Phurnace Blog for Robert Reeves

End of an Era, End of Life

Robert Reeves — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

On September 26th, IBM will stop supporting WebSphere 5.1 and its various flavors. Nothing is particularly unusual about software companies ending support for aging products. But, the timing is terrible for customers who wish to upgrade to WebSphere 7.0.

IBM does provide an option for extending your support in a new “5 + 3” support policy. The policy has expanded the standard length of support to five years from three and the length of available extended support to three years f [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

How to Convince Your Boss to Pull the Trigger �

Robert Reeves — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

When you buy a software tool for your use, you aren’t just buying the application; you are buying the BENEFITS of what it does. Most often, you are really buying piano recitals, little league games and happy hours with your friends. You buy yourself time when you buy a good tool. Because with the right tools, you are in bed, fast asleep, instead of the datacenter at 3 a.m. pulling out your hair because of a deployment error or a server that won’t capture transactions, or whateve [...]

Dull and Boring == Errors and Omissions

Robert Reeves — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

BBC has a news report on how boring tasks can lead to errors and omissions. Evidently, your brain will go into 'autopilot' mode when performing redundant, boring tasks. Apparently, there is a specific bit of brain activity that can occur right before you are about to make a mistake.

Until they can make a portable MRI for data ce [...]

The Evils of Scripting - Part 2

Robert Reeves — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In the first part of this two part post, I discussed how scripts are terrible at eliminating errors. In fact, scripts simply replace typos with system errors. A rather poor trade-off, I think.

The second problem with scripts is the burden they place on employees to maintain them and the decrease in productivity they can cause. This maintenance burden and productivity sinkhole are the two areas scripts were supposed to fix!

Frankly, I hold the tools architecture res [...]

The Evils of Scripting - Part 1

Robert Reeves — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Up until the release of Phurnace Deliver last year, there were two choices when it came to Java Application Server management: manual data entry or scripts. Typically, a company starts with manually entering configuration data via a web-based admin console. Then, either organically or via a concerted effort, the company will move to using scripts to manage the Application Server configuration and deploying binaries.

Companies begin this migration for two reasons. The first is t [...]