O'Reilly User Group Program NEWSLETTER April 26, 2002 HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK: NEWS: -Wanted: O'Reilly Irregulars (Please pass this on to your members) -Clay Shirky: What Web Services Got Right...and Wrong -Privacy and XML, Part I -Full Outer Joins in Oracle9i -XP on the PowerPC -Did You Know O'Reilly has a Research Department? -The Perl You Need to Know CONFERENCE NEWS -Put Up A Conference Banner, Get A Free Book (Just in case you missed this last week.....) -One-Day Conference Pass Added for the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference BOOK NEWS: -802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide -Programming Visual Basic for the Palm OS FROM YOUR PEERS -Thank You to the Provo Linux Users Group ================================================ NEWS FROM O'REILLY & BEYOND ================================================ ------------------------------- GENERAL NEWS ------------------------------- WANTED: O'REILLY IRREGULARS- (PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO ALL YOUR MEMBERS) We're looking for a few industrious O'Reilly customers to be our scouts in local bookstores. Tim O'Reilly came up with idea, inspired by Sherlock Holmes. Here's Tim on why we're launching this endeavor, and how he came up with the name "O'Reilly Irregulars": "Sherlock Holmes has always been an idol of mine. His 'Baker Street Irregulars' were a collection of street kids, hansom cab drivers, and other elements of the London social environment who would help out Holmes in tracking down people and facts that were invisible to Scotland Yard and the police. It was an early (albeit fictional) example of the power of a grassroots network. "It's long been a dream of mine to organize a crew of O'Reilly Irregulars to help us keep track of how our books are selling. There are too many bookstores for our official sales reps to visit them all, but it isn't beyond a network of customers who are willing to help us out." What does it take to be an O'Reilly Irregular? If you join the crew, you'll visit your local bookstore once a month, armed with a current O'Reilly inventory list that we provide. You'll look through the shelves and display tables, marking the number of each O'Reilly title you see. Once the list is complete, you'll fax it back to us. What do you get for your time and diligent counting? We'll send you two free books of your choice every time you turn in your completed inventory list. Interested? Send email to irregulars@oreilly.com by May 17, 2002. Please include: * your name * email address * shipping address We're starting with a limited group of stores, located mostly in medium to large cities. When we hear from you, we'll look through our list of stores, and if we need an Irregular in your area, we'll sign you up. CLAY SHIRKY: WHAT WEB SERVICES GOT RIGHT...AND WRONG Web Services has gone from a vague idea to the major trend in Internet development, with Microsoft and Sun both recasting their entire companies to deliver on the promise of Web Services. To understand whether Web Services are real or hype, Richard Koman talked to Clay Shirky. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/04/22/clay.html Clay Shirky is a keynoter at the upcoming Emerging Technology conference, and a longtime observer of peer-to-peer networking. http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2002/view/e_sess/3055 -------------------------- XML -------------------------- PRIVACY AND XML, PART I By Paul Madsen & Carlisle Adams The widespread uptake of e-commerce has been stalled as much by the inability of businesses to guarantee the privacy preferences of their customers for the personal data entrusted to them as by any other single factor. Of those who are connected but do not purchase online--which is over half of all Internet users--over half say their reluctance is due to fear that their personal information will be stolen or misused. In a sense, XML, through the smart data transfer it enables, contributes to the problem. However, a number of XML-based efforts are emerging that offer solutions to some of the major technology issues for privacy. http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/04/17/privacy.html -------------------------- ORACLE -------------------------- FULL OUTER JOINS IN ORACLE9i By Sanjay Mishra Learn how to use the new ANSI-compliant join syntax in Oracle 9i, which simplifies the task of performing a full outer join. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/04/23/fulljoin.html "Mastering Oracle SQL" Order Number: 1290 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mastorasql/index.html -------------------------- MAC -------------------------- XP ON THE POWERPC Derrick Story looks at the pros and cons of running Windows XP Home Edition via Connectix's Virtual PC on Mac OS X. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2002/04/24/xp_on_mac.html For more info read our upcoming book, "Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual," By David Pogue, Order Number: 2602. