Lost!

Hot on the heals of the Google MySQL Patch, MySQL is planning an IPO after reaching $50 Million in revenue.

While the news is not related to the Google Patch, it shows that MySQL is gaining ground and will be taken more serious by more and more companies.

Slashdot is covering a story about Google releasing a MySQL patch. While this is news, I consider it huge news - REALLY big news. If you want an argument over the best DB or DB Tools, check out the Slashdot Article - nuthin but a big argument.

What makes this news is the fact that this will help the developer community. I work for an organization that has a pretty strict no OSS policy. This wasn’t the case when I was brought on board, but upper management found out and shot 2 of my projects out of the water, right into the parking lot then buried them with a dump truck of pig shtuff.

With Google releasing this update, it will allow MySQL to gain more ground with companies that think that MySQL can’t handle the load. While I know that this is far from the truth (Yahoo & Google use MySQL), some corps turn an ignorant, blind eye, to the OSS community. While OSS software can be buggy and clunky, there are certain applications, like MySQL, that can be used in a very serious manner.

I can seriously say that I expect more companies to take a look at MySQL over the next few weeks with this news.

I’ve been programming/playing around with .Net for about 2 months now and I’ve determined two things:

1) I don’t like it.
2) Microsoft has decided that, unlike Burger King, you cannot have it your way.

I’ve complained about FrontPage before, like most professional web designers, and Visual Studio is just as bad about changing code, if not worse (it tends to forget to remove crap it automagically puts in).

Now, it seems, that Microsoft has gotten themselves into a patent squabble over .Net. The funny part is, Microsoft was notified on Feb 7th that they where infringing on said patent and have done nothing about it.

From what I can see, Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. has 3 patents to it’s name, so this isn’t a likely candidate for Patent Whoring, as some have suggested. The abstract says:

A system and method for generating computer applications in an arbitrary object framework. The method separates content, form, and function of the computer application so that each may be accessed or modified separately. The method includes creating arbitrary objects, managing the arbitrary objects throughout their life cycle in an object library, and deploying the arbitrary objects in a design framework for use in complex computer applications.

Now, since I don’t read nor speak Patentese very well, Infoworld has had a team of crack hamsters (or hamsters on crack - whichever) translate the above paragraph into:

The patent is for Vertical’s SiteFlash technology, which utilizes XML (Extensible Markup Language) to create a component-based structure to build and efficiently operate Web sites, according to the company’s Web site… Source

Now, I did some heavy digging on Vertical Compute…blah blah blah (ok - I’ll admit, I’ve got a Red Bull in front of me, a case of the shtuff on the floor next to me, coffee on the other side of me and 2 “sticks” of Jolt Gum in my mouth - seriously) website and found a very ugly template with uglier graphics (except for the stock photo of some cute chick typing) and no screen shots of anything. For being a publicly traded company (it’s still too early to tell if the lawsuit is helping their stock price), they sure don’t look like they really sell anything worthwhile.

Anyway, after all that research, I can see why Microsoft ignored them. They’re pretty much tried to patent Object Oriented Programming and the way most dynamic based systems work. This thing has prior art spray painted all over it.

Unfortunately, as much as I dislike .Net, businesses all over the place have decided that it’s one of those things you need to learn to stay employed. I doubt this patent or any other, for that matter, will slow down the whole .Net (say c-sharp everyone…) craze down.

I just tried to spend $1,800 for a Dell D620 Laptop and was refused service specifically because I was overseas with an APO address. (The APO means I’m living overseas courtesy of the military) But this happens much more than most people think. It happens on eBay, Amazon, larger retail stores and even with companies, like Dell, that do monstrous amounts of business with the government. Even Apple refuses to ship to APO customers. I have some very, very strong things to say about this, but I’ll keep it civilized.

After I configured exactly what I wanted, I placed my order on Dell’s website, filled out all the required info and got the following:

Dear Mr. /Mrs, Justin XX:

Thank you for your Dell online order.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the order because

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As the famous quote is: “The Code is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules…”

While various Bloggers have had a code of conduct posted on their sites, there is a bigger push for the Guidelines/Code being pushed now. I guess you could say that this push started when Kathy Sierra was publicly harassed, pictured in various forms and threatened. (Read her official post about this issue) Some of the sites that participated in this issue have been removed (Meankids.org now 404’s).

Anyway, while I think a code of conduct will help, it will not solve the problem. My honest to god feeling right now is that there are a lot of kids and younger adults running around the internet thinking it’s their right to post things in whatever manner they want. Some of these people would never tell you something specific to your face, but the fact that you’re typing into a text box Continue reading…