Categories
Podcasts

Episode 3: The Shrinkage of Time

This third episode describes another historic flight of 1936. Papa Len tells the story of his first flight cover that traveled aboard this flight and how it would have been destroyed on the Hindenburg had the flight not been delayed and re-routed from Frankfurt to Amsterdam.

Download and listen to “The Shrinkage of Time.”

Categories
bdg Plumtree • BEA AquaLogic Interaction • Oracle WebCenter Interaction

Podcast Episode 3: Plumtree Washed Away by AquaLogic

bdg-podcastI just cut the third episode of the bdg Plumtree Podcast. I’m very happy to say that I’ve worked out a glitch in the connection between the mixer and my laptop which eliminates that awful high-pitched hum you hear in the first two episodes.

In Episode 3, I talk about the name changes that resulted from the merger between Plumtree and BEA Systems and the impact of these changes on the portal market.

I also talk about a thought-provoking podcast I heard yesterday given by Medsphere Systems Corporation’s CEO Larry Augustine. You can read more about the podcast or check it out on iTunes.

As always, we end with a trivia question.

I’m interested to hear your feedback — please send your comments to [email protected].

Categories
bdg Plumtree • BEA AquaLogic Interaction • Oracle WebCenter Interaction

Benefits of an open source model

I rode public transit today (always good for the soul) and had a chance to listen to some of the many podcasts that I’ve downloaded to my iPod. One I found particularly interesting was a recording of Larry Augustine’s talk at the Open Source Business Conference held in San Francisco in April of 2005.

If you want to hear the podcast yourself, you can check it out in iTunes — it’s Episode 12.

Basically, Larry argued two things — one is that large applications (CRM, ERP, etc.) are the “next wave” of open source development and the other is that the open source business model can actually lead to more profits than the traditional “broken” model of selling enterprise software for large license fees.

bdg already offers one product as open source — the PHP EDK, but this podcast made me start to rethink our model. Perhaps all of our products should be free and we should continue to make our money off services, maintenance and support.

bdg-podcastI ruminate (publicly) on this topic in the third episode of the bdg Plumtree Podcast, which also covers the Plumtree->AquaLogic name changes.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts as well.

Categories
Plumtree • BEA AquaLogic Interaction • Oracle WebCenter Interaction

Same old products, fancy new names

With the acquisition of Plumtree by BEA in the books, all of the Plumtree products we know and love have received new monikers.

Here’s a cheat sheet to help you map the old names to the new ones:

Portal/Foundation –> AquaLogic Interaction
Collaboration –> AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration
Studio –> AquaLogic Interaction Studio
Process –> AquaLogic Interaction Process
Content/Publisher –> AquaLogic Interaction Publisher
Analytics –> AquaLogic Interaction Analytics
AWS/PWS/CWS/SWS, Portlets & EDK Extensions –> AquaLogic Interaction Packaged Integration Services

I also heard (from someone on the inside) that no new releases of the newly branded AquaLogic family are planned until 2007.

Categories
Podcasts

Episode 2: The Graf Zeppelin

This episode takes you back to 1929 and the historic flight in which the Graf Zeppelin circumnavigated the globe. Papa Len sent a letter around the world on this flight and later had it autographed by Sir George Hubert Wilkins, a journalist and a passenger on the German dirigible.

Download and listen to “The Graf Zeppelin.”

Categories
bdg

Podcast Episode 2: What is Plumtree?

bdg-podcastIn today’s podcast (Episode 2: What is Plumtree?), I cover the short and long answers to the question I get asked most often: what is Plumtree? In the long answer, I give the Plumtree story from a historic perspective, talking about when and why each feature was added and what makes each feature relevant to you, the Plumtree developer or Plumtree consumer.

I also answer last week’s trivia question and ask a new question. Lastly, I hint at the subject of several future podcasts.

Enjoy the podcast and please send your feedback (and the answer to the trivia question) to [email protected].

Categories
Plumtree • BEA AquaLogic Interaction • Oracle WebCenter Interaction

Official transition date/time

I heard from someone on the inside that at noon on Thursday, October 20th, Plumtree officially becomes the AquaLogic devision of BEA.

Categories
Podcasts

Episode 1: A Nickel Goes a Long Way

This first episode features Papa Len telling a story of what you could get for a nickel in New York city in the early 20th century. It also explains how he got into stamp collecting, which became a lifelong passion.

Download and listen to “A Nickel Goes a Long Way.”

Categories
Memoirs

Meet Papa Len

Leonard W. Leeds was an amateur historian and news aficionado with amazing archival skills. He was also my grandfather-in-law. Although I only knew him for a short time, he left a lasting impact on me.

He captured major world events of the past 60 years on reel-to-reel, cassette tape and video (when it became available). It’s only suiting to his amazing legacy that he should have his own podcast!

Mr. Leeds, affectionately known by his grandchildren as “Papa Len,” passed away on May 13th, 2005. He is survived by his two sons Rick and Steve; a daughter Judith; four grandchildren, Michael, David Jennifer and Allison; and one great grandchild, Penelope.

I was going through the possessions Papa Len left behind and found a set of five 90 minute tapes that were, like all his tapes, meticulously labeled. But unlike most of his tapes, which captured historical events, these were labeled “LWL Memoirs.”

What I uncovered was a treasure trove of remarkable, heartwarming stories told by a phenomenal storyteller.

These oral memoirs were recorded by Leonard in September of 1987. On them, his dear friend Jane Abrams interviews him on 90 minute Maxell magnetic cassette tape.

I am currently editing the first episode and I will be releasing it in the near future.

My wife Allison (Papa Len’s grand daughter) and I sincerely hope that you enjoy these incredible stories so that you may share in Papa Len’s legacy.

Categories
Plumtree • BEA AquaLogic Interaction • Oracle WebCenter Interaction

Booth of Pain — before the chaos began

Here I am just seconds after stepping into the Booth of Pain and before the booth was bombarded by projectiles and Silly String. I figured I would post a picture before I started sweating profusely.