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  • Thoughts on Thoughts on TDD

    Brian Harry wrote a post entitled Thoughts on TDD that I thought I was going to let lie, but I find that I need to write a response. I find myself in agreement with Brian on many points in the post, but I disagree with his conclusion. Not surprisingly, I agree with the things that he likes about TDD. Focusing on the usage rather than the implementation is really important, and this is important whether you use TDD or not. And YAGNI was a big theme in my Seven Deadly Sins of Programming series. Now, on to what he doesnt like. He says that he finds it inefficient to have tests that he has to change every time he refactors. Here is where we part company. If you are having to do a lot of test rewriting (say, more than a couple of minutes work to get back to green) *often* when you are refactoring your code, I submit that either you are testing things that you dont need to test (internal details rather than external implementation), your code perhaps isnt as decoupled as it could be, or maybe you need a visit to refactorers anonymous. I also like to refactor like crazy, but as we all know, the huge downside of refactoring is that we often break things. Important things. Subtle things. Which makes refactoring risky. *Unless* we have a set of tests that have great coverage. And TDD (or Example-based Design, which I prefer as a term) gives those to us. Now, I dont know what sort of coverage Brian gets with the unit tests that he writes, but I do know that for the majority of the developers Ive worked with and I count myself in that bucket the coverage of unit tests written afterwards is considerably inferior to the coverage of unit tests that come from TDD. For me, it all comes down to the answer to the following question: How do you ensure that your code works now and will continue to work in the future? Im willing to put up with a little efficiency on the front side to get that benefit later. Its not the writing of the code thats the expensive part, its everything else that comes after. I dont think that stepping through test cases in the debugger gets you what you want. You can verify what the current behavior is, sure, and do it fairly cheaply, but you dont help the guy in the future who doesnt know what conditions were important if he has to change your code. His second part that he doesnt like backing into an architecture (go read to see what he means). Ive certainly had to work with code that was like this before, and its a nightmare the code that nobody wants to touch. But thats not at all the kind of code that you get with TDD, because if youre doing it right youre doing the write a failing tests, make it pass, refactor approach. Now, you may miss some useful refactorings and generalizations for this, but if you do, you can refactor later because you have the tests that make it safe to do so, and your code tends to be easy to refactor because the same things that make code easy to write unit tests for make it easy to refactor. I also think Brian is missing an important point. We arent all as smart as he is. Im reminded a bit of the lesson of Intentional Programming, Charles Simonyis paradigm for making programming easier. I played around with Intentional Programming when it was young, and came to the conclusion that it was a pretty good thing if you were as smart as Simonyi is, but it was pretty much a disaster if you were an average developer. In this case, TDD gives you a way to work your way into a good, flexible, and functional architecture when you dont have somebody of Brians talents to help you out. And thats a good thing.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Apache - building extensions with apxs

    - by Brian
    Hello, Pardon the newbie question - I haven't worked with manually compiling Apache modules (or anything) before. I am trying to get the mod_concat module going. It seems simple enough - just requires downloading the mod_concat.c file and then running: axps -c mod_concat.c This is new to me. Does it matter which directory I put mod_concat.c before running this command? I ran it from my home directory, and I see some new files - mod_concat.la, mod_concat.lo, mod_concat.o, and mod_concat.slo - along with a new subfolder called .libs/ that contains mod_concat.so along with some other files. I'm not sure where to go from here, I have a feeling these files were created in the wrong place. Don't I need mod_concat.so to be in my apache modules directory with the rest? Thanks for the help, Brian

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  • SQL 2008 publisher -> SQL 2000 subscriber: Is a pull subscription possible for merge replication?

    - by Brian Dunzweiler
    I am trying to synchronize a SQL 2000 SP4 subscriber to a SQL 2008 publisher via a merge pull subscription. When the subscriber tries to run the merge agent, it fails the following error: The process could not connect to Distributor 'OH05DBS002\SAM_SSG_2008'. SQL Server does not exist or access denied. Has anyone had success with this setup? I was able to create and synchronize a push subscription so I know that communication works between the two, at least from 2008-2000. The lack of communication from 2000-2008 also affects the ability to create a linked server on the SQL 2000 subscriber. One other tidbit - I did install the SQL 2008 native client on the the 2000 box but it didn't help either. Before anyone asks, I can't upgrade the subscriber as it still needs to support replication between MS Access 2003. Yeah, I know. :) TIA, Brian

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  • Cached Network Share Credentials?

