Taking the pain out of Windows - w/ a Mac and VMWare

I needed to install some PC accounting software at our office, which only has Macs right now.  Althoguh I was originally going to use Bootstrap, Mac’s built-in software that allows you to switch OS on startup, I opted for VMWare Fusion for the Mac ($80 for a single license, vs. free for Bootstrap).  One of the main advantages of VMWare Fusion is it’s ability to drag-and-drop from your Mac desktop into your Windows window - smooth like ghee, man.

In addition, VMWare had a Windows Easy Install option - you provide the license and Windows install CD, and it runs the whole thing for you in one fell swoop.  The whole process, including buying VMWare online, took about an hour (a lot of that was the Windows install) but it went smoothly from beginning to end, no glitches.  And..  when I’m done with the Windows window, I put it in “Suspend” - and can come back to it as fast as a PC coming out of sleep mode.  Meaning I don’t have to wait for Windows to boot up every time I want to use it.

All said and done - yeah, Windows still sucks, but it’s less painful when running on something as sweet as VMWare Fusion.

We’re hiring! AF83 is looking for a Drupal developer!

Read all about it over here. 

My contact info is on the linked page - yep, you’d be talking to me.  (The position is based in San Francisco…)

Technorati Tags: af83, drupal

Copier leases: A few experiences and thoughts

I just finished a renewal of our school’s copier lease, and it was an illuminating process, given that I didn’t know much about copiers and the leasing of before this.

Our school has two copiers - one big “spaceship” style copier that can handle color, multiple paper sizes, three-hole punch, and “saddle-stitch” - i.e. creating bound booklets.  Our second copier is a regular black-and-white copier.

We had two major beefs with our current copier lease company: 

1. Response time was supposed to be 4-6 hours, but we had increasing delays, up to 8 hours in some cases.  And often what would happen is an agent would arrive, and 15 minutes later declare “Parts are on order, I’ll be back in X days.”
2. We had an per-machine copy quota system.  On the simple b/w copier, our lease included 18k copies a year, on the large multi-use one, 380k.  However, because of location, the b/w copier was used far more than the other copier, and we got hit with massive overage charges - even though we were twice as much under quota for copies on the large machine.

In reviewing copier lease offerings from small to large shops (including Canon, IKON and Konica-Minolta), I discovered several things:

• The differentiation among machines is nominal.  Really, unless you’re waaay copy-geek, every company offers machines that will pretty much do the same thing.  Of course, you have to figure out whether faxing from the copier or add’l security system is worth it for you, but you can find equivalent machines across the board.
• Many leases will be offered for 60 months (5 years).  Our experience - making 400k copies a year on two machines - is that 36 months (3 years) is as far as we could take the machines without having a service person living on-site.
• Leases are divided into equipment cost, and service.  Equipment costs will be spread over the lease period (in our case, 36 months) with an additional percentage thrown in (since essentially what you are doing is borrowing money from the lease-holding company to pay for the machines).  Yes, this adds to the cost, but is ultimately the only way most smaller companies (and restricted income organizations like non-profits and schools) can afford them.
• Several leases I saw had great monthly equipment rates, but had a purchase requirement at the end of the lease - essentially, you would be required to pony up about $2k-$3k for the “fair market value” of the copier, at the exact time when it is most useless to you.  We asked for a “$1 buyout” lease - that means they readjust the monthly pricing so that at the end of the lease, we pay $1 and the machine is ours.  Monthly price goes up, but not by a huge amount.  Of course, we’re left with the same problem - now we have a machine we don’t want.  Typically, you can donate or sell these machines for a few hundred dollars for another organization that is even harder up.  (But it’s like donated computer equipment - I would advise any recipient against purchasing something like that).
• One interesting lease option I saw from IKON was the equivalent to a “rental” - there was no buyout, dollar or fair market value.  The monthly price was a rental price, and at the end of the lease, IKON picked up the machine and took it back.  That’s convenient.
• Then there’s service and maintenance.  Mostly, service and maintenance was comprehensive - maintenance, troubleshooting labor, parts and toner all included.  Typically the only thing not included was paper and staples. 
• Most of the maintenance quotes I saw were based on our proposed copying quota.  (Most companies were willing to institute a “organizational” quota, as opposed to a per-machine quota).  So if our proposed copy quota went up or down, so did the proposed maintenance costs - makes sense.  Typically, there was a “per-copy” charge for copies made beyond that quota; and there were opportunities to readjust the quota (and thus the monthly service fee) once a year, or even once a quarter if you discovered you were making far more or far less than you expected.
• One quote I received, however, had no quota.  They charged per copy out of the gate.  If you sat down and did the math, based on our proposed quota, the average monthly fee came out about the same, but this was never an option we would want.  First, there was no way to predict how much our monthly fee would be (it could change by hundreds of dollars form one month to the next).  Also, towards the end of the year, when we are cash poor, we put on several events as well as send out renewal forms and acceptance letters - all heavy copy work, and not an expense bump we’d want to see at that time of year.

