From the how many times can you celebrate a birthday files:

Mozilla's Chief Lizard Wrangler Mitchell Baker is out with a blog post today noting that Mozilla turns 10 today. But wait ... didn't Mozilla Turn 10 earlier this year?

Apparently Mozilla differentiates between the day the project was created and the day that source code became available.

Today is a special day.

March 31, 1998 is the date that  Mozilla was officially launched.  It's the date the first Mozilla code became publicly available under the terms of an official open source license and a governing body for the project -  the Mozilla Organization - began its public work

While I'm all for celebrating birthdays -- generally speaking I prefer to celebrate them once per year. Then again 10 is a significant number and it does mark the beginning of the second decade of Mozilla as an open source project -- and the second decade of Open Source itself. The great success that Mozilla has enjoyed in recent years is proof positive that the open source model can scale and innovate. Happy Birthday Mozilla !

From the 'we like Linux kinda/sorta files:

Adobe is joining the Linux Foundation as part of an effort to show its commitment to Linux. Adobe is also now making its AIR platform available for Linux -- as an Alpha. Finally there is also an update to the alpha version of Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux.

It sure sounds all fine and nice, but there is still is a major problem in my view. Adobe does not lead with Linux, it barely stays even with Linux. Adobe's product releases for Linux (proof of which are the AIR and Flex alphas) typically follow those for other platforms.

In a quote on a press release issued by the Linux Foundation about Adobe's decision to join the group, Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation praises Adobe's move.

"Adobe's decision to join the LF is a natural extension of its commitment to open standards and open source, which demonstrates its leadership and foresight in the software industry," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "Adobe's membership will contribute to our goal of increasing even more application development on Linux with a specific emphasis on Web 2.0 applications."

I would hope that Zemlin will encourage Adobe to now treat Linux as a first class citizen as opposed to an afterthought for release after Windows.

I hope Zemlin will pressure Adobe to finally actually make Flash -- not just the player -- but Flash CS3 Professional, (the core Flash development tool) available for Linux as a fully commercially available and supported product.  It is somewhat ironic in my opinion that Adobe can join the Linux Foundation, claim to support Linux and yet not offer its flagship Flash development tool on Linux.

Having the Flash Player, Flex and AIR are great steps, but what about those that want to develop Flash design using Linux -- as opposed to just deploying on Linux?

From the we're holier than thou files:

What is behind Mozilla CEO John Lilly's anti Apple Safari tirade?

The blog based tirade alleges that Apple was somehow unethical in its distribution of the new Safari 3.1 browser. The basis of the allegation stems from the fact that anyone with the Apple Updater on Windows (and that includes millions of iTunes users) automatically got a notice to update Safari 3.1, even if they never had installed Safari before.

Personally though I'm not a fan of that kind of practice, it's unfortunately very common.
Think about all the different sites and tools that you use that have prompted you to download the Google Toolbar for example (often with the checkbox to install the Google Toolbar already selected).

So why did Lilly decide to go after Apple? Why hasn't he gone after Google or others who do the same thing? Well in the case of Google which provides the bulk of Mozilla's revenues (and thus Lilly's salary as well), accosting Google would be biting the hand that feeds them.

Maybe Lilly is afraid of Safari. Maybe he's afraid that it's actually not a bad browser and that Safari is a real potential threat to Mozilla Firefox's challenge to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Safari includes speed and HTML 5 type features not currently available in the generally available Firefox 2.x release. Safari is also based on WebKit which is gaining popularity as the mobile browser platform of choice. Of course iTunes is wildly popular so maybe the fear is that if a user likes iTunes (and their iPod) they may be inclined to like Safari as well.

No it is not ideal to have a piece of software listed on an update screen that you've never installed. It is however a good marketing ploy by Apple and Apple sure is a saavy marketer. Perhaps Mozilla should take a page from the Apple playbook and suggest that Firefox users look at Thunderbird too (it might make for a whole lot more Thunderbird downloads).

Until the day comes (if ever) when a unified updater for all the different types of software from all the different vendors is available, vendor specific updater programs will continue and vendor suggestions for cross marketing (and other products) is likely to continue.

