Blogging Roller

In case you've missed it, Cameron Purdy has been benchmarking Java vs. .NET all week. Developers I talk to seem to take it for granted that .NET is faster than Java. Cameron's benchmarks tell a different story, though as Cameron admits "the author of the test can easily determine the outcome."

Patrick Peak continues his explorations of Struts, Webwork, and Spring. For me, comparing different technologies is the fast-track to understanding the technologies.

I know others have mentioned this before but, where are the Sun weblogs? Microsoft bloggers abound and now blogs are starting to show up on MSDN. Hey Sun, I'll help up Roller, no charge. Just fly me out to JavaONE and we'll discuss this further.

InternetWeek: IBM Preps DB2-Based Integration Software, New Dev Tools. Here are a couple of excerpts:

The new RAD tool is a model-driven development approach for developers unfamiliar with J2EE. One solution provider said the tool potentially could compete with WebSphere Studio, but Schurr said it is aimed at developers without Java expertise and is not specifically intended for skilled J2EE developers, which are the target customers for WebSphere Studio.

Man, that sounds like a tough problem: bringing model-driven architecture to novice J2EE developers without Java experience. Hows does that work? Don't you have to write some code at some point?

The new tools tend to confirm what every Microsoft-centric development shop that uses Rational fears: New and improved products will be Java-centric/exclusive and will first be available for WebSphere, then maybe available for Visual Studio .Net

That's why Microsoft and IBM battled it out for Rational. What is the upgrade path for those customers now? Does Microsoft do UML anymore? I can't seem to find any recent info on UML or MS Visual Modeler on their site.