My Web Host Is …… Slicehost

Amazingly, I have finally settled on a web host. For all intents and purposes, this is the first time I have ever personally signed up for a web host. To choose one was a long and arduous task of research, research and more research. I really hit a paralysis analysis wall. Choosing one finally is a relief.

I am signing up with a web host because I plan to first host some blogs. Then, down the line, I plan to host some other web sites.

I knew I was either going to go with Shared Hosting or VPS Hosting — I don’t need dedicated yet. Shared Hosting would have been easiest for me because I could get blogging software up and running very quickly, it would have been cheap, and I wouldn’t need to know much Linux (or Windows) if I went that route. VPS Hosting is more expensive and requires command line knowledge of Linux (oooohhhh, command line), but you are guaranteed a set of memory, CPU and resources (albeit not as much as some of the shared hosts *claim* to give you). Plus, you are in control of everything from the OS perspective — you get root access.

I decided to go with a VPS solution (to tell you how close this decision was — this morning when I woke up, I was *sure* I was going with shared hosting). At the very worst, I learn a little bit of Linux and understand how to run my own LAMP server (LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). At the very best, I am able to successfully host everything and anything I ever need to host, all under my control. In the end it will cost me $10 a month more than shared hosting would have. But that is OK. I am excited about the process.

So, the host I decided to go with after much deliberation is Slicehost. I had two VPS providers in mind, and I chose Slicehost because of what I considered its great website, excellent tutorials, community support options (chat being one of them), and the recommendations from many at the Business of Software forum. The last one was the tipping point.

So I am excited to try this out. I have already signed up for a new account and got the LAMP server up and running. Their tutorials helped out a lot here. It is important to note that this is an unmanaged hosting environment, which means, other than hardware failures, I am responsible for everything. There are no traditional support mechanisms other than the community.

In case you are interested, I signed up for the smallest package of $20/mo which gives me 256 MB of deddicated RAM, 10 GB disk space and 100 GB bandwidth/mo. You can upgrade/downgrade at anytime and I have 30 days to try this out to get some of my money back (You have to pay for at least 3 months of service initially - this was the only “downside” I saw about this)

My first major project is to move this particular blog over to the new host. I figure that should inundate me in the whole hosting process, real quick. That will be the topic of a future post.

I had 5 web hosts in mind; if you are interested in the other 4 that were on my short list, let me know.

That’s all for now.

State of the Me - Quick Hits

It has been a while since I have given a progress report of where things stand for me professionally. Back when I worked for Intel, I was mandated to give monthly status report. I am feeling nostalgic today.

Here is  quick bulleted list.

• I am still consulting, but, unless I am told otherwise, my current work is ending fairly soon here (maybe in the next couple of weeks).
• I told you about a month ago that I figured out the product I was going to develop to start my micro-isv. My progress on that front has been limited. However, I am fleshing out a new idea that would make that product a subset of this new, what becomes an overarching, idea. I won’t say much now other than say I am looking for a couple of partners and it includes, but goes beyond, software development into the world of internet media and other information dissemination mediums.
• I am exploring the options for a webhost. I believe I have narrowed my choice down to 1, but I have an outstanding question to their sales department before I can say for sure. The hard part was to choose to go with a Linux based host over Windows because Windows is what I know.
• When I choose my new webhost, I believe I am going to move this blog from its current home (WordPress.com) to the new webhost via WordPress.org. The reason for this is two fold - (1) Consolidation of all blogs and websites at one place (2) A learning experience about WordPress.org and the migration process. I have never self-hosted a blog before.
• I have gone totally Mac. Well, that is a little disingenuous, I suppose. I am running Mac OS X Leopard as my primarily operating system and running Windows Vista via VMWare Fusion (primarily because my current consulting gig requires it). This configuration is just awesome!! I love it!!! I am beginning to love Mac OS X as much as Windows. Also, I just bought a 20″ Apple Cinema Display on Ebay that I expect to get today or tomorrow.

I will provide more detailed posts on any of these bullet items as warranted.

If You Are A Yahoo! Stockholder, Are You Mad This Evening?

