Laurence Moroney

The novel Dune, by Frank Herbert, a classic in science fiction, is littered with great references and quotes. One such quote is: "Knowing there's a trap is the first step in evading it." With this in mind I can't help but think of the future for BEA WebLogic. The trap I refer to is the consolidation of application servers and operating systems to implement application server platforms. Consider this, at the recent PDC, Microsoft unveiled project Indigo: something that the development community has been crying out for - a .NET Enterprise Edition. Its similarity to J2EE concepts is even more striking than the architectural similarity between .NET and Java! This is no coincidence, and imitation is the greatest form of flattery. However, you have to realize that the framework upon which enterprise applications may be built in the Microsoft space will be part of the ope... (more)

Best Practices in Migrating from .NET to Linux

For many businesses, the Web storefront is the only point of contact for customers, and for others it's a major one. As such, it's important that this architecture meets the needs of your business, not just from a technology point of view but from a strategic one. No business likes to have an important asset be vulnerable to the whims of a particular vendor, and this is particularly true of a technology asset. As you probably know in IT there are two broad options that can implement your business needs: the Microsoft family of Windows and .NET products, and the open standards com... (more)

Running ASP.NET Applications on WebLogic Easier Than You May Think!

When WLDJ wanted someone to take a First Look at Visual MainWin for J2EE, we turned to interoperability expert Laurence Moroney - coauthor of a forthcoming book on Web services security and a senior architect in a major financial services house in New York City. In the course of assessing the product, Laurence in fact became more and more involved - in the end, on a staff basis - with the company behind it, Mainsoft. So this First Look should be read with that basic journalistic disclosure in mind. When WebLogic workshop was first conceived and presented to the public, it was do... (more)

Getting Started with Silverlight: Zero to Hero

Lots of people have been asking about how to get started with Silverlight, and what they need to do to get up and running with Silverlight quickly. Inspired by blog posts such as Jesse Liberty's, I'm going to take this from first principles, with no prior knowledge assumed. Over the series, we'll look at the following: Your First Silverlight Application Understanding XAML Understanding the Blend series of Products Building Silverlight applications using Aptana on the Mac Building Silverlight applications using Visual Studio Express on the PC Programming Silverlight 1.0 with JavaS... (more)

Silverlight Races To Victory in Singapore's 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix

Laurence Moroney's Blog Here's another Silverlight app that I've been bursting to share with y'all. It's from the promotion site for the 2008 Formula 1 Grand Prix being hosted in Singapore and sponsored by SingTel. It's a great and innovative use of Video. They are running a competition called the 'heart race' where 20 models will get your heart racing, but can you get theirs to race? The 20 models are laid out on screen as you can see above, and they are just doing their thing, hanging out, smiling, hoping that they catch your attention (these are video loops, the screen grab do... (more)