Friday March 31, 2006
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General
Friday March 31, 2006 Next week there is going to be the first NetBeans Mobility Day at CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 5th, from 1pm to 6pm at Harrah's. From our side there will be presentation and demos about both, Mobility Pack for CLDC and also the brand new Mobility Pack for CDC.
Besides NetBeans, there are going to be also talks from Sprint, from Nokia and from UIQ. Sprint will show "how easy mobility development becomes" with their customized NetBeans Mobility Pack. Nokia will talk about their roadmap and SKDs (I'm wondering if they will dare to include any information about MTJ :-)) and UIQ will talk about their Java platform (CDC!) and their roadmap (but I'm sure UIQ guys will be happy to show how easily can one develop applications in Mobility Pack for CDC and run it on a real device).
From my perspective - having NetBeans so visible on perhaps the most important wireless technology event of the year is definitely a big step for us. Unfortunately I'm not going to be attending the event, but Suchys will, will do the demos and will answer the most peculiar questions he can get about NetBeans Mobility. So make sure you register and attend the event. You can also win some stuff (I have heard something about Playstation and some devices from Samsung and SonyEricsson including a 6 months free service from Sprint). Go mobility pack go :-).
Besides NetBeans, there are going to be also talks from Sprint, from Nokia and from UIQ. Sprint will show "how easy mobility development becomes" with their customized NetBeans Mobility Pack. Nokia will talk about their roadmap and SKDs (I'm wondering if they will dare to include any information about MTJ :-)) and UIQ will talk about their Java platform (CDC!) and their roadmap (but I'm sure UIQ guys will be happy to show how easily can one develop applications in Mobility Pack for CDC and run it on a real device).
From my perspective - having NetBeans so visible on perhaps the most important wireless technology event of the year is definitely a big step for us. Unfortunately I'm not going to be attending the event, but Suchys will, will do the demos and will answer the most peculiar questions he can get about NetBeans Mobility. So make sure you register and attend the event. You can also win some stuff (I have heard something about Playstation and some devices from Samsung and SonyEricsson including a 6 months free service from Sprint). Go mobility pack go :-).
Thursday March 30, 2006 Yesterday I attended Microsoft Mobility Tour event here in Prague. It was held in Hilton Hotel, so I finally got a chance to see this place (see included pictures). The event was nice, a lot of good food (Microsoft knows how to feed its potential customers :-)). There was around 30 people attending it - I was actually surprised by such a small number, I would expect rather around 100 people. It could be interesting to see how many people would come for Sun Mobility Tour - I guess we could get at least 100 :-).
Hilton Hotel atrium - the main lobby
The event itself was very interesting and I was rather (positively) surprised by the amount of tools and support Microsoft gives to the mobile application developers. I spent there all day and basically found everything interesting. At the end we got a DVD set with Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Resource Kit, where is a lot of materials so I'll be slowly going through over the next couple of weeks to learn something new. Unfortunately (and as usually :-( ) I didn't win the raffle - they had a very nice phone running their OS with VGA! screen and full keyboard. Hopefully next time ... :-).
Microsoft evangelist in action ...
What surprised me negatively, though, was two things - Microsoft does not offer any performance tool or profiler for .NET Compact Framework - the guy doing the session was nice and was trying to demonstrate at least some capability of their solution, so he set an obscure registry value at the target device (how typical ...), run the application, terminated the application and them downloaded a text log file from the device and tried to interpret it. From developer's point of view, this was hardly usable (I would call it even worse than that). The fact you have to terminate the application to be able to read the log file is simply ridiculous. When I asked the question whether there is any visual tool for performance measurement, the answer was 'we are working on it'. Ok - hopefully something will come up with the next version of the Visual Studio - perhaps in 2008 or some time around that. Looks like we (i.e. Java developers) have quite advantage here ...
An afternoon dessert ...
