Real Time View

One of my most treasured photos – Jimmy and me, at a not that long ago N2TUG gathering. Following my first attempts at blogging, back in August of 2007 – yes, some 18 years ago – around the time of the European ITUG Summit in Brighton, UK, it was a good friend of mine and former ITUG board member, Sam, who came up to me and said, “Slow down with the posts; you write faster than I can read!” Not a put-down or in any way condemnation of those early posts but rather, a recognition that time is important for all my readers and dropping a post on a daily basis, albeit a lot shorter than what I post today, was perhaps not an ideal way in interacting with the Nonstop community. Give them time to read, think and perhaps comment otherwise readership will dwindle. How right he was, it turns out. Today, with post number 651, readership is as strong as it ever was and for that, I have to thank Sam. What started in 2008 with the first “Three Wishes for NonStop” can be viewed by scanning the Labels ...

With summer in full swing and with temperatures climbing higher than we have seen in quite some time, it’s hard to imagine that seasons will be again in transition in oh, say three months’ time. Living alongside the Rocky Mountains we have come to expect anything and, each day we step outside, we can be at a loss as to what the will weather do; clear skies aren’t all that helpful. It’s not all that often that I start with a weather commentary but this year, it’s getting harder to ignore. Floods in Australia and fires in Portugal! Tornados in the US and more fires even as there are swarms of jellyfish in the eastern Mediterranean! Predicting the weather so it seems remains as much a hit and miss exercise as it has always been; here in Colorado the story goes that “if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes and it will change.”    At the end of August I will wrap up fifteen years of posting to this blog, Real Time View. Shortly I will begin my sixteenth year and y...

So, another three years have passed by and I find myself writing a preview of what I will likely focus on in eighteen months’ time – my next three wishes for NonStop! It wouldn’t be fair on my family if I said 2019 had been a routine year for Pyalla Technologies. It started with the return flight from Sydney, Australia, and continued with three separate trips to Europe plus a lengthy road trip to Las Vegas for HPE Discover 2019 combined with stops in southern California and participation in N2TUG back in Texas. The miles have added up but all the while even as the adventurous life continued to unfold, there was so much news coming out of HPE that scarcely a day passed without a discussion or two over what it all means. Margo and I have our roots firmly anchored in NonStop, dating back to Tandem Computers where Margo had risen through the development organization all the way to the COO role under the stewardship of Bill Heil when Bill headed the NonStop Software BU. As for me...

Once again, I am writing a preview of what will follow next February as my update to My Three Wishes for NonStop will be posted. Like my previous preview, I am keeping a few items close to my chest …  Over the past two week I have been on the road and for nearly all of that time the heavens have opened up and it’s been a hard rain for more days that I care to recall. Driving was erratic at times even as setting up camp proved challenging – the drive into the RV facility on North Carolina’s Outer Banks happened just 30 minutes after a tremendous deluge that left the facility flooded. But the opportunity to discuss business with numerous folks made it worthwhile and overall it all added to a growing impression that the software industry is heading for tough times and that, without a few more concessions coming from major hardware vendors, our future choices may be greatly reduced even as users may be tempted to return to writing critical middleware and tools themselves. Driving...

When was the last time you really wished NonStop systems would do something different? Support something extra? Or simply wished you knew more about its future? The third anniversary of “my three wishes for NonStop” is only seven months away … This past weekend saw me yet again at a car track. This time, it was a return visit to High Plains Raceway (HPR), just outside Denver, and arguable our home track. Readers of my social blog may recall in the most recent post, Getting much needed seat time – but will it be enough? I backed our Corvette into the wall at Sonoma and messed it up. Fortunately, it’s all sorted out now and we were able to enjoy our time at the track. That evening came the word that Saturday would see me taking an instructor on track who would then approve me for a higher group – something I have wished forever since taking up the sport. Then again, I was reminded of the need to be careful about what we wish for in case our wishes come true – there are always som...