Mood:  celebratory

Metaphysics aside I suppository it would be usedul to give a disclaimer my lawyer can hang on whatever it is that lawyers hang on. SO thus therefore and forthwidth I do disclaim:

i don't know what the meaning of "Disclaim" is.

Do you mean like "I make dis claim"? I don tink so. I don't think I've made any claims that can't be verified for perspective and truth because I've included the sources I was citing in every instance (at least I think it was every instance. I'm an old man. Why are you badgering me?) . Take what I've written to experts. Make sure you give them a real read on what I've written and not hack job of posts you want them to see. You will know if you're lying to yourself. What you do after that is your problem.

Take the stuff to people smarter than me who can tell you if I'm the guy sticking a stinky finger in the potato salad at every cruise ship luncheon. Or am I the fly that got stuck in the potato salad when it was in the potato bin?

So, no, I don't disclaim that I know VCSY has patented technology being used or violated by IBM because I don't know everything to make disclaim.

If you mean "I don't claim to be that" I guess I can say I don't claim to be an expert, just good at what I do and my career curriculum vitae (available in public to no-one but myself- I can read parts of it to you if you like) may not be all that great, but it's probably better than yours.

What I do is sit and think about computer architectures and the passage of information from the data state to the consumable state and back to the data state. I get to sit and do this "thinking", as it were, and since I like to talk online (but chat rooms only get you into trouble) I figured I would take up my propensity for yakk to the next level and light a nest right cheer, as they say in some parts of the US I've driven through.

Fortunately I don't have to really do anything... I just be. Call me the low maintenance man. Pay? Heck no, if you mean do I get payed to write any of this absolutely not: zero nada wadda back pocket padda nope. I works when I wants and I don't wants mostly. Mostly.  But I don't work for or even know anybody in any of the companies I mention.

My credentials are that I am in a career that demands I know technology yet not have any ties to the vendors or suppliers to avoid conflict of interest. VCSY isn't in my Vertical yet. When they do I'll have to fill out one of them disclosures. I been through a bunch of them "closure" sessions and damn they ain't pleasant. Do I have to buy another woman a house? Or does the "dis" mean that a woman is going to buy me a house? Please be honest with me. I'm feeling quite vulnerable from the experience, as it were. I feel so cheap. Used.... How much do you think the house is worth? 

I own stock out of the ability to see a technological trend long long ago. I suffer because it has been long long ago. "We" understand who's ultimately at fault, but you can only dig until you hit the obvious and then you sit there and wonder why the obvious isn't publicized. By the way, great theme in the marketing for the red curtain and the red...well, you know... fricking everything. Especially liked the orange Eiffel Tower. Imaginative. Are we close? Warm? Any clues? Do we need to dig into this one or the other one over there? Hello. *THUMP THUMP THUMP* Is this thing Sarbanes-Oxley compliant?

What did I prescribe when I started this journey six (6) NO SEVEN long years ago? Patience. Well, Patience My Ass. I think we ought to kill something.

We (meaning me and my compadres who number in the dozens. Maybe many many dozens. Who's counting?)  have been tracking the goings and comings (mostly going) of a company called Vertical Computers. Look it up, this is a disclaimer I think and you're mucking it up with educational matters. You think lawyers like having to visit all those pages you blithely want thrown around to substantiate the arguments? Hell, they're no Perry and Paula or whatever the old gal's name was back there or whatever. Where was I? OH.

We don't mean to get mean but we're reaching the breaking point in patience and we want VCSY to tell us what they've been doing all this time of silence since 2001 when their XML products were introduced two weeks before Microsoft's and that's when the chicken $#!& began to fly. VCSY is a postage stamp of a company, but it has a right to exist without fear and intimidation. If the company is being held captive by somebody big that doesn't want anything known about VCSY apparent involvement in IBM for use against Microsoft (and quite masterfully done, I might add) write something on a gas station restroom mirror with soap. Invoke.

If you guys and IBM are in the hooch fine by me. Relationships are relationships and living on the peninsula makes me realize the software and hardware worlds make back woods gene swapping look parochial.

By the way, I've seldom seen such flawless execution in a complex staging and launch. How long has it been? Well it's been frigging well long enough. Enough already with the red coffee mugs and all: What's in the mug? What are these people drinking? Well we're drinking nasty stuff to keep the friendships afloat. Get it? Why do I have to drop a crabcake in my silks to get somebody in the world of industry and high finance to just prop me up in the wheelchair next time i get caught in a "leaned to fart and can't reright" fart paus?