The other, "striking", thing was their platform fragmentation. I knew there are two editions of the platform - Windows Mobile for PocketPC (for PDAs and some phones) and Windows Mobile for Smartphones (for phones). What I didn't know was the fact that when you are using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and targeting Pocket PC devices, you still need to keep in mind there are several editions of the platform (Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, Windows Mobile 5.0) and each of them offers a set of different APIs for you as a developer. Thus to develop an application using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and Windows Mobile 5.0, you need to make sure you are not using any classes specific for 5.0, because the application wouldn't work on the older version of the operating system. This might be quite frustrating. In Java, this is much easier - when you are using targeting CLDC 1.1/MIDP 2.0, you can be sure it is going to work on all devices supporting this standard (ok, ok, I know about device fragmentation, but ideally it should work). And when one considers also Smartphones platform, well, in this case there are 6! different platforms for which the application has to be carefully developed and on which should be also tested. Quite frightening IMHO ...
Inside the hotel's atrium
So to summarize the event - there are many things where we can learn from Microsoft (tools, support for end-to-end applications, ...), but this can be fixed by us, the tool developers. On the other hand, the Microsoft platform seems to be broken from the ground and I'm afraid there is no easy way to fix that. Again and again I'm glad I'm using Java and not their platform (but still keeping an eye on it and trying to make our solution more usable for the developers :-) ).
Hilton Hotel atrium - the main lobby
The event itself was very interesting and I was rather (positively) surprised by the amount of tools and support Microsoft gives to the mobile application developers. I spent there all day and basically found everything interesting. At the end we got a DVD set with Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Resource Kit, where is a lot of materials so I'll be slowly going through over the next couple of weeks to learn something new. Unfortunately (and as usually :-( ) I didn't win the raffle - they had a very nice phone running their OS with VGA! screen and full keyboard. Hopefully next time ... :-).
Microsoft evangelist in action ...
What surprised me negatively, though, was two things - Microsoft does not offer any performance tool or profiler for .NET Compact Framework - the guy doing the session was nice and was trying to demonstrate at least some capability of their solution, so he set an obscure registry value at the target device (how typical ...), run the application, terminated the application and them downloaded a text log file from the device and tried to interpret it. From developer's point of view, this was hardly usable (I would call it even worse than that). The fact you have to terminate the application to be able to read the log file is simply ridiculous. When I asked the question whether there is any visual tool for performance measurement, the answer was 'we are working on it'. Ok - hopefully something will come up with the next version of the Visual Studio - perhaps in 2008 or some time around that. Looks like we (i.e. Java developers) have quite advantage here ...
An afternoon dessert ...
The other, "striking", thing was their platform fragmentation. I knew there are two editions of the platform - Windows Mobile for PocketPC (for PDAs and some phones) and Windows Mobile for Smartphones (for phones). What I didn't know was the fact that when you are using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and targeting Pocket PC devices, you still need to keep in mind there are several editions of the platform (Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, Windows Mobile 5.0) and each of them offers a set of different APIs for you as a developer. Thus to develop an application using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and Windows Mobile 5.0, you need to make sure you are not using any classes specific for 5.0, because the application wouldn't work on the older version of the operating system. This might be quite frustrating. In Java, this is much easier - when you are using targeting CLDC 1.1/MIDP 2.0, you can be sure it is going to work on all devices supporting this standard (ok, ok, I know about device fragmentation, but ideally it should work). And when one considers also Smartphones platform, well, in this case there are 6! different platforms for which the application has to be carefully developed and on which should be also tested. Quite frightening IMHO ...
Inside the hotel's atrium
So to summarize the event - there are many things where we can learn from Microsoft (tools, support for end-to-end applications, ...), but this can be fixed by us, the tool developers. On the other hand, the Microsoft platform seems to be broken from the ground and I'm afraid there is no easy way to fix that. Again and again I'm glad I'm using Java and not their platform (but still keeping an eye on it and trying to make our solution more usable for the developers :-) ).