After seeing the news that Microsoft has abandoned its bid for Yahoo!, do you think the average Yahoo! shareholder is angry that they are unable to now get $33/share for Yahoo! stock, and instead is going to have to watch it (most likely) plummet down to around $20/share again — the price it was at before Microsoft made its initial offer?

I sure hope Jerry Yang and the Yahoo! Board of Directors know what they are doing. These are rich folks on the board and may not be able to see things through the eyes of the everyday shareholder.

Personally, I think they made the wrong decision to not accept Microsoft’s $33/share offer this weekend. I honestly think it is a case of “I would rather have the ship sink than be with the “Evil Empire”….well, that wish might just come true. I hope not.

Steve Ballmer’s letter to Jerry Yang is very interesting…and the response.

And how does Google feel??????

Boot Camp 2.1 Update Gave Me Hell!

I have a MacBook Pro, 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM laptop. I can dual boot either into Mac OS X Leopard or Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit via the Boot Camp technology provided by Apple.

So here I am minding my own business in Windows Vista, when Apple’s Software Update prompt appears saying a new version of Boot Camp is available, 2.1. I figure, cool, maybe it fixes a few problems and it is only a .1 release (I am currently running 2.0), let me go ahead and download it.

Well, that was mistake #1.

The update failed. I tried downloading in manually, and running it failed. Then I noticed some funky things going on with my current Boot Camp installation, like what happens when an installation gets 1/2 way through but didn’t finish.

I was like “Oh no! That’s not good”

So needless to say I spent the better half of the weekend reinstalling Windows Vista Ultimate from scratch and I am keeping Boot Camp 2.0 until Apple gets this whole installation thing figured out.

I am surprised Apple would release something that has had so many problems; I generally have had a good experience with them.

Please release Boot Camp 2.1.1 soon Apple!

I recommend staying with Boot Camp 2.0 until things stabilize a bit. I sure am.

User Interface Before Code

Jeff Atwood had a great post earlier this month entitled UI-First Software Development.

In the blog he mentions:

Of course, UI is hard, far harder than coding for developers. It’s tempting to skip the tough part and do what comes naturally — start banging away in a code window with no real thought given to how the user will interact with the features you’re building.

Actually, I am the exact opposite of this. I need an understanding of the UI before going off and writing any code for an application. To me theory, while important, is different than reality. The UI prototype serves as a guide not just for the navigation of the application. For me it serves as an aid in understanding what classes, methods, etc. are going to be needed for the application.

Jeff’s post is apropos since I am just starting to sketch out how my application Z is going to look and feel.

That leads me to a minor dilemma. What to tool to use to create my UI prototypes. Many people use pencil and paper, and I see much merit in that. However, I am, for better or worse, and electronic type of guy. So I am trying to see if I can use something besides pencil and paper to do my prototyping.

I have Visual Studio 2008 that I could use, but I am trying to stay somewhat away from the temptation to do any coding.

I also have Microsoft Expression Studio which I may indeed just end up using. I could use Microsoft Expression Blend which is specifically geared towards application UI development. The only downside is that it might be way overkill for what I am trying to do initially.

So, if I don’t use Microsoft Expression, what do I use then? PowerPoint? Paint.NET? Other?

I found a couple of posts that list some UI Prototyping tools.

Here is one.

Here is the other.

Given that I already have Microsoft Expression Studio, and even Microsoft Office 2007 if I wanted to go the PowerPoint route, I am not sure I want to spend a bunch of money on such a tool. However, if anyone has any recommendations, I am surely open to purchasing something — I mean, come on….being a wannabe micro-ISV who would want people to buy my product, I need to support my fellow software developers if it warrants. Of course, a really good free tool isn’t so bad either

Btw, here are some free trials I am thinking about checking out:

1. Mockup Screens
2. Serena Prototype Composer (this is actually free)
3. Designer Vista

If anyone has any thoughts, recommendations, or ideas about this, I am all ears.

Until next time…..

