Why did IBM pass up JAVA to let Oracle grab it?

By Nick Hortovanyi

I woke up this morning to the news that Oracle, which on April 20 said it will purchase Sun for $7.4 Billion USD. This news came, just after IBM withdrew its offer earlier in the month.

One of the key assets of Sun, is the Java programming language. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, has said Java is "the single most important software asset we have ever acquired.".

I've been involved with Java since it first came onto the scene, I think some thirteen years ago now. I can remember traveling to one of the earliest Java conferences in Melbourne, Australia and receiving a version of Solaris for Intel. I then spent a couple of days getting it working on my PC (it might have been a 386 or a Cyrix box, can't remember now). But that shows the age, not just of myself, but of the Java language. It has had a long time to embed itself into Enterprise software development and has accrued some good and not so good legacy.

In Jan 2008, I wrote a blog entry "Java losing some of its mojo in enterprise development?", where I was questioning the relevance of Java moving forward. What's more, I was hoping that Java would evolve not to compete against C# and .NET but because it makes logical sense to do so. I see now that with Oracle's stewardship careful focus will be required to see how the Java Community Process unfolds and how R&D efforts will be directed. The pressing question in my mind is will Java's evolution be tied purely to support ERPs moving forward?

On the positive side, I see Oracle taking the fight to Microsoft. Which can only be a good thing, given the current complacency in a number of organisations towards just using Microsoft based environments.

However, why did IBM pass up on this opportunity?

Java after all underpins the majority of its current software portfolio. Or does it?

In my 2008 prediction blog, I wrote at the end of 2007, that we would start to see the further evolution of language neutral SOA standards, such as SCA and SDO. This starts to open the potential for other languages besides Java to evolve in prominance in the middleware space. I've written about this evolution as I've seen the quiet rise in the background of the Composite Service Architecture specificaton through the OASIS Open CSA committee. In parallel I've seen the evolution of REST (Representational state transfer) based approaches, which are more readily understood by developers, than following conformity to standards developed by others.

Firefox, Google and Apple also have a strong focus on responsive browser based applications through the dramatic improvement of Javascript performance (Javascript is not the same as Java). Considerable effort is being expended in this area. It moves a lot of development from the server, back to the client. The side affect, is a reduced reliance on server based middleware and Java.

Lets look at IBM's Project Zero. The opening splash describes the project as "Delivering the best of agile Web 2.0 with PHP scripting, REST and Dojo in an integrated runtime and tooling package: IBM WebSphere sMash". The commercially supported product is called IBM WebSpere sMash. Did you notice that there is no mention of Java in this new IBM product?

WebSphere Portal on Amazon

By Nick Hortovanyi

IBM have released a no charge development virtual server as an Amazon Machine Image, which includes WebSphere Portal and Lotus Web Content Management onto Amazon EC2.  A number of people pinged me about this. Thanks guys!

Reading the IBM press release - "IBM to Deliver Software via Clod Computing With Amazon Web Services", I can see that it is running on SuSe Linux. Now whats also very interesting is that these are "no charge" for development and test purposes. Its not just a trial for thirty or ninety days but free. You must pay for the Amazon EC2 usage charges.

Info is available on Developerworks on how to get started.

Whats very interesting is that IBM has allowed existing PVU (Processor Value Units) licenses to run on Amazon EC2 - details here for IBM PVUs required for Amazon EC2.

One of my greatest concerns previously with using WebSphere Portal in a SaaS environment was the PVU based pricing.  Now check this out from the press release -

"The IBM software images for full production running in Amazon EC2 will be launched in beta in the coming months, with pricing to be announced. All developers and customers will have the operational capability to run development and production instances of IBM software for an hourly price per instance."

Must update our Business Portal Server offering to leverage this both from a hosting perspective of the site itself, as well as an offering to clients. If you want to leverage this arrangement between IBM and Amazon we are raring to help you. We've got an ecosystem of experience professionals, not just IBM Certified WebSphere Portal guys that can deliver value quickly to you.

Just contact us in Aus or through the form on this page.  

IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop

By Nick Hortovanyi

I've been Microsoft Free for a while and a few people know about my efforts in this area. Giving up on Microsoft software for work was easy and it is not as painful as one may think.

This morning I received a tweet from Ric Hayman (aka Aqualung) about IBM's new offering on a 'Microsoft-free' desktop. Have also spotted the official press release - IBM and Business Partners Introduce a Linux-Based, Virtual Desktop.

