Sun already provides the code to their various software technology products.
I think this is a good indication of how big companies are seeing the light in regard to Open Source methodologies. Certainly, I'll agree that the SCSL isn't quite as Open-Source like as the GPL, BSD, or Python licenses, but it shows that the company is willing to go the Open Source route, and with the reputation that Sun has built up, I've no doubt that they will further embrace the Open Source philosophy in the future.
My feeling is that they're keeping their source code technologies, especially the revolutionary Java, more closed than those of stauncher Open Source models for a while longer, to allow them to mature, before releasing them fully. I have no doubt that this is what they're planning. It's not some evil Corporate Conspiracy like you're suggesting, schwap.
Usually, I'm an avid Sun supporter, but there's just no way this makes sense. IBM are indeed getting behind Java, and for that they must be congratulated. Their JDK kicks Sun's cleanly and soundly, not that Sun's is a bad one, but IBM's just seems to have more going for it. I use both of them and although there are a lot of things I still prefer about Sun's, IBM's takes the cake.
I guess that could be part of the reason Sun are so annoyed with them. Showing them up in JDK/JRE development. IBM's Jikes compiler is truly awesome.
Come on Sun, this doesn't make sense. This is very Microsoftian of you, the way you're treating IBM.
Thanks for the advice. I will certainly look to switch over to FreeBSD from Debian GNU/Linux in the future, or perhaps run them both and see which one delivers a better computing experience.
This post was extremely insightful, cpt kangarooski. What to do about a company that holds enormous sway with corporations and individuals alike, that doesn't need to worry about competing OS companies and contenders, but does anyway? Microsoft's tactics are the most staunch argument against capitalism I can think of.
But nevertheless, we can't judge an entire system on the basis of the few companies that abuse their power in this way. IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, Standard Oil. Places like those result when greed overtakes the need to produce quality products and provide outstanding services to the public.
Fortunately, there are still companies who's integrity matches the highest standard, and even when done wrong by other companies - still maintain their promise of amazing service and quality. One of these companies is Sun Microsystems.
I thought it was Berkeley Software Distribution. I could be wrong, though. I've tried FreeBSD and OpenBSD fleetingly on my Intel boxen, and although their installation was painless, I didn't experiment with them for very long (reinstalled Solaris x86 and Debian/GNU Linux).
I'm just wondering about support for the Java platform in the way of JDK, etc. With Linux emulation, would it be possible to run JDK 1.2.2 under *BSD, or is the Linux emulation on the *BSD platforms not quite there yet? Java support is the main factor in any platform (At least, to me), so if anyone has information on this aspect I'd be very interested.
You know, the more I think about DNS, TLD's and internet name/adress issues, the more I realize that it's really a comfort-issue thing. The logical thing would be to de-regulate TLD's heavily, and in fact the entire way people perceive internet domains.
If company XYZ Holdings wants.xyz as a TLD, what's the problem? Why is there so much regulation involved. We all know that if you put an "illegal" domain on one of your nameservers and allow it to propogate, you'll get busted heavily. Why? Because of the regulation, and you have to wonder wheter it's all really neccessary.
The way people perceive the "Internet" is mostly through URLs, most people use the net for Web browsing and email, and to a smaller extent IRC and other relay-communications protocols like ICQ. Now, these URLs are dreadfully boring and regulated. Why is "www" such an overused hostname? This is something that people CAN control. Why use www? What's the point? Well, simple: It's a comfort zone thing for most internet users. THat's what they're used to, that's what they're comfortable with.
In short, it would be great to de-regulate DNS and create our own TLD's. But unfortunately, because of a defined mindset, most people wouldn't want to, (common internet users).
Hmmmm. No. I don't think clusters are suited to the type of application in question. Quake wouldn't really benefit from massive parrallel processing. Yes, from more processing power - as long as it's on a local bus and not distributed over a network into seperate nodes. The main factors in Quake speed would be Random Access Memory and the quality of graphics adapter used in the comptuer running the game.
I think Beowulf is an excellent technology for many applications though, especially back-end services which need the extra oomph and can be distrubted cleanly, as well as, of course, some academic processes, such as analysis, etc.
