Evolution of the portable workstation

Personal editorial moment here. Then next week I’ll get back to resilient architectures, I promise.

I’ve been doing IT for 20 years now. And I’m not ashamed to admit I remember the days of the early “briefcase” portable computers from IBM. I’ve been carrying around a laptop for about 7yrs now with it being my primary workstation (replacing a traditional desktop tower PC) about 3 years ago. But in the last 4 months I’ve been spent most of my time on the road and become increasing dependent on my smartphone, then an Android Tablet, and of late, a slate device running Windows 8.

While taking with a colleague yesterday about mobile devices and their place, I realized that all these devices fill different needs for me. And that ultimately, they all are still just steps in an eventual evolution of the portable workstation.

When I’m “on the road”, I need a portable desktop. So I’m lugging around one of these 10lb monster “desktop replacement” systems with the 17 inch monitor. I like this because quite often I’m showing up on Monday at a client site and don’t know if I’ll have a external monitor or not and I need to be able to be self sufficient. So lugging this beast around gives me a full keyboard and decent sized monitor in one package.

But when it comes time to run off to a meeting, I’d grab my lightweight Android based tablet. It works great for taking notes, checking email, calendar, etc… And through the use of packages like Dropbox and Evernote I’m able to easily sync content between the tablet and my Windows 7 “laptop”.

Then along came the slate. It doesn’t have the batter life of the tablet (which I want on longer flights or for days when I’m travelling between client meetings). But it does everything my laptop does but is more portable. I’m not really keen on a 4hr power coding session on it, but its good for light use or travel

So different needs, but IMHO these are all just experiments. I need to use software to sync stuff between them. What’s really needed, and what I don’t think we’re too far away from is a single “logical” workstation that’s spread across multiple physical devices, all linked seamlessly via the internet.

Imagine in the next 5yrs that we can “link” our tablet/slate to a laptop or desktop computer. We can extend the displays and use a single keyboard/mouse to interact with them (providing everything isn’t running touch screens by then). Better yet, the storage and apps on each device are shared. I can see the storage on the table from the pc and via versa, even when I’m in a different room with only one of the devices. In a meeting and need that spreadsheet from the desktop in your office, just click and it opens on your tablet. No “syncing”, no manual copy. Best yet, the app you open it with is the same as the one you would use on your desktop machine and even knows the settings you had for it there.

Blurring the lines here is what I think will happen eventually. Its what we’re all really wanting it. Multiple access points into the same virtual machine if you will. We’ve seen the beginnings of this with the iPad’s integration with Apple TV and even with Microsoft and the ability to “play”something from a mobile device on my XBox. So when this does finally come to pass, I can point back here and say “see, I told you!”.

The cloud (to get back to my normal topic) will be a catalyst for helping make this happen for consumers. And as that evolution plays out, businesses will eventually follow suit. But regardless, it is certainly an exciting time to be working in IT. I can’t wait to see what the next 20 years brings.

Until then!

Looking back and stepping forward

The end of 2010 is nearly here. In looking back, I realized that this blog has been almost 100% tech focused this year so I figured I was due to “get a little personal”. It helps that this has been an outstanding year for me and I’m starting to ponder goals for 2011. So the time is definitely right for a bit of introspection.

In 2009 I became interested in the trend towards cloud computing. I’ll admit, initially I just dismissed it as the next architecture of the moment, but that quickly changed as I explored the concept further. It was also about this time I sat through a presentation by Jeff Brand on a new Microsoft technology that had just entered CTP called “Windows Azure”.

I had been looking for a new challenge so I took up this new platform and started to learn it. As if this weren’t enough, and maybe it was driven by the early onset of a mini-midlife crisis, I decided to reach back a few years to my days of running an web site for an online computer game. Start leveraging all these new social network tools. So I started blogging about my experiences and once again frequenting message boards.

Fast forward to early 2010 and I was starting to attract some attention. The consulting firm I work for, Sogeti USA, was recognizing and even encouraging my activities. This led to an initial Windows Azure project in Atlanta a full year sooner then I would have thought. I was also fielding questions from Sogeti’s sales teams and technical consultants from all over the country on a nearly weekly basis. Then in the fall came my biggest surprise when I was selected as a Microsoft MVP. I’m still not sure I actually deserve this, but I’m going to do my best to not make the folks that selected me regret their choice. Besides, my parents were so proud of this they contacted the local newspapers who put in short articles about it. And who wants to disappoint their parents.

A few short months later and here we are. My “quiet December” has been my busiest month of the year and my dance card for 2011 is already filling up. I’m even considering sending a session proposal to Microsoft for TechEd 2011! Within Sogeti we’re charging into the new year with a new organization that will formalize some of my activities over the last year and use them to dramatically expand our delivery capabilities. Heck, I may very well end up in Europe this next year. Pretty exciting for a red-neck from rural Iowa that has yet to step foot outside of the continental US (I’ve been within 10 miles of Canada, but that’s it).

