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they have their own fork of a jvm. the big boys with their own jvm all have licensed sun's jvm and then tweaked it to their platform. bea purchased that blazing fast, jrockit, x86 jvm. what were the origins of that one? http://weblogic.sys-con.com/read/43022.htm that's right, it's ripped from sun's jvm.

lots of folks have considered creating a full fledged java environment. they end up taking sun's and tweaking it. a full blown jvm is just plain hard to do. the gnu folks have been trying it for eons now, and found it was just plain hard to do. all those gui classes really make things challenging.

from what i hear the certification tests are laughable.

It took Sun 5 years to realize that Linux, esp with IBM support was quickly passing them by; and that even their efforts with Intellectual property partnerships with Microsoft and their backing (again with Microsoft) of SCO's efforts against Linux didn't slow down IBM or Linux.

So to make parallels with Java -- Sun will Open Source Java as soon as they realize C# and Python and Ruby are kicking their ass and Java no longer is relevant.

In interesting article about what this might mean for Windows Application Developers can be found here:

http://dndj.sys-con.com/read/45912.htm/

Laszlo Systems' OpenLaszlo Platform Ushers in a "Digital Life" Application Suite
Laszlo and Dojo Announce Strategic AJAX Partnership
Laszlo AJAX Platform To Support Flash, DHTML, .NET
Interview with Jim Grandy of Laszlo Systems at the Real-World AJAX Seminar in San Jose

Laszlo Systems' OpenLaszlo Platform Ushers in a "Digital Life" Application Suite
Laszlo and Dojo Announce Strategic AJAX Partnership
Laszlo AJAX Platform To Support Flash, DHTML, .NET
Interview with Jim Grandy of Laszlo Systems at the Real-World AJAX Seminar in San Jose

Laszlo Systems' OpenLaszlo Platform Ushers in a "Digital Life" Application Suite
Laszlo and Dojo Announce Strategic AJAX Partnership
Laszlo AJAX Platform To Support Flash, DHTML, .NET
Interview with Jim Grandy of Laszlo Systems at the Real-World AJAX Seminar in San Jose

Daniel Wallace's crackpot Anti-GPL arguments were repeatedly and utterly refuted back in Febuary 2004.

Daniel Wallace's crackpot Anti-GPL arguments were repeatedly and utterly refuted back in Febuary 2004.

Actually, Java developers ARE concerned about opening Java up. Here are some recent news articles from Googling "open java":

http://www.thechannelinsider.com/article2/0,1895,1 955870,00.asp
http://opensource.sys-con.com/read/216731.htm
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-analysis-new-ceo-su n-needs-turnaround-plan-that-/2006/04/26/1611586.h tm
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/50449.html

To all of which, Gosling has responded, "Nope", much to the chagrin of Java developers. If you haven't heard them, it's because you've been too busy complaining on Slashdot about Slashdotters using Slashdot to Slashdot.

hi SwiftKick, thanks for doing a critical reading of my review. Seriously. Who wants someone to say only good things about their work? You never learn anything that way.

Okay, now having said that, put up your dukes, dude, because you are WRONG! ;-) and here's why.

How does it merit 9/10 stars when it has so many drawbacks (which you listed on the last page) that could be considered pretty serious? Good question. Answer: because of the Pepper Pad's POTENTIAL!! Sure, there are problems, which I outlined in the article, but look at what the PP can be in the future. Please re-read the section entitled the ghost of Mark Andreeson returns:

"Marc Andreeson once boasted that Netscape would reduce Microsoft Windows to a slightly buggy set of drivers, and with the Pepper Pad, you can see a tiny microcosm of how that could yet come true."

http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=682 7&page=3

If you look at the Pepper Pad only as a toy, which is its selling point to individual consumers, you are not seeing the big picture. IMHO, the Pepper Pad deserves a 9/10 because it is one small additional voice toward emphasizing that the "Network is the Computer", and the operating system is less relevant. Please read "Seeing What's Next" by Clayton Christensen, Erik Roth, and Scott Anthony. There, they talk in depth about how disruptive innovations such as the Pepper Pad could be the undoing of Microsoft's monopoly. Here, in summary, is what Christensen thinks of web applications and Microsoft:

"Where Linux takes root is in new applications, like Web servers and handheld devices. As those get better, applications will get sucked off the desktop onto the Internet, and that's what will undo Microsoft," he [Christensen] said. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,3902039 6,39170562,00.htm

