Future of Search

Computer Based Training

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:37:04 -0500

Computer-Based Training (CBT) is a form of electronic training that is attracting significant attention as an effective delivery method. It is a serious option for those who need to improve their educational level, from the comfort of their home.

Almost any domain can be included and the results are spectacular. It is not an easy way for many, but those who want to succeed, will do have a high degree of professionalism using it.

The early CBT programs were little more than programmed instruction teaching machines. It was not until the 1990s that their multimedia capabilities were put to full use. It is based on individualized instruction that allows a learner to work through the material at her own pace. It is a natural progression from printed individualized instruction and teaching machines to the computer with its speed, branching capability and visual display.

A series of computer-based training courses, or CBTs, are now available on the Web to help Information Technology customers to acquire or build on their valuable computer-related skill at their leisure. In today's fast-paced business environment, you need flexible training options. CBT offers you a number of ways to learn, either at home, in the office, or on the road. It is possible to develop training in a variety of formats: web-based, or on multimedia CD-ROM.

This project is the second in an Information Technology project, which aims to improve customer service by providing all IT products and services on the Web. These services will be supplied in an automated and convenient way, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week.

CBT was initially aimed to train employees as a more convenient and less expensive alternative to seminar training. Now, IT is using this system to bring independent learning to UH staff, students and faculty. By putting the courses on the Web, IT enables people to access the courses at any time, and to educate themselves at their own pace.

The definition of CBT is close to the definition of individualized training - an interactive learning experience between a learner and a computer in which the computer provides the majority of the stimulus, the learner must respond, and the computer analyzes the response and provides feedback to the learner. Its multimedia function has added the capability of displaying information in audio, graphic, and motion video form, which makes the teaching of skills and processes more effective than if only text were used. Individualized instruction delivered over the World Wide Web is a further development of computer-based training.

"Previously, the only way to access the courses was using a CD and an NT Workstation," says James Bradley, manager of Information Services. "We're trying to make it as easy as possible for our customers to access this kind of training. This enhancement also makes the service available to our own Macintosh and UNIX customers."

More than one hundred titles will be available at no cost, ranging from fundamental programming concepts to advanced techniques in almost every category related to professional computer application, as well as self- study courses to aid in the preparation of certification examinations. The primary study fields include classes in Web Design, Communication and Networking, Java, Microsoft Certification Solution Evaluation (MCSE) Training, Microsoft Certification Solution Developing (MCSD) Training, MS Office.

Each course begins with a one-time survey, a step-by-step objective assessment of the knowledge of the course material to determine how the course will be presented, and what it will cover.

"It is self-education," says Bradley, "Since the survey decides what's not relevant based on the customer's knowledge, they'll gain the information they need, without wasting time on familiar material."

The course ends with a Mastery Model, an exam that may be taken as many times as the user desires. According to Don Perry, an Information Services trainer who is leading the CBT project, this course is modeled like preparation courses for Microsoft Certification exams.

"The knowledge that you receive using these interactive courses is very valuable in the professional world," says Perry, "And it's available to IT customers, at no cost."

All customers have access to the courses online. There are two ways of using the online CBT's.

Web-based instruction can be used with any type of computer that can access the Internet and that has web browser software. The key to success in today's complex technical environment is the ability to manage projects efficiently and effectively. This takes strong skills and experience from people and teams that have succeeded in taking projects to completion regardless of the situation. Engineering and IT Services utilize proven experience and methodologies to deliver IT Solutions that meet the business technology needs of their clients.

The skills of Project Leaders and Team Members must be broad and deep. Important expertise in virtually every aspect of Systems Engineering, Software Development, and Technology Solutions are vital. A long experience in delivering complex solutions for the clients is telling that success requires skills in both working with clients as business partners, and in providing leadership to manage large-scale complex consulting engagements.

Computer-based courses usually incorporate proven training methodology to ensure the best rate of information retention for each employee or student. Full audio, engaging graphics, comprehensive text and pre and post practice exams provide the basic applications needed for training and IT certification. Also self-study computer based training course titles are including hands-on lab simulations to offer valuable working experience to provide the highest skill retention.

The courses are usually reviewed, approved or co-developed with industry leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, Lotus, Oracle, and more. If you are looking for industry certifications such as CCNA, MCSE, A+, Network+, CISSP, and more find a training provider!

Examples of where e-learning can be used are management skills, customer care, quality management, process engineering operations, manufacturing procedures - the list is endless. One system can train thousands of people and proves very cost effective reduces the need to travel to a training centre.

Computer training usually offers you:

e-learning Media Development
Computer Based Training (CBT)
Web Based Training (WBT)
Interactive Learning Media Authoring
Learning Management Systems (LMS) integration
e-learning Tracking Systems
Central Administration Database Logging

Computer training has, usually, a wide range of experience and skills in this area and can develop custom made e-learning, web based training (WBT) and computer based training (CBT) courses for on-line, off-line and CD-ROM deployment. Often an innovative mix of these allows for the training of thousands without the need for all to be on-line at the same time.

If you have people that need training in specific skills based areas then e-learning with links to reference material, tutors and on-line mentoring is an idea solution. Self-assessment test monitored and recorded centrally allows trainers and administrators to keep informed of who and what people are learning. On-line examinations can be carried out and full activity tracking and recording enhances the systems effectiveness.

Web Services

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:29:54 -0500

The standardization part: several influential vendors, notably Microsoft and IBM, have attempted to take matters into their own hands by collaborating on the development and publication of specifications. However, this approach may lack sufficient adoption by other vendors and users to reach critical mass.

The most successful and popular approach vendors are taking is to provide demos and case studies of what is possible. And, unanimously, vendors are keen to build "learning networks" not just about their own toolsets and technologies, but also about the potential of Web services and the loosely coupled architecture.

Are we looking into the future? Yes, Web services promises to steer us through a world of opportunities and empower us with the ability to conquer the next e-business frontier. Capitalizing on web services in this new way of operating offers companies a good enough reason to join the web services revolution.

Microsoft's .NET initiative is a platform for the tools and servers required in the Web services world to come together. The .NET platform promises to help build, own and operate the Web services of tomorrow easily. The future will be industry wide specialized web services that will emerge to provide reliable, fast and economical services that integrate together as a custom application to serve the needs of a particular client/organization.

Despite the fact that there is already more support for the core Web services technologies—SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI—than there ever has been before for any set of comparable specifications, the killer applications for Web services haven't yet emerged; and no one can yet chart a clear path for their future evolution among the plethora of proposals, organizations, and vendors' initiatives in this space.

Several influential vendors, notably Microsoft and IBM, have attempted to take matters into their own hands by collaborating on the development and publication of specifications. However, this approach may lack sufficient adoption by other vendors and users to reach critical mass.

Many industry organizations have taken positions on or adopted various Web services-related specifications, including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS); the Object Management Group (OMG); the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); and the Electronic Business XML (ebXML) initiative, sponsored in part by The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), UDDI.org, and now the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I).

An interesting and important side issue concerns what happens to UDDI. Despite the fact that WS-I includes UDDI, UDDI.org remains a vendor-controlled organization. UDDI.org has consistently stated that the UDDI project will be turned over to an independent standards body at an appropriate time, and that the future course of UDDI will be thereafter determined by that standards organization.

This intention has been a consistent part of the proposition that UDDI.org has offered its members and the industry at large: Whatever the privately controlled organization produces will be placed under independent control at some point. The original timeline for the handover was following the completion of UDDI V3. However, the group has badly missed the original December 2001 deadline for V3, and no announcement has been made about which independent organization is to assume control.

But beyond the core specifications—which give you interoperability (SOAP), service description (WSDL), and service discovery (UDDI)—there is even less consensus among vendors with regard to adoption of additional technologies.

Sun has said that additional specifications for "enterprise quality" or industrial-strength Web services are not necessary because ebXML already provides them. The ebXML messaging service is based on SOAP with Attachments, so there are some grounds for viewing the remainder of ebXML as enterprise quality of service specifications on top of core Web services—but ebXML does not include WSDL or UDDI. Microsoft has said that it will never implement ebXML, and IBM seems to have ended up somewhere in the middle as a supporter of both (although I guess you could argue that IBM is big and divided enough to take a position both for and against ebXML, depending on whom you ask). Among Web services vendors, IONA and a few others remain more neutral, and support both initiatives.

The initial push behind the SOAP specification was to get it adopted by W3C, and thereby place it under independent control and ensure the kind of widespread adoption necessary for standardization. Everyone could agree upon the standardization of SOAP because the real money to be made is not in the basic transport or fundamental communication unit, but in the added value services and features over which everyone is currently fighting. The danger, of course, is that the fighting will somehow spill over onto the foundational specifications, and that an effort such as WS-I will end up hurting rather than helping the effort, especially if it becomes exclusive rather than inclusive.

A Web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-process able format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards.

Four architectural models:

Message Oriented Model
Service Oriented Model
Resource Oriented Model
Policy Model

The Message Oriented Model

Addresses in the MOM and service references:

Protocol independent specification of delivery information
Response delivery information
Important concept that is lacking a standardized solution
Proposals for a reference framework:
WS-Addressing
WS-MessageDelivery
Gap that needs to be filled

Semantics in the Service Oriented Model:

Setting expectations:

Will make people's life easier
Examples of use:

Connect two services, ensuring that they speak the same language with same meaning
Merge data from different sources
Out of a list of 50 existing services, get only the 2 candidates that actually do what the user wants
Automatic recovery from failure, etc.

Continuing building the infrastructure:

In progress: service description, choreography, attachments for SOAP 1.2, internationalization issues
Needs to be addressed:

Delivery and service references
Privacy
Integration of semantics
Constraints and capabilities
Completing securing Web services

The truth is that Web services are usable today for many applications, just as the initial Web was. It's also true that no one really knows which direction Web services will evolve. It would be better for everyone if the user or consumer of Web services software became the force behind their evolution, rather than leaving it up to the vendors—who can't agree, anyway.

What a great day it will be when the users and customers finally stand up and speak for themselves, and start telling the vendors what they want and need—and what to do about standardization. Only users and customers can really judge the benefits, after all, and only they can truly force widespread adoption. Competing vendors by definition will find a way to disagree, and try to gain advantage over each other.

XML / XHTML

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:25:08 -0500

XTML was created for one basic purpose: To create HTML Tables quickly and easily.
The HTML of the end of the 1990s had become large, cumbersome to process, presentation oriented. This had dramatic impacts on accessibility and the web's device independence. Rather than being "access to information by anyone, anywhere, regardless of disabilities" the web had become "access to anyone with a browser on a PC with reasonable eyesight and few if any disabilities."

Recognizing this, the World Wide Web Consortium founded by now Sir Timothy Berners-Lee (inventor of the Web, HTML and HTTP) developed XHTML.

The underlying aim of this project is to build a solid foundation for the future of content on the World Wide Web. It is expressly designed to overcome many of the issues with device dependence and accessibility that developed along with the ad hoc development of HTML.

Like HTML, XHTML is a markup language. It has the same expressive capabilities as HTML, but a stricter syntax. This is because XHTML is an application of XML, while HTML is an application of the much older, pre web SGML. XML is an international standard language for developing other markup languages. It was designed as a newer generation of SGML, specifically for markup languages in a networked world.

XHTML's purpose first and foremost to be HTML as an application of XML. With this, come the benefits associated with all languages which are applications of XML.

XHTML is a much simpler, cleaner language than HTML. This makes learning, coding, and maintaining XHTML code much more straightforward. XHTML was designed explicitly as a device independent language. HTML 4 is a large, complex language. For many web-enabled devices, such as mobile phones, with limited computing power, the complexity of HTML presents significant obstacles. XHTML was explicitly designed with accessibility in mind. It is not an afterthought.

One benefit that is not widely understood is that as an application of XML, XHTML is XSL ready. XSL, or the eXtensible Stylesheets Language not only allows for the styling of XML documents, more importantly it allows for the transformation of documents.

But above all, XHTML is the future of the World Wide Web, at least for many years to come. There will be no new versions of HTML. XHTML works on any reasonably modern web browser today (that would mean just about every one in use). And it will work on all web browsers for the foreseeable future.

One of the major steps in transitioning to XHTML is the need for a change in outlook. HTML is seen by most developers and content creators as purely a human oriented technology. But increasingly machine processing, whether by search engines, accessibility devices such as screen readers, or browsers themselves is becoming as important for online information as the human readers of content. HTML developers still largely conceive of their content in terms of how it will appear as rendered in a browser to human readers. XHTML is much more oriented toward the information architecture of content, to the structure and semantics of the information.

Consequently, most HTML content is quite frankly an invalid mish-mash of invalid pseudo HTML, which "works" in a couple of major browsers (or probably only on IE6 for windows). This is a disaster in terms of device independence and accessibility, as well as forward compatibility of content. Such sites are largely inaccessible to machine processing, which with the increasing sophistication of search engines such as Google, and similar information processing devices is popularity suicide.

What should we be doing to transition to XHTML? There are a number of steps in the process of transforming your HTML content to XHTML. These can be don one at a time, or simultaneously.

Pretty soon:
- Preserve vertical alignment (especially now that XTML handles carriage returns within cells).

- An option to 'compact' the output HTML code to reduce all the carriage returns.
This would result in smaller HTML files, but they would be less readable.
- Set 'row-level' alignment in the <tr> tags, if it would reduce the repetition in the <td> tags.
A little later (maybe):
- Handle 'rowspan'
- Nested tables.

The purpose of XHTML 1.0 was to transition HTML into an XML vocabulary. It introduced the constraints of XML syntax into HTML: case-sensitivity, compulsory quoted attribute values, and balanced tags. That done, XHTML 2.0 seeks to address the problems of HTML as a language for marking up Web pages.

W3C's Steven Pemberton expressed the design aims of XHTML 2.0:

Use XML as much as possible: Where a language feature already exists in XML, don't duplicate or reinvent it.
Structure over presentation: Thanks to CSS style sheets, you no longer need explicitly presentational tags in HTML.
Make HTML easier to write: Remove some of the needless idiosyncrasies of HTML.
More accessibility, device independence: Make as few assumptions as possible about the way a document will be read.
Improved internationalization.
Better forms: Long overdue improvements are required!
Reduce the need for scripting: Include typical scripting usages in HTML itself.
Better semantics: Make it easier to integrate HTML with semantic Web applications.

These aims certainly appear pretty laudable to anybody who has worked with HTML for a while. I'll now take a deeper look at some ways in which they were achieved in XHTML 2.0.

The process of future proofing your web content by transitioning to XHTML may initially appear daunting. The fact is that developers and organizations usually find it less difficult and more rewarding than expected.

With the increasing use of a wide range of devices, and the growing emphasis on accessibility, as well as the increasing sophistication of web processing by search engines and other services, can you afford to continue with outdated content development and management practices?

CSS

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:20:20 -0500

CSS at LEAST helps separate style - but not always "design". And yes - there are very necessary design needs for certain audiences and markets.

Everyone involved in Web design, and more specifically in CSS coding, knows that mastering theory is needed to determine browser error versus human error. Theory is essential, but it's not enough, everyday we have to face browsers’ discrepancies, rendering problems and bugs. This, although initially discouraging, should instead be considered a challenge to our skills...

Two things, which seem likely to be added to CSS; first was transparency (or opacity), which is the ability to set a degree of transparency on the foreground of elements. In other words, you could make the text in a paragraph semi-transparent, allowing the background to "shine through" the text (or be composite together, if you prefer graphic-design terminology). The other was multi-column text, although there were no details given on how this feature might be accomplished.

Bert Bos of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) gave a talk in which he discussed the future direction of the CSS specification. First and foremost will be the modularization of CSS. This will entail splitting CSS into several mini-specs, each of which covers a specific topic, such as "Colors and Backgrounds," "Selectors and Syntax," or "Printing."

The benefits of this approach, as described by Mr. Bos, are an increased responsiveness on the part of the CSS Working Group, and greater flexibility for implementors. To take the second point first, the fact that CSS will be split into modules will allow implementors to tackle a module at a time, and then claim support for that module once they've correctly implemented the properties and behaviors described in a given module. For example, with positioning in its own module, implementors can claim support for CSS Positioning or Aural Styles, without necessarily having to worry about other modules. This will free implementors from worrying about the fact that the lack of a single property (or set of properties) will keep them from being able to claim, for example, full CSS2 support. Of course, there won't be as much pressure to claim full and complete CSS2 support, because the focus will be more on who has implemented which modules.

This change should have some interesting consequences. In the first place, it should allow the CSS Working Group to be more flexible and responsive to demands for change and clarification. It will also have the effect of showings, which areas of the specification are popular, and which aren’t; the modules, which have several revisions being the ones people, find interesting. If a module sits for a long time without many changes, it may not be something many people find compelling, or else something which is stable and doesn't need to be changed. Modularization will also allow revisions in one area to be made without their being held up by controversy over a change in another area, which is a definite advantage. Just because there is disagreement over a new type of selector syntax, that won't prevent minor changes to the positioning section from being approved and released.

And what new changes might be in the works? In his talk, Mr. Bos mentioned two things, which seemed likely to be added to CSS. First was transparency (or opacity), which is the ability to set a degree of transparency on the foreground of elements. In other words, you could make the text in a paragraph semi-transparent, allowing the background to "shine through" the text (or be composited together, if you prefer graphic-design terminology). The other was multi-column text, although there were no details given on how this feature might be accomplished.

Between the promised release of two browsers with 100% support for CSS1, and the knowledge that the CSS Working Group is continuing to examine the specification for ways to enhance and improve the utility of CSS, the future of CSS seems better than ever. Most important will be the widespread adoption of specification-conformant browser, of course. The mere fact of their existence will encourage designers to use CSS more widely than ever, and should convince many a doubter that CSS is a technology worth exploring.

CSS hacks allow web developers to send different rules to different browsers, usually (paradoxically) to make each browser’s rendering of the site look the same. This is generally necessary as Internet Explorer 5 and 6 have many bugs, so gets “good�? rules wrong.

There are two types of CSS hacks:

Parsing Error Hacks use the fact that browser “x�? stops reading a rule when it sees some weird combination of characters (like "}"), while browser “y�? continues unvanquished and receives the subsequent good rules. The problem with these is that they’re utterly unintuitive because they’re pretty random. If they aren’t well commented, you’ll never guess what they do.
Weak CSS Support Hacks use the fact that IE can’t support advanced css selectors, and uses those to feed a rule to an advanced browser. The problem with these is that IE7 is coming over the horizon, and it will understand these rules. There may or may not be a problem, but if you want to be sure that your site won’t break in IE7, you’d better do something about it.

Everyone involved in web design, and more specifically in CSS coding, knows that mastering theory is needed to determine browser error versus human error. Theory is essential, but it's not enough, everyday we have to face browsers’ discrepancies, rendering problems and bugs. This, although initially discouraging, should instead be considered a challenge to our skills...

SEO

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:17:30 -0500

SEO is unlikely ever to be an exact science since the techniques used to promote Web pages are constantly evolving as the search engines refine their algorithms to deliver more accurate results whilst combating spam.

SEOs will need to take usability and conversions into consideration when coming up with the search engine marketing campaigns in the future, if they're not already doing this. Therefore, we see there being a much brighter future for those SEOs who are able to make the transition. Whether that means learning all that stuff themselves or partnering with those who do, it's going to have to get done somehow.

The general opinion is that SEO help people make more money. With Web sites, we don’t need to guess at what works and what doesn’t. It is matter of testing and measuring, testing and measuring. Google’s Website Optimizer makes this process even easier. Website Optimizer all0ws you to experiment with various elements of your page- copy, headlines and images, in order to find out which combination results in the reports, which make it easy for you to make the right changes to the site, and achieve the best possible results.

As Pay per Click, advertising becomes even more competitive; making the most of each and every visitor will become even more important. People can get the edge with Website Optimizer. It is always god to know who you competitors are and what they are doing. In business, as in sport, the more information you have about your competitors, the better. If you know hat your competitors are bidding on, you can identify some opportunities you might not have known about otherwise.

The search engine world never rests. As online marketing professionals discover new ways to obtain top rankings the algorithms evolve right along side. There are two primary reasons behind the updating of ranking algorithms. To increase the quality and relevancy of the results, and to decrease the many pages of online spam.

As the algorithms are updates, new ways to affect the results are discovered, and the algorithm must then be again adjusted. This is a cycle that has been around since the early days of search, and one that won’t be going away any time soon. A lot has changed over the years, and the future is sure to also deliver its plethora of surprises, but there are three main factors that will always have some level of impact on your search results.

Some people say that the world of search engine optimization is over that the entire basis behind successful ranking lies in the power of incoming links. While incoming links do play a significant role, and in most cases are a necessity, they are far from the only determining factor.

There are many determining factors behind what will affect the ranking of a site. The three largest contributing factors are SEO, links, and site content. To compete in highly competitive industries a site needs numerous on-topic pages of content, relevant incoming links from a variety of sources, and, solid site optimization. While search is always changing, these three factors will remain constant. Each may change in the level of impact they have, but they will always contribute to the top listings.

Site content and SEO go hand in hand. Content is very important, but without the SEO to add focus, it can go unnoticed. Proper keyword densities, link paths and keyword placement will always ply a role in having the content discovered and ranked by the search engines. If the fundamental SEO aspects are not in place, there is a strong chance that the content may never see the light of day. Incoming links add focus and relevance for the site overall, but if the content is not relevant to the desired phrases the odds of obtaining a top ranking are very bleak.

Links play, and will continue to play a strong role in the future of searching rankings as they add that important vote of confidence. When site A links to site B, that tells the search engines site B is worth considering. Value is passed, based on relevance and the overall authority of site A. As more and more webmasters develop new linking schemes, the algorithms responsible for displaying top sites have continually evolve to weed out the ever-increasing amounts of spam. While Google’s current algorithm change and mutate over time as the Internet continues to evolve. If rankings were determined 100% by inbound links where would this leave us? Thousands if not millions of valuable websites would go completely unnoticed. We would also see many sites ranking that are not relevant to the actual search term due to issues related to Google bombing.

For us to know the exact future of search we will have to wait and see what happens but some things is certain t grow in popularity. The future wills undoubtedly see more advances in localized search, serving results relevant to the locality of the searcher. Is this the best way? Only time will tell, but even if this is the future, we still see SEO, link and content dictating the results. The SEO and content will have to be in part geared towards local information such as zip codes, city names, but thy still will be important contributors.

Links will undoubtedly contribute to rankings long into the future, but quite possibly will have a reduced role with more SEO fundamentals making a comeback. Take a look at MSN Live Search. As reported by Ross Dunn in the SEO BLOG, and algorithm update has shown increased value on fundamentals such as title tags and domain names. These two areas were once an incredibly powerful tool in obtaining rankings, and had reduced in value. Now, at least in MSN, they are gaining ground once again.

Still in its infant stages, Mobile Search is growing as more and more people turn to their cell phones and other mobile devices for search. Mobile search will likely have the most benefit for localized type searching; people looking for an address, weather report, local business, entertainment information, and so on. As time goes on the numbers of users using Mobile Search will continue to grow, and optimized sites will be the ones found by these searchers. A whole new level of optimizing mobile websites will likely emerge.

In 10 years time search will certainly look very different. While it has become a staple in the lives of millions, in the big scheme of things the Internet is still very young and search even younger.

SEO will always play an important role in having sites found in the search engines. Regardless f how search algorithms evolve will always require a level of on site content in order to correctly rank websites. As long as this content is considered, proper keyword placement and frequencies will play a role.

SEO in itself will continue to change. The proper frequencies of keyword placement, linking techniques and URL structure may alter, but will always have an impact. As we move into the future and as the search engine algorithms continue to evolve SEO will always play an important role in having your website obtain top rankings. While the small things will always change it is important to have the basic fundamentals in place and doing so will help sustain consistent rankings into the future.

People you care about can benefit from the wealth of information on new and maturing technologies available on the Internet. Help them learn how to do it. SEO will constantly adapt and respond to the quest forever more reliable and relevant search results irrespective of whichever platform or medium they are displayed on, and as the search engines refine their processes the opportunities to tease out a marketing edge through algorithm exploitation will gradually disappear. May the best page win!

Marketing

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:12:46 -0500

A totally paperless, highly-dynamic environment has been created in which ideas and images are exchanged free from the binds of the physical world. In this virtual space, there are no rules. There is no government regulation. What exists is the most massive amount of knowledge ever assembled on a common grid. It is for this reason that an Internet connection is fast becoming the best way to reach the masses and provide input into a large percentage of the Earth’s composite knowledge. The implication of a digital tomorrow on the way man conducts his day-to-day affairs is astounding. How will the business traditions of the past fit into the binary stream of the future? The world of mass marketing is evolving at an alarming rate, and the vehicle, which will bring the business of the future to the doorsteps of every person, lies in the web of the internet.

As technology grows and as the number of users increases, you will see the Web address begin to replace the phone number as the contact method of choice. When someone can go to a site and see an entire portfolio of products or services, the site will be where people go first for most information.

You are already seeing that now in radio and TV commercials that simply give people a site address and no number in which to find more information. Since no one knows for certain what the future will hold, my advice is to think in terms of an interaction between video, audio and your customers. For instance "live" customer service where a consumer can watch you in your studio and actually order from the shelf; or perhaps place an order for a "work in progress"; of course you will have to cater to your particular situation and needs. My point is that things like this will soon be not only possible, but also practical.

