Scary Software, Part Deux
Continuing my complaints about Java Web Start, as if the message displayed on Windows under Java 1.5 isn't bad enough, here's what a slightly older version of Java displays on Linux:
I highlighted the message near the bottom in yellow: "It is highly…" I mean, really, what is the point? I can spend several hundreds of dollars (annually) on a certificate to change that message to "This application was signed by R. Pito Salas and Associates", and that would assure people who know me personally. I would hope my user base grows beyond that 🙂
BlogBridge Beta 2 almost ready
Well we've been busy little beavers and are getting ready to release BlogBridge Beta 2. It has quite a few nifty new features! I will write a little more about it tomorrow or Monday.
We've done a total overhaul of the content of the web site (the look/design is unchanged.) Take a look at our Brand New Web Site
An important change in opening the kimono a bit more is that you will find a direct link from our web site to install and run the beta. You are of course invited to join the beta group, but if you just want to play, go for it. Click here to download and run BlogBridge.
BlogBridge Beta 2 is now available to play with
Hey, check out our new and improved web site. There is lots of new content, particulary a bunch of screen shots and a greatly augmented FAQ.
Also if you want to try BlogBridge Beta 2 (0.5.3) just click here.
Java Web Start Sucks Eggs
I've written about this before, and after all it is fairly (no, very) esoteric. Java Web Start is Java's approach to installation and distribution and updating of Java desktop applications.
It's a really nice idea but it just is too full of problems. With a small project like BlogBridge, I guess it saves us some work, and so we use it, warts and all. Anyway, here is a bit that I found that articulates in great gory detail all the problems. I concur and I suffer with you.
Oddpost Sold to Yahoo!
Dave Winer comments on the sale of OddPost to Yahoo. I've been an avid OddPost fan for a while and I am glad to see them succeed. It's an impressive tour the force, an existence proof that you can build quite a nice UI in a browser.
One critical detail which is a bit mysterious to me : OddPost today runs only on Internet Explorer, and in particular, not on Macintosh. This, I assume, because the incredibly subtle and tricky code they had to write to pull of their magic made them not-cross-platform. Clearly Yahoo wouldn 't buy them if they weren't convinced that this limitation could be lifted.
But can it? And how does this relate to the recent dust up around Apple's statement that they are adding (incompatible) "enhancements" to allow Safari to be better integrated and interoperable with OSX? People are worried about the divergence of standards.
Scary Software
I love those security guys just as much as the next guy but this certificate crazyness is ridiculous. Look at this message that a poor unsuspecting user sees when they try to run a downloaded java application:
Inspires confidence, doesn't it? The absurd part is this: I can go out and spend several hundred dollars to get an actual official certificate which certifies tht I am indeed BlogBridge Inc. How does that help anyone?
A guy in Kansas sees that Microsoft or Sun promises me that Verisign promises me that this software is really from BlogBridge, Inc. Big Deal! Who the heck is BlogBridge Inc?
Unless you are Microsoft or General Electric, who knows if they can trust you? It's a big farce built upon beautiful and elegant mathematics and cryptography which is correct and yet impotent
Technical tweak to this blog
In tracking down a 'bug' in BlogBridge I discovered that my RSS feed for this blog has abbreviated items, that is, without html and limited to a certain number of words. That's not what I wanted so with this new posting I should have full items.
To test this, this line is bold
- And this line is bulletted
Downloadable Car Horn Sounds!?
Did you know that you (or your teenager) can buy cool new ring tones for their cell phone? They cost a buck or two and are quite the rage, especially in countries other than the US 🙂 You probably knew this.
Did you know that this buck or two is actually only good for a month or two of use of the ring tone, after which you would have to buy a renewal or more likely a new one? You might or might not have known this.
How about the fact (at least I heard it as fact in more than one place, but I cannot corroborate) that downloadable ring tones account for a $3.5 BILLION business. Hard to believe isn't it?
Well here's a cute idea (which is so cute, we can bet it will happen) which I heard tossed out by someone at JavaOne. With cars being equipped with more and more electronics, including now GPS and two way communication, how about a business selling downloadable Horn Sounds for your car?
Is the latest single from WhoUKnow all the rage? How about using that rif for your horn? How about a Star Trek Condition-Red Claxon?
It could happen… 🙂
[JAVAONE] User Interface Design
Someone whose oppinion I listen to, Karsten Lentzch, recommends these books about user interface design:
Background: I went to a couple of presentations by Karsten Lentzch at JavaOne. He is the author of an impressive Java/Swing user interface library, called JGoodies. I've been using his stuff in BlogBridge from almost the very start so it was good to meet him face to face.
In fact it was basically a go-no go question for me on using Java for BlogBridge: "Can a beautiful user interface be built with Java?" In the end, I discovered JGoodies and decided that it was possible, and so decided to go with Java.
[GEEK/JAVAONE] Java Web Start – still falling short
Java Web Start is a piece of Java platform that's meant to ease the deployment and updating of Java applications. It's a great idea, but disappointingly implemented. There were several JavaOne sessions about Web Start.
There are some great enhancements coming in Java 5.0 (1.5)
A semi-miraculous JAR compression technology (called Pack200, who knows why) which in some cases achieves a claimed 10-1 compression. You need to know that Java applications are notoriously huge because and so this is welcome news.
Beyond this, there are a set of features allowing more control of the placement of shortcuts, onto the desktop, in the start menu, and various other items.
However, disappointingly, I have to say that they still don't get it. If Java wants to support the creation of no-compromise user experiences on the desktop more is needed:
there is insufficient control of shortcut placement
there still is no crossplataform, cross browser, automatic download of the required run time libraries (JRE)
And worse, when asked when these and other deficiencies would get corrected the speaker said something along the lines of: "oh those are good ideas that we are talking about. We'll consider it for the next release."
With 1.5 to 2.5 year release cycle this is not really good enough