First look: Microsoft Silverlight 3 challenges Adobe AIR

Redmond's much-enhanced rich Internet application platform also runs on Windows or Mac desktops, online or offline... more

First look: Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 shows some leg

Microsoft's IDE reveals a cleaner look, IntelliSense and Designer improvements, even parallel programming support, but some promises still achingly unfulfilled... more

First look: Exchange 2010 beta shines

Flexibility, reliability, client-side improvements, and ease of administration mark this major upgrade... more

Test Center review: Thumbs-up to FileMaker upgrade

FileMaker Pro 10 is significantly improved with a smoother GUI and winning new features, but faces stiff competition on Windows... more

Rich Internet apps that double as desktop apps

Adobe AIR, Curl Nitro, Google Gears, and Microsoft Silverlight are among the cross-platform RIA technologies that can double as desktop app technologies... more

Test Center preview: Windows Azure Services Platform gives wings to .Net

Microsoft's Community Technology Preview reveals a thoughtfully designed cloud computing architecture where seasoned .Net developers will feel at home... more

Test Center review: Silverlight, for real this time

Microsoft's RIA framework offers client-side programming with .Net languages and tools, plus high performance... more

Who needs an enterprise AJAX solution?

Extensive support is but one differentiator between commercial and open source AJAX frameworks... more

Test Center review: Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is icing, and more cake

Going far beyond bug fixes, Service Pack 1 to Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 adds many important new features... more

Lab test: Climb aboard Ruby on Rails

The InfoWorld Test Center sifts through nine Rails IDEs and editors to help you choose the tools to suit your development needs... more

The Test Center guide to rich Web app dev tools

Frameworks for rich Internet applications can be lightweight or heavyweight, open or closed, and almost anything in between... more

Product review: Curl 6.0 enrichens the rich Internet toolkit 

Latest release of the RIA development framework is highlighted by easier customization, more sophisticated effects, AJAX interoperability, and a native-looking Mac port... more

Product review: Visual Studio 2008 advances with few missteps

Solid upgrade to Microsoft's IDE holds improvements for users of every level; highlights, including language-integrated data queries, new graphical design surfaces, and support for Vista, Web 2.0 technologies, and multiple versions of .Net Framework, overshadow a few nits... more

Microsoft Silverlight rivals Flash, AJAX

Redmond's new rich Internet application boasts strong development tools, a small browser footprint, and cross-platform support... more

The best open source programming language

Is Perl, PHP, Python, or Ruby best? Do Java and JavaScript count?... more

Application development: The new face of Internet apps

Blending the best of conventional desktop and Web apps, rich Internet applications occupy the hottest app dev real estate around... more

InfiView 1.0: An AJAX graphics work in progress

Bindows-based platform offers powerful interactive capabilities to developers who can master its quirks... more

Easy-to-learn Curl 5.0 equips developers to create powerful RIAs

Curl up with a comfortable rich Internet application IDE ... more

The ABC's of RIA

Frameworks for rich Internet applications can be lightweight or heavyweight, open or closed, and almost anything in between... more

Microsoft Orcas Beta 1 hints at a killer IDE on the horizon

Innovations to Visual Studio include greater support for key technologies such as WPF... more