- IBM enhancing security
- Eclipse tools advanced by Genuitec
- Test Center Tracker: Cisco unveils new Catalyst switches
- Preview: Cisco bolsters Catalyst switch line
- NetBeans adds languages
- Adobe hails Flex-AJAX interoperability
- Preview: Klocwork Developer for Java
- Test Center Tracker: Vista, Vista everywhere
- DNF blends SFF drives and a large cache
- LeftHand Networks adds IBM servers
January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)
IBM on Wednesday touted software technology designed to enhance security and management in virtualized data centers.
The company's secure hypervisor architectyure, or "sHype," is designed to run in conjunction with commercial and open source hypervisors that control servers and data in a shared environment. The sHype technology is intended to provide a security wrapper around distributed workloads in the data center, extending mainframe-like security to pooled data and resources across multiple IBM and non-IBM systems, the company said.
IBM plans to introduce several technologies with sHype as part of a plan to offer secure and efficient data centers.
Portions of sHype are being used in the open source Xen hypervisor kernel.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 31, 2007 05:44 PM
January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Eclipse tools advanced by Genuitec
Genuitec on Wednesday announced availability of MyEclipse Enterprise Workbench 5.5, a version of the company's IDE that features SNAPs (Simple Nonintegrated Applications) tools for quick development tasks.
The workbench is an Eclipse-based IDE and a set of plug-ins for development of Web-based and e-commerce applications.
The company's SNAPs Fusion technology provides a more lightweight presentation of standard MyEclipse tools. The SNAPs tools are packaged as Eclipse Rich Client Platform applications.
SNAPs tools featured in version 5.5 include: Image Editor, including a screen capture capability; Visual Web designer; Database Explorer, with support for MySQL advanced features, and XML Editor.
Version 5.5 also features integration between Hibernate tools and the Spring framework to support advanced object-relational mapping. UML (Unified Modeling Language) support also is featured. Improvements also have been made for Web services, with support for the XFire 1.2.4 SOAP framework.
MyEclipse 5.5 Enterprise Workbench with SNAPs Fusion Technology costs $29.95 for an annual subscription to the Standard Edition.
Also in the Eclipse realm, Klocwork this week released Klocwork Developer for Java, a plug-in to the Eclipse IDE. The product provides source code analysis and identifies security vulnerabilities at the earliest possible stage of development, Klocwork said.
A license for Klocwork Developer for Java costs $299 per year. An Enterprise Development Edition of the product adds build integration tools, architectural analysis, defect management and other capabilities.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 31, 2007 10:27 AM
January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Cisco unveils new Catalyst switches
Catalyst for change: InfoWorld Test Center Analyst and networking guru Paul Venezia reports on some of the newest additions to the Cisco's ever-growing family of Catalyst switches. The new hardware, as well as software upgrades, was announced just today, and they demonstrate that Cisco indeed still has some enterprise tricks up its sleeve to fend off lower-price competition from rivals like Dell.
Ready or not ...: Unless you've been harboring yourself in an undisclosed location the past few years, you know what Vista is, and you know that's it's really and truly here. And if you're an admin especially, you've got to deal with it. Let Enterprise Windows columnist Oliver Rist continues to help, as he details a couple of Vista features that warrant some close attention: insta-OS upgrading, and deep searching.
Sun still shines on AMD: Reports of AMD's death have been greatly exaggerated, according to InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager. Yes, there have been reports that Sun has started buying chips from Intel, but Tom points out, "AMD will continue to supply Sun Microsystems with enterprise-grade x86 server CPUs. Sun found in Intel a cheap second source of supply for x86 microprocessors."
Posted by Ted Samson on January 31, 2007 10:01 AM
January 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Cisco bolsters Catalyst switch line
Cisco's been feeling some heat recently, with many vendors nipping at the networking giant's heels, such as Dell with its low-cost PowerConnect switching line. Rather than get into a pricing war, Cisco has opted to emphasize enterprise features and robustness.
To that end, Cisco today announced four new models in its Catalyst switch line -- the Catalyst 3650-E, 3750-E, the 3560-8TC, and the 2960-8TC -- as well as a few updates to existing hardware. The gear delivers new features, increased stacking throughput, an innovative feature for bridging the upgrade to 10G, and a whole new way to manage feature sets across multiple switches.
The Catalyst 3650-E standalone and 3750-E stackable switches are offered in 24- and 48-port flavors, each with two 10G modules. The Catalyst 3560-8TC and 2960-8TC Compact Switches are 7- and 8-port fanless designs aimed at industrial applications.
The 3650-E and 3750-E both offer full PoE (Power over Ethernet) capabilities at each switch port, as well as a new redundant power solution. In addition, Cisco has introduced a fresh take on 10G via a new feature called the TwinGig.
Building a bridge to 10G
The TwinGig adapter houses a pair of 1G SFP ports that can be plugged into the 10G port on the new switches. When the time comes to bring the network up to 10G, the TwinGig adapters are replaced with standard 10G optics.
In this way, it's possible to leverage existing 1G connectivity to these switches while eliminating the need for new edge switches following an upgrade to 10G across the network. This relatively low-cost upgrade path can certainly ease upgrade headaches, with only the loss of the initial investment being the TwinGig adapters, rather than the whole switch. The TwinGig adapters are available only for the 3650-E and 3750-E switches.
On the back end, the 3750-E offers a 64Gbps stacking backplane, doubling the existing 32Gbps backplane found in the existing 3700-series Catalyst line. The 3750-E is backwards-compatible with existing stacks and will step down to 32Gbps in this scenario.
Also announced today: the 8700W Enhanced AC Power Supply, an 8700-watt power supply for the flagship Catalyst 6500 Series of switches. The 8700W enables full PoE support for up to 420 copper ports on these high-density modular switches. It also adds true out-of-band management to the mix, allowing admins to remotely power down switches directly from the power supply if needed.
Viva redundancy!
Cisco's also trumpeting the ISSU (In-service Software Upgrade) features in the Catalyst 4500 Series switches. ISSU allows a 4500 Series switch with two supervisor blades to boot a different IOS revision without a reboot of the switch or loss of connectivity. This feature was actually introduced for the 4500 Series switches in September of 2006, but is only now being given a spotlight. This is a truly enterprise feature that can make a big difference in some networks, but will be of no benefit in 4500 Series switches without redundant supervisors.
Cisco's also calling attention to its new method of IOS feature licensing. Previously, switches could be purchased with base software or advanced software, with a significant price difference. Base software was for standard switching functions, while advanced features would enable higher-end tools and protocols. The downside to this practice was that in order to upgrade a switch to use advanced features, the new IOS had to be loaded onto the switch and then the switch would require a reboot.
Available initially only for the 3650-E and 3750-E switches, Cisco today announced Cisco IOS software activation, which places all required code on every switch, with advanced features available with the proper activation key. This will eliminate the need to reboot a switch in order to access these features, and should significantly reduce the number of available IOS releases for any given platform, which will certainly please anyone who's had to wade through the IOS upgrade planner on Cisco's site to find the one proper image out of a dozen or more available for that platform.
In addition, the new Cisco Licensing Manager can manage licensing keys across an entire network, rather than on a switch-by-switch basis. Use of this new licensing method is not required, however, and the new Catalysts will run existing IOS releases.
Coupled with updates to Cisco's Network Assistant GUI network management tools, Cisco had a lot to say, and the new Catalysts promise much. We'll see how they fare in the lab when InfoWorld takes a look at the new Catalysts down the road.
The 3560 and 2960 Compact Switches ship today; the former starts at $1,395 and the latter at $895.The Cisco Catalyst 3750-E ships in February, starting at $9,495. The 3560, also to ship in February, will start at $5,995. Finally, the 8700W AC Power Supply, priced at $7,000, also ships in February.
For more on the announcements, check out the IDG News Service's article.
Posted by Paul Venezia on January 31, 2007 10:00 AM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The NetBeans 5.5 open source IDE has been gaining support for several additional languages.
Sun Microsystems and the NetBeans community on Wednesday will announce availability of the IDE for Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and Traditional Chinese. In addition, plans are under way to support several other languages, including Albanian, Azerbaijani, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.
Languages are being added as part of the NetBeans Translation Project.
Sun cited community participation in the translation efforts, with developers contributing from places such as Brazil and Taiwan. The company is sponsoring a NetBeans Day World Tour to promote the platform in places such as India, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and France.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 30, 2007 10:38 PM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Adobe hails Flex-AJAX interoperability
Looking to boost interoperability between AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and Adobe's Flex technology for rich Internet applications, Adobe Labs on Tuesday posted a new JavaScript library and an update to its Flex Ajax Bridge.
The Ajax Data Services library is a JavaScript library enabling AJAX developers to access messaging and data management capabilities of Flex Data Services from JavaScript. Users can integrate application clients built using AJAX with the same back-end data services used by Flex application clients, meaning data from Flex and AJAX applications can be automatically synchronized. Users see the most current information.
