Zimbra

Came across Zimbra... very impressive open source app.. I was blown away with what they were able to get the browser to do...

In its current form it is a really nice messaging system... They have a model for allowing 3rd parties to plug into their ui, adding actions/meta data about "stuff in email" such as an order number, person's name, etc..

Seems this open source model of building free products and selling support and customizations is getting more traction.

Expectations of Sotware vs Traditional Engineering

I was reading recently about a comparison of traditional engineering disciplines with software and found some interesting facts that highlight some of the differences. Consider these two projects:

Project 1: completed on time, but

• Estimate cost: $4M -> actual cost $9M
• Post Release: 30% additional performance work
  
• Annual maintenance costs: $3M

Project 2:

• Budgeted time to develop: 5 years -> actual time 14 years
• Estimated cost: $7M -> actual cost $102M
• Post Release: 40M of adaptive costs
• Maintenance: $20M over 10 years

Are these projects successes or failures? If they were software projects they would be case studies of major disasters. However these two projects are examples of great civil engineering successes. Project 1 is the Sydney harbor Bridge. Project 2 is the Sydney Opera House..

Blooks..

Came across hackoff.com, it introduces the idea of a blook (a book serialized on a blog). A neat way of creating an "online soap" that people can read/comment on using popular internet technologies...

Google Suggest for Firefox

Installed Google Suggest for Firefox and it is really nice... Does a good job guessing what I want to search for.. Also the fastest spell checker out there :)

iPod Nano

What a work of art.... A coworker got one and I fell in love.... The ultimate gadget that does it all (photos/music)... Next is to find the accessories for "ultimate" car integration and then compute the damage.. Hats off to the Apple designers on this one...

It would be cool to have a key chain attachment too....

Code Smell?

I have used this word code smell when I see code that just dees not feel right. I did not know that there is some history behind it... enjoy

The Illusion of Simplicity

Came across this and found it funny... Not sure where it is from though...

Simply Fired

Came across Simply Fired... Some funny stories.. The best one I read was a person got fired for eating pizza...

Konfabulator

Came across Konfabulator. It is a cool windows app that recreating the mac dashboard... Most of the widgets are very well done.. Check out the yoda widget....

Grease Monkey

I read today a piece about grease monkey in wired. A clever firefox plugin and concept. It enables people to change web pages after the fact. It is easy to come up with lots of new applications that build on this..

Gas Prices - BAM!!!

Today I went to fill up my car and paid almost $50 for a full tank.. BAM! I remember paying $20 for the same tank last year...

To be honest, the high gas prices are where they should be. We [in the US] do not realize the true cost of gas, paying for it indirectly through other "taxes". Part of me hopes the prices go down, but another side of me says they should stay where they are so that we all keep getting reminded about the true price of oil..