Craig’s Musings

Thoughts about software architecture, books and life

...down the tracks...

Adobe LiveCycle ES2

October 5th, 2009 · Inspiration, Smart clients, Technology

If you’re at the Adobe MAX conference this week, then you already know: Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite 2 has launched.

And judging by the attendance at the pre-conference session on LiveCycle, there’s significant interest in building user-centric applications in the enterprise–exactly what LiveCycle ES2 is designed to unleash!

As you will see on the main LiveCycle site, ES2 is all about:

Given my work on smart client architectures, I have to say that I’m particularly excited about the potential in LiveCycle Mosaic.

Mosaic provides a compelling framework that brings together aspects of business and collaboration to drive richer context pivoting. The task (goal) at hand is more richly represented at all times, allowing the user to pivot more effectively and efficiently and leading to better outcomes more rapidly.

Mosaic is not merely about aggregation as is portal technology. Rather, Mosaic is about intuitive, contextual composition that puts the focus back on the user’s task rather than all the supporting systems underneath. Users can access their mosaics either in their browser or on the desktop (via AIR support). Catalogs of mosaic application assets like tiles can be shared to encourage reuse and to simplify future composition.

LiveCycle Mosaic should be a boon for user-centric, content-enabled applications development.

By the way, if you’re not at MAX (like me), you can still participate online. For example, view the top three sessions from each day at MAX on demand. (Today’s keynote stream was five-by-five at my desk!) Check out the MAX Companion, too, while you’re there. October 11 will see all the MAX content posted online, too!

Cheers! :-)

Update 11/25/2009: Please read the “what’s new in ES2” document. I also recommend that newly revised LiveCycle Developer Center (aka DevNet site).

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Moving on

September 17th, 2009 · Life

Tomorrow will be my last day with EMC after developing an 11-year career that began at Documentum.

I will always remember the Documentum of 1998. We were right in the middle of “Project Piper,” which released as Documentum 4i. My team was focused on delivering the first version of the Documentum Desktop (aka Desktop Client), the successor to Workspace. 4i saw the dawn of our commitment to Java in the middle tier, centered within the first version of DFC also released with 4i. Our first software acquisition (Relevance), also occurred around the same time. Some of my closest friends and colleagues since that time came from Relevance.

At roughly 650 employees when I joined back on 6/1/1998, Documentum had been public for awhile but hadn’t yet lost the startup ethos. It was the era of Jeff Miller at the helm. Perhaps our CEO’s most repeated statement was “we may not always be right, but at least we aren’t confused.” Jeff was a strong leader, who knew how to stay connected with employees and cared about people.

Every week featured the roach coach, which meant free breakfast, courtesy of Howard Shao. Eventually Howard became aware that certain engineers had decided to use the roach coach for their entire daily allowance of food; so, free breakfast became free espresso beverage and the need to rush to the food line to vy for that certain scone became moot.

There were food drives that literally involved flatbed trucks, palettes, and wiping out the local food stores of rices, flour, beans and other food stuffs that weighed a lot. You see, engineering was on a mission to keep Howard (one of our co-founders along with John Newton) at the top of the annual executive/department contests to provide the most food for area shelters. And trust me, we were all very motivated as some of the contests meant that those executives who didn’t “win” had to sing to everyone else at the Christmas party. You brought your significant other to these parties. You dressed up for these parties. You didn’t want Howard to sing at these parties. (Who let the dogs out?)

No long after 4i, it was clear that applications were moving to the web. Web Development Kit (WDK) was born to usher in the shift from client-server to web-based applications. Initially targeting application servers and browsers, WDK matured to become the basis for portal servers and integrations, as well as integrations into prevailing authoring environments. Application Connectors development during D5.x was all about changing the conversation with providers of content authoring environments.

Prior to D5.x, Documentum moved from its offices on Gibraltar into its current digs in Koll Center. While the new offices were much nicer, they never had the same feel as building 3. Never underestimate the value of good building layout, particularly how it can encourage or impact collaboration. There was an (unsuccessful) effort to erect a basketball court and/or a sand volleyball court. (We got a fountain and courtyard instead.)

Soon Documentum celebrated its 10th anniversary as a public company. Prior to that, Documentum stock saw a high (factoring in splits, etc.) of $120. I recall rebuking colleagues that sold at 40, 50 and 60. Clearly, they were the smart ones as the bubble burst and eventually the stock dipped below $12. However the company was growing both organically and by acquisition, and it largely led the charge to define and redefine what ECM meant. (Arguably there is still much activity and debate about how ECM should be defined to this day.)