A virtual desktop looks like a traditional desktop but is not limited to a single physical computer. Instead, many virtual Linux desktops are hosted on a server. The combined solution includes: 

• Virtual desktop provided by Virtual Bridges called Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment (VERDE);
• Ubuntu, the worldwide leading Linux desktop operating system, from Canonical; and
• IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution software (OCCS) based on IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus applications. IBM Lotus Symphony is built on the Open Document Format (ODF).

I hope there is a concerted effort to break this myth in corporates and government institutions by IBM regarding Microsoft desktops as being the only viable option. The current economical circumstances may also give impetus towards alternatives like this. 

However, a good starting point would be for IBM to drink their own champagne and roll it out internally. I guess we'll wait and see what happens.

IBM vs IBM in SMB - the competition continues

By Nick Hortovanyi

Following twitter the other day, I noticed a tweet by Ed Brill -  "I've been tempted to think about whether failed institutions used Notes vs. Exchange, but all of them are likely IBM customers somewhere.". I sent Ed a tweet containing a link to a blog entry I'd written previously on IBM vs IBM in SMB.

James Governor, picked up on it here in a blog entry and highlighted the issue of X Series advertising and success of IBM software in SMB. Mark Cathcart, jumped in here, with James supporting the case of the underdog (being myself, Aussies are known for coming from behind and winning). Mark commented on the very competitive nature of the x86 market, and eluded if they didn't advertise Microsoft software, they'd be out of business before you could spell b-u-s-n-e-s-s i-n-t-e-l-l-i-g-e-n-c-e. Thinking aloud here, is that why IBM is allowing Lenovo to license their X Series technology in certain areas?

But again his statement conflicts with the view of IBM Lotus as expressed on the comment left by Ed Brill. Through Lotus Foundations, Lotus are intending to deploy an appliance into these SMBs. This appliance will ultimately also have access to Lotus Bluehouse.  On a side note, the Lotus Foundations/Bluehouse scenario was what I was looking at eventually achieving five years ago, through WebSphere Portal Express.  I'm glad to see that Lotus Foundations runs Linux (no Microsoft required - finally Lotus getting off of Microsoft Operating Systems), think it might use an X Series server (but there is no mention of it that I can point to), and the focus is on your business, not IT. Am a little concerned at the focus on Lotus Notes (but it does allow Outlook connection, not sure about the Mac) but at the end of day, until Lotus Bluehouse is effective, its only email. So for an SMB, why not use Google Apps & Google Mail?

Mark mentioned a product called iDataPlex, which seemed to be targeted at ISPs or larger organisations. Not sure how many SMB organisations, need a "Right-size your Internet-scale data center" type infrastructure? This highlights to me, the difference in thinking between those that sell and support the larger end of town and those that support SMBs.

Its two different worlds, that are equally important but completely separate in what the immediate business drivers are.

Now I did agree about Mark's point regarding the support and incentive to sell, however that's useless if the customers don't want to buy IBM Software in the first place. The x86 hardware market is so competitive that it has now got to the point that it is not worth while quoting, as the winning bid (every one gets the special bid) on a large transaction will have a margin of 1% (that also needs to cover the cost of warehousing and delivery) for the business partner.

The point I'm making here is that the support and incentives are irrelevant, if IBM has not primed the SMB market using business intelligence itself to help progress potential buyers through the product buying lifecycle. I don't want to engage with the customer with an IBM product, if it is the first time they have heard about it. The sales cycle is just too long and hence then unprofitable with considerable training expenses.

In my experience, SMB customer's perceive IBM as IBM, not the individual brands, be it hardware, software or services that make up the organisation. If there is confusion, or mixed messages, they will go to other vendors with clear and consistent messages and experiences. Maybe that is one of the reasons Apple is starting to do so well (this blog post has been written on my Mac Book Pro).

Getting closer to Java Portlet Specification V2.0 products

By Nick Hortovanyi

The Portlet 2.0 specification (JSR 286) has been a long time in the making. In my mind, maybe a little too long. However the promise of having an event model for inter portlet communication between different vendor implementations and indeed Portal servers in one or more locations, through WSRP 2.0, is very exciting.  

I found a good article on IBM Developerworks - What's new in the Java Portlet Specification V2.0 (JSR 286) , where "Figure . A sample portal page" is showing events between various types of portlets. Its good to see integration with Google Gadgets, which I noticed originally (blog entry here) could not participate in inter portlet communication.  Now, I've been wondering why IBM has been delaying the release of WebSphere Portal 6.1? So I did a search on google to see if WebSphere Portal 6.1 would support it. Low and behold, there was a forum entry saying that current WebSphere Portal 6.1 Beta does.  Looking between the lines one would assume that just after the Portlet 2.0, specification is released we will see WebSphere Portal 6.1 become GA.