Friday March 17, 2006 This week I was doing Java ME and NetBeans Mobility Pack presentation in London at JavaUK06 event. I haven't been to London for a quite long time - for almost 10 years. The last time I was there, I was a fresh graduate and I was returning from a three months stay at the University of Ulster in Derry. To my surprise, many things hasn't changed and on the other hand many has. For example, the British are still using the old designed taxi cars (I'm wondering how old are they actually, and if it is only the design which hasn't change or whether is it still the same car - i.e. the same engine and other "internals"), the Tower castle, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the neon signs on Piccadilly Circus are still there (I'm wondering how much TDK and Sanyo had to pay to have their signs to be there for such a long time - does anybody know how many years they have been already there?). On the other hand, there has been a lot of significant changes since 1996 - for example the London's Eye and the new buildings across London's Tower. But I have to admit I really liked it and I'm glad London is such dynamic city. If it is going to take another 10 years for my next visit (I hope not), I'm wondering what I will see there - I suppose the taxi cars will be still of the same design and there will be a lot of new hyper modern buildings around the Thames river :-).
The event itself was great, perhaps even more than great. A lot of people came along and I'm sure it was well spend time for all of us at attending it. Personally I liked a lot the idea of having specific pods for NetBeans, Mobility Pack, Profiler, Creator and other products in the exhibition/refreshment area, so the delegates could ask various questions and we could show specific "on-demand" demos. I was at the pod for almost the whole day (except the time I was doing the JavaME/NetBeans Mobility Pack presentation) and I was kept quite busy. Many people were coming after my presentation and were asking detailed questions about Java ME, MSA and Mobility Pack. So in my opinion, pods on which are available the actual people doing the presentations is definitely a great idea - this really helps to both sides to start the conversation about the technology/products.
I also met a lot of interesting people from Sun and all of them were very passionate and confident about the technology and products we are currently offering to our customers - this is very good and it is great to be part of such company. The future looks bright - a lot of Sun(shine) will be there :-).
What did not look so bright at some point, though, was a little adventure which happened to me when I was going to the Heathrow airport to catch my flight back home. My plane was scheduled to take off at 18.55 from Heathrow, so at 16.30 I took the Piccadilly Line and was thinking myself what I'll do at the airport, since it looked I had a lot of time. The train was going ok (a little bit crowded, though) but when we stopped at Hammersmith, we started to wait - 5, 10 minutes and then I heard that "the services are stopped, because there is a security alert at the Stamford Brook station". I waited for another 10, 15, 20 minutes and started to be a little nervous - it was 17.20 and my plane was scheduled to leave at 18.55. Then even better message came from the station - "the services are stopped and it is not known when they are going to be resumed, so passengers are advised to use local bus transportation". I thought myself - great, I will need to use bus or taxi, but I have to do something now, the time is running away quickly.
I got off the train and went to the bus station just above the Hammersmith underground station. I got upstairs and asked the staff how to get to the Heathrow airport - I was told I have to take two buses (one and then change to another one), but I need to ask for details at the bus station, because they didn't know which buses are going that way. Even better, I though myself, and tried to get to the bus station. But when I moved a little bit further, I saw a huge crowd of people blocking the entrance to the underground station - it looked like nobody could get in or out. I was starting to worry a little bit at that time - it looked like the only option left is to try to get out of the station and catch a taxi (actually would the taxi make it to the airport from Hammersmith in 30-40 minutes during the rush hours?).
Well, fortunately when I was trying to burrow my way through the crowd, I heard from a security guy's walkie-talkie that the services are being resumed soon., so I immediately turned 180 degrees and rushed back to the train. The train was still waiting at the station, so I got successfully on and at around 17.30 we started to move closer to the airport again. I finally managed to get to the airport in time (well, it was 18.10 when I was checking-in :-)) and got a message from the check-in lady the flight is late 20 minutes. Eventually, the flight was late almost for one and half hour, so perhaps it wouldn't had been a problem to even walk on foot to get to the airport :-). So at the end it was not so bad, but if the services would had been stopped for another 10 more minutes and the flight would not had been delayed, it would had been very likely I would be staying in London for one more night (which is not actually a bad thing, but I'm afraid my budged wouldn't like the additional price of one more night in the hotel and a new ticket for the flight back home the next day).
