Melty Blood

-Actress Again-

Pengembang  : Ecole

Penerbit        : Ecole

Genre           : Pertarungan

Sistem           : Playstation 2

Pemain          : 1-2 orang

Memory Card : 56 kb

Rating           : Remaja

Tahun           : 2009

Sekali lagi, ‘Darah Yang Meleleh’ Dari Type-Moon dan Ecole

Bagi para penggemar anime juga game visual novel dan suka memainkannya di komputer, pasti tak asing mendengar judul “Tsukihime (Putri Bulan)”, “Fate/Stay Night”, atau “Kara no Kyokai: Garden of Sinners (Lingkup Kekosongan: Taman Para Pendosa)” di telinga. Ketiga game tersebut adalah karya emas dari developer terkenal Jepang: Type-Moon, yang banyak mengeluarkan game dengan cerita yang gelap, kompleks, tetapi luar biasa dalam segala aspek sebuah karya tulis. Cerita-cerita yang mustahil dipandang sebelah mata tersebut berasal dari penulis hebat Nasu Kinoko, yang berbagai buah karyanya sudah dirilis sebagai novel-novel laris di Jepang. Beberapa tahun silam, Type-Moon memutuskan untuk membuat game fighting yang merupakan sekuel dari Tsukihime, dengan karakter-karakter dari semua karya Type –Moon sebagai ‘aktor-aktor’-nya. Harapan itu pun berhasil diwujudkan oleh Ecole, dalam sebuah game pertarungan 2D bergaya anime berjudul: Melty Blood (Darah yang Meleleh). Walau berjudul demikian, bukan berarti game ini berisi banyak darah mengucur serta adegan sadisme. Judul tersebut lebih menekankan pada tema ceritanya yang berat untuk anak-anak. Ecole telah mengeluarkan Melty Blood, Melty Blood Re-Act, Melty Blood -Act Cadenza-, dan akhirnya Melty Blood -Actress Again- sebagai ekspansi terbarunya. Walau awalnya hanya khusus Arcade (dingdong), Ecole berbaik hati men-port seri ini ke Playstation 2 dengan berbagai fitur khusus. Namun jika kalian berpikir “Ini cuma game anime fighting biasa saja”, SALAH BESAR!

Hologram Summer Again. Tri Hermes Black Land

Cerita dalam game ini berpusat pada Shiki Tohno (tokoh utama Tsukihime), remaja SMU yang memiliki “Mata Mistis Persepsi Kematian”. Dengan mata itu dia mampu melihat berbagai ‘garis’ yang terlihat pada makhluk hidup serta benda mati, yang bila dipotong, akan mengakhiri eksistensi mahkluk/benda itu… Dengan kata lain, MATI. Untunglah kakak kelasnya Aozaki Aoko memberinya sebuah kacamata, yang bila dipakai mampu menghalangi kemampuan matanya. Tak lama Shiki hidup normal bersama adik angkatnya Akiha Tohno, beserta 2 pelayan setia yaitu gadis kembar Hisui & Kohaku. Dia menjalani hidup yang penuh liku bersama Arcueid=Brunestud, Ciel, Yumiduka Satsuki, Arima Miyako,   Len (Ren dalam versi Jepang), dan banyak lainnya. Beberapa waktu kemudian (setelah akhir dari Tsukihime), seorang gadis Mesir bernama Sion Eltnam Atlasia mengetahui kemampuan Shiki dan meminta bantuannya… Shiki tak pernah menyangka bahwa dia akan terbawa dalam perseteruan hidup-mati yang melibatkan berbagai vampir haus darah dan orang-orang terdekatnya… Walau enggan, Shiki harus sekali lagi menggenggam “Pisau Nanaya” di tangannya dan bertempur. Tanpa mengetahui; bahwa ada seseorang di luar sana, yang bernasib sama dengannya…

Seperti tipe game fighting pada umumnya; game ini didasari oleh mekanisme pertarungan 1 lawan 1, dalam jumlah ronde dan waktu yang sudah ditentukan. Setiap pemain bisa melakukan lari, melompat, menunduk, pukulan lemah,pukulan sedang, pukulan kuat, dan bantingan. Dengan kombinasi gerakan tombol arah dan tombol serangan, pemain bisa melakukan suatu jurus karakter tersebut. Misalnya bawah, kanan-bawah, dan kanan + pukulan kuat untuk mengeluarkan Hadou-Ken (Bola Api) pada Street Fighter. Pertarungan terus berlanjut sampai ada yang kalah; Melty Blood memiliki mekanisme yang sama seperti itu, hanya saja dengan berbagai perbedaan. Semisal Guard meter; meteran biru di bawah Life Bar mengindikasikan kemampuan bertahan pemain, setiap kali bertahan (menahan tombol arah kebalikan dari arah lawan) meteran ini akan berkurang dan bila habis pertahananmu akan jebol! Lalu dengan Magic Circuit (sejenis Super Meter dalam Street Fighter) yang berkisar dari 0-300%; yang bertambah setiap kali menyerang atau diserang, pemain bisa melakukan serangan super (EX) yang merupakan versi lebih kuat dari serangan biasa. Selain itu dengan konsumsi 100%-299% Magic Circuit, pemain bisa mengaktifkan mode Heat di mana Life Bar pemain yang tersisa (berwarna merah) akan pulih kembali dan pemain bisa melakukan jurus tanpa batas juga jurus kuat Arc Drive! Bahkan dengan konsumsi 300% Magic Circuit (MAX), pemain bisa mengaktifkan mode Blood Heat; mode yang sejenis dengan Heat, tapi pemulihannya lebih cepat, juga memberi akses ke jurus terkuat Last Arc Drive!! Tapi tentu saja mode ini dibatasi waktu (sesuai jumlah Magic Circuit yang dimiliki), sehingga pemain harus cepat!

“Dia akan tesenyum, dan menyanyikan sebuah Lagu.”

