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• Capgemini Global Business Process Management Report

  - by JuergenKress

  Welcome to the Capgemini Global Business Process Management (BPM) Report. This report is an exploration of key trends in BPM as seen by CXOs across a broad selection of sectors and geographies. BPM is perhaps at a tipping point - it’s certainly at an exciting stage in its evolution. As both an engineer and an Operational Research practitioner in my early career, and subsequently as a consultant, I have seen BPM through its development over the last 26 years. BPM has its roots in management practices such as Total Quality Management, Business Process Reengineering & Model Based Development; but the advent of the new generation of sophisticated modelling and process execution technologies has greatly enhanced BPM’s power to truly transform businesses. This has created one of the most rapidly growing and attractive market sectors for both services and technology. We see BPM as a critical management discipline that when executed against clear, cross organizational business objectives, can deliver exceptional value to that organization. However, we also see that the potential for BPM is not well understood. Our decision to conduct this global survey stemmed from discussions with our clients. We sought to gain a better impression of their understanding of BPM, how they measure its value, and how far it is prioritized within their Business and Technology Transformation efforts. This research confirms our belief that BPM needs to be a jointly owned Business and IT discipline. It also demonstrates that it is starting to gain significant traction in the market and investments are starting to pay dividends to the early adopters. At Capgemini we are being asked by our clients to help them simplify and improve their business models and the technology that supports them and we are already seeing BPM become an integral and key part of this proposition. Business Process Management is becoming ever more relevant to both large and small organizations in the current economic climate. At a time when many different market sectors are facing slow revenue growth, customer churn and increased pressures on costs, BPM becomes a critical weapon in the battle for efficiency and effectiveness in processes. Furthermore, in a challenging and changing business environment that is characterized by uncertainty, it allows organizations to adapt, be more agile and fleet of foot. Capgemini is seeing strong demand for BPM services in markets such as the USA, the UK, the Netherlands and France; and there are clear signs of increased interest in other geographies such as, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy and Australia. In sector terms, the financial services industry has led the way in BPM adoption over the recent past, driven by increased focus on customer- centricity and regulatory compliance. Other sectors, public sector, utilities, telco, retail and manufacturing are now not only catching up, but are starting o use BPM in new ways to create new business models to serve customers and outsmart the competition. The research findings also show however that this is a complex landscape, and we are not seeing adoption of BPM in a clear and consistent way. This report also looks at some of the barriers to adoption, with organizational silos being a major obstacle. Waters are further muddied by fragmented budgets, lack of clear governance and ownership and internal politics. The objective of our investment in this research project was to shed some light on these elements with a view to assisting organizations to create strategies that avoid or at least mitigate some of these barriers to success. Management of change in such endea vours is a key part in enabling the appropriate alignment of business and technology to support their transformation efforts. I hope that you find this report of benefit in the further adoption of Business Process Management. Get the full report here. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Technorati Tags: Capgemini,bpm report,bpm market,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• Seven Accounting Changes for 2010

  - by Theresa Hickman

  I read a very interesting article called Seven Accounting Changes That Will Affect Your 2010 Annual Report from SmartPros that nicely summarized how 2010 annual financial statements will be impacted.  Here’s a Reader’s Digest version of the changes: 1.  Changes to revenue recognition if you sell bundled products with multiple deliverables: Old Rule: You needed to objectively establish the “fair value” of each bundled item. So if you sold a dishwasher plus installation and could not establish the fair value of the installation, you might have to delay recognizing revenue of the dishwasher days or weeks later until it was installed. New Rule (ASU 2009-13): “Objective” proof of each service or good is no longer required; you can simply estimate the selling price of the installation and warranty. So the dishwasher vendor can recognize the dishwasher revenue immediately at the point of sale without waiting a few weeks for the installation. Then they can recognize the estimated value of the installation after it is complete. 2.  Changes to revenue recognition for devices with embedded software: Old Rule: Hardware devices with embedded software, such as the iPhone, had to follow stringent software revrec rules. This forced Apple to recognize iPhone revenues over two years, the period of time that software updates were provided. New Rule (ASU 2009-14): Software revrec rules no longer apply to these devices with embedded software; these devices can now follow ASU 2009-13. This allows vendors, such as Apple, to recognize revenue sooner. 3.  Fair value disclosures: Companies (both public and private) now need to spend extra time gathering, summarizing, and disclosing information about items measured at fair value, such as significant transfers in and out of Level 1(quoted market price), Level 2 (valuation based on observable markets), and Level 3 (valuations based on internal information). 4.  Consolidation of variable interest entities (a.k.a special purpose entities): Consolidation rules for variable interest entities now require a qualitative, not quantitative, analysis to determine the primary beneficiary. Instead of simply looking at the percentage of voting interests, the primary beneficiary could have less than the majority interests as long as it has the power to direct the activities and absorb any losses.  5.  XBRL: Starting in June 2011, all U.S. public companies are required to file financial statements to the SEC using XBRL. Note: Oracle supports XBRL reporting. 6.  Non-GAAP financial disclosures: Companies that report non-GAAP measures of performance, such as EBITDA in SEC filings, have more flexibility.  The new interpretations can be found here: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/nongaapinterp.htm.  7.  Loss contingencies disclosures: Companies should expect additional scrutiny of their loss disclosures, such as those from litigation losses, in their annual financial statements. The SEC wants more disclosures about loss contingencies sooner instead of after the cases are settled.

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• How to fix: Ubuntu 12.04 reboots after loading with elilo

  - by Casey

  I have an HP p6-2120 with CPU: AMD A6-3620 APU with Radeon Graphics RAM: 6GB BIOS: HO2_710.ROM v7.10 [AMI v7.10 4/19/2012] Disk: SATA1 (/dev/sda) - 1 TB (windows) Disk: SATA2 (/dev/sdb) - 1 TB partitioned using "parted -a optimal /dev/sdb" as follows: .. 1049KB 201MB FAT32 boot flag set .. 201MB 60GB ext2 (/) .. 68GB 78GB linux-swap(v1) (swap) .. 78GB 790GB ext4 (/home) .. - rest is "free" space reserved for other purposes (eventually) ubuntu: 12.04.1 LTS [specifically: Release 12.04 (precise) 64-bit] kernel: linux 3.2.0-29-generic I created a bootable EFI USB from the ISO (64-bit) which I downloaded. I can run and install from the USB without any problems. The BIOS is an EFI bios that appears to be capable of booting in either EFI or Legacy mode. Initially, I did the "standard" install with NOTHING on disk2, and let the installer configure everything. The net result of this was that when I started the computer and forced it into "boot" menu mode, it DOES NOT recognize SATA2 as an EFI drive, and when I attempt to "legacy" boot from it, I get the message "ERROR: No Boot Disk has been detected." The "standard" install created one large partition that consumed the entire disk. At that point, I manually partitioned the disk (using sudo parted -a optimal /dev/sdb) as described above. I selected the "other" install, and changed the /dev/sdb1 to "bios_grub", /dev/sdb2 as "/" (ext4), /dev/sdb3 as swap, and /dev/sdb4 as "/home". [Note: fearing that possibly elilo did not recognize ext4, I switched /dev/sdb2 to ext2 and re-insalled] The net result was that the install appeared to trash the /dev/sdb1 partition so that it was NOT readable by anything. I re-formated /dev/sdb1 as FAT32 and set the boot flag. I repeated the install ignoring the messages about no bios_grub partition. After several attempts to get GRUB2 to work, I switched to elilo. I downloaded the most recent version and copied it (elilo-3.14-ia64.efi) to /dev/sdb1/efi/boot/bootx64.efi. (The BIOS boot loader did not recognize it either as elilo-3.14.ia64.efi or as elilo.efi. Based on the advice in one of the web-pages I found, I renamed it to bootx64.efi. This worked.) In that same directory (/efi/boot), I copied the file pointed to the link in /dev/sdb2/vmlinuz to /efi/boot/vmlinuz, and the file pointed to the link in /dev/sdb2/initrd.img to /efi/boot/initrd.img. I created an elilo.conf file as follows: timeout=5000 prompt default=linux-boot image=vmlinuz label=linux-boot read-only initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/sdb2 The /efi/boot directory contains 4 files: bootx64.efi elilo.conf vmlinuz initrd.img When I power-cycle the computer and force the boot menu, drive2 shows up as an EFI bootable drive. When I select it, I get the elilo prompt. Pressing , it appears to load the kernal (I have tried it with verbose=5, and there is a long string of messages with the final one a command line to load the kernel and a series of several dots that fly by) then the screen goes blank, and it reboots the computer. [Note: I have also tried substituting the UUID as found in the /etc/fstab of the installed system for the root directory. This had no effect.] This is a brief synopsis of several nights of fiddling with this. I would deeply appreciate any help you can give.

