Yesterday I got a concerned e-mail from my computer-using Grandmother. She was taking part in a Tea Party/Town Hall group north of Seattle, Washington. They were all sitting around having a great conversation when someone made the comment, "What are we going to do when they cut off the Internet?" My wise Grandmother didn't think that was possible but wanted to ask me the question.
Technically it would be next to impossible to turn off the Internet. The United States Department of Defense paid for the research that created the Internet. They wanted a communication system that would continue to function even in the event of a nuclear war. That means that you can take out every major city in the country and the Internet would continue to function. It might not be as fast, but it would still work.
Many years ago the government gave up control of the Internet to private industry. It is now a big business and controlled by the telecommunications companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and others. In addition to being big business, the Internet is a huge source of tax revenue for the federal government.
So suppose that President Obama wanted tighter control over the American people and introduced a bill to kill the Internet. Not a single representative nor senator would vote to pass it. It would be political suicide (which is why the President would never try to introduce such a bill). We as a people have come to rely on the Internet for e-mail, sharing information, doing crossword puzzles, paying bills, and entertainment. There would be riots of biblical proportion.
Let's just assume that we all went to sleep for a year and during that time, someone was able to pass a law that eliminated the Internet. Let's also assume that the year we were asleep also allowed this individual the time necessary to dismantle the thousands of networks used to make up the Internet. What would happen when we all woke up? It would take an amazingly short time for us to recreate the Internet. It would start out as a group of small networks that continued to grow until we had the Internet as we know it today.
About the best the government can do is to start censoring the Internet like China. However we are smart people and for every site that becomes censored, five more just like it will appear out of nowhere. Just look at what is happening on College campuses where they try to block sites like YouTube and MySpace. The students quickly figure out how to circumvent the restrictions and continue online life as usual.
So the next time someone sends you an e-mail talking about how the government is going to "shut off" the Internet, you can rest assured that it probably won't happen in your lifetime unless it is replaced by something better.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Paying Bills
Monday is always the day that I pay bills. I am generally pretty good about making sure all of them are paid on-time. One thing that helps is a filing box that my youngest son got me for Christmas one year. It has 31 numbered slots. The idea is that you file your bills on their monthly due date. If a bill is due on October 15th, it goes in the slot with the 15 label. Then when I go to pay bills, I pay everything due over the next two weeks.
When my bank started offering electronic bill paying, I didn't bother signing up. I had a great system that worked and wasn't interested in putting everything on the computer. One day when I was getting low on postage stamps, I decided to give my bank's online service a try. I entered the information for that week's payments and was amazed at how much quicker I was done. I didn't have to write a check nor did I have to lick any nasty envelopes. Furthermore, I saved myself a couple of bucks in postage. When it came time to pay bills the next week, I entered more payments into the online system and continued using the free service. I haven't stopped since.
I generally pay about five bills per week. Sometimes there are more and sometimes less, but five is a good average. It used to take me about an hour to pay the bills. Some of that is because I do it during the Monday night football game and spend a lot of time watching the game. When I moved to the electronic method, I cut that time in half. I didn't realize how long it was taking me to write checks and make appropriate entries in my monthly budget. That is all done on the computer and I type a lot faster than I write.
The biggest benefit I have realized by using the bank's electronic bill-pay service is the cost savings in stamps. I am a big fan of the US Postal Service. I think they are the subject of a lot of old jokes that just aren't true any more. Considering how little it costs to send a letter and generally how quickly it gets to its destination, the postal service does an amazing job. However I am now saving myself 20 to 25 stamps every month. That amounts to about $10 each month. It may not sound like much but it adds up over the years.
One final benefit is that I don't have to worry about the check actually arriving. I was once driving down the freeway and saw a mail truck off on the side of the road in flames. Accidents do happen and I felt sorry for all those people who really had sent checks in the mail only to have them turn to ash.
I was reluctant to start but now endorse electronic bill paying. That is one of those increases in efficiencies gained by the ubiquity of personal computers and the Internet. Now I can pay more attention to the game.
When my bank started offering electronic bill paying, I didn't bother signing up. I had a great system that worked and wasn't interested in putting everything on the computer. One day when I was getting low on postage stamps, I decided to give my bank's online service a try. I entered the information for that week's payments and was amazed at how much quicker I was done. I didn't have to write a check nor did I have to lick any nasty envelopes. Furthermore, I saved myself a couple of bucks in postage. When it came time to pay bills the next week, I entered more payments into the online system and continued using the free service. I haven't stopped since.
