Ben Galbraith is a recognized expert in desktop application development, specializing in Java and Ajax. He joins Phil, Matt, and Scott in a discussion of current events in technology.
The group first comments on the release of the Second Life client to open source, noting that the move is not particularly valuable, given that the server side is still locked down. Ben then talks about his upcoming Desktop Matters conference. While this first event will generally be devoted only to Java, any future meetings will hopefully include other topics.
Ben also reviews the current happenings at Ajaxian.com. He is branching out into podcast features that will be topic driven. His knowledge of both Java and Ajax leads to conversations about the impact of IE7 on the Ajax world and whether Java developers will ever consider aesthetics in future upgrades. The group also talks about the problems involved with near-constant program updates, whether Apollo can become popular, as well as the impact of younger developers and their gaming experience on applications.
Ben Galbraith is a frequent technical speaker, occasional consultant, and author of several Java-related books. He is a co-founder of Ajaxian.com, an experienced Chief Technical Officer and Enterprise Java Architect, and is presently a consultant specializing in enterprise architecture and Swing/Ajax development. Ben wrote his first computer program when he was six years old, started his first business at ten, and entered the IT workforce just after turning twelve. For the past few years, he's been professionally coding in Java. In 2005, Ben delivered over a hundred technical presentations at venues including JavaOne, JavaPolis, and the No Fluff Just Stuff Java Symposiums.
Co-host Matt Asay is vice president of Business Development for Alfresco, the leading open source Enterprise Content Management company. Prior to Alfresco Matt co-founded Novell's Linux Business Office, founded the Open Source Business Conference, and ran embedded Linux vendor Lineo's Network & Communications division. Matt earned a JD from Stanford Law School, where he spent two of his three years studying open source licensing under Professor Lawrence Lessig. He serves on the advisory boards for SugarCRM, JasperSoft, Bungee Labs, MuleSource, and Specifix, and on the board for OSI.
Co-host Scott C. Lemon is CTO of MediaForge - a next generation viral marketing and web enhancement company - and founder of HumanXtensions - an Internet R&D company. Scott's recent history in the computer industry include several small start-ups, along with being Chief Technologist at SCO, Chief Strategist at Vultus, and holding numerous positions during his four tours of duty at Novell. Scott's expertise ranges from computer and wireless hardware technologies, to networking and distributed software applications. As a futurist studying the patterns of evolution, his past experiences in operating systems - CP/M, DOS, Windows, OS/2, NetWare, UNIX, Linux and others - is allowing him to explore the new levels of abstractions provided by the Internet.
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This free podcast is from our Technometria with Phil Windley series.
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