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• How do we provide valid time estimates during Sprint Planning without doing "too much" design?

  - by Michael Edenfield

  My team is getting up to speed with Scrum, but most of us are more familiar with non-agile or "pseudo-"agile methodologies. The part that is the biggest hurdle for us is running an efficient Sprint Planning meeting where we break our backlog items into tasks, and estimate hours. (I'm using the terminology from the VS2010 Scrum Template; apologies if I use the wrong word somewhere.) When we try to figure out how long a task is going to take, we often fall into the trap of designing the feature at the code level -- table layout, interfaces, etc -- in order to figure out how long that's going to take. I'm pretty sure this is not the appropriate place to be doing that kind of design. We should be scheduling tasks for these design meetings during the sprint. However, we are having trouble figuring out how else to come up with meaningful estimates for the tasks. Are there any practical habits/techniques/etc. for making a judgement call about how long a feature is going to take, without knowing how you plan to implement it? If our time estimates are going to change significantly once the design has been completed, how can we properly budget our Sprint backlog ahead of time? EDIT: Just to clarify, since some of the comments/answers are very valid but I think addressing the wrong question. We know that what we're doing is not right, and that we should be building time into the sprint for this design. Conceptually all of the developers understand that. We also also bringing in a team member with Scrum experience to keep us on track if we start going off into the weeds. The problem is that, without going through this design process, we are finding it difficult to provide concrete time estimates for anything. We are constantly saying things like "well if we design it this way it might take 8 hours but if we end up having to do this other way instead that will take about 32 but it might not be as bad once we start trying to write it...". I also assume that this process will get better once we have some historical velocity to work from, but many of the technologies and architectural patterns we are using are new to us. But if potentially-wildly-wrong estimates are just a natural part of adapting this process then we will just need to recondition ourselves to accept that :)

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• ConcurrentDictionary<TKey,TValue> used with Lazy<T>

  - by Reed

  In a recent thread on the MSDN forum for the TPL, Stephen Toub suggested mixing ConcurrentDictionary<T,U> with Lazy<T>.  This provides a fantastic model for creating a thread safe dictionary of values where the construction of the value type is expensive.  This is an incredibly useful pattern for many operations, such as value caches. The ConcurrentDictionary<TKey, TValue> class was added in .NET 4, and provides a thread-safe, lock free collection of key value pairs.  While this is a fantastic replacement for Dictionary<TKey, TValue>, it has a potential flaw when used with values where construction of the value class is expensive. The typical way this is used is to call a method such as GetOrAdd to fetch or add a value to the dictionary.  It handles all of the thread safety for you, but as a result, if two threads call this simultaneously, two instances of TValue can easily be constructed. If TValue is very expensive to construct, or worse, has side effects if constructed too often, this is less than desirable.  While you can easily work around this with locking, Stephen Toub provided a very clever alternative – using Lazy<TValue> as the value in the dictionary instead. This looks like the following.  Instead of calling: MyValue value = dictionary.GetOrAdd( key, () => new MyValue(key)); .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } We would instead use a ConcurrentDictionary<TKey, Lazy<TValue>>, and write: MyValue value = dictionary.GetOrAdd( key, () => new Lazy<MyValue>( () => new MyValue(key))) .Value; This simple change dramatically changes how the operation works.  Now, if two threads call this simultaneously, instead of constructing two MyValue instances, we construct two Lazy<MyValue> instances. However, the Lazy<T> class is very cheap to construct.  Unlike “MyValue”, we can safely afford to construct this twice and “throw away” one of the instances. We then call Lazy<T>.Value at the end to fetch our “MyValue” instance.  At this point, GetOrAdd will always return the same instance of Lazy<MyValue>.  Since Lazy<T> doesn’t construct the MyValue instance until requested, the actual MyClass instance returned is only constructed once.

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• The Minimalist Approach to Content Governance - Create Phase

  - by Kellsey Ruppel

   Originally posted by John Brunswick. In this installment of our Minimalist Approach to Content Governance we finally get to the fun part of the content creation process! Once the content requester has addressed the items outlined in the Request Phase it is time to setup and begin the production of content.   For this to be done correctly it is important the the content be assigned appropriate workflow and security information. As in our prior phase, let's take a look at what can be done to streamline this process - as contributors are focused on getting information to their end users as quickly as possible. This often means that details around how to ensure that the materials are properly managed can be overlooked, but fortunately there are some techniques that leverage our content management system's native capabilities to automatically take care of some of the details. 1. Determine Access Why - Even if content is not something that needs to restricted due to security reasons, it is helpful to apply access rights so that the content ends up being visible only to users that it relates to. This will greatly improve user experience. For instance, if your team is working on a group project many of your fellow company employees do not need to see the content that is being worked on for that project. How - Make use of native content features that allow propagation of security and meta data from parent folders within your content system that have been setup for your particular effort. This makes it painless to enforce security, as well as meta data policies for even the most unorganized users. The default settings at a parent level can be set once the content creation request has been accepted and a location in the content management system is assigned for your specific project. Impact - Users can find information will less effort, as they will only be exposed to what they need for their work and can leverage advanced search features to take advantage of meta data assigned to content. The combination of default security and meta data will also help in running reports against the content in the Manage and Retire stages that we will discuss in the next 2 posts. 2. Assign Workflow (optional depending on nature of content) Why - Every case for workflow is going to be a bit different, but it generally involves ensuring that content conforms to management, legal and or editorial requirements. How - Oracle's Universal Content Management offers two ways of helping to workflow content without much effort. Workflow can be applied to content based on Criteria acting on meta data or explicitly assigned to content with a Basic workflow. Impact - Any content that needs additional attention before release is addressed, allowing users to comment and version until a suitable result is reached. By using inheritance from parent folders within the content management system content can automatically be given the right security, meta data and workflow information for a particular project's content. This relieves the burden of doing this for every piece of content from management teams and content contributors. We will cover more about the management phase within the content lifecycle in our next installment.

