Sun is releasing a new version of client-side Java insipidly called SE 6 Update 10 that sets the groundwork for JavaFX, a major overhaul of the runtime environment set to debut before the year’s end and challenge other RIA platforms such as AIR, Silverlight, and Google Gears.
Update 10 comes with two major consumer-facing improvements: a smaller footprint and enhanced speeds. Whereas the current version of Java comes as a 14.5mb download, the newest has been slimmed down to 4.5mb. This will matter most for Windows users who don’t have high-speed internet access (since Java comes prepackaged on Macs and the difference of 10mb is inconsequential over broadband). Nevertheless, the move reflects Sun’s commitment to trimming down a technology that has been criticized for its bloat (many optional components no longer come preinstalled but must be added to the kernel after-the-fact). → Read More
What geek doesn’t enjoy some great high-res astronomy pics? One of the best photography blogs out there, The Big Picture, has 21 stunning Sun photos up for your enjoyment. Dial-up users be warned; click the link and run to the store ’cause these massive pics are going to take some time to load. → Read More
Sun has used Salesforce.com as a primary case study of Sun hardware and software powering the future Saas platforms. The early versions of the Salesforce website and application even included a ‘powered by Sun’ logo in the footer, as part of a tight relationship between the two companies. But recently we learnt, and the register is confirming today, that Salesforce has been phasing out Sun hardware and Solaris in favor of Dell and Linux. The last of the Sun hardware will be making its way out of Salesforce datacenters during the course of this week – while the new, and lower cost, Dell commodity servers continue to replace them. Replacing large-scale hardware with commodity servers isn’t a new trend – but what is more interesting is the complete vendor shift for Salesforce from Sun to Dell. Sun also provide lower-end hardware with AMD and other chipsets, but they are not able to compete on a cost basis with Dell. Salesforce has also made large investments in internal development as part of building out the core technology in their platform – meaning that they have switched their reliance over from vendors such as Sun to in-house technology. The foundation for this technology seems to be based on Linux, Java and Oracle DB – although Salesforce do not disclose the complete details of their stack. That other well known large vendor to Salesforce is Oracle, who also used to be featured in the old ‘powered by’ footer. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was an executive at Oracle prior to founding the company, and the initial funds raised for Salesforce were from Larry Ellison. The relationship didn’t last long as the board broke up in dispute, leading Ellison to leave Salesforce and instead bootstrap and start competitor Netsuite. Oracle were featured as a provider to Salesforce in 2005, but since then both companies have been quiet about just how much Oracle there is underpinning the Salesforce platform. Salesforce may have outgrown or out-developed Sun with a more efficient solution, but they have yet to do the same with Oracle. Ironically, it is the former of those two companies that has the better understanding of Saas and cloud computing – but the later that is seeing more revenue from it. CrunchBase Information Salesforce Sun Microsystems Oracle Corporation Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
I wonder which job is tougher; blogging or designing “a heat-resistant spacecraft designed to plunge deep into the sun’s atmosphere where it can sample solar wind and magnetism first hand.” One the one hand, blogging makes your hands, fingers, and wrists hurt sometimes. On the other hand, nobody’s ever been anywhere near the sun before. It’s a toss up, for sure. The mission will be called Solar Probe+ and it could be underway as early as 2015 (provided the earth doesn’t end), taking roughly seven years to complete. The closest the probe will get to the sun is about 4.4 million miles, which seems pretty far away but I bet it’d burn your eyebrows off if you got that close. The mission seeks to find the answers to two great mysteries about the sun; why it’s hotter on the outside than it is in the middle and how the hell solar wind works. → Read More
Is Microsoft finally learning to love the penguin? After years of fighting Linux and denying its very usefulness, Microsoft has recently changed its tactics. It is trying to be more open, even if that’s an attempt to appease European regulators. And today, it is announcing the beta of new data center management tools that—gasp!—recognize that some companies might be running something other than Windows on their servers. Now it will support two flavors of Linux (Red Hat and SUSE) and two flavors of Unix (HP-UX and Sun Solaris), all from one management console. The name of the software is System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions. Yeah, I can’t remember that either. What Microosft is signaling here is a new tactic in the war against Linux, which it realizes is not going anywhere. So if Microsoft can’t beat Linux, it will try to smother it with love by offering a way for IT folks to manage and control all of their servers using Microsoft software. But it is a little late to the game. HP’s Openview, Tivoli, and BMC already offer such capabilities. Microsoft can still make inroads, though, by competing on price and ease of use. Embracing openness and other software is also a good idea. Microsoft new data center management software supports open standards such as Web Services for Management and OpenPegasus. At the same time, Microsoft is also announcing new virtualization management software (System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008) that will let IT managers control virtual machines running on EMC’s popular VMWare, as well as Microsoft’s own virtual machines. (Virtualization is a big trend in data centers that effectively splits and segregates jobs on one physical server into many virtual ones). For those interested in more, you can read all the gory details in the press release. → Read More
