Is Fixed-Price Software Development Unethical?

This is the question posed by Scott Ambler in his article on software development.

Here's the problem.  Everybody knows:

• Cost estimates are frequently wrong
• Client requirements usually change during development

...and as a result fixed-price projects are often late, over budget and/or don't really do what the clients want when the product is delivered.  How does this happen, Scott lays it down here.

Here at OpenSourcery we strive to use the Agile software development methodology to deliver better service to our clients at less risk of the project going horribly, horribly wrong.  

Watch this space for more information on Agile software development, why we use it and why it makes so many of our customers happy.

- Steve Peters

Lads and Lassies - you just missed The 11th Annual Mondo Croquet World Championships and Mad Hatter Picnic!

What's Mondo Croquet you ask?

It's just like regular croquet - only a lot more fun.

Instead of those wee little balls we use bowling balls.  Instead of little sissy hammers we use sledgehammers.  Hoops are made of bent rebar.

...and it's jolly good fun.

Those with sharp eyes may see some of the Portland open sourceOpen source software is computer software for which the human-readable source code is made available under a copyright license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open Source Definition. community in the group photo.

Check out the photos from 2008! 

www.mondocroquet.com

Oregon Public Broadcasting just broadcasted a radio show on OSCON, open sourceOpen source software is computer software for which the human-readable source code is made available under a copyright license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open Source Definition. and Portland. Where does Portland fit in the global open source economy?

listen in here:

http://action.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/posts/list/1356610.page

We're frequently asked how we get a web site to return well in search engines. Well, there's really three basic ways to optimize this:

1. Pay for it. Yes, you can get better search engine results by throwing money at Google. It's called Google Adwords - https://adwords.google.com
2. Build a site with the information your audience is looking for. Does your site have the relevant information your site visitors are looking for? Does it go into more depth than other sites? Is it better quality information than other sites? If not, they why would you expect to be more popular than the competition?
3. Make sure the technical aspects of the pages are tuned well. There are some fairly straightforward guidelines on how to construct web pages so that the seach engines can "read" your text and return your pages when searchers are looking for your keywords. That's what this blog post is about.

If you're a web developer you probably already know most of these tricks. If you do only a little coding it's good to have this handy to guide your work. If you're just a customer wondering what search engine appropriate code looks like, the cheat sheet has good examples. In fact, in any browser you can do a "view source" and see what your HTML tags look like.

Most sites can get their search engine results improved by using a copy writer. Why? Well, for one thing your message needs to be focused on what visitors are looking for. That means writing for your audience, but it also means knowing how to craft the messages that go into the unseen tags that the search engines read.

The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet by Danny Dover

For those of you out there who've heard about this thin client, $100 student workstation and want to know more, here's a terrific article that explains how it works in fairly simple language.

The introduction:

"You walk into the room. It’s cool and quiet. You see thirty new workstations giving great service. Your cost of hardware was CAD$350 for each workstation, CAD$10 to connect it to an existing 100Mbps LAN, and about CAD$60 for a share of a server in another room (CAD$1 = US$0.87). Your software costs were only some download and CD burn time and forty minutes for installation. Your operating costs are virtually nil. The server runs for months without a reboot. The workstations have nothing but network boot loaders. You back up only one machine, the server. The workstations use twenty watts each and have no fans. Magical? Yes. Magic? No. Arthur C. Clarke once made the comment that “technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic”. A stock server or a custom-built server made from off-the-shelf parts has taken the place of the mainframe in a client/server arrangement. Moore’s Law makes the hardware cheap. GNU/Linux makes it free to use to its potential. This is old but capable technology made easy to install thanks to the GNU/Linux revolution."

To read more: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/linux_terminal_server

Thin clients are something we're doing for our clients. Call us today to get started on yours!

Hello to everyone we met at OETC's Instructional Technology Strategies Conference. It was great fun showing off our $100 student computer (a.k.a. "Thin Client").

Some of you expressed interest in the Thin Client presentation slides. Those can be found here:

• http://www.slideshare.net/BrianJamison

We also had requests for the URL for the company that makes the thin client machines we use:

• http://wdlsystems.com/ebox/ebox.shtml

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to talk to us, and see you next year!

-- Steve Peters, sbp@opensourcery.com