Flex Ajax Bridge (FABridge) enables JavaScript-enabled components to interoperate with Flex components on the same Web page. The update improves interoperability on the client.
Combining Ajax Data Services with FABridge lets developers leverage the Flex 2 SDK programming model and Flex Data Services for interoperability with existing or new AJAX applications.
The Ajax Data Services library is accessible here. The FABridge update can be found here.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 30, 2007 07:18 PM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Klocwork Developer for Java
Klocwork, the company that earned InfoWorld's nod for best code analyzer solution for 2006, made a subset of its K7 analyzer engine available yesterday as an Eclipse plug-in at a discounted price.
The product, called Klocwork Developer for Java v. 7.6 (the version number refers to the release of the larger K7 product from which it’s derived and which I reviewed last year), goes beyond the usual style-oriented warnings of the built-in Eclipse source checkers. Instead, it steps through the program logic and finds subtle errors in code that would otherwise appear correct.
For example, in test code for this posting, it found a suspicious test for a null passed parameter inside a method. What made the test suspicious was that it occurred lines after the parameter was first accessed. This is the type of error that can only be found by advanced code checkers that go beyond enforcing of rules from various style guides or making sure you’re hewing to coding conventions.
You may customize the warnings in Klockwork Developer for Java so that it complains about only the errors and infelicities you're interested in. One set of alerts you will not want to reconfigure is the product's security recommendations. These detect numerous practices that can lead programs to fail in ways a cracker can exploit, such as not closing files and streams when you're done with them; not checking user data for excessive length (risking a buffer overflow); and not checking user data that is subsequently used in databases (potential for SQL injection), HTTP headers (possible spoofing and cross-site scripting), or directory or filenames (can cause exceptions that might not be trapped).
Like most products that detect security vulnerabilities, Klocwork Developer for Java is sold on a subscription basis: $299/year per developer. It works on J2EE, J2SE, and J2ME code, and from what I saw, it works pretty well.
Klocwork Developer for Java v. 7.6
Cost: $299/year per developer
Availablity: Now
Verdict: This subset of Klockwork's K7 analyzer engine is an inexpensive way to get one of the best static code checkers and security analyzers onto a developer’s desktop. Remember that it requires Eclipse or IBM Rational Application Developer.
Posted by Andrew Binstock on January 30, 2007 04:21 PM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Vista, Vista everywhere
Vista on my mind: The official release of Micrsoft Vista is finally here. If you were one of the folks waiting outside a CompUSA to snag the first copy at 12:05am, I hope you've got some naptime scheduled for this afternoon. If you're gearing up for the install, check out Oliver Rist's last-minute countdown tips: finding a GPU, learning the rules of the new game selections, running a firewall check, getting those home movies ready for wallpaper viewing, and monitoring random downloads by your users. On the other hand, it looks like interoperability is still an issue for security products, especially with multiple versions of the OS. Looking for more ? You'll find all our Vista coverage here. Happy upgrading!
DIY appliances?: Embedded Linux is big in the appliance space, especially when it comes to security appliances. But that doesn't mean you can't roll your own, thanks to the Debian Router Project. Check out the list of potential appliance ideas over at the Geeks in Paradise blog, and start building boxes.
When "IE only" isn't the whole story: Tom Yager had to bite his tongue during a recent webcast prep: On24 informed him that he had to use IE on Windows. Not an easy pill to swallow for InfoWorld's resident Mac man. But the real surprise came about when Yager started digging into On24's code -- turns out, it does support a couple of other platforms besides IE. So why not tout this fact? That's the $10,000 question, folks.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 30, 2007 09:41 AM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
DNF blends SFF drives and a large cache
Would you be interested in a drive that delivers 20 times the I/O performance of the fastest disk drives you can buy, using only a fraction of the power?
If you are, don't miss a new line of products that Dynamic Network Factory is announcing today. Hyper Solid State Disk Technology is a mouthful, but the idea behind these new drives is rather simple.
HSS drives combine a 2.5" disk drive, 2GB of high speed memory and, to ensure that cached data won't disappear during a blackout, a battery backup inside a container that fits any 3.5" SATA bay.
According to DNF tests, an HSS drive can sustain I/Os at a much faster pace than a speedy 15K RPM enterprise drive. Moreover, the new drive maintains the moderate power demand of the SFF (small form factor) architecture and costs much less than a full solid state drive, according to DNF
The first model starts shipping today and mounts a 120GB 2.5" drive. A 200GB unit should become available later this year.
DNF estimates that the smaller number of drives needed to achieve the same level of performance, and the significant savings in power consumption make for a sensibly lower TCO when using HSS instead of conventional enterprise drives.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 30, 2007 02:00 AM
January 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
LeftHand Networks adds IBM servers
LeftHand Networks announced today a new server platform from IBM, the x3650 for its SAN/iQ clustered storage solutions.
The x3650 can mount 6 3.5" SAS or SATA drives and can offer a capacity ranging from just a notch below 1 TB to up to 3TB per node. The x3650 can connect to other nodes on the iSCSI network via two GbE ports, but IBM is expected to begin offering 10GbE on the server later this year.
In addition to the IBM X3650, SAN/iQ supports also LeftHand Networks proprietary modules, the NSM160/NSM260, and HP Proliant DL380 servers.
LeftHand suggests a starting price around $52,000 for a cluster of 3 x3650.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 30, 2007 02:00 AM
January 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Big box o' EAI
Caging the beast: Enterprise application integration is one tough animal to tame. Cast Iron Systems offers a rather innovative approach: stuff EAI into a box. Test Center Analyst Martin Heller peeks into the Cast Iron iA3000 to discover that the hardware approach does indeed ease the EAI process -- at the expense of reduced capability. And if seeing is believing, check out Keith Schultz finds that it doesn't do nearly as well with traffic such as FTP and MAPI.
Peek into MS's virtual labs: Over in the InfoWorld Virtualization Report, David Marshall offers a peek into Microsoft's shiny new virtual labs, "which allow you to quickly evaluate and test Microsoft's newest server products through a series of guided, hands-on labs which can be completed in 90 minutes or less."
Posted by Ted Samson on January 29, 2007 09:00 AM
January 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Vista countdown tips: 1 day out
Tip 5: Lock down the downloading
Vista' launch: Imminent; It's tomorrow. So here's the skinny on how to buy without making your boss cry.
First off: Yes, it'll be available for download along with Office 2007. But don't expect that to work too well--at least for the first 4-8 weeks after the launch. I think they'll have a wee bit of a traffic problem during that time.
'Course that shouldn't be too tough on most of you, since all indicators show that quite a large segment of the Windows population won't be upgrading right out of the gate.
But there's one lil' problem that the download option presents as well: users can upgrade too. Microsoft is going to put a few-touch upgrade service into every Vista SDK, allowing those who spent a little money on the smaller SDKs--including Vista Business--to upgrade to a full version of Ultimate with just a few mouse clicks and some credit card info.
They'll have to pay for it on their own, but if you don't lock that down, you could have a lot of Ultimate copies running around your network once power users figure out how cool it is. Another attraction Microsoft has tossed into that pot is two $50 copies of Vista Home for anyone who upgrades to Ultimate this way.
Posted by Oliver Rist on January 29, 2007 03:00 AM
January 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Vista countdown tips: Desktop video clips
Tip 4: Desktop video clips.
Okay, two days out: Microsoft introduced yet one more new whizbang feature that your users are going to love: using videos as wallpaper instead of just snapshots. It's a little painful if you use the wrong video, but with the right clip it's totally sci-fi-real genius-Matrix without Keanu cool.
Billy G. introed the new feature at CES--on January 14. I missed that speech since that's my birthday and I was busy crawling into a bottle of brandy over turning 41. But I did manage to pick up a few details:
1. The feature is called 'Dreamscape'
2. It's only usable with Vista Ultimate, so expect those upper floor execs to have one more reason to ask for Vista Ultimate over Business or Enterprise.
3. But it's still a downloadable extra, not an installed feature--I checked my copy of Ultimate soon as I heard.
4. It wants WMV or MPEG 2 files.
There you go. Just make sure nobody uploads a ripped copy of Girls Gone Wild or something.
Posted by Oliver Rist on January 28, 2007 06:00 PM
January 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Vista countdown tips: 3 days out
Tip 3: Flash Your Firewall
Already sucked down some Advil because of this issue. Seems something happened between Vista RC1 and the final RTM release that my SonicWall SafeAtOffice firewall didn't like. Unfortunately, the problem looks like a Vista problem when it happens.
All your other PCs are working fine. And a cabled connection to the firewall even off the Vista machine looks fine. Then you go wireless. Suddenly it's working intermittently where wireless under RC1 was as reliable as guilt after a Vegas visit.
Then you try and hook a second machine via wireless. Suddenly the Vista machine(s) can't get an IP address. They keep announcing an IP conflict with another machine. Assigning a static address solves the problem for a little while, but it returns after a bit.
