Musings on the world of software from the sharp end of the long tail
Posted in java on Mar 8th, 2010
I previously highlighted the fate of OpenSSO – a test case for Oracle and a living experiment for Open Source – possibly allowing us to understand how or whether a project really can outlive it’s corporate backer. Well, it seems that another piece of the Sun OSS portfolio has floated adrift from the Oracle mother-ship. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 20th, 2009
I’d like to think of myself as an informed prognosticator having worked for Sun for almost 9 years; but this is prognostication nonetheless. I missed my chance to say what I thought of an IBM acquisition but I’ll start by saying – I think I preferred it – it probably would’ve been a better outcome [...]
Posted in Business, Technology on Nov 26th, 2008
Since first posting – I’ve added Open Office and Java FX – just goes to show – Sun have a lot of stuff. I promised myself I wouldn’t bite; yet here I am. I’m contributing to the “Here’s what Sun should do meme”. And why not - I’m as good a keyboard-CEO as the next [...]
Posted in Technology on Nov 21st, 2008
It’s been a wild week on the US stock markets (no doubt true across the globe). The irrational behaviour we’re seeing has created some interesting situations – a number of brand name companies are trading at or below cash or net asset value.This has caused some other irrational thinking – for example Dave Rosenberg is [...]
Posted in Business on Aug 27th, 2008
I left Sun on good terms and I still think it’s a great company full of super-smart people that have done great, no, “amazing” things. I still have many friends who shared the Sun experience (a few of whom are still enjoying employment at Sun). I mention that because I don’t want to sound like [...]
Posted in java on Jun 22nd, 2008
I’m going to attempt to answer some of the comments that last week’s post received. Problem is – there were a lot of them – spread across Reddit, Slashdot, Digg, DZone (and again), InfoQ and the blogosphere. I clearly can’t reply to them all so I’ve grouped them and will answer generally. But first – [...]
Posted in open source on Jun 19th, 2008
[also read part 2] At JavaOne in May, 2006, Sun Microsystems announced they were going to release Java as free software under the terms of the GPL. The size of the task (6.5 million lines of code) was only eclipsed by the size of the opportunity for Java as a free and open technology. At [...]
Posted in Red Hat on Jun 3rd, 2008
Wow, it’s been almost 2 months since I left Sun to join the JBoss division of Red Hat. Time for a quick update. In many cases I’m comparing with Sun which is a) a little unfair because they’re companies in very different situations; and b) unfortunately my only reference point. So, I apologise beforehand if [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 12th, 2008
Sun was pushing JavaFX pretty hard at JavaOne this year – as it was last year; but still no actual product. My intial reaction to JavaFX (the scripting language formerly knows as F3) was pretty positive – but that was almost 2 years ago. The phrase “Better late than never” is true for Mother’s Day [...]
I’m not even tempted to gloat about Sun’s Q3 news and I think it’s a shame that Wall St. will be demanding Sun to shrink back to profitability as a result. Having RIFs (Reduction In Force) hanging over the workforce is completely demoralizing – I know – I survived at least five. Sun were starting [...]