Nevertheless, I'm very glad I was able to attend the event - JavaUK06 was really great. Now let's hope JavaUK07 will be even better :-).
The event itself was great, perhaps even more than great. A lot of people came along and I'm sure it was well spend time for all of us at attending it. Personally I liked a lot the idea of having specific pods for NetBeans, Mobility Pack, Profiler, Creator and other products in the exhibition/refreshment area, so the delegates could ask various questions and we could show specific "on-demand" demos. I was at the pod for almost the whole day (except the time I was doing the JavaME/NetBeans Mobility Pack presentation) and I was kept quite busy. Many people were coming after my presentation and were asking detailed questions about Java ME, MSA and Mobility Pack. So in my opinion, pods on which are available the actual people doing the presentations is definitely a great idea - this really helps to both sides to start the conversation about the technology/products.
I also met a lot of interesting people from Sun and all of them were very passionate and confident about the technology and products we are currently offering to our customers - this is very good and it is great to be part of such company. The future looks bright - a lot of Sun(shine) will be there :-).
What did not look so bright at some point, though, was a little adventure which happened to me when I was going to the Heathrow airport to catch my flight back home. My plane was scheduled to take off at 18.55 from Heathrow, so at 16.30 I took the Piccadilly Line and was thinking myself what I'll do at the airport, since it looked I had a lot of time. The train was going ok (a little bit crowded, though) but when we stopped at Hammersmith, we started to wait - 5, 10 minutes and then I heard that "the services are stopped, because there is a security alert at the Stamford Brook station". I waited for another 10, 15, 20 minutes and started to be a little nervous - it was 17.20 and my plane was scheduled to leave at 18.55. Then even better message came from the station - "the services are stopped and it is not known when they are going to be resumed, so passengers are advised to use local bus transportation". I thought myself - great, I will need to use bus or taxi, but I have to do something now, the time is running away quickly.
I got off the train and went to the bus station just above the Hammersmith underground station. I got upstairs and asked the staff how to get to the Heathrow airport - I was told I have to take two buses (one and then change to another one), but I need to ask for details at the bus station, because they didn't know which buses are going that way. Even better, I though myself, and tried to get to the bus station. But when I moved a little bit further, I saw a huge crowd of people blocking the entrance to the underground station - it looked like nobody could get in or out. I was starting to worry a little bit at that time - it looked like the only option left is to try to get out of the station and catch a taxi (actually would the taxi make it to the airport from Hammersmith in 30-40 minutes during the rush hours?).
Well, fortunately when I was trying to burrow my way through the crowd, I heard from a security guy's walkie-talkie that the services are being resumed soon., so I immediately turned 180 degrees and rushed back to the train. The train was still waiting at the station, so I got successfully on and at around 17.30 we started to move closer to the airport again. I finally managed to get to the airport in time (well, it was 18.10 when I was checking-in :-)) and got a message from the check-in lady the flight is late 20 minutes. Eventually, the flight was late almost for one and half hour, so perhaps it wouldn't had been a problem to even walk on foot to get to the airport :-). So at the end it was not so bad, but if the services would had been stopped for another 10 more minutes and the flight would not had been delayed, it would had been very likely I would be staying in London for one more night (which is not actually a bad thing, but I'm afraid my budged wouldn't like the additional price of one more night in the hotel and a new ticket for the flight back home the next day).
Nevertheless, I'm very glad I was able to attend the event - JavaUK06 was really great. Now let's hope JavaUK07 will be even better :-).
NetBeans 4.1 ain't dead yet, the grand finale
A while ago, just shortly after 5.0 release of NetBeans Mobility Pack, I was writing about NetBeans 4.1 being one of the finalists at 16th Annual Jolt Product Excellence & Productivity Awards. Well, the award ceremony was held yesterday and guess how we scored - we received a Productivity Award in Mobile Tools category. And I bet the judges haven't seen 5.0 yet. Next year, we must be the Jolt Winner. Go Mobility Pack, go :-).
