Help wanted: qualified SOA architects

Help wanted: qualified SOA architects: "Help wanted: qualified SOA architects
By Rich Seeley, News Writer
29 Jan 2007 | SearchWebServices.com

The Association of Open Group Enterprise Architects (AOGEA) was founded today in an attempt to fill a competence gap in the face of analyst and vendor fears that unqualified architects might slow or even doom SOA adoption."

Study Finds Open Source Benefits Business

Study Finds Open Source Benefits Business

By Thomas Claburn

'Free' software makes economic sense.

Floss for economic health. That's the conclusion of a newly released European Commission studyOpen Source Software (Floss) on the European IT sector. on the impact of Free, Libre, and

The EC study, conducted by UNU-Merit, a research institute of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, finds that the use of open source software adds 263 billion Euros to the European economy and "the number of employees among firms contributing code to Floss projects is at least 570,000."

It also says that open source software programmers, nearly half of which are based in Europe, volunteer least 800 million Euros (roughly $1 billion U.S.) worth of labor.

The report calls for "correcting current policies and practices that implicitly or explicitly favor proprietary software" by offering fairer R&D incentives, supporting standardization, avoiding vendor lock-in in education settings, equitable tax treatment for open source contributors, and encouraging partnerships between businesses and the open source community.

The report estimates that the Floss-related share of the economy could reach 4% of European GDP by 2010.

"By providing a skills development environment valued by employers and retaining a greater share of value addition locally, Floss can encourage the creation of [businesses] and jobs," the report says.

That's a perspective shared by Richard Gorman, a venture partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Bay Partners, which invests in open source companies. "Open source is clearly a major trend and is clearly an economic stimulus for the economy today," he said. "The reason we like the open source business model is that it's a way of entering markets and solving customer problems in a very effective way, both from a control and an economic perspective."

Some of the report's findings and recommendations may rankle leading proprietary software makers such as Apple and Microsoft.

One policy recommendation seems particularly applicable to Apple and the ties between the iPod and iTunes Music Store: "Explore how unbundling between hardware and software can lead to a more competitive market and ease forms of innovation that are not favored by vertical integration."

And one of the report's findings is that users of Microsoft Office are no more productive than users of OpenOffice. "We also investigated the productivity of the employees in using Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org," the report says. "Office suites are widely used and are a good test bed and representative for a comparison on issues like effort and time spent in the daily routine of work. Delays in the task deliveries may have a bigger impact than costs on the organization's management. Our findings report no particular delays or lost of time in the daily work due to the use of OpenOffice.org."

The report, however, stops short of recommending businesses switch to free applications such as OpenOffice because "employees may perceive that their work is under-valued using 'cheap' OSS products." It says organizations should consider that migrating away from proprietary software might have implications beyond cost.

Microsoft maintains that the total cost of ownership for Windows software is less than Linux and continues to host dozens of case studies, white papers, and customer testimonials to that effect on its Get the Facts Web site.

But Gorman insists the open source software makes economic sense. "It's a very good business model for entering large, existing markets and taking significant share, and creating significant customer and investor value," he said. "If you're an incumbent competing with a new company that's an open source company, it's very difficult to adjust or change your business model to be competitive. Usually by the time they end up adjusting, it's too late."

ThomasClaburn tclaburn@cmp.com

SOA Suite 10.1.3.1.0 - Live on OTN

SOA Suite 10.1.3.1.0 release is now live on OTN . Supporting bits still showing up over the next few days: doc, certification, and various other OTN page updates etc.
Take a look here

Here is the download matrix

SOA Suite 10.1.3.1.0 includes all of the following

-- SOA Suite CD --

Oracle HTTP Server (1.3.x based)
Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J)
Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control
Oracle Application Server Guard
Oracle Application Server Recovery Manager
Oracle ADF
Merant DataDirect JDBC drivers
Oracle BPEL Process Manager
Oracle BPEL Process Manager Control
Oracle Business Rules
Oracle Enterprise Service Bus
Oracle Enterprise Service Bus Control
Oracle Web Services Manager
Oracle Web Services Manager Control
Oracle Lite (Windows only)
Oracle Application Server Cloning Tool
Oracle TopLink
XML Query Service

-- Companion CD --

Oracle HTTP Server 2.0
Oracle Application Server Guard
Oracle JDeveloper 10g
Oracle ADF Installer
Oracle Application Server Proxy Plug-In
Oracle Application Server OC4J Plug-In
Oracle Application Server OSSO Plug-In
Oracle Application Server Web Service Proxy Plug-In
OC4J Client zip file
OC4J Web Service Client zip file
OC4J IIOP Client zip file
OC4J Standalone zip file
OC4J Admin Client
Oracle Sensor Edge Server
Oracle TopLink
Oracle TopLink Foundation Library
Oracle TopLink Workbench
Oracle Business Rules Standalone zip file
Oracle Configuration Manager
Oracle Fail Safe (Windows Only)

-- BAM CD --
Oracle Business Activity Monitoring (Windows Only)

Flip-Flotsam

Ever wondered what happens to your footwear after you're finished with it? This original documentary traces the fantastic journey of the flip-flop.