What was I talking about? Nurse? What was i... well hey there honey, you're a sweet dose of medi...sin... What? We're "Live"? Hell I hope so. I've been in this home "live" for years and I don't think I'm dead yet. I hope not anyway. Think I want to spend eternity with all you ahos? Need oxygen. Need cookies.

Disclaimer? What's that? Somebody said I was crazy so I think I'll stick with that. 

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 3:15 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 10:53 AM EST

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Mood:  celebratory

Vista: what is the Big Secret which Microsoft is afraid of exposing?

by Guy J Kewney | posted on 17 November 2006

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3037 

You'd expect Microsoft's IT Forum this year to have been the top headline on Google. After all, Vista fever is now in full swing. Frantic developers are jamming the Microsoft servers with download requests, and an insane frenzy applies to the whole of Microsoft, as the new OS ships to corporate subscribers.

And I bet you never knew. Not surprising, when only Google says only 81 reports have Vista AND Microsoft AND IT Forum in common!

Normally, there's one thing you have to say for Microsoft: it may not waste too much of its time on the Press, perhaps, but when it does go for the headlines, it traditionally knows how to do it.

Most years, this major convention is attended by thousands of tech delegates, and hundreds of journalists swarm all over it, interviewing senior Microsoft staff. It generates headlines galore.

But this isn't a normal year! - with Windows Vista announced the Friday before the forum with "Windows Vista Is Here" and "This day marks Microsoft's most compelling operating system release in over a decade..." all over the Microsoft Developer Network web pages, yours truly was keen to share the raz-ma-taz.

So, when The Register rang up and said: "Can you cover the show?" I accepted promptly. Regular Register blogger Martin Banks had signed up for the slot, and then come down with the flu, so all Microsoft had to do was change the labels on the badge.

"We don't have the budget," said a flack.

It is, of course, a serious problem. Once the convention hits town, if you aren't a guest of Microsoft, then finding a hotel is a real challenge. But, surely, if Mr Banks was cancelling, all they had to do was give me his key?

"We don't have the budget."

Well, I can help there. I'm happy to pay for my own lunch. I mean, I understand that a small, struggling startup like Microsoft can't be expected to fund my lavish life-style; but what other budget?

"Flights," said the flack.

How much does it cost to get to Barcelona? British Airways is advertising a 29 pound one-way ticket. But if you don't like that, you can fly to Girona for 25 pounds, and take a seven-Euro bus to Barcelona. If Microsoft can't afford my lunch (understandable) and if they don't want to suffer the humiliation of seeing me pay for my own air fare, what's so hard about a 25 quid flight? What's so hard about rebooking the room in the name of Kewney, not Banks?

So, is Microsoft really short of the wherewithall to find a couple of hundred quid? Or is there something of a problem with Vista, which they're hoping nobody will spot? Or are we simply dealing with a junior PR flunkey who decided there was too much work involved in changing a booking? And if the last, does that explain why so few people went?

-----------------------------------------

Hello Guy. You probably don't remember me but  we crossed paths a few years ago talking about Orange and how Hutchison skunked the early results of the GlobalOne demise.

I won't correspond with you  in private, as there would not be enough transparency for my taste, so I am using this blog (aggregate blog, actually - me littel gang number statistically near a hundred although there are heros and thieves in the mix so I can't know who's who without a program which I have but I try to not open it much - leads to creases, don't you know. Maybe more.).

Given your experience seems to jive with other anecdotes I suggest you follow a trail to pry apart what Microsoft is clamping shut between their cheeks... as it were. It's called WinFS. The architecture is supposed to take information from the Windows NT File System (NTFS) relational database and apply it through XML middleware or engine to the internet stream for consumption and interoperable action.

Granted it's not in the wireless realm where you are but it is a software concept that will greatly impact wireless in execution and it's something we all want to see but SOMEbody says it's "too hard" so the entire industry has been giving them a pass since 2001. Now IBM is rising out of nowhere with huge SOA muscle and MSFT has SOA atrophy to the point their ribs are sticking out.  "We" (there's that word again) believe IBM is using patented information that "we" happen to own parts of and would like to know where our parts went. 

It's all been kind of like missing a chicken leg at a picnic. You know how upsetting that can be. 

