Did you know that Java does COM Interop? Well using the MSJVM it can. Recently I deployed a project where a .Net Windows Service uses an externally supplied Java COM dll + associated jar file to communicate with IBM MQ. This is wonderful; Microsoft, Sun and IBM technologies playing together - a beautiful Interop example.
After several mock deployments to ensure no hiccups, go-live day arrived and it was
a little shocking to notice the client’s machine was 2003 Server. All testing was
done on Windows 2000!
You have guessed it already. The install did not take the expected 20 minutes, giving
an error similar to this:
COM object with CLSID {……} is either not valid or not registered
Unflustered, regsvr32.exe was used to manually install the dll - it was no help. Searching
the registry proved the COM dll was registered. Thoughts of an all nighter then set
in. Unfortunately the original developer abandoned this code two weeks before go-live,
so I was mostly in the dark about how the software worked. Luckily I remembered that
it used some Java, and I once read an MSDN Article discussing the end of the MSJVM.
Due to legal issues Microsoft no longer distributes the MSJVM, but ships Sun’s own
JVM with Windows 2003 Server. Unsurprisingly Sun’s JVM does not do COM interop. This
is all fair-enough but:
1. The original error message was very misleading
2. Finding a copy of the MSJVM was not easy
If Microsoft or Sun really are concerned about interop both of these would be non-issues.
The error message would have said ‘Installed JVM cannot perform COM Interop, you should
use the Microsoft JVM’ + the MSJVM would be on Microsoft’s AND Sun’s JVM download
page instead of neither. I thought the whole point of publicly swapping smelly sports
jerseys was to show they understood the industry’s frustration with Interop issues?
Conclusion: Interop is fraught with gotchas. Interop is unlikely to be well tested
or well supported by vendors. Well known names like Ted Neward tell us to communicate
through common and solid technologies such as databases, or even the file system when
possible. I concur, even for message queuing I shun technologies like MSMQ if possible
and queue to a database table. When Window Server 2006 arrives the table based solution
will still work, who knows what will break in MSMQ or even if MSMQ will be there then
because of Indigo.
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Other at 1:55 PM MST
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OK, the peer pressure is too much. This weekend we are doing our Wedding registry so I’ll look at buying a cell phone while in consumer mode.
Already owning a Dell X3i, I think a SmartPhone rather than joint PDA/phone is what
I’d like. Anyone have any ideas? I know nothing about US plans either. The only calls
made will be short ‘where are you guys?’ and ‘honey, I’ll be home a bit later…’ type
calls. Everyone knows I am cheap-skate so cost is factor too, I’m much more bothered
about lowering the monthly cost than the up front phone cost. Oh, I don’t need wireless
internet access either, but Bluetooth would be good so it will work hands free in
the car + maybe WiFi for application development.
A camera would be neat too so I can do a MobLog for a while. The novelty will wear
off fast, but it should be fun for a month or two. 
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Other at 9:47 AM MST
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First of all thanks to Doug Turnure for helping us out. Your time is very much appreciated, and thanks to your understanding wife too!
Once everyone arrived there were about three empty seats which was pleasing to see. The attendance also means we are now official Ineta members. This is awesome and means we have access to a who’s who list of .Net speakers.
About 50% of the attendees were the ‘Usual Suspects’, but it was great to see new faces. The newcomers were very bright and full of mobility information - I look forward to learning from them.
For some reason the meeting kicked off twenty minutes early which caught a few people by surprise. Sorry to those who were ‘late’, my introduction was lousy anyway. It was down to lack of preparation and my mind drawing blanks. The slide notes went out of the window after the second slide and everything was off the cuff - it must have been very easy to tell, for example I’ve only worked with .Net for 3.5 years not four. Random ‘almost accurate, but not quite’ junk like that just kept spouting out of my mouth, but at least no jokes fell flat (Jokes are the most important part, right?). I speak at the main .Net User Group in January, and promise to attend a few Toastmasters meetings + really prepare the material (only an NUnit intro which should be easy) before then. Having a demo to present always makes it easier anyway.
Matt did a much better job and talked for around an hour with a lot of focus on persisting data; especially SQL CE. Considering he had no demos it was an impressive stint. Martin (the English chap) was a great source of information on SQL CE. Talking of impressive; at Kirk’s dinner Martin and I got talking about things with wheels. He owns the actual car used in the Swordfish movie (it is a TVR which are made in the UK). This is probably his car, though I guess the bullet holes were removed and John Travolta or Wolverine did not come with the deal:
So it was not a bad start to the Mobility Group and it will only get better. For at least our next two meetings the speakers are experts in their fields. Looking forward to February, I’ll start tapping contacts and researching local firms looking for meeting sponsors and more good speakers.
We’ll try to stick more to the main .Net group format in future starting meetings with a 30 minute presentation. If anyone has material they would like to present please email me. Otherwise you’ll hear me talk about ‘Gaining Business Value from Mobility’ next month for about 30 minutes. I know I need the presentation practice, but I am sure someone else could do a better job.
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Other at 12:16 AM MST
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Anyone who has had more than a couple of beers with me knows my only interests are:
1. Technology
2. Cars
3. Anything else with wheels
If you share number 2 then check out Auto Blog:
http://www.autoblog.com/
RSS Feed:
http://www.autoblog.com/rss.xml
The author writes well and appears very independent - this is often not the case with
the mainstream US auto-magazines.
Similar to Enagadget there is a picture with every entry - this means scanning for
interesting posts is easy so keeping up to date is possible. Blogs like Scoble’s are
generally Ctrl-Shift-R - there is just too much to read!! OK this is freaky: I am
listening to a Bloggercon 3.0 podcast, and as I typed that last sentence Robert Scoble
said he needs to know if people think he publishes too much. That was weird, is Scoble
becoming omnipresent?
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Other at 11:07 PM MST
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This is somewhat scrappy and incomplete, but here is a stab at a calendar of Atlanta tech events for the next two months. Compared to this summer they are quiet months:
http://dotnetworkaholics.com/techcalendar/
If you think any another groups should be included please send an email to calendar@dotnetworkaholics.com
Don’t forget that TechLinks is also a great reference for local user groups:
http://www.techlinks.net/eventsearchnew.cfm 
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Atlanta at 7:44 PM MST
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Kirk is hosting another
Geek Dinner on Nov 15th. These are great opportunities to network with fellow
.Net junkies.
Normally I would recommend everyone attend, but everyone should attend the Mobility
Atlanta SIG’s first meeting instead ;)
http://www.atlantamobility.net/
http://www.atlantamobility.net/NextMeeting.html
We need a calendar of Atlanta tech events! Watch this space. 
Posted by Paul Lockwood as Atlanta at 2:34 PM MST
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