James Turner
James Turner, contributing editor for oreilly.com, is a freelance journalist who has written for publications as diverse as the Christian Science Monitor, Processor, Linuxworld Magazine, Developer.com and WIRED Magazine. In addition to his shorter writing, he has also written two books on Java Web Development (MySQL & JSP Web Applications" and "Struts: Kick Start"). He is the former Senior Editor of LinuxWorld Magazine and Senior Contributing Editor for Linux Today. He has also spent more than 25 years as a software engineer and system administrator, and currently works as a Senior Software Engineer for a company in the Boston area. His past employers have included the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Xerox AI Systems, Solbourne Computer, Interleaf, the Christian Science Monitor and contracting positions at BBN and Fidelity Investments. He is a committer on the Apache Jakarta Struts project and served as the Struts 1.1B3 release manager. He lives in a 200 year old Colonial farmhouse in Derry, NH along with his wife and son. He is an open water diver and instrument-rated private pilot, as well as an avid science fiction fan.
Developer Week in Review: NASA says goodbye to big iron
Goodbye to big iron at NASA, Microsoft opens up Visual Studio, and open source meets a rabid fan-base.
This week, NASA marked the end of an era, as the last of its big iron is retired. Microsoft continues to signal that its forays into open source are legitimate. And a new open source gaming project has a little extra horse-power, thanks to the fans behind it.
Developer Week in Review: A pause to consider patents
There was good news and bad news on the intellectual property front this week.
We take a look at two major events that rocked the technology intellectual property wars, centered on a courtroom in Texas and a standards body a continent away.
Developer Week in Review: Brother, can you spare $100 billion?
Wall Street "Likes" Facebook, Wikimedia has a Lua, and AT&T tried to copyright thin air.
If you haven't heard that Facebook is going public, I hope you live under a comfortable rock. While you wait for the IPO, brush up your Lua if you run a wiki, just don't leave any empty files lying around.
Developer Week in Review: Sometimes, form does need to follow function
Why remotes need buttons, lawmakers need a clue, and life-critical software needs many eyes.
The latest rumors have Apple eyeing the remote control market, but does minimalistic design work for remotes? Australia wants to impose requirements on ISPs, but at what infrastructure cost? And would you let closed-source software keep you alive?
Developer Week in Review: Early thoughts on iBooks Author
The impact of iBooks Author, free vs usability, and Microsoft wants developers to level up.
It looks like Apple plans to totally disrupt yet another industry, but is that a good thing? Richard Stallman puts free above usability, and Microsoft adds incentives to Visual Studio — but some of them encourage the wrong behaviors.
Developer Week in Review: A big moment for Kinect?
Microsoft wants to Kinect with Windows users, more junk patents, and free programming lessons are everywhere.
Microsoft thinks the Kinect has a bright future with the PC. Elsewhere, we have a new contender for worst software patent ever, and the mayor of New York City wants to get his geek on.
Developer Week in Review: 2012 preview edition
A look at the developer stories that will define 2012.
It's a brand new year, time to look ahead to the stories that will have developers talking in 2012. Mobile will remain a hot topic, the cloud is absorbing everything, and jobs appear to be heading back to the U.S.
Developer Year in Review: 2011 Edition
It was a good year for mobile, HTML5, Drupal and Hadoop.
It's time for our annual look back at the year that was, when mobile ruled the world, HTML5 PWNED Flash, Drupal and Hadoop were the hot buzzwords for your resume, and a new batch of languages tried to become stars.
The ethics of the fail
Ben Huh on the responsibilities attached to other people's failures.
The content you see on Cheezburger, Inc.’s Fail Blog often mixes humor and pain — but not always in equal proportions. Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh discusses the boundaries of a fail.
Developer Week in Review: HP sets webOS free
HP wraps webOS up with a bow, Oracle lands in court, and one lucky coder escapes justice.
This week, we had heartwarming stories of one corporation's generous donation, one corporation fighting a lawsuit alleging extortion, and one company billing time for the man who wasn't there.