NeXT has a hectic trade show calendar coming up. This frenzy of activity must
mean they are doing well. They have been at nine exhibitions recently. You can see them at the following places:
March 5 Web Forum at NeXT Inc. $149/Person.
March 13-14 New York. Object-Oriented Technologies for the Security Industry.
March 19 Irvine CA. Web Objects Presentation.
March 20 Los Angeles CA. Web Objects Presentation.
March 21 La Jolla CA. Web Objects Presentation.
March 14-20 Hanover Germany. CeBit.
March 26-28 Mosconne Center San Francisco. Software Development Conference.
April 29-May 2. San Jose CA. Spring Internet Week.
May 7-9 Boston. Object World.
For more information contact NeXT. 1-800-try-next or <www.next.com>
2. WEB OBJECTS COMPETITION
Web Objects has a lot of competition these days. The primary competitors
include:
-Perl Scripts
-ParcPlace is touting VisualWave as an easy learn for developers
already familiar with Objective-C.
-Web Rex from ITS http://www.its.com/
-Oracle, Informix, and Sybase have their own web database form tools.
-SGI's COSMO
-JOE: Java/NEO integrated project, SunSoft. First Customer Ship:
March-April 1996
-ObjectBroker/WebBroker is a proprietary DEC technology that may be
bundled as a product at midyear.
-Application development tools such as Delphi, PowerBuilder and
VisualBasic will talk to the web before June 1996.
-PostModern sells BlackWidow, a $995 CORBA server implementation
which integrates with Java applets.
-Symantec will be offering Latte: Java Integrated Development
Environment.
-IBM Smalltalk supports Web Applications.
Please help me by sending in your comparisons of these products. Web Objects
has several interesting features. Client state can be saved using object archiving. Web Objects works with a commercial HTTP server, which is a
great marketting strategy, although there is a small performance hit. Web
Objects makes it very easy to make an existing HTML site dynamic. Multiple Web
Object Servers can sit on different host computers and be dispatched in a round
robin fashion.
3. MULTI-DOMAIN HTTP SERVERS NEEDED
Daniel Miles Kehoe <kehoe@fortuity.com> writes: "I've been running commercial
Web sites on NEXTSTEP 3.3 (the old cubes are bargains and make great dedicated Web servers). I've got three cubes and dozens of clients from the book
publishing industry. The biggest liability, and one that limits my success with customers, is the fact that there is no easy way for NEXTSTEP 3.3 to support multiple IP addresses on the same host. Many ISPs are using Solaris or BSDI or Linux systems that can easily support "multi-homed" Web servers like Apache or Spinner. That means they can set up each customer with a unique IP address and domain name.There can be up to 300 domains on a single server. And each unique IP address and domain name can have its own virtual Web server, allowing the customer to use a URL such as:
http://www.mycompany.com
instead of
http://www.ispcompany.com/~mycompany
My customers would really like this feature, but I can't offer it since
NEXTSTEP 3.3 doesn't support multiple IP addresses on the same host (you can
hack this with PPP but it only adds a few more IP addresses). I'll have to buy a SparcStation and Solaris to accommodate this. Since NeXT is planning to develop their own Web server (great idea -- it will integrate Web Objects, I'm sure), it will have to easily support "multi-homed" virtual Web servers for it to be of use to commercial providers like my company. Unfortunately, a future NeXT Web server will have to run on Solaris or NT operating systems, unless NeXT adds support for multiple IP addresses to a new version of NEXTSTEP."
4. NEXTSTEP DEVELOPERS AVAILABLE
At least 55 experienced NEXTSTEP developers have contacted me recently seeking
new jobs or consulting opportunities. These people include very experienced developers, people willing to move to a new location, database and Internet
experts, and experienced managers. If none of these people meet your needs, it is also possible to post a job description in the newsletter. A posting
usually generates 5-8 applicants. If you need developers and are having difficulty finding them, give me a call at (510) 795-6086.
