Jim Fiori Performance God

Jim Fiori recently presented at Virginia Tech's Association for Computing Machinery Meeting. My oldest son, John, blogged about Jim's GREAT 2 1/2 presentation. Jim's slides are also here.

If I was told, "Dave, you get to pick one person on planet earth to solve the most difficult software performance problem mankind has ever seen, and if this person fails, the earth as we know it burns up in an attosecond."

I know exactly who I would pick: Here's a hint, it would not be Bill Joy, Dave Patterson, Steve Bourne, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Neil Groundwater, Grace Hopper or Bjarne Stroustrup.

No disprespect to those computer legends above, but I would select Jim Fiori. Jim Fiori is a great example of Malcom Gladwell's Outliers primary premise, which is you need to get to 10,000 hours of actual hands on experience, along with selecting the right parents, being born at the right time and finally, being in the right place at the right time - Jim Fiori meets all of these criteria.

Jim Fiori is a Principal Field Technologist at Sun Microsystems and is THE GOD IN SOFTWARE PERFORMANCE TUNING AND PROBLEM SOLVING.

Why I Do Not Have An iPhone (yet)

I am growing tired of answering the question, "Dave, why don't you have an iPhone yet?"

First, do I think the iPhone is amazing technology? You bet. Do I think Steve Jobs is an absolute genius? Without question. Is Apple a great company? Yes, they are an amazing company. But, let me list what Apple should do for the iPhone if they want me as a customer (yes, I realize that Apple does not care if I am a customer :-)

1. No cut-n-paste. Are you kidding me? When friends tell me, "Dave, you just don't understand the Apple lifestyle." Yes, I guess that is true..... When I hear on podcasts that Apple is researching the best methods for implementing cut-n-paste, I just have to laugh. If this is true, let me give you a hint, go ask the folks at Palm, they have it figured out.
2. No removable storage. It is very handy to have the ability to remove a SAN disk.
   
3. Not all apps can take advantage of the horizontal mode. This is ridiculous.
4. The battery is not removable. Yes, the most recent updates help, but Apple is not there yet. I want the ability to carry a second battery with me.
   
5. It should be a reliable phone. If I had a dollar for every time a friend said to me, "hey, I am using my iPhone so we might get dropped and I will have to call you back", I would have enough for at least a dinner out :-)
   
6. The iPhone is simply too proprietary for me and I believe that it stifles the amount of innovation we would otherwise see with the iPhone. Yes, Apple does a great job with ease of use and overall experience, but I prefer freedom.
7. The idea that Apple will "brick" your phone is just repulsive to me.
8. I want real keys to type on, not a picture of a key. Yes, I know this dates me :-)
9. The App Store has so many rules on what type of app it allows that, IMHO, it stifles true creativity and true competition. Checkout this article at the New York Times titled: Apple's Capricious Rules for iPhone Apps
   
10. No Java for the iPhone. Hopefully this might change someday....
    
11. No voice activated calling.
12. You can not record video.
13. I do love the features of the G1, but have not gotten one yet. The Palm Pre sounds VERY promising as well.
    
14. NO MULTI-TASKING THIS WILL SERIOUSLY LIMIT THE i-Phone
15. I will keep my old Treo 650 that just works great as a phone and basic PDA with a limited browser, until there is something that is at least as good as the G1.

If Apple addressed these, would I buy an iPhone? In a femto-second.