Theft and revenge…

I was checking through my web stats and I noticed a site sponging my images. It turned out this individual had nicked an article and was just linking to the images on my server. Due to a slight evil streak I decided to take revenge and rename the directory holding the images and replace it with some alternate images. Check it out:

http://blog.chinaunix.net/u/21174/showart.php?id=295159

I know it’s wrong, but it feels so right… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Noons is channeling me, or vice versa…

I read the latest post by Nuno Souto (Noons) and it felt like he was channeling me, or maybe I’ve been channeling him. I guess everyone knows my thoughts on the fiasco that is J2EE, so I won’t go there. After over 12 years in the business, I’ve still never found a development technology as simple or productive as Oracle Forms. Maybe I’m looking at things with rose coloured spectacles, but it’s been 10 years since I’ve used Oracle forms regularly and I can still open it up and knock out an application in a couple of minutes. I don’t think many people could say the same of other technologies.

Those were the days… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer…

I saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer last night and thought it was a pretty decent film. My expectations had been lowered by a friend who told me it was very average, which always helps. The first few shots of Jessica Alba freaked me because she looked kind-of weird, like she had had some plastic surgery. I think she had gone a bit mad with the bottox, because in a few shots she looked like she was trying to produce a facial expression, but nothing happened. Especially round here eyes and forehead. As the film went on I either got used to this, or the bottox wore off.

Anyway, there were some cool visuals and comic book action, without the endless whining of a Spiderman film. The film was paced quite reasonably and at only 92 minutes, I never got chance to get bored. If you like your cartoon spin-offs lightweight and choppy I think you’ll like it. If you prefer overly long, moralizing crap go an see Spiderman 3.

Cheers

Tim…

Coming down off my 11g high…

I guess if I was honest with myself, I didn’t really expect to be downloading 11g database software on 11th of July, but to see my doubts confirmed is a little deflating:

Get Ready for Oracle Database 11g – July 11th 2007

It takes me back to a discussion with Tom Kyte at last years UKOUG where his estimate for the release date was, “Between 1st July 2007 and 31st December 2007”. 🙂

I know Oracle need months of hype before a release, but I’ve still got my fingers and toes crossed for something earlier than Christmas.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Licensing…

We’re trying to figure out what Oracle licenses we have to buy to add another node into an application server cluster. Sounds easy doesn’t it!

Trouble is, we need to load an old version of the application server, and the whole product set has been renamed and re-jigged since this version of the application server was released. The components we’re using sound like a match for the cheaper Java Edition, but that didn’t exist when we bought the product originally, so we are really not sure if we can get away with this.

We contacted sales yesterday, and the lady we spoke to was very pleasant, but was unable to confirm what we need to do. We’re now waiting for an account manager to investigate it and make a decision.

This just confirms to me that Oracle’s licensing is a total mess, and repeatedly renaming their product ranges along with the components they include only serve to exacerbate the problem.

Cheers

Tim…

Do you want a free toolbar with that?

I can’t download anything these days without being offered something free that I don’t want. The biggest offender at the monent is Google with their Google Toolbar. It’s bundled with so many utilities it’s untrue. What’s more, you have to opt out of downloading it, not opt in! Security risks (of which there are plenty) aside, I don’t want it and I’m sick of saying so!

I’ve just downloaded Safari for Windows. I don’t want to use this browser, but I want to make sure my site renders properly. The default download is “Safari + Quicktime”. Excuse me, but if I wanted Quicktime I would have gone to the Quicktime download page. Why not make the default download “Safari only”, and allow me to opt in to additional downloads, rather than forcing me to opt out.

I understand the reasons for these types of bundles, but I find it really frustrating. Perhaps I should start a “Just what I asked for and nothing more!” campaign!

Cheers

Tim…

Start with the simple things and work up…

We had a problem with one of our application servers on Friday. There was a long trail of breadcrumbs, which I followed all the way back to a blindingly obvious problem. We had run out of disk space. Doh!

Why did this happen?  There were two contributing factors:

  1. Unknown to me, marketing had requested we stop cleaning up the Apache access logs about two years ago, so they had been commented out of the automated cleanup script. Over that period, they had built up to over 7.5G.
  2. The tool for monitoring disk space usage was configured to send warning messages out via the wrong mail server.

Well, you have to chalk it down to experience, but it has served to remind me once again that often it is the most simple and obvious things that cause problems. Sometimes, the more you know, the easier it is to lose sight of the obvious.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Database 11g…

Eddie Awads has posted that the 11g launch is on July the 11th. I have a feeling his hit rate is probably going mad at the moment.

Previous announcements said the release was planned for second half of this year, so I was expecting it to be December 31st. Coming so early in second half of the year is a rather pleasant surprise.

I like to think that in some way I am responsible for the early release. My constant moaning about being bored and wanting 11g to be released soon has obviously done its job. It’s truly wonderful to be the center of my universe. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

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