Jonathan Nolen

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

Oh, internet, you complete me: Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

Great rant from Tim Bray about software development at in the enterprise

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/01/02/Doing-It-Wrong

If anything, he undersells the severity of the problem and underestimates the amount of energy necessary to change anything. But things should change. The amount of money and time and effort and sanity wasted here is just staggering.

Encyclopedias aren't the only thing you can do with collaboration

In January, Timothy Gowers, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge and a holder of the Fields Medal, math's highest honor, decided to see if the comment section of his blog could prove a theorem he could not....

Gowers's goals for the so-called Polymath Project were modest. "I will regard the experiment as a success," he wrote, "if it leads to anything that could count as genuine progress toward an understanding of the problem." Six weeks later, the theorem was proved.

From The New York Times, via Stowe Boyd

iPhone & the App Store

Update: As usual, Paul Graham said it better than I did.

So I thought of a pretty cool iPhone application last night. It doesn't exist yet. It would be pretty easy to build, it would scratch an itch I have, and it would likely be useful to other people. Enough that they might pay a few bucks for it.

Here's the bad news though: I'm extremely unsure whether Apple would ever approve an app like this. And consequently, I'm not willing to risk the hours it would take to write the app only to have it rejected on submission.

I know it's easier to talk about an idea than to do it. And maybe I wouldn't really have the follow-through to finish this project. But as it stands now, Apple's totalitarian App Store policies discouraged me from even launching XCode to play around. Who knows how many other people there are out there like me. For the sake of the iPhone platform, this has to change.

At long last, your days are numbered, IE6!

Google has finally given Microsoft Internet Explorer the big kiss-off it so richly deserves. Read about it here:

Google, you clever bastards, from Charles Miller

More technical details about Google Chrome Frame, from Jim Ray.

Over the past 15 years IE has wasted countless hours of my time, as well as the time of every other web developer on the planet. Nothing else has done more to hold back the potential of the web. And no one company probably feels that pain more acutely than Google. But enough is enough -- Google has taken matters into their own hands. I pray that this finally drives the nail in IE6's coffin. And I pray that this finally convinces web developers all over the world to stop aiding and abetting Microsoft's decade-long strategy to neuter the internet. Good luck and Godspeed, Google Chrome.

Adventureland

Perhaps September in too early to make this claim, but I just saw one of my favorite movies of 2009: Adventureland, written directed by Greg Motolla. Motolla also directed Superbad, which was one of my favorite movies of 2007.

The movie's marketing campaign has traded heavily on Superbad's reputation -- in fact, based on the trailer you would expect another crazy, crude, teen-movie romp. And I'm sure I would have loved that movie. But I'm here to tell you that Adventureland is absolutely nothing like the trailer would lead you to believe. Fortunately, it's better.

Adventureland is a romantic coming of age movie much more closely related to Say Anything than to Superbad, or anything else from the Judd Apatow oeuvre. And the comparison to Say Anything is doubly apt. That movie is a 1989-vintage romantic comedy by another writer known for his deep connection to music. Likewise, Adventureland is set in period-perfect 1987 and has the musical chops to back it up.

The period detail was one of the things I loved most about this film. It's not as perfectly authentic as a Mad Men episode, but nonetheless, the era of Adverntureland feels real. It gave me the feeling of the 1987 that I remember. Interestingly, it felt more genuine to me than a John Hughes film actually of that period (like Pretty in Pink, which we just re-watched a few weeks ago). The clothes weren't ridiculous (for the most part), the script didn't rely on too-obvious, too-dated slang, and the design touches seemed just right. Ultimately, like all the best 80s movies, it's the music that truly sets the scene.

The soundtrack is the best part of a really enjoyable movie. Motolla uses music incredibly effectively to draw social and character lines. How else can you mix The Replacements, Whitesnake, Hüsker Dü, and Exposé in one soundtrack and have it come out making perfect sense and feel like a unified whole. It was a trip back in time.

The only bad news is that you can't actually buy all of those great 1987 songs on the "official" soundtrack. Fortunately, I found a great post where someone had gone to the trouble of tracking down each and every song you hear in the movie. you can get most of songs on iTunes, and so that's what I did. I built my own Adventureland soundtrack, and I've been having a fantastic 80s day ever since. I recommend you do the same. (And go watch the movie.)