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• How to deal with overly aggressive "Link Take Down Demands"?

  - by Eoin

  I've been receiving a large number of emails recently requesting I clean from link spam from my forum. Initially the emails were very polite and professional, and I was happy to remove the links. Recently the email have gotten very abrasive, here is a particularly rude example: From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Hi, This is the second time we are reaching out to you regarding your link to our site hxxp://www.company-two.com from hxxp://www.my-forum.com/some-topic-id. We really do need to remove this link. We have to report to Google any link we were unable to remove, and I wouldn't want to have to include your site in the list. Could you please remove our link from this page and any other page on your site? Thank You, Name Changed Behind the superficial pleasantries I feel there is some very real maliciousness. Note the email address, DMCA Violations, I don't see how the DMCA is involved here, except as a word which tends to strike fear in many people. Also relating to the email address, it doesn't match the company being linked to at all. How am I to trust they are truely operating on behalf of company-two when they don't even use one of it's email addresses. My email is hidden by privacypost. While a service with legitimate uses, I feel it's highly unprofessional for communications between to companies. The claim "This is the second time..." Every email I've received has started like this, but a check of my spam filters has never revealed a 1st mail. Initially I gave them the benefit of the doubt, by now though it's clear this is a cheap ploy to start me off on the defensive. And finally worst of all- the threats of reporting me to Google if I don't do everything they ask. I sent a polite reply asking for more information. I have no idea if the email address was even valid but I never received any response. Much later I got this followup mail From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Hi, This is the final time we are reaching out to you regarding your link to our site hxxp://www.company-two.com from hxxp://www.my-forum.com/some-topic-id. We will soon be reporting to Google any link we were unable to remove, and currently your site will have to be on the list. Could you please remove our link from this page and any other page on your site? I appreciate your urgent attention to this matter. Thank You, Name Changed This time the from address was more personal, though still not obviously connected to the spammed company. Lets be honest, I don't for one second believe that the companies were the victim of a 3rd party spammer as they claim. The links in questions were generated well over a year ago, and I firmly believe the companies were directly responsible for the spam links in question, a type of spam that has plagued my forum. Now they have the audacity to demand I spend my time cleaning up their mess, using threats to ensure they get their way. Have recent changes in Googles algorithms meant all the cash they spent spamming the web has now turned into a liability? If so I can see why these companies are all of a sudden running scared. Frankly, cleaning up my forum is a good things, but the threats they are using sickens me. So my question here is specifically about the threats: Are they vaild, and would such reports to Google destroy my page rankings? Is there a way I can report this abusive behaviour to Google?

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• Rendering My Fault Message

  - by onefloridacoder

  My coworkers setup  a nice way to get the fault messages from our service layer all the way back to the client’s service proxy layer.  This is what I needed to work on this afternoon.  Through a series of trials and errors I finally figured this out. The confusion was how I was looking at the exception in the quick watch viewer.  It appeared as though the EventArgs from the service call had somehow magically been cast back to FaultException(), not FaultException<T>.  I drilled into the EventArgs object with the quick watch and I copied this code to figure out where the Fault message was hiding.  Further, when I copied this quick watch code into the IDE I got squigglies.  Poop. 1: ((System 2: .ServiceModel 3: .FaultException<UnhandledExceptionFault>)(((System.Exception)(e.Result)).InnerException)).Detail.FaultMessage I wont bore you with the details but here’s how it turned out.   EventArgs which I’m calling “e” is not the result such as some collection of items you’re expecting.  It’s actually a FaultException, or in my case FaultException<T>.  Below is the calling code and the callback to handle the expected response or the fault from the completed event. 1: public void BeginRetrieveItems(Action<ObservableCollection<Model.Widget>> FindItemsCompleteCallback, Model.WidgetLocation location) 2: { 3: var proxy = new MyServiceContractClient(); 4:  5: proxy.RetrieveWidgetsCompleted += (s, e) => FindWidgetsCompleteCallback(FindWidgetsCompleted(e)); 6:  7: RetrieveWidgetsRequest request = new RetrieveWidgetsRequest { location.Id }; 8:  9: proxy.RetrieveWidgetsAsync(request); 10: } 11:  12: private ObservableCollection<Model.Widget> FindItemsCompleted(RetrieveWidgetsCompletedEventArgs e) 13: { 14: if (e.Error is FaultException<UnhandledExceptionFault>) 15: { 16: var fault = (FaultException<UnhandledExceptionFault>)e.Error; 17: var faultDetailMessage = fault.Detail.FaultMessage; 18:  19: UIMessageControlDuJour.Show(faultDetailMessage); 20: return new ObservableCollection<BinInventoryItemCountInfo>(); 21: } 22:  23: var widgets = new ObservableCollection<Model.Widget>(); 24:  25: if (e.Result.Widgets != null) 26: { 27: e.Result.Widgets.ToList().ForEach(w => widgets.Add(this.WidgetMapper.Map(w))); 28: } 29:  30: return widgets; 31: }

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• Successfully Deliver on State and Local Capital Projects through Project Portfolio Management

  - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} While the debate continues on Capitol Hill about which federal programs to cut and which to keep, communities and towns across America are feeling the budget crunch closer to home. State and local governments are trying to save as many projects as they can without promising too much to constituents – and they, in turn, want to know where their tax dollars are going. Fortunately, with the right planning and management, you can deliver successful projects and portfolios on a limited budget. Watch the replay of our recent webcast with Oracle Primavera and Industry Product Manager Garrett Harley that will demonstrate how state and local governments can get the most out of their capital projects and learn how two Oracle Primavera customers have implemented project portfolio management practices to: Predict the cost of long-term capital programs and projects Assess risk and mitigation strategies Collaborate and track performance across government agencies Speakers: Garrett Harley, Industry and Product Manager, Oracle Primavera Cory Davis, Director of Capital Renovation and New Construction, Chicago Public Schools Julie Owen, PSP™, CCC™, Sr. Project Controls Manager,LA Metro Transit Authority With the right planning and management, state and local governments can deliver successful projects on a limited budget. 1024x768 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}

