- SapphireSteel backs IronRuby in alpha release
- Test Center Tracker: Exploring the unknown in Google and Microsoft
- Test Center Tracker: How to Vista
- Test Center Tracker: Windows Server 2008 a "must-upgrade" OS
- Test Center Tracker: Like a pebble in your shoe
- Test Center Tracker: Get Your Reports Here
- Symphoniq views SOA
- Adobe upgrades Director
- Test Center Tracker: On the desktop and beyond
- Test Center Tracker: Is MacBook Air all fluff?
February 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SapphireSteel backs IronRuby in alpha release
SapphireSteel Software has released a public alpha version of the IronRuby edition of its Ruby in Steel developer tool for Visual Studio.
IronRuby is a .Net version of the Ruby programming language. The alpha release is accessible here.
Included in the tool is a visual forms designer for IronRuby. Also featured are a range of code editing and project management features
Posted by Paul Krill on February 28, 2008 07:01 AM
February 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Exploring the unknown in Google and Microsoft
My selection for this Test Center Tracker brings together two unlikely bedfellows, two vendors that coming from completely different starts entered a collision course that neither of them, nor many of us, would have predicted only a few years ago.
Is open really open?
Tom Yager tries to shine a light on the recent Microsoft conversion to the Open Source priesthood and the outcome is, well, worrisome. Does Redmond really mean "open" when they say it or are there strings attached that could trap trusting adopters later on? Here is the answer, according to Tom.
Meet the Android Google's Android that is, sorry SCI-FI lovers. With this SDK, which has some futuristic streak beside its name, Google hopes will persuade legions of developers to use it to create application for mobile devices. Rick Grehan took a closer look at what's inside the kit and... but I don't want to spoil the reading of Rick piece, find yourself what's the verdict on Android-1.
Posted by Mario Apicella on February 27, 2008 09:06 AM
February 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: How to Vista
Snow is falling, wind is howling, and the Sunshine State is dark. Sounds like a great day to contemplate your Vista migration path. In this Test Center Tracker, we look at how to plan your Vista move, one way to avoid network chaos, and little green switches for green small businesses.
This Way to Vista: If you're going to move to Microsoft Vista, you'd better put in the up-front planning time to increase your odds of a successful journey. InfoWorld's Galen Gruman has rounded up InfoWorld Vista Migration Tips for your consideration. Take a look, follow the links, take notes, and pack a snack: Migrating to Vista isn't to be taken lightly. Fortunately, you're not alone, so plan to take advantage of InfoWorld's experience during the move.
This Little ARP of Mine: Speaking of leaning on our experience, Brian Chee a Very Interesting Experience (that's tech-talk for incredibly frustrating) with routers out in Paradise. Take a lesson in ARP from Brian and save yourself serious trouble when it's time to make changes to a complex network.
Maybe it Is Easy Being Green: It may not be easy, yet, but it's certainly getting easier, with a growing number of vendors releasing products that demonstrate ecological sensitivity as one of their key features. Ted Samson reports on new SMB switches from D-Link as an indication that the trend shows no signs of slowing down. It's not just that these switches are green -- the fact that they're from D-Link shows that another company is taking small-business computing seriously, and keeping it green while doing so.
Posted by Curt Franklin on February 26, 2008 01:48 PM
February 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Windows Server 2008 a "must-upgrade" OS
Server 2008: the host with the most: InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager isn't all about Mac, as evidenced by his fresh new review of Windows Server 2008. Microsoft has made great strides with the latest version of the OS, including the addition of "fine-grained, modular configurability [that] lets you shrink the OS footprint down to virtualization guest-friendly size, and Server Core drops the Windows GUI to dramatically reduce the memory requirements of a virtualized guest," Yager writes. There's plenty more to be said about Windows Server 2008. See for yourself right here.
