Sun is now offering it’s Java Studio Creator and Java Studio Enterprise IDE tools for free download (both were previously paid products). Check here for more details.
Microsoft to update Windows to remove Sony’s CD protection ‘rootkit’
Microsoft have annouced that they will be updating their Malicious Software Removal Tool to detect and remove Sony’s CD protection ‘rootkit’.
A rootkit is a collection of software usually with malicious intent and installed on a computer usually without the owners knowledge to give someone else unrestricted access to a computer. Sony recently took this rather dubious route to protecting their music CDs by installing software on a users machine to detect the habits of the owner of a given music CD, and ‘phone home’ to Sony if the user was determined to be copying the CD illegally, presumably so Sony had evidence in order to prosecute that user.
Obviously this software has got a lot of attention from people upset with Sony’s covert tactic, and in a surprising response, Microsoft will be updating their security tools for users so the rootkit can be removed.
Article – “Is Ruby Replacing Java?”
Michael Yuan in his article in his blog Is Ruby replaing Java – not so fast”, Michael suggests that languages do not replace languages.
I am not sure I agree with this. Times change, technologies change, trends change. There is a strange trend probably driven by people working in marketing, for product companies to be able to ‘check the box’. I’ve seen this plenty of times working for product companies. Sometimes one of the largest selling points for a new technology based product is the technology it is written with. THink back to the scramble in the late 90s to implement systems with Java. It was the thing to do. If you competitor has already rewritten their system using language X or implemented using technology feature Y then product companies feel the pressure to follow suit otherwise they may lose out in the marketplace.
The other thing, is although Michael thinks that ‘languages do not replace languages’, new languages and new technologies always have a impact on existing languages and existing technologies. Probably for the same reasons – if a new technology comes along that catches a lot of interest amongst the development community then there is pressure for existing languages and or technologies to look at incorporating these new features just to stay upto date with the trends and to not lose developers.
I think this is going to be the greatest (beneficial) impact of Ruby on Rails to the Java EE technology stack. Someone has come along and shown how much easier it can be to build web applications, and now everyone is thinking, ‘wow, why can’t it be like that for us with Java?’. Well it can, and I think this is where we will be seeing changes in Java in the near future.
Gates acknowledges missed opportunities for Microsoft
Gates has acknowledged that his company has missed multiple opportunities to become the leader in technology areas such as Search (Google), rich-client applications using AJAX technology, web conferencing and IP-telephony (Skype) and two-way paging (RIM’s Blackberry), amongst others.
Ray Ozzie, who is acknowledged for the original concept and design of Lotus Notes, and now works for Microsoft, has warned Microsoft that they need to be alert and ready for the next technology wave. He believes this to be the development of Services, and Microsoft recent announcements suggest that their major offering in this area is going to be web delivered and enabled Office products, dubbed Windows Live and Office Live.
I am still not completely bought into the idea that consumers actually want to purchase their software products piecemeal over the internet. Pay a one time fee and download, yes, but run the application across the internet eith a web-based browser interface? I don’t think so. Not until the browser goes through a rehaul and comes more of a platform for delivering rich client applications. The browser core technology, HTML and HTTP is largely unchanged for the past 10 years. We need something new in this area to deliver rich applicaitons to users.
The largest potential in this area so far is Java’s Web Start Technology, that delivers client desktop applications across the internet and installs on your machine. The neat part about this technology is that it automatically ‘calls home’ to check for updates and downloads as required, so you can push new versions to your users. This technology I think has been underused so far, and offers the functionality that users are supposedly wanting right now.
Microsoft has already tried to offer us web based services and applications delivered from ‘pick n mix’ services – it was called Hailstorm (about 3 – 4 years ago?) and failed miserably. I wonder why Microsoft think this strategy is going to work now?