    - by Brian Wolfe
    Hi, I have an issue in Windows 7 where I get the following error message when attempting to access an admin network share on a machine in another domain: "Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again." Troubleshooting I've Done Start Run cmd net use * /DELETE Start Manage Windows Credentials Deleted all credentials I still receive the same error until I reboot my machine. After I reboot, it works fine. However, I am able to log into the admin share if I hit it by it's IP address. QUESTION My question is, is there somewhere else I should be looking for cached user credentials? Thanks, Brian

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  • PowerShell Script to Enumerate SharePoint 2010 or 2013 Permissions and Active Directory Group Membership

    - by Brian T. Jackett
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/bjackett/archive/2013/07/01/powershell-script-to-enumerate-sharepoint-2010-or-2013-permissions-and.aspx   In this post I will present a script to enumerate SharePoint 2010 or 2013 permissions across the entire farm down to the site (SPWeb) level.  As a bonus this script also recursively expands the membership of any Active Directory (AD) group including nested groups which you wouldn’t be able to find through the SharePoint UI.   History     Back in 2009 (over 4 years ago now) I published one my most read blog posts about enumerating SharePoint 2007 permissions.  I finally got around to updating that script to remove deprecated APIs, supporting the SharePoint 2010 commandlets, and fixing a few bugs.  There are 2 things that script did that I had to remove due to major architectural or procedural changes in the script. Indenting the XML output Ability to search for a specific user    I plan to add back the ability to search for a specific user but wanted to get this version published first.  As for indenting the XML that could be added but would take some effort.  If there is user demand for it (let me know in the comments or email me using the contact button at top of blog) I’ll move it up in priorities.    As a side note you may also notice that I’m not using the Active Directory commandlets.  This was a conscious decision since not all environments have them available.  Instead I’m relying on the older [ADSI] type accelerator and APIs.  It does add a significant amount of code to the script but it is necessary for compatibility.  Hopefully in a few years if I need to update again I can remove that legacy code.   Solution    Below is the script to enumerate SharePoint 2010 and 2013 permissions down to site level.  You can also download it from my SkyDrive account or my posting on the TechNet Script Center Repository. SkyDrive TechNet Script Center Repository http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Enumerate-SharePoint-2010-35976bdb   001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 073 074 075 076 077 078 079 080 081 082 083 084 085 086 087 088 089 090 091 092 093 094 095 096 097 098 099 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 ########################################################### #DisplaySPWebApp8.ps1 # #Author: Brian T. Jackett #Last Modified Date: 2013-07-01 # #Traverse the entire web app site by site to display # hierarchy and users with permissions to site. ########################################################### function Expand-ADGroupMembership {     Param     (         [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,                    Position=0)]         [string]         $ADGroupName,         [Parameter(Position=1)]         [string]         $RoleBinding     )     Process     {         $roleBindingText = ""         if(-not [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($RoleBinding))         {             $roleBindingText = " RoleBindings=`"$roleBindings`""         }         Write-Output "<ADGroup Name=`"$($ADGroupName)`"$roleBindingText>"         $domain = $ADGroupName.substring(0, $ADGroupName.IndexOf("\") + 1)         $groupName = $ADGroupName.Remove(0, $ADGroupName.IndexOf("\") + 1)                                     #BEGIN - CODE ADAPTED FROM SCRIPT CENTER SAMPLE CODE REPOSITORY         #http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/powershell/search/users/srch106.mspx         #GET AD GROUP FROM DIRECTORY SERVICES SEARCH         $strFilter = "(&(objectCategory=Group)(name="+($groupName)+"))"         $objDomain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry         $objSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher         $objSearcher.SearchRoot = $objDomain         $objSearcher.Filter = $strFilter         # specify properties to be returned         $colProplist = ("name","member","objectclass")         foreach ($i in $colPropList)         {             $catcher = $objSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add($i)         }         $colResults = $objSearcher.FindAll()         #END - CODE ADAPTED FROM SCRIPT CENTER SAMPLE CODE REPOSITORY         foreach ($objResult in $colResults)         {             if($objResult.Properties["Member"] -ne $null)             {                 foreach ($member in $objResult.Properties["Member"])                 {                     $indMember = [adsi] "LDAP://$member"                     $fullMemberName = $domain + ($indMember.Name)                                         #if($indMember["objectclass"]                         # if