On The Margins

Thursday February 07, 2008

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] Three Open Source Databases in Solaris SXDE 1/08

These three open-source databases, now in OpenSolaris SXDE 1/08, offer all the needed features for most of the applications out there.

"Three databases to run them all"...

... and of course, Sun offers solutions with commercial database vendors, like the Sun and Oracle's Enterprise Grid Solutions.

2008-02-07 22:39:32.0 -- Comments [3] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
apache databases derby mysql open-solaris open-source postgresql sxde

Wednesday October 17, 2007

[ Technology ] Switching from MySQL to PostgreSQL

Scott Fehrman has a new feature article up on BigAdmin. It explains how to switch from MySQL to PostgreSQL, with a whole section on PostgreSQL improvements in Solaris 10 8/07!
 

2007-10-17 23:53:54.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases open open-source solaris

Tuesday August 28, 2007

[ Technology ] A Database for Nomadic Users

Listen to Roger Brinkley interview Rick Hillegas about Java DB.

Java DB (Sun's distribution of Apache Derby) continues to prosper.

The potential for deployment in mobile devices and nomadic applications can be tremendous, while its ease of use and deployment continue to make it attractive in client-server modes.

2007-08-28 09:13:57.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases derby java java-db mobile open-source sun-microsystems

Sunday June 10, 2007

[ Technology ] PostgreSQL and Ruby Rock in the East

Read Jim Grisanzio's blog to see how PostgreSQL and Ruby rock in the East! ... There, you'll find pictures of Josh Berkus' PostgreSQL presentation, which may motivate you to learn more about the special features Solaris brings to its PostgreSQL distribution, and you may look, even further, into the new version of SXDE that's coming out with PostgreSQL 8.2.4 ... DTrace, Kerberos 5 and SMF enabled! ... For more on DTrace and PosgreSQL, see Robert Lor's weblog.

2007-06-10 22:36:41.0 -- Comments [2] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
open-source posgresql ruby solaris

Tuesday April 03, 2007

[ Economics ] Political Economy of Open Source Communities

Lots of people have said lots of things about open source communities.

Among the books I have seen on shelves and articles in books and online, I've been wanting to read Steven Weber's 2004 book The Success of Open Source but time has never allowed.

Finally, I've been able to start and finish the first 15 pages of Weber's book, and I can tell you that it has all the right elements and sources for its analysis of the political economy of open source communities. Mancur Olson's work, transaction cost economists', Chester Barnard's and others' are weaved together beautifully in those pages.

I look forward to reading more of it as time allows, and I'll be quoting from Weber, here.

2007-04-03 16:23:35.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
economics open-source politics programming software

[ Technology ] Where It is @

Tune in to Simon Phipps' SDNtv's special program on open source databases where senior database engineers at Sun speak about free, open-source databases embedded and bundled in Sun products:

Josh Berkus speaks about PosgreSQL, MySQL and Sun's open source database group.

Rick Hillegas (Apache/Derby committer) talks to Simon about Apache/Derby's history, community work and uses of Derby.

Francois Orsini explains the relationship between Java DB and Apache/Derby and describes some example applications for this pure-Java database.

Lots of material gets covered in these three short, video interviews!

2007-04-03 10:40:36.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases open-source

Tuesday March 20, 2007

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] Gosling on Open Source

James Gosling of Sun Microsystems Inc. talks to CNet about Java and more.

2007-03-20 08:37:16.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java open-source software technology

Thursday February 08, 2007

[ Economics ] chiemgauer, urstromtaler, landmark, kirschblüte and kann

We know about Open-Source Software but can we also talk about Open-Source Currencies. A report by International Herald Tribune's Carter Dougherty reminds us that we can.

Inspired by a long-dead German theoretician, Silvio Gesell, the currencies mine a hoary conflict in economics — usually pitting the mainstream against subversive outsiders — about whether paper money is a neutral medium of exchange whose purchasing power should be scrupulously guarded, or an instrument that could be manipulated to fulfill capitalism's untapped potential.

Dougherty notes that the value design for these currencies encourage people to use them more quickly. For example, "[in] the case of the chiemgauer, the notes lose 2 percent of their value each quarter if people do not spend them in time." (This policy increases the "velocity" of money.)

Some 21 such currencies exist in Germany. Some 31 more are in preparation and "Gerhard Rösl, an economist with the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg, has also located similar experiments in Denmark, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Italy."

The main effect of these local currencies is an increase in the "velocity of money" in the local economy where they are used. The automatic devaluation rate of the chiemgauer, apparently increases its circulation by a factor of 3 compared to central bank issues used in the same market. The factor will obviously depend on a number of macroeconomic variables.

Note:

By "Open-Source Currencies," I mean currencies that are not sourced from central banks. These are often sourced, openly, from private non-bank or non-profit institutions.

You may wonder about the words in the title of this blog entry. They all refer to currencies issued by non-bank institutions.

2007-02-08 17:03:17.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
currencies economics open-source

Wednesday November 01, 2006

[ Business ] The Lessons of Flickr

Financial Times has a short story about the lessons of Flickr as a startup and "the rise of a new kind of Internet entrepreneur."

Dependence on outside funding seems to be waning, open-source tools lower "barriers to entry for aspiring web entrepreneurs," "start-ups do not need to break the bank to create an IT infrastructure," blogs and other social networks provide efficient out-bound marketing, and "the latest generation of internet entrepreneurs have plenty of exit options available."

2006-11-01 06:46:42.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
open-source photography startup