lcard's WANdisco Blog

New look website, same WANdisco

Published by lcard on January 21, 2011 in WANdisco. 0 Comments

So last night we went live with our new look website – it’s looking really good!

We’ve been wanting to make the change for a while now, as our old site had a lot of information on it. With our growing product line and constantly updated webinar and news feeds we needed to make our information as easy to access as possible, for enterprise customers and the Subversion open source community.

While our site may look different (and we hope in the best possible way), nothing’s changed – we’re still the same brilliant WANdisco! Our certified Subversion binaries, free training webinars and product offerings for both Subversion and CVS remain as awesome as ever. We just wanted to make these things easier to find when you get to our site!

And we haven’t just been prettifying the website either: as Rob’s blog shows, work is powering ahead on fixing Subversion’s branching and merging woes. We’ve also completed our acquisition of SVNForum.org this week, the world’s largest Subversion user community.  We’ve fixed the spam problem and given it a bit of a facelift, but it still remains one of the best Subversion user sites out there and we’re really pleased to be a part of that.

- Lesley

2011: Branching, Merging and Disco Fever!

Published by lcard on January 14, 2011 in WANdisco. 0 Comments

Since my last post there has been a LOT of activity, not all of it good unfortunately. There was a lot of negative comment surrounding our release in December about shaking up Subversion. Saying that, we’ve also had some really good press, and a lot of support from current and past Subversion users – so thank you all for your feedback.

We had to come back in the new year with a bang, and I think we’ve done pretty well – work is beginning on branching and merging, with profits from WANdisco’s support contracts being put towards fixing the problems which cause so many SVN users a headache. Our message is clear, to anyone who believes (or believed) that our initial release was designed purely as a sales stunt: if someone chooses to invest in a Subversion support contract, they are investing in the future of Subversion.

I’m not a techie, as everyone well knows, but the job I do involves looking at what the users of SVN are saying about the product. I do this a variety of ways, the way many marketing departments probably do: I search our forums, various other forum sites, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter… every other post related to ‘subversion’ (and not the slightly darker, politically charged meaning of the word) includes a moan or a full on rant about the frustrations of branching and merging. This is something the project really needs if it is to contend with newer SCM tools. Also, I am LOVING the SVN puns and jokes I’m finding out there – I’ll retweet/retell when I can so if you think of any good ones feel free to share them with me!

We had a really successful first webinar this week too – sign ups have reached record levels already, and keep growing. Next up is an introductory branching and merging course, followed by a more advanced class. Check out more details of our courses on offer here – these are all totally free and by engaging in the webinars and providing your feedback, you help us make Subversion a better product!

Getting ever closer is Subversion Live 2011, a series of conferences and meetings specifically for developers, administrators and IT managers. Starting in February, the 3 events (held in California, Boston and London) will be must-attends for anyone who uses or is thinking of using Subversion. Several key players in the Subversion project will be speaking and leading discussions on the future of Subversion, including Hyrum Wright (who has been release manager for the Subversion project since 2008). With discounts for anyone attending our webinars and for existing customers, as well as group discounts, we’d really like to see as many people as possible attending the events and contributing to a better Subversion.

It’s been a very busy start to 2011, and I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen next !

-Lesley

P.S. I’m also really glad that the confusion over our name has been put to rest. And in case you still don’t know: WANdisco = Wide Area Network DIStributed COmputing.

‘Sno disco like a WANdisco!

Published by lcard on December 24, 2010 in WANdisco. 0 Comments

‘Twas the night before Xmas when all through WANdisco,

Not a server was stirring, not even in San Francisco.

That rhyme was shocking, but bear with me do

For a festive Subversion poem from me to you.

Our commits are nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of repos dance in their heads,

With Glengarry Glen Ross watching over our stuff

I hope I’ll get home, pray the roads aren’t too rough.

See England’s had snow, more than ever before

But that didn’t stop us launching MultiSite 4

And 1.6.15 binaries

Subversion goes on, even in the big freeze.

But back to my ode to this most festive poem,

With an SVN theme since that’s how we roll:

Oh, what to my wandering eyes should appear,

But a Subversion solution with eight binary types, dear

With a little old driver, so lively and quick

I knew in a moment it must be SVNick.

More rapid than CVS his binaries came,

And he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

“Now Windows, now RedHat, now Debian and CentOS,

On Ubuntu, SuSe Linux, Solaris and Tortoise!”

“To the top of the pack! To the top of the wall!

Subversion’s number 1 in version control!”

As I drew in my head, and was turning around

Down my chimney SVNick came with a bound.

A bundle of tools he had flung on his back,

Clustering, Support, and an Access Control pack.

He looked at my system and said what I need

Is MultiSite, to protect my data feed.

No single point of failure, and if I get stuck,

There’s constant support and no need to back up

And if I still feel I want to learn more

Then there’s plenty of webinars to sign up for.

On branching and merging, Subversion admin,

A beginner’s class and some features hidden.

He told me all this while he completed his work,

He repaired my system then turned with a jerk

And laying a finger on the side of his nose

Gave me a nod, and up the chimney he rose.

I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,

“Merry Christmas from WANdisco, and to all a good night!”

Happy holidays everyone!

