InfoWorld.com articles from April 2009

InfoWorld.com archives from April 2009

Carl Icahn gunning for Apple; The high-profile investor believes Apple is due for a management shakeup -- and a drastic change in focus.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Pete Babb Billionaire investor Carl Icahn intimated on Tuesday that after losing his bid to take over Yahoo last year, he has set his sights on Apple. Should Icahn succeed in his takeover effort, he has a radical strategy planned...

Red Hat ponders going proprietary; The company is considering closing off its flavor of Linux and selling it as a proprietary OS aimed at enterprises.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Pete Babb In a surprise announcement, Red Hat is looking into a move away from open source and making its flavor of Linux a proprietary OS. The shift, if undertaken, would be a tricky one that would delve into thorny legal issues...

Twitter added to federal emergency response network; Obama administration seeks to expand W-911 service to mobile Web.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Dan Tynan In a milestone that marks Twitter's evolution from a tool for self-obsessed 20-somethings into a vital part of our nation's telecommunications infrastructure, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced it is...

Microsoft asks feds for a bailout; The software giant claims it is too big to fail, yet short on funds.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Pete Babb Microsoft requested on Tuesday some $20 billion in bailout funds from the federal government, claiming that as the company controlling an overwhelming share of the OS market, it is too big to fail. The company said low...

BlackBerry launches on-device apps store; It's anticipated that more than 1,000 applications will be posted on BlackBerry App World by partners this week.
April 1, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill As expected, Research in Motion (RIM) on Wednesday launched its on-device application store for BlackBerry smartphones, called BlackBerry App World. Available now in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, the...

Adobe, Nokia outline planned ventures at Web 2.0 show; The vendors laid out concepts for app design and new mobile form factor endeavors.(Conference news)
April 2, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill Officials from Adobe Systems and Nokia emphasized endeavors in the application design and form factor spaces in presentations at the Web 2.0 Expo conference Thursday in San Francisco. Touting a linkage between...

EMC unveils SourceOne for archiving, compliance; SourceOne also optimizes e-mail, boosts performance, and cuts storage costs, EMC says.
April 2, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan EMC on Thursday unwrapped the SourceOne product family of enterprise archiving, compliance, and e-discovery software. "It's a whole new architecture for integrating multiple kinds of archiving," said Whitney...

Longjump puts SaaS inside IT shops; PaaS provider CEO says customers who are not yet ready to go all-in with cloud computing can now control cloud functions themselves.
April 2, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan Platform-as-a-service provider Longjump announced this week that its on-demand Business Applications Platform can now be licensed and used within a customer's four walls. "Now we are shifting gears. We've found...

MindTouch rides the bus in collaboration platform; MindTouch 2009 backs composite apps to connect teams, applications, and systems.
April 2, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill MindTouch is releasing on Thursday MindTouch 2009, extending the development platform's collaboration capabilities through a bidirectional message bus, the company said. With the bus, push-based e-mail notifications...

iTKO touts Web 2.0, virtualization in test product; Lisa 4.6 can be used for architectures like SOA and for business process management and cloud environments.
April 2, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill iTKO on Thursday is offering an upgrade to its Lisa product for services testing, validation and governance, touting capabilities for Web 2.0 applications and virtualization. Geared to architectures like SOA as well...

Squeeze more life out of your battery; When battery life really counts, adjusting a few simple settings can keep unproductive darkness at bay.
April 2, 2009... Byline: Andrew Binstock Long-life batteries from Dell and HP can keep laptops running for as many as 20 hours at a stretch. But you don't need a powerful external battery to get more use out of your current battery. There are several...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
April 3, 2009... Byline: Dan Tynan Any week in which April Fool's falls is deeply suspect in terms of news. But we're pretty sure we weren't hoodwinked in this week's quiz, which covers topics from the dark (worms, botnets, spammers) to the light (dating...

How bad off is tech? Depends on who you ask; Gartner says 2009 will be worse than the dotcom bust, but Forrester and IDC are not as gloomy.
April 3, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan Until this week, the major analyst houses have said the current recession is not as bad as what the tech sector suffered though in 2001 and 2002 after the dotcom bubble popped. Forrester, IDC, and Gartner still all...