It was the era of the rockstar. It was an era that I wish hadn’t occurred. Give me a rockstar company, not a company of rockstars, any day! (You can keep your Dirk de Wow campaign; thanks.)

Documentum had grown to 1150 employees and had grown accustomed to being the acquirer, most notably acquiring eRoom. Then EMC acquired Documentum.

Personally this meant working in violation to one of my career principles: always work at headquarters to have the best sense of business’s pulse and buzz.

However, I came to appreciate the broader EMC culture and its remarkable technology portfolio. Since Documentum’s acquisition, EMC has continued to develop a culture and a model of acquisition and integration that is the rightful envy of industry. Great people.

Perhaps the area most noticeable to me involves social media and collaboration both internal and external with the wider community. If it’s a secret how well EMC “gets” this stuff, it won’t be for much longer.

I had the benefit of a 5-year sabbatical from Documentum prior to EMC’s acquisition. During this great refreshment, I decided to delve into the emerging world of feeds, blogs, etc. Looking back on the beginning of this blog, I laugh aloud. I must have bored very few people. But I developed my voice and I began to migrate from tacit to tangible, establishing a concrete online reputation.

The vast majority of my experience online has been incredibly positive. Being able to interact with you my reader, to more personally support my partners and customers, to stay connected with colleagues, etc. has benefited me every bit it may have benefited you. I’m a far richer person for engaging.

Community is the thing I most cherish about how Documentum Foundation Services (DFS), Documentum RESTful Services, and Documentum Interoperability Services (aka platform CMIS support) have taken shape. Integration and composition have never been more relevant to today’s software solutions, and these technologies are well-positioned to deliver significant business value. You’ve partnered with the team through early access programs, and the software is better for it. Service-oriented development and support is in good hands as I depart, and I’m very optimistic about the team and these offerings.

So, why then am I leaving EMC?

Simply put, I’m due for a change. I never thought I’d be at one company for as long as I’ve been with EMC. EMC is, indeed, a good company with great people. However, a unique opportunity has found me, and I’m compelled to pursue it.

This post will probably be “it” for awhile from me, as I’ll be heads down, ramping up on my role and responsibilities. Once I’m settled in my new gig, though, you’ll know.

Thanks again for engaging with me, sharing your ideas, asking questions, providing constructive criticism, etc.

Until next time…
-Craig
 

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Hotmail…DAV no more

September 8th, 2009 · Technology

This is a public service announcement concerning Hotmail (aka Windows Live Mail) access from Microsoft Outlook. If you recall your Hotmail account working just fine from within Outlook not too long ago, but you’re running into the following error (e.g. after hitting F9), this post may be helpful:

Task '********@hotmail.com: Folder:Inbox Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC33): 'Access to the account was denied. Verify that your username and password are correct. The server responded 'Forbidden'.'

If you’re like me, you almost immediately launched your browser, navigated to Hotmail and entered your Live ID. Web access. No problemo. Outlook. Nada. Hmmm…

Then you may have copied the unique essence from the above error message as input to your favorite search engine. I did, and it produced the key to resolution.

Bottom line: As of 9/1/2009 Hotmail no longer supports DAV (aka WebDAV) based access–what Outlook categorizes as HTTP for Hotmail.

So, if you launch, for example, Outlook 2007 and choose Tools | Account Settings…, if you see HTTP for Hotmail as follows then you need to change your Hotmail account settings (click the image to enlarge it):

Hotmail account set for DAV-based access

So, the key is to discontinue attempted access via DAV. To open the door with that key, you have to remove your obsolete Hotmail account in order to create a new, viable (i.e. POP3-based) Hotmail account.

I’m a visual guy; so, while this article was helpful, it took me more than one pass at the new account settings to get everything working properly. Just in case, you’re visual, too, here is what it took as a collage (click the image to enlarge it):

Hotmail account set for POP3-based access

A few additional notes in closing:

  • Be aware that Outlook will recognize …@hotmail.com and set the wrong account type (i.e. to HTTP, not POP3). You must change that automatic action manually.
  • It appears that installing Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is another way to avoid DAV issues. On a shared PC, one user account had this software installed prior to 9/1/2009 and another did not. The account with Connector experienced uninterrupted Hotmail access, while the other suffered the aforementioned access break. To be clear, Microsoft Office Outlook Connector provides more than just a software layer above the account settings screen, and Microsoft recommends its adoption by Outlook 2003/2007 users.
  • More interesting to me is Microsoft’s brief statement about why DAV access is no longer supported: “…the DAV protocol is not optimally suited for programs to access large inboxes…“

Update 9/9/2009: To repeat, the recommended path forward per Microsoft is the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Taking the POP3-based approach above on deals with Inbox email. Connector allows syncing of all folders, calendar and contacts, making Web login or Outlook login result in the same experience content-wise. In the end, when you look at the dialog presented via Tools | Account Settings…, you want to see a Type value of MAPI associated with your Windows Live Mail account (i.e. not POP/SMTP or HTTP).

