InfoWorld.com articles from August 2008

InfoWorld.com archives from August 2008

Taking advantage of multicore PCs; What app developers need to know to make their software work on new-gen CPUs.
August 4, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige Call it the great multicore discord: a parade of major hardware and software vendors promising desktop applications powered by multicore chips yet all marching out of step, leaving confused software developers in the...

Best of Open Source Software Awards 2008; InfoWorld's 2008 Bossies recognize the top free and open products for business, IT, and personal productivity.
August 4, 2008... Byline: Doug Dineley If the phrase "open source software" continues to conjure images of impassioned programmers selflessly collaborating for the common good, it may be because, even as commercial interests are behind many of the most...

Product review: Thinstall app virtualization grows up; VMware ThinApp 4.0 addresses many of Thinstall's shortcomings in manageability and scalability.
August 4, 2008... Byline: Randall C. Kennedy A wallflower: That’s how I used to describe Thinstall when discussing the movers and shakers of the application virtualization party scene. With its chief competitors already paired off and dancing up a...

Bureau of Labor Statistics reports big drop in tech jobs; Almost 50,000 IT positions lost in last 12 months.
August 6, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Employment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor for the month of July, as well as its employment statistics comparing July 2007 versus July 2008, indicate a significant...

Web 2.0, DNS flaws revealed at Black Hat; The DNS vulnerability scope proves to be huge, but an even bigger issue may be posed by the emerging Web apps.
August 7, 2008... Byline: Andrew Brandt The size and scope of security problems are growing to be so large that security experts are having more difficulty than ever protecting end users from emerging threats. That was evident in the Black Hat Briefings...

Product review: Parallels Server for Mac underwhelms; Inexplicably poor support for Mac OS X Server as a guest tops a list of shortcomings that makes Parallels' much-anticipated server virtualization platform a very mixed bag.
August 7, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager No 1U, two-socket rack server bests Apple's Xserve in its price range. No two-socket Intel desktop can touch the MacBook Pro for its combination of durability, efficiency, expandability, and quiet operation. But...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 8, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan It's baaaa-aaack. After a brief hiatus, the news quiz has returned. What happened while we were gone? Dell and AT&T put their heads in the cloud, Apple fessed up to its MobileMe disaster, and Yahoo, well, not much...

Visualization tools may cut through the security logjam; Black Hat presentations show a new spin on detecting potential threats.(Conference news)
August 8, 2008... Byline: Andrew Brandt Whether they're performing an analysis of an attack or observing the network traffic for large corporations, security professionals deal with a lot of data. Security professionals -- charged with protecting the...

The 2008 InfoWorld Geek IQ Test; There's more to being an IT whiz than knowing how much Jolt it takes to cut a to-do list in half.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Oliver Rist So you aced last year's Geek IQ Test and partied hearty with the Mensa Mommas. Big deal. Bona fide geek-ery requires persistent know-it-all-ism of Oort proportions. So put down your stuffed penguin, answer these 20 new...

IBM urges virtualization for datacenters; At Share conference, IBM executive cites impending growth, energy issues for datacenter management.(Conference news)
August 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Virtualization, SOA, and cloud computing are keys to accommodating the anticipated growth of datacenters in an energy-conscious environment, an IBM official stressed Monday. In a keynote presentation and subsequent...

Microsoft service packs boost developers; Visual Studio, .Net Framework enhancements offered for client, Web, data-driven apps.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft on Monday released the first service packs for the Visual Studio 2008 software development platform and the accompanying .Net Framework 3.5 programming framework, offering improvements for building client, Web,...

Is unit testing doomed? The agile app dev revolution may be over, as unit testing adoption appears to stumble.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Andrew Binstock The agile revolution that began in software development in the 1990s has been inexorably making its way into mainstream IT organizations. Today, one of the most adopted agile practices is unit testing, where...

Google's unhappy Android developers; Controversy around its SDK, rumors of a Symbian tie-up, and the iPhone's star power call the mobile OS into question.
August 12, 2008... Byline: John Edwards For a long time, Google has led a largely blissful existence, fostering a widespread perception -- sometimes in direct contradiction to the facts -- that it can do no wrong. Yet the company's controversial Android...