I generally pay about five bills per week. Sometimes there are more and sometimes less, but five is a good average. It used to take me about an hour to pay the bills. Some of that is because I do it during the Monday night football game and spend a lot of time watching the game. When I moved to the electronic method, I cut that time in half. I didn't realize how long it was taking me to write checks and make appropriate entries in my monthly budget. That is all done on the computer and I type a lot faster than I write.
The biggest benefit I have realized by using the bank's electronic bill-pay service is the cost savings in stamps. I am a big fan of the US Postal Service. I think they are the subject of a lot of old jokes that just aren't true any more. Considering how little it costs to send a letter and generally how quickly it gets to its destination, the postal service does an amazing job. However I am now saving myself 20 to 25 stamps every month. That amounts to about $10 each month. It may not sound like much but it adds up over the years.
One final benefit is that I don't have to worry about the check actually arriving. I was once driving down the freeway and saw a mail truck off on the side of the road in flames. Accidents do happen and I felt sorry for all those people who really had sent checks in the mail only to have them turn to ash.
I was reluctant to start but now endorse electronic bill paying. That is one of those increases in efficiencies gained by the ubiquity of personal computers and the Internet. Now I can pay more attention to the game.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Increased Efficiency?
Computers are supposed to make our lives easier. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. When I first started doing database consulting to help pay my way through college, I had one of my customers question why computers were even necessary. My customer was a glove manufacturer based in Tacoma, Washington. His company had been making gloves since 1917 and didn't need computers when they started. His question caused me to think if computers have really made our lives easier or not.
Unfortunately for my customer, things had changed significantly enough that there was no way you could go back to doing business without a computer. In 1917, union rules didn't exist that do today. These rules are the reason for 90% of his computing needs. Today a seamstress in the glove factory is paid a different amount for each type of stitch used to make the glove. That and several other rules mean that the glove manufacturer would be out of business without extensive computer bookkeeping.
When I first started questioning whether or not computers were helpful in my own life, I was going to college. My primary use of computers was as a word processor to help turn in homework. Having done one or two papers on a typewriter, I felt the computer was a huge benefit for me in getting my assignments done. I would have flunked out of school without spell-check.
Today I look at my own children and see how they use the computer. My oldest daughter is in college and she uses her laptop computer constantly. She even brings it to class every day for taking notes. My three other kids are constantly using the family computer for their homework as well.
Unfortunately there is a downside to all this increased productivity. There is now more time to relax. Instead of going outside and hanging out with friends, kids are sitting at home and spending time on Facebook or MySpace. When my oldest daughter was home during the summer, she spent so much time on Facebook, I had to turn off her computer's access to our home Internet connection. Recently we have had to limit Facebook time for our youngest daughter as well.
Once again I have to ask myself if the computer is really helping me and my family. I think that having a computer is now a necessity. If you don't have a computer that your kids can use to do schoolwork, they are at a huge disadvantage. However some of the efficiencies gained through having a computer are negated by some of our leisure activities.
Oh good, my oldest son just finished his game. Now it is my turn to slay dragons or race electronic images on the Playstation 3.
Unfortunately for my customer, things had changed significantly enough that there was no way you could go back to doing business without a computer. In 1917, union rules didn't exist that do today. These rules are the reason for 90% of his computing needs. Today a seamstress in the glove factory is paid a different amount for each type of stitch used to make the glove. That and several other rules mean that the glove manufacturer would be out of business without extensive computer bookkeeping.
When I first started questioning whether or not computers were helpful in my own life, I was going to college. My primary use of computers was as a word processor to help turn in homework. Having done one or two papers on a typewriter, I felt the computer was a huge benefit for me in getting my assignments done. I would have flunked out of school without spell-check.
Today I look at my own children and see how they use the computer. My oldest daughter is in college and she uses her laptop computer constantly. She even brings it to class every day for taking notes. My three other kids are constantly using the family computer for their homework as well.
Unfortunately there is a downside to all this increased productivity. There is now more time to relax. Instead of going outside and hanging out with friends, kids are sitting at home and spending time on Facebook or MySpace. When my oldest daughter was home during the summer, she spent so much time on Facebook, I had to turn off her computer's access to our home Internet connection. Recently we have had to limit Facebook time for our youngest daughter as well.
