Down and Dirty Baseline

Management wants As-Is documentation for its existing application. It handles billions of dollars each month. And the developers have already started working on the Manufacturer side of the application and want a lot of code and reporting re-use. I'm with the Dealer side.

Coding starts in mid August.

How to get this done was the first meeting I attended after my company laptop was issued and I found my cube int he farm.

I suggested a light weight requirements process- a description of current functionality, a screen capture, a process flow activity diagram and functional descriptions we can infer from playing with the application. Once these "use cases" are complete, we'll walk SMEs through them to correct errors, add stuff we had no clue about and the like.

We will have the required baseline done in a very short period. Enough to do a Gaps Analysis of Version 1 compared to plans for Version 2.

So far we've created a "use case" number and title for each major major page and cross referenced to menus.

It seems to be working- at least the boss is very happy check marks in the tracker are increasing in quantity and the 'now published' announcement e-mails are coming a lot faster. The BA team has access to the QA/Development environment. I got the Create User doc done in about a day and a half. The current system, as you'd expect, has had several changes over the years and is, um, complicated.

Abstraction is a wonderful thing.

Since Create User is the first major design issue, I'm already talking about Version 2.0 with the IA/Designer as I delve deeper into this really cool piece of work that has combined two or three legacy applications and several upgrade security tools. This archeological stuff is interesting. The boss is a SME and quite amazing himself. So this isn't going to be the cluster ***k it could have been.

I'll letcha know. This Agile stuff works great. But of course, you and I already knew that.

Ubuntu Test Drives

Well, I've had more than week to play with Ubuntu 10.04 and I think it's great. There are a few rocks out there, but overall, it's rock stable, feature rich and totally customizable.

Here's the good:

• Ubuntu, the Open Source Community and a few business have pretty much every application you want. For free. With source code. With the ability to contact developers easily to suggest improvements and features. In other words, Screw the Ribbon. Open Office has everything you need, fer free, there's one exception which I'll discuss in the Disadvantages list.
• It doesn't slow down.
  
• You can blow off PhotoShop. The Open Source Gimp photo 'manipulator' and Open Office's Draw Program pretty much have all the features of PhotoShop and Correl Draw for vector and raster graphics files.
• I've only seen one blue screen and it was my fault.
  
• Much as I love Winamp, Rhythmbox pretty much beats it in every feature.
• I can do without the Outlook replacement Evolution (fingers crossed) because, while it does everything Outlook does. I'm used to and like Thunderbird and its Lightning Add-In, I don't like the way Evolution' calendar works and I like having separated InBoxes for my e-mail accounts. This is obviously a matter of preference.
• There are so few of us using it right now (comparatively speaking) that the evil forces of Virii and Malware pretty much don't care about us. Hence- while you should still run an Anti-Virus Program and software firewall (both free, of course), there's not much out there to hurt your 'puter.
  
• You don't need Snag It. There are a couple of screen grabbers (free) that work very well.
• Ubuntu comes with Open Source versions of Disk Burners, E-mail client. IM client (that will handle all of your IM accounts in a single screeen), FireFox (Linux Version- slightly different), a video editor, video viewer, print manager... yuddah, yuddah. In short, you can get started right after the installation is complete with new, free tools that work as well, if not better than Windows tools and applications.
  
• It doesn't crash.
• There are three ways to download and install software. Two are very easy. One isn't. So use the Ubuntu Software Center or Synetics Package Manager to handle this for you.
• It doesn't crash.
  
• Wireless not only worked right of the box, the client actually knew what security my system has and just asked for the password.
• It doesn't crash.
• If you have a smarphone, the makers of Ubuntu have a new service called Ubuntu One (actually it came out with release 9.04, but I had no idea what it was).... a combination Boxnet.net (i.e. secure cloud file space) and activesynch (for Windows Mobile) on Mozilla's Thunderbird. If you use the built-in email client called Evolution which synchs right out of the box. I don't like its calendar since I'm used to Lightning o the $10 a month for the synch service and 50 Gb of free cloud space is a good deal. You get 2 Gb for free.
• It doesn't crash.
• It will integrate all your social media- including Instant Messaging, Web Services and e-mail in a superb user interface.
• Ir doesn't crash

Now there are some minor issues, nits, really:

• Once I paid my first ten bucks to Ubuntu One, they took down the synch to Windows Mobile option. Arrrrgh.
• While I can install Microsoft VISIO using the WINE application, and it will launch. It craps out very easily and consistently. Yes, I have a certified copy. I couldn't open a 2003 VISIO document and had to make due with creating a bunch of boxes in Draw. It worked, but was a pain. I use VISIO a lot, so I guess my next employer is going to have to gimme a laptop with Windows on it.
• Do NOT put your media files on an external drive and have that drive unavailable when you launch Rhythmbox. It indexes media files on initiation and  it has to re-index when you get your external drive up. You're supposed to be able to put media files up on your Ubuntu Cloud share, but I haven't had time to check that out yet.
• The documentation (web-based) is fine for very unsophisticated users and walk them through simple processes and procedures. You really gotta dig for answers on the community wiki or other websites if you have something more complicated than installing a software package from Ubuntu Software Center. I spent a half hour finding out what to do with a *.bin file containing a program I wanted. It was a simple answer (you right click on it, change the properties by adding 'execute' permission and taking out 'read only' permission and then double click it or right click again and select EXECUTE).

