We've been shipping the Tomato Tube as a sample on the WSO2 Mashup Server since before 1.0, but I think I'm going to try and convince Tyrell, the author, that maybe an IMDB based Mashup would be better. Why this sudden loss of credibility in my eyes I hear you ask? Rotten Tomatoes published a countdown of the Best Animated Films and there was not a single movie from Studio Ghibli in the top 10!
Now I'm perfectly fine with people not liking some of the books and movies I enjoy; I'm actually quite used to it because Sri Lanka isn't full of Science Fiction fans (I walked the length and breadth of the Colombo Book Fair last week and couldn't find a single book by Iain M. Banks, though there was a whole shelf full last year). I'll also be the first to admit that I'm not qualified to be a movie critic in any way, I just love watching them and know when I've enjoyed one more than another and why.
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy Toy Story 2, or any of the other movies in the top 10, because 'Finding Nemo' and 'Wall-E' would actually be in my top 10 too, but movies like Spirited Away, Grave of the Firefly or Howl's Moving Castle not making it in there is strange to say the least. If you read through the wiki pages, IMDB or just Google the titles, you'll see I'm not the only one who thinks they're great.
If the list was titled 'Best English Language Animated Films', I would have no issues with the selection. I should ideally run through the other 40 movies in the list and see if this is simply a mistake in the title of the list and there ARE only US/UK movies there, but I really don't think I should risk it. If I see Castle in the Sky ranked lower than, say, 'Barbie Fairytopia' I might just throw something at the monitor or whatever and be the ultimate loser!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Pressure sales vs. open source...
There was this vacuum cleaner salesman who managed to 'gain entry' to our apartment while we were living in Dubai, under the pretext of giving us some gift we had won in a raffle. The adage about vampires also applies to commission driven door-to-door salesmen - you DO NOT invite them into the house! He seemed so passionate about what he claimed to be the greatest vacuum cleaner in the world, which used space age technology and had a few hundred attachments, one of which would even give me a back rub or foot massage!
Now explaining the features of a product is good, but every time I asked him how much it cost, just to find out whether it was within our budget, he kept telling us about another feature or attachment! It was getting to a point where I would have to start being openly rude to him because I knew that there was no way I could afford all the 'free accessories' included and this guy just wasn't going to leave until we had committed to buying the product. Fortunately Navindee was 1+ at the time and when she got hungry nothing stood in her way - including our mafia salesman. He finally told us how much it cost (a little more than what my first car was worth) and we said 'no thanks' - obviously.
Why am I ranting about this now? It's apparently this approach to sales, where people are paid to push crap with no interest in the customer's actual needs or a long term relationship that's screwing up the world economy! The salesman I spoke about spent more than an hour doing his pitch and had I given in, I would have been holding onto an electric fan with a filter and 300 accessories I would never use, feeling like a sucker, while he would have been laughing all the way to the bank!
The typical open source way of doing business is the diametric opposite of this, where there is no sale or money made up front - we only make money if the customer wants a relationship. The customer downloads the product, tries it out and if it suits his or her needs, pays for support and/or services.
Open source products depend on actually providing value because we can't depend on hype and a cool marketing campaign to get the customer to pay us - there is no shrink wrapped box that we can push someone to buy. We're paid only if we deliver a great product that actually meets the customer's needs. Now everyone could figure out a formula that makes it mandatory to think of long term benefits to the customer, I'm sure we could prevent future financial meltdowns!
I've heard the open source movement being labeled as not being capitalist, but I say it is; the person with the best product and services offering will ultimately get paid. It just doesn't reward pressure selling and hype, which screws the customer and ultimately the supplier as well, which I think is capitalism gone mad!
For further reading, Jonathan wrote a post that will give you an idea of how a user of open source software can reward the creator without spending a cent, and this article talks about Open Source SOA offerings out there, including ours.
