Conference, VMware

Obviously I'm back from the Citrix iForum conference (about 3 weeks ago in fact). I had a great time, and it was worthwhile from a business perspective as well - I got to see all of the new Citrix product features first hand, talk directly to Citrix engineers and developers about specific problems, and listen to Kevin Mitnick give a fascinating talk about social engineering. The party with free drinks on the second night didn't go amiss either ;) After the conference was over I did a few touristy things in Sydney as well. Once I sort out web hosting that will actually let me install a gallery, I'll see about putting up some pictures.

Citrix had an expo running during the conference, mostly for the benefit of their partners. Most interesting to me was the presence of VMware. VMware Workstation is a product I knew about previously, but had never used, mainly because it was too expensive for me to even consider. However, at the stand they were giving away free copies of VMware Workstation in exchange for filling out a form, which I did. I finally got around to installing it last weekend, and I must say I'm very impressed. It's fast, stable, and it's one of the most polished commercial Linux applications I have used so far. The best thing about it though is it lets me do Windows development without having to reboot, which is a big help as all of my other important stuff (emails, CD burning software etc.) is in Linux. I'd certainly recommend checking it out if you need something that works well for doing testing or cross-platform development.

Off to Sydney

I'm heading off to Sydney tomorrow for the aforementioned Citrix iForum (returning on Sunday evening). Should be interesting. Weather permitting, I plan to do the Sydney harbour bridge climb as well as a few other non-conference things while I'm there.

Apple, fbvncserver

The Apple move to Intel

I can't believe the amount of rubbish that is circulating about the Apple move to Intel processors. Examples of the drivel I have heard so far:
"Ooo, it'll make it easier to port PC games to Mac" - ever heard of DirectX? It'll be no different than porting games to Linux, and that doesn't happen that much yet (sadly).
"I'll be able to run OS X on my PC!" - Apple have clearly stated they will not support this, and they might even go to extra lengths to prevent people from hacking around it. Besides, you'd be missing out on half of what makes Macs what they are - the standardised hardware platform.
"Is there any point in starting Mac development now?" - the situation now is no different to what it was before. All of today's Mac applications will run on the new Macs thanks to Rosetta. Besides, most of the time you're coding to an API, not to the processor, unless you're writing in assembly language.
"This will kill Linux" - No. Linux will be unaffected on the server. It might take a hit on the desktop, but only if the move makes Macs significantly cheaper, or the normally PC-buying public decides that Mac-on-Intel is somehow more appealing to them despite being much the same thing.

It's quite simple - almost nothing has changed. Macs will still be Macs, PCs will still be PCs.

fbvncserver for iPAQ working again

fbvncserver has been updated to work on Familiar 0.8.2, and works brilliantly. For a while I was trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to it using VNC and then I realised some new icons had been added to the Opie launcher to start and stop the server. Last I checked, there isn't a working free PocketPC VNC server, so there's yet another win for Familiar. Woot! :)

Look, it's a blog

My first blog entry. Well, actually I was kind of blogging long before the word "blog" existed, but I guess I didn't really update it often enough to count. Maybe this time round :)

Anyway, work's been pretty busy lately as it's release time again. I'm still enjoying it though. The application I'm currently working on (Pocket RAMM) has given me an opportunity to do some good OO architecture work, building on our previous "Pocket" applications except redoing a few things properly this time, internally that is. It has the potential to be a very useful application for our clients as well, which is always motivating.

Looks like I'll be heading off to Australia next month for the Citrix iForum conference. I decided to take the weekend as well so I'll have to find some interesting things to do in Sydney (hope I get some good weather!).

Movies seen lately:

• Hostage - not bad. I went and saw this because I was locked out of the house one evening, and it was time well spent. Some great action, although Bruce Willis's acting was a little weaker than usual in parts, but still good.
• Revenge of the Sith - about what I was expecting. Visually spectacular, and it had some great moments, but Hayden Christensen's acting was so bad it spoilt the whole movie. I can't understand why they cast him as Anakin Skywalker. Oh well, I don't suppose George Lucas really cares, the film is still raking it in.
• And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself - highly recommended. Antonio Banderas gives the performance of his career.
• Parallax View - good story, but the direction and production left a lot to be desired. Still, I guess it was 1974; a lot of films from that era have a similar feel.
  
• The Quiet American - worth seeing. Great performances and a compelling story.
• Garden State - very entertaining. I was particularly impressed by Natalie Portman, and Zach Braff shows his skill as a writer/director as well as an actor.

As usual I've bought a few DVDs recently as well, including The Butterfly Effect. I saw it at the movies when it came out, and it's a great film, although the DVD I got was the director's cut and they have changed the ending and a few other parts to match. The new ending works, but I'd have to say I prefer the theatrical ending.