Remember, SwiftKick, Sony unseated then-market leader RCA by using underpowered transistors in handeheld radios that, at first, underperformed RCA's desktop radios' sound quality. RCA, like Microsoft, had lots, lots more money and market power, but those virtues were eroded rapidly as RCA abandoned transistors to Sony's tiny, weak radios. RCA spent lots on R & D, but concluded that they 1) transistors had no place in RCA's high margin, vacuum tube desktop radios, which emphasized good volume and good sound; 2) RCA had no business case for selling low-margin transistor radios. You can read more about that history in my article here http://linux.sys-con.com/read/46891.htm?CFID=37723 &CFTOKEN=8D2FC61E-57CA-1091-4E26E06B45B1DB04

If you look only at what the Pepper Pad is today, you're not seeing its importance, IMHO.

I must admit to having skimmed over the interview. For the most part, my opinion of MPlayer as a functional piece of software has remained very high, but interest in the project has been waning. This article entitled "MPlayer: The project from hell" outlines some of the frustrations I had before I found a distro with a good package manager that could compensate for my newbie-ness. Back then, MPlayer really was superior to everything else (As far as I knew), and I've just stuck with it since. Maybe the attitude has changed by now, but MPlayer still got a black eye because manually trying to install it an exercise in frustration. Here's an example:

"Don't get me wrong. There is documentation. It is scattered, and often incomplete, and carries the same attitude I had seen elsewhere, but it is there. An example of that attitude, taken verbatim from the FAQ:

Q: I compiled MPlayer with libdvdcss/libdivxdecore support, but when I try to start it, it says: error while loading shared libraries: lib*.so.0: cannot load shared object file: No such file or directory

I checked the file and it is there in /usr/local/lib.

A: What are you doing on Linux? Can't you install a library? Why do we get these questions? It's not MPlayer specific at all! Add /usr/local/lib to /etc/ld.so.conf and run ldconfig. Or install it to /usr/lib, because if you can't solve the /usr/local problem, you are careless enough to do such things.

Perhaps instead of taking the time to flame the person asking the question, the smart aleck could have simply answered the question graciously, then spent the time saved by skipping the flames fixing bugs in the installation script."

The Exploit If you want to know more about the exploit that this release is supposed to fix, here is a shellcoded from of it (dated 03.22.2006).

And here's Microsoft's acknowledgement of the exploit (dated 03.23.2006).

And here's an "expert" saying that releasing the above exploit is irresponsible (dated 03.24.2006).

It is now 04.12.2006 and a patch is out to correct it.

*checks his watch*

Not bad, but your response time could use some imporvement.

Daniel Wallace's crackpot Anti-GPL arguments were repeatedly and utterly refuted back in Febuary 2004.

Daniel Wallace's crackpot Anti-GPL arguments were repeatedly and utterly refuted back in Febuary 2004.

The NewMexTech students are purportedly working on a new indestructable chair.
It will have the ability to absorb impacts from dropping, kicking or throwing due to sudden fits of rage and violent outbursts of anger.

I recommend you download the Java 1.6.0 beta called Mustang.

Thats tomorrow my friend. Lets talk about today. If I had to write a GUI applet, where I wanted thin (low download) and fast (fast GUI performance close to windoze) I would go with Java 1.5 AWT + 3rd party widgets such as those from Protoview. http://jdj.sys-con.com/read/35998.htm What you are suggesting about Mustang *might* work tomorrow, but I'm talking about real-world solutions for today!

If you liked this article then you will surely like AJAX Developer's Journal , just launched digitally/online and replete with how-to articles and interviews, all freely available. It's edited by Rob Gonda.

Miguel de Icaza: Mono BOF Proposal Turned Down By Microsoft For Second Year Running?
"At the last PDC," Miguel de Icaza (pictured) notes, "the Mono BOF had the largest number of votes when half the spots were still available and it got dropped out of the list." Now it seems that history is about to repeat itself.

Writing, in his blog, of last year's disappointment, he explains:

        "When I asked the various people in charge what happened they kept pointing fingers at someone else until it reached full circle. Nobody could tell me why the most voted BOF proposal did not get selected. I would be happy with an honest answer even if it is "We do not want to promote open source/Mono/Novell" instead I heard a number of variations on "The problem is that `New frontiers for 6502 assembly language in the copy-editing industry had more votes'" (it didnt)."

