Inappropriate Garb Unless You're Actually A Hobbit

Posted by Mitch Wagner, Jul 15, 2005 06:36 PM

And so my first week at InformationWeek draws to a close, and already I have learned many wonderful things about open source, stealing Wi-Fi, my colleagues' television-watching habits, and hobbit capes as fashion choices.

I've learned that my colleague and frequent blogger Tish Keefe loves TV science fiction but is not such a big fan of print sci-fi. I love print science fiction, not TV and movie sci-fi, but there are a few shows I'm particularly fond of. Tish and I both love the Stargate shows, and I've tried to turn her on to Firefly.

I've learned that my colleague Chris Murphy is a self-confessed Wi-Fi thief, which means he and I should get along well, because I'm a self-confessed Wi-Fi thief, too. Although it's silly to call it "theft"--about as silly as asserting that you're pirating music when your neighbor plays his stereo loud.

Here are a few things I learned at the Burton Group's Catalyst conference this week as well:

Open source can help a vendor stick it to the competition. Sun used Catalyst to reveal that it's donating its single-sign-on technology to the open-source community. A Burton Group analyst says he believes one of the motivations is to undercut the value of competitors' investments in single-sign-on technology.

Open source requires developers to learn new ways of working, in addition to learning new technology. For example, ADP used open source to bring its line-of-business application for car and truck dealerships up to date. ADP found that developers had to get used to taking measures to guard intellectual property and working with the open-source community.

If you try to work in a conference room adjacent to the hotel swimming pool, people in bathing suits will just wander in and out.

If you're over 6 feet tall, weigh more than 300 pounds, and have a lot of body hair, then black shorts, a white T-shirt, and a hobbit cape might not be the best fashion choice for you.

That last one requires a little explaining: The first day of the conference coincided with the first day of Comic-Con 2005, a national convention of comic-book pros and fans, just a short walk from the conference hotel. The big hairy guy in the hobbit cape is someone I saw crossing the hotel lobby.

I'm kind of hairy and could stand to lose a few pounds myself. And I'm planning to head over to Comic-Con tomorrow. But I'm leaving the hobbit cape at home.

« Make Mine Hardcover, Please | Main | Sender ID Is Used By Spammers -- Duhhhhh! »

This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.

Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service.

Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.

Blog Categories
Healthcare Cloud Computing Enterprise 2.0 Digital Life Grok On Google Over The Air Outsourcing Global CIO Startup City Information Management Content Management Green Computing Full Nelson Unified Communications	Government IT Analytics Tech Stocks Interop Security Microsoft Apple Unvarnished Open Source Wolfe's Den David Berlind's Tech Radar Virtualization Storage Backup and Business Continuity Blog Homepage

Multicore Programming Blog

Join The InformationWeek Group On LinkedIn

InformationWeek

Business Innovation Powered By Technology

Inappropriate Garb Unless You're Actually A Hobbit