BlackBox

So at work I’ve been using Ubuntu on my desktop as my primary computer. I have primarily been a Windows user at work (because I have been forced to) and an OS X user at home because I prefer it. At first I kinda liked it, at least a little better than Windows. Then I began to hate it for the following reasons:

• It works just like Windows (and looks almost like Windows)
• Except when it doesn’t - then it sucks because it doesn’t work in a predictable manner

Here are some key problems I’ve had with Ubuntu:

• It can never quite remember my monitor settings properly - every time I remove a monitor or want to switch a display it loses everything or goes extremely flakey
• We play Unreal here afterhours and the audio just “disappears” - if I futz with the monitor settings then I lose Audio, hunh? Reboot required to get audio back
• No common UI - dialog boxes behave differently, things just feel “off” depending on which program I’m using
• Katapult is a poor replacement for LaunchBar or QuickSilver (which started crashing repeatedly on me on the last update so switched to LaunchBar)
• Installing an application takes command-line work - blech

The are a few good things, but not enough for me to love it:

• Wow, a real terminal - but I have this in OS X
• Updates are painless - again I already have this on OS X
• It’s stable - again I already have this on OS X
• That’s about it - otherwise, eh

This isn’t to say I don’t use Linux, I use it for my server, but I can’t see using it as a desktop replacement, not by a long shot. In order to win me over they have to really be thinking out of the box and not just duplicating what Windows or OS X has done - which they really haven’t yet (yes I know about things like Compiz Fusion - but that isn’t the whole user experience that’s just one small part - yes I said small).

So, I’m using a G4 machine right now to VNC into my work machine for specific apps I can’t install (or don’t want to) and will be upgrading the laptop to either a MacBook or MacBook Pro in the next few months. Then I’ll be really happy.

Late last year I decided, kind of on a whim, to look around for a new job. I contacted one of my friends and former managers to see if they had any opportunities at VMS. It turned that while they weren’t actively advertising they were looking for people so I submitted my resume plus some of the code that I had done recently.

VMS is an interesting company that looks boring on the surface but are doing some really interesting things. They are basically a marketing company that collects advertising and news for clients. This extends to all types of media (print, TV, radio, etc.) so this has some interesting challenges for data collection and for presenting that data to users in ways that make sense to them.

VMS’s primary platform of choice is currently Tapestry 4 so that makes me happy on a number of levels. While I haven’t done any Tapestry work here yet I look forward to it very shortly.

When I started Scott mentioned that they were also looking for someone to do some UI work for them and that they really liked their last UI person who did a lot of wireframing mockups - which is something I’ve had a lot of experience with. After talking with Scott we decided to have me to half-time UI work and half-time regular programming, which I think fits in to my overall goals of where I want to go. I have been a strong advocate of Usability for a long time but have never had it be part of my job so I am very thrilled to be doing this. Plus it’s a nice change of pace :-).

I will also be looking at some of our stuff to see if we can leverage Groovy in any way (from DSLs to just plain making our jobs easier) and I look forward to evaluating Tapestry 5 soon.