How to deploy Vista: Like it or not, if you run a Windows shop, you're going to be moving to Vista. If that strikes you as a daunting process, fear not: InfoWorld has compiled plenty of tips and tricks to ease the migration. Of course, if you want to fight for more time to continue running XP, consider getting behind InfoWorld's Save Windows XP campaign.
Windows vs. Windows vs. Windows: Wrapping up this Windows-centric Test Center Tracker, Enterprise Desktop blogger Randall Kennedy asserts that comparing users' perceptions today of Vista to their initial impressions of XP is illogical: "The introduction of Windows XP was a watershed moment for the PC industry, one that firmly cemented Microsoft's role as the pace-setter for the desktop. Contrast this with Vista, which is basically Windows XP with more 'stuff' heaped on top, and you begin to see why so many users are balking at the upgrade message," he writes.
Posted by Ted Samson on February 25, 2008 11:02 AM
February 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Like a pebble in your shoe
Like a pebble in your shoe
Don’t we love technology? Of course we do, only a crazy person would otherwise put up with the persistent roller coaster of excitement and disappointments that comes with the territory when you practice IT on a daily basis.
For example, only moments ago, while I was working on this comment, Internet Explorer crashed a few times blaming an Adobe Flash plug-in.
To add insult to injury, I wasn’t even using IE at crash time; The browser was just sitting there while I typed away in another window.
More frustrating yet, why did IE had to concede defeat like an unmoving presidential candidate only because an add-on goes south?
I am tempted to get on a thousand words tirade about the benefits of task isolation and suggest severe sentences for non compliance, but I won't.
Perhaps a better idea would be to issue a citation to the programmers responsible for the misbehaving code, and force them to take a defensive programming class within 90 days.
I am not holding my breath on that either, but IE repeated crashing this morning is a good stage-setting for today’s Test Center Tracker. Please read on for more pebbles in your shoes.
How hard can that be? This pebble was found by Sean McCown, who began scratching his head while doing some code maintenance. No, Sean didn’t have to challenge new frontiers, nor was he about to enter an uncharted programming universe. His relatively easy task was to do a search and replace on some SQL queries. How hard can that be? Find out from Sean.
Time for a new phone? When was the last time you looked at your cell phone with a critical eye? (iPhone owners need not answer that). Unless you are much more careful than most, my bet is that you’re getting tired of all the blemishes your phone now has.
Perhaps, there are also things you never liked about it and now can’t bear them anymore. Well you are not alone: Find out what Zack Urlocker has to say about his aging Treo 650 and see how that compares with your phone annoyances.
Posted by Mario Apicella on February 20, 2008 07:20 AM
February 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Get Your Reports Here
It's been a beautiful Tuesday across much of the land, the sort of day that makes you want to generate a truly comprehensive report. In the Test Center, we have reviews of two different report-generation packages and a Layer-7 switch that just happens to be great at reporting.
Strong Reporting Switch: When simple traffic control isn't enough, your network might be ready to see packets switched on application data, rather than mere source and destination information. If that day is rapidly approaching for your organization, you'll want to check out Steve Hultquist's review of the Consentry LANShield Switch. Steve found that the LANShield performs its switching duties well, but truly shines when it comes to reporting on what it's been doing. Speaking of reports...
Corporate Open Source Reporting: Oh, sure, we've all known about serious enterprise reporting packages forever. Most of us, though, didn't know that open source reporting software was quietly improving through repeated development cycles under the big-business radar. Now, open source reporting is ready for prime time, and Peter Wayner has a review of two top reporting candidates: JasperServer Professional and Pentaho Reporting. Neither retains the open source bones (or the open source price-tag), but Peter reports that each retains the multi-layered functionality and rock-solid code that should meet the needs of the most report-hungry organization.
Posted by Curt Franklin on February 19, 2008 06:59 PM
February 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Symphoniq is releasing Tuesday TrueView for SOA, to manage SOA environments by monitoring activity spanning from the browser to the application, server and service.
