While ATG runs fine on OS X, and while many people inside and outside of ATG use OS X as their primary operating system, the ATG installer STILL doesn't work under OS X. It "mostly" works. It seems to work, it installs things, however if you try to do stuff, like patch, or like adding other ATG modules, things don't work. The culprit is the installconfig/config.xml. If you install on Solaris for instance, you get one that looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config xmlns="*">
<install xmlns="">
<product name="ATG Adaptive Scenario Engine" version="2006.3">
<configure>false</configure>
</product>
<product name="ATG Consumer Commerce" version="2006.3">
<configure>false</configure>
</product>
<product name="ATG Content Administration" version="2006.3">
<configure>false</configure>
</product>
<product name="ATG Portal" version="2006.3">
<configure>false</configure>
</product>
<product name="ATG Business Commerce" version="2006.3">
<configure>false</configure>
</product>
</install>
<systemEnv xmlns="">
<locale>en</locale>
<rootDir>/opt/atg/versions/ATG2006.3</rootDir>
<jBossListenPort>8080</jBossListenPort>
<docRoot>/opt/atg/versions/ATG2006.3/home/doc</docRoot>
<platform>Darwin</platform>
<rmiPort>8860</rmiPort>
<appServer>JBoss</appServer>
<jBossHome>/opt/jboss/root/</jBossHome>
<jBossVersion>4.0.3</jBossVersion>
<baseLevel>ATG2006.3_8095</baseLevel>
<ATGJRE>/Library/Java/Home/bin/java</ATGJRE>
<patchLevel>2006.3p4</patchLevel>
</systemEnv>
</config>

when you install under OS X you end up with an atrophied little file like this:

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I was surfing around today, and saw this article about the top ten tools you use.

As far as getting work done on the computer (I'm taking the computer for granted and not counting it as a tool, although for it all to come together it's worth noting I use an Apple MacBookPro with 4GB of RAM) my top applications are:

1. Eclipse: my favorite Java IDE with a good set of plugins (JBoss Tools, MyEclipseIDE, WTP, Mylyn, and others)
2. iGTD:  a great GTD task manager for the Mac.  I use it for work, personal projects, home errands, etc...  I used to use KinklessGTD in OmniOutliner, but now I swear by iGTD.  The upcoming Omni Focus will have to bring something amazing to the table to get to me to pay to switch.
3. SSH/SCP/Terminal: I manage and deploy to many servers.  Being able to SSH into them and move files securely is critical.  I'm handy with the command line, bash scripting, and all that, so I end up doing things that way often.
4. Emacs: I can handle vi, but when I'm on a remote server making changes or looking through files trying to figure something out, Emacs is my favorite tool for the job.
5. Safari: I spend a lot of time on the web researching, reading, and looking at the applications I'm building.  I also use Camino, but Safari 3 is my favorite browser and is always open.
6. Adium: I love staying in touch with my friends, family, and co-workers.  Adium lets me keep in touch on AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GTalk, and more in a very nice application.
7. iTunes: Music helps me get into the zone and keeps me happy.  Plus I like to watch the occasional TV show:)
8. Pages: as an architect I often have to generate documentation around projects.  I also write letters (yes the non-e-mail kind).  Pages is a great word processor and making professional looking easy to read documents is a snap.
9. JBoss: JBoss is a fantastic application server.  It's free, open source, fast, and powerful.
10. Postgres: Postgres is a database with all the great attributes I listed for JBoss.  I used to use MySQL but at the time I switched it was lacking many critical features (sub-selects, foreign keys, etc..).  After using postgres for a while, I haven't looked back.

Those are the applications that I have running on my laptop basically 24/7 and I use each of them every single day.

What are yours?  I'm not trying to get into an emacs versus vi flamewar, but I'd like to hear about what applications get you through your day a little easier.

If you're like me, you've often found yourself needing to change a setting, or view some information, buried deep inside a .ear or .war or .sar file. Well, you probably know that emacs can handle looking inside and editing files within a .tar or .jar file. Since .ear and .war files are just .jar files at their core, you can easily extend this feature to those file types.

Just add this to your ~/.emacs file:

(setq auto-mode-alist
(append
'(("\\.war\\'" . archive-mode))
'(("\\.ear\\'" . archive-mode))
'(("\\.sar\\'" . archive-mode))
auto-mode-alist))

And you'll get something that look like this:

emacs hudson.war

I just pushed up the latest version of 10MinuteMail. Now there are 29 languages supported! I've also upgraded the Seam version to 2.0.0.CR1 and the JBoss version to 4.2.1.GA. I am hoping that this will help fix some of the recent OutOfMemory issues I've seen.

Check it out, tell your friends, link to it, enjoy it, and let me know how I can make it better!

Thanks!

Devon

I worry that ATG has mis-focused it's energy.

In the last few years, ATG has introduced (or purchased) a number of new products which sit on the existing stack. Ticketing Features, Search, Merchandising, Campaign Optimizer, Knowledge, Self Service, Response Management, Commerce Service Center, Outreach, and Customer Intelligence). I haven't had a chance to play with all of them yet. I'm sure they're all very neat. I'm more sure that they help sell license dollars to marketing and business people.

I'm not trying to undercut the value in that. I see it. I totally think ATG should be expanding their offering, meeting customer needs, making money, etc... What bothers me is that if you look at the same time period which all of those new product were introduced, you'd see almost no changes or enhancements to the underlying product stack, what they now call the ATG Adaptive Scenario Engine (or ASE) which consists of DAS (ATG Dynamo Application Server) or DAF (Dynamo Application Framework), DPS (Dynamo Personalization Server), and DSS (Dynamo Scenario Server). Sure, there are some bug fixes, a little feature here and there (like adding forgot password support in 2006.3). But nothing significant. The programmers guides for ATG 7.0, 7.1, 2006.3, and 2007.1 look REALLY similar.

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