March 2014 News

blog-image data-src=""German Perl Workshop Logo" data-alt="/-images/elements/logos/gpw/gpw.png">

It is a proud pleasure to announce that Shadowcat are once again swelling the ranks of developers based out of our Lancaster offices as we welcome on board Kimball Johnson.

Kimball is a developer and System Administartor of many years experience who will be starting work on the 1st April, and yes the fun of that has not escaped us at the office, currently we are wondering if we play some elaborate foolish prank or just tease him into thinking we will.

Kimball joins the ranks of community related and well known Shadowcat personalities, he is the current Chair of FLOSS UK council and a keen supporter of Open Source. We feel sure he will fit right into the company dynmamic.

The only real question is, what iconography will be the feature of his company caricature.

We at Castle Shadowcat are loyal to our staff (minions) and colleagues (fellow Knights), we are also loyal to those we share community presence with and to those we have working relationships.

For this reason, and because he is a great chap, we backed Jack Knight's Kickstarter last year. As part of the Kickstarter reward we received for backing Jack's first exhibition was the chance to get a caricature done by Jack himself.

After a bit of consultation we decided to further develop the idea of our CEO's association with a cat, and this is the result.

As you can clearly see the true power behind the CEO is a cat, he is remote controlled by one of the many associated to him.

Another great image prepared by Jack of Knight Time Creations for Shadowcat Systems.

Those of you that follow the news here at Castle Shadowcat will be very familiar with the work of our almost-an-artist-in-residence Jack Knight of Knighttime Creations. You will have seen many images of staff and cats go by with the dubious ‘the animated’ moniker.(1)

Recently we asked Jack to draw us a new cat or two to add to the existing brace of cats. The first of these who goes by the name of Moggles was published in today’s companion news article. Here is the second. He has no name. He possible has a series number - something like SC-T800. He's a bit badass. We call him evil cat and he has a range of backdrops.

I Present Evil Cat

Looking like a cross between Terminator and Hal this is our Dark Side of the Lune cat who walks in shadow like a scary-assed night.

All we can say is bravo Jack another great creation.

Notes

(1) Yes we know they are more illustrated than animated, but they look so lifelike you can imagine the motion.

Here at Castle Shadowcat we have a number of cat logos that have been developed both in-house and by using the services of, the very talented, Jack Knight of Knighttime Creations. Today we are unveiling two new ones from the hands of that most talented young man, Jack.

So with much of a, ‘what ho,’ a few rounds of ‘dash it all,’ and maybe a ‘cor, whoops, oh no Mrs Penderghast your son took one from the Bosch and was shipped off to Blighty,’ we present the very first Shadowcat Cat to have a name.

We call him Moggles:

He’s a bit of a Great War flying Ace cat as is clear from the image and our rather endearing terminology that is placed into his mouth. He’s cute, we love him and he in no way sets a stereotype for today’s second cat.

...it’s coming...

It is always wise to seek a new approach, as it is the chance to see a different way of thinking.

Shadowcat are always willing to open our doors so we applied for the Lancaster University Management School: Student Consultancy Project. This will see a group of graduate students exploring market research and assessing viability for a project Shadowcat are working on.(1)

At Shadowcat it is always exciting to get involved with a broad range of local and community groups and this venture allows us to gain knowledge while supporting students in their Masters Degree. The students gain real world experience and the chance to see how we work. The Consultancy Project runs for two weeks with the possibility of applying for a further eight weeks during the summer.

We look forward to an interesting fortnight and for both sides to emerge more knowledgeable and informed.

(1) To be announced in the near future.

We at Castle Shadowcat have always been keen advocates of the community. Mark and Matt as Board members of the Enlightened Perl Organisation, Mark as a member of The Perl Foundation Steering and Marketing Committees, Kimball Johnson being Chair and Ian Norton council member of FLOSS UK. It comes as no surprise that we, as an organisation, should become corporate members of FLOSS UK.

[Free and Libre Open Source Software UK (FLOSS UK) is a non-for-profit organisation, for the sharing and betterment of open IT through conferences and education. If you’ve never heard of them check out their website.

So as a team from Shadowcat prepares to head down to Brighton for the FLOSS UK Spring conference, which is being held from the 18th to 20th of March, it has been remarked that Shadowcat were becoming the ‘Open Source Mafia’, we prefer the phrase ‘Open Source Knights’(1).

(1) Should this be the Knights of Open Source or 'KoOS'.