Monthly Archives: October 2010

Last Sunday I downloaded the latest version of Ubunu, 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat). I then decided to use the Update Manager in Ubuntu to upgrade the version I was running (10.04) in-place. The download was nice and fast, I was asked a few questions, and then it was time to restart the computer. Instead of the GRUB menu, I was met by a message that some file was missing and I ended up at a rescue prompt. Nice. The boot loaded had been nuked/damaged. Seems like I am not the only one”…”

Finally, after some Google searches and some other tricks (including using a bootable CD with Clonezilla and Gparted I happened to have laying around), I was able to boot on my Windows XP partition. I got the Ubuntu CD burned, as I had been foolish enough to just download the ISO file but not burn it, as I assumed the install would work.

Eventually I got GRUB restored on my computer. Then I proceeded with copying the few files I had on my Ubuntu partition to one of my other drives, and reinstalled Ubuntu from scratch, so I had a nice new install. I actually first installed on top of the existing version, juts to try that out. That worked, but none of the new software in 10.10 were installed, so I opted to start all over.

I had less problems with this version compared with previous version. Perhaps it is that i am getting used to Ubuntu, or perhaps the distribution is becoming easier to use, My network card, a Netgear WG311, is still not supported natively in Ubuntu, but by installing ndiswrapper (which comes on the CD but is not installed by default) I would use the Windows XP drivers for the card. Very slick, took just a few minutes.

I had to install the Nvidia graphics drivers separately, but again, that was easy. The tricky part was to get my left monitor (I have two older CRT monitors connected to my system) to run in a higher resolution than 640×480. After some searching through Google and editing the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf file I was able to get 1200×1024 on that screen as well.

What about Notes 8.5.2 then? I am happy to report that it was extremely simple. I downloaded the compressed .tar file from the IBM Passport Advantage site, unpacked the contents (half a dozen .deb files) to the desktop and simply right-clicked on one file at a time and opened them in the Ubuntu Software Manager, Answered a question or two, and after just a few minutes I was all set. Actually much faster than installing it on a Windows XP PC at work, which I did today. Well, a small disclaimer, my system at home got a faster processor, 3 GB memory (vs. 768 MB at work) and probably faster hard disks”…”

Over the last year, I estimate that I have been in Ubuntu about 80% of the time, and in Windows just 20%. Perhaps even less. And after I installed some additional programs this week, for example to transfer digital video from my old camcorder, I might work even more in Ubuntu. I am not ready to fully let go of Winodws, I need a particular remote control program to connect to work. Of course. Vmware or VirualBox would solve that as well.

So if you haven´t looked at Ubuntu or some other Linux distribution lately, try it out.

The other day I noticed a posting on LinkedIn, in the Lotus Notes/Domino Technology group by a Joseph Roblee asking "Does anyone know of a talented offshore Domino 8.5 development group you can put me in contact with?"

I find it interesting that Mr. Roblee, who happens to live in Austin, TX, is looking at India when there are so many US developers looking for jobs”…” I wonder what his neighbors (a simple google search for his name reveals an address in Cedar Park, a suburb of Austin) would say if they were told that their nice neighbor is exporting jobs away from the US, while the country has record high unemployment.

Perhaps I will see him at Lotusphere, because surely "one of the leading Lotus Notes developers in the United States" will be there”…”

I notice that Mr. Roblee proudly tells that he got an MBA (as well as MCSE). I know a CEO who went back to school to get his MBA, and he came back with the "knowledge" that one can hire brilliant developers in India, with MBA and higher degrees, for $5/hr or similar. Is that is what is being taught in MBA trainings across the US?

There are a number of responses/comments to his posting from people who either have Indian sounding names or identify themselves as from India (as well as a few from Latvia, South Africa and some other countries). What I heard from people who actually been involved in offshore development is that the culture is very different in India. You have to be aware of that. Not oly is the actual development process different, other cultural differences also comes into play. If you are not aware of those, and have a very strong project leader, the project can easily get larger/longer/more expensive that projected.

