Donnerstag, 26. März 2009

Skype

Today we prepared the Conference, which is planned to have a workshop about visualFORTH, the organizers on the other side of the Atlantic, and me myself here.

The idea was to have a Conference-Call-Video-Connection tomorrow, using Skype.
This would it make possible for me to attend the Conference, and it would be possible for the attending listeners to ask questions directly.

There have been a lot of obstacles, the hardest one was to find a place in this rural area here with High Speed Internet-Connection. I was lucky to find a friend in the Computer Business who granted me to use his equipment. I ordered some Web-Cams, today the parcel arrived, and the first test could be made. After some normal problems to find out how works what we got a connection, first by audio, then by video.

It was amazing. I do not know if it was because I did see friends again after fifteen years and whom I now am sure I missed, even if it did not come to my consciousness, or because it was because of suddenly adapting a new technology I did not believe it really works.

I guess it was the first - or the second, partly, too? May be it was both. I am an Engineer used to look at things from a scientific emotionless point of view, but remember the time when the first affordable wireless phones came up, I was responsible for a project and had to be accessible all the time. I did not buy one of theses sneaky little cell phones * with everything inside to put it on the ear, but I bought a box with a real handset and a shoulder-strap, because I did not like to put the microwave onto my head to microwave my brain.
This was the first time I had this kind of emotional experience. Somehow I was proud to carry around this box so that everybody could see it (later I hided it in a briefcase, because meanwhile I was ashamed of myself), see how important I am (nowadays the bluetooth ear clips have this function).

It was great, it was fun, it was emotion to test this teleconferencing thing. I exceptional enjoyed it! I nearly could not let it go. But I had to. Midnight was approaching at the other end of the world, people got tired, and suddenly I remembered I had another appointment tonight I promised to be back for early enough.

A little, but important work I did before this test, waiting for the UPS-delivery. I made screenshots for a documentation which shall help to use the Installation-Batch I did yesterday.
Tomorrow I will put it together into a PDF, and next week, I hope, I have time to write the text documentation. I am really anxiously looking forward to our Workshop-Video-Conference on Friday.

*) By the way, seven years later in Luxembourg I worked for the son of the inventor of the cell phone!

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