links for 2011-04-20: Who should(n't) by an iPad 2; Oracle gives up on OpenOffice

• Apple iPad 2: Who should buy and who should pass - Blind fans of Apple products will still just go buy one, but this article is a good dose of reality on why you should or shouldn't get one.
• Oracle gives up on OpenOffice - At least the LibreOffice crew didn't think Oracle got open-source and forked, and Oracle was unable to stop it.  Does Oracle not "get" open-source?

links for 2011-01-26: AWS Simple Email Service; Marc Fleury on Oracle and Open Source; No screenshots on Windows Phone 7

• Introducing the Amazon Simple Email Service - Another in the line of "simple" services.
• Oracle and Open Source. NOT GOOD - Marc's view on how Oracle is handling open source, based largely on what has happened with OpenOffice and Hudson.
• Capturing screenshots in Windows Phone 7's future? - Hiding behind DRM seems like a poor excuse.  And no one has ever asked for it?

links for 2010-12-17: Invisible open-source; Oracle Apps on EC2; Pirate or DRM; Netflix on AWS

• 2010: The year open-source went invisible - It has gone mainstream and is even a pre-requisite in some markets.
• Oracle Apps on EC2 - You could do it on your own before, easier now.
• Pirate or buy DRM? - Not a fan of DRM it would seem.
• Netflix lessons from using AWS - Also read this for why they switched.

links for 2010-12-11: Oracle 'anti-competitive'; Linux on SPARC; McNealy Speaks; Air Force bans removable media

• Oracle 'anti-competitive,' customers dissatisfied - I don't think it takes a report for people to see what Oracle's business practices are like, but how far is a company supposed to go to be "competitive"?  Isn't the objective to beat the competition?  Wouldn't other companies do similar things if they had the same opportunity?  Customers need to vote with their pocketbooks.
  
• Oracle to port Linux to SPARC - It makes sense.  Oracle wants customers to buy from Oracle regardless of the product the customer wants.
• McNealy on Sun and open-source - A good read, great to hear Scott talk.
• US Air Force bans removable media - I'm surprised it wasn't already banned.

links for 2010-11-11: Oracle raises MySQL pricing; ASF draws line in sand over JCP; WS-I completes their journey; PG West Notes

• Oracle kills low-priced MySQL support - This had been rumored and was expected, but now we know the details.  The lowest priced offerings are gone, Standard Edition at $2K/yr now the cheapest, differentiation between editions is now with different add-ons, not level of support, and a server is limited to 4 sockets.  Note that if you weren't buying the cheapest offering, the prices haven't really increased.
• ASF Statement on JCP - Same issue as there has been for awhile, but now saying they'll withdraw if not addressed.
• Microsoft and IBM web-control war finally silenced - Interesting read on the motivations for WS-I and entertaining quip on SOA: "WS-* and the WS-I paved the way for the Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) bubble, a cacophony of hype about a set of systems that could never be delivered but paid the wages of consultants and enterprise vendors, and involved some kind of choreography wrapped in a portal."
  
• Ex-Red Hatters eye Larry's MySQL wobblers
  
• Ex-Sun boss gives Ellison open-source wedgie
  

links for 2010-09-28: OpenOffice.org forked into LibreOffice; Free Software Defenders; Platform as a Service Adoption

• LibreOffice: A fresh page for OpenOffice - As other open-source projects from Sun have been terminated, kept as tokens for the community, or left to wither away with no investment (the list includes OpenESB, OpenSSO, Mural, OpenSolaris, and more), it isn't a surprise to see a spinoff from OpenOffice but this is one that certainly has more visibility as it is actually software end-users use.  It will be interesting to see how things play out and if Oracle joins and grants use of the name.
  
• OpenOffice goes its own way - Another story on the subject.  Oracle has not commented yet but IBM has although with no commitment one way or the other.  Google, Novell, Ubuntu, and others are supporting the foundation.  See the FAQ too.
• The Defenders of Free Software - Interesting read.  I have no doubt that there are 100s of violations or improper use of open-source out there.
• Platform as a Service: Current vs Future Returns - Everyone says it is a matter of time until enterprises are on the Cloud, but how long will it be before more than Amazon style IaaS is accepted?
  

links for 2010-09-09: NetApp vs Sun/Oracle quietly resolved; Developer vs CIO perspective; Apple relaxes restrictions

• NetApp, Oracle dismiss patent suit - It is probably the best result since both sides were suing each other.
• Meet the New Kingmakers: Same as the Old Kingmakers - The different perspectives of the Developer vs the CIO.
• Apple throws developers a bone, relaxes restrictions on third party tools - An interesting about face, probably due more to the FTC poking around than Apple wanting to appease developers.
  

links for 2010-08-17: Future of JavaFX; OpenSolaris is dead

• Enterprise Applications are Good Candidates for Using JavaFX - Highlights the pros/cons of JavaFX and gives it 6-12 months to address the cons.
  
