"sun" entries

Developer Week in Review: Are APIs intellectual property?

APIs may be IP, and C remains popular, even when obfuscated.

We look at the legal status of APIs and how the Oracle versus Google suit may be affecting it, along with the relative popularity of languages and the world's worst C programs.

Developer Week in Review: Talking to your phone

Getting serious about Siri, Open Office on the rocks, and Google embraces SQL.

This week, we ask if Apple's Siri has more than novelty value, and decide it does. Open Office needs you (or at least your money) to stay afloat, and Google bends to developer pressure and finally adds SQL support to its cloud computing platform.

Developer Week in Review: Android proves fruitful for Microsoft

More bucks for Microsoft, more horsepower for SPARC, and more votes for ... someone.

Samsung agrees to pay Microsoft royalties for Android use. Elsewhere, Oracle keeps the SPARC line alive, and the hackability of voting machines is exposed.

Developer Week in Review: Linux turns the big 3.0

The Linux kernel gets to 3.0, Oracle is bitten by the Internet's long memory, and more lawsuit fever.

The Linux kernel gets to version 3.0. Meanwhile, Oracle doesn't seem to remember the warm reception that Sun gave Android, and big players get lawsuits on their doorsteps.

Four short links: 20 January 2011

Four short links: 20 January 2011

Javascript Code Editing, Sun's Open Source Projects, Emulators, and Online Classes

  1. Ajax Code Editor — MPL/GPL/LGPL-licensed Javascript code editor that can be embedded into web sites. This used to be Mozilla Skywriter which used to be Mozilla Bespin. (via Mozilla Labs blog)
  2. Sun A Year After: The Open Source Projects — roundup of what happened to Sun’s open source projects after the Oracle acquisition. It’s like the plague struck: some are dead, some are dying, some are fearful, others plough on resolutely.
  3. libcpu — open source library for emulating CPUs, built on llvm. (via a Stackoverflow answer on emulators)
  4. MIT Open Courseware Supports Independent Learners — they’ve taken some popular classes and made sure the material stands alone, by writing new material to replace references to closed/offline/etc. textbooks. OCW Scholar is not a distance-learning program, but rather educational materials provided for free without the support of an instructor or teaching assistant. The trade-off for this content-based approach without interaction is that OCW Scholar can be used by a very large audience for only the cost of digital distribution. How long until cheap teaching universities spring up, offering the MIT courseware with on-site TAs?

Brian Aker on post-Oracle MySQL

A deep look at Oracle's motivations and MySQL's future

In time for next week’s MySQL Conference & Expo, Brian Aker discussed a number of topics with us, including Oracle’s motivations for buying Sun and the rise of NoSQL.

Four short links: 24 September 2009

Four short links: 24 September 2009

Historic Cartography, MySQL Futures, Timewarping GDB, Open Source Werewolves

  1. Milestones in the History of Thematic CartographyThis resource provides a comprehensive view of the history of cartography, with examples of maps created throughout the ages and background information about the contexts within which those maps, visualizations and map making technologies were created. Explore each time period, click on the images and stories found throughout each time line, and read more about the history of creating thematic maps as a means of visualizing data. (via Titine on Delicious)
  2. Interview with Larry Ellison (Infoworld) — Asked about MySQL, “No, we’re not going to spin it off,” even if asked to by the EU, Ellison said. Lots of detail and interesting tidbits in this interview. (via timoreilly on Twitter)
  3. GDB and Reverse DebuggingGDB version 7.0 (due September 2009) will be the first public release of gdb to support reverse debugging (the ability to make the program being debugged step and continue in reverse). (via Hacker News)
  4. A New Self-Definition for FOSSThere was this clamour in the past to get companies to open source their products. This has stopped, because all the software that got open source sucked. It’s just not very interesting to have a closed source program get open sourced. It doesn’t help anyone, because the way closed source software is created in a very different way than open source software. The result is a software base that just does not engage people in a way to make it a valid piece of software for further development. I don’t agree entirely with this quoted piece, but there’s a lot to what he says. Open source is not a silver bullet–hell, most people don’t even know what the werewolf is. Open sourcing doesn’t magically make developers appear, open sourcing doesn’t magically make a market appear. Your closed source problems still exist after you open source because it’s. not. about. you. It’s about the users and their comfort, abilities, and freedoms. (via Simon Willison)

OSCON: The saga of MySQL

At OSCON in 2006, I followed sessions that discussed how open source companies would fare when big corporations come in. Back then there were only a handful of examples of big companies purchasing small open source companies. Three years later, we've witnessed MySQL AB get swallowed by Sun, only to have Sun be swallowed by Oracle. Now there are…

Missed Twitter Questions from Jonathan Schwartz Interview at Web 2.0 Expo

In the Jonathan Schwartz interview at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco yesterday, I screwed up. After learning we weren't set up for audience Q&A with microphones, I thought, "well then, I'll just suggest to the audience that they twitter questions @timoreilly, and I'll check my phone during the interview." I kept checking, but no questions. Bummer. Not…

MySQL User Conference Registration Up 32%

I was interested to note that as of this morning, attendee registration numbers for the MySQL User Conference (which O'Reilly co-produces with MySQL) are up 32% over the same period last year. This seems to be a good sign that the community is energized by MySQL's acquisition by Sun. The conference takes place April 14-17 at the Santa Clara…