Linux Desktop

I've tried out several flavors of Linux for use as a desktop system. I have to say Ubuntu wins for me. It's just way to easy and very fast. The cool thing is using it with Parallels. You can try Ubuntu out using their LiveCD option which means you don't even have to install it. I've used Fedora 5 & 6 as well as SuSe 9 and 10.2 as well. They are good distributions as well. It's hard to beat the Ubuntu though.

Enterprise Java Community: Mule: A Case Study

A very good article/case study on the use of Mule. Having used it a little, I can say that the ease of use is there for most things. Serious transformation does get more tedious however when compared to your normal EAI platforms like webMethods.

Overall a good product and a way to get your feet wet without spending a lot of money.

webMethods Includes AJAX-Based UI in Fabric 7.0 Release @ SOA WEB SERVICES JOURNAL

More good stuff from webMethods. The new BPM tool is pretty slick from the demos I have seen.

SOA Mistakes

This is a follow-up to my previous post on JBOWS. It seems some others are touting the role of the ESB as well. Learning from SOA Mistakes and Avoid SOA Pitfalls both go into some detail about the role of the ESB. The main point both make is it helps you avoid JBOWS and the same old brittle architecture of the past.

The bottom line is this, implementing a bunch of Web Services without something in the middle is going to leave you with a standards oriented mess. Let's call that SOM. Pronounce it like some, as in that is SOM fine architecture you can up with.

Web Services Specs.

A good article that is not vendor bias. The second page has some very good resources for compliance testing and user group resources.