A good example of how Linux can be made into a model of distributed service handling is the impressive HA Linux. (High Availability Linux). The team is working closely with the Linux Virtual Server project, and the technology looks impressive. In a few years it could even compete with Sun's high end technology.
Looks like a Microsoft press statement to me. Keep your eye on these Python folks.
This is unsubstantiated and biased. I don't understand how you make the Microsoft connection. The Python language is an excellent language, open source, and very useful for scripting and administration. Of course, it isn't as good as Sun's Java,but with Jypthon, you get the best of both worlds. The true Java garbage collection combined with the clear snytax and dynamic typing of Java. The unique thing about Jpython is that it's a Python implementation done completely in Java.
I'm hoping to help the JPython effort by extending it to take full advantage of the robust Java platform, as I think that Python is an excellent technology which should be integrated with Java. Java and Python. A killer combination.
No, I'm sorry, but I'm sick of people with no clue about a) computers and b) politeness using the net and making it all the worse for all of us. I remember the web back in the early 90s when it was first opened up, and their was *gasp* informative content readily available.
Although in many respects I'm entitled to agree with you, the internet is an exciting new medium which is being used, and will be used more extensively in the future, for beneficial communication and near-seamless information transfer. Yes, there are a lot of people in "The masses" who will use the Internet for not-so-useful purposes, but you can't sensor their pages just because you don't find them meaningful.
crappy homepages (who cares what your dog is called? And your picture is so fucking ugly!)
Perhaps people who are dog lovers, vets, or hold animal-related positions will care about this first peice of information, and as for the second, perhaps the picture is used to convey the person's appearance to someone geographically distant who would otherwise not be able to view the person in question.
Now, as for the commerical factor, no matter how you slice it, companies have been involved with the Internet's expansion from the time it has been opened up. Certainly, it's conception and implementation was intially handled by scientests, miliatry scientests and university hackers, but the actual expansion - which has led to it becoming the worldwide network it has become, is largely a result of corporate funding.
And with the newbies have come the script-kiddies, people who think they're 31337 because they can fuck other people's computers up. Now that's progress!
*Sigh*. I agree with you. To truly be 31337, those kids should start developing for the Java(tm) 2 Platform, in the impressively well designed Java language. Java is an excellent choice for distributed applications, because from the start, the API was designed with networking in mind. It's also become the leading server-side language in use on back-end solutions. And, due to the wide variety of Virtual Machines (JVMs) available for it, WORA (Write Once Run Anywhere) becomes a possibility, eliminating platform dependence. Now THAT is 31337.
And, of course, with technology like the Transmeta Crusoe CPUA JVM could be built into the CPU using Transmeta's impressive Code Morphing(tm) technology, creating in effect, a "Java chip". Personally, that's the way I think AOL and Transmeta *should* go here, no eliminating Linux by any means, because Linux is an excellent platform, and I'm impressed with their insightfulness at choosing this operating system - but rather, to run Java and Linux side by side, perhaps implementing a customized JVM on top of the embedded Linux system.
In any event, it's good to see technologies such as Linux being used in devices such as this. I believe that with robust technologies such as Linux and Java, the embedded market could soar to new heights, and be used to improve human communication by orders of magnitude, part of which would involve humanising technology that would otherwise be frightening to the man in the street.
- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
Re:Yet another pie in the sky company
on
Inside Transmeta
·
· Score: 1
I think you're wrong about this, mate. The folks at Transmeta are doing something that not many other companies have considered, and they've ended up with quite an innovative product. Whether that product can be implemented and marketed well enough is yet to be seen, but I beleive it can.
I'm not going to repeat what other Slashdotters have already said about power consumption/mobile computing benefits, but I see something in this product that noone else has mentioned: The chip's code morphing technology could be used as an interpreter for the robust Sun Microsoft Java 2(tm) platform. I believe that there are already ongoing projects for hardware Java interpretation, but Transmeta is in a unique position in that the Crusoe chip could use its code morphing ability to run classic applications and systems in addition to the Java 2(tm) platform, and of course, as others have mentioned, when you throw mobile computing and embedded computing into the mix, Transmeta could become a leading company in embedded systems as well.