For a good while, I thought it was Vista. Then maybe the adapater on the Gateway E255M notebook I was using. After all, the other four XP, two Linux and one Mac were working fine. Fortunately for me, Brian Chee over there at Geeks in Paradise also has a SafeAtOffice at home.
Same problem, smarter guy. He puts on some Kona, flashes the firmware on his Sonicwall and aloha! he's okay again. And Sonicwall isn't the only firewall maker with this trouble according to Webbified rumor. So check your firewall. And while you're at it, check your other networked appliances -- shared storage, printers, scanners and especially any higher-end switches with additional security features built-in. Better safe than calling Brian.
Posted by Oliver Rist on January 27, 2007 03:22 AM
January 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Automation Centre this week announced Tracker Suite 7.2, a business process management suite for Lotus Notes and Domino that features a more refined user interface.
With the new version, the user interface requires fewer clicks to navigate. Also included in release 7.2 are drag-and-drop collaboration folders, business dashboards and upgrades intended to streamline business operations, the company said.
Tracker Suite 7.2 provides access to project plans, resource schedules and work authorizations. A workflow engine featured in the product has been redesigned to incorporate "smart" routing so that if someone is out of the office, work is automatically rerouted.
Timesheets, project files and other documents can be organized with a drag-and-drop capability.
Project Tracker, the IT and project management application within the suite, now offers improved service-level agreement-tracking through a ticket dashboard that follows trouble tickets.
Also, users can send email invitations to meetings and track who has accepted. Users also can log action topics from the meeting and send out action items.
Online meetings can be scheduled with Project Tracker as well via email.
Version 7.2 of Tracker Suite is set to ship on February 14. The product was announced at the Lotusphere 2007 conference in Orlando, Fla., this week.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 26, 2007 03:55 PM
January 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Google toolkit developer tool enhanced
Instantiations next Tuesday will announce the release of GWT Designer 1.5, a development tool for the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) that builds AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) applications using Java.
Featured is new support for development on Linux. Windows already had been supported.
Based on Instantiations's WindowBuilderPro Eclipse-based tool, GWT Designer allows developers to build rich Internet applications using Eclipse, Java and GWT without negotiating through the complexities of AJAX coding, the company said. A WYSIWYG construction environment enables dragging and dropping of composites, layouts and controls as well as cutting and pasting of code inside a text editor.
Other new features include
* Backing for GWT releases 1.2 and 1.3.
* Visual inheritance, for reusing code and visual designs and extracting super-classes for reuse. Code quality is improved.
* The ability to ensure valid GWT Java code, in which code is checked for allowed GWT classes and methods. An on-the-fly code audit is performed.
GWT Designer 1.5 is available now for an annual subscription of $39 per year. Current subscribers can upgrade at no cost. A two-week trial copy is available here.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 26, 2007 07:22 AM
January 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Vista countdown tips: 4 days out
Tip 2: Brush up on your Mahjong
We all thought pinball was going to be the killer time-wasting app when Windows 2000 came out. But Solitaire remained the chief bane of the pay-by-the-hour set. I think that's going to change in Vista, though. Mahjong rules.
All the games have been redesigned, however. Like much of Vista, this takes a little getting used to. Solitaire and Spider Solitaire are still there along with FreeCell and Hearts. Pinball is gone. But the new killer time waster is going to be Mahjong. Slick, not too loud, and takes long enough to play so your boss'll be ticked if he catches you, but short enough so you've got a better-than-even chance of getting away with it.
Some folks might think Chess will be the killer time waster, but I don't think so. Takes too long for the average cubicle warrior. Mahjong's the better balance.
Vista Business users will need to block games. They aren't installed by default in that SDK, but they're easily installed by users with admin priviledges after the fact. If your boss wears shiny boots, tends to march up and down the halls a lot, and delivers motivational speeches in angry German, you may want to do the prep work now.
Posted by Oliver Rist on January 26, 2007 03:00 AM
January 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: On the verge of Vista
Countdown to Vista: With less than a week to go before Vista is released to the masses, it's time to get ready for the upgrade. Oliver Rist is posting his last-minute get-ready tips on this blog - you'll find tip #1 here. For more on upgrading to Vista, check out our in-depth analysis and the latest news, predictions, and rumors on our Vista news page,
You oughtta be in movies: EMC is embracing online video with a series of webcasts and demonstrations that could end up providing a nice glimpse of products in action, says Mario Apicella. His verdict? The topics sound interesting so far, but ignore the marketing-speak descriptions. And if you're looking for more insight into EMC's strategy, check out our recent exploration of their secret plan for world domination (what better to explain all those acquisitions?)
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 25, 2007 10:22 AM
January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Vista countdown tips: 5 days out
It's coming down to the wire. Only five shopping days left till Vista. So we're putting a few last minute, one-a-day tips together to keep those knots out of your stomach.
Tip 1: Find a GPU
IT managers already know they need to do a hardware inventory before deploying the new Windows across the company. But they tend to focus on things like piles of RAM and CPU speed. On the video side, they often look at the amount of dedicated video RAM and little else. But Vista has a dirty little secret: She needs a GPU.
That's Graphics Processing...Unicorn. Or maybe Unit, I forget. Either way it's a CPU dedicated to nothing other than graphics processing. Vista is the first operating system to require a GPU out of the box. Previously, only specific applications (like those texture-heavy first-person shooting bloodbath games) required a GPU. Now it's the operating system, which means sexier applications in the long run; but in the short term, you need to make sure your PCs are carrying a GPU else your users won't get their full dose of Vista satisfaction.
Not a problem for most mid-level desktops purchased in the last year or so. Where you run into trouble are the older boxes or any machines that have the 'value' label attached. That's the $500 desktop or the $800 notebook. Need to ID those boxes now and give their users the bad news--or a new machine depending on how nice you are. The gig of RAM, the big hard disk, the fast CPU--you still need all those. But without the GPU, you're still in trouble.
Posted by Oliver Rist on January 24, 2007 07:55 PM
January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft posts SharePoint SDKs
Microsoft this week posted software development kits for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
The SharePoint Services kit features conceptual overviews, programming tasks, samples and references to assist with developing solutions based on SharePoint Services 3.0, according to the Web page where the SDK is posted.
The SharePoint Server 2007 SDK offers conceptual overviews, programming tasks, code samples and an enterprise content management starter kit, its Web page says.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 24, 2007 01:21 PM
January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Scrybe embraces Web 2.0 innovation
Web 2.0 winner: If you've been impressed by online organizers like Google Calendar, consider following the lead of Test Center Analyst Mike Heck and taking a peek at Scrybe. The aesthetically pleasing, Flash-based organizer -- still in beta -- is brimming with "Web 2.0 innovations with new approaches to traditional functions, including printing." The company has even nailed online/offline syncing: "The service made a local copy of my data, let me work disconnected, and then automatically synced changes when I reconnected."
Peeking into Project Server 2007: Enterprise Windows columnist Oliver Rist has been buried in new Microsoft wares for a while, but every so often he emerges with some insights. The latest: his impressions of Project Server 2007. Coupled with the Enterprise version of the Project client, he finds that Project Server 2007 delivers handy features such as Project View, an all-around managerial dashboard on the health of all your projects.
Microsoft preps for Vista SP: Speaking of Microsoft, the company is already taking orders for Vista's first service pack, Jeremy Kirk reports. Vista was released to businesses last November and is slated to reach consumers next Tuesday. Feedback for Vista is coming from testers who are part of Redmond's Technology Adoption Program (TAP).
Posted by Ted Samson on January 24, 2007 08:39 AM
January 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Mainsoft readies Visual Studio-Linux link
Mainsoft on Wednesday is announcing the release of Grasshopper 2.0 Technology Preview 2, a plug-in to Visual Studio 2005 enabling .Net developers to write ASP.Net Web applications and deploy them on Linux and other Java-enabled platforms.
Featured is the ability for developers to create Web projects using .Net 2.0 technologies such as ASP.Net 2.0 authentication and authorization. ASP.Net controls can be deployed on the Apache Tomcat servlet container.
Bundled with the preview is a copy of the IBM Cloudscape database, which features a Java runtime. Developers can port existing ASP.Net applications to Linux and other Java-enabled platforms. The Visual Studio 2005 debugger can be used to attach the Web application to Java and control execution.
A Web site administration tool allows for management of membership and roles. A tutorial is featured to take developers through the process of developing a Web-based accounting application, with membership and security, and deploying it on Linux.
The preview is the result of Mainsoft's collaboration with Mono, an open source development initiative featuring an open source version of Microsoft .Net technologies.
Grasshopper 2.0 will be featured in the upcoming Visual MainWin 2.0 product suite.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 23, 2007 06:32 PM
January 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Eclipse Data Tools Platform offered
The Eclipse Foundation on Tuesday released Eclipse Data Tools Platform (DTP) 1.0, which is an open source project featuring frameworks and tools for developing data-centric applications in the Eclipse environment, Eclipse said.
Developers with DTP 1.0 can leverage existing data sources, such as enterprise databases, with the Eclipse Platform.