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• Make the Time

  - by WonderOfItAll

  Took the little one to the pool tonight for swim lessons. Okay, Okay. They're not really lessons so much as they are "Hey, here's a few bucks, let me rent out a small section of your pool to swim around with my little one" Saw a dad at the pool. Bluetooth on, iPad in hand, and two year old somewhere around there. Saw a mom at the pool. Arguing with her five year old to NOT take a shower after swimming. Bluetooth on, iPad in hand, work laptop open on stadium seats. Her reasoning for not wanting the child to shower "Look, I have to get this stuff to the office by 6:30, we don't have time for you to shower. Let's go" Wait, isn't the whole point of this little experience called Mommy and Me (or, as in my case, Daddy and Me). Wherein Mommy/Daddy is supposed to spend time with little one. Not with the Bluetooth. Not with the work laptop. Dad (yeah, the same dad from earlier), in the pool. Bluetooth off (it's not waterproof or I'm sure he would've had it on), two year old in hand and iPad somewhere put away. Getting frustrated with kid because he won't 'perform' on command. Here's a little exchange Kid: "I don't wanna get in the water" Dad: "Well, we're here for 30 minutes, get in the water" Kid: "No, don't wanna" Dad: "Fine, I'm getting in" and, true to his word, in he goes, off to swim. Kid: Crying Dad: "Well, c'mon" Kid: Walking to stands Dad: Ignoring kid Kid: At stands Dad: Out of pool, drying off. Frustrated. Grabs bag, grabs kid, leaves How sad. It really seems like I am living in a generation of parents who view their children as one big scheduled distraction to another. It's almost like the dad was saying "Look, little 2 year old boy, I have a busy scheduled. Right now my Outlook Calendar tells me that I have 30 mins to spend with you, so, let's go kid: PERFORM because I have the time" Really? Can someone please tell me when the hell this happened? When did spending time with your kid, spending time with your family, spending time with your spouse, etc... become a distraction? I've seen people at work all day Tweeting throughout the day, checked in with Four Square, IM up and running constantly so they can 'stay in touch' only to see these same folks come home and be irritated because their kids or their spouse wants to connect with the. I've seen these very same people leave the house, go to the corner bar/store/you-name-the-place to be 'alone' only to find them there, plugged in, tweeting away, etc, etc, etc I LOVE technology. I love working with technology. But I also know that I am a human being. A person who, by very definition, is a social being. I needed social interactions and contact--and, no, I'm not talking about the Social Graph kind of connections, I'm talking about those interactions which, *GASP* involve eye to eye contact and human contact. A recent study found that the number one complaint of kids is that they feel they have to compete with technology for their parents time and attention. The number one wish from high school kids? That there parents would turn off the computer/tv/cell phone at dinner. This, coming from high school kids. Shouldn't that tell you a whole helluva lot? So, do yourself a favor tomorrow. Plug into technology all day. Throw yourself into it. Be passionate about what you do. When you walk through the door to your family, turn it all off for 30 mins and be there with your loved ones. If you can manage to play Angry Birds, I'm sure you can handle being disconnected for 30 minutes. Make the time

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• Uniform not being applied to proper mesh

  - by HaMMeReD

  Ok, I got some code, and you select blocks on a grid. The selection works. I can modify the blocks to be raised when selected and the correct one shows. I set a color which I use in the shader. However, I am trying to change the color before rendering the geometry, and the last rendered geometry (in the sequence) is rendered light. However, to debug logic I decided to move the block up and make it white, in which case one block moves up and another block becomes white. I checked all my logic and it knows the correct one is selected and it is showing in, in the correct place and rendering it correctly. When there is only 1 it works properly. Video Of the bug in action, note how the highlighted and elevated blocks are not the same block, however the code for color and My Renderer is here (For the items being drawn) public void render(Renderer renderer) { mGrid.render(renderer, mGameState); for (Entity e:mGameEntities) { UnitTypes ut = UnitTypes.valueOf((String)e.getObject(D.UNIT_TYPE.ordinal())); if (ut == UnitTypes.Soldier) { renderer.testShader.begin(); renderer.testShader.setUniformMatrix("u_mvpMatrix",mEntityMatrix); renderer.texture_soldier.bind(0); Vector2 pos = (Vector2) e.getObject(D.COORDS.ordinal()); mEntityMatrix.set(renderer.mCamera.combined); if (mSelectedEntities.contains(e)) { mEntityMatrix.translate(pos.x, 1f, pos.y); renderer.testShader.setUniformf("v_color", 0.5f,0.5f,0.5f,1f); } else { mEntityMatrix.translate(pos.x, 0f, pos.y); renderer.testShader.setUniformf("v_color", 1f,1f,1f,1f); } mEntityMatrix.scale(0.2f, 0.2f, 0.2f); renderer.model_soldier.render(renderer.testShader,GL20.GL_TRIANGLES); renderer.testShader.end(); } else if (ut == UnitTypes.Enemy_Infiltrator) { renderer.testShader.begin(); renderer.testShader.setUniformMatrix("u_mvpMatrix",mEntityMatrix); renderer.testShader.setUniformf("v_color", 1.0f,1,1,1.0f); renderer.texture_enemy_infiltrator.bind(0); Vector2 pos = (Vector2) e.getObject(D.COORDS.ordinal()); mEntityMatrix.set(renderer.mCamera.combined); mEntityMatrix.translate(pos.x, 0f, pos.y); mEntityMatrix.scale(0.2f, 0.2f, 0.2f); renderer.model_enemy_infiltrator.render(renderer.testShader,GL20.GL_TRIANGLES); renderer.testShader.end(); } } }

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• How to upgrade a remote server from 8.10 to newer version?

  - by DisgruntledGoat

  I have a remote server still running Ubuntu 8.10 9.04 that I can only access via SSH. If I run apt-get update I get a bunch of 404 errors on the packages. I've asked a few questions on Server Fault but got nowhere. Here's what I've done: Run apt-get update which returns errors like: Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages 404 Not Found [and same for many other packages] Run do-release-upgrade which returns: Checking for a new ubuntu release Failed Upgrade tool signature Failed Upgrade tool Done downloading extracting 'jaunty.tar.gz' Failed to extract Extracting the upgrade failed. There may be a problem with the network or with the server. Edited /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and changed from Prompt=normal to Prompt=lts (as suggested here). Running do-release-upgrade after this returns: Checking for a new ubuntu release current dist not found in meta-release file No new release found (Updated) I have followed the advice in this question and changed /etc/apt/sources.list to refer to jaunty instead of intrepid. However, that distro is not online anymore either. A comment there says I have to upgrade in chronological order... So basically, it seems like I cannot upgrade because my current distro is out of date and not supported. Is there a way to upgrade direct to 10.x or 11.x? Note, as this is a server I only have command-line access. UPDATE 24/11: I have managed to upgrade from 8.10 to 9.04. Ubuntu's EOL Upgrades page provides some alternate URLs for apt sources. I also needed to update /var/lib/update-manager/meta-release to point to the old-releases server too. However, now I cannot upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10. Running do-release-upgrade produces the same error as #2 above, except it "Failed to fetch" (the URLs in meta-release are valid). The Ubuntu Jaunty upgrade page says it's necessary to upgrade using a CD image. I followed the instructions here, but it didn't work: A fatal error occurred Please report this as a bug and include the files /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log and /var/log/dist-upgrade/apt.log in your report. The upgrade is now aborted. Your original sources.list was saved in /etc/apt/sources.list.distUpgrade. Traceback (most recent call last): File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/karmic", line 7, in sys.exit(main()) File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/DistUpgradeMain.py", line 132, in main if app.run(): File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/DistUpgradeController.py", line 1590, in run return self.fullUpgrade() File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/DistUpgradeController.py", line 1506, in fullUpgrade if not self.doPostInitialUpdate(): File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/DistUpgradeController.py", line 762, in doPostInitialUpdate self.quirks.run("PostInitialUpdate") File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/DistUpgradeQuirks.py", line 83, in run for plugin in self.plugin_manager.get_plugins(condition): File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/computerjanitor/plugin.py", line 167, in get_plugins filenames = self.get_plugin_files() File "/tmp/tmp.JLhTwVUugb/computerjanitor/plugin.py", line 120, in get_plugin_files basenames = [x for x in os.listdir(dirname) OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: './plugins' It does say to report the bug, but since this is an old unsupported release I don't know if it's worth doing. However, is there a way round this, to upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 (And then finally to 10.04 LTS.)

