InfoWorld.com articles from February 2008

InfoWorld.com archives from February 2008

Answer key: You don't know tech; The facts behind this week’s top 10 tech questions.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Now that you know how you scored, you probably want to know why. Check out the answers below for the gory details. And be sure to return next year for another news quiz, ripped straight from the tech headlines. ...

PHP 5 deadline approaches; Campaign seeks migrations to current version of the scripting language.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill A Tuesday deadline has been set in which several leading open-source PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) projects plan to stop supporting older versions of PHP in upcoming releases. The Go PHP 5 campaign, sponsored by...

CodeGear to supply 1 million dev tool licenses to Russia; Deal covers Delphi and C++Builder products to be used in effort to bolster computer science and IT educationt.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill In a major boost for CodeGear's development tools, the company has been awarded a contract by the Russian Federal Agency of Education to provide 1 million seat licenses of its Delphi and C++Builder products. ...

SECURITY ADVISER: Strategic security: Get a handle on authentication; One rational, standardized authentication policy across the organization will make all your applications more secure.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Roger A. Grimes It's a common dilemma: You host multiple Web-accessible applications, for both internal customers and external users. A few of your developers are keeping up on the last programming trends and security models, while...

STORAGE INSIDER: Make interoperability the goal; A new set of storage specs takes a timid first step toward compatible components -- but is not likely to go far enough.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Mario Apicella Getting storage vendors to play together nicely is no easy task. When they do, it is an event worthy of pause -- even if the gathering proves more about self-service than boosting the interoperability of their wares....

The Industry Standard taps crowd wisdom; The former dot-com-boom publication returns as a Web site for predictive markets -- which many businesses, including HP and Hollywood, have found to be eerily accurate.(Website overview)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Bill Snyder Are crowds really wise? A growing number of businesses are betting they are. The latest venture is a new incarnation of The Industry Standard, the poster child for the rise — and precipitous fall — of the...

DLP politics no easy trick; Implementing DLP technology often involves participation from all elements of a company, not just the IT desk, and thus can be thwarted by office politics.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines No one in the business world wants to be held responsible for a breach of sensitive corporate information, but gaining the level of support necessary to allow DLP (data leakage prevention) technology to work effectively...

The virtual virtualization case study: Deployment; In stage 5, Fergenschmeir's IT maneuvers through build-out and migration challenges.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 5: Deploying the virtualized servers About a month after the purchase orders went out for the hardware and software selected for the server virtualization project, the Fergenschmeir IT department was up to its...

The virtual virtualization case study: Intro; Follow the adventures and misadventures of fictional Fergenschmeir as it deploys its first virtual servers.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Server virtualization has, without doubt, taken the IT industry by storm. It provides a cost-effective way to dramatically reduce downtime, increase flexibility, and use hardware much more efficiently. However,...

The virtual virtualization case study: Lessons; In stage 6, Fergenschmeir's IT assesses the benefits and lessons of its server virtualization effort.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 6: Learning from the experience About five months after the Fergenschmeir IT team had started unpacking boxes, they were done with the server virtualization deployment. [ Start at the beginning of...

The virtual virtualization case study: Planning; In stage 3, Fergenschmeir's IT discovers that server virtualization planning is no walk in the park.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 3: Planning around capacity After testing the server virtualization software to understand whether and where it met their performance requirements, Fergenschmeir’s IT leaders then had to do the detailed...

The virtual virtualization case study: Platform selection; In stage 4, Fergenschmeir's IT sorts through its software, hardware, and network choices -- and costs.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 4: Selecting the platforms While the consultant was doing the server utilization analysis to determine which apps could run on virtual servers and which needed to stay on physical servers, the IT team at...

The virtual virtualization case study: Rationale; In stage 1, Fergenschmeir's IT team discovers why server virtualization makes sense to deploy.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 1: Determining the rationale The idea of implementing production server virtualization came to Fergenschmeir from several directions. In May 2007, infrastructure manager Eric Brown had just hired Mike Beyer,...

The virtual virtualization case study: Pre-testing; In stage 2: Fergenschmeir's IT does some test runs to see if VMware can really do the job.(Case study)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Matt Prigge Stage 2: Doing a reality check Fergenschmeir’s infrastructure manager, Eric Brown, had a good idea of how server virtualization might help improve disaster recovery and utilization issues, and he had marching...

