Ten pointers for I.T managers

Having worked in several I.T companies where I managed and was managed by good, bad and ugly managers. I just thought I would put together a short list of pointers to remind myself a few do's and don't s of I.T management.
This list is by no means exhaustive and I will add to it as I remember more.
While the title refers to I.T, I believe the pointers below can apply to any creative sector.

1. I.T professionals are a resource not slaves or students
2. Endeavor to encourage rather than instruct. It is better for a person to decide himself that he wants to do a certain thing rather than be instructed to do it, he does it with gusto
3. Team effort all the way, "we" rather then "you", "us" rather than "I"
4. Staff should be responsible for thier performance, while being given periodic reviews to judge how they are doing.
5. A sense of belonging, of being part of something great helps build staff moral, good staff moral in turn encourages staff loyalty, productivity and descipline
6. Staff trainings are good, they show you are concerned about building staff career.
7. Encourage attempts, praise good attempts, Reward excellence
8. Discourage a bad and unprofessional attitude to work, unprofessional in this case refers to lateness, low productivity, bad social skills, lack of team team work and spirit, reluctance to self improve. 
9. Good language, a good attitude, staff loyalty should be imbibed in staff and office culture 
10. Carry staff along with key decisions that affect them and get feedback on what they think.

10 Most Common Mistakes in Agile Adoption. Part I

10 Most Common Mistakes in Agile Adoption. Part I

10 Most Common Mistakes in Agile Adoption. Part II

10 Most Common Mistakes in Agile Adoption. Part II

Adopting a mountain climber mentality

What’s a mountain climber mentality in the first place?

when climbing a mountain you first have to decide on what mountain you have to climb, carefully plan the climb and then begin the task, when climbing you have to stay lean, carry less luggage, invest in physical and mental health rather than material possessions, needs rather than wants.

At milestones its ok for you to celebrate how far you have come, have a rest and get yourself a treat but it’s important to be careful not to get complacent and settle there, the climb has to continue! You have to keep your eyes on the prize which is to get to the top, because when you get to the top it will be totally worth it.

After the climb what next? Well, find another mountain, if you keep at it long enough you will one day look back and find that you have become a great man, an achiever.

In real life this means..?

Setting life goal(s), planning how to achieve them and then striving to achieve it, it means constantly investing in your health, education, business and career, keeping a lean budget, few important luxuries but many more targeted and well planned expenditures, investments for needs now and in the future.

Keep at it over and over again and then one day you will look back and find that you have achieved so much over the years, you have amassed wealth, kept good health, have truly become great and achieved more than you could ever have dreamed you would achieve.

Advantages of a mountain climber mentality

• A mountain climber mentality helps you to be disciplined in your spending, because you are forced to think carefully of the benefits of any expenditure before making it.
• A mountain climber mentality helps gives your a direction, a focus
• A mountain climber mentality helps you to get richer because as you achieve more, you earn more.
• A mountain climber mentality helps rise above your peers because your focus is not to compete with your peers but to achieve goals you have set for yourself.
• A mountain climber mentality helps you to become wealthier because the returns from investments will always be giving back.
• A mountain climber mentality helps you to be wise because when your others are wasting time and money extravagantly you are focused on achieving more and more
• A mountain climber mentality helps you to stay sharp and make good use of your time, because you need to constantly think of ways to achieve your goals

Yeah, yeah I know my writing above is not exactly technical, but I believe a more focused, physically and mentally healthy pro is a better I.T pro.

p.s Happy independence Nigeria!!

My Top Ten reasons to be a software developer.

1. It’s now cool to be a geek. Don’t believe me? Well, ask Mark Zuckerburg, Steve jobs and the Google guys.
2. You get to work with the latest and best tech out there. Well most of the time, if you are unfortunate enough to get stuck maintaining legacy software (been there), then this point does not apply to you.
3. You can work anywhere. Because these days pretty much every company uses the internet and computers, and where there’s internet and computers, there’s software, and where there’s software there are.....? Yep, you guessed it, software developers.
4. The pay is not bad, could actually be really really good depending on your experience and smarts, don’t believe me? Well, ask Mark Zuckerburg, Ste.....
5. Low entry barrier.  Anybody can do it, though the more qualifications you get, the more your pay is likely to increase
6. ts fun and challenging. Or should I say, it CAN be fun and challenging, can get pretty dull and unchallenging at times (testing and debugging)
7. All the resources you need are easy to get and cheap as dirt (it rhymes). You don’t need an expensive stethoscope or defibrillator to work (what’s a defibrillator you say? those things doctors use in movies to bring people that just died back to life, you know the electric voltage things..no? just Google the word) , all you need is a computer, an internet connection and you are in business.
8. People will think you are clever. For real think about it, what (apart from women) is more complicated than computers, if you can understand computers you can understand anything.
9. Potentially relaxed hours. In most software development houses, it’s not how many hours you put it, but how much you get done that really matters, so it’s quite normal to work on something late into the night, send it to the office in the morning via email and come into work later.
10. Not physically tasking.  You get paid to sit down in front of a computer on comfortable chair typing on the keyboard, now isn’t that just paradise on earth

