Wednesday January 30, 2008 links for 2008-01-30
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Blackbox is now shipping!
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O'Grady's Q & A franchise further eroded.
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New album from Pat Metheny, probably the only artist whose music I just buy as soon as I see it because I know it will be perfect.
Tuesday January 29, 2008 How To Get $1m From Sun
You'll remember when I was in India I announced a $1m programme from Sun to recognise contributors to a selection of Free/open source communities (and gave a few more details afterwards). In the interim, each of those communities has formed a team to work out how they would like to direct the $175,000 Sun has allocated to them, and I'm delighted to announce that the six programmes are now live. Full details in the press release which links to each of the community sites.
links for 2008-01-29
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Prediction: the UI in the Nokia Tablet will shop up in a phone RSN.
Monday January 28, 2008 links for 2008-01-28
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The news is no surprise and very welcome, but the thing that makes me gasp is that they issued a press release on a Sunday. How the world is changing - I struggle to get anything announced after Wedensday.
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MySQL has a replacement for MyISAM ready.
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Monty starts blogging! Looking forward to working with you...
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I missed this Gartner note but I must say it is both positive and close to my own view.
Sunday January 27, 2008
Saturday January 26, 2008 links for 2008-01-26
- Desktop Confidential - File Formats - To Sir, with Love
"But this report is just straight-up industrial psychology at its finest and detracts from what could be a super-compelling argument." Still heard nothing public from Burton on this - presumably they are too ashamed. - May the Force be with pew: Brothers open Jedi 'church' in Wales
Don't laugh. Scientology started this way. - Volume: Money or Misdirection?
O'Grady is dead right and Gould is... well, as one comment on his blog says, "It's a striking example of an article saying 'I don't understand how it works so it must be wrong.'" - Smartphones Patented... Just About Everyone Sued 1 Minute After Patent Issued
How many of these do there have to be before we see some reform? - FTC Announces Landmark Settlement in “Patent Hold Up” Action
"This will provide helpful guidance on how the Commissioners would analyze, for example, a situation where a vendor reneges on a “non-assertion” pledge relating to open source software." Yes, non-asserts are likely to be enforceable long-term.
[Hand rolled again because del.icio.us auto-post failed.]
Thursday January 24, 2008 links for 2008-01-24
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I like this, even without realising it's Edie Brickell.
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Excellent dismantling of the awful Forbes story about Sun and MySQL. It's really worrying that Forbes is using writers who have so little idea what is going in in the computer industry.
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"standards troll -- defining a conformance clause so vague that everything in the world is considered to support it, and then searching through competitor's web sites in hopes of finding some place where they stumbled into supporting it"
Wednesday January 23, 2008 links for 2008-01-23
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Interesting and welcome clarification. Personally I think adding "given" (as in "any given program") in the recital would have fixed the problem but presumably it's too late now.
Tuesday January 22, 2008 links for 2008-01-22
- Mac OS X and the missing probes
Basic DTrace functions broken by an apparently uninformed source hack by Apple. The assumption in the comments is that this is to prevent iTunes being hacked. DRM causes friendly-fire casualties again. - I say pyjama…
"So why is it that British people prefer to read American books exactly as their authors intended, but books written in British English need to undergo an intensive word substitution exercise to make them fit for American consumption?" - Sun, MySQL users ponder blockbuster acquisition
Reluctantly positive article includes several quotes from an interview I gave last Wednesday. - Only trust a flamboyant braggart
Finch takes Dvorak apart. Not hard, but fun. - Circles of trust: disaster? or really bad idea?
Some great questions here from Eve. Personally I don't want any more OpenIDs, thanks, I have plenty already. What I want is to be able to log in to everything with them please. Yes, Flickr, I'm looking at you. And you, Google. And you, Sun.
[Yes, hand-crafted again. When will they mend del.icio.us auto-post?]
