The Legend Continues After The Man

There are some who think men should not cry. I believe that at this moment in time, even rocks are crying. The world lost Randy Pausch 25 July 2008. If your not into UTube, his entry may give you a reason to be so.

His lessons of life are amazing.

Of course, this blog is about IT Training, and among other things, Randy was one hella of a trainer.

The AP wire entry on his passing noted

"At Carnegie Mellon, he was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design, and was recognized as a pioneer of virtual reality research. On campus, he became known for his flamboyance and showmanship as a teacher and mentor."

Personally, I owe this man a great deal. While I have stood by my own beliefs in my style to create Training Remembered (TM), some have taken some pretty low shots at me for my "flamboyance and showmanship."

I don't know if Randy ever read the ground breaking book, Memories Voice. It shows us how brains work. Being "flamboyant" helps gets facts in the brain faster.

So to Randy I say: Until I get the moment to thank you in person for all you have done still on this planet, I thank you from this planet.

Tcat

Mania 2.0

First it was Web 2.0 Now we have Music 2.0

I see (and so will you by selecting the Title Mania 2.0) we have a potentiality new audio standard coming out of Korea known as MT9. More details about its history and features can be found at

Rishi's Blog.

Three things strike me to call this Hot Stuff. (I always need at least 2 reasons).

1. The claim it can be 10 times smaller in file size.
2. The ability to single out voice. (More on that in a moment)
3. No DRM.

Working backwards. I *hate* DRM. It's not the basic idea, it the implementation. I'm not against the concept of locks. Bet most of you lock the door to your home. Door locks (mostly) work. DRM does not stop anyone and annoys the folks who paid for something.

The ability to "work" six different channels appeals to me. Like almost any older military vet, some types of background noise "kills" my ability to hear. I'm not deaf. And I cannot hear a human communication being presented to me when there is low frequency noise that accompanies it. So I avoid having any social time, say ordering a beer, where there is loud music.

Being able to select voice or chorus for hearing communication, like say, training, appeals to me.

Size. Sometimes smaller IS better, despise what all the Spam emails are attempting to tell/sell me. I don't know how much (if any) loss there is dropping in size. It is arguable that the .WMA format is superior/inferior to the .MP3 format for quality verses size. The argument is indeed a small one in my testing. I have seen 75MB .MP3 go to 25MB .WMA with little/no issue on vocals.

That is 1/3 the size for the same effect, as far as training purposes go, for .WMA over .MP3.

Give me say, 1/5 the size, and let me kill the background 'BOOM". Don't foist DRM hassles on me. Keep the quality roughly the same. Give me all that and I'll give away every MP3/WMA player I own. Thanks for the heads up, Rishi! Let me know when I can get a MT9 player and software to convert my stuff.

Open Source is getting some respect

The piece from InfoWorld says that MS Office will support ODF file formats!

Three cheers!

We are slowly getting a 2-way street! The beta of Open Office V.3 support the DOCX format.
This has been fine on my Windows boxes. I've been left locked out on my Mac boxes, til I could get Open Office V3 for the Macs.

Thank you, Redmond!

Open Source "Winners"

Following up on my last entry on Open Source.

A few days ago I got an email saying a security survey found open source has fewer "leaks" then ever.

This got my attention because the last round I read claimed commercial and open source we're running dead even.

So overall, Open Source applications are now more secure than commerical.
And free.

A client packing quite a few brain cells asked me how do these authors make money? Do they make money?

A: Some yes. And not in the way you would think.

Working an open source project give the author a more visible "try me out" to any employer. In short, it is a resume/CV builder. So yes, in a way they do make money!

Today I came across the link in this blog. Really interesting collection of programs! My largest gripe is the Windows-centric nature. I'm not Anti-Windows! (I'm a MCSE too). And I'm old enough to know there is more to life than Windows.

However besides selecting the best of "free" (some are Not Open Source, just free), the site does and excellent job of noting any cross-platform features. Additionally, if an offering can be used without touching the registry, it is considered portable.

This is a really 'nice to know'. You have your favorite application on a USB key. No install required. Today I saw a really well made (and fast) 32 Gig USB key for $100. That's pretty impressive. You could walk around with a waterproof USB "hard drive" for $100.

Isn't technology wonderful?