Teaching kids (especially mine) programming is on my mind for quite a while. The discussion on Slashdot about my query was very inspiring. However it didn't seem to show the right tool. Now, again inspired by a slashdot article, I found Scratch. Looks very much like fun to me:



Now they only need to add interfaces to Lego Mindstorms and the Picocricket and I'm a happy camper.

Peter Gutman at the University of Auckland has written an analysis of Windows Vista's content protection titled A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. The Executive Executive Summary says it all: " The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history".
It makes an very interesting read when you consider adopting Windows Vista be it at home or in your corporate context. The document seems to be very alive with footnotes and remarks being added. Since pages on University sites have a shelf live usually limited by graduation or employment I mirror the article in its status of today 21st May 2007.

Fellow blogger Thomas Adrian from Sweden has compiled a presentation of 105 projects on OpenNTF.org. He shares it on Slideshare, so anyone can embed it on a website/blog:
Like the slide deck? Slideshare allows you to download it.

A good crowd turned up to listen to IBM sessions on all our brands. I was presenting on eGovernment in the 21st century and how it ties back to our offerings. I used a graphic I developed for a Bruneian customer a few years back to let them evaluate how far they got with their eGovernment initiatives:

Sam Palmisano today visited Singapore for the first time since he became IBM's chairman. So IBM Singapore organized a town hall session with him. The session went as expected. Sam exhibited a humor in his address, that was nearly British (to my delight). He marveled about past supermen who actually managed to sell hardware and software together.
In the Q & A session he was asked what is the most important thing a people manager can do for his people he answered: " Lead, don't manage".
Leading means to enable people, managing is optimizing around the measurements.
He reminded us, that IBM is unique in its breath and depth of knowledge and can win any competitive battle once we deliver these (where he was very clear that there is room for improvement). While IBM is a great engineering company he stated, that IBM's ability to generate cash each quarter is what makes IBM tick. He predicted software being a bigger part of IBM in future, not because he likes software more than the other parts, but because most of the IT industry is software driven and software companies command a higher P/E ratio. He predicted that in the near future IBM will table more integrated offerings to drive IBM cash flow and profitability.
He made it very clear: "It is our ability to generate cash, that allows us to invest in you, therefore you should care for profits and margins". All the businesses (storage, PC etc.) IBM exited were for the reason, that they didn't make that margins and cash that drives IBM to be able to invest into innovation.
He urged and promised, that he will drive to simplify IBM for the benefit for IBM and their clients. His final word: "If you hire the smartest people in the world, let them do more than one thing".

My old colleagues in Munich are looking for a senior developer who will help them to develop UMsys the integrated environmental management system to its next level. You should have a sound idea about web standards, XML and Java. If W3C is your middle name, you can bet on a place on the short list. UMsys is running on a J2EE server and uses an XForms implementation "Orbeon Forms" provided by Orbeon as its main web interface.
Contact information can be found on the IN+ website.