"Demonstrably false supposition[s]"
Sean McGrath doesn't mince words in Paths to the New Reality. Very interesting in light of the ServerSide folks discussing whether "Java is losing the battle for the modern web".
Scarf 'em up
Q
- "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." - C.A.R. Hoare
April 12, 2008
April 10, 2008
The data center as a black box
No not that black box. I don't want to have to be a hardware, OS, middleware, scalability stuff I've never heard of expert just to deploy an app and be prepared for the "problem" of high traffic.
Why? Ian Bicking said it best:
I hate computers. I really hate them a lot. I dream of some world of Platonic ideals where software just exists...
Long gone are the days that I would set aside a Saturday to install a new
video card in my PC. IRQs, QEMM loading seqeunce blah blah blah. I love
USB. It just works. We need USB for the data center. Like Google App Engine but Open. Deploying an app should be as simple as "who has the best plan for my stack today"? Click click. Done.
Data diodes
Much has been said about Google App Engine and portability, openness etc. I think that we'll eventually get the same kind of service on an open stack, albeit at a higher cost (higher than free). Aside from authentication, and you don't have to use Google's for App Engine, it's the database that locks you in. Same with Amazon. Someone will build a similar service on CouchDB (should be 1.0 soon enough) with options for your favorite language/framework above that with ease of deployment more like Google's than Amazon's. CouchDB is particularly intriguing because it should be easy to move/replicate the data from one provider to another. Wanna move? Run in parallel, replicate the data, shut the old site off, replicate again. Done. It's even cooler when your site design replicates too. Just put those design documents in the document database. People have been doing this with Lotus Notes for decades.
Don't lock us in. Leave the door open and compete on service, value and reputation.
December 06, 2007
Perl Onion 11
"My worse-is-better is better than your worse-is-better because I'm better at being worser!" - Larry Wall, State of the Onion 11
The ever quotable Mr. Perl is back with the annual status report. If you love, hate or are even just mildly interested in scripting languages, there's something in it for you.
Focus on Focus
Please Don't steal My Focus. That's MY focus..not the computers focus...not the window's focus...MY focus. It's not a TV. Books don't interrupt me. The piano doesn't interrupt me. Why should software?
December 04, 2007
Idea Jam
I added a Recent Idea widget from Idea Jam and it reminded me that it's about time for the annual post so here it is. Click through to Idea Jam and check it out. It has been interesting watching it evolve and seeing how people are actually using it. This kind of application requires a balance between structure and freedom so people can just add ideas without having to think too much about categories and keywords. So far it feels pretty good. Just reading through ideas across all Idea Spaces has raised my awareness of issues and ideas that are not on my radar screen but are important to the community. I tend to very language and back end focused so I've learned a lot about client application and development problems and potential solutions. As an ISV working on tools for Notes and other Eclipse based environments, I hope to spot opportunities that would otherwise have remained invisible. Congrats to the Idea Jam team.
And check out Idea Battle. Nathan Freeman has found a way to significantly increase the signal to noise ratio of all those ideas. Good stuff.
June 02, 2007
March 09, 2007
Notes/Domino R8 Beta Now!
Get it here.