Oracle puts its spin on former BEA app server; WebLogic application server gains integration with Oracle's Fusion middleware platform.
August 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Oracle this week upgraded the WebLogic application server that the company gained in its BEA Systems acquisition, adding integration with Oracle's Fusion middleware platform. Oracle WebLogic Server was named as...

Yahoo's Fire Eagle takes flight for location services; Companies utilizing the technology are featured at launch event for system that lets users mark location on the Web.
August 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Yahoo on Tuesday announced general availability of Fire Eagle, which enables users to their mark their location on the Web and is being leveraged in applications such as travel and messaging systems. Featuring an...

Sun releases beta of NetBeans IDE; NetBeans 6.5 features a more user-friendly interface and supports development with multiple languages.
August 13, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill A beta release of the open source NetBeans 6.5 IDE is being offered by Sun Microsystems on Wednesday. The beta, available for download, has features such as an IDE-wide "QuickSearch" shortcut, a more user-friendly...

Hooking your apps into Amazon Web Services; Unsure how to get started with AWS? Some sample code will illustrate its relative simplicity.
August 13, 2008... Byline: Rick Grehan Connecting your application into the Amazon Web Services (AWS) isn't complicated, particularly if you've done Web service programming on other projects. Before you begin, you'll need to obtain access credentials. If...

Diving deep into Amazon Web Services; From storage to payment, Amazon is dangling an array of low-cost services – but will customers bite?
August 13, 2008... Byline: Rick Grehan Amazon's Web Services (AWS) are based on a simple concept: Amazon has built a globe-spanning hardware and software infrastructure that supports the company's Internet business, so why not modularize components of that...

Sun: Mobile dev tool tackles fragmentation; Company releases source code for Java ME-based Lightweight UI Toolkit, which provides UI library for developing mobile applications.
August 14, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems on Thursday is releasing source code for the Java ME-based (Micro Edition) Lightweight UI Toolkit (LWUIT), a move intended to address fragmentation in the mobile development space. Offered under the...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan This was a strange week in tech. How strange? Scientists revealed they've figured out how to bend light beams, but major corporations still can't deliver reliable e-mail, mapping, or high-speed wireless services. It was a...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan This was a strange week in tech. How strange? Scientists revealed they've figured out how to bend light beams, but major corporations still can't deliver reliable e-mail, mapping, or high-speed wireless services. It was a...

What to do in the event of a data breach; A complex patchwork of disclosure laws awaits you. Know what is required of IT before disaster strikes.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Thomas J. Smedinghoff If your organization suffers a data breach, you are required -- in many instances -- to notify individuals that their personal information may have been compromised. Security breach notification laws enacted in...

Data security: What the law requires of IT; IT's legal duty to secure sensitive data is complex and continuously evolving. Here's how to avoid the legal ramifications of a data breach.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Thomas J. Smedinghoff For most IT organizations, securing corporate data against compromise is priority No. 1. Girding the enterprise against breaches is a constant, thankless task requiring foresight, vigilance, and much in the...

IT workers pushed to the limits; Downsizing, offshoring, and a widening gulf between techies and management -- is IT at the breaking point?
August 18, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige Tempers flared inside a San Francisco datacenter on Friday, June 20, igniting the greatest public spectacle pitting a lone tech worker against management, media, and the law. Tension between network admin Terry Childs...

Ubuntu sponsor joins Linux Foundation; Canonical looks to boost Ubuntu platform through membership in Linux organization.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Canonical, the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, has joined the Linux Foundation, the foundation said Monday. Canonical is an important new member, the organization said. "They have rallied the...

WaveMaker, Genuitec cite AJAX focus; Point-and-click paradigm offered for building Web apps.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Developing with the popular AJAX technique for Web applications is the focus of product releases Monday from both WaveMaker and Genuitec. WaveMaker released Monday Visual Ajax Studio 4.0, an open source,...

New data: 1 in 3 business PCs drop Vista for Windows XP; Figures from InfoWorld's Windows Sentinel community show "downgrades" are common.
August 18, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff When Microsoft stopped selling new licenses to Windows XP on June 30, it gave users and PC makers a "downgrade" loophole so that those who wanted XP could still get it, even though they still had to buy a Vista...