Now explaining the features of a product is good, but every time I asked him how much it cost, just to find out whether it was within our budget, he kept telling us about another feature or attachment! It was getting to a point where I would have to start being openly rude to him because I knew that there was no way I could afford all the 'free accessories' included and this guy just wasn't going to leave until we had committed to buying the product. Fortunately Navindee was 1+ at the time and when she got hungry nothing stood in her way - including our mafia salesman. He finally told us how much it cost (a little more than what my first car was worth) and we said 'no thanks' - obviously.
Why am I ranting about this now? It's apparently this approach to sales, where people are paid to push crap with no interest in the customer's actual needs or a long term relationship that's screwing up the world economy! The salesman I spoke about spent more than an hour doing his pitch and had I given in, I would have been holding onto an electric fan with a filter and 300 accessories I would never use, feeling like a sucker, while he would have been laughing all the way to the bank!
The typical open source way of doing business is the diametric opposite of this, where there is no sale or money made up front - we only make money if the customer wants a relationship. The customer downloads the product, tries it out and if it suits his or her needs, pays for support and/or services.
Open source products depend on actually providing value because we can't depend on hype and a cool marketing campaign to get the customer to pay us - there is no shrink wrapped box that we can push someone to buy. We're paid only if we deliver a great product that actually meets the customer's needs. Now everyone could figure out a formula that makes it mandatory to think of long term benefits to the customer, I'm sure we could prevent future financial meltdowns!
I've heard the open source movement being labeled as not being capitalist, but I say it is; the person with the best product and services offering will ultimately get paid. It just doesn't reward pressure selling and hype, which screws the customer and ultimately the supplier as well, which I think is capitalism gone mad!
For further reading, Jonathan wrote a post that will give you an idea of how a user of open source software can reward the creator without spending a cent, and this article talks about Open Source SOA offerings out there, including ours.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
How to upgrade your WSO2 Mashup Server and why
The past month has been fairly fruitful in terms of publications related to the WSO2 Mashup Server, with Keith, Tyrell and Ayanthi doing an article each and Jonathan running a webinar. That's the 'why'; to see the features Jonathan talks about and try the examples provided by Keith and Tyrell, you need to be running version 1.5! There's also a bunch of other cool new features in 1.5 that we're yet to write about, that you can discover by using the product or reading the documentation - consider them a bonus!
Now the 'how'. If you've not got any data in your existing WSO2 Mashup Server that you want to preserve across an upgrade, it's a simple matter of uninstalling/deleting the old and installing the new, just backing up your old Mashups and adding them to the new server. If, however, you have user info, ratings or comments that you want to preserve, you need to follow these instructions.
Have fun with 1.5!
Now the 'how'. If you've not got any data in your existing WSO2 Mashup Server that you want to preserve across an upgrade, it's a simple matter of uninstalling/deleting the old and installing the new, just backing up your old Mashups and adding them to the new server. If, however, you have user info, ratings or comments that you want to preserve, you need to follow these instructions.
Have fun with 1.5!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Memories
Getting a toy car that turns when it hits an obstruction and has a passenger that turns around to take flash-photographs one birthday, a Meccano set the next year and a bicycle which he needs to hold right at the start as it didn't come with training wheels, the year after. Does life get any better?
Trips to the beach, Mt Lavinia or Wellawatta on a Sunday morning, being a little scared of the sea, but not enough to spoil the fun.
Getting a whack because I put a car headlamp bulb into a mains socket, thereby learning the difference between AC and DC; being consoled later on.
Waking up to be told he'd gone to buy us a TV, getting a 12" Black and White set, which was was still the bleeding edge of technology at the time. Letting all my friends in the neighborhood come over to watch; so many, right at the start, that some sit outside on the wall and watch through the window.
Getting out first VCR later on, along with the option to rent 5 tapes a week and being taken to chose the selection for the week on Saturdays. Watching 'Aliens' about once a month because the guy at the video shop keeps recommending it to him every time he goes alone and enjoying it every time!
