..::B:R:A:D::..

[.NET vs Java]

There is a rather interesting(*) article(**) on eWeek about .Net beating Java and leaving it in the dust. According to Bob Muglia, Microsoft’s senior vice president of Server and Tools business, they are claiming to have 60% of the market. Where they are getting these figures is anyones guess. According to some statistics I saw recently I am pretty sure Java still has an overwhelming marketshare in the enterprise space. Not to mention that I am pretty sure that Java is still the number one programming langauge on Sourceforge.

Maybe they are referring to the fact that .Net is only (officially) supported on one platform (Windows). Maybe they are referring to the fact that Java is one of the top mobile phone platforms (.Net on mobile phones????).

In my opinion the future releases of Mustang and GlassFish will only further entrench Java’s place in the market.

* - by interesting I mean totally lame.
** - by article I mean MS platform for propaganda.

[Qt for Java]

In some other intersting Java news I just saw that Trolltech has released Qt for Java development. I think this could be very intersting. Although I am currently a GNOME user I do use several Qt applications (k3b is still the best cd-burning app out there) so I have no problem using apps made with other toolkits.

Because Qt for Java *will* be open source I think this could do for Java what Gtk# has done for mono. How long will it be until we see some really sweet apps being created with Java/Qt. How long will it be until we have the “Should Java be included with KDE” discussion (haha, that’s a joke). Now, if we could only get past Java’s pesky licensing issues…

[Scalix to go OpenSource]

It seems that the Email on Linux space is starting to heat up. Scalix just announced that they are going to open source much of it’s code which “will consist of the Scalix Server, a new web services API platform for application integration, the Scalix Installer, the Scalix Administration Console, Scalix Web Access Mobile and new search and indexing services, as well as Scalix Ready open source components.”

Scalix has a really nice product, which I tested at work as a possible replacement for our old system. In the end We decided to go with Zimbra though and one of the main reasons was because it is open source.

[Ubuntu 6.06 v. SLED 10]

I have been running Novell SLED10 RC3 for almost two weeks now and and so far have been very pleased with results. The system as a whole feels very well put together and is pretty slick. From the screenshots/screencasts I had seen earlier of the new GNOME menu developed my Novell I had my doubts. After actually using it though, I have started to change my mind. I still don’t believe there was anything inherently “hard” or “confusing” about the old menu (applications, places, system) and the new menu sometimes feels like it take s me more steps to do some tasks. I feel I am qualified enough to make that assumption given that I have rolled out an LTSP server at work with GNOME desktops on the clients and none of my users (a lot of them with varying computer illiteratacy) have had no problems finding applications or browsing to files (locally or on the network share). With that said, the new menu does grow on you. The new Control Center and Applications browser are nice and the integration with Beagle is great. This is also one of the smoothest Xgl setups I have tested yet. Package management with SuSE (err, OpenSuSE?) 10.1 was horrific and supposedly it has improved in more recent updates and in SLED 10 but I haven’t really tested it.

So how does it compare to Ubuntu 6.06?

• One thing I do miss are all the available applications you can find in Ubuntu’s repositories. There really is no comparison here.
• Because you can easily run Xgl and Beagle on Ubuntu they are nearly even in that regard (though SLED 10 might have a slight advantage for now on Xgl).
• Ubuntu’s update manager is one of the best, if not the best, in the business! Again, really no comparison.
• Deskbar! I really miss the Deskbar applet and I have yet to find a package for it for SLED 10 or OpenSuSe 10.1. I can’t figure out why this package is not included, especially since it’s a nice tool to use with Beagle and Beagle is Novell’s baby.

One other minor annoyance is that they have locked down the panel so that you can’t move it (either by dragging or through properties!), and they have locked to to the bottom of the screen! Sure you can venture all the way into gconf-editor and find the key to unlock it but it’s a hassle. I read in their usability study that they did so because users would “accidentally” move their panel off the screen and would not be able to find it??? Why not just disable dragging it then and leaving the actual properties option to change the screen location?

[SLED 10 Menu for Ubuntu]

You can now get the SLED 10 menu for Ubuntu. I found this blog post last night with links to the repo you need to install it. It’s slightly modified to work with Ubuntu (ex. Install Software opens Synaptic).

