He exhumes confidence.It never fails - when I'm having trouble finding a compelling quote, one falls in my lap. This time the source was Scott Adams, in his Dilbert Newsletter 48.0. Isn't that a great concept? If you've buried your confidence, there's always hope that you can exhume it. Another vocabulary mistake that Adams quotes that still says something meaningful is, "They want the site to be designed in such a way that it eludes professionalism." So true, so often.
-Danny R. Faught, Software Alchemist
faught@tejasconsulting.com
-- http://tejasconsulting.com/
-- +1-817-294-3998
If you've been reading for the last few issues, you know this is coming.... I'm still shamelessly plugging my startup publication, Open Testware Reviews. I have four issues out now. Recently posted features cover the Sclc Metrics Tool, a monster Unit Test Tool Survey, the InstallWatch tool, and a GUI Test Driver Survey. As always, all tools are available for free, and most are open source. I also have a new logo on the Open Testware Reviews storefront, and soon I'll provide some background on why in the world I chose that particular animal. Is Open Testware Reviews like a food craving - it's like something you need, but not quite it? If so, let me know! There's plenty of opportunity to shape it into something that's more useful for everyone.
Though I'm having lots of fun with all my writing assignments, my finance director, a.k.a. significant other, says it's time to take on more consulting engagements. So I've tweaked my resume again and broadened my search. Let me know if you need help with your software quality, whatever size the project. Also, if you like the concept of Open Testware Reviews, but you want a review done on your terms, I can review a tool or survey a category of tools based on your requirements. If you're evaluating tools and want some additional input rather than outsourcing the whole effort, this might be right up your alley.
I've been getting creative with projects lately. My oldest daughter
is now homeschooled, and I offered to teach a programming class to
homeschool kids. We just finished the first session of classes, using
Logo to learn how
to make computer games. It was quite an experience. Speaking of
creative, I wrote some free verse about this experience during a
creative writing class, and you'll find it below.
I published my first guest column for StickyMinds.com - "Testware for Free:
Adventures of a Freeware Explorer."
Upcoming conferences I'm attending include the Usenix 2003 Annual
Technical Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 12-13, and the O'Reilly Open Source
Convention, Portland, Oregon, July 7-11. I've just finished adding
a section on keyword-driven GUI test automation to my "Perl Scripting:
A Test Automation Task Master" tutorial for the Fall 2003 Software Test Automation
Conference, August 19-22 in Boston. Plus, I recently got
confirmation that I'll be giving a new tutorial - "Stocking the
Tester's Toolbox" - at the ASQ's 13th
International Conference on Software Quality, October 6-9, just
down the road in Dallas, Texas.
I have added a "PayPal donate" button to the front page on testingfaqs.org. If you have
benefited from the resources on this site, consider helping to cover
the expenses of keeping it updated and keeping the bits flowing over
the net. Any size contribution would be a welcome vote of confidence.
There are many ghosts in the Boneyard! I enjoy the challenging
paranormal investigations that are required to maintain the population
there.
The Boneyard is
a page that I added to testingfaqs.org a little over a year ago. What
prompted its creation was the little feeling of regret I had when I
deleted or updated one of the listings of test tools, contractors, and
courses on the site. I
felt that I was erasing a bit of history. When I later would have a
reference to a company or test tool that was outdated, I'd often have a
very hard time figuring out from the current information whether it had
been reincarnated in a new form, or whether the ashes had already been
scattered. So I created the Boneyard to track these bits of history for
future reference. The Boneyard is growing organically as I find
information, so keep in mind that the information that's there is
incomplete.
It wasn't easy settling on a format for the Boneyard entries. I
decided to list things under the name of the relevant company as it
existed at the time of the change. So to find the full lineage, you can
search for names forward or backward through the chain.
Finding source information for the Boneyard is usually a challenge.
It often starts with a link on testingfaqs.org that no longer works. A
Google search may find some random scribbles on a mailing list
referring to some company from which I may be able to dig up a relevant
press release. That same search will also find dozens of listings like
my own, giving the now-outdated information. Companies often try to
downplay their past, because the ugly details don't make for good
marketing spin. Sometimes the Boneyard entries must be based on shaky
sources.
There have been a few cases where defunct companies continue to maintain a web page, but are no longer reachable by phone or email. How they continue to fund the web site is a mystery. And then there are the companies that vanish without a trace, or at least not a trace that I can find. An interesting case is Automated Solutions, Inc. of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, whose www.asitest.com web site disappeared. While trying to find out what happened to the company, I found, of all things, Automated Solutions, Inc. of Colorado Springs, Colorado, living at www.asi-test.com. Perhaps a family business that moved with the family, plus a new and improved URL? No, my contact at the Colorado company claims to never have heard of the corporation of the same name in Massachusetts.
If you take the effort to trace it through, you'll find that there
are several companies and their associated offerings that have a
colorful past. The Boneyard only gives a fleeting glimpse of the
turmoil and salvation, the
mergers and the painful deaths. I thought it would be interesting to
highlight
the four most convoluted histories hiding within the Boneyard.
