Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Resolving XMind can’t open after updating to JRE7

 

I recently noticed that XMind stopped working after updating to Java Runtime Environment (JRE). It gave an error stating

A Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK) must be available in order to run XMind. No Java virtual machine was found after searching the following locations: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\javaw.exe

I solved it by simply making a copy of the JRE7 folder (default installed underneath C:\Program Files (x86)\Java ) and renaming that copy to JRE6.  Worked like a charm.

 

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Some quotes from actual performance appraisals

"Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig."
"His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity"
"I would not allow this employee to breed"
"This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won't be"
"Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap"
"When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet"
"He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle"
"This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot"
"This employee should go far, and the sooner the better"
"Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together"
"A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus"
"He certainly takes a long time to make his pointless"
"He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier"
"I would like to go hunting with him sometime"
"He's been working with glue too much"
"He would argue with a signpost"
"He has a knack for making strangers immediately"
"He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room"
"When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell"
"If you see 2 people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one"
"A photographic memory but with the lens over the cap"
"A prime candidate for natural deselection"
"Donated his brain to science before he was done using it"
"Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming"
"Has 2 brains, one is lost, the other is out looking for it"
"If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week"
"If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change"
"If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean"
"It's hard to believe that he beat out 1,000 other sperm"
"One neuron short of a synapse"
"Some drink from the fountain of knowledge, he only gargled"
"Takes him 1 1/2 hours to watch 60 Minutes"
"The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead"

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Belgian Windows 8 contest : App race

 
Only 31 days left for the Belgian Windows 8 contest: App race. For more info check out

 

Mental note: Windows Phone 7 backup location

By default, Zune makes a backup of your Windows Phone 7, prior to the update procedure. This is so that, in case of failures, it can revert back the phone to its previous state. The backups are automatically stored on the rive where Windows is installed, in the folder Users\Your User Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update.

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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Functional stupidity and the corporate rebel

The prestigious Journal of Management published an article in November 2012 called “A stupidity-based theory of organizations” which defined a new interesting term: functional stupidity. Functional stupidity can be defined as follows:

Functional stupidity is organizationally-supported lack of reflexivity, substantive reasoning and justification by hierarchically structured organizations to avoid disintegration (or at least avoid internal friction) and it refers to an absence of reflection and refusal to justify certain decisions, forms of stupidity management repress or marginalize doubt and block communicative action. Members of these organizations are only allowed to work within well defined boundaries and are encouraged only to focus on specific tasks without questioning why.

This seems to be quite contradictory with the contemporary view upon organizations which claims that modern organizations are knowledge intensive and that organizations can only survive when they get the best out of their key asset, their employees.

Short-term use of intellectual resources, consensus and an absence of disquieting questions about decisions and structures may oil the organizational machinery and contribute to harmony and increased productivity in a company,” Mats Alvesson, professor of organization studies, and one of the co-authors, writes. “However, it may also be its downfall.” One of the consequences of functional stupidity is killing innovation and evolution through learning.

The articles also outlines a number of behaviors which are typical of functional stupidity. It also seems that larger organizations are more prone to it. I think this has to do with the fact that they typically boil down their objectives into specific targets which should be attained without question. These objectives and they way of working is often backed by hierarchies, bureaucratic rules and a extremely well documented processes.

I think that at times it is a good thing to question the obvious, be a corporate rebel (Check out www.rebelsatwork.com for some interesting insights and thoughts or read the Rebels at work: motivated to make a difference e-book) and stir up new ideas that often are uncomfortable for the powers that be. Rebel for the ideas that you believe will make a difference because it is all to easy to find a reason not to change.

To finish of, a quote from Marc Buelens, professor at Vlerick Business School, which he added to his article in Trends magazine (Functioneel onwetend, de aantrekkingskracht van veilige paden, 21 maart 2013):

Functional stupidity provides a lot of comfort to management, but together these useful idiots can do quite a lot of stupid things.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Community Day 2013 – Building search driven Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps with SharePoint Server 2013

I will be delivering a session at Community Day Belgium – registrations will open up next week – there is a great lineup of sessions – so don’t hesitate.

Session abstract: Combine the power of Windows 8 with the flexibility and interoperability of SharePoint 2013 search. This session will walk through building Windows 8 applications using SharePoint 2013's REST-based search API to build rich, compelling user experiences. We will leverage the new people and social search capabilities in SharePoint 2013 to build both a Windows 8 client and Windows Phone 8 client.

If you have a specific scenario that you want to see in this session, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.