My Top 10 reasons NOT to be a software developer

• Pressure – A major client needs an update installed, they can’t conduct any business without it, your technical director is close to tears, you are the only developer around, you need to churn out code which you know absolutely nothing about, and asap! OMG OMG OMG!  Welcome to the wonderful world of software dev.
• Stress – Imagine the scenario painted above happening every week, I dare you not to be stressed out
• Brain fatigue – software dev is akin to seating at a desk trying to solve the geometrical meaning of the central extension of the algebra of diffeomorphisms of the circle (just in case you are wondering, I got that from googling “most difficult math problem”) every single working day of the week, what do u get? brain fatigue.
• Your social life, relationship, sex life might suffer – why? Because you are busy trying to debug the damned code that you broke and finish off what you were working on in the first place before you broke the damned code. 
• Its not a job, its way a life –  ever seen a doctor stare lustily at a new ultra powerful high tech stethoscope? Nope. Seen a plumber saying sweet nothings into the holes of a new super strength carbon fibre pipe? Nope. Seen a software developer professing his love for his computer? Yep! Why? Software developers live for tech.
• Work hours are not fixed - software developers only rest when the client is happy, and everybody know clients are never happy. Do the maths
• Pay is.. not so good – with all I’ve mentioned above you‘d think the pay is super, WRONG!!!  Because software developers come a dime a dozen these days, the pay is terrible.
• You become everybody’s tech support –when dad can’t print his document because the paper is jammed in the printer, guess who they’ll call from wherever the hell he is on the country? Yep you guessed it, the guy who practically lives with computers, the software developer. 
• You might get a bad back – if you r unlucky enough to get a bad chair then the long sitting hours will almost inevitably mean a bad back.
• You might get fat - forget the might, you will get fat, it’s simple, sit on your ass for 8 hours a day, get home and do the same, what do u get? A very rotund, socially dead, sexually inept, lifeless, soulless individual sitting in front of computers.

..............................................
Ok ok, it’s not all bad, there are some perks to a life dedicated to software dev,  in my next blog post I will highlight some of the VERY FEW advantages.

The App state of Mind: A software developer must

I have noticed a trend in I.T, the need to develop and release well tested products very quickly, call it “the smart phone app state of mind” or simply “the App state of mind”.

Why call it this? I’ll explain;  according to Apple Uk, the app store currently has over 200,000 apps, this means massive competition,  more importantly it means for any app to succeed i.e. achieve significant sales, it has  to be really good (in the first place), fully tested, marketed and released very quickly, the same applies to the larger I.T world, in the today’s fast paced, highly networked,  innovation driven environment companies have found that in order to survive they need to speed up their product dev and sale process or risk facing a bottom up disruptive overtake in the market place, Nokia readily comes to mind.

This App mentality can be clearly seen in the software dev world as well, as more and more companies are shifting from traditional software dev methodologies e.g Watefall, EUP etc, to more agile ones e.g. Agile Scrum/XP, DSDM Atern, Agile unified process (AUP) etc. In response to this more coding methods (TDD, MVC), platforms (Azure) and tools (nunit, mbunit) are being developed to cope with the challenge.

In the same vein, any software developer intending to stay competitive in the software dev world needs to adopt the App state of mind, it’s no longer enough to be a good coder, they must be able to develop fully tested and functional software very quickly, for instance they need to be able to use TDD in concert with Agile methodologies to develop production ready code within the shortest of times. The ability to switch to more traditional approaches when needed would be is a major plus.

A look at Google Android vs Apple IOS vs Nokia Memo Vs Microsoft Windows Phone 7, part 1

Its been a while I know, but its good to be back writing again, anyways its 2.26am I am siting on my bed, my vision is blured ( I actually have to squint to see the letters I have typed) and I'm thinking to myself I really need to get to sleep, but alas, before I retire for the night morning. I will write a little on the tittle of this post.

