Topic: Software Development
Matt Zimmerman delivers exactly what his title promises: a technical roadmap of where Ubuntu has been and where it is going. He discusses the collaborative development process, an overview of past and future releases, the expansion of Ubuntu from the desktop to server and mobile environments, and what's next for Ubuntu. Highlighting key features of the latest releases, this presentation will be of interest to existing Ubuntu users as well as anyone considering migrating to this popular linux-based operating system.
Over the last year or two, the Geoweb has graduated from something that was off the side, to being at the centre of attention. In this presentation, John Hanke, Director, Google Earth & Google Maps, and Bernhard Seefeld, Geo Software Engineer at Google, open the lid on some of Google's new products in the Geo space, and advocate the need for open standards.
Although Java remains one of the world's most popular development platforms, Ruby and Rails are picking up on a steep upward curve. Why then, should Sun shower its love on Ruby? In this keynote presentation, Tim Bray, the Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems, covers a broad range of topics such as Sun's interest in promoting Ruby, the case for JRuby in the enterprise, the areas Ruby needs to improve on, features that may be good extensions to the Rails framework and Sun's business model of making all its products open-source.
In its short history, the Nintendo Wii has become one of the most popular game consoles available. In particular, its remote controller is sophisticated, containing a number of input devices that outperform regular personal computers. Johnny Lee, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University is working on a number of exciting projects with the controller. He joins Phil and Scott to discuss his applications, including his video demonstrations available on YouTube.
Adobe's Apollo is a cross-platform runtime that allows a user to run a Web application on his desktop. Isn't that what a Web browser already does? But Apollo can work offline. You disconnect from the Internet and you are still able to use the Web application. It detects the presence of a network and synchronises your data. If you're a Web developer, and you want to develop for Apollo, there's almost nothing new that you need to learn. Ed Rowe of Adobe Systems puts to practice, the wisdom, "Show, don't tell!" in this demo of Apollo.
Bill Buxton, a principal researcher with Microsoft Research, is the author of Sketching User Experience. In this conversation he talks about design thinking -- a way of producing, illustrating, and winnowing ideas about how products could work.
Ubuntu users and developers are passionate about it, almost on a religious level. Matt Asay describes the ten commandments of open source and how they relate to Ubuntu. He presents his points with examples from both the open source community in general and Ubuntu in particular. Matt's overview of these principles illustrate how Ubuntu can thrive on its past to change the future of IT.
More and more Web sites are being rewritten as Ajax applications and traditional desktop software is rapidly moving to the Web via Ajax. But, often, this transition is being made with reckless disregard for security. Ajax developers desperately need guidance on securing their applications. Billy Hoffman, co-author of Ajax Security, joins Phil and Scott to discuss the book.
IBM researchers Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg are the creators of Many Eyes, a new kind of social website dedicated to data visualization and analysis. Members upload batches of data - about politics, weather, or anything else - then chart, interpret, discuss, and even re-visualize one another's data. The process is fun, and it also points toward a future in which our collective interpretation of the world is more firmly rooted in data.
Phil regularly holds a meeting that he calls the CTO Breakfast. It is an opportunity for people who work in technology to discuss current issues. In this episode, Phil holds an online version of the meeting. The group review such topics as the recently released Amazon SimpleDB, MIT's open courseware project, and how LinkedIn just open their site to developers. They also discuss the status of open source social networking and the problems of monetization. The group finishes with their predictions for early 2008.
