Serious problem with AR System

Both 7.5 patch 5 and 7.1 patch 10 contains a bug fix that is not working as expected. The server will use more memory then it should and sometimes causing freezing server. So these two patches has been withdrawn. The text from BMC say this,

A licensing and audit issue was fixed in AR System 7.5.00 patch 005 (SW00369044) and 7.1.00 patch 010 (SW00369045). The fix for this issue causes a higher than expected memory usage, which could result in the AR System server not responding. Until the issue is resolved, BMC is withdrawing the aforementioned patches and customers are instructed not to load them. BMC will send further communication when this problem is fixed.

And I was just about to upgrade my 7.5 server to patch 5 before starting testing of some now functions in an application. But I guess I stay with patch 3 for a while. Hope they release new patches soon, cause these patches had what looked like some well needed fixes.

A little conspiracy theory, these two patches does not check licenses at all. That is why they withdraw them. They fixed some bugs wrong, making the system 'free'. :)

Palm now part of HP

So, now it is finalized. Palm is now part of HP. But for now it looks like Palm as a brand will continue. And Palm will be the center of webOS. HP will be there for the resources and the muscle.

I really hope this will make webOS and the application catalog available world wide. Not only for US and a very tiny part of the rest of the world. I also hope there will be better support for language and regional settings for the whole world. Full UNICODE fonts would be very nice.

I am guessing Palm already had some new hardware on the way before HP came along. But the HP contacts might give Palm/webOS a wider smartphone hardware base to run in. The small farm factor of the Palm Pré is great, for a phone. No problem at all to use it one handed. And for most use as a smartphone it is big enough. But sometimes I just wish the screen was a tiny bit larger. Mostly in number of pixels, but also in physical size. Then as usual, bigger memory and faster CPU is alway welcome. And better battery. Smartphones really need great battery.

webOS 1.4.5 is supposed to be about. And especially O2 Germany users have reported downloads the last 48 hours. But I am still without 1.4.5. And I actually have an O2 Germany phone, but not an O2 Germany SIM. webOS 1.4.5 is only a very small update. Not really any of the things I am waiting for. OK, better PDK is great. But PDK suck anyway when you can not download the applications.

WWRUG 2010

ARSlist is doing WWRUG 2010. It is in Las Vegas as last year. And what I hear that was a great event. I where supposed to bee there, but it did not happen. But this year it is going to happen. Everything is booked and ready. It is the biggest BMC Remedy event of the year. Bee there or ...

Doug Mueller is going to bee there this year too, but not as a key note speaker.

Patch 5 for AR System 7.5 released

Update: read this too.

A couple of days ago patch 5 of AR System 7.5 was released. I guess on schedule in BMCs "1 patch release every 3 month" plan. The list of fixes is long. Still with some workflow bugs being fixed. And also some web service fix that I hope will reduce the produced size of a web service call. And also support more "functionality" in web service. It is good they are fixing things. But I still feel, how can it be possible they have so many 'critical' errors in there application 1,5 year after release.

Anyway, finaly customers start talking about upgrading to 7.5. And finally there will be some action in developing for 7.5. I myself have been waiting long time. And now I actually feel I really have to start setting up environments for building something new and fun in AR System 7.5. And to really get a good feel of the new development environment.

As a side note. Patch 9 for AR System 7.1 was release 2 months ago. And I have not talked about that. Not so many fixes as the 7.5 release. But not the least one memory leak related to web services and one stack overflow when to many filters trigger was what I noted directly. And both the 7.5 and 7.1 release seem to have more then one fix related to currency fields. Mostly in converting to other to/from other field types.

Problem with BMC Remedy Service Desk

A customer complained about the server where crashing. Nobody could explain why. But I noticed that in the console output it complained about the libIMFilterPlugin.so. After searching around a little I found a Technical Bulletin from BMC saying that there is a problem running BMC Remedy Service Desk integration together with BMC Remedy Service Level Management (SLM), on linux and AIX platforms. What?? On the other supported platforms it is working, but not on linux and AIX. The bulletin is from October 2007.

OK, this seem to be the case with version 7.1.00, 3.0.02 and 3.0.00 of the Integration for BMC Remedy Service Desk (IBRSD). The bulletin is actually about not being able to start IBRSD together with SLM. But I guess that this is part of why the server is crashing. And it might actually be part of some inconsistencies at the customer. I wonder if this is fixed in some patch. The bulletin say change OS or disable one of the components as workaround.

More confusion from Palm.

First one application many GSM Palm Pre users has been waiting for, Classic the Palm Pilot emulator, re-appeared in the App Catalog. And for some of the O2 countries there where 20+ applications in the same night bringing it to over 200. But for us with a unlocked German GSM Palm Pre not registered with an O2 sim card lost all applications but the Classic application.

And this came after WebOS 1.3.5 was released for the Sprint network in USA, but not for the GSM Palm Pre users in Europe. When is there going to bee a world wide release. And when will the base WebOS with the base applications and the third party applications going to bee world wide if not specified differently, like the network specific from the networks. Stupid to only bring one network in on the game.

OK, so some of the updates in WebOS 1.3.5 looks promising for the future. First of all the possibility to run really demanding games, with good 3D graphics. And things like higher sampling rate for the gyro. I wonder what else they are going to present on the

App Catalog visible again

Now App Catalog show applications again. Since 1.3.1 it has only reported App Catalog unavailable. So registered with a SIM not 'supported' by palm, yet, I get 5 applications. And guess what two of them are texas holdem applications. Gambling and porn are quick to get global access.