Jeff Dillon

Installed JDS
The other day, I installed Sun's Linux distribution, the Java Desktop System on my PC at work. (I require a PC to run Windows since the product that I work on supports Windows.) The install went very well and everything just worked after the install was complete. There is nothing about this particular Linux distribution that blows the others out of the water, but overall it feels very well put together and has everything already included. Of course you can install another distro and then later install Java, Star Office, and Evolution but it's nice that they are included and configured. I plan on using it on a daily basis now when I don't need to look into a Windows issue.

IBM releases Solution Installer
The other day IBM announced the spec release of their Solution Installation. IBM submitted this XML specification to the W3C in order to get it widely adopted. They also threw some other companies names on the spec submission to make it look like it just wasn't a bunch of IBM PHds that came up with the idea. I worked with alpha versions of this product for about 8 months while working at InstallShield. Overall, this product attempts to address the problems of installation for a multiplatform product. (A "multiplatform" product does not necessarily mean a Java product. For example, products like IBMs DB2 run on pretty much every OS out there and is not Java.) As it stands today, installation in the multi-platform world really stinks. Most people have to do MSI on Windows and custom scripts on Unix. Systems like RPM and PKG are pretty simple and do not allow for much in terms of describing the dependencies and requirements of a complicated system like an Application Server or Database system. So, IBM looked at all the package management solutions out there and came up with a new XML based solution. Everything sounds great so far.

The first problem is that the system is incredibly complex. The requirements of an application server are simply very different than the requirements of a OS driver. IBM tried to cover every single type of application out there. This is a noble objective, but the complexity is simply overwhelming at times. It is easily 20 times more complex than MSI and about 100 times more complex than RPM or PKG. Don't expect an Ant like learning curve. (I wrote my first complex Ant script in about 2 hours.)

The second problem is that the engine itself is absolutely enormous. It requires a JVM, a database to store application information, and many library dependencies. It even has code to access IBM specific things like WebSphere. This doesn't make sense for small apps, especially non-java ones which do not even need a JVM.

I don't think Solution Installer is ever going to see widespread adoption. I always thought that it would be cool to have an Ant like installer which simply kept track of simple dependencies and performed simple actions. Solution Installer is so incredibly complex, I expect only big players to take a second look at it. There are many pieces of it that are almost humorous in the language that is used to describe applications. Terms like "Federated Installation Unit" make it obvious that the system was designed by a Phd.

Fry's in Chicago
I spent last week in Chicago and saw that Fry's just opened an enormous new store in Downer's Grove, IL which is a suburb of Chicago. I had to check it out since it is almost next to Marcie's work. In summary, it was every bit as good as the Silicon Valley Fry's. It will be interesting to see if they can compete with the already saturated market of Circuit City and Best Buy. Although I would pick Fry's over those lesser stores any day, I am not so sure that the conservative Chicago market will work for the geek wonderland.

With showers at work and a restaurant at Fry's, there is really no reason to ever have to go home. ;-)

The State of IM is pathetic
The state of instant messaging today is absolutely pathetic. I need three commercial IM clients just to talk to everyone that I know due to the gross incompatabilities for something as easy as sending a text string. Of course, there are a few solutions out there to work around this stuff, but they are not addressing the real problem and are always in catch-up mode.

Imagine if email were invented by a corporation instead of the academic community. We could easily have AOL email clients not able to communicate with MSN email clients which would be terrible. The real problem is that the big commercial IM applications do not want to be compatible with each other since it is perceived to diminish their communities.

The only reason for hope in this mess is the very open Jabber Software Foundation. Although they are doing some great work, many people are entreched in whatever IM client they use today so I am not sure that the situation will easily improve.

Perhaps instant messaging entering the business market will force change.

Matt Wright in a Slashdot Poll
Recently, a friend of mine and my college roomate, Matt Wright, was listed as an option in the Slashdot poll! For anyone, that is not a geek, getting your name on the Slashdot front page is a pretty cool thing. It turned out that I was the first one to point him to the poll, which may suggest that I read Slashdot too often. Matt has done some various things which have allowed him never to have to get a "real job".

Despite my multiple votes for him, he still managed to come in last place. But, being in the same company as Tux and Darl McBride is something truely special.

Next week, I am going to Chicago to spend time with Marcie, my family, and go to my friend Anjali's wedding. Should be fun.