On The Margins

Tuesday June 30, 2009

[ Announcements ] MySQL Workbench 5.1.16 GA -- released

MySQL Workbench 5.1.16 GA release has just been announced.

For details, please read Johannes Taxacher's announcement letter!

2009-06-30 16:14:20.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.

Wednesday June 24, 2009

[ Economics ] Salaries and Soccer

In The Wall Street Journal sports section, David Biderman writes:

The U.S. upset of Spain in the Confederations Cup on Wednesday isn’t the only soccer shocker. Money paid for Euro-league players can also elicit gasps. Spanish forwards David Villa and Daniel Güiza and midfielder Xabi Alonso cost a combined $60.2 million in transfer fees alone since 2004. By contrast, the 356 players in Major League Soccer, America’s top league, will make a combined $49.7 million in the 2009 season, according to the league’s Web site.

2009-06-24 21:37:05.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
prices salaries soccer sports

[ Code ] Contributing to MySQL

If interested in contributing code to MySQL, you should attend the MySQL University session on contributing code to MySQL.

(Live broadcast with Q&A will be held on Thursday, June 25, 2009. You can still have access to rebroadcasts afterwards.)

2009-06-24 01:57:05.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
code community contribution databases mysql

Thursday June 18, 2009

[ Persian (فارسی) ] Election Results

Official results of the IR of Iran's presidential elections are posted here.

(Thanks go to Pooya K. for having found and posted the link for me.)

2009-06-18 23:41:22.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
democracy elections iran

[ Code ] Among the favorites

One of my favorite JIRAs on Apache is #Derby-646.

2009-06-18 23:12:12.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
apache databases derby java-db jira open-source

Thursday June 04, 2009

[ Java ] Brief on MSA 2

Elsewhere, I wrote a brief on MSA 2 ("Mobile Service Architecture 2").

2009-06-04 17:00:14.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
apis community java jcp jsr mobile platforms services software technology

[ Java ] Raison d'être of JavaOne Conference

Elsewhere, I wrote about the Raison d'être of the JavaOne Conference.

2009-06-04 16:29:34.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
communities java javaone programming software technology

[ Persian (فارسی) ] Network Management Data Reduction and Smoothing -- A MySQL Webinar

ScienceLogic embeds MySQL in its EM7 network management appliances. An installation of EM7 can perform over half a billion database queries daily, storing massive amounts of data for both real-time and trended performance reporting.

Michael McFadden, senior software architect with ScienceLogic, will discuss all this in an upcoming MySQL webinar.

2009-06-04 15:57:24.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
analysis data databases learning management mysql networks software

Wednesday June 03, 2009

[ Announcements ] Java DB 10.5.1 is Released!

By now, it is already a 5-day-old news that Java DB 10.5.1 has been released!

Great team work and effort went into this release!

Thank you Kim Haase, Liz Drachnik, Hery Ramilison, Edward Ort and the Java DB engineering team!

Read more about it all on Knut Anders Hatlen and Francois Orsini's blogs.

2009-06-03 12:28:02.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases java software. technology

Monday June 01, 2009

[ Technology ] SunRay @ CommunityOne

This year, at CommunityOne and JavaOne, every user has access (through their registration smart cards) to arrays of SunRay  clients and a choice of Windows, OpenSolaris and Ubuntu desktops accessed through the SunRay clients. The system is powered by SunRay servers and VirtualBox virtualization environment. I'm using one of the SunRay 270's to write and post this blog. (I selected the Ubuntu desktop.)

2009-06-01 14:39:28.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
opensolaris operating-systems software sunray technology ubuntu windows

Thursday May 28, 2009

[ Java ] User Has It Right! ....

Kristian Waagan (of Sun's Java DB development team) has really given Java DB (Sun's distribution of Apache / Derby) a new life of its own when it comes to handling CLOBs, starting with Java DB 10.5.

Check out this thread. 

Note the following testimony from David Goulden:

The performance improvements with CLOBs are dramatic. I created a record with a CLOB containing about 10 million characters using derby 10.4. The following query took over 6(!) minutes:

       SELECT CONTENT FROM MESSAGES WHERE ID = 1

(CONTENT is the CLOB column.)

I then installed derby 10.5 and did a soft upgrade. The same query now takes less than three seconds!

2009-05-28 11:10:55.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases java java-db

[ Announcements ] At JavaOne and CommunityOne

For most of next week, I'll be either at CommunityOne or JavaOne.

2009-05-28 09:08:29.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
communityone events java javaone

Wednesday May 27, 2009

[ Technology ] ManU, Barca, Vuze and More

Having missed the Manchester United vs. FC Barcelona game earlier today, I turned to see how torrent client Azureus ("now known as Vuze") was doing, and discovered the new Vuze 4.2.0.2 ... This torrent client has all kinds of interesting new features. I forgot about the game and started exploring the client, the forge and forums that go with it. Interesting work, and all in Java! 

