Month: July 2009

If I could draw, this would be funnier. Plus, the area around the Dev View would be strewn with tools and parts.

When a software house tells a client that they are 50% of the way towards the completion of a project, the client seems to assume that they will be able to then look at the product as it stands and be able to play with and test 50% of it’s functionality.

I’m sorry to break it to you, clients. That’s not the way it works.

The first half of a project consists of bedding down build infrastructure, data models, functional area designs, screen designs and testing frameworks. All of the pretty stuff happens right at the end. You need to lay the foundation of a house before you can start decorating the living area.

Images are sourced from good ol’ Google Images.

So, evidently Google are producing an Operating System.

Just to be clear, the blog post linked above is the single only communique released by Google about the Google Chrome OS (Edit: they also produced a short FAQ). If you couldn’t be bothered reading it, here’s the short version:

Google: So, we’re totally going to make an OS. It’ll be small, lightweight and run on netbooks. It will be open-sourced. It will come out in 2010.
Internet:

Evidently, denizens of the Intertubes have taken this as some sort of dark portent. A veritable four-horsemen-rated augury.

Here’s my take:
Calm the hell down. Google have made mention of a possible OS in a blog post. It won’t be out for at least a year. It will be aimed squarely at the netbook market. Your precious Windows licences won’t all of a sudden become worthless as Microsoft fall off of the bottom of the stock exchange. You’re going to be ok, now breathe in and out and in again. Ok, keep that going, I’m just going to get us each a cup of tea.

So, I rang the flu hotline this morning because I’ve been feeling pretty under the weather for the last couple of days and I wanted to ask them a few questions.

What I had initially planned as a quick phone call, turned into a half-hour interrogation about my current condition and recent exposure to other flu carriers. Evidently what I would normally treat with a day or two off work, rest, water and paracetemol has turned into a cloistered experience in which I can’t even be in the same room as my pregnant wife.

I can’t help but wonder whether there is still lingering paranoia about the severity of swine flu. The woman I spoke to on the phone told me that swine flu is nothing to worry about, but with the same breath told me to stay away from work, not to visit the doctor and definately don’t be too close to Amy.

Wooo.