Product review: VMware pumps up VI3; ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 upgrades boost scalability and add handy new features; integrated tools for capacity planning, VM patching, and storage management fill important gaps, but wrinkles and loose ends remain.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia In the year or so since VMware released VMware Infrastructure 3.0 (VI3), it has come to be viewed as a watershed event in virtualization. Building upon the reliability of the VMware ESX 2.5 hypervisor, VI3 and its...

Why people hate Vista; A confluence of sensible concerns and emotional reactions help explain why Microsoft's newest OS has riled customers.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman You rarely hear about a new OS causing people to panic. But IT consultant Scott Pam says that's exactly what his small-business clients are doing when they install Windows Vista on new PCs and run smack into...

Google updates pricing for Postini apps; Prices for many of the Postini service packages have been cut in an effort to bring more customers aboard, particularly SMBs.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Google announced new pricing for its Postini hosted e-mail security and compliance management package on Tuesday in hopes of pushing more customers to consider a move to the SaaS (software as a service) offering. ...

Remote worker security still lax; An annual study by Cisco finds that remote workers have greater awareness of potential security risks but still have not eliminated risky behavior.(Report)
February 5, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Despite having a greater awareness of the security risks posed by careless computing habits and personal Internet activity carried out on corporate laptops, many remote workers continue to do things that imperil the...

Grails 1.0 Web framework ready; Grails platform leverages Groovy, Java, Spring for Web app development.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The Grails 1.0 open source Web application development framework was announced this week by G2One, which specializes in Groovy and Grails technology, and the Grails development team. Grails is built on Java and the...

Jeopard spotted for leveraging multi-core chips; European-led project seeks development of real-time Java technologies.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Looking to get the most out of multi-core processors, a European-driven effort to build a framework for Java-based, real-time applications on modern multi-core chips and parallel processor systems is being announced...

75,000 demand Microsoft keep Windows XP going; Frustration, lack of perceived benefit in a move to Vista are demonstrated by slow adoption.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman More than 75,000 people have signed InfoWorld’s “Save XP” petition in the three weeks since it was launched — many with passionate, often emotional pleas to not be forced to make a change. On...

Sun's Schwartz cites MySQL's growth rate as incentive; Speaking at SugarCRM conference, the Sun CEO touts MySQL's open-source model and growth rate.(Conference news)
February 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill In deciding to buy MySQL last month, Sun was attracted to the open-source database company's very rapid growth rate and its revenue model, Sun President/CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in a keynote presentation Wednesday at...

Security by subscription; McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro execs expect more and more customers to get security via Web applications.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines As malware threats and regulatory compliance demands continue to grow more complex, IT will become increasingly dependent on SaaS (software as a service) offerings that let them respond to problems faster while also...

VCs still hot on security; Due to increasingly sophisticated attacks and stringent compliance demands, companies are boosting spending on IT security, making the segment attractive to VCs.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Venture capitalists continue to pour money into the IT security segment as emerging attacks and compliance demands pave the road for future spending among customers. Market watchers, including the Computing...

Cobra language slithering to open source; The Cobra .Net-based project aims to offer the best features of multiple languages.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Cobra, a .Net-based programming language, is being readied for open source release as an all-in-one solution to address multiple needs in software development. Now in a beta stage of development, plans call for...

Microsoft responds to "Save XP" petition; Company says it will listen to customers, cites earlier XP extension.
February 7, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff A Microsoft spokesperson today acknowledged InfoWorld's petition effort asking the company to keep Windows XP for sale indefinitely rather than drop the popular OS from most sales outlets on June 30 as planned. ...

Vista deployment secrets; Vista adoption may be slow, but numerous IT shops have taken the plunge. Find out why they did and how they've made the shift.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Vista adoption in business has been slow (and at this writing more than 75,000 people have signed InfoWorld's petition asking Microsoft to keep Windows XP available indefinitely). Nonetheless, thousands of businesses...

Product review: Blue Coat SG Client shortens WAN waits for mobile users; Blue Coat's WAN-accelerating software client combines solid overall performance gains with excellent reporting, good central management, and a nice price; CIFS file transfers benefit the most, while FTP gets little help.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Keith Schultz Optimizing and accelerating traffic across the WAN no longer requires searching for exotic solutions -- there are a variety of appliances available from which admins may choose. Simply install an appliance on both...

