Coldbear Snips

Consulting interview

2008-09-02T06:05:00.000+08:00

Funny stuff

2008-09-02T05:25:00.000+08:00

Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker -- A Wall Street Musical from Leveraged Sell-Out on Vimeo.

More than just being sarcastic

2008-07-13T17:02:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it makes sense.

Ubuntu 8.04 調整指南

2008-07-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

雖然名曰指南，但其實比較接近筆記。

在諸多開放原始碼大老的共襄盛舉下，使用Linux作為日常生活的作業系統似乎再也沒那麼困難，其中又以Ubuntu所帶動的風潮最受世人矚目。然而，再先進的技術，少了跨國的人力資源配合，讓Ubuntu這個套件仍然有那麼一點美中不足。對一個繁體中文的使用者來說，裝完Ubuntu卻仍然無法使用中文輸入法實在是很麻煩的事情。

所幸，台灣的Linux前輩們開發了Lazybuntu。這個懶人包套件除了能夠幫忙設定中文化環境之外，甚至還包括了許多桌面和字型美化的套件，讓你透過選單溝選的方式，就可以輕輕鬆鬆的享有一個完整美觀的Ubuntu環境。坦白說，如果不是有Lazybuntu，安裝一個完整可用的Linux環境可能要花一整個禮拜在環境設定和微調。

在字型的方面，雖然Lazybuntu已經安裝了給個相當美觀的字型，但整體來說還是微軟的正黑體最好看。安裝方式非常容易：將正黑體相關的Truetype檔案全部都Copy到/usr/share/fonts/truetype底下即可；我還另外Copy了Windows底下的Arial字型，配合反鋸齒說有多美就有多美。
另外，Ubuntu預設安裝總是有點少東少西的。只要你有安裝夠強大的Nvidia/ATI顯示卡，CompizFusion預設就可在，「外觀設定」選項當中就可開啟預設的特效，但如果你要客製化這些特效，則又得去安裝CompizConfig。還沒完呢！還記得Openoffice 2.4人所稱道的3D投影片特效嗎？那也是要另外去安裝openoffice.org-ogltrans套件才能夠生效的。

對常要出門作簡報的朋友來說，新的nvidia-settings讓人驚艷。新版的nvidia-settings讓你能夠在不需重開XServer的狀況下直接使用雙螢幕，並且能夠過將設定寫入/etc/X11/xorg.conf的方式讓這些設定能夠永久有效。唯一需要注意的是，預設開啟的nvidia-settings並沒有root的寫入權限，因此建議用指令的方式開啟nvidia-settings: sudo nvidia-settings。

Evolution and genetics | The misfits | Economist.com

2008-06-22T20:13:00.001+08:00

Evolution and genetics | The misfits | Economist.com

Interesting. So there is no such thing as "Free Will". What we tend to do, and what we tend to want, are decided by DNA.

Since the presumption of Democracy is that "Everyone is born equal", which kind of effect will DNA decoding bring to our political landscape? Or is Democracy itself an excellent playground for evolutional forces?

Nvidia: Nvidia Tegra All-in-One Mobile Processors Aim to Nuke Intel's Atom, Promise 30 Hours HD Playback

2008-06-21T06:43:00.001+08:00

Nvidia: Nvidia Tegra All-in-One Mobile Processors Aim to Nuke Intel's Atom, Promise 30 Hours HD Playback

This is all-out-war. If I were a graphic artist, I would draw a nice map with clashing CPU armies on it..... but I'm not.

While Tegra is quite appealing from technical point of view, the hostile tone that Nvidia has used might not be that appropriate. Atom, despite all its optimization, is still a x86 CPU. Intel's plan is obviously to court current application developers that are already familiar with x86 instruction set. ARM-based CPU is another story, and requires another introduction strategy. By making people comparing Apple to Oranges, Nvidia might have wasted a perfect chance to surprise Intel on Device marketplace. The old saying says: keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer.... remember?

Openbook: Is Via's OpenBook the Next (Little) Big Thing in UMPCs?

2008-06-21T06:42:00.002+08:00

Openbook: Is Via's OpenBook the Next (Little) Big Thing in UMPCs?

VIA is the only Taiwanese Semiconductor Company that dares to compete with Intel & AMD on PC CPU/Chipset arena. While VIA has been fighting this losing battle for a long time, the Sub-Notebook market has indeed opened another door for VIA.

OpenBook concept is VIA's strategy to capture new entrants of Sub-Notebook marketplace. By offering layout design free of charge, any company entering this field will be able to build their own Sub-Notebook/UMPC in relatively short time. But why would any company enter this market? It's already crowded. Without significant innovation on human interface design, Sub-Notebook market segment will step into the unavoidable price war.

Now, if I own the capital to spend on this venture, I would collaborate with Ubuntu, VIA and nVidia to produce a Multi-Touch UMPC aimed at aged people. What they need is just a beautiful device that can allow them to browse internet easily, store photos and perform conference call. Sadly, no company has paid enough attention to this market yet.

udn聯合書報攤 - 新聞時事 - 商業周刊 - 陸客投資台灣房市，是炒作�

2008-06-21T02:21:00.002+08:00

udn聯合書報攤 - 新聞時事 - 商業周刊 - 陸客投資台灣房市，是炒作�

從去年次級房貸的風暴、兩岸三通概念的投機炒房以及大陸貨幣緊縮政策即將帶來的房地產泡沫，我開始慢慢了解到，其實房地產業者投機的程度恐怕不輸給在次貸風暴中慘遭滅頂的銀行。

由此可見，凡是金融危機都不會只是個別產業的失衡，而是有系統的共業。現在已經有大陸的大型建商向避險基金用高利貸(年利25%)變現，未來大陸的房地產泡沫，又會對這世界上的資金產生怎樣爆炸性的影響呢？

Analysts to Google: Buy Salesforce

2008-06-15T07:18:00.003+08:00

Analysts to Google: Buy Salesforce

For some reason unknown, once in a while some analysts may decide to step up and tell a company how to run itself.

Let's skip the obvious and go deeper into the right question: does Google want to succeed in anything other than advertising?

Google Application, although well developed and well integrated into SF.COM, is still an experimental toy for Google. Yes, it has potential, but a company can only focus on limited number of thing at a time.

Google has proven to be extremely efficient in terms of monetizing search related technology. From the proportion of spotlight that Google's products received, it is easy to conclude that essentially the next big thing is still advertising. Youtube and Android, for example, are just new platform for advertising, and we can't really say the same for Google Applications.

To promote Google Application aggressively is to fight a war in a battlefield that Google has not yet claimed dominance. It's time-consuming, resource-draining and profit-thinning. Why would Google do that right now?

Of course, Google has interest in this market, but it's not time yet for Google to become serious.

The Great Inflation Debate

2008-06-14T19:04:00.004+08:00

The Great Inflation Debate

Also, refer to How Inflation affects bonds and equity yields and 2 New-Style Candidates Hit Old Notes on Economy.

We live in one of most interesting time to observe how economy behaves in post-globalization era. It is worth noting, however, that many policies and phenomenon contradicts with themselves. If anything in this era can be trusted, the fact that "nothing is as it seems" is one.

For example, if a Minimal State policy is to be implemented, then Fed as an organization should be made obsolete. Also, to create regional conflict by attacking and occupying middle east countries, and as a result, to distort the long term oil price.... all those do not really fit into an image of Minimal State, unless my dictionary is inaccurate.

On the other hand, what's really stopping Federal Reserve to consider oil and food prices as part of CPI? The fear that consumer would panic? Or the fear that Wall Street would crumble to dust? By turning a blind eye on oil and food prices, regardless of intent, Federal Reserve is ACTUALLY encouraging investors with surviving capital to flood into commodity market because it seems to be the safest place to be by now. The fact is: by ignoring oil/food prices, Federal Reserve is actually helping to raise REAL inflation.

But Bernanke fears liquidity crisis above everything else. After announcing that he will not cut rate any further, he did nothing to raise it either. Therefore, I think that it should be safe to draw a conclusion from his behavior. The situation in major banks is REALLY REALLY REALLY bad, by astronomic measure. Consumers, while still complaining, are actually surviving this crisis (so far). Some banks, OTOH, may not survive it if there is any lack of liquidity. (From what I know, most major corporation actually still hold significant amount of cash; so banks will be most hurt if the rate goes up significantly).

If I were Bernanke, I would capitalize on this opportunity. I would tell banks to earn back in commodity market what they have lost previously in securities. I would let the price of commodity BOIL until every investor on this planet holds significant stake on oil and food. And then I will, on signal, raise the rate significantly, strengthening the Dollar and breaking the morale of commodity market. Did I miss something?

Economist's Corner: Potential Problems for Firms with China Operations - Deloitte Research - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

2008-06-12T02:27:00.001+08:00

Economist's Corner: Potential Problems for Firms with China Operations - Deloitte Research - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Although there might be signs showing that RMB will go up further, I would personally bet on the contrary, at least for short term.

For Chinese government, the worst fear is not inflation, but unsustainable economic growth. My estimate is that Chinese government will continue to buy U.S Dollar positions to keep the exchange rate still.

For companies which have operations in China, there's not that much to fear unless they operate in China solely for cheap labor. While most Taiwanese companies operating in China do have a focus on its cheap labor, most western, branded company stay in China for its immense market and potential consuming power. Even with inflation, the overall purchasing power of Chinese will most likely be rising, presenting a greener pasture in current worldwide economy.

股神嗆避險基金對賭千萬 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格

2008-06-11T20:40:00.003+08:00

股神嗆避險基金對賭千萬 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格

還真是豪氣干雲啊。不過最近一堆避險基金倒閉的倒閉、經理人被判刑、爆量贖回潮....避險基金真的還有辦法撐那麼久嗎？

從BusinessWeek的報導當中，看到許多避險基金現在開始放起年利25%以上的高利貸了，甚至學Venture Capital開始投資未上市的網路公司....

看來巴菲特贏面實在很大。

Forrester: Social networking means business, big business | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

2008-06-11T16:00:00.002+08:00

Forrester: Social networking means business, big business | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

This is a claim that I never have understood. Facebook is fun to play with, but that is as far as it would go. Advertising potential of pure Social Networking sites is also just as good as a marginal one. I have never clicked on those ads; at the same time, I do click on Google Adwords from search result because they are not only interesting, but most of time relevant.

In my opinion, Social Networking sites should look at business side more closely and they will find that the profitable headhunter/recruiter market is within their reach. It might take extra know-how and effort to run this side of business, but relationship can mostly be monetized this way. Users, at the same time, would also be more willing to share their private data if a fatter paycheck is at his/her door, don't you think?

Booz & Company Launched as a Leader in Global Management Consulting

2008-06-11T09:34:00.002+08:00

Booz & Company Launched as a Leader in Global Management Consulting

Looks like that MBA graduates will be heading to the new company: Booz & Company.

According to the press release, Booz & Company will focus on strategy/management consulting market, while the holding company, Booz Allen Hamilton, still takes care of IT Consulting and outsourcing.

Booz & Company faces fierce competition from others in the "Top Tier" of management consulting territory, and those companies are usually pure management consulting companies. This restructuring might signal a re-positioning of Booz & Company as a premier consulting firm instead of another firm that provides professional service buffet.

This is an interesting development. Just when I thought that more vertical integration might be on the way, some companies might actually choose to further differentiate themselves as first class citizen of this territory.

It pays to be an elite.

20% Of Valley Startups Can’t Get To Their Cash

2008-06-10T20:01:00.001+08:00

20% Of Valley Startups Can’t Get To Their Cash

Today we learn a new word: Auction Rate Securities. Instead of being an investment tool, this tool has proven to be a liquidity facility for banks whose main job is to invest in bonds or debt with long maturity period. When credit rating of bond falls, it affects every security linked to it, creating this little yet intimidating liquidity crisis.

Now, I actually have a nice idea about developing derivatives. How about, for example, developing derivatives using the concept of annuity? A brilliant student of modest economic background can apply for this kind of student loan, and pays a modest amount back throughout his entire life. He or she will suffer less chance of bankruptcy, and bank will have better liquidity, less risk of student not being able to pay back and even potentially better return. Investor of this kind of security will be able to draw stable amount of money from this pool of money, making this security optimal for retirement fund. Besides, it can be also a form of charity, helping talented student move up social ladder without suffering suffocating financial pressure.

I must be a genius. Or dumb. Or too naiive.

The new Iphone out July 11 for 199$ all over the world. And now? | PiZero Nokia & Symbian Design

2008-06-10T19:23:00.003+08:00

The new Iphone out July 11 for 199$ all over the world. And now? | PiZero Nokia & Symbian Design

I have just finished watching this year's WWDC keynote. All I can say is that I'm stunned. Apple is not the one that I knew anymore; it is focused now on worldwide dominance, delivering this super beautiful looking device at 199 USD each, when everything else boils with inflation.

Now I'm really considering becoming one of those Appletards and become cool for a change.

Fall Recruiting Moves into Summer

2008-06-09T13:41:00.002+08:00

Fall Recruiting Moves into Summer

Bad news for those of us who are still stuck in Asia! Acquiring internship opportunities will be a tough fight this winter.

