Today I made a purchase which has seen people laughing, crying, and shouting at me.

Well, not really. Just a few people making jokes at my expense and others being perhaps slightly annoyed by my spectacular display of ignorance and apparent stupidity. I bought myself a copy of World of Warcraft. My sister thinks my social life is down the drain. My brother’s anticipating many more dumb questions. Some of my friends are saying their good-byes, others are quietly removing me from their MySpace friends as I write this.

No, not really. Though, with the cult following and associated media coverage that this game has, you’d expect people to react strangely to the news that someone close to them has taken up the hobby.

Often referred to as simply “WoW” by its fans and “World of Warcrack” by its detractors, the game is an MMORPG which currently boasts over 10 million subscribers worldwide.

Why have I decided to join them? Well, over the years I’ve disregarded the MMO+RPG genre simply because I didn’t enjoy the typical universes they were set in. Medievil times lend themselves all too easily it seems to be the base subject for the majority of RPG titles. Previously I’ve never been particularly interested in this type of fiction; specifically fantasy. However, I cannot deny that over the years I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all the Harry Potter novels (and seeing the movies). More recently however I’ve taken to reading a few fantasy novels, specifically, the Sword of Truth series and Sarah Ash’s Tears of Artamon series.

This newfound interest in fantasy, combined with my waning interest in online FPS games led me to the thought that I should give something new a try. Even though in the past I would’ve referred to the MMORPG acronym more sardonicaly as “Massively Mundane Online Really Poor Game”, I decided to stop being a closed-minded fool and give it a go.

And what do you know? I enjoyed playing the free 10-day trial of WoW so much that I decided to buy it. Perhaps too early, as I’ve still two exams to pass before I finish uni forever, but I believe I can manage my time…

Today was an alright day at work. I think the dynamic there has changed, but I don’t yet know what to make of it.

The first thing to set this change of dynamic in motion was my meeting with one of the guys who previously worked there; the guy whose stuff I was now supporting. He was nice enough, a little nerdy, but not conceited. He admitted that he didn’t really have the programming skills required to pull off the project he’d started some time ago, the project that he was now trying to explain to me in detail. He didn’t understand my questions about documentation, but he did understand my desire to see and understand the big picture, which, in addition to some other resources he showed me which I was previously unaware of, was enough to enlighten me as to the direction I needed to take.

Finally, some pieces of the puzzle that was given to me months ago had finally come into play.

Secondly, the dynamic changed because I’ve been given a rather unexpected and hefty responsbility: I’m the decision-maker on everything IT-related. Although the guy whom I replaced pretty much ran everything IT, it was never mentioned to me that I would be assuming the same responsibility. Well, today it was made clear, and part of that responsbility includes making sure the new guy, whom works Wednesday when I’m unavailable, is pulling his weight.

In order to do that, I’m expected to write him up a task sheet of sorts, and I’m to receive a report from him on his progress, and check that progress to ensure he’s not just making shit up. If he is just making shit up, or otherwise not doing what he’s meant to be doing, I have the power to decide that he’s asked not to come back to work the following Wednesday.

I totally wasn’t expecting this kind of responsibility, but now that I’ve thought it over, I’m glad that I have it. I don’t want to have an unmotivated, lazy or incompetent person filling in for me on Wednesdays. I want someone whom I can trust to get work done, not only because they have the motivation to do a good job but also because they have the skills to see their motiviation put to good use.

So, now I’m faced with a few new things: the big project I’ve heard everyone talking about is finally going to be underway as of tomorrow, as I’ve dispatched some instructions to my underling which will hopefully set wheels in motion. This project is bigger than anything I’ve contemplated before, not technically or even architectually (the game project I worked on at uni was probably of similar size, codewise) — simply because it’s an important thing for my boss, who I’m wanting to impress.

Let’s see how I go, eh?

