Regular readers of my blog might be surprised to learn that I have been running an Apple PowerMac as my primary home desktop for the past two and a half years. I like the digital hub strategy. My wife found the Mac slightly easier to use than our previous machine, a Linux box. (I run… Continue reading Alpine Car Stereo + Ipod
Java Webstart with Eclipse Rich Client Platform and Linux
With Linux I run Fedora Core 3. Something in Fedora Core 3 broke the Java Webstart which ships with JDK1.4.2 and JDK1.5.0. It is not fixed in JDK1.5.0 update 1, but is scheduled to be fixed in update 2. javaws uses all available cpu and does not exit. Workaround A Sun engineer has kindly provided… Continue reading Java Webstart with Eclipse Rich Client Platform and Linux
First Thoughts on Eclipse Platform
This week I have been part of a team working on an Eclipse Platform application to be launched from JNLP, or Java WebStart, as it is better known. We are using Eclipse 3.0. Problems My complaints are as follows: build.xml is being deleted Whenever I build my project from the Eclipse IDE it deletes my… Continue reading First Thoughts on Eclipse Platform
OSDL Conference Key Thoughts: Linus Torvalds, Andrew Morton, Mitch Kapor, Brian Behlendorf
On Security Brian Behlendorf thinks that computer systems are going to be understood in far more biological terms in the future. We talk about viruses and anti-viruses. How about vaccines? He points out that many viruses and worms are not harmful but they could be. In this way they are like vaccines, where an infectious… Continue reading OSDL Conference Key Thoughts: Linus Torvalds, Andrew Morton, Mitch Kapor, Brian Behlendorf
MSN Test Drive: “java sucks” vs “.net sucks”
The first question on my mind about MSN’s new search engine is whether it provides an unbiased view of the Internet. Judge for yourself “java sucks” Google: 410,000 MSN: 846,373 “.net sucks” Google: 3,000,000 MSN: 245,041
Report from Day One of the OSDL Linux Enterprise Summit
I am attending the OSDL Linux Enterprise Summit in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco. Interestingly a good proportion of the attendees are corporte lawyers. The focus right now is on getting the law right to avoid future difficulties. Following are some highlights from day one. Open Source Licensing, Larry Rosen Used to be mainly… Continue reading Report from Day One of the OSDL Linux Enterprise Summit
Performance Benchmark Results: JVM vs CLR
I was talking with someone the other day about Java vs .NET performance. I have never thought that much about it. He said that .NET was fast because it had a Just In Time compiler (“JIT”). I choked on my coffee. Java’s JVM has had a JIT for about 6 years now. Not only that,… Continue reading Performance Benchmark Results: JVM vs CLR
An open source key value: Standards over Products
What values does an organisation require to enable the use of open source software? A utopian view of the world. A board of ex-communists? I have been thinking about this recently in the context of the company I work for. We have great open source skills. We are looking for the subtle cultural things that… Continue reading An open source key value: Standards over Products
Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays vs Saturnalia
This Christmas I noticed for the first time the use of the term “Happy Holidays”. I cannot find who created this term. It is closely related to the term “Happy New Year”, so I suspect it came from that. Ideas often take some time to make it to Australia. It seems this trend started in… Continue reading Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays vs Saturnalia
6 Kg of Vegemite
For those of you (the whole world outside Australia) who have not discovered the joy of Vegemite, click [here](http://www.vegemite.com.au/). We worked out our consumption was 500 grams per month; therefore we need 6 KG to last the year. Fortunately, the supersize jar of Vegemite is 1 KG, so we only need 6 jars.