OpsanBlog

BizTalk and SOA

Thrilled to see BizTalk being recognized as a services-orientation enabler; it has the lot:

• messaging infrastructure
• file / format conversion via adapters
• business rules engine

.. and much more, of course.  I’m a huge fan of Biztalk; tempted to dive in again, as the 2006 version is so much more extensible than the 2004 version (which was, by no means, a slouch).  Check out the BizTalk Home Page home page for more details.

Baseline Magazine reports that analysts are recognizing BizTalk’s value as well in "Microsoft’s BizTalk Services Simplify SOA".

Immortalized(?) in Charcoal

Amazing to me that the artist produced this 20 minutes:

Okay, I think the eyes and nose are a little too big .. and my left eye seems a little ..

Overall though, it’s a fair likeness of me.

He got extra credit for knocking ten years off me as well 😉

Remember WiFi ‘Roguing’?

I do. See “WiFi Roguing” on this blog. This is where you, umm .. steal wireless that’s just ‘out there’.

Turns out, folks do object to your snarking off their wireless.

I object; so have appropriately protected my network:

• Encryption
• IP restriction (I only allow two, unless Connor’s friends have their laptops)
• Unnamed network (I don’t broadcast my SSID)

This guy crossed any number of lines; parking in a car outside a wireless owner’s house.

• Slashdot: "UK Man Convicted For Wi-Fi Piggybacking".
• BBC: "Two cautioned over wi-fi ‘theft’"

‘Piggybacking’.  Heh.  I like ‘roguing’ better 😉

South Park and Internet Theory

I just saw the South Park titled “Canada On Strike“ (link to South Park Studios where you can view the entire episode).

A critical story arc included popular(?) videos on YouTube. I’ve captured a few for posterity .. and wondering what all the fuss is ‘aboot’:

Dramatic Gopher:

The episode points out the value of "theoretical earnings" from the Internet (quoted as dollars).

SOA Facts

I was one of the early proponents of a "Services Orientation" when I was working with Avanade a few years back. Since then, said orientation became a noun, as "Services Oriented Architecture".

Bah. It’s not a noun; it’s a technique; a methodology. I blog about this.

Climbing off my soapbox, I thank my bosses’ boss for "SOA Facts".

The third one is the best. The rest are just silly 😉

It’s Spring!

Well, almost.

Okay: a few more weeks, but in the interim, it feels like it. Outside (70 degrees in Seattle, San Francisco and Dallas) and inside, by coincidence.

So what have I been singing? Well, my litany of ‘spring’ songs, of course. Starting with: "It might as well be spring":

I’m as restless as a willow in a windstorm,
I’m as giddy as a baby on a swing.
Why should I have spring fever,
when it isn’t even spring?

I’m starry-eyed and vaguely discontented
like a nightingale without a song to sing.
Oh why should I have spring fever,
when it isn’t even spring?

I keep wishing I were somewhere else
walking down a strange new street.
Hearing words that I’d never heard before,
from a girl I’m yet to meet.

I’m as silly as spider spinning daydreams,
as jumpy as a puppet on a string.
(but) I haven’t seen a crocus or a rosebud,
or a robin on the wing.
Yet I feel so gay,
in a melancholy way,
it might well as be spring.

Fitting.