IE8 passed ACID2

Ok, if you haven't heard it yet, the dev guys working on IE8 have just announced they have checked the code into source control allowing IE8 to pass the ACID2 Test.

As you can imagine, this seems to have created a massive buzz around the web. It's an important step to having IE8 "standard" compliant, though all it really means at the moment is that IE now renders a large set of CSS2 and 2.1 correctly AND handles errors gracefully. I'm sure there is still more work to go before IE8 fully supports the full set of standards (Pick a standard, any standard.. there are plenty of them..).

Interestingly, IE8 will need a special DOCTYPE tag to indicate it's should be processed in "Standards" mode. Why does it do this, it's pretty simple. It means IE8 won't break the web. It will continue to render everything the way it does in IE7.

What it means though. especially for all of us developers, we will now need to start paying a little more attention to web standards (By Us I mean everybody else, if you've ever worked with me or talked to me, I don't do web dev...), but hopefully, we won't need to write web sites differently for all the different browsers.

Anyway, after reading this, it took me a little bit to work out what it really means to me as a non web developer. The answer was actually really simple. I'll hear less complaining from web developers. This is a good thing. Second of all, the only web site that I've ever had trouble with in IE6/7 (Slashdot) may now actually render correctly. This is great as I can now enjoy reading their tripe and constant complaining the way it is intended..

A quick catch up

New Job
So, here I am, sitting at my desk, enjoying the challenges of a new contract, learning all the faces, the project and investigating why things are done the way they are. This last part for me is probably the part I both enjoy and hate the most. I always enjoy looking at processes and technology to see how they have been used in creative ways, yet at the same time find it sad that some opportunities go begging for seemingly small petty reasons. I have to say though that so far the I have not found any of these things yet, which is really exciting.

Blogging Friends
I'd also like to just throw out a quick shout to Dave and Glenn, two of the great guys I worked with on my last contract who are both now blogging (for a few weeks, I just haven't had time to say anything yet).

Leaving Friends
And then there is Kyle, yet another of the talented developers I've been lucky to work with. He's all set for the UK to see what mysteries await. Good luck dude, make sure you stay in touch.

The Pub Without Beer

Well, not quite. But the situation was very very close.

A pub without a working toilet. That's right, there I was, happy after having a few beers with my friday Surf 'n Turf, thinking how I really shouldn't have had so many, and desperately needing to relieve before getting into a car for the ride back to work. Unfortunately when I got to the gents, there was a very nice sign informing patrons of the "outside water disruptions" and how the facilities were closed to the patronage.....

Anyway, it got me thinking more about systems, and how, despite their continual uptime and reliability, a single outside factor can easily take down a system. Yet with a little better planning, system up time can still be maintained (yes, a water tank may have solved this problem)...

Time for a Change

Wow, it's been 4 months since I last blogged. Quite a bit has happened in that time which I hope to get up here in the next week or two.

Probably the biggest new is that in just two weeks time I'm heading for greener pastures. See, I've been in my current job for a little over 5 years (on contract), doing a range of work including development, builds, maintenance etc etc. I recently accepted a new job offer with yet another government department here in Canberra as a Technical Team Lead/Senior Developer. It's back doing the sort of work I enjoy, using new technology.

I'll try and keep you all up to date with how things go, but needless to say I'm fairly excited about the near future.

A pet hate of mine

I know a few people who will strongly disagree with me on this, but it's something that I absolutely hate seeing in computer systems.. Its Nullable Booleans...... Booleans represent two states, true, false.. They do not represent "Unknown" or anything else you might possibly find. If you need a third state, use something else.. an enumeration or something that carries the meaning of the "extra" state with it.

It's about time that ....

we can now report idiot drivers... Lucky I'm clean...

I'm going to make a habit of entering all motorist into this site that annoy me.. Starting with the 4x4 that made it impossible for me to overtake other cars all the way back from Batemens Bay on the weekend...

My new Toy

I finally did it. I went and got myself a new toy. I've turned of my old i-Mate PDA2k, and with it cleared up alot of room on my belt.. The JasJam is just awsome. It's small, faster and better looking.. I'm loving it.

It took me a whole 10 minutes to try out my first 3G video call.. what can I say, I'm a geek..

I've been tagged

Wow, I actually thought I might manage to duck this one, but Rory managed to hit me up. I guess it's time to air my dirty laundry.

1. I played AFL for the Gungahlin Jets, this year is going to be my 15th year playing.
2. I don't have any "Qualifications", as I left CIT to start working and never went back to finish.
3. I've been married now for 3 years to my wife Kama-Jay, though I've been together we've been together now for nearly 10 years. We have two little girls together aged 7 and 2.
4. I'm absolutely terrible at golf, though I love to play. I've decided that I really need to play a lot more and get some lessons.. If anybody wants a game, let me know..
5. And the biggest secret I've been hiding..... I play World of Warcraft...

As for tagging other people.. I think everybody I know has already been tagged.. So I'm going to take the easy way out and not tag anybody back.. ;)

I'm back, a valuable lesson or a timely reminder

It's been a while since I last updated my blog, mainly because I made a decision to take a bit of time off. Well, that time is over, and I am going to do my best to keep this site a little more up to date.

The first thing I decided to post was a timely reminder to everybody to make sure your work is backed up every day.. Why, simple.. I came into work this morning, and guess what... My computer was turned off. Pressing the power button resulted in a wonderful buzzing sound and a few flashing lights.

Luckily for me, a bit of poking, prodding, removing and re-inserting bits into the computer seemed to have fixed the problem for now. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before something else goes.. So for me, it's time to make sure I shelf my work every night before I go home.. No exceptions..