"DTP 1.0 provides a rich set of frameworks that solve real-world issues related to the development of data-centric applications," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, in a statement released by Eclipse. "The growth and momentum of the Eclipse data tooling platform project has resulted from the efforts of committers from the Eclipse community, including many from Sybase, IBM and Actuate."
DTP 1.0 simplifies development of data-centric applications in heterogeneous environments by offing agile development tools. It features components for model-driven development and connection management as well as a data access framework and SQL development tools.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 23, 2007 12:52 PM
January 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Scrybe organizer pushes Web 2.0 limits
Generating buzz about new software is relatively easy for established companies: Just look at the interest surrounding the public betas of Adobe Photoshop 3 and Microsoft Vista. But what if you're a startup with a Web 2.0 service -- and based solely on a YouTube demo, people were so enthralled they even offered payment for a login to the closed beta? I actually found that deal presented on Scrybe's forum, and naturally had to find out why.
Put simply, Scrybe is a Flash 9-based, open-standards calendaring and personal organizer, and it's packed with every bit of eye candy and fluid interaction Flash developers can muster. For example, in the Planner view, calendars zoomed and contracted as I clicked from day to week to month. While Scrybe's interface is a model design, that's only a small reason for all the attention. The rest is because it delivers a user experience and features that are often beyond anything else I've ever used.
Consider just one aspect of the calendar, a function called GlobalTimez. When I opened the details of a meeting, Scrybe displayed four world clocks so I didn't have to calculate the time for participants in Europe and Asia. Further, the software will display a secondary time zone alongside your daily planner appointments.
This attention to detail extends throughout. Type "Dinner at 6 p.m." anywhere in your calendar day and Scrybe automatically places the appointment in the 6 p.m. slot. I added tasks in the same way to my to-do list (called PowerLists). Similarly, information in different contexts is effortlessly linked: Drag an item from a to-do list to the calendar and it becomes an event with all the associated reminders.
ThoughtPad, the second main application, lets you assemble notes and Web clippings -- complete with links, images, and files. As with tasks, you label notes to keep them organized. A Bookmarklet let me highlight text and images on Web pages and the content was added to my ThoughtPad -- while I used a simple rich-text editor to add my own comments. Moreover, a preview at the bottom of ThoughtPad let me easily navigate forward or backward through my notes.
One important aspect of Web 2.0 apps that Google and others haven't mastered is offline access, which Scrybe nails. The service made a local copy of my data, let me work disconnected, and then automatically synced changes when I reconnected. Yet what's most intriguing is the low-tech, yet brilliant PaperSync. Scrybe provides three elegant print formats that you can fold in less than 20 seconds to take your data anywhere. 
There are some features missing from the phase two beta I tested, most notable calendar sharing. Scrybe indicated they are evaluating iCal, hCal, RSS, SSE, and e-mail for this feature (planned in the next beta cycle).
Even incomplete, Scrybe teaches the established players a lot about Web 2.0 innovations. While I'd love mobile capabilities (currently the interfaced requires a 1,024 by 768 pixel resolution screen), there's enough here to make me give up my Microsoft Outlook Calendar and abandon Google Calendar.
Scrybe Phase 2, Beta
Availability: Mid-February
Pricing: To be announced
Verdict: Scrybe's online organizer melds Web 2.0 innovations with new approaches to traditional functions, including printing. With a minimalist design and attention to detail characteristic of Apple products, Scrybe should find a home with business and professional users faced with planning complex schedules and capturing notes -- especially anyone needing to work offline
Posted by Mike Heck on January 23, 2007 11:24 AM
January 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Sun-Intel chip deal and Orcas details
Killer (whale) app: "Orcas," the code-name for the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio, is making a couple of waves. It's getting a new Web designer, for one. And Martin Heller delves into specifics about some of its security meansures and the install requirements for the preview on the Strategic Developer blog.
Sun-Intel, part deux: Much has been reported about the Sun-Intel chip agreement. But don't miss Paul Krill's interview with Tom Goguen, Sun's vice president of Solaris marketing, and Doug Fisher, Intel vice president of systems software, on the future of SPARC and Neil McAllister's take on the chip news (Neil also recently outlined seven ways Sun could boost Solaris to a true Linux contender).
Switch-a-roo: Brian Chee thought his quest for a "small manageable gig desk switch" would go forever unfufilled. However, a sample switch sent over by HP is giving him hope for the future. See all the statistics on the Geeks in Paradise blog.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 23, 2007 06:00 AM
January 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Orcas getting new Web designer
Orcas, the planned next version of the Visual Studio development platform, is being outfitted with a new Web designer, according to a Microsoft blogger.
The HTML and ASP.Net WYSIWYG designer was described by Scott Guthrie, general manager within the Microsoft Developer Division, as a "major, major improvement over previous HTML designers" within Visual Studio. Guthrie discussed the designer in his blog.
Due in an upcoming Community Technology Preview release of Orcas, the designer will be leveraged in both Visual Studio and the Expression Web Designer tool. It features capabilities such as rich Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support, improved view switching and a split view between HTML Source and WYSIWYG design.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 22, 2007 04:37 PM
January 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Adaptec doubles SnapServer performance
What CPU is used may not be the first thing that comes to mind when kicking the tires of a storage system, but Adaptec did not hold back processing power in its new Snap Server 650 model announced today.
In fact the SnapServer 650 mounts 2 dual core 64bit AMD Opteron processors along with speedy 300GB SAS drives spinning at 15,000 RPM.
According to Adaptec benchmarks the 650 can deliver about 130 MBps, about twice the transfer rate of its closest sibling, the Snap Server 550, in similar, RAID 5 configuration.
The SnapServer 650 runs the Guardian OS and consolidates file serving and block serving for a variety of clients, including all major OSes and file access protocols.
The Snap Server was one of the first lonely promoter of unified storage for SME, but is facing now an increasing competition from many vendors.
The compact 1U form factor allows room only for 4 drives, which sets the max capacity for the unit to 1.2 TB. However, connecting expansion modules the 650 can grow capacity to over 64 TB.
The Snap Server 650 is available immediately with an MSRP of less than $16,000.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 22, 2007 10:00 AM
January 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Oracle SOA sweetness
Sowing the seeds of SOA: The allure of SOA is strong; the path there, though, is precarious. Test Center Analyst James R. Borck discovers in the lab that Oracle has made the move potentially easier with Oracle SOA Suite 10g Release 3, "the most comprehensive and easy to use product on the market today for effectively developing and securing most [SOAs]."
The rocky road toward Vista: If you're overwhelmed by the prospect of not only moving to Vista, but by the choice of whether to pick up Office and Exchange 2007 allowing the way, you're certainly not alone. There are certainly potential benefits -- but there are, of course, potential costs, and not just in the form of licensing fees. Oliver Rist shares some insights and perspectives from other IT pros stumbling down the rocky migration road which just might give you the guidance you need.
How can Solaris beat Linux? Whether or not Sun appreciates unsolicited advice, Neil McCallister has seven pieces of it for the company regarding what Sun should do it if wants to win back its Unix market share. Among his suggestions: Open up OpenSolaris under the Gnu GPL, and beautify the Solaris desktop.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 22, 2007 09:15 AM
January 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Isilon adds entry level clusters to its portfolio
Isilon Systems is announcing today the IQ 200, a new node aimed at building entry level clustered storage solutions.
According to Isilon the new node should satisfy less demanding requirements to quickly store and retrieve large multimedia files. Clusters built around the IQ 200 target non transactional storage for departments and entry level customers.
The IQ 200 has a nominal capacity of 2TB in a 1U form factor and can be connected using iSCSI in clusters that can scale from 6TB to 48TB. Complete technical specs are available here.
It's interesting to note that although the IQ 200 runs the same OneFS operating system and the same management applications of its siblings it cannot be used in the same cluster with those units.
The IQ 200 is available immediately at starting price of less than 40,000 for three nodes.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 22, 2007 08:10 AM
January 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: ActiveState's multilingual IDE Komodo evolves
Recently, I've been playing with beta builds of Komodo 4.0, ActiveState's IDE for dynamic languages. I have been using Komodo over the years for many of my Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl/Tk, and regular expression development tasks.
Conveniently, I use it on most of my Windows and Linux installations, because licensing is per-person, not per installation. Komodo also runs on Mac OS X and Solaris -- the latter did, that is, up until this version: ActiveState has dropped Solaris support due to low sales.
What's new in this version of Komodo? Quite a lot, as it happens, but most of the enhancements fall under the "improved" category. What's really new and worth considering, in my humble opinion, is the client code development support.
Komodo 4.0 does JavaScript debugging using Firefox and the JavaScript DBGP extension. It also has an interactive JavaScript shell that's available within JavaScript debugging sessions. These work well, although debugging this way slows down JavaScript execution noticeably.
Komodo 4 has a local proxy server that acts as an HTTP inspector, which examines HTTP requests and responses as they happen. Komodo's editor does auto-completes and call tips for XML and HTML, making mark-up editing almost as convenient as code editing.
