Adobe Flex and Linux
Dear Adobe, Please Support Linux....
I prefer Linux over Windows and have preferred Linux for many years. The notebook computer that I use most of the time is running Ubuntu Linux . Linux has the tools I need. Linux, in particular, has the programming and networking tools that I need. Linux is just simply a superb environment for programming.
Adobe Flex is ActionScript programming. The Adobe Flex Builder, an IDE for building Flex applications, is based on Eclipse. Eclipse is an IDE that runs on many platforms, including Linux. Flash runs just fine on Linux (though Adobe has historically been somewhat slow to keep the Linux version up-to-date). I use Eclipse every day. I use Linux every day. I'm new to Flex, but find it fascinating and want to use Flex Builder.
To sum this up, Linux is an ideal programming platform, the tools required for Flex development (Flash and Eclipse) run happily under Linux independently, so why oh why is the Flex Builder not available for Linux?
I downloaded the trail version of Flex Builder to play around with, but to use it, I'm running VMware and have it installed in a Windows XP VM on my Ubuntu laptop – a painful, excruciating situation. So I ask Adobe to please, please, please let your Flex Builder run on Linux, too.
As soon as Adobe adds Linux support, I promise to be first in line to purchase Flex Builder for Linux.
memcached
From the site : "memcached is a high-performance, distributed memory object caching system, generic in nature, but intended for use in speeding up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load."
My first software job was for a company that wanted to cache the Intranet for the enterprise, a sort of indirect competitor for Akamai. I loved the concept of what we were trying to do. It was fascinating and exciting. Sadly, we lost focus and spun our wheels and never really found what the potential clients were looking for. I've never stopped wishing we could have succeeded, though. I think if we had been clever enough to have invented memcached, we might have had more success as opposed to spinning our wheels on developing a custom file system. Ironically, just as we were fizzling out, memcached was coming to life.
Reference: Web Caching of Wikipedia
Java Women Group Proposal
This week I received a forwarded email announcement about a new Java Women group being formed as part of the OpenJDK group. Being a Java devotee myself, it sounds perfect for me, so I'll be checking it out.
Here's the mission of the group as given on their wiki page: "The Java Women Network promotes collaboration amongst women who develop and use Java technology to increase the visibility of women's contribution, mentoring opportunities and professional networking."