But it's interesting how close that future already is ... it's already happening.

It began with the rise of the Internet and then continued when smart companies started publishing their own educational e-zines, while more and more traditional media were establishing their presence on the Internet as well.

Direct marketers will be able to rely less and less on traditional “push�? marketing methods and will need to start considering other ways of getting their messages across … approaches that will have them produce content consumers will actually want to subscribe to and stay subscribed to (RSS marketing).

There's so much hype and misinformation about marketing online that it's very difficult for the beginner to find the truth. Most end up using wrong or outdated Internet marketing strategies and techniques that leave them working hard but getting nowhere. But don’t give up, because Internet marketing works. Web marketing is effective and profitable. Today thousands of companies and individuals from all over the world sell products or services via Internet and make good money. Professional Internet marketing information and tools will save you time and heartaches.

Any firm needs to present its products not only on line, but also on CD/DVD, Web sites or catalogues. We continuously strive to use the latest technology, creating products and maintaining services to satisfy our clients growing demands.

Various formats and dynamic presentation materials, such as Web sites are the best marketing tool for products or services. Digital photography, E-commerce, Flash animation, graphic arts, catalogues, most sophisticated dynamic Web sites can be presented on CD or DVDs without needing to rewrite the Web site code, while never being connected to Internet.

Flash

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:06:44 -0500

Microsoft is already developing a media box that will enable users to watch movies, play games, and control household appliances from one unit. Flash will play a vital role in the delivery of broadband entertainment, news, and information. If Flash continues to develop on its current path, it will become the essential ingredient that helps the browser glue many different types of rich content together. Video, 3-D objects and other types of media can be displayed using rich interfaces created in Flash.

Video was, is and will be a huge new trend for the Flash Player. Maelstrom, the next-generation Flash Player, identified as Flash Player 9 on screen during a demo, offers improved rendering performance, allowing for effects such as blurring of a live video or applying "grayscale" adding gray tint to an image.

Adobe Flash Player is the high performance, lightweight, highly expressive client runtime that delivers powerful and consistent user experiences across major operating systems, browsers, mobile phones, and devices. Installed on over 700 million Internet connected desktops and mobile devices, Flash Player enable organization and individuals to build and deliver great digital experiences to their end users.

Abode is now featuring prerelease versions of the Flash Player 9 update software. This release will include bug fixes and support for additional operating systems, specifically Linux. Release versions of Flash Player 9 Updates for Windows and Macintosh platforms will be soon available. This software is being made available for developers and consumers to test their content to ensure existing Flash content plays back correctly and that there are no compatibility issues. The purpose of this beta release is to gather the users’ feedback so that Adobe can verify that:

The new Flash Player is compatible with previously authored Flash content
Developers have an opportunity to test their content and applications prior to the product release to help identify bugs on a variety of machines and configurations.

Ten years from now we believe that Flash will truly be ubiquitous, not just on the web but in many aspects of daily life. Chances are high that for any device and screen you interact with, you'll be dealing with Flash. As Flash runs on more and more devices and platforms, including Linux, it won't really matter any more to the end user what powers their favorite content because it will run essentially everywhere. As content creators, we have truly become cross-platform developers.

The potential for the Flash platform, following Macromedia's merger with Adobe, is virtually limitless.

In the next years, the Flash platform will move beyond the browser to become a standard content and application delivery platform for occasionally connected, mobile, and desktop applications. The evolution of tools such as the Flash authoring environment and Flex, combined with the Adobe range of products such as Photoshop and After Effects, will provide developers with an even more elegant and integrated toolset and workflow for content and application authoring than we have today. With the growth of broadband penetration, we will see the Flash Player gain new features such as hardware-accelerated 3D support and advanced real-time video and sound manipulation—some of which we are already seeing in the latest versions.

As far as rich Internet applications and occasionally connected applications are concerned, we will see a mass exodus as Ajax developers embrace the cross-platform support, simpler workflow, and elegant toolset provided by Flex. Already there is much interest in the Flash platform from the traditional web application community and developers are starting to realize that Flash has moved on considerably from its humble roots 10 years ago as an animation package. Myths are being shattered daily as the Flash platform grows from strength to strength with massive improvements in the areas of accessibility, performance, and development workflow. An open-source solution called FlashAid helps make Ajax more accessible by using the accessibility features in Flash Player.

Open source will continue to play a very important role in bringing the brightest minds to the Flash platform, and we will see the growth and maturation of open-source tools and servers to complement the commercial offerings by Adobe and other vendors. These open-source products will also increase the adoption of Flash in the creation of communication and e-learning initiatives in third-world countries. Eventually, as the Flash platform reaches a certain level of maturity, we may even see open sourcing of Flash Player and Flash becoming a truly open standard.

First, what's going to happen to Flash Player? Second, what's going to happen to the Flash authoring environment?

As for Flash Player, WE think it has achieved so much momentum that in the next years it will be used on many non desktop devices—ones that don't require a heavy-duty operating system, like cameras—or in control panels for home security systems or in-car navigation systems. Those systems might run Flash Player as a kind of miniature operating system that interfaces with the hardware.

In the desktop world—that is, the web-browser plug-in and future desktop player—the future seems less certain to me. It depends on how quickly Microsoft moves in on the territory. On the desktop, Flash succeeds because it gives users the "rich experience" (motion graphics, branded interface) that they don't get from the operating system. Flash is basically a preview of what a lot of desktop computing experiences really should be like. Hence, WE imagine Windows, Mac OS, and Linux will eventually natively provide everything that Flash provides, but at the operating-system level.

The Flash authoring tool is the other side of the question. There are quite a few animation tools on the market, and there are many programming tools. But there aren't very many development tools that let you combine those disciplines the way Flash does. With development tools being what they are today, including Flash, it takes a lot of work to make a beautifully handcrafted, unique, custom-designed interface, or a custom-designed game or marketing piece.

We think the future of Flash depends on its ability as an authoring tool to improve on that enterprise of creating the rich experience. Animation on its own is not unique, and programming is not unique, but WE think where those two cross paths is incredibly important territory. Authoring tools like Flash are just starting to address that union. Flash has inspired such creativity and exploration because it brought those two worlds together.

We see Flash continuing to expand into device markets and being on literally every device that requires a user interface. We see native desktop applications being replaced by web-enabled versions that work as well on your desktop as they do on your mobile phone.

We see Flash displays hanging in art galleries, depicting the latest creative explorations, right alongside oil painting and sculptures.

Where will Flash be 10 years? Everywhere?

Seriously, Flash is spreading from the Internet onto the desktop (Apollo) and into phones, embedded systems, and appliances. There's just so much opportunity for this technology. The same consumer force that is driving build-to-order running shoes and designer vacuum cleaners is driving the market for rich, personalized software experiences—and Flash is the best technology to deliver them.

Most important of all, we will see Flash on 64-bit Linux. Maybe by then, it'll even be 128-bit Linux.

Now with Adobe's strategies of redefining software and technologies, and setting new standards for delivering content, we can see Flash reaching a new peak with every version release.

We would expect Flash in the coming years to have a dynamic image saving function. We had always wanted to make a Flash card application where a user could drag and drop predefined objects, write text, and then save the card as an image on a location on their desktop.

We would also want to see Flash have vector 3D creation and animation tools. This would save us a lot of time and money purchasing third-party tools.

Finally, we would love to see a feature that makes it possible to convert vector graphics to bitmaps within the Flash authoring environment. This is, of course, bypassing the export and import route.

We think there will be Flash operating systems or Flash embedded systems, which make developing cross-platform applications and content very easy. This includes very powerful APIs and low-level operations for every purpose, such as 3D, sound manipulation, and so on.

Flash will be built into every mobile phone, so you'll be able to do everything from remotely controlling the temperature of your refrigerator to playing multiplayer games with your friends, to having a nice video chat with your mom.

More and more people are connecting to the Internet using mobile phones. We forecast that in the near future mobile gadgets will become the main access point to the Internet rather than personal computers. When that happens, Flash will become an important tool for making mobile device interfaces more interactive and easier to navigate.

With the speed at which the technology is progressing now, this could all feasibly become a reality in less than five years.

Flash has the potential to become the universal runtime and make differences among operating systems and platforms irrelevant. In the next 10 years, Flash will fully realize this dream. One thing will not change, though: we'll still be out there working to create better experiences using Flash.

Web

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:04:26 -0500

Microsoft officials won’t comment on a timeline for IE7 availability, but it does expect that IE& will continue its large presence in the browsers community too.

W3Schools shows IE users make up only 68% of its visitors, with Firefox accounting for 24%. The Mozilla Foundation has planned a major upgrade to its browser scheduled for this year.

Microsoft’s big nightmare is the free online apps; the future will bring a new generation of browsers to make Web applications better than downloadable desktop software. The browser will be the new OS, making the operating system irrelevant. Marc Andreessen made this prediction 10 years ago, Netscape as a Web powerhouse is gone and Anderseen is no longer on Time cover, but his vision of computing through a browser window turns out to have been premature.

Soon we’ll be able to take the Web applications “to go�? and work offline. The new generation of browsers will make it possible. It is not difficult to figure how we will work very soon: write the documents in Writely, e-mail them via Gmail, and arrange appointments to jointly edit the documents via Google calendar. A Google talk can let us collaborate. This means that no software will be downloaded to the hard disk, everything is free. It is possible to work on a document on an office computer and update it at home. No matter the operating system: Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux, so long we have the latest browser.

We will live in the best of worlds: all data lives on the Web because the storage is online. The browser is making possible the offline access too. Can we say “good bye�? to laptops? For the moment it is difficult to overcome consumer resistance to Web -based applications. The new offline mode will help with adoption of many Web -based projects that are starting just now.

Developers will see their dream coming true: they will be free to write browser based applications and never worry about which operating system or device will be used.

VB

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:57:20 -0500

Visual Basic 2005 may be the latest incarnation of the 15 year old programming language, but an ongoing survey of SerachVB.com readers indicates that more developers are still coding in VB6 that in VB.NET. On top of that Visual Basic 9, code named Orcas, is due for release at the end of 2007. Each new release brings productivity enhancements but also questions about performance and migration.

VB 9 code-named Orcas, is slated for release with the next version of Visual Studio. Steven Lees, group program manager of VB at Microsoft, indicated at Tech Ed that VB9 will likely appear “sometime late�? and that Microsoft will nail down a timetable for Orcas later.

Perhaps the biggest enhancement VB9 brings to the table is its ability to work with data. This is accomplished with features like object initializes, anonymous types, and full integration with LINQ, integration with LINQ, or the Language Integrated Query. As Mike Gunderloy wrote in “Let’s think about LINQ�?:

“LINQ is designed as a general purpose query facility that will be baked right into the .Net framework. It allows traversal, projection, and filtering operations to be expressed in a declarative syntax in any .NET language, with benefits including compile-time syntax checking, static typing, and IntelliSense.�?

In a Tech Ed session called Visual Basic today and tomorrow�?, Lees described LINQ as an extensible system that works with “pretty much anything that can represent itself as a CLR type.�? LINQ uses SQL-like syntax, Lees continued, “but there’s no database in sight.�? LINQ technology supports five data domains –LINQ to DataSet, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to Entities, LINQ to XML and LINQ to objects. LINQ to SQL, which will bring raw SQL objects into LINQ, was previously referred to as DLINQ. In addition, LINQ to XML, which supports direct XML coding, used to be called XLINQ.

Entities refers to ADO.NET Entities, which is data mapping tool the ADO.NET group plans to have in preview form by the end of the year, Microsoft corporate vice president of development Soma Somasegar announced. This is much noise about the features in LINQ, but the reality is that a vast majority of VB developers know very little about it. A quick show of hands during Lees’ session showed that nearly everyone had used VB 6, about half had used VB 2005 and only a handful had even heard of LINQ.

VB 6 developers, and the VB 6 applications they built, will have a home in Vista. In a document entitled Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista, Microsoft states “The Visual Basic 6.0 IDE will be supported on Windows Vista as part of the Visual Basic 6.0 Extended Support policy until March 2008?�?

The document also indicates that runtime support that key VB 6 runtime files will ship as part of Vista and will be supported for the lifecycle of the OS, five years of mainstream support and five years of extended support. A list of key runtime files is included with the document. Binaries that will not be shipped with Vista are going to follow their planned support schedule.

As for VB 6 applications, Microsoft says the goal of the Visual Basic group is that VB 6 apps that work with Windows XP will wok with Vista. According to the document, “A set of applications written on the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime are being tested for compatibility between Windows XP and Windows Vista with a goal that applications work similarly on both operating systems.�?

VB 9.0 is the version for “Orcas�?, the codename for the version of Visual Studio that will follow Visual Studio 2005 at some as yet unannounced future date (maybe yearly 2008).

Keeping track of Microsoft’s doings is so important that we tend to seize on any little tidbit of information and try to build an entire story on it, whether there’s really enough these to justify a story or not. Microsoft recently made available for download the complete session abstracts for this year’s Professional Developer’s Conference (PDC), coming up in Los Angeles.

Here's the entire abstract, which is literally all of the information that Microsoft has so far released on VB 9.0:

“Visual Basic 9.0 will offer radical improvements in its ability to work with data in all its forms: as objects, as XML, as relational data. Join the language architects for a detailed discussion of features such as query comprehensions, object initializes and anonymous types that enable querying data in a more flexible, natural way than ever before. Also, get a glimpse into the future of dynamic programming in VB with coverage of new features intended to radically simplify working with dynamically typed data on the .NET platform.�?

For a decade people have been predicting the demise of Visual Basic, and with VB.NET, nothing has changed. According to some specialists, the future of VB.NET is threatened competitively by its free cousin, C#. Even after all these years, some people still don't understand that VB—and now VB.NET— will continue to be one of the world's most popular programming languages. Sure, some VB programmers will switch to C#, Java, or Delphi, but the very fact that they would consider making the change highlights the fact that these languages have evolved over time to address issues of usability and functionality that Visual Basic invented. Whatever happens to VB, the language, the spirit of VB has conquered the programming world, and will live on. In fact, VB, as a concept, has never been more alive. It is a visible success.

The earliest releases of Visual Basic didn't make a huge splash, but the language was innovative and attracted considerable attention as a new programming paradigm, because it let programmers build forms visually. For the first time, people could drag and drop controls onto a design surface and see how a program would look without going through the lengthy edit-compile-test cycles required by other languages.

VB further reduced the edit-compile-test cycle by performing an end-run around it. VB classic, like many earlier BASIC implementations, was an interpreted language; you could edit VB code at runtime. The VB IDE could apply most code changes immediately, even while the application was running, letting you step through a block of code in the debugger, find errors, fix them and then retest the code without stopping the program to recompile. Called "edit and continue," this feature gave VB a major productivity boost over older edit-compile-test languages.

Programmers loved being able to drag and drop controls, but they weren't completely satisfied with the built-in controls. Fortunately, Microsoft made the architecture for building those controls available to the programming community. Soon, enterprising developers created hundreds of "VBX" controls (and later, ActiveX controls), spawning an entire industry and taking the idea of reusable code to new levels.

VB was also the first popular general-purpose language to offer truly integrated database access. Via Microsoft’s Data Access Objects (DAO) technology, working with relational databases in VB became so simple that in many cases developers didn't need to know anything about how the underlying relational databases worked; they could simply drag-and-drop database-aware controls onto forms. Even for more advanced developers, DAO (and its successors such as, RDO, ADO, and now ADO.NET) provided huge productivity increases.

By version three, VB was stable and fast. It had the best IDE available, and was accessible to millions of part-time programmers. VB rapidly became the world's most popular application programming language, and it has maintained that position despite predictions of its demise and substantial changes to the language itself.

It has maintained its popularity because VB delivers the six things that corporate developers care most about.

A BASIC-like, case-insensitive syntax
Visual design capabilities
A great IDE with an integrated debugger
Edit-and-continue
A variety of inexpensive, robust aftermarket controls
Simple, integrated database support

Other languages have offered a subset of these features, but none have succeeded in capturing the huge market that VB enjoyed.

Other vendors have long been covetous of VB's developer base, and made huge efforts to lure VB developers to other platforms. For example, Borland's Delphi language offered everything that VB did except the BASIC-like syntax and edit-and-continue. In fact, Delphi provided more capabilities than VB. For example, it was much faster. Delphi code executes at speeds essentially identical to that of C++. Delphi also shipped with native data-aware controls for its DBase and Interbase desktop databases. In later versions Delphi even provided ADO wrappers.

But Delphi used an Object Pascal language base rather than a BASIC core and that single feature change helped prevent its widespread adoption. Despite being faster and offering true object-oriented programming (OOP) capability—in short, all the features of VB.NET in a COM-based package—Delphi was never a serious contender for VB's popularity crown.

The bigger question is whether VB.NET will replace VB. One problem is that VB.NET doesn't have all VB's features yet. In particular, VB.NET is missing edit-and-continue, a long-promised, not-yet-delivered feature that will be key to getting many VB programmers to migrate to the .NET version.

Code incompatibility is another factor inhibiting migration. Microsoft hasn't made code migration from VB to VB.NET easy enough. While VB.NET syntax is very similar to classic VB syntax, it's not the same. In any case, it's not just the syntax that's changed; it's the addition of the framework. The VB-to-VB.NET upgrade wizard is not now, and probably never will be sufficiently intelligent to migrate all applications seamlessly.

Still, most VB programmers don't have large vertical applications to migrate; they either write smaller applications that aren't prohibitively expensive to rewrite or plan to maintain existing applications in VB while creating new applications in .NET. For most of these programmers, the language differences are welcome, making VB.NET the only likely threat to classic VB.

Interestingly, certain advancements in the Java camp are likely to have an effect on Visual Basic programming. By neglecting to create a cross-platform version of its languages, Microsoft has failed to take full advantage of their popularity. Meanwhile, Sun's Java leads in the cross-platform arena with its run-anywhere capabilities, which turned out to be a true business advantage—in the server space. In turn though, Sun failed to take advantage of Java's popularity by neglecting to provide it with GUI development capabilities equal to those of VB. The upshot is that Java is king over a large portion of the server-side, non-GUI applications market, while VB, C++, and .NET languages rule the desktop.

But nothing lasts forever. Thanks primarily to IBM's Eclipse project; Java developers can now create desktop Windows applications responsive enough to compete with those written in Microsoft's languages. And Sun has announced a push to give Java developers simplified RAD features with Rave.

Combating this trend will be the various open and shared-source projects that are busy porting the .NET framework to Linux and UNIX. If those projects bear fruit, .NET developers will eventually have cross-platform capabilities similar to those of Java. These changes will make for some interesting shifts and changes, but none of them threaten Visual Basic outright.

VB.NET is VB's true successor because no other language currently matches VB's feature set as well as VB.NET. But here's the kicker—once you decide to leave VB classic behind, it doesn't really matter which language you learn. If you make the move to VB.NET, you'll find that it's perfectly possible, if not quite as comfortable, to program in C# or in J#.

Even if you've decided to make a complete break with Microsoft and switch to Java or Delphi, you'll find that after you learn those languages and frameworks, switching to .NET aren’t terribly difficult. The ideas behind programming in all those languages are, with few exceptions, identical. They're differentiated by syntax and IDEs far more than they're separated by concepts or capabilities.

VB doesn't have an uncertain future. VB is a set of features. All the popular languages are mutating to adopt the features pioneered in classic VB and carried forward in VB.NET. The spirit of VB will live on, regardless of the syntax, platform, or framework.

AJAX

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:51:16 -0500

Whether apps are accessed strictly within an enterprise or developers need to share Web based docs with outside parties, one content sharing platform is using AJAX technology to enhance search and browse features for its on-demand service.

The final release of open source AJAX framework 1.0 is now available. The project extends the benefits of JavaScript and XML functionality to component framework Java Server Faces (JSF), which supports UI development for J2EE applications. This is a great application leading to the future AJAX development.

AJAX -based platform lets users share apps with the world; whether apps are accessed strictly within an enterprise developers need to hare Web -based documents with outside parties, one content sharing platform is using AJAX technology to enhance search and browse features for its on-demand service.

Stephen Walther, Super Expert pointed us to a new Ajax framework released for Microsoft .NET named Lollygag. The Lollygag framework includes a rich set of client-side widgets that you can use to display database data, perform form validation, and create rich animations.

Accessing database data with the Lollygag framework is easy. You can bind client-side widgets directly to data exposed by a database or you can bind widgets to data exposed by a business object.

When taking advantage of the Lollygag framework, you specify how a form field is validated only once. The validation is automatically applied on both the server and the client. Unlike other frameworks that only provide validation on the client, the Lollygag framework prevents malicious users from bypassing client-side validation and submitting data directly to the server.

Lollygag includes an entire animation framework. You can take advantage of animations to create different effects such as fades and wipes.

The full Lollygag framework works on the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

The Lollygag framework compresses all JavaScript sent to the browser automatically. Any custom JavaScript code that you write as a developer is also compressed automatically. The server-side portion of Lollygag is built on the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework. You can build server-side business objects using standard .NET languages such as C# and VB.NET; Lollygag client-side widgets can consume data exposed through server-side objects.

AJAX does have the right goal in mind, holds up the promise of much quicker response to user input, which is a prime factor in user satisfaction. AJAX also allows user interactivity that traditional Web applications do not provide, such as drag and drop and right click functionality.

Middleware

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:47:57 -0500

Wireless mobile communications in the near future will make it possible for one to communicate with any mobile device anywhere in the world. There is a bright future for mobile positioning as the key technology for enabling LBS applications, which themselves will become increasingly important as a key enabler of value added services.

Mobile positioning technology is also crucial for wireless emergency services.

Beans of Blue Vector say the new generation of products has "blurred the line" about what RFID middleware is. New software standards plus development efforts in the IT industry may blur the lines as to where middleware is needed. The next installment will examine these developments, and the final article presents views on RFID middleware's future.

Middleware has emerged as an important architectural component in modern distributed systems. The role of middleware is to offer a high-level, platform-independent programming model to users (e.g. object-oriented or component-based) and to mask out problems of distribution. Examples of key middleware platforms include:

Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)
Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM)
Microsoft .NET
Java RMI
JINI
Enterprise Java Beans (EJB)
Web Services

Traditionally, such platforms have been deployed (with considerable success) in application domains such as banking and finance as a means of tackling problems of heterogeneity, and also supporting the integration of legacy systems.

More recently, middleware technologies have been applied in a wider range of areas including safety critical systems, embedded systems, and real-time systems. In addition, middleware is required to respond to emerging technical challenges as offered for example by:

Multimedia
Mobile computing
Grid Computing
Peer-to-Peer computing

It is now becoming apparent that established middleware technologies (such as the ones listed) are not able to respond to such diversity or to such technical challenges. The main reason for this is the black-box philosophy of existing platforms. In particular, existing middleware platforms offer a fixed service to their users, and it is not possible to view or alter the implementation of this service. Inevitably, the architecture of this platform then represents a compromise design featuring, for example, general-purpose protocols and associated management strategies. It is then not possible to form platforms to meet the needs of more specific target domains.

Middleware designers are aware of this problem and have responded with a number of initiatives. Focusing on CORBA for example, the OMG have introduced a series of platform specifications including real-time CORBA and Minimal CORBA. These are however specific solutions to specific domains and are not a general solution to this problem. Modern middleware platforms also typically offer more flexibility through mechanisms such as interceptors and configurable protocol stacks. These are important developments but, in our opinion, they do not offer a complete solution to the problem.

Rather, we believe that next generation middleware platforms should have the following properties:

They should be configurable to meet the needs of a given application domain (e.g. to provide a minimal configuration for embedded systems)
They should be dynamically reconfigurable to enable the platforms to respond to changes in their environment (e.g. to respond to dramatic fluctuations in network quality of service as experienced in mobile computing)
They should support the evolution of the design of the platform as requirements change over time (e.g. to respond to the need to support continuous media interactions).

Data Entry

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:37:12 -0500

However, new touch and optical technologies are appearing in products that could radically change how we communicate with PCs--promising not only better ergonomics but also new applications. Many notebook owners have learned to use little touchpad’s in place of mice, but a company called Finger Works is using large touchpad’s in place of keyboards as well.

Instead of traditional keys, Finger Works' touchpad’s have silk-screened diagrams representing keyboards: You simply touch the area marked "Space", "Enter", or "8", for example. The company claims this light touch approach decreases stress on your fingers.

Another vision for the future: an infrared transmitter to bounce a beam off an object and onto a small charge-coupled device, like those found in digital cameras and camcorders. But this CCD has a chip that can measure precisely when the infrared beam hits each pixel. By comparing the infrared beam's time of flight to different parts of the CCD, the chip can form 3-D image maps.

Automated data entry services will offer a highly efficient method of converting paper to digital form. Using automated character recognition and comprehensive data verification, reduces data entry costs, shortens cycle time, manages peak processing, and provides virtually unlimited processing capacity.

The future offers these benefits without the capital investment in systems and personnel traditionally required. High-speed data capture systems will process thousands of forms hourly, without errors and rework. It will be possible to handle structured forms such as claim forms, enrollment forms, and surveys, and unstructured forms such as invoices, and bills of lading.

