Well, all kinds of walls are breaking down this week.  I’m using MySQL for the first time.  Most of my DB experience is in Oracle, I’ve used Sybase, but for open source databases, I’m a fan of Postgresql, and Derby is great for Java on the client. I’ve avoided MySQL since I can’t respect a database that didn’t have transactions until version 5 and uses a “root” user.

The official Alfresco EC2 AMI uses MySQL.  There are two users – the root (the MySQL root) and the alfresco user, both are in the mysql database (as opposed to the alfresco database).  To change the default passwords do this:

ubuntu@domU-12-31-39-09-E1-A1:~$ mysqladmin -u root -p'alfresco' password 'newpass'

ubuntu@domU-12-31-39-09-E1-A1:~$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 41
Server version: 5.1.37-1ubuntu5 (Ubuntu)

Type ‘help;’ or ‘\h’ for help. Type ‘\c’ to clear the current input statement.

mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(“new password”) where User=’alfresco’;

mysql> show databases;
+——————–+
| Database           |
+——————–+
| information_schema |
| alfresco           |
| mysql              |
+——————–+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> use mysql;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(“new password”) where User=’alfresco’;
Query OK, 2 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 2  Changed: 2  Warnings: 0

I’m surprised there were two rows updated, but we’ll close our eyes and cross our fingers.

Lastly, change it in the alfresco config file:

sudo vi  /usr/share/tomcat6/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties

Yup, I’m moving to the Mac.  It’s really cool – it has this terminal thingy that you can just type commands into – what an elegant interface!  Simple black and white and it’s real clear that all I need to do is type! 

A windows user asked me how to log into an Amazon EC2 instance using SSH.  I said, “um, well , you, wait, I was just doing this … um.  I’ll look it up and send you instructions.”  Yes, I had already done it, but was confused because I was actually in the middle of setting up secure access for GitHub as well.   I’m going to host some demos for the EventBus (particularly for Apache Pivot) on GitHub since my project on java.net will forever be stuck in CVS even though new projects can use SVN or Mercurial.

So let’s configure this Mac to talk to a new EC2 instance, then allow it to hook up to GitHub too (in a second post).  That might be mildly interesting since there may be a cat of keys involved – OK, maybe not interesting anyway.

To use ssh on an EC2 instance, ensure that when you create the instance, you also create a security group with port 22 open, since that’s what SSH runs over.   You will also create a keypair.  (You don’t need the Access Key Identifiers that you use for command line tools.  The ssh keys for an instance are different from the Access Key Identifiers and are created when you create (or reuse) a keypair for the instance. )

When you create the keypair for the instance you are prompted to download the key file (pem).  This is the private part of the keypair.  If you lose it, you are out of luck, AFAIK.  By default, on my Mac using Firefox, the download, the private part of the pair, gets downloaded to /Users/mbushe/Downloads/<name-of-key-pair>.pem.  The public part of the keypair is held on the server.  You will be forced by ssh to protect your private key, so run:

chmod 700 /Users/mbushe/Downloads/<name-of-key-pair>.pem

..so that only you can access it on your local box.  I’m going to assume you are connecting as root, but a good image will have you connect as another user, set up special.  (OTOH, sometimes you have to log in as root.  For example, if you are using a Content Management System that opens the CIFS port, you need to log in as root since it’s under 1000.)  The supported Alfresco EC2 image will boot you if you log in as root and ask you to in as ubuntu.

To connect using ssh as root, do the following (I’m giving all my info since I’m trashing this instance and key anyway):

ssh -i /Users/mbushe/Downloads/my-key-pair-name.pem root@ec2-67-202-0-107.compute-1.amazonaws.com

You will get this:The authenticity of host ‘ec2-67-202-0-107.compute-1.amazonaws.com (67.202.0.107)’ can’t be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 24:e6:b6:62:fd:f3:54:c0:5f:86:06:97:8d:b7:d4:4f.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

