Slashdot Mirror

smugskii writes: "Oracle is releasing JDeveloper 9i on Linux - its Java/XML/JSP authoring tool. The Oracle database is nothing new on Linux, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) that Oracle is supporting development tools running on a non-Windows OS. Oracle are well known for the RDBMS, but somehow get overlooked for their other tools and technologies. If only they'd port Oracle Designer (good modelling tool) I'd be able finally remove the dual boot from my workstation.
Check out the Beta release at Oracle Technet , though may need to register for a free account before downloading."

smugskii writes: "Oracle is releasing JDeveloper 9i on Linux - its Java/XML/JSP authoring tool. The Oracle database is nothing new on Linux, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) that Oracle is supporting development tools running on a non-Windows OS. Oracle are well known for the RDBMS, but somehow get overlooked for their other tools and technologies. If only they'd port Oracle Designer (good modelling tool) I'd be able finally remove the dual boot from my workstation.
Check out the Beta release at Oracle Technet , though may need to register for a free account before downloading."

smugskii writes: "Oracle is releasing JDeveloper 9i on Linux - its Java/XML/JSP authoring tool. The Oracle database is nothing new on Linux, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) that Oracle is supporting development tools running on a non-Windows OS. Oracle are well known for the RDBMS, but somehow get overlooked for their other tools and technologies. If only they'd port Oracle Designer (good modelling tool) I'd be able finally remove the dual boot from my workstation.
Check out the Beta release at Oracle Technet , though may need to register for a free account before downloading."

stephenbooth asks: "I have been tasked with handling the creation of a data model and Metadata collection for a Data Warehouse that will pull data from a really wide range of backend systems. Basically if a system exists we've probably got it somewhere -- everything from DB2 and Oracle on Mainframe/big UNIX boxes down to Dataease, FoxPro and Excel on desktop PCs, also some fairly eosoteric stuff like a couple of PACBASE systems on a Bull mainframe. What we know for sure is that the RDBMS for the Data Warehouse will be Oracle (corporate standard and we have a lot of skills in Oracle in the IT departments) and that one of the frontend query tools will be Business Objects5i (version 5.1.1). My first concern is to start looking at Metadata tools to help with the analysis of the current data and manage our first stabs at the transform stage, it would be great if we could continue the same tools into the production system. We would also be looking to interface the Metadata tools to some CASE tools to help with the data modeling. I am hoping that some Slashdotters could suggest sites/publications that compare tools (I'm wary of taking what the manufacturers sites say at face value) and perhaps share some horror/success stories."

prwood asks: "Our company is looking into high availability solutions for our Sparc-based servers running Solaris. Primarily this would be used on our Oracle Database servers, but presumably we'd like to expand this to frontend servers. We've looked at Veritas, as well as Sun and Oracle's HA solutions, but we're not wanting to lay out that much money this year. We also have some quick and dirty in-house scripts and such to perform certain tasks, but we're looking for something a bit more robust. So the question is: Are there any free or low cost solutions for getting HA on Solaris? I know there is some good stuff for Linux, but it seems to depend in part on patches to the Linux kernel, and switching to Linux isn't an option for us at this point. Note that we're not looking for load balancing, but rather failover solutions. Suggestions?"

Anonymous Coward writes "Missed in the PI revelations was the latest announcements from Oracle regarding their Application Server. If you know the former OAS and compare it with the new iAS ( internet Application Server), you will see that what Oracle really did is ditch the former architecture and adopt Apache plus some well thought-out proprietary mods. See the main iAS page, as well as their detailed page concerning how they are using Apache to power their Oracle HTTP Server."

Anonymous Coward writes "Missed in the PI revelations was the latest announcements from Oracle regarding their Application Server. If you know the former OAS and compare it with the new iAS ( internet Application Server), you will see that what Oracle really did is ditch the former architecture and adopt Apache plus some well thought-out proprietary mods. See the main iAS page, as well as their detailed page concerning how they are using Apache to power their Oracle HTTP Server."

Anonymous Coward writes "Missed in the PI revelations was the latest announcements from Oracle regarding their Application Server. If you know the former OAS and compare it with the new iAS ( internet Application Server), you will see that what Oracle really did is ditch the former architecture and adopt Apache plus some well thought-out proprietary mods. See the main iAS page, as well as their detailed page concerning how they are using Apache to power their Oracle HTTP Server."