child AD group continue down chain                         if(($indMember | Select-Object -ExpandProperty objectclass) -contains "group")                         {                             Expand-ADGroupMembership -ADGroupName $fullMemberName                         }                         elseif(($indMember | Select-Object -ExpandProperty objectclass) -contains "user")                         {                             Write-Output "<ADUser>$fullMemberName</ADUser>"                         }                 }             }         }                 Write-Output "</ADGroup>"     } } #end Expand-ADGroupMembership # main portion of script if((Get-PSSnapin -Name microsoft.sharepoint.powershell) -eq $null) {     Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell } $farm = Get-SPFarm Write-Output "<Farm Guid=`"$($farm.Id)`">" $webApps = Get-SPWebApplication foreach($webApp in $webApps) {     Write-Output "<WebApplication URL=`"$($webApp.URL)`" Name=`"$($webApp.Name)`">"     foreach($site in $webApp.Sites)     {         Write-Output "<SiteCollection URL=`"$($site.URL)`">"                 foreach($web in $site.AllWebs)         {             Write-Output "<Site URL=`"$($web.URL)`">"             # if site inherits permissions from parent then stop processing             if($web.HasUniqueRoleAssignments -eq $false)             {                 Write-Output "<!-- Inherits role assignments from parent -->"             }             # else site has unique permissions             else             {                 foreach($assignment in $web.RoleAssignments)                 {                     if(-not [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($assignment.Member.Xml))                     {                         $roleBindings = ($assignment.RoleDefinitionBindings | Select-Object -ExpandProperty name) -join ","                         # check if assignment is SharePoint Group                         if($assignment.Member.XML.StartsWith('<Group') -eq "True")                         {                             Write-Output "<SPGroup Name=`"$($assignment.Member.Name)`" RoleBindings=`"$roleBindings`">"                             foreach($SPGroupMember in $assignment.Member.Users)                             {                                 # if SharePoint group member is an AD Group                                 if($SPGroupMember.IsDomainGroup)                                 {                                     Expand-ADGroupMembership -ADGroupName $SPGroupMember.Name                                 }                                 # else SharePoint group member is an AD User                                 else                                 {                                     # remove claim portion of user login                                     #Write-Output "<ADUser>$($SPGroupMember.UserLogin.Remove(0,$SPGroupMember.UserLogin.IndexOf("|") + 1))</ADUser>"                                     Write-Output "<ADUser>$($SPGroupMember.UserLogin)</ADUser>"                                 }                             }                             Write-Output "</SPGroup>"                         }                         # else an indivdually listed AD group or user                         else                         {                             if($assignment.Member.IsDomainGroup)                             {                                 Expand-ADGroupMembership -ADGroupName $assignment.Member.Name -RoleBinding $roleBindings                             }                             else                             {                                 # remove claim portion of user login                                 #Write-Output "<ADUser>$($assignment.Member.UserLogin.Remove(0,$assignment.Member.UserLogin.IndexOf("|") + 1))</ADUser>"                                                                 Write-Output "<ADUser RoleBindings=`"$roleBindings`">$($assignment.Member.UserLogin)</ADUser>"                             }                         }                     }                 }             }             Write-Output "</Site>"             $web.Dispose()         }         Write-Output "</SiteCollection>"         $site.Dispose()     }     Write-Output "</WebApplication>" } Write-Output "</Farm>"      The output from the script can be sent to an XML which you can then explore using the [XML] type accelerator.  This lets you explore the XML structure however you see fit.  See the screenshot below for an example.      If you do view the XML output through a text editor (Notepad++ for me) notice the format.  Below we see a SharePoint site that has a SharePoint group Demo Members with Edit permissions assigned.  Demo Members has an AD group corp\developers as a member.  corp\developers has a child AD group called corp\DevelopersSub with 1 AD user in that sub group.  As you can see the script recursively expands the AD hierarchy.   Conclusion    It took me 4 years to finally update this script but I‘m happy to get this published.  I was able to fix a number of errors and smooth out some rough edges.  I plan to develop this into a more full fledged tool over the next year with more features and flexibility (copy permissions, search for individual user or group, optional enumerate lists / items, etc.).  If you have any feedback, feature requests, or issues running it please let me know.  Enjoy the script!         -Frog Out