US Internet will shrink to 2 strong players-report - Forbes.com

2008-06-03T15:09:00.002+08:00

US Internet will shrink to 2 strong players-report - Forbes.com

......which fits exactly with my own prediction. Internet companies require vision, and among all those companies, only Google and Amazon have shown a constant vigilance and preparation for what it is to come. Ok, perhaps we should also add Apple to the mix, for it is now the largest music retailer on the internet, and perhaps the most successful mobile device maker by the introduction of iPhone 3G. Yes, people have always underestimated this company (including myself), but Apple has shown to attack when it is least expected. After all, Apple is going to own both the device (iPhone, iPod) and internet (expansion of iTune store).

〈分析〉金融體系崩潰風險日增 12幕悲劇就要上演 - MEIF理財部落格 -

2008-06-03T09:51:00.002+08:00

〈分析〉金融體系崩潰風險日增 12幕悲劇就要上演 - MEIF理財部落格 -

且讓我引用這篇文章的片段：

一、房價會從至高點下挫20-30%。全美房屋價值會蒸發 4-6兆美元。大型房屋建商可能破產，導致營建股進一步下滑。況且美聯儲主席Ben Bernanke也已經坦言，美國房價會一直跌到2009年。

大都市的房地產仍然很值錢。房地產下跌，影響到的最主要是投資客吧？恐怖的其實是投資客把錢賺走，給社會的創傷讓大家買單的事實。

二、優質貸款與近優(near-prime)抵押貸款都會虧損。 Roubini警告，「這是個普遍性的貸款危機，而且正在崩潰，有問題的不只是次貸而已。從2005年至2007年間申請的抵押貸款中，有約 60%的貸款有這樣的問題。而在房價與經濟大幅下滑時，各種貸款所造成的損失也會大幅增加。」這將額外增加3000億美元的虧損。

三、消費者債務違約大幅提高。現在已經沒有什麼是安全的了：「美國有數千萬筆的次級信用卡和次級車貸。」而違約案件「將不止發生在次級借款人身上」，會增加更多「銀行和金融企業的虧損，更加深信用危機。」

聽說在美國要辦信用卡必須要先申請社會安全碼，原因是因為必須要用社會安全碼來紀錄信用。F1學生簽證的持有人無法申請社會安全碼，但卻讓為所欲為的消費者申請？關於美國消費習慣的傳言不知道是否誇大其實？

四、援助信用保險者的方案不會有用。就算援助金額高達 100億、 150億美元，都沒有用。因為只要它們的評級被調降，就會「帶來另外1500億美元和資產抵押證券投資相關的減計」，並使市政和貨幣市場投資組合產生更多虧損。

五、商用不動產將再惡化。商用不動產過去的魯莽行為和住屋市場並無太大差別，「對新辦公室、店面、購物中心等的需求都將下滑。」 Roubini說。

六、高度曝險於抵押貸款的大型銀行會垮台。這聽起來很可怕，但有些大型美國國內銀行「將加入 200多個次級貸款機構的行列，它們的破產會為已經很嚴重的信用危機雪上加霜。」

看來美國的銀行職缺會嚴重短缺了！

七、銀行的資產價值進一步下跌，虧損卻進一步增加。「各大銀行的資產負債表上仍有數十億的貸款未消，而且它們的價值己低於平均。」現在資產價值已經打了 9折，未來還可能再下殺。

八、經濟衰退一但加速，企業違約將暴增。目前的企業長期違約率平均約為3.8%，在2006至2007年曾一度下降至0.6%的低點，但那是由於寬鬆的信用、流動性和低利差。垃圾債券的再融資成本將很快會提高。「在2008年的衰退中，企業違約率將會飆升到 10%以上。」這會導致在信用違約交換 (CDS)的重大損失，預估在 200億美元至2500億美元間，並有可能會更多。

這其實是很有趣的現象。就我所知，投資衍伸金融商品的企業往往也是貸款者，這實在像是拿別人借你的錢再去借給別人。怎麼大家都可以扮演銀行的角色？債務的確是金融的活水，但是它扮演角色的界線被世界上最聰明的一群人給模糊了。

九、無法可管的「影子金融系統」面臨著嚴重的問題。這個影子金融系統的規模現已超過 500兆美元。這些機構借入空頭部位和現金，然後借出或投資在多頭部位和流動性較低的資產，但由於它們並非存款機構，因此發生問題時也不能找央行幫忙。因此接著而來的會是破產，「包括大型對沖基金、少數貨幣市場基金、全部的結構性投資工具，可能還有一兩家大型的重要經紀公司。」

而且這規模還會越來越大。M型社會讓富有者擁有超乎比例的財富；由於避險基金的投資者多為富有階級，未來避險基金掀起的風暴將只會更大。

十、當衰退旋風開始不受控制，股市會再下跌。「投資人會開始了解，經濟的下滑比想像嚴重。信用保險公司不會得救、金融虧損還會增加、所得卻大幅下滑，不管是不是金融產業都一樣。」 Roubini警告，「投資人的大舉看空會使美股出現另一波下跌，並轉而影響到全球股市。在美國進入衰退，S&P 500 指數下跌 28%左右時，全球都將面臨熊市到來。」

十一、信用問題將榨乾許多金融市場的流動性。 Roubini說，「另一輪銀行間的信用緊縮，將隨著對手風險、缺乏信任、金流溢價和信用風險等而發生。銀行間的拆借利率將再上升。」隨著拆借利率利差的拉大，央行注資也只能發揮短暫的效果。

十二、大規模全球衰退將發生，變成惡性循環。「虧損會導致各種金融機構必須訂定更高的獲利目標，嘗試進一步降低風險，和不得不拍賣低流動性的資產。但這會形成更多虧損，也就需要更高獲利，」而當股價再度下跌，企業就需要更高更高的獲利…終將變成無法控制的惡性迴圈。「當信用的虧損和危機擴散到全球，美國與全球金融市場將被捲入 25年來最嚴重的危機。」

資本主義是很好的，但當中人性的缺陷是，去假設所有的目標都會達到並且無限的成長。作過Sales就會知道，Quota一定只會往上長的；問題是市場本身就是有限，怎麼可能無限成長？因此販售東西的人就會想盡辦法達成不合理的目標。然後整個體系就會付出代價。

〈分析〉熊氣瀰漫政府好戰美國經濟回春？等2011年再說吧！ - MEIF理

2008-06-03T09:26:00.003+08:00

〈分析〉熊氣瀰漫政府好戰美國經濟回春？等2011年再說吧！ - MEIF理

巨額的聯邦負債、已經引爆以及尚未引爆的金融商品、高齡化的社會。這就是現在的美國。

今年底的選舉會為美國的未來畫下命運。在攀高的失業率以及不明確的未來當中，新總統會用哪種政見來贏得選民的心呢？

高齡化的社會所面臨的賦稅問題，解決方案是要透過引進大量的年輕移民。但引進大量的移民又會同時受到中產階級的挑戰─H1工作簽證在過去已經因為不斷的遭受非議而被迫減少名額。

我想我能做的就是在去美國拿MBA之前去補辦一張台胞證，然後伺機而動了。

Ubuntu: "Netbook Remix" Ubuntu for Ultraportables Coming in June

2008-05-26T16:24:00.002+08:00

Ubuntu: "Netbook Remix" Ubuntu for Ultraportables Coming in June

Ubuntu has made a good move. Asus has been making an Debian based distro of its own; isn't Ubuntu supposed to do this job?

As I have bought a new notebook and installed Windows Vista bundled with the system, I decided that I will stay using Windows for my MBA study. With Ubuntu, we have solved almost all basic computing necessity, but omitted some higher-end ones. I still can't work with webcam that my laptop has bundled. While under Linux I never worry about the need of running a windows application (which can be done with wine), hardware drivers of all peripherals is not 100% yet. And that would make my skype useless. A pity.

Hopefully some extended relationship with hardware manufacturers can strengthen this regard.

Breaking: FCC Confirms that Big Winner in Spectrum Auction is Verizon. So Why Is Google Smiling?

2008-05-26T15:02:00.002+08:00

Breaking: FCC Confirms that Big Winner in Spectrum Auction is Verizon. So Why Is Google Smiling?

Nicely played. As what I have mentioned before: The beauty of capitalism and free market is competition. In long term, consumers always win.

Morton’s Weblog » Blog Archive » The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI)

2008-05-26T07:59:00.002+08:00

Morton’s Weblog » Blog Archive » The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI)

I thought that the future of wireless is WiMAX! It appears that the classical battle between HD and Blueray is going to repeat in telecommunication arena.

LTE, however, doesn't have as much media coverage as WiMAX, at least in Taiwan, that is. Vendor like Motorola already begun to plan its future products so that they can support both standards. Taiwanese chip designers, however, seem to be betting on WiMAX.

I need to dig more information out of this.

SpringSource Team Blog » Spring Integration: a new addition to the Spring portfolio

2008-05-26T07:57:00.002+08:00

SpringSource Team Blog » Spring Integration: a new addition to the Spring portfolio

An application framework with built-in enterprise integration capability?

Coming from a middleware background, I have to disagree with such approach. Honestly.

I have been a Spring fan for 5 years. The elegant and relevant design of that framework fixed many of JavaEE's deficiencies, but it has gone a little too far this time.

Application Integration is a tough topic. People have used specialized middleware and interfaces to address it for realistic reasons:

Central control

Can you imagine hundreds and thousands of applications doing integration of their own? That might be to outcome of over-relying Spring Integration capabilities

Enhanced monitoring, troubleshooting and management capabilities

One central place to address message format, transaction issues, performance tuning and monitor your processes.

Business Process conformance

Integration always follows the direction of Business Process. When Business Process changes, so should integration endpoints. A BPM oriented integration approach implements this requirement more efficiently.

Mint adds investment tracking, burger buying trends | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

2008-05-25T12:27:00.002+08:00

Mint adds investment tracking, burger buying trends | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

Damn, someone else has implemented my idea! I have even written this in one of my MBA application essay!

However, Mint, the Web 2.0 style startup producing online version of Microsoft Money, has implemented well. I can't really use this application because I'm not located in US right now; those of you whom are interested might try this website here.

Now, if only individual consumer could possess investment tools that can outsmart world's top hedge funds....

Salesforce.com + Google Apps (Verdict: Good, but occasionally frustrating) | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

2008-05-25T12:22:00.002+08:00

Salesforce.com + Google Apps (Verdict: Good, but occasionally frustrating) | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

We're definitely going to see more this kind of commercial "Meshup" application. Putting Technology aside, though, I'm interested in knowing Google's strategy on monetizing its applications.

The industry overall have a firm confidence in Google's engineering ability. It is not unrealistic to expect that Google, given its reputation, would definitely fix any technology deficiency in time. Google Applications's adoption, however, might be halt by uncertainty surrounding Google's strategy. Will Google seriously consider anything but advertising?

My experience at BEA tells me that big corporate account need extra consideration. Is Google ready for really big enterprise?

More Google Docs available offline: Spreadsheets, presentations | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

2008-05-25T12:17:00.002+08:00

More Google Docs available offline: Spreadsheets, presentations | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
Offline Google Applications are definitely a boon to commuting and traveling users. But it is still kind of wierd to use a browser as your office suite interface.
What about, for example, adopting openoffice as user interface and using Google API to keep document contents in sync? Now that there are way too many "open" or "open-sourced" applications out there, creativity lies in integrating those efforts, I think.

聯合新聞網 | 全球觀察 | 國際萬象 | 新片醜化蘇聯哈里遜福特遭

2008-05-25T03:48:00.003+08:00

聯合新聞網 | 全球觀察 | 國際萬象 | 新片醜化蘇聯哈里遜福特遭

似乎每個經濟體的崛起都伴隨著民族主義？

不過這也反映了好萊屋似乎還沒抓到市場的趨勢。在過去要找壞人很簡單；現在呢，沒有必要為了一個三億人口的市場而放棄了數十億人口的新興市場了！

在當前的風向，好萊屋似乎應該多拍一點爭議性的、多檢討美國本身的片子反而能得到全世界的迴響，並繼續維持其世界電影工廠的地位。

Consumer Spending Stagnates as Prices Rise - New York Times

2008-05-25T03:28:00.001+08:00

Consumer Spending Stagnates as Prices Rise - New York Times
Things do not look well.
Perhaps commodities essential to human life should not be traded freely. Speculation around commodities has done nothing but to make the situation worse. The basic rule of supply & demand even ceased to function due to the tremendous capital that hedge funds hold in their hands.
This whole world has become the backyard of few greedy gamblers. To disrupt this game, we need ground-breaking alternate energy source so that oil and those who hold them can be rendered obsolete.

Patent Law Battle a Boon to Lobbyists - New York Times

2008-05-25T02:05:00.002+08:00

Patent Law Battle a Boon to Lobbyists - New York Times

The beauty of capitalism is not about owning a fleet of boats or planes, but dynamic balance brought by competition.

Hopefully companies involved in patent law reform can bring us a better and more practical IP environment.

HP leaves Dell with an EDS-shaped hole | Channel Register

2008-05-25T01:11:00.002+08:00

HP leaves Dell with an EDS-shaped hole | Channel Register

Where would Dell go for next step?

Among all enterprise IT vendors, Dell is the only vendor whom does not possess its own IT consulting arm. Honestly, that indeed may make Dell to stand in an unfavorable position.