From the everyone wants the latest 'fox' files:

Mozilla developers have announced that Firefox 2.0.0.13 release candidate builds are now available.
The final generally available release for 2.0.0.13 is currently set for March 25th (though I suspect it could be sooner). Firefox 2.0.0.13 is a a security and stability update for the current mainline Firefox 2.x series and will be the first stable release since Firefox 2.0.0.12 release in mid February.

We don't yet have a full list of security advisories for the release (those typically don't happen till the actual release date). That said we do know that Mozilla has advised testers of the 2.0.0.13 release candidate to double check the browser on Ajax heavy sites:

 Sites that use a lot of AJAX, like Google sites, should also be checked for any potential regressions

While the latest Firefox 2.x is rounding third, Reuters has a story out now claiming that Firefox 3 is ready for prime time. Considering that Firefox 3 is at Beta 4, with at least one more Beta to go and possibly one or more release candidates after that, I'm not sure that Reuters is accurate. If Firefox 3 was indeed ready for prime time, wouldn't it  already be generally available then and not considered to be just for testing?

Don't get me wrong, I like Firefox 3 Beta 4 and am using it now myself. It's just that as I've reported before and as Mozilla developers themselves have stated before - Firefox 3 will be ready when its ready. I personally do not understand this preoccupation with pushing something out to the public before its fully baked.

NEW YORK. I'm sitting in the iPhone Summit part of AjaxWorld now in a session titled "Social Computing: the iPhone as an ideal platform". Sounds like a neat topic right? It is...but too bad the actual session didn't stick to the topic.

The session is being delivered by Steve Markya CTO of ICEsoft Technologies who essentially used the podium as a platform to pitch his company's technology - the ICEface open source Java server faces (JSF) project.

The presentation started off on the right track with Markya explaining to the audience that though the iPhone is powerful it is resource constrained in the sense that it doesn't have the same power as a desktop computer.

There are also implications around network bandwidth - so large applications will suffer from slow applications start times since code would need to load into the device.

Maryka then showed an iPhone demo - not a demo using the iPhone SDK emulator - but a REAL iPhone that he placed under a camera. What he did was a simple demonstration showing a proof of concept application (for a Taxi ordering service) running on the real iPhone.

Neat stuff. Now how do I get some?

ICEfaces itself is an Ajax framework that Maryka explained enables developers to easily create server centric rich internet applications in pure Java.  The system works by extending JSF (java server faces) which is a component model for JavaEE development.

The extensions that ICEfaces adds are :Automatic Ajax (which helps to minimize the number of updates required so you get an optimized/minimized app).,It also includes what Maryka referred to as Ajax push which delivers a server side push for the app deliver.

It all sounded fine and good until Maryka got into giving an overview of the development environment, where he noted at numerous points that there were components inside of the framework that wouldn't work on an iPhone.

So, a member of the audience piped up and asked if ICEfaces currently has a specific tool for iPhone optimizations (which after all is why people likely came into the session - the iPhone right??). 

Maryka dodged the question a bit noting that iPhone specific optimizations were being worked on

He was then asked when those optimizations would be publicly available - Maryka responded that they would likely be part of their 2.0 roadmap release (the project is currently set for its 1.7 release).

Go figure.

In any event the ability to deliver optimized Java developed applications in a compact push format is a great thing for any mobile platform (including the iPhone). The fact that ICEfaces is open source (and freely available) is also a great thing because it means its very accessable for developers to actually try out and see if it for themselves (and their own iPhones).

NEW YORK. Everyone wants Widgets (right?) but what are widgets? And more importantly how can you build them easily?

That information is something I was hoping to get from a session at AjaxWorld called, "The Social Aggregator - Widgets Reshape the Social Web". It was supposed to be delivered by Clearspring founder Hooman Radfar but apparently he wasn't available so Justin Thorp developer community manager at Clearspring took his place.

Thorp had a few very interesting observations that I generally speaking agree with :

"It's not about your website," Thorp said. "I  don't go there to appreciate your layout, I go because of your content."

Very true and also very disheartening in many ways isn't it? We spend time and effort perfecting our website layouts but outside of our own bubble does anyone care about it -- beyond the content?

What is a widget other than a buzzword? Widgets are mini web apps placed in side other web apps. Widget is a category rather than a specific technology.

 
Widgets are also mainstream now. According to Comscore data cited by Thorp 81 percent of US web users saw a widget in November of 2007.