Seperti tipikal game pertarungan lainnya, game ini dilengkapi dengan mode Arcade di mana setiap karakter akan melewati 9 stage dengan jalan cerita dan lawan masing-masing, mode Versus untuk berduel dengan teman atau CPU yang dilengkapi fitur Once Again (mengulang duel dengan cepat), mode Training untuk berlatih gerakan dan jurus setiap karakter, serta Survival untuk bertarung tanpa batas. Bila semua itu adalah fitur umum dalam setiap game fighting, lantas apa yang membuat Melty Blood –Actress Again- ini begitu spesial? Pertama; dari awal game ini menyediakan 25 karakter, itupun termasuk karakter khusus versi PS2: Ryougi Shiki (tokoh utama Kara no Kyokai), dan belum termasuk 5 karakter rahasia yang bisa dibuka dengan syarat tertentu. Total ada 30 karakter dari seri Tsukihime dan Kara no Kyokai; serta walau sebagian besar adalah karakter cewek beserta versi ‘jahat’-nya (Sion Eltnam Atlasia/Sion Tatari, Arcueid=Brunestud/Red Arcueid, Tohno Akiha/Akiha Vermillion, Len/White Len, dll), para karakter cowok yang tersedia pun tidak kalah kerennya (Tohno Shiki/Nanaya Shiki, Michael Roa Valdamjong, Warachia, Nero Chaos), belum lagi karakter-karakter konyol yang tak disangka-sangka ternyata sangat kuat (Neco-Arc, Neco-Arc Chaos, Mech-Hisui). Bahkan terdapat fitur “Karakter Terbaik”, yang akan menunjukkan karakter mana yang paling sering dipakai berikut persentase pemakaiannya (Arcade, Versus, Training, Survival, etc selama bukan karakter yang dipakai komputer), jumlah maksimum kombo yang pernah dicapai, dan kerusakan maksimum yang pernah diberikan.

Kedua; yaitu Style (gaya) bertempur dan penampilan karakter. Setiap karakter wajib memilih 1 di antara 3: Crescent Moon (Bulan Sabit) = gaya bertarung yang mengutamakan keluwesan gerak dan serangan cepat, Half Moon (Bulan Setengah) = gaya yang berimbang, lebih mudah mengincar combo tinggi namun tak bisa mengakses Heat/Blood Heat, serta Full Moon (Bulan Purnama) = gaya yang memberatkan pada power (tenaga), bisa mengisi Magic Circuit sendiri (walau tak bisa mengaktifkan Heat) dan memusatkan semua pada serangan yang kuat dan mematikan. Walau karakter yang dipilih sama, dengan Style yang berbeda, gerakan karakter tersebut sampai tipe dan timing jurus-jurusnya akan berbeda! Bahkan pada karakter tertentu, dengan Style yang berbeda, pemain akan merasa mengendalikan karakter yang benar-benar berbeda! Itu belum termasuk Style rahasia/tersembunyi Eclipse (Gerhana), yang luar biasa kuat dan melampaui ketiga Style lainnya!! Namun terpisah dari ketiga Style tersebut, pemain bisa melakukan serangan balik (Counter), mengurangi kerusakan yang diterima (Reduce), bahkan menangkis serangan lawan (EX Shield), ketika lawan melancarkan combo. Tentunya, banyak teknik lain seperti Shield Bunker dan semacamnya yang hanya diperuntukkan bagi para veteran game pertarungan atau GITAR (Gila Tarung)! Sedangkan selain Style, pemain juga harus memilih kostum/warna (Color) dari karakter! Setiap karakter memiliki 35+ warna berbeda untuk mengubah penampilan seperti orang lain. Misalkan saja Tohno Akiha dengan warna tertentu bisa mirip Yukiki Amagi dari Persona 4!! Tohno Shiki bisa berambut pirang dan berseragam hitam, dan penampilan gila lainnya!

Ketiga; yaitu Boss Rush, Special Mode, dan Stage Select. Boss Rush adalah mode khusus di mana pemain akan berhadapan dengan para karakter ‘Boss’ yang selain sangat lihai, semuanya memakai Style Eclipse!! Bahkan ada Boss ‘mustahil habis’ semacam Dust of Osiris, G Akiha, juga karakter terkuat Archetype: Earth Arcueid!!! Setelah menyelesaikan Arcade sekali, mode Special akan terbuka. Mode ini berisi Scenario Play untuk memainkan ulang kembali cerita-cerita dan ending dari setiap karakter yang sudah kamu selesaikan; lalu Music Play untuk mendengarkan 69 musik serta lagu dalam game. Musik dan lagu dalam game ini memang luar biasa; tidak seperti musik game fighting yang umumnya ‘hanya agar tidak sunyi’, setiap BGM maupun lagu yang ada secara mengejutkan sangat indah dan enak didengar. Sebut saja “Everlasting Destiny” yang menggambarkan kehidupan bahagia para tokoh, “wandering in torture” yang melambangkan kesedihan, kebingungan, dan putus asa dalam kehidupan nan kelam, “SAKURA-KOI-UTA” yang melambangkan ketenangan, “Need Speed” yang berupa ritme cepat pertarungan, “Very Slow Life” yang berupa irama lucu dan kocak ala Neco-Arc, dan masih banyak lagi lagu/nada yang mengagumkan! Lalu dalam memilih tempat pertarungan (Stage Select) ada begitu banyak pilihan tempat yang menawan; misalkan “Classic/Fateful Showdown” tempat bertemunya Tohno Shiki dan Aozaki Aoko, “…and nothing heart” yang merupakan kediaman keluarga Ryougi, “Through Looking Glass” yang berupa area salju mimpi kediaman White Len, “Coating Earth – Black Land/Melty Blood Texture” tempat penentuan dengan Dust of Osiris, bahkan tempat jayus seperti “Magical Kohaku Prison” dan “Doctor Kohaku Garage”. Semuanya digambarkan begitu detil, artistik, penuh warna, dan cerah seperti artwork dalam seri novelnya.

Walau (disayangkan) resolusi pixel setiap karakternya kurang tinggi dan sedikit terlihat kotak-kotak, akan tetapi fitur lainnya begitu patut diacungi 2 jempol. Mulai dari pengisian suaranya yang sangat hidup, gambar-gambar pemandangan serta event ceritanya dipaparkan indah dan berkualitas tinggi, jumlah karakter yang BANYAK, kekuatan masing-masing karakter yang seimbang (balanced) dan tidak ada karakter yang lebih superior daripada yang lain, ritme pertarungan yang cepat-menegangkan-penuh efek spesial, musik serta lagu yang bersemangat dan menyentuh hati, dan terakhir penampilan para karakter yang menawan dan persis aslinya. Adegan “Versus”-nya saja membuat hati saya berdebar (kereen!!)!! Kalian yang bukan jago game fighting pun (seperti saya), pasti akan menyukai game ini— apalagi jika kalian penggemar seri Tsukihime! Tidak diragukan, game ini adalah salah satu game fighting terbaik di tahun 2009!!!

Nilai:

Grafis: 85      A₊

Suara: 95      A+₊

Permainan: 95 A+

Fitur: 95      B+₊

Cerita: 80      A

Keseluruhan  : 90      A+

E (0-20)               : Parah

D (21-40)         : Buruk

C (41-60)        : Kurang

B (61-80)         : Lumayan

A (81-99)         : Bagus

S (100)             : Sempurna!