The IDE also has a new DOM viewer for XML and HTML documents, which provides structured document navigation in the same way that the code viewer provides structured source code file navigation.
Komodo 4.0 is slated to ship next Tuesday.
ActiveState Komodo 4.0
Cost: $295 Professional, $29.95 Personal
Verdict: Komodo speeds up development in a number of scripting languages, even compared to the constantly improving free development environments for the individual languages. It's worth having if you do more than occasional programming in one or more of the scripting languages that it supports.
Posted by Martin Heller on January 19, 2007 05:40 PM
January 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Version 1.2 of Ruby on Rails, the popular open source Web framework, was released on Thursday, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of the technology confirmed.
A featured theme in version 1.2 is REST (Representational State Transfer) functionality. Also included are enhancements for HTTP status codes and multiple representations of the same resource.
Unicode capabilities also are key. "Since Ruby won't be multibyte-aware until this time next year, Rails 1.2 introduces ActiveSupport::Multibyte for working with Unicode strings," Hansson said in an email.
Ruby on Rails 1.2 installation instructions can be found here. A full discussion of version 1.2, dated today, is on the Ruby on Rails Web site here.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 19, 2007 04:52 PM
January 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Komodo 4.0, ActiveState's IDE for dynamic languages, is due to be released next Tuesday.
The IDE has been re-engineered for end-to-end development of dynamic Web applications, with tools for dynamic languages and Web application frameworks.
Komodo allows for editing and debugging of server-side and browser code. Technologies supported include: JavaScript, HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, XML, Perl, Ruby, Rails and Tcl (Tool Command Language). Supportive platforms include Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
New in version 4.0 is a DOM (Document Object Model) Viewer, which is a graphical tool presenting a tree view of XML and HTML files. Also featured is HTTP Inspector, for viewing and adjusting browser-server requests. HTTP Inspector allows for correcting application behavior.
A new JavaScript interactive shell helps uncover bugs in code.
Programmers can extend the IDE as well. ActiveState is offering a new community site with resources for developing and sharing extensions. Also featured are forums, FAQs and contests. The site is currently in a beta stage of development.
A new license for Komodo 4.0 costs $245 until February 28. After that, the price is $295. Upgrade pricing also is available.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 19, 2007 11:24 AM
January 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Recasting the Net
Building a better Internet: Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes foresees a huge Internet crime theft that will interrupt the Internt, the banking system, and business in general for a week or more. The problem, simply: The Internet as we know it is not sufficiently secure to stop it from happening. The solution, Grimes proposes: Build a new, secure Internet that he's calling Internet/S. How'd that work? Click and read.
Fault Simulator has its faults: InfoWorld's Strategic Developer Martin Heller got his hands on Version 2 of Compuware DevPartner Fault Simulator. Although he did find advances in testing and improving .Net application-exception handling, the specialized product still his its shortcomings, including a notably high price-tag.
Track those assests: Test Center Analyst Jeff Angus dips into Maxager 7.3 analysis system to discover an innovative BPM (business process management) solution that sops up back-end data to deliver return on assets (ROA) results. But instead of measuring net margin by product, Maxager calculates the margin per minute that your assets are capable of generating.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 19, 2007 07:39 AM
January 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Maxager 7.3 analysis system
Most analytic software is designed to address the palette of business challenges operations and finance must collaborate on. These products' have a broad direction, trying to address as many issues as possible. Maxager Technology's Maxager 7.3 analysis system, however, targets a specific range of challenging problems head-on with a sharp focus and an original point of view aimed at squeezing an extra 3 to 5 percent of profit out of the production capacity.
The software sops up back-end data, normally from an ERP system, to deliver return on assets (ROA) results, a single metric that's the result of Maxager founder and CEO (and well-known economist) Michael Rothschild's epiphany. His uncommon twist is this: rather than measure net margin by product, the right way to attack the measure is to calculate the margin per minute that your assets are capable of generating for each of the different products you might build with them.
For example, instead of a more standard analysis' conclusion that a higher margin-per-unit product is the optimal choice to run through a manufacturing line, one might discover that a slightly lower-margin deliverable can run at two or three times the production rate, making the lower-margin product the bigger margin generator. Thus, Maxager's system has the potential to resolve a natural conflict between operational production, marketing, and finance by combining each of their treasured measures and synthesizing their world views.
The Maxager 7.3 client has graphical displays for quick feedback, such as the topographic map (pictured above) that shows profitability and volume in an overarching, strategic view.
For the tactical view, an adjacent tab (pictured at right) shows key indicators for the product offerings so decision-makers can keep up with performance in near real-time. And while analysis of individual products is in itself a useful ability, you can use the same toolset to evaluate the ROA of various customers.
A what-if predictive analytics console (see below) projects and interacts with an analyst to propose and examine various product mixes aimed at increasing ROA, with a variety of key indicators to deliver shaded results that provide a complex perspective.
Rothschild brewed up the idea for Maxager based on the “Theory of Constraints,” an emerging power in management most usefully and readably described in the various postings at Frank Patrick’s Focused Performance Business Blog. Based on what I've seen, Maxager's uncommon take on business performance management stands to provide a persistent competitive advantage to the organizations that master it.
Maxager 7.3
Cost: Browser-based subscription service; “Fast Track” program starts at $20,000
Verdict: So far unique in its deliverables, Maxager 7.3 embodies a new way of looking at organizational throughput. By helping analysts devise ways to squeeze out more net margin per minute, it aims to deliver better return on assets. Every multi-product organization looking to find more net will find the approach well worth examining.
Posted by Jeff Angus on January 18, 2007 10:08 PM
January 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Exchange 2007 in the crosshairs
It's going to be a bumpy ride: Despite the post-CES haze, Oliver Rist has a pretty clear view of Exchange 2007 -- and it's not all pretty. This week's Enterprise Windows column details some of the potholes in the new version of Exchange, from 64-bit problems to management misalignments.
Here comes the Sun: David Marshall's got a few details of Sun's virtualization additions (and other new features) for Solaris 10 on the Virtualization Report blog. Is the sign of Sun making a run on Linux? And in other virtualization news, check out the updated lineup for InfoWorld's upcoming Virtualization Executive Forum in February.
Roy G. Biv gets into security: Roger Grimes' recent Security Adviser column on rainbow tables got a response from Phillipe Oechslin that explains a new use for rainbow tables: cracking Office documents. Oechslin is the man who developed rainbow tables, so he certainly knows of what he speaks.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 18, 2007 11:19 AM
January 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Rich CRM-y goodness
Salesforce to be reckoned with: It's been a while since Test Center Analyst dove into hosted CRM service Salesforce.com, but his latest look suggests it was well worth the wait. "The Winter '07 release offers plenty of updates that should put SFDC back in the spotlight and help it compete in the on-demand SFA space. A more flexible UI, improved workflow, and new server-side programming options greatly improve business opportunity," he writes. And you visual types especially should check out our slideshow tour of the product.
Take my BlackBerry ... please! InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager pays tribute to the arguable king of mobile devices: the BlackBerry. It may not be as sexay as the iPhone and other gadgets unveiled at CES, but by golly, the thing does what you want it to: It pushes your e-mail messages to you reliably. Yet still, Tom dreams of a finding a superphone that will give him cause to retire his BlackBerry, one "that reaches beyond the concept of two-way paging and yet works the instant you remove your device from its box."
Reading material: Strategic Developer Martin Heller reports that Raymond Chen's new book The Old New Thing: Practical Development Throughout the Evolution of Windows has a little something for everyone -- though the more you know about programming, you more you'll get out of it. "If you're an old Windows programmer, like me, you'll follow the whole book with interest."
Posted by Ted Samson on January 17, 2007 07:31 AM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Mono, an open source implementation of the .Net Framework, is to be fitted with features from the C# 3.0 programming language, specifically LINQ (Language Integrated Query) functionality, said Miguel de Icaza, founder of Mono.
"It means that you get a kind of strongly typed, SQL-like query system built right into the language," de Icaza said on Tuesday. LINQ for XML capabilities, for interacting with XML documents, are expected for Mono in the short term but no timetable is set for implementing LINQ capabilities for SQL, for database activities.
Addition of C# 3.0 capabilities to Mono are expected to take six months, with a trial version due in three months.
Lambda expressions, which turn code into data, also are planned for Mono. Additionally, a Visual Basic compiler is planned. "What this allows [Visual Basic developers] to do is actually move their development over from Wndows to Linux," said de Icaza.
Mono is an implementation of .Net for Linux, Mac OS and Solaris. "Today, there's a very large contingent of people that develop for Windows for .Net and they also want to support Linux and Mac OS and Solaris," de Icaza said.
"It's probably today our largest user base," he said.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 16, 2007 04:27 PM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Salesforce.com Winter '07 sizzles
Salesforce.com released their Winter '07 Enterprise Edition earlier today, and it's incredible. After taking an advance look, I found it to potentially be the most significant SFA rollout from the pioneering software-as-a-service company in years. With many of the enhancements prescribed in my last review making it onto the product roadmap, this edition has a newfound sense of direction in terms of usability, automation, and enterprise connectivity that should greatly benefit adoption and accelerate ROI.