Lastly, there’s been all the great folks I’ve become friends with this year. Chris, Steve, Michael, David, Cory, Sam, the list goes on and on.. I’ve been incredibly blessed this year so look for me to really step up my game in 2011 and give as much back as I can. I have ideas for a dozen different blog posts floating around my head and hopefully 4-5 new presentation decks as well (I’m going to need ‘em). So here’s hoping I’ll see many of you online and in person in the coming months!

Happy new year everyone!

Is this thing on?

Howdy all. So I’ve moved the blog to WordPress now that MSFT is dropping Live Spaces. Sad to see the old go, still trying to get comfortable, but I’m happy to get some new features. Only time will tell if I actually do anything with them.

I really don’t have anything specific today. Just some rambling updates. On October 1st, 2010 I was notified that I have been selected as an Azure MVP. I don’t feel worthy, so now the pressure is on to make sure I get renewed. I feel now that I’ve been selected that if I don’t get renewed, someone will realize it was a mistake. And I hate to disappoint folks. I’ve got a talk for the Twin Cities Cloud Computing user group tonight, another in a couple weeks in Omaha, and yet another planned for December. To top it off, I received an email this morning from a book publisher asking me if I would like to author a book. All in all, its rather overwhelming.

I guess I should try to make this at least partly cloud related…

Recently I had the unfortunate task of trying to work with a datacenter team to try and locate a server for a project I’m working on. After several ‘we can’t do that’ responses we finally found a common ground and I was told it would be $200/month to host it. All this just for a server I can throw a STS (simple token service) on that won’t be used by much more then a couple dozen users a few times a day. I could run it off my wife’s 3yr old laptop for Pete’s sake.

This experience got me to thinking… will the short-comings and bureaucracy of traditional IT infrastructure help drive folks to the cloud? Will business, who need to deliver solutions faster and more efficiently continue to put up with roadblocks and delays when they can just swipe their corporate credit cards and get what they need in just minutes? I often talk to developers that they need to ‘get with the cloud’ if they don’t want to be left behind. Maybe I need to expand that and start also warning the “server huggers” (heard that term at a produce session recently, love it) that if they don’t start embracing the cloud, they too may find themselves obsolete.

*shrug* Oh well. Enough rambles, time to get back to work. I’ve got a team meeting in 10 minutes.  

Till next time!

Mentoring – The Coefficient of Resilience

Sorry again for my absence folks. Its been a crazy couple of months. I’m finally settling back into a groove and looking into all the updates to the Windows Azure Platform that have come to light over the last several months. I’m planning to revisit a couple of my old topics and update them for the latest news (.NET Services, bye-bye, hello App Fabric). I’m also going to dig into some topics I’ve left untouched, like SQL Azure. But as I sit here tonight preparing a SQL Server 2008 VPC image for some Active Directory automation work I’m doing for a client, I wanted to post a recent article I submitted to Sogeti’s internal newsletter.

*insert flashback visual fx here*

The Coefficient of Resilience

Often in these articles we talk about new trends or ways we can improve ourselves. Today I want to talk about a way we can improve each other. I recently listened to an interview with retired General Eric Shineski, United States Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs, as he discussed the coefficient of resilience and how this plays into the way we can help veterans recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.

As anyone who has taken high-school Physics may recall, when you drop a ball from any height it bounces. The height of the bounce is never as high as the ball’s original position and this difference is referred to as the coefficient of resilience. The same thing happens to each of us when something bad happens. This could be not landing an interview, missing a deadline, or losing a pursuit. Each of these setbacks results in some emotional baggage, which at least for a time, can hold us back.

As with the ball, we all fall and bounce back, but rarely if ever to the exact same height we were at before the fall. Over time, outside influences (landing the next interview, an encouraging word from a co-worker) can help us re-energize and return to our previous levels. In many cases, these outside influences can even help us exceed our previous levels.

I wouldn’t dream of comparing the ups and downs of our IT careers to the trials and tribulations that are found on the battlefield. But the truth of Mr. Shineski’s story does still apply. With proper support, we can help someone recover from falls faster. These can be small things like a word of encouragement, some helpful advice, sharing personal experiences, or just giving them someone to talk to. These outside influences help energize us. And like the ball, they help us bounce back faster and sometimes even higher.

As a team, it’s important to remember that we can and should always stop and take a moment to help each other bounce back. It makes each of us stronger as an individual, and as a team it can help make us nearly unstoppable.

INCOMING!

Sorry for the extended hiatus folks. I’ve had a busy time of it the last few months but I’m finally getting back on track. I’m cleaning up the spam comments and will be posting more on my work with Azure and other cloud computing topics shortly.

Thanks for the patience!

Weekly Azure Digest – August 7th, 2009

As promised, I’m gonna keep things updating while I’m working on my Cloud Architecture model/pattern project by sharing a weekly digest newsletter that I send out to my Sogeti Colleagues here in Minneapolis. Below is the edition for August 7th, 2009.

 

Aside from yesterday’s DDOS attacks on Twitter, there’s not much on the general cloud computing front this week. But I do have a couple BIG item for Microsoft Azure.