Filmed over a two-year period, this startling and uplifting film takes an ingenious look at the lifecycle of the flip-flop. It's especially noteworthy for the beauty of its photography and editing. We guarantee you will have never seen anything like it.

The flip-flops' journey begins in the factories of Mombasa, where 20 million pairs a year are made. Worn-in and worn-out they are taken to the cobblers, who specialise in flip-flop maintenance. But some are too damaged to be repaired and lie rejected. Every May, the monsoon rains wash the rubbish to the ocean. The downpour enables the discarded cast-offs to make their escape.

Brushing shoulders with other marine wanderers, they are swept along by the ocean's current. Sea borne for years, their buoyancy and resilience are put to good use by ocean hitch-hikers. They eventually come to rest on distant coastlines.

Islanders search the beach for flip-flops washed up by the sea. Later, they ingeniously carve life back into the tide's offerings.

The islanders prize the discarded flip-flops as a valuable resource. They are carved into dolphins, turtles and mobiles, fuelling a new cottage industry, which provides precious income for many families. Newly transformed, the flip-flops begin yet another journey. Leaving the quiet shores of Kiwayu, they are transported back to the shop-lined shores of Mombasa, where their first journey began.

Oracle SOA Suite Preview Available for Download- From Reynold's blog

Oracle SOA Suite Preview Available for Download: "SOA Suite 10.1.3.1 on OTN SOA Suite 10.1.3.1 has finally been posted to OTN. This is the release I have been playing with for the last couple of months and includes the Oracle Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as well as several other key components. The following diagram is taken from the QuickStart Guide and provides a view of the components. SOA Suite is built on top of an J2EE Application Server (preview only supports Oracle Application Server but components will run on other App Servers later) which provides web services support, event services and access to the Java Enterprise environment. Sitting on top of this are the following components BPEL Process Manager This has a much improved workflow component. Workflow is now a true service configured via XML, which means that the wizard can and has been made re-entrant (you can now change workflows by altering your choices in the wizard). To me this is one of the biggest improvements. A lot of other areas of BPEL PM have been improved in this release and I will cover some of them in a futur"

Accenture Opens Innovation Center For Oracle - EFYTimes

Accenture Opens Innovation Center For Oracle - EFYTimes: "Accenture Opens Innovation Center For Oracle
EFYTimes, India - 16 hours ago
Tuesday, August 08, 2006: Accenture has opened its Innovation Center for Oracle at the Oracle headquarters in Redwood Shores. The Accenture Innovation Center for Oracle will work towards the development of ...
"

Blog Censorship by the Indian Government ?

Blog Censorship by the Indian Government ?: "Over the weekend, news slowly started trickling in that some Indian bloggers were having difficulty viewing blogspot and typepad blogs. Mridula was one of the first bloggers to comment on this issue.

Neha took up the issue and asked people to check whether they were able to access these blogs. Slowly, a list of Indian ISPs that had these blocks in place began to emerge.

Various bloggers called their ISP call centers and asked them about the block. Some ISPs were clueless about the block, some mentioned that the government had ordered that the sites be blocked.

Shivam Vij contacted the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and recived a terse response.
'Somebody must have blocked some sites. What is your problem?'

Chacko's sources indicates the block might be directed at specific blogs being used by terror units to communicate. I am reminded of Anand's article cautioning the loss of civil liberties in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

The mainstream media has begun to pick up on the issue. I believe that it would be the mos"

Op-Ed Contributor: The Factories of Lost Children

Op-Ed Contributor: The Factories of Lost Children: "As long as we don't question the source of the inexpensive clothing we wear, children will die in factory fires overseas."

Slashdot | New Galactic Neighbor

Slashdot | New Galactic Neighbor: "Dan Yocum writes 'The Sloan Digital Sky Survey reveals a new Milky Way neighbor: a galaxy so big we couldn't see it before. A huge but very faint structure, containing hundreds of thousands of stars spread over an area nearly 5,000 times the size of a full moon, has been discovered and mapped by astronomers of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.'"

Blasts Kill 55 in New Delhi

Blasts Kill 55 in New Delhi: "An apparently coordinated succession of explosions tore through two crowded markets and a public bus on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year."

Delhi on high alert after blasts

Delhi on high alert after blasts: "Security is tightened in the Indian capital Delhi after three explosions on Saturday which killed at least 61 people."