You guys:
I'm thinking I need a new look.
This has nothing to do with the fact that my father told me yesterday that my hair color looks completely unnatural. And that If i'm going to color my hair to cover the gray I should choose my natural color.
We digress.
So for the past couple months or so I've had the good fortune to be personally involved in an initiative to help the ONE Campaign enlist one million voices to the fight against AIDS and poverty. Sun has built a technology infrastructure to help mobilize this movement. A big outbound push (that's what we call it in the biz) explaining the specifics of what we've done begins next week.
Inside Sun subscribers got a sneak peak. (subscription=free)
It boils down to this: we've created a technology infrastructure to allow Bono (a key backer of the ONE Campaign) call on his fans to join the fight against AIDS and poverty within the time and space constraints of a rock concert.
It's not brain surgery. It's not like we've solved the riddle of the universe. Though some pretty creative technical problem-solving under super tight deadlines was definitely employed by chief architect and technical lead of the solution Danny Malks and his ever-supportive and very resourceful boss John Crupi, who was technical exec sponsor of the initiative. It's a really neat way in which Sun's technologies are helping to build community; to fuel the movement.
The solution is running on Sun Fire v20zs and Sun Fire v40z servers running on Solaris 10 using the Java Enterprise System. Actually, Will Snow and his team are actually managing the solution in their grid for us. A whole bunch of Sun employees are involved in this.
Anyway... the point here is that I've got that whole thing going on... and at the same time I've been spending some time reading my bossn boss' blog (Jonathan) ... the whole Participation Age discussion.... and it got me feeling like the blog needs .... updating....
And so, I just wanted to let you guys know... These blog entries here... They're sort of going to be like collector's edition entries because very soon you're going to be seeing a whole new look to MaryMaryQuiteContrary.
And I think.... you might just find it ..... familiar....
(especially if you're a heavy java.com user)
hint, hint.
mary
p.s. here's the free stuff I've got on the table today:
The complete set of adapters/thing-a-ma-bobs/do-hickeys in a very nice leather carrying case. Value=a lot.
(I remember being stunned by how much they were charging for one of these things in those catalogs you find in airplane seat back pockets. But I can't remember how much, exactly. And being a marketing professional, I can't just make up a number. That would break the Hypocritic Oath I took when I got into this business.)
Five of them. Each to a different person. Creating opportunity for Five Friday Free Stuff grand prize winners this week.
Get in on this game: post a comment to this blog entry with a thoughtful/interesting/provocative/articulate/reasoned response to Jonathan's thoughts on the Participation Age, which you can find his blog. Funny would also qualify you for top prize consideration.
(Prizes are truly free. I pay for shipping with stamps I buy at the post office. You see, I am very careful about managing the MaryMaryQuiteContrary Friday Free Stuff brand promise. I have personally participated in a brand workshop. I am an expert in these kinds of things.)
bon weekend!
"Because competition - if only in the marketplace for ideas - is way more interesting than having everyone stand around and agree with one another."
Not necessarily. It's way interesting to sit in a meeting where the facilitator goes around the table asking for status from project managers and everyone repeats the same mantra of "no, no problems here" -- knowing that they are at least two weeks late already at this point (but hoping they'll manage to take some shortcuts before the deadline). Johanna Rothman calls it schedule chicken...
They say programming is fascinating. It is. But people are almost invariably so much more fascinating.
And the hair looks great. When has your father last had his eyes checked? :)
Posted by Lasse on April 29, 2005 at 11:16 AM PDT #
As an employee of a Fortune 100 company, I don't develop open source software and I don't really know if software patents are good or bad. I haven't studied the MPL or GPL in any great detail, so I can't speak to why they don't meet the needs for Sun's open source efforts (but I'll take Jonathan's word for it.)
But what I do know is that a year ago, the talk was Linux this, Linux that, definitely the Holy Grail of computing direction. Now with Sun delivering Solaris 10 for both SPARC and x86, the Linux bubble has burst and the discussions are "why in the world would we even consider Linux?"
I'm excited about the future of OpenSolaris. I'm anxious to see if the developer community embraces the product and brings real value to us "commercial users" of Solaris.