I believe that mixing great technologies like Java(tm) and the Transmeta Crusoe(tm) could ultimately lead to a new era of computing, and could in fact take the mainstream market into directions that were previously though impossible. No, this is certainly not a pie in the sky company. This has the potential to be ground breaking technology.
Many people underestimate badly the need to run Windows apps
Hmmm. Let me think about this. I guess in many ways you're right. But is it really a *need* to run Windows software, or is it just a comfort-zone thing? Most people are now comfortable with Windows, and a lot of them don't see it's obvious bugs as a reason to change over. It all has to do with perceived reality/actual reality. Tech savvy people are more inclined to get to the guts of things - the under-reality, rather than the flashy illusion that is Windows. But for most people, this isn't the case.
We're not only talking about office software here
Ok, I agree about the utilities to a certain point, but even that's not a total argument. Freshmeat is a prime example of small utils that you're talking about, usually with full source code too.
I think where WINE could really come in handy is for entertainment and esoteric software. I mean, look at the multitude of games for Windows, if WINE managed to get up to a level where it could run most of those without a problem, it would be an extreme boon Linux and other UNIX platforms. but besides games and some very specialized software, I think that UNIXen are most of the way there already:
As for the Office software, Sun Microsystems has an Office Suite called Sun StarOffice. It's the only Dot Com Office Suite around. What is a Dot Com office suite? Simple. An Office Suite with unrivaled power and usability, which allows you to do everything at the same place. It runs on a variety of platforms, including Linux, and the ultra-stable Solaris(tm) platform. What makes the Solaris platform unique? It's scalable, reliable, and proven. It runs on both Intel and the more robust SPARC platforms. With the functionality of StarOffice, so with the robustness of the Solaris platform and the multitude of free and commercial software available, the only thing that really seems to be missing is Game titles. Databases are there. Enterprise support is there. Business applications are getting there very fast. Looks like a bright future for Linux and Open source in general, especially now that major players in the industry like Sun Microsystems have released their own Open Source licenses.
Slashdot Mirror
Sun already provides the code to their various software technology products.
I think this is a good indication of how big companies are seeing the light in regard to Open Source methodologies. Certainly, I'll agree that the SCSL isn't quite as Open-Source like as the GPL, BSD, or Python licenses, but it shows that the company is willing to go the Open Source route, and with the reputation that Sun has built up, I've no doubt that they will further embrace the Open Source philosophy in the future.My feeling is that they're keeping their source code technologies, especially the revolutionary Java, more closed than those of stauncher Open Source models for a while longer, to allow them to mature, before releasing them fully. I have no doubt that this is what they're planning. It's not some evil Corporate Conspiracy like you're suggesting, schwap.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you.
Usually, I'm an avid Sun supporter, but there's just no way this makes sense. IBM are indeed getting behind Java, and for that they must be congratulated. Their JDK kicks Sun's cleanly and soundly, not that Sun's is a bad one, but IBM's just seems to have more going for it. I use both of them and although there are a lot of things I still prefer about Sun's, IBM's takes the cake.I guess that could be part of the reason Sun are so annoyed with them. Showing them up in JDK/JRE development. IBM's Jikes compiler is truly awesome.
Come on Sun, this doesn't make sense. This is very Microsoftian of you, the way you're treating IBM.Thanks for the advice. I will certainly look to switch over to FreeBSD from Debian GNU/Linux in the future, or perhaps run them both and see which one delivers a better computing experience.
This post was extremely insightful, cpt kangarooski. What to do about a company that holds enormous sway with corporations and individuals alike, that doesn't need to worry about competing OS companies and contenders, but does anyway? Microsoft's tactics are the most staunch argument against capitalism I can think of.
But nevertheless, we can't judge an entire system on the basis of the few companies that abuse their power in this way. IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, Standard Oil. Places like those result when greed overtakes the need to produce quality products and provide outstanding services to the public.Fortunately, there are still companies who's integrity matches the highest standard, and even when done wrong by other companies - still maintain their promise of amazing service and quality. One of these companies is Sun Microsystems.