Empirix is a common name in web testing circles. Six company names appear on Empirix's lineage. Start with Hammer Technologies, which was acquired by Teradyne. Later Teradyne spun off Hammer, which then merged with RSW Software and Software and Systems Test to form Empirix, Inc. The sixth name appears on the family tree when Empirix sold the ANVL conformance test suite to Ixia. Empirix continues to offer a growing list of tools.
Then we have Software Testing Labs, a name which still lingers in a
few dusty corners on the web, after the company changed its name to ST
Labs
and then was acquired by Data Dimensions. Meanwhile, Lionbridge
Technologies
acquired Veritest, and later acquired Data Dimensions, merging it with
its
Veritest division. Amazingly, the Testers'
Network
started by Software Testing Labs still lives, on the Veritest
division's
web site.
When I reviewed the OpenSTA load test tool for Open Testware
Reviews, I uncovered some interesting dirt. OpenSTA was created by
Cyrano SA. Its
history can be traced back to Performance Software Limited, which was
purchased
by IMM, which led to the formation of Cyrano SA. I learned by looking
at
the OpenSTA archives that Cyrano SA had since been sliced and diced,
and
lived no more. Part of it was bought by Quotium Technologies, part of
it
was liquidated, and the U.S. branch, already incorporated as Cyrano,
Inc.,
was sent off on its own in the world. It pays to watch those little
letters on the end of the company names. At the time I wrote the
review,
the opensta.com web site was mostly defunct, though on the surface it
looked
like an authoritative source of information for OpenSTA.
IBM has entered the mix, and exactly how is best tracked in reverse
order. IBM recently acquired one of the software tool giants, Rational
Software
Corporation. Rational had acquired Pure Atria, SQA, Inc., and ATOLL
Testware.
Some notes I found on Rational's web site also hint at an acquisition
of
Vendix, though I'm not familiar with what that company was. Going
further
back, Pure Atria was formed by a merger of Pure Software and Atria
Software,
during a time period when I wasn't taking good notes on such things.
This
all makes me wonder if the science of genetics could be used to analyze
the
makeup of today's companies. Just hope you're not depending on a
recessive
gene!
There are still plenty of testing-related transitions that are
missing from the Boneyard. I recently was looking for information about
the tool I
remembered as "Visual Test." I knew there had been a change of both
name and
vendor, and I wasn't sure whether I had the new name or the old name.
Alas,
there was no mention of it in the Boneyard. I was able to find some
hints on the web that the tool started out as Microsoft Test, was
renamed Microsoft Visual Test, and then sold to Rational to become
Rational Visual Test. A trip to Rational's web site verifies that the
Rational Visual Test is still offered. Sometimes it's good to find some
continuity in our lives, even when we can't know for sure how we got
where we are.
Have you found the Boneyard useful? Let me know your story. You may
know about some historical tidbit that needs to be reflected in the
Boneyard. Any
tips for the ongoing documentation effort would be appreciated.
Brian Marick wrote about my quote that led off the last issue.
Recommended: Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Teach Us About the Mind, by Lakoff. Basically, it teaches us that "natural categories" is a pretty fishy concept. Socrates spoke of categories "carving nature at its joints," but it's more of a rhetorical device than anything we can identify clearly in nature.Brian has lots of other ideas about categorization that he may publish some day. Meanwhile, I need to look up that book.
Jeff Bay responded after reading my feature article about Convex.
I don't even rate a mention as an ex con, huh?
Goodness, how could I leave out Jeff, who was the one who introduced
me to Extreme Programming?
Hema Kalidindi wrote:
That was a neat tribute for Convex, in your newsletter - and thanks for mentioning me by name. I hadn't even read halfway through it, when I started wallowing in nostalgia. In actual fact, I have never been an ex-Con technically, since I joined after the site officially became the Convex Division of HP. But I was lucky enough to get to experience the Convex culture for a year and a half or so.Randi Bouchier wrote:
I didn't know you worked for Convex. I had many friends who worked there. Bummer that it's completely dead now. Anyway, yep, long live Convex, even though I never did make it to any of the Friday happy hours.Its spirit lives on now, mostly in the people who are no longer there, but who are still in touch.
Prasad Tammana wrote:
After this month's feature article, I suppose I have to admit that I dwell on the past too. Just be careful not to leave anyone out when you name names. ;-)I really enjoyed reading your reminiscences of Convex. It truly was an amazing place and being my first job it really set up my expectations of work place pretty high. It's ironic that my next job happened to be the other end of the spectrum (or it seemed that way coming out of Convex)!
Since leaving Convex, I spent a Thanksgiving weekend at Tim's place that included hiking and climbing with Trevor and Tim. I spent another weekend there, this time hiking with Dan, Trevor and Tim. I was in Boulder last year attending Trevor's wedding. Dan visited us here in Redmond and stayed with us for a long weekend. I meet Daryl every few months for lunch. Of course, you and I have met several times since Convex. I've worked with David and Jay for over a year here at Microsoft. And I'm sure I missed several others that I've touched base with since.
What a place! I have to admit that I do have a tendency to dwell on past though. :-)
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