Borrowing a book from a friend on how to build my own radio one evening, in tears the next morning because he wouldn't take me into town to get the diode and tuning condenser I needed to get going. Finally being taken to Nugegoda, getting the stuff, building the radio and enjoying the barely audible sounds of SLBC so much on the crystal set that, in reality, he built for me.
Seeing a Sinclair ZX81 on a bus, finding out how much it costs, asking for one and being so surprised when we set off for Kirullapone to actually buy one; finding out later on that everybody else has a Spectrum with 16 or 48 K RAM, but not minding anyway, knowing that this is the best he could afford!
Asking for a basic Origami book as a birthday present, going to the bookshop in the rain, picking the book I want and being asked if I'm sure it's enough! Keeping it safe from the weather on the trip home and feeling contented making paper animals after a shower and hot coffee!
Buying Blakes' 7 and 2001 for me, even though he can't stand science-fiction himself; how he was so irritated by programs like 'Dr. Who' and tried to convince me that I'd benefit a great deal more if I watched the news instead.
Always asking for a turn at the wheel, getting short practice runs with an 'L' board, and him pulling aside one evening and letting me drive home all the way from Dehiwala.
Going on trips in the Austin, different breakdowns on each trip; broken axel on one, silencer leaks another time and engine mount failure on a third. Learning how clean spark plugs, change tires and how to cut-out a carburettor gasket from an old file cover in the process.
Most school concerts or prize givings being followed by dinner at a Chinese restuarant, getting an order of 'firework prawns' if he's in a very good mood!
Being taken to watch 'Tron' followed by dinner, then getting to watch 'Missing in Action' aftewards becuase he thought Tron was boring!
Being driven to a job interview and having to insist that I can manage from there on, that he doesn't need to come and sit at the reception with me.
Trips to Kataragama, where we would stop at Hambantota rest-house. Sea baths during the day, reading in the evening with the sound of the sea and fishermen as background music, fried fish course for dinner on the last evening of the trip. Sometimes returning to Colombo via Nuwara-Eliya or Kandy - that's taking the scenic route!
Getting home early Saturday morning, barely sobered up after a night out clubbing, to find him up watching TV; getting a cup of tea to drink before I go to bed.
On a hospital stretcher, after a pretty serious car accident that is undoubtedly my fault as the other party is a wall, finding out that he is actually more scared and relieved than angry, then realizing that everybody else will have the same reaction!
On weekend visits he watches F1 Racing with me, even though he isn't really a great fan of the sport.
Our trip to India for a PET scan and squeezing in a bit of shopping as he says he feels fine. Me remarking after we return home that a security guard at the airport was the only REALLY pretty girl I saw on the whole trip; being surprised to learn that he noticed too and agrees!
Trips to the beach, Mt Lavinia or Wellawatta on a Sunday morning, being a little scared of the sea, but not enough to spoil the fun.
Getting a whack because I put a car headlamp bulb into a mains socket, thereby learning the difference between AC and DC; being consoled later on.
Waking up to be told he'd gone to buy us a TV, getting a 12" Black and White set, which was was still the bleeding edge of technology at the time. Letting all my friends in the neighborhood come over to watch; so many, right at the start, that some sit outside on the wall and watch through the window.
Getting out first VCR later on, along with the option to rent 5 tapes a week and being taken to chose the selection for the week on Saturdays. Watching 'Aliens' about once a month because the guy at the video shop keeps recommending it to him every time he goes alone and enjoying it every time!
Borrowing a book from a friend on how to build my own radio one evening, in tears the next morning because he wouldn't take me into town to get the diode and tuning condenser I needed to get going. Finally being taken to Nugegoda, getting the stuff, building the radio and enjoying the barely audible sounds of SLBC so much on the crystal set that, in reality, he built for me.
Seeing a Sinclair ZX81 on a bus, finding out how much it costs, asking for one and being so surprised when we set off for Kirullapone to actually buy one; finding out later on that everybody else has a Spectrum with 16 or 48 K RAM, but not minding anyway, knowing that this is the best he could afford!