5. LINUX AND CALDERA NETWORK DESKTOP (CND)
By now I am sure that you have heard of Linux. It is a freely available UNIX
operating System running on most platforms. It has a very good reputation. Ray Noorda has invested in Caldera Network Desktop (CND) to sell Linux to the
mass market. They have ported WordPerfect, with HTML authoring, to Linux. They have added a netware client to Linux. CND also acts as a UNIX Client or
Server with NFS. It also acts as a Windows-For-Workgroups client or server. It runs the full suite of Internet utilities, including NETSCAPE. It includes a multi-home page HTTP server. You should expect to see a large installed base of Linux running on used Intel hardware. While Caldera offers an excellent Internet client operating system, there is still a market opportunity for an Internet server operating system. Linux lacks the development tools that are needed to build custom Internet servers efficiently. Linux is not multi-threaded, and it is not a multiprocessor operating system!
.
6. WHY NeXT SHOULD KEEP MACH
NeXT should keep and upgrade its Mach operating system because such a system
would fill an existing market niche, one that NeXT could dominate and profit from. When I first started to write this section, I envisioned a mass-market
client Internet workstation. Then I read about the Caldera release of Linux,
and I realized that NeXT had missed that opportunity. But that still leaves
a real market need for an excellent Web Server operating system.
An upgraded version of Mach would meet that need. First of all, the Mach
operating system has the wonderful NEXTSTEP development tools. This operating system would need to be optimized to support large volumes of internet service requests from many different clients. It would need to work with the newest parallel processor servers from Sun or better yet, Silicon Graphics. It would need to support an unlimited number of domains on the same server. It would be multi-threaded to allow for the most efficient use of hardware resources. It should have an easily tuneable kernel. Part of a tuneable kernel would be performance metric tools which monitor loads without themselves slowing the operating system much. (Flame Shield UP). It would need to be highly secure, allowing applications to reside directly on the Internet, without the use of a fire wall. (Flame Shield DOWN). It would be an alternative to Windows NT and it would probably be based on the BSD Unix, perhaps integrated with the new release of Mach from Carnegie Mellon.
7. WHY NeXT SHOULD GET RID OF MACH
There are both market and technical reasons why NeXT should drop Mach. On the
marketing side, there are already too many operating systems, and not enough applications on Mach. Mach's meagre selection of applications makes a
significant barrier to entry for NeXT at many client sites. The shortage of customers has led to an under investment in the operating system. "Kristian
Kphntopp" <kris@black.schulung.netuse.de>. writes: "as an owner of a sturdy NeXTSTATION let me tell you that NeXT Mach is a dead operating system. Compare NeXT Mach to Solaris 2.5 or to Digital Unix 3.2 (DU) (also a Mach system). NeXT does not know how to deal with large masses of disk space (DU has Advanced File System, a transaction based crash resistant file system that can dynamically grow and shrink filesets and can bundle multiple disks into a single virtual drive); NeXT does not run on multiple processor systems (DU and Solaris do make excellent use of multiple processors); NeXT has no security evaluation and is lacking several essential features to get one (no NIS+, no clearing of objects on reuse, no secure NFS, no access control lists on files, and no shadow passwd system. Netinfo is insecure by design, and there is no support for secure RPC, and no support for Kerberos). NeXT's Networking code is based on an outdated version of 4.3BSD networking, cannot handle multiple virtual interfaces on a single physical interface, and does not handle sub/supernetting correctly. It also has several severe bugs in socket handling, lacks multicasting abilities, and is slow compared to more modern implementations (which can be found at DU and Solaris). It also does not support several important server improvements, such as type of service fields, route shuffling, and large windows (essential for performance on long fat pipes as outlined in Stevens excellent book "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1"). Add to this the complete inability of NeXT to write proper device drivers, and you get the picture of a good object system on an extremely weak foundation. Bringing Mach NEXTSTEP up to the current level in OS design would cost NeXT many $$$ and people. "
8. SUN, PIXAR, SILICON GRAPHICS
When Toy Story was released, I recall how Pixar's press release mentioned that
the movie was rendered on Sun Workstations. I was duly impressed. It turns
out that there is more to that story. It turns out that the modelling was
done on Silicon Graphics workstations, and just the rendering was done on Sun
Workstations. Sun gave Pixar a large number of workstations in exchange for
the good publicity. If you want to do high-performance interactive graphics
applications, Silicon Graphics is still the best choice. If you want to get a free computer, try Sun.
9 NEXTSTEP DEVELOPERS NEEDED
If you are interested in any of these job opportunities, please give me a call
at (510) 795-6086. You can also NeXTMail me an RTF version of your resume
(lozinski@bpg.com) Let me know what type of position you are looking for. I
know hiring companies other than the ones listed here. Let me know what I can
do for you. Here are this month's advertisements.