At work, I’ve been developing an a semi-automated spreadsheet to help make life easier for the guys who need to manipulate a lot of data easily. I’ve been using a lot of VBA and some built-in Excel functions, and I’ve been working on the project for about six weeks now, on and off.

Over that time period, I’ve come to appreciate the level of understanding that the people I’m developing for have of what I’m doing: very little. But, the little understanding they do have has enabled me to build a sturdy communique with them.

At uni, we’re taught one of the major problems that face software developers is properly understanding what it is they’re being asked to develop. To that end, we’ve been told a few horror stories, where the developers meet with the clients, the clients say “we want an X, and we want it to do Y, Z and B”. Then, the developers go away for a long time and they come back with what they think X looks like, doing what they think Y, Z and B should look like. Usually they get it completely wrong and the clients are furious.

So, we are taught that one of the most important parts of software development is having an almost always open dialogue between the developers and the clients in order to ensure that what the developers are developing matches up with what the clients think they’re developing. Initially, the guys at work didn’t really understand that. I don’t blame them, because I even asked, “have you ever had anyone develop software for you before?” to which they replied simply, “no.”

So, my task was to try to educate them on how to properly interact with me when it came to developing software. I explained that they couldn’t simply say “we want a PQR”, leave me alone for two weeks, and have me come back with exactly what they were after. As they’re quite receptive people, they understood.

But, how do you deal with people who aren’t receptive? More specifically, how can you convince your boss, a non-technical person, that you need to allow for certain timeframes and certain communications when you are trying to create something new for someone? So far I’ve not had much luck with my boss. I explain to him the same things I explained to the others, but I don’t know if he gets it or not. He usually responds with a nod, says “OK”, and changes the subject. He’s a solutions-oriented man; he talks about solutions, final products, and results like they’re simply a matter of moving from A to B. I need to find some way of leveraging this type of thought process to my advantage, so I may communicate with him more effectively.

A few rumours have popped up over the interwebs over the last few days indicating that Valve, the forward-thinking software development company headed by Gabe Newell, are going to be doing something quite extroadinary.

A few years ago they released the Steam platform: it’s essentially a content distribution system tailored for selling games direct from the creators to the public. Initially there were problems with bandwidth availability and some other issues, but Valve worked dilligently to solve them. Today, Steam is not just a game-selling platform, it also delivers news, comics, movies and other types of entertaiment media directly to consumers from the publishers. It cuts out a few middle-men and makes software cheaper to buy, which is only a good thing.

Again, Valve may be showing themselves to be forward-thinking. Apparently they’ve been hiring Linux software developers to port Windows games to Linux.

Also, a few other big-name games that are coming to Steam soon have been noted as making available a Linux-compatible version. Namely, the Penny Arcade comic game, On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Penny Arcade has been closely affiliated with Valve since a few years ago when the comic was featured on the main page of Sources’ Steam application; obviously, the new Penny Arcade game is going to be distributed by Steam.

More notoriously, the upcoming Postal III is also being released on Steam, and will also have a Linux client, according to an interview conducted with Vince Desi, CEO of Running With Scissors, the development company behind the Postal series of games.

The piece de resistance however is this gem which states quite clearly

Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform.

What can we make of that?

We can only hope these rumours, which are apparently bolstered by facts, come to light as truths. I personally only play games available on the Steam platform, and if I could chuck away my Windows installation altogether, it’d be most welcome!

Head over to this thread on the Phoronix forums for the discussion that started it all.

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but the latest announcement from nin.com is of a new album entitled The Slip.

There’s a neat twist here that may surprise: it’s been released free to download. Yep, all you have to do is surrender an e-mail address and they’ll give you a download link, where you can choose from any or all of high-quality mp3 (LAME -V0 encoded), high-quality FLAC or m4a lossless, and high-quality 24-kbit/96Hz WAV download format.

