August 2007
One Fulfilling Project : C&G Medical
Filed Under Personal
It excites me when any of my projects delivers its supposed purpose and actually contributes to an entity’s growth. That’s what just happened when I was informed by my sister that C&G Medical Supplies‘ website has just found its first client. The website is not really intended to generate sales but more of a tool for our existing clients to browse the products we offer. So any other entity who come to visit the site would be a big plus. The website was found by a prospective client from Bukidnon through Google. A meeting has already been set and some people is already scheduled to fly to Bukidnon (via Davao where there’s another client as well as in CDO).
Makati Flood : Stuck in the House
Filed Under Uncategorized
I wasn’t able to come to office this morning due to flooding. You read it right, FLOOD! I live here in the outskirts of Makati and we have this problem everytime rain comes. A 30-minute heavy rain will make the street impassable. So much for the “financial capital of the country”.
I was waiting for the water to come down but up until 10:30am, the rain is not stopping. I’m so ready to come office early and had my slacks rolled up to my knees. Unfortunately, water is way above my knees. Actually, my father in law is already worried that water will come inside the house as the water is already more than 1 foot above the gutter. It’s about to overflow his ‘dike’ so he’s tirelessly scooping out the water that’s seeping through the concrete wall.
I was already absent twice for the past two weeks due to flood and it also happened before. Make no mistake, though. I welcome the rain but not the flood that it brings.
I was also worried because I wasn’t able to bring my car in a safer place. My neighbors have already put their cars above the gutter and mine is still at the mercy of the waters. I just hope that it won’t conk out when I use it this afternoon. If you look at the picture above, my car is the blue one from afar(not the truck!). You can see it on the immediate left side of the red gate. By the look of it, the water already hit the flooring. At least, it is not yet floating around the street.
So after the rain stopped at around 11am, I grabbed some pics in the street. Here’s my favorite.
The kids are just too happy playing on the not-so-clean water….. and as of 12:30pm, I’m still waiting for the water to subside down.
Free Bus Ride in EDSA by UNTV
Filed Under General NonsenseYou read it right, there’s a free bus ride in EDSA. I’ve just seen it this morning and I was quite surprised. But of course, you have to find that bus first. Haha. I saw it along Ayala Ave. at around 9:30am. It’s currently plying the Monumento-Ayala(Leveriza) route and it’s damn too good to be true.
The bus is sponsored by UNTV, a UHF channel. It has advertisement all over but given that a lot of buses plying the route are plastered with all kinds of advertisements from soap to tv programs, the sight isn’t new at all to the commuters.
I think it is a clever and noble move for the television channel. It benefits both the company and the commuting public. For the public, a free ride. For the company, it’s a free advertisement. Well, not really free since they’ll have to pay for the driver and the fuel but that’s just a penny compared to traditional advertising. And with a less known channel like UNTV, this type of gimmick is a good move.
I hope other companies will follow suit. It doesn’t matter if it is another channel, major or not. If there will be more of free buses that will serve the public, the better. I also believe that it will help ease the traffic in the route. These type of buses doesn’t need to stay in one area and wait for eternity to get two or three passengers. That will cut the travel time along EDSA.
Promotions: What Does it Mean to You?
Filed Under PersonalAt the townhall meeting yesterday for the employees, it was announced that I’m one of those that are promoted. Honestly, I did not expect that eventhough I am pre-informed of the unusual mid-term promotions. I am pleased to be recognized but I’m not at all excited. For me, it’s just a title and does not necessarily reflect what you do in the the organization. To say it blantly, I see it as additional work for me.
One of the things that comes with promotion is training people that will handle your previous work. Man, that is not easy task. Not all people are want to carry somebody else’s load. Some people want to stay put and definitely don’t want additional headache. They are happy in their current levels and it is their comfort zone. They don’t want to challenge themselves and want to take things slowly…. way too slow. And it would be no easy task to convince people to step up.
So now, you would not blame me if I’m not at all excited with my promotion. Work has already started pouring the past two weeks and I had to do some management work already. I’m tired… but I can’t help but live up to the challenge. I always dare to go beyond my comfort zone but I’m eternally hesitant and most of the times reluctant in handling top jobs. Apparently, those who rise up to the challenge are those who are always noticed. Whoever is not afraid to take responsibilities gets rewarded with more responsibilities.
How about you? How do you see promotions? Do you expect to be promoted this year?
Joomla GPL License Issues
Filed Under TechnologyThe recent debacle with the strict implementation by Joomla of the GPL license still hot and fiery. It has put a number third-party developers at a lost, breaking their business model especially those that sites selling Joomla templates on a per site basis and on a separate license incompatible with GNU/GPL. The GPL license states that if you sell or download a particular GPL licensed software, you can install it in as many sites you want or in as many computer that needs it. So that means selling a template in a per site basis is illegal. And that’s just one thing. Another is that simply distributing a component/module/plugin that is non-GPL compatible or even a GPL-compatible component connecting to a non-GPL-compliant appliacation makes the component non-compliant is also illegal. It is the viral nature of GPL license that says that.
The “Program”, below, refers to any such program or work, and a “work based on the Program” means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
One third party component affected is the SMF Bridge for Joomla. The bridge combines two excellent scripts to create one powerfule website, if used correctly. But there comes the problem, the bridging of two systems. Since Joomla is licensed through GPL, it should only be connected to a GPL-licensed software. SMF comes with an SMF license and though it is still free, it is incompatible with GPL. So in effect, you cannot distribute a non-gpl compliant bridge.
The keyword here is “distribute”. Basically, you can still bridge the two softwares so long as you still have a copy of the bridge or you made one yourself. However, SMF will no longer distribute(they already did) the bridge and that means you’re on your own when a new Joomla version comes out. You will be lucky if that new version will not break the existing codes. Take note that it is not illegal to connect the two softwares as long as you are not distributing that bridge. And SMF is just a sample.
As I can see it, it will take some time for all the smoke to clear up. As an end-user, what I can do is just wait. I’m just hoping that everybody will find ways to break the current deadlock.
For the full GPL version2 license, click here
