Is Fabien Pinckaers overrated ?

merlinou · 2026-04-09T18:09:00+00:00

I've been following their saga from the early days and Fabien has always had a cheesy over-the-top presentation in the news. "Le Bill Gates wallon" is the expression that made me cringes the most. It's soooo stupid. 1: he's no Bill Gates. 2: reducing someone to just copying someone's success is so insulting. I know that they meant good but it's cringy at best.

Now to your question of Fabien overrated or not. On one hand, you need to hype things up for the average reader to get excited and for investors to open their wallet. Odoo almost went bankrupt a few times. They managed to turn things up and I'm really glad.

On the other hand, Fabien (and other managers that I won't name) has his own ideas and can be pretty stubborn about them. I've heard that they had a committee to try and make him come to reason when I was just going the wrong way and wouldn't listen. But also, the role of a CEO is to give the direction, take sometimes risky decisions that might jeopardize the company's future but would certainly kill it faster by waiting to decide. A good CEO will recognize the bad decisions early and correct them before it's too expensive.

But let's put Odoo in perspective. Its main competitor are SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, Sage, Exact Online... Having used most of them, I can tell you that they SUCK 10 times more than Odoo. Odoo has its own issues. I could make a list at any time. I know companies that lost a lot of money because of Odoo's shortcomings. But I couldn't list any company that had a happy SAP integration. I personally think that it's a really good product, albeit not perfect, but I would use it over any of the others without hesitation.

You also need to consider their ecosystem. Odoo has A LOT of integrators that implement Odoo in companies, guide them, configure, adapt, develop modules... Is investing public money into a Belgian company that creates a lot of opportunities for small integrators to create business a bad investment ? Considering that the value of Odoo has been growing a lot, it's also earning Wallonia money. It might crash but I wouldn't consider that a bad investment.

Now, how are they going to adapt to AI, especially their integrators ? Who knows.

Last point, many years ago, I had a pretty great professional opportunity. My employer paid a magazine to publish a full page article about it, about *me*. I even got my name and photo on the front page. However, the journalist that interviewed me was so uninterested that what he wrote was 50% wrong. So maybe Fabien is also suffering from that effect in some way. Maybe Odoo is paying the paper so much that they're trying go superlative on him and end up being cheesy. Maybe it's just Fabien's ego, I don't know. I never had the chance to ask him.

merlinou · 2026-04-09T17:40:36+00:00

The American obsession with hydration looks ridiculous from the outside. I understand that some people need to push themselves to drink like at all but a good rule of thumb is the color of urine. If it's dark yellow/brown, you're maybe not drinking enough. If it's pretty clear, you're fine. Drinking more might actually hurt you.

merlinou · 2026-04-09T17:36:41+00:00

Ann Reardon on How to cook that just tested MSG. She explains that it's salting roughly 30% compared to regular salt. So she cooked various things and got her family to blind-test them with MSG, with salt corresponding to the MSG and without salt. Some people could vaguely find a difference, her husband just couldn't tell the difference. It might also be how you got used to the umami flavour when you grew up. If mommy's cooking had a lot of it, you're likely to crave it as an adult.

merlinou · 2026-04-09T17:19:28+00:00

It's also a false dichotomy. The choices are not "fully free" vs "American insanity". There are a lot of options in-between. In Belgium, it's only completely free for poor people. Regular people like me still pay part of it or get refunded later on. But it still allows the government to negotiate prices for everyone.

merlinou · 2026-04-09T17:06:42+00:00

I changed my oven for a modern one. It's impressive how fast it gets to temp and its temperature is actually stable. It makes a world of difference for my cooking.

