News feed flows with unexpected events
December 2, 2010
Among the things that make life interesting are those things you never expected. After 15 years of publishing The 3000 NewsWire (thanks for your support) Abby and I took a 20th anniversary vacation to sunny California. Starting with afternoon highs in the 90s in Yosemite Valley, the trip and this fall broiled with such unexpected events.
These are the things that keep a couple reaching out together, as well as events that should keep you reading for many years to come. Some occur as “I never would've expected that,” and others drift into “who knows how long it will be before I see that?” Surprise enriches any story, whether it's a tale of travels, the innocent drama of sports, or an IT career around a computer no longer made or sold, and in less than a month, not supported by its creator.
A gourmet lunch at a gas station: This one is attached to that Yosemite vacation above. Abby and I lounged in the luxury of the Ahwhanee Hotel in Yosemite's valley, but we also took a day-trip across the highest road pass in California, descending to the shores of Mono Lake. Aside from the three-times-saltier than the ocean lake waters, the unexpected was fabulous fish tacos and buffalo meatloaf at the Tioga Mobil gas station on the lakeshore. We ate at the Whoa Nellie Deli, food as good as a four-star eatery, and it wasn't because we'd just come down off a 9,900-foot mountain summit.
A Fortune 100 migration starting in 2010: Speedware announced that one of the world's top 10 insurance firms is only now starting its move off the HP 3000. The company, which doesn't want to be named, has a profile of the customer most likely to be long-ago migrated. Such companies have lots of IT money, but as Speedware put it, the insurers believed “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” You might continue to be surprised at who's still in the un-migrated roll call next year.
Your NewsWire publisher Abby Lentz, before a swim in Mono Lake -- 3 times saltier than any ocean
Baseball in Texas in November: This one falls under the heading of sports dream come true for me. A baseball team I’ve supported since marrying Abby finally played in a World Series in this state. The Rangers were not even favored to win their division at the season’s start. After 49 seasons without even a try at the Series, they rolled over the top two playoff teams from the regular season, even though the Rangers then fell in a swift World Series that silenced Texas sluggers. No matter; they won the only Series game so far in the history of Texas Major League Baseball. “We’ll always have this season,” said my pal Tom and I, as we attended games wearing Ranger red and wide smiles, even richer for the surprise of the long-dreamt-of Series.
HP gives away servers to sell Unix: Falls under the heading of “who knows how long” until this one, but there’s a deal to give away $12,000 of hardware if you’ll just buy an HP-UX license and support to get started. The new CEO Leo Apotheker is expected to boost HP’s software business, but I didn’t think this freebie would emerge so quickly. Not that HP-UX needs the new customers, of course. But we hear that Sun’s got a new hardware sales guy who knows HP’s Unix vulnerabilities. (More on that one tomorrow.)
As we take the clubhouse turn into 2011, we expect more unexpected stories. It’s a good reason, as with any saga, to keep turning the pages on the printed issues, or clicking here to read about things you'd never expect.