Joined Novell, and moving to Boston

I apologise for not having updated my blog more often. Things have been quite hectic recently…

A month ago (as announced by Miguel de Icaza) I joined the fantastic Mono team at Novell

International Talk Like Pirate Day

Fetch me spyglass! I just realised ‘tis International Talk Like A Pirate Day and I ha’nae installed th’ Drupal Pirate Filter on this incarnation o’ me site.

Notes on GUADEC

First of all I’d like so say what a great experience GUADEC was. It was great to talk to cool people, see the amazing software people are writing, and hear talks from inspiring speakers. It really emphasised for me why having such a diverse yet coherent community has made GNOME the awesome ecosystem it is today.

I’m a little disappointed I could only attend the Core days, but I think they were enough for me. I’m currently away and it’s not easy to write or post to my journal, but I’ve patched together some notes on the talks I attended.

Going to GUADEC 2007

I’m going to GUADEC 2007

Silicon Group: How to Lose Customers

I went to the Silicon Group computer shop on Dalry Road in Edinburgh today to buy a couple of 2GB high-speed CompactFlash cards. Their website, updated three days ago, advertised that it cost £15, which by current standards is an internet-level price. I’ve used them in the past, and they’ve always provided reasonable components at prices that are pretty low for a High Street shop. More recently I’d been tempted by the lower prices and vastly superior range offered by web retailers, but decided to save the postage and give Silicon a shot.

Sakura Teppanyaki

Yesterday I went to the Sakura Teppanyaki (鉄板焼き) Restaurant in Durham with a group of friends, and it was by far the most interesting meal I have ever had.

Rethinking ASP.NET Project Models

I’ve been thinking again about the compilation and deployment models used in MonoDevelop for ASP.NET code, and it isn’t easy to come up with a good solution. I’ve written a discussion of the various possibilities and how they mesh with MonoDevelop and the Visual Studio way of doing things.

Wear-Rats

I saw a Wear-rat on the riverback at 8.07pm. Bold as brass, it sauntered across a relatively busy pathway. It was easily 20cm long excluding tail, with sleek dark-light brown-flecked fur.

A Bad Experience with DRM

A couple of days ago I made my first DRM-protected music purchase: the Supreme Commander soundtrack from the DirectSong online store. I’ve long been a fan of Jeremy Soule’s work, ever since I heard the wonderful Total Annihilation soundtrack.

Final Final Finalised

About 3 hours ago, I finished my very last exam of my MSci degree: my final final (the final-year exams are often called “finals”). I have no further coursework, so apart from some administrative trivialities, my degree is finished. Hurray!