Angelic Penquins: SLED menu for Ubuntu (Uslab) Now in Repo

[Solaris 10 06/06]

I installed the most recent Solaris release over the weekend, totally wiping out my previous Solaris 10 install. I needed a clean install because all of the testing I have done on it made it cluttered. This release also includes ZFS, which is cool.

Yesterday I discovered another really interesting online word processor, Zoho Writer. During the little time that I have had to actually use Zoho Writer I must say that I am starting to like it more than I like Writely.

Another interesting thing to note is that there is much more to Zoho than just Writer. Zoho has an entire office suite of AJAX-based applications including: Show, Sheet, Planner, and others. Zoho Sheet looks even more stunning at first glance, but I haven’t really had a chance to use it yet.

Unlike Michael Robertsons “Ajax” office applications over at ajaxLaunch.com these applications are indeed AJAX based, and not XUL.

The thing that really impressed me was that it is able to import/export ODF files! Making this yet another application able to read/write ODF files.

Just for some quick testing I upload about 3 OpenOffice.org files and all of them opened flawlessly.  I also uploaded two MS Word files; 1 from a client at work and another from a vendor we deal with at work.  Both of these files opened flawlessly as well.   Granted none of these files were “extremely” complicated but several of them did contain some basic formating such as tables.
(This post was created and published in ZohoWriter!)

…was born on June 28, 2006 at 6:10 pm. A healthy 6 lbs. 11 0z. 21 inch long baby boy.

(picture taken with my new Motorola Q)

While catching up on some news reading this weekend I came across this interesting headline: “Microsoft Tries to Reclaim HPC Market Share from Linux“. I knew that MS had been working for the last several YEARS trying to create a product to enter the HPC market and it seems they are finally ready to release the fruits of their labor, that’s not what’s interesting. What’s interesting is that the article says they are “…anticipating it will take back market share from Linux, which currently dominates the space.” Take back? I never realized they had ANY market share in HPC.

So, let’s see what kind of market share Microsoft currently has. As rule of measurement we will take a look at the oft cited “TOP500 Supercomputing Sites” website. Since in it’s own words the site was created to “provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing” I think this will be more than adequate to prove the point. Looking at the “Operating System Family” summary we will see that Linux holds 371 of the top 500 spots. Windows on the other hand has only but 1 lonely site. These numbers appear to be the most recent and are labeled as of Nov. 2005. Okay, so that tells us what the current market share looks like but apparently they are “taking back” market share, leading one to believe they at one time had a significant amount.

Well, if we go back to 2000 maybe Windows had a dominance in the HPC market then given that the uber-reliable Windows 2000 server should have come out around then. Nope, In 06/2000 Windows held exactly NO positions in the top500 list. Hmm, actually Windows 2000 server probably didn’t come out in 2000 since none of Microsofts OS’s have ever been release “on time”. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and take a look at the numbers for 2001. A year later in 06/2001 Windows, again, has NO spots on the top500 list. Maybe there was a slow uptake to Server 2000, since NT 4 Server was such a great system. Now we are getting some where. By 11/2001 Microsoft Windows has it’s first sighting on the top500 list with 1 site!

So as you can see with this little jog through the top500 list Microsoft Windows market share in HPC is NILL, NOTHING, NONE, NON-EXISTANT, NADA. You can’t take back something you never had!

I am sure with it’s $469/node price tag Linux has a lot to be worried about. I wouldn’t be surprised if by 2007 Windows holds 2, maybe 3, whole spots on the top500 list.

Interestingly right after I read that article I saw these next two just minutes afterwards:

• Cray Lands $200 Million Linux-Opteron Super Deal with DOE
• Linux Networx Taps SilverStorm for Supercomputing Project

Well, we all can dream can’t we…

Google has recently made several products available for the Linux platform. Does this signal the beginning of a trend? I hope so!