Linux, Windows Server both hit by economy; Microsoft's shipments slipped by a lower percentage than Linux's, but that's nothing to cheer about, analyst stresses.
April 3, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill An industry analyst forecast has Linux shipments slipping a bit more percentage-wise than Microsoft's Windows Server, but Microsoft is feeling the pain of the economy, too, said an analyst who worked on the report. ...

<![CDATA[Fate of Sun's products up in the air]]>; <![CDATA[An IBM purchase of Sun would end up killing some Sun technologies but may help others]]>.
April 5, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Even dirtier IT jobs: The muck stops here]]>; <![CDATA[More dirty tech deeds, done dirt cheap]]>.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Dan Tynan

<![CDATA[VMware View is good news, bad news]]>; <![CDATA[VMware's VDI solution makes virtual desktops real, but not particularly easy to manage]]>.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Paul Venezia

<![CDATA[VMware: Save 50 percent on hardware, guaranteed]]>; <![CDATA[IT doesn't pay for design and implementation until savings are achieved, VMware says]]>.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[AmberPoint offers safety net for transactions]]>; <![CDATA[AmberPoint Management System 6.5 allows users to locate and resolve problems with business transactions]]>.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Red Hat CEO seeks open source in government]]>; <![CDATA[Citing Obama's call for transparency, Whitehurst touts open source]]>.
April 6, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Is Silverlight stalling?]]>; <![CDATA[Microsoft is naturally bullish, but as with JavaFX, the uptake is in a very early stage]]>.
April 7, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Boomi touts cloud integration service]]>; <![CDATA[The application integration provider is aiming the newest version of its AtomSphere platform at enterprises]]>.
April 7, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[TopQuadrant boosts semantic Web]]>; <![CDATA[The graphical assembly toolkit and a language suite will make it easier for companies to build semantic Web apps that are more responsive to new business processes]]>.
April 7, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Want to be strategic? Be competent first]]>; <![CDATA[IT managers everywhere aspire to help steer the business. Don't even try unless your team can execute]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Bob Lewis

<![CDATA[Can you afford telepresence systems?]]>; <![CDATA[Travel costs are quick to go in tough times, so many companies are looking at high-end videoconferencing tools]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz

<![CDATA[Google adds Java to App Engine cloud service]]>; <![CDATA[Other features in the updated version of App Engine include database import and export, access to firewalled data, and 'cron' support]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Intel's Atom chips to support Windows 7 this year]]>; <![CDATA[The support will ensure devices like netbooks can run some versions of Microsoft's new operating system]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Dan Nystedt

<![CDATA[Embarcadero offers Java tool for developers]]>; <![CDATA[The J Optimizer 2009 profiling and error-checking tool takes over for the now-retired Borland Optimizeit ]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Grand ambitions for Linux]]>; <![CDATA[At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, the open source OS's desktop, mobile, and cloud potential were explored]]>.
April 8, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Clash of the handsets: Seven smartphones for business]]>; <![CDATA[Apple iPhone, Android G1, AT&T Fuze, HTC Touch Diamond, and three flavors of BlackBerry compete for one pocket. Which should you choose?]]>.
April 9, 2009... Byline: Tom Yager

<![CDATA[You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz ]]>; <![CDATA[Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master ]]>.
April 10, 2009... Byline: Dan Tynan

<![CDATA[Google cites API deprecation policies for five technologies]]>; <![CDATA[The terms of service include three years of support for the App Engine API, Documents List Data, SketchUp Ruby API, and the YouTube online video API, and one year of support for the CheckOut API]]>.
April 10, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[iPhone jailbreaking still going strong]]>; <![CDATA[Despite Apple's formal opposition and upcoming 3.0 firmware, users still seek jailbroken iPhone advantages -- and developers deliver]]>.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Mel Beckman

<![CDATA[Mac Pro: The perfect workstation]]>; <![CDATA[With more than double the memory throughput of an eight-core, 3GHz Xserve, the massively parallel Nehalem-based Mac Pro is built to rock your world]]>.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Tom Yager

<![CDATA[Google enhances and open sources its Update software]]>; <![CDATA[Search giant says developers can now use 'Omaha' code to build their own auto-updaters ]]>.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[What Microsoft's extended XP support means to IT ]]>; <![CDATA[Here's a look at what changes and what remains as Windows XP enters the Extended Support phase]]>.
April 13, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Does Twitter really fit into business and IT?]]>; <![CDATA[The microblogging technology makes sense in some cases, but there are better alternatives for other proposed uses]]>.
April 14, 2009... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz

