A thought struck me this morning: would you really want your database/application server/office productivity suite/etc. developer to also be the author of your operating system? On one level, the answer is an easy 'yes': tighter integration between the OS and the applications that run on it is a good thing.

On the other side of this coin, however, is the reality that today's integration is tomorrow's barrier to entry against all other applications. Take Microsoft, for example.

Microsoft has arguably done a very good job of encouraging third-party applications on its Windows platforms. But Microsoft has done less well once it starts to compete in a given application market against its partners. Even where the company has a financial incentive to boost the partner, it has a competing incentive to boost itself.

...

* dchinner hands MacPlusG3 a bigger knife….

(on #xfs yesterday)

MySQL K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of MySQL AB today announced free pre-registration for the MySQL Users Conference Japan 2007, the first MySQL users conference to be held in Asia.

Date: Tuesday, September 11 & Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Location: National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

Admission fee: Free, if pre-registered. Participation on that day is 5,000 yen.

Pre-registration: www.mysql-ucj2007.jp/english

Main sponsor: MySQL AB

I just unpacked and started setting up the Kysoh Tux toy that I got at OScon. The lucky folks with a press badge were given a free one. I had to pay for mine.

The good:

Physically, it feels to be well and solidly made. It didn't feel like they were being cheap with the fabrication. It weighs just over half a kilogram.

Physical setup is straightforward. Unstrap the parts from the box. Click in the US power module into the internationalized power cord. Plug in the penguin unit, to charge it up. It can operate both plugged in, and on internal batteries, which it charges itself. Plug the fish unit into your computer with the included USB cord. It uses a mini-usb plug.

The firmware running in the "Penguin" main unit, and the firmware running in the "Fish" USB/wireless transmitter unit, and the interface library and control software on the host are …

Long time no blog again.. Well, lots happened which flipped my world again upside down and.. Ah well.. We'll see how it goes.. blah blah blah..

Last week I was in Rochester, Minnesota, which is a central northern state in US. I flew in via Chicago and saw while landing at O'Hara Airport the Sears Tower after enjoying the beautiful great lakes. Later I flew into Minneapolis where I met up with my MySQL colleagues. Oh great fun it was! I was at the wrong hotel and my old Nokia phone didn't work. Of course, Ray's phone got stolen.. Anyway, we finally got together and I got in trouble with the waitress because I said the beer or glass was bad (which was also the case).

Sunday we drove direction Rochester, but first I had to buy some new pants! Dress code at IBM and I would get in trouble with my jeans! This was a perfect excuse to go to the Mall of America, the biggest mall in US and apparently also in the world. I mean, …

Note: Installing Oracle 11gR1 on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is now published.

Note: I have now published “Installing Oracle 11g on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)”

Note: This page focuses on Ubuntu installs. Oracle has published a web page for successfully installing Linux on unsupported platforms that you may find helpful.

I come from a MySQL background, and I have been given the challenge of learning Oracle. I can’t just play around with our customers’ databases, but I remembered that Paul Vallée said that there is …

Last week Paul released version 0.5Alpha of the new BLOB Streaming Engine and so I thought I would take some time to see what is new and do a bit more benchmarking. This time around, Paul concentrated on a new method of handling BLOBs. Instead of storing them directly in a table, you can now store a reference to them in the MyBS repository. Each database can have its own repository (which exists in the database directory on the filesystem) and you can also control how large the repository file can grow before another file is created.

This further abstracts BLOBs from MySQL itself, but does allow one to easily be able to insert BLOBs using a simply HTTP PUT method, although in order to store the BLOB permanently, you need to actually insert the reference into the database. If you don't, the MyBS engine will delete the BLOB …

Today, Fotolog reached the ten million member milestone. As a way of saying thank you, our management has decided to give free reverse friend/favorites feature to all Fotolog members. Now, you can see who has added your Fotolog to their friend/favorite list.

The short: 2007 Sysadmin of the Year Nominations being accepted — http://www.sysadminoftheyear.com. Canada and US candidates only (due to prizes and regulations. )

Last year, I found out too late about the Sysadmin of the Year Award (see my lament at http://sheeri.net/archives/157). Mark Cohen, this year’s “poster boy” for 2007 Sysadmin of the Year, contacted me to let me know that the 2007 Sysadmin of the Year contest is on. It started on Sysadmin Day, always the last Friday in July.

I asked if DBA’s count as sysadmins, and here’s what Mark had to say:

In our book, DBAs qualify.

I’ve worked with some totally amazing DBAs that not only do their job, but ALSO work as a sysadmin when asked..

Great bunch of people generally.

The press release to Forbes …

What is Freedom?

The concept of free software is very old - even older than the idea about software itself, because this is not a technology -this is a view of life, human, simple, and natural. Because this is the idea and feeling of freedom. This unimpaired freedom with which we are born and which we carry with us in the course of our lives. This is the same freedom, which leads our feelings of humanity and justice.

The Internet is a child of this freedom. The free software is its manifestation. Regardless of its statute as an innermost human right,
freedom is constantly under the attack of politicians, organizations, companies or separate persons while they try to adapt it to their
morals and views. However, limited freedom is no freedom at all! The best way to protect this freedom is to share it with others. To make them remember that they carry this freedom within and that they can and have the …