Latest News from Python Developer's Journal

Bright To Peddle SUSE

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:15:00 EST

Bright Computing, a specialist in Linux-based cluster management software and services for high-performance computing (HPC), has started offering its Bright Cluster Manager software bundled with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). Bright and Novell are going to co-market the stuff to their channels and perhaps collaborate on software development for HPC. Eight of the top 10 supercomputers run on SUSE.

The Power of Google and the Promise of Cloud Computing

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:45:00 EST

Evans Data Corp announced that use of the Python scripting language has increased by 45% since Spring 2008 according to the most recent North American Development Survey to be released this week to subscribers. Only 13% of developers used Python before Google announced its App Engine platform in Spring 2008, which at the time only supported Python, but that number has increased to 20.3% today. Other scripting language use remained relatively constant, with only small gains or losses in popularity among languages such as Ruby, PHP, Perl and Actionscript.

B2B Lead Generation Tip #3: Identify the Metrics that Matter

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST

If you haven’t addressed the first two steps in the lead generation planning process - establishing the right mindset and building a strong roster of stakeholders - you may want to go back and review those before you read this. After all, if you’re a smart lead generation marketer, you know (or you’ll find out) that process is critical. Skip a step or ignore part of the process, and you can expect a weakened lead generation program.

Cloud Computing: Transformative Technology With Financial Benefits

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:15:00 EST

A majority of executives polled by Deloitte (60.9 percent) believe cloud computing will be a transformative technology in the industry and can drive financial benefits, or at least be useful for certain kinds of enterprise services. The executives were polled recently during the Deloitte webcast, "Cloud Computing in the Enterprise: Not If, But When and How?"

Business Service Management: Aligning Business & IT

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:45:00 EDT

The result is BSMReview.com, a site which seeks to analyze the best and next practices in business service management from a third-party point of view. The experts that Bill has brought to the site are literally a who's who of the best and most trusted people in the field: Peter Armstrong, Tom Bishop, Malcolm Fry, Israel Gat, Peter McGarahan, Richard Ptak, and Ken Turbitt. And that's just for the launch. Bill is recruiting more experts even as I write this. I'd like to get David Williams from Gartner and Jean-Pierre Garbani from Forrester involved as well, but they're behind the iron walls of the analyst-dom.

Moving HPC Apps to the Cloud: The Practitioner's Perspective

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EDT

HPC applications are computationally-bursty, resource-hungry and self-provisioning software systems that are ideally suited to lead the early adoption of cloud computing by core enterprise applications. This session will examine several types of HPC applications deployed on various clouds as well as using different compute and data grid middleware. Victoria Livschitz will be sure to also talk about the challenges and opportunities typical of grid deployments in the cloud.

GoGrid to Exhibit at Cloud Computing Conference & Expo

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that GoGrid, a leading Cloud Infrastructure Hosting provider that delivers true "Control in the Cloud™", will exhibit at SYS-CON's 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, which will take place on November 2 - 4, 2009, Santa Clara Convention Center, in Santa Clara, California.

The Enterprise Private Cloud - From Infrastructure to Applications

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:45:00 EDT

Several organizations have been exploring how to realize the economic benefits of cloud computing within their own datacenter. They are looking for faster provisioning on demand, agile resource scheduling based on policies and chargeback rules to ensure resources are optimally utilized. At the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo, Sudip Datta will elaborate on the current focus of such private clouds which has been mainly on infrastructure enablement, leaving the applications to fend for themselves.

Securing the Cloud and Establishing a Level of Trust

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:15:00 EDT

While the benefits for cloud computing are compelling, the cloud brings an additional level of security risk that must be managed and secured. In his session at Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, Tim Brown, VP and chief architect for Security Management at CA, will address security needs for cloud computing. Security must be addressed for all aspects of the cloud paradigm – Internal, Private, Public and Hybrid cloud envvironments. The cloud must be secured by multiple organizations, and a level of trust established and verified.

Unlocking the Cloud with Enterprise Private PaaS

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:45:00 EDT

Like the agility benefits of public Platform as a Service (PaaS), but concerned about lock-in, security, integration and compliance? Considering an enterprise private PaaS for running Java apps? In his session at Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, Mohamad Afshar, VP of Product Management at Oracle, will answer these questions as well as discuss best practices for building and operating a private PaaS.

