by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Miles and Ekaterin get an assignment on the way home from their honeymoon.

by Lois McMaster Bujold.  Miles woos Ekaterin, poorly.

In this article we're going to cover the following popular script snippets!

1. Date display
2. Calendar
3. Close Window
4. Copy Selected Text
5. Back to Previous Page
6. Focus OnLoad
7. Break out of Frames
8. Add to Favorites
9. IP Address
10. Specify Referring Page

I found a used copy of this trade paperback at the Mystery and Imagination bookstore on the east side of Brand Blvd., a few blocks north of my office. One of the better of the omnibus editions -- so far.

I was sitting in the middle of the long, white driveway that snaked its way toward the family garage. The day was so hot the heat from the pavement periodically burned my thighs. But instead of abandoning my project, I merely shifted position until I was propped up on my knees. While my backside temporarily cooled, I reached into my bucket and grabbed another piece of chalk. Carefully, I used it to draw a number 7 in the appropriate box of my hopscotch board. I stared critically at it for a moment, wondering if I should draw a line through it like Barbie, my best friend from school, usually did. I continued to deliberate until I heard my front door slam.

I looked up quickly to see my Mother carefully maneuvering her way in my direction. A giant purse was slung over her shoulder and her arms were loaded with packages. The heel of her stiletto got caught in the crack of the sidewalk and her entire body jerked with the effort of remaining upright. However, I was completely unsurprised when my Mom recovered from her brief moment of clumsiness without dropping a single package. She was nearly an expert when it came to walking in those shoes.

"V!" she called to me, "Come on, we've got to go!"

"Where are we going?" I questioned mildly.

"I've got to run some errands," she answered, "Get in the car."

Errands. How incredibly boring. I wanted no part of it.

"Couldn't I stay here?" I asked hopefully, "I've got to finish this hopscotch board."

"I'm afraid not," she insisted, "It would be too late for me to find you a babysitter now."

The force of my Mother's words caused me to rear back so suddenly I lost my balance and landed unceremoniously on my butt. Shame and humiliation turned my cheeks a fiery shade of red. I blinked my eyes quickly as if I'd been recently slapped. My lips pursed dramatically; I'm sure I looked like I just swallowed a rotten lemon.

"Mother," I whispered, shocked and insulted, "I do not need a babysitter. I am not a baby. I am six years old! I am a kid!"

"Well, that may be so," she said, slightly amused, "But you still need a babysitter."

Almost too stunned to answer, I replied, "I am old enough to take care of myself!"

"Is that so? What would you do all day here by yourself?"

"I'd finish my hopscotch!"

"And then what?"

"I'd go inside and play with my toys!"

"What if you got hungry?"

"I'd make myself something to eat!"

I was nearly dumbfounded. I couldn't understand why she was asking me all of these questions. Could it be my own Mother thought I was a total idiot?

"Would you use the stove or the microwave without an adult? Would you leave this house without asking?"

"No!"

My Mother stared at me skeptically for a moment. I stared back, face pensive, heart thumping in my chest a million beats a minute. Suddenly, her face relaxed.

Then, "OK, I will let you try it on one condition."

I nodded eagerly.

"You don't mention this to your Father."

Older developers are killing their careers from their bad habits.

Sorry, the sound you just heard is your jaw hitting the keyboard.  "What!?  But Dave, you said experience was valuable and..."

Yes, I know what I said.  And I meant it.  Every word.  But there is one distinct advantage the younger set has over us fogeys:  they haven't formed as many habits yet.

I'm not talking about a $5,000-a-day-hooker-and-blow* kind of habit.  I'm talking about the practices that you've codified into your daily routines as a developer since you started.  Like your (in)ability to write clear, concise comments.  Or comments at all.  Your constant lack of communication with other team members when you're making major changes because you don't think it's necessary.  Your refusal to write documentation.  Or your passive refusal to learn new technologies because you think you have enough information to do your job already.

If you walked into a store and asked to have someone make you a suit and you agreed on a price of $100 and week's sewing time, a week later you'd expect to walk back in and be trying on your new suit after parting with a $100 bill (at least in America).

What if you went into a different store, after that initial price quote and they offered to make it for $25?  You'd think, "Great!  One fourth the cost of that previous guy!  I'll take it instead."

How would you feel if a week later you came back and they said it would be another week and $50 instead?  Think you'd be mad?

How much madder would you be after TWO weeks, and now the shop owner is telling your it will be $75 and one more week, but this time he'd definitely get it done.  And after you get it, you notice that the pocket is sewed on slightly funny and the trousers don't fit quite the way you'd expect.  Would you be steaming mad now?

Yeah, I would too.

This is exactly what happens with outsourcing projects in most software companies.  If you ask companies why they do it, invariably they answer that outsourcing will save money AND time over local resources.  That's an unbelievably huge lie. It's time to tear that apart.

Continue reading...

Easily Convert Bitmap Images
To Clean Vector Art

Convert bitmap images like JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs to the crisp, clean, scalable vector art of EPS, SVG, and PDF with the world's best auto-tracing software.

Use the convenient service online by uploading your image below, or start tracing images offline with the Desktop Edition.

The eleventh Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.

As an extension to last week's topic of software license policies, is the topic of licensing governance. "Licensing Governance" is the effective management alignment of all licensing (and perhaps pricing) activities across and ISV's or device manufacturer's organization structure.

Software licensing has a significant cross functional impact to any organization. What we see is that the deployment of effective software licensing can go awry if there is a misalignment among 3 core functions - commercial intent (what Marketing & Sales intended or wanted), product design (product structure and design), and IT systems and processes (the effective deployment of software through the sales channel.

Take for example, the deployment of a subscription license model for a company that has historically only sold perpetual licenses. This can be problematic if many elements of a business don't align: if engineering doesn't implement "time out" messages in the software, if the ERP Systems can't adopt new revenue recognition systems, if the CRM systems can't track expiring licenses, or if sales management doesn't consider the effect of a new revenue model to sales compensation. The result of such misalignments can cause product failure, revenue leakage, high operational costs, and a poor customer experience.

These problems can be minimized and effectively managed by managing your software licensing infrastructure in a holistic manner by deploying a centrally managed, cross-functional team that is organized as a triad it its core. This triad is chiefly responsible for ensuring alignment among commercial intent, product design, and business systems & processes for current and future license models. This triad consists of the following business leaders:

• The License Czar: This person is the overall "owner" of the business of licensing and is usually hired specifically for this role. This person will often have the title of "Director or Pricing & Licensing", or "Licensing Director". They often report into a Marketing or Finance Organization. This person is responsible for organizing a cross functional licensing team, owning the development and socialization of the license policies that we described last week, and, managing policy review processes. As if that isn't enough, this person should be looking to the evolving market needs for licensing, and, be an effective internal politician.
• License Architect: The License Architect is in development, and responsible for the development and deployment of core license technology and business policy that will be adopted by the products in a consistent fashion, as prescribed by the corporate policy. This person may be dedicated to license technology, or, to managing the deployment of a common services layer.
• System Architect: This person(s) usually resides in the IT or Operations organization, and is responsible for the deployment of business processes and systems that enable for the effective deployment of software with license models prescribed in the policy document.