Tomorrow is Another Day

Well… Turned out that this post didn’t happen "tomorrow" after all, for the simple reason that I’ve been alone this weekend with my kids, with the wife being out on a trip.

I’ll get to posting the real content (Specifically, introducing Castle Windsor into our application stack, and how that makes possible a very loosely coupled architecture).

Oh for SOA’s sake

So, here I am, trapped in my usual pattern of reading posts about people making websites speaking to databases. Only I’m not doing it that way. My company has a rather different approach to making “enterprise systems” (oh god, we do hate that, don’t we?).

Here’s the juicy details. We’re developing a new system from scratch, after finally realizing that what we’ve been doing for the last ten years isn’t, well – you know, keeping ut with the times. Java here, Sybase there, .Net there and some C++ and even PowerBuilder thrown in for good measure.

Instead, we’re re-architecting ourselves as a service provider, providing a service instead of several pieces of distinct software. Now, mind you, we’ve been doing this half-heartedly for years already, outsourcing core parts of our business to external “service providers” (bear with me here), but our business has always been about the Installer and the Database(tm).

What does this mean for us as a company? Well, first and foremost it means that I finally get to implement some of my many, neverending ideas. Mostly those are focused around WCF, Nhibernate and a loosely-coupled, service oriented architecture.

Now, here’s the catch. Everything I read, almost everywhere on the web, is focused on a single web application talking to a single database. Wake up, people. This isn’t, BY FAR, the way business is done in the real world. We have third parties that are vital to our business, those third parties need access in varying and distinctly different ways. We have customers that need a simple one-off setup for a few weeks, and we have customers that have longlasting, complex relationships with us as an ISV, OR as a service provider(tm).

So here’s what I intend to do. I intend to document how we use Real Technologies to accomplish Real Work. If you’re interested in seeing how that pans out, I suggest you stay with me. I’m going to try to detail as much as possible about how we approach this – and I can only assume this – very common scenario.

I’ll start tomorrow by discussing how we intend to make our Domain Model blissfully unaware of how it is being used. Factories, Interfaces and Repositories galore. Mind you, we’re only starting out, and I’m semi-hoping (is that even a word?) that I can also get some valuable feedback from you, my dearest reader, on our sure-to-be many mistakes.

See you tomorrow!

Microsoft releases Vista build 5365 to testers

Microsoft has just released Windows Vista build 5365 to it's testers via Microsoft Connect, according to bink.nu, and is showing an email from Microsoft Connect as "proof".
read more | digg story

Microsoft Atlas Rated “D-” in Cross-Browser Test

The new Atlas Ajax Controls from Microsoft almost flunk out… Fail to support Opera and Safari, among others.

There is simply so much wrong with the current direction of Microsoft's Atlas project, I won't even begin to summarize it all here. But suffice it to say that this looks a ton like the early ASP.Net 1.0 "efforts". Way too much focused around Microsoft's own browser to actually make it useful.

When is Microsoft going to understand that STANDARDS MATTER!?!?!
read more | digg story

Russ Olsen talks about optimiziation

Russ Olsen talks about optimization in his newest weblog entry.

In my professional life, I'm only afraid of a few things. John's keyboard, which is coated with that fine patina of brown gunk. A call in the middle of the night saying the app server won't start. And the dreaded request: "Russ, see if you can speed this code up." It's usually code I've never seen. It's probably important, otherwise they wouldn't be worried about how it is performing. And speed it up to what? Still, there are some basics you can fall back on when someone asks you to optimize some code. Here goes…

Russ – we've all been there. The dreaded "can you take a look at this". Thanks for the valid points in your blog posting – what you're talking about is something every developer should keep in mind.

About Me

Just a quick update to let you know that I've added some personal stuff about me, myself and I on the about page.

IronPython 1.0 Beta 6

GotDotnet has some news about a new beta release of IronPython coming out immediately. If you're into Python, .net, both or just curious, check it out.

The post reads as follows:

New Vista CTP build incoming

If you can find it among all the ads, Bink has some apparently unverified news about Windows Vista CTP Build 5365 being released on friday to invites testers only (does not include MSDN subscribers, apparently).

Paul Thurrot shakes things up a bit

Paul Thurrot, author of WinSupersite, the legendary Windows-centric opinion/news site, has some news for Microsoft. To put it mildly, he isn't exactly happy with how things have been going over the past couple of years:

Shame on you, Microsoft. Shame on you, but not just for not doing better. We expect you to copy Apple, just as Apple (and Linux) in its turn copies you. But we do not and should not expect to be promised the world, only to be given a warmed over copy of Mac OS X Tiger in return. Windows Vista is a disappointment. There is no way to sugarcoat that very real truth.