Happy Anzac Day

In a small homage to the country I grew up in (well, one of them) I'd like to remind readers that today is Anzac Day. Of course, we all know that this day commemorates the involvement of Australian and Kiwi soldiers who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

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But I'd like to use it to mention the programming work that goes on down under.

First of all, there's ZDNet.co.uk's sister site www.builderau.com.au/ - how can you fail to love the Aussie sense of humour when they call their storage section "snorage"...?

Second, I used to be editor of a magazine that started off life being called Australian Developer - these guys have a firm handle on national pride and the way they fit into the global development spectrum.

On that point - what better reason for keeping 24x7 follow the sun development teams going than a 12 hour time difference eh?

Lastly - and you may not like this - Australia is a unique microcosm in development terms. It's a 'first-world' English speaking market that is educated and fully trained up - so Microsoft did a large amount of the Beta testing for Vista down under as it is one ‘easy to monitor’ distinct region. Like I said, you may not like that point so much.

Anyway, time to throw another tinnie on the old barby!