I leave you to sift through your own proposals and eager salespeople.  I am glad to say we chose a local company that’s been in business for over 100 years, that used to be called Typewritorium…..

eDemocracyCamp in DC!

I’ve been so busy focusing on, amongst other things, DrupalCon that I totally missed mentioning eDemocracyCamp, happening this weekend in Washington D.C. Good friend in the BarCamp, WineCamp and i18n / translation world Tim Bonnemann is one of the organizers.

eDemocracyCamp!

“The place for innovators, optimists, and engaged citizens. March 2, 2008 in Washington, DC

We are building off the momentum of the 2008 Politics Online Conference
which always draws a spectacular crowd. If you are coming into town for one of these events you should definitely check out the other one in order to make the most of your time here in DC.

eDemocracyCamp will be the first BarCamp with a focus specifically on e-democracy. eDemocracyCamp will connect citizens, researchers, developers, practitioners and anyone else interested in the topic to learn about the current state of e-democracy and share their visions for its future direction.”

OpenID, Diso and Vidoop - there, that covers it

[UPDATE:  In my note about Vidoop, I inferred that they had made a deal with AOL; in fact, they are just one of several "white-listed" OpenID providers.  I've fixed the language, and pointed to where I got that mistaken impression.  Thanks, Sam, again, for the pointer.]

I attended part of the OpenID camp this weekend, because I’ve been interested in single sign-on for a while, as the first step in the fight against dozens of silos of walled social networks. Here’s a brief report back, because the first rule of any camp is to Talk About (Bar/OpenID/Whatever)Camp:

• Since I’m not a coder and the acronym soup was over my head, I jumped in on the conversation about recommendations for OpenID providers. At it’s most basic, a provider will offer a URL which is the basis against which other sites will verify your registration and log-in information (a good primer screencast is here). People can make their own OpenID servers with the addition of just a little HTML code; other sites offer a full OpenID identity management (like myOpenID). Right now, an end site can display one of several different personas you create, which can contain varying degrees of information - but the personas are either all-on or all-off. I.e. if you want to display little info, you set up a very simple persona; if you want to share more, you set up a more complete persona. But either one you choose will display all the information in that persona to whoever visits the URL. Chris Allen (who pointed me to a good dissection of privacy he had written) suggested that in addition to offering the ability to have different personas on an OpenID server, it should also allow different levels of authorized information based on permissions levels, minimally a type of “if I show you myOpenID, you show me yourOpenID.” In the subsequent Diso discussion (see below) Chris M. also suggested that OpenID providers offer the identity information in hcard / microformat (natch) so it can be parsed by a wider range of subsequent tools for Diso purposes. (Standards and format flame wars over there, please - I’m just a messenger…)
• Check out myVidoop.com There, I said it. Vidoop is a new OpenID provider, and they helped sponsor this camp (as well as SixDegrees and others). OK, so I have to thank Sam from Vidoop for putting up with my noob questions and explaining some of the more tricky use cases for me. And Vidoop has one (of several) interesting business model(s) - they don’t use passwords for your account login; instead, it’s categories of images that you choose as your recognizable set. For hosted services (for example, AOL), the other images that are not part of your set can be branded - AOL, or whatever. Yes, that makes no sense until you set up an account and see how it works - then read their blog post.
• I got to sit in on a bit of Chris Messina’s DiSo description. Thank god, because the Google page doesn’t really capture it in any succinct fashion (to be honest, Chris took 15-20 minutes before we got the full picture). In essence, it’s a way of using open source tools and standards (like WordPress) to build social networks that are not tied to a particular platform (like, uh, Facebook?). There’s a lot of great potential there, as well as a lot of work to even just get different services to communicate - much less be plug and play to the average use. But it’s great to see my personal peeve (a rant from a year and a half ago) of walled-garden social networks confirmed by people far smarter than me.

