Karls Blog

Running the technology side (I let Artie do most of the talking ;) of Australias largest pure play Internet company (as well as one of the fastest growing) has many interesting and unique challenges. Probably none more so that choosing the technology we use to get the job done. I did an interview last year for a technology magazine that asked me why I had guided WDG down the Microsoft path rather than the Java / J2EE path. My answer was simple - up until that time in the Australian market good Microsoft heads were far cheaper and easier to find than good Java guys:

"Especially in the early days, .NET developers were significantly cheaper to find," says Karl Kopp, director of IT with WDG, which has 22 developers working on a range of .NET projects. "Java developers tend to be a lot more costly, and we're trying to run a business; it was a lot more cost-effective for us to follow the Microsoft path because developers are so much cheaper."

(side note - we now have almost 50 developers and 118 people overall - amazing how things can grow so quickly the challenges of which will be discussed in another blog entry!)

When you are running a company and your number 1 cost is wages and staff related costs, you want to get the best bang for buck - its simple. Since then we have added a Java team to expand our service offerings (and I think a very talented team at that :). They are cranking out some awsome applications which I will be sure to mentioned when I can. They are a hard working team producing quality applications, and now with the cost per head being more even, its a financially viable option for WDG to undertake and deliver to our clients. We still have 3 .NET teams for our 1 Java team, but thats an indication of the type of work we are winning now, not the large cost differences in running those teams.

But I read a very interesting article this morning that I really agree with - Java and many of its supporting technologies are falling behind:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051213_042973.htm

With technologies like LISP and PHP advancing, Microsoft continuing to advance and update its core developer platforms (like releasing .NET 2.0, ASP.NET 2.0, a new Visual Studio (which ROCKS by the way :) and new technologies like DLINK which Dave has some very interesting details on!), the stabilisation of the Mono project and the maturing of AJAX and similar technologies to close the gap between desktop and web based applications in terms of UI performance and design, Javas traditional benefits of cross platform operability and a common client / server language are slowly being eaten away while many of its fundamental issues like its dependance on virtualisation and its large resource drain are being solved by other technologies. The numbers from the Business Week article support that. I see it every day. I dont think Java is dead, I still think it has a long life in Enterprise class applications. But now we have other alternatives that are even easier to pick up and create useful, reliable and secure applications with.

12/14/2005 8:23:22 AM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)

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MS & IBM team up for Xbox Hardware

I am a HUGE believer in that most of the good coders I know have some solid fundamentals about hardware (and often an addiction to caffeine and stupid sleep patterns :). From the memory and disk IO subsystems and architecture, to networking interfaces and the intricacies of TCP/IP and the HTTP protocol, all these details really help UNDERSTAND what your code is actually doing to the electrons and silicon in the system.

So, with this view in mind, and being a bit of a hardware geek myself, I was really interested to read how IBM and MS teamed up to build the triple core CPU of the new gen Xbox - a good read!

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-fpfxbox/?ca=dgr-lnxw06XBoxStory

12/13/2005 11:19:01 AM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)

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Which superhero are you?

Been crazy busy at work lately, so not much time to blog or read my blogs. But I did see this post on Clarkes blog, so thought I'd take a peak. Very funny, we all want to be superheros right :) Try it here!

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man		95%
Supergirl		70%
Spider-Man		65%
The Flash		65%
Green Lantern		60%
Robin		55%
Wonder Woman		50%
Superman		50%
Hulk		40%
Catwoman		30%
Batman		20%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

12/9/2005 9:52:59 AM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)

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Technical College

Been one of those days, so was glad to read this lil pearla today :)

A gynaecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and was on the verge of being burned out.

Hoping to try another career where skilful hands would be beneficial, he decided to change careers and become a mechanic.

He found out from the local technical college what was involved, signed up for evening classes, attended diligently, and learned all he could.

When the time for the practical exam approached, the gynaecologist prepared carefully for weeks, and completed the exam with tremendous skill.

When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%.

Fearing an error, he called the instructor, saying, "I don't want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result , but I wondered if there had been an error which needed adjusting".

The instructor said, "During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark.

You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark."

The instructor went on to say, "I gave you an extra 50% because you accomplished all of it by reaching through the muffler".

12/1/2005 4:07:50 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)

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Chuck, the new Hoff

Word on the Interweb is that Chuck (of the Norris derivative) is the new Hoff (as in the Hasselhoff variety). I'm glad, b/c I for one couldn't take much more of 'The Hoff' :) So I was forwarded some classic Chuck trueisms from Matty here at the WeDGe which I just HAD to share:

Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother's womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard.
Chuck Norris is 1/8th Cherokee. This has nothing to do with ancestry, the man ate a flippin Indian.

More can be found here:

http://www.4q.cc/chuck/index.php?topthirty

12/1/2005 12:21:19 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)

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Java so 90's?

MS & IBM team up for Xbox Hardware

Which superhero are you?

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