How about Doom for the Java Platform ?
I thought it was Berkeley Software Distribution. I could be wrong, though. I've tried FreeBSD and OpenBSD fleetingly on my Intel boxen, and although their installation was painless, I didn't experiment with them for very long (reinstalled Solaris x86 and Debian/GNU Linux).
I'm just wondering about support for the Java platform in the way of JDK, etc. With Linux emulation, would it be possible to run JDK 1.2.2 under *BSD, or is the Linux emulation on the *BSD platforms not quite there yet? Java support is the main factor in any platform (At least, to me), so if anyone has information on this aspect I'd be very interested.Thanks,
Charles Balthazar RotherwoodYou know, the more I think about DNS, TLD's and internet name/adress issues, the more I realize that it's really a comfort-issue thing. The logical thing would be to de-regulate TLD's heavily, and in fact the entire way people perceive internet domains.
If company XYZ Holdings wantsThe way people perceive the "Internet" is mostly through URLs, most people use the net for Web browsing and email, and to a smaller extent IRC and other relay-communications protocols like ICQ. Now, these URLs are dreadfully boring and regulated. Why is "www" such an overused hostname? This is something that people CAN control. Why use www? What's the point? Well, simple: It's a comfort zone thing for most internet users. THat's what they're used to, that's what they're comfortable with.
In short, it would be great to de-regulate DNS and create our own TLD's. But unfortunately, because of a defined mindset, most people wouldn't want to, (common internet users).
- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
Hmmmm. No. I don't think clusters are suited to the type of application in question. Quake wouldn't really benefit from massive parrallel processing. Yes, from more processing power - as long as it's on a local bus and not distributed over a network into seperate nodes. The main factors in Quake speed would be Random Access Memory and the quality of graphics adapter used in the comptuer running the game.
I think Beowulf is an excellent technology for many applications though, especially back-end services which need the extra oomph and can be distrubted cleanly, as well as, of course, some academic processes, such as analysis, etc.A good example of how Linux can be made into a model of distributed service handling is the impressive HA Linux. (High Availability Linux). The team is working closely with the Linux Virtual Server project, and the technology looks impressive. In a few years it could even compete with Sun's high end technology.
-
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
Looks like a Microsoft press statement to me. Keep your eye on these Python folks.
This is unsubstantiated and biased. I don't understand how you make the Microsoft connection. The Python language is an excellent language, open source, and very useful for scripting and administration. Of course, it isn't as good as Sun's Java,but with Jypthon, you get the best of both worlds. The true Java garbage collection combined with the clear snytax and dynamic typing of Java. The unique thing about Jpython is that it's a Python implementation done completely in Java.I'm hoping to help the JPython effort by extending it to take full advantage of the robust Java platform, as I think that Python is an excellent technology which should be integrated with Java. Java and Python. A killer combination.
Good work, Guido and the team!- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
No, I'm sorry, but I'm sick of people with no clue about a) computers and b) politeness using the net and making it all the worse for all of us. I remember the web back in the early 90s when it was first opened up, and their was *gasp* informative content readily available.
Although in many respects I'm entitled to agree with you, the internet is an exciting new medium which is being used, and will be used more extensively in the future, for beneficial communication and near-seamless information transfer. Yes, there are a lot of people in "The masses" who will use the Internet for not-so-useful purposes, but you can't sensor their pages just because you don't find them meaningful.crappy homepages (who cares what your dog is called? And your picture is so fucking ugly!)
Perhaps people who are dog lovers, vets, or hold animal-related positions will care about this first peice of information, and as for the second, perhaps the picture is used to convey the person's appearance to someone geographically distant who would otherwise not be able to view the person in question.
Now, as for the commerical factor, no matter how you slice it, companies have been involved with the Internet's expansion from the time it has been opened up. Certainly, it's conception and implementation was intially handled by scientests, miliatry scientests and university hackers, but the actual expansion - which has led to it becoming the worldwide network it has become, is largely a result of corporate funding.
And with the newbies have come the script-kiddies, people who think they're 31337 because they can fuck other people's computers up. Now that's progress!
