Friday, February 19, 2010
Archive for my blogs and other articles
Planning on keeping a "permanent" record of my blogs here - all my dev2dev blog have vanished into ether. I also need a place to store articles - maybe I should do a google site
Planning on keeping a "permanent" record of my blogs here - all my dev2dev blog have vanished into ether. I also need a place to store articles - maybe I should do a google site
Monday, January 01, 2007
Bill Gates need not lose any sleep....
I have been trying Google Spreadsheet and Document for a while and though they are both very cool (the collaboration part is real neat), it has a LONG way to go before it can catch up with Microsoft Office. The biggest problem is the responsiveness on the client side, though AJAX makes it better, it is not as smooth as a thick client. The other shortcoming is the lack of features, though most people only use a tiny part of Office's capabilities, however, when you need it you need it.
I have been trying Google Spreadsheet and Document for a while and though they are both very cool (the collaboration part is real neat), it has a LONG way to go before it can catch up with Microsoft Office. The biggest problem is the responsiveness on the client side, though AJAX makes it better, it is not as smooth as a thick client. The other shortcoming is the lack of features, though most people only use a tiny part of Office's capabilities, however, when you need it you need it.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Unbelievable
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1974076,00.html - the UK govt. has cancelled an investigation into a slush fund set up by BAE (major defence contractor) for the Saudi royal family. The slush fund was used to fund the royal family to "party" in return for a defence contract. Either the Blair govt. is worried about where the investigation may lead to or it is another instance of the west softening to threats from terrorists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1974076,00.html - the UK govt. has cancelled an investigation into a slush fund set up by BAE (major defence contractor) for the Saudi royal family. The slush fund was used to fund the royal family to "party" in return for a defence contract. Either the Blair govt. is worried about where the investigation may lead to or it is another instance of the west softening to threats from terrorists.
Savage Nation Rules!
Talk radio can be prettty fascinating. But most talk show hosts are idiots are party mouth pieces. The only one who stands apart is Michael Savage http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html - he is the only one who understands that talk radio should inform as well as ENTERTAIN! I certainly don't agree with all his opinions (esp. around globalization) but it is the only one I can listen to without changing the channel after five minutes.
Talk radio can be prettty fascinating. But most talk show hosts are idiots are party mouth pieces. The only one who stands apart is Michael Savage http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html - he is the only one who understands that talk radio should inform as well as ENTERTAIN! I certainly don't agree with all his opinions (esp. around globalization) but it is the only one I can listen to without changing the channel after five minutes.
Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Great book - beatifully written. Totally deserves the Booker prize
Great book - beatifully written. Totally deserves the Booker prize
Time Person of the year!
Time announced the person of the year and it is YOU! YAY! Go and celebrate. Another example of making people feel "good about themselves" vs. recognizing excellence.
Or maybe they thought it will boost circulation. IDIOTS!
Time announced the person of the year and it is YOU! YAY! Go and celebrate. Another example of making people feel "good about themselves" vs. recognizing excellence.
Or maybe they thought it will boost circulation. IDIOTS!
Friday, March 17, 2006
There are no ugly babies.....
A few weeks ago I ran into some old colleagues who are now working for a startup that has developed a tool to find bugs in C code. Yes, C - remember that programming language which was supposed to have become obsolete by now? What was even more surprising was that there are a lot of new projects starting in C as well. This shows that the world is a very heterogeneous place; and for a middleware solution to be successful it not only has to support the existing systems in place but also enable the developers and other technical staff there leverage their existing skills vs. forcing them to learn yet another language or set of APIs. That is what is so exciting about SOA and Web services, you can continue to work in your environment and it is the job of the service infrastructure like BEA's AquaLogic to make it all work together. Beacuse in the world of IT, there are no ugly babies.....
Repository vs. Registry.....
As SOA gains more momentum, it is being recognized that a service registry plays a crucial part in bringing together the service consumer and the provider. There is a good short article on the differences between a registry and a repository here http://www.bijonline.com/index.cfm?section=article&aid=233
Monday, August 08, 2005
Downfall - watched this great german movie about Hitler's last days. I think Saddam's final days as President of Iraq may have been similar - deluded and can't believe that it is all coming to an end. Guess all tryants are the same
I have moved my technical postings to dev2dev.bea.com
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
BOOK Reviews - I recently purchased two books at the Java One show - Enterprise Service Architecture by Dan Woods and Web Services Platform Architecture by Sanjiva Weerawarana and a bunch of IBM guys. The book by Dan Woods was sponsored by SAP to promote their ESA - nothing here that you probably couln't get off their web site. I will write more on ESA in a later post - in brief it is the SAP's vision of SOA.
Web Services Platform Architecture covers the major web services standards (SOAP, WSDL, BPEL etc.). It is an EXCELLENT book. The authors, ofcourse, are all experts in their fields and have driven the standards. What is really impressive is that they are able to get the core concepts across in such a lucid manner. This is the best book I have seen that covers the standards at this level.
Web Services Platform Architecture covers the major web services standards (SOAP, WSDL, BPEL etc.). It is an EXCELLENT book. The authors, ofcourse, are all experts in their fields and have driven the standards. What is really impressive is that they are able to get the core concepts across in such a lucid manner. This is the best book I have seen that covers the standards at this level.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Word of the day - normative : This is a word used quite a bit in XML related standards and of late, I have seen it being used in speech as well. Well, here is what it means - borrowed from www.whatis.com
normative In general, normative - pertaining to a norm - has two related meanings: (1) a prescriptive meaning (for example, the rules specified in a standard or guideline), and (2) a descriptive meaning (for example, the median salary range in an particular occupation).
In information technology standards, normative parts of a standard are those that specify what implementors should conform to and non-normative parts consist of examples, extended explanations, and other matter not dealing directly with the specifications.
In economics, a normative statement is one that states how things ought to be and is contrasted with a positive statement, one that states factually how things are.
normative In general, normative - pertaining to a norm - has two related meanings: (1) a prescriptive meaning (for example, the rules specified in a standard or guideline), and (2) a descriptive meaning (for example, the median salary range in an particular occupation).
In information technology standards, normative parts of a standard are those that specify what implementors should conform to and non-normative parts consist of examples, extended explanations, and other matter not dealing directly with the specifications.
In economics, a normative statement is one that states how things ought to be and is contrasted with a positive statement, one that states factually how things are.