Intended to ensure user performance levels, the product tags and traces transactions across architecture tiers including external cloud services, the company said. Problems can be detected as the user experiences them by pinpointing the root cause of performance problems before they become widespread.
SOA represents new ground for Symphoniq, which previously focused only on monitoring Web application performance for J2EE and .Net applications.
"What we're doing in terms of the SOA area [is] Symphoniq focuses on Web application performance management and a lot of our customers are actually starting to deploy based on SOA. So we're starting to expand our platform," said Hon Wong, Symphoniq CEO.
"Our product actually measures real user experience," Wong said.
Featured is measurement of in-the-browser experience, visibility into which services and machines have been federated together and drill-down information into service performance problem code
Pricing for the system begins at about $30,000.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 19, 2008 08:00 AM
February 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Adobe is announcing Tuesday an upgrade to its Director multimedia authoring tool for building interactive applications and rich content, featuring built-in Ageia PhysX technology to expand graphical display capabilities.
Used for building interactive applications, e-learning and simulation as well as games, Director 11 features a customized publishing interface and functionality enabling users to convert files developed in previous versions of the product.
Ageia PhysX technology provides enhanced built-in physics, Adobe said. Real-life interactions can be developed, according to Adobe.
Also featured in Director 11 are simplified authoring in multiple languages and cross-platform support. Adobe acquired Director when it merged with Macromedia. Version 11 is the first release of the product combining Adobe and Macromedia capabilities.
With Director, users are able to bring in content from a wide variety of formats, said Rick Jones, Adobe director for Director and ShockWave.
Director 11 can work with the ShockWave Player for developing content for desktops, CD/DVDS, kiosks and online playback. Corporate presentations can be developed using Director 11.
Also, users can add Adobe Flash SWF files to Director projects. These files then can be played in Director and Shockwave and edited by launching Adobe Flash CS3 Professional.
Also featured in Director 11 are bitmap filters to speed up the addition of characteristics such as shadowing to text or images.
The JavaScript and Lingo languages are supported in version 11, with JavaScript now offering feature parity with Lingo.
Director 11 is expected to ship March 8, priced at $999 for the full product and $299 for an upgrade from the prior three versions.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 19, 2008 06:09 AM
February 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: On the desktop and beyond
On the desktop and beyond
Today's Test Center Tracker pick is on the periphery of corporate IT, and begins by briefly circumnavigating the desktop then sailing toward the unexplored horizons of mobile computing.
SUN courts the desktop The proximity of Valentine days is probably just a coincidence, but SUN's finally revealed attraction for the desktop has all the traits of a love story repressed for long time. With the acquisition of Innotek SUN is also reassuring the millions of people who are already using VirtualBox, but please read David Marshall's story for more.
To iPhone or not to iPhone... Can its beauty and slick features gain the iPhone a legitimate place in the corporate world? Security consultant Leon Erlanger has been asking this question and others, but not from the predictable crowd of iPhone zealots. The answers that Leon collected from corporate circles may be surprising.
Mobile applications wanted Are we taking advantage of the millions of smart phones and other mobile gadgets we constantly carry around? Probably not, argues Tom Yager. Read this intriguing chapter of "Ahead of the Curve" to find out what we still can't do with those gadgets and why.
Posted by Mario Apicella on February 13, 2008 08:58 AM
February 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Is MacBook Air all fluff?
Lighter than air: Steve Jobs elicted oohs and ahhs with last month's unveiling of the MacBook Air, the world's thinnest laptop by Apple's estimation. Test Center Contributing Editor Paul Venezia has taken the machine for a test drive to assess just what the trade-offs are for the nifty form factor: "There are sacrifices, to be sure, such as the single USB port and the lack of an internal optical drive, but they're minor when the Air's size and weight are taken into consideration."
Playing with Cobra: Strategic Developer Martin Heller spent part of his weekend dabbling in Cobra, an open-source language that blends Python and Eiffel -- with other influences on top. His advice: Give it a try, and "expect an interesting language for console applications that's on the verge of becoming useful."