*Sigh*. I agree with you. To truly be 31337, those kids should start developing for the Java(tm) 2 Platform, in the impressively well designed Java language. Java is an excellent choice for distributed applications, because from the start, the API was designed with networking in mind. It's also become the leading server-side language in use on back-end solutions. And, due to the wide variety of Virtual Machines (JVMs) available for it, WORA (Write Once Run Anywhere) becomes a possibility, eliminating platform dependence. Now THAT is 31337.And, of course, with technology like the Transmeta Crusoe CPUA JVM could be built into the CPU using Transmeta's impressive Code Morphing(tm) technology, creating in effect, a "Java chip". Personally, that's the way I think AOL and Transmeta *should* go here, no eliminating Linux by any means, because Linux is an excellent platform, and I'm impressed with their insightfulness at choosing this operating system - but rather, to run Java and Linux side by side, perhaps implementing a customized JVM on top of the embedded Linux system.
In any event, it's good to see technologies such as Linux being used in devices such as this. I believe that with robust technologies such as Linux and Java, the embedded market could soar to new heights, and be used to improve human communication by orders of magnitude, part of which would involve humanising technology that would otherwise be frightening to the man in the street.
- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
I think you're wrong about this, mate. The folks at Transmeta are doing something that not many other companies have considered, and they've ended up with quite an innovative product. Whether that product can be implemented and marketed well enough is yet to be seen, but I beleive it can.
I'm not going to repeat what other Slashdotters have already said about power consumption/mobile computing benefits, but I see something in this product that noone else has mentioned: The chip's code morphing technology could be used as an interpreter for the robust Sun Microsoft Java 2(tm) platform. I believe that there are already ongoing projects for hardware Java interpretation, but Transmeta is in a unique position in that the Crusoe chip could use its code morphing ability to run classic applications and systems in addition to the Java 2(tm) platform, and of course, as others have mentioned, when you throw mobile computing and embedded computing into the mix, Transmeta could become a leading company in embedded systems as well.
I believe that mixing great technologies like Java(tm) and the Transmeta Crusoe(tm) could ultimately lead to a new era of computing, and could in fact take the mainstream market into directions that were previously though impossible. No, this is certainly not a pie in the sky company. This has the potential to be ground breaking technology.Charles Balthazar Rotherwood,
- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris
Many people underestimate badly the need to run Windows apps
Hmmm. Let me think about this. I guess in many ways you're right. But is it really a *need* to run Windows software, or is it just a comfort-zone thing? Most people are now comfortable with Windows, and a lot of them don't see it's obvious bugs as a reason to change over. It all has to do with perceived reality/actual reality. Tech savvy people are more inclined to get to the guts of things - the under-reality, rather than the flashy illusion that is Windows. But for most people, this isn't the case.
We're not only talking about office software hereOk, I agree about the utilities to a certain point, but even that's not a total argument. Freshmeat is a prime example of small utils that you're talking about, usually with full source code too.
I think where WINE could really come in handy is for entertainment and esoteric software. I mean, look at the multitude of games for Windows, if WINE managed to get up to a level where it could run most of those without a problem, it would be an extreme boon Linux and other UNIX platforms. but besides games and some very specialized software, I think that UNIXen are most of the way there already:
As for the Office software, Sun Microsystems has an Office Suite called Sun StarOffice. It's the only Dot Com Office Suite around. What is a Dot Com office suite? Simple. An Office Suite with unrivaled power and usability, which allows you to do everything at the same place. It runs on a variety of platforms, including Linux, and the ultra-stable Solaris(tm) platform. What makes the Solaris platform unique? It's scalable, reliable, and proven. It runs on both Intel and the more robust SPARC platforms. With the functionality of StarOffice, so with the robustness of the Solaris platform and the multitude of free and commercial software available, the only thing that really seems to be missing is Game titles. Databases are there. Enterprise support is there. Business applications are getting there very fast. Looks like a bright future for Linux and Open source in general, especially now that major players in the industry like Sun Microsystems have released their own Open Source licenses.Charles Balthazar Rotherwood,
- Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform
- Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris