Agile and PMI Debate Continues in 2010

In the "Two Worlds Collide: PMI and Agile", a recent PMI Network article apparently has stirred the pot of the ongoing Agile vs. PMI debate. Having worked in both PM-centric and agile environments, making them co-exist is possible. Both sides have the same goals. Their means and focal points a just different. I didn't really see a conflict in the recent PMI Network article, "The Sweet Spot", but that is just my perspective.

It basically states a viewpoint. Agile or PM-centric is just another component in the arsenal of tools for leaders to solve problems applying 'peopleware'. On a positive note, at least everyone continues to debate this issue.

Google Web Toolkit Tools for Java

Google acquired the Java tooling division of Instantiations and just rebranded and re-released their suite of Java tools for free. Wow! This is some really high-quality tools for the Eclipse Platform and IDE. Here is the Google Web Toolkit Blog announcement, "Google Relaunches Instantiations Developers Tools - Now Available for Free"

In this suite includes GWT Designer, WindowBuilder Pro (Swing, SWT, GWT, XWT, RCP), CodePro AnalytiX, and WindowTester Pro.

This was unexpected but a welcome early X-Mas present for Java developers!

Chrome 6

Google released Chrome 6 and I have just decided that is has earned the Default Browser status on my personally owned computers. (Mac, Linux, and Windows). This used to be the throne where Firefox but now I feel that speed and simplicity is king when it comes to web browsers. Chrome 6 arrives just in time for cake provides a respectable overview of what's new in Chrome.

Where is Mobile Net Access?

Yesterday, my 10-year old son was asking me questions about the radio in the car. As I was explaining to to him the different channels and frequencies (AM/FM) he then asked, "so where is the access point?" Good question I thought to myself. Where is the access point for the in-vehicle entertainment system? I am sure he implied WiFi access point.

So I showed him and explained where the antenna was embedded in the glass windshield and in the rear glass window. Then I started thinking, what he really meant in his question was the WiFi access point for the car. In his life, everywhere he goes there is free WiFi as long as you are within range of the 'access point'. At least that is his perception of it. His laptop computer, PSP, DS, netbooks, PS3, and almost all these devices that he deals with at home and school on a daily basis all have built-in WiFi capability.

This is definitely one question I equate to "Where are the flying cars?" that I had in my head since I was around his age. It's the 21st century and we still do not have them. Therefore, I hope in the next 20-30 years that mobile net access does not turn out like the visions of flying cars has for my generation, a vivid imagination and elusive dream.

At least for the ubiquitous mobile net access everywhere, the technology hurdles are not mechanical in nature. We already have all the components available to make this happen. The companies and governments trying to solve this problem keep running into techo-political wars. It's all just techno-politics and battles now.

Call Any Phone from GMail

Google released a new capability of GMail, calling any phone from within GMail yesterday, 08/25/2010. Call Phones from Gmail. So I got around to trying it out today, 08/26/2010. I am impressed.

Google's web applications and services are just becoming stickier.

The Patent Parts of the Oracle vs. Google Android Lawsuit

This article is a nice diversion pertaining to the patent details of the Oracle vs. Java/Android lawsuit, "The Oracles vs. Google Patent Lawsuit Demystified". This one made me chuckle. The five alleged patent violations are questionable and appear to fit the frivolous category.

Oracle lawsuit against Google over Java and Android

This one was sort of expected after Oracle acquired Sun. So now we know what Oracle's true intentions are for Sun's Java technology. When I first saw this news my initial reaction was one of disgust. Then after reading quite a few articles, opinions, and various other blogs I came to the point that this was anticipated. It just took a while after the Sun acquisition.

On a related note, Oracle also is canceling OpenSolaris which was announced in the same week. So as for Oracle's open source support, we now know which way the winds are blowing with Oracle at the helm of Java. Not to mention the JDK 1.6 fiasco a last month with Eclipse which was an early warning shot. "Oracle's Java lawsuit undermines its open source credibility" has a well written perspective on these recent events.

