Hi!  I’m Tom Frauenhofer, a software developer with over 26 years of experience in the tech industry.  I’ve worked at various companies during my travels, large, small, and in-between.  I’ve used a lot of different technologies and tools over the years, and I’ve seen a lot of different ways to build software that are the “correct” way that you’ll have to excuse me if I sometimes come across as a curmudgeon.

I’m currently a Senior Software Engineer at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in beautiful Hawthorne, NY.  As they are gracious enough to pay my salary I feel it is my obligation to mention any conflicts of interest in anything I write.  And don’t expect me to spill any company secrets or the like!  I enjoy working where I work, and I find I have a lot of freedom to explore lots of new and different ways to do things.

These days I’m mostly using Adobe Flex and Adobe Air to build applications, and I have to say I’m impressed with the technology, the community, and what I’m seeing from Adobe.  Not that it’s perfect – hey, it’s software, it’s never perfect.  I’ve also been involved in the the Rational Jazz joint project with IBM Research, and I use this as a part of my day to day work.

In my past I’ve also done a lot of Palm OS programming.  One thing that my Palm development experience has taught me is what happens when you confuse business decisions with innovation.  Palm has a special place in my heart, though, and I hope that they can finally turn the corner and come up with some new and exciting products (but it’s a race to see if they can keep themselves capitalized long enough).

Oh, and if you couldn’t tell, I love mobile tech.  iPod, iPhone, Treo, Windows Mobile, Nokia/Symbian, Android, etc.  I really see a future for a more pervasive computing platform.  But the user experience is going to be the key.  It’s not just having a great app – it’s filling a need and doing it in a way that is enjoyable to use.