Links for January 11th

A little something extra…

I’ve noticed people using the phrase “commodity hardware” a lot recently. While “insiders” may know what this means, what’s more important is clearly spelling out the intention of what you’re getting at when you use that phrase. It’s almost like using the phrase “open source” without explaining why that matters: it both leaves it too vague and open to, perhaps, unhelpful conclusions and generalizations.

Generally, I find people mean a handful of things when they use “commodity hardware”:

• Cheap – or “affordable” if you prefer.
• Flexible – because it’s general purpose, it can be morphed into other needs and evolved.
• Scale-out – rather than relying on high performance processors (or storage), etc., you just “throw more hardware” at it.

There are others, to be sure, but those seem to be them. When you’re using that phrase then, try to explain what you mean by it and, more importantly, what you’re hoping to achieve by using “commodity hardware,” the “benefits” as it were.

The Links

• W3C posts draft standard for local database storage
• Adobe’s Mobile Strategy: Responses to Aral Balkan
• Spiceworks Is Becoming The Facebook For IT Managers; Raises $16 Million Series C
• Redesigning the Boarding Pass – Journal – Boarding Pass / Fail
• QuickBooks Inventory Software | Inventory Control for QuickBooks
  "QuickBooks® Inventory Control and Business Management Software."
• Flash Builder 4 Data Wizards with Java / Spring
• Flash Platform 2009: Year in Review – Part 2 (Adobe Flash Platform Blog)
• Integrating Adobe Flex with IBM WebSphere Portal
  "This article shows how to integrate Adobe® Flex into IBM® WebSphere® Portal with samples. You can use Adobe Flex as a client-side solution to render the user interface of portlets, overcome the limitations of HTML, and greatly improve the user experience within a portal. This article also shows you how to call and consume JSON objects within a Flex application running on WebSphere Portal."
• Flash Platform 2009: Year in Review – Part 1 (Adobe Flash Platform Blog)
• Google Energy to start disrupting the utility industry?
• Lean Analytics For Startups
• Demand Media Is Mad as Hell and, Well, Pens a Manifesto (And Here It Is!) [BoomTown]

Disclosure: see the RedMonk client list for clients mentioned.