Would I install it on my mother's machine? I'm actually thinking about it. She gets so much adware and malware on her machine it's not funny. I'm thinking not because you do have to be a little technical.

For my wife? Yew betcha. But she's a developer using Visual Studio, so that' out.

The kids? Like a shot. Fast, malware and spyware resistant, FREE software and IT DOESN'T CRASH. Yeah, I'm thinking about doing a demo for them.

Oh Yeah---did I mention it doesn't CRASH?

Ubuntu 10.04

Well, it took a bit of doing, but I've got Ubuntu 10.04 LT on my Lenovo T-61 laptop. I had version 9.04 installed as a dual boot Windows XP/Ubuntu system. All of the issues I've identified were caused my me, not Microsoft nor Canonical, the company that creates and supports Ubuntu.

You say you're not sure what this stuff is? Well, you must have heard of UNIX, right? UNIX (and there are variety of flavors out there such as Sun OS, AT & T, etc.) usually runs on what used to be called 'mini-computers,' which used to be between a PC and a Mainframe. Now it runs on what are known as 'workstations,' which are nothing more than really beefed up PCs. Anyway, LINUX is UNIX which can run on your PC.

The problem has been that despite installation scripts, graphical user interfaces and better installation programs, LINUX has been the haven for the technical among us. Until Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has a philosophy. And in its most recent revisions, shown that it can replace your Microsoft or Apple-centered operating system (in fact, one of the reasons Apple moved away from the Motorola Chips a few years back was to get the Intel x86 architecture. OS 10 and above are based on LINUX.

With Ubuntu, you download a file (called in image file) and burn it to a CD. You then boot your PC with the CD. After it boots, you have the option of playing with Ubuntu to see if you like it, or install it on your PC.

Here's where Ubuntu shines over many other forms of LINUX (because the operating system is 'open source,' anyone can change, adapt and create his/her own version...just like the different flavors of UNIX) since the installation routines have been honed for several years. And its very easy to do.

You have a couple of decisions to make during the install. Of course, I blew it. The power was going on and off during a storm and I had to get it done so I could re-do my resume. This is a recipe for disaster.

The first decision you have to make is whether you want to run Ubuntu as the sole operating system on your PC or with Windows or OS 10. If you pick the former, the installation program completely reformats your hard drive and then installs the new OS. If you select the second option (which I did), Ubuntu adds a 'boot manager.'

This is a program that interrupts your PC's start-up routines and allows you to use either Windows/OS 10 or LINUX. This is what got trashed on the second of my installations. Yeah, I know. I use a laptop and the battery should have taken care of it.

Except the battery wasn't installed because I read an article that says you sharply reduce the life of a Lithium battery by not using it and charging it well before it needs to be charged.

Then, I had trouble. Lord did I have trouble. I knew what I did and knew what I had to do to get out of it. I rebooted into the setup routine.

And pressed the wrong button without realizing it (because I didn't read the damn screen). Big Shot IT professional.

I pressed the button that lays in Ubuntu as the only operating system. And I didn't realize what I had done until the re-format routine was half over.

Office 2003. Gone. All my e-mail archives. Gone. All my resume and archive files. Gone. All my website files. Gone.

Wait a sec.

Ubuntu comes with Open Office (a free, open source Microsoft Office replacement) right out of the box.

It comes with FireFox. XMarks will re-synch all my bookmarks. The password synching didn't work for some reason.

It comes with GIMP, an open source alternative to PhotoShop. It also comes with free Instant Messaging, integrated E-Mail/Personal Information Manager (Evolution), allows you to install Thunderbird and its Lightning add-in and a raft of other 'must have' utilities.

There are dozens of free, downloadable open source programs. In fact, Ubuntu doesn't use the Synaptic Program Manager anymore- it has its own Add/Delete software utility now.

The interface is much cleaner than before. All those upper panel icons have been grouped together to make things a lot easier to find.

Hmmm.

Yes, I can install Microsoft Project and VISIO (the only programs that the open source community or Apple have no replacements for) using WINE- a real time application that allows you to run Windows programs under LINUX without the hurky-jerky screens we used to see on Apple machines running similar utilities.

Version 10.04 comes with integrated social media (a one stop application that gathers all the Tweets, Status Changes and FaceBook attaboys you got).

It integrates with Ubuntu One. That's a web site in the 'Internet cloud' that automatically gives you 2 Gigs of free, integrated data space and the option to pay $10/month for 50Gb (yeah, you read that correctly) AND will synch your Smart Phone (even my Windows Mobile 6!).

Maybe I won't miss Windows much at all.

It's been five days and there's been no withdrawl symptoms at all.