These are awesome and super interesting times for I.T in general and certain areas in I.T in particular, driven by the success of smartphones ( Iphone, Iphone and the Iphone...did I mention the Iphone?) and arguably social media  (which mobile devices make readily available) mobile technologies have exploded unto the scene and platforms have being created by the big players in the software and  mobile device markets. This has set the stage for a showdown of epic proportions!! The next few years will be very interesting and it will be very interesting to see who will forge alliances with who and which platforms will eventually be widely accepted by all.. or at least most mobile device manufacturers and consumers.

The next set of posts will examine mobile platforms which in my opinion are/will be the biggest and influential in the next couple of years and will attempt to postulate on the shape of things to come in the land of mobile applications and OS'es.

It should be fun... I start tomorrow, right now I need rest....

5 cool things about CodeRush Xpress for C# and Visual Basic inside Visual Studio 2008

I found this awesome tool created by DevExpress, it was created to help developers be more productive by offering a range of Visual studio I.D.E developer tools e.g ability to navigate from instance to instance of a keyword, simply by tapping the tab key (thats actually a tip of an ice berg of functionality it offers)
I won't be going into much detail because everything that needs to be said  about code rush is said here and blogged on here, I strongly recommend reading the blog.
Needless to say every .net developer should have it hooked up on their visual studio and here are five reasons why

1.) its awesome

2.) its intuitive

3.) its extremely useful,

4.) its easy to install and use

5.) its free!!!!

Go on download it and give it a try

The role of institution-based trust in initial trust formation between E-commerce buyers and sellers in the Nigerian E-commerce environment

The following is a summary of my masters degree dissertation which is a study of Nigerian attitudes with respect to E-commerce in Nigeria, It is mainly focused on trust. The full text can be read here or in the scribd window right at the end of the writeup, enjoy...


Abstract
E-commerce has been largely very successful and participation requires one to engage with whom they have little or no prior interaction, this requires trust.
The role of trust in E-commerce has been researched and written about extensively, however, most of the literature has focused mainly on developed economies and as such data and survey samples have been taken mostly from these economies. This study intends to contribute to filling that gap by researching key institutional safeguards that encourage initial trust formation between online consumers and vendors and testing them within the Nigerian online environment.
Drawing from Institution based trust literature an integrated model of institutional trust was developed. Nine institutional mechanisms influencing customer trust in e-commerce relationships were identified. They are perceived feedback, perceptions of credit card guarantees, perceptions of security, perceptions of monitoring, perceptions of legal bonds, perceptions of insurance, perceptions of accreditation, perceptions of escrow services and perceptions of third party payment services.
Nine Hypotheses were drawn based on the institutional mechanisms identified and their validity in the Nigerian online environment and an empirical study was carried out to test them. Two Nigerian banks were selected as case study debit Card issuers and data for the study was collected in Nigeria by means of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews of the a senior banking officers in each of the case study Debit card issuers (Nigerian Banks).
All hypotheses were confirmed. It was found that all the institutional mechanisms identified by the study influence Nigerian online users' decisions to trust in an e-commerce relationship.


Summary of results
As can be seen in Table 2.0 below, based on the results of the survey conducted in the study, all the hypotheses stated in the abstract were confirmed within the Nigerian context but to varying degrees.

Recommendations 
The results of this study suggest that Nigerian internet users are influenced to trust web vendors based on their perceptions of protections even if in reality such protection does not exist. This has strong implications for e-commerce in Nigeria, it means e-commerce web third parties have to work extra hard to make customers aware of their presence and how they protect the online customer, for e-commerce business management it implies that they need to sensitize customers and make them aware of the measures in place to assure their safety, for the Nigerian Government it implies a need for laws that are more protective of customers in cyber space and massive sensitization of these to encourage e-commerce growth.

Research Limitations 
Although the data generally supports the model that has been proposed by this study it is necessary to highlight the limitations of this study.
The two main limitations are that the sample size is smaller than has been recommended for the size of the population that is being studied and the statistical methods used were very simple. However, it is important to note that this study is primarily aimed at offering a snapshot of institutional mechanisms within the Nigerian context and as a first study is meant to open up the area for further research and with regards to that it succeeds.

Suggestions for future research
This study draws from existing literature on trust and seeks to prove that trust mechanisms exist within the Nigerian context and influence Nigerian online users to transact online. The aim of this study is to open up the study of trust in e-commerce within the context of Nigeria specifically and developing economies generally. Therefore there is need for better and more accurate research with a larger sample size, more variables and better statistical analysis.