Internet Evolution Launches New Midmarket Clan

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:55:00 EDT

TechWeb's Internet Evolution social network unveiled its Midmarket Clan, the latest in a series of specialty user groups designed to serve unique technology and industry segments. The Midmarket Clan is intended for IT professionals and executive management from companies with revenues in the $10 million to $100 million range that have 100 to 1,000 employees.

IBM’s Linux-Based ‘Cloud-in-a-Box’ Makes its First Sale

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:15:00 EDT

Taking a page out of Cisco's book - from the chapter on so-called smart cities - IBM late Thursday announced that the city of Dongying near China's second-largest oil field in the midst of the Yellow River Delta is going to build a cloud to promote e-government and support its transition from a manufacturing center to a more eco-friendly services-based economy. Dongying, which can turn the widgetry into a revenue generator, means to use the cloud to jumpstart new economic development in the region.

The Top Ten Executive Mistakes

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:30:00 EDT

Want to feel old? Sixteen years ago, in 1993, The Late Show with David Letterman premiered on CBS. Where has the time gone?

Letterman, for most people, is synonymous with his 'Top Ten List.' It's such a part of our culture that The Top Ten List even has its own Wikipedia entry. Fun trivia, you're thinking, but how does this relate to executives?

Executives and lists have a long history together. Business leaders love to make lists, they hand out lists, they read lists. Lists are popular with everybody. You can't pick up a leading newspaper without finding a list of something. Everybody does lists: Business Week, Newsweek and dozens of other business journals, and Forbes has lists that go far beyond the top ten. They trump everybody with their list of the Top 100.

So, in honor of Letterman's anniversary, here is The CXO Mindset's List of the Top Ten Ways to Get Kicked Out of the C-Suite:

The Top Ten Executive Mistakes

Mistake Number 1: Talk too much and don't actively listen to your team's concerns.

Mistake Number 2: Don't take responsibility when you've messed up.

Mistake Number 3: Have lots of ideas, but don't execute on any of them.

Mistake Number 4: Think you can do it all, and don't delegate power and responsibility.

Mistake Number 5: Give presentations that have no inspiration or vision.

Mistake Number 6: Think that what got you into the C-suite will keep you in the C-suite.

Mistake Number 7: Rely on people you like vs. people with skills.

Mistake Number 8: Don't communicate to your staff on a regular basis.

Mistake Number 9: Stay isolated from the "shop floor."

Mistake Number 10: Do not "give back" to all the people who helped you get into that C-suite office.

Aspect-Oriented Programming and You

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EDT

One of the coolest parts of the new SproutCore View layer is its ability to use aspect-based programming to add behaviors to views. Aspect-based programming is built on the premise that often objects that don’t follow from the same class hierarchy may in fact need similar behaviors. This is especially true in GUI programming when designers come to you and say something like “I came up with this new widget - it looks kind of like a progress bar but it acts like a button when you click on it”.

Open Source Selenium Web Application Testing System

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:15:00 EDT

In my recent blog post – Get more out of functional web testing: How to correlate test reports with server side log information? – I discussed the problem that testing results are usually not linked to the log and diagnostics information captured by the application under test. The blog entry offered a way to link the two sides using HTTP Tagging via an HTTP Proxy. Tagging individual Web Requests allows linking each individual request executed by the testing tool with the transactions that are executed on the server side. Your logging framework or diagnostics solution can then take this tag and link the transaction to the originating web request. Tagging Web Requests with Selenium

Convey Computer Gets $24m B Round

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:45:00 EDT

Texas-based Convey Computer Corporation, a pioneer in hybrid-core computing – a technology designed to help high-performance computers run faster on less energy – has gotten $24.15 million in Series B financing. The round was led by new investor Braemar Energy Ventures. The Series A crowd, CenterPoint Ventures, Intel Capital, InterWest Partners, Rho Ventures and Xilinx, also participated.

Is Social Media a Hostile Work Environment?

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:45:00 EDT

The blurring of professional and personal lives in social media and the rush of organizations to “join in” may create just that.

Almost every modern organization has behavioral policies known as “zero-tolerance” these days. These policies are designed to provide a healthy, productive environment in which anyone can work without fear of being insulted, offended, harassed, or otherwise made uncomfortable on a day to day basis.

Basically, “zero-tolerance” policies are - in part - the codification of the common-sense rule that says you don’t talk about religion, politics, or sex in the work environment. Controversial topics, jokes, images, and words are off-limits even at the water-cooler for anyone who truly endeavors to have a successful professional career and, in many cases, enjoy continued employment.

