Rich Sharples’ Blog

• JBoss AS 5.0.0 CR1 is out : http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/213 #
• Looking forward to long weekend and July 4th festivities - also feeling slightly traitorous - should a Brit. really celebrate July 4th ? #
• delaying booking travel : RDU->Dallas->Rome->Berne->RDU - it’s going to be ugly and time consuming - and that’s just booking … #
• @emmanuelbernard @julienviet - I heard Amazon lose $1.5m an hour directly - the bigger question is - do those customers come back ? #
• @smaragdis - automatic electric kettles have been available for at least 80 years - they may not look as nice but they are *much* safer #
• pox on Oracle - BEA web cast only supports Windoze #
• @davetong - you’re $400 up on me. Congratulations. #
• people send Guy Kawasaki stuff to blog about - like cars. What about the rest of us on the long tail - not even a mouse mat #
• @metadaddy - tequila or vodka shots; and why only once a year ? (poor deprived cat) #
• @smaragdis, hey I used to live in Cyprus ! On kettles - we buy ours from Sears or Bed, Bath and Beyond - no a lot of choice though. #

• huge electrical storm - I’m sitting out on the (covered) deck watching the spectacle - catching up with some blog reading / writing #
• Just blogged : JBoss AS 5.0 CR1 almost baked : http://blog.softwhere.org/archives/211 #
• Wow - that was a storm and a half last night - woke the little guy who ended up in our bed @ 2am - wide awake #
• hence late start today - off for some exercise, then work - have a lot to pack into a short week. #
• anyone in RDU got a space heater ? - my office is like an ice box #

Just saw an internal email announcing the availabliity of JBoss AS 5.0.0 CR1, the bits are available on SourceForge, and the release notes are here. Have fun and if you have feedback - head over to the JBoss forums.

Tags: java, JBoss

• watching the footie - it’s nice to caring who wins - I can just enjoy the game #
• started late due to the boy overflowing a basin and partially flooding the basement - no spoilers please #
• Looking for a Audio / Video enclosure fan - must be quiet and thermostat controlled - any ideas ? #

Neil McAllister over at InfoWorld has what starts like a doom and gloom piece on the demise of Java. Having seen this kind of sensationalist drivel too often I was inclined to ignore it (and the ensuing thread on /.). I’m glad I didn’t i - Neil makes some good points and presents them well. The piece rises well above the typical sensationalist rants we’re all used to.

“I wouldn’t be the first to argue that Sun missed the boat by not releasing Java under an open source license sooner. As Apache Project co-founder Brian Behlendorf said in 2006, “I think had they done it, they would have established Java further as the language of choice by so many more people.”

From my very, very minor involvement with the IcedTea project and since joining Red Hat just a few months ago I’ve seen a very different attitude towards Java. I was previously of the opinion (bear in mind I worked for Sun for almost 9 years) that Java was already essentially free and open enough - and that actually making it Open Source wouldn’t really change anything. Java had already become incredibly popular without the advantages of Open Source. But I now think Java did miss a huge opportunity by not being part of the major upstream Linux ecosystems - such Fedora and Debian.

So it almost certainly would have made a big difference 3 or 4 years ago; the question is - will it make a difference now. I’m optimistic - but admittedly slightly biased having invested a large part of the last decade in promoting Java in one way or another. Here’s why I’m optimistic.

1. Java is still young - I still talk to customers who are only just contemplating moving to Java; and I’m still pretty confident that the majority of Java developers are only now working their way through school and college.
2. The only real, mainstream alternative to Java is Microsoft’s .NET platform. And the future of that is somewhat predicated on the success of Vista and Vista isn’t looking too hot right now. OK, Ruby, PHP, Scala, Python all have their place - but  they are just languages and don’t really complete with the Java platform.
3. There’s a real opportunity for one of the Linux distros. to become *the* Java developer OS - right now I would guesss that Windows XP and OS/X account for most Java developers desktops - that just seems completely wrong to me given Microsoft’s and Apple’s disdain of Java.

I feel pretty encouraged by the reaction to our announcement last week and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next wave of innovation in Java came from the new communities who can now adopt it. I for one would love to see one of the major Linux distros like Fedora step up and become the developer OS for Java - and when I say Java; I don’t just mean the language - I mean the entire Java ecosystem.

Tags: Fedora, IcedTea, java, linux, OpenJDK

JBoss AS 5.0 CR1 should be released within a week - this is a huge milestone for JBoss and the industry as a whole. AS 5 is significant investment in JBoss’ the future; the new architecture will allow us to quickly adapt to future changes and continue to outpace the competition; while maintaining a stable platform and operational footprint.

Now I just want to see the new admin. console working !

Sacha (JBoss’ CTO) has blogged his thoughts on AS 5 and recalls some of the history of it’s inception. Dimitris Adreadis  (the JBoss AS lead developer) was interviewed on InfoQ and talks about some of the main features and his views on the prosposed Java EE 6 profiles and OSGi.

Tags: java, JBoss, osgi

• watching TV with the kids. About to hit the caffeine. #

• Listening in to RHT’s Q1 company meeting. #
• Lunch with the DZone team - good table conversation. Free schwag as well. #
• retweeting @TimBray - nice article from Anil Dash on Bill Gate as Robin Hood : http://tinyurl.com/3ewf3p #
• following Spain vs Russia in text only via SkySports Is there free internet radio coverage ? #
• me blog is getting slammed by another silly /. Java related thread - there really are a lot of complete ass-hats around #

• Thoughts on the competition : http://snurl.com/2op2i #
• @radiowalker ROTFLMAO - “Dutch Bike” : http://snurl.com/2opj1- havent; heard that one in a long time #
• Progress acquires Iona for $160m - I’m sure they have some decent Orbix maintenance revenue but that seems a lot to pay. #
• Red Hat’s Q1FY09 was pretty decent : http://tinyurl.com/6rzetu and JBoss played an important role (again). #

Websphere is 10 years old and in an eWeek.com article by Daryl K. Taft, Steve Mills (IBM’s software head honcho) is quoted as saying that he’s “not particularly concerned with competition” in this space, particularly from open-source offerings and “there are no plans to open-source WebSphere”, “Something of this class of software could never be free”. Hmm, well according to the analysts and customers I speak to - WAS is under threat from JBoss and JBoss is an alternative. Oh, and Steve - you acquired Gluecode remember. A competitor in denial is a good thing.

If you are an Oracle or former BEA middleware customer and are still uncertain which products Oracle will shit-can - well it seems that Oracle doesn’t know either but they are letting you vote. I applaud the democratic proces but isn’t this the kind of detail you work out before spending $6bn of your shareholder’s money ?

[Update]

The poll doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Oracle - it’s sponsored by TechTarget - I have no idea why. They seem to have made the decision already - according to the Register.

Finally - can you please get off Yahoo’s case about departing execs. - this is just mean

Tags: bea, ibm, JBoss, oracle, websphere, yahoo