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  • Sugar SOAP set_entry

    - by Brian
    I am trying to add entries to a Sugar Contacts database with the following SOAP code in PHP. $set_entry_params = array( 'session' => $result_array->id, 'module_name' => 'Contacts', 'name_value_list'=>array( array('name'=>'Name','value'=>'Brian') ) ); $result = $soapClient->__soapCall('set_entry', $set_entry_params); An entry is made in the sugar db, but the name field is left blank and the Role field is labelled: Pre Sugar Roll Out does anyone know what is wrong here?

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  • Insert unicode strings into CleverCSS

    - by Brian M. Hunt
    How can one insert a Unicode string CSS into CleverCSS? In particular, how could one produce the following CSS using CleverCSS: li:after { content: "\00BB \0020"; } I've figured out CleverCSS's parsing rules, but suffice that the permutations I've thought sensible have failed, for example: li: content: "\\00BB \\0020" // becomes content: 'BB 0' EDIT: My other examples and the rest of my post weren't saved. Suffice that I had a longer list of examples that also failed, as did my closing which was something like: I'd be grateful for any thoughts and input. Brian

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  • Javascript DOM ready without an entire framework

    - by Brian
    Hello, Does anyone know of a good javascript DOM ready library that I can use without loading an entire framework? I found one on google code that seems to work, but the library was posted in 2008 and I can't find any confirmation on up-to-date cross browser support. Thanks, Brian

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  • Adding images to version control with Subclipse

    - by Brian
    Hello, I know that when using Subversion, adding/copying/renaming files must be done via 'svn add' or 'svn copy' etc. In my Eclipse IDE, I use Subclipse to work with subversion. It's easy enough to add text-based files to version control (ie. php/html/js files) - but how do I properly add images to version control using Subclipse? Thanks, Brian

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  • How to download a folder of files from a web server using Delphi

    - by Brian Frost
    I've checked out the usefule link how to download a file from internet using Delphi and my question related but I would appreciate a pointer to get started. I need to be able to copy all files in a web server folder down to a local folder. I wont know how many files there are, or indeed whether there is an internet connection. Are there component(s) that would help me please? Or can I use Windows API? Thanks Brian

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  • Java for a C programmer?

    - by Brian
    Hi, I have a lot of experience in C and Python, but I'd like to pick up some Java. I was curious if there was a "quick and dirty" guide tailored for people with previous CS background. I'd prefer free online resources but appreciate any suggestion. Thanks, Brian

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  • How do you add and use just the Django version 1.2.1 template?

    - by Brian
    Thanks for the help. Currently I import in gae: from google.appengine.ext.webapp import template then use this to render: self.response.out.write(template.render('tPage1.htm', templateInfo )) I believe the template that Google supplied for Django templete is version 0.96. How do I setup and import the newer version of only the Django template version 1.2.1? Brian

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  • Apache - child process exited with status 255

    - by Brian
    I am running Windows 7 64-bit with an older version of (Apache 2.0.59) and PHP 5.2 - just switched from XP and wanted to keep the same versions. Everything will initially be working fine, but then I'll be trying to load a page and Apache crashes. I'll get an error in the browser that says "The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading." Then Apache stops running. Sometimes it can be restarted, but then crashes again on the next page load. Sometimes it can't even be restarted at all. Looking in the Apache error logs, I see a series of messages that goes something like: [notice] Apache/2.0.59 (Win32) PHP/5.2.13 configured -- resuming normal operations [notice] Server built: Jul 27 2006 15:55:03 [notice] Parent: Created child process 1220 [notice] Child 1220: Child process is running [notice] Child 1220: Acquired the start mutex. [notice] Child 1220: Starting 250 worker threads. [notice] Parent: child process exited with status 255 -- Restarting. I have just come from Win XP where I never had any problems - is this an issue with my Apache version on Win7? Or perhaps it's a configuration issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've done days of research and found nothing helpful. Thanks, Brian