Perhaps the most visible upgrade in Winter '07 comes from the ability to tailor the entire interface like never before. Gone are the days of jumping between browser pages just to get the data you need: an added Console tab offers list views from across the platform on a single page.
I also liked the functionality infused by the sleek new AJAX underpinnings. Previously static features, like the calendar, now sport mouseover pop-ups for quick, clickless event details and editing. The same applies to a new categories banner across the page top that reveals real-time status and details on items such as pending opportunities and activities, which improve productivity. Both make strong UI additions.
The updated dashboards are too cool for school. Now with made-to-order insight through embedded S-Controls (widgets and services for plugging custom apps or analytics into the mix), these dashboards go a long way toward graphically illuminating KPIs. 
The expanded workflow feature has a good, point-and-click rules development interface allowing quick automation of tasks as well as approvals, e-mail alerts, and data field updates. Also, workflow can fire off XML SOAP messages, making SFDC (Salesforce.com) that much easier to integrate with my in-house apps.
To aid development, SFDC is rolling out its Ajax Toolkit as part of its new APEX API 8 and pending APEX programming language. APEX enables server-side processing for benefits like real-time updates - previously relegated to forced polling of data - and more efficient data handling. The customizable interactions and business logic will help compete against companies that already posses scripting, like NetSuite.
From what I've seen so far, Winter '07 is going to be a hot one for Salesforce.com. This preview is only the tip of the iceberg -- I'll be plowing into its many additional enhancements before the spring thaw, so keep watch for the full review from the InfoWorld Test Center. Meanwhile, you can view a slide-show tour of new features in Winter '07 Edition here.
Salesforce.com Winter '07 Enterprise Edition
Available: Now
Pricing: Starts at $125 per user per month
Verdict: The Winter '07 release offers plenty of updates that should put SFDC back in the spotlight and help it compete in the on-demand SFA space. A more flexible UI, improved workflow, and new server-side programming options greatly improve business opportunity.
Posted by James Borck on January 16, 2007 11:46 AM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Virtualization goes open-source
What's in the box?: For all the buzz about virtualization in 2006, it's certainly not dying down in 2007. InnoTek is making its VirtualBox virtualization platform available as open-source technology under the GPL, a move that could prove interesting as the market develops. Get more details on the Virtualization Report blog. (Greg Nawrocki on the Grid Meter blog has a few virtualization resources to recommend, too.)
Fresh from the Test Center: Our exclusive review of BMC's AppSight bug-finder finds that it's a great bundle of code-testing features -- as long as you don't need to run it on Linux or Unix servers.
Second Life spotlight: It may be a virtual world with all the trappings of meatspace and amazingly complex environments and customized avatars, but what does it take to keep the Second Life environment running? Get a peek behind the curtain as InfoWorld Editor in Chief Steve Fox talks to Joe Miller, vice president of platform and technology development at Linden Lab in this video interview.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 16, 2007 09:49 AM
January 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
LSI, IBM unload more storage for SMBs
The new year starts with a segue to last year's torrential cascade of new storage products aimed at entry-level customers.
LSI Logic is announcing today the Engenio 1932, a 2U enclosure with 12 SAS (srial attached SCSI) drive bays that can be expanded up to 48 drives, connecting up to three extension modules via SAS.
The 1932 is based on the same modular architecture of the previously announced 1331 and 1333 models, but it offers 4Gb FC front-end connectivity instead of SAS, making the device a likely candidate for departmental or entry-level storage networks.
By contrast, the SAS front-end connectivity of the 133X models suggests deployment as host attached storage via direct server connection or using a SAS switch.
The new enclosures also inherit from the 133x models the LSI Logic Simplicity management application and the ability to take snapshots
In a concurrent announcement IBM is revealing two new enclosures, the System Storage DS3200, based on the Engenio 1333, and the DS3400, based on the 1932.
These new enclosures exemplify the flexibility of SAS, with essentially the same technology, providing drive, front-end and back-end connectivity.
It's too soon to speculate, but that flexibility should prove more cost-effective and eventually outsell solutions based on old parallel SCSI.
According to IBM the two enclosures should be available by the end of the month, starting at $4,500 for the DS3200 and $6,500 for the DS3400.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 16, 2007 12:39 AM
January 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Prostor Systems opens to perpendicular recording drives
If you're sold on the idea of backing up to a removable disk drive your target media have just become larger, 160GB to be accurate.
Prostor Systems is announcing today a new capacity increase for its RDX technology that offers now drives in 40GB, 80GB, 120GB and 160GB capacity.
RDX solutions combine a docking station, mounted internally or externally, and a cartridge built around a 2.5 disk drives. Differently from tape drives, an RDX docking station can read and write cartridges of any capacity.
The new 160GB model is the first cartridge to adopt drives with perpendicular recording, which opens the way to even larger future media. Currently, the RDX road map indicates a capacity growth up to 500GB per cartridge.
Price and availability of the 160GB RDX drives should be announced shortly by technology licensees Imation and Tandberg Data, according to Prostor.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 15, 2007 09:20 AM
January 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Triple blade battle
Which blade server cuts it? When the InfoWorld Test Center called forth challengers for our latest server-blade duel, four answered -- yet only three showed up to do battle: Dell, HP, and Sun. The no-show was IBM, which inexplicably backed out at the very last minute. Jump to whatever conclusions you like there. As for the testing among the remaining trio, analysts Brian Chee and Paul Venezia discovered a rennaisance under way in the world of blades as the technology continues to evolve toward enterprise-worthiness -- especially with the increasing popularity and viability of virtualization.
Open source yield better code: Senior Editor Neil McAllister takes a look at the business strategy of Aras, a company that recently open-sourced its suite of product development and planning software -- which run exclusively on Microsoft. Surprising? Perhaps. But the company finds that when it can spend more time on developing code than counting its software licenses, the creates greater demand for its products -- and revenue through support services.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 15, 2007 03:00 AM
January 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: A triple dose of reviews
Potent yet pricy bug catcher: Developer want bugs in their code about as much as chefs want flies in their soup of the day. Unfortunately, the former can be a lot more difficult to find and remove. Test Center analyst Andrew Binstock got to take an exclusive look at BMC/Identify AppSight which proved itself an astoundingly potent solution for reproducing and tracking down bugs. Its feature set is astounding, but alas, its pricetag may be more than many shops will be able (or willing) to afford.
Exchange killer returns with a vengeance: The first time Test Center analysts Oliver Rist and Jamie Bernstein looked at the Gordano Messaging Suite, they determined the had a potent Linux-fueled alternative to Exchange on their hands. Well, GMS has hit version 12, and it's even better than before, Jamie finds, boasting more polish, better management features, spruced up calendaring, and more. Further, its AutoPort feature makes migrating from Exchange astoundingly simple.
Cisco upgrades 7200 series: It's kind of like putting a state-of-the-art sports car engine in the frame of your 2001 family sedan. Cisco has unleased the new NPE (Network Processing Engines) G2 for its lines of 7200 router series, which will let admins upgrade their hardware without having to take it off the rack. Test Center Analyst Paul Venezia finds in his testing that new engine doubles the 7200's performance -- plus it comes with other nifty features, like VPN acceleration.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 12, 2007 03:00 AM
January 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft has released a January 2007 Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the planned "Orcas" release of Visual Studio.
Orcas is Microsoft's next-generation development tool for Windows Vista, the 2007 Office System and the Web, Microsoft said.
Orcas is intended to deliver on Microsoft's vision for smart client applications by enabling developers to build connected applications with a rich user experience, the company said. The CTP enables developers to work with the upcoming toolset and platform improvements.
Featured in the CTP are more powerful data APIs, with the ADO.Net Entity Framework and LINQ (Language Integrated Query) to ADO.Net technologies. Also included is C# 3.0 language support, as are ClickOnce improvements for deploying Windows Presentation Foundation applications.
Runtime and design-time support for Office 2007 is included.
Download details can be accessed here.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 11, 2007 03:14 PM
January 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Dispatches from CES
Gadgets and gizmos galore: Oliver Rist is braving the Vegas crowds at CES to bring you a taste of the portable future. Check out the fancy Flybook tablet, Packet8's VoIP deal (with nifty video phone), and Buffalo Technology's small-but-powerful TeraStation Pro II. Looks like there are plenty of new toys to drool over at this year's show, although today's Enterprise Windows column takes Microsoft to task for a few shortcomings in its Home Server.
The other side of CES: On the other hand, Brian Chee is at CES too, and he's discovering a dark side: there are still many, many Bluetooth devices roaming the world without security protection. Brian did a straightforward experiment: "some simple scanning with my old iPaq H3900 with the older v1.0 Blue Tooth radio. (limited distance) With at least 2 dozen devices in range, 80% of these were willing to talk to me, 80% of those were willing to accept business cards and 10% were willing to accept a file." Yikes. Time to re-examine your wireless security.