Again, thank you to everyone for the support and enthusiasm for the presentation. Certainly this is something that has hit a nerve and I’ve heard you loud and clear. Over the coming weeks and months I will be devoting more time documenting the approach we are deploying at Alterian and sharing insights on what is and isn’t working.

To download a copy of the presentation, please visit the Alterian site:

http://www.alterian.com/smleadgen/

アーティストたちが多く住むイーストロンドンのハックニー区にある我が家の近くには、グラフィティアート（ストリートアート）がそこかしこで見られる。有名なところでは、ステンシルを使った作品で世界的に知られるストリートアーティスト、バンクシーの「Hoodie」（フード付きスウェットを着た男：イギリスでは不良の代名詞）（写真上）。Shepherdess Walk（シェファーデス・ウォーク）を北上、Regent’s Canal（リージェンツ・カナル）にかかる橋の下にある。またバンクシー作品では、Essex Road（エセックス・ロード）にある薬局の壁に描かれた、テスコのレジ袋を国旗のように掲げて皮肉った「Pledge Your Allegiance / Very Little Helps」（忠誠の誓い/あまりためにならない（テスコのスローガン「Every Little Helps」をもじった）もある。クラーケンウェル（Clerkenwell）にある、Mが愛車のベスパを買ったバイクショップの壁面に描かれていた、時価30万ポンドの「Old Skool」は、たった£1,000で匿名のドイツ人に売られたとニュースで知った。その話をした時に、ショップのオーナーは、「購入者も壁をはがすのに大金がかかったし、誰でも持ってってくれたら良かったんだよ」と笑っていた。欲のない人だ。そのドイツ人は業者を雇い、6週間もかけて壁をはがして、持ち帰ったそうだ。

There are Graffitis here and there in our neighborhood in Hackney, East London, where many artists live. One of the famous one is “Hoodie” (photo above) by famous British graffiti artist Banksy who uses stencils to create his works. You can find it under the bridge over the Regent’s Canal, on the North of the Shepherdess Walk. Another one of Banksy’s work nearby is “Pledge Your Allegiance / Very Little Helps” on the wall of a pharmacy on Essex Road, with two children pledging allegiance to supermarket giant Tesco (the title is a parody of Tesco’s slogan, “Every Little Helps”).  ”Old Skool“, worth £300,000, drawn on the wall of a motorcycle shop in Clerkenwell, where M bought his Vespa, was sold it to an anonymous German buyer for only £1,000. When we talked about it with the owner of the shop, he smiled and said “I am glad someone took the painting anyway, and he paid a lots of money for its removal, so it’s fine.” He was not greedy at all! The German hired Wall Paintings Workshop and it took 6 weeks for them to remove the painting.

一番近いのは、Prestwood Street（プレストウッド・ストリート）にある、オーストラリア生まれ・ベルリン在住のChristopher Charlie Isoeの作品（写真上）。マフィアのような男性の顔の上に、ピエロのようなメイクを施している。

The closest graffiti is Australian-born and Berlin-based Christopher Charlie Isoe’s work on the Prestwood Street – a painting of a Mafioso-look guy with make-up of a clown on the top of his face.

二番目に近いグラフィティ（写真上）。元々はRentokil（レントキル・英ビジネスサービス企業。日本ではカルミックと提携）の事務所だった建物の壁にかかれた、アメリカ人アーティスト、David Choeの作品（敷地内の他の作品：１／２）。つい最近、彼が作品を制作している最中に通りがかったのだけれど、その時はカメラを持っていなくて写真を撮れなかった。彼のブログによると、２日かけて完成させたそう。今日通りかかった時に、ちょうど門の鍵が開いていたので、写真撮影に成功。この前には、ネズミの顔をした、黒の制服を来た警察官（？）が描かれていた（作者不明）。私は前の方が好きだな。写真を撮っておくんだった。

The second closest from us is on the wall of former-Rentokil building, painted by American artist David Choe (photo above. Other works in the same place 1/2). I passed by when he was working on it but I didn’t have my camera that day, but I was lucky today that the gate was open (usually locked) and had my camera with me. He took 2 days to finish the work, according to his blog. Before Choe’s work, there was a painting of 2 rat-face men in black (police?) uniform – I couldn’t find who did it. I prefer the previous work – I should have taken a photo of it.

私は基本的にグラフィティはあんまり好きじゃない。タギングとか、落書きや文字が書いてあるものはどれも似たり寄ったりで個性がないし、なんだかラフすぎて、ティーンエイジャー向けという感じ。でもその中では、元祖ステンシルアーティストのBlek the ratやバンクシーの作品は好き。バンクシーは時に政治メッセージが強すぎると思うけれど。また、Pizza EastやAlbionの近く、Redchurch Street（レッドチャーチ・ストリート）とClub Row（クラブ・ロウ）の角にある、ベルギー人アーティスト・Roaのリスのグラフィティ（写真下）もいい。Roaは、動物の絵をよく描いているようだけれど、同じRedchurch Streetにある豚2匹の顔はちょっと怖い。。。

To be honest, I don’t like graffiti much in general. It tends to be too busy and too much colors, and more or less it looks all the same (especially the writing). It looks too rough and edgy, and is for teenagers to me. However, I kind of like Stencils, such as the works of French Blek the rat, the godfather of stencil graffiti art, and Banksy, though I don’t like his tendency to be too political.  I also like Belgian artist Roa’s ‘Squirrel’ (photo below), at the corner of Redchurch street and Club Row, near Pizza East and Albion. Roa seems to like to paint animals, but some of them look a bit scary, like the two pigs on top of each other on the same Redchurch street.

グラフィティは、立派なアートだと言う人もいるけれど、無許可であればそれは当然、違法行為。カウンシル（区役所）は、市民からの通報を受け付けていて、通報があれば、48時間以内に調査の上、カウンシル所有の建物に描かれたグラフィティで、不適切なものは24時間以内に、その他のものは14日以内に消去される（ハックニー区の場合）。あのバンクシーの作品の中にも消されたものがいくつかある。カウンシルも必要経費購入者もちで希望者に売って、それを区の財源にすればいいのにね。

Some say graffiti is an art, but if it is done without permission, obviously it is illegal. Borough Councils accept a report of illegal graffiti from public. Once reported, all reports of graffiti will be investigated within 48 hours, and offensive graffiti on buildings owned and run by the Council will be removed within 24 hours of a report being received, and non-offensive graffiti will be removed within 14 days (Borough of Hackney’s case). Even some of Banksy’s works were erased or painted over due to its illegality – maybe the Councils should sell the graffitis, with removal on buyer’s expense, and get extra money to use for the community’s sake.