But when that water cooler goes digital, organizational policies and apparently common sense (and courtesy) end up routed into what amounts to a black-hole, leaving those with a role that includes interfacing with customers and the public via social media working amidst what could be considered a hostile work environment.

THIS. IS. SOCIAL MEDIA!

The line between personal and professional life are not being slowly blurred out. It is being purposefully broken and snapped into pieces by social media. At the same time “brands” are encouraged – nay, frightened – into participating lest they be seen as uncommunicative and “out of touch” with their customers and modern marketing efforts. The clash between organizational policies and the use of social media as a tool to communicate with customers is painfully obvious when interacting on sites like Twitter and Facebook, where “friends” and “followers” are really customers, interested parties, influencers, analysts, and the press; many of whom view their persona as a combination of personal and professional, and let the two intermingle freely in their tweets and posts and profiles.

What someone might say in a tweet would never be spoken aloud inside the walls of an organization to another employee. The language and views expressed in many tweets and comments on Facebook pages would almost certainly violate any modern zero-tolerance policy. Yet on Web 2.0 and social media sites across the Internet, such commentary is common.

Many of us participate in social media efforts of our own volition. It is not mandated by the organization nor is it listed as a responsibility of our roles within the company. But some organizations are moving to including participation in social media as a part of an individual’s job responsibility, opening up some very interesting possibilities.

For example, Pizza Hut’s search for a Twitter intern was widely broadcast through the social media world as a sign that social media as a role within the organization is growing. That’s great for those self-styled social-media “experts” and for those who believe that social media has a larger, more important role to play within a company, as this move validates their views on the role of social media.

But when you’re suddenly required to interact with hundreds and thousands of people in an environment like Twitter; in an environment where anything goes and there are no corporate policies regarding what’s considered appropriate and what is not; in an environment where personal and professional are equally mixed, you may find yourself in the middle of what could reasonable be considered a hostile environment.

The problem is you may not be able to do anything about it. If your role includes interacting with customers in a social media setting and their language or choice of topics is offensive or hostile toward you or your personal beliefs, you have nowhere to go. You can’t unfollow them because it’s your job to interact with them. There’s no universal zero-tolerance policy in social media because it’s not just professional folks engaging in its use, and there is not – and should not be – any such policy governing the expression of opinion outside the workplace.

MAKING IT OFFICIAL

There is a very real danger in making the use of social media an “official” part of a person’s role within the organization without guidelines and expectations. When one chooses to interact via social media they bear the responsibility. They can follow and unfollow at will, and they can always decide it’s too hostile for them and choose not to interact. I know I have, many times, and will likely continue to do so. It’s my choice. But when it’s made part of their job responsibility, can they? If your job responsibility requires you to interact with people who may be creating a hostile work environment, organizations may be setting themselves up for some ugly legal consequences (IANAL). One of the definitions of a “hostile work environment” is that the victim must believe that enduring the hostility is a requirement for keeping their employment, which means making interacting with social media a part of an employee’s role – such as Pizza Hut’s Twitter intern position - could, potentially, lead to legal issues.

In that respect, perhaps Jennifer Leggio’s recent un-call for a CSMO (Chief Social Media Officer) is a better idea than it first seems. With oversight within the organization, corporate governance over employee’s actions as well as remediation steps might be more clearly identified. For example, if my responsibility is to monitor and respond on behalf of the “brand” on Twitter, am I allowed to “unfollow” customers who are offensive? Who use rude and vulgar language? Who are hostile? Am I required to subject myself to insulting and offensive conversations in order to perform my job? How am I allowed to respond if I choose to do so? Can I choose to respond? And what are my responsibilities? What kind of conversation should I, as a corporate representative, be engaging in?

Outside the organization, the answers to these questions are not so clear and it is just those answers we need before we start officially making social media a part of someone’s job description. Expectations when dealing with a hostile environment should be set clearly up front; what is and is not allowed on the part of the employee when responding (or even if they should respond), for example, should be decided before the situation arises. The possibility of hostility should be clearly discussed with employees before sending them “to the front lines” to ensure their personality is one that can/is willing to deal with such scenarios based on organizational decisions guiding interaction.

