Still time to registration up for:
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Great [MC]2 2013 Video!
Huge thanks to Diyana Hrzic for her GREAT [MC]2 2013 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference video she created and to Jake Ervin for his tremendous voice over. There is STILL time to register for [MC]2 2013!
The Supreme Court and Gay Marriage
There is a great article at the Washington Post:
"Usually, to hear an argument about gay marriage, all I have to do is visit an elderly person when “Ellen” is on. Most of the people I know who consider it an abomination also still have AOL addresses, which I consider to be an abomination.
Popular support for same-sex marriage, in the past 10 years, has seen absolutely stunning growth. A recent Washington Post/ABC poll found it at a robust 58 percent — up from 32 percent just nine years ago. It’s definitely mainstream at this point.
Opposition to marriage equality seems to be bound to pass in time, like the vogue for Hummel dolls. But in the meantime, like the vogue for Hummel dolls, it makes visiting elderly relatives unnecessarily stressful and strained. “Don’t you see that this is something you will be embarrassed by later?” you say. “Surely you don’t want to perish with these creepy figurines still prominently displayed over the sink?”
It will be interesting to see what these extremely old people that are in the Supreme Court will be on the right or wrong side of history. I have often said THE most important decision the President of the United States makes is the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice. Chief Justice Roberts realized that he wanted to be on the right side of history with Obamacare and hopefully he will be in the same state of mind. I don't see Scalia, Thomas and Alito being on the right side of history - ever....
John Wall Just Silenced All Of His Critics
Last night John Wall had 47 points with five of the Wizards best players on the bench because of injury or illness. The big dig against the Wizards number one draft choice was that he could not shoot the jumper. He worked on it over the summer last year and continued to work on it. His stroke was markedly better and last night he was incredible in the win against the Memphis Grizzlies.
As the Washington Post reported, "Wall, who added eight assists and seven rebounds, shot 13 of 22 from the field and made a career-high 19 free throws on 24 attempts."
I received a text from my youngest son Tim, who is at JMU and a huge Wizards fan, that said it all, "John Wall just silenced all of his critics", to which I replied, "Absolutely!".
Below is a quote on the Washington Post from the Wizards Coach, Randy Whittman:
“I’ve witnessed a lot of games. I’ve played with some pretty good players. I’ve coached some pretty good players. That was an incredible performance for him,” Wittman said. “It felt to me that it was all under control. All within our offense. All within what we were doing. It was aggressive. That was incredible.”
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Lunch With Hilena Hailu - MTConnect Token
Hilena Hailu is a technology manager at AMT. We work together on MTConnect with Paul Warndorf of AMT.
Below is the lunch paying token for keeping in sync on MTConnect:
- I paid on March 20th
- Hilena paid on July 22nd
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
10 Year Anniversary of the Iraq War
Death Toll from the War in Iraq
U.S. Troops Killed: 4,486
U.S. Troops Wounded: 32,226
British Troops Killed: 179
Other Coalition Troops Killed: 137
Private Contractors Killed: 528
Iraqi Civilians Killed: 104,080 – 113,728
(source: Iraq Body Count)
Journalists Killed: 150Saturday, March 16, 2013
Chris Melissinos To Receive GDC13 Ambassador Award!!
HUGE congratulations to my good friend and industry icon Chris Melissinos who will be receiving the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference 2013 (GDC13) in San Francisco the week of March 25th to 29th for his AMAZING work as curating 'The Art of Video Games,' an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2012. Here is the official Game Developers Choice Awards homepage.
Below is from Game Developers Conference 2013 (GDC13) homepage:
"Ambassador Award recipient Chris Melissinos started his career at Sun Microsystems in 1994 and spent much of his 16-year tenure driving an industry-wide movement toward Java technology-based game development and building infrastructure programs for massively connected game play. Melissinos is well known in the industry for his role in cross-platform video game technology development, video game preservation and advocacy, virtual world applications, and lectures on the future of games and computer technology. Building upon his successful career in technology development and preservation, he is exploring new forms of game interactivity as a co-founder of gopop.tv.
