7x24 Exchange Tues Keynote, Introduces OCP and OPEN 19

I have been going to OCP since its start in 2011 at Facebook’s campus and it is nice to see that OCP and OPEN 19 are introduced to the data center building audience of 7x24 Exchange. There are a handful of people who go to both OCP Summits and 7x24 Exchange but it is not many.

The panel has Greg Stover (Vertiv), John Gross (J.M. Gross Engineering), Peter Panfil (Vertiv), and Zachary Smith (Equinix).

The panel discussion worked well to discuss the issue of open standards like OCP and OPEN 19 and its impact on the industry. To give you an idea of what OCP and OPEN 19 work on the following diagram was shared.

If you have interest in these areas here are links. www.opencompute.org and www.open19.org

7x24 Exchange Fall 2022 Keynote, Admiral Mike Rogers

Admiral Mike Rogers is the opening Keynote at 7x24. The description of presentation is as follows.


Admiral Rogers shows why and how periods of turmoil and chaos are often a leader’s greatest opportunity to shepherd transformational change. While people and organizations seem hard-wired to favor stability and resist change, necessity forces the hand of invention. According to multiple analysts and headlines, the global pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of entire industries by three to seven years—and that window of opportunity is still open—not only for technological change but for shifts in organizational culture and the future of work. Admiral Rogers shows leaders how to embrace the power of chaos and fully leverage its momentum for change.

The presentation was well received and the following are some notes. If you are a person who likes to read a full document you can check out this document that has overlap with what is presented. One of the key points Mike made is described in the document.

Don’t Waste a Crisis

“It’s easy to be a leader when things are going right. It’s easy to be a leader when everyone’s happy. It’s easy to be a leader when there’s tons of resources,” Rogers said. “Where you make your money as a leader, I always thought, is when none of that is true.” But troubled times, if used properly, can lead to breakthroughs, especially in bureaucracies. “Crisis also is opportunity,” he said. “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

Here are a few other snippets from Mike’s presentation.

Leadership in the chaos and uncertainty is the future. Significant change, uncertainty with change, under stress will be common

What is the basic work model at work, at home, hybrid is an example of the unknown.

Our workforce has different expectations than the past. Employee empathy is critical for success

Young generation does not the fear of uncertainty that the older generation does, and don’t assume people will stick around because you fear going to an uncertain future.

How do we create organizational structures that are not one size fits all.

People are more willing than ever to walk away from work.

If you do not focused motivated people you will not be successful.

Human capital is critical component.

Build a work force to sustain over a period of time.

The rate of change is accelerating.

“Never let a crisis go to waste. Use it to drive change.” Vehicle of opportunity

What is regulatory environment in 2030 and beyond?

How do you build in flexibility to accommodate the change?

Blend the best of the cultures from civilian and government is a goal of Admiral Mike Rogers when he ran the NSA. Stifling of communication limits the development of best cultures.

Make choices that leave options.

Dvorak vs. QWERTY, not just efficiency a different mindset

There is a post on Arstechnica that Dvorak keyboards are now supported in iOS16.

Apple and Dvorak have an interesting history. The company first included native Dvorak support for its computers in the US model of the Apple IIc, released in 1984. It included a special "Keyboard" button that would swap the layout between QWERTY and Dvorak logically, but the physical keycaps would need to be re-arranged to match if you needed a label reference.

Steve “Woz” Wozniak is referenced as a Dvorak user, but he did not start using Dvorak until 1993 so Woz did not put the code into Apple OS.

Interestingly, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak ("Woz") learned Dvorak around 1993 and never looked back (he wasn't involved with Dvorak on the Apple IIc, he says). In an email to Ars Technica, Woz recounted how he first learned Dvorak. "I was on a flight to Tokyo and I ran Mavis Beacon teaches typing in Dvorak mode," he wrote. "I spent 5 hours learning it and never again looked at a QWERTY keyboard. That’s all it took. My son had already switched over successfully, and learned Dvorak in a short time and quickly got up to the same speed he typed in QWERTY in about a week."

After Apple added Dvorak to Mac and Apple II, Microsoft’s Nathan Myhrvold was the one who put the code into Windows 2.0 in 1987

I have been using Dvorak keyboards since 1988 on the Mac. I worked as project leader on Apple Keyboards and the mechanical engineer was a Dvorak user and I gave it a try and have been using Dvorak since. My family hates it because they get frustrated when they reach for my devices and letters typed are all messed up.

But the one thing I have been using QWERTY for is typing on my iPhone which may be why I preferred to use MacBook or iPad with Dvorak keyboards. But now there is Dvorak on iPhone with iOS16. Making the transition to Dvorak on the iPhone is relearning as now use two thumbs to type instead of 10 fingers.

And here is the difference noticing when I type with Dvorak my mindset changes as I don’t think about the keys at all. It is more like the ideas just flow as I can’t look at the keys as I did not remap the keyboard. This same mindset shift happens when I type Dvorak on the iPhone. Think of things and let the fingers find the sequence.

This is kind of a random thing, and will revisit it after more time making the transition.

Now if I had my iPhone to my family they will again be pissed the keys are messed up, but at least they can see where the keys are. :-)

Example of Innovation. Company has idea in 2012. Ships in 2016. Gets acquired by Adobe in 2022 for $20B

This past two weeks have been catching up with two good ex-Apple friends who I worked with before leaving Apple in 1992. 30 years later two friends are some of the best inspiration for innovative ideas.

An example of one idea was Figma. Never heard of it. Well some of you may now as Adobe acquired the company Sept 15, 2022 for a rumored $20B.

2 years one friend said check out Figma for software user experience design. I had started playing with it and got it, but at the time was not doing user experience in design. And finally 2 months ago was ready for user experience design work. Got curious more about how Figma worked and why it was big.

Dylan Field had the idea for something new in 2012. He was 20 years old. In 2016 he finally shipped. In 2017 he started making money as he changed for the service. Many blew off the approach as no way can it work. Dylan Field the co founder of Figma writes about the outrage.

We didn’t realize that launching Figma was heresy, a generational assault on top-down, siloed models of decision making and a challenge to the identity of many designers. While some immediately understood the potential of building design software in the browser, our vision elicited an immediate and negative reaction from others. Some even told us that if this was the future of design, they were changing careers.

Nice thing is my two friends know Dylan and have share some of his approaches and thinking. And I now have a better understanding of what happened to make Figma successful. The ideas are revolutionary and can be copied.