Real Time View

The strong turn out by the NonStop community for this year’s NonStop Technical Boot Camp was encouraging even as it was a testament to how strongly the NonStop system is supported by advocates spanning the generations. Could NonStop be viewed as a hobby for some and if so, did this contribute to NonStop thriving for forty years? Many years ago my father asked me if I would be prepared to give up my Saturday afternoons to help out a friend who had just bought a yacht. I have touched on this subject in other posts – to be specific, the post of July 16, 2008, Specialist! Am I still needed? In that post I described how I began my time on a 40’ sailboat having no experience whatsoever, and that, in time and with experience, I became the sole for’ard hand responsible for everything in front of the mast. For a couple of years running, in the early 1970s, we were overall season’s winners in the category we sailed and I came to develop a real love for this “hobby”. What I didn’t write...

Even as many NonStop users need to look to modernize their existing applications there’s a pressing need to include modern platform support on NonStop to attract new applications – and shortly, at the NonStop Technical Boot Camp we will hear more of one project in support of such a mission. Pictured to the right is an architect’s representation of an addition to the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and from what I read this morning it would appear that it is about to open to the public. In an article just published in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, UTS unveils 'paper bag' building , the future home of the UTS business school certainly isn’t escaping comments –calling it a paper bag, tells its own story. However, for those who have seen some pretty far-out structures in Prague, Vienna and even Barcelona, they can’t help but wonder about the intrusion of highly fluid lines that has worked their way into the form of these buildings. Whether or not they appe...

In the Chris Rea song, Johnny Needs a Fast Car, the lyrics are self-explanatory. “Johnny needs a fast one Johnny needs it now. You got to give him something to let him show you how.”  And just sometimes, we need to give developers something to show us how … Over the past couple of years I have written posts that featured different cars Margo and I have owned at one time or another. However, what has lurked in the back of the garage (and rarely featured in any blog posts) is the car affectionately known within the auto trade as Godzilla – a Nissan GT-R. Left in a parking station it attracts glances only from 20-something individuals who each give it a respectful nod and yet, it’s rare to come across any other vehicle on the road with equivalent capabilities – it just goes fast. While we have essentially tracked all the cars we have owned, Godzilla has not seen the track and for a very good reason. Yes, it’s fast, but we like it far too much to risk damaging it, but ...

A flashback to 1993 and an ITUG event in Orlando gave me the introduction I was looking for with this post about who's talking at the upcoming NonStop Technical Boot Camp 2014 ... It was a little over 20 years ago – October, 1993, as I recall – that I attended the annual ITUG event in Orlando. I was with a group from development that included Margo Holen and we were showcasing a project we all called Chameleon – featuring “twin tails” connections between PCs, and Tandem computers. Cut one “tail” and the other took over – it was all based on Ethernet and took advantage of custom NICs from Ungermann-Bass (UB). Joining Tandem developers was Michael Ladam from UB. Michael, Brad Poole (now with comForte), Margo and I took a drive to Cape Canaveral and we stopped for gas alongside a tourist shop selling practically everything. To this day we all will not readily forget Michael’s exclamation while perusing western belts, each one featuring a flashy belt buckle, when he found a be...

As the price of gas at the pump continues to drop in the US, it’s hard to miss the flow-on effect to the community. Could we be getting value for our money at last? When the topic is increasing the sales reach of NonStop value too is important. Could we see the return of VARs? Have you all seen what’s been happening with the price of gas at the pumps here in America? Is the same thing happening everywhere? In the US we have seen the price of gas drop to $2.89 per US gallon (3.8 liters) as depicted above where I just filled up the Jeep. Remarkable! Considering our family has nothing but vehicles with large displacement engines, this is proving to be a blessing for us and it feels like getting an unexpected tax break. With the US now awash in sea of oil, thanks to the wonders of fracking, and the market laws of supply and demand kicking in, the price at the pump is likely to go down even further – the days of $2.00 per gallon gas may just be coming back. For now, $2.89 for gas? Re...

While driving into unfamiliar surroundings, a GPS is handy – perhaps, two of them, to make navigation easier. For HP, in entering new waters, splitting in two should allow the company to better navigate in two completely different marketplaces! This weekend it was a case of a quick drive along the Hudson River, the “river that defined America”.  As it is still fall and the leaves continue to change color, it was one of the drives we had always wanted to do and the color show didn’t disappoint. Final destination Sunday night was Montréal where we will be spending a little time on business before enjoying more of what Montréal has to offer. As you can see above, the old Montréal Port and grain processing plant look great in the autumn sunshine! While the route up the Hudson was straight forward, finding our hotel in the center of town proved challenging. Given that we were later to find out that there were several streets with the same name, our first attempt to locate ...

I’m posting this on the road as I drive to MATUG in Philadelphia, PA. However, before we packed the bags and began the drive, we had an opportunity to celebrate with friends and when it comes to NonStop, I was reminded of earlier posts and yes, I do get it! Had a good friends, Brian and Jan, over for the weekend; a mix of business and good meals with fine wine. In this case the friend, Brian, is someone with whom I can share my business plans as well as my interests in cars – yes, when asked where he was by a former neighbor, Brian simply responded “I’m with the Buckles, driving Corvettes and drinking good red wine”. As it turned out, he was here for his birthday as well, and on a special occasion like this, it called for something equally as special from the wine cellar. As I pulled the cork from a 1993 Silver Oak – a great California Cabernet Sauvignon – I have to admit, I was apprehensive. I was real careful removing the cork as it had dried, and once I had it out of the bo...