Cash for Clunkers

Update: Ben just put up an awesome blog post on the first of the screenshots we're getting and some of the funnier comments people have submitted. Read it here.

Atlassian has started running a short promotion in anticipation of the launch of JIRA 4.0 -- we're asking people to trade in their old, inefficient bug-trackers, cash-for-clunkers-style. You can get a free ten-user license or 20% off a full commercial license.

The fun part of the promotion is that you're supposed to upload a screenshot of the old school bug-tracker you're replacing (if you can). I can't wait to see the images that come in.

A my previous company, I first started using JIRA in 2002 because my team was looking to replace a home-built bug-tracker. I wish I had a screenshot of that thing -- it was absolutely hideous. The only thing I can remember is the 1996-era pink marble tiled background image, but it was classic.

Anyway, if you're stuck using a 1990s-era bug-tracker and need a more powerful, modern tool, this is a perfect opportunity. Find all the details here: http://www.atlassian.com/clunkers/

Atlassian Developer News

Quick post about some work stuff:

1. We've just announced the details of Codegeist, Atlassian's annual plugin competition. (more)

2. We're also taking registrations for AtlasCamp, our annual Developer Camp/ (more)

These two things are not unrelated. In fact, we'll be announcing the winners of Codegeist live during AtlasCamp, so Atlassian Developers will definitely want to be there.

I'll now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Agile @ Atlassian

I just wanted to post a quick link to a useful little site Atlassian put up a few weeks ago:

After devoting so much thought and energy over the last seven years to how we do software development. And after writing tools to support our own practices for seven years, we decided it might be a good idea to actually write down what those practices were. Of course, they've changed enormously as the company any the products have grown, but this site is a great representation of where we are in 2009. (Check back in 2015 and see how things have evolved.)

There are some great interviews with some people on our team. And, of course, we explain how we use our own tools to do it all. The blog series, in particular, is really good: first hand reports from the developers who make this system work day-in and day-out.

Go give it a watch/read.

Democracy at work

As some of you may know, I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Alabama is a pretty conservative state, and it's liquour laws have always matched that reputation. There are still some dry counties, hard liquor is regulated, taxed and distributed by the Alabama Beverage Commission, and for my entire lifetime, no beer over 6% alcohol could be sold inside the state. Now, it's no Utah, but this restriction meant that there was a lot of great beer I never had the opportunity try until I left Alabama: Chimay, Delirium Tremens, Duvel, Orval, lots of Double IPAs and bocks, some North Coast Beers, some Rogue Ales, and hundreds more.

For the last five years, an organization called Free the Hops has been working to pass legislation to change the beer limitations. And after half a decade of hard work, they got the the bill through Alabama's dysfunctional legislature this Spring. And on May 22, 2009, Gov. Bob Riley signed the bill into law.

Within days, gourmet beer was appearing all over Birmingham. (I know, because I was following the Free the Hops Twitter feed). It was amazing to watch: "Duvel, Orval, and Delerium Tremens have been confirmed." "Huge shipment of new beers expected tomorrow at Western." "Every Piggly Wiggly in metro Birmingham will be stocked with new good beer tomorrow." It was like that episode in the Simpsons when they repealed prohibition in Springfield and the trucks started rolling in minutes later. It was almost that fast.

Sure, some might say gourmet beer is a trivial example, but I learned two lessons from this. First, it was so gratifying to watch a group of citizen activists bootstrap their organization, garner support, and then fully achieve their goal. They knew how to work inside the system, the collected the right set of sponsors, and they kept their constituency informed, motivated and active using modern social technology.

Second, I'm not sure I've ever seen a more direct and immediate response to regulatory change. And it impressed on me again that government policies like these matter, whether at the local, state or federal level. There are tons of them and they're complicated, but they have concrete and meaningful effects on how we live our lives. The "government is the problem", "regulations are burdensome", "stay out of my business" knee-jerk response (besides often being hypocritical) is the wrong one. Regulations and taxes are the tools of government. The struggle is to make sure they exert their influence for good, not ill.

But anyone, for once, the good guys won. And I'll raise a pint of delicious beer in their honor next time I visit Alabama. Cheers!