The turn card, in poker, Texas Hold'em, is the fourth community
card to be dealt. Three community cards have all ready been played
and bet. The turn represents a higher betting threshold in structured
games and nearly all the information you'll see before paying
dearly for that final card, which comes on "the river".
In my last entry, just over one month ago, I stated that after
six years as an evangelist, I'd decided to stop. My own
experiences and work had led me to that decision. I have, however,
come to a rather interesting set of realizations since making
that decision, and have come to realize that the mission has
not ended. Not at all. It's changed, most assuredly. But it
is not over by any means.
Two announcements from Sun Microsytems during the Sun Network
Conference at the Moscone Center brought an emerging vision
into clarity for me:
1. The Linux product announcements. While perhaps more of
a tactical gesture at the moment, I happen to be one who believes
that Sun is actively and aggressively working toward a more
"open source" stance, beyond even the clearly successful
community source posture Sun may have taken in the past.
The more Sun engages the marketplace with Linux products,
the more successful Sun will be, in my view.
2. The N1 vision. I've long been a fan of elegant visions
when it comes to computing. Consider the "utility" vision: start with
the idea that all compute resources can be virtualized and
utilized on demand much like electricity is used today.
How do we get there? Meta-architectures, like N1.
To me, these two announcements, coupled with the reoganization
that Sun has recently enjoined, represent a nimble, visionary,
well-managed firm with the history, means, values, and leadership to
really make a difference. I cannot express how well the
recent re-org at Sun has brought people with "the right stuff" to key
management roles, at least in my view.
Something else has occurred. Liz and I have decided to
either move to or at least buy a second home in New Albany,
Mississippi (NA). Liz is from NA originally, and while
I've never lived in the South, I'm from a small town in Utah,
so a small town ambiance is one that I can find to be nurturing.
NA feels so right, for both of us. Plus Liz's mother
lives there. I happen to be one of the luckiest men in the
world, in that not only do I adore my wife, but her mother
as well! New digs in NA is sort of a no-brainer for us,
in terms of where we are in our lives, whether it be our
main home or a second one.
As I said in my previous entry, my six evangelical years represent
a significant period of career time and contribution for me. I am
well pleased, in retrospect, to have had the opportunity. I am still
employed by Sun, and am in the process of doing everything I
can to ensure our success. As for travel, I will undoubtedly
be traveling again as a Sun Technology Evangelist sometime soon...
If
there's hope for humanity it's in software