Alan Williamson

Observations on software, leadership,
and thinking like a CTO

  • 2024 in review

    With the 1st of January now rolling us into 2025, it’s time for my annual review of the year that has just closed. Another beautiful sunny day here in Virginia, warm and blue skies as I sit down and reflect on some of the stats and journals I have maintained this year.

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    2024 in review

  • OpenBD – for remote proxying

    The standard CFCONTENT tag has had the file=“” feature from the start.  This is where you can pass in a local file and have it sent to the client.  Extremely handy when you are giving a client access to a file that may not be in the webapp directory or if you want to add Read Post ⇢

  • I have seen many a multi-monitor setup, but when I spotted one of my team, Trace, with the tiered monitor configuration, I done a double take. Trace has a USB monitor in-between his laptop and his keyboard, low enough that he can look over to see the laptop monitor behind him.    Genius setup. Read Post ⇢

  • Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution

    The inspiration behind Tony Stark’s Iron Man business man persona, Elon Musk, is truly a fascinating and intriguing character.   I will confess that my first impression of Musk, was an eccentric rich play boy, who craved the lime light with no real substance – the technologies Paris Hilton. I couldn’t have been more wrong Read Post ⇢

  • [review] Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!

    I am always fascinated at the history of companies, particularly those that we interact with on a daily basis.  Yahoo is one of the original pioneering internet companies that seems to be a poison chalice for any CEO that attempts to reform it back to its glory days. This book, contrary to the title, is Read Post ⇢

  • Amazon S3 overhaul for OpenBD

    Building on last weeks work with AmazonS3Write() function, I have just released a slew of updates and changes to the whole range of OpenBD functions designed to make it easier to work with Amazon’s S3. The following functions have been updated with new functionality: AmazonS3Write()Supports background uploads. Multi-part uploads (for larger files). Set storage class Read Post ⇢

  • Improved AmazonS3 uploads with OpenBD

    I have added an end of year feature bonus to OpenBD, available in the nightly build edition.   This improves the uploading capabilities to Amazon S3 from your CFML apps. With this improvement, the AmazonS3Write() function brings the following features: Retry capability, complete with configurable time to wait between retries Automatic local file delete on Read Post ⇢

  • JavaScript is our new Visual Basic

    JavaScript is sweeping the development community and is popping up everywhere, having broken free from the confines of the browser.  We see it at the server side, embedded inside programs, powering mobile apps and we even see it popping up inside of games.  However, we are creating a huge headache for developers and companies in Read Post ⇢

  • JavaOne 2014 App – the anti-pattern to mobile development

    The JavaOne conference, held annually in San Francisco is a shining beacon of everything good and wonderful in the Java space.   What was once the main event, JavaOne is now a side show to the massively large OracleOpenWorld, which takes over all of the Moscone halls, streets and a number of hotels.  There was Read Post ⇢

  • Why, I, the anti-social-networker fell for Google+

    I hate Facebook.  I don’t care about your lives.  If I cared, I would be part of your life and I would talk to you, I would interact with you and I would get involved with you.  I could go on for why I hate Facebook and all the problems with privacy and how you Read Post ⇢

the leg-end that is, Alan Williamson.

For over 20 years, I’ve shared my thoughts whenever the muse strikes. It’s unpredictable, honest, unedited, and occasionally witty. I’m living the best years of my life, working harder than ever, and enjoying every second.