Keep Windows XP until 2009, analysts tell Microsoft; Chances are good that Microsoft will respond if customers keep pushing.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Microsoft should keep Windows XP available until at least 2009, not end the majority of sales on June 30 as currently planned, said analysts at Gartner and The Burton Group. "A good rule of thumb in any OS transition...

Customers mismanaging access; While companies spend millions on stifling data leakage, they are largely doing a subpar job at watching the levels of access various employees have.(Survey)
February 8, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Businesses may be spending millions on expensive security technologies aimed at thwarting data leakage and compliance violations, but many companies are still failing to sufficiently address access controls for protected...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Cables under the sea and pop tunes in space populate this week's brain buster. Do you have what it takes to be a true Geek News Champion? Pit your wits against this quiz. Correct answers are worth 10 points, some offer...

WSO2 joining open-source SOA registry field; Web 2.0-style tagging, a Web-based interface, and governance capabilities are featured in the information storage and location tool.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill WSO2 will debut its open-source WSO2 Registry on Monday, providing registry and repository services for SOA. Featuring SOA governance and Web 2.0 collaboration capabilities, WSO2 Registry offers a repository for...

SugarCRM eyes a public offering; Interview: SugarCRM co-founder Clint Oram talks about the company's business model, rival Salesforce.com, and plans for the future.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill SugarCRM began in 2004 and offers its SugarCRM package via a hybrid commercial-open source model and delivers it via onsite and on-demand modes. The company has amassed more than 3,000 customers in 30 countries, SugarCRM...

STORAGE INSIDER: File sharing beyond the firewall; Box.net brings together online storage and Web services to ease the burden of sharing files across the b-to-b divide.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Mario Apicella Conventional storage systems work well for local file sharing, but no system I can think of can help you share files outside your organization, unless you commit to cobbling together an in-house solution. ...

SECURITY ADVISER: Computer security: Why have least privilege? Least privilege won't solve every security problem, but it's a significant step in the right direction.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Roger A. Grimes My previous column on the questionable long-term effects of least privilege created a firestorm of controversy and discussion. Personally, I think controversy is good if it gives people on both sides of the argument...

Answer key: You don't know tech; The facts behind this week’s top 10 tech questions.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Now that you know how you scored, you probably want to know why. Check out the answers below for the gory details. And be sure to return next year for another news quiz, ripped straight from the tech headlines. ...

Outfitting the iPhone for business; Executive pressure is pushing the iPhone through the side door of the enterprise, but will the CEO's crush object ever truly be business legit?
February 11, 2008... Byline: Leon Erlanger You've heard it all before. The CEO buys an iPhone, falls in love, and leans on IT to shift its stack of tasks to make work-enabling his new gadget IT Priority No. 1. But as IT departments scramble to sync e-mail...

Experts doubt Android's write once, run many potential; As handsets move to the next level of sophistication, the need for hardware differentiation will make standardization more difficult.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Along with the unveiling of prototype handsets using Google’s Android mobile application development platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, came the promise -- one more time-- of write once, run...

Gates pledges more ribbon UI capabilities for Windows; Microsoft chairman also talks about open source at the Office System Developer Conference.(Conference news)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday that the Windows application platform is to be fitted with "Fluent UI" ribbon capabilities now offered in Office 2007. The ribbon UI presents a new interface in Office 2007....

Mapping out Web apps attacks; A new report shows that while many attackers continue to stick with old techniques and targets, some are expanding their horizons in terms of tactics and victims.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Attackers continue to use well-worn techniques, such as SQL injection, to exploit holes in popular Web applications but have also moved on to other targets, including government sites, and newer exploit methods, such as...

Gates talks up declarative modeling language effort; The main goal of the plan is to make customizing applications much easier by reducing the need to code.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates touted on Monday Microsoft's plans to build a declarative modeling language that could greatly reduce the need to code. Speaking at Microsoft's 2008 Office System Developers Conference...

Microsoft Office developer conference to get under way; Bill Gates to appear at the event, where Microsoft promoting its Office apps suite as app development platform.(Conference news)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The 2008 Microsoft Office System Developer Conference this week focuses on the company's Office application suite as an application development platform in and of itself. The event in San Jose, Calif. features a...

