This past Thursday and Friday, I attended an IT architect conference here in Atlanta. Neal Ford, who works for ThoughtWorks, is a pretty well known Java guru and speaker and was running a session on polyglot programming.
ThoughtWorks created a framework called CruiseControl, which is used by a lot of Java and .NET shops to do continuous integration. Basically, CruiseControl checks out all the files from a version control system, builds its, and runs any unit tests. As developers check in new files, CruiseControl retrieves them, rebuilds, and runs unit tests again. Notifications are sent out if there are any problems.
CruiseControl is distributed with a BSD-style license.
Neal had a sad story, where ThoughtWorks was doing some consulting work for a big retailer. ThoughtWorks wanted to use CruiseControl during development, but the retailer refused. Since the retailer couldn’t buy a license, it was afraid it could get sued somewhere down the line for using it. To get around this, ThoughtWorks arranged for third-party company in Colorado to sell the retailer a license for CruiseControl. The retailer bought a license and was happy to use it.
Amazing.
With Feisty Fawn coming out Thursday, I thought I would put out some recent Ubuntu/Linux links out there:
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Linux Distro Timeline | KDE-Files.org - Cool timeline of when the different Linux distributions appeared and from what. - (tags: [tag]software[/tag] [tag]ubuntu[/tag])
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Ubuntu Feisty Fawn: Desktop Linux Matured - OSNews.com - “With Ubuntu Feisty Fawn’s latest test beta –for the first time ever– …I was up and running with all the niceties I wanted within 2 hours.” Sweet. - (tags: [tag]ubuntu[/tag] [tag]software[/tag])
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a critical look at ubuntu feisty beta on an hp nc8430 laptop | cpbotha.net - Charl P. Botha installs Feisty HP NC8430 laptop. Unlike a lot of the reviews, he gives his honest opinion: “The Ubuntu people have done a marvellous job, but Feisty Beta (up to date as of 2007-04-10) doesn?t quite Just Work(tm) on the HP NC8430.” - (tags: [tag]software[/tag] [tag]ubuntu[/tag])
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Summary of New Feisty Features from Ubuntu Wiki - The Ubuntu wiki lists some of the features that will be part of Feisty once its releasesd. This covers whats been in the beta versions so far. It covers the Windows migration assistant, easey codec installation, diagnostic tools, desktop effects, etc. - (tags: [tag]software[/tag] [tag]ubuntu[/tag])
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Microsoft’s ‘Men in Black’ kill Florida open standards legislation - It was just a bit of text advocating open data formats that was slipped into a Florida State Senate bill at the last minute with no fanfare, but within 24 hours three Microsoft-paid lobbyists, all wearing black suits, were pressuring members of the Senate - (tags: [tag]software[/tag])
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Speech by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin: Real Reasons and Acceptable Reasons - “I don’t know that one could say that folks like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson led balanced lives. Any rational cost/benefit analysis would tell you to stay out of a quarrel with the mother country, and let other people deal with it! Who today would talk about pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to a cause?” - (tags: [tag]philosophy[/tag])
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People have no idea why they’re doing what they’re doing - (37signals) - Clotaire Rapaille believes all purchasing decisions lie beyond conscious thinking and emotion and reside at a primal core. He helps Fortune 500 companies discover the code (i.e. unconscious associations for their products) that will help them increase sales. - (tags: [tag]business[/tag] [tag]psychology[/tag])
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Because buying new running shoes is more fun than actually running | 43 Folders - “there’s a big difference between buying new running shoes and actually hitting the road every morning. Big difference. One is really fun and relaxing while the other requires a lot of hard work, diligence, and sacrifice.” - (tags: [tag]philosophy[/tag])
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All the glory of the universe, in a single Flash app - A Nikon flash app that shows how tiny humans are in terms of the universe. - (tags: [tag]philosophy[/tag])
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Web 2.0 mind-map - A very impressive mind-map of everything important in web 2.0. - (tags: [tag]web[/tag])
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Adobe: Google’s Best Kept Secret Enemy « Tom?s Blog - “Whose version will Java developers buy? I don’t know, but whoever wins this battle will pull ahead in the enterprise space as all the Java-heads will preach that technology solution to those who sign their paychecks.” - (tags: [tag]web[/tag] [tag]software[/tag])
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How we learned to stop having fun - “Historians of European culture are in substantial agreement,” Lionel Trilling wrote in 1972, “that in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, something like a mutation in human nature took place.” - (tags: [tag]happiness[/tag])
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Write That Down - » Not Being the CEO - A young project manager’s view of what it takes to be successful. - (tags: [tag]software[/tag])
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Car from `Knight Rider’ is up for sale - Yahoo! News - Only $149,995. - (tags: [tag]television[/tag])
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You’re not on a f*****g plane (and if you are, it doesn’t matter)! - (37signals) - AC pointing out that we are already too connected and don’t need offline access. - (tags: [tag]software[/tag] [tag]web[/tag])
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The Elusive RIA « NeelZone - Problems with using Java and Ajax for RIA: system load, network latency and bandwidth, browser independence, and too many technologies involved, HTML, Javascript client-side, PHP/Java/.NET server-side - (tags: [tag]software[/tag])
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The Happiness Project: “what is happiness?” - “After a huge amount of thought and false starts, I arrived at my formula: to be happier, think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.” - (tags: [tag]happiness[/tag])