tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14256015188524381572009-07-14T01:33:41.138-07:00Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125RossJMasonhttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-57648697491223148352009-07-03T06:48:00.000-07:002009-07-04T05:49:44.668-07:00

Many of us have had to ponder this question. Technology selection is notoriously difficult in the enterprise space since the criteria and complexity of the problem is often not fully understood until later in the development process.There is an interesting post from ThoughtWorker Erik Dörnenburg with the unfortunate title “Making the ESB pain Visible”. Erik provides a real-world example of when

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com5http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/07/to-esb-or-not-to-esb.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-82709939613470102732009-06-01T07:38:00.001-07:002009-06-01T08:04:38.043-07:00

My wife and I became parents for the first time a couple of months ago. It’s been an amazing experience so far and has changed our lives beyond recognition - mostly in a good way. Part of me wants to pour all over this, but I’ll leave that to the blogging dads that have the emotional maturity to describe their feelings above and beyond “a kinda fuzzy, cuddly sensation”. Instead I thought I’d

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com2http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/06/fatherhood-is-fantastic-but-not-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-86257257206793016612009-03-09T10:20:00.000-07:002009-04-13T06:41:46.937-07:00

Today I attended the morning session of Sun’s open source day in Malta. I was pretty disappointed by the quality of the sessions. These sorts of events cost time and money, doing them badly can do more harm than good. I don’t think Sun did themselves any favours today.I thought I’d share some tips that I have picked up over the years that would have made today a better experience for the

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com2http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/03/ten-tips-for-technical-presentations.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-91584534423254324712009-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:002009-02-26T14:44:22.806-08:00

While I don't go to the MotleyFool for my tech news, they ran an article this week about the Gmail Fail (or #gfail on Twitter). The Fool was in praise of Gmail because even though the service was down for a few hours some interfaces such as IMAP for the iPhone kept working (though this wasn't true for me). To me the fact that Gmail went down and affected people in Europe and the US was a big blow

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com5http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/gmail-fails-cloud-computing-fails.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-85053724693674051172009-02-25T10:15:00.000-08:002009-02-25T11:20:04.100-08:00

Though some think SOA failed and others see it only as a partial success, this has been because of the approach to SOA not its underlying principles. SOA (or what I’d rather call Service Orientation, but that doesn’t fit our obsession with TLAs) is responsible for beginning a new evolution in the way we build software. This change is as fundamental as the shift to OO programming but essentially a

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-soa-paved-way-for-cloud.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-61192245433891846612009-02-24T01:38:00.000-08:002009-02-24T02:21:19.487-08:00

It seems the mirco-blogging platform is being used for a lot more than just posting links and banal commentary on the days events. I am an avid user of TripIt for organizing my frequent travel schedules. TripIt works by allowing users to forward their travel arrangement emails to TripIt, which will then parse the emails and create a travel schedule for you. Genius. A couple of weeks ago I booked

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com3http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter-is-changing-community-dynamics.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-91771425501224693112009-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:002009-02-23T16:38:01.926-08:00

It’s been an exciting couple of months for MuleSource. We began the year with 2 blowout quarters behind us. Last week we announced that Mark Burton, the former executive vice president of Sales from MySQL has joined the MuleSource board of directors. Mark brings a wealth of sales operating experience from one of the most successful open source companies to date. Mark has an excellent

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-chapter-for-mulesource.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-32588209400801782282009-02-20T09:47:00.000-08:002009-02-20T10:10:51.208-08:00

I recently wrote an article that appeared in eBizQ on the topic of SOA governance. In this article, I argue that the primary reason that many pundits have declared “SOA is dead” is that the traditional “top-down” approach to SOA and governance have failed. Vendors have for too long evangelized a “big bang” re-architecture of development processes, using their tools to enforce new behaviors from

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/pragmatic-soa-governance.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-2847759761481359262009-02-09T21:37:00.000-08:002009-02-10T05:34:22.629-08:00

Android is getting momentum with more phone vendors gearing up to release Android phones this year. While I don’t think Android is at par with the iPhone yet, it is a much more compelling platform for innovation. The openness of Android is a blessing and a curse. The community around Android will flourish since developers and startups will be more comfortable investing in an open platform.

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/android-predictions.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-52409075845296028192009-02-06T02:39:00.000-08:002009-02-06T06:37:05.274-08:00

Given that the definition of cloud is still somewhat fuzzy and the terminology is already spiraling (yes we have Private clouds, federated clouds and heavenly cloud cakes), I decided (for my own understanding), to map out where IaaS, PaaS and SaaS sit. The bit I was struggling with was that PaaS has multiple layers. Big thanks to Alexis for helping to organize my thoughts on this.The cloud

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/cloud-defining-indefinable.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-84205068916455248202009-02-06T02:01:00.000-08:002009-02-06T02:17:56.900-08:00

I’m watching the rise of the cloud with some disappointment. It was inevitable but still I hoped that we would take a more pragmatic approach to defining the cloud. The term cloud is being bounded around by almost all vendors, analysts and many technologists, but following the forums and blogs it’s clear we have very different views what the cloud means. I do find it amazing that so many

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-same-mistakes-with-cloud.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-14144508226978789552009-01-26T02:55:00.000-08:002009-01-26T03:18:59.229-08:00

I just posted about Twitter and then just found a link from @Scobleizer on Twitter showing and interview with Stephen Fry about why he uses Twitter.Stephen Fry is not the only celebrity on Twitter, many others including Barack Obama was on twitter (until his account got hacked). Check out CelebTwitter for a full list folks you might know. I am currently following Johnathan Ross (@wossy), William

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/stephen-fry-on-twitter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-89435196280991824042009-01-26T02:19:00.000-08:002009-01-26T02:53:16.870-08:00

I started using Twitter around the middle of last year as an experiment to see what the fuss was about. The idea of micro-blogging seemed banal to me, I couldn't understand the popularity of Twitter so decided to give it a go. Needless to say I have been sucked in by it for the same reason most other people. It provides a platform for effortless communication. I can ask things and get real

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-twitter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-78660990422788712382009-01-23T03:36:00.000-08:002009-01-23T03:53:30.341-08:00

Heineken does it again!What goes through your mind when someone says "lets go for a drink?"