Technorati Tags: openid, diso, vidoop, privacy

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Garage shop to Enterprise, Drupal style

It’s been quite a drastic couple of years for me in the Drupal world - from medium-sized Drupal site implementation, to tiny scale DIY projects and ongoing support, now back to an enterprise-level Drupal shop.

I started learning 4.7 several years ago, working on my own site.  At the time I was at CompuMentor, by then a sizable technology nonprofit, and with my background in project management I was put in charge of a couple of $20-$40k Drupal projects - which turned out quite well, I might add, thanks in huge part to design and implementation partner FloatLeft.  I was also one of a handful of staff singing the praises of this open-source CMS, not only to nonprofit clients but to CompuMentor as well, which has now not only adopted the technology on a large scale, but exerts its gravitational pull on a galaxy of great independent nonprofit Drupal consultants.

I changed jobs and went to a school part time, where I began nudging at ePortfolio development on Drupal.  I was also keeping a hand in some small - tiny - DIY projects.  I learned a hell of a lot about how far you can take Drupal without coding - and where you hit some real limitations unless you’ve got PHP skills.

Now I’m doing work for large a web development shop.  Perhaps more like a department store.  It didn’t quite strike me until I read an (old) post by Josh over at Chapter Three:  a lot of Drupal shops (in fact, many of the ones I am familiar with) are not prepared to handle enterprise-level Drupal development and support.  Support especially.  One of the commenters on his post nails it - the challenge is with enterprise-level Service Level Agreements.  Most 3-10 person dev shops don’t have extra bodies to ensure all-hands-on-deck when something goes south; at least, not at that scale.

Now I’m working with a company that does this kind of thing on a regular basis, and does have the bodies and experience to do it.  AF83 has a history of building and supporting large community sites answerable to, for example, one of France’s biggest telecom agencies.  You better believe they’ve got a wicked SLA.

And now all of a sudden, I worried we’re too big.  Most of the Drupal calls for work are asking for a developer or two, billable at an hourly rate.  For companies to request enterprise-level production, Drupal shops need to prove an ability to build and support these kinds of sites - which they won’t do unless they see a market for them. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation - and I’m not sure which one is us….

Technorati Tags: drupal, af83, enterprise-level, compumentor

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My new gig: Mapovino, AF83 and FaberNovel

I still don’t quite believe it. My job is now wine. Well, not quite, but close enough for me to be very excited.

After several months of discussion, negotiation, and yes, some wine, I’ve been hired by AF83, a French-American firm that develops social networking sites, incorporating open-standards technologies like microformats, and using open-source applications like, yes - Drupal. (Since this work is part-time, I am continuing my other role as a technology director at a school.) A big tip of the hat and gracious bow goes to my French homonym, Grégoire, who originally proposed the wine project we are now both working on, and who introduced me to AF83.

So now I am the U.S. contact for Mapovino (no actual site yet) - a website that locates on a map local and regional producers of wine and other place-focused food products. We are developing the first beta now, and it will eventually allow users not only to find but to add comments and experiences about these growers and products. More on that in the coming weeks.