StefanJ writes "SF writer and techno journalist Bruce Sterling has released the definitive version of "The Manifesto of January 3, 2000." Unlike the version released last year, this one isn't directly tied to the Viridian ecodesign movement; rather, it is a passionate and bold call for a new movement in technology and art. One that promotes something like the Open Source movement, and hints at the coming of a posthuman age and an abundance of wonderful and terrible things. "

Anonymous Coward writes "There's a press release out that says Red Hat and Oracle are teaming up to take on e-commerce. They have outlined bold initiatives to add support for IA64, a journaled filesystem and high avaliability. Even more they say it will include Motif, but they still say all additions will fit with the GPL." It's basically Oracle 8i teamed with an "optimized" version of Red Hat. Sounds nice. This joint product could have major impact on the e-commerce software marketplace if it works as promised. Claimed shipping date is mid-December.

Mambo from Africa writes "What happend to the 1 million dollar challenge that Larry Ellison put to users of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. Did Microsoft who seemed to have taken on the challenge get it, or anyone else for that matter?" Good question. I remember reading about this when it first came out, then the whole matter died. Anyone heard anything about it lately?

Gary D. Young submitted this interesting question for you all: "So, you've seen the movies where the NSA comes in with the CIA and the FBI, guns blazing, in all the cloak and dagger movies and stories. But what does the organization actually do? Well, for those of us who have actually taken interest and even visited their headquarters in DC, another story is available." Interested in discussing the facts behind the hype? Click below.

"The National Security Agency, is actually an organization of geeks and nerds parallel to the role of Q in James Bond. They arm the government (CIA, the spy agency; FBI the government police, and the military) with cryptographic systems to protect the missions of those other organizations, and they also have the job of trying to break the cryptographic systems that might be in place to prevent the completion of those missions. You can see this evidenced in their behavior of attempting to block the export of "strong cryptosystems", because that merely makes their job harder.

In all honesty, you will find that the charter for the NSA has a Top Secret clearance level, so we may not actually know the true ajenda of the group, but since they are solely populated by scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, the stories of their involvement in Danger and Daring Do are greatly exaggerated. I would doubt that many of them have ever held a gun before.

So in my not so humble, but somewhat educated, opinion, the popular view of the NSA is fairly inaccurate, and confusingly to me, they seem uninterested in correcting that view.

Comments welcome. But keep in mind that these are the opinions of one person based on contact through job fairs, interviews, and cryptographic history articles. "

So what image do you think represents the real NSA? Are they closer to the Spooks from Hollywood, or are they just normal people like you and me?

According to an Article in InfoWorld, HP will release next week a new family of thin client PCs. Out of the 3 models that they will release, 2 of them will be with an embedded Linux core (the L & X models, and the G model with MS Windows CE) and they'll include Netscape Navigator for browser-based access to Java programs as well as access to Windows applications. The X series also includes HP's ChaiVM embedded Java virtual machine, providing access to applications hosted on Unix and legacy servers. Oracle is also working on a thin client, so I think we will soon see some competition in the thin client area, where Linux will be getting much more attention, and more important - more Linux development. Who says competition is bad? :)

fatherdatabase writes "After a slight delay, Oracle finally releases a port of 8.1.5 for Linux. Requires a (free) technet account. Check it out here. " It's a free download, but they do require e-mail address, etc etc. Have fun.

Oracle will announce today Oracle 8i for Linux. It will be available within 60 days. They are also giving away 20,000 copies of an "early access CD" for the people who will register. RedHat will be showing a new portal this week (it's not available yet) which will include "everything that a Linux user need". Netscape will announce today the delivery of preview releases of Directory and Messanger servers for Linux.

Vic Metcalfe writes "Oracle is giving away free Oracle 8i CDs for Sparc Solaris and some obscure OS from Redmond. You have to be a Oracle Technology Network member, but membership is free. Now I wonder if this will run on my old SparcStation 2... "

Vic Metcalfe writes "Oracle is giving away free Oracle 8i CDs for Sparc Solaris and some obscure OS from Redmond. You have to be a Oracle Technology Network member, but membership is free. Now I wonder if this will run on my old SparcStation 2... "

There is a story on the AP Wire this morning describing a new partnership between Sun Microsystems and Oracle. They are attempting to create a new type of "business computers that won't require the use of operating system programs such as those sold by rival Microsoft Corp" according to the article.

What do you think of this idea? Seems like the OS as we know it might be headed for a few changes in this case.

cbj writes "Oracle has posted its challenge to Microsoft. To summarize, there is no way SQL Server 7.0 can beat the iron Oracle can run against. I'm sure someone is going to laugh all the way to bank with this one! " They've got the actual query that they want tested (Its part of one of those standard database performance test suites) and they want it done on a huge amount of data. So ya think someone will get it?