The real key in Thorp's view is that widgets act as social aggregators enabling user to more easily select, view and share content across platforms.  There are some issues though, among them is the fact that different aggregation tools and sites (iGoogle, Facebook and PageFlakes among them) use differing standards to implementing widgets - which might require developers to have multiple widgets (one for each aggregation platform).

That's where Clearspring (and its competitors like WidgetBox) come in. Clearspring offers the promise of a write once run anywhere widget platform. So instead of having to write different widgets for different sites you  just do it once and get one click viral distribution.

Sounds neat doesn't it?

There are some issue though among them is the question of how to monetize widgets. Another is how do you measure the success of a widget and how do define success for a widget in the first place.

It seems to me though that if you think of widgets as a vehicle to help drive traffic (and build your brand) to your site's content - then  you're not going to go too far wrong.

NEW YORK. IBM is in the final developement stages of a new software platform release for delivery of RESTful (DEFINE:REST) services. Currently known as 'Project Zero', the effort is officially defined by IBM as, " an agile development and execution environment which leverages REST and scripting runtimes to speed and simplify development and deployment of dynamic Web applications."

The details of Project Zero were explained in an AjaxWorld session by Roland Barcia  lead Web 2.0 architect for IBM Software Services for WebSphere. Barcia noted at the end of his presenation that Project Zero would be going GA (generally available) 'very soon.'

Project Zero is an interesting concept that provides a stripped down Java environment for delivery of SOA, RIA and mashups in a web environment. It's not just about Java though as it also support PHP as a scripting runtime though IBM does not support the full PHP lanuage as is currently available via PHP.net, but rather just a subset. To my simplistic ears it sounded like IBM essentially has its own 'flavor' of PHP. Barcia explained that Project Zero's PHP runtime is codenamed P9 and it's built on top of IBM' J9 JVM.

The whole effort is supposed to be easy to create for and deploy with an integrated app server. As well there is an Eclipse IDE and a web based IDE for development. In fact the web based IDE also included some Ajax Dojo widgets and looked to me like it could be the basis of a new super web based Ajax IDE.

Project Zero is being developed by IBM as an 'open' project which should not be confused with open source. Barcia explained that the project is being developed in the open at ProjectZero.org and is available under a commercial license.

As to whether or not Project Zero will ever become open source Barcia simply shrugged and said: "We'll see where the community takes us."

NEW YORK

. All right here's the question everyone wants to know - What's better - Apple iPhone or Google Android?

According to Andrea Gazzaniga, software development manager at mobile open source vendor Funambol the answer is not entirely clear. In a rambling overflow presentation at AjaxWorld's iPhone Sumitt, Gazzaniga attempted to outline the differences and similiaraties between iPhone and Android.

"iPhone is cool and that's what's bringing us all here," Gazzaniga said. "With Android the claim is that it will be open and we're hoping it will overcome the closed nature of current mobile development.

Gazzaniga had a few other (not so startling) points such as Android is based on Linux while the iPhone is based on Mac OS. For the most part Gazzaniga implied that Android from an app developers point of view behaves much the same as iPhone, though he did point out a few serious limiations to the iPhone (from what he could tell from the iPhone SDK).

According to Gazzaniga iPhone does not allow in its SDK for background processes. That is an app must close when the users leaves it. The obvious question resulting from that issue then is - how does an application listen for a network event after a user leaver it ? (for instant messaging or sync operations).

There is not official email integration in the iPhone SDK which begs the question  - is it possible to deliver email other than with Apple's client and built-in protocols?  Gazzaniga also noted that developers of iPhone native applications will need Apple to distribute their applications. As an example Gazzaniga commented that you can't get Skype for the iPhone today. 

Overall though in my view, Gazzaniga's presentation left the audience with more questions than answers. It will be interesting to see as the iPhone and Android SDKs mature and gain adoption, precisely what the differences between the two are from a practical point of view.

Bruce Perens - the guy that helped coin the term open source and author of the Open Source Definition, is on a mission. He wants back into the Open Source Initiative (OSI) the 'defining' body for Open Source that blesses what is and isn't Open Source.

Considering that this is the tenth year of Open Source (which I blogged about in Feb), how could the OSI not want its' 'Father' back?

