ivantohelpyou

A ComputerWorld article (via /.) lists "The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills."

It's a real blast from the past. As a programmer from the early 90s I have experience with almost all of these technologies. The only ones I'm missing are #3 Non-IP networks and #4 cc:Mail.

• 1. Cobol: Took a course as an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon. Fortunately, as it was my last semester prior to graduation, I did poorly in the class and was not tempted to make Cobol programming a career.
• 2. Nonrelational DBMS: For several years, I was an Omnis programmer, using its built-in hierarchical DBMS schema. Then, it became a front-end for Oracle and other DBs, and finally faded into obscurity.
  
• 5. ColdFusion: They still teach this at Harvard. In 2005 I took an extension class on web databases and learned ColdFusion development. I'm still doing some work with it, mainly because I believe Adobe's still alive and kicking with Flex/Flash/CS3/etc., not to mention the upcoming version of ColdFusion, codename "Scorpio." Nevertheless, I've tried to cover my bets by installing a few frameworks in PHP and getting familiar with Python and ASP.
• 6. C programming: Another CMU-era skill. Again I balked at becoming a C programmer, mostly because everything I was interested in doing was so much easier using the aforementioned Omnis.
  
• 7. PowerBuilder: Probably the top reason you've never heard of Omnis is because PowerBuilder outflanked, outplayed and outlasted Omnis almost everywhere I cared to look. "Today, PowerBuilder developers are at the very bottom of the list of in-demand application development and platform skills," according to the Computerworld article.
  
• 8. Certified NetWare Engineers: Back in 1994-1995 plotting my next move, I wanted the red-hot CNE certification. My company wouldn't pay for it, and neither would I. Instead, I went for an MBA.
  
• 9. PC network administrator: Another one of my earlier roles that I'm happy to have relinquished.
  
• 10: OS/2: I'm one of the few people in my cohort who's written a REXX script for OS/2. We used an OS/2 environment to host a PCAnywhere server for remote file access to a certain client, and there was a process we wanted to automate using the OS/2 scripting language.
  

It's a good thing my number-one language is English, which to my knowledge isn't going anywhere for a while. De mo, nen no tame ni, Nihongo mo benkyo-shiyo to omoimasu ga...

Labels: Japan, softdev, web design

Here's a companion piece to my earlier post (Battle of the Clouds), in which I predict the direction of Microsoft's server business. Hint: it's in the same direction as Amazon's server business.

Link:
The Next Big Thing at Microsoft, posted at SmallBizResource.com

Labels: Amazon, Microsoft, softdev, Web Standards

I've been a regular visitor to the Greater Vancouver area for the past nine months, but next week it'll be time for me to head back East to re-enter the fray. And just when the weather's getting nicer, too.

Just wanted to say "Arrivederci" to all of the great people I've met in the blogging, web design and software development communities here in Vancouver. You've got a great thing going here, and I'm glad I was able to get a taste. I'll be back, and will try to time my visits around the fun stuff.

Ambitious travel schedule planned.... Do keep reading, and stay in touch!

Labels: blogging, softdev, vancouver, web design