This is an insanely good peice by Roa

Check out the different angles Here

ROA who’s a Belgium born street artist who paint’s animals, usually in black and white  back into the urban jungle of his home country and all over eastern europe. The Images below are from his latest adventure to Warsaw! Check the pics below and hit the jump for more heatery.

Hit Read more, for more of this talented cat…….

]]> http://blog.metroparkusa.com/2009/12/09/roa-in-warsaw/ Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:31:20 +0000 babysmash http://blog.metroparkusa.com/2009/12/09/roa-in-warsaw/

Graffiti artist Roa hit up Warsaw. Check it out!

I conducted 10 sessions this year on the topic Socializing Agile with Your Executives. The various Agile champions that attended these sessions identified two major obstacles to successful vetting of the topic:

1. Lack of hard quantitative data.
2. The “It won’t work here” syndrome.

This post is about the first of the two – lack of hard quantitative data. A follow-on post will deal with the second obstacle.

Michael Mah’s landmark study How Agile Projects Measure Up, and What This Means to You has been my recommendation for the Agile champion who needs to elevate his/her Agile pitch from qualitative to quantitative. This excellent study in nicely supplemented now by The Business Value of Agile Software Methods: Maximizing ROI with Just-in-Time Processes and Documentation by Rico, Sayani and Sone. It is an excellent fit for the champion promoting Agile for the following reasons:

1. The book captures, analyzes and synthesizes the results of hundreds of systemic research studies.
2. It provides data on the various Agile methods without favoring one over another. Furthermore, the authors are quite explicit in stating that it not the method itself but the fit of a method to a company/culture/environment that counts.
3. It places equal weight on costs and benefits of Agile, thereby giving the reader a good grasp on trade-offs. This grasp can be enhanced through free downloads of cost and benefit spreadsheets from the corresponding Download Resource Center.
4. A very impressive aspect of this new book is the broad spectrum of the metrics it provides. Just about any business metric your CIO/CFO/CXO might use as the basis for his/her decision-making process, including Real Options Analysis (ROA), is provided. Moreover, the book encourages the use of multiple metrics, clearly indicating the pro and cons of individual metrics. For example:

The business value of Agile methods may be as much as 90% higher than NPV using ROA under extreme market conditions, including high inflation, risk change, and amount of time.

Readers of this blog are familiar with my quip “Don’t take you boss to lunch; take him/her to the daily stand-up meeting.” I would suggest you give The Business Value of Agile Software Methods to your boss at the end of his/her first stand-up meeting. This recommendation is nicely seconded by the following excerpt from Sanjiv Augustine’s review of the book:

… those looking to build a bullet proof case for agile methods based on solid data and comprehensive research and analysis will find this an invaluable work.

Disclosure: Colleague David F. Rico has kindly sent me a free copy of The Business Value of Agile Software Methods.

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REST Architecture

REST was introduced in 2000 from a thesis written by Roy Fielding, one of the founders of web (HTTP). As the current architecture wasn’t able to make full use of the superiority of the original web design, the Representational Safe Transfer (REST) was introduced as a network-based architecture that could best utilize the merits of web.

Basics of REST

Simply put, REST is a HTTP URI + HTTP Method, which clearly states the target resource through URL and defines the operations of such relevant resource through Method.

Resource

One of the key features of REST is representing all resources as ‘Resource’. This Resource is expressed through HTTP URL. For example, a user named ‘bcho’ from a javastudy website can be expressed as http://www.javastudy.co.kr/users/bcho while a HP printing machine located at the 9^th floor of a Gangnam office can be expressed as http://printers/localtion/seoul/kangnamgu/9f/hp. In this way, all resources can be expressed through HTTP URL.

Action

Then how are the operations of the relevant resource represented? In this case, HTTP Method is utilized.

*  In order to bring the member information of bcho from a javastudy website,
URI : http://www.javastudy.co.kr/users/bcho
Method : GET

* Also in order to create the relevant member,
URI : http://www.javastudy.co.kr/users/bcho
Method : POST
PayLoad
<payload>
<name>Cho Dae Hyup</name>
:
</payload>

*  In order to delete the relevant member,
URI : http://www.javastudy.co.kr/users/bcho
Method : DELETE

*  In order to change the information of the relevant member,
URI : http://www.javastudy.co.kr/users/bcho
Method : PUT
PayLoad
<payload>
<name>Cho Dae Hyup</name>
:
</payload>

* In other words, the 4 Methods from the HTTP Protocol define CRUD of the Resource.

Shortcomings of REST

However, there are several shortcomings such as the number of available Methods is only 4. For example, Methods like ‘send email’ or ‘log write’ cannot clearly be expressed through HTTP Method.

As the existing programming style has taken an operation-oriented approach centered on functions or Methods, those methods conflict with the resource-based approaches that REST embraces. The reason for REST being called as architecture rather than a simple protocol is that it can be appropriately applied to resources that have CRUD (ex. DBMS).

Then how can these shortcomings be resolved?

As a matter of fact, CRUD is not enough to express all operations. To express operations with control or functional features, HTTP/PUT or POST Method is used or a functional approach is required. For example, a ‘send mail’ operation can be changed into a meaning of ‘create a mail to send it to someone’ through HTTP/POSThttp://www.xxx./sendmail/to/{emailaddress}.

Still, there are cases that cannot change the meaning of the context.

In these cases, HTTP/PUT or URL is used to grant the meaning of control. The grade of user ID bcho can be changed through the following.

For example, http://www.xxx/users/bcho/upgrade

In fact, the most difficult challenge in designing a REST-based architecture is how to define this URL. One of the merits of REST is that it is quite easy to grasp the meanings through this URL or HTTP Method. Therefore, much effort is required in defining the URL.

Pros & Cons

Pros

The existing web infrastructure can be utilized in tact.

This is one of the largest advantages. As the existing HTTP is used as it is, there is no need to break a firewall when making a remote calling and the load balancer equipment like L4 can be used in tact.

The exciting thing is that the web cache can be used as it is. Because every resource is expressed uniquely through URL, it can be stored within the web cache and especially operations that are selective can be returned by this cache without going through actual business transactions. Such features are strongly beneficial from performance and resource utilization perspectives.

Easy

Compared with the web service, which encompasses so many cumbersome SPECs like WS*-I, WS Reliable Messaging, WS Transaction, REST doesn’t need a separate SPEC. Generally REST is called as a ‘Defactor standard’, which only requires proper use of HTTP URL and Method.

Cons

No standard and, therefore, hard to manage

The reason that REST is drawing much public attention these days is because non enterprise companies like Google, Yahoo and Amazon are eyeing away from the complexity and difficult standards of web service. As the meanings of data don’t sound like mission critical business requirements, a standard that is easy enough to exchange data transactions would be satisfactory and doesn’t need to be at an enterprise-level. Also there is no company like vendors that wants to take the lead in creating a standard.