Once again I have to ask myself if the computer is really helping me and my family. I think that having a computer is now a necessity. If you don't have a computer that your kids can use to do schoolwork, they are at a huge disadvantage. However some of the efficiencies gained through having a computer are negated by some of our leisure activities.
Oh good, my oldest son just finished his game. Now it is my turn to slay dragons or race electronic images on the Playstation 3.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A New Project
This week I started a new software project. I'm not sure it will make me much money but it is good to be coding again. It is a short project and so I am hoping to have it completed within a week.
The exciting thing about my new endeavor is that it involves doing something I have not yet done. Normally my software projects are made up of pieces of things I have already put into other programs. If it needs to save data, I have an example of code I used on my previous project. Do I need to validate any of that data? If so, then I have a piece of code I used two projects ago. Sometimes software development is just like putting together pieces of Legos. It can also be just as fun.
The new piece that I am working on is a relatively new feature found in web-based applications. This means that I have to go the original RFC and figure out how to implement the feature on my own. Now you may be asking yourself, "What the heck is an RFC?" RFC is an acronym that stands for "Request For Comments."
When the Internet was in its infancy, the technologists involved exercised a bit of humility and democracy. Instead of coming up with a list of "must do's" they decided they would use a community process to determine the best way to implement technological features. Someone working on a problem would throw out a "Request For Comments" with his or her solution to the problem. Others working on the Internet were then free to suggest alternative methods. If nobody had any meaningful comments, then the RFC was adopted as a defacto specification.
One thing about computers and technology is that they continue to evolve. Even someone such as myself, with almost a quarter of a century working with computers, needs to learn new things. Now if I can just figure out how to do this one little thing, my project will be close to finished.
The exciting thing about my new endeavor is that it involves doing something I have not yet done. Normally my software projects are made up of pieces of things I have already put into other programs. If it needs to save data, I have an example of code I used on my previous project. Do I need to validate any of that data? If so, then I have a piece of code I used two projects ago. Sometimes software development is just like putting together pieces of Legos. It can also be just as fun.
The new piece that I am working on is a relatively new feature found in web-based applications. This means that I have to go the original RFC and figure out how to implement the feature on my own. Now you may be asking yourself, "What the heck is an RFC?" RFC is an acronym that stands for "Request For Comments."
When the Internet was in its infancy, the technologists involved exercised a bit of humility and democracy. Instead of coming up with a list of "must do's" they decided they would use a community process to determine the best way to implement technological features. Someone working on a problem would throw out a "Request For Comments" with his or her solution to the problem. Others working on the Internet were then free to suggest alternative methods. If nobody had any meaningful comments, then the RFC was adopted as a defacto specification.
One thing about computers and technology is that they continue to evolve. Even someone such as myself, with almost a quarter of a century working with computers, needs to learn new things. Now if I can just figure out how to do this one little thing, my project will be close to finished.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Geometry Homework
Last night my youngest son came and asked me to help him with his geometry homework. As part of the coursework required for my degree in electrical engineering I managed to pick up a minor in mathematics. I also have a minor in physics but that really wasn't important for last night's assignment.
Geometry is one of those topics that you really only experience at one time during your path to greater mathematical understanding. While you may continue to use one or two geometric formulas, the bulk of geometry is so different from all other topics that I was concerned I wouldn't be able to help my son.
He brought down his homework and we looked at it together. There were three proofs. His whole assignment was three problems that took up a single piece of paper. The first two problems had the hard part done. It was left to my son to label each of the steps required to go from "given" to "proof." He had done a fairly good job at guessing the labels. However the third and final problem required him to develop the steps on his own and that really had him confused.
I pulled out a scratch piece of paper and started working out the proof myself. Half a sheet of paper later, I had gone in a circle and was no closer to a solution than a monkey with a dart. So I put down my pencil and thought about the problem. Geometry proofs are like driving a car. You have a starting point and know your ending point. It is then up to you to use a series of theorems and postulates like roads to reach your destination. While it is possible to get in your car and drive around until you find your destination, a lot of gas can be wasted. It is much more efficient to map out a direct path.
I picked up my pencil and noted a couple of things that would take me from the start to the end as quickly as possible. The whole problem took about three steps and I was done. Then I could explain the problem to my son and help him get the answer on his own.