Tibco adds Eclipse, ESB to SOA platform; ActiveMatrix 2.0 platform for managing SOA to debut with expanded governance and integration capabilities.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Tibco Software is shipping its ActiveMatrix 2.0 platform Monday for managing SOA, featuring an Eclipse-based development environment and an enterprise service bus. The platform offers expanded capabilities for...

Product review: MacBook Air is light as, well, air; Apple's new ultraportable may not be for everyone, but if you want thin, sexy, easy mobility, and decent performance -- and can live without a swappable battery and built-in optical drive -- the Air is the answer.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia After many years and many laptops, I've finally determined that I ride the periphery in terms of size and function – I like them either really big, or really small. The middle-of-the-road 15-inch standard just...

Business Objects offers soup-to-nuts BI platform; XI 3.0 has something for everyone, including use of unstructured data and traceability of data.
February 12, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Business Objects, an SAP company, unveiled today the next iteration of its business intelligence platform, XI 3.0. Bigger and in some ways better than previous versions, it includes so many features that it may...

Microsoft Office development platform ups and downs; Attendees at the Microsoft 2008 Office System Developer Conference are mostly pleased with company's efforts, but say the new ribbon-based Fluent UI takes getting used to.(Conference news)
February 13, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Attendees at the Microsoft 2008 Office System Developer Conference this week are leveraging development capabilities in Office System, but cite issues such as getting used to the new ribbon-based Fluent UI in the 2007...

Integration problems arise with DLP tools; Early adopters of data leakage prevention systems, including financial services giants, are having problems enforcing security policies consistently across the different areas of DLP.
February 14, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Vendors of DLP (data leakage prevention) systems claim that customers will avoid integration issues by using packaged tools that encompass all the different elements of the technology, but some early adopters of DLP are...

Network security review: ConSentry LANShield Switch; Policy-based switching and great reporting add muscle to network security.
February 14, 2008... Byline: Steve Hultquist Traditionally, many IT specialists have seen networks as an open channel. They allow an infinite variety of devices to communicate, and the best networks make communication simple, free, and instantaneous -- like...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Buying, selling, jumping, and dumping -- it's been a busy week in technology. And like the news, this quiz has Yahoo all over it. Can you acquire a perfect score? It's harder than it looks. Award yourself 10 points for...

SECURITY ADVISER: Is your Web site FIPS compliant? FIPS compliance can be the key to working smoothly with servers and clients both in and out of government service.(Website overview)
February 15, 2008... Byline: Roger A. Grimes I’ve been involved in a lot of FIPS-compliance Web site testing lately. I’m a crypto hobbyist, not a crypto expert, so I hesitate to write about it, but I’ll explain the basics as well as I...

Answer key: You don't know tech; The facts behind this week’s top 10 tech questions.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Now that you know how you scored, you probably want to know why. Check out the answers below for the gory details. And be sure to return next year for another news quiz, ripped straight from the tech headlines. ...

Crackpot technologies that could shake up IT; Eight more technologies that straddle the divide between harebrained and brilliant -- each with a promise to transform the future of the enterprise.
February 18, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff It doesn't take a genius to catch on to the fact that in IT, innovation is a mandate. Push the envelope of what's possible, or find yourself relegated to wayside. But, to borrow a favored David St. Hubbins Spinal...

Crackpot technologies that could shake up IT; Eight more technologies that straddle the divide between harebrained and brilliant -- each with a promise to transform the future of the enterprise.
February 18, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff It doesn't take a genius to catch on to the fact that in IT, innovation is a mandate. Push the envelope of what's possible, or find yourself relegated to wayside. But, to borrow a favored David St. Hubbins Spinal...

Product review: Open source reporting goes corporate; JasperServer Professional and Pentaho Reporting build on famous Java open source libraries for generating reports, but they’re no longer for developers only; rapidly gaining on traditional heavyweights, both score with user-friendly query tools and sophisticated front ends.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Peter Wayner Just a few years ago, the world of open source packages for generating database reports was a quiet secret shared by programmers on a deadline. Anyone could spend a few minutes linking in a library to start generating...

Be prepared: ActiveX attacks will persist; Flaws in the technology, poor development practice, and a large user base add up to big risks.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines A recent string of high-profile ActiveX vulnerabilities caused the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) to advise users to disable the ubiquitous Microsoft browser plug-in technology altogether. The vectors...

