Codesweeper's Home on the 'net

My Blog about Loveland, SharePoint, IT and life in general

ACE Project in Loveland

Written By: admin - Jan• 22•12

The biggest news in our little town of Loveland is probably the ACE Project.  The Reporter Herald does a pretty awesome job of keeping up with this project.  It’s been 1.5 years since I first heard of this project and the old HP Site is still mostly vacant, but I’m sure any day now…

On the one hand that’ll mean more traffic on Taft Ave, a key throughfare for me to the I-25 , Eisenhower Ave and downtown Loveland, but it’s 7,000 jobs and housing values are likely to go up.  So if I ever decide to sell mine it’ll hopefully mean a few more bucks.  Also if it does give my wife that full-time job she wants so much, great; right now she’s a seasonal employee at Jackson Hewitt doing taxes, but anyone want to hire an Accountant/Financial Planner? 

I hope it matures into so much more in Loveland though.  We have a lot of things that high-tech industry could use, such as:

  1. Low utility rates, want to build a big ol’ electricity sucking datacenter?  I’d propose right here
  2. Lots of cheap, open land
  3. Educated workplace, between CSU Fort Collins and CU Boulder we are served well
  4. Low taxes, Colorado Taxes are a flat 4.63%, try and beat that back in California.  Loveland adds a nominal amount for sales tax (if you plan on selling something).
  5. Low property taxes, my lil’ house just got assessed for $860 on a quarter acre lot…I’ve known people get hit for far worse.

So what are you waiting for people, move on up!

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So Software Testers Need to Be Coders Huh? Why Software Testing is Important.

Written By: admin - Jan• 21•12

Time to admit it developers, many of us are lousy at Software Testing, me included…

Many of us might be familiar with the “Agile” methodology, amongst which advocates that testers write code and developers test code. In my experience I’ve seen many a tester write some code, often in the endeavor of fixing a problem. But what’s our problem developers? Other than write a few unit tests, we don’t do much else. Where’s the continuous integration in our work? Our continuous test driven development?

Developers seem to still be in the habit of handing code off to testers rather than testing software themselves. Lucky testers… I’m sure this varies by organization but it still seems to be my observation that this is the case.

SharePoint in particular is tricky. Most testing involves continuous integration with a deployed solution. Unit testing is hardly enough as SharePoint is too large and complex to just throw a unit tested solution in the real world without some workup in a staging environment, you’ll almost certainly crash and burn.

One thing I’ll have to resolve to do in short, learn more Software testing :-)   every other developer out there should likewise consider this.  We are all on the same team in the path to continuously improving our software, and in the end watch, it’ll take less time to release in the end if testing is started earlier.  Just trust me on this one.  Look at Test Driven Development in Agile if you’re curious about learning more.

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My First Codeplex Project Ever

Written By: admin - Jan• 20•12

http://spdperformancerules.codeplex.com/

Basically a performance analyzer for SharePoint using SPD Health Rules in SharePoint 2010. May it not be my last project :-)

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Cowboy Jim, Handyman Extraordinaire

Written By: admin - Jan• 14•12

Let me introduce you all to a friend of mine, Cowboy Jim.  Since we moved into my new home in Loveland he’s done all the handiwork around the place that I just can’t do (I’m really more a Tim Taylor than a Bob Vila, give me a hammer and I’m dangerous).  For example, today I wanted to change out the overhead Flourescent bulb in my kitchen and wound up breaking not only the new bulbs I bought but the light fixture itself *le sigh*.  Time to call the handyman again…

We get to talking on the phone and he was complaining about how business was slow and he could be over “anytime!” I had to wait to get some feedback on overhead lights from Bevin so I couldn’t jump into it right away, but I asked him why business was so down and he said “well Craigslist was rejecting a bunch of my posts, don’t know why.”  My thinking is we gotta move him away from Craigslist and onto his own site.  Especially since starting up his new site cost me only $17 for a new domain at http://www.cowboy-jim.com.  Five minutes to buy a new domain, and 5 minutes to install WordPress and start a new theme, and blammo, a friend is helped out.   Note this page is still under heavy construction.  Stay tuned :-)

It’s amazing how cheap a website can be these days, even free if you don’t mind advertising.  WordPress makes it too damn easy too.  Now the better trick, SEO or getting the search engines to find him for handymen in Loveland, CO.  But hey if you’re reading this in Northern Colorado and need some work done, feel free to give him a ring at cowboyjimhandyman@gmail.com.