RSS

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:30:42 -0500

The big consumer benefit to RSS is that consumer’s opt-in to content of interest; totally controlling the flow of information they receive. If the quality of the content in the feed declines, users simply remove the feed from their RSS reader and they will not receive any additional updates from that source. Ultimately, RSS will be a standard, like email addresses and websites are now a "must" for businesses.

RSS, being a tool that saves Internet surfers time and allows webmasters to re-purpose and re-package existing and new content will, in my opinion, continue to thrive. A business effectively using RSS can bring new site visitors, increase search engine positioning, and generate product interest. The flexibility of RSS as a communication medium and the expansion capabilities of the enclosure tag will allow RSS to flourish as an online marketing tool. Each day businesses are adopting new uses for RSS, and users are becoming accustomed to skimming content that they choose in a single centralized location.

As businesses adopt RSS and consumers experiment with feeds, the popularity of RSS will grow. Ultimately, consumers are the driving force behind technology. The convenience of RSS and increased popularity will set a precedent for consumer expectations. Businesses using RSS as a communication vehicle are able to create keyword-rich, themed content, establishing trust, reputation, and ongoing communication with current and prospective customers.

The big consumer benefit to RSS is that consumers opt-in to content of interest, totally controlling the flow of information they receive. If the quality of the content in the feed declines, users simply remove the feed from their RSS reader and they will not receive any additional updates from that source. The RSS reader acts as an aggregator, allowing users to view and scan multiple content streams in a timely fashion.

Consumer expectation will drive businesses that are slow to adopt. Ultimately, RSS will be a standard, like email addresses and websites are now a "must" for businesses. RSS feeds will join their ranks.

Unlike blogs, businesses can easily justify RSS feeds, as they will be increasing customer and corporate communication. RSS will create new revenue channels. RSS has the potential to help companies develop strong relationships with consumers and create brand loyalty. RSS Feeds will draw existing customers and prospective clients, translating to a new or renewed income stream. Businesses using RSS feeds as a communication medium to notify interested customers of specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies will ultimately sustain RSS as a viable and valued communication medium

RSS feeds will join their ranks. Businesses using RSS feeds as a communication medium to notify interested customers of specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies will ultimately sustain RSS as a viable and valued communication medium.

Since Ruby is human-oriented it shouldn't change that much, but the scale of the data being processed will change, so scalability is the key.

There was a follow-up comment from someone running Ruby on embedded systems and is concerned about bloat of the core libraries. Matz replied that additions to core will be minimal; that the standard distort will certainly grow but the core language should be easily separable. So for example, the internationalization framework is in the core, but the specific routines (huge) are outside. Request was made for changes to the build procedure to allow trimming down the build to leave out non-mandatory components. Good point was made about difficulties in migrating to newer versions due to needing to do custom builds.

RSS is no longer a science experiment; it's becoming an important part of the infrastructure, which means that a lot of programmers are going to get the assignment of generating and parsing it. Ruby attracts people that love programming. Someone called out that it's like motorcycle-with-training wheels.

XML

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:26:15 -0500

XML is a markup language for documents containing structured information.

Structured information contains both content (words, pictures, etc.) and some indication of what role that content plays (for example, content in a section heading has a different meaning from content in a footnote, which means something different than content in a figure caption or content in a database table, etc.). Almost all documents have some structure.

A markup language is a mechanism to identify structures in a document. The XML specification defines a standard way to add markup to documents.

Thus, XML is still a complex data type but not a data model. XML has been designed for maximum expressive power, maximum teach ability, and maximum ease of implementation. The language is not backward-compatible with existing HTML documents.

XML derives from a philosophy that data belongs to its creators and that content providers are best served by a data format that does not bind them to particular script languages, authoring tools, and delivery engines but provides a standardized, vendor-independent, level playing field upon which different authoring and delivery tools may freely compete.

This is its main development direction. The first step in this long journey is SQL/XML hybridization. Starting with SQL Server 2000, Microsoft began to provide support for XML data. This support has been significantly extended for SQL Server, allowing for XML data columns, XML variables, and XML indexes.

This new software species did emerge and did popularize the notion of persistence -- that is, the capability of storing and retrieving programming-language objects without arduous translation to and from relational tables.

According to Microsoft, the forthcoming Yukon edition of SQL Server will be capable of persisting .Net objects. The first step in the long journey of SQL/XML hybridization was to publish relational data as XML.

Imagine a purchase order flowing through a business process some time in the future. It's an XML document, created with a tool such as InfoPath, carrying a mixture of core data and contextual metadata. The core data, including the item number and department code, will wind up in the columns of a relational table. The contextual metadata, which might include a threaded discussion made from comments injected by the requester, the reviewer, and the approver, will remain in document form.

"This human context is never stored in the RDBMS today," says Kingsley Idehen, CEO of Burlington, Mass.-based OpenLink. Yet it's the key to understanding how the data got there and what it means.

Once written, the purchase order is injected into a workflow orchestrated on top of a Web services network. A security service may enforce authorization policy by updating a SOAP header; a choreography service may search for sets of documents that have SOAP headers that contain the same correlation ID. These active intermediaries will need some kind of database technology to manage the XML that lives transiently in their queues, but it probably won't be a job for Oracle or DB2.

Here a specialized XML database, such as Software AG's Tamino or Sleepycat Software's Berkeley DB XML may be better suited to the task. They're fast and, as Mike Champion, senior R&D advisor at Software AG in Darmstadt, Germany notes they're built to work well with dynamic XML documents even when those documents lack the schemas the RDBMS SQL/XML mappers rely on.

During the workflow and after it has been completed, the document will be accessible to interested parties via a certain URL. That URL might resolve to a projection of the document -- from a hybrid SQL/XML RDBMS, to an intranet Web server or a WebDAV repository such as Oracle's. Alternatively, the URL might resolve to the underlying instance of the document stored natively in the RDBMS. Either way, the state of the business process -- both core data and contextual metadata -- will be visible at all times to anyone who's interested in looking at it and is authorized to do so. What's more, both flavors of data carried in the document will be accessible to queries that reach across the enterprise, joining SQL and XML sources to create consolidated views.

A major shift in the style of enterprise data management is under way, and there are huge architectural issues yet to be resolved. Oracle, not surprisingly, wants you to store everything in a centralized hybrid DBMS. IBM says it would rather enable you to federate data across a range of sources. Each strategy has merit, and most enterprises will wind up pursuing both -- in different ways, for various reasons.

While storing XML data in the database is a terrific feature, the ability to format the XML data as relational data is essential for a large majority of data processing needs. This is where OPENXML enters the equation. OPENXML is a SQL Server function, which accepts a stream of XML data and provides an in0memry row set view of the XML data.

XML specifies neither semantics nor a tag set. In fact XML is really a meta-language for describing markup languages. In other words, XML provides a facility to define tags and the structural relationships between them. Since there's no predefined tag set, there can't be any preconceived semantics. All of the semantics of an XML document will either be defined by the applications that process them or by style sheets.

Since XML is a key part of the Office 2007 story, the MS Office team will have a big presence at the Microsoft booth demoting the just-released product and discussing the OpenXML format. People from the Data Programmability / XML team will also be in the booth to demonstrate some upcoming technology, including the XML Schema designer that Stan's team is developing, the LINQ to XSD technology that Ralf's team just previewed, and we can show you the underlying LINQ to XML API that will be released in the next version of Visual Studio in action. Please stop by, let us show you our stuff, and by all means let us know if you share our enthusiasm and want to help take XML technology to the next level.

When working with XML-based applications, developers often finds themselves facing the requirement to generate XML-encoded data structures on the fly, There are functions in PHP’s DOM API, showing how to programmatically generate a complete well-formed XML document from scratch and save it. This is a very spectacular development direction.

JSP

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:15:25 -0500

The Java Server Pages (JSP) technology provides a simplified, fast way to create Web pages that display dynamically generated content. JSP technology was designed to make it easier and faster to build Web-based applications that work with a wide variety of Web servers, application servers, browsers and development tools.

Developers will use JSP pages to create portable Web applications that can run with different Web and application servers for different markets, using whatever authoring tools fit their market and their needs.

By working with a consortium of industry leaders, Sun has ensured that the JSP specification is open and portable. You should be able to author JSP pages anywhere and deploy them anywhere, using any client and server platforms. Over time, tool vendors and others will extend the functionality of the platform by providing customized tag libraries for specialized functions.

Java

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:48:31 -0500

Java creator James Gosling points out that there are 150 million Java-enabled mobile phones. Although other promising markets exist for the technology, "the one that continues to grow like a weed is cell phones," he says.

Java is the programming language originally designed by Sun Microsystems for use in the distributed environment of the Internet. It was designed to have the “look and feel�? of the C++ language and uses the object oriented programming model. Java is supposed to work across all servers that run the Java Virtual Machine, enabling programmers to create “write once, run anywhere�? applications. It can also be used to build small application modules, or “applets�? for use as part of Web pages.

Despite rumors of its demise, Java is alive and well on the Windows desktop, according to Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. Representatives with both companies confirmed that the two companies have extended security patch support for Microsoft's version of the Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM) until December 31, 2007.

Another important challenge in this era in which we will be surrounded by billions of increasingly intelligent devices, all communicating with one another, is the obvious need to simplify and quicken the process of application development, deployment and maintenance. In this regard, Java appears postured to play an increasingly significant role.

Although Java seems to failed to hit the target for which it was first developed (whish was to serve as an embedded operating system within smart devices), Java ended up providing a convenient means to enable moving applications around among computing devices, propelled to this position by the emergence made in a dramatically and spectacular way, of the Web.

Today Java is showing promise in the role of providing a device independent application platform, running on top of the embedded operating system. In this case, rather than serving as the operating system itself, Java provides the benefit of masking the aspect of the underlying device and providing an array of services beyond those offered by the embedded operating systems.

In the context of an exponential proliferation of smart devices, Java is emerging as a handy way to minimize device specific development and to allow developers to focus on the truly unique aspects of their projects; increasingly, Java will provide the means to obtain functionality like Web browsers, GUIs, handwriting and speech recognition, protocol stacks, wireless communications, multimedia support, database management and a wide range of remote services.

In the new, exciting post PC world of pervasive computing, we will be surrounded by an exponentially growing number and variety of intelligent, interconnected devices. But the challenges associated with developing, maintaining and supporting increasingly sophisticated system architectures and protocols also will grow exponentially.

In the context of an exponential proliferation of smart devices, Java is emerging as a handy way to minimize device-specific development and to allow developers to focus on the truly unique aspects of their projects. Increasingly, Java is providing a means to obtain functionality like GUIs, Web browsers, protocol stacks, handwriting and speech recognition, wireless communications, multimedia support, database management and a wide range of remote services.

Looked at from this perspective, the emerging popularity of Java technology as a well-supported application and services framework for devices, offers an enticing possibility of ready-to-use components that can be used along with embedded Linux, to speed and simplify device development and to enhance the capabilities of the end product.

Sun Microsystems announced the 11/13/2006 that it has begun the process of releasing its Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE) and a build able implementation of its Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) as free software under the open-source GNU General Public License.

Microsoft is an awesome company when is has competition. .Net is a great example of this. .Net kicks Java with a set of spiked golf cleats “where it counts�? on just about everything. Microsoft needs a competition from Java to keep the honest. .Net would not have happened if not for Java, most likely. And the pressure from Java keeps Microsoft driving hard for improvements. As we know that Java can show itself to be a superior system, many programmers will consider that they will see Java the best that it can be.

Java Platform, Standard Edition (also known as Java 2 Platform) lets the user develop and deploy Java applications on desktops and servers, as well as todays demanding Embedded and Read-Time environments. Java SE will include classes that support the development of Java Web Services and provide the foundation for Java Platform, enterprise Edition (Java EE). James Gosling, often called the father of Java technology, announced JavaOne in June 2006. It was not a question of “whether�? but a question of “how�? Sun would open source Java platform. “We want better conversations with the developer community, a more collaborative relationship.

We want to have better relationships with many of the Linux distributions, and a lot of the Linux distributions are very sensitive about precisely which license one uses. We want to have relationships with the open-source community, which leads to better distribution and makes it easy for people to collaborate with us to evolve the platform, to use it in even more interesting ways and in more interesting areas.�? said James Gosling. The source code is being open-sourced, but the process of defining the specifications is still the Java Community Process. In addition, there are massive test suites, and Sun will do an immense amount of testing. They expect that people who care about reliability and compatibility with the specifications will use the new version soon.

From a financial point of view, the Java platform has been free to all of these enterprises and such since day one. And so from that point of view, this really isn’t going to have an effect on Sun’s financial situation. Java is able to evolve faster, although they are currently evolving pretty darned fast. Sun is always interested in people using Java technology in different ways and in different kinds of environments. Certainly, being pen source makes it much possible. Java platform will be available for a very long time.

Delphi

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:46:30 -0500

Delphi.NET preview pack consists of the Delphi for .NET CIL compiler, VCL for .NET and produces safe code. Designed to provide the first experience with Delphi for .NET next year! Conclusion is simple: "Delphi is going .NET, though the timescale may disappoint the most diehard .NET fans. Even if you don't ever intend to do any .NET programming yourself, the changes to Delphi that will take place as Borland retools Delphi for the .NET framework will improve your life�? said Zarco Gajic, Delphi senior developer.

“We plan to continue supporting more and more .NET technologies in Delphi - such as Compact Framework, .NET Whidbey, and Yukon, all the way to Longhorn, WinFX, and beyond. So whether you're a long time Delphi Win32 developer or a soon to be .NET developer or both - if you haven't yet upgraded to v7 or v8, I highly recommend the upgrade to Delphi 8 (which includes D7 for Win32 in the box) it's a great value for both Win32 and .NET developers.�? said Michael Swindell, from Borland Software Corporation.

At the German EKON9 conference, was presented a very detailed Delphi roadmap. This doesn’t cover only the future .net 2.0 support (Highlander), but includes the plan for a native 64-bit compiler and multiple versions of the VCL for compact framework and Avalon.

The Roadmap

Dexter (end 2005) will have ECO 3 (with ECO Basic in all Delphi editions), specific support for 64bit .net, a full-blown version of Together for Delphi, focus on performance and quality.
Highlander (2006) will support net 2.0 and provide a VCL for .NET 2.0, VCL for Compact Framework, support for 64bit .NET 2.0
Delphi for Vista (2007) will include a VCL for Avalon and Indigo support
Delphi/C++ for win64 (circa 2007): the name says it all

ColdFusion

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:44:10 -0500

Coldfusion is not dead. I'm not saying this just because I program in CF but because I have programmed in many languages and they all have its advantages and disadvantages. Languages like FORTRAN and Pascal are still being used. Of course not as much as Java, CF or VB and that's because the technology has changed. Everything is Internet based and older languages are not built for these platforms but they do have their own areas of applications and that's why they are still being used. Anyway I'm not going to go on with defending CF. I will let CF handle that by itself. Looks like Macromedia had a good quarter.

“Adobe has been very successful in selling into the enterprise. This can only help ColdFusion going forward," says Dave Mendels, SVP of Adobe's new Enterprise & Developer Solutions. 'Scorpio' is still on course, Mendels confirms, and the ColdFusion product development team is already hard at work devising the best way to harness synergies between CF and Adobe’s LiveCycle products.

The ColdFusion product team is already working on the next great release of ColdFusion codenamed Scorpio, a project that was started before the merger was announced, and one that has continued throughout the transition. In addition, Adobe has been very successful in selling into the enterprise. This can only help ColdFusion going forward.

ColdFusion fits squarely in the new Enterprise and Developer Solutions Business Unit. Here the team will focus on leveraging the combined LiveCycle, Flex and ColdFusion technologies to provide a rich set of technologies for building and deploying both Web and document-based solutions. The developer market has of course always been a key market for Macromedia and is now also a key market for Adobe.

First, there are capabilities in both ColdFusion and Adobe’s LiveCycle products that could provide mutual benefit to each other. These include reporting, workflow, document generation, forms design, charting and graphing and more. The respective product teams are now working together to determine how to best leverage these capabilities in both product lines.

Then there are some obvious areas like PDF document generation. Given that the PDF document generation was introduced, in its most basic form in the last major release of ColdFusion, it will be natural to extend this capability to leverage the rich set of capabilities offered in PDF. Things like digital signatures, dynamic forms, workflow and more. Adobe also offers a forms designer product that could potentially offer ColdFusion a more productive forms design capability.

ColdFusion MX7 has proven to be an incredibly successful product. This success is primarily the result of combining a proven solid architecture with features and technologies that solve real problems. Incidentally, the re-architecture that was ColdFusion MX means that ColdFusion and LiveCycle are built on the same Java foundation – the pieces fit together really nicely.

The ColdFusion product team is cooking up some exciting new capabilities for Scorpio and looks forward to once again providing new, critical advancements in what developers can build and how they build them.

Carbon

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:41:05 -0500

Mac OS is focusing on Carbon for its future development, for a solid, modern operating system, and good news also for the developers who want to preserve their investment in many years of development, as almost all-professional Mac design software is Carbon.

It looks also like Apple should freeware Carbon API’s and stuff it on top of Linux and make it the free User Interface STANDARD for all Unicies (Unixxen)! This will be, finally, a UNIX interface.

Carbon is the set of programming interfaces derived from earlier Mac OS APIs that can run on Mac OS X. Some of these APIs have been modified or extended to take advantage of Mac OS X features such as preemptive multitasking and protected memory.

In addition to being able to run on Mac OS X, Carbon applications built for Mac OS X can also run on Mac OS 8 and 9 when the CarbonLib system extension is installed. (As always, you should test for the existence of specific features before using them.)

Carbon includes about 70 percent of the existing Mac OS APIs, covering about 95 percent of the functions used by applications. Because it includes most of the functions you rely on today, converting to Carbon is a straightforward process. Apple provides tools and documentation to help you determine the changes you will need to make in your source code, as well as the header files and libraries necessary to build a Carbon application.

Mac OS X brings important new features and enhancements that developers have asked for, and Carbon allows you to take advantage of them while preserving your investment in Mac OS source code. As Apple moves the Mac OS forward, Carbon ensures you won’t be left behind.

Carbon applications gain these benefits when running under Mac OS X:

Greater stability. Protected addresses spaces help prevent errant applications from crashing the system or other applications.
Improved responsiveness. Each application is guaranteed processing time through preemptive multitasking, resulting in a more responsive user experience.
Dynamic resource allocation. More efficient use of system resources, including the elimination of fixed size heaps, means your application can allocate memory and other shared resources based on actual needs rather than predetermined values. Each application can access up to 4GB of potential addressable memory.
Aqua look and feel. Apple’s newest user interface is available only to applications that run natively on Mac OS X.

The Carbon programming interface consists of the following types of APIs:

Classic Mac OS APIs that can run unchanged on Mac OS X. These comprise the majority of the APIs in your current application.

Classic Mac OS APIs that have been modified to work on Mac OS X. For example, to operate properly in a preemptively scheduled environment, a function may now require an additional parameter to specify the context (or process) to which it belongs.

New APIs that can run on both Mac OS X and Mac OS 8 and 9.

For example, Core Foundation and the Carbon Event Manager provide additional benefits for Carbon applications but are not required for porting. New APIs those are available only on Mac OS X.

Currently, the Classic Mac OS APIs makes up the largest proportion of Carbon APIs. However, as Carbon evolves to take advantage of new features in Mac OS X, new Mac OS X-specific APIs will be added that enhance its capabilities.

Carbon does not support a Classic Mac OS function; it is generally for one of the following reasons:

The function performs actions that are illegal or make no sense in Mac OS X. For example, functions that are 68K-specific, or functions that allocate memory in the system heap (Mac OS X has no concept of a system heap).
The function directly accesses hardware. The Carbon environment was designed to be fully abstracted from hardware, so such functions are not allowed.
The function was there for legacy purposes only, and has more modern replacements (for example, File Manager functions that use working directories).

In addition, certain Classic Mac OS programming practices are no longer allowed:

No 68K code allowed. All Carbon code must be PowerPC-based.
No trap table access. The trap table and Patch Manager are 68K-specific.
Limited access to data structure fields. See “Data Structure Access�?.
Carbon lets you create one executable file that can run on both Mac OS X and Mac OS 8 and 9. You accomplish this by linking your application with a single stub library, CarbonLibStub, at build time. At runtime your application links with the appropriate Carbon implementation stored as shared libraries (sometimes referred to as DLLs).

On Mac OS X, your application links dynamically to the Carbon framework, which is a hierarchy of libraries and resources that contains the implementation of Carbon.

On Mac OS 8 and 9, the Carbon implementation is stored as a system extension named CarbonLib. This library contains two types of elements:

Implementations of all functions specific to Carbon.

Exports of functions currently available in system software. For example, calls to a Menu Manager function available in both Carbon and Mac OS 8 and 9 will merely call through to the implementation in InterfaceLib.

Ruby

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:38:59 -0500

Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz"), the creator of Ruby, is a professional programmer who worked for the Japanese open source company, netlab.jp. Matz is also known as one of the open source evangelists in Japan. He's released several open source products, including email, the emacs-based mail user agent, written entirely in emacs lisp. Ruby is his first piece of software that has become known outside of Japan.

In the near future, the adoption of Ruby on Rails will grow more than that of other technologies with 22 percent and 24 percent of respondents expecting to use these platforms in the next 12 months.

It’s been almost eight months since the last major release of Rails introduced RJS, respond to, eager loading, and much more. It is about time latest batch of big ideas was introduced, polished in the interim. Since this is a major new release. Josh Susser, its creator, said that it represents only a step to the future developments. There are already new features that may not appear to have the immediate glitz and glamour the likes of RJS; they still represent a big fundamental shift in how a lot of rails applications will be created from this days forth.

REST and Resources, and general HTTP appreciation, is the star of Rails 1.2. The bulk of these features were originally introduced to the general public. In the future, we can start thinking how the application could become more RESTful. The biggest benefit is hidden: a clear approach to controller design that will reduce complexity for the implementer and result in an application that behaves as a much better citizen on the general web.

The help the transition, there is a scaffold generator that will create a stub CRUD interface, just like the original scaffolder, but in a RESTful manner. This release looks like a fantastic, great release, having spectacular promises for the future.

Ruby will continue to grow and change. The above information is only what we think we know at this point in that process. For the past couple of years, Ruby seems to have been popping up all over the place.

PHP

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:35:39 -0500

Zeev Suraski, one of the founders of PHP, said that the simplicity of this scripting language means it will be more popular than Java for building Web-based applications. About 22 million Web sites employ it, and usage is steadily increasing. The fact that PHP is an open source programming language makes a great case against its competitors. It has a cheap, fast, reliable and widely supported environment to run in; therefore it is mainly used in standard Web deployment, not only large enterprises.

The future of dynamic XML document construction with the PHP DOM is here. When working with XML-based applications, developers often find themselves facing the requirement to generate XML-encoded data structures on the fly. It will be possible, soon, to programmatically generate a complete well-formed XML document from scratch and save-it to disk

Java and PHP are drawing nearer to one another, though. Oracle, which also sells Java server software and whose database software can be used as a foundation for either Java or PHP, is among those working on an addition to Java to help the two software projects work together. Specifically, Java Specification Request 223 will "help build that bridge between the Java community and the PHP community", said Ken Jacobs, vice-president of product strategy at Oracle.

There are main new language features. The most basic and important change in PHP 5 is to use handles (or id's) for objects instead of implementing them as native data types. When copied, only the handle (the id number) itself is actually being copied; the objects these handles represent are not being copied.

This seemingly minor change in the semantics of the language is the major driving force behind the majority of the new PHP 5 features. It allows the addition of new language features and new PHP extensions, such as the great Simple XML that takes full advantage of the new semantics.

Without going into too much detail (or this article would become a book), the following is a list of new language features in PHP 5.

New object cloning semantics as mentioned, the scripting engine never automatically clones objects in PHP 5, whether they are assigned, passed by-value, or returned by-value from a function. If cloning is required, then the developer may explicitly clone an object by using the new clone keyword (for example, clone $obj .

The developer may also implement a method named __clone() in his class, which will be called on the new resulting object, after the clone operation has copied all of the original object's properties. Implementing this callback is not required but can be useful if the developer wishes each object to have its own copy of a certain resource, thereby creating a new version of that resource for the cloned object (otherwise, both objects would be using the same resource).

Public /private /protected access modifiers: PHP 5 supports the PPP (Private /Public/ Protected) access modifiers commonly found in other object-oriented languages, such as C++ and Java. These access modifiers may be used on both properties and methods, and impose access restrictions. Other extensions that take advantage of this ability include the Simple XML, SOAP, and Perl extensions.

PHP5 is going down the road of Java and copying its object model and other ideas.
That’s no bad thing but most PHP developers surveyed don’t want that. Adoption of PHP4 was much faster than PHP5 is, possibly because there was such a huge difference between versions 3 and 4. If PHP5 features were really “must haves�? then people would be crying out for them.

C++ will be around for a long time. It’ll be used forever by embedded systems programmers and programmers who write traditional kinds of apps. But for those of us who write Web apps, C++ will become an anachronism.