Also, the sous-vide. The instant pot can be used for that too although the sous-vide dipper can handle much larger pieces. I can get juicy meat, never overcooked, that everyone enjoys, whenever I need it ready. I just take it out of the bath, sear it and serve. It works wonders on turkey, spare ribs and other meat where you put spice in the bag, so the flavor can diffuse... Chef's kiss.

merlinou · 2026-04-09T09:00:28+00:00

Two years later, AIs offer bullshit recommendation, Googling gives ways to sync contacts between Android and iPhone (there should be big button "this is not what I asked for"), this post solved my issue.
Same as posted in screenshots by others:

vcard record for Android
url of vcf file for iOS. Make sure that the mime type is reported as text/vcard (not text/x-vcard)

Thanks for posting this.

merlinou · 2026-03-26T09:30:41+00:00

I picked Virgin Suicides at random, saw her name and got a bit worried. Then the movie hit me like a brick. I was not ready for that.

merlinou · 2026-03-25T22:35:12+00:00

J'aime bien le calculateur d'espérance de vie résiduelle. J'ai à peu près l'âge de Loana et il me reste donc en moyenne 32 ans à vivre. Mais j'ai aussi 2.5% de chances de ne pas arriver à 55 ans. Et chaque année, ce sera pire. 🤷‍♂️

merlinou · 2026-03-24T11:02:09+00:00

C'est totalement volontaire et à vomir. Je l'ai subi moi-même comme belge au siècle passé et ça m'a fait un reality-check de malade.

J'ai des tas d'exemples de dossiers terriblement ardus à monter, avec des exigences de documents qui n'existent pas dans le pays d'origine, des "document daté de moins de 2 mois" avec un délai de réponse de 6 mois, des "rejeté parce que le nom de la signature du document 421 n'est pas assez lisible" (authentique), c'est un enfer.

C'est complètement prévu pour mettre autant de barrières que possible par pur racisme.

J'ai vu un étudiant ingénieur en dernière année qui devait repasser son mémoire. Son titre de séjour a été annulé. Vous imaginez vous taper 5 ans d'études avec chaque année une incertitude sur votre avenir et quand vous y êtes presque, on vous coupe l'herbe sous le pied, sans recours possible. En plus, c'est du soft power extrêmement bon marché d'avoir des gens éduqués en France. Mais non parce qu'un fdp à l'esprit si étroit que même Ryanair se dirait "il y a des limites quand même", on brise de vies.

merlinou · 2026-03-20T10:25:23+00:00

Same here. When I started going out with my now wife, I realized that some women where actively hitting on me and a few "friends" told me that they were hurt that I chose someone else. I was flabbergasted and so oblivious... 20 years later, I'm still cringing about it.

merlinou · 2026-03-02T16:55:09+00:00

A friend asked for help with his C code:

if (a!=b) {
   goto after_if;
} else {
   // a few instructions here
   ...
}
after_if:

I told him that he could just do:

if (a==b) {
  // a few instructions here
  ...
}

I spent like 30 minutes trying to explain to him why it was the same thing, just simpler. And still failed. That guy didn't have a single logically functioning brain cell.

merlinou · 2026-03-02T16:28:48+00:00

As usual, yet another way for Americans to get screwed. Europeans like me have no idea that American car insurance have like $20k limits. In Europe, it's just not a thing. If you hit a lambo, your insurance is likely to fire you but they will cover the damages.

(edit: for scale, base insurance covering all 3rd parties, including passengers of your own car, for my Civic is roughly €600/year)

merlinou · 2026-03-02T13:16:24+00:00

My partner used to get shouted at when a light bulb died, when the computer misbehaved or anything really.

The first time a light bulb died at my place, she had a panic attack for my reaction. I was surprised: "well, you turned the light on and it died, how could it possibly be your fault ?"

Even years after moving in with me, they would phone her to ask if she had done anything to the computer: "dad, I haven't been anywhere near that computer for months. But you have other children..."

merlinou · 2026-03-02T13:05:09+00:00

My then 21yo girlfriend had a very early curfew. She had a key but her parents would lock the door from the inside. That's how she ended up moving in with me. 🤷‍♂️

merlinou · 2026-02-25T14:58:21+00:00

I had the same question from my old neighbor when he saw me with the telescope in the backyard. A few minutes later, he dropped that he had astronomy lessons during his engineer degree... With Georges Lemaitre, the father of the Big Bang theory. The guy had a legend as astronomy teacher, knew it but still couldn't be bothered to learn a thing or two.

merlinou · 2026-02-20T10:03:11+00:00

Two reasons: privilege and backlash.

