Phurnace Blog - June 2008

VMWare Server 2.0 Beta

Pete Pickerill — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Even though it’s been available for a few months, I only recently had time to check out the latest and greatest free virtualization offering from VMWare. I haven’t run it through the wringer completely, but from what I’ve seen there are several new features and improvements that will definitely hasten the upgrade process in our test environment once it clears Beta. Here’s what I like so far:

A vastly better web console. The console obviously came under som [...]

Thoughts on HP Software Universe 2008

Daniel Nelson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I spent most of last week in hotter-than-the-sun Las Vegas at the HP Software Universe trade show. Here are some quick observations:

Hewlett Packard Software is all about the data center. Really. All they talk about is making data centers run more efficiently – from test to deployment to performance metrics. Up and down the stack. It was nice to see such a big company have such a singular focus. There is no confusion in the HP ranks as to what their goal is. As for [...]

Spring Plays Well With JMX

Wesley Willard — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The Spring Framework has become the most popular open source application framework in the Java space in recent years. One of its most powerful features is its ability to allow developers to create Spring Beans, which can be configured together to create an application's object graph, or data structure. The framework provides a consistent interface to accessing these beans which avoids unnecessary dependencies between components.

JMX (Java Management Extensions) is a technology that enable [...]

Java Tools: Eclipse vs NetBeans

Alexander Bibighaus — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Switching IDE's has always been something I feel is important to keep an open mind about. I learned this early on when I was an emacs fanatic. I started software development in a Unix/C environment where emacs and vi were the two editors of choice (or debate). Despite all of the vi/emacs wars , my experience was that both came in handy, but at different times.

I recently feel this way about Netbeans vs Eclipse in the Java IDE world. Both IDE's contribute different tools to a [...]

Don't Fear The Reaper

Robert Reeves — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Phurnace Software makes its home at the MCC building, which is owned and managed by the Unversity of Texas at Austin . Quite a few really neat companies are located here, including Bigfoot Networks . But, there is no company in the building named MCC. So, what the heck does MCC stand for? Short answer: Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation

Wik [...]

UI Development and Code Generation Tools

Shawn Spiars — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

It seems like there are more visual GUI builder products available on the market today than ever before. Visual GUI builders propose an easier way to design and create user interface components. They usually consist of a palette from which you select and drag controls or widgets onto a window, frame, or dialog. Then they provide a table or list where you can manipulate the properties of your controls (size, font, color, coordinates, etc) without requiring the user to know the subtleties� o [...]

Enough of the tech talk. Who wants BBQ?

Pete Pickerill — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I dream of buying a dilapidated shack in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Texas. All this shack needs is a small kitchen, a BBQ Pit, a sturdy lawn chair, and a butcher’s block. I would spend the wee hours of the morning prepping brisket after brisket, chicken after chicken, coercing a steady fire into life. When the time was right, the meat would hit the pit, I would plant myself in the lawn chair, and wait. The remainder of my workday would be spent checking the heat, tending to my meaty charges, a [...]

Start-up Surfing

Daniel Nelson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Working at a small software company like Phurnace is kind of like surfing. Well, actually, - since I have never surfed - it�s kind of like what I imagine surfing to be like. You are either on top of the world or at the bottom of the ocean, and you spend very little time in between. When Robert and I first started full time with Phurnace, I was only as good as my last meeting. If the meeting had gone well, then I was convinced that our success was all but inevitable. If the meeting went poo [...]