Google, Kraftwerk, and the joys of computing

This week in the print and online editions of InfoWorld, my review of the Google Search Appliance is running.  Because the review appears in print, it has to adhere to certain length limitations and stick to a "just the facts ma'am" style.  On the positive side, that means I have to be concise with my words, and when I'm not, I've got helpful editors like Ted Samson to get me straight.  On the down side, it means that I have to leave out some of my "between the lines" thinking on the review.  This is probably a good thing for the reader, but I can't resist pointing a couple of extraneous things out here without the space limitations.

One line that had to be edited from my review read:

This appliance is no toy, although it does come with the first enterprise-solution manual I've seen that reads, "The appliance will play a tune when it is ready."

Yes, you unwrap the Google Search Appliance, feed it power and network connectivity, power it up, then you sit there for a few minutes until it plays a song.  I have to admit, I giggled when I heard it.  The instructions for the Google Search Appliance reminded me of the lyrics in Kraftwerk's "Pocket Calculator" from the album Computer World  released in 1981 (many years after IDG's magazine ComputerWorld was founded, I might add):

By pressing down a special key, it plays a little melody

Kraftwerk's Computer World album is a treasure trove of geek lyrics, and considering that the album was released in 1981, it's all the more remarkable.  Kraftwerk celebrated dial-up in "Computer Love":

I call this number
For a data date
I don't know what to do
I need a rendezvous

. . . the ubiquity of computers in "Computer World" (in 1981!):

Business, numbers, money, people. . . .
Crime, travel, communication, entertainment

. . . .and in "Home Computer," you've got a six-minute, seventeen-second ode to the joys of programming with only these lyrics:

I program my home computer
Beam myself into the future

Buy this album, listen to "Home Computer," and try humming these lines the next time you're coding away.  Believe me, it's fun in a geeky sort of way.

Forrester gets RSS

In my post about Mr. Safe, RSS, and IT analysts, I criticized the analysts for not "getting it" on RSS.   I'm glad to report that I didn't have the full story on at least one of the analyst firms.  Ezra Ball, a senior web developer at Forrester, wrote to me and pointed out that while Forrester has not covered RSS heavily, they do produce RSS feeds themselves.  To me, actually doing RSS is a greater demonstration of "getting it" than only writing about it.  According to Ezra:

Forrester does provide a couple of RSS feeds: one for all research ( http://www.forrester.com/rss ), and one for "free" (requires guest registration) research ( http://www.forrester.com/rss/free ).  We've actually had these for about three years, but people are still only starting to wake up to how to consume RSS.

Thanks, Ezra.  I appreciate the note -- it's always interesting to hear directly from the developers within organizations like Forrester.  I also got one thing wrong:  Forrester owns Giga, Giga doesn't own Forrester.

A note on corrections:  I've been following the recent discussion over corrections and updates to weblogs, best summarized by Scott Rosenberg.  My policy is simple:  for simple corrections -- like the Giga / Forrester correction above -- I will note them in a new post and place an inline correction within the original item.  For more involved corrections, I will create a new post and link to the more involved explanation at the top of the original item.