VC++

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:32:05 -0500

Microsoft’s goal is to have a ‘competitively compliant’ compiler – meaning it won’t be 100% compliant. There are a couple of features of the ANSI/ISO standard (for instance the ‘export’ keyword as applied to template classes) that won’t be implemented because they are considered by Microsoft to be obscure and, at this stage, theoretical. Microsoft is however working to ensure that Visual C++ will compile the most popular libraries such as Boost, Blitz, Loki and a fully compliant version of STL. The emphasis is on a level of compliance that allows popular libraries to be compiled, not 100% compliance.

Nick Hodapp, Microsoft’s C++ Product Manager also added that while high compliance is definitely a very important goal Microsoft would not sacrifice code-generation quality or robustness at the cost of extreme compliance. However in recent lab tests they are still beating several popular compilers on conformance tests.

For the pending release of Visual C++ .NET (VC7) Microsoft focused on enabling interop features. VC7 has the best interop scenarios of all the managed languages and includes the ability to have both managed and unmanaged code in the same image. They also focused on enabling optimization technology on the generated MSIL - the result is that VC7 is the only compiler to generate optimized MSIL. In future releases Microsoft will focus on ANSI/ISO conformance (enabling many more features for both managed/unmanaged code), as well as features that will give Visual C++ feature parity with C# - WinForms, for example. Visual C++ will be positioned as the power-systems language for .NET.

Template support and generic programming are a must and Microsoft is very keen to implement code DOM support, both for ASP.NET and WinForms. With these added features we see Visual C++ as being the power programmers’ language of choice for the .NET framework - to compliment it is current role as the language of choice in unmanaged development. Even without the template support that is currently being pursued we see Visual C++ as the only language suitable for those who need more than C# or VB.NET can offer.

Microsoft’s approach to adding new features is whether those features are

Being used in code that other compilers can build, or

Whether those features are compelling enough that it becomes apparent that their customers want them.

Microsoft will not simply implement features because they are specified in the standard. They will implement them when people want them because they are beneficial.

The message is that Visual C++ is definitely alive and kicking and has a very bright future in the .NET world. Microsoft’s aim is to have the compiler at a point where it’s the benchmark against which all other compilers are compared – in terms of simplicity, fun factor and conformance. It should be easy to use, versatile, enjoyable, and it should be what developers think of whenever they think C++.

Continuing improvements in C++ compliance along with future support for ASP.NET and WinForms will ensure that Visual C++ be the power language for .NET and for native development.

As to the question of whether developers will move to C# instead of managed C++ Stanley thinks there will be more of a move from VB to C# than C++ to C#. C++ is the better, more versatile and the only optimized compiler available in .NET.

Jonathan Caves, developer on the Visual C++ Compiler Team, speaks about plans

His team has for the next release of Visual C++.

“After the last release of Visual C++ we took a long, hard look at the compiler source base and decided we needed to take the time to seriously invest in reworking our existing code base - some parts of which are over 20 years old. We have plans to really improve the development process for both our existing native C++ customers as well as our newer C++/CLI customers. Unfortunately these changes are going to take time to implement and we definitely can't do anything in the next release (called Orcas), which has a short development cycle.

So instead of working on the next release of Visual C++ most of the compiler development team will be full steam ahead working on the future generation compiler - we are not yet sure exactly what form this compiler will take but we do know that it will really improve and re-energize the C++ development process.

This does bring up the question of what C++ compiler enhancements will be in Orcas. Notice I said "most of the compiler development team" as we are not putting the whole team on the future generation compiler - instead we have left one developer, yours truly, to work on the current source base. We know that C++ is still one of the most widely used programming languages and that we can't just let the current Visual C++ compiler stagnate so I'll be working on keeping it ticking. This is mostly going to involve bug fixing (and I hope that most of the bugs I fix will be ones reported by our customers) though I also think that I may find time for a few small features!

One thing we did after Whidbey, as part of analyzing our source base, was to categorize the remaining bugs in the database. This analysis showed some areas of the C++ language in which the compiler support was less than what we would have wished it to be. We made an effort to address these areas and in some cases we think we can get this work into the next release of the compiler. One example is the interaction between friend functions and templates. In many other cases, however, the work became so big (like rewriting the code that handles the parsing of qualified-names) that we decided to just move it to the 'future' compiler. Going forward I know of other 'problem' areas in the compiler that I am pretty certain can be addressed without needing major reconstructive surgery.

But these small features aside, most of the work on the compiler for the next release is going to bug-fixing and I know from interacting with many of you over the last few years that you’ll be quite happy about this. I’m sure you'll welcome a compiler that doesn't introduce a lot of new features and instead focuses on improving the quality of what we have. So if you have a serious bug you feel we need to address you should definitely open an issue on the Product Feedback site but please be aware that I am only one person and so, unfortunately, I won't be able to fix each and every bug. I can assure you though that as a team we will focus on the bugs we believe have the greatest impact - like compiler crashes (especially without any error message), bad code generation, blocking issues, etc.�?

Peter Michael Osera, program manager on the Visual C++ compiler front end, said that their work to update MFC to use elements of the new Vista UI, Aero. They recently finished their efforts to integrate the new Vista- style file dialogs into MFC. The customers do not need to do anything special to take advantage of this feature. As the top priority was making the transition to Vista as seamless as possible, the MFC code that uses CFileDialog must be only recompiled under Orcas.

Underneath the covers, the new file dialogs are exposed through a new set of COM interfaces collectively known as the common item dialog. As this is a large departure from the old common file dialog APIs, much of the work consisted of wedging as much of the new common item dialog functionality through the CFileDialog (MFC) API as possible. The end result is that you can use the same interface as before to control both the old and new dialogs.

Of course, because of the redesign of the underlying file dialog objects, some old functionality of the CFileDialog class is not supported when using Vista dialogs. In particular, since the new Vista dialogs no longer support hwnd template customization, your CFileDialog object will throw CNotSupportedException if SetTemplate is called on it.

Instead of using templates, it is we recommended, along with the windows team, to use the IFileDialogCustomize COM interface to add controls to your dialog objects. In the spirit of MFC, we’ve exposed getters for the entire common item dialog COM interfaces so you can get at the remaining functionality that is not exposed through CFileDialog. In general, if you customize your CFileDialog object extensively, please make sure to review the updated MSDN documentation when it is available to make sure that the methods, events, and flags you use are supported with the new dialogs.

The Visual C++ team is excited to announce the release of Visual Studio 2005 SP1!!! The Service pack launched on Friday December 15, 2006 and is available for download. This SP addresses issues that were found through a combination of customers and partner feedback, as well as internal testing.

There are over 400 Visual C++ bugs that have been fixed with issues ranging in severity from minor syntax highlighting problems to customer reported crashes across various scenarios. In some areas, more than 50% of the bugs addressed were reported by customers through the MSDN Product Feedback Center and Microsoft Connect. Overall, Service Pack 1 offers customers improvements in responsiveness, stability and performance for Visual Studio 2005.

Service Pack 1 also provides over 70 improvements for common development scenarios including:

New processor support (e.g., Core Duo) for code generation and profiling
Performance and scale improvements in Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server integration with Excel 2007 and Project 2007
Tool support for occasionally connected devices and SQL Server Compact Edition
Additional support for project file based Web applications
Windows Embedded 6.0 platform and tools support

For developers using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista, Microsoft is in current development on an update to Service Pack 1 called the ‘Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Vista Refresh Beta’. This update builds on the improvements made in SP1 and delivers a first class experience for developers wanting to take advantages of the new features in Windows Vista. The Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista is expected to ship after the consumer availability of Windows Vista in Q1 of 2007 and is now available in beta.

C++

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:05:46 -0500

C++ will be around for a long time. It’ll be used forever by embedded systems programmers and programmers who write traditional kinds of apps. Bjarne Stroustrup, who currently works as a professor at Texas A&M University and is creator of the C++ programming language, said: "C++ is bigger than ever.�?There are more than 3 million C++ programmers. Everywhere I look there has been an uprising--more and more projects are using C++. A lot of teaching was going to Java, but more are teaching C++ again. There has been a backlash."

Dennis Ritchie developed C at Bell Laboratories in 1972. Many of its principles and ideas were taken from the earlier language B and B's earlier ancestors BCPL and CPL. CPL (Combined Programming Language) was developed with the purpose of creating a language that was capable of both high levels, machine independent programming and would still allow the programmer to control the behavior of individual bits of information. The one major drawback of CPL was that it was too large for use in many applications. In 1967, BCPL (Basic CPL) was created as a scaled down version of CPL while still retaining its basic features. In 1970, Ken Thompson, while working at Bell Labs, took this process further by developing the B language. B was a scaled down version of BCPL written specifically for use in systems programming.

Finally in 1972, a co-worker of Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, returned some of the generality found in BCPL to the B language in the process of developing the language we now know as C.

C's power and flexibility soon became apparent. Because of this, the UNIX operating system, which was originally written in assembly language, was almost immediately re-written in C (only the assembly language code needed to "bootstrap" the C code was kept). During the rest of the 1970's, C spread throughout many colleges and universities because of its close ties to UNIX and the availability of C compilers. Soon, many different organizations began using their own versions of C causing compatibility problems. In response to this in 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formed a committee to establish a standard definition of C, which became known as ANSI Standard C. Today C is in widespread use with a rich standard library of functions.

Stroustrup states that the purpose of C++ is to make writing good programs easier and more pleasant for the individual programmer. When he designed C++, he added OOP (Object Oriented Programming) features to C without significantly changing the C component. Thus C++ is a "relative" (called a superset) of C, meaning that any valid C program is also a valid C++ program.

There are several versions of the C++ language, of which Visual C++ is only one. Other dialects include Borland C++, Turbo C++, and Code Warrior (Mac). All of these software packages enable you to create computer programs with C++, but they all implement the C++ language in a slightly different manner. In an attempt to maintain portability of both the C and C++ languages, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed a standard of consistency for C and C++ programming. While we will be working primarily with this ANSI standard, we will also be examining the idiosyncrasies of Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.

He then went on talking about new projects using primarily Java, stating that the language was still very slow, regarding performance, but that it would soon change, suggesting that C/C++ were near an "end".

It made it clear that the C++ Team still believes in C++ Builder, and also that they should do another version of C++ Builder. The question is how and when; this question needs to be answered soon, because it's also clear to everyone that if Borland waits too long, the moment would be lost and C++ Builder would be dead forever.

One of the possibilities the C++ Team wants to investigate is to embed C++ Builder as a C++ “personality�? in a future version of the Borland Developer Studio (BDS, Galileo) IDE. The BDS IDE is also used for C# Builder (BDS 1.0), Delphi 8 for .NET (BDS 2.0) and Diamondback (which includes Delphi for Win32, Delphi for .NET and C#; BDS 3.0). Diamondback is the first version of this IDE that is capable of multiple personalities. The idea is to investigate if it's possible to extend a future version of Delphi (BDS 4.0, for example) with a C++ personality. The end result would be a C++ development tool for Win32 next to Delphi for Win32, Delphi for .NET, and C#, all in one IDE. That would be awesome, of course.

To illustrate that they were not just telling us something to keep us quiet, JT started a special version of BDS with, indeed, the C++ (VCL) personality inside. He built the famous edit box, list box, button demo, writing one line of C++ code, and then running the application. He was even able to demonstrate a working debugger, so this was more than just a quick hack. The best thing, as I heard later from people on the Delphi Team, was that the C++ Team itself did all this.

This is a good thing, since a future release of Delphi that could also incorporate a C++ (Builder) personality should not force the Delphi Team to divide their resources much more than already needed. One thing that I also heard was that the management at Borland is certainly willing to support C++ Builder (inside a future release of the Borland BDS IDE), but not at the cost of more resources. The C++ and Delphi Teams can do it, but they won't get additional staff or money toward the effort.

Of course, this project requires some careful planning and consideration by both teams, so we’ll see if this idea has a chance of success. Either C++ Builder gets a future—one, which might even include extensions like Managed C++, or C++ Builder is placed in limbo forever.

One thing to keep in mind: The C++ Team firmly believes in C++ Builder, but it's the management at Borland (or multiple levels up in the hierarchy, perhaps) that needs convincing. At the Meet the C++ Team session, Paul Gustavson suggested that C++ Builder developers help the C++ Team by writing an open letter to Borland’s management. Stay tuned to the C++ Builder newsgroup, Paul's blog, or my C++ Builder Gate for more news about this open letter.

While Borland’s sales force believes in C++ Builder X for the new market, the C++ and Delphi Teams are willing to give C++ Builder a new future and a new hope, one that will shape the C++ Builder Community for years to come. However, I think this is a bit of an exaggeration. I think what's happening now is more a diversification of languages, rather than a full replacement. I could be wrong, anyway. Same here too, but this has mainly to do with cloudlessness... Most professors & research personnel can't do anything useful in C/C++. Most have heard of the weak things in C/C++ so that they can preach other languages, such as Java. Java is good, but will never be the language for doing all tasks that C/C++ can be used for right now.

"C++ has been a power programming language since it was born," says Ami Vora, Microsoft's program manager for the Visual C++ IDE in Whidbey. "Use its power for good and not for evil!"

Developers who choose C++ for a project are looking for more than Visual Basic's convenience or C#'s intimate relationship with .NET. Often, these developers are looking for performance, the ability to control very specific functions, and raw programmer productivity. Certainly, you can fine-tune an application in C++ better than in other languages.

Yet, C++ doesn't get quite as much of the buzz as it once did. Some relegate it to the "legacy" category—as if that means something dusty, abandoned in the attic, rather than "we have a whole lot of it, and we know how to use it confidently, so we don't have to re-invent the wheel." With Microsoft giving so much attention to other, newer languages, some developers have worried if C++ will be left behind. Not hardly.

In the last iteration of Visual C++, Vora admits, Microsoft misread some issues in regard to the use of managed extensions." Though managed extensions were a great proof of concept, they didn't always fulfill the needs of C++ developers," she says. They've learned their lessons: according to Vora, the new version that will ship with Whidbey will have better language design (it'll look like C++ with .NET functionality) in a clean, pleasant environment. Plus, you can take advantage of both all the C++ code you've ever written and the .NET framework.

Let's get specific, with a brief overview of its improvements. The new C++ will let developers take full advantage of the CLR, including garbage collection, finalizes, reference and value types, and mapping C++ and .NET fundamental types to one another. Templates and generics are both supported, and you'll have a choice of compile- or runtime binding. C++ will support deterministic cleanup, so you know exactly when something is destroyed. You'll also be able to use the STL.NET library for secure library functions.

You'll also see better interoperability, the company promises. In Whidbey, C++ will support everything the CLR supports. With a compiler switch turned on, you'll get errors if your library will not work with that of another language.

Optimization is a topic close to many C++ programmers' hearts. One new feature to look for is profile guided optimization. If you have sufficient user data and an understanding of how the program will be used, you can show the system, "This is how my application will be run," making clear which actions are most likely. (For example, most transactions do go through without error, so that's where you want the compiler to do most of its optimization for both speed and value.) Your application is probed to collect data with a histogram of values and "hot-cold path" information. The new C++ will do (or do more) switch expansion, in lining decisions, and virtual call speculation. MSIL will also be optimized "so the back end will run even faster," explains Vora.

Naturally, C++ will cuddle up much closer with .NET. By recompiling /clr, says Vora, a developer can take advantage of all the functionality built into .NET. "That means he cans just use the multitude of classes/functions provided (which can do a lot of his job for him) rather than writing all that code himself. This can be, as you can imagine, a major time-saver," she says.

What's this mean in regard to standards? Microsoft is working with ECMA to create a standard for the language C++/CLI. When TG5 has completed this specification, it will be submitted to the Ecma General Assembly. Herb Sutter, convener of the ISO C++ committee, is on the Microsoft team; his participation (and established reputation among C++ developers) bodes well for the community.

What about legacy APIs and frameworks, such as MFC and Win API? "We don't anticipate not supporting things like that in the foreseeable future," says Vora. "We still have a team actively working on libraries such as MFC. However, most of MS's brain sweat is going into making MFC interop better with .NET and letting you host MFC in a .NET application."

Plenty of C++ programmers expect their compiler to do the heavy lifting, and they don't expect to have to know what happens under the hood. (You can easily own a sports car because you want to go fast without any desire to tinker with the engine.) As a result, the user experience—the development environment and its tools—can often feel like the most important element. Whidbey is promising plenty of IDE improvements for C++ programmers. Among them are better IntelliSense (it understands templates and namespaces, for instance), Unicode support, and XML comment support (which C# already has). Browsing capabilities include live references, call graphs, inheritance browsing, and class view filtering.

A lot of attention has been invested in improving how C++ works with large development teams, according to Vora. There are custom build rules, better IntelliSense performance on large projects, and project property sheets. The goal of all this, says Vora, is to enable developers to make the best use of their time.

C#

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:02:11 -0500

C# is a modern and innovative programming language, one which carefully incorporates features found in the most common industry and research languages. In keeping with the design philosophy of C#, Microsoft has introduced several potential new features to the C# language that increase developer productivity with language constructs.

Microsoft plans to build on an already elegant and expressive syntax by incorporating a variety of features across a broad spectrum of research and industry languages. Included among these language features are generics, iterations, anonymous methods, and partial types. It is on the pillars of a unified type system, component-based development, developer headroom, and pragmatic language constructs that future innovation in C# will be based.

The future developments will provide native support for SQL and XML right in the C# language, providing a far more natural integration of database programming concepts with modern languages. C Omega introduces some radical changes to the C# language. Most notably are the changes to the type system to provide more alignment between XML schema and classes. Anyone who understands what XSD is really trying to achieve will understand that trying to tie together schema and classes is impossible because the two are dramatically different, and are in fact trying to achieve different goals. Classes are just lists of fields, properties and methods. XSD on the other hand, describes documents of data: hierarchical streams of elements, sub-elements, attributes where you can define in quite some detail what constitutes a valid representation of that document. In essence, classes and documents are completely different beasts.

C Omega introduces several radically new concepts that allow interacting with complex data structures as if they were first class citizens of the languages. Based on what we know about the language, here are some of these features: streams, apply-to-all-expressions, choice types, nullable types, anonymous structures, query operators (SQL and XPath in C#), transactions, and XML literals integration.

This represents some great progress on the front of integrating solutions to real enterprise problems right into the language semantic of C#. It holds the potential to revolutionize database programming. Taking this one step further, just imagine if you could work with the new System. Data.SqlServer namespace, right in the SQL Server process, working directly with the data just like you would in stored procedures, and returning this using remoting.

Combining the power of C Omega, .Net and SQL Server's database engine, this could be the answer I was looking for and a huge leap forward for enterprise development. Could it mean the end of stored procedures? Either way, let’s hope these features make it into C# soon.

Microsoft recognized some of the features that made VB popular, and included them in VB.NET. C# though, was never designed as a "VB killer." Instead, C# is more likely to attract developers from C++ and Java. C# provides a C-like syntax similar to both C++ and to Java. Right off the bat, it's missing the first of the six features—a BASIC-like syntax. While syntax is unimportant to some developers, it's all-important to others.

In addition, VB, and now VB.NET, aren't case-sensitive languages. For example, "Email" and "EMail" are the same variable. In C, C++, Java, JScript, and other C-like languages, changing capitalization is an error; EMail and Email are not the same variables.

C# does have visual design and simple, integrated database support, and will eventually have a large palette of aftermarket controls to choose from—but it's the same palette that VB.NET developers will have.

C#'s IDE support leaves a lot to be desired. Even though C# shares an IDE with VB.NET, the IDE responds to each language differently. For example, Intellisense in VB.NET is considerably better than in C#, where it's—you guessed it—case sensitive. Why anyone would implement case sensitivity in a search feature intended to help people find information they may not know and shouldn't have to memorize is beyond me. Worse, it's inconsistently case-sensitive.

There's no denying that C# syntax is more concise. If you hate typing and don't use Intellisense's code completion capabilities, or you're already working with a C-syntax language, C# is the language for you. But that doesn't mean that C# will eventually replace VB.NET.

Asp.net

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:59:12 -0500

ASP.NET is probably one of the most exciting things about .NET from a developer's perspective. ASP has been totally redone from the ground up.

Many developers made the jump from regular ASP to .NET immediately, drawn in by the all too familiar Microsoft hype and the promises of cross-platform compatibility, rapid and robust development, and the ability to develop web applications in the familiar, comfortable and slightly lazy VB environment.

The move to a .NET development environment was expensive and a far bigger change than many expected. The uptake was, and still is much slower than Microsoft ever expected. It is surely no accident then that the .NET suffix has been removed from the recent Visual Studio 2005. There is no such thing as VB.NET anymore, it is VB2005. It is also a surprise, (although not altogether unexpected), that Microsoft is now giving away a lightweight version of VB2005 for free! Change the name and give it away - a cunning recruitment drive or a company in panic?

In truth, it is possible to find VB2005 for traditional Windows application development a fantastic tool. A sensible object-orientated programming architecture combined with the marvelous ADO.NET database access, alongside powerful features such as Web Services, throw in some of the best layout tools ever seen in an environment of this nature, gently stir in the ability to code in C#, J#, or VB and you cannot deny that VB2005 is an order of magnitude greater than VB6, and is definitely a cake worth eating.

In this accolade, however, it is not possible to include ASP.NET. VB and ASP have now been bundled together in the same VB package and the distinction between the two is supposed to be invisible; VB2005 Windows Forms and VB2005 Web Forms - a slight difference in name, yet a huge difference to the developer. VB Windows Forms (or VB.NET, or VB2005, or VB) will improve your life. VB Web Forms (or ASP.NET, or ASP2005) will make you frown.

In fact, consider the following statement:

"ASP.NET for small to medium sized websites is a huge overhead in so many ways, and so for the foreseeable future I will be sticking with regular ASP for anything but the most complex of websites."

1. Regular ASP has the most lightweight development environment ever used - Notepad. Yes, that's all you need!

                   Installation time? - It's already installed
                   Start up time? - It's running in an instant
                   Configuration? - Not needed
                   Availability? - Any PC ever

2. Regular ASP hosting is still cheaper and more prevalent than ASP.NET hosting, and even the ASP.NET hosting is slow at moving to new versions. There are UNIX versions of the ASP compiler too so you don't even need a Windows hosting company.

3. The workshop is aimed towards those responsible for building and creating their college's Internet website and/or intranet systems and those who already maintain a college intranet or website. The events deal with practical methods of incorporating database driven information into your current networked HTML information interface using a server that is able to serve Classic Active Server Pages (ASP).

4. The event will cover the use of ASP scripts that search, add, amend and delete information using an Access Database. Scripts will be copied and explained to avoid large amounts of time typing code. The web examples used during the event can be adapted and used in a college and include a searchable telephone directory and searchable courses prospectus using alternative keywords for searching, a titles pages and a detail of course page. Hand coding scripts gives greater flexibility and uses many of the features of ASP that are not available when using Dreamweaver wizards.

5. The scripts may be adapted for reading from, writing to, amending and deleting information in a database, and password protection of web pages. It is not necessary to have any pre-knowledge of ASP or Visual Basic Script to attend the event.

How best to upgrade to Windows Vista? For ASP.NET application developers who move to the Windows Vista operating system, IIS 7.0 represents a significant advance over earlier IIS versions because of increased security and the application possibilities offered by IIS 7.0 Integrated mode. Most developers who move to Windows Vista will be upgrading from Microsoft XP operating system, to Windows Vista and will upgrade their ASP.NET applications in the process or else will install, on Windows Vista, ASP.NET applications that were developed on other Windows operating systems. There are some important post-installation and post-upgrade configuration steps that must be performed for applications to work on the new operating system and also describes changes between Classic mode and IIS 7.0 Integrated mode that affect ASP.NET applications, and how to work around these known problems.

It is easier now to see how to built-in functions of the 2.0 release reduces the amount of code we’ll need to write. There are and will be developed unique a resourceful ways to handle various problems we’re facing daily during the development of any website. It will be easier too to see how to implement new features including themes, membership, personalization, localization, master pages, web parts, and caching. The mastery of many of the new server controls including GridView, DetailsView, MultiView, Wizard, Menu, SiteMap and Login can be also done in a professional manner.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and nowhere is this more evident than in the use of car charts. Thankfully, ASP.NET provides the means for doing just that within the existing .NET framework, via the SYSTEM.DRAWING namespace. With bar charts, it is possible to visualize past sales history, forecast stock prices, and display survey results pictorially, among literally thousands of other applications. Bar charts become even more valuable when they can be generated dynamically. The future development will make this feature more user friendly, of course.

ASP

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:57:31 -0500

The analysis used here assumes that the development of ASP may be similar to that of the IT industry. Surprisingly, as the material shows, this assumption works well as it turns out that most up-to-date ASP developments truly resemble the events in the history of IT, although they are occurring at a faster pace.

The future demand for ASP also seemed huge, perhaps bigger than the entire IT industry, as it potentially hinted at a total substitution of ASP for incumbent IT along with the massive expansion of services in the future.

Language Specific

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:53:53 -0500

Microsoft’s .NET offers an alternative to Java and J2EE. Microsoft’s Visual studio .NET development environment incorporates over 20 different languages including RPG, COBOL and Microsoft’s own C# for business programming. With all languages compiling to a common language runtime, .NET enables developers to create XML Web services and integrate mobile devices and servers.

Functional programming languages, while being merely rare in academic circles, are nearly unheard of within actual production environment. The appropriateness of particular languages to particular tasks is an actual and future problem. I often saw an attitude of, “well, if this is the language that I know, why shouldn’t I use it?�? The correct is to use the right tools for the job whenever possible.

