fuzzylizard

Something that I have been thinking about doing for a while now is setting up a Linux Terminal Server and I finally found what looks to be an excellent tutorial on how to do just that. Now all I have to do is find the hardware and the time. I already have a computer set aside as the client—a pII 266 notebook with 128 megs of ram—now all I need is the server. I have a computer that might work, but it needs a new power supply. Anyone want to donate a spare 300W power supply?

Just a quick note to say that NetBeans 5 Beta has been released. Get it while it’s hot. I am about to try it so I will update this post once I have spent a little time with it. From everything I have seen so far though, this is a must upgrade. The next version looks amazing with all the new features that have been added. Also, look for some new demos showcasing the Beta instead of the old 4.1 version.

A few days ago on Javalobby.org someone—from Sun trying to push the Sun Java App Server I believe—posted the question as to why companies pay for commercial application servers when free ones like JBoss exist. I responded with something like the documentation was better with the commercial versions and a few other reasons.

I have now had some time to think about this question and this is what I have come up with: JBoss is not free, therefore, the question makes no sense. JBoss is available for free, however, it comes with no support and the documentation really is terrible. To fix this, you have to pay for support. According to the Javalobby thread, support costs several thousand dollars. In my mind, this is not free. However, let’s continue this argument a little further. If I pay for Weblogic, I get support as part of that licensing fee (I can’t comment on the support since I have never bought weblogic so I am assuming that it is included for the sake of the argument). Therefore, In order to get an app server with support from either company, I have to pay. Therefore, JBoss is not free.

Another argument is this: I work for a company and I download JBoss. I develop my application and I hit a bug. I try to find a solution to said bug by browsing the JBoss website, the JBoss forums and the JBoss wiki and I turn up nothing. I have now wasted a day trying to solve my problem and I am no closer to a solution. So now my company has a few options. It can continue to allow me to look for solutions that don’t exist or they can hire someone who is a JBoss expert or they can pay for the required training to make me a JBoss expert. Any of these solutions cost money. Therefore, once again JBoss is not free.

Using either argument, the initial question makes no sense because in the end the company is still spending money.

A corollary that goes along with using open source / free software is that it avoids vendor lock-in. And in fact, this argument was discussed in the above mentioned thread. To me, this is an odd argument. If I choose to use JBoss and PostgreSQL instead of Weblogic and Oracle how exactly have I avoided vendor lock-in? True, I have not paid for some license that is good for a year or two, but that is all. The code that I write is still tied to the initial technology that I chose. If I choose JBoss and write an entire application using JBoss and then decide to switch to SJSAS PE I still have to take the time to port my code from JBoss to SJSAS, I have not really gained anything simply by picking open source. And, there are vendor specific functionality in JBoss just like in Weblogic which if I make use of forces vendor lock-in. So where exactly is this distinction?

With any of these arguments I think that a) you always end up paying for the technologies that you use—either up front or in hidden costs—and b) vendor lock-in only happening when you buy commercial licenses is a myth. As soon as you pick a vendor, whether it be open source or proprietary, you have the chance for vendor lock-in.

I just realized that one thing I would really like to do or to be a part of is the release of some cool software. I think it would be a lot of fun to be part of the team creating the newest version of Flash or Dreamweaver and then to see that product released.

I realize that it would be a lot of hard work and would also be a very painful experience, but I think it would be a very rewarding experience to know that I had a hand in creating something that people use. However, it would have to a cool peice of software. Working for a startup would do as well.

I came to this conclusion watching the video of the release of Flash 8.

The last place I worked does something that I think is a tad odd. From everything that I could see, at least on the team that I was working, the process seems to be to take the best programmers and make them senior members of the team. On the surface this seems like a reasonable thing to do. Except, that becoming a senior member means that you do less programming. Put another way, they take their best problem solvers, the people who really like to solve problems and put them into a position where they have to delegate those problems to other people. Am I the only one who thinks this is a little odd?

The real question I have, I guess, is is this the way other organizations work? I really can’t see my experience being that different. My guess is that other companies take the best programmers, the best problem solvers, and consistently promote them to be managers effectively taking away any chance of programming or solving problems (well, at least real problems). If this is the case, I can see why a lot of the best programmers don’t go into management.

These links are for me to read later when I get the chance.

LInux.com: Protecting Linux against automated attackers

As many systems administrators will tell you, attacks from automated login scripts specifically targeting common account names with weak passwords have become a substantial threat to system security, especially via SSH (a popular program that allows remote users to log in to a Linux computer and execute commands locally). Here are some common-sense rules to follow that can greatly improve security, as well as several scripts to cut down on the computing resources wasted by these attacks.

IBM Developer Works: Ajax for Java developers: Build dynamic Java applications

In this series, I’ll give you all the tools you need to begin developing your own applications using Ajax. In this first article, I’ll explain the concepts behind Ajax and demonstrate the fundamental steps to creating an Ajax interface for a Java-based Web application. I’ll use code examples to demonstrate both the server-side Java code and the client-side JavaScript that make Ajax applications so dynamic. Finally, I’ll point out some of the pitfalls of the Ajax approach, as well as the broader usability and accessibility issues you should consider when creating Ajax applications.

I have uploaded a new demo. This one is a very quick, very newbie centric introduction to using JUnit in NetBeans 4.1. Enjoy

As an aside: you may notice some negative comments towards NetBeans in the demo, this is because JUnit integration is probably NetBeans poorest feature. Compared to Eclipse, NetBeans hardly integrates JUnit at all. However, it is still there and it is incredibly easy to use. And actually, the wizard that you use to create a test class does beat Eclipse. It is just the final output or reporting that you get from JUnit in NetBeans that sucks. I really miss the little green bar from Eclipse. Also, if you are using your own ant script, it is almost impossible to run a single test class. The limitations of Ant really do require that you run the entire suite of tests and for any real development, this can be a huge problem.

However, with all that said, please, enjoy the demo.