Useful Little Things

I met with my temporary advisor today to discuss possible research topics in the realm of microISVs.  Here’s a few of my notes from the meeting.

• Dissertation “ingredients” include “As is” (what is the problem), “To be” (what is the solution), and Validation (of the solution).  In the microISV world, this equates to: “Where is the pain?”, “How do we take away the pain?”, and “Are we sure this is a workable solution?”
• We need to identify fertile areas of research that apply appropriately to the College of Engineering (Computer Science and Software Engineering).  Many opportunities exist in the business realm; I will save these for when I obtain a permanent position as a professor.
• Need to:
  • Define microISV
  • Literature Survey
    • Academic
    • Industry blogs and publications
  • Initial Formative Survey (survey of microISV-ers)
    • Be cautious. Avoid survey fatigue.
  • Look into shareware and trends in mobile apps
• Fertile (technical) areas include:
  • Process for microISVs (PCSE?)
  • microISV Intellectual Property:
    • Protection
    • Verification of quality (What is the microISV equivalent of CMMI?  Reputation? How does CMMI apply to the shrink-wrapped software market?)
  • Random thoughts needing more discussion:
    • Cloud computing and the microISV
• Vision for the Future
  • microISV Research Center (or “Center of Excellence” in academic terms)
  • Auburn University – initial location – focused on Software Engineering aspects
  • ??? University – second location (primary) – wherever Russell gets a full-time job – focused on Business aspects
  • ??? University – third location – focused on Social aspects
  • Prepare for wild success and prepare to scale back (hope for the best, expect the worst)
  • Need to investigate existing research centers

Readings: The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond

I’m midway through my first year at Auburn University and I’m currently focused on finding a research area for my PhD dissertation.  For now, I’ve settled on microISVs (also known as mISVs or μISVs), from the technical aspects of writing code to the business operations.

The field of topics surrounding microISVs are not unique, but their implementation likely is.  I’ve put together a list of research areas to try and narrow down the possibilities.  As of this moment, the front-runners include process- and “tool stack”-related topics.  I will be meeting with my temporary advisor, Dr. David Umphress, on Friday to get a fresh perspective.

I would also like to survey the microISV-ers on the Business of Software forum to get their thoughts.  I will, however, hold off on moving on that until I get a better idea of what I would like to learn.

At a minimum, this will provide fertile ground for my dissertation and lead me further toward obtaining my PhD.  On the other hand, I can envision this growing far beyond a single publication, or set of papers.  I believe this could conceivably evolve into a sort of micro-ISV Research Center, which supports and grows new and existing microISVs.  I guess time will tell…

My Kindle DX lost it’s “title bar” today.  You know, that little bar across the top of the screen that show’s “Russell’s Kindle,” the wireless status and the battery meter?  I search the options, but I couldn’t figure out how I had turned it off.  Finally, I turned to Google.

On the Amazon site, they describe how to “restart” the Kindle by holding the power switch for 15 seconds.  I tried this, and when I started it back up, the title bar returned!

I’m guessing some widget or setting got corrupted and the title bar just stopped showing up.  Whew!

Today, I ran across a website called PDF Join.  It allows you to upload multiple PDF files, which it will join together and download back to your browser.

I tried it with a bunch of exam notes I had saved as PDF files and it seems to have worked well.  Painless and simple.

I’m not certain I would upload proprietary or personal information to such a site, but for anything else it would be just the thing.

Strangely, the author of the site seems to have cloned the site as PDF Merge also.  I guess they’re covering all the major Google search terms.