Microsoft Marketing can't afford to truck you to Barcelona and Microsoft Technology says XML is too hard. IBM has SOA in profitable serfitude and now we see Microsoft forgot SOA at the last gas station. Google got AJAX from MSFT apparently unintentionally kinda sort of in March 2005. A clumbsilly handled first swing. Microsoft was asked to join IBM and SAP in killing UDDI in December 2005. A critically timed second swing. Swing three was WinFS. Somehow Microsoft became SOA crippled relative to IBM in only one year.

WinFS got killed in June 2006. The outline is still on the pavement - WinFS got knifed out of Vista just before they were supposed to make the grand entrance together. MSFT says it would take "too much time" and WinFS is supposed to now be pushed into future projects.

We know what time is to Microsoft, don't we?

We believe IBM intends to kill Microsoft (cut them in pieces by occupying the gap between their technologies) and that's all well and good. But MSFT is not VCSY's fight unless the VCSY CEO knows a bit more about Microsoft's tactics in this IP struggle. If it's a ledger thing? MBA's are the first to be eaten in any republic. If Microsoft deserves carving, slice away. We'll all sit back and watch.

Anyway, Sorry to be so cryptic and direct at the same time. I can't help it. My nature. It's what spacemen do. I'm not the Urban Spaceman because he doesn't exist. I'm his little brother that decided to tag along to see what Urban Spacemen don't get a chance to see.

Cheerios.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 2:58 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 6:47 PM EST

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Mood:  accident prone

Today December 6, 2006 marks one year ago when Vertical Computers returned to life and made my pinksheet shares live again.

Let's hear three cheers for VCSY. HIP HIP HIP. We're still waiting for the Hurrah. You'll get the remainder of the cheers then.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 12:35 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 12:36 PM EST

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http://www.devx.com/ibm/Article/31499

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 12:27 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 2:24 PM EST

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: : : : : http://www.devx.com/ibm/Article/31499

Instructive Information on Viper.
http://www.db2mag.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=191600158

Developers will have an easier time handling unstructured OR structured data with these capabilities.

Pfffwweet

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 12:24 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 2:24 PM EST

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A good topic for discussion and a good blogger. 

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/11/why_web_20_is_m.html#comment-25904542

Why Web 2.0 is more than a buzzword
Posted by Kathy Sierra on November 26, 2006

Many people hate the phrase "Web 2.0" even more than they hate what they believe it represents. No, that's not quite right... many people hate the phrase precisely because they think it represents nothing. Or they're annoyed by the idea of a web version number. Or they think it's "elitist." Or they're convinced it's so much marketing hype. But what if it's not an empty phrase? What if it's simply a way of representing a concept that some people DO understand? What if it's like so many other domain-specific terms that sound like nonsense to everyone else?

That doesn't mean zillions of people haven't abused the term for everything from sounding tech-savvy to getting a piece of the hype-fueled-please-god-bring-back-the-bubble-and-I-promise-I-won't-piss-it-away-this-time VC pie. And it doesn't mean that there's all that much consensus even among those who think they DO know what "Web 2.0" means. But to say it means nothing (or WORSE--to say it's just a marketing label) is to mistake jargon (good) for buzzwords (bad). Where buzzwords are used to impress or mislead, jargon is used to communicate more efficiently and interestingly with others who share a similar level of knowledge and skills in a specific area.

Part of the benefit of being "into" something is having an insider lexicon.

It's not about elitism--it's about efficiency. It's not about impressing others--it's about a shared understanding of specific concepts. It's about being able to talk about ideas or processes or even parts with fewer words and (potentially) greater meaning. If two heart surgeons debate the merits of a new medical procedure, I'd be lost. Hell, I'm over my head when the conversation turns to cooking. But I can talk about cantles and pommels, and I know exactly what topline means in the context of collection. And I can talk about recursion and dependency-injection and backward-chaining. Just don't ask me how to carmelize.

Dinner conversations around my house often are about one of those two things--programming or horses--and most non-horse, non-developer folks might wonder if we're just making s*** up. But if you took away our jargon, the conversations would not just be slower, they'd be dumber. We couldn't converse on some of the more sophisticated, complex, higher-level ideas about horses or software development. The experience wouldn't be as rich, productive, or engaging. Strip away the specialized words and you strip away part of why being better is better.