9a. First-Class Derivatives Trading firm
Company seeks strong NeXT developers with experience in relational databases
and EOF. Securities Industry experience is a strong positive. Full Benefits, top pay, bonuses, tuition assistance. This company has a continuous, strong
demand for NEXTSTEP developers. Chicago location.
9b. Netherlands Opportunity
Manage a Sybase Server and build a NEXTSTEP interface to the database. This
company has approximately 20 NeXTstations used for general business and productivity applications. They are installing the Sybase replication
server across several European sites. If the database is down, the company
stops. If it is up, you can have fun building a NEXTSTEP application. The company will arrange for a visa for developers of any citizenship. They will take a consultant or an employee, but they need someone willing to make a long-term committment.
9c. German-Speaking Person
Needed near Stuttgart. This 300-person company is developing commercial
NEXTSTEP applications. They have 8 NEXTSTEP developers, and need one more immediately. Over the next few months they may need as many as 5 additional
NEXTSTEP developers. This is considered a desirable location, close to the Alps and skiing. Worauf warten Sie noch, das ultimative innovative
Unternehemen in der NYhe von Stuttgart?
9d. Application Object Architect
The company has an overly large existing application that needs to be migrated
to a more solid object architecture. You will be responsible for
conceptualizing the desired architecture and evangelizing that approach to
the rest of the organization. In the process, you will encounter other points
of view. An ability to win over and co-exist with other perspectives is very
important. Sensitivity to others' concerns is also very important. Located
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
9e. Company Desperate for NEXTSTEP Corporate Guru
And will do whatever it takes to attract the right person. This is the third
time that this position is being advertised, and we still have not found the
right person. That is quite rare for this newsletter which has a reputation
for finding the right person in the first job posting. This is an opportunity
to become the corporate fountainhead for NEXTSTEP-related information. The
ideal candidate should know the internals of NeXT's product line, and should ideally know all the key support people at NeXT. The company is building a challenging Wide-Area Distributed application, with a central corporate database and 30 regional databases. The company is using EOF, Foundation Kit, PDO, and Sybase and will be connecting to
Informix. The company is getting beta versions of OPENSTEP for NT, D'OLE, and
WebObjects. NT experience is a plus. The company is in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
9f. NEXTSTEP Position in Michigan
Basic NeXTSTEP developers required. The company is not looking for heavy
NEXTSTEP experience; in fact, being part of a team and customer presentation are much more important. You should not be scared of Windows with Micosoft Access, nor VAX VMS with Cobol. You will also be responsible for writing your part of the documentation. You will need to help develop the application and travel a few times a year to a customers site to install it. We are not talking Nomadic Lifestyle. In fact, the travel could be quite interesting. Most of the customers are in Central America, South America, and the Caribean. The ability to speak Spanish is a big plus. This is a wonderful three-tier client-server application. In fact, it is the most advanced three-tier application that I know of in the NEXTSTEP market. They are actually using a multi-threaded application server on NEXTSTEP. At one site, they are running 23 threads simultaneously.
One should be the corporate fountainhead, an expert at the NeXT technology.
Three need to be experienced developers, knowledgeable in Interface Builder,
Project Builder, Objective-C and Display Postscript. Four can be novice
NeXTSTEP developers. They should be quite familiar with NeXT in general, should read the books, use the operating system, take the course, and played with the system, but need not yet have developed an actual NEXTSTEP application. Of course Unix and Emacs knowlege are helpful. San Francisco Bay Area.
10.THANKS FOR THE HELP, MORE HELP NEEDED
This newsletter is based on information I get from many different people. If
you have sent me some information, thank you. If you have thought of sending
information, please do. You may not think of your piece of information as
very significant, but it is interesting how small bits of information from
different sources get integrated into a single complete story. Send me what
you know. If you forward an article to others, please "cc:" me, so that I know
what interested you. I work hard to publish this newsletter. Please help me make it a valuable source of information for all NEXTSTEP users.
11. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
This newsletter is published monthly and will soon be published twice a month.
Currently it arrives about the 1st of the month. It will be published the
1st and 15th of the month. Subscriptions are provided free. If you would
like to subscribe, please send email to newsletter@bpg.com. I am also very
interested in posting this newsletter to email distribution lists. Please
specify whether you prefer NeXTMAIL or ASCII mail. Feel free to tell me a
