Categories
On the web

The OpenBSD Releases Process

Theo de Raadt talks about the OpenBSD Releases Process.  It’s short but sweet little interesting talk that touches a lot of different aspects about releasing software and doing development. I hightly recommended to anyone who cares about this field, that ought to mean any people doing software. They have a different way about thinking about a lot of things, of course their focus on security is special which also shows off in their release management. What I really liked was that they import stuff into their tree and then they take ownership of it. That way, I think, they avoid a lot of the problem that plague e.g. Ubuntu, like crappy intel drivers in latest Jaunty, the thrashing hell failure, unstable tracker in Jaunty. Of course all that comes at a certain cost, they are running ancient version of some pieces of the tree,  but at least they know that it works.

Categories
Books

How to Win Friends and Influence People book review

What a title for a book. The book was recommended by Joel Spolsky, he calls the book mandatory for what managers in his Fog Creek Software should read. That was what peaked my curiosity at first, then I read that the book is from 1936 and I was really intrigued. So I thought I’d order the book and see what all the fuss was about. And glad I did! The book is full of interesting anecdotes and advice that still rings as true today as the day they were written. It’s funny to read examples from the 1899, but that really doesn’t make them less true, on the contrary, it just shows that he was onto something fundamental in the human nature. The book touches many aspects of life, from business, to family to friends.  On wikipedia all the advices are summed up, but I really recommned that you read it for yourself. It’s worth it.