These kinds of policies have long existed at organizations that run a call-center/technical support for consumers. These types of interactions are nothing new to consumer-oriented tech support folks, as they’ve been dealing with them via e-mail and by telephone for years. But for many organizations the need for such a policy, training, or at least guidance may be new and a surprise. It needs to be a part of the process when moving forward with a full-blown social media presence.

It would be so much easier if people just used common sense and exercised some basic courtesy toward their fellow social media inmates, wouldn’t it?

[pause for laughter]

Exactly. That’s why organizations should start thinking about how an individual can and should interact within the Web 2.0 world and social media before they make it an “official” part of someone’s role.

Technorati Tags: MacVittie,F5,social media,web 2.0,twitter,facebook,hostile work environment,zero-tolerance,governance,Jennifer Leggio,Pizza Hut,policy,legal,web,internet,blog

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Annoying Turkish Spammers: Avukat Faruk Haksal

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:15:00 EST

Finally this evening I called 90 256 8564012, the phone number listed on his Website "about" page. Apparently the number was his home phone number also listed on his website as this address: Avukat Faruk Haksal, Didim Akbük Cumhuriyet Mahallesi 1. Kordon Numara 26 Aydın, Turkey. Apparently three hours ahead of Rome, Italy I woke him and his wife, they were not very happy. I think he cursed at me in Turkish by saying "ulan kekeme, dilini mi yuttun orospu chojuu" and hung up.

President & CTO of 3tera Speaking Next Week at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo November 19-21 in Silicon Valley

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:20:00 EST

Months ago, 3tera unveiled our Cloudware architecture. But rather than try to convince the world that there is only a single architecture that works and ours is it, we emphasized that Cloud architectures need to be open. Not only need they interoperate with all sorts of hardware and software as virtual appliances, they need to interoperate with other Clouds and Cloud components as well.

Rackspace Mosso to Exhibit at 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:45:00 EST

SYS-CON Events announced today that the leading global Cloud Computing technology provider Mosso to exhibit at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Conference & Expo which will take place November 19-21, 2008, at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California. More than 40 Cloud technology providers, as well as Virtualization and SOA companies will exhibit at the upcoming 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo (www.CloudComputingExpo.com), November 19-21, in San Jose, California. The conference will be colocated with SYS-CON's 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo (www.VirtualizationConference.com).

Time for VMWare to Change Its Pricing Model

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:15:00 EDT

The once darling of the software industry, VMWare, is currently struggling to recover to anything close to what it was. With stock once riding high at $124 per share, it is now struggling to break the $40 barrier. VMWare rode the initial wave of the virtualization revolution, producing high quality software to allow you to run and maintain multiple operating systems on one host. They were largely uncompeted for a number of years, but now that the computing world has decided that virtualization is indeed here to stay and will shape our landscape, a number of competitors have appeared, including solutions from Microsoft.

PlateSpin Outs First Post-Acquisition Product

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:45:00 EDT

PlateSpin has trotted out its first major product release since Novell bought the virtualization management operation back in March with the launch of PowerConvert 7.0, its data center disaster recovery mojo. The software has new backup and recovery features and expanded multi-platform support.

Google Web Toolkit: Finally Java Has Been Put into JavaScript!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:15:00 EDT

For many years, Java and web developers alike have had to explain to the unwitting that JavaScript had absolutely nothing to do with Java. It was one of the great marketing gaffes of the mid-90s. They were no more alike than chalk and cheese. But in the last six months, I have had to lay down my placard and walk away from the picket line with a smile on my face and skip in my step. Finally Java has been put into JavaScript.

iPhone 3G Only Looks Cheaper

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Apple has a history of carriage trade pricing, and, although such practices cost it the PC market - while imbuing it with a certain cachet - the policy was enshrined in the original iPhone. For the first time Monday Apple sorta kinda changed its tune, so to speak, and started chasing the mass market with an entry-level $199 iPhone 3G with 8GB of memory and $299 for a model with 16GB of memory, in either case a $200 price cut compared to iPhone 1.0, $300 cheaper than a year ago.

AJAX World RIA Conference News - AJAX & RIA with Server-Side JavaScript

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:15:00 EDT

Server-side JavaScript (SSJS) is growing in popularity fast since developers realize it can drastically simplify Web app creation by letting you use using the same technology stack on both the client and the server. While server-side JavaScript is not new - it was a part of Netscape's vision 10 years ago - times have significantly changed with 10x faster hardware and networks, making that original vision for the Web now a reality.

