I'm doing some SSIS upgrade and PCI compliance work for a retail client.  As I connected to one of their database servers there was a database named TrustedLink.  That rang a bell and when I asked they told me it was "for their EDI program, did I know anything about it?"  In fact I did, I had helped write it.

With Apple's iPad and Google noises about a tablet (Microsoft, where are you?), I had a thought today.  A lot of the old (old like 1950s & 60s) sci fi futurist stuff had some kind of screen in every room that was a communication and information interface.  At the time I think they were envisioned as terminals, since a "computer" would obviously take up a whole room.

This is a suggestion for Google, Bing, and anyone else still attempting to compete in the search engine space:

Provide a user configuration option to exclude domains search results. 

A week or so ago youtube announced a demo using HTML5 (i.e.: flash-less).  Conspicuously, the demo doesn't work with Firefox.  Also notable is that it uses the proprietary H.264 codec.  I don't know what to think of this, if it's a payoff to someone or what.

This morning I read that Google Voice has been released for iPhone and Palm WebOS.  Here's a snippet:

Powerbuilder?  Wow.  Really?

I received three calls today from recruiters about a senior Powerbuillder architect/developer position.  There are so many things wrong with this:

Taking a quick look at Google/W3C's HTML 5 Web Socket API, it seems that they do violence to Roy Fielding's REST constraints.  Essentially it turns the thing we still quaintly call a web page into the client end of a client-server application.  The existence of a web socket mechanism doesn't necessarily make a web application stateful, but it certainly makes statelessness unli

I’m working on an HP pc with the stock NVIDIA 8400 GS video card.  On 9/5/2009 Microsoft Automatic Update installed a Microsoft Silverlight update (KB970363) that stops the NVIDIA video driver from loading.  I’ve gone back to System Restore before that update twice to see if it’s something else and the Silverlight update is the one that breaks me.  It’s shown as an “important update” so Automatic Update will continually attempt to reinstall it.  It looks like my only option is to uninstall Silverlight.

my all-time fav letter-to-the-editor was in computerworld about 20 years ago. it was titled "congratulations on your one millionth article on the demise of the mainframe". the blogosphere's prolific opinionizing may have topped that feat in the 12 hours following microsoft's live mesh announcement.

I worked some with Oracle 6, 7, and (early) 8, skipped 9 entirely (apparently a good thing) and now am back in with version 10.   In between I've mostly worked with Microsoft Sql Server, but also with DB2, MySql, and PostgresSql.  I'm not religious about any of them, but re-familiarizing myself with Oracle 10g has given rise to this analogy.  Think of sql server as a new Corvette. the leather interior smells great.