Database software provider Greenplum has taken $27 million Series C is a round led by Meritech Capital Partners that included Sun Microsystems and SAP Ventures. Greenplum leverages open source database software and incorporates a “shared-nothing architecture that employs parallel processing on commodity hardware.” Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz said that the investment, in conjunction with their recent acquisition of MySQL, provided further evidence of Sun’s commitment to the open source database community and marketplace. The company has previously taken two rounds of $15 million each in March 2006 and February 2007. The new funding will be used to continue development of Greenplum’s database software, as well as to expand the company’s sales and marketing efforts. CrunchBase Information Greenplum Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
In the heyday of “microcomputing” Sun was living giant. Their terminals were everywhere and their graphics machines were state of the art. Look how far the mighty have fallen. This travelog of pictures from inside an old Sun headquarters where the ghosts of Solaris prompts come and gone still haunt the halls. Bonus: It looks like someone was killed in the building. Photo Tour via BB → Read More
Came across this unique watch on BoingBoing. Only 99 of these watches were made and are named after 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler. He’s the dude who came up with the formulas for the Laws of Planetary Motion. Big stuff. Johannes’ timepiece doesn’t come cheap though. It’s more than $100,000 per watch, but the design is magnificent. Check out how the watch works: A flexible spring bends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn to reveal the part of the Earth lit by the Sun and to indicate the time and place of sunrise and sunset. The moon rotates around the Earth. The dragon hand indicates the eclipses of the sun and the moon. The perpetual calendar completes one turn each year. Kepler $100k wristwatch [BoingBoing] → Read More
I have some crushing news for you: ZFS will not be the default file system in Mac OS X Leopard. That’s as of today, June 12, 2007, at least. A senior marketing fellow for Leopard said, unequivocally, that “ZFS is not happening,” which flies in the face of what Sun said last week. Leopard is on track to use the HFS+ file system, dontcha know? The real test will be when some do-gooder leaks the Leopard WWDC beta onto Usenet or one of those torrent sites I’ve been hearing about lately. Until then, we’re still completely in the dark. Apple Says No Sun File System For Leopard [InformationWeek via Mac Rumors] → Read More
Sun opened its big, fat mouth today and announced that Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X Leopard will use its ZFS file system as its default. (Macs currently use HFS+ with journaling enabled as the default file system.) A full list of ZFS’ advantages can be found on Sun’s site, but this one caught my eye while quickly glancing over it: All operations are copy-on-write transactions, so the on-disk state is always valid. There is no need to fsck(1M) a ZFS filesystem, ever. Every block is checksummed to prevent silent data corruption, and the data is self-healing in replicated (mirrored or RAID) configurations. If one copy is damaged, ZFS will detect it and use another copy to repair it. Oops, now big Papa Jobs is gonna be angry. Video Announcement [Sun via Mac Rumors] → Read More
Reports at Infoworld and CNet News that Sun will roll out a Java-based product family called JavaFX at the Java One Conference in San Francisco today. The announcement follows the recent well received launch of Microsoft’s Silverlight, and as an offering will compete directly against AJAX as well. JavaFX is said to be a new scripting variant of Java with a focus on development for the consumer communications market, including desktops, mobile clients, and TVs. The first product release is JavaFX Mobile, a software system for mobile devices. We won’t know a lot more about the new offering until after the presentation, however my immediate thoughts are that what we are seeing here is a game of catch-up by Sun. The object-oriented applications programming language that is Java was once the cool kid on the block, a base from which a new generation of applications would be launched, taking over our desktops. And yet it never happened. The new product, with its focus on mobile technology presents the potential of dealing Sun back into the application game in a big way if it’s well received today by developers. → Read More
Saying that the Freeloader is a “pocket-sized” device is a bit of an overstatement, but it could certainly fit in a purse or backpack quite nicely. Freeloader basically leeches energy from the sun and converts it into juice for your iPod, cellphone, or electronic gadget of your choice. It comes with multiple hookups for all of your devices and can charge via USB should you be out on a cloudy day. Should you need some mobile power, you’ll have to plunk down about $60 come next month to grab a Freeloader. Freeloader – solar power charger for your pocket → Read More
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