Even though it has been almost 30 years since I had geometry, I was still able to help my son with his homework. It isn't because I have a great memory and can still remember back that far. It is because geometric proofs teach you how to use simple steps to solve larger problems. That is all computer programming is. Since I have been programming for over 20 years, the skills I learned back in high-school have constantly been used and I was able to help my son. I guess I'd better apologize to my old math teacher from when I said, "I'll never use this."
Geometry is one of those topics that you really only experience at one time during your path to greater mathematical understanding. While you may continue to use one or two geometric formulas, the bulk of geometry is so different from all other topics that I was concerned I wouldn't be able to help my son.
He brought down his homework and we looked at it together. There were three proofs. His whole assignment was three problems that took up a single piece of paper. The first two problems had the hard part done. It was left to my son to label each of the steps required to go from "given" to "proof." He had done a fairly good job at guessing the labels. However the third and final problem required him to develop the steps on his own and that really had him confused.
I pulled out a scratch piece of paper and started working out the proof myself. Half a sheet of paper later, I had gone in a circle and was no closer to a solution than a monkey with a dart. So I put down my pencil and thought about the problem. Geometry proofs are like driving a car. You have a starting point and know your ending point. It is then up to you to use a series of theorems and postulates like roads to reach your destination. While it is possible to get in your car and drive around until you find your destination, a lot of gas can be wasted. It is much more efficient to map out a direct path.
I picked up my pencil and noted a couple of things that would take me from the start to the end as quickly as possible. The whole problem took about three steps and I was done. Then I could explain the problem to my son and help him get the answer on his own.
Even though it has been almost 30 years since I had geometry, I was still able to help my son with his homework. It isn't because I have a great memory and can still remember back that far. It is because geometric proofs teach you how to use simple steps to solve larger problems. That is all computer programming is. Since I have been programming for over 20 years, the skills I learned back in high-school have constantly been used and I was able to help my son. I guess I'd better apologize to my old math teacher from when I said, "I'll never use this."
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
High-tech Software Demos
This morning I participated in a demo of some software I have written over the last year. The demo was to a very large company based on the East coast. The meeting went extremely well and I was glad the software worked as designed. There are one or two flaws that I recognized but I doubt anyone else would see them.
The demo was really kind of amazing. Nobody had to get on a plane to fly to the demo location. Furthermore nobody had to even get in a car to be a part of the demo. Instead we used a product called "GoToMeeting" which is very similar to WebEx. Both products allow you to share the information on your computer screen with those whom you invite to your meeting. Your invitees can then log onto the party from their computers in their offices or homes.
This morning one of my partners on the project brought his Mac computer to my house. We plugged it into the wall, turned it on, and connected it to my wireless network. A couple minutes later we started the meeting and waited for the participants to join. There was no need to use a phone to dial into a conference call because we could use the computer's built-in microphone and speakers. If your computer didn't have a microphone and speakers, you could revert to using your phone. I had a phone ready just-in-case but was glad I didn't need it.
There were a total of six participants in the meeting. A third partner made the drive to my house while another decided to join from the comfort of his home office. Then there were two participants joining us from the East coast in two different locations. If necessary, we could have added many more participants.
The meeting lasted a total of 90 minutes and was a huge success. If we had tried to do the demo in person, it would have required two days of travel, an overnight hotel stay, a rental car, several expensive meals, and a huge amount of worrying. Things went well enough that we will be having another meeting in a couple of weeks. However that one will have to be in person. It's a good thing I have a lot of frequent flyer miles I can use.
The demo was really kind of amazing. Nobody had to get on a plane to fly to the demo location. Furthermore nobody had to even get in a car to be a part of the demo. Instead we used a product called "GoToMeeting" which is very similar to WebEx. Both products allow you to share the information on your computer screen with those whom you invite to your meeting. Your invitees can then log onto the party from their computers in their offices or homes.
This morning one of my partners on the project brought his Mac computer to my house. We plugged it into the wall, turned it on, and connected it to my wireless network. A couple minutes later we started the meeting and waited for the participants to join. There was no need to use a phone to dial into a conference call because we could use the computer's built-in microphone and speakers. If your computer didn't have a microphone and speakers, you could revert to using your phone. I had a phone ready just-in-case but was glad I didn't need it.