Users taste mobile outsourcing; Companies are starting to look at offloading as much of the process of launching and maintaining wireless business tools as possible in order to keep things simple.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Determined to utilize mobile applications to improve operational efficiency, food chain Au Bon Pain is taking the outsourcing route to save time and money in getting wireless tools into its employees' hands. Faced...

Bungee offers hosted software development; Developers can build, host apps using the Bungee Connect on-demand 'platform-as-a-service' system.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Boasting of a one-of-a-kind solution for the application development lifecycle, Bungee Labs is launching the public beta Tuesday of Bungee Connect, an on-demand platform for Web application development and deployment....

Java increasingly threatened by new app dev frameworks; Scripting languages and new application development frameworks are doing work Java once shouldered in its prime.
February 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Is Java slipping into second-tier status in the application development space? All the attention being given to its rivals these days might give off that impression. Nearly 13 years old, the Java language and...

Experts hammer Web 2.0 security; Security experts fear that social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn provide both a delivery vehicle for malware and the info to create targeted attacks.
February 21, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Even as social networking darling Facebook prepares a version of its online networking application aimed specifically at enterprise users, legions of security experts are getting behind the idea that the sites represent...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Between putting the squeeze on Yahoo, recalling its Vista service pack, and vowing yet again to play nicely with others, Microsoft is all over this week's quiz. Along the way we also touch on Amazon's cloudy future,...

Hackers turn Google into vulnerability scanner; Hacking group 'Cult of the Dead Cow' releases a tool that scours Web sites for sensitive information such as passwords or server vulnerabilities.(Website overview)
February 22, 2008... Byline: Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com The hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) this week released a tool that turns Google into an automated vulnerability scanner, scouring Web sites for sensitive information such as passwords or...

Microsoft readies Silverlight 2 beta; Company official provides the most details yet for the plug-in technology, the beta of which is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of this year.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Shedding new light on the company's Silverlight 2 browser plug-in technology, a Microsoft official wrote a blog post Friday morning that emphasized RIA (rich Internet application) development capabilities planned for an...

SECURITY ADVISER: Computer security's dubious future; InfoWorld's Roger Grimes weighs in on why security expert Bruce Schneier thinks computer security won't get any better in the next 10 years.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Roger A. Grimes As longtime readers already know, I’m a big fan of Bruce Schneier, CTO and founder of BT Counterpane. Besides being a cryptographic and computer security authority, cryptographic algorithm creator, and author...

Answer key: You don't know tech; The facts behind this week's top 10 tech questions.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Now that you know how you scored, you probably want to know why. Check out the answers below for the gory details. And be sure to return next year for another news quiz, ripped straight from the tech headlines. ...

How to deploy Windows Vista; Early adopters share their tips and tricks.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Although many organizations have not yet been ready to adopt Windows Vista, at some point nearly everyone will need to migrate to the new Windows OS, as the tide turns from today’s compatibility deficits in Vista...

Managing Vista security requires IT effort; UAC, app permissions and BitLocker all pose challenges.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Jeff Dimock, vice president of Microsoft solutions at the IT consultancy Dimension Data Americas, expects IT organizations will like Windows Vista’s tighter security. That’s true even though it requires a...

Picking the right time to deploy Vista; When possible, switch to Vista as part of a hardware refresh.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Windows Vista is known for its much higher resource requirements than Windows XP, such as needing a minimum of 2GB of RAM, a fast processor, and a recent video card. That’s why most analysts suggest that a Vista...

Vista tools ease deployment and management; Early adopters discover that the new Windows helps IT provision users more easily.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman For IT, perhaps the biggest advantage to deploying Windows Vista is its capability to create a unified installation image that selectively loads the needed drivers and applications onto users' computers — saving...

Is Microsoft turning over a new leaf? This time, the company's talk of increased openness has some substance behind it, with APIs for the latest versions of popular apps for the first time.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman When Microsoft announced on Thursday that it was changing its business practices to be more open — specifically to release documentation on its APIs and protocols — many people reacted with disbelief. The...

E-scammers trashing reputations; Through tactics like cyber-squatting and phishing, online criminals are hurting the reputations of legitimate businesses as they ply their trade.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Phishers, cyber-squatters, and other online fraudsters continued their assault on well-known corporate brands over the last 12 months, increasing the burden on the companies being targeted and further frustrating...