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• Zooming in isometric engine using XNA

  - by Yheeky

  I´m currently working on an isometric game engine and right now I´m looking for help concerning my zoom function. On my tilemap there are several objects, some of them are selectable. When a house (texture size 128 x 256) is placed on the map I create an array containing all pixels (= 32768 pixels). Therefore each pixel has an alpha value I check if the value is bigger than 200 so it seems to be a pixel which belongs to the building. So if the mouse cursor is on this pixel the building will be selected - PixelCollision. Now I´ve already implemented my zooming function which works quite well. I use a scale variable which will change my calculation on drawing all map items. What I´m looking for right now is a precise way to find out if a zoomed out/in house is selected. My formula works for values like 0,5 (zoomed out) or 2 (zoomed in) but not for in between. Here is the code I use for the pixel index: var pixelIndex = (int)(((yPos / (Scale * Scale)) * width) + (xPos / Scale) + 1); Example: Let´s assume my mouse is over pixel coordinate 38/222 on the original house texture. Using the code above we get the following pixel index. var pixelIndex = ((222 / (1 * 1)) * 128) + (38 / 1) + 1; = (222 * 128) + 39 = 28416 + 39 = 28455 If we now zoom out to scale 0,5, the texture size will change to 64 x 128 and the amount of pixels will decrease from 32768 to 8192. Of course also our mouse point changes by the scale to 19/111. The formula makes it easy to calculate the original pixelIndex using our new coordinates: var pixelIndex = ((111 / (0.5 * 0.5)) * 64) + (19 / 0.5) + 1; = (444 * 64) + 39 = 28416 + 39 = 28455 But now comes the problem. If I zoom out just to scale 0.75 it does not work any more. The pixel amount changes from 32768 to 18432 pixels since texture size is 96 x 192. Mouse point is transformed to point 28/166. The formula gives me a wrong pixelIndex. var pixelIndex = ((166 / (0.75 * 0.75)) * 96) + (28 / 0.75) + 1; = (295.11 * 96) + 38.33 = 28330.66 + 38.33 = 28369 Does anyone have a clue what´s wrong in my code? Must be the first part (28330.66) which causes the calculation problem. Thanks! Yheeky

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• Partial Shader Signatures HLSL D3D11 C++

  - by ThePhD

  I had been debugging a problem I was having in a single shader file with 2 functions in it. I'm using DirectX 11, vs_5_0 and ps_5_0. I have stripped it down to its basic components to understand what was going wrong with the shaders, because the different named components of the Pixel and Vertex shaders were swapping the data being input: void QuadVertex ( inout float4 position : SV_Position, inout float4 color : COLOR0, inout float2 tex : TEXCOORD0 ) { // ViewProject is a 4x4 matrix, // just included here to show the simple passthrough of the data position = mul(position, ViewProjection); } And a Pixel Shader: float4 QuadPixel ( float4 color : COLOR0, float2 tex : TEXCOORD0 ) : SV_Target0 { // Color is filled with position data and tex is // filled with color values from the Vertex Shader return color; } The ID3D11InputLayout and associated C++ code correctly compiles the shaders and sets them up with some simple primitive data: data[0].Position.x = 0.0f * 210; data[0].Position.y = 1.0f * 160; data[0].Position.z = 0.0f; data[1].Position.x = 0.0f * 210; data[1].Position.y = 0.0f * 160; data[1].Position.z = 0.0f; data[2].Position.x = 1.0f * 210; data[2].Position.y = 1.0f * 160; data[2].Position.z = 0.0f; data[0].Colour = Colors::Red; data[1].Colour = Colors::Red; data[2].Colour = Colors::Red; data[0].Texture = Vector2::Zero; data[1].Texture = Vector2::Zero; data[2].Texture = Vector2::Zero; When used with the shader, the float4 color always ended up with the position data, and the float2 tex always ended up with the color data. After a moment, I figured out that the shader's input and output signatures needed to be in the correct order and the correct format and be laid out in the exact order of the output from the Vertex Shader, regardless of the semantics: float4 QuadPixel ( float4 pos : SV_Position, float4 color : COLOR0, float2 tex : TEXCOORD0 ) : SV_Target0 { return color; } After finding this out, My question is: Why don't the semantics map the appropriate components when going from Vertex Shader to Pixel Shader? Is there any way that I can make it so certain semantics are always mapped to other semantics, or do I always have to follow the rigid Shader Signature (in this case, Position, Color, and Texture) ? As a side note for why I'm asking: I know that when using XNA, my shader signatures for functions could differ in position and even drop items from Vertex Shader to Pixel Shader function parameters, having only the COLOR0 and TEXCOORD0 components being used (and it would still match up correctly). However, I also know that XNA relied on DX9 (and maybe a little DX10) implementation, and that maybe this kind of flexibility no longer exists in DX11?

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• Getting Audio from a Zone

  - by bleonard

  Now that I have Firefox and Java Web Start running from a zone, the last piece of the puzzle was audio (essential because most Flash content is accompanied by sound).  In the global zone there's a nice little utility called audiotest for testing your sound: bleonard@solaris:~$ audiotest Sound subsystem and version: SunOS Audio 4.0 (0x00040003) Platform: SunOS 5.11 snv_151a i86pc *** Scanning sound adapter #1 *** /dev/sound/audio810:0dsp (audio engine 0): audio810#0 - Performing audio playback test... <left> ................OK <right> ...............OK <stereo> ..............OK <measured sample rate 47727.00 Hz (-0.57%)> *** All tests completed OK *** Of course, before you can try audiotest in a zone, it must be installed: root@myzone:~# pkg install audio-utilities Packages to install: 1 Create boot environment: No DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB) Completed 1/1 6/6 0.4/0.4 PHASE ACTIONS Install Phase 20/20 PHASE ITEMS Package State Update Phase 1/1 Image State Update Phase 2/2 However, we'll need to do more than just install audiotest: root@myzone:~# audiotest /dev/mixer: No such file or directory The device file is missing from /dev. The audio devices also need to be added to the zone. For this we modify the zone configuration as follows: bleonard@solaris:~$ sudo zonecfg -z myzone Password: zonecfg:myzone> add device zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/audio* zonecfg:myzone:device> end zonecfg:myzone> add device zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/sound/* zonecfg:myzone:device> end zonecfg:myzone> add device zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/mixer* zonecfg:myzone:device> end zonecfg:myzone> add device zonecfg:myzone:device> set match=/dev/sndstat zonecfg:myzone:device> end zonecfg:myzone> verify zonecfg:myzone> exit Then reboot the zone: bleonard@solaris:~$ sudo zoneadm -z myzone reboot After which, audiotest should work: root@myzone:~# audiotest Sound subsystem and version: SunOS Audio 4.0 (0x00040003) Platform: SunOS 5.11 snv_151a i86pc *** Scanning sound adapter #1 *** /dev/sound/audio810:0dsp (audio engine 0): audio810#0 - Performing audio playback test... <left> ................OK <right> ...............OK <stereo> ..............OK <measured sample rate 48208.00 Hz (0.43%)> *** All tests completed OK *** You can also examine /dev/sndstat for additional information: root@myzone:~# cat /dev/sndstat SunOS Audio Framework Audio Devices: 0: audio810#0 Intel AC'97, ICH (DUPLEX) Mixers: 0: audio810#0 Intel AC'97, ICH AC'97 codec: SigmaTel STAC9700 However, when testing the sound from Firefox (from a user account other than root), such as this recent Flash presentation on Solaris availability, you may still be disappointed. This is simply a permissions problem, as the devices only have read and write permissions for root: root@myzone:~# ls -l /dev/audio* crw------- 1 root root 99, 3 Jul 1 10:21 /dev/audio crw------- 1 root root 99, 4 Jul 1 10:21 /dev/audioctl To address this: root@myzone:~# chmod 777 /dev/audio* root@myzone:~# chmod 777 /dev/sound/* And you should be all set.

