets out of prison, which means it's nearly time for the completion of Marissa Cooper's transcendental rise to complete and utter pointlessness and transmogrify into a mere anorexic stick of wood. It's simply amazing to watch the process, really. Pancakes from the final season would have acted rings around her and for those who may not know, Pancakes was a pet rabbit.

So this is the routine here for now. This weekend should usher in the very exciting report of going out into the city and doing some looking around and exploring and finally an opportunity to get some pictures taken. Due to bandwidth concerns at the office I am at and the issues I was having getting a reliable connection at the hotel, actual posting of the pictures will have to wait until I return, which, as they say, is a bummer.

Nobody walks in LA - everybody walks, rides and drives in Chennai

First the good news - Thai Airways has found the missing luggage in Bangkok and it should be here this afternoon. This is a lifesaver. It also seems that I have brought the Oregon rain with me as well. Fair enough, and it does help with the heat - when we went out to lunch yesterday it was hot and humid, but certainly tolerable. The bad news is that I have officially given up on trying to use the hotel's wireless Internet. I can start it up, but the connection dies almost immediately and I can never reconnect. So I'll just have to write this out in WordPad and then paste it into a post when I am in the office. I also noticed that when I start the Symantec VPN connection that my IM dies a horrible death and can't be brought back to life. So, if I need to IM anyone I'll probably have to drop out of the VPN connection to the Symantec network. Hopefully that won't turn into much of an issue.

Yesterday was the first day in at the office here. All very nice, helpful and friendly people all of who were very patient with the sleep-deprived American. Was there for a good part of the EMEA shift and a chunk of East Coast North America's shift. Today I'll be in for the East Coast shift for North America, which means showing up there at 5:00 in the afternoon local time. As a result, my sleep schedule is now officially screwed up. This weekend will be the exploring and the shopping for the family, etc. So the majority of the pictures taken will be done then. Until then, like they used to say on the radio, it's just a word picture of the environment.

But the driving, I do have to mention the driving. Here apparently they are not as concerned as we are in the US over little things like seatbelts. Or traffic lanes for that matter. On my return drive back to the hotel yesterday I was amazed at the persistence of the drivers in the road in organizing into four lanes of traffic on a road marked out for three. I was also amazed at how long this traffic flow of four lanes lasted before it broke back up into what I have quickly grown to expect as far as traffic patterns. As I mentioned, the traffic is chaotic, but as my driver was weaving around other cars, pedestrians, motorcycles (which are amazingly popular here, I have never seen so many at once on the road), dogs and cows I noticed that all of the vehicles were in good shape and had no obvious dents, dings, paint scrapes or anything of the nature that I would have naturally expected considering the density of the traffic and how close vehicles got to each other while maneuvering for position on the road. In the US I would have expected this sort of traffic to yield at least one serious road accident or wreck. Here however, everyone is so used to it and they have their own method of being aware of everyone else on the road and letting everyone else know about their presense that it really isn't much of an issue as you would think it would be. I was also amused to see a window sticker on the back of one car that was the symbol of the Klingon Empire. Star Trek is everywhere. Interestingly enough, on at least one car, and a number of Tut-Tuts (these little motorized rikshaw type vehicles) I noticed last night that customization here exceeds anything that would ever be allowed in the US. On the Tut-Tuts I noticed that their headlights were in fact lit by LEDs. Which is of course cool and all, but these weren't just plain white LEDs being used but instead multicolor LEDs that seemed to cycle on and off in different sequences of color combinations. On another car I noticed that when their brake lights came on, all the rear lights seemed to flash off and on a well in a set sequence. So I'd hazard a guess that the intent is of course more decorative, but if it yields a basic level of safety, then so be it.

Still, last night convinced me that drivers in Chennai are some of the best drivers in the world. Exceeding that of even Los Angeles for skill, patience, persistence and fortitude. Our route back from the office to the hotel in the evening was along the surface streets to avoid the snarled traffic on the may freeway and without a map or GPS I was guided unerringly to my destination along some wild back alley streets. Having absolutely no clue where I was and only the vaguest idea of where I was going, all I could do is sit back and enjoy the crazy adventure of it all. The roads, particularly the very narrow back alley ones are very twisty-turny and we flew down them at a good clip, horn honking to alert other cars and people that we were approaching and to be aware. It was a blur of faces small shops homes and other parked cars all along the route back to the hotel and every second was as I said, an enjoyable adventure. Everyone seemed very aware, but not particularly concered about us. Interestingly enough, even the animals on the road took a rather marked disinterest in us as we whizzed by.