As with the previous Ghosts release, all the downloads come with artwork in the form of a pdf file. The artwork for this release is minimal, but it definitely suits the music. It’s free because it is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike licence, which in plain English means you can share it with anyone you like, but if you make a derivative work (a remix) you must attribute the original work to Nine Inch Nails, and you may only do so if you are not a commercial entity.

As for the music itself? It’s moody; through some tracks, dark and brooding. Others are punchy and energetic, while others still are almost poppy in nature. For me personally, I’m reminded of the first time I listened to The Downward Spiral; sitting on a mates deck outside, with a bourbon in hand, whiling away the evening with conversation. In other words: to me, it’s true to the sound of Trent’s previous work. If music can conjure memories of good times past, it gets my thumbs up.

Trent has this to say about the album:

thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me

So head over to http://theslip.nin.com/ and grab yourself a copy!

SPOILER ALERT

I didn’t know anything about the Ironman comics/universe before I saw it.

I saw the movie yesterday and wasn’t that impressed. It was alright I suppose. I kept feeling like it wasn’t as good as previous comic-to-movie adaptations. The characters didn’t ring any chords with me; the arrogance of Stark was mildly amusing. His capture and realisation that he was doing evil wasn’t very convincing. I mean, mostly because before he was captured, they made him out to be this super-intelligent guy. Intelligent, arrogant people don’t get my sympathy. Plus, they were never going to kill him. They wanted their missile.

The bearded guy’s surprise betrayal was good, but it didn’t eventuate into anything. The fight didn’t have enough oomph. I thought it was lame that it ended up the way it did, and he was defeated the way he was. Partly because I couldn’t identify with Stark — as before mentioned, I have no sympathy for ingelligent, arrogant people. Secondly because there weren’t enough cool effects and shit being smashed up. Thirdly, it was all too predictable: disabled protagonist outwits dumber, stronger, slower opponent, opponent is killed by the very technology he seeks to make use of to destroy others, yadda yadda. Way too self-righteous for such an arrogant bastard like Stark.

The love interest with Pepper was screaming obviousness from the very first moment you see her on screen, with her ‘throwing out the trash’ quip.

I’m hoping the second one will be better. It needs something truly bad to happen to Stark, and it needs more action.

I give it 5/10.

My workplace is voiding their insurance. More importantly, they’re breaking the law. I’ve been installing cabling - network cabling, for use with computers and phones. I’ve not been licenced by the ACMA; I haven’t done the training course, and I’m not authorized under any circumstance to install permanent cabling and related infrastructure which directly connects into existing public telecommunications networks.

I wonder though, in how many businesses and homes Australia-wide is this occuring? Many people on tech forums Australia-wide dismiss the ACMA licencing laws as mere annoyances. In a home, the illegality isn’t so much an issue as the potential of voiding your home insurance cover — if your house goes up in flames as a result of a fire and it comes to light that cabling installed by an unqualified individual may have been the culprit, you can say goodbye to all hopes of reimbursement through insurance.

A business however has other issues; not only do they face their insurance being declared null and void, they also face irrevocable loss of business: premises, records, infrastructure and equipment. Customers too. As well as the potential lawsuits that may result from a cabling-related incident, as employees may sue because of loss of employment, or even due to injuries incured through accidents caused by unqualified cabling.

So, who’s at fault here? Me, or the guy who interviewed and hired me (my boss)? During the interview, mention was made of “basic networking” as being part of the job. Fair enough I thought at the time, at most it’ll be some troubleshooting. Maybe I should have questioned the nature of the network-related aspects of the job. Though, I don’t think this would’ve helped too much. My boss is the kind of guy who has an idea and wants it today. I think the problem arose from a lack of knowledge on the part of my boss, and the fact that to assume produces an ass out of you and me. We both made assumptions about my capacity to perform the duties outlined.

When I was asked to make and run cabling, I raised the issue that I wasn’t licenced, and technically it would be illegal. The question was simply posed again, phrased differently: “yeah, but can you do it?” — well, of course I can do it… just not legally.

So in the end, what is the result? Who’s responsible?