Asking for a basic Origami book as a birthday present, going to the bookshop in the rain, picking the book I want and being asked if I'm sure it's enough! Keeping it safe from the weather on the trip home and feeling contented making paper animals after a shower and hot coffee!
Buying Blakes' 7 and 2001 for me, even though he can't stand science-fiction himself; how he was so irritated by programs like 'Dr. Who' and tried to convince me that I'd benefit a great deal more if I watched the news instead.
Always asking for a turn at the wheel, getting short practice runs with an 'L' board, and him pulling aside one evening and letting me drive home all the way from Dehiwala.
Going on trips in the Austin, different breakdowns on each trip; broken axel on one, silencer leaks another time and engine mount failure on a third. Learning how clean spark plugs, change tires and how to cut-out a carburettor gasket from an old file cover in the process.
Most school concerts or prize givings being followed by dinner at a Chinese restuarant, getting an order of 'firework prawns' if he's in a very good mood!
Being taken to watch 'Tron' followed by dinner, then getting to watch 'Missing in Action' aftewards becuase he thought Tron was boring!
Being driven to a job interview and having to insist that I can manage from there on, that he doesn't need to come and sit at the reception with me.
Trips to Kataragama, where we would stop at Hambantota rest-house. Sea baths during the day, reading in the evening with the sound of the sea and fishermen as background music, fried fish course for dinner on the last evening of the trip. Sometimes returning to Colombo via Nuwara-Eliya or Kandy - that's taking the scenic route!
Getting home early Saturday morning, barely sobered up after a night out clubbing, to find him up watching TV; getting a cup of tea to drink before I go to bed.
On a hospital stretcher, after a pretty serious car accident that is undoubtedly my fault as the other party is a wall, finding out that he is actually more scared and relieved than angry, then realizing that everybody else will have the same reaction!
On weekend visits he watches F1 Racing with me, even though he isn't really a great fan of the sport.
Our trip to India for a PET scan and squeezing in a bit of shopping as he says he feels fine. Me remarking after we return home that a security guard at the airport was the only REALLY pretty girl I saw on the whole trip; being surprised to learn that he noticed too and agrees!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
WSO2 Mashup Server 1.5 Released
We took our time doing this release, more than five months, but in that time we managed to squeeze in a bunch of features big and small, that we felt were really critical when creating Mashups for Personal, Enterprise and Community use. Of these, I would say data services, security, gadget and OpenID support are the coolest 'big' features we added.
As far as I'm concerned, just getting data service creation into the Mashup Server doubled it's usefulness for almost everybody out there! Now, with mostly mouse clicks and just by stepping through a wizard, you can expose information from a database, spreadsheet or CSV file as a web service! We always had the ability to create and expose data services using the underlying WSAS, but now data services are first class citizens on the Mashup Server, so I can create, edit, delete, tag, comment and rate them from the UI, just like any other Mashup!
I keep remembering projects in a past life, where reading some data from a few tables, applying some business logic to make it a little more useful and then exposing the result as a web page and/or service was such a complicated task that took up days of my time. Using the Mashup Server, I can pretty much achieve the same result in minutes! Mashups you always dreamed of, that combine data from a text file on your desktop and you company's ERP with information on the web and write the results to a database, are now a few clicks away!
Another feature we always felt we needed, especially for the enterprise user, was the ability to secure services. Now all it takes is a few clicks, because you just need to chose one from a list of common security scenarios to be applied to your service! On the other side, you can also call secured services now, using our new and improved WSRequest object.
We also added another another ultra-cool pair of features, a gadget interface for Mashups and a dashboard on which to host them! This would be pretty useful in enterprise scenarios for the manager who wants to see an overview of his or her business in a single page, but it's also loads of fun for everybody else! You can add any Mashup to your own dashboard or iGoogle, create your own custom gadget interface starting with a default template and even import external gadgets into your dashboard. Tyrell wrote about having fun with gadgets here!
