Going Gaga Over Galileo

As a true friend of Eclipse, I had early access to Galileo and thanks to the fast friendly mirror, I downloaded the classic SDK in just over three minutes. A friend of mine who isn't a friend of Eclipse (and who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) is finding his download will take an hour. Friendship is a bountiful font from which many good things flow and that brings a smile to my face.


Cloudsmith, my latest additional benefactor, is providing a cool community service that we've dubbed Galileo Plus. Projects like Teneo and CDO provide integration with LGPL libraries like Hibernate that can't be distributed by Eclipse. The p2 repository at http://download.cloudsmith.com/galileoplus/ is basically a clone of the Galileo repository with additional libraries such as Hibernate. Don't worry if your browser says the page for this link has forbidden access, there really is a p2 repository there and you can add it as a site in your installer like this:


Now clients of these modeling technologies have a p2 site with one-stop-shopping for their installation needs; you'll find additional categories like "Net4j Database Adapters" and "Third Party Libraries" among other things. We intend to grow this repository to include more missing bundles as well as other interesting additional bundles. If your project could benefit from this type of one-stop-shopping, send me a note and let the good times flow.


Goodbye Galileo, hello Helios.

Blow Away the Blues in Berlin

Blue is my favorite color, but being a bit blue bites badly. I remind myself frequently that life's colors are just as bright as they ever were, it's just my perception that's changed.


For this reason, I'm very much looking forward to blowing away my blues with a trip to Berlin next week. I've never been there before, and Eike Stepper will be my personal tour guide, so I'm totally stoked. The Eclipse Board of Directors meets June 17 and 18. As Mike mentioned, it's the first meeting of the board outside of the states and it's in Germany in recognition of the large number of German members who have been traveling across the planet for so many years; consider how far California is from Germany! I don't suppose it's very green regardless of where we have the meetings.


As a small part of my fun filled week, we're planning a modeling party on June 16th starting at 7:00PM at the Bavarium hosted by Eike and yours truly. We promise free beer and witty commentary. A professional photographer will attend. If you plan to partake, please register your intent. Well, I confess I've become a bit delusional; it's actually a "Meet the Board Members Stammtisch," but I'm a board member and you'll get to meet Eike and me, so that makes it a modeling party, in my humble opinion. See you there!

I Don't Care Much for Words of Doom

Likely it's mostly a reflection of personal sensitivity given my fluctuating moods of late, but it seems to me I've witnessed more negative navel gazing in the past few weeks than is entirely healthy. The balance between optimism and pessimism is always a challenge, but if you pay attention only to the rain brought on by life's dark clouds, you'll tend to miss the bright colors revealed when the sun peeks out, as it inevitably does.


It's best to be on guard against creeping negative attitudes because positive change flows only from constructive actions and those actions are nurtured by the feeling of empowerment.


In every problem lies an opportunity that's waiting for someone to take action. Of course there is value in identifying problems; the world if full of arm chair critics who excel at that. There is even more value in identifying solutions; there tends to be a plethora of those as well. But in the end, the greatest value lies in taking action. After all, grand designs don't build themselves.


One of the problems I see is a lack of leadership from many of Eclipse's largest commercial members. We could bemoan that situation at length, but I gave up on that approach last July; soon it will be a year since I threw my shackles away. It's best to view the current situation as an excellent opportunity for smaller players and even individuals to step in and take charge. Don't complain about the economic downturn either. Sure this presents a significant barrier to all the players large and small, but those who persist will prevail and those who whine will fail. We should feel empowered by the extent to which individuals are making a significant impact at Eclipse; history is rife with such individuals and ultimately they shape our world.


I don't care much for words of doom. We should look beyond problems toward solutions and then take the next step toward action. And don't look to others to take those actions, look to yourself. Are those imaginary shackles constraining you? Throw them off! If someone tells you it can't be done, prove them wrong. Your greatest feeling of accomplishment will come from overcoming the most daunting adversity, so embrace challenges with a vengeance.