Ubuntu 9.04 showed up in the Update Manager. It's as easy as clicking the "Upgrade" button to do an operating system upgrade. And of course my DSL connection has to die when I'm some 300 packages into the 1391-package download process. I had to power cycle the DSL modem, and it came back with a slower connection speed.

Browsing the release notes, the most obvious change I see is that the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace salute (to kill the X server) is now disabled by default. I don't think it's a good idea—I've had occasion to use it several times in Ubuntu 8.10. With the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace option out, my remaining options are: ssh in from another box (which would require me to turn around and slide my chair three feet), or the reset button (which will require me to bend down, press and hold the big button for several seconds). Neither is as convenient as the key combination.

On the other hand, I have never ever accidentally pressed the key combination in my fifteen years using Linux.

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on April 24, 2009 7:43:00 AM CDT #

I woke up to the news of Oracle's acquisition of Sun today:

Oracle/Sun Press Release: Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt.

I don't think anyone can claim to be surprised by the news. My morning business newscaster seems to think that this is good news. My colleagues and the blogs I read have mixed reactions, from nervous (for MySQL), to hopeful (for Java), to wait-and-see (for other Sun stuff).

One thing is certain—there will be changes, and we may need to adapt to them.

BTW, here's what the oracle of oracles, the I Ching has to say about Sun:

I Ching (ca. 900 B.C.): 乾（乾下乾上）
《乾》：元，亨，利，贞。
初九：潜龙，勿用。
九二：见龙在田，利见大人。
九三：君子终日乾乾，夕惕若。厉无咎。
九四：或跃在渊，无咎。
九五：飞龙在天，利见大人。
上九：亢龙，有悔。
用九：见群龙无首，吉。

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on April 20, 2009 10:00:13 AM CDT #

(Via twitter, sadly (for blogs ;(   ).)

Kevin did it in 2004.

Dean did it in 2006.

It's Mark's turn today:

Mark Volkmann: I have a blog now. Not sure how often I'll post to it, but if you're interested it is at http://markvolkmann.blogspo....
about 1 hour ago from twhirl

mark_volkmann
R. Mark Volkmann

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on April 17, 2009 12:31:35 PM CDT #

(Via Twitter.)

Alex Miller: forgot to mention I am speaking tonight at stl #javasig on "Design Patterns Reconsidered" http://java.ociweb.com/java... (thx @scottbale)

See you all there.

In other news, Alex also announced the Strange Loop Conference to be held on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at the beautiful Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis, MO:

Alex Miller: The main piece of early news I can announce is that Alex Payne (al3x), API Lead for Twitter, will be providing the keynote presentation. Alex was literally my first choice to be the keynote speaker and he has been very gracious to accept when things are still forming.

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on April 9, 2009 11:17:42 AM CDT #

(Via Twitter)

Apple: We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Java Update 7 (including JDK 1.4.2_30, JDK 1.5.0_22, and JDK 1.6.0_13) for OS X 10.3.5, OS X 10.4.3 and OS X 10.5.1 on 64-bit Intel and G5 platforms as well as 32-bit Intel platforms.

JDK 1.6.0_13 is additionally available for the iPhone and the iPod Touch devices.

Finally, I can get some up to date Java for my ancient Mac!

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on April 1, 2009 7:11:12 AM CDT #