Test Center Daily | InfoWorld Staff | December 2007

MORE ENTRIES

December 2007

December 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

You patched what? Hopefully this reaches you just in time to stop the automatic update rollout of Internet Explorer at your place. Last week's updates could do more harm than good, Sean Gallagher reports. Some unfortunate early adopters have experienced crashes and erratic behavior with IE. If this hits home, Sean has a couple of suggestions to fix the mess. It's all in Enterprise Windows.

A Bluetooth for you Let's face it, you work hard and deserve a personal reward. On the other end, She Who Must Be Obeyed may not be comfortable picking up gadgets for you. So what are you waiting for? Tom Yager has a couple of suggestions that will look good under the Christmas tree and will look even better on your ear. And sound good too, Tom found out.

How big is your screen? If you answered "Not big enough", a new version of VMware Workstation could help reduce some of the clutter, David Marshall explains. VmWare Workstation 6.5 is still in beta but the screen shot posted by David makes me wanting to jump in. On second thoughts, I may need a larger monitor too.

Posted by Mario Apicella on December 19, 2007 08:36 AM

December 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

WaveMaker ships Enterprise Web 2.0 tools

WaveMaker is shipping its "Enterprise Web 2.0" application toolset this week, the company said on Tuesday.

Featured is the WaveMaker Visual Assembly Studio and WaveMaker Rapid Deployment Framework. Developers can bring Web 2.0 capabilities such as self service to the enterprise, according to the company. Visual Assembly Studio comes with the Apache Tomcat server and the deployment framework. "Customers don't pay until they go to deploy," said Rick Saletta, WaveMaker director of marketing and product management.

Once deployed, WaveMaker Rapid Deployment Framework lists for $25,000 per server.

WaveMaker, formerly called ActiveGrid, announced the products in November.

Posted by Paul Krill on December 18, 2007 12:02 PM

December 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Mu busts vulnerabilities

Secure thanks to you, Mu: There's nothing quite like a vulnerability to expose your organization's confidential data to malicious types. If you're among the IT admins of the world like to plug those security holes, InfoWorld Contributing Editor and Security Adviser Roger Grimes has found an excellent solution: the Mu-4000 appliance. The box "uses intelligent fuzzing logic to expose security weaknesses and performance issues in any device that talks to a network," Grimes writes. We also have a nifty slideshow presentation of the appliance at work.

Open a box of virtualization: If you're in the market for an open-source desktop-virtualization alternative to VMware Workstation, you might check out innotek VirtualBox 1.5.2, just reviewed by InfoWorld Contributing Editor and Enterprise Desktop Blogger Randall Kennedy. While not without its flaws, the product has evolved nicely in recent months, proving an "extensible, modular desktop VM platform" that "shines with unique virtualization features," Kennedy writes.

Mandriva in a flash: Strategic Developer Martin Heller gots his mitts on a nifty gadget aimed at Linux users who like to travel light. Mandriva is offering a bootable 4GB Flash drive containing a portable version of Mandriva Linux 2008. "The general idea is that you can take this little memory stick with you and be able to run Linux from it, do Internet and Office tasks with Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, and save your files to the free space on the drive," Heller writes.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 17, 2007 11:48 AM

December 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Sybase offers SQL developer tool

Sybase this week announced Sybase WorkSpace 2.0, a design and development environment combining enterprise modeling and database and Web development in an Eclipse-based framework, Sybase said.

WorkSpace 2.0 also offers data federation and services development. Enhancements in this version include advanced integration with the Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise, Sybase IQ and SQL Anywhere databases. Incorporation of open source technology is done via plugins such as the Eclipse Data Tooling Platform, the company said.

With WorkSpace, users can leverage the Sybase environment from data, reporting and analytics levels. Data services can be developed. SQL editing and debugging is featured for Sybase databases. Support also is included for notification of real-time database events.

Pricing for Sybase WorkSpace 2.0 begins at $495 per seat.

Posted by Paul Krill on December 14, 2007 03:55 PM

December 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: From VM to the Web, almost

New processors performance, Web based applications and virtual OSes are all elements that can affect how you and your users work. Learn what's happening in those three areas in today's Test center Tracker.