RightNow tries new UI approach to CRM app; Context-sensitive drop-down menus and topic monitoring are two key upgrades\.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Adopting Microsoft's new UI approach, RightNow Technologies has updated its online-delivered RightNow CRM software. Targeted at companies that use customer service representatives, the February release also offers...

Adobe CTO: AIR for Linux due later this year; Mobile proliferation also anticipated; Microsoft cites security concerns.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Adobe Systems plans to extend its AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) software to Linux later this year, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch said during the company's Engage event in San Francisco on Monday morning. Formerly called...

Adobe AIR joins list of rich app technologies; Microsoft Silverlight, AJAX among the other players.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) joins a growing list of rich Internet development technologies. Adobe does not see AIR as competing with Microsoft's new Silverlight platform or Sun Microsystems's JavaFX, both of...

SOA spend up despite unclear benefits; AMR report shows agility is the top actual benefit for early adopters, not code reuse.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman The number of companies investing in service-oriented architecture (SOA) has doubled over the past year in every part of the world, with a typical annual spend of nearly $1.4 million, according to a new research report...

Secrets of Windows Server 2008; Longhorn's features may seem to be old news, but our expert reveals what you need to know now that it's shipping.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Sean McCown Windows Server 2008, popularly known by its code name Longhorn, is a significant release for Microsoft and represents the result of a very long development cycle. We've all heard about many features that made it...

Product review: Windows Server 2008 is the host with the most, and the perfect guest; Microsoft's slimmer and stronger server OS, bolstered by virtualization, networking, and security advances, is an upgrade that IT can't refuse, a 200-pound gorilla that eats commercial Linux.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager A standing complaint about Windows Server is its resource footprint. Those in IT just take as rote that it requires lots of memory, lots of CPU, and lots of disk to put any substantial services on the air with Windows...

IBM bolsters software development for System z10 mainframes; Big Blue releases software, resources to help developers turn Cobol apps into Web services; mobile device support is also offered.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill IBM is unveiling software and resources Tuesday intended to educate the next generation of developers on how to build applications for the company's newly announced System z10 mainframe. Featured are software...

Reconnex intros pre-DLP device; Reconnex has found that many companies are wary of implementing DLP technologies and has created a new device to allay companies' fears.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines So many customers are struggling with the content identification and policy formulation elements of DLP (data loss prevention) that vendor Reconnex has launched a new appliance designed to help companies manage that...

WaveMaker to ship upgrade to AJAX apps framework; Version 3.1.1 of the framework features form generation and will be available as both a commercial and open-source product.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill WaveMaker Software will offer on Wednesday version 3.1.1 of WaveMaker Visual AJAX Studio, a framework for building database-driven AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications. Featured in the upgrade is...

Adobe extending Flash platform; Other languages would be accommodated in Flash Player.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Adobe Systems is working on a research project intended to make it easier to run programs written in various languages on Adobe's ubiquitous Flash Player client runtime. With the project, languages like C and C++...

Longhorn busts loose; Windows Server 2008, more than five years in the making, finally hits the streets.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Doug Dineley Today in Los Angeles -- and in a “launch wave” of events across the globe -- Microsoft’s long-awaited unveiling of Windows Server 2008 (WS08) reaches its dizzying crescendo. At the same time,...

Microsoft touts Longhorn security; The company says that a better firewall, IPv6 support, better onboard encryption, and network access protection make Windows Server 2008's security a primary selling point.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Matt Hines Microsoft is pushing the improved security of its Windows Server 2008 software package as one of the primary reasons why business customers should upgrade to the long-awaited product refresh as quickly as possible. ...

Test Center preview: Inside Google's mobile future; The Open Handset Alliance's Android SDK for creating mobile applications throws a few semantic curves at Java developers, but for the most part, they will feel at home; just be prepared for some rough terrain, and be sure to bring plenty of hardware.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Rick Grehan Android is Google's foray into the handheld OS realm. It follows a path trodden by -- among others -- Symbian's Quartz, the SavaJe operating system, and J2ME. In fact, one of Android's stated goals is to overcome some...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
February 29, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Seems like everything went down this past week -- YouTube, Hotmail, iTunes DRM, and Google's stock price among them. Can you pick up the pieces in our snarky news quiz? Some questions aren't as easy as they look. Most...