Oracle is to release Oracle 8i with the new iFS filesystem tomorrow. As this article argues, iFS will lead to a commoditization of the operating system (in particular NT): iFS goes beyond traditional filesystems by adding database capabilities, enabling better search and revision control management. However, these iFS' can be mounted like a traditional NFS server, reducing complexity for IT staff, while keeping the improvements transparent to users who don't want to know. Interestingly, the low cost of Linux would be an advantage to Oracle which is not interested in promoting OS capabilities. This leads the author to speculation of further Oracle-Linux announcements. Link found on Linux Today.

Oracle is to release Oracle 8i with the new iFS filesystem tomorrow. As this article argues, iFS will lead to a commoditization of the operating system (in particular NT): iFS goes beyond traditional filesystems by adding database capabilities, enabling better search and revision control management. However, these iFS' can be mounted like a traditional NFS server, reducing complexity for IT staff, while keeping the improvements transparent to users who don't want to know. Interestingly, the low cost of Linux would be an advantage to Oracle which is not interested in promoting OS capabilities. This leads the author to speculation of further Oracle-Linux announcements. Link found on Linux Today.

Pacific HiTech report a recent independent OS survey by as saying they were number two in retail sales of operating system software capturing 7.35% of the unit sales, behind market leader Microsoft with 69.99% and edging out Apple with 6.12%. Pacific HiTech also do TurboLinux in English. Marketshare like this is presumably why they were named as one of the four participating distributions in the Oracle announcement, something which caused quite a few queries on /. Update PHT sent in more details on the survey. I assume this would be for Japanese-language sales only. Like so many of these surveys the original is only available from the data agency (Computer News) on a private basis and only if you pay, however PHT say that if you send mail to info@pht.co.jp they can hand out the details for getting your own copy. The full report was: According to a recent market survey, Pacific HiTech, maker of TurboLinux, was number two in Japan in retail sales of operating system software. Pacific HiTech captured 7.35% of the unit sales, behind market leader Microsoft with 69.99%, and ahead of Apple with 6.12%. The data was compiled by Computer News, a leading data collection firm, using weekly sales figures from over 200 leading software stores of six large retailers through mid-October 1998. This data does not include sales figures from Unix specialty stores, bookstore sales (where Pacific HiTech is strong), or web sales. It is thus likely that total TurboLinux marketshare is significantly higher than what was reported -- probably between 10% and 20% of the marketshare in Japan for OS retail unit sales.

miket wrote in to send us a link to a page or Oracle's website where you can read about Oracle Lite. Versions will be available at the end of October for both Wince and the Pilot. It's only the client (duh) but it still might be a fun toy- if you can access your server wirelessly.

Oracle plans to distribute and support Linux, probably licensing an existing distribution to bundle with their database. However they will still support all 4 major distributions ( including I assume Redhat (US), Pacific HiTech (Japan) and SUSE (Europe)) wanting to be the people who are called if a user has a problem with Linux. Read more below. Over 20,000 Linux developers have signed up to Oracle's development programme while the total number of developers has doubled from 55,000 to 110,000 over the past few months. This may have helped cause this momemtous announcement.

Yesterday at Internet World, Larry Ellison criticised Microsoft's servers everywhere' distributed computing model showing it for it is: a strategy to avoid admitting NT's scalability problems while maintaining high revenues with per seat licensing. Ellison's solution still follows the network based vision he had for network computers (now sort of dead). However instead of relying on Java, he may now be relying on Linux and Oracle's Database technology: Oracle will be investing over $100 million in a developer program to encourage developers to build "Internet Computing" applications, based around Oracle's database -- with as carrot free software licenses, training and tools.

With IBM's interest in e-commerce making it push Java, Oracle's interest in network services such as iFS (Internet File System), and Intel's recent murmurings about application specific devices all make for an interesting battle shaping up between the computing industry and Microsoft.

Russ wrote in to send us a link to Oracle where you can register to get a prerelease copy of Oracle 8 for Linux. I'm sure a decent number of folks out there might be interested in such a thing.

Phillip Brown writes "Ever had an overwhelming urge to just KILL your computer? Bashing the keyboard and yelling at the screen just not doing it for you anymore? Visit this web site to get the step-by-step guide to really taking out on that box. "

The Redherring is carrying an explosive article about Microsoft's secret memos which discuss how to kill DR-DOS, and in general how to leverage the Windows monopoly. Funily enough, that's the sort of behaviour the Sherman Act prohibits. In related news, a group of people who just don't get it have banded together into the TAAC, an organisation of VARs that claims the DOJ is stiffling innovation. ("s/Innovation/bug count/" ????) David Hart and El contributed the second link, while Adam Radulovic, John Lazzaro, Sunil Gupta, David Price, Matt Francis, David Hart, Phillip Brown, toebee, and I found the first link.