Now let's virtualize those names Paul Venezia shares today what he learned during his initial weeks of exposure to VMware Infrastructure 3.5 - This new version is still in beta but its reliability defies many shipping products, Paul reports. Too bad that the VMware developers seems to be having a mental block finding new names. Can you tell on the spot what's VI3.5 and what's V3I? Oh well, if that's all what's wrong with VMware Infrastructure 3.5 I am ready to install.

Is AMD fighting misfortune? Can a new chip from rival Intel and some unfavorable comments slow down AMD? Well, bad luck is also part of it, and what's happening to AMD is nothing new in the chip industry, Tom Yager explains in Ahead of the Curve.

Keeping one foot on the desktop? That may be considered rude behavior but, figuratively speaking, that's what Microsoft seems to be doing with the release of the beta version of Office Live Workspaces, Sean Gallagher suggests in Enterprise Windows. With the addition of Workspaces, Office Live starts to look a bit more like Google Apps Sean explains. Is Redmond getting ready for a suite of Web based apps completely detached from its established dominion, the desktop? Read what Sean has to say to find out.

Posted by Mario Apicella on December 12, 2007 08:22 AM

December 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: A Little Green, a Lot of Testing, and a Dangerous Component

It's a small win for green computing, a balancing act for software testing, and the acknowledgment that the most dangerous component in any given computer system isn't the fault of either programmers or engineers in today's Test Center Tracker.

Green Gets Small: When you can take a low-power computing option and build it into a tiny package that reduced the need for raw materials and manufacturing energy, then it's a green win from start to finish. That's what Artigo has done with their latest development system, and Ted Samson takes a close look over in Sustainable IT.

The Testing Touch: When you build any software system, testing is a critical part of the development process. Who, though, should do the testing -- should it fall on the shoulders of those inside the development organization or on those of outside engineers with no "skin in the game" of development? Zack Urlocker looks at the pros and cons of inside and outside testing in Open Sources and reaches a balanced conclusion.

The Most Basic Vulnerability: There's no real disagreement: the most dangerous component of any computer system is the user who sits at the keyboard. How should you patch this critical vulnerability, and what can you do to protect the system if the vulnerability must go unpatched? Matt Hines asks the question in the Zero Day Blog, and finds a long list of suggestions.

Posted by Curt Franklin on December 11, 2007 10:11 PM

December 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM offers complex systems tools

IBM is announcing Tuesday upgraded software products intended to take the complexity out of complex systems development while also improving developer productivity.

Complex systems development involves systems such as cellular phones, airplanes, missile defense systems and even automobile anti-lock braking systems.

Among the products being unveiled is an upgrade to IBM Rational Test Real-Time, for testing to meet industry standards such as Defense Standard 00-55 and MISRA (Motor Industry Software Reliability Association). Static analysis, runtime analysis and component-testing are featured; the Eclipse tools platform is leveraged. Host and target platforms include C, C++, Ada and Java. Developers can ensure the quality of real-time and embedded systems, IBM said.

Also introduced are updated versions of IBM Rational Systems Developer and IBM Rational Software Modeler, which are design and development tools for model-driven development via UML (Unified Modeling Language) 2.1. These have been updated with the new UML Profile for DoDAF (Department of Defense Architecture Framework) and MoDAF (UK Ministry of Defense Architecture Framework) standards defined by the Object Management Group, which describe enterprise architectures in such a way that the architectures can be exchanged and analyzed. These two products are built on top of the Eclipse platform.

Posted by Paul Krill on December 11, 2007 09:02 AM

December 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Office Live misses the mark

Not quite dead: At long last, the big Redmondian machine has raised the curtains for Office Live Workspaces, its online document-sharing solution. Contributed Editor Randall C. Kennedy has taken a close look at the melding of Microsoft Office and the SaaS (software as a service) model -- and he wasn't overly impressed. "The lack of any real innovation makes it difficult to differentiate OLW from the myriad hosted and non-hosted SaaS productivity solutions," he writes.

Riding the Rails aboard XP: With last week's release of Ruby Rails 2.0, Strategic Developer Martin Heller decided it was time to update his installation. Alas, the process proved trying -- but perhaps other Rails enthusiasts can learn from Heller's suffering.

