Is anyone aware of any Debian derivatives that are targeted to the Retail market? Looking at the current market, it seem that Novell has it cornered. That can’t be a good thing!
Just came across a nice little app called GanttProject, as the name implies it lets you do Gantt Charts. It’s a basic project management tool, and it claims to be able to import-export MS-Project files, an important feature for me living in corporate UK.
I shall have a play over the next few days and see how it shapes up, first little go seems good though…
This is a ‘Dear Lazyweb’ call….
The other day I had a bit of a clear out of the loft, I made good progress and managed to shift quite a bit of kit. Whilst clearing out I managed to find various bit’s and pieces that I have not seen for some time. One of the this I found was my 1st computer, a Sinclair Spectrum 48k the rubber key’s version, finding it gave me some pause for thought.
That thing, a present from my Mum and Dad in my early teens really gave me a lot. As well as years of enjoyment, playing such classics as Jet Set Willy, and Sabre Wulf & The Hobbit, gave me a taste for computing that put me where I am now, in a good career that I enjoy and food on my table!
So in honor of that pivotal machine, I am looking to frame it. I am thinking a wooden case with a glass / perspex front, with the Spectrum sitting in some sort of recessed material like felt, velvet, foam etc. Anyone know where I would get such a thing? I guess it would have to be custom made, or is there an online market for such things?
So over the past few days at work we have been playing with various architectural models for a BI engine, trying to see what the best fit is. One of the bit’s of tin we are considering is the Sun x4500, basically because you get a whopping amount of disk for relative peanuts, and it claims to go like the proverbial doodoo of a stick.
What I needed really was to talk to a Sun rep and probably have a poke at one. Now I could have talked to the Sun call centre and maybe arranged for a demo at the local Sun offices, though that would take a lot of messing about and incurred some sort of cost in time and resource. Or we could have gone to the web site (we did), but 2d pictures on the web with no-one to talk to was not really enough.
And so as you may have guessed, I decided to have a look in SL. I decided pop along to Sun’s island’s in SL and see what I could find out there. After a little looking round I came across the replica of the Sun Supercomputing 07 pavilion that they have (re)created in SL, it was full of models of various bit’s of Sun kit (including the x4500) and there were a good number of Sun employee’s loitering. So asking one of them who was free, what they know about the x4500, they took me over to the model of the x4500, and proceeded to answer the bunch of questions I had about it. Just like walking into a store in a mall, and asking a shop assistant about a potential purchase.
So what I hear you ask? Why is this such a big deal? What did doing this in SL give me that other methods couldn’t?
Well, its certainally felt a damn sight more ‘natural’ than browsing Sun’s website. The fact that you are in a 3d space, with people and objects and servers that you can walk round, take a closer look at and ask a helpful ‘shop assistant’ all about it. It was interactive in a way that the web could never be. The person was there who I could turn to, and ask questions as I needed, like I say it just felt natural.
Of course the experience could never compete with actually seeing one in the flesh, and talking to a real in the flesh sales rep. But it was a damn sight cheaper and much less hassle than going to a Sun shop, though I don’t think Sun have retail outlets and so it would have meant waiting for some sort of convention / show and traveling there, in this case Supercomputing ’07 was in Reno in the States, and I don’t think the client could have justified that traveling expense to ask a few questions.
So here is where I think SL fit’s in, it sits half-way between the Web and SL as a shop window for business. It has all the cost and convenience and geography shrinking aspects of the web, with the 3d’ness and natural experience of RL. It’s got to be a winner! My client benefited as I saved a bunch of travel expenses, and got some valuable information for a key project, and Sun benefited as it may have nudged me nearer a purchase (no promises though!)
In the words of Brian Potter, ‘it’s the future’!
P.S. Thanks for the nudge AK 
Today I was taught a lesson, don’t use 100% Bio Diesel in cold weather.
That’s all I want to say about that….
So the shinyness and hype got to me, I was in the O2 store at 7pm an hour after it was released. I was all set for just having a play and walking out. So much for being a Free Software pimp and sticking it to the man!
It is very cool though, as you may have guessed I am typing this on it. The keyboard is not too shabby, even the wife is impressed!
So my article on Second Life and Linux is in the latest issue of Linux User & Developer (issue 75), go grab a copy and let me know what you think!
Following on from a hot tip, I wandered over to the Canada Post opening event in SL. Apart from being a cracking good concert featuring a bunch of Canadian Artists the sim itself is quite good.
Basically as part of their launch in SL, Canada Post claim to assembled the largest collection of RL retailers on one SL sim ever. Not sure if this can be verified, but thats the claim. I counted…
Brookstone, Lockbook Cafe, Red Canoe, The Shopping Channel, Sears, Sky Mall, Everything Olive, Toys R Us & Canada Post.
So 9 Retailers in total, which is not bad going, I am told that The Hudson’s Bay Company are also there, but I am buggered if I could find them. Canada Post, like Telus before them don’t seem to have their own island but a sim on the mainland, which I guess is a reasonable 1st step into SL. The architecture of the sim itself is OK I guess, though they have gone the route of recreating RL buildings in SL, which is not to everyone’s taste (including mine).
The concert was good, and is still going on at time of writing.
Recent Comments