Look at the blogroll in my sidebar under Tri-State syndicate. There are some great weblogs here.

Any others that I’m not aware of that should be listed?

At ZDNet, there is an opinion piece must read titled Tempest in a Teapot. A brutal indictment of Java on the desktop.

In this NetworkWorldFusion article some of Java’s biggest names question it’s chances for survival, including a Boland survey of corporate bigwigs. Check out the related JavaLobby thread.

At TheServerSide you’ll find a flawed, but good read – J2EE to Oblivion?. Pay particular attention to the message board. via rebelutionary

Java is getting squeezed on two fronts. One, it’s never put forth a succesful desktop platform. Don’t talk to me about applets. They are cool. But that’s about it. And Swing is too hard for the Windows VB and Delphi influenced world. And too damn slow. Why no desktop compiler that optimizes performance for the platform? That won’t damage write once run anywhere. Idealism be damned. Why no VB like IDE? Now there *is* progress on that front, but maybe it’s too late. Two, you now have .NET attacking Java where it has found a huge degree of adoptance, server side apps, and it will surely be simpler and easier to use. J2EE is extrememly powerful, but complex.

No, I don’t think Java is dying. Far from it. But I hope to see some real progress made on those these fronts in the future. I really think the Java platform is becoming bloated, the focus has been to encompass as many functionalities in it’s APIs as possible, and if the focus would shift to the big fundamentals – ease of development, ease of deployment, and speed (on the desktop – server side apps are just fine thank you), well Java would be really kick ass and it’s future secure.

This looks like a good introduction and tutorial on RSS.

Blogs as Disruptive Tech – How weblogs are flying under the radar of the Content Management Giants

PAID: the economics of content

via Ken Layne

Companies Overpaying For Content Management Technology, Reports Jupiter Research

via cam

Sun and Apache are now officially engaged

Apache has signed a newly formed (and much improved) TCK License covering all the JSRs on which it’s active, allowing Apache to continue participating in the JCP. This new TCK License is becoming the Sun boilerplate and promises to bring benefits to all JSR licensees, both commercial and open source, by allowing true legitimate independent implementations of Java technology for the first time.

via rebelutionary

It comes not a moment too soon. That old site was completely unnavigatable. Hey… tell me… did ya notice the suspicious absence of something on the front page (not that I’m complaining)?

Brent comments on his favorite part of software development, which is mine as well – refactoring, “when the code goes from weird but working to clean and maintainable and working much better.”

There is something really satisfying about deleting chunks of code and making things maintainable for the long term.

Clever, much linked to already, referer script.

Illuminating ZDNet article on the history and future of the app server market. Probably explains why Sun is releasing so much in this area for free now.

Welcome back Dave.

Cigarretes are a curse. Like him, I’ve smoked to problem solve or to help get in the frame of mind to problem solve.