Test Center review: BlueArc Titan 3200 is a giant among NAS systems; The Titan justifies a stiff price tag with stellar performance, top-notch scalability, advanced storage management features, and a smooth admin GUI.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Mario Apicella We don’t have Olympic Games for file server systems but the SPEC SFS (System File Server) benchmark serves as the next best thing, providing a comparable rank of file server performance. If you sifted through...

Free app testing set for Ruby on Rails; FiveRuns and Morph Labs partner to provide platform-as-a-service offering with app profiling.
August 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill FiveRuns and Morph Labs on Tuesday will announce they are partnering to provide free application performance testing for Ruby on Rails applications, with the goal of bolstering applications running in the cloud. The...

Microsoft, Novell expand controversial interop pact; Extending 2006 deal, Microsoft commits to purchasing up to $100 million in certificates that customers can redeem for Novell's support of Suse Linux Enterprise Server.
August 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft on Wednesday is expanding its agreement to supply Linux support certificates from Novell, which originally was part of a controversial arrangement set in late 2006. Through the updated arrangement,...

Microsoft pursues search improvements, sans Yahoo; Executive touts endeavors at conference.(Conference news)
August 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill While the company only has a 10 percent share of the search market with its Live Search technology, Microsoft has big plans to enhance its platform regardless of what happens with its now-dormant proposal to buy Yahoo....

IT heresy: Invite those unsanctioned applications in! Users try to download software all the time, creating a tug-of-war with IT. It may be time to rethink the whole concept.
August 19, 2008... Byline: Tom Sullivan It's a classic case of mine vs. yours: Users are downloading a crop of new and often unsanctioned programs onto their PCs, bypassing IT's careful management discipline. Although user-downloaded apps are nothing new,...

RFID's new utility in the datacenter; A new generation of radio tags can give IT a boost in avoiding SLA penalties and in managing assets better.
August 20, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz When you think of RFID, you likely think of the radio tags being used to track items in a warehouse or verify prescriptions in a hospital -- two long-time uses of the radio frequency identification tags. But...

Sun eyes former BEA customers with special offer; The first 20 qualified WebLogic or Fusion customers who buy Sun SOA products will be given free WebLogic adapters.
August 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems is eyeing the SOA-related business of Oracle Fusion and former BEA middleware customers with a special offer to those adopting Sun's Java CAPS (Composite Application Platform Suite) for SOA. Sun...

JavaFX looks to stake claim in RIA; Sun's latecomer technology vies with giants, including Microsoft, Adobe.
August 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill With its new JavaFX technology for rich Internet applications, Sun Microsystems hopes to leverage the strength of the Java development base and Java's ubiquitous presence on devices to make a strong run in a race in...

Embarcadero to upgrade Windows RAD tools; Products bring together CodeGear and Embarcadero's DatabaseGear functionality into a single offering featuring support for Microsoft's Silverlight.
August 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Embarcadero Technologies next week plans to unveil next-generation CodeGear rapid application development (RAD) tools for Windows, featuring support for Microsoft's Silverlight technology for media and rich Internet...

Leave the laptop behind; Application virtualization can make your mobile workforce truly machine independent. Here's how.
August 21, 2008... Byline: Randall C. Kennedy For the IT worker, the phrase "desktop mobility" has many meanings. It can mean having a laptop computer. It can mean keeping all your data in the cloud so that you can access it at any time and from anywhere. It...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Another week has passed, and what have we learned? That a lot of Vista users aren't really Vista users, that Apple and Google are the darlings of the consumer world, and that Comcast is dreaming up new ways to keep its...

Mozilla boosts JavaScript performance; Placed in Firefox 3.1 development tree this week, TraceMonkey adds native code compilation to JavaScript engine and speeds up Web apps.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Mozilla this week is touting technology to boost performance of its JavaScript engine and Web applications. Called TraceMonkey, the technology adds native code compilation to the engine, which itself is called...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Another week has passed, and what have we learned? That a lot of Vista users aren't really Vista users, that Apple and Google are the darlings of the consumer world, and that Comcast is dreaming up new ways to keep its...