I'll try to snap some pictures today at any rate of the drive in. At the very least this weekend I'll have more of an opportunity to get a variety of pictures to share.

I have arrived...

After what seemed like over a day of travel (and if I look back, it probably was), I've arrived in Chennai. Before I left home I was flipping through the channels on the TV to occupy myself and lo and behold 1000 Place to See was on Discovery HD Theatre channel. How fitting - and it provided me with the heads up, or more to the point reminded me that shorts, while not a no-no, are not that common in India. So while I did pack a few pair, I did also take the opportunity to throw some jeans and a couple pairs of dress pants into the checked luggage. Before I left I also remembered that the iPod also has a world clock feature so I added in some clocks for Bangkok, Chennai, London and Sydney Australia so I know what time it is there when I'm talking to my friend Travis. The trip to Los Angeles from Eugene was uneventful as that flight usually is. This time it was a route that went through Redmond, Oregon, but that's fine. It was when I actually arrived in Los Angeles that the trip really started.

The international terminal at LAX is controlled chaos - barely controlled. Even with the measurable layover I had there was only just enough time to stand in line for the Thai Airways boarding pass (and only handed a boarding pass through to Bangkok...) and get through the bottleneck of security which was punctuated by one of the TSA guards yelling "BRAVO!" and then he and a few other guards making a foot pursuit to parts unknown. I opted to not draw attention to myself by yelling "Run, runner!" and then being forced to explain a rather obscure Logan's Run joke. Then just minutes to have a fast food dinner before the plane left. No fine dining at the restaurants on the upper level for me...would have been nice to have a pleasant, relaxed meal, but this was not to be the case. Par for the course for me, really.

The flight out of LAX to Bangkok was a mere 17 years or so it seemed. Give or take. It wasn't bad. Just long. Fortunately I got seated in what was apparently the hi-tech row as the fellow to my left was an IT manager and the couple to my right were either heading to or from some sort of IBM conference. The couple also helped clue me in to the two episodes of Doctor Who that were available in the on flight video on demand as they were watching them (FYI - School Reunion and Girl in the Fireplace). Without prompting from me to do so even. Honestly. So to while away some time I watched those episodes again right before landing. Things I never thought I would do - watch Doctor Who and listening to jpop while flying over the South China Sea.

Or listening to the Beatles on my iPod in Thailand for that matter. Once the plane landed and the passengers and I were waiting to disembark, a fog of cooling air was filtering down from the overhead vents to keep us comfortable. It's either that or they were trying to gas us with the super-spooky mystery compound. I'm hoping it was more the former than the latter. Once I got off the plane I went and checked in for the Thai Airways flight into Chennai and was handed a duplicate boarding pass. Duplicate, eh? Screw up in LA? Who knows - but I'm having my suspicions - more on that in a moment. Layover time in Bangkok was just a little longer than my wait in LAX, but considerably more relaxed. Unfortunately I had eaten on the plane (it felt like we were being fed constantly).

Because of the time available to me on the ground and the time spend previously in the air, I needed to stretch my legs a bit, get my bearings and also get my head clear. So I meandered over to my next gate at a fairly casual pace. This airport is very, very clean. As I learned later in a conversation I had while flying into Chennai, this airport is less than a year old and opened in September, 2006. I did get some pictures and I suspect that most of them will even turn out looking good. I noticed while wandering through the various concourses to get to gate C3 that the best way to describe the airport is that it looks like they took segments of Rodeo Drive, mixed in some rather high end sushi bars and duty free shows, then enclosed it and then let planes land there.

In one of the duty free shops I noticed I could have purchased a rather large box of Jelly Babies. Tempting as it was, it would have been too bulky to handle for the rest of the journey what with the laptop and overhead compartment bag. Also, I would have started to live on them, which is bad, and I want to buy Jelly Babies at Heathrow on the way back. So unfortunately, I passed on them. For now. Getting through security for the next flight was also a snap in Bangkok - same basic procedure and they're looking for the same stuff as in the US, but considerably less chaotic. In fact, the differences in management at LAX and Bangkok would make a great subject in a study of the psychology of crowds. Most notably the open space in Bangkok and the security screening to get into a smaller group of terminals vs. the very enclosed bottleneck of security screening at one point to get to a larger number of terminals.