Melissinos' work as the creator and guest curator for the groundbreaking Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition 'The Art of Video Games,' helped to cement the message of interactive entertainment as a form of modern culture. The 6,000 square foot installation presented four decades of evolution in the video game industry as an artistic means, earning the distinction of becoming one of the most successful exhibitions in the history of the museum, and saw more than half a million visitors during its initial six month exhibition. Melissinos' 'The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect,' co-written with Patrick O'Rourke, also serves as the exhibition catalog at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the exhibition will travel to ten additional museums in the United States through 2016.
"Chris' work on the Smithsonian's 'The Art of Video Games' exhibit is a testament to his commitment to the industry," added Scavio. "The success of the installation only confirms that his dedication to communicating the mission of the game development community to larger audiences is not only authentic, but extremely effective. We can think of nobody more deserving of this year's Ambassador Award."
Julie and I were honored to attend the VIP event at the Smithsonian American Art Museum event that Chris Melissinos was the curator and did and AMAZING job putting it together:
It was an absolutely first class event. There were individuals from all walks of life. We had a chance to talk to lots of long time friends from Sun Microsystems as well as Chris's mom Faye, dad Bob and Chris's brother Ryan. Sue Walls, Steve Fritzinger and other Sun employees were there as well. It was very cool to meet some famous people such as Tom McMillen of UMD Terps, Washington Bullets and a Congressman from Maryland. Tom was the #1 high school player in the entire country when he signed to play with Left Driesell at Maryland. A very nice and BIG man. I should have got a picture with him, but I saw Chris and moved along.
Above is the first area of The Art of Video Games that describes Chris's journey with gaming. Part of Chris's journey was at Sun Microsystems whe he was a sales rep and was considering sending in a proposal for Sun to get into gaming. Chris happened to ask my opinion and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Chris did such a fantastic job with this that Scott McNealy, co-founder, president and CEO of Sun, encouraged Chris to push forward with his proposal. Chris did and was eventually named Sun's Chief Gaming Officer and the host of Java One. I have never, EVER met a more passionate, creative or smarter individual than Chris!
Below is a short video of Chris thanking the contributors and the crowd for a great night while giving a very eloquent talk on The Art of Video Games.
Above is Chris and I at the event. Chris was kind enough to give a key note at the [MC]2 MTConnect Connecting Manufacturing Conference I hosted in November 2011.
Above is me, Chris and my wife Julie. We purchased Chris's book called The Art of Video Games which is fantastic.
One
of the benefits of being Chris is that woman line up to get their
photos with him. The line went out the door, down the steps and all the
way down to The White House 12 blocks away. Chris is very fortunate
that his lovely wife Michelle realizes that Chris is the Michael Jordan
of Video Games and must be shared with ALL of his fans :-)
Below are some links from the Smithsonian's American Art Museum site:
The Museum's blog Eye Level
Picture This: Installing the Kiosks for The Art of Video Games, February 23, 2012
The Making of The Art of Video Games, February 3, 2012
The Art of Video Games: Announcing GameFest, January 26, 2012
The People Behind the Video Games: Tommy Tallarico, December 20, 2011
The People Behind the Video Games: David Cage, October 27, 2011
The Art of Video Games: A Sneak Peek, October 20, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Five Questions for Chris Melissinos, August 18, 2011
The People Behind the Video Games: thatgamecompany, July 12, 2011
The Art of Video Games: The Votes are In!, May 5, 2011
5 Questions with Chris Melissinos, March 29, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Vote Now!, February 19, 2011
5 Questions with Chris Melissinos, March 29, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Vote Now!, February 19, 2011
The Museum's blog Eye Level
Picture This: Installing the Kiosks for The Art of Video Games, February 23, 2012
The Making of The Art of Video Games, February 3, 2012
The Art of Video Games: Announcing GameFest, January 26, 2012
The People Behind the Video Games: Tommy Tallarico, December 20, 2011
The People Behind the Video Games: David Cage, October 27, 2011
The Art of Video Games: A Sneak Peek, October 20, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Five Questions for Chris Melissinos, August 18, 2011
The People Behind the Video Games: thatgamecompany, July 12, 2011