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  • Can anyone explain these differences between two similar i7 processors? [closed]

    - by Brian Frost
    I have two systems I've just built. They both have i7 processors and Asus P8Z77 motherboards. When I run a simple processor loop benchmark that I wrote in Delphi some time back I get one machine showing nealry twice as fast as the other. I then used CPU-Z to dump me the details of the hardware and I see that the fast machine shows: Processor 1 ID = 0 Number of cores 4 (max 8) Number of threads 8 (max 16) Name Intel Core i7 2700K Codename Sandy Bridge Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2700K CPU @ 3.50GHz Package (platform ID) Socket 1155 LGA (0x1) CPUID 6.A.7 Extended CPUID 6.2A Core Stepping D2 Technology 32 nm TDP Limit 95 Watts Core Speed 3610.7 MHz Multiplier x FSB 36.0 x 100.3 MHz Stock frequency 3500 MHz the slow machine shows: Processor 1 ID = 0 Number of cores 4 (max 8) Number of threads 8 (max 16) Name Intel Core i7 2600K Codename Sandy Bridge Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz Package (platform ID) Socket 1155 LGA (0x1) CPUID 6.A.7 Extended CPUID 6.2A Core Stepping D2 Technology 32 nm TDP Limit 95 Watts Core Speed 1648.2 MHz Multiplier x FSB 16.0 x 103.0 MHz Stock frequency 3400 MHz i.e the slow machine has a 2600k to the fast machine 2700k. The very different "Multiplier x FSB" must be significant but I dont understand how two processors with a very 'similar' number can be so different. To get the machines the same must I copy the processors or is there some clever setting that I can change? Thanks for any help. Brian.

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  • links for 2010-04-01

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Jason Williamson: Oracle Releases New Mainframe Re-Hosting in Oracle Tuxedo 11g Jason Williamson's update on new features in the latest release of Oracle Tuxedo 11g. (tags: otn oracle entarch) Jeanne Waldman: Using Oracle ADF Data Visualization Tools (DVT) Line Graphs to Display Weather Information Jeanne Waldman illustrates the nuts and bolts of modifications she made to a a simple JDeveloper Fusion application that retrieves weather data. I have a simple JDeveloper Fusion application that retrieves weather data. (tags: oracle otn virtualization jdeveloper ADF) Brian Harrison: Oracle WebCenter Interaction - New Release Overivew, Part 2 Brian Harrison continue his discussion of the next release of Oracle WebCenter Interaction with a look at at a few other new features. (tags: oracle otn enterprise2.0 webcenter)

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  • Silverlight Cream for November 08, 2011 -- #1165

