Java Kecil 2x

Pretty freaking sad that this language that was hyped to be the usurper and premiere Java-killer turned out to be just another ho-hum scripting framework whose advantages are quickly being assimilated by Java. I posted earlier about RIP: Ruby Hype. Now, the newest sign that the Ruby hype is slowing or decreasing is the flattening (and decrease) in the Tiobe index of this language.

Click thumbnail above for detailed image.

I cannot honestly say I’m sad about this. When I first met these Rubyistas last year they surprised me by their vehemence and scary obsession. The Jesus freaks have nothing on these guys, and if they honestly think people think they’re cool because they somehow know just another web framework, then I suggest the blu pill (or even the red one) to wake them up.

Some other old posts of mine about these nuts:

• R-U-B-Y is M-A-D (April 7, 2006)
• Ruby on smartphones and PDAs (April 1, 2006)

Ok, on to stuff that actually matters - Grails, JRuby, and Java FX

ADDENDUM: In response to some emails that have come my way (I had been disabling comments), NO i never said anywhere that Ruby is DYING. However, the hype about Ruby is certainly leveling off, as it would have no matter how much the hype anyways. This could be due to several factors, including the fact that there really is no large job market for it, it really IS just another language and web framework (nothing radical there), and the rise of Grails/Groovy, JRuby and JavaFX in Javaland might be taking away some of its thunder. In the end, RoR will continue to cater to a middling size crowd, but honestly folks, did anyone with at least half a mind actually think that it would usurp the role of Java?

I haven’t been keeping track of what those mono morons have been doing lately, although by the lack of news you gotta figure the niche they’ve dug for themselves is still a literal niche. However, that unholy partnership between ol’ Microsoft (whom I’ve been having fond thoughts of lately now that their threat to Java seems to have passed) and Novell seems to have borne some bitter fruit.

I feel like a commuter whose train has departed the station and I can only glimpse portions of the activity inside through tinted windows, but I’ve been keeping track of the announcements via other blogs, and it looks like Sun is positioning JavaFX as a ubiquitous solution for Java GUIs - from desktops all the way to lower end mobile devices, and even to Blu-ray devices.

In his blog about the opening session, Lucas Jellema notes the following:

JavaFX will be integrated across all platforms: development experience for mobile deives,blu-ray, web applications. JavaFX runs on every existing Java SE platform! Even cooler: Battery powered mobile devices
Power of Java on desktop, project it to everone else JavaFX Mobile: Java SE and rich environment to every mobile device. Supports Java FX content authoring tools. Open, standards based technologies. The Network in your hand. Environment that suits Mobile Devive Manufacturers.

I highlighted the mentions of Blu-ray and porting Java SE GUIs to mobile devices via JavaFX. I’ll probably have more to say about this later when I can get a better handle on the REALITY (as opposed to Sun’s usual misty-eyed vision of what can be), but suffice it to say I have very big doubts about the immediate feasibility of this. There are just too many entrenched interests and competing stakeholders in the consumer and pervasive Java markets to make such a grandiose goal a reality any time soon.

However, if Sun simply displays some perserverance (much like Microsoft) and keeps this JavaFX as a running goal for the foreseaable future (as opposed to quietly dumping it when reality throws some wrenches in the works), then you may see some good things happening in the Java GUI space. I think people want to see not only big dreams from Sun but also big stamina.

A new report from Gartner Dataquest shows Sun regaining the leadership in Unix-based servers and gaining revenue and market share in the overall market over the most recent quarter. Sun’s renewed Unix-based leadership, earning the company a 31.4 percent share, comes in a segment that is flat, due to continued weakening at the high end, a trend toward server consolidation, and the continued progress of those pesky lower-end Linux-based systems.

Yet Sun has reported that it had the highest growth among the top five vendors in the Linux-based space in terms of shipments and revenues. And Sun did emerge, according to the report, with an overall sales growth of 7.6 percent over a year ago, and now trails Dell by a scant 0.1 percentage point in the overall market.

Just think what Sun could have done if it had embraced Linux earlier!

Anyways, good news for the Java heads and Java nuts.

Source: Sun Gains Server Market Share; Linux Continues to Grow

I have to honestly say I was flabbergasted by this report. Obviously, I have no problems asserting that Java is #1 in the enterprise (JEE) or in the mobile space (JME), and I do know it’s made some very good strides on the desktop, with popular apps like Azureus, Limewire, QNext and others leading the way and garnering accolades from the open source community as well.

But never in a million years did I imagine this. Swing? I thought SWT actually would beat Swing handily!

Evans Data Corporation has reported that Swing is the dominant GUI Toolkit for Northern American developers. “Java Swing with 47% use, has surpassed WinForms as the dominant GUI development toolkit, an increase of 27% since fall 2004….Java GUI development is clearly experiencing substantial growth”

Source: Official: Swing is the Dominant GUI Toolkit

Nevertheless, although it was from late last year, I think this report shows that Java on the desktop has made some incredible strides indeed!

The Groovy RFID project will use Groovy scripting with the Sun Java System RFID middleware to intelligently manage sensors, RFID, strobes, alarms and Java motes. Cool, huh?

Want to get started?

It had to happen sooner or later. The Apache web server had been increasing its lead over Microsoft IIs and all the other web servers in terms of overall websites, but even as late as 2004, Microfties could point to the fact that there were more secure web servers using IIS than Apache. Apache, they reasoned, was good for plain domain parking, but businesses trusted IIs more.

Alas, Apache just passed IIS to become the leader in SSL servers according to Netcraft. Apache now runs on 44.0% of secure web sites, compared to 43.8% for Microsoft, and the trends look mighty bad for IIs. Click on the image below for a larger pic.

Overall, Apache has an insurmountable lead of 69% marketshare versus IIs at 20% or so (and dropping slowly).

PS. This must be one really bad week for Microsoft. On the heels of the announcement that Apache had passed IIS as the major SSL web server, Microsoft’s stock plunged when it missed earnings estimates and gave cautious guidance on earnings for the future.

So, I guess businesses trust Apache more than Microsoft now, eh?

Whoaaaa!!!!! Hooray!!!! Weeeeee R d champions, my friend! And we’ll keep on hacking till the end!!!!

Java apps won several major categories in the 2006 SourceForge Community Choice Awards, including the Best Overall app!

1. Azureus - Best Overall Winner!

   Azureus is a powerful, full-featured, cross-platform java BitTorrent client.

2. Zimbra - Enterprise Winner!

   Zimbra is an open source server and client technology for next-generation enterprise messaging and collaboration. Zimbra delivers innovation for both the administrator and the end-user as well as compatibility with exising infrastructure and applications

3. Jasper - Enterprise First Runner-Up

   Free Java reporting library. XML report templates are used to generate ready to print documents using data from customizable data sources, including JDBC. The output can be delivered to the screen, printer, or stored in PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV and XML format

4. Open Reports - Enterprise Second Runner-Up

   OpenReports is a complete web based reporting solution that provides the ability for users to view dynamically created PDF, HTML or XLS reports in a browser. It is developed in Java and uses JasperReports as the reporting engine.

5. Javagroups - Clustering Second Runner-Up

   Reliable group communication based on IP multicast and configurable protocol stack

6. TightVNC - SysAdmin First Runner-Up

   TightVNC is an improved version of VNC, great free remote-desktop tool. The improvements include bandwidth-friendly “Tight” encoding, local cursor support on the client side, enhanced GUI, many bugfixes, and more.

7. Webmin - SysAdmin Second Runner-Up

   A web-based system administration tool for Unix servers and services.