mike.mainguy

I thought I'd spread the word about a search engine that does a particularly good job if you're a programmer. I've heard about this in the past, but didn't need it until I started working on a project that had bits of python, ruby, and java (and I'm an expert in none of these). duckduckgo.com

Quick! Anyone who's ever used eclipse for more than 5 years tell me how you would find a file in your project(or workspace) with a name that starts with the test "BuildString". If you answered: Hit CTRL+SHIFT+R Then type BuildString I'd believe you used eclipse more than a few hours. If you answered: Hit CTRL+SHIFT+T Then type BuildString I'd ask "what if you where looking for a property file, not a class?"... Even if you got it wrong, I'd believe you use eclipse, but perhaps just misinterpreted my question. If you answered: I'd click on then to menu and select 'find', then switch to the file view then... or any of 100 other possible combinations like: I'd drop to a shell prompt and use the 'grep' or I'd use windows search or I'd open a browser to google I'd say "that's interesting, I hadn't thought of that" and give you some credit for understanding the problem and having...

vs I recently did a comparison between Ubuntu 10.04 and RHEL 5.4 to determine what our standard server install should be. Just to be honest, windows server started out to be in the mix but was quickly disregarded as it really doesn't lend itself to scaling out in any reasonable manner. I set these up using the rackspace cloud which I have to say was a dream come true. I had both servers up and running j2ee application servers in less than 1 hour. First off, I first used redhat back when it was shiny and new (94-95) and used it for quite some time afterward. I've also used a variety of other unix and/or linux systems (slackware, debian, ubuntu, suse, caldera, SCO, solaris, aix, hp-ux). That having been said, I am a linux USER, NOT a kernel hacker. So the inner workings are quite as important as much as getting a useful and reliable system together quickly. What I discovered is that Redhat is trying to build a stable platform that doesn't change. They are c...

I've work now for a number of years in organizations of various sizes producing software. Having worked to produce wildly successful and effective solutions as well as hugely expensive boondoggles that are useless I ponder why sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. Many folks claim that Software development is in it's infancy and this is the reason for the erratic results. If we're using human development as the metaphor for software development, then I think the current state is not even quite human yet. I think our state is somewhere more along the lines of a caveman or some other ancient common ancestor. Where we think we are Where we really are Or maybe here What makes things difficult is that people try to map processes and activities into a physical space. We talk about software as if we are trying to build a bridge or a house. Then we take processes used to perform these activities and try to shoehorn development processes into the...

The idea that using an open community to help solve problems is much easier than trying to hire all the smartest people in the world and keeping them locked in a cubicle farm somewhere has come of age. The days of ivory tower design and implementation of software have really passed and any software company worth it's salt is going to have to figure out how to win through cooperation and coordination instead of secrecy and competition. In my wanderings on this issue, I also noticed that Mark Shuttleworth had posted a blog entry just a couple days ago that seems to hint at things to come from Canonical. Of particular interest to me is that he seems very keen on the netbook and smartphone market which I think is a tremendously smart (no pun intended) move. In addition, the idea of openly discussing corporate strategy is interesting and might be a hint at how to harness the power of the network effect. A big thing to consider is that the whole of the world economy isn't ne...

I've just started deploying the newest Ubuntu release to the various computers in my house (5 right now + a work VM) and one thing I immediately noticed was that out of the box, the window decorations have moved. They are no longer in the ages old upper right hand corner, but now over in the upper left hand corner. At first I was shocked and a little confused, then I started thinking. Why was I shocked or confused? Other than habit and training, I cannot fathom why the upper right hand side is any better than the upper left. In order to better educate myself I first set out to see why the decorations would be on either side as well as try to figure out the logic behind moving them to the left in the first place. First up, I see in the ubuntu forums a vibrant discussion about the decision to move the icons in the first place as well as future plans to reuse the real estate on the right for other purposes. After some more investigation, I find the ubuntu wiki page explaining the...