At this point, you are connecting with something out there in the world that has a public key with a certain fingerprint that’s displayed.  Some nafarious teenager in your neighbor could be sitting on your wireless network and be running a DNS server for you that points you to his machine instead of yours, or someone scarier anywhere between you and what you are connecting to.  My neighbors likely haven’t hacked into my amazon box and stolen the public key though.  Can you trust everyone on Amazon’s staff though?  If I wanted to cause trouble, that’s the job I’d be applying for. This is why Bruce Schneier consults on human hacks now.  But to limit the risk, you should connect to your AWS console, click on the instance (not the keypairs), and show the system log.  Likely somewhere near the bottom, you’ll see the keys for the fingerprints:

ec2: #############################################################
ec2: -----BEGIN SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
ec2: 2048 66:27:32:9f:05:f7:84:97:53:f4:53:46:67:36:5f:6d /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub (RSA)
ec2: 1024 00:84:16:fd:4e:5f:7d:8d:07:20:40:1a:e3:36:0b:94 /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub (DSA)
ec2: -----END SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS-----
ec2: #############################################################

Look at the RSA fingerprint from the system log and see if it matches the output of ssh.  If it does, type yes, get warm fuzzy feelings and continue on.  If it doesn’t type no and trash your instance!  Hopefully you set up your instance via a script you can run again on a new instance.  Isn’t virtualization great?

I needed a way to check if an Alfresco user is a member of a particular group, so I wrote a little web script to do that. It’s a pretty simple task, but it’s not obvious how to do it and for me it was a good way to get an understanding of the fundamentals of web scripts.

Anyway, I figured it might be useful to someone, so here it is.

First the description file:

<webscript>
  <shortname>Group Member</shortname>
  <description>See if a user is part of a group</description>
  <url>/sample/groupmember</url>
  <format default="json"></format>
   <authentication>user</authentication>
</webscript>

Then some js code to do all the work. The script takes the groupname as an URL argument (“groupname”).

var member=false;
var memberlist = groups.getGroup(args["groupname"]).getAllUsers();
for (var i in memberlist) {
    if (memberlist[i].getFullName() == person.properties.userName)
   {
      member=true;
   }
}

model.membership = member;

For presentation I went with  JSON since I’ll be calling this from another javascript.

{
   "groupname" : "${args["groupname"]?string}",
   "membership" : ${membership?string}
}

Like I said, it’s pretty simple, but it actually took me some testing to find out which properties to use, so perhaps this will help someone.

One of TSG’s manufacturing clients is currently evaluating Alfresco for control and management of project related documentation.  (Proposals, CAD, Specs….).    In working with the client on proof of concept efforts this week, we came across a typical requirement for storing email and attachments easily within Alfresco.  In the Documentum world, many of our clients typically choose the Documentum Client for Outlook, Notes or some other 3^rd party product that integrate within the email client.  For the manufacturing client, the requirements and approach was slightly different.

What about my iPhone?

Blackberry, Palm, Web-based Email, Gmail and iPhone, along with all kinds of other connectivity offerings for this global company, are all part of the equation.  It wasn’t really an option to pick one email client and offer integration from only that platform.  Also, from an IT perspective, integration into a desktop application like the Documentum Client for Outlook requires additional desktop support (not a positive).

‘Email Mode’ versus ‘Index Mode’

Another point consistent with the different email platforms was that a person in “email mode” was just looking to work through all their emails (first thing in the morning or after lunch) and didn’t really want to stop and index items into Documentum or Alfresco.  Notes and Outlook connectors, even with swanky drag and drop, can still require specific attributes (Client) and detail about files (what is that attachment?).

Consistent Indexing

One last point is in regards to the logic/screens behind indexing.  Does it make sense to have one indexing applications for emails, another for regular documents and perhaps a third for fax or scanning?  This is particularly true when custom lookups (client, job number) might require logic to look up and insure indexing is correct.

Easy Solution – How about the Forward button?

An elegant solution for the client was to leverage the Forward button from whatever email tool (iPhone…) to forward on the email to alfresco@client.com.  This way, we could technically say that email integration was available from any email device and kept the user in “Email Mode” rather than jumping into index screens.  A back-end process would monitor the email box and, based on the user id, place it in his (or another  group/individual) workflow inbox for later indexing.    The client also liked the idea of blind copying (BCC) the alfresco@client.com to save content and email threads going out as well. 