• Oracle apparently shuts doors on OpenSolaris - It isn't a surprise, but is unfortunate.  With source code only making it to the community after the commercial Solaris is released, it appears Solaris is now headed for "Visible Source", not open source.  Some of the comments are telling; "Here I was just getting started with OpenSolaris for my home server because of ZFS and all the wonderful features it has. I had figured if I can make it work at home, I would try to bring it in to the company. Now that OpenSolaris is dead and it looks like Solaris is encumbered with support licenses I don’t know how easy it will be to have them switch."

links for 2010-07-17: OpenSolaris Discontent; Open source or not?; Motorola Droid X self destructs; WinPhone 7 just an iPhone 1 knock off

• OpenSolaris Governing Board Threatens to Shoot Itself In The Head - Interesting point of view on how things were with Sun and are with Oracle regarding OpenSolaris.
• Choosing Whether to go Open Source - Huh? "That explains why using open source for production in mission-critical environments, particularly where security is essential, has been relatively rare."  This premise is shot down moments later with this: "About 90% of our servers are running Linux. They're certainly as secure as the Windows world"
  
• Droid X actually self-destructs if you try to mod it - The majority of users won't know or care, but it will be interesting to see if techies avoid the device and this backfires on Motorola.
  
• Windows Phone 7: Don't bother with this disaster - Not a good sign: "Microsoft's demos of its great mobile hope shows Windows Phone 7 to be only a tepid knockoff of a 2007-era iPhone"
  

links for 2010-07-01: iPhone to Verizon rumor (again); Brown University goes Google; SQS Updates; Open Source Licensing; Steve Jobs on the Enterprise; Database Migrations Easy?

• Verizon to Start Selling iPhone in January [REPORT] - This report seems to be a bit more credible than ones of the past, so will it really happen?
  
• Brown University has gone Google - "Our students were really the ones that led us down the Google path. They knew these tools would work because they already used them in their non-school lives."
• New: Free Tier and Increased Limits for Amazon Simple Queue Service - Some incremental updates making SQS a little more valuable.
  
• Open Core the new Dual License - He still advocates pure open source and using telemetry and data as ways to generate incremental revenue.
• What Steve Jobs hates about the enterprise - So Apple will just rely on the consumerization of IT as their way into the enterprise?  Is this an opportunity for Microsoft to capitalize on RIM's weakness?
  
• Database Migrations Are Finally Becoming Simpler - Compatibility layers make sense.  I knew EnterpriseDB had been doing this for some time, I didn't know IBM was too.  Oracle, your move.
  

links for 2010-06-22: Flash goes Mobile; Java's Future; Java CAPS Future;

• Adobe launches Flash 10.1 for Mobile: More than half of all smartphones by 2012? - There may be issues at first (battery life?), but pushing the envelope is how issues get resolved, not by constraining innovation.
  
• Why I'm Worried About Java's Future - John highlights the 2GB JVM memory limitation as a key issue.
  
• Wondering what to do about your integration strategy as it relates to Java CAPS? - NextGate to hold 2 webinars on what options Java CAPS (and eGate and DataGate) customers have now that they are Oracle's customers.
  
• The Economics of Open Source: Why the Billion Dollar Barrier is Irrelevant - As he's mentioned before, Stephen says data is the key: "Data is likely, in my view, to be more profitable longer term than mechanisms such as dual licensing (coverage). Telemetry (coverage) is the obvious next revenue source for open source entitites."
  

Eclipse Community Survey 2010 Published; Interesting OS, app server, and open-source results

The Eclipse Community Survey 2010 is now available, and as a big fan of surveys and data, I couldn't help but dive in to take a look at what the community had to say.

First, as is the case with all surveys and data, one has to consider the audience when looking at the results to understand the context, and in this case, the survey was promoted on the eclipse.org web-site and related blogs/tweets.  It was also only available in English and 1,696 respondents completed it.  And over 50% of the respondents listed themselves as programmers.

Ok, with that out of the way, what are some of the interesting results or observations?

