underheadphones

Looks like Marten Mickos, one-time CEO of MySQL is leaving Sun. Matt Asay talked to Mickos, and had a sense that they key motivating factor was "(Mickos') frustration at Sun's bureaucracy."

I have no doubt this was a strong contributing factor. I've had my own experiences with Sun over the years, and while I love the technology they produce (which apparently enough other people like to keep them a big company), the business side of Sun can be maddening. Getting something done with Sun is typically a big exercise in patience.

But in contrast to Matt, I don't think the bureaucracy was really it. Though I only know Marten through very casual, infrequent conversations, two things show up for me:

This is just so cool that I have to put it here simply so I can remember to come look at it again in the future....

Ahhhh.... In the cycling world, when you catch up to a group riding ahead of you, and pass them with ease, you feel sooooo happy about the the fact that you're strong enough to pass them. (Am I competitive? Nah... ;-)

The same thing happens in tech, too. The latest example? When closed source vendors start to get defensive about open source alternatives, you know the open source is starting to affect their business, and the open source project is pulling up to - and passing - the closed-source products.

I just took 30+ minutes to watch Kathy Sierra speaking at a WordCamp SF event. It's worth listening to.

The thoughts of the aged.... This makes me wish I were 28, could live on a few spare bucks, and go live the cycling racer life for at least a couple of years. Spending my days training. Living for the next race, the camraderie of my racing buddies, the wins, and the losses.

I'll have to settle for hoping my body doesn't rebel so much on me that I can't at least go here (Tenerefe) and do the rides.

Kashmir Kalifornia Videoclip Competition! Cycling in Tenerife:

In the mid-1990's I ran engineering at ON Technology. One of our most profitable products was MeetingMaker, an enterprise-grade calendaring system. It was a much loved - and equally despised - product among companies that (for whatever reason) weren't running Microsoft Exchange but needed a "real" calendaring system to run their company. Faithful customers included Cisco, Apple, Kaiser-Permanente, Boeing, and many other large companies. From what I hear, a number of these companies still use (and hate) MeetingMaker to this day.

Lots of video conversations. Jay gets goofy occasionally. Jeff runs a timer to keep us (me) from going down too many rabbit holes. Dries wears headphones to keep from driving Karlijn nuts.

Drupalcon Szeged 2008. Kieran and I are walking to meet some Drupalers at a patio bar, and I spot a sign for a fitness studio.

Just. Too. Hard. To. Resist.

Traveling from Boston to Hungary for Drupalcon, I flew threw Paris CDG. These guys were on my second leg flight (CDG>BUD). They caught my eye first on the shuttle from the terminal to the plane, and then they sat as a group in the plane.

At first I thought they were rough ne'er-do-wells that had been hired as schwag-hander-outers (or other temporary labor) by Lotto for some event, and were traveling there. Wrong....

Your perspective changes as the years go by.

Spend a day in a foreign country and find a way to converse with locals about some interesting thing about the country.

A young person will say about that day: Today I learned a lot about ...."

Somebody a couple of decades older will say about that day: Today I learned a little about ...."

---------
Signed:
Me, sounding like everyone's father.