Product Version 4 and Apple

The vulnerable Version 4.0 hex has afflicted Apple. The iPhone 4 and iOS 4 appears to have caught the version 4 hex. The Version 4.0 label has affected many software and IT products over the past few decades and continues with the latest Apple fiasco since Apple released iPhone 4 in June 2010. Regardless of whether or not there are really any issues with the iPhone 4's antenna or the iOS 4.0's algorithms, Version 4 has affected Apple as it has past technology products in the IT industry.

Great Overview of Android and Java

Here is a really good overview of Android and Java, "Embracing the Android awesomeness: A quick overview". It describes the Dalvik JVM, Android SDK, and Android NDK. The NDK is the Native-code Development Kit which is a companion tool to the SDK tat lest Android application developers build performance-critical portions of their apps in native code.

Editing Video in the Cloud with YouTube

YouTube has recently announced that you can now edit your videos all within your browser. Check out this blog posting. This is really impressive. So now you can edit videos, create a new mash-up of videos, and even add audio to it all within your web browser!

Agility and the DoD

The DoD is looking at Agile development techniques more seriously lately. The "Command and Control" Gets Agile explores recent developments. Like any large organization, becoming agile is not just an initiative but a fundamental cultural and organizational change. At least this is acknowledged in 'The Agility Imperative' and related topical discussions taking place within the C2 circles.

What is not surprising is the how open source technology has been successful in non-DoD organizations as stated in "Agile can help DoD save its projects". A consistent organizational pattern emerges where agility is successful on a limited scope implementation but not on a larger enterprise level. So the on going question is, how to implement agility into the existing bureaucracy? Yet another viewpoint is described in "Agile and the DoD" whitepaper. Time will tell on this one.

Graphs and Disruptive Database Technology

I read a really good article recently about graph databases and the NOSQL (Not Only SQL) movement that has been rapidly changing the web. "Graph Databases, NOSQL, and Neo4j" This article is highly technical computer science and has a lot of useful links and references. Plan to keep an eye on this stuff since it is where database technology and web development is heading.

The transaction-less CAP-theorem and BASE (Basically Available, Soft-state, Evenutally) systems theory are of particular interest. A good argument against why the tried-and-proven ACID theory no longer always works on the web is presented and makes a lot of sense.

The article does a nice Neo4J description and walkthrough.

Adobe's New Development Tools for 2010

Adobe is moving in the right direction with Flash Builder 4 based what I have read. "Adobe Launches Flash Builder 4" provides a good overview of its features. There is a new component framework supported in this release called, Spark. Here is a brief Spark overview and a sample Spark application.

Of real interest is the Catalyst expressive design tool mentioned. Read more about Catalyst in the Adobe Labs.

Father of Java Resigns and Comtemplates the Future

This is a notable news item more for historical purposes of the Java technology ecosystem, "Father of Java" Resigns from Sun/Oracle. My initial reaction to this is a bit of sadness since John Gosling has been a instrumental leader for Java technology. I wonder if IBM or Google is talking with Mr. Gosling. He will be missed but I think his decision is a good one.

The future of Java innovation and where Gosling ends up will be something to watch. Here is John Gosling's blog entry announcing his decision. I think this graphic says it all.

Java on Android better than iPhone?

Google Android has only been available for a short time compared to the Apple iPhone and it is already showing its prowess as a serous tool. Java is the underlying foundation for Android and thus its power. "Where Android beats the iPhone" provides an excellent argument as to why Android has some serious advantages over the iPhone.

If you know Java and use Eclipse, you are only a few hours away from creating your first Android application. Some really impressive features on Android are GScript and Remote DB. GScript allows you to create small applications that allows the saving/editing and running of shell scripts from within Android and fire them off with a tap. Remote DB lets you turn any SQL query into a button that searches the database remotely, then displays the results.

