eXo announces Portlet 2.0 (JSR 286) container Beta

I just noticed that eXo has announced the first portlet 2.0 container implementation. Great move on the part of eXo to get there first.
Kudos to them for that !

However, I am pretty disappointed with the quality of this release because I am yet to figure out how to get it running. After starting tomcat, all I see is a page which asks me to select some of the listed portlets. The listing however is empty (Windows XP, jdk 1.5, IE7/FF2, if it matters).

As for documents, they don't seem to exist :-)

Will web portals die ? - Rise of the Desktop/Widget portals

Here's a quick question : which one of these environments makes you more productive ?

This ..
















Or this ..

In my opinion, web portals in their current form might not be around for long. They would be replaced by what I would like to call "desktop portals" or "widget portals". Here is why :

• 
  Superior user experience : There is no reason why the portal experience needs to be limited to the
  confines of a web browser. A more natural place to do personalization and/or aggregation is the user's
  desktop.
  


• 
  Enhanced productivity : Desktop applications are much more productive than browser based apps.
  Yahoo has offered a notepad feature for a long. But the only time I actually stopped using Windows Notepad
  for making a quick note, is when I discovered the Yahoo notepad widget.
  


• 
  Availability of technology:
  Technology could have been a barrier previously. It isn't any longer. It is becoming increasingly common
  to see web applications behaving like desktop apps (new Yahoo mail anyone?) and vice versa. In a way, desktop apps
  and web apps are all getting mashed up.
  


• 
  It has already started happening:
  
  
  http://desktop.google.com
  
  
  http://widgets.yahoo.com
  
  
  http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard
  
  
  http://gallery.live.com/default.aspx?l=1
  

What do you think ?

New beginnings

I am pleasantly surprised. Ever since I closed down my work blog : The Portal Zone, I have had a lot of friends, coworkers and blog readers urging me to continue blogging on the same subject.

Some mentioned that they found my notes on JSR 286 a good learning resource. Some were more interested in the occasional commentary and linking. These are some of the reasons I am starting this blog – the new and improved Portal Zone :-).

However, the primary reason I am starting this blog is because I find blogging to be a great learning experience. They say the best way to learn something better is to teach it to someone else. I have found the same holds true for blogging. When you blog about your opinion, your understanding of a technical concept or your ideas, you are expressing yourself to the whole world. Anyone who has a counter argument, a different way of looking at the same thing is free to leave a comment- question your understanding, and sometimes set you thinking in a totally different direction. Therein, in my opinion, lies the real value to blogging.

That said, I do hope that at least a few developers do benefit from this blog.

Welcome to The Portal Zone !!