• Nearly 40% of developers now use Linux (32.7%) or OS X (7.9%) for their primary development OS.  The audience is clearly the reason this is much higher than you'd expect for the general desktop population, but both the Linux and OS X numbers are growing at the expense of Windows which is down 6% to 58.3% from last year.
• Linux (46%) is ahead of Windows (41%) for deployment OS.
• Sun Hotspot (69.8%) and Open JDK (21.7%) still dominate the JVM used for deployed applications.
• Scrum (15.4%) and iterative (10.9%) are the leading development methodologies.
• Hudson (21.8%) is the 3rd most used release management tool behind Ant (50.4%) and Maven (28.3%).
• There is a nearly even split among the primary types of apps being developed between RIAs (26.9%), Server-centric apps (26.9%), and desktop client apps (21.0%).
• For server frameworks, in something of a surprise given all the bashing EJBs have taken over the years, EJB (18.6%) and Spring (19.7%) use is nearly on par and ahead of Servlets (10.1%).
• It is no surprise that MySQL (31.8%) is the leading database used, but Oracle (21.6%) is not far behind and well ahead of the others.
• Tomcat (33.8%) far and away the most used app-server and disappointingly, GlassFish (2.9%) is last listed behind WebSphere, Jetty, and WebLogic.
• Nearly 60% have no plans to use the Cloud!  This is somewhat surprising given all the hubbub we are hearing about the Cloud.

What is perhaps most interesting (and gets its own paragraph, not just a bullet :)) is the section on open-source maturity.  There has been a gradual shrinking of companies that have a business model that relies on open-source and a pretty big decline in companies that use open-source and contribute back.  There is a pretty big increase in those that use open-source but don't contribute back, so it would seem that use has not declined, but engagement and collaboration with the communities has certainly suffered.  And somewhat alarming is that, while still a very small percentage, the number of companies not allowing the use of any open-source software is growing.

What does this all mean?

• I believe that the growth of non-Windows platforms for development and deployment continues although it is probably getting closer to the ultimate balance point.
• Developers continue to use and adopt new tools and technologies that enhance their productivity but are not abandoning prior technologies that have had significant improvements (EJB with Java EE 6).
• Developers are taking a pragmatic or perhaps more pessimistic approach to the Cloud and open-source.  Perhaps due to the economy and companies having to tighten their belts, use of open-source continues but there is no longer the resources to fully buy into the model and contribute back.

What do you think?

links for 2010-04-28: Android momentum; Microsoft and Open Source; VMforce; Web vs Enterprise; AWS Presentations

• Google: Numbers favor Android over iPhone - Some interesting stats and trends, and Apple and Microsoft certainly are validating that Android is a threat to them.
  
• Microsoft contributing to OSS - GPL even.
• The Java cloud? VMforce – Quick Analysis - Force.com gets real Java (well, Tomcat + Spring, no Java EE) and VMware gets a customer buying into their message/vision.
  
• Salesforce.com's partnership with VMware: Offense, defense or something in between? - Another view.
  
• Cassandra and The Enterprise Tension - MySQL responded to the tension one way, what will other tools built for the Web do when confronted by the "opportunity" to go after the enterprise too/instead?
  
• AWS Presentation Roundup - A good source for a variety of presentations on the Cloud and Amazon.

links for 2010-04-18: Jive goes after open-source; iPhone app approval issues

• Why is Jive bad-mouthing Drupal and Liferay? - They've already pulled the whitepaper and backtracked which is probably wise.  I wonder who ok'd the strategy in the first place?
  
• As Apple reconsiders Pulitzer winner's iPhone app, news outlets should think twice about iPad strategy - More odd approvals of iPhone apps.
  

links for 2010-03-18: Elastic Caching Platforms; Whole Web; Google Calendar

• Elastic Caching Platforms Balance Performance, Scalability, And Fault Tolerance - A nice write-up on caching platforms and their benefits.
  
• Tim O'Reilly: 'Whole Web' is the OS of the future - Open source has allowed the Google's of the world to get to where they are and control the data.  And as I wrote previously, it is all about the data and the analytics you can perform on it.
  
• Google targets admins with meeting rescheduler for calendar - Sounds like a useful feature.
  

links for 2010-03-17: Facebook passes Google; Mono on Droid; Switching to Google Apps; Open-source and innovation

• Facebook more visited than Google - Like the author says, it is one statistic for one week, but still interesting.
• MonoDroid for Google Android phones - This is great for the platform.  Also a mention of Silverlight for the iPhone but will Apple allow it?
  
• Google releases tool to simplify switch from Exchange to Apps - Making it easier to make the switch.
  