The Art of Video Games: The Votes are In!, May 5, 2011
5 Questions with Chris Melissinos, March 29, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Vote Now!, February 19, 2011
5 Questions with Chris Melissinos, March 29, 2011
The Art of Video Games: Vote Now!, February 19, 2011
In the News
The Washington Post, March 18, 2012, “Critic’s Review: ‘The Art of Video Games’ at the Smithsonian American Art Museum” by Philip Kennicott
The New York Times, March 16, 2012, “An Exhibition in Easy Mode” by Seth Schiesel
BBC News, March 15, 2012, “Video game art gets the gallery treatment” by Jane O’Brien
USA Today, March 13, 2012, “Are video games art? Draw your own conclusions” by Mike Snider
Salon, March 10, 2012, Five-Minute Museum, “Video games as multi-player art project” by Emma Mustich
Metro Connection, WAMU 88.5, March 9, 2012, “Jumping Inside The Art of Video Games” with Rebecca Sheir
Smithsonian, March 2012, “The Art of Video Games” by Abigail Tucker
Smithsonian, March 2012, “The Art of Video Games”—Interview with Chris Melissinos”
The Washington Post, March 18, 2012, “Critic’s Review: ‘The Art of Video Games’ at the Smithsonian American Art Museum” by Philip Kennicott
The New York Times, March 16, 2012, “An Exhibition in Easy Mode” by Seth Schiesel
BBC News, March 15, 2012, “Video game art gets the gallery treatment” by Jane O’Brien
USA Today, March 13, 2012, “Are video games art? Draw your own conclusions” by Mike Snider
Salon, March 10, 2012, Five-Minute Museum, “Video games as multi-player art project” by Emma Mustich
Metro Connection, WAMU 88.5, March 9, 2012, “Jumping Inside The Art of Video Games” with Rebecca Sheir
Smithsonian, March 2012, “The Art of Video Games” by Abigail Tucker
Smithsonian, March 2012, “The Art of Video Games”—Interview with Chris Melissinos”
Below is Chris wrapping up his welcoming message and inviting the attendees to go up stairs to attend the exhibit.
Below is a blog post I did in 2007 when Chris came to VT to give an INCREDIBLE presentation on gaming!
"I wanna be, I wanna be like Chris Melissinos - Virginia Tech Gaming Presentation"
By edstromvette on Nov 12, 2007
Last Tuesday night the 6th of November, Chris Melissinos - Sun's Chief Gaming Officer, put on the best presentation that the Virginia Tech (VT) students of the ACM in Blacksburg may have ever seen. Certainly the most interesting. These are not my observations, but that of the President of the ACM. Chris and I drove down to Blacksburg together that Tuesday. It was a very educational day for me, (see here for history of gaming) because I had a chance to get a better understanding of the entire gaming world from the expert on planet earth. It would be analogous to driving down to a physics seminar on Quantum Mechanics and you had the pleasure of spending four hours with Werner Heisenberg.I have had the privilege of personally seeing many, many Sun and non-Sun luminaries wax eloquently to enthralled audiences.
At VT on November 6th, 2007 Chris Melissinos surpassed anything that I have ever witnessed before.
The audience was 60 extremely bright Computer Science students who are also members of the ACM at VT. VT is one of the top Computer Science and Engineering Schools that is well known for their deep Linux expertise.
The students started showing up early at 7:00pm and Chris spoke until 11:30pm with no breaks until we finally had to leave. The President of the ACM said:
"I have seen countless ACM presentations by every
company you can think of and I have never - ever -
seen this type of response and this amount
of incredible interest."
It was simply amazing to see CS Majors sitting on the edges of their seats for over four hours.
How this all happened was thanks to Jonathan's increased investment from 180 Campus Advocates to 500 this year. In the case of the VT Campus Advocate, it happens to be my son, John, who has known Chris for six years and has been to Chris's house to see his amazing collection of every gaming system from Pong forward, asked Chris to speak at VT. Since I love to see Chris speak, I offered to drive Chris to Blacksburg from Ashburn.
When I think about the stock symbol change from SUNW to JAVA, I think of extremely talented, passionate and hardworking Sun employees like Chris Melissinos. Chris is the perfect example of the type of leaders we must have to capture these new and emerging markets.
If you would like to listen to this event, the audio is here and the slides are here.
As a Sun employee, last Tuesday night was priceless.
Chris also blogged about this and has some great photos of the night as well.
Below is Chris checking into [MC]2 2011. Chris gave one one the keynotes at [MC]2 2011 and did an amazing job!
Above on the left is Nat Frampton, President of Real Time Development Corporation and the instructor for the MTConnect Adapters and Agents Class at [MC]2. In the middle is Chris Melissinos waiting to check in with Beth Czupil of AMT.