One of the biggest mistakes I see community builders make (however well-intentioned) is fretting over inclusivity and newbie-friendliness. They want the beginners to feel welcome, and few experiences are more daunting than stepping into a new domain where you have no idea what anyone's talking about. It feels... uncomfortable. Confusing. Discouraging. But in our quest to cut the jargon and perceived (or even real) elitism, we risk ruining one of the biggest benefits of sticking with it. Not only should we allow domain-specific jargon or expert-speak, we should be driving it! We should help invent short-cuts and specialized words and phrases to make communication among our most passionate--our experts--even more stimulating and useful.

If you're afraid of newbies feeling intimidated or unwelcome, by all means give them a separate safe zone. Whether the newbie space is the default while the advanced users have their own special area (site, forum, club, whatever), or just the opposite--the advanced users are the default and the newbies get their own special beginner area, the key is to not sacrifice your advanced users in an effort to make beginners feel better. That's a short-term benefit to the beginner but a long-term wet blanket over those who might otherwise be more motivated to move up the ranks.

So... back to "Web 2.0"--I'll admit that this one's trickier than most domain-specific phrases because it wraps many different--and big and ill-defined--concepts. But when Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty (the guy who first coined the term) talk about Web 2.0, it represents something real and specific and meaningful. Over time, a lot of other people (especially those who've spent time around them, including me) have come to understand at least a part of what they've encapsulated in that one small phrase. "Web 2.0" may be the least understood phrase in the history of the world, but that still doesn't make it meaningless.

Think of all the other words or phrases that mean nothing to us simply because we're not in that profession or hobby. Pop Quiz: From which domains do these sets of words or phrases come from? (And hey, try to see how much you can get without Google.)

A) The flop, the turn, and the river
B) purlwise, stockinette, double-pointed
C) snowman, gimmie, duck hook
D) blowbag, escutcheon, gas cock
E) grind, fakie, bluntslide
F) abseil, hexcentric, friend
G) sente, tiger's mouth, "black is thick"
H) break, build, "train wreck"
I) vermin type, use-activated, swarm subtype
J) ruck, maul, blood-bin
K) HIWAS, option approach, DOD FLIP
L) clipping, phantom power, patch bay
M) flashback, freelist, Scott
N) Class M, dilithium, positronic

First person to get all of them gets a surprise.

[UPDATE: once you look at the comments, you'll see everyone else's answers so... watch for the spoilers.]

[UPDATE: OK, new challenge... since everyone guessed mine so quickly, I'd love to hear YOUR idea for a set of three words/phrases from some domain/profession/hobby that the rest of us have to guess...]

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 12:22 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 7 December 2006 10:53 AM EST

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Oh well. What's a good demo without at least one good boner?

http://fuvoo.com/FuvooPermaLink.aspx?PostID=169 

Mister Ed: You will notice the URLs don't work because I say so. You will have to learn to cut and paste URLs to get your information. Trust me. It's good for you. Consider it exercise.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 11:05 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 6 December 2006 12:31 PM EST

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After thinking PHeaven was going to thrust our little cadre out in to the snow... they didn't and we aren't. BUT PH doesn't have some of the nifty visual and housekeeping capabilities as this place so I think we'll roll up the old bedroll and trek over to here for a while.

Sorry if you thought we were gone. We just went into "stealth" mode for a while.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 10:37 AM EST

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http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00288964;jsessionid=14C624D69B73FB8FC78E069D3D134691?order=1

Study Phase

Most clinical trials are designated as phase I, II, or III, based on the type of questions that study is seeking to answer:

• In Phase I clinical trials, researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people (20-80) for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
• In Phase II clinical trials, the study drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people (100-300) to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
• In Phase III studies, the study drug or treatment is given to large groups of people (1,000-3,000) to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.

These phases are defined by the Food and Drug Administration in the Code of Federal Regulations.

 Phase 4 is continued further accumulative study beginning when the device has finished Phase 3 trials successfully. If the device doesn't pass Phase 3 successfully, the device can not be released for public use in the United States. If the tests are successful, the device may be used in the United States and presumably worldwide although the EU would have their own certification procedures.

You don't start with 1000-3000 test patients. You start with small patient batches, test the results, verify the results and proceed to the next batch with modulated criteria or halt tests to make modifications. If modifications are made, the test resets to the previous criteria until there is a satisfactory pass. If after X tries the results are not promising, you stop and modify or abandon.

This is why clinical trials can last for years. Eye progress and watch for problems.

According to this:

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00288964;jsessionid=14C624D69B73FB8FC78E069D3D134691?order=1

this study started in November of 2005 and expected to begin with 20 terminally ill individuals.

Posted by Portuno Diamo at 8:20 PM EDT

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