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• In the Firing Line: The impact of project and portfolio performance on the CEO

  - by Melissa Centurio Lopes

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} What are the primary measurements for rating CEO performance? For corporate boards, business analysts, investors, and the trade press the metrics they deploy are relatively binary in nature; what is being done to generate earnings, and what is being done to build and sustain high performance? As for the market, interest is primarily aroused when operational and financial performance falls outside planned commitments for the year. When organizations announce better than predicted results, they usually experience an immediate increase in share price. Likewise, poor results have an obviously negative impact on the share price and impact the role and tenure of the incumbent CEO. The danger for the CEO is that the risk of failure is ever present, ranging from manufacturing delays and supply chain issues to labor shortages and scope creep. This risk is enhanced by the involvement of secondary suppliers providing services critical to overall work schedules, and magnified further across a portfolio of programs and projects underway at any one time – and all set within a global context. All can impact planned return on investment and have an inevitable impact on the share price – the primary empirical measure of day-to-day performance. Read this complete complementary report, In the Firing Line and explore what is the direct link between the health of the portfolio and CEO performance. This report will provide an overview of the responsibility the CEO has for implementing and maintaining a culture of accountability, offer examples of some of the higher profile project failings in recent years, and detail the capabilities available to the CEO to mitigate the risks residing in their own portfolios. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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• Software Architecture Analysis Method (SAAM)

  Software Architecture Analysis Method (SAAM) is a methodology used to determine how specific application quality attributes were achieved and how possible changes in the future will affect quality attributes based on hypothetical cases studies. Common quality attributes that can be utilized by this methodology include modifiability, robustness, portability, and extensibility. Quality Attribute: Application Modifiability The Modifiability quality attribute refers to how easy it changing the system in the future will be. This to me is a very open-ended attribute because a business could decide to transform a Point of Sale (POS) system in to a Lead Tracking system overnight. (Yes, this did actually happen to me) In order for SAAM to be properly applied for checking this attribute specific hypothetical case studies need to be created and review for the modifiability attribute due to the fact that various scenarios would return various results based on the amount of changes. In the case of the POS change out a payment gateway or adding an additional payment would have scored very high in comparison to changing the system over to a lead management system. I personally would evaluate this quality attribute based on the S.O.I.L.D Principles of software design. I have found from my experience the use of S.O.I.L.D in software design allows for the adoption of changes within a system. Quality Attribute: Application Robustness The Robustness quality attribute refers to how an application handles the unexpected. The unexpected can be defined but is not limited to anything not anticipated in the originating design of the system. For example: Bad Data, Limited to no network connectivity, invalid permissions, or any unexpected application exceptions. I would personally evaluate this quality attribute based on how the system handled the exceptions. Robustness Considerations Did the system stop or did it handle the unexpected error? Did the system log the unexpected error for future debugging? What message did the user receive about the error? Quality Attribute: Application Portability The Portability quality attribute refers to the ease of porting an application to run in a new operating system or device. For example, It is much easier to alter an ASP.net website to be accessible by a PC, Mac, IPhone, Android Phone, Mini PC, or Table in comparison to desktop application written in VB.net because a lot more work would be involved to get the desktop app to the point where it would be viable to port the application over to the various environments and devices. I would personally evaluate this quality attribute based on each new environment for which the hypothetical case study identifies. I would pay particular attention to the following items. Portability Considerations Hardware Dependencies Operating System Dependencies Data Source Dependencies Network Dependencies and Availabilities  Quality Attribute: Application Extensibility The Extensibility quality attribute refers to the ease of adding new features to an existing application without impacting existing functionality. I would personally evaluate this quality attribute based on each new environment for the following Extensibility  Considerations Hard coded Variables versus Configurable variables Application Documentation (External Documents and Codebase Documentation.) The use of Solid Design Principles

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• What Counts For a DBA – Depth

  - by Louis Davidson

  SQL Server offers very simple interfaces to many of its features. Most people could open up SSMS, connect to a server, write a simple query and see the results. Even several of the core DBA tasks are deceptively straightforward. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to perform a basic database backup or run a trace (even using the newfangled Extended Events!). However, appearances can be deceptive, and often times it is really important that a DBA understands not just the basics of how to perform a task, but why we do a task, and how that task works. As an analogy, consider a child walking into a darkened room. Most would know that they need to turn on the light, and how to do it, so they flick the switch. But what happens if light fails to shine forth. Most would immediately tell you that you need to consider changing the light bulb. So you hop in the car and take them to the local home store and instruct them to buy a replacement. Confronted with a 40 foot display of light bulbs, how will they decide which of the hundreds of types of bulbs, of different types, fittings, shapes, colors, power and efficiency ratings, is the right choice? Obviously the main lesson the child is going to learn this day is how to use their cell phone as a flashlight so they don’t have to ask for help the next time. Likewise, when the metaphorical toddlers who use your database server have issues, they will instinctively know something is wrong, and may even have some idea what caused it, but will have no depth of knowledge to figure out the right solution. That is where the DBA comes in and attempts to save the day. However, when one looks beneath the shiny UI, SQL Server has its own “40 foot display of light bulbs”, in the form of the tremendous number of tools and the often-bewildering amount of information they can present to the DBA, to help us find issues. Unfortunately, resorting to guesswork, to trying different “bulbs” over and over, hoping to stumble on the answer. This is where the right depth of knowledge goes a long way. If we need to write a SELECT statement, then knowing the syntax and where to find the data is not enough. Knowledge of indexes and query plans is essential. Without it, we might hit on a query that “works”, but we are basically still a user, not a programmer, because we have no real control over our platform. Is that level of knowledge deep enough? Probably not, since knowledge of the underlying metadata and structures would be very useful in helping us make sense of any query plan. Understanding the structure of an index makes the “key lookup” operator not sound like what you do when someone tapes your car key to the ceiling. So is even this level of understanding deep enough? Do we need to understand the memory architecture used to process the query? It might be a comforting level of knowledge, and will doubtless come in handy at some point, but is not strictly necessary in most cases. Beyond that lies (more or less) full knowledge of SQL language and the intricacies of every step the SQL Server engine takes to process our query. My personal theory is that, as a professional, our knowledge of a given task should extend, at a minimum, one level deeper than is strictly necessary to perform the task. Anything deeper can be left to the ridiculously smart, or obsessive, or both. As an example. tasked with storing an integer value between 0 and 99999999, it’s essential that I know that choosing an Integer over Decimal(8,0) will likely offer performance benefits. It is then useful that I also understand the value of adding a CHECK constraint, to make sure the values are valid to the desired range; and comforting that I know a little about the underlying processors, registers and computer math. Anything further, I leave to the likes of Joe Chang, whose recent blog post on the topic offers depth by the bucketful!  