On the consumer side, even Apple has surpassed Dell in PC sales. Standing under the shadow of IT giants like IBM and HP, Dell's line of PC Servers is going to suffer even fiercer competition. In age of consolidation, those whom don't buy get bought. But as always, it is easier said than done.

Dell might as well as learn from lessons of BEA, my former employer. BEA focused on its strength-middleware-and tried to be the sole significant independent enterprise software provider standing, and we know how it went.

People like Carl Ichan is always watching for suitable target. Who know which company is next after the market has digested Microsfot-Yahoo! takeover?

eToro Makes Forex Trade Child’s Play

2008-05-25T01:02:00.003+08:00

eToro Makes Forex Trade Child’s Play

Very interesting stuff. If I'd ever start a venture, I would dig into this kind of concept.

自作孽不可活！新興國家群起抑制通膨時美國將成最後輸家 - MEIF�

2008-05-25T01:01:00.002+08:00

自作孽不可活！新興國家群起抑制通膨時美國將成最後輸家 - MEIF�

這一篇報導已經看了一段時間了，越看越心驚。準確來說，應該是憂喜參半的心情。

美國經濟的強項在於充分的專業分工以及尊重專業。中國的強項在於勞工價格的相對低廉、有效率的政府建設以及素質在水準之上的勞動力。

美國的強項讓它在稱霸全球將近一世紀之後，除了累積了強大的軍事力量之外，還累積了無數的文化、智慧以及人文資產。對人才來說，嚮往美國一個更重要的原因是它對多重文化的相對了解以及尊重以及相對好的社會公義以及人文價值。這一切都來自美國一個當初得天獨厚的條件：地廣人稀以及移民社會。

全世界的勞動力以及人才在一個多世紀當中滿足了美國在每個經濟成長階段的需求。中國是否有相同的條件？二十年後，在一胎化的影響下，中國會成為一個極端老化的社會，一個內需龐大的社會，但也會是一個勞動力相對貧乏的社會。成長的力道，是否依然強勁？

但從此也可見台灣、香港以及新加坡在大中華經濟圈未來可扮演的角色。二十一世紀當然是華人的世紀，但艱難的挑戰可是一點都不少。

$100 Million for 10,000 Women

2008-05-25T00:47:00.003+08:00

$100 Million for 10,000 Women

That would be 10K USD per person. While an American MBA program can cost 100K USD for a period of 2 years, it is interesting to observe which segment the money is going into. It is going into current entrepreneur who has already started her business but do not yet possess necessary knowledge to expand her business. From this point of view, this investment makes sense.

I, for one, look forward to see women in developing countries take more political and economic power. After all, women in developing countries have more incentive to accept western culture and values than men do.

台股今年504家公司董監改選持股比重低者較有行情 - MEIF理財部落格 -

2008-05-22T01:25:00.002+08:00

台股今年504家公司董監改選持股比重低者較有行情 - MEIF理財部落格 -

持股比重低較有行情，這本身不就是一個似是而非的炒作題材？

我比較好奇的是，在台灣真的有像是「麻雀變鳳凰」中的財大氣粗的市場派嗎？就一般來說，市場派獲利的方式不就是接管→分割出售以達到獲利？但是台灣中小企業的財務體質，能養得出一群專業的市場派？還是我們一般平民老百姓太孤陋寡聞了呢？

不過既然孤陋寡聞，就如同Jim Rogers所說的，就不應該投資。

美國次貸危機之通俗演義房產風光5年重重摔下 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!�

2008-05-22T01:22:00.003+08:00

美國次貸危機之通俗演義房產風光5年重重摔下 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!�

最近為了準備即將展開的MBA生涯，我報名了今年十二月的CFA考試。書已經送來了，很巧的隨便一翻第一頁就是關於Ethics。

CFA關於道德的部分有所謂六個規章(Code)以及七個標準(Standard)。標準當中還舉了許多和現實生活極為類似的、違反CFA職業道德的場景。看完了還真是心有戚戚焉啊！

全球化之後，整個地球宛然轉變成一個大賭場。未來投機只會越演越烈吧？在這樣的氣氛下，是不是只能選擇當莊家呢？

InfoQ: Why do Java developers hate BPM?

2008-05-22T01:12:00.002+08:00

InfoQ: Why do Java developers hate BPM?

I have to admit that I'm indeed a BPM fan. It was 85% of my daily job during my BEA days. While I do acknowledge that no single BPM product in market is perfect, BPM software is the only middleware piece that, in my vision, still has tremendous amount of creativity potential.

Current hate for BPM can be categorized as follows:

Unclear positioning of what a BPM really is.

Integration oriented BPM vendor would position BPM as an integration and "Service Orchestration" engine. Workflow Vendors position BPM as interaction between human, organization and systems, adding focus on BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) capabilities. For example, WebLogic Integration is integration oriented BPM; AquaLogic BPM on the other hand is derived from a workflow product.

Software Developers DO NOT think in terms of processes, but in terms of object models, frameworks and cute AJAX tricks.

Project, instead of process, is the management term for everything software-related.

All above applies.

From point of view of any CIO, a software package makes sense when parts of its IT systems need to change constantly so that we do not re-invent the wheel every time. BPM software suites make perfect sense in corporate IT, it just needs to adjust it self to become more developer-friendly and deliver better quality.

IBM hopes to patent 'dealing with chaos' | The Register

2008-04-11T07:23:00.005+08:00

IBM hopes to patent 'dealing with chaos' | The Register

According to The Register, the flowchart at left is supposed to be the IBM patent for dealing with chaos.

Perhaps I should patent MBA application process?

JOSSO 1.7 Released - Confluence

2008-04-10T09:56:00.003+08:00

JOSSO 1.7 Released - Confluence

Well, with the 1.7 release JOSSO has finally nullified my effort of maintaining a separate project providing a WebLogic-JOSSO adaptor. From today on, people should use JOSSO directly to achieve single-sign-on!

Book Review: Greenspan's Bubble

2008-04-04T02:29:00.004+08:00

It takes circa 13 hours to fly past the vast pacific ocean. On my trip back to Taiwan from San Francisco, I grabbed this book randomly in the hope that it might shorten my boring flight, and it did more than that.
Alan Greenspan, the ex-mythical figure of Fed, was mostly greeted with praises. Perhaps just like spoiled children who love their parents, Alan Greenspan is loved by spoiled bankers who took too much risk.
This book lays out the story in a chronological order so that readers can understand the cause-effect of Greenspan's decisions. While the book itself is not that joyful to read (it's always grim to learn about realities), if you really want to know what happened to U.S financial market during past 10 years, this is the book for you. 13 hours is more than enough.

Ubuntu 7.10: Flip 3D 視窗切換特效

2008-03-18T16:52:00.004+08:00

很漂亮吧? 其實還有更炫的.

加上可以透過Wine來執行許多Windows下的遊戲, Ubuntu 7.10已經在許多方面可以取代Windows XP了.

還蠻想寫一本"給爸爸媽媽的Ubuntu指南"的. 這麼漂亮的桌面環境, 真希望能夠和更多人分享!

Lina Xu's Blog: WebLogic Operations Control (WLOC) Introduction

2008-03-17T01:13:00.003+08:00

Lina Xu's Blog: WebLogic Operations Control (WLOC) Introduction

So BEA has indeed plans for virtualization market!

Virtualization products are important enabling technology for Corporate IT to turn their existing investment a step closer to in-house cloud computing. Hopefully this product will carry on even after the merger.

InfoQ: Presentation: Operational Manageability lessons learned from eBay

2008-03-10T17:47:00.010+08:00

InfoQ: Presentation: Operational Manageability lessons learned from eBay

Design for operation. That is something that today's corporate IT should embed in their minds.

In past 10 years, the so-called application servers are supposed to provide transparent technologies to software programmers so that programmers don't have to worry about availability and scalability issues. Indeed, in small to medium scalability scenarios, Java EE Application Server like BEA WebLogic has achieved certain success. As clustering demand get larger and more complex, however, features offered by today's application servers are not enough anymore. Like any asset, IT assets today are facing the challenge of fluidity. Computing power should be provided when needed and just as much as needed.

Cloud computing offerings provided by Google and Amazon are indeed quite appealing, but corporate mindset is not likely to concede ownership of core business systems to another entity. Outsourcing is one thing; to convince corporate that EC2 or Google App Engine can be a solid substitute for outsourcing is another.

Therefore, I see several technology/business opportunities:

Partnership between IBM/Accenture/Tata etc. and Google/Amazon

This is most likely to happen within near future. An endorsement from IT shop like Accenture would ease corporate mind and fear.

IT Consulting practices focused on helping build in-house cloud computing architecture

Certain entrepreneurs departing Google or Amazon could definitely make some buck by sharing their in-house experience.

Advancement of Virtualization software packages to close the gap between Cloud-computing and Virtualization

I have seen real demo of VMWare ESX Server. It is a very interesting and promising technology. Endorsement of key outsourcing services providers is key to their success though.

Cloud-enabling application platforms.

From a Java programmer perspective, I do hope to see a "cloud-enabling" JavaEE application server. But that is near impossible to happen. Java EE is designed with old-style scalability and availability in mind; its current focus is still to achieve easier development and deployment (which makes sense). I hope that current remaining JavaEE players can allocate some effort in cloud-computing.

InfoQ: Presentation: Transaction Management Strategies in Mission Critical Applications

2008-03-10T17:03:00.002+08:00

InfoQ: Presentation: Transaction Management Strategies in Mission Critical Applications

Juergen Hoeller is one of most respected guru in Java programming landscape. Most of his reputation is duly earned: after all, he co-designed and is still heavily involved in the current Java programming standard framework, Spring Framework.

In Java society, a framework dictates thought leadership. An application framework is, actually, encapsulation of commonly defined best programming and design practices. An application framework like Spring greatly reduced the learning curve of commonly accepted Java programming practices and allowed software veterans to deliver software with increased productivity as well.

OK, now that I have done the praising part, let us begin with a little bashing. In this presentation, Juergen keeps mentioning different Transaction strategies, which is detailed and shows that he indeed knows his stuff, but one of Juergen's remark sounds a little alarming. Juergen seem to dismiss the importance of distributed transactions, saying that XA is needed in very few circumstances.

While I do agree partially on this part, an expert like him should be more careful in not misleading people. While you can certainly say that 90% of Java Web Applications don't need Distributed Transactions, you are misleading people. Because you forgot to mention that the rest 10% are composed of more high profile, and more profitable software projects.

Let me put it in another way. Are we Java Developers competing with PHP guys? PHP doesn't have XA as well, and they are doing just fine. If your software project can be safely implemented by using either Java or PHP, which 90% of time will be the case, then yes, you don't need EJB, and certainly don't need XA. But if you are lucky enough to climb to a strategic position like VP or CIO, you will regret that in your former career you haven't structured your IT systems so that distributed transaction propagation can be enabled.

And you, Juergen, should be fair when you try to dismiss the importance of EJB, XA and middleware. Because you are not ignorant.

Google Apps Gets Important Endorsement

2008-03-10T15:11:00.009+08:00

Google Apps Gets Important Endorsement

It makes sense. As a technology enthusiast, I always delight in finding new ways on how information technology can be used to improve business efficiency.

Bringing collaborative features of a Wiki to MS Office-addicted crowd

If GoogleDocs were just positioned as an online MS Word replacement, it wouldn't have created enough strategic value for an IT Consulting company like Cap Gemini to endorse it.

While I worked at BEA as Systems Engineer, I had to write a lot of Proposal documents. For those of you who don't know, a Proposal document for an IT project is always result of collective work, because in IT projects, multiple company would form an alliance and bid for the project together. Since MS Word doesn't really have collaborative feature (revision doesn't count as one), the "Zip and attach to email" standard procedure caused a lot of miscommunication. After a while, no one would have knowledge on which "copy" of the document is the most recent and legitimate ones. Frankly, most of my time as project management role has been wasted on figuring out which is which.

For geeks like me, I would just say: let's use a Wiki. Truly, collaborative features of Wiki is why software development powerhouses like Google, Microsoft and SAP rely on it so much. But unfortunately, in business world, not everyone can grab the concept of what Wiki is. People still think about document.

GoogleDocs, in my opinion, fits in this particular area. While not being especially feature rich for a word processor, GoogleDocs maintained useful collaborative features of an online Wiki system, creating an interesting and unique value proposition.

Multiple participants can join and edit the same document at the same time, and a detailed log of revisions done by each participants is maintained. Since there is only one online copy, there is no need anymore of a periodical "merge" of different version of documents. Communication overhead is dramatically reduced, and the project manager is no longer the bottleneck of the bidding process.

Seems nice and simple eh? Not quite. For many corporate cultures/mentalities/myths, collaboration equals less control. At the end, it is our mentality that constraints us. This is something that Cap Gemini should address. How does the highly interactive nature of GoogleDocs merge into the corporate world? Hopefully more and more IT consulting firms can join the boat and work with Google to come up with a "Best Practice".

Bloxes Brings Cardboard Tech To The Office

2008-03-10T15:01:00.004+08:00

Bloxes Brings Cardboard Tech To The Office

Did you see that? Look closer. This "wall" is constructed using thousands of paper cubes in "Lego" style. A company that adopts this product in office environment is likely to stimulate a lot happiness in it employees.