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/friday-fun-beer.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-2658927591688642042009-01-21T06:07:00.000-08:002009-01-21T06:29:37.085-08:00

I recently got my hands on a shiny new G1 phone. Despite being a little jaded by all the promises made by phone providers in the past, I was excited about getting this phone. I am a fan of the iPhone for the most part and I had high hopes because the iPhone has been out for a while now giving vendors time to replicate and improve. However, the G1 is a completely different experience. The G1 has a

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/iphone-is-from-mars-g1-is-from-venus.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-13880566019954795672009-01-20T00:55:00.000-08:002009-01-20T04:50:50.814-08:00

I was in the pub the other night discussing Sun’s innate ability to confuse its customers. Sun has just announced that they are releasing a version of the Sun Java System Web Server version 7 as open source software under a BSD license, which is a shining example of a confusing product strategy. For those who aren’t watching carefully, or just don’t care this server has had more name changes

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/server-formerly-known-as-prince.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-11064936615345286642009-01-12T00:59:00.001-08:002009-01-12T01:43:14.190-08:00

Defining what constitutes a service when building service-orientated applications seems to be a common problem for developers and architects who are new to building services. The main issue seems to be the scope, i.e. what is the granularity of the service. This is actually quite difficult since the granularity of a service can vary depending on the application. The trick with any fuzzy problem

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-define-services.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-18143016256852125622009-01-11T10:16:00.001-08:002009-01-11T12:41:27.683-08:00

I finally got my kiteboarding stuff yesterday after a TNT mix-up between New Zealand and here. I'm proud owner of 2 Slingshot Rev 2 kites and and an Underground FLX 35 board. What I need now is a App for the iPhone and/or Android for tracking the wind. Everyone I know uses WindFinder. They have good mobile browser support and there is a great OS X Dashboard widget, but alas I haven't found any

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/got-kites-now-wheres-wind.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-26943468995454489462009-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:002009-01-08T12:10:50.449-08:00

There is an interesting post by Anne Thomas Maines from Burton Group exclaiming that SOA has gone the way of the Dodo: Once thought to be the savior of IT, SOA instead turned into a great failed experiment—at least for most organizations. SOA was supposed to reduce costs and increase agility on a massive scale. Except in rare situations, SOA has failed to deliver its promised benefits. After

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com2http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2009/01/did-soa-just-die.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-42809369859937717172008-12-16T06:13:00.000-08:002008-12-16T06:34:26.532-08:00

Thought it couldn't be done? Apparently, Dell have had some success with their Twitter feed and report they made one million dollars through Twitter. That's not a huge amount of cash for Dell, but its a glimmer of hope that there some viable business models for Twitter and, more importantly, the consumer market might be ready for them. Looking at the followers on Twitter for Dell tweets, there

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/12/make-1-million-using-twitter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-7188258774615888422008-12-16T02:38:00.000-08:002008-12-16T03:42:48.710-08:00

There have been numerous reports of the demise of Java ever since the language gained popularity. However with SUN's market cap at $3 billion there have been renewed speculations that because SUN is in trouble Java is too. First off, Java is a lot bigger than SUN, its out in the ethyr. Nobody controls Java (except the Java community) is its own entity. This is obviously a good thing for companies

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com5http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-java-dying-slow-death.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-61014908546351044942008-12-12T05:22:00.000-08:002008-12-12T05:42:33.933-08:00

There is a great post by Mike Cannon-Brookes of Altassian, which talks about how they came up with the stellar business strategy that has that has driven the iconic company from strength to strength. Mike raises some interesting points, which are relevant to any tech start-up or indeed any industry that deals with progressive change, which are almost all industries. I believe open source

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/12/strategy-is-something-you-can-only.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-36109304848720402002008-12-05T06:59:00.000-08:002008-12-05T07:08:06.482-08:00

Those who know me know I like to get out to the mountains for snowboarding whenever I can. This year I started kiteboarding since Malta has some decent conditions for it (once you get past the rocks and crowded beaches). Ever since I went heli-boarding in New Zealand a few years back I really wanted to do more with my boarding. Now I think I've found the answer, Snow kiting! Check this out:

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com2http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-excellent-way-to-hurt-myself.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-67243564966763322792008-12-04T01:50:00.000-08:002008-12-04T02:36:41.469-08:00

I've been asked a lot over the last couple of months, "What is the impact of the economic downturn on open source companies?" I'm sure most people have read the slew of articles on this subject and the response is pretty consistent. Organisations are still spending money in this climate but are looking for low cost alternatives over costly proprietary solutions. The commercial open source

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/12/open-source-upturn-in-economic-downturn.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1425601518852438157.post-450272593213250342008-11-26T07:23:00.000-08:002008-11-26T07:57:24.167-08:00

The are number of good things happening in the Mule community at the moment. We recently started a podcast series which you can subscribe to here or get it directly in iTunes. Each episode is about 5 minutes where we talk to members of the community about all things Mule. Let me know if you have any particular topics you'd like us to cover.Next, the team behind Mule are blogging! From the

Ross Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16687524504324116768noreply@blogger.com0http://rossmason.blogspot.com/2008/11/mulecast-blog-and-books.html