Chet Haase's Blog

June 2006 Archives

Easier Deployment is No Joke

Unlike my previous deployment posting, this is no joke.

Instead, this is a simple deref to an article that has just been posted on java.sun.com: Auto-Install: Easier Launching of Java Web Start Applications. We wrote this after Thomas Ng and I were playing around with a demo (linked from the article) to make auto-launching of a webstart app a bit easier.

The Auto-Install technology, an ActiveX component that simplifies webstart install and launching from within IE browsers, has been around since 1.5, although the documentation for it was buried in the release notes so its existence was probably not well known. But beyond this piece for IE, there are some techniques you can use in other browsers to make installation and web start launching a lot easier for your users.

The deployment team is working on more technologies to make deploying applications and JREs even easier. But in the meantime, check out the article, check out the demo, check out Auto-Install, and let us know how it all works for you.

Okay, I lied. I simply can't resist the opportunity for more bad deployment jokes. It's just a thing I have.

    Q: What's the difference between an application that's Java Web
    Start enabled and an application that's not?
    A: One's deployable, the other's deplorable.

Okay, I'm done.

Two Items Walk Back into a Toolbar

I posted a joke some months ago, Two Items Walk Into a Toolbar that got a surprisingly high number of hits. It's not clear why this single blog post attracted so much readership, but the likely candidates are presumably:

• It was very funny
• There is a dearth of Swing humor
• The high readership of this post was in relative terms, which could also be interpreted to mean that my other blog posts are just extremely unpopular

I, of course, lean toward the first option above, although the second also seems likely.

In the spirit of posting more Swing humor, and in the petty and thinly veiled attempt to get more hits on my blog, I offer this sequel to the earlier joke.

        The same two items walk back into the bar the next day.
        The bartender asks, "So how was the event last night?"
        The first item says, "I think we really clicked."
        The second item says, "I disagree - it was a real drag."
        

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