Mainsoft backs Visual Studio 2008 in tools; Cross-platform development products leverage Windows skills for deployment on Java, Linux, and Unix.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Mainsoft, which enables developers to leverage Microsoft Windows development skills to build applications for other platforms, on Monday is introducing updates to development products for Java, Linux, and Unix, adding...

13 best practices for IT outsourcing; Outsourcing experts explain what you need to know to avoid getting burned.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz While reading outsourcing horror stories may be somewhat entertaining, especially if it hasn't happened to you, it's even better to learn from the mistakes of others. That's why InfoWorld talked to industry...

Painful lessons from IT outsourcing gone bad; In tough times, companies look to shift tech work to outsiders, whether offshore or down the street. Be careful: This "cure" could be deadly.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz As companies look to economize in a weak economy worsened by rising energy costs, it may be more tempting than ever to consider outsourcing your IT -- whether to a cloud-based provider, to a shop in your town, or...

Test Center review: Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is icing, and more cake; Going far beyond bug fixes, Service Pack 1 to Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 adds many important new features.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Martin Heller Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (VS08) Service Pack 1 (SP1) took eight months to arrive. Considering the capabilities that have been added, eight months might not seem so long. In some ways, SP1 feels like the completion...

New direction for 'JavaScript 2'; A factional fight that held up the popular language's evolution has apparently been resolved.
August 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Standardization efforts for the next version of JavaScript have taken a sharp turn this month, with some key changes in the Web scripting technology's direction. JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, CTO of Mozilla, has...

Java developers get repository help; Nexus 1.0 tool from Sonatype leverages Maven capabilities.
August 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sonatype on Tuesday is offering a tool for Java developers to manage internal Maven-based code repositories and access external Maven repositories. The company's Nexus 1.0 product is a Maven repository manager; the...

Linux end-user summit planned; Event scheduled for October in New York City is intended to bring together users, senior Linux developers.
August 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The Linux Foundation on Wednesday plans to announce an event enabling Linux users to interact with the Linux community, including high-level maintainers and developers. The first Linux Foundation End User...

Who provides what in the cloud; More and more tech companies promise cloud offerings. But they're not all the same. InfoWorld's guide to what the key companies offer.
August 27, 2008... Byline: John Edwards The news that AT&T has joined the rapidly growing ranks of cloud computing providers reinforces the argument that the latest IT outsourcing model is well on its way to becoming a classic disruptive technology. By...

Can JavaFX make a play for rich Internet apps? Sun's latecomer technology vies with established options from Adobe and Microsoft.
August 27, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill With its new JavaFX technology for rich Internet applications, Sun Microsystems hopes to leverage the strength of the Java development base and Java's ubiquitous presence on devices to make a strong run in a race it has...

Cloned code finder offered for Visual Studio; Developers can analyze C# projects and find cloned code, which can lead to inconsistencies; capabilities for Visual Basic, .Net, and C++ to come in the next release.
August 27, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill An open-source technology has been launched to help developers using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 find duplicated code in their software projects. Called Clone Detective for Visual Studio, the product allows...

Open source: What you should learn from the French; With open source embraced at all levels, the real benefits of a passionate community arrive.
August 28, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige A decade ago, European countries leapt out of the gate to take the lead in the radical open source movement -- none more so than France -- and left U.S. developers in the proverbial dust. Through policies and...

Aptana adds Python to Web 2.0 nest; Company already has backed AJAX, Ruby on Rails, and PHP, and its Pydev buy will add Python to the mix.
August 28, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Aptana, which has enabled Web 2.0 development via JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, and PHP with the Aptana Studio IDE, has added Python to the mix through its acquisition of Pydev, which was announced this week. The...

Product review: WARP your WAN for performance and reliability; FatPipe Networks' easy and flexible router clustering appliance makes the most of multiple WAN connections.
August 28, 2008... Byline: Phillip J. Windley I've had a Comcast cable Internet connection for years. Last year I got a shiny new fiber connection from Mstar. But rather than uninstall the cable connection, I asked FatPipe Networks if they'd be willing to...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Apple and China, China and Apple -- this week's quiz is dominated by the inscrutable Mandarins of Cupertino and Beijing. Also on tap: a look at Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, worms enter the space race, Twitter gets in...