The most recent, and a real surprise to me, was the release of Google Earth 4 Beta for Linux. I downloaded it last night and wasted a good hour or two “flying” around the world to various places. I then had the brilliant idea to save all the places I have lived during my life. Overall it seemed stable enough for me even though it is a beta (like most of Google’s products it seems). Unlike the previously released Picasa for Linux this seems to be made with Qt and does not rely on Wine. It also requires OpenGL so you will need a graphics card that can handle OpenGL.

Google also just released a new extension for Firefox, Google Browser Sync, that allows you to keep all your web browsers at various locations in sync. While not a full application, it is available for Linux. I downloaded it over the weekend and installed it on all of my machines. So far it has worked well for me, I like keeping all my bookmarks in sync. I was previously using another Firefox extension to do the same thing but it didn’t work nearly as good as Google’s. It only requires a Google account (Gmail, who doesn’t have that anymore?) which isn’t really a big deal.

Finally, as mentioned breifly above, Google has also released Picasa for Linux. Most of the controversy surrounding Picasa is due to the fact that it has been ported to Linux using Wine. You do not need to have wine installed and configured to be able to run Picasa on Linux. Many people have complained that because it uses Wine it is slow, I have not found this to be the case. I installed it on my P4 1.7 Ghz 1 Gig RAM Ubuntu 6.06 machine and it seems to load and work with my images faster than F-Spot and was very responsive. While not exactly a “native” port to Linux I welcome the addition to available Linux applications. Google contracted CodeWeavers to help getting this to work and as a result submitted 225 patches to Wine fixing bugs and adding missing functionality.

Regardless of what you think of Picasa for Linux the fact that Google took any time or effort at all to bring these applications to Linux is a significant step forward in validating Linux as a viable platform.

[Ubuntu]

It was nice to see that the new version of Ubuntu is now officially out. I have been running the beta for serveral months now and have been very impressed with the improvements. Here is just a quick glance of what has stood out to me:

• Overall seems more polished, refined, finished…
• Boots way faster than 5.10 did on both of my systems
• GNOME starts much faster as well
• Deskbar + Beagle rocks!!!
• Availability of all the packages you need easily installed with apt-get (free and non-free)
• Painless Xgl install if you want it (I have it installed on my desktop machine…it’s addictive)
• Wireless worked in 5.10…works even better in 6.06 (at least for me)
• New icon theme (though I am sure some people will complain…I like it)

[Ubuntu + VMware]

Not only can you now apt-get install sun-java5, you can now apt-get install vmplayer (with kernel modules for Ubuntu kernels!). After hearing this I uninstalled my current vmplayer install and did an apt-get install from Ubuntu’s repositories…pretty slick.

[Windows Still Sucks]

I saw this article today about Windows gaining a security feature that has been available in Linux and *BSD for a while now. So again I say to all the Windows fanboys…still playing a little catchup are we? This wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it weren’t for Microsoft telling us in every advertisement they put out that “Windows is more Secure“. This article talks about Windows implementing ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) but they are also *attempting* to implement a true multi-user system which ask users other than the administrator to authorize certian events, like making configuration changes…sound familiar?

[Personal Updates]

Graduation Weekend! The Wife is graduating from medical school this weekend. Next weekend we are moving to Latrobe. In about a month the Wife will be starting residency. In two months we are expecting our first child…a lot going on!

[Work Updates]

After we move I will be staying with the same company and working from home; primarily focusing on development. I think it will be a good move but with the kid on the way I am a little nervous.

As I mentioned in an eariler post we have been looking at several different email servers. As of Monday we officially switched the entire office over to the Zimbra mail/collaboration server. So far it has been great and have had no major interruptions, in fact it is already working significantly better than the old system.

Since I will be leaving the office we recently hired someone to take my place. We ended up having the opportunity to hire the maintainer of FeatherWeight Linux. He has a lot of experience with UNIX and Linux systems and has been working in the past supporting Sun systems running Solaris and Red Hat. He has a lot of expertise and will be a fantasic addition to our IT staff.

Another member of the IT staff upgraded his computer from SuSE 10.0 to SuSE 10.1. The upgrade actually went very smoothly. We also spent a lunch break setting up Xgl…which was pretty sweet and runs like a champ on his desktop…but now he just screws around with it too much.