Above is Chris Melissinos, VP of Verisign and Sun Microsystems former Chief Gaming Officer. The photo in the upper left is Chris playing with a video game as a kid. He has not lost the fire, which is great! Chris gave a talk on "Anytime, Anywhere Manufacturing".
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Chris is making a point to the audience.
Above I am thanking Chris for a GREAT keynote!
Last night Julie and I went out to dinner with long time friend Chris Melissinos and his wife Michelle to thank Chris giving the keynote at [MC]2 2011 MTConnect Connecting Manufacturing Conference. We had a great time and after dinner, we came back to their house. We went in to Chris's office and he showed me something pretty amazing. Chris is holding an original Pong circuit board signed by Atari co-founder and gaming legend Nolan Bushnell. Pong came out in 1972. Chris and Nolan are good friends.
Friday, March 15, 2013
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Open Systems For Open Minds
Open Systems for Open Minds: That phrase was my all-time favorite slogan at Sun Microsystems. While it might seem obvious that of course everyone would want an open system, it turns out this does not always prove to be true. An open system is open or closed depending on the industry, the time period, and context, as well as the organization supporting the system.
In the computer industry, open or closed is better defined than manufacturing. If you ask someone in the IT industry what it means to be an open system, the answer you will receive likely will be along the lines that is one that has an operating system that has its source code out in the open and public, uses the most popular and open programming languages and uses standard interfaces that are open and royalty-free that makes it portable between architectures. If you were speaking to someone who has been in the computer industry a long time, the answer would be very short and simple, such as a Unix or Linux box.
What about the time period? If we were to go back to the 1960s and early 1970s, open computing would not have been a common term. Terms such as “IBM plug compatible” would have been the definition of open. Plug-compatible means that you could take a board from an older main frame and use it in the backplane of a new computer of that same vendor. In 1981 IBM announced the IBM PC and created, some would argue by mistake, an open hardware platform where the terms IBM PC compatible and PC compatible meant it could run the same OS and software as the IBM PC, but would be, typically, a less expensive system. The IBM PC was viewed as an open system in the 1980s with Microsoft’s DOS. In the 1980s, Sun Microsystems redefined open systems with the introduction of the SPARC platform where other companies could not only make systems that could use the SPARC processors, but companies could manufacture their own SPARC processors. In the 1990s the Linux operating system redefined the word “open” in a way that still stands today.
How about context? This gives meaning to both the industry and the time period discussions. For example, is Apple an open system? Is Microsoft an open system? Is Oracle an open system? How about Google? How about iOS versus Android? It could be argued that Microsoft is more open than Apple in 2013. Apple’s Mac OS X is based on Unix, but no one considers Mac OS X an open operating system such as Linux in 2013. Not too many individuals call Oracle open, but they own MySQL and Java. Those technologies are open. Most of what Oracle owns is not open. Oracle might argue that they publish their interfaces, so they are an open platform. Many think of Google as being the anti-Microsoft and being open, but are they really? It depends. Is Facebook open? Not from a data standpoint, and it should not be open. That model works for them because they have a closed garden approach that makes sense. How about Twitter? OneI can search Twitter at http://twitter.com/search — does access to data make it open or closed? As you can see, context changes everything.
The other aspect of context is the organization behind the system. AMT has been the key driving and supporting force behind MTConnect from the very beginning. Specifically, Paul Warndorf, VP of Manufacturing Technology at AMT, has been the key person driving MTConnect. No Paul Warndorf, no MTConnect. Don’t get me wrong — lots of folks, yours truly included, have helped out a great deal, but you must have the singular driving force that has control of the money and the vision. AMT has invested literally millions in MTConnect not because of any hidden revenue stream for AMT, but rather because it was the right thing for their members and more importantly, it was the right thing for manufacturing. Sun Microsystems had Scott McNealy as the guiding visionary for doing things the right way at Sun. It was impossible to overstate the importance of Scott to Sun Microsystems. When companies and individuals look at a given technology, the organization and the individuals in that organization play a large role in the determination of the overall motive behind a given system. While motivation can sometimes be difficult to ascertain, when it is a 501( c ) ( 6) non-profit as both AMT and the MTConnect Institute are, the questions become less probing on real intentions. This, however, does not mean that we do not receive probing questions at the MTConnect Institute, but they are usually more quickly accepted when the person realizes we are a nonprofit.
