When
· Naughties
· · 2005
· · · June
· · · · 26 (3 entries)
Enterprise Open Source · Among the flurry of Java One announcements is GlassFish, CDDL-licensed source code for something called “Sun’s Java System Application Server PE 9”. I said “Huh?” and they explained to me that this was our implementation of the Java EE spec and I said “Oh good, we’re open-sourcing EE!” and they sneered at me and said “No, EE is defined by a particular binary that passes a particular compatibility test, so in principle you couldn’t open-source it”. Uh, right. Anyhow, I am quite sure our efficient PR people will be emitting a flood of details and FAQs, so I’d just like to tsk-tsk gently at our friends out there (you know who you are) that rushed into print last week deploring our cluelessness for not doing what was done today. Hey guys, cut us a little slack. And a tip o’ the hat to Bob Sutor who did.
NetBeans Buzz · I came down to Java One a day early because they asked me to join the closing-keynote panel on NetBeans Day. Now, I’ve been known to bang the NetBeans drum in this space, but to be honest I haven’t tried any of the competition recently and I have zero feeling for how the market is shaking out; so all I can say is that NetBeans works pretty well and pretty fast, for me. To be honest, I wondered whether all the NetBeans happy talk you find around blogs.sun.com might be partly comforting Sun-to-Sun cheerleading. Now, I don’t think so; they had 800+ people here today (up from 100 or so last year); and it’s been electric. Herewith some high points and pictures and (strictly for NetBeans users) some helpful hints ...
Pride! · I rolled into San Francisco mid-morning and didn’t have to be at work till noon, so I took the BART rather than a cab. I hadn’t done the SFO train for a while and it’s pretty efficient these days, I recommend it. Anyhow, it was a good thing I did, because I emerged from the subway to the sound of drums and the prancing of majorettes, in fact some extremely major majorettes if you know what I mean, today was the big Gay Pride weekend. My pictures didn’t come out that well, so here are some mental snapshots: the drum majorettes, all pizazz and rhythm, I think they were really girls too but well anyhow; this dude with a Ford Pinto entirely covered in spangles (windows too, driver too); and the gaggle of gay cops, some of them were ultra-tuff-looking but my fave was the chubby lady motorcycle cop grinning ear to ear on her huge gleaming hawg. It was a real treat for me because I was standing behind these two big loud-voiced guys that cheered wildly at every float and marching band, and gaily heckled the cops; not the marching-in-the-parade cops, the keeping-order-by-the-curb cops: “You go, girl! Shake that bootehhhhhhhh”. They even cheered the unglamorous police commissioner waving determinedly in her dowdy convertible. By coincidence, on the way down to San Fran I read God and Country, an excellent New Yorker piece that, while also about America, is definitely covering a different tribe than the one turning out for the parade. It’s hard to believe these tribes share the same country. Anyhow, we had fun at NetBeans Day, but I think they had more over at the parade.
