A History of WebSphere

A little hokey, but has some interesting tidbits.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/maxpress/websphererevolution/

WebSphere App Server fix pack 7.0.0.3 is out

For those who are running WAS 7, IBM released the latest fixpack yeserday (March 24th). This is a highly recommended fix.

You can get the fix from IBM's FTP site. This is the easiest way as you don't have to rat through their support web site.

For Windows 32 bit (about half of you out there), here is the directory for the support packs:

ftp://ftp.sfotware.ibm.com/software/websphere/appserv/support/fixpacks/was70/cumulative/cf7003/WinX32

Be sure to get the latest update installer as well. It is found at ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/websphere/appserv/support/tools/UpdateInstaller/7.0.x/WinIA32

IBM has not posted the fix list for 7.0.0.3 but the fix list for 7.0.0.1 is here.

Happy patching

I am speaking at the Rational Conference in June!

IBM just confirmed my speaking role. I'm speaking with Alisa Morse, Product Manager for IBM Rational HATS, SCLM AE, and HACP. We'll be presenting an introduction and case study for HATS for one of my large customers. Here is the synopsis below (subject to change). The Rational Conference has typically been more technical that some of the other IBM conferences (i.e. LotusSphere), and that I enjoy. I would prefer to do a more technical presentation, but there is a real need for case studies for the conference.
If you are going, be sure to look me up. Its truly a great conference for architecture and software development. Registraiton is open at http://www.ibm.com/rational/rsdc, and early bird discounts apply until May 1st. However, there is a special going on now until the end of March where you can get a second registration at half price.

EM06 - All levels (general knowledge)

Achieve Faster Return on Investment with Enterprise Application Modernization- A Customer Story

Tuesday, June 2 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Kenny Smith, Principal, Strongback Consulting

Ahhhhhhh....that was nnnniccee!!

I just returned from vacation with some friends of ours from Switzerland. We rented a villa in the Caribbean for a week. This was truly one of the most enjoyable vacations I can remember taking, save for my honeymoon. It reminds me of why I work and why I have this business. Its ultimately all about spending time with the family and enjoying life and the world around us. In the U.S. we tend to take vacations for granted, and are often pressured into skipping, either from our colleagues and employers or out of our own self-guilt about shirking the work habit. The latter has always been my case. I do not like leaving in the middle of a project, but there is always a project.

The two weeks before I left I was working 60-70 hour weeks, not including travel times to clients, nor non-billable work such as invoicing, sales, self-study, and all around maintenance tasks on my computers and servers. I was burned out. The day I left I was working on 4 hours of sleep and had developed a migraine, yet kept working. When I finally puked up a burrito I had quickly scarfed down at lunch, I realized it was time to hang it up and call it quits until today.

Its amazing how clearly focused you feel after a long break. I really wish I had done 2 consecutive weeks (and so does my wife and kids!). That said, I am back, and in full swing ready to tackle the next (and current handful of ) projects.