Resizing images server-side
I just came across an interesting post on Bertrand Le Roy's blog on how to resize JPG-images server-side using WPF. The post covers resizing JEPG's and is a follow-up on a previous post from december that I recommend your read first :-)
Bertrand has done a great job exploring and documenting quality and performance working with WPF compared with GDI+. Quiet interesting reading, and definitely worth looking at if you are in to ASP.NET-development.
SharePoint Saturday
The first online SharePoint Saturday has been scheduled for January 23rd, 2010. As the name suggests, the event consists of different web cast sessions on various SharePoint topics. SharePoint Saturday is a free event. You'll find more information on the SharePoint Saturday website where you'll also find a link to the registration form.
I'v been looking at the many interesting sessions and are planing on attending the following:
- The Power of Content Editor Web Part
by Boris Gomiunik (Slovenija)
- Client Object Model: Techniques, Scenarios and Best Practices
by Claudio Brotto (Italy)
- Client Side Technologies in SharePoint 2010
by Jan Tielens (Belgium)
- Architecting a Fault Tolerant and High Performance SharePoint 2010 Farm
by Michael Noel (United States)
- SharePoint 2010 Development Tips & Tricks
by Mostafa Elzoghbi (United States)
Be sure to spread the word in your local SharePoint User Group.
You could also check out the Global SharePoint Users Group.
Because open source matters
Hope everybody had a happy new year :-)
I would like to direct your attention to HelpMySql.org:
"In April 2009, Oracle announced that it had agreed to acquire Sun. Since Sun had acquired MySQL the previous year, this would mean that Oracle, the market leader for closed source databases, would get to own MySQL, the most popular open source database.
If Oracle acquired MySQL on that basis, it would have as much control over MySQL as money can possibly buy over an open source project. In fact, for most open source projects (such as Linux or Apache) there isn't any comparable way for a competitor to buy even one tenth as much influence. But MySQL's success has always depended on the company behind it that develops, sells and promotes it. That company (initially MySQL AB, then Sun) has always owned the important intellectual property rights (IPRs), most notably the trademark, copyright and (so far only for defensive purposes) patents. It has used the IPRs to produce income and has reinvested a large part of those revenues in development, getting not only bigger but also better with time.
If those IPRs fall into the hands of MySQL's primary competitor, then MySQL immediately ceases to be an alternative to Oracle's own high-priced products. So far, customers had the choice to use MySQL in new projects instead of Oracle's products. Some large companies even migrated (switched) from Oracle to MySQL for existing software solutions. And every one could credibly threaten Oracle's salespeople with using MySQL unless a major discount was granted. If Oracle owns MySQL, it will only laugh when customers try this. Getting rid of this problem is easily worth one billion dollars a year to Oracle, if not more."
I find the prospect of a growing monopolization troubling.
Loosing MySql would be a major blow to the open source community as well as the programming community as a whole.
Please take a look at www.helpmysql.org and consider signing the petition. You can also read the letter that KEI, Richard Stallman and ORG have sent to the European Commission, asking the European Commission to prevent Oracle from acquiring MySQL as part of its acquisition of Sun.