I’m all shook up…

Published by lcard on December 23, 2010 in General, Subversion and WANdisco. 0 Comments

Well, we certainly made an impact with that! David’s blog and our press release is now all over the web, and a huge thanks must be said to all that have picked up the story, ran with it, commented it, shared it with friends, tweeted, re-tweeted, and generally helped us get the message out that WANdisco is going to make the changes that Subversion users worldwide are calling out for.

There have been murmurings, no, full-blown shout-outs that have criticised Subversion for failing to address problems with branching and merging. We ran a free online training class on branching and merging last year, and it was so popular we’re going to do it again next year – along with a more advanced class for those who need more specifics. There’s already been a massive sign-up so please hurry to register to secure your place.

I’m really looking forward to Hidden Subversion, our first webinar back after the festive break. It promises to be a really interesting class, whether you’re an experienced user or someone like me who’s only just beginning to grasp the concept, as the material we’re covering is not widely known!

We’ve listened to what past attendees have said about our webinars, and have put together a series which includes some old favourites as well as more advanced classes. We hope you enjoy them!

This week has been seriously busy – we had the ‘shake up’ on Monday, we’ve developed and released information on our new training classes for 2011, AND Subversion 1.5.9 has also been released. Now, that might confuse some people who’ve already seen we have 1.6.15 binaries available on our website, but this is an upgrade for those who aren’t yet using 1.6 SVN.

We also released a very festive newsletter, complete with the now renowned slogan: “Ain’t no disco like a WANdisco!” I never thought something I said in jest at a sales meeting would take off so brilliantly! But think about it, following the news this week, there really isn’t. WANdisco have made a serious pledge to the Subversion community, and the feedback we’ve received from this story has been phenomenal and only proves why we should be fixing these problems.

There have been several discussions in the past week or so about our community site and how we can make it even better. I must say thank you to everyone who has signed up in the past month – I wanted to get to 600 users before 2011 and we have done. Now we have to make this site the ‘disco’ we’ve been talking about! If anyone has suggestions – start a discussion thread, get a debate going, let’s get the place buzzing.

We also run SVNforum.org – a far larger site, and unfortunately one that seems to be battling a spam problem. We are trying to enlist the help of site users to act as moderators, who can alert us to spam and hopefully help us crack down. We know there needs to be a significant change, and it is on our to-do list but with everything else going on right now it isn’t at the top of the pile. If there are any other users who feel they could help us out with spam-spotting then don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Introductions

Published by lcard on December 15, 2010 in General, Subversion and WANdisco. 0 Comments

Okay, so I’m sure it’s not gone unnoticed that our blogs have been remarkably silent for the past few months. And that’s not a particularly bad thing, it just means that David and Jim have been really busy – it’s been quite a big year for both WANdisco and the Subversion open source project.

There have been several patches, new releases, webinars… all things that unfortunately mean a blog can get left behind. But no more!

And who am I? I’m Lesley and I guess my official title is “marketing co-ordinator”. But I guess the most important thing anyone should know is that I am a total technophobe.

“Why write a blog about technology, software and open source?” I hear you say. Well, because since I started working for WANdisco, it’s hard to NOT write a blog about it. I have all of this new information in my head, and nobody to share it with that would understand. My friends and family (especially my family) can’t even turn their webcams on, let alone understand the concept of Subversion!

A bit about me: I studied journalism at college, and knew pretty quick I couldn’t do that for a living. So I explored the world of marketing and here I am. I started working here about 3 months ago and immediately found myself in the deep end.

I went from being the kind of person who uses their computer to check Facebook and bank balance (and maybe write the occasional story) to being a part of a growing community dedicated to Subversion.

My first day here, I was given a snapshot of Subversion history: an open source project started ten years ago, Subversion is source code management software. That’s as basic as the explanation got, and after that I sat in meetings where ‘active-active replication’, ‘WAN optimisiation’, ‘nodes’, and a whole host of abbreviations I’ve only just begun to understand, were terms used every other sentence.

Needless to say, the first few weeks were some of the most intense of my life. I tell you what did help me, if you’re new to the community and fancy a bit of a backgrounder: David Richards’ blog , WANdisco CEO and Subversion champion.

Three months later, I am surrounded by Subversion. I am still wary of what the computer in front of me is capable of, and if anyone mentions writing ‘code’ to me I get a little bit weak at the knees, but the work my colleagues complete around me on a daily basis is baffling and fascinating. I am intrigued by what we are creating, amazed by the possibilities it offers… I am hooked.

The more I read about the project, the more I immerse myself in the world of open source software development, the more I have to write a blog. The things I want to talk about and get excited about won’t be understood by my family or friends, but rather those who are a part of our community.

I’m probably never going to have a full understanding of how this software works, but I would like to try and convey information in a way that we can all understand and hopefully enjoy. I want to invite people to join me as I learn more about Subversion, as I explore what’s going on in the open source world, and as I try to decipher the latest releases and their impact on the project.

I don’t promise to get everything right – in fact, I’d rather get something wrong. I figure Subversion is only going to survive if we share our experiences, our knowledge… It is open source, and that’s how we want to keep it: no matter who the company is, the dedication to keeping the source of Subversion open and free is paramount. I look forward to sharing my trials and triumphs with you, and hope you will share yours with me.