Also, from judging at what I been reading in the past in the (now pretty dead) usenet newsgroup comp.groupware.lotus-notes.programmer (and to some lesser extent in the DeveloperWorks forums), it seems like many of the most basic questions came from people with Indian sounding names, or identifying themselves as from India. Often the question is extremely basic, or showing that the person has no clue about what Notes is or how it works. There is often a comments saying "I never programmed Notes before, but I was put in this project for a client”…”" or similar, the proceeding how to do relational lookups or similar. To me that sounds like they took on a project, and now want the very same people they just put out of a job to do the training or actual work for them”…”

I also found it very interesting that Kirankumar Nellore from Bengalure [sic!] is commenting and trying to get the business from Mr Roblee. In another Lotus-related group on LinkedIn, he asks What is difference between lotus notes normal application and composite application??. Shouldn´t a certified Notes developer and administartor (as he claim he is) know that? Or am I just setting the bar too high for what the certification indicates?

I can understand the lure for business owners to save a few dollars by developing a project in say India. But the loss for the US is greater. Americans lose their jobs, and this will eventually force the taxes to be increased for everyone to cover unemployment. The interest rates to borrow at the bank will be higher du to the increased number of foreclosures when people lose their jobs. And of course the loss of knowledge. We all know that if you don´t work with something, you get behind and lose knowledge.

So the companies makes a profit while the tax payers foot the bill. Why not add a "offshoring tax" for companies to cover the additional cost for the country? Any US-based company, or company with a major US presence (say more than 10,000 employees or more than 25% of the workforce in the US), who employs a call center or development department/company outside the US will pay an additional tax. I will leave it to the bean counters to decide the actual amount, perhaps 5% of the profit before taxes and deductions? Perhaps 10%? Since money is the only thing CEOs seem to understand, hit them where it hurts since they can´t do The Right Thing without being forced”…”

For the record, I have nothing against people from India or any other countries. But I think it is wrong to export jobs from any country when there is high unemployment.

My son, Erik, has taken up soccer (or football as it is known in the world outside the United States) this year. After 5 years of playing baseball, I am happy that he choose a sport where he get to move more. At first he wanted to try football (the American version, where they hold the oval shaped "ball" and run, wearing heavy padding), but his mom was not too thrilled about that. Erik quickly changed his mind and wanted to do soccer instead, as heliked watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament.He loves playing soccer, andalso likesto go to the home games of FC Dallas.

His team lost the first 3 games, but won the fourth one last Sunday and tied the fifth one this past Thursday. As he and his mom lives over an hour away, I was not able to attend the first couple of games, but I went last weekend and brought my camera. I ended up taking quite a few pictures and here are a couple, mostly of Erik (number 10), I wanted to share.

It´s an appropriate day to release the latest version of the Linux distribution Ubuntu, called "Maverick Meerkat". or 10.10 as the official version number is. The version numbers in Ubuntu is, as you already may know, the year and month of the release.

I will shortly try to install the new version from within my existing 10.04 installation. This should be as easy as to go to the update manager and click on a button to install the new version. However, last time I tried it, going from 9.10 to 10.04 back in April, the download and install took many hours, so I opted to just download the ISO file and install from there from scratch.

I am currently downloading the ISO file, just in case I will need it. But hopefully the online installation will be smoother than last time. It will also be interesting to see how Notes 8.5.2 is working in the new version of Ubuntu.

Here are some links I want to share to anyone else who want to try Ubuntu, or is planning to upgrade.

How to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat from ubuntu 10.04 lucid, karmic| Desktop & Server

Top things to do after installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

Custom Compiz Effects configuration in Ubuntu10.10 Maverick Meerkat

Great themes for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (this one was originally written for 9.04 but has been updated for the 10.04 and 10.10 releases.)