A bit about my new employers: I am also one of two (so far) U.S. employees representing AF83 for new projects. The agency has a track record of developing social networking and complex user-based sites quickly, on open standards including microformats and open-source software like - yes, Drupal. (And like many web shops that have too much work, their own site is in need of an update - and an English translation - so I’m not linking to it yet.) Do you need open-source web development from a a proven company with open-source expertise, bilingual website development experience and contacts in the European market? Drop me a line.

faberNovel, one of the partner organizations supporting AF83, is also setting up shop in San Francisco. faberNovel specializes in innovative strategy development and solutions implementation. Yeah, well, that’s my paraphrasing of the marketing speak. They also have an interesting track record of projects that are above and beyond web development: a BlueTooth application to assist blind people navigate subways; mobile-accessible transportation schedules for complex multi-agency transport hubs (think Paris - or the Bay Area?); a coupon and ticketing system for mobile phones; and an automated bicycle rental system.

Finally, the AF83 and faberNovel offices will be offering coworking spaces in the near future. PariSoma is the name of the office space, and that’s where you can get more info about the office and the two French companies.

I’ll be talking much more about Mapovino in the coming weeks - right here. So keep yer eyes peeled. If you want in on the gossip - the gossip that I don’t publish on this site - then pop me an email.

Technorati Tags: mapovino, af83, fabernovel, parisoma

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Students: Writing, and portfolios

I wanted to catch up (in this space) with some of the work I’ve been doing for my school:

• Students 2.0:  A new (and excellent) student-written blog focused on education:  “Administered, designed, edited, and written by a global mix of students of varying ages, interests, voices, and points of view, Students 2.0 will feature content written by both staff writers and guest contributors. From Hawaii and Washington, from St. Louis and Chicago, from Vermont, New York, Scotland, Korea, and other points on the globe, these writings will be united in one central aspect: quality student writing, full-voiced and engaging, about education.”   Tip o’ the hat to Bill at FunnyMonkey for the heads-up.
• FolioLive (TM): I don’t know how new this is, or even if it’s becoming a major player in the arena - but it’s got a lot of the functionality we’re looking for.  This is a hosted eportfolio application (yearly license fees, it looks like) published by McGraw-Hill.  What’s frustrating is that I’m sure we - as a school - could convince funders to support us paying money to license this application, yet it’s so much harder to find funders willing to support the open-source development of an identical application - that we would own, could share freely and allow other schools to customize.  The fact that it would be ridiculously minimal to customize the existing DrupalEd application to do this (if the new version doesn’t already incoporate this functionality) is all the more frustrating.
• (And for what it’s worth, that’s one of the poorest video-demos I’ve seen.  A pointless and long intro (at least they include a skip button), and then a series of mostly static slides, with someone reading the text printed on the slides.  Ngghhhhhh.  Sorry, is that sense of frustration palpable?)

The challenge we face (as a school) that links these two sites is  most of these conversations - whether it’s Students 2.0 talking, or conversations about eportfolios - are aimed at high-school students and above.  And if you’ve any experience in the middle-school world, you know that this level of sophistication for students is coming if not already here, and we’d like ot get on top of it before someone applies a thick-thumbed approach to it like McGraw-Hill….

Technorati Tags: eportfolio, drupal, drupaled, mcgraw-hill

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Awesome drupal case study - for online newspapers

Information.dk - a Danish newspaper that relaunched on Drupal - published their production case study on Drupal.org - from architecture design to CSS challenges…

Wow - I wish all case studies were like this.  This is yet another way to give back to the community.  I’ve rarely read a case study where I actually learned so much.

I found this while digging around for info about Drupal newspaper sites for a friend.  There’s a newspaper group, and from there I discovered that there are a bunch of Drupal newspaper sites
 (including internationally) in production.  Including America’s Finest New Source, natch.

Technorati Tags: Drupal, newspaper, casestudy

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DrupalCamp Bay Area (AKA BADCamp)

Wooop!  Sign up now for the upcoming Bay Area Drupal Camp, hosted at UC Berkeley, across the Bay and a short BART ride from San Francisco.  And as the site says - it’s free!  Can’t be that….

Technorati Tags: Drupal, DrupalCamp

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