Manufacturing is moving to open systems with MTConnect, but there is still an ocean of different definitions of what an open system really is in the world of manufacturing. For example, I was at IMTS 2012 and asked this question of those who came to the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) and when I walked the floor visiting other exhibitors. The answers I received were quite interesting. In the software area, if I was talking to a vendor who was a member of the MTConnect Institute, the answers were more in line with what you would expect in the computer industry. However, if I spoke to someone who was not a member of the MTConnect Institute, the answers gave me flashbacks to the 1970s. This is not meant to be a derogatory statement, just a reflection of the importance of industry, context and time period for manufacturing. One of the more common examples of the answer to my question, “What is the definition of an open system in manufacturing,” was defined as, “the ability to pay for the manual, license and software development kit in order to access the proprietary Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).” There is no one in the computer industry who would define open in that fashion in the year 2013.
This is not to say that a closed model might not be what is best for a given company. Look at Apple. For anyone who owns Apple stock, they are very pleased to have stock in a closed system. This is true if they did not purchase Apple when it was at over $700 a share, and as I write this it is trading at $452 a share. I own lots of Apple products. I am writing this on a MacBook Pro with an iPhone 5 in my pocket. But, that is not the point of the more interesting question, which is, will iPhone still be the phone to have in 5 years or will Android be the dominant platform? There are those who argue it is today. It has been stated that Android out ships iPhone by almost 4:1 today, so what will it be in 5 years? Who knows, but the point is that Android is based on an open platform and Apple is not. Go try to create an iPhone clone and let me know how that works out for you. Customers like open systems because it gives them choice. But, why do some companies like Apple do so well? They innovate and their systems just work, as one would expect. Apple will need to out-innovate and out-integrate the entire Android cast of players. That is easy to say, but very hard to do, as we all know.
What is the best way to learn about open versus closed systems? Attending the [MC]2 2013 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference. This conference will take place April 10-11, 2013, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The conference will feature something for everyone from end users, to software developers, to C-level executives, to students, to manufacturing technology builders, to anyone who just wants to really understand MTConnect! This conference is aimed at promotingBOTH the business and technical benefits and implementation of MTConnect®, as well as showcasing commercially available products utilizing the standard.
Who Should Attend?
- End Users – shop owners, plant managers and anyone in manufacturing interested in improving productivity
- Industry thought leaders
- MTConnect® Institute Participants
- Equipment Suppliers
- Students
- Professors
- Software Developers
- Distributors
- ISVs
- Integrators
- Consultants
- Anyone wanting to learn more about MTConnect
What does the future for manufacturing hold in terms of open systems? There have been other attempts at open systems in manufacturing besides MTConnect that had very limited results. Those efforts might have been affected by limited resources and limited vision. I do believe we will continue to see manufacturing embrace open systems. Not because of any altruistic reason, but because it makes good economic sense. The challenge with entirely closed systems is that you must place all the bets correctly. If you do, then you can win big. If you miss any of those bets, changing platforms might be your death knell. Open systems are on a continuum and the industry, the time period, context, as well as the organization supporting the system all matter when coming to the conclusion whether the system is truly open, partially open, basically closed or completely proprietary.
Hang on folks, because the next 5 years will be quite interesting in manufacturing. I am going to borrow one of Sun Microsystem’s best slogans and say, “Open Manufacturing for Open Minds.” Sounds like something I need to put on a t-shirt!
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
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Monday, March 11, 2013
The Seven Edstrom Cars
John told me to sell his 2001 Honda Accord EX now that he is out in San Francisco and sharing his girlfriend's Janet's car. Tim wants to sell the 1999 Buick LeSabre for a new car for him his sophomore year at JMU. I thought it was time to get all seven Edstrom cars in the driveway and get a picture of these one last time.
Julie's 2005 MINI Cooper S 168hp, 135mph top end and 0-60 in 6.8 seconds.
On the left is my 1998 Corvette with 430hp, 0-60 in 4.1 seconds and a top end of 187, in the middle is Tim's 1999 Buick LeSabre with the GM 3800 V6 that has 205hp[ that is legendary for its reliability, on the right is my 2011 Corvette Grand Sport with 445hp, 0-60 in 3.95 seconds and top end of 192mph
Above is a video of all seven of Edstrom's cars
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