I read a decent editorial on the almost certain demise of Sun Microsystems. My favorite quote in the article is as follows …

Even Java is becoming superfluous. Java is the Dan Marino of software. Just as the former Dolphins quarterback, Java affected the world so much that history cannot be written without its mention. But nonetheless, neither Java nor Dan ever won the big one.

The author makes some good points and I believe that he’s right. You can read the whole article here.

I find this article funny in that it points out what Java is – a loser of a language. Every recruiter and company on the planet asks, “Do you know Java?”, as if the language is the king. I have news for you. Strict typed languages shouldn’t be used for web based applications. Sure if you plan on making a cross platform GUI application it may be right for you, but it’s basically an interpreted compiled language if that makes any sense. My hopes are high that Java dies when Sun does.

Apple’s recent addition to its software library, Safari, is another victory in the company’s battle to conquer the digital hub. I’ve dabbled with the browser, but have yet to actually take a close look at it. Until now.

The most glaring hole in Apple’s browser is the lack of tabbed browsing. I was so upset about this fact that both my girlfriend and I both submitted bug reports. Today I signed the petition. One Apple enthusiast proposes a very cocoa tabbed browsing alternative, which looks interesting. I also came across this review, which compares Chimera and Safari. If you must have tabs you can try Safaritabs.

The two things that stand out in my eyes is Safari’s speed and the fact that it spell checks automatically within textarea’s. The Google bar is a decent edition as well.

Slashdot is running a great interview about Kevin Mitnick. I’m only half way through it, but so far it’s a great read. My favorite quote thus far:

… security is not a product that can be purchased off the shelf, but consists of policies, people, processes, and technology.

I totally agree with the above. At my current place of employment I was brought in for two reasons: research, purchase, install, and configure a scalable server farm and to rework the current security policies and methods.

I’ve since removed access from most servers for anyone who is not an administrator, created a DMZ, put firewall rules into place, closed ports and services, etc. The thing that amazes me most is that some of the coworkers have complained about the new measures I’m taking. I guess laziness and lax security go hand in hand.