2009-05-27 23:32:22.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
azureus bittorrent soccer torrents vuze

[ Code ] Haskell and Python

Luke Plant's short note ("Why learning Haskell/Python makes you a worse programmer") actually motivates the reader to learn more about Haskell and Python. 

2009-05-27 14:20:22.0 -- Comments [0] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
c# development haskell programming python software

Tuesday May 26, 2009

[ Business ] The Mind of the Strategist

Yesterday, I completed my reading of Kenichi Ohmae's The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business.

Originally written in Japanese in 1977 and later translated into English, this is a quintessential book on business strategy.

Reading it makes one wonder whether the many strategy scholars of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s have produced thoughts that flow directly from principles already laid out by Ohmae.

The book contains many vivid examples from the Japanese business scene.

I'll try to extract some useful quotes and comments in the coming weeks.

2009-05-26 00:03:49.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
books business strategy

Wednesday May 20, 2009

[ Technology ] The Edge of Technology and Systems Thinking

Last year, competitive strategy guru and Harvard business school professor Michael Porter wrote about "Why America Needs an Economic Strategy." In this brief note for BusinessWeek, Porter emphasizes the importance of infrastructure, logistics and educational upgrades in the U.S. economic system, as key success factors.

These infrastructure upgrades will demand new IT technologies deployed throughout, including upgrades related to people logistics and transportation.

These upgrades, including upgrades that will affect the way we live and work in our urban and suburban environments and those that will make public transportation much more attractive alternatives, will also have a direct impact on other ecological problems we face, including the dangerous changes such as the ones that are now affecting the ice caps. See for example, the report in The Independent, "Exclusive: Scientists warn that there may be no ice at North Pole this summer."

System-level thinking teaches us that various domains of our activity and concern are in fact very well-connected and tied up in complex dynamics. 

Tragedies occur when systems and their dynamics are not properly understood.

Relying on hasty moves, fire-fighting and denying the interplay of of dynamics and time has led to many mispercieved problems and "solutions" that only aggravate problems or create new ones.

Careful attention, deep study and addressing the root causes of these global and systemic problems may deliver a better future path to recovery.

In order to do all this, one needs to have a good understanding of complex systems and their dyamics. This is subtle art and requires a comprehensive understanding of various system components and how they interact, including a mental model for these interactions.

I'm afraid I have to bring the news that not everyone has had the experience or has accumulated the knowledge for that kind of integrative thinking.  This is why we should set aside our bias against those who refuse to be dragged into firefights. These are people who pause to pay proper attention to problems and discover real solutions. This pause doesn't imply slow thinking, rather a paced mode of thinking. These people should be cherished rather than isolated, refused and blocked from hierarchical decision systems that emphasize perpetual firefights. (Studies have shown that "firefight" mode of thinking and acting is much more prevalent in U.S. business and government institutions when compare to Japan or other countries where root solutions are the focus. So, we may need a general cultural change to lay greater value to system thinking and problem-solving that addresses root causes.)

In general, systems thinking will get us to where we want to be. In general, symptomatic and firefight solutions may solve the problem momentarily but will only get us farther from where we want to head. 

2009-05-20 11:59:25.0 -- Comments [3] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
global globalization infrastructure it logistics society systems technology warming

Tuesday May 19, 2009

[ Announcements ] Webinar on the New MySQL Connector/C++

Tomorrow (Wednesday, May 20, 2009), Ulf Wendel and Andrey Hristov, engineers working in the Connector team of Sun|MySQL database group, will be presenting a webinar about the new MySQL Connector/C++. This connector, which uses much the JDBC API patterns, was recently made available as a GA release during the MySQL Conference and Expo.

Register from anywhere in the world and listen to Ulf and Andrey as they talk to you about Connector/C++ from somewhere in Germany!

Addendum: At this very moment, I'm attending this free Webinar. It is truly amazing how well-coordinated this is. So, if you couldn't get to this, try to make it to some other upcoming MySQL Webinar.

2009-05-19 12:39:43.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
connectors databases developers mysql open-source webinars

Tuesday May 12, 2009

[ Media ] Multiple Sources and Simple Gadgets

At North Hall, professors constantly remind the students of the importance of multiple sources in getting to the story.

Some 6 years ago, soon after I installed our Free-to-Air (FTA) stallite dish and box, the remote control to the set top box broke. Without a remote control, it was impossible to "program" the box and I had to rely on factory settings for channels and occasional updates through a pre-canned search of the channels.

Last week, I had a brief moment to order a new remote control by phone. It arrived yesterday, and I "programmed" the box yesterday evening to receive FTA channels Press TV (Iran) and Russia Today (Russia). These are both English channels hosted by professional journalists, with quality productions of a whole range of forums and views one rarely finds in British or American mass media. I'm not sure if these channels are also available through community cables.

These days, among other topices, Press TV reports on Iran's presidental elections, 2009. RT is currently broadcasting a whole range of reports, including some from Moscow's Eurovision 2009.