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/windowsxptmm/ -------------------------- WEB SERVICES -------------------------- DID YOU KNOW O'REILLY HAS A RESEARCH DEPARTMENT? O'Reilly Research provides strategic intelligence for technology decision-makers. The O'Reilly Research team, building on the company's 20 years at the front lines of technology evolution, goes straight to the source--leading-edge developers and industry visionaries--to forge a deep understanding of new technology's business impact. Close to the street, vendor-neutral, and grounded in real-world applications, O'Reilly Research delivers no-nonsense, in-depth information and insights about important technologies. http://research.oreilly.com/ Emerging Technology Briefs offer a single-page summary of recent developments in a technology topic that we have been following. Briefs available so far: SOAP http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/webservices/2002/04/16/soap.html WebDAV http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/webservices/2002/03/26/webdav.html JXTA http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/webservices/2002/03/12/jxta.html Identity http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/webservices/2002/02/26/identity.html ------------------------------- PERL ------------------------------- THE PERL YOU NEED TO KNOW Stas Bekman goes back to basics to explain some Perl topics of interest to his continuing mod_perl series. "Before I delve into the details of mod_perl programming, it's probably a good idea to review some important Perl basics. You will discover these invaluable when you start coding for mod_perl. I will start with pure Perl notes and gradually move to explaining the peculiarities of coding for mod_perl, presenting the traps one might fall into and explaining things obvious for some of us but may be not for the others." http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2002/04/23/mod_perl.html ================================================ CONFERENCE NEWS ================================================ PUT UP A CONFERENCE BANNER, GET A FREE BOOK We are looking for user groups to display our conference banners on their web sites. If you send me the link to your user group site with our O'Reilly Open Source Convention banner, I will send you the O'Reilly book of your choice. O'Reilly Open Source Convention banners: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/15/banner_ads.html EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT. Register by June 10, 2002 to take advantage of the discounted conference fees. User group discount is 20% for conferences. Use the discount code: DSUG. Register before June 10th, and receive a double discount! Your 20% will apply towards already reduced "Early Bird" pricing if you register early. http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/ O'REILLY EMERGING TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE ONE-DAY CONFERENCE PASS ADDED Too busy these days to join your colleagues for a four-day conference? Attend the Emerging Technology Conference on either May 14, 15, or 16 for just $350.00. Registration information: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2002/create/ord_et02 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference Westin Santa Clara, May 13-16, 2002 -- Santa Clara, CA http://conferences.oreilly.com/etcon/ ================================================ BOOK NEWS ================================================ REVIEW COPIES ARE AVAILABLE, email me for a copy. If you need your books by a certain date, please allow at least three weeks for shipping. Please send me copies of your newsletters. Don't forget, your members get 20% off any O'Reilly book they purchase direct from O'Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering. Press releases are available on our press page: http://press.oreilly.com/ 802.11 WIRELESS NETWORKS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE Order Number: 1835 As a network administrator, architect, or security professional, you need to understand the capabilities, limitations, and risks associated with integrating wireless LAN technology into your current infrastructure. This practical guide provides all the information necessary to analyze and deploy wireless networks with confidence. It's the only source that offers a full spectrum view of 802.11, from the minute details of the specification, to deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting. http://oreilly.com/catalog/802dot11/ Chapter 15, "802.11 Network Deployment," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/802dot11/chapter/ch15.html PROGRAMMING VISUAL BASIC FOR THE PALM OS Order Number: 2009 The book provides a framework for application design, development and installation for the Palm handheld. While the reader should have experience with the property-method-event model of VB programming, no familiarity with Palm products is assumed or required. It is written primarily for corporate software developers, software architects, middle-ware developers and engineering managers who need to understand the strengths and limits of programming on the Palm, and how to integrate Visual Basic language Palm applications into their corporate IT infrastructure or product offerings. It teaches readers how to create a host of business applications including security, wireless and database connectivity programs. http://oreilly.com/catalog/vbpropalm/ Chapter 4, "Conduit Development," is available online: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/vbpropalm/chapter/ch04.html ================================================ FROM YOUR PEERS ================================================ THANK YOU TO JASON OF THE PROVO LINUX USERS GROUP ...for posting this endorsement of the upcoming O'Reilly Open Source Convention on his group's web page: http://www.plug.org/ Jayce^ writes "Allrighty, for those who haven't seen, there is a new banner on the left, for all that is OSCON. If for some reason you haven't heard about this before, let me explain a little. Every year O'Reilly has been putting on a convention for open source geeks like us. Now, in the tradition of O'Reilly books, their conferences get past the fluff and hype of other conferences and home in directly on the meat of the technology. I've been lucky enough to attend the last two of these, and let me tell you, I've been saving up to attend this one since last year. The cookbook for the conference is pretty simple. Get the top members of the different open source projects, tools, and more, then have them give tutorials and presentation on the inner workings of what they do. " If any one else has anything wonderful to say about any of our conferences or books please let me know. Until next week, Marsee