Two years in the back of the blogatorium

The first buds are appearing on the lilacs out back and the honeysuckle in front and the forsythia that isn't yellow is on its way to green. And the Red Sox won their home opener.

Yep, two years of this journal. 'Nuff said.

Work remains a full-time endeavor. We are starting interviews tomorrow to fill a couple of positions, an exciting prospect for a new team. I've been working on a problem that is moving as I would wish. I want to be able to map a set of customer requirements and design documents against a set of product features so that we can show that we're delivering what the customer wants. There are big and expense tools that would do this, but I'm trying to do it on the cheap and, ideally, presenting the information in graphical form. I've learned a lot about some nifty things - Perl, XML, UML - but I need to have something that I can show my boss and, ultimately, the customer.

In the Almost-A-Good-Idea Dept., a British doctor has suggested that it would be possible to create a drug that provides the euphoria of alcohol without the bad side effects such as violence, vomiting, amnesia, and liver failure. Here are two takes on the idea, one from a tabloid, the other from a science web site.

The lifespan of most software is usually quite brief. Many companies try to issue updates once or twice a year. Successful products can last quite a while, at least in computer years. Microsoft Word was released in the 80s. My favorite text editor, Emacs, was released in the 70s; I've been using it since 1981 on various systems. Most out-dated software is discarded, often for good reason. But, in our haste to discard what is old, we risk losing important understanding of how computing was done in the days of small processors, limited memory, and slow data storage.

So, there are initiatives underway to preserve software, to ensure that we can read the media years from now and to ensure that we will be able to run the programs. You can, for example, download a copy of Visicalc, the first piece of best-selling software and arguably the prime mover in the sales of PCs in the early 80s.

The Library of Congress, on another front, is selecting essential recorded material, mostly music, but some spoken word, to add to its preservation collections. This year's inductees range widely, from Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, and the Firesign Theater to the Modesto High School band. The full Registry list is here.

Happy Birthday, Woody.