Very frequently, non-technical matters play a large role in defining “the right tool�?. Some examples of these:

- Who will be maintaining it?
- How available is support for this language, and how expensive is it?
- Are there available libraries in this language to help with this task, or will the team write its own from scratch?
- How often will maintenance be required?
- At what intervals will maintenance need to be performed?
- How available are programmers who know this particular language?

Then it is fairly easy to see why Java and .Net are doing very well in the marketplace, despite their glaringly obvious technical problem and limitations. The main advantage is that they have gigantic libraries (the .Net Framework and J2EE lone, not to mention what their communities and third party developers publish cover more ground than any other language out there, except for Perl and C++) which slash the about of time the programmer spends on “plumbing�?.

Using a much better language often cuts development time so much, that it offsets the time that is needed to be spent writing libraries and plumbing. When it takes 5 to 20 times as many lines of code to accomplish something, which is a huge hit in time to develop. Sometimes, writing a library from scratch in a great language, custom suited to the project’s needs, is often quicker than attempting to write “glue code�? in a poor language for a “one size fits all�? library.

Unfortunately, these more efficient, more suited languages, tend to lack in the business requirements department. Good C++ coders are not easy to find, costly on individual level. Never mind the fact that one great C++ coder can do the same work as ten standard Java programmers. There are more sophisticated languages, like Ruby, Python, Lisp, Prolog, Scheme, ML, but it is very difficult to find books for these languages at the average bookstore. Reading someone else’s code in a lot of functional languages is like someone who speaks English trying to read French.

This is why people like the .Net concept. Everybody really like the way it hides the complexity of the OS’s API behind a consistent, well documented layer. People like too the idea that it is possible to write individual portions of code in the most appropriate language and the various pieces interoperate like magic. A spectacular idea is that any OS with the .Net runtime should be able to run the code with no changes, except for the parts that are platform specific.

Microsoft is sort of headed in that direction. They have IronPython out. They hired the programmer who did a Ruby implementation for .Net, so everybody can imagine that we will see Ruby for .Net soon. They give away free tools (the Express editions of Visual Studio), which are still better than 90% of the tools that are available, let alone for free.

Su is now attempting to do this with Java. But they are so far behind, and Sun alienated the FOSS community almost as bad as Microsoft has, while Microsoft is now working to build a relationship with FOSS (getting Python, Ruby, etc. onto .Net, helping Active State, the “Shared Source�? program, and so on).

VB.Net or C# seems to be leaders in the programmers’ choices. Indeed, with the tools for Visual Studio to work with office documents (meaning VBA macros) anyone can shift away from using VBA within the document to generate reports to using .Net code outside the document, and it will be faster and easier. At the very least, using VB.Net would be better than VBA. Anyone who has ever worked in VBA can attest to this. The customers want and demand Excel spreadsheets as output; for the Web development work, many are stuck with ASP.Net. The customers’ large majority is simultaneously married to offline access (for sales reports on the road) and the Microsoft Office platform.

.NET Framework 3.0 was released in late 2006. .NET 3.0 is technically the .NET 2.0 runtime plus some new .NET 2.0 compatible assemblies formerly known as WinFX (which is the name of the new managed API for Windows Vista).

The many new 2.0 features like pre-compilation, partial classes, master pages, Web Parts, personalization, and so forth are a productivity boost when building applications.

In addition to the already familiar e .NET platform, it is useful to spent time learning Visual Studio 2005. Even though this release has been out for a while, its adoption and usage coincides with use of the .NET Framework 2.0. In addition to the framework versions, Microsoft has also introduced new product versions that are closely tied to the .NET Framework. Certification is a great way to become familiar with the latest release.

Microsoft is a public company that needs to make money, so we can expect more product releases to be updated next year. Examples of recent updates include SharePoint Server 2007 and the 2007 Office System, which can both be used to build more powerful .NET-based solutions.

You can use a Visual Studio 2005 add-on to build applications targeting the 2007 Office System. The Web Parts feature first introduced in SharePoint is now a standard part of the ASP.NET 2.0 platform. Another much-anticipated product release in 2006 was Internet Explorer 7, which adds many new features targeting both users and developers. You can leverage these products to deliver solutions with the expectation of more updates and new versions down the road.

Microsoft saved its biggest product release for the end of the year by making Windows Vista available to corporate customers at the end of November. It was finalized not long after the .NET Framework 3.0 was released, which is the version of .NET you should use when developing applications targeting the Windows Vista operating system.

By default, Windows Vista includes the .NET Framework 3.0. In addition, version 3.0 is available as a plug-in to Visual Studio 2005, allowing developers to write applications that use Vista's new user interface, security features, and communications system. Windows Vista covers the desktop environment with the Windows Server Longhorn providing an update to Windows Server 2003.

What to expect in 2007? While 2006 has offered plenty of news about product releases and new technologies, 2007 will be no different. AJAX is one area where development continues with a release of the ASP.NET AJAX (code named Atlas) tools expected in 2007. It is designed to speed up development of Web applications that run in a browser or on a server.

In addition, Windows Vista is slated to be released to the general public on January 30, 2007, but it is still unknown how quickly businesses and consumers will adopt the operating system. At this time, I haven't seen any .NET Framework 4.0 versions, so hopefully developers will be given time to further digest both 2.0 and 3.0. Likewise, the adoption of the latest frameworks will continue as customers continue to build new applications and move to the new platforms.

The world of application development is fast moving and forever changing as product updates and new versions seem to appear on a constant basis. Microsoft is a prime example as it continues to update its operating systems and products as well as its .NET platform.

This has been a long time in coming. Here are the expectations of the developers and the t companies (industry) point of view. When a developer starts to develop software, what he requires or needs is:

Suitable language's knowledge in which he can program the business logic

Database knowledge to store his data
Tools to connect the business logic to the database in distributed environment
How to pack the application
If providing the transparency on client side then needs to develop the web solution
Want some sort of components to reuse his hard work or efficient efforts of others
Want to validate the client most of the times through scripts or server side logic
Want to permit a community to reuse your component to promote your business or criteria
Want to provide a neat User Interface
Want to save the efforts to put on another web page that you have made once

And many more ... (Can not cover or discuss all aspects because these all things actually vary from person to person's preferences)

But the top 10 points mentioned would be present in the list of every serious developer. So the solutions for these problems in the terms of technology we had before the advent of .NET are:

Suitable Language's knowledge for business logic: C, C++, and JAVA etc.
Databases: ORACLE, SQL Server etc.
Tools to connect business logic to Database components in Distributed environment: CORBA, RMI, DCOM
Packing of application for distribution: setup files (Environment dependent), binary files and finally registering the components
Developing online solution through (Displaying): HTML, DHTML, CSS, and XML
Want the reusability concept: Java Beans, COM.
Client validation: Java Script, JScript, Applets etc and Server Side Logic: Perl, ASP, PHP etc.
Component Distribution: Physically copy and register the component or access through full dependency on server
Neat User Interface: VB, VC++, GTK+
Reusable web component: not any popular software used frequently in industry.

For example we were using: C++, SQL Server, DCOM, HTML, COM, JScript, ASP, Server and Client registration utilities, VC++, GTK+ (on Linux) and XML for development requirements. So the problem we faced is that it took a long time for us to understand all technologies and almost every time we suspected the saturation or survival of the technology. We are not saying that every developer needs to know all these technologies at once but definitely if you are going to design something new and creative then you must have a very good idea of at least one option for every point we discussed and those are really the persons our industry is moving with.

But with .NET, Microsoft integrated almost everything in one package with the dependencies of the technologies with a clear distinction of the technology boundaries. Means you have almost everything but not whispering into each other.

So if you start to learn .NET, what all you actually need to learn is: Major technologies: C# (VB.NET is also a good option), ASP.NET, XML.

C# can be used for scripting for client validation, to create business logic, for server side programming, for Windows Applications, for Console Applications, for component designing and can use XML as data, as metadata (self describing data) and connecting tool between database and business logic again you need C# implementation of ADO.NET and moreover to put the things online you need ASP.NET on server side and to make reusable web components, you have the concept of Web Services like Windows Services developed in VC++ but with no physical boundaries.

Just one language and we can use it almost everywhere. No more confusion... and yes! No more registering process of components to waste the central memory of the system as we had with COM/DCOM and no more administration permissions (out of some special cases) on system. So from programmers or developers point of view this is a high level of achievement.

Now if we think in terms of companies (well! Here I'm talking about the small companies, working on the basis of projects). For example one company recruited four VC++ developers because the project they had was going to develop in VC++, but in next 6 months they got a project on VB.

They'll ask their developers to learn VB and start to work, yes this is not the way to fire them and hire VB developers! So this is the major problem. But in the case of .NET, you don't need to learn a new .NET language because you can inherit the components of one language in to another .NET language because of excellent interoperability. So with .NET there are no more places to convert your VB programmers to Managed C++ programmers or C# programmers to JScript.NET programmers.

Art

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:51:41 -0500

Everywhere now, it seems, some theater, opera house, museum or center is mounting a show, series or symposium on the connections between computer sciences and art. As computer sciences stake out an ever-widening swath of our collective consciousness, artists across the board are paying closer and closer attention to a way of thinking and imaging they once regarded as alien, impenetrable and irrelevant to their humanistic enterprise.

Graphic arts are vital today and in the future the situation will be the same. At the heart of everything the designers will lie on solid, imaginative graphic art skills. Whether it is a Web Site, an Interactive Presentation or a printed brochure, good, clean, sharp images and powerful graphic design will have their important role. Any idea, no matter how “off-the-wall�? will create a concept, design, layout or print ready artwork for use in products as business cards, CD’s and CD Covers, chocolate bar wrappers, brochures and manuals, logos, Web sites, flyers, labels, letterheads, catalogs and countless promotional items (t-shirts, mugs, key chains).

A real presentation for products / services features a user friendly animated interface, and will contain any or all of the following video product demonstration, video of product maintenance (change over, repair, training), contact information, link to your web site, company overview, message from the sales manager, photos of your product, narration and music, features and benefits section, technical specifications, performance analysis, option list, printable brochures, instruction manual. Spare parts list, reviews and testimonials, pricing (or request form), related products catalogue, participating tradeshow schedule.

Often the best art products are made on site filming products in action, on site photo shooting the product, planning and organizing the text based information, developing a very professional brochure, technical writing (instruction manual). The Web page development is essential, editing video too. Power point presentation will include very professional and high quality photos or videos. The same procedures will be used for PDF file, QuickTime, mpeg, AVI, swf and all formats that can be integrated into the art presentations.

Video production, editing and Web integration will lead to attractive and successful web sites. If a photo is worth a thousand words… then imagine the impact a video has! Video is an integral part of any multimedia presentation and the possibilities of video are endless, and often overlooked due to the perceived high cost of producing them. Promotion, education, training, demonstration, exhibitions… video does it all! Story boarding, script writing and editing can be compressed to accommodate numerous formats such as VHS, CD, DVD and Web integration.

Music

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:49:16 -0500

Digital music projects are opening new and exciting opportunities for music collections and sound archives, making it more accessible to designated communities as well as to the public.

In the new direction, the hardware and software will be used to store, process, manage and analyze music and information about music in a more friendly and attractive manner.

Digital library and archive documents will no longer solely remain in the domain of computer specialists and, therefore, guidelines should also aim at the non-specialist.

Finally, as technical developments converge to feasible system solutions, a change of emphasis towards user’s requirements is essential.

When it comes to the red-hot online music business, a lot of the focus has been on how we’ll get the music; whether we will buy songs from a download site such as Apple’s (APPL) iTunes music store or rent it from subscription services that let you listen to almost anything so long as you keep paying their bill, a la Napster (NAPS) or Real Network’s Rhapsody (RNWK) service.

Another question is going to become an important issue for an increasing percentage of consumers: namely, what will the sound quality of this music be? Today, songs pulled off the Net are skimpy facsimiles of the ones you get on a CD. They’re highly compressed, stripped of millions of digital bits that leave them with about one-tenth of the data found on a CD track (that’s assuming the typical “bit rate�? of 128 kilobits-per-second). You can transfer the files fast, but the sacrifice is sound quality.

CD quality: that is fine for now, since most people listen to digital music on their PCs or MP3 players, devices normally used with cheap speakers that mask any sound quality deficiencies. And compression has played a vital ole in the development of the market so far. It is the magic that makes iPod-mania possible, by enabling even tiny devices with limited storage to carry thousands of songs.

But if the digital music revolution is to reach its full potential, an all-digital future, perhaps, in which CDs racks are no longer needed, analysts say the industry will have to hit a far better – sounding note. Already, tech0savvy consumers are dabbling with ways to distribute their digital tunes more freely, to play them on their good living-room speakers, wall-rattling home theaters, or slick car audio systems.

Often they find the compressed files’ sound quality sorely lacking. “If you are listening to compressed music using your iPod ear buds, you won’t notice much difference from a CD,�? said Scott Bahneman, founder and chief executive of tiny startup Music Giants. “But once you play it on a good home stereo, the difference is huge.�?

Bahneman hopes to close that gap, and position Music Giants to take a high-end niche in the fast-growing “digital home�? market. This summer, his 15-person outfit will launch the first service that sells online music at CD-equivalent fidelity, what Bahneman calls “high-definition music.�? Music Giants has licensed the music of all five major record labels, which it will sell in a “lossless�? format, defined by Microsoft (MSFT) that results in digital songs that equal the quality of CDs.

These are big files requiring far more storage space than MP3s traded on file-sharing sites, or downloaded from the for-pay services. But for music lovers who can the difference, or think they ca, Music Giants’ service will be the only game in town, at least for now. “They’re addressing the biggest compromise that music fans have to make: trading portability for quality. This solves that dilemma,�? says Ted Cohen, senior vice-president for digital development and distribution for record label EMI.

The Internet will eventually be wonderful for music buyers, but it is still a threat to today’s dominant record labels. Today, there is more optimism. In the first half of this year, global physical unit sales of recorded music rose, albeit by a tiny amount. The industry claims that file sharing has stabilized thanks to its lawsuits. The number of music files freely available online has fallen from about 1.1 billion in April 2003 to 800m this June, according to IFPI, a record-industry body. That said, Internet piracy is rampant, and physical CD piracy continues to worsen.

But big music's attitude towards the Internet has changed, too. Over the past four years the big companies have come a long way towards accepting that the Internet and digital technology will define the industry's future. Thanks to Apple and its enormously popular iPod music players and iTunes download service, most music executives now believe that people will pay for legal online music. (Although they have mushroomed, legal online downloads account for less than 5% of industry revenues.) The big companies are trying to work out how they can harness the Internet. Consequently, they have to rethink their traditional business models.

In the past, an important part of the major’s R&D strategy was to buy up the independent firms themselves. But after years of falling sales and cost cutting, the major have little appetite for acquisitions, and now rely more on their own efforts. What some people call music’s “disease�? is not solely a matter of poor taste on the part of the big firms. Being on the stock market or part of another listed company makes it hard to wait patiently for the next Michael Jackson to be discovered or for a slow-burning act to reach it’s third or forth breakthrough album.

The majors also complain that the radio business is unwilling to play unusual new music for fear of annoying listeners and advertisers. And while TV loves shows like “Pop Idol�? for drawing millions of viewers, such programs also devalue music by showing that it can be manufactured, technology has made it easy for music firms to pick people who look good and adjust the sound they make into something acceptable, though also ephemeral.

The majors could argue that they can happily carry on creating overnight hits; so long as they sell well today, why should it matter if they do no last? But most such music is aimed at teenagers, the very age group most likely to download without paying. And back-catalogue albums make a great deal of money. The boss of one major label estimate that, while catalogue accounts for half of revenues, it brings in three-quarters of his profits. If the industry stops building catalogue by relying too much on one-hit wonders, it is storing up a big problem for the future.

Universal Music and Warner Music are starting up units to help independent labels with new artists, both promising initiatives that show that they are willing to experiment. Thanks to the major’s efforts in the last few years, their music has already improved, says Andy Taylor, executive chairman of Sanctuary group, an independent, pointing to acts such as the Black Eyed Peas (Universal), Modest Mouse (Sony), Murphy Lee (Universal) and Joss Stone (EMI).

And yet if they can shore up their position in recorded music, the big firms may find themselves sitting on the sidelines. For only their bit of the music business has been shrinking: live touring and sponsorship are big earners and are in fine shape.

Videos

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:46:43 -0500

Computer graphics hardware and software is becoming less expensive and more accessible. Soon it will be possible to buy editing equipment for new consumer formats and do a really good job of putting together a final videotape without going to a postproduction house. New distribution methods and integrated video applications like DVI, which allow much broader use of video, will be available.

Video’s future is Tiger, QuickTime 7, and H.264. Apple says that because H.264 is a standard and has been adopted by standards organizations and many other companies the battle for the successor to the current MEG-2 video standard is basically over. H.264 is a video compression technology that’s used in MPEG4, the industry standard video technology that uses Apple’s QuickTime file format as its basis. Apple has built H.264 right into the QuickTime media architecture the same way as it has other QuickTime video codec’s. This way, developers will be able to easily access QuickTime Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to support H.264 encoding and decoding capabilities in their own software and users will be able to select H.264 as an output option for their QuickTime-based projects.

“As there are over 120 companies that have announced over 200 specific products that will read, write, distribute or in some way work with H.264,�? Frank Casanova, Apple’s director of QuickTime product marketing, told MacCentral. Casanova points to companies like British Telecom, Intel, Motorola, Samsung and Direct TV as examples of companies that have chosen H.264 as the future for their industries.

One feature that makes H.264 particularly noteworthy is its ability to deliver the same quality of video as you see on DVD, for example, at up to half the data rate. Another is H.264’s ability to smoothly scale from very limited bandwidth applications like 3G cell phones all the way up to HD-quality video, and everything in between.

With its ability to encode content for so many mediums, Apple sees uses for H.264 in many of the everyday things we do today, including DVD movies, cable television providers, on-demand television in hotels and next-generation cellular telephones. With H.264, DVD content authoring houses could use the same size DVD disk, but output the content in HD quality.

H.264 gained traction last year being ratified for the HD-DVD and Blue-Ray specifications, the two new high definition DVD content standards. In November the Digital Video broadcasting Steering Board approved a revision to its implementation guidelines for audio and video codec’s over a broadcast Transport Stream. The revision included the Apple-supported H.264. The technology has also received the nod from the MPEg-4 group, the 3GPP group and the Association of Japanese Broadcasters.

“They have said the future of their digital transport is H.264 because of its efficiency and quality,�? said Casanova. “Before it’s even shipped in any significant volume there are already hundreds of products that are being developed for it.�?

With its current model, Apple says that it will be able to distribute millions of copies of H.264 with QuickTime 7 fairly quickly. Clearly, when we ship QuickTime 7 in Mac OS X, Tiger and then ship the Windows version, we are going to continue our distribution where we left off with QuickTime 6,�? said Casanova. “We have distributed over 300 million copies of QuickTime 6 and we distribute 400,000 copies a day.�?

Apple said that when they show H.264 to the people in Hollywood responsible for the “dailies�? (daily rendering of films) and other projects, they are very impressed because they can produce their work with better quality at the size file size. But what about using H.264 at home?

Apple said that all users would notice a big difference using H.264, whether they are in Hollywood film studio or at home. Any application that uses the QuickTime 7 export panel will have direct access to H.264, like Final Cut Pro, iMovie, QuickTime and any QuickTime – based third-part application.

“You will notice a difference because the video that you export now has a certain frame size and quality,�? said Casanova. “Using the same settings with H.264 you will have larger frame size and better quality. There will be a noticeable advantage and benefit using H.264. That’s why it is so exiting, it really does affect everyone.�?

Although new products are on the way to support H.264, you won’t be able to bun an H.264 encoded DVD and play it on your current DVD player. Current players look for an MPEG-2 stream, while the new players will accept an H.264. Apple left no doubt that H.264 is the future, replacing current technologies. The confidence comes from the fact that the technology is not proprietary and is and accepted standard in the industry.

“H.264 is the future of broadcast, t will replace the older MPEG technologies,�? said Casanova. Because it is a standard there are no other encroaching technologies, nothing else out there really matters. Windows Media, while good looking is not a standard and it is just not going to play a role in this space. We understand how it works because we contribute to the standard the way Microsoft is.�?

The line in the sand has been drawn and Apple feels they are on the right side, the side supporting standards. Their competition, mainly Microsoft, has to date not chosen to support or contribute to the standard. “In this entire world of standards, it is Microsoft versus the world and that’s not a good place to be,�? said Casanova. The world has voted for standards and we are on the side of standards.�?

Graphics

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:44:15 -0500

Many different graphics standards and packages have emerged over the years to meet various needs of the engineering design community. The two primary standards are the Graphical Kernel System (GKS) and the Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System (PHIGS). Other common packages include that from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and others including GRAF, CGI, Plot-10, and for the sake of argument, Postscript.

High quality computer graphics technology is becoming ubiquitous. Soon, computer graphics will be where word processing is today: everyone uses it, but there are very few people doing basic research in word processing. The challenge now is to apply computer graphics technology to research in other areas.

Peek into a kid’s world of video games and you may see the future of computing technology for architects. Despite the differences between the realms of work and lay, the fact is that games and movies are fueling the economy and the direction of serious computer graphics research and development.

Just as the music industry pioneered the compact disc and brought its price down for computer users, the animation and interactive technologies now being created for the lucrative entertainment industries will eventually benefit the more straight – laced purpose of design architects.

Noted inventor and author Ray Kurzweil is giving a keynote address, offering his predictions for the human-machine merger, speculating that we will spend most of our time in virtual reality in the 21^st century. In the near future, he stated, we will enter a shared virtual visual and auditory environment where Web sites will become fully immersive experiences. In Kurzweil’s wireless world of the next decade, he sees seamless, invisible computing with images projected directly onto the retina with fully immersive VR glasses or contact lenses. “We will totally get rid of the wires,�? he promised.

Research now underway will eventually lead to high-resolution rendering in real time, the physics-based behavior of animated objects, and interactive devices that incorporate the sense of touch. Glenn Goldman, an architect and professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, was impressed with an explosion of RAM. While architects are still buying random access memory in the megabytes, those in advanced graphics are into the gigabyte range and beginning to talk about peta bytes, or, millions of gigabytes. Newly available 128-megabyte RAM graphics cards are already being installed in the reasonably priced workstations that architects are likely to buy. Taking advantage of this power and faster processing, says Goldman, real-time rendering and representation of illumination are also improving. “3D Studio Max, which architects use, now also attracts a significant number of people making video games. This helps drive the software’s development, to the benefit of our profession.�?

Serious researchers are also improving “image-based modeling�? for the game industry. This makes it possible for developers to quickly create models from ordinary photographs.

This will be useful for architects who will be able to model entire cities with relatively little effort. Goldman was also impressed with Wacoma’s new pressure-sensitive tablet, which doubles as a 15-inch 1024x768 pixel monitor. It’s great for sketching,�? he says. “And when the price comes down from its current $4,000, and its size increases to 19- inches, it will be still more useful for architects.�?

Another architectural professional, Dace Campbell, an associate with the Seattle firm NBBJ and Industrial Fellow with the Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington has been using the longstanding VRML (virtual reality modeling language) for years. With it, he creates virtual environments, which users can “walk through�? and interact with. Having heard rumors about VRML’s demise, he needs to find out what would replace it.

“My impression,�? says Campbell “is that there’s nothing better to replace it yet.�? There are many vendors demonstrating technologies for modeling and rendering 3D Web objects in real time. “They all claim to provide smaller files and therefore lower bandwidth solutions that VRML, but I couldn’t see how they were differentiating themselves.�?

E-commerce appears to be driving this trend, with an emphasis on manipulating objects within on-line shopping environments. But there was little emphasis on modeling the e-commerce environments themselves, a market niche that NBBJ and other firms are carrying out. Architectural settings, Campbell point out, are fairly static. Even though it may be cool to show doors opening and elevators moving, it is not clear how such object manipulation will trickle down to useful technology for architects.

Console Games

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:16:42 -0500

With a new generation of video game consoles, increasing online game play and distribution, cross-platform development and play, in-game advertising and more, there are earth-shaking changes going on in the video game industry.

Competition among game publishers is more heated than ever, which means a smart strategy, future-focused perspective and staying ahead of rivals is critical for success.

Predictions:

-The growing cost of development for games on next-generation platforms will increase demand from publishers to require new games to be deployed on many platforms.

-Increased cross-platform development will mean less money for optimizing a new game for any particular platform.

As a result, with the exception of in-house titles developed by the console manufacturers themselves, none of the three major platforms (Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution) will end up with games that look significantly different from each other, nor will any platform show any real "edge" over the others. Many games will be written to a "lowest common denominator" platform, which would be two threads running on a single CPU core and utilizing only the GPU.

2006 is one if the biggest years for games in history. What a wild and wacky year 2006 has been for gamers. While it will best be remembered as the year that the “next generation�? really got into full swing with all three major game companies having new consoles on the market for the holyday season, much more than this happened in 2006.

Mobile Games

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:13:18 -0500

This is the “hot�? area. The list of industry events and the impact of mobile games is readily apparent. The appeal of mobile game development is fairly obvious. The team size is typically a fraction of the size of a typical development team; the development cycle is a few months versus a few years.