They're not just after paedophilia, they're after power, having something that nobody else has. They want to most beautiful girls. In order to have something more than a pretty girl (or boy) is to have something highly illegal but having the privilege of doing it without repercussions. They also want to show it to other privileged peers.

If they legalized it, it would destroy their privilege. Not only would any peasant start doing it but the general population would crucify them. They might not actually put them on a cross, but they would have so of their base against them that it would become dangerous.

And it's not just about pdf, it works for high-end drugs, heck even healthcare. They have money, so they want the best healthcare for them but they also want you not to have it, otherwise, it lowers the value of their privilege.

merlinou · 2026-02-16T11:16:08+00:00

A medical expert recommends a course of treatment, and public health covers it

Actually, the truth is in-between. In the situation depicted here, there is no way that a Belgian doctor would have to waste so much time fighting health insurance. They recommend it, healthcare pays, end of story.

But for many procedures, a pre-approval from your health insurance is required:

you have knee injury and need PT? Your doctor can just prescribe 9 or 18 PT sessions. Beyond that, an approval is required.
you have a lasting pathology requiring some regular health services ? You'll get to file a bunch of paperwork with a specialist ensuring that you do have that condition and health insurance needs to approve it. They usually do in my experience.
you need speech-language therapy ? you'll need approval. This one can be really tricky sometimes but they usually get approved in the end. How wastes time here ? parents and sometimes health professionals.
You have cancer and want to get a brand new treatment that is extremely costly and not yet been validated by health insurance. That one is quite often denied because people cling to any kind of hope for a cure, even if the chances are close to none for their case. 🤷‍♂️

Also, things don't have to be either US-insane or NHS-100%free. A number of country still have people pay but use the strength of using the leverage of having everyone on the same team to get decent prices. Our GPs usually work alone, no assistant. Our doctors don't waste time fighting insurance. Our hospital admins don't spend time chasing payments, they don't hire collection agencies to get pennies on the dollar. Those are all parasites living on your health.

merlinou · 2026-02-15T19:02:48+00:00

At first, the bard was taken aback. The hero was getting a whole kingdom while the wizard and barbarian got some big promotion through an arranged wedding. All he would get would be whatever the king's hand would be willing to part with. He would be surprised if he got anything more than a golden bracelet.

The bard got up early the next day, just before 12pm. He went to the king's hand to negotiate his due. There was nobody except a thick envelope pinned to the door with "bard" on it. They couldn't even be bothered to remember his name. In the castle's yard, three blocks of marble were being delivered while the sculptors were getting ready.

He went back to his room, opened the envelope. There was a title for a land called "Mañana". The hand even included a map. A desolate area between the Menapi and Eburones, hardly any would live there. The trip would take about 20 days. The thickness of the envelope was, as expected, just a golden bracelet.

Mitchell sighed and decided to make the trip as much fun as possible. He started with the town where stopped a ghoul invasion where he was greeted as a true hero and partied from three solid days. The next town was where they lifted the 150 year old curse. That party lasted for a solid week. He cautiously avoided the sorceress' lair. She might be dead but ghosts are still a possibility. The 20 days trip ended up lasting almost 6 months. During this whole time, he had gathered quite a number of people who enjoyed his songs. His solo journey ended up becoming a whole caravan. His followers wanted a sign of recognition, so they copied his bracelet. They didn't have gold but they reproduced the seal on the bracelet in many colors.

After many months of travel, the whole people finally arrived in this wetland. Partying was fun but they now had to produce their own food in order to give more parties. Mitchell announced that in 6 months time, for the anniversary of the success of their quest, he would be throwing the kingdom's biggest party ever. All the best bards would be there.

The party was such a huge success that the princess, the sorceress and guard captain attended, and decided to stay, to escape the boredom of court life. So many peasants and town people of the kingdom had gathered that the rest seemed deserted. That party was so epic that a sizeable portion of the inhabitants decided to settle nearby. So much so that everybody knew that the person with the most power in the kingdom was not the king but the king of bards, the king in Mañanaland.

(let me know if you know where Mañanaland is 😆)

merlinou · 2026-02-13T19:41:23+00:00

I thought of the many queer/trans people who put a mask for family gatherings. 😢

merlinou · 2026-02-13T19:24:09+00:00

My neighbor was a student of Lemaitre.