An interesting way to arrange office environment.... but seriously, how many trees got chop down for a cubicle wall made from that Cardboard Tech?

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

2008-03-09T14:31:00.001+08:00

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

This is a very sensitive topic. I do agree with most of author's points, especially regarding the way IT investment goes (I might replace Mac to Linux Ubuntu, just for personal flavor).

With so many free/cheap opensource, commercial and SaaS software and hosted solutions, a startup company can indeed save a lot of money on their IT infrastructure. Google Applications + OpenOffice nowadays can provide everything you need; the collaborative nature of Google Docs can actually bring additional productivity for team members.

Do more with less, that's something we call "progress".

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Sandberg leaves for Facebook. Let's all recite Eric Schmidt's Serenity Prayer.

2008-03-09T00:04:00.002+08:00

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Sandberg leaves for Facebook. Let's all recite Eric Schmidt's Serenity Prayer.

This is one of the times that a satirical blogger like Fake Steve Jobs writes something really deep and funny. Bro, I'm really considering buying your Godsend book by now.

Interestingly, this also shows how startups play this Web 2.0 game. Seeing all these, I can't help but admire people like Bill Gates who built a monopoly by using the force of economics alone. Fair or not, businessman should be rewarded proportionally by the value created, not by media coverage he/she received.

But that's my opinion anyway.

聯合新聞網 | 娛樂追星 | 熱門星聞 | 封殺令一出湯唯人間蒸發

2008-03-08T20:45:00.004+08:00

聯合新聞網 | 娛樂追星 | 熱門星聞 | 封殺令一出湯唯人間蒸發

其實觀察兩岸對於藝人的若干作法, 雖然有程度上的差異, 但都一樣脫離不了小鼻子小眼睛的觀感. 何必呢! 我倒是很希望看到湯小姐的廣告呢!

Acer trumped Dell in Q4 07 world laptop sales | The Register

2008-03-08T16:22:00.002+08:00

Acer trumped Dell in Q4 07 world laptop sales | The Register

The only truth of business is that everything changes with time. How could we imagine a powerful Dell being surpassed by Apple and Acer in sales?

Both Acer and Asus are Taiwanese brand that struggled for a decade to gain worldwide recognition. Decades ago, many Taiwanese PC manufacturers faced a difficult dilemma: to brand or not to brand? Many of those companies that chosen to brand their own PC/NB were severely punished by big names like IBM, Dell, Compaq and HP. Even today, many quality PC/NB manufacturers in Taiwan still are afraid of a branding strategy, for it means immediate retribution.

It makes me think to see the trend reversing. Actually, no matter which brand of PC or NB you use, it comes (with almost certainty) from a Taiwanese manufacturer. There is no obvious quality differentiation between those manufacturers. Even Apple's newest Macbook Air comes from Taiwan. Now, what makes you, a consumer, already knowing that the quality behind those products are pretty much the same, to choose a Dell over an Asus? Or HP over Acer?

For Apple, I think it's a different matter. At least Apple offers authentic and interesting design; for all I know, most Dell/HP models are designed inside-out by Taiwanese manufacturers. How will a brand like HP or Dell be able to differentiate their hardware?

My opinion is that branding strategy for PC/NB/gadgets providers should seriously include a software strategy. Software, after all, is what makes using computer an interesting experience.

An update to my MBA application status

2008-03-07T14:18:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since I have updated my MBA application status.

To date, I have received ding from both Chicago GSB and MIT Sloan. Considering that I didn't write a satisfactory series of essay for R1, that is sort of understandable. For R2, I applied for Berkeley Haas (no news to date, possibly a ding too), Carnegie Mellon Tepper and UT Austin McCombs. Apparently my luck(and essays) turned better for R2, for I got interviews invitations from both Tepper and McCombs.

I have already completed the hub interview for Tepper, so I can share some info regarding that. It appears that CMU Tepper interviews a quite large proportion of applicants, considering that for R2 alone Tepper has invited 30 applicants in Taiwan for interview. According to past statistics, Tepper might recruit only 3-4 applicants from Taiwan for R2, making my chances as slim as 10%. So, it might be safe to conclude that an interview invitation from Tepper is not as encouraging as it might appear to be. Anyway, we will know the result of my speculation on March 17th, so wish myself best of luck!

Technorati Tags: MBA

Sun shrugs off product slip in Q2 | Channel Register

2008-01-25T12:22:00.002+08:00

Sun shrugs off product slip in Q2 | Channel Register

SUN finally gets it. Selling product that requires huge consulting man/days rocks. The game will be SUN vs IBM vs Oracle then.

I wonder, however, how those consulting firms without their own proprietary software/hardware would fare in this game? The consolidation of IT vendors is entering its final chapter; will there be a consolidation of IT consultancy?

Windows Vista: A reflection on software economics, part II

2008-01-14T00:02:00.002+08:00

So it is obvious that my father will continue to use Windows Vista for several years. For people whose use of computer mostly involves document editing, email checking and occasional multimedia enjoyment, the insecurity of an "unproven" Operating System is enormous. The irony is that Linux is, in fact, already quite ready for this kind of usage. It might even not be so difficult to switch. Actually, Ubuntu Linux is even easier to install than Windows Vista is, and is even better in multiple usability areas.

But user perception of computer complexity is inherited from the first operating system they learn from. If Windows XP is already full of potential virus infection, then Linux should also have its share of problems. My father has been a businessman for whole his life, therefore I guess that his logic represent the logic of most business aware consumers. Hence, I don't really see year 2008 as a year of Linux Desktop. It's never about technology. It's about how human nature react to the unknown.

But this is not a blog post about Linux adoption. What aroused me to write this exploratory piece of thought is the fact that even my father, a typical end user of computer, would perceive Linux desktop as comparable or even superior to Windows. Now, this is not another X VS Y post. It's about the underling economy that produced products like Windows Vista and Linux Ubuntu.

I guess that even Microsoft itself can barely keep track of how much resources it has invested in its flagship operating system. Software is a very strange commodity: you can invest billions lines of code in return for nothing really valuable or usable. I remember an episode from 1st season of "The Apprentice", and it was about Mr. Trump wanting to establish a bottle water distribution business, the "Trump Ice". If you are rich enough and influential enough, you can probably establish any commodity business overnight and turn it into a moderate and sometimes even successful money machine.

But the rule for software business is completely different. People would expect the company that produced Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP to produce a much more advanced product. Because software is not water. Water always tastes the same, but people need to drink water everyday. Operating System, on the other hand, needs to change, like Obama says. Without real incentive, there won't be enough upgrade, and without upgrade, Operating System business is not profitable. In essence, software business is really about sustainable innovation. Of course, you can always run a software company like it's some kind of commodity distribution company, using traditional business leverage and influence to sell your stuff. But it's not gonna work in long term.

Windows Vista: A reflection on software economics, part I

2008-01-13T18:13:00.002+08:00

Recently I have bought and installed one of beautiful Asus mini PC for my father:

While the PC is actually very well designed, light and silent, the Operating System it pre-installs destroyed what little fun I had. Yes, it pre-installs Windows Vista Home Premium Edition. The Vista user interface look pretty, but the actual usability lags behind even my Ubuntu Linux Laptop.

Take printer support for example. Using my Ubuntu Laptop, I could just plug-in the USB port of our Epson Stylus printer and print documents pretty easily, but the same didn't happen on Windows Vista. I had to figure out different version of vendor supported driver before Vista stopped complaining. Also, Wi-fi wasn't working at all. For unknown reason, Vista just won't accept any Vendor supplied device driver... well, even Windows 98 was better than that.

So, in order to bring some Linux sense into my father's head, I tried to persuade him to install Ubuntu Linux. I showed him everything fancy and fun that I could show using Compiz Fusion, and he was indeed amazed. Then my father asked: if Linux is so good, then why no one is actually using it?

Because people are afraid of change, pa. He nod, and told me that he, too, is afraid of change.

The right direction where JavaEE application server should be heading

2007-12-16T12:43:00.002+08:00

With commoditization of JavaEE application server market, it's good to see application server vendor finding the right niche.

Finextra: LiquidityHub achieves eight millisecond latency for fixed-income price distributione

WebLogic Realtime and WebLogic Event Server are both designed to meet specific latency problems. Low-latency is an area that was forbidden for Java based applications because of uncontrollable pause time brought by garbage collection, a Java Virtual Machine feature that automatically frees up physical memory and re-allocates it.

So, for first time, low-latency applications can be achieved using Java, a common skill set, and Intel-based Hardware. If BEA executes this strategy well, it can find ways to commoditize upper industry sector that was predominantly an IBM territory. If that's the case, then BEA is definitely worth more than 21 dollars per share.

This also reminds me of a myth: how can some Wall Street analysts decide the value of a certain technology company if they don't know technology well? How such market consensus if reached?

Technorati Tags: bea, weblogic

An in-depth article regarding IMS charging architecture

2007-12-16T00:17:00.002+08:00

Definitely worth your time.

Understanding the IMS Charging Architecture

In addition to explaining the value of WebLogic SIP Server in telecom environment, this article provided an optimal point of entry for those interested in telecom charging architecture.

Telecommunication industry has always been a special niche for BEA. It's good to see BEA leveraging this well.

回首營運的基本面

2007-12-15T22:22:00.005+08:00

我一向堅信實力,而非機會.

二八現象與權證爆炒港股牛市狂歡派對終將曲終人散 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格
投資觀念太落伍中國經濟賺多賠也多 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格

這幾年最讓人眼紅的恐怕就是中國的經濟成長.在某種程度上,我認為這是中國應得的,因為這是因實行共產主義以及文革所虛耗的歲月所帶來的補償.
但是成長到這個地步,接下來的成長恐怕不能只看"機會"了.

資本主義下,國力來自人民,而人民的生產力有賴企業的有效發揮.企業經營的績效開始要扮演比"機會" "關係" 更重要的角色.
超英趕美,要先克服這一點才有希望.

Haas Application submitted

2007-12-12T15:59:00.002+08:00

最近身體不是很好, 熬夜加上工作總算把身體逼上了罷工的邊緣. 在最需要腦力的時候給我來個連續數天的頭痛, 真是夠嗆的了.

幸好最後幾天下定決心去看中醫吃中藥....果然有效. 頭不痛了, 身體也舒服多了, 寫起來才有效率.

雖然是這樣, 我還是蠻喜歡我的Haas申請過程. 首先, 這所大學在我喜歡的加州, 又靠近矽谷, 簡直就是最理想的就讀環境. 再者, Haas商學院的MBA學程當中有一個叫做Management of Technology. 和一般的科技管理學程不同的是, MOT是跨領域的, 也就是說在這個學程有機會和其他工程學院的學生當同學, 而柏克萊的工程學院品質可是世界有名的優良. BSD的發源地欸! 連我不喜歡用但是Unix平台上一定得用的VI編輯器都是這所學校的作品. 如果能夠進這所學校, 那種感覺就應該很像住進真實的夢境吧?

申請MBA一路以來, 我看到每一所學校都標榜著Leadership, Teamwork and Innovation. 很高興看到Haas對上述單字有明確的定義以及展望, 而不是把這些字當作廣告而模糊焦點. 哎呀, 我就是喜歡工程師的治學精神啊!

台灣人的試煉

2007-12-02T17:22:00.004+08:00

看到這種感覺不新的新聞還是會感到無力

聯合新聞網 | 意見評論 | 社論 | 全球經濟重整，福兮？禍兮？
聯合新聞網 | 國內要聞 | 228究責草案 | 228究責草案明審查藍營：株連九族

台灣已經錯失了一次景氣循環的頂點,現在景氣又要往下滑囉,竟然還有這種東西被提出來啊.
發發牢騷.只是很遺憾的,被物競天擇的竟然是擁抱所謂民主的我們.遺憾.

不過坦白講,這一切都不令我意外.任何國家發展到民主政治都會遇到和今天台灣類似的挑戰.畢竟,民主就是讓人民付出作決定的代價.你買了一台爛車電視機冷氣機電冰箱,付出代價的不就是你本身嗎?民主政治只是讓這報應回報到人民身上罷了.

政治和商業行為本來就無所不同.只要有市場就有人會操作!只要有利益就會有人向前衝!今天身為一個在台灣出生長大的人,我只想反省:為什麼還有這樣的市場.

或許台灣根本配不上過去二十幾年的進步和發展.或者說,過去的成功取得來自少數人的規劃(政府,產業先驅),人民的睿智尚未到位;所謂的民主反而反應了民族性根本還只停留在民粹的程度.這也不是壞事.有機會知道問題的所在,總比不知道來得好.但是然後呢?

今年初我出差到美國的時候,在Las Vegas和一位計程車司機有了一段很生動的對談.當一位計程車司機可以告訴你他到過你的家鄉,知道並且關心目前台灣與中國之間的情勢,你大概就可以理解美國的國力來自哪裡.

我似乎也犯了甚麼都拿去跟美國比的毛病.不過我真正想說得是,我們這樣的一個小島實在沒有和美國比較的本錢.那麼一大塊土地,那麼全球宏觀的策略,那麼強勢的經濟能力....坦白說,美國可以負擔的錯誤比台灣多的可多了.台灣這麼小一塊地方,只要犯了一個錯誤就可以跌入火坑了,而有一群人還巴不得這些錯誤越犯越多....

