Real Time View

Anyone who has faced the prospect of driving on California’s Interstate 405 (I405), that bypasses downtown Los Angeles but represents a major arterial highway in and out of Los Angeles (LAX) airport, cannot escape the nervous twitches that develop or the sense of dread that begins to overwhelm them. Ignore the big green signs that direct you to popular tourist destinations of Santa Monica and San Diego and forget about the prestige and glamor that may lie beyond the exits to Wilshire Boulevard, Mulholland Drive, and Sunset Boulevard, this freeway that can grow to be as wide as 12 lanes in some sections, is among the most dangerous freeways to traverse in America. Hard pressed to catch a flight out of LAX there’s never any assurances that an accident will not occur only a mile or so ahead, or that construction workers will not close a lane or two, and what should take less than an hour ends up taking a lot longer, as every car comes to a stop, reluctantly joining everyone else in ...

My trip home to Boulder took me past Breckenridge , Colorado . Its late fall and the leaves are falling rapidly, with only a sprinkling of yellow remaining on small groves of Aspens. Even though it was late Sunday afternoon the streets of Breckenridge were pretty much deserted, as the town wrestled with catering to an in-between-seasons crowd. As I looked in shop windows however, I couldn’t help but notice how snowboards had completely overtaken skis, and how, even with clothing, the impact of the younger generation and their passion for boarding had relegated almost everything else to the back shelf. I recall overhearing, just a few years ago, a group of ski fanatics, outfitted in their color coordinated gear, expressing a disgust at the young people who wore jeans fashionably slipping of their hips, snowboards under their arms, messing the fashionable scene of winter sports … clearly, fashions change. But the move away from the difficult to control and just plain scary skis to the ...

It was great to see the general air of optimism surrounding last week’s NonStop Symposium. There were more attendees than expected, and most of the late arrivals were NonStop users. Nothing exemplified the upbeat atmosphere more than the very crowded Monday morning general session where there wasn’t a spare seat in the house, with many standing against the back wall. I even saw a wry smile on the faces of Winston Prather and Randy Meyer as the prepared to take to the stage. You could be forgiven if you thought that the former glory days of Tandem had returned and that once again, the community was taking flight!             Now, this is NonStop, not Tandem. And this is HP and no longer Tandem Computers. The transition from what I remembered from decades past couldn’t have been more seamless, and the sense of community more pervasive. As the week progressed and the activities of each day wound down, it became increasingly more ...

In my most recent post to the comForte Lounge blog, SOA – and a cloudy future! I talked of a series of “firsts” and how, when it comes to IT, we are on the threshold of some really big “firsts” as we head towards deploying hybrids, clouds, services, and other mostly “meshed” technologies that are required to break down application silos. I suspect, this transformation will not follow the evolutionary steps of the past but instead, in a break with tradition and practices finely tuned over many years, we will see some pretty dramatic changes, with some adventurous twists and turns along the way. The picture above is of me near the entrance to Portofino , Italy , a key waypoint for English Crusaders centuries ago and where, only two weeks ago, I spent an enjoyable lunchtime. There is a reason I am sharing with you this experience, and I will get to it in a moment. As we approach the commencement of the NonStop Symposium, now only a few days away, I am mindful that we are on the thresho...

In the week before I left for Europe, I spent the first few days back in Cupertino. In between playing the role of chauffeur for my wife, Margo, and catching up with folks, I took time out to revisit some of the landmarks around Vallco Parkway, Tantau, and Pruneridge. There’s always a need for coffee and there’s no better place to catch up on all that’s happening in the surrounding area than to stop by The Roasted Coffee Bean on the corner of Stevens Creek and South Tantau. Jared, the owner, has been a fixture at the store from the time they were located in the shopping center alongside Homestead, tucked away behind the Duke of Edinburgh pub, and I happened to catch up with him for a quick cup and a pastry. And talking of the Duke, the picture above is of me in Munich outside the famous Hofbräuhaus and framed against the Starbucks that has opened just opposite the entrance. The business environment has changed so dramatically around his coffee shop, and he sure misses the Tandem re...

Another year has passed so now it's three years of posts that have been completed and for the NonStop community, I am into my fourth year of blogging to Real Time View ... It was somewhere towards the end of 2008, as I recall, that I returned home to Boulder: distracted with the holidays, trip home, and snow all around, I decided to go to the cellar and pull a good bottle of wine for the evening. Somehow, on the way to the cellar, I lost sight of my goal and instead of returning with a fine example of an Australian red, I came back with something you typically find close to the check-out counters at any grocery store. It was a time too when posting to this blog was very much in its infancy and the thought of coming up with a new storyline really concerned me, so to this day I am convinced it had something to do with me losing the plot on the way to the cellar! My wife was far from happy with my choice and proceeded to complain all evening, so much so, that for the next seven ...

Standing alongside a shopping mall I was surprised by a Toyota Prius hybrid gliding by, almost unnoticeable running on its electric motor. The frenetic love affair with the Prius among Californians, and the arrival of even more hybrid models, is evidence that they are increasing their market-share across the car-buying public. And for good reason – business can no longer ignore the requirement to lessen the need for energy. Buried within the prospectus for General Motors’ IPO, which will shortly take place, are several references to GM’s upcoming Volt hybrid car that is being marketed heavily as a good reason why investors should buy GM stock once the company sheds its government ties and returns to the public markets. In placing the spotlight so brightly on the Volt, GM is assuring investors and consumers alike, that it recognizes the pressure it’s under to provide the types of cars the marketplace is favoring. GM isn’t the only car manufacturer wooing the financial marketplace....