logiccolony.com/blog

The Series 5 pocket computer from Psion was launched 10 years ago this week. It was a remarkable achievement: entirely new silicon, a new operating system, middleware stack and applications were developed from scratch in just over two years.

The Register runs a massive retrospective on the once great and innovative UK technology firm Psion.

Someone really needs to do an updated Psion 5mx like device…

An interesting account of the history of Java’s development at Sun.

Every significant development project has many interesting stories behind it. Most of these are lost or remain known to a few people involved in the project. Later on when other people look at the design or the actual code of the project, they will often think “What the hell were they thinking?” or perhaps “Why didn’t they include feature X, Y and Z?”.

Commercial software development doesn’t occur in a vacuum; political and marketing concerns can change the product being developed. This isn’t always a bad thing. Remaining in business by hacking together a mess of a proof of concept, is infinitely preferable to having to put people out of a job.

I’m always interested in hearing or reading about the stories behind projects, and have read quite a few books on various projects. When I get round to setting up a page for recommended books, I’ll link up to some of the better books I’ve read.