Evolutionary Goo

The Java world was a buzz this week with news that SpringSource is being acquired by VMWare. What does this mean for the future of Spring? In St. louis, Spring is very dominant, as I am sure it everywhere else. Spring has definitely given extra life to an aging Java programming langage. Now that Spring is entrenched as a dominant (if not “the” dominant) J2EE technology, will it be able innovate in order to keep up with a changing technology landscape?

SpringSource to be Acquired by VMWare

Sun agrees to be acquired by Oracle. This is huge news in so many ways. Oracle will own MySQL, the most widely used open source, relational database. They will now own OpenOffice/StarOffice, a competitor to Microsoft Office. Oracle acquired BEA last year, so acquiring Sun makes that acquisition all the more interesting. And Sun owns some up the best cloud computing technology out there. Hmmm, I can only begin to think about what this does to the software landscape.

Oracle to Buy Sun

Drum roll please… Here are my five technology predictions for 2009.

• Google will buy Twitter. Updated 2009-08-14 There was the rumor, but nothing as of late.
• Sun Microsystems will be purchased by one of the following companies - IBM, Google, Oracle or Microsoft. Sun’s current market cap is $2.8 billion. Updated 2009-04-20  Sun agrees to be purchased by Oracle. http://tinyurl.com/c85lfw
• IT departments will hunker down due to the depressed economy. Java, .Net, Oracle and SAP will remain entrenched as the dominant enterprise technologies until the recession is over. Updated 2009-08-14 OK, this was a lame prediction, but its pretty much true for this year. Will next year be the year of polyglot?
• Yahoo will be acquired by Microsoft. With Jerry Yang out, the battle of egos is over. Updated 2009-08-14 So far I have this one wrong, but not completely, as Yahoo and Microsoft make a big search deal. Will the merger still happen?
• Google Android, Amazon and Mozilla Songbird will force Apple to rethink its music download business model. Updated 2009-01-13 Apple is going DRM free. http://news.cnet.com/drm-free-itunes-store-to-haunt-apple/

I really like the photo web site, SmugMug. They claim that they do everything the free sites do, and more. What’s really interesting is that there are no free account and they appear to be doing well. I’m not a customer, but would like to hear from someone who is. Any SmugMug users out there?

Green computing continues to make the news. For those of us with careers in IT, Green Computing is going to be something we are going to hear more and more about. Here are some Green Computing links from the last few weeks.

• ‘Green Computing’ Vague, Misleading (2008-07-18)
  
• IBM launches second phase of Project Big Green (2008-07-18)
• PickensPlan.com (2008-07)
• Business computing going green (2008-07-11)
• Environmental impact: IT sees the light on green computing (2008-06-30)
• IT companies bet on virtualisation(2008-06-25)
• Set goals for your green IT strategy (2008-06-03)

In the past I’ve explained to friends that were either against or did not understand open source software, that it is simply an alternative business model for competing again software companies selling proprietary software. Of course there are other, more purist reasons for those who advocate open source. However, I think this works for people simply trying to earn a living through software.

Red Hat Revenue Grew By 32 Percent

This story just will not go away. Yahoo has rejected the Microsoft latest bid, however, I have to think now the writing is on the wall. It may take some more time with all of the big egos involved, but eventually this deal is going to happen. It is also very interesting to see how an “old” company like Anheuser-Busch handled its takeover bid compared to a “young” company like Yahoo.

Yahoo rejects joint proposal, from Microsoft, Icahn

These are some of the things I like in businesses that will help to make me a repeat customer.

1. Restaurants and Bars - Clean bathrooms
2. Retail Stores - Customer friendly return policies
3. Web Sites - Easy to find prices and product information
4. Entertainment Venues - Reasonably priced, quality food
5. Sales - Low pressure sales techniques with information published online
6. Contractors - A serious first bid
7. Doctors and Dentists - Appointments that start on time

It looks as it Anheuser Busch is holding out for a higher offer from InBev. Prediction: This merger will happen.

A-B said to agree to friendly talks with InBev

Update 2008-07-13: Anheuser-Busch agrees to deal for $70 per share.

Have you tried to acquire a domain name lately? Pretty frustrating, eh? It seems like every decent “.com” name has been taken. However, I’ve noticed there are some clever methods for finding a decent domain name that don’t involve paying thousands of dollars to some squatter.

1. Brute force search for a .com name - Using a domain name registration service, try every conceivable name that is suitable for your new web site. You most likely will want a “.com” extension, as “.com” domains are the most valuable and easiest for users to remember. Good luck. This method will not work very often for you.
2. Word combination - Not ready to quit on the brute force method above? Try combining some words together. You will likely find a name this way, but your name might just suck. Be careful not to compromise the name of your web site just so you can have a domain name that matches it.
3. Try another domain extension - “.org” is for not-for-profit” sites, so makes sure you fit the bill. A “.net” extension isn’t too bad and you might just find a name available with that extension. However, there is just something about not having a “.com” extension. “.info”, “biz” and other various extension just don’t work in my opinion.
4. Modifications to your name can work - Adding a small abbreviation or word to the end of your web site name, will likely work for finding a “.com” domain name. Very successful web sites have done this. Take the various 37signals web sites for example. “basecamphq.com” is the domain name for their Basecamp product.
5. Use a country extension to complete the word in your domain name - The first example I remember of this was “script.aculo.us”. Kind of cool, but I think you need tech savy users to make it work.
6. Use a translation - Find an exotic translation of a name you want. I think most of these may be taken, but you may find a few that have not. An example of this is “mahalo.com”. “Mahalo” means “thank you” in Hawaiian.
7. Make up a word - If you can come up with a cool sounding word, that isn’t a word at all, you may find the “.com” extension available for that word. This probably will not be the case if the word is short, however.Of recents sites I have been to that have used this method, http://plurk.com comes to mind.
8. Misspell your name - There are many “.com”domain names available with misspellings in them. O don’t like this option, because it assumes your users will know how to misspell you domain name correctly.

What about you? Do you have any interesting methods for finding that perfect domain name without shelling out big bucks?