Kudos to my brother-in-law, a PM on Windows Live Mail, for his emphasis toward Connector.

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In Pursuit of Elegance

July 27th, 2009 · Books, Ideas, Inspiration, Non-fiction, Reading

Last month I read In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing and am finally posting my thoughts on this book by Matthew May.

First of all, it’s a well-written book that applies its message to itself.

I’m glad that I found it after my previous read, since it covers similar ground in places as does Subject To Change but ends up exploring different vistas, too. As a matter of fact, I can relate the contents of this book to several previous reads, and In Pursuit of Elegance has refined my thinking drawn from past reading through deeper correlation and, well, elegance.

“To find elegance, you must appreciate, embrace, and then travel beyond complexity.” The pursuit of elegance is more like chess than checkers. Elegance is “far side,” not “near side,” simplicity; it is at once symmetrical, seductive, subtractive and sustainable.

Concerning this book’s refining effect, take the somewhat popular subject of kaizen–a principle and a practice of “change for the better.” A student of kaizen creates a standard, follows it, and finds a better way. A student of kaizen understands that there are two types of work: value-adding and non-value-adding. In the pursuit of value-adding work, one must be wary of muri (overload), mura (inconsistency), and muda (waste).

Up to this point, I focused more on muda (waste) as a concern, drawing from lessons learned in The Machine That Changed the World while contemplating software factories. However, May writes: “Muda is the easiest to target because it is generally more visible. But muri and mura are often the more evil of the sins, as they can be the actual cause of all muda.” Yes, of course!

Taiichi Ohno, Toyota engineering pioneer and the man behind kaizen, taught his colleagues that new thoughts and better ideas do not come out of the blue, they come from a true understanding of the process. [Aside: Developing and applying empathy is an important theme in Subject To Change.] Writes May: “By requiring keen observation before action, by demanding that one look beyond the obvious surface symptoms to better see the deeper causes, by never giving answers and only asking questions, Ohno taught people to stop and think.”

Make decisions that are based on observation, not assumption (or necessarily inference alone). Therefore, actively form your mental model through firsthand observation (empathy) to ask “What is possible?;” don’t passively succumb to the “ladder of inference” and prematurely ask “What should be done?”

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Silverlight 3

July 10th, 2009 · Development Toolbox, Smart clients, Technology

Today Silverlight 3 officially launched; so, I decided to cut-over to v3 from v2. Here’s what worked for me:

  1. Ensure that all browsers are closed before proceeding.
  2. Open the Control Panel to begin uninstalling older Silverlight 2-related software.
  3. Select “Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 – ENU” and uninstall the older IDE integration.
  4. Select “Microsoft Silverlight 2 SDK” and uninstall the older SDK, which, in my case, was installed via the IDE integration installer.
  5. Select “Microsoft Silverlight” and uninstall the older runtime. In my case, I was running Silverlight 2 GDR 1 (2.0.40115.0). You can determine your current version, if need be, here.
  6. Since I didn’t have an older version of Expression Blend on my machine, I could proceed. If you have an older version (release of beta), you should remove it, first, then continue on here. Before you install please know that once you do, your machine now becomes a Silverlight 3 development machine. You cannot down-level target to Silverlight 2.
  7. Install Silverlight 3 RTW (3.0.40624.0).
  8. Install Microsoft Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1, which includes the Silverlight 3 SDK.
  9. Install the Release Candidate of Microsoft Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow. (I was hoping for the final release of Blend today, but I’ll settle for this (60-day trial) RC (version 3.0.1921.0).)
  10. Upgrade your Silverlight 2 solutions to Silverlight 3 solutions via the upgrade wizard. Etc. Etc.

Since the web is already flooded with plenty of additional commentary and sample applications, I’ll stop here and keep it practical for now. However, I’m excited about this new release and have some ideas to pursue in Silverlight 3. Stay tuned… :-)

P.S. You may also want to download the HTML Help documentation for Silverlight 3.

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