Even Java took a long time to have decent IDE support. Most of these other languages are relatively new, and are still definitely in the "early adopter" phase of the usage curve. I do think Scala in particular has a good chance of adoption, as it's fairly easy to start working with it as if it were Java with type inferences and first-class functions. Also, the next release will have features that specifically make it easier for IDE integrations to be written.
I don't think there necessarily needs to be a big corporate backer- look at Ruby for example; it has a number of small corporate backers, and a wealth of open source developer support. Scala is beginning to get more high-profile usage, Twitter being the biggest name. It has a well written, well defined specification, and a pretty active community around it, with mailing lists, IRC channels, conferences, etc. Being a JVM language, I think it will be easier to sneak into the back door of a lot of corporate projects.
Agreed on F#; it does seem that it would flounder without significant support from MS, but I generally don't hear about companies using it as I live in a JVM world, and don't get much exposure to.NET stuff.
Although Java-the-language has stagnated a bit (I don't know if JDK 7 will ever be complete, due to all the feature cramming), but there's been a lot of activity during the past few years on other languages that run on Java-the-platform. Groovy and Rhino (Javascript) have been available for the JVM for quite a while. JRuby is actually faster than "native" Ruby for a lot of real-world applications. The Lisp-like Clojure language has a lot of fans. IMO, Scala is the most interesting out of all of these, with a very sophisticated type system, as well as functional features that the cool OCaml and Haskell kids seem to love.
All of these alternate languages can use the wealth of libraries available for Java, generally on all platforms on which the JVM runs. For example, I know of Scala apps that can run on Andriod, which is close enough to Sun's VM.
I think it took a good amount of time to exhaust the 3-digit UIDs, more than most people probably think. Same with 4-digit. Slashdot wasn't exactly an overnight sensation...
If ICANN succeeds and gains "independence" from the US Dept. of Commerce, what would change? Has the US government imposed any restrictions on the activities of ICANN while under its wings? Most of the issues dealt with by the government involving the Internet are independent of ICANN's charter. Net neutrality and "protecting the children"/censorship, two of the hot Internet issues in Congress, don't really have much to do with ICANN's workings. Indeed, each nation sets their own policies right now about how their populace uses the global Internet (see: Great Firewall of China).
The UN probably isn't the best shepherd for ICANN. The ISO seems to be a decent possibility.
This is a risk of a closed source end-to-end system like Skype. Other, standards-based VoIP technology (ie, SIP and friends) prevents worms like this from propagating. There are plenty of very good alternatives to Skype, but in the end, it seems worse is better.
Throwing copies I haven't seen, but an ordered line of people receiving a first copy (think "soup nazi") would be something I wouldn't be surprised.
And, if you're the first person in line, you can copy it, and sell the copy to the guy behind you! Of course, you can't restrict that guy from selling copies of their own, either.
I can recommend Gizmo Project. I've used their SIP-based service without hiccups from my Windows laptop and my Mac desktop for over a year now. It even works with third-party softphone apps, on my WiFi-enabled Windows Mobile device...
Given that Apple has about 853m shares outstanding, $100m dollars works out to be $0.12 per share, or 0.18% of their stock price ($67). This shouldn't be a big deal for Apple.
This means, if it works right you could use your cell phone to make voip calls via your home wifi connection
You can already do this today, with devices like the HTC Wizard (aka Cingular 8125, T-Mobile MDA). Of course, it's Windows Mobile 5, but I wouldn't mind seeing a Linux-based device doing the same thing...
One "VoIP in a browser" scenario that immediately springs to mind is customer support. Say you go to your bank's web site to look at your statement, and something doesn't check out. It would be nice to be able to click on the button that says "Speak with a representative" and be on your way. Same for retail, or any other industry, really. Or, with your Yahoo/Google/MSN contact list, it would be nice to be able to click on an icon next to someone's name to speak with them.
And don't get sucked into Skype, use open systems, like those built on SIP, to prevent single-vendor lockin.
Since you mention Spring, I'm guessing that you're writing web applications. If you're not, then you need to tell your manager to jump off a bridge, as he has no idea what he's talking about.
I disagree- containers like Spring are useful for all sorts of applications, not just web-based ones. Stitching components together via configuration files, combined with aspects and "inversion of control" makes it a lot easier to build maintainable and extensible applications. There's nothing in the core Spring framework that shoehorns you into writing web apps.
That being said, the OP should probably stick with C++, unless there are much more compelling reasons than "the offshore consultants said to use Java, Spring, and Hibernate".
Apple probably doesn't really care: they're making a lot of money on their hardware, and since they sell a software license with each of those, they already have your money. Assuming people pay for the WinXP licenses (and that's a pretty big assumption), Microsoft probably doesn't care, either.
If you were to look again for a good, free cross-platform VoIP setup, you wouldn't go wrong to look at SIPPhone's Gizmo Project system. They provide clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and unlike Skype, they use open standards, most importantly SIP. This means you can use the plethora of SIP-enabled hardware, as well as communicating with outside systems, such as Google Talk. SIPPhone also provides POTS gateways with *very* reasonable rates.
I'm not affiliated with SIPPhone, but I'm a very satisfied customer. Don't believe the Skype!
Slashdot Mirror
Best of luck, Rob, in whatever endeavor you end up undertaking.
For more information on this model:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASR-33_Teletype
Looks like it's a 32 bit app, not an x86_64 app. Not good if you're running a pure 64-bit environment.
Even Java took a long time to have decent IDE support. Most of these other languages are relatively new, and are still definitely in the "early adopter" phase of the usage curve. I do think Scala in particular has a good chance of adoption, as it's fairly easy to start working with it as if it were Java with type inferences and first-class functions. Also, the next release will have features that specifically make it easier for IDE integrations to be written.
