I had another busy week, starting a new class and teaching Microsoft technologies to a new group. I have many years of experience with Microsoft products and services, and I hope to pass on some of that knowledge to get them up to speed over the coming weeks. The first class was good, and I got the students to research the beginnings of Windows Server and highlight the major features added in each subsequent release with a short explanation of what they add/do. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the students’ work in such a short time.
Next week is busy with a lot of teaching and test writing.
I’ve inherited a business-grade firewall, so I’ll be researching wireless access points to move off my already long-in-the-tooth router/Wi-Fi solution. It used to be so simple. Now, it’s more complicated than ordering a coffee at Starbucks in California!
Reading
I’ve been reading a lot of training notes last week, giving the novel reading a bit of a back seat. With a bit of luck this coming week, I’ll pick up from where I left off.
Of note
Maybe my cries for help to Apple actually did something —I doubt it— but I’ve had much more success in using the HomePod mini stereo pair in my office this week. I force-rebooted a couple of times. The result has been more stability. It is still not up to the initial rock-solid state it was a few months ago. I suspect my Internet has something to do with that, but that would be very hard to pin down, given that Apple gives you literally no way to see what is happening on the HomePod devices. They are truly a closed-off example of a closed device. It’s convenient when it works but a frustrating shit-show when it doesn’t.
I guess the week’s big news was the tropical storm of news Friday evening when Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI.
The fallout is still settling, and there have been literally hundreds of rumours surrounding what may have happened. The latest, as of writing, is that the board are now pleading with him to come back, apparently led by Satya Nadella of Microsoft, who apparently knew nothing of the ousting despite having 49% shares of the for-profit side of the structure.
That’s another thing that has come out of this, something that we probably all should have been more aware of, is that the Open AI business structure seems to be set up in a less than transparent way and gives the impression that it is a non-profit research organisation. Clearly, it is far from that, and Friday night events have only highlighted that.
The other big question is how Microsoft seems to have put all of its eggs (or at least a vast majority) in one basket… Open AI. That might come back to bite them in the future.
Lastly, I’ll just say that the name of Open AI is disingenuous. It is not open at all. More on that in the future if I get around to writing that up.
Have a good week.