[Other Tech News]

Over the last weekend I installed SuSE 10.1 and have mixed emotions about it. Some of my minor gripes with it are: setting the default panel to the bottom of the screen and locking it there (you need to use gconf-editor to move it!), removing the virutal workspaces, and it doesn’t appear to have shipped with the *awesome* deskbar-applet. I will probably comment in a future post on my pet peeves with Novel/SuSE. Lets just say for now, Ubuntu is still my preferred desktop system.

I am also on the ODSL desktop architects mailing list and discovered a rather interesting (scary/disgusting) Chinese Linux distribution, Co-Create. It’s a heavily modifed version of Red Hat/Fedora with a super-heavily modified version of Gnome. They intention is to make it look and feel exactly like Windows XP!!! (very disgusting!) If you search my site you can find out how much I dislike Linux distro’s making Linux == Windows. [Some of my screenshots here]

In other great news, Sun is finally changing the licsense of Java so that Linux distributions can package it. It looks like Ubuntu at least has already done so but unfortunately I just read a blog from someone at Red Hat/Fedora that stated that they will not ship it. Of course Sun is also saying they are working on open sourcing Java, hopefully sooner than later.

Enomalism has recently made a very early beta availble for download. Enomalism is (or is going to be) a web based management console for XEN. I have been closely watching this project since it was announced. I just downloaded it but haven’t had a chance to install it yet.

It has been a while since I last posted anything here. I have been very busy recently both at work and at home.

[Personal Updates]

A lot is going on right now at home. The wife is about ready to graduate from medical school. It seems hard to believe that we have been living here in Hershey, PA for 4 years now! She’s actually done with rotations and just “hanging out” until the actual graduation ceremony later in May. After that we will be moving back closer to the Pittsburgh area so that she can start residency in Latrobe (home of Rolling Rock beer).

To make everything a little more exciting we are expecting our first child! A little boy to be due on July 21st. She’s 27 weeks pregnant and it’s been quite an adventure already.

[The New Computer]

A couple weeks ago we met the mother-in-law in King of Prussia. She was there for a conference and we decided to head over to go shopping. While there of course I stopped at the Apple store and picked up a new iMac! I have been talking about getting a Mac for years and finally did it.

The Apple store was absolutely packed. Interestingly enough it wasn’t people just browsing around or buying iPods. These people were buying everything. Everything from iBooks and Macbook Pro’s to iMac’s and Cinema displays, it was quite a site to see. To check out alone was a 15-20 minute wait. If this is any sign I would say that Apple is doing pretty good.

[Work]

At work we have been implementing some interesting new stuff. We have been experimenting with SugarCRM for a while now, basically just seeing what we could do with it and how beneficial we felt it could be within the company. A couple weeks ago we deployed it live. We intend on using it as a replacement for Act!

We have had several issues with Act! recently and would rather not spend the extra money on new/upgraded licenses for their latest version (2006) to “fix” their problems. Fortunately for us the people that were using it weren’t using it to its full capabilities so migrating to SugarCRM to maintain contacts, notes, leads, etc. hasn’t been too bad.

We have also deployed Zabbix to monitor the network and servers. We are still in the process of setting it up but it’s been interesing to be able to monitor the performance of most of our servers at one time. We can also view trends and uptime as well.

Right now we are looking at moving off of our current email platform. We are in the process of examining Zimbra and Scalix. At one point I had high hopes for the Hula-Project as well but those hopes seem to have diminished. The one thing I don’t like about Zimbra is that you have to go through a lot of hassle to get it to work on a server that already has an existing webserver and database server.

So Writely is now part of Google. The Idea of an online word processor is great and has many possiblities. An online word processor that can read/write the OpenDocument format is even better!

I mentioned in a previous post that I had done some testing with Writely uploading and saving files in both MS Word and OpenDocument Format. I really haven’t used it much since then as it was early in development and still buggy. So, this is the first time I have logged into my Writely account for a long time and it seems to have improved dramatically. Now that it is part of the Google family I can only imagine that it will only get better.

This was really another test to see how well it worked at publishing to my blog from Writely….seems to work okay.