Given a choice between console games and those played on mobile phones, the mobile phone games are being preferred by a large segment of people from different walks of life. And the reasons are quite obvious. Gaming enthusiast can play these mobile phone games and mobile Java games at their own discretion, whenever they want and wherever they want to.

These are far greater flexibility for them to indulge in a few moments of “mobile gaming action,�? even during their busy day at work. And with most people in our times possessing a mobile phone handset of their own, there are endless opportunities to be explored.

Another factor that has contributed to the widespread popularity of mobile phone game downloads is the availability of a wide variety of the same at affordable costs. Easy to download and compatible with the latest models of handsets, the mobile phone games and Java games have become one of the most common ways of entertainment in the modern world.

The development of mobile phone technology has contributed to this trend. Most of the latest mobile phone handsets from the leading names in the industry come with colored screens, enhanced memories and stereo sounds. These advanced features go a long way to give a whole new dimension to the mobile gaming experience.

However, this is not the end of the road. Or, we can say that the journey of mobile games has just begun. The present generation of wireless networks need further up gradation. This would enable faster transfer of data and enable people to lay mobile games and mobile Java games in real time.

The pricing policy regarding the download of mobile phone games and mobile Java games also need some changes. Mobile network operators need to take steps to encourage potential customers of mobile games to browse the Internet.

They would then be motivated to download extra gaming levels to their handsets. According to the opinion of experts, a change in the pricing policy would lead to a further “opening up�? of the market for mobile phone game downloads and mobile Java games.

Gaming

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:09:08 -0500

Computer games have now been taking up room in our home from over twenty-nine years. Of course, future gaming will be about more than bells and whistles. Sony and Microsoft are in the heated battle over our living room. The PlayStation and Xbox, of course, do more than play video games. They also double as DVD and CD players. And future generations may add even more multimedia functionality.

One of the best games around these days can’t be found on store shelves and has absolutely no learning curve. It is the guessing game, and just about every gamer worth his or her salt is paying. Most are focusing on the game machines of 2006-2007: the PlayStation, the Xbox Next and the Nintendo Revolution. That is fine, but many prefer to play for bigger stakes. Lately, people have been pondering what the world will be like in 2025.

Expectations, as anybody guess, are pretty high. “I imagine there will be 3D projection technology that will allow people to play without a monitor�?, said Yuji Naka, creator of Sega’ Sonic series. “Sonic will be running and the game will proceed just in front of or around you!�?

Naka is not the only one who sees virtual reality coming of age, either. “I look forward to true virtual reality in games 20 years from now, where you can become totally immersed in the action and storyline�?, said Ray Muzyka, joint CEO at Bioware, which created “Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic.�? “Imagine taking the role of your favorite hero in a movie and making meaningful choices to move the storyline along.�?

Not everyone sees such dramatic advances, however. Ed Boon, who co-created “Mortal Kombat�? in 1993, and has been involved with every sequel the franchise has spawned, foresees a more gradual progression.

“My guess would be that the new machines will have basically more of everything that worked in the older machines,�? he said. “More memory, the ability to display more polygons, betters lighting techniques and faster processors. I don’t suspect they will introduce much new that is as influential as going 2D to 3D.�?

Future gaming will be about more than bells and whistles. Sony and Microsoft are in a heated battle these days over your living room. The PlayStation and Xbox, of course, do more than play video games. They also double as DVD and CD layers. And future generations may add even more multimedia functionality.

“In 2025 I doubt that we will even have something that we call ‘gaming machines’, said Electronic Arts’ Will Wright, creator of “The Sims�?, the best selling PC game of all the time, and its just released sequel “The Sims 2�?.

“Today we don’t have dedicated ‘movie machines’, instead we have many different devices that can play and display movies as well as other media (DVD, TV, VCR, TIVO, PC, etc.). Each one of these machines has special features that give them some competitive advantage in the consumer electronics ecosystem. Movies have become a very portable form of media that can live on all of these. I think we’re starting to see gaming evolve and diversify in a similar way.�?

Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games (creator of the “Spyro the Dragon�? and “Ratched & Clank�? franchises), agrees. “The biggest difference will be in hw these new machines will become the center of your entertainment experience,�? he said. “Want to record your six favorite TV shows while you are playing a game? No problem let your PlayStation do it for you. How about replacing the music in a game with the latest mp3s you’ve downloaded? No sweat…

In 20 years it should be a given that all of your entertainment needs are satisfied by one machine.�? So whether future machines are holographic projectors or super-powered multimedia machines, or both, remains up in the air. Let’s talk controls. Today, we’ve basically got two options when playing a game – a handheld gamepad or the mouse / keyboard combination. While alternative controls are trying to flex their muscles, only one (Sony’s Eye Toy) has had any real penetration in the market. Will those controllers still rein supreme 20 years down the road?

“I think the scenario where were all sing virtual controllers without physical representation will be quite likely,�? said Greg Zeschuk, the second half of Bioware’s dynamic duo. “These controllers might use either magnetic fields or optical systems like those used in current motion capture set-ups… One other option is direct input into the nervous system of the player (spinal input port at the back of one’s neck), but this still seems rather far-fetched… and scary.�?

In the early 90s, when “virtual reality�? was the net big thing, it required players to wear enormous headsets that led to complaints of headaches and neck pain. Combined with the primitive graphics of the time, the ‘next big thing’ died on the vine. But will we see resurgence in the future? Insomniac’s rice hopes so.

“Let’s get rid of the TV and create a more convincing head-mounted D display,�? he said. “Let’s take the controllers out of players’ hands and instead create the sensation of actually holding a baseball bat or swinging a sword. And forget about keyboards, even now many games are really starting to take advantage of the things you can do with vocal commands.�?

That said, today’s controllers have their defenders, and they are pretty good. “Just as we saw wheels on cars in the very beginning or the power button in electronics, there are certain elements that must remain as long as the equipment exists,�? said Sega’s Naka. “That makes me believe we will probably be using some sort of a handheld controller in the future.�?

“In some ways I find the mouse to be a much more advanced device than your typical game controller, adds the more PC-centered Wright. “It is generally easier to learn because of the visual nature of its interface and has far more consistency across applications. The mouse is still rapidly changing (more buttons, mouse wheels); in a sense it represents the evolution of a new language based on micro-gestures of your hand and fingers. Whatever the device is, this new spatial / gesture language represents the most probable future of input devices.�?

Apex

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:04:31 -0500

At the bit SalesForce.com conference was announced a new programming language, with backing from Adobe and others. “This is the most important announcement Salsforce.com ever made,’ Marc Benioff, SalesForce.com chairman and CEO, told those attending its annual user conference.�? Apex is for delivery to a SalesForce.com server, rather that to the general Web audience, or a particular intranet’s HTTP server. SalesForce.com already has initiatives with Flash, Breeze, Acrobat and so on… good possibilities here, but it will in the Saleforce.com audience base.

The First On-Demand Programming Language represents a powerful new tool for developers interested in building the next generation of business applications. With Apex, a whole new breed of on demand applications is possible, featuring sophisticated processes and business logic, entirely on demand and without software. Likewise, Apex will enable unprecedented levels of customization, allowing you to modify the behavior of existing features, or create entirely new ones. And like other customizations built on the platform, Apex apps can be packaged and shared through the AppExchange directory.

The key technology of Apex is a new programming language that allows developers to do something entirely new and powerful to run business logic on SalesForce.com.com servers. With the release of this language, Apex developers will be able to use the same tolls that SalesForce.com.com’s own development team uses to build our own apps, including our flagship CRM product. Before Apex, it was possible to do some impressive things with Ajax or other on-server code. But because Ape code runs natively on the server, it is faster and more powerful, can interact with the UI via Buttons and Events, and can manipulate data through the API. Transactions and flow control can now be efficiently done on the server side, opening u new possibilities for developers.

The Apex language, combined with powerful new platform technologies like custom buttons, outbound communications, and inline s-controls, means that it is possible to put code, and therefore business logic, almost anywhere in the UI. Expanding functionality within applications, as well as adding wholly new features, is easier than ever.

ApexConnect will provide connectors for applications such as Office, Outlook, Lotus Notes, SAP R3 and Oracle 11i. ConnectOracle, which offers a built template designed to speed the integration process between SalesForce.com and Oracle 11i, enables Oracle 11i customers to access their SalesForce.com front office and back-office customer data.

SalesForce.com expects ConnectOracle to be available early next year, for an annual fee of $12,000 to users of SalesForce.com Enterprise Edition and Unlimited Edition. The company recently released its ConnectSAP for integrating SalesForce.com with SAP R3. ApexConnct will also become a category on the SalesForce.com AppExchange, which serves as a marketplace for hosted applications from more than 230 partners.

Apex has been compared to Java, and maybe that’s not accurate. But if not, how is Apex different? And why wouldn’t a developer just use Java? What’s different about Apex is that it is an on-demand programming language. By that mean that if a developer is using the sales force automation (software) he obviously can get up and running, and he don’t have to buy the hardware. The same thing is true with Apex: any developer can start programming.

What’s different about Apex is it’s running in the database, basically – it is actually running on application servers. And one of the key things a developer can do with Apex and can’t be done with Web services is the developer can have transactional control of the database. But the other thing, in terms of a language, is it’s really, really easy to use to write the logic, the business logic that needs to happen within the service… The developer can create these really complex applications really quickly.

SalesForce.com

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:01:14 -0500

On-demand Relationship management has a leader: SaleForce.com

Every aspect of the clients’ lifecycle of any size companies can be customizable. This CRM is perfectly tailored to the client’s needs, but there are also powerful features like forecasting, contract management, online lead capture, and analytics.

SalesForce.com can be the conduit for conversations between your organization – and your customers and prospects fate to face, by phone, fax, e-mail and on-line technologies. SalesForce.com will have the knowledge to replace or reinforce the user’s in-house sales and customer service employees. SalesForce.com has experience in business-to-business, business to consumer and consumer to business. They have also conversations across a wide range of industries.

SalesForce.com offers three solutions for more effective and efficient sales and customer service conversations. The solutions are sales and customer service solutions, such as state-of-the-art interaction centers for receiving and making phone, fax, e-mail and on-line conversations and field sales systems and resources for face-to-face conversations.

Expertise sharing: professional consulting with organizations that require SalesForce.com eSmart or StreeSmart excellence using internally implemented solutions.

SAP and Microsoft

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:57:16 -0500

SAP is already working with Microsoft Corp. to integrate SAP processes with Microsoft’s Windows in a project named Mendocino.

The main technology related goal would be to improve the user experience of the company’s products that suffered since SAP is redesigning its screens to work with the Windows operating system instead of UNIX, because there is nearly 50% less space available on the screen.

SAP will follow in the same tradition featuring a very sophisticated, intuitive and versatile user interface powered by an unmatched analysis engine and design tools for engineers working on transportation, industrial, public works, sports, and other facilities.

From its 3D object based graphical modeling environment, to the wide variety of analysis and design options completely integrated across one powerful user interface, Sap will prove that it will be the most integrated, productive and practical general purpose structural program on the market today.

This intuitive interface will allow creating structural models rapidly and intuitively, without long learning curve delays. Complex models can be generated and meshed with powerful templates built into the interface.

Getting a head start on information, exchanging knowledge and the possibility of making a difference these were the principles, which first brought SAP software users together. By 2006, approximately 1,850 German-language companies, institutions and authorities had enlisted as members.

SAP

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:55:36 -0500

Sap is the largest European software enterprise, with headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. SAP’s products focus on ERP, which it helped to pioneer. The company’s main product is MySAP ERP. SAP is the clear leader in the industry, with 4% of market share in the US, and plans to extend that.

"In retail, we are growing faster than any other vertical. In public services, we've made some very important investments. Our vertical strategy, segmented strategy, team, execution are right now at a better state than ever before." (McDermott)

The company is positioned at the forefront of the enterprise technology using a long-term strategy. This ability to execute over the long term has helped SAP achieve a dominant global market share.

According to Gartner, SAP is #1 in enterprise software. Sap in the worldwide market leader in CRM, ERP, and supply chain software, according to a comprehensive new study. With 26% of CRM market chare, 29% of ERP market share, and 19% of SCM market chare by total software revenue. SAP exceeded overall market growth rates in all three segments. It is no wonder more organizations are turning to SAP to become best-run businesses.

SAP will improve supplier relationship management (SRM) with real word wisdom. SAP, its customers, and its partners have amassed a wealth of real wisdom on forging successful supplier relationships. Now, they will share that wisdom with its customers. Watch Web casts on best practices, lessons learned, and case studies to discover new insights into the most critical supplier-related challenges facing the client’s company today.

Great companies relay on SAP, not just great big companies. More than 65% of SAP customers are small and midsize companies. The clients don’t have to be a big company to maximize the advantage with flexible, affordable, and proven software from SAP.

SAP increases transparency and predictability with new CRC applications. SAP is enhancing the market-leading governance, risk, and compliance portfolio with three new applications to deliver more simplicity and increase process and cost efficiency, accountability, and control – based on a holistic approach to managing GRC.

With the new SAP Net Waver Application Server, Java EE 5 Edition, SAP will provide a platform for building enterprise-class, scalable, distributed and open standards- based Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). A new solution will be designed for the process of building and testing a simple Web service using SAP Net Weaver Application Server, Java EE 5 Edition.

Sap is the largest European software enterprise, with headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. SAP’s products

PeopleSoft

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:53:44 -0500

PeopleSoft Support, Consulting, Education, Hosting, and Financing are now integrated with Oracle Services.

“Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft is not the dawn of a scary new era; it is the twilight of the old ERP age. It may also be an opportunity to create and ERP future that adds value not costs, to business�?. (Scott Berinato).

PeopleSoft enterprise Supply Chain is a flexible solution that helps businesses synchronizes their supply chain. This helps provide efficiency, which in turn provides cost savings. Within the PeopleSoft Supply Chain there are solution modules like customer order management, logistics, manufacturing solution, and supply chain planning. PeopleSoft SCM falls under Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise product suite and its future is following Oracle’s main directions.

PeopleSoft is developing new solutions to accelerate deployment, improve system performance and availability and preserve the integrity of application code. PeopleSoft solutions help improve the control and visibility over the system performance and change management needs for the PeopleSoft platform and its underlying databases enabling you to achieve operational excellence and compliance to regulatory standards.

PeopleSoft will always work to deliver the best possible all-around application experience to the customers. PeopleSoft consultants and in-house teams depend on the code quality and optimization and performance solution to keep applications running smoothly. In fact, they will use Quest tools in their labs and on customer consulting engagements.

PeopleSoft for Oracle is the facto-standard for database developers and administrators with more than 500,000 users worldwide. Oracle increases user productivity and application code quality with rich features for data-base object management, develop and debug Pl/SQL, create, execute and optimize SQL queries while providing an interactive community to support the user experience.

Oracle and PeopleSoft will provide solutions for a comprehensive data management workbench that enables DBAs to manage more databases from a single, integrated interface. Oracle and PeopleSoft will combine best-of-breed products for:

Database Analysis
Performance Monitoring
Performance Diagnostics
Database Administration
Space Management
SQL Tuning
Load Testing / Data Generation
Performance Analysis / SQL History

Oracle and PeopleSoft will provide fault-tolerant, streaming replication for the Oracle database, allowing maintaining a near-real time copy of the database for reporting and migrations.

PeopleSoft Experience Monitor for Web-based applications optimizes the real customer experience, improves capacity and quickly diagnoses availability problems. Schema Manager eases the deployment of schema changes from development to test to production by managing dependencies while maintaining control with extensive change documentation. Schema Manager can help ensure a smooth migration for customizations or upgrades that have been introduces in the PeopleSoft database.

End User Management will provide better transaction simulation, performance measurement and problem reproduction to guarantee optimal service levels for any applications by assigning accountability for the end use experience.

Oracle and PeopleSoft

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:51:50 -0500

Project Fusion is the next stage to bring together Oracle, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards product lines. This will bring all three product sets together using Java and HTML standards to make the new software easy to integrate into other systems.

“The future looks bright now: the new architecture and the results companies will achieve will be truly revolutionary, but the path to the new successor product line will be evolutionary�?. (John Wookey, VP of application development at Oracle)

Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise applications are designed for the most complex business requirements. They provide web services integration with vendor and homegrown applications and can be easily configured and adapted to meet the most unique customer requirements. In addition, PeopleSoft Enterprise supports a very broad choice of technology infrastructure.

The future efforts are focused for:

Accelerate the path to Fusion
Drive superior ownership experience
Deliver best in-class business processes

The solution dynamically personalizes report information retrieved from PeopleSoft and other enterprises data sources and securely delivers individually formatted views to tens, of thousands of users inside and outside the firewall. The solution will integrate non-PeopleSoft data and the Management, Financial Management, Human Capital Management, Supply chain Management, and enterprise Performance Management by accessing them directly with Enterprise Information Integration, native PeopleSoft drivers, or through the AppConnect enterprise Warehouse.

The future solution will access PeopleSoft application data directly or through the data warehouse. It will be designed to integrate seamlessly with PeopleSoft applications and data including:

PeopleSoft Security
PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA)
PeopleSoft data sources

Oracle – Modeling and Development

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:49:58 -0500

The main development directions are to assist Oracle analysts and design tools users in maximizing their investment in Oracle Designer and JDeveloper, through sharing experience with the other users and to ensure that Oracle customers are fully apprised of the future direction of Oracle analysis and design tools.

Oracle relies on its own software to run its global operations and meticulously plans software upgrades. There is an added complexity for Oracle: the company implements its software before releasing the new version to customers, so the pressure to get it right is overwhelming.

What made this possible is a foundation based on an integrated information model with a highly componentized application solution, with rich support for J2EE compliant APIs and Web services. It is a part of the latest evolution in the technology for designing and programming application software packages called Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). “In spite of this massive acquisition (PeopleSoft) in the middle our upgrade cycle we had a single place to upgrade, a single place to roll up processes, and without this architecture it would have been a very different story,�? said David Cooke, Vice President and Global Oracle Alliance Leader.

Oracle and XML

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:47:46 -0500

More than ever, developers need to be able to acquire, integrate, repurpose, and exchange information with other applications to feed their growing databases and to coordinate their business operations with those of partners and suppliers over the Web. These tasks can be dramatically simplified using XML.

Oracle is making a major commitment to XML, and the Core XML Support being delivered in Oracle11i is a major step. Oracle will continue to make it even easier to build database-driven Internet applications that exploit XML in future releases of Oracle, AppServer, Tools, and packaged Applications.

By more tightly integrating the SQL type system and XML, the database will provide a natural mapping of object/relational SQL query results to a well-formed XML document. Combining this tighter SQL? XML integration with the current Oracle mechanism for defining Object Views over relational data, it will be possible to query a logical view of “Accounts�? and return all of the related, supporting information pertinent to that account with a single request to the database

Rather than receiving HTML pages that present schedules, price lists, and product information in an attractive visual format, XML allows to request and receive the raw data itself for further processing.

The number or Oracle’s certifications is growing constantly; there are more than 230000 with growth mainly in India and China. This means that Oracle’s future is really bright. There are many reasons to use a well-known oracle development team, a group of outstanding Oracle professionals with a dedication to quality and a reputation as an author and expert. Managers can create some development teams with confidence when it is composed of respected industry experts. The Oracle’s expert’s future is looking bright too…

The prospective are very optimistic; there are obstacles too, but managers can optimize the business value of Oracle. There are many obstacles to Oracle benefits realization but managers can use some “levers�? to realize Oracle benefits using their existing people, processes, and organizations. There are specific tools and approaches for leveraging the possibilities of Oracle, including performance measurement, process improvement, organizational design, training (very important and expensive), and communications.

Oracle’s XML strategy is to deliver the best platform for developers to productively build and cost-effectively deploy reliable and scalable Internet applications exploiting XML. Oracle represents a significant “down payment�? on the delivery of this strategy, and broad efforts are underway within Oracle to deliver additional XML capabilities up and down the product stack.

Oracle and Handheld Devices

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:45:53 -0500

To meet the new challenges, Web services link servers over the Internet to exchange data and combine information in new ways. These services run on Web-based severs instead of individual PCs, allowing people to use then through any device that has Internet access, including cellular phones and handheld computing gadgets, as well as desktop and notebook computers.

Oracle’s Siebel Mobile Solutions applications provide field technicians with complete mobile access to customer information, asset histories, reporting tools, parts information, corporate knowledge bases and much more. By supporting a large variety of devices in both connected and disconnected modes, it enables efficient and accurate customer service and ensures that all technicians have access to the right information in the right place at the right time.

Oracle’s Siebel Wireless will provide technicians more real-time access to critical service information, including activities, service requests, order status, account and contact details and an employee directory. And because it will be seamlessly integrated with other Oracle applications, it will be easily configurable and developed.

The main directions are:

- Deliver real-time access to critical information through a wireless device

- Wirelessly push messaged to employees, partners and customers

- Support multiple handheld devices and phones.

Wireless Browser Support: Siebel Wireless provides real-time access to critical information through a wireless device. Using WML or HTML browser on a mobile phone or handheld device, a field user can read, edit and write data in the customer database. As a result, the application enables field professionals to order items, trace parts, send correspondence, update service activities, review customer and activity information, access calendar and contact details, and respond to service requests.

Siebel Handheld will allow field technicians to access key information from the customer database through Direct Server Synchronization or Companion Synchronization to a Windows Pocket PC device. Developers will connect to the Siebel Server using a variety of mediums to download and synchronize activities, service requests and other critical data.

Siebel Mobile Web Client enables field service professionals to access a full desktop computing solution on a laptop through an automatic exchange of information with corporate servers. It offers synchronization of laptop records with data over LANs, WANs, dial-up connections, and the Internet.

Oracle

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:43:50 -0500

Oracle released a free dev tool for its Fusion middleware. The new productivity tool is called Oracle Developer Depot and provides access to a library or reusable and sample code for rapid development of Java app prototypes.

After the mega acquisition of rival PeopleSoft, the database world leader has many opportunities for the future. Database marketing secures Oracle future; the strong revenue growth will be in two areas: oracle.com application service provider (ASP) business that allows companies to rent Oracle’s e-business software over the Web, and its application-server software business technology, that runs e-business and Web site transactions.

Headquartered in Redwood Shores, California (US), Oracle develops and deploys Internet enabled enterprise software across its entire product line, which includes database, server, enterprise business applications and application development, and decision support tools. Oracle offers e-business solutions that extend from front- office customers relationship management to back-office operational applications to platform infrastructure.

Oracle co-president Charles Phillips offered a few hints as to what partners can expect from the company’s next database and applications generation. The upcoming Oracle 11g database, for example, will allow segregation between applications users and the database that feeds their applications. Application users will not be able to see underlying data in the database unless they have the rights to see it.

What is being done now in compliance is the “tip of the iceberg�?. “Future Oracle users will be able to audit database information and access by applications and users. It will track not only which applications it is possible to use, but what data must be viewed, what changes was made; it will identify the person once and track him across all apps and the stack. It will be a complete audit trail from keyboard to disk,�? Phillips said.

Oracle’s current technology can monitor user response times across the stack and isolate problems, Phillips said. Future applications will be able to initiate a rollback of the application server and database. Phillips also talked up tighter integration and going forward between the core Oracle database and middleware stack and applications going forward. “We have assets on the tech side that apply elsewhere. In our umbrella strategy, we have single core foundation of the technology stack – the database and middleware. Around that we have industry-oriented applications, ERP and CRM. The applications should leverage the core stack.�?

Oracle has pledged continued upgrades not only to its homegrown apps suite but for Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards apps as well. The company can do more for customers and partners in terms of security, high availability and compliance in its next product wave. Many JD Edwards and PeopleSoft customers run their applications on IBM’s DB2 database, which competes with Oracle’s bread-and-butter database. Likewise, Oracle has promised that its database will continue to fully support third-party applications that compete with its own software.

Also was announced new Business Accelerators for the mid market. These wizard-like programs let partners and users easily enter information about the desired application and automate its optimal set up, Oracle said. A new Oracle Accelerate program aims to get partners to extend these accelerators for their verticals. Phillips also announced a new Configuration Support manager to ease deployments and optimize performance. It will be part of Oracle’s Premier support options.

In the future, Oracle products will enable centralized entitlements, so a user’s access to data and applications will automatically follow him or her thought applications and tasks. Oracle’s business information is about how to manage it, use it, share it, and protect it. The word’s largest enterprise software company, Oracle is the only vendor to offer solutions for every tier of your business: database, middleware, business intelligence, business applications, and collaboration. With Oracle, information that helps to measure results, improve processes, and communicate a single truth to the constituents is possible quick and in a correct manner.

Oracle has made a number of strategic acquisitions to help the users get the broadest functionality and the most value from the business applications. In the future they will make it even easier for the users to take advantage of the rich customer relationship management capabilities of Oracle’s Siebel CRM, by helping the users to integrate Siebel applications with the Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise applications.

Oracle’s Siebel Customer Relationship Management applications help provide insight to the right person at the right time, leading to faster, better informed decision. With solutions tailored to the specific needs of more than 20 industries, Siebel provides predictive analytics capabilities that deliver real-time intelligence, greater flexibility through support of both J2EE and .Net, and a lower total cost ownership.

