I had to interrupt a previously set editorial for couple mini notes based on recent events.
Now we're a SQL Server site, but everyone is aware that there are other platforms out there and they may or may not fit within your own environment. I'm sure there are quite a few of you out there that actually work on other platforms on a daily basis.
Sun buys MySQLAB. Or at least, they've purchase the main MySQL company that provides support and adds to the code base, though the core of MySQL will continue to be free.
I linked to Jonathan Schwartz' blog, the CEO of Sun, and I think he's a very, very smart guy, both in running Sun as a business and as a visionary, thinking about how technology moves forward in the world. I liked their model of data centers in a box, and while I'm surprised by this, I can't help but think that Jonathan has already thought about what this means.
There is one very interesting quote in the post: "first investing to grow communities of users and developers, and only then creating commercial services that attract (rather than lock in) paying customers."
The first half is what Microsoft has done with their focus on developers. They understand how important it is to influence people at the bottom, especially those that influence others. The MVP program is a great example of this, as has been their free SDKs made available over the years.
The second part, however, is where I think they'll do well. Creating services people want and attracting people, not locking them in. Build the best software people can use and they'll pay for it. It will be interesting to see how this develops, especially as Sun works to get back into university situations in the future. Keep an eye on his blog.
As interesting as I think this announcement is, it's not cool. In fact, there isn't a lot that I see from larger companies that's cool. The major exception is Apple and this week Steve Jobs gave another amazing keynote at Macworld. If you haven't see it, I'd check it out. He does a good job of speaking and as usual, he's rocked the world.
As cool as the iPhone is, and with the new features, if it ever gets to T-Mobile, I'll buy one that day, and as neat as it is that he's made movies for rent and moveable from computer to iPod, the MacBook Air is cool.
5 hours on a laptop that's less than an inch thick, less than 3 pounds, and has a full size keyboard? And it was introduced out of an inter-office envelope?
That's just too cool and I can't believe that after all these years Microsoft and other large companies can't just build something cool. Not neat, not solving a problem, but build something that's amazingly cool. That captures the imagination. The Zune is a nice step, but six months after the iPhone, why don't PCs have multi-touch?
And not the $10,000 Surface computer. Build something into Windows Mobile, or work with Watcom on something cool for the desktop. Heck, even get the designers to just build better laptops. It would be worth shelling out a few $$ to help Dell or HP to build something cool.
If I hadn't just gotten a new Toshiba I might have my own Airbook on order right now. Complete with Time Capsule and iTouch iPod.
Steve Jones
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