如果有一個字可以貫穿這篇口水,那大概就是"悶"吧!

Interesting CSS trick

2007-11-11T13:46:00.003+08:00

Very interesting CSS skill to reduce client-server round-trip.

A List Apart: Articles: CSS Sprites: Image Slicing's Kiss of Death

Practically the theory is this: instead of slicing all your menubar picture and buttons, put them together in ONE picture file. Then use CSS skill to show the part you want to show. Amazingly smart solution, if a little nerdy.

Technorati Tags: web2.0

An interesting list of Web 2.0 APIs

2007-11-11T11:57:00.003+08:00

The amount is quite impressive.

Full WEB 2.0 API List | Tech Magazine

So, it seems that original vision projected by SOA and WebService is reached by Web2.0 Tools. Consumer market force has overwhelmed others again. A service will be used as long as it is useful, and those writing most useful services seem to not care much about WSDL. And this is a market originally intended for WebService runtime/tool makers.

WS-Specs should really accelerate their pace for standardization. Currently WebService is still not easy to use and robust as their Web2.0 counterpart. That has to change. Fast. Or this market will be lost to what used to be ridiculed "unreliable" technology. Gosh, as for technology availability and scalability, who has an edge over Google?

Technorati Tags: web2.0, SOA

關於Apache Beehive 之 JDBC Control

2007-11-10T03:45:00.003+08:00

Beehive JDBC Control到底應該屬於設計架構當中的哪一層呢?

官方(Beehive開發人員)所設計出來的Petstore範例程式當中,JDBC Control的角色甚至是在DAO之下.這似乎是非常合理的,因為DAO Pattern的用意是要提供一套統一的資料存取介面,而這介面不會因為資料庫廠商的不同而有所改變.

由於JDBC Control是讓Programmer直接透過Annotation下SQL Query來提供資料CRUD的功能,的確很可能會因為資料庫廠商的不同而需要不同的JDBC Control.由此可見,使用JDBC Control還是無法避免掉DAO Pattern的.

最好是有個Code Generator可以產生DAO Pattern所需的所有程式碼,不然總是寫這些 Code其實也是蠻煩的.

Technorati Tags: bea, java

Enterprise computing enters the 2nd phase of atom composition

2007-11-09T16:50:00.003+08:00

It seems that everyone talks about being liquid, fluid as an entering ticket for virtualization market.

Red Hat has massive Linux fluidity moment | The Register

It is natural for Linux vendor to stand by virtualization. Although classical Redhat talk about the subject is always related to Xen, I think Redhat has finally done something beyond hype this time. To be fair, though, I must say that this is more a victory of Amazon instead of Redhat. After all, Amazon EC2 has been running close relative of Redhat Enterprise all the time, the partnership from Redhat has only endorsement value.

This media coverage, however, has given me a thought about virtualization selling model. As I have commented here, using software license model to sell virtualization products can pose a serious challenge for vendor like VMWare. Selling virtualization as on-demand service is, however, a completely different story.

Usually, small to medium enterprise are not typical target customer of IT consulting company, but those enterprise can benefit from virtualization nevertheless. While Fortune 500 companies are still not likely to adopt Amazon EC2 services, small to medium enterprise have less resistance on this front and are more likely to deploy their application on EC2. In this way, Amazon has opened new business opportunity without facing the political challenges of traditional IT warlords. How clever.

It would also be very interesting to see BEA WebLogic Server Virtual Edition run on EC2. For those of you who don't know about this BEA product, it is a special WebLogic Server edition that lets JRockit VM to act directly as underling guest OS in VMWare, saving computing overhead of OS level facilities. Currently this product is only certified against VMWare, but technically it shouldn't be too difficult to port it to run under EC2 architecture. What's more difficult is for BEA to decide whether it needs to tap into this changing market and change its license model from per CPU to per usage to appropriately map with this virtualization trend.

Technorati Tags: linux, bea, weblogic

Funniest geeky analogy

2007-11-09T02:09:00.002+08:00

It's always good to have a laugh once in a while....

Fred Daoud's Weblog : Weblog

I wonder why it missed GWT, but that already shows how many stuff java programmer have to deal with. God bless you, folks!

Speaking of which, I also spotted a similar fun article here.

Why do we ever bother ourselves with such things? ;-)

Technorati Tags: java

Deja vu: Open Handset Alliance

2007-11-06T16:35:00.005+08:00

It happened before, and so it happens again.

Open Handset Alliance

I'm not saying that such an open ecosystem for smartphone existed before. I'm just saying that this alliance sounds very like Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE). Perhaps it will also impact the industry like Java EE did. We shall see.

Being a developer-minded person, I would definitely look into it, even just for the notion "All applications are created equal".

That's where they nailed it. Symbian, UIQ, iPhone or Microsoft all suffer from not-so-decent built-in applications. The real tragedy about that is that developers are not allowed to modify core built-in applications such as address book and calendar. Yes, there are certain APIs here and there, but that's never enough. I hope that such kind of problem can be addressed by this alliance.

Well, congratulations to Google for another job/strategy well done. No matter who wins this war, software developers are going to benefit from it, I'm sure.

Technorati Tags: google, java

Will fast-paced and relatively-efficient companies take over old corporate types?

2007-11-01T15:35:00.002+08:00

If your dear readers have not yet read about it, you might want to do it now.

Apple, Google vs. Big Wireless

With Google and Apple both bidding for a wireless spectrum, strategies of those two companies are getting always clearer. One rule to make big bucks strategically: commoditize others in your value chain. This has never changed in the history of business evolution; what's different each time is approach.

Years ago, while Microsoft was climbing toward peak of its power, I thought that perhaps Microsoft had enough power to change the industry. It indeed had all capital and execution power to outplay all major vendor of IT value chain "one by one", but its tremendous success attracted too much fear. Microsoft wisely chose to stand aside and just happily be a very profitable software vendor; I can almost hear a sigh of relief from those worried industry giant. But now we have Google and Apple, companies ready to disrupt the industry again, and this time they won't settle easily.

Usually, by mature market we mean those market that are commoditized by fierce competition. In a sentence, more features are shipped with lowered price. The industry that Google and Apple are attempting to enter is, however, a mature market that doesn't show any of above mentioned signs. If Darwin was right, then what will happen next is pretty obvious. Either old corporate types would evolve to catch up, or face the fate of extinction.

One month ago, someone who worked in one big IB in Wall Street for 7 years told me: Google is just a company that does only web pages, nothing special about that. Hmm. I guess his opinion does not represent Wall Street, for Google stock price is well over 600+ now. And Apple worth more than IBM. Many would call Google and Apple as arrogant companies, but arrogance paired with capability is called pride; true arrogance is accompanied by ignorance. It would seem that ignorance is more a matter of heart instead of level of education.

Then what's next? I think the industry of air conditioner might be next mark. I have a friend who works at a very big Japanese company that produces air conditioner. If you spread their cost structure carefully, you will find out that 20-30% of revenue for each air conditioner sold goes to personal rebates, rebates that would end up in personal coffer of high executives in corruption speaking. Such situation just reflects a lack of fierce competition. We have wait until then for cheap and high quality air conditioners and refrigerators.

Technorati Tags: google

MIT Sloan: submitted!

2007-10-30T02:36:00.001+08:00

呼呼，第二所學校申請完成。這所學校的Essay雖然是最早寫，不過也最不好寫。按下Submit鍵之前還是掙扎了好久，不過還是把剩下的交給.....命運吧！

雖然還沒有本人去過MIT，不過我倒是已經透過Google Earth稍微到Boston週邊地區逛了一下。校園看起來頗大，好像比Harvard大了許多。

根據該校的Podcast指出，MIT的學風是真正的鼓勵Teamwork。我拭目以待。畢竟這是一所搞出Opencourseware、OLPC的學術殿堂，對我這種科技魔人來說，應該是理想的歸宿吧？

沙灘+Somewhere over the rainbow

2007-10-28T00:24:00.003+08:00

在陶喆的Soul Power演唱會當中，陶大哥自己搞了一個沙灘配合Somewhere over the rainbow的組合，卻出奇的搭。這首沙灘本來就是我去KTV最愛唱的，自從有了這樣的搭配以後我就更喜歡了。

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

有趣的是沙灘中文歌詞的意境，和Somewhere over the rainbow當中的意境有前後互補的妙用。

沙灘慵懶，Somewhere over the rainbow有振作之意。不過兩首歌詞都在盼望到一個理想的遠方，只是消極或者積極罷了。

或許是因為這和我的心境契合，我總感覺David Tao做得很多事情真是只有一個妙字可言。歌聲只是他的一部分；這種巧思卻是其他藝人所比不上的。在每個細節當中找意義，這恐怕才是我欣賞他主要的原因。

Ubuntu 7.10: a pleasant surprise

2007-10-24T16:57:00.001+08:00

我永遠不會忘記那些熬夜翻Manual安裝Linux的夜晚。

安裝MySQL, Apache, PHP, Maple BBS可是花了不少力氣，然而，這一切給了一個平凡的大學生一個不平凡的啟示。

許多年後，當Ubuntu 7.10這樣的軟體出現，當初狂熱的大學生心中感觸良多。

華爾街的金融市場的確是在世界上呼風喚雨，然而，真正改變世界的是像你們這些默默奉獻的人。感謝你們，讓理想這種東西仍然存在。

Chicago GSB: MBA application submitted

2007-10-17T23:25:00.001+08:00

今天進入了MBA申請過程的一個里程碑：我終於遞出第一份申請啦！

Chicago Graduate School of Business是相當老字號的一所商學院。以前上經濟學的時候都在打混，可是頂頂有名的芝加哥經濟學派就是來自這所老字號的大學。

就像許多科技背景的人，我一開始申請的時候也大多著眼在以科技聞名的學校，像是MIT Sloan以及CMU Tepper。但是芝加哥大學的申請內容實在是很特別。除了一般性的Why MBA之外，芝加哥大學首無前例的要求一份四頁的Powerpoint簡報檔作為介紹自己的材料。這讓我相當的意外，因為照理來說，非科技導向的學校好像往往對於科技的使用不是那麼的專注。Chicago GSB 這種首創的行為讓我刮目相看。

基本上我對於MBA申請的理論是，如果該校的Essay讓我寫得很順，那就大概代表那是適合我就讀的學校。就這點來看，Chicago GSB應該是還蠻適合我的。就剩下它肯不肯要我的問題了。

TOEFL iBT 113 ^_^

2007-10-11T16:46:00.001+08:00

今天TOEFL的分數終於出來了。分數分佈如下；

Reading: 30
Listening: 30
Speaking: 24 :(
Writing: 29

雖然Speaking總覺得還可以更好一點，不過老實說那的確是我最弱的項目。整體能拿到這個成績也算是滿意的了；起碼不會因為TOEFL太低而無法申請一些Top MBA。

Chicago我來了。希望你不要拒絕我喔。

徹夜無眠考TOEFL

2007-09-22T16:38:00.001+08:00

最近因為工作和寫學校申請Essay的關係，腦中充滿了各式各樣的資訊。往往晚上睡覺眼睛一閉，頭腦又開始檢討Essay這邊寫得不好、後天上課的教材沒看熟之類的。等到想起來還有考TOEFL這回事的時候，時間只剩下一個禮拜了。

匆匆跑到誠品買了一本Longman TOEFL Preparation Guide，然後把所有的題目做一做。考TOEFL又沒有補習的壞處是：不知道自己口語和作文的水平到底好不好。我就抱著這樣的想法一夜無眠到天亮。

不過今天感覺運氣不錯。可能是因為高中同學今天訂婚的關係吧，我多少也沾了點喜氣。一開始進考場做題目就覺得很順，等到考完出考場的時候，我發現我比預定的考試時間提早了半小時交卷。希望不要因為沒睡飽而粗心大意，不然的話看來可以考個一百分以上沒問題。

我的TOEFL心得是什麼呢？就是先考GMAT再考TOEFL真是明智的選擇。大腦經過GMAT的摧殘後，TOEFL裡頭的內容以深度來說真是太小兒科。如果再加上有固定看美國影集的習慣，比方說24 hour、Lost和The Apprentice(要看沒有中文字幕的那種)，基本上聽力絶對是沒問題；口語能力的話的確是比較難培養的。我不認為我自己講得夠好，頂多只是清楚表達自己的意思；看來這會是我扣分比較多的地方。如果有時間的話，我是奉勸各位要找機會跟美國人或者ABC多談談，掌握口語的腔調和節奏。作文的部分其實也是比GMAT來得簡單，全力發揮分數應該就不會低了。

TOEFL成績的公佈要等上三個禮拜左右，到時候再和大家來分享。

GMAT 720 ^_^

2007-08-27T15:48:00.001+08:00

長時間的努力總算有了收穫。

今天考GMAT的人還不算是太多。進去之後先上了洗手間，然後就開始了四個小時的長征。

按下Report Score的按鈕那一剎那還是有點緊張。要是考個七百分以下的分數還要不要再考一次？畢竟我都沒補習。還好出現的是720分，雖然比想要的分數少了點，但應該也夠用了。

我的分數分布：

Quantitative: 49, PR 89%
Verbal: 40, PR 89%
AWA: 4.5 49% :(
Total: 720 PR 95%

我的心得是：OG要看通，外面的題目不要亂做。如果不在乎模擬考成績準確度的話，我是認為模考軟件Prep很有學習的價值，能培養出正確的解題方向。市面上有一些所謂的SC大全或者GWD模擬試題，我的感覺是稍微粗糙了點，風格跟考試不太一樣；在缺乏精闢解說的情況下，風格迴異的模擬考內容只會造成更多的困擾。不如拿時間來把OG多看幾遍吧！

專案控管：JavaEE還是Spring Framework?