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IT and Technology Predictions for the Year 2012

Written By: admin - Jan• 02•12

Here we go, I’ve reached into my Crystal Ball and come up with the following:

 

  • SharePoint, will continue dominance through the year, more 2007 upgrades to 2010.  No new versions this year, but we may get a whisper of the next version of SharePoint by the year’s end.  SharePoint will continue as a dominating enterprise Content Management System until well into the 2020′s at their current pace
  • Tablets will continue to flourish, but Ipad will get some heavy competition, buy stock in Android Tablet manufacturers
  • Mobile I’m breaking down as follows
    • Beginning of the end for Iphone, we’ll see declining market share as Apple’s overly oppressive developer policies and aggressive marketing by Microsoft take it’s toll, it’ll be some time before the Iphone is gone, but I give it 4-5 years
    • Adios RIM, sorry nothing there to be enthusiastic about
    • On a similar vein to my first mobile bullet, Microsoft will continue to push Windows Phone and it’ll become a contender, expect it into the #3 slot by the end of year.  It has a long way to go before #2 or #1 though
    • …So that means Android will dethrone Apple, all hail king Droid
    • Carrier Wise, Sprint being the last one left with an unlimited plan will start seeing migrations now that you can get an Iphone with them.  Taking on the Iphone however was a risky gamble and I’m not sure if they can sell enough phones to make it worth it.  But it’ll get people’s attention towards Sprint, who may wind up buying a Droid on the Sprint network anyways.  This will be at the expense of the other 3 big carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon) in equal shares.  How much market share this will give Sprint, not sure but Sprint will gain market share at the other carriers expense
  • Desktops and laptops will decline in sales in the wake of tablets and consistently smarter phones, but they are not done yet.  After all how else are you going to build a mobile app?
  • Cloud Computing will refine itself and become a meaningful term,  right now what defines “cloud computing” is kinda hazy.  Virtual Servers procured on demand….so?  Virtual/Cloud computing will continue to take over however.  It’s just a lot more efficient that way.
  • Something will have to give in the E-Book world, DRM is unsustainable as the online music industry has taught us.  I just can’t see buying a kindle until I know I can pass my books on to my kids and grand kids or sell them in a secondary market without worry.
  • Facebook continues to dominate the world of social computing, sorry Google+ is no competitor and the only remote competitor I see is LinkedIn.
  • Windows continues to dominate the Desktop OS World with the arrival of Windows 8, Windows Server will creep into the Server world as well as Admins get increased faith in its reliability and secure capabilities.  Linux will never go anywhere though it’s dominance at the fringes (lower end cheaper environments and higher end, rugged environments) will never disappear.
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Horrible Internet Advertising and Web Design, Round 2…

Written By: admin - Dec• 29•11

So back to our friends at Taverna Greek Grill, they sent me another email just now with a phone number (yaaaay!), however a visit to their website proves to be an exercise in frustration.

  • Everything opens up in its own new window…please people I know what the back button is, or just have a link back to your homepage.  Don’t clutter up my tabs on my fragile little browser (ok I’m running Firefox but, some are still on IE 6 or 7…I know, I’ve seen them).
  • How about an “About Us” page?  There are at least three Greek restaurants in the Loveland/Fort Collins Metro area that I can think of.  Why is this Greek restaurant so special?  Photos of the place perhaps?  Nada here…

Having said that they do make good food, but dear god they need to work on their Internet presence…

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Happy Holidays and the Phantom Update

Written By: admin - Dec• 26•11

Overall a good holiday weekend/Monday.  My daughter loved her presents, wife is happy with the play we are going to see in January at the CandleLight Playhouse and the holiday party with some friends of mine in Fort Morgan was a blast!

