Short Takes: December 15, 2008

By SD Times News Team

December 15, 2008 —

Why can't Sun get it done?
It's truly astonishing just how badly Sun Microsystems is doing these days. As ever, the company holds a portfolio of technology that's years ahead of most of its competitors. As usual, the company has acquired some brightly shining stars on the horizon, such as StorageTek and MySQL. And, as usual, the company has completely failed to make a dime on any of it.

The truly sad part is that, on paper, the company has everything it should need to succeed. IBM has done just fine offering its own hardware, databases and operating systems, even in a world dominated by Linux and Windows. Hewlett-Packard has managed to stay afloat despite its own bungled acquisitions and incoherent software strategy. Indeed, it seems as though Sun is constantly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Certainly, it's not easy to turn a massive company around when things are tough, but even when things were flying high a few years ago, Sun wasn't partaking in the benefits.

The company has great ideas, but its execution and distribution of those ideas into a sales channel has never quite jelled. Maybe it's time to auction the whole company off. But then, who'd want it?    — Alex Handy

Protection money
Normally I don't buy extended warranties. It's always been my belief that that is where manufacturers really make their profit, and I'm opposed on general principle to giving those conglomerates a penny more than necessary.

When I purchased a Compaq laptop for my wife, though, I bought one. Either the salesperson was particularly good, or my track record with laptops suggested I take the warranty. I can tell you that I'm glad I took it. I have sent the laptop back to Hewlett-Packard no less than five times, and they have repaired it each time in a very timely fashion and to my complete satisfaction. So, good story, right? I thought so too, until I was explaining this to a buddy of mine recently, and he pointed out, "You had to send it for repairs five times? Man, that must be a real piece of [poorly crafted equipment]." Tough to argue with that.    — David Rubinstein

Let my cable go!
There should be more cable providers in Manhattan. I'm switching apartments, and I thought that I would have some options in another building. There are none: Time Warner cable is the only service that is available. Verizon FIOS is coming, but it's not here yet, despite breakthroughs in fiber optics.

I've never been happy with my Time Warner service, especially the customer service. My "high-speed Internet" is anything but, and the remote for the cable box is cumbersome.

FIOS is a great service—once it is up and running. It took about two weeks for Verizon to hook me up in Long Island, but I'd rather sit and stir than continue to deal with Time Warner. New Yorkers deserve choice.    — David Worthington

Whose Rifle Is It Anyway?
I was recently talking with agile coach Jim York, and he said he teaches agile development in an improvisational style similar to the old TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which was hosted by Drew Carey.

I’ve never really been a fan of Drew Carey and never knew very much about him, so I decided to look him up. It turns out that the pleasantly plump, bespectacled comedian didn’t just get his start with a microphone. He also served in the United States Marines!

It’s a bit difficult to envision those thick black glasses topped by a green solider helmet. However, Carey’s Wikipedia page has a photograph of him back in his Marine days, and he sure looks a lot more Marine-worthy in that photo. And I'll bet that when it came to following the orders of his drill sergeant, Carey wasn't improvising.    — Jeff Feinman

PC Magazine says goodbye to print
PC Magazine, one of the most venerable and respected computer magazines in the United States, announced that it's switching to "digital only." In other words, after the January 2009 issue, the magazine's gone. Instead, the editors, writers and advertisers can be found on the Web in the new "PCMag Digital Network."

PC Magazine's demise represents a benchmark in a steady, inexorable movement of media onto the Internet. It's not just magazines, either. If you use the Netflix movie rental service, you can have DVDs delivered to your door or watch films streamed over the Internet. If you love music, you can buy CDs from your favorite store, or get digital downloads from Apple, Amazon.com and others.

The types of articles that made PC Magazine famous—product reviews and consumer how-to articles—fit more naturally onto the Web than in print. If you're looking for a new 24-inch flat-screen monitor, a 12-megapixel digital camera, cutting-edge music-editing software or a roundup of featherweight Windows notebooks, you want a searchable content database. With the right software, you can find exactly what you want and see it in the exact form you prefer. That means the Web. The same is true with technical information for developers. If you want a code snippet, a tutorial on a specific .NET API or a primer on creating iPhone applications, you'll look first on the Web—and you'll find what you're looking for. If you're searching, search the Web.

What about print, like SD Times? That's best when you're not searching, but rather are looking for something interesting to read, something that will inform, entertain and educate you. While PC Magazine is going away, SD Times is here to stay.    — Alan Zeichick

Related Search Term(s): Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun, Time Warner, Verizon

Share this link: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33114

Proxy reveals three-way competition over ownership of Sun As the Sun board approves the sale to Oracle, a proxy reveals that IBM wasn't the only company competing with it.

IBM, Sun still quiet on acquisition A day after the rumor about the two companies bubbled to the surface, analysts speculate what the implications could be from such a union. Java developers also weigh in on what this would mean for their projects.

IBM mulling bid for Sun Rumors started this morning of a bid from one of the world's largest technology companies for Sun Microsystems, which has not fared as well as it once had. If a deal is reached, the resultant company would be the biggest influencer of Java.

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