5 things SOA vendors are missing: Real World SOA blogger David Linthicum has compiled an insightful list of points that seem to evade many purveyors of services-oriented architecture wares. Among them: Your product has to work (yes, he's picky that way), and you have to know what SOA is.
Posted by Ted Samson on February 11, 2008 10:06 AM
February 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Varonis adds Unix to data governance product
Varonis Systems Monday announced DatAdvantage version 3.5, providing data governance for Unix.
Previously available for Windows, DatAdvantage provides visibility, auditing and recommendations to ensure unstructured Unix data is accessible for business needs. A single user interface for DatAdvantage shows both Windows- and Unix-based unstructured data. Varonis defines unstructured data as data residing outside of a database, such as image files or video.
"Our product helps identify who has access as well as who should have access," to data, said Raphael Reich, senior product marketing manager at Varonis.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 11, 2008 07:02 AM
February 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Open source data integration tool offered
Talend is announcing availability Monday of version 2.3 of its open source data integration product, Talend Open Studio.
The software connects to databases and business applications and features more than 30 new components, the company said. Users can trigger the execution of jobs based on data conditions.
Full backing for WSDL Web services is featured, enabling data integration processes to become data services components in SOA. Performance has been improved as well.
Connectivity has been extended to Microsoft Dynamics and SQL Server; more than 150 native connectors are available.
Also featured is execution of groovy scripts and the ability to load Java classes.
An interactive debugging capability known as Trace Mode enables viewing of data as it flows through processes. It has been enhanced to include expand/collapse options, pause/resume capabilities and step-by-step mode for more flexibility over process execution, Talend said.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 11, 2008 06:37 AM
February 06, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Drives, power and politics
Drives, power and politics
What can possibly link small form factor drives, virtual desktops and the power of HPC? Nothing if not your interest, I believe is the correct answer. Today's column is a short but fascinating trip bordering some major technologies. Enjoy.
New Mexico to share HPC power, for a fee? I think you’ll like this story because it’s about a top tier HPC system, the money it will cost, a creative way to lessen the burden on the tax payers and perhaps just a pinch of politics, of the good kind, that is. Read John West intriguing report to find out more.
Getting ready for virtual desktops. I was rather surprised to see my new doctor stopping to type things on a computer keyboard while he visited me. Even more surprising was that his office was filled with HP thin client modules. Well done, doc! Keep apps and data well separated from the human interface gear. If this separation sounds like something you could use too, Citrix has just released the Citrix Provisioning Server 4.5, a new version that offers the tools to do that breakup via software, David Marshall reports.
Small drives are getting big The InfoWorld Test Center tries hard every year, but it’s humanly impossible to review every new product or service that hits the market. That’s why I keep my eyes peeled to catch also reviews done elsewhere: Some are really worth sharing. My pick this time is an extensive round up of 250GB small form factor drives recently published by the X-bit labs.
Posted by Mario Apicella on February 6, 2008 11:26 AM
February 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Virtually Green Blogs
It's a bloggy day in the Test Center, with a look at green features in unexpected places and reports from the InfoWorld Virtualization Executive Forum.
Unexpected Hints of GreenTed Samson went looking for different shades of green and found them at companies like PeopleCube an BigFix. Increasing the intelligence through which employees reserve assets like conference rooms and audio-visual equipment may not sound green, but Samson found that making the best use of physical plant resources, like PeopleCube is working to do. can have a big impact on overall energy use. BigFix is addressing energy use, as well, with features that bring greater intelligence to the on/off control of servers and application infrastructure pieces. It just goes to show that "sustainable" can start in all sorts of interesting places.
The Virtual Future: Yesterday was Virtual Computing Day here at InfoWorld, and the timing was set to coincide with the Virtualization Executive Forum held in San Francisco. I joined many of my colleagues (and many of our readers) there, and began a series of comments in the SMB IT blog. There will be more my notes at the Forum, but head over now to read the first posts and leave your comments and questions on the virtual future of your IT shop.