 

At 2pm today, a semi-formal chat will be held by the Azure product team. They’re looking for feedback and questions on Azure. Expect some of the big names in the Azure evangelistic community to be present. You can attend by going to: http://wazl.cloudapp.net/ (note from the URL, this appears to have been built on Azure)

 

The Twin Cities Cloud Computing User Group has moved their August meeting to the 26th at 8:30am. Dave Chappell of Chappell Associates (not the comedian) is coming to speak.  More details can be found at: http://www.tccloud.com/ The time may not be the best, but I highly recommend making time to attend.

 

And on a personal note, I was interviewed last week by Carl Brooks of SearchCloudComputing.com (an online media site). Our discussion resulted in two separate articles in which I was quoted. One of which Carl didn’t even plan for but arose from our discussions. You can find both these articles at:  http://bit.ly/2emO2S and http://bit.ly/3NH9QM

 

That’s all for this week. Please feel free to forward this on to anyone or let me know if you’d like to be on the regular distribution list.

And now a message from our sponsors…

No, I haven’t stopped the blog and I still very much want to continue my series on .NET Services. The challenge I’m running into is that when we’re talking .NET development, you really need to understand WCF to leverage the relay service. Unfortunately, WCF is not a strong suit for me and despite my best attempts, I continue to struggle with it. So I’ve ordered a nice little book that should help me get up to speed with them and once I’ve digested that, I’ll be back to .NET Services.

Meanwhile, I do also have a new Azure related project that popped into my head yesterday. I’ve been pondering ways to link my post on health/activity monitoring to Azure development in a real way and had this crazy idea for a cloud architecture approach that provides this type of application monitoring. So I’ve started firming up the idea and comparing it against such things and CSLA and MEBA as well as looking for any existing design patterns that parallel it. I don’t want to give too much away until I get it shaped up, but suffice to say I’m exploring architecting a cloud application in much the same way cloud computing PaaS providers seem to provision and manage their solution offerings.

The goal will be to create a series of design patterns intended to help support and potentially manage application deployed into the cloud. Adding greater death to health and activity monitoring as well as delivering mechanisms for configuration management. If I can take things far enough, it may even include sample class libraries to aid in the management of Windows Azure applications (auto-scaling of instances and forced instance restarts). Its a big goal, and I’m sure to be asking for help as things grow. But for now I’m trying to get my basic models sorted out.

In the meantime, in the absence of anything useful to post, I plan to start posting copies of a newsletter style email I’ve been distributing to my Sogeti colleagues. They’re short digests of some of the new highlights I see each week. Its filler, but at least its on-topic filler.

As always, if there’s something you’d care to hear about, please just drop me a line at brent.stineman@us.sogetic.om to let me know. I like answering questions.

Ug, sorry for the lack of an update

Things have been very hectic of late. I’m transitioning between clients, my wife’s grandfater passed away, and my folks are coming to visit this weekend. So unfortunately I have had little time to finish up my next hands on (an Azure queue performance test) or focus on the .NET Services service bus.

 

Have faith, I’ve become too attached this this little space to walk away from it. Just need to get real life dealt with first. Still alot of Azure topics I want to visit. Heck, I’m even weighing an idea I was given today about trying to host a session at the next Twin Cities code camp.

Keep it simple, please

I’ve run into this more then once. You sit down to work on code you didn’t originally write. There’s little documentation (if any). And you can see clear evidence of multiple hands in the code. Standards may have been followed, but you can still see a difference between the style of the code in different areas of the program.

 

Then it starts to hit you. Repeatedly… almost like someone is standing behind you and smacking a ruler on thier hand every couple of minutes. This PROGRAM IS A MESS.

 

Sometimes good programs become this way. It happens. But just as often, I see evidence that the program was needlessly complex. When designing a solution to a problem, please keep it simple. Nothing causes me as much grief as encountering a solution that could have been solved just as easily in half the code. Don’t go implementing the "perfect" solution if it turns out to be so complex that the guy coming along behind you will need a PHD and a roadmap to figure out what you did.

 

It seems that too often we get so bogged down by the technology that we fail to be responsible using it. This could apply to writing code… to using our cell phones while driving… or even to something as simple as cooking dinner.

 

Do the job. Just keep it simple.

Ah, Wednesdays

Well the presentation went well enough I thought. We proved that SaaS may still be to leading edge for most folks. Only 4 people showed up for our presentation. The upside is that it was a nice intimate session with some good dialog. We’re going to continue to work the material and try to come up with more examples of it (I may have one in the works already) so help show folks that SaaS and Microsoft’s Online Services are truely viable solutions.

 

Meanwhile, I got Force Unleashed for my Birthday along with a Santana CD. Good stuff. Forced Unleashed on the Wii was ok, but I still don’t like the control scheme or the visuals. The port to the Wii was hurried and there were alot of texture issues. Game also doesn’t have alot of replay value. I also got my home computer setup to triple boot. Its now running Windows XP, Vista, and the Windows 7 beta. I haven’t gotten much time on Windows 7 yet, but I’m liking it. It truely appears to be more like what Vista should have been.

 

I’m also nearly done setting up my BizTalk 2009 VPC. So hopefully I’ll be able to start seeing more progress on learning that very soon.