In my time writing for InternetNews.com I've had the opportunity to chat with Perens numerous times and he always has some neat insights. While Perens has helped me on stories (and the Open Source community in general) he now needs help - to get on the OSI executive board.

One problem I'd like to help solve is the over-representation of vendors, particularly the kind that have an Open Source product as their profit-center rather than part of operations. The vast majority of Open Source developers, paid or volunteer, are not in that sort of business, yet vendors tend to dominate the leadership of organizations like OSI and conferences about Open Source in business, to the point that many people have been led to believe that they are the most important participants. I'm not anti-vendor, I've built several of them and currently own one. But I think that vendor-domination of Open Source inevitably dilutes the rights of everyone else.

So far Perens petition for community support has garnered over 1000 signatures - Will your signature be one of them?.

NEW YORK. Ajax and RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) are often all about the 'WOW', the front end graphical dynamic interface.
In a crowded AjaxWorld session, Andi Gutmans CTO of Zend reminded Ajax developers that you also need a backend behind Ajax - a backend that Gutmans hopes will be PHP based.

Gutmans spent much of his AjaxWorld session talking about the benefits of the newly released Zend Framework 1.5 and how it can help Ajax developers. Zend Framework alone isn't quite enough though as Gutmans demonstrated a proof of concept application that provided a push (as opposed to pull) mechanism for content delivery.

In a nutshell what his test application involved was a seperate Comet server as well as the LightHTTPd webserver in order to create a dynamic Ajax push application. The Comet specification is a low latency continuous communication channel between a browser based application and the server. With Ajax where users are continuously connected to a data stream, Gutmans commented that Comet is a very important technology to have. For his proof of concept Zend developed a rough Comet implementation in PHP, though there is much work still to be done.

One of the key deployment challenges of Ajax in Gutmans' view is the latency issue since Ajax activity requires many browser to server roundtrips to deliver data.

So, what is the key to improving Ajax and paving the way for the next generation of Ajax apps?

"I think this year you'll see more work done on the server sisde as opposed to just the pretty side of RIA," Gutmans said.

NEW YORK. Nearly a year after first announcing Mashup Hub, IBM is still keen on its online mashup application. In a standing room only session at AjaxWorld in NYC IBM staffer Dan Gisolfi preached the wisdom of IBM's mashup ways to the Ajax crowd.

IBM staffers also talked about the OpenAjax widget specifications which will more easily enable widget development that will run across a wide variety of platforms.

Gisolfi was joined at the podium with David Boloker, CTO of Emerging Technology at IBM. Boloker is Ajax 'royalty' being one of the cofounders of the OpenAjax Alliance.

"Data is the center of the mashup ecosystem, everything builds from there," Gisolfi said." Discovering assets and then making use of them and wiring them together to create a new app that you can share."

The focus of the IBM presentation was supposed to be about the mashup ecosystem and how an enterprise can leverage it. Unfortunately the presenters spent way too much of their time trying to figure out how to get network access to show their mashups. I guess they probably should have spent more time working on 'local' hosted mashups (which is what they tried to do at one point).

With only five minutes left in the scheduled presentation, they finally figured out how to get a live connection (NOTE: I'm in the same session right now and I've got a connection - which is how I'm blogging this entry).

So the lesson here? DON'T ever rely on having a network connection (even if one exists) when you're trying to show mashups at a conference - which is a paradox in some ways since mashups rely on online data.

Quick rhetorical question here - but if a malware security vendor doesn't have the tools/technology/people to protect their own site, can they actually call themselves a secure company?

I'm talking about Trend Micro who has admitted according to numerous media sources  to falling victim to a widespread JavaScript attack that ended up compromising its servers(in all fairness to Trend Micro I have not directly contacted them myself).

US-CERT issued an alert on the JavaScript issue just yesterday. Surprisingly Trend Micro itself has neither issued a press release or commented on the JavaScript compromise on its website or on its malware blog or its enterprise security blog (as of this posting at least).

Trend Micro's competitor McAfee however is apparently not as clueless and has provided some color on its malware blog about the broader JavaScript attack in question.

Bottom line here (and i've heard this from many vendors over the years) is that even companies that think they are secure can be compromised from any number of different sources. The real key in my opinion is eternal vigilance and transparency so that others can learn and by extension, ensure that we're all safer as a result.