Much Ado About...

Nigerian Presidential Elections, Oh What A Shame!

Ebenezer Ikonne — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:38:45 GMT

Nigerians and observers alike have been very critical of the presidential elections that recently occurred in the motherland. I don't want to suggest that I settle for less or that how the elections were run are acceptable, however, it is true that a baby doesn't start running because the adults around it can walk.

As a friend of mine reminded me today, there is a country to east of Nigeria whose president has been in power for 26 years! We need to appreciate the small victories however insignificant they may look.

Am I Your Servant?

Ebenezer Ikonne — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:29:42 GMT

Via Dare's post: Define: Servant, I came to find out that some of my Nigerian brethren did not take kindly to his description of the fellow in the picture below as a "servant". Check out http://naijaman.cfmxdeveloper.co.uk/diary/2007/04/objs-cribs.html and http://grandioseparlor.com/2007/04/a-presidential-servant/

Should his picture have called the gentleman a "houseboy" or something kinder? Should he have not shown the picture at all? I might have taken umbrage to the picture taking if Dare hadn't also taken pictures to show the other end of the spectrum - affluency, which he is a member of. What interests me the most is that a Presidential servant actually lives in such conditions. How come? What's the excuse? That things could be worse for him? Could this be his Aso Rock?

Dare, hope you left him with enough "pocket money".

For the full catalog, check out: http://flickr.com/photos/carnage4life/sets/72157600155828724/55828724 /

Nigeria and Cheap Laptops

Ebenezer Ikonne — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 17:54:00 GMT

Dare posts On the $100 Laptop and Africa and the post evoked a couple of responses. Just to level-set with everyone, I'm Nigerian and this isn't only by association i.e.having a Nigerian last name. I'm just as “Nigerian“ as the next “authentic“ Nigerian you can find.

I definitely see where Dare is coming from, afterall I remember being in a conversation with someone who considered themselves enlightened. We were discussing the misuse of money in the US. This individual actually had the courage to ask “...imagine how many huts that would build in Eb's village.” Some people can be totally clueless.

However, I do think there is a point in the article (event though it might have been lost in the uproar it caused). Dare mentions how “in Nigeria there are probably more cell phones per capita in major cities than in most parts of the United States.” That is part of the problem, technology advances are unfortunately causing people to forget about the basic problem. Why is it cyber cafes (as they are fondly called there) are the base for all big scam (419) operations? A lot of people I know have cell phones, but they can't even afford to “load the phone with credit” and make a call to someone in the country! Let's be real.

So while I agree that “[sic] it isn't all one freaking desert with bony kids surrounded by flies from South Africa to Algeria” and that the so-called “middle class” can afford such - heck Computer Village in Lagos is doing quite well, we do need to put this in perspective.

Then again, is someone really trying to advance technology or make a quick buck?

Say it ain't so

Ebenezer Ikonne — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 20:04:00 GMT

The Web rocks. Two years ago Clemens posted this dllhost.exe.config dilemma fixed, at last -- by Microsoft. I had to look into something today and it definitely works so I'll summarize again:

Specify a directory as your COM+ applications root directory
Place a file named application.manifest in this directory - the file must be named this
Place a file named application .config in this directory - application.manifest forces the application to look for application.config hence this file must also be named as such.

Enjoy!

Classic.

Ebenezer Ikonne — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 12:50:00 GMT

Everyone should read this: What are you?.

SaaS - Software and Services

Ebenezer Ikonne — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 23:03:00 GMT

Ephraim Schwartz posts Microsoft is stuck on the C: drive . I must confess, working for an ISV, I think about this alot and the way it would potentially change the business landscape. I wonder if ISVs would now begin to invest in the hardware their clients previously purchased. I wonder about revenue generation. I wonder about software updates. I wonder about support. I wonder about a lot of things.

Technology overload?

Ebenezer Ikonne — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 09:47:00 GMT

Clemens posts Visual Studio Overload And The Specialization Gamble and Taulty posts .NET 2.0: How far it's come as somewhat of a response. As a solutions architect, I can't even begin to explain how overwhelming it is at times trying to wrap my mind around the different technologies coming down the pipeline even though they are all .NET-based. Today it's LINQ, tomorrow its Workflow, next week it's Avalon and in 3 months its C# 3.0.

Good thing we have blogs, syndication, RSS and ATOM.

Attensa

Ebenezer Ikonne — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 14:37:00 GMT

For the longest time (ok up till 1am this morning), I browsed out to the websites to get the latest published content. Yeah, call me slow...anyway I ended up looking for a news aggregator. I stumbled across "Attensa for Outlook“ which I promptly installed. So far its working out ok. I will say that after installing this, I realized how important it is to me that I be able to use “fewer applications to accomplish more”. It makes sense for all my “aggregators” to be managed by one application. I wonder if Office 12 (for a Windows guy like me) will have anything like this built in Outlook.

I'm coming out...

Ebenezer Ikonne — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 23:22:00 GMT

After much persuasion, I've finally given in to the “blog” craze. I don't know where I'm going to find the time to post consistently with the busy schedule I keep, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work something out.

If you really want to get to know me and what I do, feel free to contact me directly. I think the fact that my blog is hosted by “geekswithblogs” says it all. In addition to the software stuff, I'm an avid football (soccer in the US) fan and I will post on that as time permits.

I hope my posts can be informative and spawn conservation. Don't hesistate to comment or drop me a line.