Speed racer: InfoWorld storage maven Mario Apicella's looking for faster storage before diving into Vista. Turns out there are a couple of technologies making waves in the performance fishbowl: the SanDisk SSD UATA 5000, hybrid drives, and Intel's Robson cache. Check out today's Storage Insider column and find out if any of these are ready for prime time booting.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 11, 2007 09:37 AM
January 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
webMethods ships Fabric 7.0 for BPM
WebMethods is now shipping its webMethods Fabric 7.0 business process management suite, the company said on Thursday.
Featured is an environment for process development, automation and monitoring. The webMethods Infravio X-Registry and Infravio X-Broker are featured for SOA governance. A new modeling environment based on Eclipse provides a single toolset for the process lifecycle, the company said.
Business activity monitoring is included as well, along with business rules management provided by Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor. Codeless assembly of AJAX-based (Asynchronous JavaScript) applications also is featured.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 10, 2007 10:18 AM
January 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Apple rings in iPhone era
iPhone's no Blackberry killer: Apple unleashed its much-anticipated iPhone at the Macworld 2007, but InfoWorld Mac enthusiast Tom Yager declares that Apple's latest gadget isn't a match for the ever-popular Blackberry, which boasts are far more impressive feature set from for the average mobile worker. Further, Apple has tied iPhone users to Cingular/AT&T service, rather than giving them the freedom to choose for themselves.
Don't be a tool: Database Underground blogger Sean McCown has some good career advice for DBAs out there: Actively and freely volunteer the wealth of your knowledge at your company to ensure better job security. "If I hear someone talking about an Excel sheet they do every month, I ask them questions about it to see if it's smoething that could be brought into the DB to make their job easier."
Call IT like you see it: 2006 marked an important turning point in the IT world observes aforementioned Tom Yager. Rather than letting themselves be swayed by vendors as to what was right for their shops, IT managers set their own respective courses, then made vendors deliver the necessary solutions. Expect that to continue this year, he writes: "This will be a year during which vendors adjust to the fact that convenience, risk aversion, and status quo are not permanent IT priorities."
Posted by Ted Samson on January 10, 2007 06:00 AM
January 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
LTO 4 brings twice the capacity
Long a hub for buzz surrounding LTO (linear tap open) topics, lto.org today is announcing that the specs for the fourth-generation of the storage technology are available, right in sync with timing and expectations of LTO's six-generation roadmap.
The news means that vendors can now apply to obtain a license and start building the next generation of LTO drives and media, which we can expect to see starting in the first of half of the year. And with LTO 4 cartridges to offer a native capacity of 800GB per reel -- twice that of the previous generation -- the announcement marks a turning point for the technology, which already dominates the mid-tier, holding an 80 percent share on new shipments.
With its impressive capacity, LTO 4's sustained transfer rate will vary according to each vendor's implementation but the top performance should hit a zippy 120 MBps -- without compression.
LTO 4 will also inherit WORM (write once read many) capabilities from its predecessor, but encryption is the new killer feature that makes the new generation so much more interesting.
LTO 4 drives will have a built-in ASIC able to deliver AES 256 data encryption with minimal slow downs. Encryption key management will be vendor dependent, but decoding an encrypted tape will be possible on any drive, assuming the same backup application and encryption key are used.
LTO, gen 4, also marks a turning point because, according to the blueprint, LTO will look back at only the two previous generations, which means that LTO 1 cartridges will not be playable in the new drives.
The gap in backward compatibility is no reason in itself to drop or stay away from LTO 1 drives; it does, however, mark the beginning of a polarization at the two opposite ends of the technology that will become more evident as more generations become available.
Posted by Mario Apicella on January 10, 2007 03:00 AM
January 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: AJAX, Macworld, and CES, oh my!
Stranger danger: Martin Heller, author of the new Strategic Developer blog, recently set his sights on AJAX security and the role of prototype properties. He outlines a way in which a hacker can use prototyping to "hijack standard functions in a way that breaks security without causing any error message." Yikes. Check out Heller's example and figure out if there's any solution other than "don't talk to strangers."
Macworld vs. CES: Two big shows in one week, and we've got you covered. Tom Yager is blogging live from Macworld, so read his show preview and keep an eye on the Enterprise Mac blog for the latest posts (including coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote). You can also find out if that iPod-style Apple phone is (or is not) coming soon with our Macworld news roundup. As for the gadget-fest that is CES, we've got folks on the floor in Vegas, too -- we even tracked down Bill Gates for a video interview. The latest CES stories are all found here (touchscreen Vista laptop, anyone?).
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 9, 2007 09:46 AM
January 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
AVIcode next week is announcing version 4.0 of Intercept Studio, a tool for monitoring and diagnostics for .Net applications.
Both application failures and performance bottlenecks are examined. Application health is viewed from per-application and system-level perspectives of key performance metrics.
"First and foremost, in this release is our ability to [detect] both application exception failures as well as performance problems concurrently in real-time," said Chris Childers, product manager for Intercept Studio at AVIcode.
Also new is integration between Intercept Studio and system-level performance metrics collectors, which gauge functions such as memory and CPU utilization. Cause and effect relationships are viewed between these various factors.
Examining of 64-bit .Net applications is supported in version 4.0. Microsoft Reporting Services technology is leveraged to provide improved insight into application availability and behavior trends.
A disconnected monitoring capability enables monitoring and root cause data collection on non-networked computers.
Available now, the product can be used both in application staging environments or for ongoing monitoring. Pricing starts at $12,000 for a single monitoring console and server agent.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 8, 2007 03:18 PM
January 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Samsung hedges its mobile search bets
As Google and Yahoo prepare to battle for dominance of mobile search, one company is clearly poised to cash in no matter which search giant wins: Samsung.
Both Google and Yahoo separately announced strategic partnerships with Samsung today through which the consumer electronics company will ship some mobile devices pre-installed with Google search and e-mail apps, and more -- and some select devices packaged with Yahoo search and e-mail apps, and more.
Specifically, the Google-y Samsung devices will come with "a Google icon in the application menu, providing users with one-click access to Google search"; Google Maps, "an application that enables users to view maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses, and get driving directions," and Gmail for mobile devices, according to Google.
The Yahooified devices, Yahoo says, will come with Yahoo Go 2.0, Yahoo's new mobile Internet application that lets users "navigate the selection of Yahoo Go widgets for e-mail, local information and maps, and more"; Yahoo oneSearch, "a new mobile search service designed to give consumers instant answers through more relevant search results; Yahoo Mail; Yahoo Messenger; and Yahoo Personal Information Management for synchronizing contacts from Yahoo Address Book and tasks and events saved on Yahoo Calendar.
Amusingly, the two announcements have somewhat similar canned quotes attributed to Kitae Lee, Samsung's president of telecommunications network business.
Of the Google partnership, she -- ahem -- "said", "We are very thrilled to introduce Samsung mobiles with one-click access to Google services. Our cooperation with Google exemplifies our commitment to leading the evolution from the fixed-Internet era to a mobile Internet era and ushering in a ubiquitous world where mobile enables our consumers to access information about anything, anywhere, anytime. Samsung and Google will enhance users' mobile experience with a powerful, yet easy-to-use handset with simple access to information and personal management."
And of the Yahoo partnership, Lee declared, "Samsung recognizes consumers' need for Internet access through their mobiles anytime, anywhere. Samsung mobile phones with Yahoo services will provide consumers with fast and convenient access to the Internet, even on the move. Our successful partnership with Yahoo builds on Samsung's continuing efforts to enhance consumers' mobile experience."
Hm. The Google quote is much longer. Do you think Samsung is playing favorites already?
Posted by Ted Samson on January 8, 2007 01:06 PM
January 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Something wiki this way comes
Wading through wikis: Wikis have gained momentum as media for sharing information. Part of the credit for that might go to Wikipedia for demonstrating the technology's potential, but vendors have been hard at work priming their wiki wares to enhance enterprise collaboration. That's one of the take-aways from InfoWorld Analyst Mike Heck's test drive of four wiki packages from Atlassian Confluence, Near-Time, Socialtext, and Traction.
Open source distributed storage: Open Enterprise columnist Neil McCallister guides us through an innovative open source storage technology from Cleversafe that's "provides fast, reliable, highly available storage ... in a unique way. A document is sliced up into chunks of data which are saved on various different disparate servers. Using complex algorithms, the full document can recreated -- even if some of the servers are down. Definitely on the of the most interesting approaches to storage I've read about in a while.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 8, 2007 06:00 AM
January 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)
NYT warns against running Windows
A bit of technical advice appearing in the Sunday New York Times likely has elicited snickers from members of the Apple and Linux community and moans of displeasure from Windows users and just about everyone at Microsoft. That bit of advice, found in an article titled "Tips for Protecting the Home Computer," is to stop running Windows as well as Internet Explorer.