I recommend you run it in a dual boot configuration like I did for a few months so you can ease yourself into it. There's a lot to learn if you have trouble (and I realized I had trouble with R9.04- WINE didn't work, the OS didn't recognize the SD Card Reader nor the USB connection to my phone) and it was because of the multiple installs I did on 9.04.

Don't do that.

Ubuntu 9.10: Not Bad, Not Bad At All

Everyone else is installing Windows 7.0. Now I've been in the Microsoft World long enough to know the old saws:

• Never, ever install the first version of a Microsoft Operating System.
• Wait until after the second Service Patch.
• Odd numbered patches will destroy your machine
• The even numbered patches fix the odd numbered patches.

Since I've been out of work for quite a while, I decided to install a dual boot- WinXP and Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Something-or-Other).  The installation routine automatically and perfectly partitioned my hard drive (sectioned off- one part for Windows, the other for Ubuntu Linux), found all the drivers (does Linux have Drivers?) and made my stuff work.  It's rock solid, includes a free version of every Microsoft Office application except one (one I use a lot- VISIO and there's no Open Source equivalent yet).

I had 9.04 (Jaunty Something-or-Other...this cuteness crap has got to stop) on an IBM T-23 ThinkPad and it worked grandly. No issues at all. So I held my breath the day after Win7 came out and installed  9.10 Desktop, the latest and greatest version of the Ubuntu line on my T-61 Lenovo ThinkPad.

So far, the only things I haven't been able to do (excluding VISIO- and I'm trying to figure out how a Windows emulator called Wine works and how I can use it) are:

1. Install the software to synch my SmartPhone (Windows Mobile 6.1) with Thunderbird's Lightning add-in. I followed all the instructions to download and install the USB connection software, but it refused to install. I think its because I'm on the latest Ubuntu Version and the developers only have the last stable version up on their server.
   
2. Recognize and connect to servers on my home network (probably because I haven't really tried yet).
3. Figure out whether I want to use Evolution or Thunderbird as my E-Mail Client/Calendar/PIM (Personal Information Manager).
4. Install the latest Thunderbird Beta because I have no idea how to install non-Ubuntu applications ('packages' in Linux-speak). I download the tar file (a compressed file similar to *.zip files in the Windows World) and double clicked it like the wiki told me. All it did was open the Archive Manager (which was nice to know, I didn't even know it had one) which just displayed the files in the compressed *.tar, so I decompressed the sucker and started double clicking all over the place. Nothing.
5. Move my mail and passwords from my Windows partition to the Ubuntu version of Thunderbird. I suspect this is a Mozilla problem (Mozilla makes Thunderbird) rather than Ubuntu's. Which is why I wanted the latest beta...I know where the mail files are and thought I could simply move them into the Linux machine, but I was using the latest Thunderbird Beta in Windows because the Lightning Calendar Add-in was crapping out all the time and the latest Beta uses a different database for mail and calendar items. But Birdie Synch doesn't work with the latest Betas (obviously- that's why they're Betas). Oy.
   

Unlike earlier versions of Ubuntu, 9.10 automatically detected my T-61's display and the external monitor I use, detected and walked me through my Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, found my external, USB connected hard drive. All effortlessly, cleanly and professionally. Laurels for the Ubuntu Team.

But.

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

The documentation designed for brand new computer/unsophisticated Windows users moving into the Linux World (Ubuntu is a flavor of Linux) or folks who've been running Linux command line stuff for 15 years. There's no middle ground. As a professional writer (and technical writer at that), I know that user documentation has a multiplicity of audiences- and the Ubuntu documentation does not. There may be a market for this as Microsoft returns to its every three or four year OS (Operating System) upgrade cycle.

Bottom Line:

1. Yes, I would install Ubuntu on my Mother's machine. The interface is very Windows-like, the on-line help is fabulous for the unsophisticated user who simply wants to use e-mail and surf and maybe write a letter or two...mebbe a couple of games.
   
2. No, I would not install it on my wife's machine- she's a programmer analyst would still be content to work in DOS.
3. I would install it on my daughter and older son's laptops. They are sophisticated users and would role into this OS like butter on bread.

Advantages:

• It's free
  
• It's applications are free (Open Source)
• The interface is as simple or sophisticated as you wish.
• Peripherals connect and work just like a Mac- immediately and without fuss.
• It's rock solid.
• It's fun to use and experiment with.

Disadvantages:

• Sophisticated Windows Users have a learning curve- it's short (I'm thinking less than a week), but its there.
• Documentation could be better for task oriented users- How do I synch my Windows Mobile to my PIM, how do I create a permanent connection to my son's laptop so I can read his comics and he can read mine, etc.  (this may be my issue and not the documentation). The simple explanations, while valid, only take one so far.
• While the software is 'free,' the new Ubuntu Software Center (sort of like Window's Add/Remove Programs) has a less than complete description of each product. But it does tell you whether Ubuntu will automatically update it or whether you need to do it manually. Yeah, I know the websites are always listed, but that made selecting a media player a lengthy process- so I kept the defaults and they work fine. 

Overall Grade (so far): A-.

Linux, Ubuntu 9.10, Open Source, Technical, Desktop

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