Flying into Chennai from Bangkok over the Bay of Bengal was a scant 3 hours if that. Like Los Angeles, Chennai is spread out over a large area and has a similar population. What is also interesting to notice from the air was that unlike Los Angeles, and very much like Eugene I noticed several trees within the city area and not just within park-style settings. There were several sections that looked similar to the tree canopies in downtown-ish Eugene in the Washington-Jefferson/West 11th area - but on a much larger scale. Much larger. Unfortunately because of a somewhat tight seating arrangement I wasn't able to get to the camera to snap some pictures, but I will try for the flight out to do so.

So before I talk about traffic and we are still discussing flying - let's talk about my luggage. I've got my carry on items...and that's it. My checked bag is out there in this big old world and I hope they find it. I've got about 3 days of clothes that I put into the carry on, and only the long pants that I wore on the flight. Everything else is shorts and t-shirts. Not quite regular business attire.

Traffic in Chennai, from my very brief 10 minute ride from the airport to where I am staying (Le Royal Meridien) was also similar to Los Angeles, if turned up slightly in intensity. That is to say, there are indeed some stretches of the road where I way dividing lines, etc. similar to what we have in the US, but these are just suggestions for traffic flow and are only occasionally used. I believe I did see a traffic light, but I may have been mistaken. However, at no time did I feel unsafe while being driven to the hotel and might I also add, traffic was moving at a very constant pace, unlike, say...the 405 in LA at rush hour. What was sorta weird is that the airport is right next to the freeway (freeway? very busy street?). However, the parking lot seems to empty out right into it. No real merge lanes or anything of that nature.

The glimpses of Chennai itself coming to the hotel - it's interesting. The whole city seems to be under construction. Heading in I saw a new overpass being built that I have no doubt will at least try to help with congestion. There is poverty, and lots of older buildings, or buildings that have not been maintained and a couple super-narrow streets we took to get to the hotel, but it looks like things are moving so fast, that there may not be time needed to go back and fill in a pothole or paint a wall, etc. Maybe I'm wrong and my impression may change over the next couple weeks. So I'll just have to table that discussion until I get back and can conjugate the ramifications a bit more.

It's just like...

The Amazing Race, except without Detours, Roadblocks, Yields, Fast Forwards, and of course, Phil Keoghan. I'll be leaving for the airport soon for the India trip. The path around the world is Eugene to Los Angeles to Bangkok, Thailand to Chennai, India and then returning via London. I sent out my big email last night to everyone and only got a couple bounces so Robert B, please send my apologies along to Anthony since you sit right next to him - I did try to send the email but it kept failing. The other bounced email - well, not much I can do about that.

No - I have not yet packed. There is still time yet and I travel fairly light. However, this morning I came to the conclusion that I do need an iPod charger. So I'll be off to the Mac Store this morning to pick one up. The camera battery is charged and I've got plenty of space on the memory card, so really, as far as technology I'm set.

Pictures within here may be limited to the essentials, but when I get back I'll have regular galleries all set up I'm sure.

Okey doke. I think that's it. Next report in will be when I'm in Chennai and I'll be talking about the journey there. I do have a measurable layover in Los Angeles, but that will be time spent seeking out Jamba Juice (Mango A Go-Go!) and again in Bangkok. So if I can get online in Bangkok I might post. No guarantees.

See you on the other side of the world...

A few things...

First, it seems that in record time Apple has posted an update to the beta version of Safari for Windows to address some vulnerability issues that were also uncovered in record time after the browser was released. It's a beta, people, these things will happen and I am sure by the time it's released as a final product we won't hear of any fatal issues. Will Apple get credit from the haters for providing an update so quickly? Probably not and I am sure there will be all sorts of interesting justifications for that. At any rate, I updated my copy on the ThinkPad this morning and will hopefully give it a good once over soon.