2007-06-22T14:33:00.001+08:00

這個題目其實我已經想了很久，不過最近看到的一個Case又讓我覺得不能不寫一下這方面的想法。一個完整的軟體專案必須考慮到的因素當然很多，除去掉PMP那些必然會提到的因素之外，我個人認為專案經理仍然必須將一些開發前、中、後的因素加以仔細的考量，並且以宏觀的技術角度來思考整個專案成敗的問題。

不管是PMP或者CMMI都相當強調風險的控管，殊不知風險的預估可不像是人壽保險那樣有客觀的統計數據作為依據。如果無法掌握手中的技術，風險這種無形的東西並不是能夠委外的。實際上要思考的方向應該是，如何動用手上所有的技術和工具來讓軟體專案的風險能夠降低。

以我的標題作為例子，目前Spring Framework是門顯學。我應該是在台灣使用Spring Framework的先驅吧！我當然可以理解這樣技術的便利性。不過便利性不代表不需要了解底層內容。以Connection Pool為例，目前Developer都有使用Apache DBCP的概念；不過許多Developer所忘記的是，Connection Pool仍然是一種基於TCP/IP Socket的一種技術。Socket並不是可靠的、永久存在的，所以完整的Connection Pool實作往往都會搭配一些測試參數以確保Connection要用的時候仍然是可用的。舉例來說，BEA WebLogic Server的Connection Pool能設定每一段時間就對資料庫進行測試查詢，讓資料庫的連線不至於因為idle而被防火牆移除。就以Apache DBCP來講，這樣的參數也是存在的。重點是，了解這些底層的細節其實是開發人員應該要能夠Handle的事情；而專案經理必須知道這種問題會發生。Code並不是只要Work就好；系統是必須經過時間的考驗的。既然已經使用了WebLogic，那開發的角度應該是要將Application Server的特性考慮進去；不然應該就要有把握能夠使用Framework之後不會有問題。

事實上，Springframework其中一個大好處就是它的ApplicationContext.xml。只要設定更改了，Code完全不動的情況下，就可以將DBCP Connction Pool改成WebLogic的Connection Pool。透過這樣的做法，Unit test的時候還是可以使用個人的資料庫在不啟動Application Server的狀況下進行資料查詢邏輯的測試，然後在上線測試的時候再改成WebLogic的Connection Pool。Springframework的一個宗旨就是要讓開發能夠Scale up and down easily。使用它而沒有參透它的精神那就太可惜了。要記住，Springframework只是拿來掩蓋掉JavaEE的複雜度；身為一個負責任的開發人員或者專案經理，你還是必須對底層的技術有所了解。你所不了解的，就會是你的風險；這是無庸置疑的。

Java or .NET?

2007-05-01T13:02:00.003+08:00

這個問題從我在唸書的時候就常常被問到。年輕的時候比較衝動，往往還會因為這種問題和別人在BBS上大打筆仗。進入職場之後，我理所當然的以Java Solution作為主要的職業選擇；當然，實際的工作之後，對於所謂的Java VS .NET的問題，我有了更寬廣的理解空間。

Java 和 .NET並不是天堂和地獄的差別。這主要是世界觀的差別。在Java的生態體系當中，你擁有的是選擇；在微軟的生態體系當中，你擁有的是統一的秩序。從企業IT架構的角度來看，選擇Java 或者 .NET的差異主要在於，你怎麼看待你企業IT所扮演的角色。IT對你的企業，到底是一種消耗品，還是一種競爭優勢？這其實是一個很Tricky，也很少人會老實作答的問題。一般來說，願意承認自己下班回家會看A片的人應該比願意承認自己是消耗品的人來得多；但事實上許多目前的IT不可諱言的是一種消耗。如果你維護的系統每天要改好幾次table schema, column name, source code... 你認為這是不是一種消耗性行為？

我想這是為什麼Google這種以技術優勢作為老本的公司會選擇C, C++, Java等技術來作為他們本身的技術架構。以Google來說，他們的競爭優勢是技術，所以需要的是能夠量身訂做的技術作為基礎；在這個部分，.NET的許多假設和限制會讓它無法被採用。但是.NET搭配上微軟的工具，的確讓小型AP的量產變成可能。在這方面，Java真是望塵莫及。

所以要想清楚到底要的是什麼，然後作相對應的選擇。

令人省思的妙文

2007-04-09T17:28:00.002+08:00

Why Paris Hilton Is Famous (Or Understanding Value In A Post-Madonna World) « chartreuse

這篇文章討論為什麼話題女王─Paris Hilton─能夠在相當短的時間之內迅速竄紅。比較有趣的地方是，這篇文章以網路文化作為類比的角度來發言，並提出一個簡單卻令人深思的邏輯：Paris Hilton之所以能夠在短時間之內獲得眾人的矚目固然是因為那段有名的香豔自拍片「One night IN Paris」( ^^ )，但是當Paris Hilton獲得眾人的矚目之後，她創造價值的方式是提供Reference：

Though she hired a publisist to get her on Page 6 She never really talked about herself. She talked about other people. She would mention the designers of her clothes, the club she was going to, who made the sweater for her dog, all without any guarantee of any return. She just threw out links.

Reference在網路的世界中就是Hyperlink。

的確，在現有的網路文化中，最知名的Blog裡頭多數都充斥著這樣的模式。在一篇文章裡頭往往都有著數十個Hyperlink。最開始的時候，Hyperlink是用於強調Blog本身的內容；曾幾何時，Hyperlink漸漸的變成部落格文化的主角，而內容變成了配菜；這讓我感到有點小小的悲哀。

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JRockit 參數速記

2007-01-04T18:50:00.003+08:00

最近在幫一個客戶做效能調較的時候，發現JRockit有一個相當有趣的參數：-Xgcprio:throughput以及-Xgcprio:pausetime。

Throughput: 以效能總輸出作為JVM GC演算法的指導原則
Pause Time: 以降低每次GC所花的時間作為GC演算法的原則。甚至可以在參數後面Append以微秒為單位的整數作為每次GC所花的時間的參考依據，只是這個數字沒辦法保證；如果需要強制很低的GC時間可以考慮使用WebLogic Realtime。

預設來說JRockit的Heap只有一個區域，強行加入 -Xns 會加入 Nursery 的 Heap (也就是New Generation)。JRockit的Tuning方法看來和 Sun JVM 有些許的出入，但看來-Xgcprio:throughput配合大於512m的記憶體有最佳的整體效能。

不過說到這邊還是要解釋一下，合謂最佳的整體效能。

就以一般的Web Site，在一般使用者網頁Loading可以接受的時間範圍之內，假設是30秒。那只要Response Time不大於30秒，或者95%的Response Time小於30秒，以這樣的範圍去計算所調整出來的Throughput效能是最佳的整體效能。這主要是因為一般的網頁瀏覽並不需要去定義非常嚴格的SLA。

如果應用程式有非常嚴謹的SLA，比方說1秒之內沒回應就當作是交易失敗，那應用程式的調整就要以pausetime作為調整的依據，並以這種依據來期待所謂的最佳效能。

因為工作的關係，我發現非常多人都很Care效能；這基本上是非常正確的。不過就和所有的事情一樣：想要得到你要的結果，你必須知道自己要什麼。如果對效能的期待沒有一個準確的定義，往往會得到和自己所需要的不太一樣。

WebLogic Server 9.2: 在Admin Console自訂Role Mapping

2007-01-04T15:49:00.003+08:00

如果你管理一個跑在WebLogic Server上面的Web Application，你可以透過WebLogic Server內建的功能來管理User/Group以及Role之間的對應。如果不是透過這種方法，標準的做法就是透過web.xml來指定存取URL所需要的Role，以及透過weblogic.xml來指定User/Group以及Role之間的對應；很明顯的，後者這種方法非常不具備可管理性，因為這樣代表要新增Role就需要重新部署程式^^;

所幸，一般的Commercial Application Server通常都會讓應用程式在部署之後仍然可以動態更改User/Group以及Role。以WebLogic Server來說，這個功能可以直接在管理控制台裡面進行設定，並可以透過這樣的功能設定較一般權限控管更為細微的Policy，讓Role的對應不再只是靜態的存取，而是採取動態的運算來達到。

不過目前的Admin Console有些小問題，會造成所有locale設定成非en語系國家的都會遭遇到一些小錯誤。把語系改變成en_US就可以解決這個問題了。

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妙文推薦：Changing Annotation Configuration on the Fly

2006-11-22T15:43:00.002+08:00

http://dev2dev.bea.com/cs/user/blog?file=/blog/hogue/archive/2006/09/changing_annota.html

這篇文章講解了一些Deployment Plan的運用，看來蠻炫的。

不過呢，換個角度來說，如果開發時期不採用Annotation而採用XML外部設定檔，本來就不會有這樣的問題。我實在還想不太出來一個將Annotation運用得淋漓盡致的好方法。如果今天我有個Project要做，我恐怕還是會選擇用Spring Framework的Application.xml從頭到尾幹到底吧，我想。

妙文推薦：S stands for 'Simple'

2006-11-22T12:52:00.003+08:00

http://wanderingbarque.com/nonintersecting/2006/11/15/the-s-stands-for-simple/

這篇文章寫得蠻好笑的，對IT業界有所不滿的朋友們可以進去觀賞一下。

大家是否還記得SOAP縮寫的第一個字母，代表的是Simple呢？

解決AquaLogic BPM 5.7 Studio安裝上的小問題

2006-11-21T19:51:00.003+08:00

AquaLogic BPM 5.7的安裝程式─InstallAnywhere─有個小問題。這個小問題常常導致AquaLogic BPM的安裝失敗。這問題的主要原因在於InstallAnywhere似乎無法正確偵測到裝在目錄名稱裡頭有空白字元的JVM。

解決的方法很簡單：

將JVM裝在沒有空白字元的目錄當中
如果你有安裝WebLogic Server，你可以透過以下的命令來將安裝時期使用的JVM指定到BEA所附贈的JVM：

installanywhere.exe LAX_VM path_to_java.exe

這樣的話安裝過程就可以順利進行。

WebLogic jCOM Features

2006-11-21T19:28:00.003+08:00

以下擷取自BEA Edocs網站對於WebLogic Server jCOM元件的描述：

WebLogic jCOM hides the existence of the data types accessed by the
client, dynamically mapping between the most appropriate Java objects
and COM components.
WebLogic jCOM supports both late and early binding of object types.
No native code is required on the machine
hosting the COM component. Internally, WebLogic jCOM uses the Windows
DCOM network protocol to provide communication between both local and
remote COM components and a pure Java environment.
WebLogic jCOM supports an optional "native mode" which maximizes performance when running on a Windows platform. See DCOM Versus Native Mode.
WebLogic jCOM supports event handling. For
example, Java events are accessible from Visual Basic using the
standard COM event mechanism and Java objects can subscribe to COM
component events.

最近一直在想一個將COM元件以及WebLogic JMS連結在一起的好辦法，看來jCOM元件的Java←→COM通訊能力很值得期待。

ALBPM 5.7的Web Service介面

2006-11-04T21:16:00.001+08:00

AquaLogic BPM在設計的時候可以將一個Process的Creation和Notification設定成以Web Service作為介面；同時，底層的AquaLogic BPM Process API 也可以透過Web Service 介面 Expose出來，造成了一些認知上混淆。我在這邊將正確的WSDL Address寫下來讓大家參考一下：

Process as Web Service: http://hostname:9000/fuegoServices/ws/ProcessNameServiceListener?WSDL
Process API(PAPI)的Web Service介面：http://hostname:8585/workspace/webservices/ProcessService?wsdl

好用的Firefox Extension v 1.0

2006-10-12T00:31:00.001+08:00

Forecastfox：這個天氣預報的Plugin真的很又用，讓你要出門前就可以知道要不要帶雨傘。UPDATE: 好用歸好用，但是這個Extension似乎會造成Firefox佔滿100%的CPU資源，所以我還是把他移除了。
IE Tab：這個Extension真是台灣之光！有別於另外一個有名的Extension IE View，這個Extension讓你直接在Firefox的視窗裡頭使用IE來瀏覽網頁。
Gmail Notifier：老實說我覺得這個Extension沒什麼太了不起的，而我也不是很滿意。不過至少它讓我不需要開啟Gtalk或者Google Widget就可以知道我的Gmail帳號有沒有新的信件進來。應該有更好的解決方案吧？研究中。UPDATE：我也移除這個Extension了，如果你已經裝了GTalk，看來這Extension就變得沒啥用處。
ScrapBook：有些網頁實在不適合Bookmark下來。畢竟，有些網頁可能只是一篇文章、一份待粹取的知識，而最好可以離線瀏覽並且可以在上面塗鴉、加上註解。ScrapBook就是這麼棒的Extension，我說的它都做得到。
DownThemAll：這個Extension的用途很多樣化；簡單來說它可以幫你抓取網頁中的「任何」圖片、多媒體、超連結等等。如果你常常待在一些會貼很多圖片的討論區或者網站，那麼你一定需要這個Extension。
Performancing：超棒的Blog editor，內建支援許多家Blog hosting的API，以Atom為大宗。可惜的是還無法支援Blogger Beta。特別的功能有包括支援Movable Type的Category、內建Post Tag到del.icio.us的能力、自動產生Technorati Tag的能力、整合Performancing的Blog Statistics功能(後補)等。
Sage：功能簡單但是也相當夠用的RSS/Atom reader。雖然並沒有什麼令人驚豔的功能，但是拿來作一般的RSS reader也算是相當的夠用了。UPDATE：自從有了Google Reader之後，這又顯得多餘了。
ColorZilla：選取網頁顏色的好工具，網頁設計師應該會很喜歡。
Foxylicious：將del.icio.us中的標籤Sync到Firefox bookmark的好工具。但是會讓Firefox啟動的速度變慢....

