strange kind of year so far, really. Once Christmas was out of the way, it was all eyes on BrainShare. Once that was out of the way it was Easter, now I’m only three weeks away from a fortnight in Spain. It feels a little bit “bitty” in that I haven’t really established any kind of momentum before I’m off doing something else.

In the news locally, my employer has hit the headlines for it’s treatment of students. I looked at the MEN website earlier today and the level of vitriol is quite amazing. That said, I’m sure I’d feel the same way if it happened to me. I don’t really feel the need to pass further comment on it, as I’m sure the students have done all of the talking. Needless to say it doesn’t look good!

On the tech front, installed OpenSUSE 10.2 the other day. Not bad, much of what we come to expect these days from one of the good Linux distros (Ubuntu, SUSE, Red Hat). For those who installed Linux three or more years ago, there was usually some measure of pain getting the thing going. These days it’s a testament to the people who build it that we just assume it will work right out of the box. Which it does. I had a small problem with OS10.2 not mounting a ReiserFS partition, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed quite quickly. Also, the Register reports that Dell is soon to ship Ubuntu. Whilst I would have liked to see SLED or OpenSUSE in there, it’s certainly a good start. Ubuntu is a good distro, but I’ve been living off SUSE for around 18 months solidly, and it’s started to become ingrained into my DNA.

SP1 for SLED is now at RC3, so I can only presume a release is around the corner. The RCs have been roughly three weeks apart, so based on that I think we’re looking late May. I’ll see a Novell employee tomorrow at the GUG event in Leeds, so I think I’ll grill him on a release date. I doubt I’ll get much out of him, mind.

Trying to learn Spanish again – problem is that it’s usually in the evening when my brain is utterly dead and will not respond. I did try listening to Michel Thomas on the cross trainer this morning, that seemed to go in OK. Maybe it’s his methods too. Buuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeennnnnnoooooooo! He doesn’t half give that bloke a rough time though, doesn’t he? Only an hour before Liverpool vs Chelski, ought to be a good game. Oh, and I give Sammy Lee 6 months at Bolton before the love affair ends. BFS did a reasonable job there, and SL will feel a little like “after the Lord Mayors Show”.

Hasta Luego!