This year's PDC, de Icaza fears, "is looking just like the last one. So it is time to get ready for a Mono meeting like we had the last time: in the middle of the hallway."

Try http://banners.sys-con.com/*

Works for me anyway.

And, if you want to block their bug, also add:
http://www4.sys-con.com/*

Try http://banners.sys-con.com/*

Works for me anyway.

And, if you want to block their bug, also add:
http://www4.sys-con.com/*

There are multiple sets of technology predictions just publisheed here too, at the AJAX Developer's Journal site. Amazing how AJAX is a-booming!

C# people claim their language is "better." I've used both - C# is not better enough to justify...

Is that still true with C# 2.0? How about with C# 3.0? Bruce Eckel recently said
"C# 3.0 may be too forward-thinking for Java to catch up to."

such as their pointless and absurd practice of mixing VM and non-VM code at every opportunity

Who is "they"? - if it's C# programmers in general, I don't see any evidence of that in the code that I've worked with. If it is the .net class library implementers, I'd say that the equivalent classes in the java runtime are probably written in C++ not java at all so the point is moot.

Either way I'm a bit surprised to see this old saw come up again, and I'd like to see some example, references or other justifications for saying it.

Any language significantly different from a C/C++/Java-like language can't be supported efficiently.

Again, what is your reason for saying that so categorically? There is evidence that suggest that the true situation may be otherwise.

I don't expect Mono to succeed even in its modest promises, although if they do, they may wish they didn't.

Ah, wondeful pessimism.

Great idea on the whole "play anywhere" concept. Read about this almost 5 years ago: http://jdj.sys-con.com/read/36690.htm

--PF

Bite my shiny metal ass!

Notwithstanding the booster drivel, it both amuses and saddens me that "Web 2.0" is indeed turning out to be just another exit strategy and hype spew for tool makers, as many people said all along.

"When you are old, you become impatient with the way in which the young applaud the most insignificant improvements - the invention of some new valve or sprocket - while remaining heedless of the world's barbarism"
(Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot)

The young and the naive at least have an excuse for credulous optimism. Those old enough to know better usually *do* know better, but have a vested interest in the whole bubble boosterism.

Notwithstanding the booster drivel, it both amuses and saddens me that "Web 2.0" is indeed turning out to be just another exit strategy and hype spew for tool makers, as many people said all along.

Yahoo is where good ideas go to die in its evil, uncaring corporate bosom of anti-user hostility. EGroups. Geocities. Broadcast. The list goes on and on.

"When you are old, you become impatient with the way in which the young applaud the most insignificant improvements - the invention of some new valve or sprocket - while remaining heedless of the world's barbarism"
(Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot)

The young and the naive at least have an excuse for credulous optimism. Those old enough to know better usually *do* know better, but have a vested interest in the whole bubble boosterism.

The UK/European reaction has begun: US Air Force To Invade Cyberspace - whatever possessed Wynne to say/write anything so colossally stupid??

Why It Makes Sense for Sun to Open-Source Java Libraries & Solaris Kernel
Published Jun. 6, 2004

September 12 was, erm, over six weeks ago--this news about the ending of the so-called "derivative law suits" was dealt with by Java Developer's Journal (and tens of dozens of other major technology publications) long ago. [from the article] "Unusual Settlement Arrangement Would End Derivative Lawsuits Once and For All, and Avoid a Trial"

If this is the same Joe Barr who can't even install and use MPlayer, do I really give a shit about what he thinks about Slack? I mean if he can call the best video player ever "The Project From Hell", he's just proven himself to be entirely unreliable.

http://fr.sys-con.com/read/145401.htm

A quick web search turns up several surveys with lots of benchmarks,

http://java.sys-con.com/read/45250.htm
http://www.idiom.com/~zilla/Computer/javaCbenchmar k.html

There's now a complete version here, published with Chris Wilson's consent so as to prevent, as he puts it, "angry slashdotters blasting me because my hosting company can't handle it."

Everyone,

I aplogize that my hosting company is not up to the job. I guess the way to test your hosting company is to see if they can withstand the /. effect, no?