There are only standard-looking ones that are used frequently and being created tacitly. (These are called as ‘Defactor standard’.)

As the standards are ambiguous, it becomes a problem in managing them during development. Considering that a clear-cut standard paves the way for a development process or pattern to be created in accordance with several SPECs, a proprietary standard of REST should first be established and used to design a REST-based system. However, in some cases, a misunderstanding on the REST concept can place a REST flag on the wrong architecture. In fact, Flickr.com – a leading runner of WEB 2.0 – once evoked a controversy around REST architecture by putting the name, ‘hybrid REST’ on the API that was designed in a RPC style without internalizing the REST features.

As mentioned-above shortly, REST is not a protocol like web service. It is architecture. Because it is a resource-based architecture, system should be designed suitable to the REST concept.

Use of Alternative Key

For example, resource is usually represented by one row from the DB. In the case of DB, primary keys exist in the format of complex keys. (Multiple columns are combined to become one PK, in this case) Although this can be a valid design for the DB, HTTP URL has a hierarchical structure according to / and, therefore, such representation becomes unnatural.

For example, if the PK of DB is defined as “residence registration # of the householder” + “region” + “name,” there is no problem expressing like such in the DB. But this way of definition becomes unnatural (having a strange meaning) when being expressed in REST because it would look like userinfo/{ residence registration # of the householder }/{ region }/{ name}.

In addition, there are many problems in assigning a unique key to a resource and one way to resolve this problem is to use an alternative key (AK). In this case, a unique key with no meaning acts like a key and be used in a field called ‘AK’ within the DB table. Already Google’s REST adopted an architecture using such kind of AK.

However, adding an AK field to the DB means the overall DB design needs to be changed. If this is the case, an architectural approach is required when using REST because the architecture of the overall system must be changed for REST.

Other options to make a RESTful design can include 1) techniques that express the relations between resources through href (link), 2) versioning method, 3) naming rule, 4) cross cutting concern transaction by using ESB, 5) routing, etc. The architecture design method and highly-advanced REST will be covered in the next contribution, titled ‘Highly-Advanced REST Architecture’.

Misunderstanding on REST

REST = HTTP + XML Protocol?

I once proposed to have a discussion on REST at one local community web site on the grounds of designing a highly-advanced REST system for the project. Then, I became to realize that most people simply understood REST as something sending an XML by using HTTP.

Never

REST is an architecture that expresses the resource by best-utilizing the web features. (It is not a protocol) And of course, it must use HTTP. However, XML is not mandatory. It is still ok to use other languages like JSON or YAML. Depending on how well the resource is represented and the web features are utilized determine a correct understanding on the REST architecture concept.

The reason why I am writing this paper is because there is no document that explains the REST concept or principle well enough.

Is REST easier than WebService?

Not exactly. Of course, REST would be much easier than Web Service if being developed from scratch. Because creating a proprietary standard, designing a message with a simple XML, and simply sending that message through HTTP would be required only. However this is looking from a service provider prospective. For those who actually use this service, any XML or JSON data being returned upon request to the HTTP client need to be parsed one by one.

What about web service? Thanks to its clear-cut standard, a web service will be created automatically once the coding takes place based on POJO or JAX-WS. Especially the client stub can be created automatically through WSDL according to the given service contract. For this reason, even though users don’t know the protocol spec at all, web service can be easily utilized as if calling and using a java library.

From my opinion, it looks easier to develop a web service rather than REST. The simplest and the most productive option is a WS-I based web service that is simple enough and well arranged.

Prospect of REST

Not much demand for REST exists in Korea yet. Maybe this is because of users trying to avoid designing highly complicated system or maybe because not much demand has been created for an open-style system.

However already prestigious overseas web sites are offering services under a REST-based architecture. Amazon, one of the representative open API companies is planning to do a REST-based migration on the open APIs previously developed with web service. Although REST is a defector standard, it is known as a difficult standard, which is unavoidable in the web world.

In addition, REST rising from the open side is about to be included in the next JEE6 version as being added as a JAX-RS (JSR311), one of J2EE Specs. (For an open source, REST is included in Apache CXF and a framework called ‘Jersey’ of Sun. Even though REST is translated into a specification, it would be a specification about ‘how’ to implement and still its flexibility will stay unchanged.) A specification called, ‘WADL’ which is similar to ‘WSDL’ of web service has been released as a standard for REST. However, ‘WADL’ only indicates URLs for REST service and yet representing the schema of every message within the actual operations. For this reason, it is right to say that there is no standardized service contract for REST yet, and it is difficult to judge that whether this would serve as an advance or disadvantage in the future.

Conclusion

For its advantage of simplicity and maximum utilization of web features, REST is being spread out surprisingly in the overseas region. As a rare technology developed from the open side, REST has even been adopted as a standard technology (JSR-311).

Still, due to its strong flexibility, REST cannot be controlled or managed easily and, for this reason, hasn’t yet been widely used in the Enterprise System but instead being mostly used for service system. Due to a lack of understanding on the REST concept in Korea as well as inactivated open API, REST is not a popular option yet.

However, it is time for local developers to make preparation for using REST as this concept is becoming main-stream among prestigious international service companies.

In the next contribution, a more sophisticated REST architecture will be covered.

The term REST was introduced in the form of a thesis written by Roy Fielding in the year 2000. We will go over REST in a little abstract manner by going over the four properties as per RESTFul Web Services :

• Addressability- It lets the application to expose infinite number of URI’s for every piece of information it might conceive.
• Statelessness- It means that every HTTP request happens in complete isolation which means that the client needs to include all the necessary information for the server to fulfill the request. Statelessness is what makes the application scalable, as it can be easily distributed across load-balanced servers, and also easily cacheable.
  Related to this, there is an important distinction between application state (lives on the client) and resource state (lives on the server).
• Connectedness-It means that the resources links to each other, document contains links to other resources.
• A uniform interface-It means that there are four basic methods for doing four most common operations:

HTTP GET to retrieve the representation of a resource.
HTTP POST to create a new resource.
HTTP PUT to modify an existing resource.
HTTP DELETE to delete an existing resource.

ch’ti Jug avec Didier Girard et Salvador Diaz :

Google

-google est une société très innovante.

ils proposent un ensemble d’outil aux développeurs qui permet d’innover : GWT, appEngine, Google App, Chrome etc…

Le modèle google: le développeur est en lien directe avec l’utilisateur , ça lui permet d’innover. A l’inverse du modèle classique, plutot pyramidale.