There were a total of six participants in the meeting. A third partner made the drive to my house while another decided to join from the comfort of his home office. Then there were two participants joining us from the East coast in two different locations. If necessary, we could have added many more participants.
The meeting lasted a total of 90 minutes and was a huge success. If we had tried to do the demo in person, it would have required two days of travel, an overnight hotel stay, a rental car, several expensive meals, and a huge amount of worrying. Things went well enough that we will be having another meeting in a couple of weeks. However that one will have to be in person. It's a good thing I have a lot of frequent flyer miles I can use.
Monday, September 28, 2009
What is Cloud Computing?
Friday I got an e-mail from the Oracle Alumni list of which I am a subscriber. The message had a link to a YouTube video where Larry Ellison and Ed Zander talk about cloud computing as well as a few other topics. The video was interesting to me because I know both gentlemen who are big names in the computer industry. However I think it would be boring for most everyone else and so I won't bother to provide the link.
For those that don't know, Larry Ellison is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. When I first started at Oracle back in January of 1986, it was not uncommon to see Larry walking down the hall dribbling a basketball just after a quick game across the street. He is now one of the richest men in the world and understandable a lot less approachable.
Ed Zander and my Dad used to work together back at Data General in the 80's. I remember going to company softball games and meeting Ed. Every couple of years or so, he goes skiing with my Dad at Deer Valley and I manage to invite myself along for the trip. Ed left Data General and evenutally found himself as President of Sun Microsystems (just purchased by Oracle). Most recently he was CEO of Motorola.
The video was fun to watch as Larry got very animated when the topic of cloud computing was mentioned. Larry pointed out that cloud computing is really the computer industry going in circles. He is right. Twenty or thirty years ago we just called it timesharing, which is different than buying a piece of a condo or luxury apartment.
Five or six years ago there was a big emphasis on how McDonalds was not in the business of selling fast food. Instead they were in the business of real estate. Companies like Google, Salesforce.com, and Amazon have taken a page from the McDonalds playbook and realize that one of their core competencies is in creating bullet-proof data centers. They then provide access to these data centers through the Internet. This is cloud computing. You tell the provider what type of environment you want (i.e., RAM, Operating System, Services like e-mail, database, or web server, etc.) and they set it up for you.
Cloud computing makes it much easier to do things like set up websites. It is also a great way to borrow a computer for testing without having to buy one. So cloud computing makes it easier to create your own BLOG (this one is hosted by Google) but it probably won't directly effect your own home computing environment.
Now if all the cloud computing companies can figure out that McDonalds started loosing marketshare when they forgot they were in the food business, we won't have to watch the decline of our favorite online bookstore.
For those that don't know, Larry Ellison is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. When I first started at Oracle back in January of 1986, it was not uncommon to see Larry walking down the hall dribbling a basketball just after a quick game across the street. He is now one of the richest men in the world and understandable a lot less approachable.
Ed Zander and my Dad used to work together back at Data General in the 80's. I remember going to company softball games and meeting Ed. Every couple of years or so, he goes skiing with my Dad at Deer Valley and I manage to invite myself along for the trip. Ed left Data General and evenutally found himself as President of Sun Microsystems (just purchased by Oracle). Most recently he was CEO of Motorola.
The video was fun to watch as Larry got very animated when the topic of cloud computing was mentioned. Larry pointed out that cloud computing is really the computer industry going in circles. He is right. Twenty or thirty years ago we just called it timesharing, which is different than buying a piece of a condo or luxury apartment.
Five or six years ago there was a big emphasis on how McDonalds was not in the business of selling fast food. Instead they were in the business of real estate. Companies like Google, Salesforce.com, and Amazon have taken a page from the McDonalds playbook and realize that one of their core competencies is in creating bullet-proof data centers. They then provide access to these data centers through the Internet. This is cloud computing. You tell the provider what type of environment you want (i.e., RAM, Operating System, Services like e-mail, database, or web server, etc.) and they set it up for you.
Cloud computing makes it much easier to do things like set up websites. It is also a great way to borrow a computer for testing without having to buy one. So cloud computing makes it easier to create your own BLOG (this one is hosted by Google) but it probably won't directly effect your own home computing environment.
Now if all the cloud computing companies can figure out that McDonalds started loosing marketshare when they forgot they were in the food business, we won't have to watch the decline of our favorite online bookstore.
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