Borland blends BI and ALM: InfoWorld Editor at Large was busy over the weekend, reporting that Borland intends to roll out products next year marrying business intelligence with application lifecycle management. The solutions "will collect data stored in disparate toolsets for use in reporting metrics in application development projects," he writes.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 10, 2007 11:58 AM

December 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Following evolution

Not all people necessarily agree on Darwin's theory of evolution but when we focus on IT even the strongest advocates of "Intelligent Design" would throw their arms up in despair. It may be tempting to say that there is no intelligent design behind what's on our focus today but nobody can deny that there is an evolutionary streak.

The clock is ticking for Intel - What's your favorite mascotte? Many people would respond to that question naming a cute, lovable animal. Others might go a little out of their way to find that unique species that better epitomizes their marketing plot. For example, a few years ago Quantum named one of their tape libraries after a Mako shark. Well, as unbelievable as it may seem next year we will see two unusual and somewhat related mascottes, with a very different evolution path, battling over desktop domination, Tom Yager reports.

Not quite a Revolution - A propos of evolution, we all know that to be a slow process, which probably explains the name Nokia gave to their new phone, Evolve. The new phone is not much different in features from a previous model but is more environment friendly than its ancestor, Ted Samson explains in Sustainable IT.

Paper will be next - It may come as a surprise to most people that the PDF format has become an ISO standard. . What? Wasn't PDF a standard already? Also surprising is that, as reported by Summer Lemon of the IDG News Service, there was one voting member at ISO that didn't want PDF to become a standard. Oh well, there is always one, but what matters the most is that Adobe won't have the only say in how PDF will evolve in the future. Does this mean that I won't get as many updates to Adobe Reader? I am all for it.

Posted by Mario Apicella on December 5, 2007 08:59 AM

December 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Competition Rules

There's new competition, the word on subscription, and a bright new condition in Vista-land as we dive into a bunch of bloggy goodness in today's Test Center Daily.

More CRM: Ahh, competition. That's what Microsoft is hoping to give Salesforce.com with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, the software as a service that gets launched later this month. Microsoft has a hosted-service version that shares virtually all the features of the software edition, and Sean Gallagher has the story on both.

A Strong Subscription: One of the on-going questions in the open-source software market is how, precisely, companies can thrive while doing business within it. Savio Rodrigues spotlights one model and talks about the critical differences between a software subscription and a service subscription to both customers and vendors.

Common Sense Reigns: It seems that all Vista users have another strong reason to get ready for SP1: The WGA "kill switch" goes away. Randall Kennedy's Enterprise Desktop talks about just how good that is, and provides an update on a desktop benchmark challenge

Posted by Curt Franklin on December 4, 2007 12:52 PM

December 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Center on user identity

Federated identity 101: The allure of federated identity on the Web is enticing for IT admins. It "enables one organization to serve as an identity provider for another frees IT from having to manage the identities of partnering organizations' employees and customers, thereby facilitating the pursuit of competitive-advantage projects," notes Test Center Contributing Editor Phil Windley. Windley not only delivers an overview of federated identity; he hones in on OpenID and CardSpace, which stand proudly at the forefront of user-centric identity. Check out our entire special report one the subject, including podcast interviews, right here.

Microsoft vs. Kennedy: There's nothing like a bit of controversy to kick of the week, and lo, some appears to be brewing between the Redmond giant and InfoWorld Enterprise Desktop blogger Randall Kennedy. The short of it is, some techies at exo.performance.network ran some benchmarks comparing Vista performance to XP, and they determined that Vista pretty much sucks by comparison. Microsoft fired back by attacking the benchmark used in the analysis, called OfficeBench. Thing is, Kennedy himself developed OfficeBench years ago, and its gained notoriety in the IT world. Kennedy's not taking Microsoft "baseless" criticism lightly and has thrown down the gaunlet: "I hereby formally challenge Microsoft to prove that OfficeBench, as executed by the exo.performance.network research staff, is not a valid measurement of cross-platform, cross-version performance under Windows and Office." Will Redmond bite?

10 techs for a greener datacenter: At the risk of shamelessly promoting my own work, I discovered a great (and free) white paper from Emerson Networks the other day the outlines some interrelated technology strategies to reduce costly energy waste in the datacenter. I wrote about it in my Sustainable IT blog, and I suggest that datacenter operators download the Emerson paper itself.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 3, 2007 11:29 AM