Do you have all those old floppy disks, CDRWs, or obsolete mass storage devices (Bernoulli, Zip100, Zip250, etc.) laying around somewhere with no devices to access them? If you have been involved in computing for more than 15-years, then you probably do. There is an interesting posting about how the Egyptians and ancients got it right. "Data Preservation and How Ancient Egypt Got it Right".
This has been a problem I have experienced in the past 15-years. Every new digital format means converting of translating all your archived data from one digital format to the next. Whether it is in a database, compressed files, obsolete file formats, or other it is a problem. I recently experienced this looking for a EasyCASE model of an application that was developed in the mid 1990s.
To my surprise, finding the model in the configuration management system was a challenge. Then finding the valid license keys for the EasyCASE software took a few days. This is only for modeling information that is slightly older than 10-years.
Data presevation and archaeology of our digital information is going worsen and become a challenge in the next few decades.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Java, IBM, and Sun
An article about IBM purchasing Sun written in 2002 is surprisingly relevant to today's current news. "When Will IBM Buy Sun?" published in April 2002 identified all the reasons why it made good strategic sense for IBM back then. The bottom line, it is all about Java. Just as analysts and bloggers today are debating.
On the surface level, it makes sense. Sun is figuring out how to monetize its Java technology and IBM is monetizing its Java quite well. IBM has been on an acquisition spree these past few years adding to its portfolio making some very strategic and sometimes unexpected purchases (i.e. Telelogic, Cognos). Will IBM do it in 2009? We will know later this year.
On the surface level, it makes sense. Sun is figuring out how to monetize its Java technology and IBM is monetizing its Java quite well. IBM has been on an acquisition spree these past few years adding to its portfolio making some very strategic and sometimes unexpected purchases (i.e. Telelogic, Cognos). Will IBM do it in 2009? We will know later this year.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Disruption in the Gaming World, OnLive
The game console war between PS3, Xbox360, and Wii may have been disrupted. OnLive, is a new on-line gaming business model that is seven years in the making! The article, "OnLive could threaten XBox360, PS3, and Wii", describes the new player. OnLive is created by WebTV founder, Steve Perlman and former EIDOS CEO Mike McGarvey. So it has some heavy hitters behind it and has gained interest from EA, Ubisoft, Atari, and others.
OnLive uses the cloud/web delivery model. It works on any internet capable device. Currently supporting PCs, Macs, and web enabled TVs. Impressive! This one to watch. OnLive just may be a game changer if it can deliver on its promises.
OnLive uses the cloud/web delivery model. It works on any internet capable device. Currently supporting PCs, Macs, and web enabled TVs. Impressive! This one to watch. OnLive just may be a game changer if it can deliver on its promises.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Software Wars
This is a great visualization of the Software Wars where the Empire of Microsoft is at war with Everyone. It provides a really nice view of the many fronts and players in the software universe over the past 11 years (since 1998). Here is the most current map. It is really interesting to compare this to the first map back in March 1998.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
MVC Web Frameworks and .NET in 2009
MS just released ASP.NET MVC RC2 yesterday which requires .NET 3.5 SP1. I can now see a dependency between the two. This stuff is still not entirely stable yet. This is in contrast to how Java MVC frameworks are not necessarily dependent on JDK updates. So it appears that ASP.NET MVC and the .NET 3.5 framework are co-dependent. This is not a good thing for stability and is bit on the accidental-edge. From where I sit, it looks like MS is back to its usual tactics with using the underlying framework (or OS, or API, or whatever) to remain in the drivers seat. It looks like ASP.NET MVC is driving the change to the .NET 3.5 framework.
Note: .NET 3.5 was released in Nov2007. .NET 3.5 SP1 was released in Nov2008.
The Microsoft Entity Framework, aka ADO.NET Entity Framework, implements the Model aspect of ASP.NET MVC and is tightly coupled to .NET 3.5 SP1. Based on a few blogs, it appears that MS is having problems with their MVC implementation “Testers give Microsoft’s Entity Framework a no-confidence vote” as late as June 2008. Here we are in March 2009 after 9-months and it is still an evolving work in progress.
In contrast, MVC webapp frameworks in Java (since 2000) and many Web2.0 languages (PHP, Ruby) have been around for years.
ASP.NET MVC is still trying to get out of the gates. Looks like Microsoft came to MVC party after the cleanup was done. At least they showed up. I recall looking for MVC webapp frameworks for .NET back in 2005-2006 and found nothing at the time.
Note: .NET 3.5 was released in Nov2007. .NET 3.5 SP1 was released in Nov2008.
The Microsoft Entity Framework, aka ADO.NET Entity Framework, implements the Model aspect of ASP.NET MVC and is tightly coupled to .NET 3.5 SP1. Based on a few blogs, it appears that MS is having problems with their MVC implementation “Testers give Microsoft’s Entity Framework a no-confidence vote” as late as June 2008. Here we are in March 2009 after 9-months and it is still an evolving work in progress.
In contrast, MVC webapp frameworks in Java (since 2000) and many Web2.0 languages (PHP, Ruby) have been around for years.
ASP.NET MVC is still trying to get out of the gates. Looks like Microsoft came to MVC party after the cleanup was done. At least they showed up. I recall looking for MVC webapp frameworks for .NET back in 2005-2006 and found nothing at the time.
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