Plus, and a little more importantly, tomorrow the Trip of a Lifetime finally begins. I'll be flying out from here to Thailand and from Thailand to Chennai, India for two weeks. On my return trip I'll be coming back via London. This means I'll be going around the world. Updates as they happen and pictures most likely upon my return. Now to get ready...

iPhones and Safari for Windows

This week is WWDC, like Christmas for Macintosh developers and headlined by a keynote from Chairman Steve himself. Yesterday's keynote was pretty much all about Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard and all of the keen features it will have when released this October (well, 10 of the 300 apparently). However, there were a couple of the infamous "One more things..." in store at the end. Firstly, a public beta of Safari 3 for both the Mac and Windows and that if you're a developer and want to write apps for the iPhone, right now you're going to use AJAX and Ruby and it's going to run within the Safari browser on the phone itself. Needless to say the reaction from developers on this was muted at best. If you're going to write first class applications for the phone, you want to write them as full fledged applications, and not so much web-based applications within a browser. However, I suspect that this is a temporary situation and by this time next year there will be a full developer's kit add on for XCode and everyone will be a happy camper once again.

Then there was the Safari announcement. Some were puzzled, some were offended, some seemingly didn't care, and most didn't quite get the point because they were distracted by the smoke and mirrors of the Reality Distortion Field. Steve stood there and said they wanted to grow the Safari market share past what it could be with the installed Macintosh user base, and sure, that's fine, and a sharp stick in the eye is better than using Internet Explorer, but what really would be the reason for porting it to Windows, then release as a beta version? Don't get me wrong, on the Macintosh, Safari is a great browser, and I'm not saying that porting it to Windows is a waste of time, or that web browsing on a Windows machine is inherently better by any stretch. But right now if you're on Windows and are looking for a better browser experience, perhaps Firefox may be more to your liking.

The timing for the release of this beta could not be more obvious. The release of the iPhone is now just a few days away on the 29th of June, and there are people interested in developing for it, and some of these people do not have Macintosh systems with Safari and very likely do not necessarily wish to purchase a Macintosh just to get access to Safari to test their application out with the same rendering engine that Safari on the iPhone uses to display web pages. Thus, to get people started on writing applications for the iPhone on both the Mac and Windows, Apple is throwing the beta out there for users. They can crow all they want about it being about growing the Safari market, and if it does get widespread adoption, it can help with those few weird websites that don't adhere to proper web standards and render their information properly only in non-compliant browsers like IE and make the developers write their code properly.

But the big thing is the iPhone. Because now, no matter if you use Windows or a Macintosh, all you need to write for the iPhone is server space, a copy of Safari and plain old Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac OS X (and massive brainpower). Of course, if you're a real developer you would have a real development environment to do syntax checking and to colorize keywords and tags, do line counts and power searches and so on, but simple HTML (which, really, any iPhone app will have more than this) can be done with a no frills text editor. So substitute that with whatever your favorite web development environment happens to be and with a healthy knowledge of Web 2.0 you're ready to start writing for the Phone of the Future.

Another video...

Just for fun - this one from YouTube...



Bwah-ha!

The secret origin of the Windows 386 video...

You may have seen or heard of the infamous Windows 386 video that's floating around. If not, then for your viewing pleasure...



Here's where this video came from - way back in the day when I was working at Software Etc this tape was sent to us from Microsoft to promote the new version of Windows. After we watched it we knew we had a classic in our hands with how god awful it was. So instead of tossing it along with other, more forgettable videos from the same era from other, now forgotten vendors, we kept this tape around for laughs. When we hired new employees we would make them sit down and watch this video along with the other new-hire orientation videos that were required for viewing. If they could survive this, they were ready for retail.

Now eventually, I of course left Software Etc for a bright and sunny future with Symantec. Knowing that future generations may not hold this tape in as high a regard as our era did, I took the tape with me to have and hold for safe keeping for just the right time. A while back - in fact it was not long after my return to Symantec - I was discussing the tape with a friend of mine who suggested that I upload it to YouTube or similar video sharing service. Not having the time or inclination at that moment, I opted instead to provide him with a copy in MPEG format to upload himself. Unfortunately, it couldn't be uploaded in it's entirety to YouTube and he didn't want to split it up for uploading and viewing - because this thing has to be watched from beginning to end to catch the point where it goes from simply bad to acid trip surreal. Fortunately he was able to upload it without any edits or cuts or breaks to Google Video. That's the version embedded above.

I still have the original tape right here next to me - now that it's uploaded and available and I have the digital copy as well it will probably never be played again. Perhaps I'll try an eBay auction to see if there is any interested in the original, infamous, Windows 386 promo video...

The meeting of the minds...

Last week at the All Things Digital conference there was a very historic on stage discussion between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. If you're at all interested in how it all turned out and the perspective of these two on the very brief history of personal computing, it's worth checking out at the D5 website.