However one thing annoyed me over the weekend, when I was training my soon to be ex-client in a SharePoint workflow they had started asking about who can view documents in draft mode, in final mode, etc… I realized I had missed a key requirement there.  So who’s problem is it when a requirement is blown in IT?  Should the consultant ask?  Should the client know enough to tell?  This one gets tricky and quite often can be a source of tension.  My client took it well that we had to disable that workflow for now, under a promise that we’ll revisit later but I’ve seen missed requirements do far worse.

How to avoid these?  To some extent that’s why I started my SharePoint Quick Notes Wiki under the hope that my personal notepad will go here with others personal notes in an easy to use fashion.  A lot of this comes from experience but I have almost 13 years in IT between part-time and full-time work, how could I miss this?

Maybe I should just stop fretting for now and enjoy the rest of my week off.  I’m sure many a consultant has a similar story to tell anyways.  IT is a vast and confusing world after all.

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Horrible Internet Advertising, Round one…

Written By: admin - Dec• 19•11

So I get an email from Taverna Greek Grill in Fort Collins, a favorite Greek Restaurant in Fort Collins whose mailing list I subscribe to (so it’s not a spam) inviting me to their New Years eve celebration, a “Ticket Only Event”.  However this email:

  • Fails to give me any clue on how to book tickets so I think I need to click on their website but…
  • The click-through takes me straight to their homepage, with no mention of this event, and no phone number to call or someone to email…

So basically this email advertisement offers me no way of following through, no online ordering system, no email, no phone number.  No description of this “ticket only event” except to “book now”.  Basically I’m offered nothing at the email or at their website.  Brilliant…

I think they need to hire new marketing staff.  Too bad they’re great food.  But like most restaurants with an online presence, they just don’t get it.

 

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Net Neutrality, My Take

Written By: admin - Dec• 18•11

Net neutrality has become a hot issue on the Internet.  For those catching up, it’s the discussion over bandwidth providers rights over their network vs. the perceived need to be “neutral” or that we should be allowed to access everything on the Internet, and carriers should not be allowed to block anything except with our consent.

My views on most issues tend to align libertarian more than anything else.  Which means my viewpoint in the hardcore libertarian view is “It’s the network providers network, they should be allowed to do what they want!”  If you don’t like your network provider feel free to find another one.

Then again, in theory the internet belongs to everyone, therefore such blocking is wrong, no?  I think that argument violates a key point in that everyone owns their little piece of the Internet (I own my wireless router and everything past that in my house, as well as all my domain names and running websites after all).  However past that point it’s Comcast’s (my ISP), GoDaddy’s (my domain registrar’s) and Hawkhost’s (my web hosting company’s) infrastructure.  They are legally allowed to do what they want past that point.  They just happen to allow open access to everyone else.

While net neutrality is a noble idea, I just think that the reality can never come to pass as long as ownership is valued in America…

 

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Rewards Cards, Do They Make you Spend More at the Grocery Store?

Written By: admin - Dec• 17•11

So I’m at King Soopers today (our local grocery store), being the nosy one that I am I glance at an employee bulletin that shows how much more people spend with rewards cards, it turns out according to them it’s quite a bit more.  Up to 33%!  Not bad money…

With me I don’t think the rewards cards gets additional purchasing in general.  I’ve always been pretty good about sticking to a list with maybe ~10-15% of my purchase money being impulse on average.  But what probably has happened with King Soopers is that I’ve become a more loyal customer.  They are closer to me than anyone else and the prices are competitive with Wal-Mart and everyone else.  They have fuel at their stores too which is usually some of the cheapest in Northern Colorado ($3.06 for 85 octane today!).

So out of my $800/month grocery and fuel bill they get the majority share of it (this month approx 80% of my food and fuel were King Soopers).  The rewards probably have much to do with it, but there is more involved such as location and baseline pricing.

Dunno, thoughts from the crowd?

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