Posted by Curt Franklin on February 5, 2008 12:04 PM
February 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)
IBM touts open source app server use
IBM this week announced two companies using its open source application server, WebSphere Application Server Community Edition (WAS CE).
The two companies are Avada Software and Nexxar Group. Avada plans to offer its messaging management solutions with WAS CE. Avada also will support the product.
Nexxar, a money transfer company, is using WAS CE for regulatory compliance in global financial services for enterprises and individuals, IBM said.
WAS CE Version 2.0 uses Java enterprise edition standards to help deploy SOA technologies, IBM said. It based on the Apache Geronimo application server.
Distribution of WAS recently surpassed the two million mark, IBM said.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 5, 2008 11:12 AM
February 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Gordano offers Gizmos for mashups
Gordano is announcing the release Tuesday of Gizmos, a mashup technology bundled with the Gordano Messaging Suite (GMS), which serves as an alternative to Microsoft Exchange.
With Gizmos, GMS users can interface with external data sources without leaving the GMS interface. Integrated into the main WebMail interface, Gizmos can in some instances do work in the background with no interface at all, Gordano said. Email tasks such as dictionary lookups and playing video and sound files are some of the mashups offered. Users also can build their own Gizmos in GMS.
Gordano's technology will simplify integration with third-party data such as customer databasesa dn CRM systems, the company said.
A Gizmo is a JavaScript file containing code needed to build an object with a set of predefined prototypes. Code required to develop Gizmos is related to what is used in Greasemonkey scripts. By aligning Gizmos with Greasemonkey code, users get access to more than 13,000 user-written scripts that can be adapted to work with GMS.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 5, 2008 10:50 AM
February 04, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Rogue Wave touts SOA service creation
Focusing on SOA data service creation, Rogue Wave Software has announced the release of its HydraSDO for XML 2.2 product and the next edition of HydraSDO for Databases.
HydraSDO data components automate the creation of service-oriented data services in Java and C++, the company said. These components enable developers to expose a data source as lightweight data services through the Service Data Object (SDO) API for data access in SOA.
HydraSDO for XML 2.2 enables XML documents to be read and updated via SDO and provides a data access service for XML.
HydraSDO for Databases lets developers use SDO to access relational data in loosely coupled and tightly coupled application architectures. Read/write capability is provided for databases using SDO without the need to write SQL statements. Databases supported include Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and Sybase databases.
XML and relational database data sources are made available through an XML-style SDO interface that can be used by multiple applications as a real-time SOA data service.
HydraSDO data components can work stand-alone or be integrated into RogueWave's HydraSCA product, which supports the Service Component Architecture (SCA) specification.
Developers can use the single HydraSDO API to expose data sources and improve developer productivity, Rogue Wave said.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 4, 2008 04:31 PM
February 01, 2008 | Comments: (0)
AccuRev change management links to ClearCase
AccuRev formally unveiled this week its AccuRev 4.6 for ClearCase product, enabling the AccuRev software change and configuration management (SCCM) system to co-exist in environments with the IBM Rational ClearCase software change management platform.
The AccuRev product provides bidirectional integration, said Cliff Utstein, AccuRev vice president of marketing. Users often need to have multiple SCCM systems under the same roof to accommodate different needs, according to Utstein.
"The benefit [of the integration] is in a ClearCase shop, they can now enable individual teams to choose the tool that best meets that team's requirements," Utstein said.
AccuRev's product accommodates agile development practices and outsourced, distributed development, for example, while ClearCase is seen as the commercial market leader in the space and is for a larger scale of use, Utstein said.
Although only officially announced this week, AccuRev 4.6 for ClearCase actually has been shipping since November.
Posted by Paul Krill on February 1, 2008 06:50 AM