Barry Briggs' Weblog

Cool Space Station Photo

Barry Briggs — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:19:40 GMT

Awesome shot of a volcano in very early stages of eruption:

This was taken by an astronaut about the International Space Station.

Click on photo for larger version.

Birds Can See Magnetism

Barry Briggs — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:29:29 GMT

If true, this may be one of the more amazing scientific discoveries of late:

Scientists are coming ever closer to understanding the cellular navigation tools that guide birds in their unerring, globe-spanning migrations.
The latest piece of the puzzle is superoxide, an oxygen molecule that may combine with light-sensitive proteins to form an in-eye compass, allowing birds to see Earth‚s magnetic field.

Wonder when this will be available at the local health supplements store.

Microsoft Hohm

Barry Briggs — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:24:16 GMT

This is very, very cool and like Peter I can't wait to use it:

Microsoft wants to show you how to cut your utility bills.
The software giant will enter the burgeoning business of home-energy management on Wednesday with Hohm, a free Web application designed to show consumers how to conserve electricity and natural gas. Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, is scheduled to introduce Hohm and discuss Microsoft's energy strategy at the Edison Electric Institute utility industry conference on Wednesday...
But Microsoft designed Hohm as a cloud-computing application--built on the Azure online operating system and Bing search engine--so that users can tap into back-end data analytics for more tailored advice. Hohm provides tips based on models licensed from the Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which were developed with years of data, according to Microsoft.

DoD Creates Cyber Command

Barry Briggs — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:20:36 GMT

Sign of the times:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates formally ordered the creation Tuesday of a new military cyber command that will coordinate the Pentagon's efforts to defend its networks and conduct cyberwarfare.
A three-page memo signed by Gates orders U.S. Strategic Command to begin plans to set up a subcommand and be prepared to provide an implementation plan by Sept. 1, and begin initial operation no later than October

Fake Steve is Back!

Barry Briggs — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:42:02 GMT

Woo-hoo!

If you're not familiar with the pre-eminent satire on the web, check it out!

Godiva Ships! (20 Years Later)

Barry Briggs — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:46:25 GMT

Twenty years ago today, June 19, 1989, one of the pivotal software programs of the time shipped -- the third major release of the pioneering spreadsheet program, Lotus 1-2-3 (R). It featured, among other things, such innovative new capabilities as multiple sheets in memory simultaneously (then called "3D mode"), the ability to pull data from external databases, and a portable file format and code (one of the first production PC programs to be largely written in a high-level language -- C) that enabled versions to run on VAX/VMS, UNIX, and IBM mainframes.

"Godiva" as it was codenamed (after the chocolate, not the Lady) also supported true virtual memory and was the first application program to run in so-called "protected mode" on 286 and 386 processors at the time. The Godiva QA team invented automated testing, using 1-2-3's macro facility to test itself, and all checkins required passing an automated "minitest." We take all these for granted now but at the time it was, in short, incredibly innovative.

It was also unbelievably hard -- there were many very late nights, and on some, executives like Jim Manzi, Christine O'Connor, and others cooked gourmet meals for the development team who as often as not stayed well into the early morning hours.

Here is the picture we took exactly 20 years ago today; this was a full page ad in the Boston Globe that day:

That's me in the red dot. The creases in the photo are from my amateurish scans of the poster -- a full size scan is here.

I think I learned more about programming from people in this photo than anyone else: people like David Reed, the late and still-missed Carl Young, Bob Frankston, John Talbot, and many others; and about management from people like June Rokoff, Chris McGrath, Frank Ingari and Frank King.

Of course, the rest is history: in 1995 Lotus was acquired, and thereafter in my view rather lost its way, which is why I now work at the one remaining company still absolutely passionate about software.

Yet Godiva was an incredibly intense experience (I still remember bug numbers assigned to me) -- and I never want to repeat it, mind you, but it's a great memory, and I'm proud to have worked on it with all the great people in the photo.

New IE8 Campaign

Barry Briggs — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:50:44 GMT

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait no less:

Love it.

Spacebook

Barry Briggs — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:09:35 GMT

Very interesting post from the CIO of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (where I worked many years ago, btw) about the implementation of a social networking site:

I've often said that this NASA CIO gig is pretty tough. But, there are many times ... like now ... where I am proud to be the CIO of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. We launched Spacebook this week. Woo-hoo!
We took a leap of faith and rocketed into social networking this week with the launch of Spacebook, an employee intranet that features user profiles, group collaboration spaces and social bookmarking. This is similar to Facebook, except that it is restricted to NASA's secure internal network. It's open to every employee of NASA.
I need to tell you that this whole Web 2.0 thing gives people the willies. We delayed the launch one week to make sure we addressed the very valid concerns raised by our stakeholders. Our legal folks wanted to make sure that we met our policy and regulatory obligations; our IT security folks wanted to make sure that we didn't expose NASA data or NASA networks to any additional risks; and finally our Office of Human Capital people wanted to make sure that we were all well-behaved and personally accountable.

My sense is that a lot of IT departments are struggling with similar questions -- yet they will find, as NASA has, that (done carefully) the benefits far outweigh the risks, which, as Linda points out in a separate article, aren't terribly different from giving employees access to email and the web in any event.

And of course I'm delighted that they integrating with Sharepoint!

BTW Linda Cureton's blog is a gem, filled with not only technical insights but the personal side of IT as well. Highly recommended!

New Cybersecurity Center Chief

Barry Briggs — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:48:16 GMT

Congrats to our pal Phil Reitinger:

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tapped Philip Reitinger as director of the National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC), replacing Rod Beckstrom, who quit the post earlier this year citing turf battles with other agncies.
Reitinger will be responsible for collecting, analyzing, integrating and sharing cybersecurity information among federal agencies, the DHS said in a statement Monday.
Reitinger, a former Microsoft Corp. cybersecurity executive, will also continue in his current role as deputy undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the DHS.

Cool!

Barry Briggs — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:40:28 GMT

From E3:

Microsoft, who kicked off E3 Monday morning, set a high bar this year with a media briefing that was preceded by a mysterious email the day before. That email stated that the event would start five minutes early "due to a very special addition."
Its special surprise guests turned out to be the Beatles≠ Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the spouses of the late John Lennon and George Harrison, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. All showed up to promote the much anticipated "The Beatles Rockband" music simulation game by MTV Games, in which users can pretend to be members of famed music group.

(Wall Street Journal)