I have always enjoyed trying out different Open Source products, like Mantis, Joomla, Roller, Liferay, ect. Sometimes I need to install one of these packages to do a proof of concept and see how a product could work in a Enterprise Environment. Sometimes I am just curious on how it works, and want to check out what everyone is talking about. While I do enjoy playing around with new products and have a feeling of satisfaction when I get a product installed and configured correctly, it can be a time consuming task. I hate explaining to management that I have not actually started to test out a new software package, because I am stuck in the setup phase.

Well thanks to BitNami and there preconfigured open source stacks and I can easily get a jump start with some of the most common open source software packages. BitNami, which sounds like a Japanese video game to me, says that BitNami means:

It refers to the new wave of open source software that will be changing the world of business applications, the same way Linux changed the world of operating systems or MySQL disrupted the proprietary database market.

The great thing about BitNami software stacks is that they are easy to install, are built for multiple operating systems, has everything you need to get up and running including the database, and each stack is independent of one another. The BitNami group currently has what I would call the “Greatest Hit‘s” of open source software built in this easy to install stack environment. BitNami also takes poll‘s of what new software package they should create a stack for next. While I am not sure that you would want to run a production system this way, it is a great way to get started using some open source software for testing or for fun.

A while back I wrote about how I wish that Oracle would incorporate the JDeveloper functionality into the Eclipse Tools Set . Well it seems that my wish has been granted. Oracle released the following press release the stating that:

“As the Oracle Fusion Middleware community of Java developers continues to grow, so does our commitment to productivity with choice,“ said Ted Farrell, chief architect and vice president, Tools and Middleware, Oracle. “The Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse will enable developers to leverage their expertise in Eclipse when building applications for Oracle Fusion Middleware.”

You can read the full press release here .

I can‘t wait to get these cool new tools installed in Eclipse and see how well they really work. I have been using Eclipse more and more these days, because it allows me to work in so many different types of environments. I have installed plugins for Eclipse so that I can edit Perl, Java, Groovy, and many more. I am gald to see that company‘s like Oracle are leveraging the Eclipse platform as a option for developers.

Now I must say Thank You Oracle.

I have been a long time Redhat/Fedora user, supporter, ect. When I came VirtualBox the other day, which allows me to install virtual operating systems on the Windows XP, my mind started to race with all the fun things that I could try. I figured that I would see what everyone was talking about with the Ubuntu OS.

Since there has been so many years, where I just thought that RedHat was delivered from the gods, I have stuck with it out of habit. Also who wants to keep formatting and installing new OS‘s on one computer with the fear of messing up everything that you have already done. So now with VirtualBox I had the chance to check out Ubuntu.

I have been so impressed with Ubuntu that I don‘t know if I will ever do a redhat install again. The setup was very easy. I love the way that there is no root account It seems to be very stable and easy to use. I could just be blinded by getting the chance to try out something new, but the OS does seem to be awesome. And I do love the way that it installs.

I would love to hear peoples feedback on what is better Fedora or Ubuntu.

As a developer I love testing out the new Open Source operating environments to see how they work and to just play around with them. I am always looking for something to replace Windows, but have never decided to replace it as my main desktop OS. I refuse to make the move to a Ubuntu or Fedora system mainly out of fear. The fear is that I won‘t be able to preform all the task I need to and/or I will loose some data in the conversion because of my lack of backing up my system.

Now with VirtualBox , a product recently acquired by Sun Microsystems, I have the ability to run many different version of Linux, Windows, ect that I want, in virtual machines under the Microsoft Operating system. This tool not only allows you to run different virtual operating systems in Windows, but also does the same thing in Linux and Mac OS X systems as well..

So how neat is this? I can can create many different Linux Distributions that are easily started in the Windows operating system, without needing to create multiple boot partitions on my hard disk. The system has many cool features and advantages like:

1. The ability to create virtual hard disks
2. Ability to mount iso CD-ROM images as CD-ROM Drives
3. Ability to map network from windows to linux virtual os
4. Ability to setup a shared folder so you can share files between installations
5. Ability to have dynamically resided hard disks
6. Ability to get install/remove a OS without having to repartition hard disk

I have been having a lot of fun testing out Ubunta on my Windows XP laptop. The install went great, and everything was recognized without a problem. If you are looking to play around with different OS‘s then give this neat piece of Open Source software a shot.

With all the talk about Grails I figured it was time to start learning this “Next Generation” framework. Usually when I get started with using a new framework, I see if they have a Quick Start tutorial to help me get started. Low and behold Grails has a very nice, and very quick tutorial that will get you started with the basics.

Now that I have the basics down, I am off to trying some of the more advanced tasks. This is usually where I have to go out, find some books to read, and do some studding. I usually resort to reading some well written books, because they usually provide good consolidated information that complements the frameworks online references quite well. I found that since Grails is relatively new to the community that there are not many books available yet.

Well to my surprise Grails Online Documentation is very well written. I seems to me that the document provides you with all the knowledge and examples that you would need to get up and running quickly. I am so impressed with the Online Documentation with the Grails Framework, that I don‘t think there will be a need to go out and purchase a book to become proficient with there framework. Everything seems to be just handed to me, in a nice package, wrapped up with a bow.

For a Open Source Framework I would like to applaud there documentation effort. I have not found any of it hard to understand, it is easy to follow, and easy to reference. Thanks Grails.