Thankfully, another site has offered to mirror the article: http://sys-con.com/read/137855.htm

--Chris Wilson

http://www.christopherwilson.net/blog/

http://www.christopherwilson.net/soapbox/

Google + Sun = ????
The Industry Guessing Game Has Begun

LinuxWorld's Mark Hinkle doesn't think Sun will buy Novell by the look of it, he thinks they'll buy Red Hat. Or maybe IBM will buy Red Hat. Looks like Novell isn't at the head of the line for takeover yet.

Maybe there's truth in the notion then that Sun might buy Novell. If it doesn't buy Red Hat first, as Mark Hinkle here seems to think it might.

The execs are Juha Christensen and Tod Nielsen. While at Microsoft, Christensen brought to market the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Smartphone, in addition to Mobile Information Server and Server ActiveSync. Tod Nielsen too held senior management positions such as vice president, Platform Group and vice president, Developer Relations.

Well for some reason Super Mario is a cameo in the movie, played by a chick though...

Mambo is a really cool project and deserves an award. I just started using it a couple months ago and am really happy with it.

The article could have at least mentioned that LTSP took Best In Show overall.

Perens talking animatedly about software patents and saying that he had "cast a little a doom and gloom on this whole great show" by raising the issue of the dertrimental effect of software patnts on open source.

"Making it easier for companies and communities that have patents to make those patents available in a common pool for people to use is one way to try to help developers deal with the threat," Torvalds continued.

http://linuxbusinessnews.sys-con.com/read/117730.h tm

"The software patent game is like the Cold War: The only thing that protects you is the concept of mutually assured destruction."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1846948,00.as p

OSDL Announcement:

"OSDL is the ideal steward for such an important legal initiative as the patent commons project," said Eben Moglen, chair of the Software Freedom Law Center. "No matter what your stand on software patents, and I oppose them, I call on developers to contribute to the OSDL patent commons project because there is strength in numbers and when individual contributions are collected together it creates a protective haven where developers can innovate without fear."

http://www.osdl.org/newsroom/press_releases/2005/2 005_08_09_beaverton.html

Long Announcement with more detailed information:

http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2005-08-10-a.html

There we go...now maybe we can have an intelligent conversation :-D

The article reads like an ad for Flash, which is hardly surprising since the guy works for Macromedia.

No he doesn't:

Simeon (Sim) Simeonov used to be chief architect at Allaire/Macromedia where he shipped more products than he can remember on a summer day. Now he is a technology investor at Polaris Venture Partners in Boston. He still codes on weekends. You can reach Sim at sim_at_polarisventures.com.

QNX(R) Neutrino(R) RTOS is powering the Neptec Laser Camera System (LCS) for NASA's Return to Flight mission. Designed and built by Neptec, a developer of space vision systems, the LCS will play a key role in ensuring the safety of this mission, the first since the Columbia disaster in 2003. This mission is scheduled for takeoff Wednesday, July 13, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery will use Neptec's LCS to inspect the exterior of the shuttle during the 12-day flight. The LCS, which will be attached to a boom at the end of the shuttle's Canadarm, uses a scanning mechanism to generate three-dimensional maps of the shuttle's exterior surface in real time. During the mission, NASA will use the generated images to identify even the smallest amount of damage to the outside of the spacecraft.

Neptec has also used QNX RTOS technology in earlier devices it developed for NASA, including the QNX-based Advanced Space Vision System (ASVS), which helped guide the Canadarm in previous shuttle missions as well as on the International Space Station." The LCS is a critical element of NASA's Return to Flight mission and we have to be sure it is running on the most reliable operating system available," said Iain Christie, vice president of research and development at Neptec. "Selecting the QNX Neutrino RTOS was an easy decision because we already know that the system can handle the extreme conditions found in space and that it meets our demands for ultra-reliability. We will continue to use QNX technology in all of our real time embedded projects."

Full Article
Older QNX PR Piece

20k lines of code? That is miniscule. I've got a mid-sized enterprise system that's got 20k FILES containing millions of lines of code integrating a dozen desparate systems over a network of 50 or so servers. It handles thousands of concurrent users performing transactions - not just viewing content. That's just a mid-sized system. Some large scale systems use clusters of hundreds of servers. Not to bash what you're doing but I think you could use a little perspective on the size of your application.

I don't care if you've got a freakin army of PHP programmers, you're never going to build a system that can scale like Java.