But regardless, I see Sun leading the way and trying to make a difference. I wouldn't say that about any other vendor in the computing space.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by Fortune 100 Customer on April 29, 2005 at 12:40 PM PDT #
I personally think that, yes, developers want choice. Yes, developers, if they want to should be able to give their time and efforts away to benefit the world, and yes they should be able to hold on to pieces of the puzzle if they so choose. However why couldn't a developer just use another license like LGPL? Is it that the developer wants to retain complete control over it? Then keep it proprietary and release the segments they want to release under LGPL, using these libraries within their proprietary code. Yes you can legally distribute a mixed license product so long as you make the public binaries and source of the LGPL'd code and any modifications made to it. In other words, developer already posses this power. And who says you cannot charge for GPL’d code, distribution can be expensive, think ‘SUSE Linux.’
But hay I guess if it takes off, (having a background at mozilla helps), then as Linus Torvalds said, "...he who writes the code gets to choose his license, and nobody else gets to complain."
Posted by Jon Harrell on April 29, 2005 at 03:50 PM PDT #
Hii Mary.Good Morning.
What Mr.Jonathan Schwartz said is absolutely right......in my point of view.
i have quoted some valid points and some thoughts of james gosling,below.I hope,it is absolutely acceptable.
Recent comments from a Java technology evangelist are stirring up the debate again over whether Sun Microsystems would – or even should – open up Java to the open source process. At the company's quarterly update event in Shanghai this week, Sun's Raghavan Srinivas reportedly said an open source version of Java "will happen," but it was just a matter of time. The comments were vague on details, pointing to a one- or two-year timeframe. The debate comes on the heels of an announcement by company COO Jonathan Schwartz that Sun plans to open source a chunk of its Solaris server operating system.
Sun spokesperson Russ Castronovo said he wasn't sure that Srinivas' comments signaled a true change in policy. "Has there been a change, or is this person talking out of school? Any numbers of things are possible," Castronovo said. "[Sun's former vice president of the developer platforms group] Rich Green was the last person to give an official answer on open sourcing Java, and his answer was that Sun was discussing it but had not made a decision."
Sun has put a lot of effort in the last year to not only brand but also protect its marquee programming language. But that hasn't stopped the community from asking. In separate letters to Sun, Eric Raymond, President of the Open Source Initiative and Rod Smith, vice president of emerging technologies at IBM Software, called for Sun's participation in an independent project to free the language from its proprietary bindings.
"Frankly I'm not sure how seriously to take Sun's announcement," Raymond told internetnews.com. "There is bitter factional warfare inside Sun over this issue, and they've done a lot of thrashing about it in the past. I wouldn't be astonished if it were retracted. Of course I'm hoping that doesn't happen. An open-source JRE [Java Runtime Environment] would be a great thing for the community, and avoid problems for Sun later on. If they don't open-source now, someone in the Java Community Process (the most likely candidate being IBM) is going to issue a certified, Java-branded open source implementation and rip control out of Sun's hands, doing them far more damage than if Sun controls the transition and keeps the Java brand intact."
Historically, CEO Scott McNealy has an aversion to opening Java. When asked about either opening Solaris or Java to the same public processes as Linux, McNealy told reporters this week that he would be more than happy to oblige if all of his competitors did the same.
In some ways, Java is already open. Anyone can get the source. The major restriction is that if companies want to redistribute changes, they have to pay a six-figure sum and pass a test suite.
In a recent blog post on his web site, Java creator James Gosling called the thought of open sourcing Java "a very big issue" and said the only thing that companies could get from completely opening Java is to be able to skip testing.
"If we do something to make Java even more open-source than it is already, having safeguards to protect the developer community will be something we pay a lot of attention to," Gosling's blog read. "Carefully done, open-sourcing could actually promote interoperability by making it easier for disparate groups to align behind one code base."
Gosling said messages from concerned developers show, "they're afraid that if Java is open-sourced then someone will try to fragment the community by creating incompatible versions of Java and ignore the community process, just like Microsoft did. Microsoft did a lot of damage to the community, and many developers strongly do not want that to happen again," he said.
Shawn Willett, Principal analyst with Current Analysis also points to the Java Community Process (JCP) as a very open process.
"If Solaris is open sourced, yeah, it would probably make sense to then open source Java, but this is all theoretical?" he muses.
Sun is now preparing for its annual JavaOne conference, which kicks off at the end of June in San Francisco.
Let us see wat's going to happen...
<font color=blue size=4>Hii Mary,I hope ur father is WRONG in his statement.The thing i am most attracted in u is the color of ur HAIR.Bye..Take Care of ur HAIR.</font>
<FONT size=2 COLOR=PINK>Please have a visit at my blog and send me the feedback.Really it looks like one more marketing site of SUN JAVA</font>
Posted by Karthikeyan.B on April 30, 2005 at 12:20 AM PDT #
Posted by Suresh S on April 30, 2005 at 02:25 AM PDT #
Posted by Suresh S on April 30, 2005 at 02:51 AM PDT #
Posted by Tom Chavez on May 02, 2005 at 03:08 AM PDT #
A few software patents were initally granted, however, when the inventers were able to build electronic circuits that physically demonstrated the idea of the patent, and after that the whole thing just exploded. It became clear that to require the physical model was absurd.