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• How to make sprint planning fun

  - by Jacob Spire

  Not only are our sprint planning meetings not fun, they're downright dreadful. The meetings are tedious, and boring, and take forever (a day, but it feels like a lot longer). The developers complain about it, and dread upcoming plannings. Our routine is pretty standard (user story inserted into sprint backlog by priority story is taken apart to tasks tasks are estimated in hours repeat), and I can't figure out what we're doing wrong. How can we make the meetings more enjoyable? ... Some more details, in response to requests for more information: Why are the backlog items not inserted and prioritized before sprint kickoff? User stories are indeed prioritized; we have no idea how long they'll take until we break them down into tasks! From the (excellent) answers here, I see that maybe we shouldn't estimate tasks at all, only the user stories. The reason we estimate tasks (and not stories) is because we've been getting story-estimates terribly wrong -- but I guess that's the subject for an altogether different question. Why are developers complaining? Meetings are long. Meetings are monotonous. Story after story, task after task, struggling (yes, struggling) to estimate how long it will take and what it involves. Estimating tasks makes user-story-estimation seem pointless. The longer the meeting, the less focus in the room. The less focused colleagues are, the longer the meeting takes. A recursive hate-spiral develops. We've considered splitting the meeting into two days in order to keep people focused, but the developers wouldn't hear of it. One day of planning is bad enough; now we'll have two?! Part of our problem is that we go into very small detail (in order to get more accurate estimations). But when we estimate roughly, we go way off the mark! To sum up the question: What are we doing wrong? What additional ways are there to make the meeting generally more enjoyable?

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• Evolution laggy due to IMAP -profile or due to some odd Sync -issue?

  - by Izzy

  I'm fighting with Evolution. Basically it's working fine -- but it is very slow to react in certain situations. Helper questions Could it be that changing away from Bonobo has to do with slowing-down? There might be some trouble with the new engine and "asynchronous actions". What to do about it? Are there e.g. any configuration files? I want to get the previous "working mood" back. How can I speed this thing up? Different scenarios when sending a mail, the composer window hangs there inactive for a couple of seconds, everything grayed out. Though there is a green check mark saying it's sent, I'm not sure a) why it's still blocking everything and b) whether I could simply close it without "breaking"/"losing" anything. In earlier versions, the composer window was closing pretty fast, and one could see the message being stored into the local "outbox" until it was sent, and one could immediately continue with the next task. I prefer that behaviour over the current, where I cannot do anything in the application until the window closes. switching between modules. Coming from mail and switching to the address book takes a couple of seconds. Same for switching to the calendar. I read about different "possible causes" and tried a few things: I only have 3 local address books, so no networking should be involved here. To make sure, I switched to offline mode and then tried to access the address book. No noticeable difference. I use 3 Google Calendars. Switching to offline mode made a minor difference, but so minor that it also could be "imagination" since one might have expected this in this case according to some reports, disabling the tasks should help. Well, it didn't in my case, as I don't use them regularly (just two local items stored here) Maybe I should also mention that I'm using the KDE4 desktop (so no Unity or Gnome, though both is installed on the computer). And I did not have this issue before I updated to 12.04.

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• Two New CRM USER Communities just launched

  - by Divya Malik

  Here comes an announcement from Chris Gallen, from our Support Services team. For those of you who are EBS CRM users, here are two new recently launched communities that are now available to discuss topics that are important to you. These communities are for Sales & Marketing and  Telesales  The Sales & Marketing community is open to discuss a wide range of topics from Oracle Sales, Sales Online, Territory Management, Partner Management, Leads Management, Sales Offline, Sales for Handhelds, Sales Foundation, and Oracle Marketing. Some possible topics include Oracle Sales Implementations, TCA and DQM Integrations, Territory Management Setups and Definitions, Product Catalog Integrations, Sales Forecasting, Lead and Opportunity management, Sales Manager and Sales User responsibilities and Reports, Resource Management including Roles and Groups, Oracle Sales Personalizations, Concurrent Requests for Sales Reps and Sales Manager Dashboards, Integration with Quoting, Proposals, General Ledger, Advanced Product Catalog, CRM Resource Administration, etc. The Telesales community is available to discuss topics such as Customer/Org/Person/Party Relationships, TCA/DQM Integration, Lead and Opportunity Management, Universal Work Queue, Universal Search Features, Purchase Items/Product Integration, eBusiness Center Setup Issues, Interactions, Tasks and Notes Integrations, and Form Personalizations. How Can You Get Started? Here are the two ways to get engaged. A) Click here to access all our communities  OR B) My Oracle Support as follows: Log into My Oracle Support (Flash or Classic).                                                                                                                           Click the "Community" link at the top of the page. Click [Enter Here] on the following page. Select the community from the "My Communities" list on the top-left. Take advantage TODAY!

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• Customer Loyalty vs. Customer Engagement: Who Cares?

  - by Jeb Dasteel-Oracle

  Have you read the recent Forbes OracleVoice blog titled Customer Loyalty is Dead. Long Live Engagement!? If you haven’t, take a look. This article prompted lots of conversation in the social realm. Many who read the article voiced their reactions to the headline and now I’m jumping in to add my view. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Customer loyalty is still key. It’s the effect and engagement is the cause. We at least know that to be true for our customers. We are in an age where customers are demanding to be heard. We need them to be actively involved – or engaged – as well. Greater levels of customer engagement, properly targeted, positively correlate with satisfaction. Our data has shown us this over and over. Satisfied customers are more loyal and more willing to vocalize their satisfaction through referencing, and are more likely to purchase again, all of which in turn drives incremental revenue – from the customer doing the referencing AND the customer on the receiving end of that reference. Turning this around completely, if we begin to see the level of a customer’s engagement start to wane, this is an indicator that their satisfaction, loyalty, and future revenue are likely at risk. At Oracle, we’ve put in place many programs to target, encourage, and then track engagement, allowing us to measure engagement as a determinant of loyalty. Some of these programs include our Key Accounts, solution design and architectural, Executive Sponsorship, as well as executive advisory boards. Specific programs allow us to engage specific contacts within specific customer organizations (based on role) and then systematically track their engagement activities over time, along side of tracking customer satisfaction, loyalty, referenceability, and incremental revenue contribution. Continuous measurement of engagement allows us to better understand customer views of what it means to partner with a provider and adjust program participation to better meet the needs of the partnership. We can also track across customer segments, and design new programs that are even more effective than the ones we have in place today. In case you missed any of my previous Forbes articles, I’ve included links below for easy access. Award-Winning Companies Put Customers First The Power of Peer Networks: 5 Reasons to Get (and Stay) Involved Technology At Work: Traveling In Style Customer Central: 8 Strategies for Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business Technology at Work: Five Companies Doing IT Right /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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• problem in repairing software center

