Programming with integrity

We have seen how the effects of the dot-com bubble led some analysts to become cheerleaders because of financial gain. This essentially robbed the public who funded their company because they lied about its accomplishments. The lesson that we learn from these analysts can be applied to us as individual programmers. A good programmer has a certain amount of integrity that will not allow himself/herself to receive credit where credit isn't due. If they don't understand a concept, they will have the patience to learn it for themselves and program it before they receive the credit. If they don't do this, they will find themselves bankrupt of ideas in a time of need.

The Freedom of Speech of a Blogger

LDS Tech Conference

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is holding its first annual tech conference this year to organize a community of software developers anxious to contribute their talents to the church. With membership worldwide, the church is able to call upon a variety of people to help build up the kingdom with technology. The variety of talents makes this opportunity to serve such an exciting one, as people come together to create new tools for members and auxiliary leaders.

Linus' software revolution

The software development world was rocked with Linus Torvalds's development of Linux. Contributions of random bits of code from many people were being submitted every day and managing the complexity of such a chaotic project was becoming unbearable. That is why Linus' second baby git was born. Linus loved his creation so much that he named git, just like Linux, after himself. Git is a version control system that is shifting the paradigm in version control from centralized to distributed. It is yet another great step in Linus' software revolution.

My MStar story

MStar was a Utah based phone, internet, and television provider that partnered with UTOPIA to provide their services through a local fiber optic network. It was one of the first providers of this new technology and I was lucky enough to be one of their first salesman. We would literally run from house to house because we made so many sales with little effort. These experiences showed me on a local level exactly what happened on a global level to lay the framework for the dot-com bubble.

In the book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman explains how the world got flat in one gloriously long sentence. He writes, "Just as the national highway system that was built in the 1950s flattened the United States, broke down regional differences, and made it so much easier for companies to relocate in lower-wage regions, like the South, because it had become so much easier to move people and goods long distances, so the laying of global fiber highways flattened the developed world." That is the beauty of the fiber optic network that will transcend any of the criticism of its expense.

On the global level we saw companies that invested in the fiber optics go bankrupt and on the local level we are seeing a similar scare. However, just like Friedman argues in his book, "fiber cable is the gift that keeps on giving and unlike other forms of Internet overinvestment, it was permanent." Think of what communities can do with this technology in place! If you need help thinking, listen to what google is planning to do with it. Even though UTOPIA has had its ups and a lot of downs I still believe it was the right choice for our community.

Feelings about copyright infringement laws

I just read an article in a New Zealand newspaper of a new proposed punishment for online copyright infringement. New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, is struggling to find a law to overcome this complex issue. Last year they proposed that these illegal downloaders be banned from ever using the Internet and now they are thinking of a fine and suspension instead. I don't have the answer to this complex issue, but I believe the laws should error on the side of simplicity. I feel this way because of the great expense it would be for a government to try to enforce such complex laws. I imagine that it would take a great deal of time and energy to actually find the guilty to punish--let alone ban them from ever using the Internet. Instead, I believe that we should spend our time and energy creating technology to protect the majority of people from even breaking the law in the first place. An example of this is Itunes, because it allows people to easily access music while still maintaining copyright laws.

Toyota recalls and potential threats

Growing up in the computer dominated age that we live in, we are all aware of potential bugs and glitches in our software. That is why today even our DVD players connect to the internet to download software updates. However, when the software glitches hit the car or aviation industry people aren't as forgiving. Last month Toyota recalled the 2010 Prius because of such a glitch that interfered with the car's brakes. Others, including Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, have complained about acceleration issues in the Prius due to a software malfunction. Obviously, this is a deep concern and an issue that won't go away soon. As cars become more reliant on computers we might begin to see people waiting a year to let the others "test out" the car as they would any other new technology.