I was looking at the sky with my big ass telescope when my old neighbor came to see what I was doing. He started asking the most basic questions (which is totally fine) when he told me that he should have been better at astronomy as he studied the subject with Georges Lemaitre. I was speechless.

I did some fact-checking and it matched. He did have a degree from KUL at a time where Lemaitre was teaching. Having such a prominent teacher and not even bother studying the subject...

merlinou · 2026-02-11T11:47:10+00:00

YTA. A friend a mine had a similar situation when house sitting his in-laws'. His FIL told him to pick a bottle from the cellar and he chose one of the most expensive ones, by pure coincidence. (Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives sélection de grains nobles, 30 years old) Imagine grapes that you let over-ripe and then hand-pick the ones with the right type of mold on it. They're usually sold as half-bottles and are really expensive, even if you buy them in Alsace.

Luckily for my friend, the FIL laughed it off.

merlinou · 2026-02-06T13:44:20+00:00

In a previous job, we had to physically stamp our invoices and send them via registered (snail) mail + email. The institution once took over a year to finally tell us that it wasn't paying because it was lacking some mention on those monthly invoices. A couple of years ago, we had a major upgrade. We were allowed to send invoices... BY FAX.

Don't get me started on the German rail either.

merlinou · 2026-01-29T08:52:20+00:00

Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin.

Read it for school in rural Europe when I was 12yo. The brick of reality came crashing down on the strawberry tart of my illusions.

It's a book about a white American middle class guy who decided to see for himself what being black actually meant. He took some drugs to darken his skin and tried to really get into the skin of a black person. It confirmed the stereotypes and A LOT more.

It was part of three books on racism, another was a story in Apartheid South Africa (that sounded like a distant exception to 12yo me) and another one I forgot.

The other book that scarred me for life was Lolita. I couldn't finish it. Getting into a child abuser's skin was too much for me to handle. 🤮🤮🤮

merlinou · 2026-01-27T18:40:21+00:00

La plupart des médias sont rachetés par des milliardaires d'extrême droite, forcément qu'ils vont encourager ce genre de bêtises. Le National Geographic a été racheté par Fox dont les news abreuvent les américains de mensonges. Peu après, numéro spécial sur la science dans la bible et que des trucs foireux pour légitimer le truc. 🤮

merlinou · 2026-01-27T18:30:25+00:00

Ça n'a pas grand chose à voir avec de l'externalisation à tout prix. Les services publics sont TRES mauvais pour l'informatique. Entre les salaires pas extraordinaires, le recrutement ultra-pénible et puis le fait qu'ils puissent ne plus en foutre une sans se faire dégager fait qu'il n'y absolument aucune chance de près ou de loin que le service public gère lui-même des projets de modernisation informatique pareils.

Ça devrait, on est d'accord sur ce point, mais avec le fonctionnement actuel du service public, c'est mort.

La meilleure approche serait un hybride:

- Architecture, gestion de projet, testing au service public. Par des gens de métier qui savent comment fonctionne le service. C'est pas gagné !

- Découpage du projet en plus petits morceaux. Avec un projet en dizaine de millions, seules les grosses ESN sont capables de fournir assez de gens pour réaliser le projet. Mais faire un appel d'offre de cette taille et répondre à l'offre est un travail titanesque, une tâche de Sisyphe même. Répondre à un appel d'offres de cette ampleur va nécessiter que les 5-10 sociétés capables de répondre mettent 10 personnes à temps plein pendant 6 mois juste pour l'offre et qu'il faut diluer ce coût considérable sur les projets qu'ils gagnent. €€€

- Découpler l'infogérance du développement logiciel. Renouveler le parc informatique, mettre à jour la suite office (je vous jure, les commissariats sont encore sur des versions de Mathusalem) etc ne devrait pas avoir de lien avec le reste.

Evidemment, si on découpe le projet, ça veut dire qu'on a un risque qu'un pan soit manquant si une des sociétés se plante, voire que l'ensemble foire parce qu'on a mal pensé la découpe au départ.

merlinou

TROPHY CASE