I’d like to be among the first to congratulate Matt Asay on his appointment as COO at Canonical. This is a well-deserved and terrific career opportunity for Matt and a reflection of his extensive open source influence, experience and breadth of business management skills.
In his role leading sales and business development for Alfresco in the US, Matt was instrumental to our rapid growth during our first five years. As part of this, he built a great organization that will carry this momentum forward under the management of Bill Robinson, who took over the role as VP of Americas in March 2009. In the last year, Matt has focussed on expanding Alfresco’s business development initiatives and strategic partnerships with notable successes in our open source ecosystem partners MySQL, Red Hat, Acquia/Drupal, Canonical, Jaspersoft, Spring and Liferay. In recent months Matt and Luis Sala have worked to launch our cloud strategy with partnerships including RightScale and Amazon.
Whether serving as an Alfresco executive, CNET blogger, OSBC chair, Arsenal supporter, or most importantly, a dedicated family man, Matt attacks every challenge with contagious enthusiasm.
I’ll miss Matt’s unique and insightful contribution, Matt reached out to me when Alfresco started and I knew we had to hire him in the first 30 seconds. He did not disappoint building a solid base for Alfresco and helping guide us in the fast flowing river that is the open source world. I will also miss his devotion to classic English literature and I forgive his constant commentary on Arsenal’s league and championship performances!
With Canonical he will still have a compelling reason to visit the UK (not just Arsenal games) and I’m looking forward to his continuing support as an open source colleague over the coming years.
We anticipate that this appointment can only be positive for both Canonical and Alfresco as pioneers in open source with similar philosophies of delivering simple open source solutions to the widest possible audience. It is no surprise that Ubuntu Server Edition is the most popular Linux distribution among the Alfresco community. We see many open source community members using a combination of Alfresco as their content management solution and Ubuntu as their chosen operating system.
I know all within the Alfresco community will be very happy for Matt and want to thank him for his exceptional contribution to our success.
Good luck Matt!
February 5th, 2010
I hope you all had a relaxing holiday season and are now looking forward to 2010. As you can tell from my blog I certainly did and thanks to all of you for your positive comments.
While I was enjoying myself, and renewing my energy for another roller coaster ride at Alfresco, the team was busy preparing the release of Alfresco Enterprise 3.2. This is our most ambitious release so far and includes capabilities that add to our depth and maturity as a full featured enterprise content management system. There are capabilities in all areas including Alfresco Share, WCM, RM, administration and cloud deployment.
This year brings a special celebration for Alfresco as we celebrate our 5th birthday. It’s been 5 short years since I, John Newton and a special team of engineers founded the company. As we reach this milestone, we are continuing to grow and innovate:
I recently attended IBM Lotusphere – this was the first opportunity we have had to demonstrate the technical preview of Alfresco Content Services for IBM Lotus to the Lotus developer and user community and the feedback was very positive.
I would like to extend our thanks to all in our community and subscribing customer base for your support over the last 5 years. We recognize that 2009 was an extremely challenging year for many organizations. With your support we have been able to dramatically extend the capabilities of Alfresco and its value to you.
With so much going on, Alfresco looks set to have another busy, successful and exciting year ahead. This just leaves me to wish everyone a happy new year and to say good luck in 2010!
January 28th, 2010
Using Mike & Alison’s helpfully loaned car we went to Piha beach, west of Auckland, reached by a twisty road through a forest reserve.The first view of the beach with the huge Lion Rock, a former Maori stronghold, in the centre of it was stupendous. After a morning there, during which John made it to the summit of Lion Rock, we returned to Auckland and headed for the Sky Tower. The tower provides a view over Auckland, it’s 50 islands and 48 (currently inactive) volcanoes from the viewing platform at a height of 220 metres, still far below it’s total height of 328 metres. We declined the bungee option preferring the glass bottomed lifts to get back to street level. We then took the very short ferry ride to Devonport with it’s multitude of eating places and secondhand book shops before seeing in the new year with the enormous crowd of people who had gathered around the harbour to watch the midnight fireworks launched from the top of the Sky Tower.