OpenInterchange  was built as an open source tool email tool for Documentum with this approach in mind.  By leveraging HPI for consistent indexing and some slight tweaks for Alfresco, the client was able to:

1. extend email ingestion to a any email device or platform
2. stay in “Email Mode”  and save indexing for later
3. Avoid desktop integration
4. Have one index application
5. Save $$$ by leveraging Open Source

If you have any questions – please contact us a http://www.tsgrp.com/forms/contact-us.jsp

TSG is currently in the process of creating a version of the Active Wizard that will work with our own OpenContent web services. Using OpenContent will allow Active Wizard to work with any Content Management System that OpenContent supports.  This means that Active Wizard implementations will be supported on a number of repository types (ex: Documentum, Alfresco, file system).  The Active Wizard will require only a simple configuration change to work with each CMS.  This will also benefit users who are currently using the Active Wizard with Documentum, as it will mean that only OpenContent code will need to be updated and tested when a Documentum upgrade is implemented.

Also, a filesystem implementation of OpenContent is currently in development that will allow the Active Wizard and Active Wizard Lite to be run on open source platforms such as Apache Tomcat, Apache Derby and a simple file system structure to store XML.

Visit www.activewizard.com for more information on the Active Wizard and OpenContent, and check back here for more updates on the status of Active Wizard with OpenContent.

I installed the latest release of Alfresco Community version 3.2r2 and enabled Web Studio. Tomcat was slow to start and finally starting popping errors in catalina.out related to Web Studio. Looking at the Alfresco forums, this seems to be a “feature” of the Community Edition of Alfresco. Sorry to sound sarcastic. I recently bought the book “Alfresco 3 Enterprise Content Management Implementation”, written by Munwar Sharif et al., and was trying out the Alfresco Web Studio feature when I encountered these issues. The book assumes that you will use the Alfresco Enterprise Edition and the examples are geared for the Enterprise edition.

Not really meant for production use - unless you pay for it!

I can see the flak coming from all the Alfresco lovers out there after I write this post. Alfresco is a great product. It has changed the enterprise content management landscape and sends shivers down the spines of many executives in the proprietary ECM firms. However, it is not really open source.

There are two versions of the product – Community Edition and Enterprise Edition. Alfresco claims that both are based on the same code. But, the significant difference is that only Enterprise Edition has bug fixes. From what I can see, bugs fixed in the Enterprise edition stay unfixed in Community. Alfresco is intentionally introducing instability in the Community version of the software so that people don’t end up using it in production environments. You can’t get the source code for Enterprise unless you pay for it. I can agree with their argument that unless people pay for Enterprise edition, they won’t get money to keep the company a viable business. Yes, that is what a company is in business for! What I disagree with though is the way the people at Alfresco advertise and market their product claiming it is completely open source. If it were, make the enterprise edition source code available to everyone.

You can have a viable business model where you make money on support agreements from companies that want to use the product for production. Just don’t twist everyones arm by putting the ominous statement on your community edition -> ” Supplied free of charge with no support, no certification, no maintenance, no warranty and no indemnity by Alfresco or its Certified Partners”. This is just not open source. It’s more like a trial version of commercial software.

It’s sad to see that people running Alfresco carried over the business practices of Documentum – over-market and under-deliver.

ขั้น การปรับแต่งสภาพแวดล้อมให้โปรแกรมทำงานได้ โดยการเข้าไปที่โฟลเดอร์ที่ไฟล์ติดตั้งอยู่ซึ่งก็ขึ้นอยู่กับว่าแต่ละคน ติดตั้งไว้ที่ไหน
1. การปรับแต่ง alfresco
cd /opt/Alfresco
แล้วเปิดไฟล์โดยการพิมพ์คำสั่งดังนี้