紀念一下：從來沒有過的這麼乾淨的辦公桌

2006-10-08T04:27:00.001+08:00

說來慚愧，本著『自然就是美』的小弟一向都沒有將自身座位的乾淨整潔當作是員工守則的第一順位，畢竟這好像對於公司的營收沒有太大的影響。正好過去幾個禮拜又如火如荼的忙了起來，嘿，這下桌子就更亂了，充滿了雜亂的電線以及杯子、食物和飲料(好啦，其實也沒那麼糟糕)。

忽然間發生一件重要的事情，就是公司的搬到101之後正式舉行的喬遷酒會。最可怕的是，要開放大家參觀！那還得了，當然要好好收拾一番了。於是就有了這張照片眼見為憑：比我家裏還要乾淨、整齊！這顯示了人是充滿無限的潛能，能在各種危急的時候發揮出意想不到的能力。

然而我最自以為毫的地方，就是當我想要將散佈桌上的電線給整理起來的時候實在找不到足夠的收線器，於是靈機一動，將同事GP送的澳洲無尾熊派上用場(照片後補)，真是讚，實用又美觀。下次去澳洲的時候要記得多帶點回來。

用跑步來解釋JVM的Garbage Collection

2006-08-14T19:59:00.001+08:00

用生活化的例子來解釋技術上的細節通常效果都很好，即使是一點都不懂技術的人都能夠很快的明白。

最近跟客戶在解釋所謂的Garbage Collection的時候忽然福至心靈，想到以下的解釋。

JVM和人的心肺運作其實相當類似。我們透過吸氣將氧氣吸收，呼氣將身體內的二氧化碳排出，像這樣的道理，人人都明白。但是有時候身體的運動太激烈，會造成心肺活動趕不上氧氣的消耗；舉例來說，假設我快跑一分鐘，可能只要休息一分鐘，我的呼吸和心跳就可以恢復正常。但是如果我將快跑的時間延長到兩分鐘，那在一樣的體力狀態下，我可能需要休息兩分半鐘才能夠將呼吸調回正常狀態。這其實都是因為在快速的跑步下，身體對氧氣的需求是大於我們心肺能力所能夠提供的量，所以需要更久的休息時間才能將身體恢復程正常的狀態。

JVM也有類似的狀況。所謂的Garbage Collection，就是JVM的休息時間(雖然就技術上來說，這反而可能是JVM最繁忙的時候)。如果一開啟JVM的時候就將Heap開到很大，這就好比我們將快跑的時間延長一樣，需要更多的時間來休息/Garbage Collection。但是如果開得太小，又會造成太過於頻繁的休息/Garbage Collection。所謂的JVM Performance Tuning，正是考慮到上述各種因素之後的Tradeoff。

溫暖

2006-08-14T19:58:00.001+08:00

大概從今年的六月份開始，我又恢復了跑步的習慣。說真的，對一個胖子來說，很少有比跑步更痛苦的運動了；不過大量的流汗之後所帶來的那種壓力紓解讓我感覺這一切都很有價值。

慢慢的，我從三千公尺，在七月之後進步到五千公尺。大概是練習的方法不正確，又或許天氣實在太熱了，五千公尺之後，不管在速度上或者距離上都沒辦法有什麼進展。

就昨天晚上，我正好進入了四千公尺之後的衝刺準備期。通常這個時候我會最後一次的調整呼吸，準備迎接最後五百公尺的衝刺。

一位老先生穿著短褲，悠閒地面對我走過來。

就在我距離他大約只剩下兩公尺，他突然一個大動作把手臂舉起、將大拇指豎起。

好個熱血的老伯伯啊！

但是就這樣的反應，讓我不自覺得加快了速度，將剩下的距離跑完。

其實就我一生當中，很多挑戰都是獨自一人面對和克服的。要克服任何挑戰都無法假手他人。但就像這位老伯對我做的，我也只是需要在關鍵的時刻有個掌聲。

然後我就能征服這一切。

Weblogic Server: Spring Console設定

2006-06-19T17:55:00.001+08:00

自從去年(2005)BEA宣誓力挺Opensource應用程式框架以來，BEA和Spring Framework的Interface21就走的越來越近。除了和Interface21簽訂互相技術支援的合約外，Interface21和bea的工程師更是有許多技術底層的交流。Spring Console就是這樣的交流當中所衍生出來的一種產品。

首先，定位一下什麼是 Spring Console。Spring Console並不是開發時期的工具，而是應用程式部署在Weblogic平台上的一個JMX監控工具。大家都知道，從Spring 1.2以來，我們就可以透過MBeanExporter將任何一個POJO註冊在MBeanServer上成為一個JMX Standard MBean，然後就可以透過MC4J這樣的JMX監控工具來管理這樣的MBean。 Spring Console可以被當作是一個JMX的Web管理介面，只是這個管理介面可以直接內嵌在WebLogic Server 9.x的管理控制台裡頭。這樣的好處是，當管理人員登入到WebLogic Server管理控制台的時候，除了能夠管理一些WebLogic Server例行性的事務之外，還能夠管理跟Application邏輯相關的東西，比方說直接透過Web介面查詢目前的登入人數、工作排程、使用分析等等，如下圖：

講完這個東西的好處後，當然要講一下怎麼安裝。首先：

1. 到BEA網站下載Spring Kit。

2. 解開下載檔之後，可以看到裡頭有一個spring-wls-console-ext的目錄，開啟後可看到有兩個.jar檔：spring-ext-client.jar以及spring-ext-server.jar

3. 將spring-ext-server.jar放到你的DomainHome/console-ext下

4. 將spring-ext-client.jar放到你webapp的WEB-INF/lib下

5. 開發你的Web Application，然後參考這篇文章的applicationContext.xml設定

6. 將WebLogicHome/server/lib/consoleapp/APP-INF/lib中的commons-logging以及log4j的jar檔copy到你的DomainHome/lib下

這樣就搞定啦！

WebLogic Server: 交易的迷思

2006-06-13T17:56:00.002+08:00

一般的程式設計師對於單一資料源的交易處理機制都有一定的了解。所謂的交易控管，用白話文來說，就是只要我需要一次更動多筆資料，而這個更動的行為在邏輯

上是一個具有業務價值的單一行為，我就需要交易的處理機制。但是比較少人花心思去了解的是J2EE裡頭規範Application
Server必須Follow的XA Transaction Protocol以及更具有價值的Transaction Recovery機制。

接下來我想要點出的是一般人的迷思：

迷思：只有在多重資料庫的資料更新場合才需要2PC。事實上只要你有兩個以上的DataSource想要同時參與一個Transaction，你就需要2PC。除非你自行處理所有的交易補償邏輯，否則兩個以上的Local Transaction，是不會有相互關連，資料的正確性也就大大的有問題了。
迷思：只要依賴資料庫的交易機制，我的資料正確性就無懈可擊！
假設Application Server正在處理一個交易，一個Batch
update好了。你從DataSource1把資料傾倒到DataSource2，一邊將DataSource1的資料清除掉。這時候，不知道什麼原
因，網路斷了，或者電源線被踢到了....源源不絕的客服電話把你灌爆。你以為你把電源插上就沒事了，可是.....咦，資料好像不太對？這時候如果你用
得是WebLogic Server Advantage以上的版本，你可以透過Transaction Log自我恢復的機制，來讓WebLogic
Server幫你Rollback資料庫裡頭的資料，維護你資料的Consistency。當然，你可以自己花錢花時間寫這個機制....但是你的客戶是
否可以接受哪怕是幾分鐘的資料不正確？

簡單的結論：除非你的AP只提供簡單的查詢介面，否則你幾乎一定會需要用到2PC以及
Transaction
Recovery的功能。Transaction的問題很難Debug，已經看到太多英才死在這邊了，拜託大家緬懷先列的犧牲，不要再為了這種問題而強制
性失眠了，請愛用XA，謝謝！

Google Web Toolkit (Oh My God)

2006-05-16T20:02:00.003+08:00

Google終於推出Java Web Application Framework了！(地震！)

從網頁上的解釋看來，本質上比較像是一個Java- Map那樣酷炫的Web AP。

挺有趣的Concept！不過目前為止我所看到的新一代Rich Internet Application Framework都有一個共同的問題：Java←→Javascript Type Mapping。不曉得Google Web Toolkit有沒有類似的問題。

或許是所有RPC導向的設計方式都有這樣的限制吧？目前Web Service的發展也是遇到類似的問題。Complex Java Object Type是比較難以正確的對應到javascript物件的；只是就Web Service來說，我們可以透過像是AquaLogic Service Bus內建的XQuery Transformation來做Object→XML的對應，但是在Browser裡頭的javascript→java RPC如果也要這樣做也太Heavy Weight了吧？

不過不管怎樣，對於技術狂熱者來說，最近這一年真的太棒了。為了方便以後追蹤，我把一些我認為有機會成為主流的RIA技術列在下面，順便讓大家參考一下：

安東尼的部落格網路

2006-05-14T20:02:00.001+08:00

我最近在BEA的Dev2Dev網站上申請了一個新的部落格。有些人可能會覺得很奇怪：安東尼時間這麼多嗎？

其實我自己也是有點心虛啦，到目前為止，我已經有三個要『永續經營』的部落格了，有點氾濫的感覺。

這些部落格分別是：

不過，這三個部落格的性質、定位都不太一樣的。冷熊碎碎唸主要是屬於我個人的、流水帳式的部落格；BEA到台灣則是我和BEA其他顧問組合而成的一種『非正式』技術支援；而Anthony Jen's Blog則是希望能夠透過Dev2Dev這個國際化的平台和全世界各地的技術人員進行交流。

我從經驗當中學到的一點：任何事情都要有Focus。部落格是一種現代的出版媒體，而任何媒體應該都有他的市場區隔。根據想達成的不同目的而設置不同的部落格，我想，也還算是符合這樣的原則^^

畢竟，在不同的環境下，一個人比較有機會表現出不同的自己

26歳

2006-05-14T20:00:00.002+08:00

上禮拜五─20060512─我終於邁入人生的第27年。

女朋友很貼心的請我到「紅屋」吃了一頓豐盛的「三分熟」牛排，讓我有一個很飽足的生日。三分熟不是開玩笑的：處處見血，但卻滑嫩順口、齒頰留香，真是我這種肉食者的最愛啊！

我想有些事情是不會變的。我從小就愛吃肉，尤其是牛肉，喜愛的程度到了一段時間沒吃到牛肉會渾身不對勁的地步。

但是有些事情會變。我已經漸漸失去那種能夠放開自己、盡情享受的閒情逸致了。就算是在吃美食、在精緻的飯店當大爺，我腦中大概只有5%的腦神經是拿來體會這種物質上的娛悅，剩下的部分都還在瘋狂的為了工作、生捱規劃運轉著。

不是很喜歡這樣的自己。但是隨著生日蠟燭一根一根的增加，我就更急迫的想要抓住我所渴望的未來。畢竟，距離三十歲只剩下四年不到(或者，按照公司的算法：16個季度)。在我的想法裡，我一直把三十歲當作一個重要的里程碑：這一生是龍是蛇，就看三十歲之前做了些什麼了。

所以壓力很大。

有點想念以前的那個大男生。連續三十個小時跟室友們連線大玩星海爭霸、CS的一段時光，好奢侈啊，嗯。但是好爽。

想想罷了。通常寂寞和空虛的情緒，又會變成鞭策自己更努力的動力;-)

這也是在安東尼身上不會改變的事情。

生日快樂。

妙文推薦：Real-World Experiences With Hibernate - Shine Technologies

2006-05-11T04:14:00.001+08:00

Real-World Experiences With Hibernate - Shine Technologies

這篇文章寫得挺不錯的，值得一讀。作者主要的重點是在於討論該怎麼使用Hibernate，以及怎樣讓Hibernate幫助你節省開發時間、增進效能而不會成為你專案成功的絆腳石。

OR-Mapping的概念在Java的世界當中是由Hibernate發揚光大的，但是看來任何屬於"Layer of indirection"的中間層技術都會有些黑暗面。當然為了效能、為了交易正確性，我們還是有必要去知道很多RDBMS的細節，不過我慢慢的覺得，OR-Mapping的概念似乎已經不夠用了。

以企業作為單位來說，比OR-Mapping要來得更實際的，應該是整個企業的Domain Model，以及環繞著這個Domain Model的Data Service。

IT的歷史又翻過了一頁....