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this Issue: Brian Noyes, Michael Crump, WindowsPhoneGeek, Erno de Weerd, Jesse Liberty, Derik Whittaker, Sumit Dutta, Asim Sajjad, Dhananjay Kumar, Kunal Chowdhury, and Beth Massi. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Working with Prism 4 Part 1: Getting Started" Brian Noyes WP7: "Getting Started with the Coding4Fun toolkit Tile Control" WindowsPhoneGeek LightSwitch: "How to Connect to and Diagram your SQL Express Database in Visual Studio LightSwitch" Beth Massi Shoutouts: Michael Palermo's latest Desert Mountain Developers is up Michael Washington's latest Visual Studio #LightSwitch Daily is up From SilverlightCream.com: Working with Prism 4 Part 1: Getting Started Brian Noyes has a series starting at SilverlightShow about Prism 4 ... this is the first one, so a good time to jump in and pick up on an intro and basic info about Prism plus building your first Prism app. 10 Laps around Silverlight 5 (Part 5 of 10) Michael Crump has Part 5 of his 10-part Silverlight 5 investigation up at SilverlightShow talking about all the various text features added in Silverlight 5 Beta: Text Tracking and Leading, Linked and MultiColumn, OpenType, etc. Getting Started with the Coding4Fun toolkit Tile Control WindowsPhoneGeek takes on the Tile control from the Coding4Fun toolkit... as usual, great tutorial... diagrams, code, explanation Using AppHarbor, Bitbucket and Mercurial with ASP.NET and Silverlight – Part 2 CouchDB, Cloudant and Hammock Erno de Weerd has Part 2 of his trilogy and he's trying to beat David Anson for the long title record :) ... in this episode, he's adding in cloud storage to the mix in a 35-step tutorial. Background Audio Jesse Liberty's talking about background Audio... and no not the Muzak in the elevator (do they still have that?) ... he's tlking about the WP7.1 BackgroundAudioPlayer Using the ToggleSwitch in WinRT/Metro (for C#) Derik Whittaker shows off the ToggleSwitch for WinRT/Metro... not a lot to be said about it, but he says it all :) Part 19 - Windows Phone 7 - Access Phone Contacts Sumit Dutta has Part 19! of his WP7 series up... talking today about getting a phone number from the directory using the PhoneNumberChooserTask ContextMenu using MVVM Asim Sajjad shows how to make the Context Menu ViewModel friendly in this short tutorial. Code to make call in Windows Phone 7 Dhananjay Kumar's latest WP7 post is explaining how to make a call programmatically using the PhoneCallTask launcher. Silverlight Page Navigation Framework - Basic Concept Kunal Chowdhury has a 3-part tutorial series on Silverlight Navigation up. This is the first in the series, and he hits the basics... what constitutes a Page, and how to get started with the navigation framework. How to Connect to and Diagram your SQL Express Database in Visual Studio LightSwitch Beth Massi's latest LightSwitch post is on using the Data Designer to easily crete and model database tables... during development this is in SQL Express, but can be deployed to most SQL server db you like Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • FREE Windows Azure Boot camp &ndash; Raleigh Wednesday June 23, 2010

    - by Jim Duffy
    Just want to be sure you don’t miss out on an opportunity to take advantage of some free Windows Azure training. Microsoft Developer Evangelist Brian Hitney and I will be presenting a one-day Windows Azure boot camp on June 23rd in Raleigh, NC at the Microsoft RTP offices. For more information on content, what to bring, directions, etc. just click here to go to the information and registration page for the Raleigh event. To find other dates and locations for the Windows Azure boot camps  head over to the Windows Azure Boot Camp page. Brian and I hope to see you there! Have a day. :-|

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  • OK - What now? How do we become a Social Business?

