Old, but good

The short review… "It’s not a toy,
its the best blackberry I have ever owned, combining rock solid performance
with a lust factor that should scare iPhone users (and I am an iPhone user)".

The longer review….

Upon returning to Belfast two days ago,
my blackberry bold was waiting for me.  I won’t say where it came
from (without their permission), but it was a very kind and gracious gift,
one that I will not forget.   Considering I was quite tired, I ignored
it as I unpacked and tried to come back to life.  After a couple of
hours, I activated the bold, added my sim and retired my tried and tested
blackberry curve.

Form factor:  The feel of the bold
is excellent.  I prefer the keyboard of the curve (the bold reminds
me of the 8800 keyboard) but overall it just feels solid and strong.  I
have used the blackberry storm and the touchscreen keyboard just is not
on a par with a tactile interface.  If I need to hammer out long work
emails on a tiny unit, I need buttons.    The stand-by button
is the usual (holding down the mute key for a second) but on the negative
it takes just too long to enter stand-by mode.  The screen is fantastic.
 Absolutely fantastic.  Only beaten by the iPhone.  

Platform:  The platform interface
is as excellent as you would expect from blackberry.  Mail.just.works.
 The browser is a fantastic improvement on the previous models.  The
GPS software with maps works exceptionally well (quicker then the iPhone)
and also highlights your direction aswell as location (iPhone only location).
 BES/BIS accounts working in a few minutes, and with the later version
of blackberry enterprise server, now all my details (including preferences,
call list history) were transferred to my unit OTA.

Battery:  I have only charged it
once since I got home.  enough said really.

The bold is a massive step in hand-held
progression for blackberry, both in interface and software.  This
is an area blackberry were really losing ground on, both to WMD and iPhone.
 It also manages to retain its strengths of usability,  ruggedness
and battery life learned over years of unit evolution.   This unit
will hold extreme geek lust factor.  More so then the storm, which
so far seems like a "we want to be an iPhone but can’t" offering.
 

I will still take both my iPhone and
my blackberry with me when I travel, but I could easily live with just
the bold.  Of course, when iPhone support for Domino is released,
I will be able to easily live with either.

An article I wrote about prevention of
system downtime from a high level has been published on the GSX
blog site.  You can download
it here.

OK, I’m no Duffbert,
and pretty much sure that being
syndicated on the New York Times
is an accolade that I will never be able to announce (Incredibly good work
Duff btw), but consider this document a high-level look at "why"
you should monitor your environment, taking into consideration current
economic conditions and the fact that many people have changed employer
without changing desk in the past few months.  A nod goes to Bill
in the document also, as the underlying factor in the worst practices presentation
of "prevention is better then cure" guided me in its writing.

From leaving the hotel in Manila, to getting
home in Belfast…

Time for some sleep methinks.

Quick technical tip.  You can use
a connection document to point at a cluster name.  This will allow
a server to connect to either server in a cluster for replication or routing.
 In the destination server name, enter the cluster name.  

Keep in mind I have been travelling for
27 hours at this stage, so later on (or tomorrow) when I look at this myself
I will think "what the hell was I typing".

In the location where I worked for the
past month, I was joined by other consultants from various different departments.
 My desk had a phone, and my Mac, and lots of shelves and a filing
cabinet.  Same as every other consultant’s allocation.  You could
tell the IT people a mile away.

1.  Most of the independent IT
people there were using Mac’s (seriously, the uptake on Macs in the workplace
now is phenomenal.  At present mostly small companies/independent
people, but its a sign of the future).

2.  None of them printed anything.
 

 

My area was a minimalists’ dream.  To
a point where I was thinking "Jesus, I should just get SOMETHING printed
to make me look busy!" People from other non-IT areas had reams of
paper, forests of documentation, printed, colour coded and organised.  Looked
great.

I prefer my way of working.

I managed to get through the first two
seasons of The
IT Crowd during my travels.  Brilliant
Brilliant Brilliant.

Last year, we had the I’m
Ed Brill video, and the admin
versus dev video.  This time..
I need your help!  At the start of the Lotusphere session, I want
to have about 15 videos, all 5-10 seconds long.  All different people.
 

For example, "Hi I’m {insert name}
and I hate end users"

or…

"Hi, I’m {insert name}.  I’m
a developer…  What the hell have users got to do with applications?"

or…

"Hi, I’m {insert name}.  I’m
an end user in Marketing… my life has no meaning"

Anything really – just has to be funny.
 Feel free to poke fun at just about anyone (including yourself).
 I may even have some special ones.  I know that Bob
Balaban had a few great ideas
(Bob, I didn’t forget).  Also, Mr
Lepofsky, I’m looking at you.

So, crack open your webcam – record
it.  Mail it to me with the video attached and I will stitch them
together.   I need about 15 for this to work.  Its just for a
laugh.

Working in the Philippines is almost at
an end for me.  I start heading back to Belfast on a 3 flight trip
on Wednesday afternoon, with a 6 hour stopover in Qatar.  While here,
I managed to get some interesting work done, along with the Lotusphere
sessions.   Early starts and late nights for the first two weeks keep
up with both those tasks almost put me in "hermit mode".  
I took one weekend off and went to Boracay
for a night, which comes highly
recommended.  The worst part about that trip was it was too short,
and reminded me that I really miss the chance for a few weeks (on leave)
in the sun.  

The culture over here remained as I
saw it at the beginning.  Vast differences between rich and poor,
but with calm friendliness across everyone I met.  Both staff from
the customer site and IBM were kind enough to meet me on a few nights out,
which breaks the hotel room cabin-fever lifestyle!  I found the job
of my dreams.  I wanna be a Jeepney
driver!  Complete disregard
for all other cars/pedestrians.  Hilarious to watch them in action.

From Asia it is very interesting to
watch the patterns of Europe and then US come on-line.  Following
blog posts from over here (from really crappy "Viral" videos
to excellent technical posts) and my workload/timezone made me take a very
passive blogging stance.  Just observing for a while is fun.

Although I am very used to travel, I’m
not that used to long term foreign engagements.  Although pleasant
to be in one place for more then a week, I must admit I will be happy to
get home.  By the time I am back, the blogosphere will quieten down,
with exception for yearly round up posts, then into the New Year with the
madness of Lotusphere2009