Generic DAO Pattern

2006-05-10T11:13:00.001+08:00

Java 5.0的Generics為Java Programming帶來許多新的可能性。

在正式接觸Generics之前，看一些Sun所提供的Sample Code，還以為Generics唯一的好處就只是能夠針對Collection類型的資料結構宣告內容物的型別，像是這樣：

ArrayList<Person> anArrayList = new ArrayList();
anArrayList.add( new Person() );
Person aInstanceHolder = anArrayList.get(0);

但是最近看到Hibernate的始作俑者─Gavin King─在他的Blog裡頭提到一種Generic Hibernate DAO的想法，才驚覺其實Generics擁有更大的用途。正確的使用Generics能夠減少很多必要的程式碼，而最顯而可見的地方，就是我們經常用到的Data Access Object(DAO Pattern)。

一般在使用DAO的時候，其實是必須針對每個Domain Object進行DAO相關的介面制定以及實作；坦白說有時候真的會覺得自己真是白痴，明明寫的CRUD Operation大同小異，但是就是沒辦法將這些程式碼整理成可重複利用的單位。

在Gavin King的Blog裡頭，我找到了能夠將DAO程式碼大幅減少的解決方案：Generic Hibernate DAO Pattern。但是由於Gavin King所提供的Sample Code所使用的API是Hibernate 3的Session API，所以我把這個Pattern的Code稍微潤飾一下，改成適合和Spring Framework可以一起搭配使用的Code。以下就是安東尼版本的「Generic DAO Pattern」。

首先，我們先定義一個Generic DAO Interface。既然是Interface，那麼顧名思義，是不會對任何Persistence API擁有Binding關係的：

public interface GenericDao<T, ID extends Serializable>{

T findById( ID id, boolean lock );

List<T> findAll();

List<T> findByExample( T exampleInstance );

T makePersistent( T entity );

void makeTransient( T entity );
}

在上面的介面定義當中，我們可以看到大量Generics的影子；而這段Code當中使用Generics最關鍵的地方就在於Interface宣告搭配Generics。我們待會會看到這樣的宣告方式搭配了物件導向的繼承/實作之後所發揮的驚人能力；在那之前，我們再定一一個GenericHibernateDao的抽象類別：

public abstract class GenericHibernateDao<T, ID extends Serializable> extends
HibernateDaoSupport implements GenericDao<T,ID> {

private Class persistentClass;

public GenericHibernateDao() {
this.persistentClass = (Class) ((ParameterizedType) getClass()
.getGenericSuperclass()).getActualTypeArguments()[0];
}

public Class getPersistentClass() {
return persistentClass;
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public T findById( ID id ) {
T entity;

entity = (T) getHibernateTemplate().load( getPersistentClass(), id );

return entity;
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public List<T> findAll() {
return getHibernateTemplate().loadAll( getPersistentClass() );
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public List<T> findByExample( T exampleInstance ) {

return findByCriteria(Example.create( exampleInstance ));
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public T makePersistent( T entity ) {
getHibernateTemplate().saveOrUpdate( entity );
return entity;
}

public void makeTransient( T entity ) {
getHibernateTemplate().delete( entity );
}

/**
* Use this inside subclasses as a convenience method.
*/
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
protected List<T> findByCriteria( Criterion... criterion ) {

DetachedCriteria crit = DetachedCriteria
.forClass( getPersistentClass() );

for (Criterion c : criterion) {
crit.add( c );
}

return getHibernateTemplate().findByCriteria( crit );
}

}

OK，我們又看到了大量的Generics，以及對Spring Framework Hibernate Support API的一些呼叫。可能有些人已經開始發現一些端倪了：在這個抽象類別當中所定義的CRUD操作，任何繼承的Class都能夠在幾乎不需要寫Code的情晃下「免費」使用：

public interface AuthorDao extends GenericDao<Author,Integer> {

}

public class AuthorDaoHibernateImpl extends GenericHibernateDao<Author,Integer> implements AuthorDao<Author, Integer> {

}

你並沒有看錯，就只要寫這些宣告，你就可以免費使用剛剛在GenericHibernateDao所定義的所有CRUD Operation。

這是怎麼做到的？

讀者只要注意一下Sample Code當中用藍色以及紅色的部分所加強部分就可以猜出來了：我們把「T,ID」的實際型別透過繼承宣告「丟」進去，讓Concrete Class在借用GenericHibernateDao的操作時，JVM能夠分辨的出來到底實體的Class Instance是什麼。很神奇吧！
Technorati Tags: java, hibernate, generics

利用SnipSnap來做知識管理

2006-03-11T04:18:00.001+08:00

很久沒寫文章了。這真的不是我的錯，太忙太忙了。

這幾天好不容易空閒了一點，想要嘗試用Wiki的概念來替自己做一個知識管理的小網站；因為這個網站是要跑在自己的電腦上的，所以

不能夠佔用太多記憶體
最好支援File儲存
安裝設定簡易

SnipSnap是我以前在騰蒙工作的時候，當時的老闆介紹給我使用的一套Blog-Wiki。那個時候的SnipSnap主要是用來做一些文件的草稿，像是把Use Cases在上面寫完之後再用Word排版。Wiki簡單的語法對於有點IT Background的人來說真的很好上手，而且SnipSnap在Wiki當中又算是功能和觀念比較先進的一種，這種種的原因導致這幾天一想到知識管理，就手癢的想拿SnipSnap來試試看。

嘗試的結果還挺不錯的。SnipSnap允許使用者用很多方法來做資訊的分類；而坦白說，分類是知識翠取的必要過程。在SnipSnap，你可以使用類似目錄結構樹狀方式來整理你的資料，以及利用分類(Category)的標籤為你的資料做一個更精確的分類。

舉例來說，BEA這家公司有一套產品叫做AquaLogic Service Bus。在SnipSnap上，我會把跟AquaLogic Service Bus相關的資訊放到BEA的目錄結構下；然而，AquaLogic Service Bus這個軟體是屬於Enterprise Service Bus這個Middleware的類別，所以我可以將AquaLogic Service Bus這個文件加上一個"Enterprise Service Bus"的標籤；這樣子在邏輯上就很清楚了。之所以將AquaLogic Service Bus放在BEA的目錄下是因為BEA「擁有」這套產品(UML Class Diagram中的Aggregation的關係)，而Category則拿來代表繼承(Inheritance)的關係模式。

So far so good. 嗯，繼續來整理我的資料。

BEA到台灣、BEA在台灣

2005-12-18T04:08:00.001+08:00

BEA到台灣、BEA在台灣是一個我和BEA其他技術顧問一起組成的一個Team blog。在過去，Kevin、Chris和我都各自有自己的Blog，但是為了將我們在BEA的工作經驗整合成一個統一的知識庫，我們決定將三個人的Blog合而為一，讓內容更豐富也更多樣化。

Maven 2.0出爐！

2005-10-27T03:33:00.003+08:00

Maven 2.0終於Release了。

雖然大多數的人都還是用Ant來作為標準的Java Build工具，我卻對Maven一直情有獨鍾。

Maven 1.0被證明在某種程度上是一種失敗。在Maven 1.0有許多好的概念和想法，卻因為缺乏一些關鍵功能以及一些技術細節的繁瑣而導致Java眾高手的群起攻伐。

以下是我覺得Maven 1.0時代的優點：

具備Dependency Management的能力
Project Model的概念比起Ant要先進的太多….Ant的build.xml本身就是一種程式語言，而不是以專案的資料結構來看待這些需要建構的Artifact，以至於一些常用的task往往還是要重新寫一次，重用性非常差。

以下是缺點：

雖然說有Dependency Management，但是會導致對於Repository的依賴；而且缺乏Transitive Dependency Management，這個功能的好處就少了一大半。
雖然有Project Model的概念，但是客製化變得相當困難；主要是因為Plugin架構採用Jelly─一種畸形的XML程式語法─所導致。

令人振奮的是，從Release Announcement來看，剛剛提到的兩大缺點似乎都解決了。大家一起上Maven的網站下載來玩吧！

Coldbear Snips

Consulting interview

Funny stuff

More than just being sarcastic

Ubuntu 8.04 調整指南

Evolution and genetics | The misfits | Economist.com

Nvidia: Nvidia Tegra All-in-One Mobile Processors Aim to Nuke Intel's Atom, Promise 30 Hours HD Playback

Openbook: Is Via's OpenBook the Next (Little) Big Thing in UMPCs?

udn聯合書報攤 - 新聞時事 - 商業周刊 - 陸客投資台灣房市，是炒作�

Analysts to Google: Buy Salesforce

The Great Inflation Debate

Economist's Corner: Potential Problems for Firms with China Operations - Deloitte Research - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

股神嗆避險基金 對賭千萬 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格

Forrester: Social networking means business, big business | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

Booz & Company Launched as a Leader in Global Management Consulting

20% Of Valley Startups Can’t Get To Their Cash

The new Iphone out July 11 for 199$ all over the world. And now? | PiZero Nokia & Symbian Design

Fall Recruiting Moves into Summer

US Internet will shrink to 2 strong players-report - Forbes.com

〈分析〉金融體系崩潰風險日增 12幕悲劇就要上演 - MEIF理財部落格 -

〈分析〉熊氣瀰漫 政府好戰 美國經濟回春？等2011年再說吧！ - MEIF理

Ubuntu: "Netbook Remix" Ubuntu for Ultraportables Coming in June

Breaking: FCC Confirms that Big Winner in Spectrum Auction is Verizon. So Why Is Google Smiling?

Morton’s Weblog » Blog Archive » The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI)

SpringSource Team Blog » Spring Integration: a new addition to the Spring portfolio

Mint adds investment tracking, burger buying trends | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

Salesforce.com + Google Apps (Verdict: Good, but occasionally frustrating) | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

More Google Docs available offline: Spreadsheets, presentations | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

聯合新聞網 | 全球觀察 | 國際萬象 | 新片醜化蘇聯 哈里遜福特遭

Consumer Spending Stagnates as Prices Rise - New York Times

Patent Law Battle a Boon to Lobbyists - New York Times

HP leaves Dell with an EDS-shaped hole | Channel Register

eToro Makes Forex Trade Child’s Play

自作孽不可活！新興國家群起抑制通膨時 美國將成最後輸家 - MEIF�

$100 Million for 10,000 Women

台股今年504家公司董監改選 持股比重低者較有行情 - MEIF理財部落格 -

美國次貸危機之通俗演義 房產風光5年重重摔下 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!�

InfoQ: Why do Java developers hate BPM?

IBM hopes to patent 'dealing with chaos' | The Register

JOSSO 1.7 Released - Confluence

Book Review: Greenspan's Bubble

Ubuntu 7.10: Flip 3D 視窗切換特效

Lina Xu's Blog: WebLogic Operations Control (WLOC) Introduction

InfoQ: Presentation: Operational Manageability lessons learned from eBay

InfoQ: Presentation: Transaction Management Strategies in Mission Critical Applications

Google Apps Gets Important Endorsement

Bloxes Brings Cardboard Tech To The Office

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Sandberg leaves for Facebook. Let's all recite Eric Schmidt's Serenity Prayer.

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Acer trumped Dell in Q4 07 world laptop sales | The Register

An update to my MBA application status

Sun shrugs off product slip in Q2 | Channel Register

Windows Vista: A reflection on software economics, part II

Windows Vista: A reflection on software economics, part I

The right direction where JavaEE application server should be heading

An in-depth article regarding IMS charging architecture

回首營運的基本面

Haas Application submitted

台灣人的試煉

Interesting CSS trick

An interesting list of Web 2.0 APIs

關於Apache Beehive 之 JDBC Control

Enterprise computing enters the 2nd phase of atom composition

Funniest geeky analogy

Deja vu: Open Handset Alliance

Will fast-paced and relatively-efficient companies take over old corporate types?

MIT Sloan: submitted!

沙灘+Somewhere over the rainbow

Ubuntu 7.10: a pleasant surprise

Chicago GSB: MBA application submitted

TOEFL iBT 113 ^_^

徹夜無眠考TOEFL

GMAT 720 ^_^

專案控管：JavaEE還是Spring Framework?

Java or .NET?

令人省思的妙文

JRockit 參數速記

WebLogic Server 9.2: 在Admin Console自訂Role Mapping

妙文推薦：Changing Annotation Configuration on the Fly

股神嗆避險基金對賭千萬 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!奇摩部落格

〈分析〉熊氣瀰漫政府好戰美國經濟回春？等2011年再說吧！ - MEIF理

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自作孽不可活！新興國家群起抑制通膨時美國將成最後輸家 - MEIF�

台股今年504家公司董監改選持股比重低者較有行情 - MEIF理財部落格 -

美國次貸危機之通俗演義房產風光5年重重摔下 - MEIF理財部落格 - Yahoo!�

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