http://www.michaelsball.com/wordpress Notes from the Empire Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:20:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 http://www.michaelsball.com/wordpress/2005/12/guess-ill-just-do-it#comment-453 Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:17:57 +0000 http://www.michaelsball.com/wordpress/2005/12/guess-ill-just-do-it#comment-453 [...] The kind of computing he’s talking about is called High Performance Technical Computing (HPC), and although the hardware is getting steadily cheaper, is still very hard to write the programs. When I decided to join MicroSoft in 2006, it was because they told me that we could set up a group to make writing HPC programs much easier. Then MS decided that they weren’t going to do it, because there wasn’t a big enough market. I still think they blew it. Finally, I left. [...] […] The kind of computing he’s talking about is called High Performance Technical Computing (HPC), and although the hardware is getting steadily cheaper, is still very hard to write the programs. When I decided to join MicroSoft in 2006, it was because they told me that we could set up a group to make writing HPC programs much easier. Then MS decided that they weren’t going to do it, because there wasn’t a big enough market. I still think they blew it. Finally, I left. […]

]]> http://www.michaelsball.com/wordpress/2006/10/an-architects-meeting#comment-2 Mon, 30 Oct 2006 04:24:36 +0000 http://www.michaelsball.com/wordpress/2006/10/an-architects-meeting#comment-2 [...] Microsoft sent me and some other software architects (that’s a job title) to a resort in the Napa Valley. I’ll discuss the meeting in my professional blog, but I’ll talk abut the trip here. The Napa valley is in the heart of the California wine country, and the wineries compete with each other in poshness and pretension as well as the quality of their wines. The resort where we met was pseudo-Victorian, though most of it was of fairly recent construction. It wasn’t a winery. The site included a croquet court, complete with a dress code (tan pants, white shirt). It was supposed to be a “team building activity” though it was never made clear how a cutthroat game like croquet will build team spirit. It’s more a war of all against all. I declined to participate. [...] […] Microsoft sent me and some other software architects (that’s a job title) to a resort in the Napa Valley. I’ll discuss the meeting in my professional blog, but I’ll talk abut the trip here. The Napa valley is in the heart of the California wine country, and the wineries compete with each other in poshness and pretension as well as the quality of their wines. The resort where we met was pseudo-Victorian, though most of it was of fairly recent construction. It wasn’t a winery. The site included a croquet court, complete with a dress code (tan pants, white shirt). It was supposed to be a “team building activity” though it was never made clear how a cutthroat game like croquet will build team spirit. It’s more a war of all against all. I declined to participate. […]

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