great reads
'big text pump' would be a great way to summarize how languages like Perl and, to a lesser extent, PHP started. this was really enlightening to me to think of web services in this way. after all, even with all the DOM vs. SAX and in-memory vs. file-parsing, etc....XML is text. and when you're talking about advanced Web Services...it's a LOT of text. so being able to handle text files easily and efficiently is a huge advantage of PHP over heavier app platforms like J2EE and .NET even. in theory, a stripped-down lamp5 box will blow away a J2EE app server on text handling, ie. Web Services. the ease of using the text is evident by the simplicity of the extensions that handle XML.
in addition to the cool angle on PHP vs. J2EE, I was made aware of ActiveGrid, which I'm not yet sure whether to view them as a partner or a competitor of lamp5. I think ActiveGrid's purpose is to be able to create application servers that scale over a large number of small machines, as opposed to a small number of heavy machines. so I can see a partnership where ActiveGrid helps in developing lamp5 architecture such that it is suitable to spread over large numbers of small machines.
I'm going to be frequenting both of those blogs, so future postings of mine may come from links to theirs.
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example of open-source madness
the biggest gripe I have is with the first requirement for a license to be considered an open-source license...free redistribution. just check it out, the wordage clearly says anyone must be allowed to 'sell it or give it away...without having to pay a royalty fee or other fee to the original copyright owner.' so, while I've heard nothing but 'free as in freedom, not as in beer' from the OSI and its zealots, they've done what I can only see as a 180 on this?
what if I am the original developer of the software, and thereby the original copyright owner? if I sell my program, is that considered an 'other fee to the original copyright owner'? so my project won't be considered open-source if I sell it?
open-source was much more attractive and much easier to 'believe in' when it was that - open. now we're starting to put definitions and legal mumbo jumbo all over the place just like proprietary software. and to me, the biggest problem is still the viral nature of the licenses. and I still say that forcing a software distributor to distribute the source code is just as anti-freedom as forcing a software distributor to keep the source code closed.
some day we will either have to write or choose an open source license that will make sense for lamp5 and for web services. no license currently exists that adequately covers the distributed nature of web services (ie, web services that use each other are all derivative works...so must all the web services you use with an open-source web service be open-source?) and they way I see the 'official' open-source licensing body moving....they're more interested in keeping their dream-world alive than working on licenses that will allow open-source to thrive in the real world.
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WS-RandomThoughts
while we've been in comm with a couple big software vendors (Sterling Commerce and webMethods), I thought it was pretty funny that both of them seemed to scoff at the notion of us exploring open source alternative s to their software. guess what guys....the granted value of an open source solution doesn't have to be as high as yours because the cost is minimal. since we've been able to put one of them into near panic-attacks over losing our business, and gotten the other to chop more than 50% off of their price, I feel like I've injured their normal proprietary model enough that it's okay to now go ahead and buy their software, and then make the open-source version of it on my own in a couple years.
somewhat related to that last comment...I think I have a better understanding, angle, and appreciation for the 'sugar-daddy' open-source approach, and perhaps a specific option of positioning lamp5 that way. I'm considering a company like EDS or CA...a software consulting services firm. I initially thought that Lumata or lamp5 would become one, but there would be no harm in having lamp5 join with one, as long as it could be convinced and accept the open source model, as follows:
let's suppose that lamp5 goes thru the normal open-source startup process (which I'm hoping is underway) in which a few dedicated developers get interested in scratching a common itch and leaving the solution out in the public eye. so work progresses, but pretty slowly...hopefully the pace will increase as more developers come on.
eventually there's a structuring time where official project leads are established, a company charter could be drawn, developers are recruited and organized, some contracts and revenue crops up. after some pioneering businesses implement, the solutions gets a bit of professionalism to it, and can attract the interest of a sugar-daddy.
enter EDS.
EDS sells consulting services, so they're not in the software-selling business, or if they are, it's minimal in comparison. but, EDS doesn't need to get themselves far into the software-selling business to capture benefit from an open-source platform like lamp5. while EDS indirectly contributes to MySQL by consulting with Sabre for their large MySQL system, which involves many commercial license purchases, EDS could more direclty support an open-source project and still remain a consulting firm.
if EDS sees that lamp5 has a small, but successful track record, it might be interested in doing a test case with it. if they find benefits of implementing solutions using lamp5, they could be interested in helping lamp5 progress, to enhance the solutions they're able to offer using it. at this point, open-source both shines, and creates havoc, for the creators.
if the creators are still on top of the game, and are committed to enhancing lamp5 on their own, EDS will likely hire on the lamp5 creators/developers/company to build lamp5 in the direction EDS dictates. if the original lamp5 creators are slacking off, EDS may have their own people usurp the leadership of lamp5, or could turn lamp5 into a different product that they choose. such is the nature of open-source.
lamp5 itself is just the tool EDS uses to get their business done. if they are the sole funders of the tool's development, they can control how the development of the tool progresses. even though other entities will have full access to the tool, their control over it helps them to establish both their methodology and leadership in the market.
it takes a gutsy move by a large firm to play sugar-daddy to open-source software, but it's being done fairly successfully, and lamp5 need be no different. now, if anyone has an idea of a good candidate for lamp5's sugar-daddy...please let me know.
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MSN search uses Linux
"A Microsoft spokesman argued that it would be 'inflammatory and unfair' to say that the thing leverages Linux."
I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft finally adopts a Linux-friendly stance...since they're starting to get clobbered all over the server market.
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