1) Scripted languages in general: slow performance

2) Compiled languages in general: Requires rebuild before changes take effect, so testing and retesting is slowed down.

3) Java/.Net/Byte-code languages: Worst of #1 and #2 above.


Don't believe the hype about Java's performance. Today's just-in-time compilers can optimize code as well as hand optimized code and they don't waste resources optimizing paths that don't get executed. There are many benchmarks out there that confirm that Java's performance is comparable to C++ and even better in some areas.

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-02-1998/jw-0 2-jperf_p.html
http://www.tommti-systems.de/go.html?http://www.to mmti-systems.de/main-Dateien/reviews/languages/ben chmarks.html
http://java.sys-con.com/read/45250.htm?CFID=29694& CFTOKEN=101A9EF8-9F8D-153A-37A5E0A40D3EE24A

I agree with your point though, there are a huge number of crappy programmers out there. Good programmers write good code in whatever language they are using.

So, what is good code?

IMHO, good code performs well and is easy to understand and use.

There's a story this morning about how today in Atlanta there's an event called "MGB 2005" with the tagline "Going Beyond," that features several major tracks being presented to Microsoft managers and partners from throughout the world. But apparently the name "Microsoft" is not in evidence on any of the event's signage or collateral relating to the meeting. Anyone know what the exact scoop is on that? Is this where the "Vista" name was cooked up?

Here's a link that might help. This link might help as well.

If you need help on what a "link" is though, you'll need to go here.

"Recently, we had an unrelated copyright discussion on the Linux kernel discussion list (some people still want to have binary only modules and try to argue that the GPL doesn't ever cover them).

Anyway, that's beside the point, though it does show that some people want to take advantage of open source without giving anything back. But after the discussion, I ended up looking up the exact wording of the U.S. copyright law and guess what I found:

"The term 'financial gain' includes receipt, or expectation of receipt, of anything of value, including the receipt of other copyrighted works."

This is from U.S. Code Collection, Title 17 (copyrights), Chapter 1, Section 101: "Definitions." In short, this is from the very first section in copyright law -- the section that defines terms even before those terms are used. This is some pretty fundamental stuff when it comes to copyrights in the U.S.

Pertinent, if you will.

And note how copyright law expressly includes "the expectation of receipt" of anything of value, and expressly mentions "receipt of other copyrighted works" as such a thing of value. And that's the very definition of "financial gain," as far as U.S. copyright law is concerned.

Now guess what the GPL is all about?"

"Meanwhile, China continues to be a major source of new American immigrants, and remains a big prize for companies wishing to help it along with building a more capitalistic society." The article asks if there a way for Microsoft in particular, and global businesses in general, to avoid this sort of controversy - whether, that is, they stay agnostic regarding specific political issues, domestic and international. The answer would seem to be: "No!"

I run a bunch of government desktops, and the chances of us going Mac OSX (esp. for Intel) are way, way, way higher than us ever going Linux.

First, OSX has applications we actually need.

Second, OSX plugs into existing management infrastructures (from asset management, to software distribution and reporting to help desk).

Third, there are no issues with security with OSX vs. open source software:

http://issj.sys-con.com/read/44468.htm

Lastly, Apple is customer oriented, whereas Linux developers are shiny feature oriented. I just want to turn it on and have it work darn it - I don't want to be editing text config files in the era of plug and play hardware.

Fine for hobbiest, but not ready for prime time - Linux on the desktop is a fad, and it's time has passed....

don't argue with me - I have my opinion, you have your's - let's just meet back in two years :p

Intel is already promoting the growth of the non-Microsoft desktop market by supporting Linux.

See: LinuxWorld: Intel Counsels Desktop Linux Movement.

Therefore, although Cringely is probably right about Intel's current goals, he is wrong in thinking that Intel needs Apple, and the risky step of a merger.

Besides, if Intel was supplying both the hardware and the OS, then, in order to avoid lock-in, people would start avoiding Intel, the same way that they avoid Apple today. Instead of Apple's market expanding to match Intel's, we would see Intel's market shrink to match Apple's.

Plus, let's not forget the difference in cultures. Apple has always aimed for the high-end user. Thus they are a high-margin company, that can afford to be a little fat and lazy, which is the opposie of Intel's "low-price + high-volume" business. Thus, while the hope might be to provide Apple software at Intel prices, the merged company could just as easily end up supplying Intel hardware at Apple prices.