    - by Michael Snow
    We hope that those of you that attended yesterday's Webcast with Brian Solis enjoyed Brian's discussion with Christian Finn for our last Webcast of the season for the Oracle Social Business Thought Leaders Series.  For those of you that may have missed the webcast or were stuck at a company holiday party - you'll be glad to hear that the webcast will be available On-Demand starting later today (12/14/12). And any of you who'd like to listen to a quick but informative podcast with Brian - can listen to that here. Some of you may still be left with questions about how to get from point A to point B and even more confused than when you started thinking about this new world of Digital Darwinism. The post below, grabbed from an abundance of great thought leadership prose on Brian's blog may help you frame the path you need to start walking sooner versus later to stay off of the endangered species list.  As you explore your path forward, please keep Oracle in mind - we do offer a wide range of solutions to help your organization 12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} optimize the engagement for your customers, employees and partners. The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business Brian Solis Originally posted May 2, 2012 I’ve been a long-time supporter of MediaTemple’s (MT)Residence program along with Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many others whom I respect. I wanted to share my “7 questions to answer to become a social business” with you here.. Social Media is pervasive and is becoming the new normal in corporate marketing. Brands who get this right are starting to build their own media networks rich with customer connections numbering in the millions. Right now, Coca-Cola has over 34 million fans on Facebook, but they’re hardly alone. Disney follows just behind with 29 million fans, Starbucks boasts 25 million, and Oreo, Red Bull, and Converse play host to over 20 million fans. If we were to look at other networks such as Twitter and Youtube, we would see a recurring theme. People are connecting en masse with the businesses they support and new media represents the ability to cultivate consumer relationships in ways not possible with traditional earned or paid media. Sounds great right? This might sound abrupt, but the truth is that we’re hardly realizing the potential of what lies before us. Everything begins with understanding not just how other brands are marketing themselves in social media, but also seeing what they’re not doing and envisioning what’s possible. We’re already approaching the first of many crossroads that new media will present. Do we take the path of a social brand or that of a social business? What’s the difference? A social brand is just that, a business that is remodeling or retrofitting its existing marketing practices to new media. A social business is something altogether different as it embraces introspection and extrospection to reevaluate internal and external processes, systems, and opportunities to transform into a living, breathing entity that adapts to market conditions and opportunities. It’s a tough decision to make right now especially at a time when all we read about is how much success many businesses are finding without having to answer this very question. With all of the newfound success in social networks, the truth is that we’re only just beginning to learn what’s possible and that’s where you come in. When compared to the investment in time and resources across the board, social media represents only a small part of the mix. But with your help, that’s all about to change. The CMO Survey, an organization that disseminates the opinions of top marketers in order to predict the future of markets, recently published a report that gave credence to the fact that social media is taking off. One of the most profound takeaways from the report was this gem; “The “like button” [in Facebook] packs more customer-acquisition punch than other demand-generating activities.” With insights like this, it’s easy to see why the race to social is becoming heated. The report also highlighted exactly where social fits in the marketing mix today and as you can see, despite all of the hype, it’s not a dominant focus yet. As of August 2011, the percentage of overall marketing budgets dedicated to social media hovered at around 7%. However, in 2012 the investment in social media will climb to 10%. And, in five years, social media is expected to represent almost 18% of the total marketing budget. Think about that for a moment. In 2016, social media will only represent 18%? Queue the sound of a record scratching here. With businesses finding success in social networks, why are businesses failing to realize the true opportunity brought forth by the ability to listen to, connect with, and engage with customers? While there’s value in earning views, driving traffic, and building connections through the 3F’s (friends, fans and followers), success isn’t just defined simply by what really amounts to low-hanging fruit. The truth is that businesses cannot measure what it is they don’t know to value. As a result, innovation in new engagement initiatives is stifled because we’re applying dated or inflexible frameworks to new paradigms. Social media isn’t owned by marketing, but instead the entire organization. This changes everything and makes your role so much more important. It’s up to you to learn how to think outside of the proverbial social media box to see what others don’t, the ability to improve customers experiences through the evolution of a social brand into a social business. Doing so will translate customer insights from what they do and don’t share in social networks into better products, services, and processes. See, customers want something more from their favorite businesses than creative campaigns, viral content, and everyday dialogue in social networks. Customers want to be heard and they want to know that you’re listening. How businesses use social media must remind them that they’re more than just an audience, consumer, or a conduit to “trigger” a desired social effect. Herein lies both the challenge and opportunity of social media. It’s bigger than marketing. It’s also bigger than customer service. It’s about building relationships with customers that improve experiences and more importantly, teaches businesses how to re-imagine products and internal processes to better adapt to potential crises and seize new opportunities. When it comes down to it, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Foursquare, are all channels for listening, learning, and engaging. It’s what you do within each channel that builds a community around your brand. And, at the end of the day, the value of the community you build counts for everything. It’s important to understand that we cannot assume that these networks simply exist for people to lineup for our marketing messages or promotional campaigns. Nor can we assume that they’re reeling in anticipation for simple dialogue. They want value. They want recognition. They want access to exclusive information and offers. They need direction, answers and resolution. What we’re talking about here is the multidimensional makeup of consumers and how a one-sided approach to social media forces the needs for social media to expand beyond traditional marketing to socialize the various departments, lines of business, and functions to engage based on the nature of the situation or opportunity. In the same CMO study, it was revealed that marketers believe that social media has a long way to go toward integrating into the overall company strategy. On a scale of 1-7, with one being “not integrated at all” and seven being “very integrated,” 22% chose “one.” Critical functions such as service, HR, sales, R&D, product marketing and development, IR, CSR, etc. are either not engaged or are operating social media within a silo disconnected from other efforts or possibilities. The problem is that customers don’t view a company by silo, instead they see one company, one brand, and their experience in social media forms an impression that eventually contributes to their view of your brand. The first step here is to understand business priorities and objectives to assess how social media can be additive in achieving these goals. Additionally, surveying the landscape to determine other areas of interest as its specifically related to your business. • Are customers seeking help or direction? • Who are your most valuable customers and what are they sharing? • How can you use social media to acquire and retain customers? - What ideas are circulating and how can you harness user generated activity and content to innovate or adapt to better meet the needs of customers? - How can you broaden a single customer view to recognize the varying needs of customers and how your organization can organize around each circumstance? - What insights exist based on how consumers are interacting with one another? How can this intelligence inform marketing, service, products and other important business initiatives? - How can your business extend their current efforts to deliver better customer experiences and in turn more effectively unit internal collaboration and communication? Customer demands far exceed the capabilities of the marketing department. While creating a social brand is a necessary endeavor, building a social business is an investment in customer relevance now and over time. Beyond relevance, a social business fosters a culture of change that unites employees and customers and sets a foundation for meaningful and beneficial relationships. Innovation, communication, and creativity are the natural byproducts of engagement and transformation. As a social brand, we are competing for the moment. As a social business, we are competing the future in all that we do today.

