Before you say anything… Yes I know I am late and I am ashamed. Given the fact that I am involved in the Haiku Project (I mainly contribute to the Haiku Web team and answer general inquiries from the contact form on the site) I should have posted this back on September 14.

Regardless, Haiku R1/Alpha 1 is here. It is the first official release from the Haiku Project after years of continuous development. Unlike a lot of alpha releases from other projects I feel that this Alpha is of superior quality and stability (yes… I am biased). If you are interested in open source operating systems this is a great one to give a try.  Hop on over to the Haiku website and download the ISO, virtual machine or raw disk image to test it out!

For those of you who know me, you know that I am not one to put up with bullshit or red tape for very long. You would also know that I am the kind of person who is always testing out new things and that I have a constant thirst for knowledge.

For the past four years I have been working as Help Desk Analyst for various government departments. So you ask what I am getting at? Well the above are some of the main factors to why I need to leave my current job. It’s sort of a Catch 22, I guess. It’s a very stable position with a pension and great medical benefits but I just can’t take it anymore.

My parents can’t understand why [update Sept 4,2008 - Mom says that her and Dad have a good grasp on my reasoning for moving on from this position - thanks Mom ] I would want to leave such a job and go for something in the private sector that doesn’t offer the same amount of stability or benefits. I can tell you why, it’s because I’m getting burnt out. A person can only take so much of the same thing (some can handle this more that others). I’m getting tired of the repetitive questions and petty (I really do mean petty) “issues” that people seem to think are important. It would be safe to say that 99% of these petty requests have no bearing on the grand scheme of things and no effect on the end result. It’s tough for me to sit here and respect a place that places so much emphasis on issues that don’t mean anything and don’t advance towards the improvement of the organization.

I feel that I need a job where I can take pride in what I do. I don’t have to be saving baby bunny rabbits or anything crazy like that but it would be nice to have some sort of gratification out of it. In my current position there are no methods in place to reward productivity or encourage hard work. The only thing that can happen is you can be scolded if you do not perform to expectations but there’s nothing that can really be done so no one worries about being fired. What kind of place is that to work? I’ve heard people wonder why no one wants to work any overtime but they can’t figure out why. Sure, we get paid for it but there’s nothing to make us feel that it will be rewarded in any other way than monetary. Management doesn’t even tell us whether or not they appreciate the work we do over and above our daily duties.

There are other factors that come in to play here as well. One is that there is no accountability, FOR ANYTHING. It really doesn’t matter what you do there’s almost nothing that can be done about it. Human Resources has warnings and written warnings that can be used but in all my time here I have never known of anyone using them.

Another one of the reasons for me wanting to get it is the issue of stagnation. I feel that in the past few years (mostly the past two) that there’s really been no change in the technology that we use. This is where my thirst for learning is just about killing me. Since the technology is pretty much at a standstill, I have learned a few ways to help keep my mind at ease but it’s no longer enough. There were a few times when it looked like some new projects were going to come through but they have almost all been squashed at the last minute.

There are more issues why I feel the need to part ways with this position but I don’t think I will mention them as I’ve already been scolded for pointing them out. Once I leave I may consider talking about them in greater detail but for now I’m sure I’ve bored you enough already.

Cheers!
~TheNerd

Sikosis finished up the editing portion of the the Haiku Podcast and has posted it on the site.

This time around we talk about the Google Summer of Code 2008 again, BeServed code being donated to Haiku, the Pineapple News Reader is being resurrected and much more! Of course, I am once again co-hosting the podcast.

I must say thanks again to Sikosis for bringing me on to the show. I’m really beginning to love this podcasting thing

Click here to listen

Sikosis has published the latest episode of the Haiku Podcast. This time around we, once again, talk Haiku and Haikuware news. With the Google Summer of Code coming up and lots of bounty news this should be an interesting episode for everyone This episode is 12 minutes and 11 seconds long.

Haiku Podcast Website

Cheers!
~TheNerd

I now have Haiku running on real hardware with a functioning display, keyboard, and mouse. The hardware being used is a Dell Latitude D600 (Laptop Battery Dell Latitude D500/D600) with Ubuntu installed to use as a build system for Haiku. The unfortunate part of it is that my network interface doesn’t have a driver so I’m left without Internet access for the time being. I was thinking about opening a bounty to create a driver for it but I’m thinking that there are other areas that need bounties before that.

I’ve yet to test the sound because there aren’t any sound files included in the default build. I guess I’m going to have to learn how to used the build script to copy over files during the build process. I suppose I’ll also want to play with some of the other features that aren’t included by default so learning how to configure the build process is not such a bad thing.

I was talking with Sikosis on IRC last night and told him it was time for me to hone my Haiku skills. It seems like I spend more time talking about Haiku and Haiku politics than I do using it. But I guess now that I have Haiku running on real hardware I don’t have any more excuses. I’m hoping that once I can get some more software, video files and sound files on it I could use this system as a demo and show all kinds of people what Haiku is all about. There is a computer swap meet in my area next month and if I can get there I would like to get a table and do a demo. Sadly, I’m pretty sure I’ve been spoken for that weekend so it’s not looking good.

(if I get a chance I’ll take a picture to prove it )

That’s right folks. Your’s truly is now an official podcaster. As of today I am co-host of the Haiku Podcast. I’ve been wanting to get into this for quite some time but never had the chance to until a few weeks ago when I was talking to Sikosis (a prominent member of the Haiku community) and he mentioned that he was looking for a co-host.

Needless to say I jumped right on it. It took a while  for us to meet up on Skype because he lives in Australia and I live in Canada. There is actually a 14 hour time difference between us. We finally met up a few weeks ago to test the skype connection. It went very well and we decided that I would join in on the next episode. This past Friday was the time to record.

Wow what an interesting experience that was. In all my years here on this lovely planet, I have organized events and stood up in front of crowds of people to speak but nothing really compares to this. I know it’s weird but for some reason the fact that it was being recorded and saved forever somewhere was in the back of my mind the whole time. I did manage to get through it and when Sikosis edited all of my “uhhhs and ummms” out of it, it wasn’t that bad.

I can definitely say (well as long as Sikosis agrees)  I will be co-hosting the Haiku Podcast for some time to come. If you want to listen to the episode click here to get to the podcast home page.

Cheers!
~TheNerd