Finally! I Know the Product I Am Going To Develop

So, a while ago, I put a list of ideas out into the wild that I was choosing between as my first micro-ISV project. I haven’t really made progress on those ideas because I have been busy doing consulting work and I haven’t always been convinced that the ideas were all that good.

But now, I have finally broken through. I have what will be my first micro-ISV product. And I am very excited. I am not going to let the cat out of the bag this time. What I will say that is primarily a desktop application, has some competition and sprouted from a need that I personally have had for a long time.

I have started the design specification. I have most of my development tools in order. I am ready to go!

I am still doing some consulting work, but that may be winding down soon. Thus I will be able to concentrate on this full time. I am thinking a beta within 6 months, maybe sooner depending on what else is going on. We’ll see.

Whether this succeeds or fails, it is great to finally know that I can be excited about something and put some passion into it. The worst that is going to happen with this product is that I will learn something and I will be able to market my software development skills again. Woo Hoo!

And, to boot, I have some other ideas to follow this first idea. So I am building a nice little queue.

Until next time….

P.S. I have a name for my company, almost have a logo developed and have someone to develop my web site.

Top 15 Listened to Songs of 2008 So Far

I love music. I really love music. I have many thousands of songs from country to rock to R&B to rap. So it is real hard to pick all-time favorite songs. I gauge my favorite songs by the play count in Windows Media Player, where I play most of my music when I am working on my computer.

Here are my top 15 listened to songs of 2008 thus far (I had some ties, so I went with 15 songs):

1. Killer Queen - Queen (One of the greatest bands ever!)
2. No Diggity - Blackstreet
3. Life Wasted - Pearl Jam (My favorite band!)
4. Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson (yes, that Kelly Clarkson — this is a great song and she can actually sing)
5. Man in A Box - Alice In Chains
6. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
7. Killing Me Softly - The Fugees
8. Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler (One of my favorite “slow” songs ever, period!)
9. Hot Blooded - Foreigner
10. Pretty Vegas - INXS (actually saw the new INXS in concert — very good!)
11. Sin Wagon - Dixie Chicks (By the way, the documentary Shut Up and Sing was great)
12. To The Bone - Sex Police (My favorite band in college)
13. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
14. Alone - Heart
15. Verse Chorus Verse - Nirvana

Will see if these stick throughout the rest of the year.

Sometime I may be able to come up with my favorite songs ever. I have to imagine at least one of these would make the list.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

It has been a while since I have written a post. So as to not disappoint my one reader out there ;-), I am making time to do so today.

I have been really busy actually - to a point where creating blog entries has fallen below the ZBB line. (Now, I am pretty sure ZBB is a foreign term to many — it is an acronym used at my old company that stands for Zero Baseline Budget. Actually I don’t know what that means, per se, but the gist is if something falls below the ZBB line, it doesn’t get done for that quarter).

So what has kept me so busy. Let me give you an idea of my daily schedule.

• 6:30 AM Wake-Up
• 6:30-8:00 A little email, eat breakfast, get the boys ready for daycare
• 8:00-12:00 After seeing the kids off to daycare, I work. I have the fortunate opportunity of having another consulting effort, this time where I am the lead editor on creating a technical specification.
• 12:00-12:30 Take a walk around the block
• 12:30 PM -1:30 Pick up the kids from daycare, put them down for their nap
• 1:30-2:00 Eat lunch
• 2:00-6:00 More work after spouse comes home and watches kids
• 6:00-8:00 COMPUTER OFF LIMITS, spend time with the family
• 8:00 Put the kids down for bed
• 8:00-10:00 Eat dinner, down time, relax
• 10:00 PM Bed time

So between my consulting job and my family, I am kept super busy. The weekends are generally kept for family time and some outdoor adventures.

The bigger question for me is how the work I am currently doing affects my overall sole proprietor / Micro-ISV plan. I am using this technical editor opportunity to decide if this is something I would like to do long term. What this has going for it is:

1. Flexible hours
2. Good pay
3. Interesting (at least for now) work
4. Oh, and did I say good pay (i.e. a real paycheck)

If I decide I do want to continue down this career path, my plan for starting my Micro-ISV may indeed change. I know I will have some downtime where I will need to be doing something. The well will run dry for short or long periods of time. In fact, I do have an idea that I have been throwing around in my head (I have the domain name reserved and the software idea floating around). But being a “full-time” Micro-ISV has now not a certainty.