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  • Windows Azure Boot camp &ndash; Raleigh Wednesday June 23, 2010 * FREE*

    - by Jim Duffy
    Yes I know this is my second blog post about the free one-day Windows Azure boot camp on June 23rd in Raleigh, NC. What can I say I don’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to take advantage of some free Windows Azure training. Microsoft Developer Evangelist Brian Hitney and I will be presenting a one-day Windows Azure boot camp on June 23rd in Raleigh, NC at the Microsoft RTP offices. For more information on content, what to bring, directions, etc. just click here to go to the information and registration page for the Raleigh event. To find other dates and locations for the Windows Azure boot camps  head over to the Windows Azure Boot Camp page. Brian and I hope to see you there! Have a day. :-|

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  • A Comparison of Store Layouts

    - by David Dorf
    Belus Capital Advisors is an independent stock market research firm that sometimes rolls up its sleeves and walks retail stores.  This month Brian Sozzi walked both Macy's and Sears and snapped pictures along the way.  The results are a good lesson in what to do and what not to do in retail.  The dichotomy between the two brands is stark, and Brian's pictures tell the stories of artistry and neglect.  For example, look at these two pictures: Where do you want to shop for sneakers?  The left picture shows the Finish Line store within Macy's and the right shows empty shelves at Sears.  The pictures really show the importance of assortments, in-stock inventory, and presentation.  Take a look at the two stories, and pay particular attention to the pictures of Sears. 19 Photos that Show the New Magic of Macy’s Sears is Vanishing from our Minds, the Shocking 18 Photos That Show Why

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  • JSR-107 Early Draft Released

    - by rob.misek
    After nearly 12 years the early draft of JSR-107 has been released. Brian Oliver, co-spec lead, details this update including information on the source, resourcing and the JCP 2.7 process. Check out Brian's update here. "Yesterday the JCP made the important step of posting the Early Draft specification and API for JSR107. [...]While an enormous amount of progress was made last year and early this year (by many people – not so much me) the JSR was somewhat delayed while the legals were resolved, especially with respect to ensuring clean and clear IP for Java itself, the eventual JCache Providers and the community.   Thankfully this stage is complete and we can move forward."

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  • Why C# is not statically typed but F# and Haskell are?

    - by ??????? ???????
    There was a talk given by Brian Hurt about advantages and disadvantages of static typing. Brian said that by static typing he don't mean C#, but F# and Haskell. Is it because of dynamic keyword added to C#-4.0? But this feature is relatively rarely useful. By the way, there are ? and unsafeCoerse in Haskell which obviously are not the same, but something that could blown your head off in runtime similarly like exception thrown as a result of dynamic. Finally, why F# and Haskell could be named a statically typed languages and C# couldn't?

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