• Red Hat CEO: Open-source economics key to innovation - It's true, without open-source we don't have Google, Facebook, Twitter, and many many more.
  

links for 2010-03-01: Liferay adopts LGPL; Oracle on Cloud; Google Facts; Intel uses IE 6!; Hollywood and digital downloads

• Liferay adopts the LGPL license - I can understand the reasoning, but see this for the link on dual-licensing.
• Oracle likes cloud computing after all - John outlines a very pragmatic approach which is very much just selling hardware/software to customers for their "clouds", supporting their software to be used by some cloud vendors, and renting a few of their apps.  Not much new there.
• Google Facts and Figures - Stanford did well ($336M to license a patent), 20 PB of data a day is hard to fathom, and 97% of revenue still from advertising.
• Intel still using IE 6 - But that isn't the only obstacle in moving to Windows 7.
• Hollywood's losing digital downloads battle - Similar to Oracle above, clinging to current business models.

links for 2010-02-25: Amazon SimpleDB; SOA and the Cloud; Dual Licensing

• Amazon SimpleDB introduces consistency options - For those that want traditional consistency/concurrency control in the database.
• When Your SOA Using Cloud is Too Distributed and Complex - But we are increasingly moving to more distributed systems.  The key is to not use synchronous calls where not required and use messaging as much as possible to decouple systems.
• Data vs Dual Licensing: Which Will Make More Money? - Good discussion of the challenges of dual licensing.
  

Oracle and Sun's Open Source Projects

When I wrote my Analysis of Oracle's Strategy for Sun's Middleware, I made mention of Oracle's somewhat vague statements about the future of several open-source communities and projects.  GlassFish is a special case and I covered it as such, but a couple key projects that did not have clear plans articulated were OpenESB and OpenSSO.

For OpenESB at least, and perhaps this is an indication of what will happen with OpenSSO, we do have more clarity from an e-mail sent on the users alias a couple days ago.  Thanks to Frank for sending it, and he highlights a few key things about OpenESB and GlassFish ESB:

• Oracle does not intend to let the project disappear and will keep it on java.net/Kenai.
• Oracle has scaled down the investments in OpenESB from what they were at Sun.
• There is a hope the community will step up to fill the void left by the reduced investment.
• Existing GlassFish ESB customers will be supported and can buy more licenses, but there is no intent to sell licenses to new customers.

There is also an updated governance document that continues to require a Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) to be signed to contribute and outlines Oracle's special role in the project as steward and reserves the right to:

• Accept/reject committers
• Veto the roadmap
• Veto changes to the OpenESB website
• Accept / reject changes to this governance document

So in effect, they will continue to provide the infrastructure for the project but also maintain strict control of the project.  The question then is how these rights will be exercised.  My guess is that as long as what is proposed/contributed is an evolution of what exists they will remain fairly hands off.  However, should anything that is there become competitive to or a threat to an Oracle product, I'd expect the rights above to be exercised to some degree to address that.

It is also very important to note that by continuing to require the SCA to contribute, Oracle maintains copyright to all the code and thus the right to use anything developed and contributed in Oracle commercial product under a non-open-source license.  I don't think folks should be scared away by this alone, but it is something to remember and not be surprised by should features or code from OpenESB show up in Fusion Middleware.

This is good news for several of the companies that have formed around the development of components and implementation using OpenESB like Logicoy, ForgeRock, Pymma, Imola, Adjoovo, and more, as it means they don't have to create their own fork(s) and can continue to collaborate together in the community.

It is now up to the community to step up and contribute and see how this plays out for real, but the opportunity for them to do so is great news.  Will this same model be applied to OpenSSO?  We'll have to wait and see.

Visible Source Software

I spent the last three days at Gartner's Application Architecture, Development, and Integration (AADI) Summit in Nashville. I had attended the AIWS conference in December and many of the themes were similar but there was some new information and predictions made that was great to hear.

I also had a chance to talk with several analysts, one of which, Mark Driver, has open source software as one of his focus areas. Something we talked about and he subsequently presented on is that many companies are positioning themselves as building open source software but that it isn't always the case that it is really open source. In fact, he says that Gartner will be changing their identification of some from open source to something else. This is because companies are using open source licenses that aren't truly open, either through not being able to use and extend the code or not being able to contribute back in any way.

Mark liked to think of this as accessible source software (doesn't result in a good acronym, although perhaps appropriate) and I suggested we talk about this kind of software as visible source software. In his presentation he talked about this as gated source software.

I like visible source as I think it properly distinguishes between those companies that are truly open, have a community, and opportunity for "outsiders" to join the community and contribute, and those that simply make their source available and try to benefit from the open source label but don't really allow for anyone to directly participate or become a contributor or committer. For all intents and purposes, the software is simply "visible" to others.

At Sun, we clearly believe in true open source software and this is evidenced by the contributors and committers in Project Open ESB. There are 7 companies listed as Community Partners, many of which are building components for the platform and several of those in open source with commit rights to the project, plus a growing number of individuals with commit rights that are building and contributing to components being developed in the project and community.

If you are interested in joining a truly open source community, come join Project Open ESB.