So - we spent 3 short weeks in New Zealand covering 2,200 miles and seeing what is possibly the most varied and beautiful landscape of any country in the world. The people are welcoming and our tour organisers Paradise Motorcycle Tours were fantastic. So that’s the end of our holiday and this topic of the blog. Thanks to you for all of the great comments and advice. We do hope to return. Happy New Year. John and Lorna.
January 3rd, 2010
We squashed everything onto the bike for the last time. By now we had left a lot of the dramatic sceenery behind but the lanscape was still vast. We stopped for coffee and saw an emu. We did a diversion to Matamata, famous as the film location for Hobbiton in Lord of the Rings. The Tolkein mania must have worn off as we found only a very small office with any hint of hobbits. We bought some trinkets for our LOTR mad daughter and set off for Auckland. The wind whipped up with a vengence and somehow we ended up on the motorway into Auckland, not great for motorbikes. We parked at the hotel on the Quay and unloaded the Pan for the last time. We at last met Alison and Mike Rose of Paradise Motorcycles who had arranged everything so well. They even lent us their car for our last day in Auckland as all the hire companies had run out of cars over the New Year. They really do do everything they can to make sure their customers have a good holiday. Mike was relieved to see an unblemished Pan as apparently there is a 50% attrition rate on returned bikes.
We waved goodbye to the bike, it had been a trusty machine and lived up to it’s super touring reputation.
That evening we went for a celebration meal at surviving the trip (with the bike,our bodies and our marriage intact!) to a nice fish restaurant and after cocktails and wine we went to the Irish bar. We even managed to dance to the pub singer duo supplying the live entertainment. A great end to the day.
January 2nd, 2010
We set out from Napier and travelled north west along a road past vineyards that then wound up into hills and down to Lake Taupo. We stopped to see a waterfall and then arrived in Taupo town and pulled into a cafe with several other bikes. They were locals just out for the weekend. Strangly biking in not so popular in NZ as you can drive a car at 15 and dont need insurance so does not get the young riders. We stopped at the Huka Falls where Lake Taupo drains to form the Waikato river forced through a 15m wide foaming chasm. Next stop was just along the road at the aptly named Craters of the Moon, a vast field of steaming vents and boiling mud pools. We arrived in Rotorua to a strong smell of sulphur and stayed at the oldest house in the city. It had survived several earthqukes due to the house resting on 5 Kauri tree stumps. Turned out our host John grew up about 12 miles from where we live! He was an excellent host and even lent us his car for the following day as the rain was now quite heavy. Recommended we eat in the Fat Dog renowned for it’s hearty portions. The following day we visited the town park which is dotted with over 50 mud pools, steaming lakes and steam vents. We also visited the local Maori village before seeing the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere. This shoots high into the air with a constant stream which can be viewed from literal hot seats, rocks heated from below. We finished off the day walking through a giant redwood forest planted in 1905. Though not as big as the california redwoods (yet) they still tower over 100 feet. That evening we went to a Maori village to see traditional dancing to the accompaniment of music played on cowrie shells and partake of a feast cooked on hot stones buried in a pit. It was an excellent evening due to the good nature and enthusiasm of the performers, something often missing from many tourist aimed events.
December 29th, 2009
This was one of the longest rides mainly on straight roads through countryside dotted with verdant grassy hills rather like the Teletubbies inhabit. The main road (route 2) heads north to Masterton where the only tricky piece is a 40km stretch to Featherstone of hairpins, fierce gusting winds and heavy traffic. Stopped in Eketahuna at the Patcheek Cafe and were presented with free Christmas cake which was delicious. Rode past the famous Tui brewery to Napier a city destroyed by earthquake in 1931 and now rebuilt as the best art deco city in the world. We stayed at the Manor on Parade, the best room yet with it’s arty details and view of the sea with multiple seating to enjoy it from. The house was known as a house of ill repute back in the 50s.