vi /opt/Alfresco/alfresco.sh

ก็จะได้ไฟล์ที่มีโคดดังต่อไปนี้ครับ ให้กำหนดค่าต่างตามนั้นเลย

#!/bin/sh
# Start or stop Alfresco server
# Set the following to where Tomcat is installed
ALF_HOME=/opt/Alfresco
cd "$ALF_HOME"
APPSERVER="${ALF_HOME}/tomcat"
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.10/"
# Set any default JVM values
export JAVA_OPTS='-Xms128m -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m -server'
# Following only needed for Sun JVMs before to 1.5 update 8
#export JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS}
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/apache/lucene/index/IndexReader\$1
,doBody -XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/alfr
#esco/repo/search/impl/lucene/index/IndexInfo\$Merger
,mergeIndexes -XX:CompileCommand=exclude
,org/alfresco/repo/search/impl/lucene/index/Ind
#exInfo\$Merger,mergeDeletions"
#
if [ "$1" = "start" ]; then
"${APPSERVER}/bin/startup.sh"
#  if [ -r ./virtual_start.sh ]; then
#    sh ./virtual_start.sh
#  fi
#  if [ -r "$ALF_HOME"/start_oo.sh ]; then
#    sh "$ALF_HOME"/start_oo.sh
#  fi
elif [ "$1" = "stop" ]; then
"${APPSERVER}/bin/shutdown.sh"
#  if [ -r ./virtual_start.sh ]; then
#    sh ./virtual_stop.sh
#  fi
#  if [ -r "$ALF_HOME"/start_oo.sh ]; then
#    killall soffice.bin
#  fi
fi

2. การปรับแต่ง Virtual Alfresco
ให้ทำเปิดไฟล์ดังต่อไปนี้

vi /opt/Alfresco/virtual_alf.sh

จะได้

#!/bin/sh
# Start or stop Alfresco server
# Set the following to where Tomcat is installed
ALF_HOME=/opt/Alfresco
cd "$ALF_HOME"
APPSERVER="$ALF_HOME"/virtual-tomcat
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.10/"
# Start virtual-tomcat
#
if [ "$1" = "start" ]; then
"$APPSERVER"/bin/startup.sh
elif [ "$1" = "stop" ]; then
"$APPSERVER"/bin/shutdown.sh
fi

3. การเปลี่ยนฐานข้อมูลจาก HSQL Database เป็น MySQL Database ซึ่งฐานข้อมูลชนิดอื่นก็เหมือนกัน พิมพ์คำสั่ง

mysql -u root -p  จากนั้น พิมพ์  

mysql> exit;

sudo mysql -p < /opt/Alfresco/extras/databases/mysql/db_setup.sql

#mysql -p 

mysql> show databases;

จะได้
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| alfresco           |
| mysql              |
+--------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>quit

จากนั้นเข้าไปที่โฟลเดอร์

cd tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco/extension/ และทำการเปิดไฟล์

vi custom-repository.properties

ให้ทำการเปลี่ยน dir.root ดังต่อไปนี้ 

# Sample custom content and index data location
#
dir.root=/opt/Alfresco/alf_data
และใส่ comment HSQL connection และลบ comment ออก สำหรับ  MySQL connection ดังต่อไปนี้
.....
# Derby connection
#
#db.driver=org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
#db.url=jdbc:derby:alf_data/derby_data/alfresco;create=true
#
# HSQL connection
#
#db.driver=org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver
#db.url=jdbc:hsqldb:file:alf_data/hsql_data/alfresco;ifexists=true;shutdown=true;
#
# MySQL connection (This is default and requires mysql-connector-java-5.0.3-bin.jar, which ships with the Alfresco server)
#
db.driver=org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver
db.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost/alfresco
......

ให้ทำการบันทึกและปิดหน้าดังกล่าวแล้วเปิดไฟล์

vi custom-hibernate-dialect.properties

ให้ทำการใส่ commemt ตัวที่ไม่ใช้และเปิดตัวที่ใช้
.......
#
# Derby dialect
#
#hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.DerbyDialect
#
# HSQL dialect
#
#hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect
#
# MySQL dialect (default)
#
hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLInnoDBDialect
#
# PostgreSQL dialect
#
......

การปรับแต่ง MySQL connectivity  ให้เปิดไฟล์โดยใช้คำสั่ง 

gedit /etc/mysql/my.cnf จากนั้นหาคำว่า bind-address และกำหนดค่าดังนี้
......
bind-address = localhost
......