OpenID has been the hot new buzzword in the security space and we've got full support in the Mashup Server now. You can just login with your OpenID and if you haven't got an account on the server, you'll be registered, verified and allowed to login, without ever needing to fill a form or key in a password. Jonathan blogged about what WSO2 has been up to on this front.
Besides these, there are a quite a few other improvements that we made since 1.0; over 300 in all! If you really want the details, it's all in our Issue Tracker where everyone logged everything, bugs, improvements, new features and wishes. It wasn't easy getting everything into the release (and we finally had to postpone a few items) but it was fun, educational and something we can look back to with pride!
If you've already downloaded 1.5, taken it for a spin and have a compliment, complaint or wish, please do let us know!
As far as I'm concerned, just getting data service creation into the Mashup Server doubled it's usefulness for almost everybody out there! Now, with mostly mouse clicks and just by stepping through a wizard, you can expose information from a database, spreadsheet or CSV file as a web service! We always had the ability to create and expose data services using the underlying WSAS, but now data services are first class citizens on the Mashup Server, so I can create, edit, delete, tag, comment and rate them from the UI, just like any other Mashup!
I keep remembering projects in a past life, where reading some data from a few tables, applying some business logic to make it a little more useful and then exposing the result as a web page and/or service was such a complicated task that took up days of my time. Using the Mashup Server, I can pretty much achieve the same result in minutes! Mashups you always dreamed of, that combine data from a text file on your desktop and you company's ERP with information on the web and write the results to a database, are now a few clicks away!
Another feature we always felt we needed, especially for the enterprise user, was the ability to secure services. Now all it takes is a few clicks, because you just need to chose one from a list of common security scenarios to be applied to your service! On the other side, you can also call secured services now, using our new and improved WSRequest object.
We also added another another ultra-cool pair of features, a gadget interface for Mashups and a dashboard on which to host them! This would be pretty useful in enterprise scenarios for the manager who wants to see an overview of his or her business in a single page, but it's also loads of fun for everybody else! You can add any Mashup to your own dashboard or iGoogle, create your own custom gadget interface starting with a default template and even import external gadgets into your dashboard. Tyrell wrote about having fun with gadgets here!
OpenID has been the hot new buzzword in the security space and we've got full support in the Mashup Server now. You can just login with your OpenID and if you haven't got an account on the server, you'll be registered, verified and allowed to login, without ever needing to fill a form or key in a password. Jonathan blogged about what WSO2 has been up to on this front.
Besides these, there are a quite a few other improvements that we made since 1.0; over 300 in all! If you really want the details, it's all in our Issue Tracker where everyone logged everything, bugs, improvements, new features and wishes. It wasn't easy getting everything into the release (and we finally had to postpone a few items) but it was fun, educational and something we can look back to with pride!
If you've already downloaded 1.5, taken it for a spin and have a compliment, complaint or wish, please do let us know!
Friday, June 27, 2008
ESB Leading the Pack
Asankha's team released v1.7 of their Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) a few days back and then did a round of performance tests in which every other vendor running was clearly visible in their rear view mirrors.
Daniel has such a cool post about it, where he starts with what I sometimes end up talking about on a post related to software, cars, and really fast ones in this case!
Why am I so proud of this, you say? First, we're all in the same scuderia, and second, they source the engine block from the same manufacturer we do! If the ESB's the F2008, think of our Mashup Server as a Quattroporte, something you can use to drive the kids to school, but with the same bits inside that will let you go really, really fast if you need to!
Daniel has such a cool post about it, where he starts with what I sometimes end up talking about on a post related to software, cars, and really fast ones in this case!
