Top 10: Yang's move, Microsoft-Novell developments

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who co-founded the company, stepped aside this week to the surprise of no one who has followed the recent travails of the company. While that ship continued to list, the IETF debated what, if anything, to do about the problematic DNS bug that was discovered earlier this year. And the BlackBerry Storm lived up to its name, if not entirely to its hype, as it debuted in the United States and the United Kingdom.

[ Video: Catch up on the week's news with the World Tech Update ]

1. Yahoo's Yang to step down as CEO and What's Yahoo's next move?: From the "it's about time" file -- Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is leaving the company's CEO post, which he took over in July 2007. While he took charge to try to right what was wrong with the company, his CEO tenure didn't go so well, with the failed Microsoft buyout attempt, followed by a failed ad deal with Google, with two rounds of layoffs and slumping finances mixed in. Yang will continue as a board member, and when a new CEO is found he will resume his previous title of "Chief Yahoo." What happens next at Yahoo has been the source of much debate this week.

2. A future without programming: There are presently tons of codeless app dev tools available, tools that will help you create an app without having to do any of the coding yourself. This is a great boon to people who want to create simple apps without having to write all the code, or even noncoders who just want to make the app that they need themselves. But they could also be signaling a decline for developers as they see themselves replaced by applets.

3. Microsoft, Novell eye Moonlight beta, system management: As Microsoft and Novell near the two-year anniversary of their controversial interoperability agreement, they are announcing a beta of Moonlight, which will bring Microsoft's Silverlight RIA technology to Linux. The companies are also rolling out the Advanced Management Pack, which enables management of Windows and Linux servers from a single console.

[ For a two-year retrospective on the agreement, featuring comments from Microsoft, Novell and an opponent of the arrangement, see The Microsoft-Novell Linux deal: Two years later. ].

4.JavaFX RIA technology almost ready: Sun says that general release products for JavaFX Desktop and JavaFX Script should be out by the end of the year. Featuring an application platform based on Java, a scripting component and runtimes for desktop and mobile systems, JavaFX, Sun officials said, gives the company a unique entrant in a market also featuring Adobe Systems, with Flash, and Microsoft, with Silverlight.