Five minutes with an Omega blogger

Published: 23.12.09

Many of Omega’s system developers have their own blogs, you can find them all on blogs.appframe.com. We sat down with Vidar Nordnes, arguably the most active blogger at Omega.

Do you have any specific target groups in mind when writing for Blog ala Vidar?

The target group would mainly be AppFrame developers, but I also want to reach people working with SQL Server. I started blogging seriously when I was at TechEd in Barcelona, and then even my mom read my blog to keep herself updated on her favourite child.

Who is your dream target for a five minutes interview?

I’ve only talked to Omega employees so far, but when I run out of people here I can expand to the rest of the world. My last interview would had to be with Steve Ballmer or Bob Beauchemin. And I’ll make sure I end it all with a round number, such as 128 (read more about binary numbers on Wikipedia).

Copying your own feature, let’s do a five minutes interview with Vidar. What did you start off doing at Omega, and what are your responsibilities now?

I started in Johnny’s technology department in June 2005. I was given a laptop, a few CD’s and DVD’s and instructions to install these. I did not know anything about SQL Server and not even how to log into our systems. When everything was installed, I got a crash course on Omega’s systems and instructions that “this is the list of bugs, you are going to fix these”. Very challenging and exciting!

After a few years in technology, I moved to Trygve’s system department. We always worked well together. I was appointed “chief technical advisor” (a very unofficial title conceived on a late night). It is my responsibility that everyone in the department can do their jobs, so this includes setting up systems, talking to various IT departments and solving technical problems in co-operation with our own technology department.

What is happening in the world of AppFrame?

There is actually a lot happening! The technology department recently released Build 4, so that is now finding its way into our clients’ systems. There has also been discussions around licensing AppFrame, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. Additionally, I have set up a wiki for AppFrame developers. My vision is that all our system engineers use this daily, both reading, adding and editing entries.

Being a savvy computer guy, what do you wish everyone knew about computers/IT?

Difficult question. There are so many things I wish that everyone knew, but I suppose the most important thing would be to take some security measures. I think the importance of security for “normal users” is greatly underestimated. People I know (not mentioning any names here) have not changed their password in 10 years. People think that “no one is going to exploit it anyway”, but that is just nonsense. Many people have experienced that their MSN accounts have been taken over to send out viruses and things like that.

Your password does not need to be very advanced. A pass phrase is often useful. For example, if you use “IWantTurkeyForChristmas”, that is a lot harder to crack than “aHi1wQQ” due to the sheer number of characters, and it would also be easier to remember. Recently I sent an e-mail out to some friends and family members with information about security, software recommendations and things like that. That was very well received, so that is a procedure I would recommend to all fellow “geeks”!

What are your hobbies when not blogging or writing code?

I have started a band with a couple of friends, where I am the drummer. I have never laid my hands on a drum, so it will be very interesting! I also watch a lot of TV shows. Right now I am following no less than 18 TV shows. Yes, I know. “Get a life!”