Conclusion 
This study was able to answer the research questions posited at the first chapter in this study as it has been able to prove that theories on the role of institution-based trust in initial trust formation between buyers and sellers hold true for Nigeria. The study was also able to identify key institutional mechanisms that influence customers to transact online with Nigerian web vendors.
It was able to raise some interesting points with regards to how the perceptions of protection are stronger than the reality of the protection actually offered by institutional mechanism within the Nigerian context.
The study has made recommendations that are very useful for common web users, e-commerce management and government agencies.


Full text of Writeup below....
The Role of Institution-based Trust in Initial Trust Formation Between E-commerce Buyers and Sellers in the...

.NET Facebook SDK

Just found this on the Microsoft MSDN website, a free downloadable .net toolkit for Facebook. It looks pretty awesome.

The toolkit is comprised of the following core assemblies:

• Facebook.dll: This is the main assembly that will be used by all applications. This has all the logic to handle communication with the Facebook application. This assembly also has specific support of XAML applications (Silverlight and WPF) to enhance the Facebook platform to make databinding and data caching easier.
• Facebook.Silverlight.dll: This is the Silverlight version of the main assembly that will be used by all Silverlight applications. This has all the logic to handle communication with the Facebook application. This assembly also has specific support of XAML applications to enhance the Facebook platform to make databinding and data caching easier. The REST API in this assembly is Asynchronous only.
• Facebook.Web.dll: This assembly should be used by Canvas applications. The main functionality supported in this assembly is to encapsulate the handshake between the Facebook application and a canvas application (both FBML and IFrame)
• Facebook.Web.Mvc.dll: Provide a support building canvas applications using ASP.NET MVC. Separated from Facebook.Web.dll to avoid all developers from needing to install the MVC bits.
• Facebook.Winforms.dll: This assembly provides support for writing Facebook applications using Winform technology. This provides a Component that wraps the API to make it easier to use from Winforms. This also contains some user controls to help display Facebook data easily.

Will have a look at it soon and post my findings plus (possibly) a link to a Facebook app developed by me. :-)

Apple losing its cool factor with techies?

According to Jason Hiner of tech republic's article, Apple might be falling out of favor with techies based on  "The company’s stubborn refusal to support Adobe Flash (which wins props with some IT pros but breaks a lot of Web sites), its draconian and ambiguous review policy for the App Store, and it’s strong-arm legal tactics with HTC and Gizmodo" (u know the incident where an apple engineer forgot an iPhone prototype in a bar, was found by some guy, who sold it to a gizmodo columnist, who was later arrested and his house ransacked by police because he posted the pictures of the phone online.. phew, mouthful.).


As for me say, its about time!! they've had it coming for a long long time. I will be the first to admit that apple's products are really really cool and very well built but I have always had a problem with the way they do their business, releasing Iphones officially in only select markets,  heavy screening of iphone apps for the appstore, c'mon!!


They seriously need to think very carefully about where they intend to be in the next couple of years and how they intend to get there, the path they are currently on is the dark path, they have been warned...

Some changes to Microsoft's 2010 certifications

For its 2010 certification process, Microsoft made some changes and I am glad to say for the better, being a .net developer I will be focusing on visual studio, the visual studio certificates are

•    Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)
•    Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)

Now I will not go into much detail because doing so will be rehashing the Microsoft learning website, just go there to get more info.
I will be focusing on the web developer ASP.Net stream because that’s where my interest lies, if you need more info on the other streams go here.
I will answer a few FAQs based on my research so far. The FAQs are:

•    How many exams do I have to take
•    When will I be able to do the exams
•    What’s the syllabus
•    How much will it cost
•    How do I prepare

How many exams do I have to take
Good news!! No need to do the .net foundation exam otherwise known as Exam 70-536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework, Application Development Foundation, I have always wondered the point of an exam that does not give you a certificate (can you say money making scheme).
To be an MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technologist) all you need to do is pick your flavour, and do the exam, my flavour is MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications so i’ll be doing the Exam 70-515: TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4.
To be an MCPD (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer) all you need to do is .. yes you guessed it, pick a flavour, mine is MCPD: Web Developer 4, and do the requisite MCTS exams which for my flavour are

1. The Exam 70-515: TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 for the MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications
2. The Exam 70-513: TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 for the MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Service Communication Applications
3. The Exam 70-516: TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 for the MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Data Access

As well as the appropriate MCPD exam, mine is Exam 70-519: PRO: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Summary of number of exams needed

• 1 exam to get any MCTS 
• 3 requisite MCTS exams + 1 MCPD exam to get an MCPD

When will I be able to do the exams
Sadly the only clues as to when the exams can be done can be found here and here . On the pages it just says “Published: July 02, 2010(In development)”, not sure but I guess that can be taken to mean the exams will be ready by July 02.
For now there’s no mention of the exams on the Prometric website (they administer all Microsoft exams), so we’ll have to wait and see.