Google pousse pour avoir un minimum d’acteurs entre le développeur et l’utilisateur. Le développeur est à la fois utilisateur et développeur.

le web devient un outil de travail. Par exemple excel est un excellent outil de valeur ajoutée, on peut transférer cette valeur sur le web…

Pour cela il faut

- que le Web soit ouvert . Par exemple internet explorer était le monopole , et résultat entre 2001 et 2006 plus d’évolution de l’innovation chez microsoft pour internet explorer.

par exemple à éviter : flex (!!!)

-L’avenir de l’accès à internet est l’accès mobile.

-Il faut que le web soit engagant (beau)

- il faut que le web soit possible

- il faut que le web soit performant

Architecture du Web

tendance : ROA/REST , WOA (Web oriented architecture) … par exemple une URL pour accéder à une information du S.I. via le web (par exemple une fiche client, ou par exemple une photo, par exemple un email , par exemple une wave, par exemple une feuille excel, par exemple une modification sur la feuille excel).

Cette accès est de plus en plus utilisé (par exemple le plugin feedly pour firefox).

Il faut un standard, par exemple HTML 5

il faut une licence … open source

Google croit énormément à l’open source.

Google supporte deux langages :

- Java

- Javascript (facile, simple, répandu)

We enjoy being healthy and like to share health tips. We want supply chains to be healthy too, so we decided to share our thoughts here.

So, you took the red pill? You’re a full blown RESTafarian brother? Good news for you, then. You’ll understand linked data in less then 30sec. Ok. Step by step. REST, understood as a ’set of constraints that inform an architecture’:

1. Resource Identification
2. Uniform Interface
3. Self-Describing Messages
4. Hypermedia Driving Application State
5. Stateless Interactions

… and now read the linked data principles with your ‘REST goggles’ on:

1. Use URIs as names for things
2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names.
3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL)
4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more things.

In the linked data, we use HTTP URIs for everything. For documents, but also for concepts or real-world entities such as people. Linked data provides a uniform (read-only) interface through HTTP GET. The messages are self-describing through RDF and RDF-based vocabularies and through the last of the linked data principles, what we have in the LOD cloud is a highly connected (or: interlinked) system.

As nicely described by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby in RESTful Web Services you design a RESTful (ROA) system in that you:

• Identify and name your resources (using HTTP URIs),
• design your representations (documents & data), and
• link the resources to each other.

You’ll typically end up in a 3D design space such as the following (kudos to Cesare Pautasso and Erik Wilde):

The same actually happens when you publish linked data, with some simplifications: due to the read-only characteristic of linked data you only have to worry about one HTTP verb (GET) and with RDF as the unified data model (based on your preferences and needs) you pick one of the RDF serializations (preferably RDFa, as it nicely integrates with HTML and hence allows you to serve humans and programs). When you have your data in RDF (or so you’ll mainly find yourself worrying how to interlink it with other data on the Web. But this really is a huge benefit – finally enabling to use the Web as one huge database.

As an aside: I’m aware of the fact that we still need to sort out some issues along the way, both in the academia and in practice. However, I encourage people in both camps (RESTful yadayada and Linked Data rogues) to look beyond one’s own nose and eventually understand that there is only one Web and we all ‘live’ in it

ARTIST : ROA

PHOTO COURTESY BY KRIEBEL. see kriebel flickr’s account

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Check out past shows in the LINKS section

Some of our favorites have come out with new records recently.  A lot of the songs are so good that I can’t decide which ones to play on the show.

Owen, one of our favorites, has a new album coming out September 22.  The album, New Leaves, is packed with beautiful arrangements and the honest lyrics we’ve come to appreciate from Mike Kinsella.  I played “Scared To Move” on the show.  Listen to the strings during the second verse.  It’s really beautiful.

I also played “The Field” by Mason Jennings from his new album, Blood of Man. The album, his second for Jack Johnson’s Brushfire imprint, was recorded in a cabin where Jennings holed himself up and recorded the album himself.

Mason Jennings

The song tells a pretty heavy story.  His stories are one of the main reasons he’s awesome.

A man invited my friends and I into his home when I was in Gainesville two weeks ago.  He had hand crafted all kinds of crazy things and was setting up a recording studio in his home.  He gave me an album by Patrick David Koch, one of his buddies.  The album is awesome.  It’s mostly upbeat, acoustic guitar-driven, tunes with cool vocal melody lines.  I played “Mine and Yours” from Recipe.

Rachel Goodrich is a singer-songwriter from Miami, FL.  Danielle and I had an opportunity to see her play at New World Brewery earlier this year.  She can play her instrument, for sure.  Her music is different, but catchy all in one listen.  She has a great voice and a trippy backing band.  They play it all from toy xylophones to kazoos.  If she ever makes it to your neck of the woods, you should check her out.  I played “Piggy Bank” from Tinker Toys.  Listen to the sweet kazoo action.

I managed to squeeze in some Violent Femmes who do “Gone Daddy Gone” on the show today.   Gnarls Barkley covered this song on their debut album, St. Elsewhere.

If you thought Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst was only capable of slow, sappy songs, then check out “Roosevelt Room” from his latest recording with the Mystic Valley Band.  It is a rocker, and it’s good.

There are also some awesome tunes from bands that I hadn’t checked out like: Kid Cudi, Alberta Cross, Japandroids, and Swollen Members.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you for listening.  Please let me know if there is anything that you want to hear.  Up next time: Josh Ritter, David Bazan, Los Campesinos!, Bonjah, and many more.

-Ray

Owen - New Leaves

Playlist for Sept. 29, 2009

Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon (The Anthem) / A Kid Named Cudi (Mixtape)

Chuck Berry – Back In The USA / The Definitive Collection

Patrick David Koch – Mine And Yours  / Recipe

Japandroids – Wet Hair / Post-Nothing

Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue [Live] / The Legend of Johnny Cash

Akron/Family – Creatures / Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Owen – Too Scared To Move / New Leaves

The Beastie Boys – Paul Revere / Licensed to Ill

Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band – Roosevelt Room / Outer South

The Bens – xfire / EP

Alberta Cross – Old Man Chicago / The Thief & The Heartbreaker

Swollen Members – The Capitol / Monsters In The Closet

Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) / The Blueprint 3

Rachel Goodrich – Piggy Bank / Tinker Toys

Violent Femmes – Gone Daddy Gone / ST

Mason Jennings – The Field / Blood of Man

EL GENOA DEL ESPAÑOL ZAPATER, LA JUVENTUS DE DEL PIERO, Y LA SAMPDORIA DE IL TALENTINO CASSANO SON LOS LIDERES DE LA SERIE A CON 9 PTOS. EN 3 PARTIDOS. GRAN GOL DE ETO’O CONTRA EL PARMA, RIISE MARCO UN GOLAZO TAMBIEN CONTRA EL SIENA Y EL MILAN NO PASO DEL EMPATE CONTRA EL LIVORNO.