December 27th, 2009
As mentioned before, we had booked Christmas dinner at 8pm in the hotel. It was described as “A traditional Christmas meal”, it wasn’t or at least wasn’t for those from the northern hemisphere.We were expecting the usual blow out so ate a small breakfast and lunch to save ourselves for the anticipated eating challenge. It all started well with bread and dips followed by golden beetroot carpaccio. Then the turkey arrived, two pieces accompanied by a small amount of stuffing and one carrot. We waited patiently for the roasties, parsnips, sprouts and various other vegetables. Then we asked when the other vegetables would be arriving to be told there was nothing else-the single carrot was the vegetables!!! We were given a plate of asparagus, but no potatoes. We thought we could rely on the pudding which was described as “Traditional Christmas Pudding”. In shape and form it was indeed a Christmas pudding with brandy sauce but the pudding was cold,served with tepid sauce.The meal was disappointing and, as we were sitting right next to the restaurant desk, we know we weren’t alone in thinking this. However the staff, service and company still made for a very special evening, so special that we danced down the corridor on the way out!
December 26th, 2009
After oversleeping and nearly missing breakfast we wondered what to do. We toyed with the idea of riding over macaroon beach but finally decided to go to Te Papa the national museum of NZ surprisingly open and quite busy on Christmas Day. The section on the geology of NZ with it’s earthquake house and interesting demonstrations of how the country is split by two colliding tectonic plates was very informative. We also enjoyed the natural history section with it’s Collosal Squid and snails named after yours truly, the section on Maori history and culture and the section recreating the flora and fauna of NZ a thousand years ago. We were very interested to learn about the native NZ frog which passed through embryo, tadpole and froglet stages before hatching. After the museum we went to the beach for ice cream and a quick paddle. John walked up Mount Victoria for the view over Wellington working up an appetite for the much anticipated Christmas dinner.
December 26th, 2009
We left Baywick Inn after a fantatistic breakfast of home made muesli. The last bikers to stay there had had the disaster of a toppled bike on the drive but Tim’s placing of plywood under the Pan prevented any such calamity. We had a great ride to Picton via Queen Charlottes Drive, a 35 km twisting set of hairpins along the coast. Lorna as pillion could appreciate the azure blue coves and white sailing boats as John gripped the bars, focussed on the road, for 30 minutes of concentration. Arriving at the ferry we were greeted in person as the last bike to arrive. We parked up behind a Moto Guzzi V10 Centauro which looked, and particularly sounded, great. The ferry company seemed to have no idea how big bikes are and how difficult it is manouvre them (especially when loaded to the gunnels) in a confined space. Luckily, Mike at Paradise Tours had given us straps to secure the bike so we made our way on deck to discover we had been treated to entry to the executive lounge. L took full advantage of all the free booze and snacks on offer but luckily is short enough to lie full length on the sofa to sleep it off. The ferry made it’s way along the very narrow Queen Charlotte Sound, a fine example of a flooded river valley or ria. We were soon in the Cook Strait, a 20km stretch of ocean between the north and south islands, where the wind can blow at 270kph which is twice the speed of a hurricane, luckily it was calm that day! It was then only a short ride through Wellington to the hotel where we were going to spend Christmas, John’s pressie was the treat of a flat covered parking area, Lorna’s was being in the same place for more than one night and being able to unpack properly.
December 26th, 2009
We set out somewhat belatedly on a ride back up the Lewis Pass via Murchinson to Nelson. After a fantastic ride through the pass we stopped at Springs Junction for coffee. We expected to find another cafe for lunch however after another 100 km we gave up and settled for the local bee farm which supplied delicious frozen yoghurt. The scenery and biking was superb. Arriving in Nelson we had another warm welcome at the Braywick Inn B&B. Unlimited sherry, port and Christmas cake! We set off walking up a steep hill to the geographic centre of New Zealand. Arriving at the top we had a view over the town, hills and bay. The hills were reminiscent of the Malvern hills and it was no surprise to see Malvern Street on the way down. We ate at Lambrettas cafe having been been lured inside by the aging soul music for us oldies.
December 25th, 2009
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