I just read this and IMO the following statement is somewhat off / biased and the rest of the writeup is has a slant towards Adobe’s Flex:
There are three technologies on the horizon that will change the way people use the web: LaszloSystems’ OpenLaszlo, Microsoft’s WinFX (codename Avalon) and Adobe’s Flex 2.
Without specifically using any of the technologies mentioned above, there is a pure standard technology that is already changing the way people use the web. It is called AJAX!
April 18th, 2006
Just a simple question. I have seen people use both ways, some use Ajax and others use AJAX (all upper case). Michael Mahemoff writes why he chooses to use the former. What do you use and why ? Let me know.
April 12th, 2006
Dave Linthicum writes about why patterns can be key to SOA solutions. Being a patterns enthusiast and practitioner, I agree with what’s been said in spirit. But, having been through the process of identifying and documenting the enterprise Java patterns, I am cringing at one thought he expressed there of creating a database of SOA patterns. I am afraid that I don’t buy this approach entirely. Such a database is going to cause more problems than solve anything.
Patterns don’t live in isolation, they really create a network amongst them (of inter-relationships) that increases the value of the set of patterns as a whole. A single pattern itself, while useful, has limited applicability. Whereas with a set of patterns and relationships, you can start understanding the key pattern heuristics and eventually lead to a pattern language, which is the ultimate goal of any patterns practitioner. This was the hardest part of pattern discovery in our (me, Dan & John) enterprise patterns work, where you can see one such example of pattern relationships (and here) to help you better understand the community of patterns, rather than just a single pattern.
For an example of a patterns database, take a look at the Server Side patterns database, while commendable and has incredible participation, the patterns submitted there lack such a language of relationships and thereby exist at multiple levels of abstraction which do not inter-relate very well.
March 31st, 2006
OK. I might be the only one but I think people need to think beyond what is cool in Ajax. Take ajaxWrite for example. (BTW, it is worth reading Alex Russell’s take on ajaxWrite from a pure Ajax perspective in his post titled ajaxWrong).
Here is the basic premise of ajaxWrite quoted below from their website (or other such applications sprouting on the web every hour):
- Global access, all you need is an internet connection
- Platform independent, you can use it with any operating system
- Automatic updates and upgrades, no more computer restarts or missed patches/updates
- Server side management — all the busywork is done for you
In many cases where we use a word processing application, we are operating from places where we don’t have an internet connection. Regarding platform independent, i couldn’t care less about it for a word processing application because most users have already chosen a platform (Windows or Mac or Linux or …) and aren’t likely to have multiple platforms floating around them at home or at work. While I can see the benefit of automatic updates and upgrades, it is not enough to convince me to abandon my favorite word processor. And as a user, who cares about server side management? I don’t have to worry about the server side management with my word processor because there is no friggin server! If I want free word processor, I would go for open source favorite Open Office which continues to improve with every release.
And now I see there is an ajaxSketch by the same developers. Same idea, different application, I can use it to generate an SVG diagram. Big deal. I like Gimp and Inkscape, and both are free and have a lot more features than ajaxSketch can ever incorporate.
Besides the obvious cool factor of rich applications on the browser, I need to know what is the business value of any such new applications. Can someone convince me that these applications have any value besides being toys to showcase what Ajax can do?
March 30th, 2006
Interesting article this one here…
Maybe the title should have been “AJAX Will Be Bigger than Huge” or something like that. Because AJAX is already huge. But some quotes in this article are puzzling:
Patrick Linskey, an engineer at BEA Systems and former chief technology officer at SolarMetric (which was acquired by BEA), predicted that “somebody will come up with a meaningful way to wire up a server-side AJAX framework with a non-browser-based client-side app.”
Huh??? Melding non-browser-based client side app with AJAX framework ? Sounds disastrous - no? I am missing something. Can someone explain please?
And I can’t wait for JEE 5 after I read this one:
Hani Suleiman, chief technology officer of Formicary, said he believes “Java EE [enterprise edition] 5 will bring back people who are scarred, wounded and saddened by J2EE [Java 2 Enterprise Edition] as a whole. It has a lot more pleasant view and a natural programmer style.”
Wonder if those alienated by J2EE and having switched to Spring + Hibernate will be impressed enough to come back to J2EE fold?
Finally, here is a gem on Ruby on Rails:
Meanwhile, Magnusson asked the audience if anybody had tried the Ruby on Rails framework. Several people raised their hands. When he asked how many had used it in a production system, only two raised their hands. One developer said he had concerns about its maturity level, amount of errors, quality of errors and other issues. Yet, he noted that Ruby on Rails is able to build some applications much faster than in the Java world.
