Phurnace Blog - May 2008

Choosing Open Source Carefully

Wesley Willard — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In the last 10 years, Open Source software has provided an incredible benefit to the software development process. Most open source software projects present quality, well-tested APIs and libraries that can be quickly integrated into a product, providing much-needed functionality that does not have to be developed in-house. While there are too many projects to even begin to mention, the software produced by the Apache Project, and SpringSource provide frameworks and utilities that would t [...]

Some benefits of a Solar-Powered iPhone

Alexander Bibighaus — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I recently read on ecogeek.org, that Apple filed for a patent for “solar cells on portable devices”. I'm a bit skeptical, but solar re-chargeability might be a nice feature for the iPod or iPhone. I still do not see sitting on the grassy bank of Barton Springs Pool with my solar powered Macbook Pro; I might e [...]

First Thoughts: WebSphere 7.0 Beta

Robert Reeves — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

IBM has begun the WebSphere 7.0 Open Beta program. Here is a snippet from the email notice:

You may review the features and highlights on the Open Beta overview page at this URL:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/websphere/
wasndv7/

The Code and Library downloads may also be found at these URLs:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/websphere/
wasndv7/download.shtml https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/cc/earlyprograms/w [...]

Is Equinox P2 Ready For Prime-Time?

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

When I started working with Eclipse in 2003 I would just download the plug-ins I needed from the Eclipse website, unzip them into my plugins directory, and restart Eclipse. Sometime later, the Eclipse Update Manager was introduced to help you configure your Eclipse development environment providing the ability to update your existing features and plug-ins and search for new features. I have always found the Update Manager dialogs difficult to understand and use. Customizing the Update Manager [...]

Old is Not Simple

Wesley Willard — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Beginning in the 90’s, American software companies began farming out development work to companies overseas, or "off-shoring". These efforts mirrored what had been taking place for quite some time in other industries, such as textile manufacturing, and sent tremors through the software community. The heady days of the dot-com boom gave way to fear and gnashing of teeth in the early part of this decade. CEO’s were pictured riding astride elephants in India, and executives [...]

Ruby on Rails to Nowhere

Alexander Bibighaus — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

A long time ago, I was on a NOLS adventure in the middle of the Olympic mountains. My group was resting one day high above the tree-line in a snow covered area when we found a small, but steep bank of snow ... perfect for headfirst nosedives. It all seemed harmless at the time, until our guide angrily reminded us that whatever choices we make, the fact remains, we must weigh the risk versus the reward. Shocked at first by his reaction, we all suddenly had the realization that given our surro [...]

Tunes For Focus

Wesley Willard — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As a software developer, maintaining concentration is something that requires discipline, and sometimes the aid of a good set of headphones, and some music. While this usually does the trick, I find that familiar music can be its own distraction, since I find myself jumping to some memory that the song brings back. In addition to this, transporting CDs back and forth from home to work is a pain.

For these, and other reasons, I've looked for alternative listening sources, a [...]

Webinar this Friday with Phurnace and IBM Build Forge

jgass — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

We are pleased to announce that Phurnace's flagship product, Phurnace Deliver™ is now directly integrated with IBM® Rational® Build Forge®. We invite you to hear all about it in our upcoming webinar - Accelerating the Software Development to Deployment Lifecycle Are you ready for one process to compile, build, deploy and configure your applications?

In this webinar, we will show you how to do that with IBM® Rational® Build Forge® and Phurnace Deliver&t [...]

What You See is What You Get � A Bit About Java GUI Toolkits

Shawn Spiars — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

There are quite a few toolkits available for Java developers. Let me help point you in some directions and maybe save you some research time.

Many of you will be familiar with the Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT) that is available with every Java Runtime Environment (JRE). AWT is the original Java GUI toolkit developed by Sun Microsystems. AWT is a peer-based toolkit meaning that each AWT control is dependent upon a host operating system control. AWT usage is limited because it was designed [...]

Allow me to introduce my STAF

Pete Pickerill — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In my last post I talked about how virtualization changed test lab creation and management. I’m sure the first thing you did after reading the post was download your very own copy of VMWare Server and replace all your hardware with super flexible virtual machines. You’re now basking in the glow of your long term cost savings, marveling at how easy your lab is to maintain, and using some of that extra time and money to bid on my exclusive line of “VMWare Saved My Marriage” [...]