Siebel Integrations are software bridges that reduce implementation costs by accelerating the deployment time required for front to back office integration – all without disruption to existing business operations. By allowing information to flow across entire enterprise business processes, Siebel integrations provide immediate value.

In addition to Siebel CRM Call Center on Demand to Oracle E-Business Suite, which was just released, Oracle is developing these Siebel Integration offerings:

Siebel Order Capture to Oracle Order Management, that combines Siebel’s campaign to opportunity product set with Oracle’s order management, fulfillment, and financials capabilities, giving to the users a single view of his opportunities to cash business process.
Siebel CRM on Demand to Oracle E-Business Suite provides consistent customer data across the front and back office applications, enabling a true 360-degree view, so the user can provide more knowledgeable and personalized customer service.
Siebel CRM to I-flex FLEXCUBE Integration enables a quick, integrated account and fulfillment process, reducing the time required to open an account, while allowing fast service request processing across multiple request channels.

Oracle’s commitment to providing industry solutions has never been stronger; they customers experience it, their partners share it, and analysts recognize the scope and strength of offerings that have been carefully developed with the input of thousand of valuable customers.

Oracle industry applications are based on a wealth of industry experience and are tailored to address the unique challenges and processes that drive the business. Oracle applications and technologies provides a uniquely platform that is helping industry leaders around the world get the most accurate and up-to-date information from their business systems.

Recovery Manager (RMAN) was introduced in Oracle 8.0 and enabled true incremental backups for the first time. Prior to RMAN, database exports could be taken incrementally, but if any block in a table was changed, the entire table was written. RMAN incremental backups write only the changed blocks from a given data file, thus saving space.

Priori to the version 10g, however, incremental backups required a scan of an entire data file to detect which blocks in it had changed. For very large databases, this made the time required for incremental not much better than for full backups, even though space was saved. Change tracking, sometimes called Block Change Tracking, provides a solution by recording to a separate Change Tracking file, which blocks have changed. The changes are written in real time by a background process.

This is a performance impact to enabling Change Tracking, so unless you are using RMAN’s incremental backup feature, it is best left disabled. But if you are doing incremental backups, the time lost recording changes will be more than made up in faster backups.

Some industries are aerospace and defense, high technology (semiconductor, complex electronic equipment, computers, peripherals and consumer electronics, electronics contract manufacturing), oil and gas, professional services, public sector (national and local government, defense, justice and public safety), chemicals, industrial manufacturing (durable goods, heavy equipment and machinery manufacturing, industrial products), retail, telecom, education and research (higher education and research, k-12 primary and secondary education), life sciences (clinical applications, medical services, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology), travel and transportation (airlines, airports, logistics), financial services (banking, insurance, capital markets), media and entertainment, utilities (electricity, gas, water, waste), natural resources (raw material producers, mining, mill products), healthcare (health payers, health providers, government healthcare agencies). The future is looking so bright for Oracle!

Baan

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:41:09 -0500

Jan Baan created the Baan Corporation in 1978 in Barneveld, Nederland, providing administrative and financial consulting services. Jan Baan entered what was to become the ERP industry. A few years later, Paul Baan, Jan’s brother, joined the company. It is the largest software family firm in Dutch history. After some accounting scandals, some losses occurred and Baan was sold to Invensys, a firm from UK.

In 2003 poor market performances of Baan ERP led Invensys to sell Baan to SSA Global Technologies. Since that moment, the promoted brand was SSA Baan.

With 44 implementations in 25 years and zero failures, SSA Baan implement projects on time, staying in the budget and plan for the short, medium and long term plans.

Future plans are involving the product’s lifecycle management, to elevate customer service level from order acquisition through manufacturing and subsequent service and maintenance. Another goal is to increase flexibility in order-driven manufacturing.

HP and SSA Global made a product together to offer the best in class end-t-end ERP solutions. Baan is a really sophisticated system, and its “Milestone Deliverables�? philosophy has no failure. This is an ERP system that is responding to customer demands with flexibility, not holding back.

Baan is helping the firms to achieve manufacturing excellence. The specialists are saying that no other ERP system offers the breadth and depth of support for order-driven, project-based discrete manufacturing. From made-to-stock to engineer-to-order and from flow line technology to lean manufacturing, Baan recovers all the requirements. Full product lifecycle management enables you to elevate customer service levels from order acquisition through manufacturing and subsequent service and maintenance.

Here are the main activities than Baan is developing now and in the future:

- Improve operational efficiency

- Gain better control of processes

- Increase user productivity

- Improve communication and collaboration

- Enhance performance and scalability

- Leverage IT infrastructure and information assets

- Reduce costs

Discrete manufacturing operations systems are the most difficult to manage; Baan delivers comprehensive support for it, extending the traditional ERP footprint of finance, sales, purchasing, and manufacturing into freight management, warehouse management, and after-market service support.

The designers are an important goal for the future: to make Baan more easy to implement, easy to own, and most importantly, easy to adapt to changing environments, with a dynamic enterprise modeler that enables business processes to be recorded in the system and fully integrated components that allow changes to be reflected immediately in user roles.

The system will run on a variety of platforms, from low cost Linux / MySQL to multi – CPU. Multi—tier data centers, providing further flexibility.

From the very beginning, ERP solutions are growing permanently, they have more than 10 years experience and all this time developed more powerful versions. The future is open to new huge innovative resources, to offer effective and very complex solutions.

ERP solution will develop and implement the most effective software programs for small middle and growing companies. ERP solutions will cover the most various fields (production, distribution, media, consultancy, and financial services) for successful business.

Enterprise Resource Planning

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:39:21 -0500

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a broad term for a wide range of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a company manage the mission – critical areas of its business, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM). ERP can also include application modules for the financials and human resources aspects of a business.

Enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) integrate all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP system is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules. The term ERP originally implied systems designed to plan the utilization of enterprise-wide resources. Although the acronym ERP originated in the manufacturing environment, today’s use of the term ERP systems has much broader scope. ERP systems typically attempt to cover all basic functions of an organization, governments, and other large entities utilize ERP systems.

Companies are implementing tens of millions of dollars at a time to implement SAP, Oracle, Siebel, or other large and well known ERP or CRM technologies in hopes of achieving dramatic improvements in an organization’s efficiency. In their quests to successfully implement these complex technologies, most companies are well versed in their abilities to develop detailed business cases to gain management approval for new and more efficient proposed system.

Using ERP systems as a tool to achieve overall business objectives, IT firms and corporate managers will be able to better maximize the potential benefits of any particular system. A comprehensive benefits realization program is needed as a part of any ERP system program implementation to ensure that this maximization arrives.

Cost pressures, organizational inefficiencies, and hype are all common catalysts for the introduction of new technologies. However, despite the compelling reasons for information technology, many companies fail to realize the full benefit of these technologies.

Additionally, it may be noted that to be considered an ERP system, a software package generally would only need to provide functionality in a single package that would normally be covered by two or more systems. Technically, a software package that provides both Payroll and Accounting functions would be considered an ERP software package.

Examples of modules in an ERP, which formerly would have been stand-alone applications, include: manufacturing, supply chain, financials, CRM, human resources, warehouse management.

The manufacturing module includes engineering, bills of material, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, cost management, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow.

Supply chain management includes inventory, order entry, purchasing, product configurator, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling.

Financials contains general ledger, cash management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and fixed assets. Projects module includes costing, billing, time and expense, activity management. Human resources module includes payroll, training, human resources, time and attendance, benefits.

Customer relationship management includes sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact and call center support. Data warehouse and various self service interfaces for customers, suppliers and employees.

ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly disparate applications. This made the worry of keeping employee number in synchronization across multiple systems disappears. It standardized and reduced the number of software specialties required within larger organizations.

Let’s have more information about the ERP’s future from Stewart McKie, a senior of IT consulting. From departmental systems to enterprise systems to business partner integration, the trend is to spread information further and further. The better informed we are, the better positioned we are to act. So it is important to know which new technologies are currently helping to spread the word. According to McKie, there are two emerging technologies that we can’t ignore. The first is Web services and the second is XML (extensible markup language).

“Until XML came along,�? McKie says, “there was no technology that could unleash the full potential of business collaboration. Now everyone has pretty much decided that XML will be the standard for exchanging documents between systems. “With the emergence of the Internet and XML, EDI (electronic data interchange linking systems with different data formats) has become cost-effective and accessible to all.

ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly disparate applications; this made the worry of keeping employee numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappear. It will standardize and reduce the number of software specialties required within larger organizations.

To remain competitive, manufacturers are looking to improve their customer-order fulfillment rates. In many cases, an ERP system can increase fill rates to 80% or 90% by providing the information that allows the company to have the right product in the right place at the right time. The result is higher customer satisfaction and retention.

It is really hard to put a price on lost business; customers will take their business elsewhere if the products they want are not available when they need them. There are many manufacturers that physically count inventory each month – in some cases, each weekend often an inventory accuracy rate as low as 25%. An ERP system can increase inventory accuracy to more than 90%, while reducing the need for frequent physical audits. For many, a comprehensive physical inventory is not costly in it, but requires a temporary shutdown of business to count, tag and check stock.

Better inventory accuracy, fewer audits; higher quality, less re-work; timely revenue collection, improved cash flow. Those are some more ERP’s advantages. The “soft�? benefits of ERP provide good bottom-line savings and sustainable top-line growth, lower inventory and operating cost, more efficient production, and improved quality with less waste, higher customer acquisition retention and better cash flow.

In the future, more companies will be able to let their ERP systems handle cash management, as this functionality works through the industry. More companies will pull everything into the cash management module of their ERP systems.

ERP II systems are not just the backbone of the enterprise. They are also the information link for an enterprise in the supply chain. Given the above discussion of current IT challenges, it is clear that there is a need to ensure that companies more fully realize the potential benefits of technology. Unfortunately, investing millions of dollars in new information technology without a compelling justification and validation of this justification is not acceptable in today’s increasingly competitive environment. By integrating a comprehensive benefits realization approach into IT implementations, managers will ensure that their projects are rolled out successfully and that the projects translate to wise investment decisions for the company.

Documentation / Writing Search

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:37:16 -0500

All organizations and companies produce reams of documents, whether they are internal files, order forms, invoices, letters, manuals, memos and so on. Once these documents were paper–based, but now documentation within an organization can take many forms, whether they are Web-based, email-based or print-based. Document management is therefore concerned with the storage, retrieval and dissemination f such material.

The past 40 years have seen a larger number of innovations in writing than perhaps in the entire history of writing. Over the long run paragraph not has much of a future in technical writing. The information block will be the idea that survives. Writers need to write so people can scan and skip. That means that a writer needs to write so people don’t have to read everything. This is something of a paradox.

It will be convenient for people not to read everything and that people must have the freedom no to read everything and probably always have read in a non-linear way. But with hypertext they skip all over the place.

There is also the “writing code�? activity domain: coding. Many developers don’t consider JavaScript or HTML coding, so they rarely document such code. Thoroughly documenting the JavaScript code either through written documents or code comments not only help the author, but also provides future guidance for developers working with the code.

So every coder must document his code with comments. Written documentation is good, but it is useful to include documentation in the actual code – just in case the written documents cannot be found. Documenting the code is also good practice and it s easy to do on-the-fly as the programmer is coding. Some languages like Java and C# provide special documentation features.

JavaScript does not include such features, but it is easily possible to include documentation with comments. Developing readable code is a continual process that any coder should follow on a daily basis. After all, documentation is abhorred by most developers, so going back and documenting code after a project is complete is not on anybody’s wish list. The programmer can include comments and consistently format the code to assist future developers charged with maintenance or changes.

Now let’s consider some major fact about reading and writing. A very controversial thesis is that the revolution in information and communication technology may soon turn writing into a relic of the past: it will be replaced by the automatic transcription of speech, whereas reading is here to stay. Can we reflect on the future with the help of tools developed within the cognitive and social sciences?

Some people are convinced that writing and reading will soon be things of the past, a cumbersome pair of prosthetic practices that, in retrospect, will come to be regarded as a mere parenthesis in human history. This has been argued in particular by William Crossman: “By enabling us to access stored information orally – aurally, talking computers will finally make it possible for us to replace all written language with spoken language. We will able to store and retrieve information simply by talking, listening, and looking at graphics, not at text. With this giant step forward into the past, we’re about to create oral culture on a more efficient and reliable technological foundations�? (“The Coming Age of talking Computers�?).

If speech to text conversion technology proves effective and congenial people may end up giving up writing altogether without ever deciding to do so or even noticing that they have done so (just as many of us have, in fact, ceased to write by hand). The cumulative effect of such individual decisions at a cultural level is hard to predict, but it is likely to be considerable.

The fact that readers can see a whole page and readily access any other part of the text provides writes with opportunities not shared by speakers. Writers can use more complex sentences. They can highlight the organization of their text with paragraphs, titles, and subtitles. They can depart from a strict linear organization of the text by adding footers, cross-references, or appendixes. They can produce new kinds of objects that are at once linguistic and graphic, such as structured lists and tables.

Even in oral presentations, most teachers and lecturers have found it useful or even necessary to provide written text and other graphic documents for the audience to read or examine, in the form of writing on the blackboard, handouts, or, by now, screen projections. Many of the current forms and functions of writing take advantage of the short-term memory effects of a visual presentation. Possibly, some of these functions could be fulfilled by talking machines, but not all of them. For instance, it might be easier just to ask the machine to read a short dictionary entry than to look it up using the alphabetic order. On the other hand, browsing is, and is likely to remain, more effective when done visually than acoustically.

From a practical point of view, listening to a text is much slower than reading. It is also noisier. Possibly the stronger obstacle to the abandonment of reading is the role it lays, not in accessing texts, but in producing them. What we value most in the activity of writing is not the hand movements (or else typing would not have replaced handwriting to this extent) but the fact that we can read what we write as we write it.

All this considered it is quite implausible that the cumulative effect of individual decisions to use text-to-speech conversion will result in the replacement, at a societal level, of the activity of reading by the systematic use of text-to-speech technology.

Still, the generalization of the oral production of written texts is likely to have significant effects on the texts themselves. These effects might be on the subtle rather than on the dramatic side, and be therefore comparable to the effects of the progressive replacement of handwriting by typing, and then of simple typing by word processing. This move has favorable emergence of the development of new genres in a way that has not yet been systematically studied. The composition of written texts by means of the voice might have deeper effects.

Various forms of writing have resulted in some degree of divergence (varying from tongue to tongue) between oral and written dialects. Will a return to the natural organ of linguistic expression put an end to this divergence, or will it cause the emergence of new dialects?

The very symbols used in the different writing systems result from a compromise between the needs of the hand and those of the eye. Printing, and now the computer, has made possible the development f new characters, which, however, must still remain similar enough to handwritten ones. This constraint could altogether disappear; a new evolution of writing systems could emerge, exclusively guided by considerations of visual ergonomics and esthetics.

One can imagine anything. On the other hand, to speculate in a manner that is both informed and reasoned is difficult. Difficult nut not altogether impossible…

Solaris

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:35:26 -0500

The future of Solaris looks vibrant and dynamic, for all branches and leaves of the same tree, including BSD and Linux. Solaris looks forward to a strong community build to help out with the development.

They have to meet the objective that Jonathan Schwartz has set, which is to open source all the software that Sun produces. It is a big challenge because Sun has such an extensive software portfolio; a great operating system, server software that business depends on, a portal server, software that does identity management and helps manage security.

Sun Microsystems will make additions to Solaris 10 as part of work on the 7-month-old Open Solaris project as well as through internal development. Already, 71 proposed additions have been generated via the Open Solaris initiative. They include a wireless driver for x86 platforms. “We’ll use the same rigorous test process as always�? with the open source additions, says executive VP John Loiacono.

Sun developers also are working on ZFS, a 128-bit file system with increased error-detection and correction capabilities for the next Solaris 10 release, due within six months. A self-correcting file system simplifies management of large storage systems. In addition, Solaris’ ability to host virtual machines will be enhanced to include Red Hat Linux VMs under Solaris 10.

FreeBSD

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:33:55 -0500

No matter what application, whether as a desktop system, or installed as an Internet server, FreeBSD has the power and the flexibility required to meet even the most demanding situations. FreeBSD, however, requires more of an administrative approach than most over-the-counter operating systems. FreeBSD requires less administration per functionality than several operating systems. Given the correct approach, managing a FreeBSD system is simple and can be quite fun.

FreeBSD is a multi-user system: several people can access the same computer at the same time. This includes more than “File Serving�? capabilities of other operating systems. The users connected to the FreeBSD machine have access all their normal functionality as though they were actually at the server console. Users can even interact if they chose.

FreeBSD® is an advanced operating system for X86 compatible (including Pentium ® and Athlon™ AMD64 compatible (including Opteron™, Athlon ™ 64 and EM64T) architectures. It is deriving from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley.

In a sense, UNIX is the touchstone of the Internet. There is now a string emphasis on the standard protocols of the Internet (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP, FT, SMTP, POP3, and IMAP) and most of those standards were developed or refined on the UNIX operating system. FreeBSD addresses both issues: it is based on one of the standards of the UNIX world, BSD 4.4, optimized for common, inexpensive Intel-based hardware and (as the name implies) it is free.

Free BSD offers advanced networking, performance, security and compatibility features today, which are still missing in other operating systems, even some of the most known commercial ones.

FreeBSD makes an ideal Internet or Intranet server. It provides robust network services under the heaviest loads and uses memory efficiently to maintain good response times for thousands of simultaneous user processes. The quality of FreeBSD combined with today’s low-cost, high-speed PC hardware makes FreeBSD a very economical alternative to commercial UNIX workstations. It is well suited for a great number of both desktop and server applications.

FreeBSD is rapidly developing operating system. Keeping up on the latest developments can be really difficult. The following projects are always in actuality:

- GNOME on FreeBSD

- Java on FreeBSD

- KDE on FreeBSD

November, 17, 2006�? the first release candidate of FreeBSD 6.2 is available. ISO images for Tier-1 architectures are available on most of the FreeBSD mirror sites.

FreeBSD has many practical applications:

- Server applications

o Run a turnkey www server

o Handle Internet email

o Domain Name Service

o Allow dial-up access to the Internet through PPP

o Allow Windows users to map network drives and share server resources

o Act as a network router

o Network file sharing

o Translate network address, allowing to conserve the registered IP address

o Be an Internet firewall or gateway

o An affordable UNIX WINDOWS Workstation

o Run a wide range of FreeBSD Desktop applications

§ Word Processing

§ Spreadsheets

§ Database processing

§ Personal finance

§ Multi-media

§ Video conferencing

Run applications from other platforms:

- Linux

- BSDi

- SCO

- Windows

Provide also security control for a single user and run other company specific applications.

The first point packages have been included with the test builds and a few minor nits have been noticed already. In particular these are known problems, which will be addresses before RC2.

Its future is formed by additional platforms that are in various stages of development. It is no difficult to contribute to FreeBSD. The main development direction is coming from the large amount of programmers that can add or improve its features.

UNIX

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:31:56 -0500

UNIX is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and Douglas McIlroy. Today’s UNIX systems are split into various branches, developed over time by AT & T, as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations.

The actual owner of the trademark UNIX is The Open Group, and industry standard consortium. Only systems fully compliant with and certified to the Single UNIX specification qualify as “UNIX�? (others are called “UNIX system-like) or “UNIX-like�?).

UNIX’s influence in academic circles led to large-scale adoption (particularly of the BSD variant, originating from the University of California, Berkeley) of UNIX by commercial startups, the most notable of which is SUN Microsystems.

UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X are commonly encountered. Traditional UNIX may be used, sometimes, to describe a UNIX or an operating system that has the characteristics of either UNIX System V or Version seven.

The Common API Specification project started when several vendors (Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Novell/USL and OSF) organized together to provide a single unified specification of the UNIX system services. By implementing a single common definition of the UNIX system services, third-party independent software vendors (ISVs) would be able to more easily deliver strategic applications on all of these vendor’s platforms at once.

The focus of this initiative is to deliver the core application used by current programs. The economic driver that initiated the project is the ease the porting of existing successful applications. While the work is led by a central group of vendors, it receives widespread support within the industry.

UNIX operating systems are widely used in both servers and workstations. The UNIX environment and the client-server program model were essential elements in the development of the Internet and the reshaping of computing as centered in networks rather that in individual computers.

UNIX was designed to be portable, multi-tasking and multi-user in a time-sharing configuration. UNIX systems are characterized by various concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; treating devices and certain types of inter-process communication (IPC) as files; a hierarchical file system; and the use of a large number of small programs that can be strung together through a command line interpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic program that includes all of the same functionality. These concepts are known as the UNIX philosophy.

The operating system consists of many of these utilities along with the master control program, the kernel. Its provides services to start and stop programs, handle the file system and other common high level tasks that most programs share, and, perhaps most importantly, schedules access to hardware to avoid conflicts if two programs attempt to simultaneously access to the same resource or device. In order to mediate such access, the kernel was given with special rights on the same system and led to the division between user space and kernel space.

The microkernel tried to reverse the growing size of kernels and return to a system in which most tasks would be completed by smaller utilities. In an era when normal computer consisted of a hard disk for storage and a data terminal for input and output the UNIX file model worked quite well as most Input / Output was linear.

However, modern systems include networking and other new devices. Describing a graphical user interface driven by mouse control in an “even driven�? fashion didn’t work well under the old model. Work on systems supporting these new devices led to facilities for non-blocking I/ O, forms of inter-process communications other that just pipes, as well as moving functionality such as network protocols out of the kernel.

In 2000, SCO sold its entire UNIX business and assets to Caldera Systems, which later on changed its name in the SCO Group. The new player started legal action against users and vendors of Linux. Linux contains copyrighted UNIX code now owned by The SCO Group. Other allegations include trade-secret violations by IBM, or contract violations by former Santa Cruz customers who have converted to Linux. There is a dispute with Novel, resulted in the SCO v. Novell lawsuit.

In 2005, Sun Microsystems released the bulk of its Solaris system code (based on UNIX System V release 4) into an open source project called Open Solaris. New Sun OS technologies such as the ZFS file system are now first released as open source code via Open Solaris project; as of 2006 it has spawned several non-Sun distributions such as Schilli X, Belenix, Nexenta and Martu X.

IBM admits that, just a few years ago, it held a weaker share of the UNIX market. Now IBM holds more than 25% share. It hope to grow that considerably with the POWERS line, relying on the fact that UNIX market represents more than $21 billion opportunity. It looks like while system upgrades are important for any server vendor, harnessing the added horsepower is the key and should help separate IBM from the rest of the pack. POWER chips are extending to anything from running a consumer’s games and Apple’s computers to its own servers and supercomputers, such as IBM’s.

IBM believes the evolution of the POWER architecture will ultimately yield servers that drive a true on-demand business environment for customers.

IBM is at work on AIX version 5.4, due sometime next year. While UNIX generally is good at balancing workloads across multi-CPU servers and server clusters, AIX 5.4 will take that a step further by balancing processing workloads across virtual machines.

The release will include workload management technology that came with IBM’s 2005 acquisition of Meiosys Inc. and high availability and security improvements. Customers are expected to have access to some new features. So will IBM create an open-source version of AIX along the lines of what Sun Microsystems has done with Solaris?

Hewlett-Packard updates HP-UX every two or three years, and the next release, HP-UX 11i version 3, is scheduled for the end of this year. Like IBM, HP is emphasizing improved security and high availability. HP-UX 11i v3 will offer extended virtual-view and partition management capabilities and improved support for storage area networks.

HP also is migrating third party applications that ran on VMS and Tru64 UNIX-platforms it acquired in its merger with Compaq, to its HP-UX on Itanium Integrity servers, but users of those systems have dragged their feet on converting to HP-UX; about 20% of them have moved to Linux.

New capabilities are added incrementally, too. HP just added identity management to HP-UX for user authentication.

The Dot-com crash had led to significant consolidation of UNIX users as well. Of the many commercial flavors of UNIX that were born, only Solaris, HP-UX and AIX are still relatively well in the market. Of these, Solaris has the most market share, and may be becoming more popular now that it is Open Source.

Microsoft's Office of the Future Gets a Makeover

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:30:09 -0500

Context awareness will result in software that can better simulate the "common sense" that humans use to recognize what information is helpful and relevant, so that search results are more targeted and disruptive background activities do not interrupt people while they are focused on other tasks, he said.

The present is already showing how advances in machine learning and pattern recognition will further automate the implementation of business rules and preferences, while software will be able to use pattern-recognition and machine-learning algorithms to dynamically sort and personalize environmental variables, as well as search results and information based on user needs and behaviors.

“On the search front, emerging technologies use metadata, data assigned to each object within an information environment, to make searches more relevant and responsive, while data that carries tags with metadata that are static—like a document author or date of creation--as well as dynamic--such as rights management status and embedded applications--help solve some of the problems associated with versioning and access�?, professor William Gruver said at Certified Internet Web Professional Centre (CIW).

Users may also in the future get the ability to cache search queries and receive notifications when relevant results—even results beyond the scope of the original query—have been added or updated.

In addition, implicit queries will provide users with proactive links to people, content and data as they relate to the task at hand.

Among the prototype technologies on view at the CIW during the tour is the data lens technology, which allows the user to view large pieces of information and documents on smaller screens; and Microsoft RoundTable, a collaboration and communication tool with a 360-degree camera that promises to deliver an immersive conferencing experience that extends the meeting room across multiple locations.