I don't think there necessarily needs to be a big corporate backer- look at Ruby for example; it has a number of small corporate backers, and a wealth of open source developer support. Scala is beginning to get more high-profile usage, Twitter being the biggest name. It has a well written, well defined specification, and a pretty active community around it, with mailing lists, IRC channels, conferences, etc. Being a JVM language, I think it will be easier to sneak into the back door of a lot of corporate projects.
Agreed on F#; it does seem that it would flounder without significant support from MS, but I generally don't hear about companies using it as I live in a JVM world, and don't get much exposure to .NET stuff.
Although Java-the-language has stagnated a bit (I don't know if JDK 7 will ever be complete, due to all the feature cramming), but there's been a lot of activity during the past few years on other languages that run on Java-the-platform. Groovy and Rhino (Javascript) have been available for the JVM for quite a while. JRuby is actually faster than "native" Ruby for a lot of real-world applications. The Lisp-like Clojure language has a lot of fans. IMO, Scala is the most interesting out of all of these, with a very sophisticated type system, as well as functional features that the cool OCaml and Haskell kids seem to love.
All of these alternate languages can use the wealth of libraries available for Java, generally on all platforms on which the JVM runs. For example, I know of Scala apps that can run on Andriod, which is close enough to Sun's VM.
"some aftermarket 3rd party batteries do not meet the rigid safety standards Panasonic uses."
It would be interesting to see what standards they refer to. Is that a trade secret?
I think it took a good amount of time to exhaust the 3-digit UIDs, more than most people probably think. Same with 4-digit. Slashdot wasn't exactly an overnight sensation...
If ICANN succeeds and gains "independence" from the US Dept. of Commerce, what would change? Has the US government imposed any restrictions on the activities of ICANN while under its wings? Most of the issues dealt with by the government involving the Internet are independent of ICANN's charter. Net neutrality and "protecting the children"/censorship, two of the hot Internet issues in Congress, don't really have much to do with ICANN's workings. Indeed, each nation sets their own policies right now about how their populace uses the global Internet (see: Great Firewall of China).
The UN probably isn't the best shepherd for ICANN. The ISO seems to be a decent possibility.
This is a risk of a closed source end-to-end system like Skype. Other, standards-based VoIP technology (ie, SIP and friends) prevents worms like this from propagating. There are plenty of very good alternatives to Skype, but in the end, it seems worse is better.
I have nothing witty to say here.
Throwing copies I haven't seen, but an ordered line of people receiving a first copy (think "soup nazi") would be something I wouldn't be surprised.
And, if you're the first person in line, you can copy it, and sell the copy to the guy behind you! Of course, you can't restrict that guy from selling copies of their own, either.
I can recommend Gizmo Project. I've used their SIP-based service without hiccups from my Windows laptop and my Mac desktop for over a year now. It even works with third-party softphone apps, on my WiFi-enabled Windows Mobile device...
Don't forget the data plan, which right now costs $40/mo above and beyond your voice plan...
That's for Motorola ROKR (ie, the "iTunes Phone") support.
it'd be really nice if it gave some sort of feedback to the user to show it was actually operating
No problem- keep an eye on your bank account and credit card statements.
Given that Apple has about 853m shares outstanding, $100m dollars works out to be $0.12 per share, or 0.18% of their stock price ($67). This shouldn't be a big deal for Apple.
You can already do this today, with devices like the HTC Wizard (aka Cingular 8125, T-Mobile MDA). Of course, it's Windows Mobile 5, but I wouldn't mind seeing a Linux-based device doing the same thing...
One "VoIP in a browser" scenario that immediately springs to mind is customer support. Say you go to your bank's web site to look at your statement, and something doesn't check out. It would be nice to be able to click on the button that says "Speak with a representative" and be on your way. Same for retail, or any other industry, really. Or, with your Yahoo/Google/MSN contact list, it would be nice to be able to click on an icon next to someone's name to speak with them.
And don't get sucked into Skype, use open systems, like those built on SIP, to prevent single-vendor lockin.
Since you mention Spring, I'm guessing that you're writing web applications. If you're not, then you need to tell your manager to jump off a bridge, as he has no idea what he's talking about.
I disagree- containers like Spring are useful for all sorts of applications, not just web-based ones. Stitching components together via configuration files, combined with aspects and "inversion of control" makes it a lot easier to build maintainable and extensible applications. There's nothing in the core Spring framework that shoehorns you into writing web apps.
That being said, the OP should probably stick with C++, unless there are much more compelling reasons than "the offshore consultants said to use Java, Spring, and Hibernate".
Same here.
Apple probably doesn't really care: they're making a lot of money on their hardware, and since they sell a software license with each of those, they already have your money. Assuming people pay for the WinXP licenses (and that's a pretty big assumption), Microsoft probably doesn't care, either.
You could always dual boot a good OS and a bad OS on both Mac and non-Mac machines for many years now...
No kidding.
So the real question should be: are there today any credible competitors to Skype?
Yes. Standards based, and is at least 37% less evil.
If you were to look again for a good, free cross-platform VoIP setup, you wouldn't go wrong to look at SIPPhone's Gizmo Project system. They provide clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and unlike Skype, they use open standards, most importantly SIP. This means you can use the plethora of SIP-enabled hardware, as well as communicating with outside systems, such as Google Talk. SIPPhone also provides POTS gateways with *very* reasonable rates.
I'm not affiliated with SIPPhone, but I'm a very satisfied customer. Don't believe the Skype!