We’ll see. Stay tuned. I will keep you updated.

Until then, best wishes!

That Study Is Absurd — Or Is It?

I was reading the newspaper this morning where I came across an article about a study done by the Scripps Institute saying that Lakes Mead and Powell are 1/2 dry and are in a 50% danger of drying up nearly completely by 2021 or so. And are in a 10% danger of running out of usable water by 2013. These lakes, for those who don’t know, supply water to the southwest, including folks Arizona and Nevada.

Here is a link to the article (there are many — just do a search): http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/20080214_front%20page_13.txt

Now I don’t know whether this story is true or not, but what always strikes me are the inevitable refutes that occur to pretty much any study. From the article:

But Larry Dozier, deputy general manager at the Central Arizona Project, which supplies Colorado River water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas, called the Scripps study “absurd.”
“I think they must have made some pretty outrageous assumptions to come up with some outrageous conclusions,” he said. He said his agency’s own study of the water levels in the two lakes showed they were in no danger of drying up.

Someone has to be right, right? I don’t understand how the two studies can be done that come to completely opposite conclusions.

But it happens all of the time.

Global warming is the biggest showcase of this “contradictory phenomenon” that I know of. A gazillion scientists have done studies and say it exists, humans contribute to it, etc. But there are scientists who have done studies who say that it does not exist, and it is a result of the normal course of Earth’s being. I don’t know for sure whether global warming exists or not, as I have not done any studies for myself. I tend to believe that something funny is going on, but I could not give you certainty. But, again, I don’t understand how supposedly reputable experts in a given field can come up with polar opposite conclusions on a given study.

This type of thing happens with economic data, military data, etc. It is just baffling to me.

I am, at heart, an engineer/scientist type. So I guess I can attribute this to the scientific method — which allows for studies to draw different conclusions. But I just don’t know if I am willing to take that leap yet. Something more goes on with these types of studies, and I believe it has to do with politics for the most part — which is sort of sad because it would be nice to know the truth on these and other important issues.

Microsoft offers 44.6 Billion for Yahoo!

[Update: It is 44.6 not 44.5 billion -- that 100 million may not be significant to Bill G., but it is to us mortals ]

[Update: Would Microsoft try a hostile takeover if Yahoo! rejects the offer? That would be very interesting and a can of worms I am not sure Microsoft wants to open]

Yahoo! has not accepted this deal yet.

In the back of my mind, I knew this would happen. In fact, after Yahoo! reported earnings earlier this week, and the stock plummeted, I thought to myself “I bet Microsoft buys Yahoo! now”. I didn’t buy Yahoo! stock. Oh well, woulda, coulda, shoulda, I guess.

Anyway, I am still chewing on this deal. Is it good for Microsoft? Is it good for Yahoo! Is it going to be a disaster a la Time Warner-AOL?

The big and obvious question is how Microsoft plans to integrate Yahoo! into its Windows Live offerings. That is a huge undertaking in my mind, and not a 100% slam dunk by any means. For example, what becomes of Yahoo! Mail — does it get integrated into Windows Live Hotmail? Does Microsoft integrate Yahoo!’s search algorithm into its Windows Live Search?

And, not to mention the culture clash of the two companies. Yahoo! is already laying off 1000 people. Can Microsoft absorb the other Yahoo! employs, or will a mass layoff come?

And then comes the other side of the equation. How does this affect Google? Of course, this deal is a direct aim at Google. Google’s stock is starting down after it reported “not great” (according to analysts) earnings last night. That doesn’t really matter with respect to this deal, I don’t think. It is a long term question — will Google’s dominance be affected by this deal in a negative fashion? This deal would make Microsoft the clear #2 in the search/advertising space, but could it make Microsoft #1?

Very interesting start to the morning, for sure.