<![CDATA[Citrix speeds Web 2.0 apps]]>; <![CDATA[New NetScaler feature streamlines delivery of data to cut servers and associated costs and is the first push technology of the Web 2.0 era, Citrix claims]]>.
April 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[CollabNet accommodates cloud in ALM package]]>; <![CDATA[CollabNet TeamForge 5.2, the successor to CollabNet SourceForge Enterprise, has capabilities for agile, collaborative, and distributed project teams]]>.
April 14, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Can IT manage the cloud? These CTOs can]]>; <![CDATA[There are plenty of ways to adopt the cloud and not lose control of your datacenter]]>.
April 15, 2009... Byline: Robert L. Scheier

<![CDATA[BlackBerry app developers must make key choices]]>; <![CDATA[RIM's multipronged plan means you can go quick-and-dirty with Web skills or do richer apps with the more complex Java ]]>.
April 16, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Cisco, NetApp join up on Unified Computing System]]>; <![CDATA[Cisco builds out its UCS with what the companies call 'unified storage architecture']]>.
April 16, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz ]]>; <![CDATA[Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master]]>.
April 17, 2009... Byline: Dan Tynan

<![CDATA[Has Microsoft lost its war on open source?]]>; <![CDATA[Open source proponents say that it doesn't matter anymore if Microsoft threatens them with legal battles ]]>.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Elizabeth Montalbano

<![CDATA[What to do if your cloud provider disappears]]>; <![CDATA[Follow these four steps to minimize the damage if your cloud service goes belly-up or can't deliver]]>.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Robert L. Scheier

<![CDATA[Can Oracle make sense of Sun's hardware?]]>; <![CDATA[By acquiring Sun Microsystems, Oracle gets instant credibility in key technologies but will face its share of challenges]]>.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Infobright: We're the MySQL of open source data warehousing]]>; <![CDATA[Recent open source convert Infobright says it hopes to do for analytics what MySQL did for databases]]>.
April 20, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Java in the cloud: Google, Aptana, and Stax]]>; <![CDATA[Google App Engine, Aptana Cloud, and Stax for EC2 make it easy to spin up and scale a simple Java Servlet Container, but are still a far cry from the full Java EE]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Peter Wayner

<![CDATA[Sun Cloud looks beyond Java]]>; <![CDATA[Although Java is a key ingredient, Sun promises an all-purpose cloud akin to Amazon Web Services]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Peter Wayner

<![CDATA[Cheaper virtualization becoming a reality]]>; <![CDATA[With its vSphere release, VMware responds to pricing pressure, gives IT more choices that mean they pay less to accomplish the same work]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Sun adding open source app server to Amazon cloud]]>; <![CDATA[Company also offers ID management via MySQL, single sign-on for Google Apps]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Former MySQL CEO cites good fortune for Oracle]]>; <![CDATA[Marten Mickos believes the acquisition is a good move, but others at conference worry about what the acquisition plan could mean for MySQL]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Is Java as we know it doomed?]]>; <![CDATA[Fears abound that Oracle may reshape Java for more cash, setting up conflicts with IBM and the open source community]]>.
April 21, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Aramark cuts print waste with better devices, software]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Efficient, networked multifunction devices help company save on paper and ink]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Burt's Bees undergoes green IT makeover]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: From the datacenter to the desktop, company rolls out IT solutions to reduce environmental impact]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[California Academy of Sciences reaps efficiencies through network convergence]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Switching to IP-based services saved the Academy more than $1 million in redundant equipment and cabling]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Con-way Freight slashes annual fuel consumption by 4.9 million gallons]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Company leverages customized line-haul simulation tool to optimize distribution network]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Cal State East Bay turns to green tech to fend off power crisis]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Using virtualization and smarter practices helps university save 95 percent on energy costs]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Digital Realty Trust sets new standard for green datacenter design]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Company's design for an ecofriendly datacenter in the United Kingdom will serve as template for future projects]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[GlaxoSmithKline sheds nearly 6 tons of e-waste]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Drug firm reaps energy savings by unplugging and recycling unused IT gear]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[HD Supply achieves ecodreams through array of green-tech initiatives]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Company boosts environmental standing through virtualization, videoconferencing, PC power management, and more]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Intel finds significant savings by pushing the limits of free cooling]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Chipmaker finds that production servers can withstand 90-degree conditions]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[The green IT leaders of 2009]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: These organizations of all sizes reap both business and environmental gains through an array of sustainable IT efforts]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[U.S. Navy enlists virtualization to supercharge sprawling intranet]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Military agency enjoys huge efficiency gains while slashing energy costs and hardware expenses]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Niagara Catholic School District turns to e-docs to cut paper and transport costs]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: Electronic content management system helps schools save both time and trees]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[PNNL proves just how smart a smart grid can be]]>; <![CDATA[2009 Green 15: National lab teams with IBM find green success in a real-world smart-grid deployment]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Ted Samson

