Welcome to the latest newsletter. The past two weeks were filled with an on-site workshop about CI/CD for webMethods Integration Server, a complete re-install of my main workstation (details in "Behind the scenes" below), as well as preparation for the CI/CD online course.

But now to the actual content. Here is what I have for you in this issue:

• Video on the Integrated Learning Environment of my CI/CD course for webMethods Integration Server
• The true value of Version Control
• How to get rid of your prospect

With that let's jump into the content and I wish you all a great week.

Best wishes,
Christoph

While the last newsletter edition featured an article about the design thoughts behind the Integrated Learning Environment, this one will let you experience it in action.

I have created a short video that shows the installation and a full CI circle. Think of it as a preview to the upcoming online course.

Many people work with Version Control these days. The free availability of Git has made possible, what I could only dream of 20 years ago.

In that daily routine it is easy to think about Version Control as just some glorified version of "save as". But it offers much more.

In the video below Dave Farley shares highly valuable information about its true value. Don't be put off by the title or thumbnail, they are a bit misleading in my opinion.

Today I continue with my mini-series. It is about my encounters with organizations that I had seriously considered as a supplier. In other words: I was about to buy from them. In terms of opportunity probability we are talking about 80-100% when I got in touch with them for the first time.

Yet they managed to drive me off. And usually that took only a single interaction. How did they "achieve" this?

My posts will be anonymous. Their purpose is not to shame anyone. But these encounters usually taught me a lesson. In some cases I even must admit that I might have done something similar. So I thought that perhaps others might benefit as well.

Today's story is about a leading provider for office space. Their offering spans entire buildings or floors, but also single small rooms or a shared co-working space.

So when I checked their website I was pleasantly surprised that several locations were nearby. Also, the rate for a small fixed room (only I have access) seemed quite reasonable.

But then came the "blast from the past". I was asked to fill out a contact form, to be called for discussing the details. I hate this. What is the problem to put all relevant information on the web page?

Well, I was sufficiently interested to ignore my gut feeling. The phone call came about a minute later. The person's German was ok, but a bit of a stretch for a sales job. Then came the real bummer: The rate for the kind of room I was looking for was about twice as much as advertised.

That immediately killed the deal for me. Also the 10% discount if I ordered in the next 5 days didn't change that (surprise). I thanked the person and said I would have to sleep over it.

A few hours later I got an email. It came from a completely different domain, so I almost deleted it right away. On closer inspection it was a pretty ugly copy-paste conglomerate with different fonts, sizes, and a completely incoherent level of detail.

Two days later I thanked the sender and declined the offer. Will I ever again check out that company? Yeah, you guessed right.

The last weekend was a bit chaotic (hence no newsletter). I had tried to install another Linux distribution on my main workstation. We are talking about Pop!_OS by System76. I had manually created an additional LVM partition and the logical volumes. Everything seemed fine.

But after the initial installer run things were far from fine. In fact nothing worked. Not Pop!_OS, not Windows 10, not Fedora, and the same for KDE Neon. Well, the latter was no problem, since I hadn't used it after my switch to Fedora with Cinnamon desktop.

But Fedora and Windows hurt. I wasted about 2 hours trying to recover things. But no luck. In fact things were messed to such a degree that Windows was not able to modify the partition table. I first had to remove everything using Linux. Then Windows was installed, and after that Fedora.

I cannot say whether it was an issue with the Pop!_OS installer or my own fault. But I had issues with the Ubuntu installer in the past. So my guess is that it is at least not entirely my mistake.

Here are some curated links that might be interesting for you:

• End the line: The last Sun Sparc Workstation (YouTube)
• Ben Eater: “Hello, world” from scratch on a 6502 — Part 1 (YouTube)