What’s the syllabus
For Exam 70-515 Towards the MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications the syllabus is
•    Developing Web Forms Pages (19%)
•    Developing and Using Web Forms Controls (18%)
•    Implementing Client-Side Scripting and AJAX (16%)
•    Configuring and Extending a Web Application (15%)
•    Displaying and Manipulating Data (19%)
•    Developing a Web Application by Using ASP.NET MVC 2 (13%)
More info here

and for exam Exam 70-519 towards the MCPD: PRO: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4, the syllabus is
•    Designing the Application Architecture (19%)
•    Designing the User Experience (17%)
•    Designing Data Strategies and Structures (18%)
•    Designing Security Architecture and Implementation (17%)
•    Preparing For and Investigating Application Issues (15%)
•    Designing a Deployment Strategy (14%)
More info here

How much will it cost
It’s not on the Prometric website, so no information on pricing yet. The 2008 ones cost £80 per exam

How do I prepare
For now there are no .net framework 4.0 self training kits on the Microsoft website or anywhere on the internet for that matter (or at least the part of the internet I searched). I suppose for now one will have to use a combination of the old self training kits and .net 4.0 courses on Microsoft’s channel 9

Windows Azure vs VPS vs Shared Hosting

I currently need a cloud service provider to host my website and applications, my search took me in 3 main directions
·         Microsoft windows Azure ,
·         Shared hosting service providers and
·         VPS (virtual private servers).

Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing can be loosely defined as a technology in services are provided over the internet/network to clients/users, in other words, it’s a method of computing in which the hardware producing the service is remotely located and the service is given on demand, all that’s needed from the client is a browser, internet/network connectivity and maybe a credit card to make the payments for the service rendered, just joking about the credit card bit, some cloud services are free of charge e.g. facebook, yahoomail, gmail etc yep the free internet services and websites that you know and love are actually implementations of cloud computing

Types of cloud computing

• Software as a service (SAAS), software offered as a service over the wire e.g. yahoomail.com and salesforce.com
• Infrastructure as a service (IAAS), hardware offered on demand over the internet e.g. computing power and virtual servers
• Platform as a service (PAAS): Application development environments offered on demand over the wire e.g. Microsoft azure services
• Storage as a Service, storage offered on demand over the internet

Microsoft Azure services
Microsoft Azure Services implements Platform as a server and according to Wikipedia provides an API built on REST, HTTP and XML that allows a developer to interact with the services provided by Windows Azure. A client-side managed class library is also provided that encapsulates the functions of interacting with the services. It also integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio so that it can be used as the IDE to develop and publish Azure-hosted applications
It provides a cloud operating system called Windows Azure that serves as a runtime for the applications and provides a set of services that allows development, management and hosting of applications off-premises.
Now ordinarily the thought of having the power of a thousand CPUs and infinite storage at your disposal should be dizzying to any developer but there are some important constraints to consider
 Azure is primarily created to provide a powerful application development environment, this is great, however the downside is that you don’t have loads of flexibility, you don’t get have a machine at your disposal which you can remote into and install apps on i.e. Webserver(s), SQL Server 2008 etc
There is news that Microsoft might implement IAAS, meaning developers would be able to have bare machines to work with, install software on and tweak to their hearts desire.


Pros
Great environment for running and testing your .net applications
Cloud operating system and db integrates directly with the visual studio 2010 IDE

Cons
Not suitable as a host for simple website
Can’t install any other software, plugins etc on the platform
Does not offer root access to bare machines


Shared hosting
Is a fairly common technology and can simply be described as webserver space for rent. A webserver is the combination of software and hardware that serves web pages and related services in response request made by internet users via browsers and software. It’s simple enough, for a monthly payment they (the hosting companies) host your website and other services which you provide to your website visitors, its important to note that the servers are not dedicated and a single server will host multiple customers..
The servers usually have windows server or a linux flavour (Fedora, Ubuntu) as operating system and come with many useful web development tools and DBs installed e.g. ASP.NET, IIS, SQL Server, MYSQL, Apache, Ruby on rails, Pearl etc.
It also means what affect your server cohabitants affects you, if a website on your shared server is being dos attacked, its likely going to slow the entire server down including your running apps or website. Also you still don’t get finely grained control in that you don’t have root access to the server, you can’t install software, you have to use what the service provider offers.