<![CDATA[Apache retires HiveMind component project]]>; <![CDATA[Tapestry IOC has become the successor to the Inversion of Control framework HiveMind, which was retired due to inactivity]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[What does HP Matrix have over Cisco UCS and Juniper Stratus?]]>; <![CDATA[In a word: storage. Well, that plus HP's experience with blade servers and tying together heterogeneous network resources.]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Sun moves on cloud despite uncertainty]]>; <![CDATA[Sun is continuing with its plan to ramp up Sun Cloud, though Oracle, which is less sold on the cloud computing concept, could put a stop to the effort]]>.
April 22, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[First look: Amazon brings MapReduce to the Elastic Cloud]]>; <![CDATA[Based on Hadoop, MapReduce equips users with potent distributed data-processing tools]]>.
April 23, 2009... Byline: Rick Grehan

<![CDATA[AMA inks cloud platform deal with Covisint]]>; <![CDATA[American Medical Association will use the Covisint platform to offer its 240,000 member physicians administrative and clinical solutions]]>.
April 23, 2009... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz

<![CDATA[Sun co-founder hails database possibilities in Oracle deal]]>; <![CDATA[But Andreas von Bechtolsheim otherwise keeps silent about the takeover at conference on Thursday]]>.
April 23, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Heroku hosts Ruby apps, battles Google ]]>; <![CDATA[Cloud platform to be unveiled backing frameworks like Rails and Merb]]>.
April 23, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Is desktop Linux too fragmented to succeed?]]>; <![CDATA[A single version might make it easier for businesses to adopt Linux, but several factors may prevent that unification]]>.
April 24, 2009... Byline: Neil McAllister

<![CDATA[Desktop Linux: Why it may have lost its chance]]>; <![CDATA[After 18 years, Linux is still struggling to gain a foothold on the business desktop. Could it be too late?]]>.
April 27, 2009... Byline: Neil McAllister

<![CDATA[ DMTF creates open cloud incubator]]>; <![CDATA[Group to focus on standards for cloud management, interoperability between private and public clouds]]>.
April 27, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Microsoft ships BizTalk upgrade]]>; <![CDATA[Integration package features virtualization, Windows Server 2008 backing, and an adapter for Oracle E-Business Suite]]>.
April 27, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[First look: Ubuntu 9.04 stays the course]]>; <![CDATA[The new edition of the friendly Linux desktop OS is more maintenance release than upgrade]]>.
April 28, 2009... Byline: Neil McAllister

<![CDATA[Sun offers Java dev kit for device apps]]>; <![CDATA[Java ME 3.0's integration with Windows Mobile is hailed, but critics want to know when Mac, Linux, and OpenSolaris support will be offered]]>.
April 28, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[JetBrains readies Rails IDE]]>; <![CDATA[Company cites familiarity with conventions as an advantage to its RubyMine 1.0 IDE]]>.
April 28, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[4 tasks you fear to outsource but should try]]>; <![CDATA[To save money, reconsider these ripe outsourcing opportunities you may have never (or were afraid to) put on the table]]>.
April 29, 2009... Byline: John Edwards

<![CDATA[Adobe hosted service enables Web site updates]]>; <![CDATA[Browser-based technology alleviates Web designers from having to provide technical support to clients]]>.
April 29, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill

<![CDATA[Open source biz apps coming to the cloud]]>; <![CDATA[SugarCRM makes wares available as hosted services, joining ERP provider Compiere in the cloud]]>.
April 29, 2009... Byline: Tom Sullivan

<![CDATA[Backward compatibility questions arise in Android upgrade]]>; <![CDATA[Older devices might present issues, so developers should test their apps on every version of Android they wish to support]]>.
April 29, 2009... Byline: Paul Krill