2009/07/10
TheRegister: Java to offer Carbonite capture to users
by Chris Mellor
Sun customers downloading the latest version of Java will get a free 30-day trial of Carbonite Online Backup.
Carbonite reckons this will get it access to millions of Java users.
Carbonite Online Backup installs in a few clicks and runs automatically in the background, continually backing up the files on the computer, sending them in encrypted form to Carbonite's Boston and Beijing data centres. It says storage capacity is unlimited and users will never outgrow their Carbonite subscription no matter how much data they have.
Carbonite is working to get access to defined groups of users and has trial use agreements with Lenovo for its consumer PCS, Acer and La Cie. However LaCie is starting up its own cloud backup service and its Carbonite deal may come unstuck.
Carbonite has distribution agreements with a small, Ohio-based cable TV company. Masillon, and a few ISPs, such as Arcor in Germany and BBSoft in Japan. This Java deal is on a different level as it gives it access to many millions of Java downloaders.
So far Carbonite has not managed to do deals with retail outlets, or has avoided them. This contrasts with Spare Backup which has just announced an expansion of one of its three UK retail deals. Although it has OEM deals, such as the one with Sony and its Vaiao, the retail deals seem to be boosting Spare Backup revenues a lot.
In March, Spare Backup CEO Cery Perle said this about the first quarter results: "Our subscription numbers continue to improve ... We have benefitted from the combination of strong customer retention, as well as strong growth in new customers through the DSGi channel. We believe that the upcoming Cydcor and Curry's launches will only accelerate this rate of sales growth..."
Spare Backup gets exposure to thousands of customers through hundreds of stores. These are people buying notebook or desktop computers. Although Carbonite has access, probably, to many more users they will be existing users, not new ones with a sales rep possibly selling the Spare Backup service. Access to retail customers could be worth more, in subscription terms, than to SW download customers who might be irritated by a longer download process.
The consumer focus of both Carbonite and Spare Backup contrasts with the enterprise customer focus of Nirvanix which has just gained US SAS 70 (Type II) to solidify its enterprise service provider credentials. ®
InfoWorld: Java development critical to Oracle Fusion strategy
by Paul Krill
For developers, Oracle's Fusion Middleware 11g rollout on Wednesday emphasizes Java technologies, particularly the company's JDeveloper IDE, along with concepts, including declarative programming and ALM (application lifecycle management).
Oracle's emphasis on Java should come as further relief to Java developers, with Oracle already in the process of buying Java founder Sun Microsystems and offering reassurance to these developers at the recent JavaOne conference. The Fusion announcement featured a multifaceted suite of technologies for business IT needs, ranging from SOA deployments to cloud computing, business process transformation, and IT governance.
JDeveloper, Oracle said in one of its statements on the rollout, lets developers build applications and services across application servers; Oracle's WebLogic Java application server acquired from BEA Systems is a key part of the company's middleware line. Developers also can leverage the open source Eclipse IDE through Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, Oracle said.
"In the developer tools space, I think we're really excited with what we've done," said Ted Farrell, chief architect and senior vice president of tools and middleware at Oracle. The unveiling gets Oracle fully into the ALM space and desktop integration, he said.
As part of Wednesday's announcement, Oracle is offering an upgrade to JDeveloper, identified as version 11.1.1.1, as well an ALM technology called Team Productivity Center. "Its goal is to bring teams together inside the IDE," Farrell said.
The ALM software lets teams track bugs together and share code, he said. "You can chat with each other right from inside the IDE," said Farrell. Developers can work with third-party technologies such as the Subversion version controly systems.
All Fusion middleware products plug into JDeveloper. Asked what Oracle's emphasis on JDeveloper and Eclipse means for the Sun-dominated NetBeans IDE, Farrell said he could not comment on what Oracle might do with it. But he did call NetBeans "a viable IDE in the market today."
Oracle is leveraging its ADF (Application Development Framework) and ADF Faces, Farrell said. "Basically, what we're saying is we're trying to abstract our users building enterprise applications and Web applications from the underlying view technologies, which are constantly changing," Farrell said.
While Microsoft tells developers to build using Silverlight, Adobe stresses Flex development, and others hail "Open Web" technologies, such as JavaScript and DHTML, Oracle emphasizes abstraction, leveraging JavaServer Faces (JSF) as a component model, said Farrell. JSF is geared toward a traditional Model View Controller architecture, he said.
Google's framework is most similar to Oracle, using Java as its native language, said Farrell. With JSF, Oracle is going "the declarative route," providing an abstraction layer, he said.
Observers offered varying perspectives on Oracle's moves, with one analyst making a comparison to Microsoft's Oslo software modeling platform.
CNet: Firefox, Mac OS 9, and the power of open source
by Matt Asay
Despite the occasional usability snag, one of the very best things about open source is the diversity of development "itches" that can be "scratched," to use Eric Raymond's parlance. This is borne out in the news that the popular Mozilla Firefox browser has been ported to the Mac OS 9 platform.
Dubbed "Classilla," it's an effort to keep Apple's classic OS 9 alive and kicking by bringing the power of modern browser technology to an old operating system.
According to the project developers, however, it also "establishes a template for other free open-source projects to follow," namely "By putting the ability to maintain our own software in our own hands, as users of classic Macs, we ensure that OS 9 will continue to survive."
In other words, Classilla demonstrates what open-source software has long allowed: developers and users can take their fates into their own hands, rather than being overly reliant on a vendor.
So, if you're feeling ambitious, join the effort. Or you could instead contribute to the Firefox port for the Amiga (Amizilla). You have nothing to lose but your chains (and quite possibly your sanity).