Why am I so proud of this, you say? First, we're all in the same scuderia, and second, they source the engine block from the same manufacturer we do! If the ESB's the F2008, think of our Mashup Server as a Quattroporte, something you can use to drive the kids to school, but with the same bits inside that will let you go really, really fast if you need to!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Filling in the Blanks
After a full day training session with the guy who literally 'wrote the book' on Axis2, I'm now well on the way to understanding the engine that drives our Mashup Server!
I have always been grateful to object orientation for allowing me to work with interfaces while having no idea what happens inside, much like I can enjoy a drive without knowing the internals of the combustion engine, but it's fun to learn what actually makes it tick! I suppose could have always walked across to Deepal's seat at any time in the last few months and just asked him any of the stuff I learned yesterday, but it's different when you're sitting somewhere else, no net, no mail, no JIRA and no access to the SVN, just Axis2!
So, to extend the code/car analogy a little bit more, yesterday to me was like a day spent discussing the internals of the McLaren F1 with Gordon Murray! Well, OK, that's stretching it a bit, (besides, I don't think Murray had much to do with the F1's engine itself [which was almost a Honda - Dammit] AND I've never actually seen an F1, let alone driven one) but it was a good day and one that I had been looking forward to for quite some time now!
Oh yes, to explain my regret that the Honda Motor Company didn't take up Mr. Murray's request when the F1 was being designed, I've been using a Civic since last December and am loving it. It's a 1.5 L, as opposed to the 1.8 of the Scooby, but it's Dual Carb, so just 3 BHP short of the Legacy's 103. Not as much torque (was used to 145 N*m and this has just 125), but it's lighter and revvs up pretty quick, so it nippy and fun AND does MUCH better on petrol, which is the most important thing next to fun. Oh yes, it's still just as safe - mustn't forget safety, being a mature and responsible father of two ;-).
I'm reading "Howl's moving castle" these days, the book Miyazaki's amazing movie (which actually got me started on his Anime) is based on. I bought it to read to/with Navindee, but she's more interested in watching any one of the many instances of 'Beautiful Princess rescued by Handsome Prince' class, made available now on DVD by all the toy manufacturers! I decided she can read it herself when she sees the light someday, and went ahead alone, putting 'Foundation's Edge' aside for now!
I have always been grateful to object orientation for allowing me to work with interfaces while having no idea what happens inside, much like I can enjoy a drive without knowing the internals of the combustion engine, but it's fun to learn what actually makes it tick! I suppose could have always walked across to Deepal's seat at any time in the last few months and just asked him any of the stuff I learned yesterday, but it's different when you're sitting somewhere else, no net, no mail, no JIRA and no access to the SVN, just Axis2!
So, to extend the code/car analogy a little bit more, yesterday to me was like a day spent discussing the internals of the McLaren F1 with Gordon Murray! Well, OK, that's stretching it a bit, (besides, I don't think Murray had much to do with the F1's engine itself [which was almost a Honda - Dammit] AND I've never actually seen an F1, let alone driven one) but it was a good day and one that I had been looking forward to for quite some time now!
Oh yes, to explain my regret that the Honda Motor Company didn't take up Mr. Murray's request when the F1 was being designed, I've been using a Civic since last December and am loving it. It's a 1.5 L, as opposed to the 1.8 of the Scooby, but it's Dual Carb, so just 3 BHP short of the Legacy's 103. Not as much torque (was used to 145 N*m and this has just 125), but it's lighter and revvs up pretty quick, so it nippy and fun AND does MUCH better on petrol, which is the most important thing next to fun. Oh yes, it's still just as safe - mustn't forget safety, being a mature and responsible father of two ;-).
I'm reading "Howl's moving castle" these days, the book Miyazaki's amazing movie (which actually got me started on his Anime) is based on. I bought it to read to/with Navindee, but she's more interested in watching any one of the many instances of 'Beautiful Princess rescued by Handsome Prince' class, made available now on DVD by all the toy manufacturers! I decided she can read it herself when she sees the light someday, and went ahead alone, putting 'Foundation's Edge' aside for now!
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