Pros
The websevers tend to have website and app dev tools preinstalled.
Monthly payments tend to be very low

Cons
Any attacks on a website that is sharing a server can slow down the entire server thereby slowing all other websites hosted on the server.
The is no access to the root of the server and software can’t be installed on the server by the user

Virtual private Servers (VPS)
If shared hosting is like sharing a flat with noisy neighbours, then VPS is like living in a nice house with the ability to change furniture and fittings and even add extra rooms, and it’s all yours, no sharing.
Because VPS is an implementation of IAAS you get full virtual Servers with your choice of operating system i.e windows server or linux flavours. The servers usually come loaded with web app dev tools, databases and in some cases email servers as well. In most cases you get assigned an i.p address but you can optionally request for more, additionally because you are getting a full virual server with root access, you can remote in and install whatsoever you wish and host as many websites as you want.

Pros
Root Access and ability to install anything you wish
The great flexibility and power at your finger tips

Cons
May be tough to configure and run
Quite expensive

Conclusion
After considering all the technologies above, I decided try Azure out, and if I find it useful I will consider subscribing. Microsoft is currently doing an introductory offer here that offers the following services free of charge

Windows Azure

•  25 hours of a small compute instance
•  500 MB of storage
• 10,000 storage transactions

 SQL Azure

• 1 Web Edition database (available for first 3 months only)

AppFabric

• 100,000 Access Control transactions
• 2 Service Bus connections

Data Transfers (per region)

• 500 MB in
• 500 MB out

I’ll also build a web server at home, I’ll do the following

• Download and install Microsoft server 2008 trial on my old hp laptop which I don’t use anymore (the screen is bad)
• Get a domain name(s)
• Get a personal IP from my ISP, which I can map to my websites.
• Possibly get a dynamic IP setup which allows me to host my website wherever I can find an internet connection
• Install useful web app tools and DB e.g. IIS 7, Apache, SQL Server 2008, email server (open source version) etc
• Deploy my websites/apps to my Server
• When my trial expires I will probably install a linux flavor on the server.

Should be a blast

Mono for the Iphone

While searching for a c# open source project to work on on the mono website, I found mono touch, a framework that allows .net developers to interact with the iphone dev API. meaning .net pips can design apps for the iphone and ipad, how cool is that?!!!

It can be found here, the only downside is that its not free... who said the best things in life are free..

I do not like Steve jobs' business model of select few marketing, especially with the iphone, its unbelievable that its still not been officially released in many many countries, why make a great product and restrict access to that product?? there's also the tight grip on software released for the iphone, don't even get me started on that..

Anyway the iphone is a great gadget/platform and many many .net developers (me inclusive) would love to get in on the action without having to code objective C; the iphone's dev language.

I will play around with monotouch and post findings.. wonder if there is something out there for android as well, now that's a platform i would like to sink my teeth into.. sigh

Still searching for my open source project of choice though.. will post progress on that too

Currently downloading visual studio 2010, will play around with that and post first impressions on that as well..

I love I.T

why is it that you never hear doctors talk about the amazing new stethoscope they were given, or engineers going on about the hi tech machinery the company just acquired, but developers and other i.t geeks can never stop harping on about the new release from Microsoft, oracle etc.. could it be because Info tech work is the only profession in the world that is not a job but a lifestyle?

Random musings

Was up till 4am this morning testing some code I had worked on, got to the office, did some more testing, moved it from my pc to the development server and guess what.... It did not function as expected, typical isn't it.. (sigh) the joys of programming.

Will be working on it tonight though, should be fun..

I love a good challenge, I thrive on deadlines, I crave the thrill of pressure.. does everybody else feel this way.. I wonder

Tibco G.I, will be playing around with it again.. ah the memories.

I need to start or participate in an open source project.. source forge?


end of rant

Welcome to the Blog of Abiola Isaac Omoniyi, a C# developer

This is the diary of Abiola, a peep into what goes on in the mind of a young software developer working in the UK, it will be probably contain loads of technical stuff as well as other stuff that interests me e.g politics, footie, movies, music etc

I will likely post code snippets and articles that I find useful, hopefully someone else will find some of the stuff I post useful.

and yeah OMG! Did anybody see what messi do to Arsenal!!!!