จากนั้นเปิดไฟล์ 

vi custom-repository.properties และกำหนดดังนี้
......
db.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost/alfresco
......

ทำการ start โปรแกรม
/opt/Alfresco/alfresco.sh start

และเปิดเว็บ browser และเข้าไปที่

http://HOSTNAME:8080/alfresco

user: admin
pass: admin

Alfresco คือ ECM(Enterprise Content Management) จะเน้นการใช้งานเกี่ยวกับการจัดการเอกสารภายในองค์กร
1. ขั้นตอนก่อนติดตั้ง ต้องให้แน่ใจก่อนนะครับว่า package บนเครื่องเรานั้นเป็นปจัจุบันมากที่สุดโดยการ

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

2. package หรือโปรแกรมพื้นฐานที่ควรติดตั้งก่อน

sudo apt-get install imagemagick
sudo apt-get install mysql-server
sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-headless /* โดดปกติ จะถูกติดตั้งไว้แล้ว */
sudo apt-get install xvfb swftools
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
sudo apt-get instalส sun-java6-jre
sudo apt-get install nfs-common
sudo apt-get install portmap
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs  /* ใช้สำหรับเครื่อง 64 บิต */

3. การติดตั้ง Alfresco Lab
สามารถดาวโหลดโปรแกรมได้ที่นี่ครับ  http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Labs_3_Final_download_files  เมื่อโหลดมาแล้วให้ทำการเปลี่ยนโมดการเข้าถึงไฟล์โดย

chmod 777 Alfresco-Labs-3Stable-Linux-x86-Install

และทำการติดตั้งโดยใช้คำสั่ง

./Alfresco-Labs-3Stable-Linux-x86-Install

ก็จะได้ดังรูป

[root@alfresco tmp]# ./Alfresco-Labs-3Stable-Linux-x86-Install
This will install Alfresco Labs on your computer.  Continue? [n/Y]
Where do you want to install Alfresco Labs? [/opt/Alfresco]
Installing Alfresco Labs...
Installing Program Files...
Installing Program Files Linux...
Installing Samples...
Installing WCM...
Installing WCM Linux...
Installation complete.
[root@alfresco tmp]#

หมาเหตุ :เวอร์ชั่นใหม่มีหน้าต่างขึ้นมาให้ติดตั้งตามขั้นตอนได้เลย

A couple months ago, Gartner released their annual ECM Magic Quadrant (which I looked at).  Sure enough, being an odd year, Forrester released their ECM Wave.  I see the pros of waiting two years as the larger vendors take that long, or longer, for a significant release.  On the other hand, you have longer to wait for new members to show up.

Well not in Forrester’s world.  Only one new vendor (HP) was added and a few were cut, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The 2009 Wave

Thanks to Oracle (again), you can look at the Q4 2009Forrester Wave for ECM Suites in detail. For those with less patience, here is a copy of the wave…

Before we talk about the individual vendors, let’s talk about the low number of vendors.  If you look at the 2007 report, many vendors are gone. A couple were acquired (Interwoven and Vignette) and some aren’t what I would call ECM (SAP and Xerox) vendors anyway.

The question is, where is Autonomy?  They bought Interwoven and weren’t new to the content space.  They aren’t mentioned anywhere.  Nuxeo got a mention as one of the two open-source vendors in the “reduced footprint” category.  The SaaS focused SpringCM (under “reduced footprint”) and emerging Laserfiche (under “process-focused” and “SMB”) both got a nod as well.

All of those got placed on the Quadrant, as did SAP and Xerox.  I wouldn’t be upset, except I like how Forrester structures the wave more than Gartner’s MQ.  I want to see more vendors in here.