-Sin duda uno de los juegos mas esperados por parte de los Nasu-tards, la 3ra entrega de la popular saga de peleas Melty Blood ha llegado a nuestra querida Ps2, y de que manera.

Primero que nada, no es que sea completamente “correcto” eso de tildarla de “tercera” ya que en realidad ese puesto le correspondería a la versión anterior –el Act Cadenza v. B- pero a raíz de que el mencionado juego no es mas que una actualización del Act Cadenza original, dejémoslo así, al menos para efectos prácticos.

Dentro de las significativas modificaciones, destacan los 3 nuevos personajes: Riesbyfe Stridberg, el vampiro Michael ROA y en exclusiva para la PS2, la flamante Ryougi Shiki de Kara No Kyoukai. También ingresan a la plantilla una nueva versión de Akiha (con traje de escolar), una nueva Arcueid (Crimson Moon Mode) y uno que otro dúo de personajes que sin duda darán que hablar.

Pero por si esto fuera poco, lo que de verdad hace a esta versión especial es la posibilidad de escoger entre 3 modos de combate por personaje. Esto es asombroso, ya que multiplica X3 la plantilla de combatientes, sin duda uno de los aspectos más criticados a sus predecesores. La incorporación de los modos, asociados a técnicas y golpes específicos por personaje, vuelve a las batallas increíblemente dinámicas y espectaculares.

En el aspecto gráfico no hay mucho que decir (luce igual que en la versión anterior, salvo las nuevas imágenes en la selección de personajes) pero en donde si sobresale es en el apartado sonoro, con algunas melodías bastante interesantes, mejorando con creces el escueto repertorio de sus predecesores.

¿Qué mas? La incursión de un increíble Boss Rush mode, que hara sufrir incluso hasta a los mas expertos. Si pasas del sexto combate puedes considerarte un buen jugador sin ningún problema.

Quizas lo único que se podría hechar en menos es la posibilidad de leer los diálogos en ingles, para asi tener una idea de que va la trama (ya que al estar todo en japo poco y nada se entiende de que va el asunto) pero bueno, que se le va a hacer. Otro “detalle” es la ausencia de personajes 100% originales (we want more death apostles, como dice el refrán) y también a la incomprensible omisión (otra vez) del Tohno Shiki original. Entre tanta versión alternativa de los mismos personajes (por Dios que hay 3 Akihas en este juego, y si sumamos a G-Akiha y a los distintos modos, hacemos 10) ¿que les costaba incluir al buen Shiki original, que de paso tiene una habilidad de lujo para un juego de pelea? Será para la próxima vez.

Eso es todo por hoy. Adiós.

China’s latest burst of bank lending, much of it apparently directed at government-sponsored projects and large state-owned enterprises, has refocused attention on the chronic difficulty many promising entrepreneurial enterprises have in obtaining similar loans from China’s state-run banking system.  The problem is usually framed in public policy terms, as the need to push for more lending to the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector.  In June, China’s “big four” state banks proudly trumpeted how vigorously they were addressing this issue by issuing billions of yuan in new loans to SMEs.

I used to work for an SME-focused private equity fund in Sichuan, and later for a mezzanine fund engaged in subordinated lending to Chinese companies.  I’ve spent a lot of time with Chinese management teams talking over their financial statements and funding options, and more evenings than I’d like to remember helping them wine and dine local bank officials in order to secure loans.  Based on my experiences, I believe the conventional diagnosis is wrong.  China’s problem is not SME lending, per se.  It is collateral-based lending.  And efforts to push more SME loans as part of China’s stimulus will not only be ineffective (except in the very, very short run), but also counterproductive.

When a Western commercial bank considers making a business loan, it starts by looking at the company’s income and cash flow statements.  Does the borrower earn enough to meet its obligations?  Can it continue to do so over the life of the loan?  To answer these questions, the lender often relies on metrics such as the loan amount as a multiple of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) or the debt service coverage ratio (the ratio of cash available for interest and principal repayment).  If the answer is border-line, the lender may seek additional peace of mind by establishing a secured claim on some specific asset, such as a machine or piece of land, which it could seize and sell in the event the borrower were to default.  But even with a mortgage, such collateral should be a worst-case back-up, a way of mitigating losses if all else fails.  The basis for making the loan is an assessment of the borrower’s ability (and its willingness) to pay.

In China, when a company requests a loan, the first thing banks look at is the borrower’s balance sheet.  What hard assets does the business have, in case it fails to pay?  Land is best, in the banks’ eyes, but a really big, expensive piece of machinery might suffice.  The lender may or may not actually secure that asset with a lien, but the value of the collateral serves as the basis for making the loan.  In 2006, an IMF study confirmed that, despite efforts at reform, Chinese banks still “do not appear to take enterprise profitability into account when making lending decisions.”  The reason is that, from a technical and bureaucratic perspective, collateral lending is much easier.  At least superficially, it doesn’t require any business judgment, just check-the-box procedures to make sure the bank is adequately “covered.”

Compared to other businesses, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to have plenty of hard assets for use as collateral.  The Chinese government spun off most of its smaller SOEs to private entrepreneurs in the 1990s, to concentrate on what it saw as the “commanding heights” of the economy:  asset-heavy industries like steel, coal, automobiles, and computers.  These SOEs often received choice land at special discount from their sponsoring government entity.  But even private Chinese companies in asset-heavy sectors tend to have little difficulty securing loans from banks, because of the collateral they can present to loan officers.

The need to impress banks with the size of their collateral pushes Chinese companies to grossly inflate their balance sheets.  Chinese accounting makes liberal use of the international accounting rule that lets companies revalue their fixed assets upwards, in excess of cost (US GAAP only recognizes impairments to such assets that make them worth less than before).  Companies regularly hire appraisers to declare their machinery to be worth two or three times what they paid for it–often just months after installation.  They value the land under their factory based on the going price of the nearest luxury condo development–even if that project lies uncompleted or empty.  This whole charade tends to distort the value of the business in the eyes of the bankers and sometimes the managers themselves.

Of course, bank officers still have a great deal of discretion in determining which assets they will accept as collateral and at what valuation.  An SOE, with the central or provincial government to back it, will obviously get what it wants with the least  fuss and delay.  Others must wine and dine loan officers until their new “friends” can be persuaded to see things their way.  The goal, in either case, is to get the bankers to just check the box, and check it next to the biggest number possible.