"Using a non-Windows-based PC may be one defense against these programs, known as malware; in addition, anti-malware programs and antivirus utilities for the PC are available from several vendors," the article says.
Of course, Windows' and IE's respective histories of insecurity are really no secret to anyone in IT -- or even anyone who knows what the acronym IT stands for; security holes have been reported time and time and time again over the year. Thus in some ways, the NYT's article is laughably dated.
Still, given how widely read The New York Times is, the article must come as a bit of a blow to Big Red, as it suggests that the perception that Windows and IE aren't safe might be becoming more mainstream. But more important, it may suggest that more casual PC users are coming to realize that real alternatives may exist to meet their needs.
Interestingly, though, the article doesn't make any mention of alternative OSes, though it does refer to increasingly popular non-IE browsers like Firefox and Opera.
The article doesn't come at a good time for Microsoft: Vista, after all, is due to be released to consumers shortly and Microsoft has invested a lot of resources in attempting to bolster the forthcoming OS's security -- not to mention a lot of PR time and effort trying to let people know about the company's efforts. Meanwhile, the NYT article makes no mention of Vista's security enhancements (though it does allude to better defenses in IE 7).
To Microsoft's credit, at least some IT folks out there have taken notice of the work the company has done to secure Vista. Case in point: InfoWorld's very own Security Adviser Roger Grimes wrote last month that "Vista will never be as secure as OpenBSD, but I believe it will be secure enough to ensure that Microsoft becomes known as a vendor of choice for a secure operating system. And that's a far cry from where it was five years ago."
On the other hand, there already have been reports out about security holes in Vista.
What do you think? Is the Times offering some sound advice here for mainstream end-users or simply serving up some FUD?
Posted by Ted Samson on January 7, 2007 11:41 PM
January 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: See VMware run!
VMware 3 in action: Not long ago, the InfoWorld Test Center had a chance to take a deep dive into the new VMWare Infrastructure 3. Analyst Paul Venezia deemed it excellent, but we have some good news for the healthy skeptics out there who subscribe to the mantra "Seeing is believing": We have a screencast, narrated by Paul, showing VMWare at work. Check out part one here.
The rainbow-security connection: Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes finds the treasured potential for stronger passwords at the end of the rainbow. Actually, make that within rainbow tables, which "contain hash values that represent a likely subset of all possible passwords the cracker wants to use."
New year, new patches: If one of your new year's resolutions is to stay on top of patches, next Tuesday will give you an chance to get started: Microsoft will be releasing eight patches addressing flaws, some of which are critical, in its Windows, Office, and Visual Studio products.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 5, 2007 08:20 AM
January 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The Groovy developer team this week is touting the final release of Groovy 1.0, a dynamic language for the Java Virtual Machine that integrates with the Java platform.
Groovy features a Java-like syntax with features inspired by Smalltalk, Python or Ruby. With Groovy, Java libraries can be reused and investments in Java skills, tools and application servers are protected, according to the Groovy Web site.
The language can be used for purposes ranging from shell scripting to Web applications built on Spring and Hibernate through the Grails framework.
"A lot of passion and energy has been put in this new version after two release candidates that have been tested against real-world projects: on a mission-critical insurance application, on the XWki second-generation wiki engine, as well as on the RIFE framework and through the Spring 2.0 scripting integration," said Guillaume Laforge, Groovy project manager, writing on the Groovy Web page.
Groovy can be downloaded here.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 4, 2007 12:27 PM
January 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Review: Coversant SoapBox sparks secure IM for the enteprise
Instant messaging (IM) is a business staple -- whether it's used for communicating among colleagues or chatting with suppliers, partners, and clients. However, with personal IM networks, such as MSN, AIM, and Yahoo, you risk confidential information leaking out unencrypted.
Enterprise IM (EIM) solutions from Microsoft, Jabber, and IBM Lotus, however, address business needs, including security. Yet after a first look, I found that Coversant's SoapBox Platform 2007 demonstrated better performance, more extensive integration tools, and lower cost than the competition.
SoapBox Platform 2007 describes three products: SoapBox Server 2007, which secures XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) communications; SoapBox Studio 2007, an open source SDK; and SoapBox Communicator 2005, the company's own EIM client application. Together they represent a neat solution that can be harnessed for secure collaboration by enterprises, ISPs, and other custom developers.
SoapBox Server 2007 installed easily on my Windows 2000 server (32- and 64-bit and well as IA64 Itanium 2 compiles are available, plus Linux and Solaris versions). I used a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for archiving messages and related tasks; Oracle 9i/10g, PostgreSQL 8.0.x, and MySQL 5.0+ databases are also supported.
One of this solution's strong points is the Management Studio, a client application that let me remotely manage my installation. First, I used the Managed Rosters function to populate contact lists. SoapBox Server automatically synchronizes with Microsoft Active Directory and NT domains along with LDAP dynamic groups. Since my network uses Active Directory authentication, users took advantage of single sign-on -- and I greatly cut setup time because SoapBox recognized existing groups. Similarly, SoapBox Server Policies helped me easily administer group rights, such as who could broadcast messages.
Of special note is SoapBox's ability to securely communicate with other XMPP-compliant servers -- either within your enterprise or servers installed at other organizations. This does require a bit of experience with DNS servers and other networking nuances, but a Coversant support representative helped me perform the steps in about 10 minutes. Further, the company has plans to automate the networking setup as much as possible.
I didn't test performance under a heavy load. However, independent benchmarks tests by HP Labs for Coversant customer RIPL (a social networking startup) certified that a single SoapBox server can handle 250,000 concurrent users and 5,000 messages per second. The Enterprise Edition I tested, moreover, permits up to 1,000 virtual SoapBox Servers on a single physical box.
What I can say is that communications through my test server using a mix of clients -- Trillian Pro 3, Apple iChat, Google Talk, and SoapBox Communicator 2005 (desktop and mobile versions) -- worked quickly and flawlessly. My colleagues and I effortlessly traded IMs and collaborated in conference rooms. Offstage, the system precisely logged messages, presence, and chat room conversations -- a must-have capability for an EIM to satisfy compliance auditing.
Rounding out this solution, SoapBox Studio 2007 gives .NET developers what they need to add XMPP-based EIM to existing applications. Studio supports Windows, Pocket PC, Linux, Flash, and smartphone platforms. There's a built-in trace debugging tool. Moreover, the 50 code samples should streamline development efforts -- and you can distribute your completed application license free.
Coversant SoapBox Platform 2007
Availability: Now
Cost: Enterprise Edition is $18,850 per server (32- or 64-bit); Standard Edition costs $4,850 per server; free Express Edition.
Verdict: SoapBox Server 2007 manages secure XMPP enterprise instant messaging across domains and platforms. It's easy to install and maintain, provides excellent value, while performance and scalability should satisfy large deployments. Moreover, the open source software development kits help coders produce custom XMPP-based collaboration applications.
Posted by Mike Heck on January 4, 2007 11:32 AM
January 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Piecing together Microsoft's collaboration puzzle
In the collaboration Groove: Oliver's back from the holidays with a resolution to do a full review of Microsoft's Groove Server 2007 in the coming year. The reason? The flood of collaboration talk coming out of Redmond these days, from SharePoint to OfficeLive. This week's Enterprise Windows column puts the Microsoft collaboration puzzle together.
Boot this: A new feature in the latest Parallels Desktop beta caught Tom Yager's eye this week -- it spans the physical-virtual gulf by "wiring its Desktop virtualization software for Intel Macs to treat a Boot Camp (Windows) partition as a virtual disk." Intriguing? Tom thinks so.
Watch those PDFs: A new PDF XSS exploit popped up recently - make sure you're protected. Roger Grimes has links to more information and discussions on the Security Adviser blog.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 4, 2007 06:00 AM
January 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Ruby readied for Visual Studio
Ruby in Steel Developer Edition, a Ruby programming environment for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, is being set for a late-January release, developer SapphireSteel Software said this week.
The package features editing and debugging tools for Ruby and Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers. Also, developers also can import existing Ruby on Rails projects.
Ruby in Steel Developer Edition is priced at $249, with a limited-period pricing of $199 available for early adopters.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 3, 2007 02:11 PM
January 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Technology of the Year Awards
Pass the champagne: Now that the midnight hoopla is over, the party hats put away, the bar closed, and confetti cleaned out of couch cushions, clothing, and shrubbery, it's time to kick off 2007 with the InfoWorld Test Center's annual Technology of the Year Awards. Check out our rundown of the top tech trends and our predictions for 2007, then view slideshows featuring the 41 products selected as winners from all reviews conducted in 2006. Are we on target? Off base? Post your comments and let us know.
OpenBSD, continued: Roger Grimes follows up his column on OpenBSD's excellent security with a couple of useful pointers posted in the Security Adviser blog. First, there's a first-timer's installation guide with step-by-step instructions, then a few clarifications and corrections to the original column, and finally, a few useful websites for those exploring OpenBSD.
Posted by Stephanie McLoughlin on January 2, 2007 02:13 PM