Evolutionary Goo

I think any Java Web developer who uses Tomcat can Spring will be taking a look at this new application platform from Spring. I can’t wait to see the GPL version. InfoQ has a nice article on the news here.

The deadline has passed and still no merger between Microsoft and Yahoo. I really like Yahoo as a company, so I personally hope the merger doesn’t happen. If it does, I ‘ll have to decide if I am open minded enough to keep my Yahoo accounts open.

Microsoft has just announced its new Mesh product. It sounds like an interesting and compelling product especially if you are OK with running on Windows. However, with Microsoft’s woes related to the Vista release of Windows, I thought of this quote from movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

King of Swamp Castle: When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England.

If Microsoft can’t fix Vista, will Mesh even matter?

This video about “stuff” is very thought provoking and worthy of your time if you are the least bit interested in sustainability and issues that affect our environment. One thing I find interesting about sustainability (or environmentalism or conservationism for that matter), is that planning for a sustainable future touches on both liberal and conservative political ideas. Sustainability really shouldn’t have to be political at all. And for us to go forward we’ll have to get past politics and be able to agree on solutions to fix our current problems.

As a software developer, the video also made me think about what I do for a living and how I can help. What is cool is that I think in many ways software development trends have already started down this path. The current trends of getting away from bloatware, making software simpler and easier to use, as well as requiring less computing resources to run applications are all ways in which software developers can help to build a sustainable future.

Using a lightweight PC operating system like Linux or a programming language that doesn’t require a bloated IDE can help to not need to purchase a new PC or laptop every two or three years. Creating lightweight applications for others to use will not only decrease the demand for new PCs, but can also create more efficient and easier to use applications that make better use of people’s time. People should be able to get their work done faster, use their computers less and enjoy using a computer more.

While software developers are compensated well, I know many developers who are not just in it for the money. They are in it for the love of technology and a passion to create things. I think sustainability can become one more reason to love the profession.

Dr. Peter Raven will be speaking at Manchester United Methodist Church on Wednesday, April 16 at 7 PM. Dr. Raven is currently the director of the famed Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO and has been called a “Hero of the Planet” by Time Magazine. His speech is titled, “Building a Sustainable World: Our Responsibility, Our Future”. This is a public event and is free of charge.

For more information, click here.

If you subscribe to HBO and are not watching the mini-series on John Adams, you are depriving yourself of a terrific history lesson and an entertaining television experience. The series airs every Sunday evening at 8 PM and has one more episode remaining to air. HBO will be airing the entire series leading up to the final part next Sunday in case you have been missing out.

Wow. This is one of the most damning articles on Microsoft Windows I have ever seen. And it comes from Gartner, to top it off.

Windows is “collapsing”

If you didn’t, you should have. The ground has shifted with the Google announcement of its new App Engine web development platform. As primarily a Java developer, I’m not concerned that initially, App Engine will only support Python. I think eventually Java will be supported, as Java is one of Google approved programming languages. The big news here is that Google is quietly putting together a development and application platform to rival the Microsoft’s PC platform and before that IBM’s mainframe platform.

Pair Google App Engine up with Google Apps and you have quite a powerful environment. And think of all of the other Google APIs that can be integrated as well. I would think that initially only smaller sized companies will seriously pursue using App Engine to deploy production applications. However, there are many Microsoft Access applications in production today within the Fortune 500. We will also see small company Google App Engine applications make their way into the corporate world. Google App Engine will also lower the barrier of entry for new web developers even lower. A new developer can simply learn Python and the Google APIs and be able to put together quite a powerful web application.

A single platform, running thousands if not millions of applications is very interesting. It is impossible to predict how this will impact the software industry. It will be exciting to see it all unfold.