There are a lot of SMEs out there that, because of their limited assets, simply have no hope of playing this game–hence the conclusion that SMEs are poorly served by the banking system.  But while the problem is usually portrayed as one of institutional access, it actually goes far deeper than that. 

First of all, China’s reliance on collateral, rather than profitability, as its main criteria for allocating capital distorts the country’s economic development.  Asset-heavy industries receive capital to grow.  Asset-light sectors–particularly services, which often have little or no fixed assets–find themselves cut off from bank financing.  And we wonder why China has such a difficult time developing its service sector, and such a lopsided reliance on manufacturing.

Second, collateral-based lending has the perverse effect of punishing efficiency and rewarding inefficiency.  Most people would agree that earning $1 million from a $10,000 investment is better than earning the same thing from a $1 million investment.  An investor wants an enterprise not just to generate as much earnings as possible, but also use as little capital (both equity and debt) as required, in order to maximize the return.  Companies that conserve (perhaps buying a second-hand machine instead of a brand new one) in order to produce a high return on assets (ROA) should be the ones to receive more capital to grow, since they use it most efficiently.  But in China, the best way to secure access to future capital is to pile assets on your balance sheet.  It’s survival of the fattest, not the fittest.

To be fair, Chinese banks have spent the past decade trying to improve their lending practices.  Several have formed joint ventures with Western banks to train their employees in the financial and business skills necessary to evaluate loans on a more commercial astute basis.  But Chinese banks–including the “big four”–have traditionally been far more centralized than many people realize.  Branch managers possess a great deal of operational autonomy, and their staffs prefer the safety of “checking the box” as well as the perks associated with the old way of doing business.  Still, some progress has been made, especially in Tier 1 markets.

That is why China’s stimulus lending binge threatens to hurt SMEs more than help them.  True, the government can order banks to channel money towards SMEs, just as it has directed them to fund other aspects of the stimulus plan.  But lending by state fiat is a step backwards, not forwards.  By reverting to their previous role as mere conduits for state funds, China’s banks have abandoned the very commercial reforms that might have opened up lending to more efficient, asset-light companies on a sustained basis [see my earlier WSJ op-ed on undoing Chinese bank reform].  

China’s goal should not be to throw money at SMEs as though they were just another special interest to be subsidized.  It should be to develop a banking system capable of allocating capital to whoever can use it best–including good SMEs.

Por: Raúl Ferro

Eres un as de los negocios. Un prometedor ejecutivo que planea hacer su maestría en el MIT, Harvard Business School o Wharton. Como líder en franca carrera ascendente en el mundo corporativo, sabes exactamente lo que es importante y lo que no. Y así seguramente te importará un rábano la filosofía, la antropología o la física cuántica. Y la literatura… bueno, si agarraste de niño el vicio de los libros puede que sigas leyendo alguna que otra novela en tu escaso tiempo libre; un vicio inofensivo. Y es que en la vida lo importante son las tasas internas de retorno, los balance scorecards y el rendimiento marginal del último céntimo de tu cuenta corriente. Money talks. El resto son pamplinas. Lujos de hijos de papá y parásitos similares que viven gracias al valor creado por los genios de los negocios como tú.

Esta caricatura es un retrato extremo de muchos empresarios y altos ejecutivos (y aspirantes a) en América Latina, para quienes la vida son los negocios y nada más que los negocios. Pero esto puede estar cambiando (y debería cambiar aun más).

La nueva tendencia viene dada en parte por la influencia del mundo anglosajón, donde la hibridación de carreras es pan de todos los días. ¿Recuerda a Carly Fiorina, la CEO que hace unos años llegó a la cima del negocio infotecnológico con la fusión de HP y Compaq? ¿Ingeniero Comercial? ¿Administradora de empresas? ¿Contadora? Nada de eso. Fiorina es graduada en historia medieval y en filosofía por la Universidad de Stanford.

Pero además de la influencia anglosajona, son los mismos tiempos en que vivimos los que están espoleando a la gente de negocios a preocuparse de algo más que de los ROE y de los ROA. “Hay una especie de reacción a la especialización, a conocimiento en estancos cerrados”, dice Alejandro Armenta, del área de Filosofía y Empresa del IPADE Business School, la escuela de negocios mexicana.

El IPADE Business School ha incorporado programas de antropología filosófica como parte de su oferta de cursos in-company. “Hay una demanda enorme”, señala Aremanta. “Se trata de un programa inédito, dirigido a la persona, tanto en la esfera emocional como en la esfera física”. Para Armenta, la génesis de estos programas es una consecuencia natural del “método del caso” que se aplica en el IPADE Business School, que se apoya en el análisis de casos reales donde salen a la luz los factores humanos y emocionales que acompañan a las decisiones racionales de negocios.

La demanda actual de este tipo de programas es una respuesta, en parte, al drama de un mundo donde el conocimiento se encuentra muy fracturado, de acuerdo con el profesor mexicano. El IPADE Business School, dice, ha tenido una preocupación por el enfoque humanista durante sus 20 años de existencia y ha habido varios intentos en el camino por incorporar estos temas en sus cursos, pero la oferta concreta es reciente.

¿Por qué ahora? “Ha habido un cambio en el clima cultural”, dice Armenta. “Antes había preguntas que no hacía falta hacer; hoy tenemos más dudas, hay más inquietud en la gente”.

Hay muchos que se preguntan, sin embargo, de qué forma sirve esta formación humanista al hombre de negocios. David Gallagher, socio fundador de Asset Chile, un banco de inversiones que fue pionero en el canje de deuda por inversión en los años ochenta, tiene una respuesta simple y tajante. “Ayuda a pensar fuera de la caja, a ver las oportunidades que muchas veces no un hombre de negocios tradicional no es capaz de ver”.

Gallagher, nacido en Valparaíso, es un buen ejemplo de esta combinación. Alumno de la Universidad de Oxford, donde fue profesor de literatura latinoamericana del St. Anthony’s College, fue definido por Mario Vargas Llosa en el prólogo del libro “Otras improvisaciones” como un “humanista moderno, con una visión de conjunto en la que las ideas, las artes y las letras no son sólo un placer para el espíritu, también son un arma para mejorar lo que anda mal y defenderse contra el infortunio”.

Y en un plano más pedestre, una mejor formación en lengua y gramática sería de gran ayuda para decenas de gerentes de marketing que desconocen las normas básicas de la sintaxis (y hasta de algunas reglas ortográficas) y hacen carrera… comunicando.

Así que ya sabes. Abre tu mente. Si algunas escuelas de negocios buscan en Shakespeare las repuestas a los desafíos de la vida y los negocios, puede que un curso de literatura inglesa te ayude más que una especialización en comercio internacional.

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