February 2009 Archives

Time is an illusion, UNIX time doubly so...

This is one for all the numerologists out there to ponder.

Next Friday, 13th Feb 2009, at 11:31:30 PM GMT/UTC UNIX time, the number used by UNIX systems such as Linux to calculate the current date and time, will be 1234567890.

And here is a neat web page to watch that momentous occasion getting closer:

http://coolepochcountdown.com/

.Net; The life raft and framework of Windows based programming, now conquered by the penguin.

Will mono affect peoples' choice of embedded OS, now the flightless mascot has incubated it?

How long can it stay ahead of the Microsoft cull? Can Microsoft kill it?

All these questions are yet to be answered, so lets open this blog to the community and see what they think.

My opinion: As a developer it is nice to have a "choice" of programming environments as well as Operating Systems, which mono now provides. The ability to both program and implement Windows .NET derived code on a Linux box is a sign of relief. The true question is now "How stable is mono?" and "How quickly can mono keep up with the Microsoft changes?"

It looks like the next Linux kernel release 2.6.29 (RC3 as of now) will contain WiMAX support (stack, and device driver for Intel® WiMAX/WiFi Link 5050) finally, after some tries.

Five years ago, on February 2nd, 2004 the Eclipse Board of Stewards announced Eclipse's reorganization into a not-for-profit corporation.

Recently, during many customer engagements, a common question has started to emerge, "What additional plug-ins are there for Workbench (Eclipse) for version control, i.e. Subversion"?

The overall consensus after poking the internal teams at Wind River seem to be "Subclipse" - http://subclipse.tigris.org/

Have a different opinion, have your say and leave a comment!

Following my post yesterday about Motorola and Android today I read that Vodafone is also renewing it's commitment to Linux and Open Source Software via the LiMo foundation

Read more here:

World's largest mobile operator takes LiMO

Motorola announced yesterday it will ship an Android-based phone by the end of the year. It has not abandoned it's Windows Mobile phone development but has at least postponed development and further releases for a year.

Could this be another example of the current economic conditions pushing a major manufacturer towards further embracing Open Source Software?

Sure the numbers don't look good. Lots of red numbers indicating losses where not so long ago profits were looking good (not great, but good).