IBM developerWorks
Michael O'Connell, Editor in Chief, IBM developerWorks
It was a wonderful experience to observe and participate with my fellow judges on the discussion and Hall of Fame level of quality recognition of IBM's developerWorks website. Originally submitted as a nominee in the Jolt website category, the conversation among the judges quickly shifted toward realizing the behemoth standout quality and breadth of content and valuable best practice information contained within the www.ibm.com/developerworks URL. Fellow Jolt judge Andrew Binstock was the first to suggest elevating developerWorks to HOF status and the majority of judges quickly agreed.
And for those skeptics who think that developerWorks is merely a pulpit to hawk IBM solutions, there are plenty of areas on the site that offer a wealth of general computer-science information. Cynicism aside, IBM's intentions appear to sincerely respect and give back to the computing community hard-earned knowledge from the field. The content contained therein is chock full of extremely useful and often immediately applicable best practices, code, and methodologies often authored by the designer(s) of the concept itself. IBM fellows, scientists, researchers, consultants, and even customers have contributed to the wealth of valuable information that is freely available. Some of my personal favorite sections are on the topics of Autonomic and Grid Computing, Java, Linux and Open Source, SOA, web services, and XML and wireless technologies.
Not surprisingly, the portal itself is a working example of IBM technologies in action, powered by the WebSphere family of products DB2, Lotus, Tivoli running on IBM System p, and System x server hardware. Curious developerWorks visitors can even download a whitepaper on the siteÕs architecture in case they're interested in seeing how to build a world-class scalable website that serves tremendous volumes of data packets to millions of visitors.
It is with great enthusiasm and respectful recognition that we welcome developerWorks into the exclusive realm of the Jolt Hall of Fame family. Congratulations, IBM!
--Mike Riley