Breaking it Down

Let’s look at some of the vendors…

• Alfresco: Forrester thinks they are losing ground.  They didn’t say as much, but last time they were on the verge of making the Strong Contender  classification.  Now they are just strongly a Contender.  I understand raising the bar as the market evolves, but Alfresco hasn’t been sitting on its laurels.  They lost a lot ground in Strategy according to Forrester. As for the Current Offering, looks like the increased focus on integration in this Wave hurt Alfresco.
• HP: Welcome to the Wave.  Still the only major vendor that I haven’t heard connected to CMIS in any way.  I’ve even heard that Hyland is working on it.  Forrester has noticed and made note.
• Microsoft: Love the realism.  There are gaps, but less this time around than two years ago.  Microsoft  has a vision.  When 2010 comes out, they should push their way into the Leaders.
• Open Text: Getting hit on their Strategy.  Constant acquisition of the competition can do that.  Getting things integrated, as always, remains their biggest hurdle.
• EMC: Not much to say, except they got dinged for their poor WCM.  This is a growing trend.
• IBM/Oracle: Feel the love, especially with IBM.

To be honest, nothing surprising, just reinforcing.  I like how Forrester has the Leaders spread a little and how getting closer to the upper-right corner is rewarded.  You need a strong Strategy and solid Offering to get rated well.  Market Presence is measured by the size of the dot.  It just makes a lot more sense to me.

You know what is missing this year?  The score weighting.  Smart move as I trashed it last year and it gives people something extra when they pay for the full details.

Overall, the scoring had nothing massively off, though I’m not sure why Alfresco took so many hits.  The next couple of years is going to be critical for Alfresco as they start to hit middle-age and strive to be more.

A part alfresco dining cafe, part air-conditioned gelateria, Gusttimo di Roma is situated in the heart of the city at the the newest shopping megamall of Singapore, ION Orchard.

My first impression was – wow, there are SO many flavours to choose from!

Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate

So the first time I went there, I had Strawberry (Fragola), Mint (Menta), and Dark Chocolate (Cioccolato). It was so hard to choose; there were TONS of flavours, ranging from the wacky ones (Black Rice?!) to the classic (Plain Yoghurt). Having been to Italy and possibly eaten my weight’s worth in gelato over the 5 days I was there (okay fine, I probably exaggerate, but it was at least like 4 scoops a day or something), I wasn’t really expecting a fantastic experience. Because hey, what can beat gelato in Italy, right?

And drumroll…… yeah, it couldn’t beat Italy’s fresh, creamy, tongue-orgasm gelatos. But, I do think that it is pretty good for Singapore standards (compared to all the other gelatos here), and that I would definitely go back there for more. And at S$5.90 for 3 pretty generous scoops of gelato, I think that’s quite reasonable. Though if you’re a small eater, that might be a problem because that’s the smallest size available.

But anyway, I’ve digressed enough, and on to the taste.

White Wine, Tiramisu and Mango

The gelato was rich and flavourful – the Mango especially, was delicious – it had the taste of fresh mangoes and was not too sweet or powdery, the way synthetic mango syrups tend to be. The White Wine and Tiramisu were absolutely satisfying as well, creamy and true to its flavour, which made me savour these tastes in my mouth. It was like an explosion of icy cold heaven. But anyway, for the Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate, the latter 2 were yummy but very normal, and the strawberry was… kind of strange.

The nice counter staff also let me taste a whole range of flavours and was really helpful, as I couldn’t decide which flavour to choose. I must say, Black Rice actually tastes much better than it sounds, and on the opposite end, Pecans+Brownie doesn’t taste as good as it sounds.

But anyway, it’s worth a try. And the outdoor atmosphere is pretty nice too – good for a chill, relaxing session with friends, over some gelato, or coffee!

I’ll probably go back sometime for more gelato, or perhaps, try the food.

———————————————————-

Gusttimmo di Roma
2 Orchard Road
#1-15 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9380
Website: http://www.gusttimo.com.sg/

The nanny state attitude of government agencies is getting worse by the day. Now local councils have been forced, under the State Health Act, to take action against owners of cafes and restaurants who allow dogs in the alfresco areas.

What this means is that people who take their dogs to the beach, parks, or a walk around the block, can’t have a coffee unless they tie up their dogs somewhere away from the tables.

Dogs don’t sit on tables or chairs, but lie underneath them. What health risk could that possibly be?

Roel Loopers