I am also able to receive Al-Jazzira in English and a wide range of Arabic TV. I have had to adjust and search about 4 different satellites for these FTA channels.

A simple little tool, like a proper remote control, can do wonders to one's capabilities to get to things.  Without the remote, it was impossible for me to edit satellite transponder settings.

2009-05-12 18:30:14.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
journalism media press satellite tv

Sunday May 10, 2009

[ Business ] Sun Contributor Agreement and MySQL

On my last count, there are now 20+ Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) signatories whose names appear on the master list and who are interested in contributing to MySQL. Only this week, three new members signed the SCA.

These 22+ signatories have all been added since mid-February when we launched the new, Sun-compliant SCA signing process. Before the end of 2009, if we proceed at this same rate, MySQL SCA signatories list should grow to about 70 to 90 contributors.

In the meantime, contributions from many of these contributors have already been accepted and integrated. (I had earlier pointed to Armin Schöffmann's contribution as a simple example of how all this works.)

Some people continue to wonder why an SCA is required.

First of all, it is important to note that by signing the SCA the contributor retains copyrights while also granting those rights to Sun as the project sponsor. This granting is very specific to a particular code base and the community around it. (This is a code base that has been available under GPL.)

Second, as I have summarized, in a series of Golden Rules for Open Source Contribution-Based Communities, several important rules for such communities help it to operate well. As part of rule G, "Setting Expectations," I did mention how

2. Anticipating the future and related risk management helps all market participants to reduce transaction costs.

However, I failed to add that an important ingredient in that risk management is the management of ownership claims.

I believe this particular aspect of rule G, which is implicit there, and which perhaps needs to be made more explicit, explains clearly why something like an SCA is required in order to maintain a flow of contributions to MySQL in a form that allows clear code ownership. 

Note that other open-source communities, such as the Apache Software Foundation, also require their own contributor agreement. Often, these agreements are there to protect the maintainers of the project/product or the general integrity of the products' ownership.

BSD-based communities seem to avoid this need by posting various clear signs in various places -- in their member-initiation or commit e-mails -- that all contributions are made under BSD. However, these communities have remained somewhat fragmented due to the greater openness of BSD licenses. Don't get me wrong. I love BSD. Note that often, BSD contriutors would rather contribute to a BSD project. The whole objective of contributing to a BSD project is that you are building a based that can be used by anyone for open and closed business with that same base. This is very unique to BSD type or Apache type licenses and forms one of the main reasons contributors contribute to these projects.

So, let's now go beyond the question of SCA and see what else is going on.

The update and simplification of SCA submission process for MySQL, came along with equally important simplification of forge pages for contributors and with an effort to speed up the review of contributions and continuting with greater openness in MySQL development processes. [These apparently fragmented but hopefully useful (and ultimately coherent) steps have all been part of a larger initiative to facilitate openness, community participation and contributions. Again, please refer to the Golden Rules. Hopefully, you can faciliate and help the MySQL community to get more open and vibrant as an open-source community.]

It is important to note, here, that roots of this initiative go back to some years earlier. So, the initiative is related in part to a continuing series of efforts to make MySQL more open and more contributor friendly, including the famous "quality contribution program," which was originally launched by the MySQL community team. (In a sensem the "quality contribution program" has evolved into this simpler, more robust model and many of the lessons learned there have also been applied and used here.)

Under the SCA, contributors can contribute to all MySQL open-source products in open forums and issue tracking "systems"-- internals list, bug tracking system, worklog system. I put quotes around "systems" because there's more to be done to make these systmes work better together in a more open environment. Note that the MySQL team prefers to receive code contributions and bug fixes through the first two modes because those two modes (i.e., bugs db issue tracking and the internals mailing list) better afford two-way communications. Note, too, that contributions can be at the level of bug fixes or features.

Why would anyone contribute?

Well, there's a great deal of challenge to contribute anything to a software as sophisticated and complex as a database.

Besides the reputational effects, there's also this practical effect that once a contribution has been absorbed, the contributor will no longer have to worry about constant merges to get the effect he or she expects form MySQL.

Of course, there are many other reasons as well. For example, there are those who are just problem solvers, and find it exciting to contribute to MySQL. However, let me stop speculating on this any further. Instead, let me point you to an "internals" posting by Stefan Hinz, regarding a "MySQL University" session on replication features in 5.1 and 6.0.

2009-05-10 23:32:36.0 -- Comments [4] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
communities databases development governance mysql open programming sca software

Thursday May 07, 2009

[ Papers ] Puzzling on the Value of Bundles

Measuring values of a product bundle, particularly when the bundle contains non-equal or potentially complementary lots, has puzzled economists and business strategists alike. I don't claim to have solved the puzzle but I have puzzled on some other aspects of the problem in a short three page briefing I wrote a few weekends ago.  

2009-05-07 14:35:51.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
bundles business economics offering products strategy subscriptions