However, we have now reached the point that virtually anything can be patented. The biggest problem is that the amount of effort put in to write a patentable program is not a function of the amount of innovation requires.
Consider that the purpose of a patent was to allow an inventor to profit from the investment of time and innovation put into an invention without fear the invention being stolen. It is a limited-time monopoloy granted by the govenment in exchange for disclosure.
The thing with software, is that it is not at all obvious after the fact whether a particular idea is obvious or innovative; whether or not the investment is large or small. The the solution to a problem would be the same if a hundred different people were to work on it independently and none of them required more than a week to determine that solution, then it is not innovative on the face of it, nor is the investment of time worth the granting of such a monopoloy.
The best test that I have heard of, is to ask this: If software patents were to be stopped, would the amount of innovation decrease? In general, it seems likely that the answer is no. We do not write programs with the aim of inventing something to be patented, we write them to solve a problem, perhaps as part of a larger product. The granting of software patents does nothing to promote software innovation.
On the other hand, actual, patentable innovation in the software arena is certainly possible. If we could protect the IP of true innovators, then we should. The current system is so broken as to stifle innovation, not promote it.
If we could separate the wheat from the chaff, we might be able to return to true innovation, and not merely muddy the waters. I sure hope that this can be done. In the mean time the only method to protect IP that is working at all is the copyright, which has its own problems. IP is truely a pandora's box and sorely needs renovation to promote innovation.
Posted by Brian Utterback on May 02, 2005 at 12:15 PM PDT #
Hi Mary, Happy 10th Birthday to the Java platform!. Let the Essence of the Java Continue. Open Source License in my view (What Should be done ) .I Made this as short as i could. Access a.Simpler,less burden, clear and consistent,reusable. Contributor b.individual can be a Contributor. Contributor Version c.Contributor Version may be derived from the Original Software without any prior Modification. Covered Software d.file-based approach to Modifications and Covered Software Executable e. Those had changed oiginal file can Change “Code” to “Software Initial Developer f.Initial Developer name has to be added and subsequent alteration by the author should e added without removing original Developer Name. Source Code g.changes in Definition,Interface files need not have author name. Liabiltiy Miscellaneous h.make the license more general,remove the requirement that the License be governed by California law provisions, and we removed the restriction that litigation be subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts of the Northern District of California. Rather, choice of law, venue and jurisdiction can now be specified in a notice in the Original Software. Added last sentence to clarify the party responsible for complying with export. The above would be a better vision on Sun's Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) Description and Rationale. Advantage of cddl over GPL CDDL(Sun) a.Under the CDDL, a.you are free to choose what to reveal. b. how to price your products. c.CDDL encourages self-determination, by giving developers the basic building blocks of the entire OpenSolaris operating system without any obligation to disgorge their private property or predetermine its price. d.You can withhold from Sun, from the OpenSolaris community, from the world, anything you build. Or you can choose to share. It's entirely your call. CDDL WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR SUN'S PURPOSE ,BUTFOR OVERALL USERS. GPL: a.the Mozilla Public License, for example, restricts from the issuer any power to change the license, b.and predetermines all disputes must be heard in Santa Clara,California (not good if you're a Bolivian developer). c.Alternatively, the GPL expressly limits choice by disallowing the inclusion of non-GPL code into GPL projects - and exports a form of IP colonialism to nations seeking to create their own means of production. lIKE jONATHAN SAID , believe in IP. I believe in its value, both economic and social. I believe it should be protected, as any other property, as a means of fostering independence, investment and autonomy. And not just in wealthy nations - but in those struggling to build wealth or pay down debt. I believe the creation, protection and evolution of intellectual property can accelerate everyone's ability to participate in an open network. And that, surely, should be everyone's common goal with free and open source software. It's not about bringing the competition down, it's about driving global participation up. if you need more information on Opensource of Solaris,CDDL License visit CDDL.Posted by Suresh S on May 03, 2005 at 12:39 AM PDT #
Posted by Peter Allday on May 03, 2005 at 01:26 AM PDT #
Posted by 203.101.40.191 on May 09, 2005 at 04:40 AM PDT #