Here's an interesting point from the InfoWorld article:
"While Java programmers will feel right at home with Android on Eclipse, it isn't just for Java programmers; the phone can run any language embedded in Java. Projects like Jython and JRuby are great solutions, and dozens are out there. There are similar options in the iPhone world, but they're crippled by Apple's fear of meta-programming and the evils that can be done with eval."

Establishing an open ecosystem and leveraging Java is where Android shines. The integration with Eclipse in particular is where minimal training is required for experienced Java developers. This is definitely a mobile platform to watch if you are a Java developer.

Myths About Older Developers

I saw an interesting article about 'older developers', "Five Myths About Older Developers" which is an very relevant topic. I have been in the software engineering business professionally for 20 years now and have the perspective of the developer, team lead, architect, and project management viewpoints. The blog post, "Five Pervasive Myths About Older Developers" is an excellent discussion of this topic. The ServerSide discussion response threads about this topic are all lively and thoughtful.

What is particularly surprising to me is the notion that Java has become the new COBOL. The Java ecosystem exhibits many of the characteristics of what happened with COBOL over its history. However, I think Java is more dynamic and is continuing to evolve and adapt.

On another point, ageism is a area of interest to me in organizational behavior so this topic that will continue to be in the forefront in the software engineering business as our field continues to evolve.

Online Photo Editor, Pixlr

JAlbum recently released its online web application that includes an online photo editing tool, Pixlr. Pixlr is a very useful lightweight photo or image edit tool. Pixlr includes a Windows screen capture utility and a Firefox plugin, called Pixlr Grabber.

I tested the online photo editing tool, Pixlr Editor, and was able to import and crop images from my local machine with no problems. This is really impressive and just simply works.

OpenGL and DirectX Dilemma 2010

The graphics API wars and the business as usual tactics employed by Microsoft continue. "Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX" contains a very good overview of the Direct3D vs. OpenGL (back in the late 90s) and the current DirectX vs. OpenGL debate occurring today. This blog posting, "OpenGL instead of DirectX" provides an excellent overview of the advantages OpenGL has and a concise recap of the historical debate that has occurred in the gaming development industry. Seems that many gaming developers today have forgotten recent history.

At any rate, the bottom line is OpenGL is for the future (OpenGL supports Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, etc.) and DirectX is being driven by typical FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) that Microsoft has been successfully using for years. So if you are a serious game developer and want to support the future of gaming (i.e., mobile and web-based), then OpenGL is a very logical choice. Choosing DirectX will locks you into Windows and XBox only which is what Microsoft wants you to do. OpenGL opens up all the best modern platforms and future mobile/web/cloud platforms of the future.

Deploy Windows Applications with VMware ThinApp

VMware has a product called ThinApp (Wikipedia) (formerly Thinstall) which is an application virtualization and portable application creator suite by VMware that can package conventional applications so that they become portable applications. These thin apps virtualize the entire underlying Windows registry and device driver stack so that you can package and deploy portable applications on any type of storage device (i.e., USB drive, flash drive, etc...) Check it VMware Thinapp.

What makes ThinApp compeling is that users run applications on virtually any computer they have access to, including kiosk and hotel PCs. They won’t need to install software or device drivers and won’t need admin rights. Applications run directly from portable storage devices, including Flash drives.

Sounds promising... this is something to research in 2010.

Chrome on Linux Performance

I finally found the time to install, test and use Google Chrome (specifically Chromium) web browser for Linux. All I can say is wow! This browser is the fastest I have seen to date. In comparison to Firefox 3.5 on the same machine, this browser is blazingly fast. Especially YouTube for some reason. There apparently are some internal optimizations that Chrome implements or that YouTube exploits for video performance.

I installed the lastest Chromium on my Acer Aspire One Linux netbook and it just flies. Since doing this I have switched to using Chromium as my primary browser. The rough edges I see are Flash Player 10 support in some sites (like Hulu, Vevo) and some UI widget strangeness that are a minor annoyance. Overall, the lightning fast performance of Chrome on Linux far outweighs any of these minor annoyances which will be resolved as Chrome on Linux matures. Great job to the folks working on Chromium for Linux.