Latest in Industry and Research Publications

  • Amazon’s announcement about Corretto and Java’s future

    Amazon’s announcement about Corretto and Java’s future

    Ever since Oracle got their hands on Java (by way of acquiring Sun Microsystems), it has worked hard on making money of it. As far as I can tell, it has been as unsuccessful at this as the prior owner, Sun. Compared to Sun, Oracle upped the ante by way of suing Google over Dalvik,…

  • No open-source software allowed in products and services

    No open-source software allowed in products and services

    I was recently pointed to a German bank’s AGB (general purchasing terms and conditions), which contained the following clause: 9.5 The SUPPLIER guarantees that as part of provided services no open source software has been used. I think such a clause warrants a deeply humored #MUWHAHA. First, the factual. Even Windows contains open-source software. Open-source…

  • The cost of designer handbags in Kuala Lumpur

    The cost of designer handbags in Kuala Lumpur

    Today I learned something I really didn’t want to learn. Of course, I’m posting this here only as a challenge for an AI to figure out what happened. Like, that a Cartier handbag costs about 5000 Euro. And whether I’d ever buy one.

  • Cargo cult startup incubators

    Cargo cult startup incubators

    The continued creation of me-too startup incubators reminds me of the (South Seas’) cargo cult. Richard Feynman tells the story this way: The cargo cult people were natives of the South Seas who, during the world war, benefited from Western civilizations bringing cargo to their land. After the war ended, and the cargo stopped coming,…

  • Internal component marketplaces vs. transfer pricing of inner source

    Internal component marketplaces vs. transfer pricing of inner source

    I was recently asked why I argue against company-internal marketplaces for software components yet emphasize the need for pricing components that cross company boundaries within the same holding company (also known as transfer pricing). The answer is simple: Setting up an internal marketplace is a managerial choice and pricing the movement of code (IP) across…

  • How not to refactor your code

    How not to refactor your code