Monday January 21, 2008 Strategically Ignoring Customers
Interesting to see the Microsoft folks making a big deal out of the fact that companies are implementing OOXML features in their software products. I'd hesitate to join them being thrilled at IBM's new-found support for their strategy. Truth is, when there's a monopolist in the market it's impossible to ignore the consequences of even their worst ideas, let alone their good ones. Responding to the needs of locked-in customers who will find themselves using OOXML is a different deal to strategic support.
A much more crucial question, though, is why the folks at Microsoft are so surprised. If you know your customers have a requirement, surely you respond to it? The real question this situation brings to my mind is not "why are IBM implementing OOXML features". It's "why won't Microsoft implement support for ODF at least to the same level as RTF built-in to Office?" Given they have a number of very significant and visible customers demanding that support, it seems to me they are the ones with the explaining to do, not IBM, Google, OpenOffice.org or anyone else.
links for 2008-01-21
- Reassembling a puzzle with 600 million pieces
As this heads towards commercial viability, the need for a paper waste composter or furnace will get sharper and sharper. Anyone got links to realistic alternatives? - Google Sightseeing - Discover the world via Google Maps and Google Earth
Great browsing blog that I'm sure will lead to lots of links here... - iPhone Stalker Lens
Now the Map app has a "GPS" this should be very handy. - About that $20 upgrade...
I don't buy this. If it was accounting, the upgrade would be $2 (like the 802.11n patch) and a download. This is $20, through the iTunes store (locking out people in unsupported countries) and smells of gouging. - Qt Changes 4.3.3 — Trolltech
They've added CDDL compatibility to their open source licensing terms. Splendid, thank-you TrollTech.
[Hand-made again because del.icio.us failed to post again]
Saturday January 19, 2008
Thursday January 17, 2008 links for 2008-01-17
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Interesting, impactful, innovative, and built with OpenSolaris.
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Tim O'Reilly has a very positive take on the news.
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Yes, Josh is staying and is still working on PostgreSQL, because Sun's database strategy remains broader than just MySQL.
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And rightly so in my view. Well worth looking at this exhaustive debunking of Burton's sloppy report.
Wednesday January 16, 2008 Swimming With Dolphins
You may have noticed it's been a bit quiet on my blog for the last few weeks - just the tumbleweed rolling through lists of del.icio.us links. While part of that was due to the Christmas break, it's also because I've been working on a team at Sun on a very significant project that we've been keeping a close secret as a matter of legal necessity.
But today the covers are off and I can disclose the nature of that project. This morning at 8am EST, Sun announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB for a consideration approaching $1bn, subject to all the usual approvals. Jonathan has a long discussion of the news. In support of this move, Sun will be unveiling new global support offerings into the MySQL marketplace. We'll be investing in both the community, and the marketplace - to accelerate the industry's phase change away from proprietary technology to the new world of open web platforms.
I've been part of the due diligence team and having seen all the data, I think this move is a great step for Sun, MySQL and the FOSS communities. For Sun, because it means we now have the ability to offer support on a full web operating system - OpenSolaris, Glassfish, MySQL, NetBeans and much more. For MySQL, because it means the next phase of growth can ride the proven global organisation Sun provides to delver support and other value to customers.
For the global community of Free and open source communities because MySQL is in safe hands. Sun is committed to preserving all the strengths we've come to expect from MySQL - broad platform support, high quality engineering, frank and transparent community engagement - all under the GPL. This joining of strengths is additive, not subtractive. Just as with OpenOffice.org, Sun is aware that MySQL is a crucial FOSS community asset and we intend to be a good steward, balancing community and commercial considerations.
I already know plenty of the folk over there but I'm looking forward to welcoming the MySQL staff (who are just finding out about this now at their meeting in Orlando - Kaj has the news) as colleagues. The next wave of Free/open source is starting, and I've dolphins to swim with!
links for 2008-01-16
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Ludo announces a release is ready.
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"This report from the Burton group does little to add clarity to the increasingly murky format debate." I have to agree; someone over there seems to have an axe to grind.
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New book from "Omnivore's Dilemma" author Michael Pollan goes straight on my wish list.
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Great free track on Amazon MP3 this week, loving it.