Kevin Forge has written in with an interesting piece called Lawyers use WordPerfect. It talks about his view on free software vs. commercial software, and especially commercial software on free Operating Systems. Check it out. The following is a feature written by Slashdot reader Kevin Forge Lawyers use Word Perfect Each time even a rumor of a commercial app being ported to Linux is mentioned we get comments that run the gamut from ; "Let's all go buy this to show our support for the platform" to "We can achieve most everything that prog offers by using these open source tools so why should we trust our important work to this propriatery bloatware ?".

"who wants world domination"?

We constantly hear the argument that Linux will achieve world domination or that a significant percentage of all computers will be run on Linux in a few years. However to achieve either goal Linux must be a viable option for people with real business needs now.

This brings me to the lawyers we all love to hate. I am siting in a Lawyer's office waiting to be paid for fixing Windows 95 on 2 PCs ( again ) when a client walks out having just spelled out the details of her divorce ( loud enough for me to hear ). Before she is in the parking lot the laser starts spiting out the 1st page of a 30 page court document for her case.

How the hell could that be done so fast ?

Simple It was already done. The details that change are few and far between. Things like names, addresses and dates. Once these are entered into fields a macro is run that generates your own customized "I can't live with this bum anymore" court filling.

Don't discount inertia

Now you could say it's easy enough to do this kind of thing with a shell script on a Linux system without the added expense of Word Perfect. However it took these people years to tune operations and learn WP to the point where this became a practical time saving prosedure. To move this operation to existing open source software would mean learning all these tricks again.

How important is the cost of changing ? Well these same lawyers buy new PCs preburdend with MSOffice 97 and promptly upgrade to Corel Perfect Office 8 or even 7 in order that they can keep using the same techniques. Sure those features are available on MSOffice and the learning curve from one Windows app to another is tiny compared to moving to traditional Unix tools. However an even lower cost is simply shelling out a hundred bucks for a CD from Corel.

Where does Linux fit?

Well with WP on Linux the barriers to entry become significantly lower for Lawyers. Simply put, a Penguin preloaded and configured with XDM, KDE, WP8 and Laserjet support has the same learning curve as moving up to a Dell with NT4 or 98 and WP8. With the massive reliability gap taken into consideration they could see Linux as a cost effective solution and another group joins ISPs and tech companies as Linux users.

Where does this leave the open source word processors ?

I see no reason to not continue aggressive development of the better GPLed Word Processors. K/LyX is moving well and there is talk of a serious contender from the Gnome camp. Maxwell, which shines among Linux apps has been GPLed with a flat request to "port it to Gnome and KDE" ( It's Motif based ). One of these will eventually become a challenger to WP across the board. By then Word Perfect will be accustomed to maintaining a quality lead that enables them to survive against a free challenger. In other words those without money or who attend "The church of Emacs" will have good WPs and the rest of us will have slightly better WPs.

Telling people to "accept the open source concept" if they want to use Linux or to "GPL all code that you will release on Linux" is completely pointless. Even RMS knows this which is why he wrote the LGPL.

This applies to the SQL people too.

Right now all but 2 of the large database makers are officially supporting their products on Linux. IBM programmers say a port is running in the lab ( I have no reason to doubt this for even a second ) and Microsoft would prefer to pretend Linux doesn't exist (let's return the favor :). Some months ago I argued that Oracle wouldn't ever port to Linux until they saw it as a "port or die" desision at which point they would start selling the DB for Linux they already have running in the labs. The reality is a little more impressive than the speculation. It seems all these vendors will be giving away products in order to establish market share. Is it just me or do other people think they are trying to get a significant piece of the Linux DB pie before it gets big?

Should we all just run out and buy these programs to show our support?

No. That's just crazy. Let the free market have it's say. There are evaluation versions of the better stuff floating around. If you find it's good enough to keep beyond the evaluation period then fork over the dough. That doesn't mean you need to wait out the full period however, just until you know it's a keeper. We should buy them if they are of some use to us. We should buy them if they are good. It's your money spend it wisely, you now have choices.

Phillip brown writes "Found yet another story on the Avalon beowulf system making top 500 supercomputers list," while ML wrote to us saying "CNN shows the Avalon Supercomputer in pretty purple light, gives credit to Linux, and throws in a nice dig at Microsoft. " Mmmm...I love to start my morning with good publicity.

Oracle said that their NC chief has left the company. On the job for the past couple of years, Oracle, like every other company working with NCs have found, shall we say, a less then fertile ground for the machine that was supposed to change everything.