“Microsoft's Unified Communications Group, which is focused on simplifying communication and giving people more control over how, where and when they communicate, will continue to develop RoundTable and is scheduled to bring the technology to market in 2007," Gruver said.

“Automating the archival and retention of all collaboration activities, from team sites and discussion threads to instant messages, meeting activities and application-sharing sessions, in a single logical repository, also helped facilitate compliance and enable knowledge management. To help our customers boost their individual and corporate productivity, we must continually increase our understanding of the demands facing information workers today as well as the trends shaping the new world of work.�? Gruver said.

MS Office

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:28:51 -0500

In 2007 release, Microsoft is including server side capabilities for MS Excel that make it easier to secure, manage and collaborate with others on spreadsheets, effectively making Excel a more secure and manageable data analysis and presentation tool.

Also in MS Office 2007, Share Point products and technologies become a comprehensive portal for all of the BI content and end-user capabilities in SQL Server Reporting Services and Microsoft Office, providing secure access to business information in one place.

The 2007 release of the Microsoft Office system introduces custom task panes that give the tool to put the features and information the customers need when and where they want them.

It will be easier too to create document templates programmatically for Microsoft Office Word 2007, including information about using the new content controls, document building blocks, and XML mapping.

MS Exchange

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:25:28 -0500

The firms selling browser-based AJAX clients running against Linux backend, which offer lower ownership costs and optimized browser-based clients and, in some cases, open-source options.

There are no chances to see these vendors compete head-to-head against Microsoft. They are more probably to be installed for clients that have les sophisticated messaging needs. Another possible threat to be established order is the movement of public portal sites, as Google, into commercial mail services.

It is a messaging and collaborative software product, part of the Windows Server System line of server products and widely used by enterprises using MS infrastructure solution.

It is positioned as rival to the Lotus Notes/ Domino server from IBM and competes with a number of competitors; EGroupWare, exchange Linux, Novell GroupWise, Kerio Mail Server, Kolab, Open-Xchance, Oracle Collaboration Suite, PhpgroupWare, Scalix, Zarafa, and Zimbra.

The news version is named Exchange 2007. It is o include voice mail integration, better search and support for Web services The company also announced that the new version would run on 64-bit version of Windows only.

Microsoft Exchange has more than one half of the market for corporate email seats. The future is presenting a very good perspective, share expected to grow steadily through the end of the decade. This product has the potential to set de direction for the email market. The new release, called Exchange 2007, improves management, adds security elements, and bumps scalability. Microsoft Exchange will change the core notion f what services and email system provides.

Microsoft has the next areas of incursion into the third party market:

- Compliance and archiving capabilities, which challenge offerings vendors.

- Voice-mail services challenging services from vendors such as Siemens, and Cisco Systems.

- On-premises and hosted spam and virus blocking services, which challenge those from on-premises vendors such as Symantec, Trend Micro, and Secure Computing.

- Wireless mobile email services, improved in 2007, are a direct challenge to the offerings of the Blackberry franchise, and other services such as those from Nokia Intellisync.

In 2006, Microsoft merged his Exchange unit with its real-time communications team, responsible for VoIP, Web conferencing and instant messaging. This maneuver is effectively setting the stage for moving into converged communications. This great-converged communications push Exchange’s voice-interfaces and voice-mail services.

Voice messages are attached in a .wma file and routed to a user’s inbox. Users click on the message and have it played on his PC. They can also route the message directly to an alternative device (cell phone). Integrating voice mail with email created business efficiencies via common access command services, and that will become a cornerstone of the unified communication and collaboration movement.

Microsoft exchange 2007 will also enable users to interact with email and calendar services over the phone. Users can dial into the Microsoft Exchange server and request that their messages or calendar appointments be read to them via a conversion unit.

Some new and spectacular features include:

- Enabling Exchange to answer calls for Office Communication Server (OCS) users who are not available or do not answer.

- Allowing Office Communicators users to access Exchange 2007 voice messages.

- Having Office Communication Server route inbound calls to an Office Communication Server- controlled endpoint.

- Creating set-up and administration efficiencies for the Live Communication Server / Exchange 2007 deployments.

Maybe it will take several years to Microsoft’s voice services to be deployed but Exchange/ Outlook will replace incumbent voice-mail suppliers in at least 25% of the Exchange shops (over 5,000 users).

The predictions are optimistic: the volume adoption of Microsoft Exchange 2007 will begin earnest in 2008. The installed base will reach 40% in 2010. Via Exchange and MSN/Hotmail Microsoft has more influence on the market than any other vendor.

The main advantages are:

- Unified communications. Voice mail and fax capabilities, as well as integration with the voice components of Office Communications Server (OCS) Exchange 2007 moves from email only services to support for a large scale of communication technologies.

- Hosted messaging services. The use of Microsoft hosted, Internet-based spam and virus filtering are included in some licenses of Microsoft exchange 2007. There are also services such as archiving, continuity and encryption.

- Expansion of access mechanisms. Direct Push mobile email services are presenting an improved browser access, and voice interfaces to email and calendar services. This feature will expand the availability of rich email services in a spectacular manner.

- Message control. The more aggressive record management programs, the email abuse are a present and future danger. Exchange 2007 will add facilities for greater control of email by allowing all messages (outbound and inbound) to be interrogated prior to delivery.

Some more significant Microsoft Exchange 2007 features and changes are:

- Push email. Microsoft Exchange added push email services for mobile devices in Exchange 2007, and other features such as device and server-based search, improved meeting request handling, support for HTML messages, message flagging and self-service remote device wipe. This is a good option for large deployment across an organization. Microsoft will broadly expand the percentage of employees using the service and will, finally, challenge the established mobile suppliers.

- Recoverability/reliability. Exchange 2007 simplifies cluster set-up and adds support for shared-nothing clusters via a log shipping facility (available in SQL Server). This feature will enable geo-clustering, online continuous backup and off-site disaster recovery services. More organization will have the opportunity to build comprehensive redundancy into email systems, resulting in higher levels of system up time.

- System management. Microsoft Exchange Management Console which runs on the Microsoft Management Console has been rebuilt to improve management efficiencies. Exchange 2007 has a spectacular command line scripting shell, built on Windows PowerShell, which all allow custom management tasks to be automated. Microsoft says that PowerShell will become the model for command-line experience for all Microsoft server products. Exchange 2007 adds more granular administration privileges, such as server set-up only, message flow only, and mailbox features. Everything is done for greater security and control. The result of these features should be an easing of the management burden and reduced risk of employee-induces system errors.

- Message control. Microsoft introduces a new server role called the Hub Transport server (actual an expansion of the current sever role), which allows messages, sent and received, to be reviewed for content and other custom characteristics*size and number of recipients, destination) prior to delivery. Messages that trigger the filter can then are manipulated according to scripted business rules (names transport rules) such as bounce, copy, append, block, and send to archive or quarantine. This service will help meet increasing demands for greater message control and provide a rich opportunity for value-added services from third parties.

- Security. Exchange 2007 adds automatic support for Transport Layer Security –server to server encryption standard, whereby the Exchange gateway severs will make Transport Layer Security connections with receiving message transfer agents where possible. Exchange 2007 servers will also now automatically have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates and the intranet messages path across all Exchange servers will be encrypted, thereby meting enterprise demands for additional email security. Transport Layer Security services alone; however, are unlikely to meet specific encryption requirements mandated by regulations such as Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm Leach Bliley (GBL) and U.S. health Insurance Portability.

- Outlook 2007. Concomitant with the release of Exchange 2007 will be a new version of Outlook, which, while less innovative than the new Exchange version, has some interesting new elements. Interface changes mostly relate to the “compose�? and “reply�? functions, and a “to do�? pane integrates with tasks and calendar items. A new feature is the bidirectional synchronization, with WSS for lists, tasks, calendar appointments, contacts and documents, as well as the ability to archive data to WSS. Calendaring is improved in a spectacular manner, with schedule overlays, team calendars, subscription to Internet calendars and snapshot emailing of calendars.

Microsoft Exchange data can be protected 24x7x365 using disaster recovery and high availability solutions. Some of the key features include:

- Wizard-driven creation of new Microsoft Exchange high availability scenarios

- Automated failover and failback capabilities

- Testing and validation of the replica environment

- Built-in rewind technology

There are some valuable solutions, cost effective and relatively easy to use.

Finally, the new Microsoft Exchange 2007 includes expanded search services, a computational proof algorithm, an RSS reader, and an auto discovery of server functions. All these features help determine when a message needs to be sent to the junk folder.

The Exchange franchise is a part of Microsoft’s email portfolio. Its public consumer oriented Hotmail service has one of the largest subscriber bases with 230 million users. Microsoft is the most influential email vendor in the word. Organization must pay attention to its consumer email activities, given the longer term push that Microsoft and, most recently, Google will make toward providing email as a software as a service (SaaS) model.

Microsoft has been building an alternative mail infrastructure to Hotmail (which runs on UNIX servers). Called Windows Live Mail. This will offer some spectacular and user friendly features such as a rich AJAX client – drag and drop, right clicking, multi select and rich text editing, and a Windows based back end.

Microsoft is offering a no-fee, hosted email service to any legitimate university constituency, including students, alumni, faculty, parents, staff, and applicants. The university keeps its own domain name (or names) by pointing the Mail Exchange records of its Domain Name System to Hotmail / Windows Live mail.

Microsoft and other public portals are expected to expand no-fee email services to new constituencies, such as local, state and federal government; nonprofit organizations; primary and secondary schools in the U.S. and Canada. It is possible the see Microsoft expanding the range of offerings to include instant messaging, Internet telephony, Web conferencing, community services, video / audio conferencing, and office personal productivity services (such as word processing).

Google and Yahoo have a massive Internet presence and, to keep its own Internet presence viable, Microsoft has to offer rich Web-based functionality to commercial organizations, forcing it to elevate the capabilities of Live, thereby ultimately blurring the line between Live and traditional Office.

Given the great ambitions of MSN (in the guise of Live) to expand email services to multiple constituencies, the conclusion is that the biggest competitive threat to Exchange email franchise is MSN itself.

Microsoft Windows

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:23:11 -0500

Microsoft’s seemingly ubiquitous operating system, Windows comes in many flavors on both the client and server side.

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said, in a speech hosted by the New America Foundation at the National Pres Club in Washington, D.C. that Microsoft’s goal is to be principle and transparent as the new Windows’ versions are developed. These principles are intended to provide the industry and consumers with the benefits of ongoing innovation, while creating and presenting robust opportunities for competition.

The principles, which consist of 12 tenets, are divided into the following three general categories:

- Choice for computer manufacturer and customers. Microsoft is committed to designing Windows and licensing it on contractual terms so as to make it easy to install non Microsoft programs an to configure Windows-based PCs to use non-Microsoft programs instead of r in addition to Windows features.

- Opportunity for developers. Microsoft is committed to designing and licensing Windows (and the parts of the Windows platform) on terms that create and preserve opportunities for applications developers and Web site creators to build innovative products on the Windows platform, including products that directly compete with Microsoft’s own products.

- Interoperability for users. Microsoft is committed to meeting customer interoperability needs and will do so in ways that enable customers to control their data and exchange information securely and reliably across diverse computer systems and applications.

The newest products, Windows Vista, Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 R2, and System Center Reporting Manager are available, as well as IE7.

After five long years, Microsoft will release Windows Vista in January 2007 to consumers. They’re re important upcoming technologies, as described by Paul Thurrott. As the product has been in development for over five years, that means that Vista had one of the longest development cycles in the 20-year history of Windows. Vista is, in the same time, evolutionary and revolutionary. It includes modern OS features, such as a new hardware - based graphical user interface. Vista will look familiar to anyone that’s already familiar with Windows XP. Mac fans can claim that many of Vista’s best features appeared first on MAC OS X, some year ago. It is true.

Microsoft’s Windows Vista is the future today. It is really hard to put Windows Vista in perspective; on the one hand, it is like XP with a pit-shine, but it is easy t get lost in the seemingly never ending lists of new features. It is a spectacular major Windows version all right. And now it is complete.

In reality, Windows Vista is quite different from its predecessors, despite the surface similarities. It is to Microsoft’s credit that hundreds of millions of Windows users will be able to upgrade o move to Windows Vista, install and run almost all of their existing applications, hook up and access almost all of their hardware peripherals, and access all of heir critical data files and other documents, all without any understanding at all of the major changes that Microsoft has wrought.

Microsoft described Windows Vista as the platform for the next decade, and it was not a hyperbole. It is a big and very complex product. There are lots of new functionality and many new features. It is also the first Windows release to provide developers with a major new programming model in a decade. Now Microsoft and its partners can build off for years to come… it is, as promised, the biggest new version of Windows since Windows 95. By this time next year, over 100 million people around the word will be using Vista.

It is easy to get lost in the never-ending lists of new features; it is a major version all right. This major new Windows version is very important and, ultimately, so desirable.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates signaled a dramatic shift in the company’s strategy, making a secure, private and reliable computing experience the company’s highest priority. In an increasingly interconnected world of PCs, devices and services, this commitment to Trustworthy Computing is more important than ever.

Microsoft is delivering innovations that help business and consumers maintain control over their computers in a world of constantly evolving security threats, to help users become more secure and protect the privacy of their information. Huge efforts were made to offer IT administrators’ new ways to make their companies’ networks more resistant to attacks. Data confidentiality can be preserve, as their integrity and availability as well.

Windows Vista brings a new level of confidence to computing through improved security, reliability and management. Building on these advances, Microsoft can work to make computing even more reliable and secure. This is the way they follow:

- Building a trust ecosystem in which people, device-makers, organizations and programmers can be properly identified and held accountable for their actions, while still protecting the privacy of end users.

- Simplifying security for consumers and IT professionals, through a combination of industry standards, common development tools, and unified practices across platforms, products and services.

- Engineering for security by establishing, publishing and sharing best practices, security diagnostic tools and security specific testing methods.

Windows Vista has so many compelling technologies, that I never really paid attention to its PDF-like creation technology, called XML Paper Specification (XPS). It is a printer option in all of the Print dialog boxes in Windows Vista.

XPS is more than a future competitor for PDF. The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the new graphical subsystem in Windows Vista that replaces the old GDI graphical subsystem and makes many of the cool UI features possible; in addition, WPF provides the foundation for a new print subsystem that includes, among other things, support for better color management to allow high fidelity color printing.

One of the biggest features of having XPS as a native operating system feature is that it can better tie together what you see on the screen with what you see on the printed output. In other words, since the document can remain in the same format from the time it is created to the time it is printed, convention errors are eliminated and there will be a more consistent format for both screen and print output as far as layout and color.

Scheduled for release later this year, the Microsoft® Windows Vista product lineup will bring clarity to customers’ digital world by helping them easily accomplish everyday tasks, instantly find what they want, enjoy the latest in entertainment, improve the safety of their personal information, stay connected at home or on the go, and help ensure PCs are up-to-date, more secure and running smoothly.

The Windows Vista product lineup consists of six versions, two for businesses, three for consumers, and one for emerging markets: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Starter. The number of offerings is the same as the number of offerings currently available for Windows® XP. More important, the lineup is designed to deliver clear value to a broad range of customers, each product tailored to meet specific needs of various segments of customers — home PC users, small and medium-sized businesses and the largest enterprises — and is aimed at bringing 64-bit, Media Center and Tablet PC functionality into the mainstream.

“We live in a digital world that is filled with more information, more things to do and more ways to communicate with others than ever,�? said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management and Marketing at Microsoft. “The PC needs to give people the clarity and confidence to handle this ‘world of more’ so they can focus on what’s most important to them. With our Windows Vista product line, we’ve streamlined and tailored our product lineup to provide what our customers want for today’s computing needs.�? Windows Vista is designed for businesses of all sizes.

Business customers can choose from two versions that are designed to meet their needs, based on the size and scale of their organizations:

Windows Vista Business is the operating system designed for organizations of all sizes. For small businesses, Windows Vista Business will help keep PCs running smoothly and more securely so they are less reliant on dedicated IT support. For larger organizations, Windows Vista Business will provide dramatic new infrastructure improvements that will enable IT staff to spend less time focused on day-to-day maintenance of PCs and more time on adding strategic value to the organization.

These are some of the specific features of Windows Vista Business:

- A new user interface, named Windows Aero™, is designed to deliver the most productive, highest-performing desktop experience possible. Windows Aero will provide a professional-looking, transparent glass design, with subtle effects such as dynamic reflections and smooth animations, along with Windows Flip and Flip 3D desktop navigation features.

- In addition to these navigation improvements, Windows Vista Business makes it easier than ever to manage huge volumes of business documents. By integrating search throughout the operating system and providing new ways to organize files, Windows Vista Business helps business users quickly find exactly what they are looking for.

Windows Tablet PC technology provides built-in handwriting recognition and enables interaction with the PC with a digital pen or fingertip instead of a keyboard.

Windows Vista Enterprise: to better address the needs of large global organizations and those with highly complex IT infrastructures, Windows Vista Enterprise are designed to significantly lower IT costs and risk. In addition to all the features available in Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise is designed to provide higher levels of data protection using hardware-based encryption technology. It will also include tools to improve application compatibility and will enable organizations to standardize on a single worldwide deployment image with the inclusion of all Windows user-interface languages. Windows Vista Enterprise will be available only to customers who have PCs covered by Microsoft Software Assurance or a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.

These are some of the specific Windows Vista Enterprise features:

- Windows BitLocker™ Drive Encryption helps prevent sensitive data and intellectual property from falling into the wrong hands if a computer is lost or stolen.

- Virtual PC Express is one of several built-in tools that improve application compatibility with previous versions of Microsoft operating systems. Virtual PC Express enables a legacy application to run unchanged on a legacy Windows operating system in a virtual environment on top of Windows Vista Enterprise.

- Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications enables users to run UNIX applications unchanged on a Windows Vista Enterprise-based PC.

The new user interface Windows Aero is also available in this edition of Windows Vista.

Windows Vista is an incredible new experiences and choices for the home PC user. Consumers can choose from three versions that deliver exciting new experiences for the home PC user:

Windows Vista Home Basic: Windows Vista Home Basic is a great choice for homes with basic computing needs. For consumers who want to simply use the PC to browse the Internet, correspond with friends and family through e-mail or perform basic document creation and editing tasks, Windows Vista Home Basic will deliver a safer, more reliable and more productive computing environment. It will provide new tools and technologies for making the PC more secure and enjoyable, including features such as a new Search Explorer, Sidebar and Parental Controls.

Windows Vista Home Premium: Windows Vista Home Premium will help consumers use mobile or desktop PC functionality more effectively while enabling the enjoyment of new, exciting digital entertainment experiences. Windows Vista Home Premium improves every aspect of digital entertainment experiences, including photos, video, TV, movies, music and games. Windows Vista Home Premium includes everything in Windows Vista Home Basic, along with additional features and enhancements such as the following: the new user interface Windows Aero is also available in this edition of Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Home Premium integrates search throughout the operating system, helping customers easily organize and quickly find large collections of documents, pictures, movies, videos and music.

Windows Media Center capabilities turn the PC into an all-in-one home entertainment center. Consumers can use Media Center to record and watch TV shows (even high-definition TV) and access new kinds of online entertainment content. It also provides the ability to connect Windows Vista Home Premium to Xbox 360™, extending the Media Center experience to multiple rooms in the home.

Windows Tablet PC technology, which enables interaction with the PC with a digital pen or fingertip instead of a keyboard, is also available in this edition of Windows Vista.

Integrated DVD burning and authoring allows users to seamlessly burn personal videos photos and files to video or data DVDs, and easily create professional-looking DVDs from home movies that can be shared with family and friends.

Windows Vista Ultimate: Windows Vista Ultimate is the edition of Windows Vista that has it all. It is the first operating system that brings together all the entertainment features, mobility features and business-oriented features available in Windows Vista.

All new versions are available for either 32-bit or 64-bit systems, depending on the needs of the customer. Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate and Business will be available as a full-packaged product at retail and on new PCs. Windows Vista Enterprise will be offered only to business customers participating in Microsoft’s Software Assurance program.

Microsoft also will offer Windows Vista Starter in emerging markets. Windows Vista Starter is designed to empower families and entry-level PC users in these markets to experience the world of social and educational benefits that personal computer technology and the Internet makes possible. A 32-bit operating system designed specifically for lower-cost computers, Windows Vista Starter enables popular beginner PC activities and provides an easy-to-use and more affordable entry point to the Windows Vista family of products.

“Windows Vista is going to be a significant release for all Windows customers — including enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses as well as consumers,�? said Al Gillen, research director for System Software at IDC. “Microsoft’s strategy to address different customer segments with versions of Windows Vista optimized for their needs should be well received by these diverse user segments.�?

All versions of Windows Vista are available.

Mac OS X

nospam@example.com (Steve Monas) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:21:40 -0500

Mac OS X is the “client�? release of Mac OS X Server, targeted at any Mac that Apple shied with Power G3 processor or better. Some Linux users say Mac OS X has future over Linux, because there is a lot more to a desktop platform than just the OS; it is the entire infrastructure that matters. A solid desktop OS needs all manner of support from front foundries, file conversion utilities, installers and an ability to open and work with documents across all other platforms in friendly fashion.

Mac OS X is a uniquely powerful development platform, supporting multiple development technologies including UNIX, Java, and a host of open source, Web, scripting, database, and development technologies.

At the center of Apple Computer’s OS X as a BSD Unix kernel and other BSD components, together called Darwin. Additional open-source components sit on top of Darwin, as well as applications written by Apple. Any changes Apple makes become available to the open-source community, and many find their way to FreeBSD.

When it comes to UNIX on the laptop, Apple is ahead of the game. For years, it has had OS X running on its PowerBooks. Apple’s unified operating system strategy means OS X a small desktop is the same as on a G5 server. New releases extend across Apple’s product line. The company likes to take advantage of existing components with open-source licenses. For example, rather than write a Web server from scratch, Apple has innovated o top of Apache.

The development directions are pointing to make Mac OS X an amazing multifaceted platform. The current release brings developers revolutionary new technologies like Spotlight, Dashboard, Autotamor, Core Data, and Core Image. These powerful additions to the modern, UNIX-based foundation make Mac OS X Tiger the most advanced operating system available.

Just like Apple’s transition from Mac OS9 to Mac OS X requires new versions of the applications we use every day, the transition to Intel-based Macs is forcing developers to update their code once again. Apple is doing its best to make that transition as painless as possible for developers and end-users alike through a new type of application type called Universal Binary (UB). A UB application contains the necessary code to run natively on a PowerPC-based Mac as well as an Intel-Based Mac, like the new iMac or MacBook Pro.

The good news is that users can get faster, more powerful Macs in their hands far earlier than expected. The bad news is that many developers weren’t ready for the quick release, and don’t have their applications ready to go.

Microsoft publicly committed to a five-year agreement with Apple to continue developing and supporting Office for the Macintosh. The downside is that it did not explicitly state when Universal Binary versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and entourage will be available. Based on early reports, however, that shouldn’t be a big problem. The Office applications seem to be running just fine in Rosetta.

In theory, Java-based applications should run without a hitch on the Intel-based Macs. In reality, there may be some problems. A PowerPC-based application that relies on Java that includes the JNI Libraries, the application most likely won’t even launch.

The entire Mac community, both developers and users, have entered into a multi-years transition. Apple is currently selling PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, which is forcing developers to support two hardware platforms with their applications. Until the transition is complete, expect to see slower release cycles, since essentially two versions of an application need to be developed and tested before they are delivered to users.

Once Apple finishes its transition, however, there will still be several years where users have a mixed PowerPC and Intel environment, thanks to the resilience of the Mac. Unlike the Windows world, Mac users can continue to use a machine for five years, seven years, or even longer. But don’t expect to see developers writing Universal Binary applications ten years from now. Odds are that they will be writing Intel only versions by that point.

Although we may go though some rough patches now, things will smooth out once we all have shiny, new, faster and more powerful Intel -based Macs sitting on our desks.

Mac OS Tiger was already over its time in 2005, but this was not a reason to stop its evolution. The Apple’s engineers are continuing to go on … Let’s raise the curtain on the immediate future: there is Mac OS X Leopard. It offers functionalities, which simplify the research and the access to all that is on a computer to benefit from it truly.

Leopard presents a new functionality: the “Time Machine�?. It is much more powerful than a simple function of safeguard. Time Machine gives the possibility to restore the system, activating its navigator. It gives the possibility to seek files lost or removed, navigate between various versions of the same project or examine the whole system as from the first day of its installation.

What about more flexible parental controls of the Leopard? It enables the user to impose restrictions on the use of Internet. He can, for example, define a moment of the day and a duration when his child can play War craft. Thanks to the new remote control, the user can also parameterize the parental control of anywhere.

The new version of Builder Interface makes possible to carry out operations of refactorisation and to add animation effects to any applications. X-ray compares the user events and measurements of performances in order to provide invaluable information to optimize any application.

“Spotlight�? from Leopard can now activate a research in the network’s files, which makes possible to carry out researches on several Macs. Thanks to the research options, even more powerful and flexible, Spotlight gives the means of locating any file on the computer and beyond. All this functionalities and much more will be available in a universal operating system, completely accessible, on 64 bits, available in 2007.