Wonder what David and James think about that. Not! 
March 24th, 2006
I just bought this new HP laptop and am having problems with sleep/hibernate modes. It friggin wakes up automatically and loses all battery power. The devil inside. Anyway, I found this article on their website that says they have a hotfix that they won’t let me download, but want me to call their support team. So I did call them and got connected to an obviously outsourced call center rep who listened to my problem for 30 seconds and said:
“I am sorry to interrupt you Deepak, but I will be unable to help you because my system tools are upgrading right now. Can you call back in exactly 10 minutes?”. What??!
I said, “Can you just email me the friggin hotfix after your system comes back up?”
He said, “Sorry I am not a technical guy, I am just a customer service rep. If you really want to talk to the technical expert, please call back in 10 minutes. Can I help you with anything else today?”
I said, “You can’t really, can you? Your system is upgrading.”
He goes, “Oh, Yes. Thank you for calling Microsoft.”
Sigh!
March 24th, 2006
I haven’t been able to blog much in the last few weeks. I am in the middle of transitioning to a new job and have lots of pending errands and personal stuff that is keeping me busy. Just wanted to say that I look forward to blogging anew in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.
March 3rd, 2006
If not for Sun and Unix, I wouldn’t be here, not in this country. Let me explain a bit. My first OS was a Unix System V while I was a student. Then, after graduating from my engineering school, I worked for a cool company in India (CMC Limited) for 6 years. During the early 90s, I saw a lot of my friends and colleagues move to the US. I was somewhat reluctant because I loved my job and did not want to move away from friends and family. Or maybe I was just picky. In those days, one of my passions was Unix internals. So after unsuccessfully trying to ship me off abroad, my managers realized there was one thing I wouldn’t be able to resist a gig which would have me working on some Solaris stuff. So one day they called me and said, “Hey Deepak, there is an opening for a gig at Sun that might let you work on Solaris related stuff, do you want to go?” I was like, “Did you say Sun & Solaris? Heck! Yeah! “. Within a month I was in California with 200 borrowed dollars in my pocket.
When I reported to work i found out it all wasn’t true. Yes, the gig was at Sun, but never mind that it was nowhere near anything Solaris. Fast forward 18 months and I transitioned to become a full-time Sun employee and had a fun 10 years of working in different roles and projects.
I still remember, back then, one of the huge reason and attraction to join Sun for me was being able to work with the smartest, intelligent and highly talented folks at Sun. That still holds today for anyone who is thinking of working at Sun. Sun has to simply be one of the best (if not the best) technology company to work for, and it is not an easy company to leave. But, I must say that now my first act at Sun is completed. As you know, I just completed 10 years of working at Sun in October 2005. I am very proud of reaching this milestone in my career . So, after a somewhat difficult process, I have decided to leave Sun and pursue other opportunities. I resigned from Sun on February 6th and tomorrow is my last day at Sun as an employee.
Over these years, I have met and worked with so many amazing folks at Sun that it is impossible to list the impact that each one of them have had on me. So I thank them all, where ever they are now.
My personal website will still be at www.deepakalur.com on which you will find my background and contact information. My new personal blog is at www.deepakalur.com/blog. This blog at Sun will be available as always but all my future postings will appear on my personal blog.
February 16th, 2006
Hi!
This is my personal blog and I am in the process of transitioning my blog from my older blog at Sun, which will be discontinued shortly. All the previously posted entries on my Sun blog will remain accessible on that blog. Any new entries I post from now on will appear only on this blog.
More details later.
Thanks for visiting, please come back again!
February 8th, 2006
They went fast and furious. My years at Sun that is…
I just completed 10 years at Sun! I can‘t believe it, but I did receive this recognition certificate to prove it. Too many good things to write about all these years and rarely a dull moment to talk about. I recall when I joined Sun, my (senior) colleagues told me stories of meeting Scott McNealy in person when he used to meet 10 years @ Sun folks annually. And I remember thinking, “Man, you been here 10 years?”. And look who is talking now… I guess nowadays there are just too many folks to make this a rare occasion for Scott to meet all 10 year oldies around here.
In any case, it was a great 10 years for me and all thanks goes to the people (both Sun and our customers) I have worked with (where ever they are now) to make it a very memorable 10 years in my career.
And, thank you Sun!
January 31st, 2006
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