Woohoo! JES is free

Today Sun announced to bundle Sun Java Enterprise System, Sun N1 management software and other development tools with the already free Solaris operating system. I welcome this decision. With this Sun is not reinventing itself, it is just bringing its' free soul out. Sun tried ealier to give the hardware free at the cost of the software but I guess this makes a much more sense. BTW, I am also happy because one of my pet projects will come to a proper end. I was given the task to create http://devservices.sun.com which allows subscription based software/patches and content downloads. With JES going free I guess this portal is not necessary. It makes me happy when a project comes to its' logical end. A proper EOL'ing.

Is Utopia hard to achieve?

1. I work from home.
2. My car runs with solar energy.
3. Winters are coming, I need to get my tokamak cleaned.
4. I just sent the electronic key of the house I sold online.
5. I now type with my thoughts.
6. I am not afraid of flying anymore, we have bubble seats in the planes.
7. I don't pay anything for my phone.
8. I don't buy CPUs, I don't even know where it is.
9. My leader is obligated to me to answer.

There was a king

There was a king. Very fond of new clothings. He was surrounded by his courtesans who always kept him flattered. He wanted a new dress everyday. Tired to keep up his demands the tailor decided to play a trick on him. One day he stiched him an invisible dress. Proclaimed, only people with pure heart can see the dress. No one could see it but everyone praised how beautiful the dress was. The king roamed around his kingdom seeing everyone praising it. One poor man asked the king why was he naked? Hang him! ordered the king. We don't want people with impure heart in my kingdom - the king gave the reason. The poor man was hanged.

Everyone knows this story. Now look around! how many such kings do you see?

Phil Ivy and the Ace Queen

Sixth time on the WPT final table and the Ace Queen did the damage again for Phil Ivy. I like his play, he is one aggressive player and I would like him to win a WPT title one day. The jinx he has with the Ace-Queen though is still holding off for him. Everytime he loses a turn around pot, he had played his Ace queen. Everyone else come and go but only few stand. Phil Ivy is one of them. Sure we will see him again.

10 reasons not to use to make someone (project?) manager

He was there from the start of the project.

He is the oldest guy in the team.

I know him personally.

He is technically good, we have to promote him.

Hiring a manager from outside is a lengthy process.

He likes football like me.

He says he used to manage projects in his last job.

He has some good ideas but doesn't know programming.

He has been a developer for a very long time.

We just created this new group and we need a manager quick.

Solaris and Postgres - Never would have imagined it.

So today Sun announced the support for Postgres database - an opensourced database distributed with RH linux, on its' Solaris10 operating system. And once again I have a story to tell. In my first job Postgres was the only database I worked with. It was on Solaris 2.6. Everybody else in my laboratory (Yes thats right) was playing with SQLserver, Access and screaming to get Oracle installed and I was happy with Postgres. Reason? It was free. It was good. and the concept of objects it has built in, and it was just v6.5 then. On the other hand Solaris has always been my favorite OS - no I am not a Solaris guru but have grown up around it. It is a good feeling to see these two of my favorites coming closer.

VC's pointers and its application to developers

BBC published an interview with venture capitalist Doug Richard, one of the dragons of the BBC's "Dragons Den" programme. He mentions five things he looks for in a venture before investing his money. How does these rules apply to a developer?

1. Return on investment - Immense satisfaction
2. Innovation  - The essence
3. A good team - Yeah it helps!
4. Market opportunity - What?
5. Business plan - Whats that?