White Paper: "Extended Validation SSL Certificates"

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:15:00 EDT

Extended Validation SSL Certificates. Extended Validation (EV) is a new standard in SSL certificates. This guide explains the needs which drove the development of this standard and how it addresses contemporary security challenges. It also delves into the integration of EV certificates into new high security browsers such as Microsoft's IE7.

CEO of Hyperic, Javier Soltero on SYS-CON.TV

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:15:00 EDT

Javier Soltero, CEO of Hyperic, stopped by to talk with SYS-CON.TV host Jeremy Geelan at SYS-CON.TV's JavaOne studio in San Francisco's Moscone Center at JavaOne earlier this month. Other CEOs interviewed by Geelan at JavaOne 2008 included Chris Keene of WaveMaker; Sean Walsh, Skyway Software; Rod Johnson, SpringSource; and Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian.

SaaS Platforms For ISVs and Who Wins?

Sat, 24 May 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Although SaaS development platforms like SalesForce and Coghead have gotten a lot of attention, this market has so far been remarkably closed and proprietary. The Platform as a Service leader, SalesForce, has both a draconian hosting policy (host your apps and data anywhere, as long as it's with us!) but also a proprietary language (who needs Java when you've got Apex!?). Moving forward, the same trends driving open source adoption everywhere else in the industry will ultimately drive SaaS adoption of open source, particularly by ISVs whose business plan does not include a low multiple sale to their proprietary hosting provider. Future SaaS platforms will converge with traditional tools, offering on-demand development based on traditional programming languages with built-in tools for mash-up based development for basic users.

Yahoo, Microsoft, Google - The Great i-Technology Love Triangle

Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT

In an effort to buy itself time to head off corporate raider Carl Icahn's mission to nominate a slate of completely new directors for the search giant, Yahoo has made an SEC filing saying that its July 3 AGM is postponed till the end of July. One of its current ten directors, Edward Kozel, also resigned from the board and will not be replaced.

Google Launches New Message Security Services

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:30:00 EST

'Organizations of all shapes and sizes can get access to Google's industry leading security and compliance technologies,? said Scott Petry, Google's director of product management, as Google this week announced a series of security products Powered by Postini that deliver message filtering, encryption and archiving for any business environment.

Perforce Software Delivers State-of-the-Art Application Lifecycle Management

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:15:00 EST

Perforce Software announced the availability of the SDK for the Perforce Defect Tracking Gateway. Using the SDK, customers and vendors can develop improved integrations to commercial and in-house issue tracking systems, strengthening project management capabilities throughout the development lifecycle. The SDK is part of the newest version of Perforce's Fast Software Configuration Management (SCM) system, Perforce 2007.3. Christopher Seiwald, president and chief technology officer of Perforce Software said, We believe SCM is at the core of ALM and is the hard part of the technology proposition to get right. From small development shops to massive installations, our customers view Perforce's ability to integrate tightly with other tools as a major asset in building their custom ALM solutions. According to Jim Duggan, vice president of research at Gartner, Inc., 'Large companies often have multiple technology lifecycles to manage and coordinate. An ALM solution woven from integration-friendly best-of-breed solutions is an important option, improving visibility and control without major disruptions to the development process.'

Python Creator Guido van Rossum to Present the Next-Generation Python 3000

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:30:00 EST

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TurboGears - Python-Based Framework for AJAX Web Development

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EDT

The TurboGears website has announced that Version1.0 of the TurboGears web development framework is soon to be released. It is currently available as a preview release. TurboGears is based on the agile, mature, cross-platform, well-documented, easy and fun Python programming language.

Attacked by Underground Bloggers, SYS-CON CEO Fuat Kircaali Featured on the Cover of Forbes Magazine

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 11:30:00 EST

This man who writes for CBS / CNet / ZDNet sounds like he is out of his mind. Not a single person among SYS-CON's management team has ever heard of his name, had any business relationship with him, or knows who this person is. He was never asked to write for SYS-CON, he was never considered to write for SYS-CON, and he will never write for SYS-CON. Because SYS-CON does not think he is fit to write for the world's leading tech media company, he wants to boycott the company's advertisers? SYS-CON's advertisers are listed and updated on the company's website, which pretty much includes every significant technology player in every segment of today's software technology branches. So Mr. Blankenhorn wants to boycott the entire software industry because SYS-CON offended him? No one at SYS-CON has any idea who he is.