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  • 1 min read

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.

  • 1 min read

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.

  • 1 min read

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:

scary.JPG

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

  • 1 min read

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
  • 1 min read

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… 🙂

  • 1 min read

[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.

  • 1 min read

[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

  • 2 min read

[JAVAONE] Scott McNealy Keynote

I had never heard him speak - He's a lot of fun to listen to - funny and with a sense of his audience. This was a shorter keynote then yesterday. This wasn't the kind of rah-rah motivational speech that I was expecting. He did drive home a few points, clearly showing what he was most interested in us taking away:

  • Takeaway 1: Scott wants us to believe that Sun is highly viable. They will not be going away. $4 Billion in the bank, etc. Unit sales are growing - at least over the last 3 Quarters.

  • Takeaway 2: Scott wants us to know that Sun’s support of Java is unwavering. It is very expensive but it does help them to sell hardware. Sun is very keen on supporting the Java community and to ensure that no-one wonders whether Java is really behind us.

As he known for, Scott then launched into his 'rants' although they really were really quite tame. Here is what he is _' outraged' _over:

  • Where 's the outrage on the proposal that companies be forced to expence stock options? [I don't know - I don't understand the issues well enough but if Warren Buffet thinks its a good idea to force companies to treat the value of stock options as expenses, then it can't be that outragous.]

  • Where 's the outrage on viruses? [The angle here of course is that supposedly viruses only affect Microsoft systems, Java based systems. Even if this where true, I am not sure it says anything, given the disparity of the installed bases.]

  • Where 's the outrage on IBM pressuring Sun to Open Source Java? After all Sun has historically submitted more to Open Source than any other company – let them open source their own stuff. [Hmm, what about Eclipse?]

Some factoids:

  • 600 million Java smartcards shipped

  • 650 million PCs shipped with J2SE

  • "Who else has done smart card to mars rover compatibility” (which is a pretty impressive statement, except, why would you want that?)

  • 2 min read

Is the world ready for a replacement to Outlook?

Everyone loves to beat up on Microsoft's Outlook. Including me! See Outlook Haters Anyone? and Outlook 2003 Rant.

It is true that Outlook is a bit of an abomination. It's large, slow, and as of the latest release, the user interface has gotten that much worse.

Even Microsoft execs agree according to Rafe Needleman (see link above): "I confront Microsoft execs about these and other Outlook crimes whenever I get a chance. The result is usually a rolling of eyes ; the Microsofties know they have a problem child on their hands, but due in part to internal politics, it's a very hard product to fix. "

Still it is also true that everyone on the planet practically uses Outlook. I don't know the numbers but I bet it accounts for over 70% of the email clients out there. Is there any point to trying to unseat it?

I am spending a few days with the Java faithful at JavaOne, getting a dose of how the other half lives. The faithful hate everything Microsoft (which I do not - I like Microsoft, sometimes begrugingly, sometimes bitterly, but I like them.) They use Eudora, Mozilla and a few other apps.

But you know what Outlook has that none of those have? And this is the reason why I continue to use Outlook? It has great integration between your contact list, email, and calendar. Having a single master list of contacts used across the board is really important. (The other thing that Outlook has, which right now is not a benefit to me, but is super important is group calendaring and meeting scheduling.)

So why is there no other email application out there (is there?) which does this integration? No major one anyway?

Enter **Mitch Kapor 's Chandler project **(I shudder to call it "Mitch Kapor's" because there are lots of other people involved, but that's what everyone calls it.) They are trying to build just such a grand integration, inspired at some level by that long ago, seminal application, Agenda.

I wonder if the deeper Microsoft digs itself with Outlook , the more of a chance Chandler and others will have?