  - by REGZEN

  what should be done regarding this error(software center) - installArchives() failed: Can't exec "locale": No such file or directory at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 16. Use of uninitialized value $Debconf::Encoding::charmap in scalar chomp at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 17. Extracting templates from packages: 90% Extracting templates from packages: 100% Preconfiguring packages ... Can't exec "locale": No such file or directory at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 16. Use of uninitialized value $Debconf::Encoding::charmap in scalar chomp at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 17. Extracting templates from packages: 90% Extracting templates from packages: 100% Preconfiguring packages ... Can't exec "locale": No such file or directory at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 16. Use of uninitialized value $Debconf::Encoding::charmap in scalar chomp at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 17. Extracting templates from packages: 90% Extracting templates from packages: 100% Preconfiguring packages ... dpkg: warning: 'ldconfig' not found in PATH or not executable. dpkg: error: 1 expected program not found in PATH or not executable. Note: root's PATH should usually contain /usr/local/sbin, /usr/sbin and /sbin. this error is repeating whenever i am repairing software center. I'm having problems with my software center .. when i want to install some package that following message it appears "items cannot be installed or removed until the package catalog is repaired. do you want to repair it now?" after i click Repair, another window pops up, saying : "Package operation fails - The installation or removal of a software package failed" I click repair, and a few seconds later, it pops up again!!!! no matter how many times i click repair, nothing happens. Also .. I've Another Problem With Update Manager That Shows Me The Following Message: " the package system is broken. Check if you are using third party repositories. If so disable them, since they are a common source of problems. Furthermore run the following command in a Terminal: apt-get install -f" also, i tried sudo apt-get install -f i got this error... Can't exec "locale": No such file or directory at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 16. Use of uninitialized value $Debconf::Encoding::charmap in scalar chomp at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/Encoding.pm line 17. Extracting templates from packages: 100% Preconfiguring packages ... dpkg: warning: 'ldconfig' not found in PATH or not executable. dpkg: error: 1 expected program not found in PATH or not executable. Note: root's PATH should usually contain /usr/local/sbin, /usr/sbin and /sbin. E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2) Please provide a solution

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• PASS: FY10 Actuals Posted

  - by Bill Graziano

  Earlier this year we published preliminary fiscal year 2010 financials to the Governance page on the PASS web site.  Please remember that FY10 runs from July 1st, 2009 through June 30th, 2010 and includes the November 2009 Summit.  We do our fiscal year this way so that the Summit falls earlier in the fiscal year.  The financials we had posted were P&L numbers at the portfolio level.  Prior to this we had posted our detailed budget but only posted the auditors report at the end of each year.  Today we updated our published financials to include: Pre-audit actuals from FY10 at the same level as our budget.  The document has both actuals and budget for FY10 side by side.  This is over 20 pages of detailed financial information covering hundreds of line-items. A letter describing key differences between our budget and actuals.  I walked through each line item where the difference was greater than $25,000 and explained what happened and why. We updated the financial graph going back to 2003 to include FY10. This update should “close the loop” on our financials.  You can now start with the published budget and compare it to the finished financials at the same level of detail.  We also plan to publish the auditor’s report when that is completed -- as we do every year. Overall I’m very happy with how FY10 turned out.  Keep in mind that this was the November 2009 Summit so we were still facing economic challenges.  With all that we were roughly break-even showing a $15,000 profit on $3.9 million of revenue.  I didn’t find anything shocking in reviewing our actual vs. budget but there were a few things that needed explanation.  You can see those in the letter on the governance page. Please keep in mind that these are the actuals from our operating financials.  The auditor may have us make adjustments for depreciation or other financial transactions.  We may also account for certain transactions differently for tax purposes than we do for financial reporting purposes.  I feel these financial statements give you the clearest picture of how our organization spends its money. We were late publishing these this year.  We were working through some tax issues and that delayed our ability to file our final tax forms which delayed this process.  In hindsight I should have published these documents as soon as we had them and not waited for the tax issues.  We’ll do this better in the future. And on a final note, you don’t need to login to view these documents.  If you have any questions you can post them here.  If we get more than a few questions we may see about creating some forums for financial issues on the PASS web site.

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• JCP.next.3: time to get to work

  - by Patrick Curran

  As I've previously reported in this blog, we planned three JSRs to improve the JCP’s processes and to meet our members’ expectations for change. The first - JCP.next.1, or more formally JSR 348: Towards a new version of the Java Community Process - was completed in October 2011. This focused on a small number of simple but important changes to make our process more transparent and to enable broader participation. We're already seeing the benefits of these changes as new and existing JSRs adopt the new requirements. However, because we wanted to complete this JSR quickly we deliberately postponed a number of more complex items, including everything that would require modifying the JSPA (the legal agreement that members sign when they join the organization) to a follow-on JSR. The second JSR (JSR 355: JCP Executive Committee Merge) is in progress now and will complete later this year. This JSR is even simpler than the first, and is focused solely on merging the two Executive Committees into one for greater efficiency and to encourage synergies between the Java ME and Java SE platforms. Continuing the momentum to move Java and the JCP forward we have just filed the third JSR (JCP.next.3) as JSR 358: A major revision of the Java Community Process. This JSR will modify the JSPA as well as the Process Document, and will tackle a large number of complex issues, many of them postponed from JSR 348. For these reasons we expect to spend a considerable amount of time working on it - at least a year, and probably more. The current version of the JSPA was created back in 2002, although some minor changes were introduced in 2005. Since then the organization and the environment in which we operate have changed significantly, and it is now time to revise our processes to ensure that they meet our current needs. We have a long list of topics to be considered, including the role of independent implementations (those not derived from the Reference Implementation), licensing and open source, ensuring that our new transparency requirements are implemented correctly, compatibility policy and TCKs, the role of individual members, patent policy, and IP flow. The Expert Group for JSR 358, as with all process-change JSRs, consists of all members of the Executive Committees. Even though the JSR has just been filed we started discussions on the various topics several months ago (see the EC's meeting minutes for details) and our EC members - including the new members who joined within the last year or two - are actively engaged. Now it's your opportunity to get involved. As required by version 2.8 of our Process (introduced with JSR 348) we will conduct all our business in the open. We have a public java.net project where you can follow and participate in our work. All of our deliberations will be copied to a public Observer mailing list, we'll track our issues on a public Issue Tracker, and all our documents (meeting agendas and minutes, task lists, working drafts) will be published in our Document Archive. We're just getting started, but we do want your input. Please visit us on java.net where you can learn how to participate. Let's get to work...

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