InfoWorld.com articles from July 2008

InfoWorld.com archives from July 2008

Mac OS X Snow Leopard: Apple's secret business weapon? The new OS's focus on processing promises faster apps and a more stable enterprise base.
July 1, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Judging from initial accounts, the next version of the Mac OS X, named Snow Leopard, will be aimed squarely at business and enterprise users, signaling a formal push by Apple to take Windows head on outside the...

A requiem for Windows XP; InfoWorld's contributors remember the pros, and a few cons, of the most popular version of Windows to date.
July 1, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld Staff Today, we bid adieu to Windows XP. Despite an outpouring of demand -- including more than 210,000 people who signed InfoWorld's "Save XP" petition, Microsoft held firm and yesterday discontinued sales of XP in most...

Oracle reveals BEA roadmap; WebLogic app server becomes core Java container and SOA is emphasized as Oracle meshes its technologies with those acquired in the BEA merger.
July 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Oracle presented on Tuesday a comprehensive roadmap for its recently acquired BEA Systems middleware technologies, making BEA's application server Oracle's strategic Java container and pledging continued support for BEA...

Making desktop Linux work for business; When it comes to making the break from Windows, Linux is ready when you are.
July 1, 2008... Byline: Neil McAllister Today's IT managers face tough choices. PCs that run fine today have an uncertain upgrade path, now that Microsoft has chosen to discontinue Windows XP. Upgrade costs associated with Vista, coupled with the...

A requiem for Windows XP; InfoWorld's contributors remember the pros, and a few cons, of the most popular version of Windows to date.
July 1, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff Today, we bid adieu to Windows XP. Despite an outpouring of demand -- including more than 210,000 people who signed InfoWorld's "Save XP" petition, Microsoft held firm and yesterday discontinued sales of XP in most...

Can Google Apps move up market? Despite its enterprise forays, Google will be hard-pressed to dislodge Microsoft Office.
July 2, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige Although Google always seems to be up to something, the past few months have seen a flurry of activity in a space long associated with IT: Google has driven its cloud computing applications -- Google Apps -- into...

Micro Focus, Microsoft partner on app modernization; Cobol, CICS for .Net eyed as Micro Focus extends its Windows-based portfolio to provide managed code for 64-bit offerings.
July 2, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Micro Focus and Microsoft are working to bolster efforts to enable Cobol-based mainframe applications to run on Windows and also plan a version of CICS for .Net. Through the arrangement, Micro Focus will extend its...

Krugle enhances code search appliance; Device can handle more than 10 billion lines of source code.
July 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Krugle plans to ship next week an upgrade to its search appliance for enterprise software development projects, which makes it easier for teams of developers to maintain code. Version 2.3 of Krugle Enterprise...

Facebook seeks trusted relationships on the 'Net; Executive talks about company goals, infrastructure.(Interview)
July 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill While perhaps best known as a major social networking site in the Web 2.0 vein, Facebook is becoming a popular place to interface with potential customers, similar to what companies such as Scribe and iLike have done....

Product review: Sophos NAC is a good start; Sophos NAC Advanced combines agent-based awareness and enforcement of essential security policies for Windows end points with integration hooks to network-based control systems.
July 3, 2008... Byline: Steve Hultquist The wide variety of so-called NAC (network access control) products on the market shows a broad range of thinking about policy-based security controls and the management of the network in general, including the...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
July 7, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan It seems somehow fitting that in the same week both Bill Gates and XP retired -- the latter somewhat involuntarily. So this week's quiz has more Microsoft in it than most. Also inside: what not to do while driving in...

The dangers of cloud computing; On-demand apps and services have several security risks that IT should address up front.
July 7, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz The idea of cloud computing -- designed around an architecture whose natural state is a shared pool outside the enterprise -- has gained momentum in recent months as a way to reduce cost and improve IT flexibility....

IBM offering beta of second Jazz product; Jazz ALM platform progressing with IBM Rational Requirements Composer, which helps software delivery teams gain a consensus on design.
July 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill IBM began on Monday an open beta program for the second product based on its Jazz ALM (application lifecycle management) platform, IBM Rational Requirements Composer. Due for general availability by the end of this...

The six commandments of social networking at work; Businesses ignore the technology at their peril. Naive use is just as risky. Get savvy with InfoWorld's guide to professional social tech use.
July 7, 2008... Byline: Lisa Schmeiser It can be easy to disregard social networking's professional potential if you're only going on what you see on television. Between endlessly replayed clips where hysterical young men beg everyone to leave Britney...

Lab test: Climb aboard Ruby on Rails; The InfoWorld Test Center sifts through nine Rails IDEs and editors to help you choose the tools to suit your development needs.
July 7, 2008... Byline: Martin Heller The Ruby on Rails site bills its eponymous project as "Web development that doesn't hurt." I'm not really sure what that means, but it certainly sounds good. Further down on the page, it says, "Rails is a...

Microsoft's cloud forms; Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications, and other applications will run in Microsoft's datacenters and be sold by the seat this fall.
July 8, 2008... Byline: Eric Knorr At the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Microsoft made its biggest foray yet into cloud computing with pricing and partnership arrangements for Microsoft Online Services, a family that includes Online versions of...

Python backing eyed for NetBeans; Scripting language capabilities of the open-source IDE continue to expand.
July 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill In a not-so-surprising revelation, Sun plans to support the Python and Jython scripting languages in future releases of the open-source NetBeans IDE, which has been expanding beyond its Java origins lately. Sun...

Real Software, Veryant bolster dev tools; RealBasic, Cobol apps platforms get improvements.
July 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Real Software and Veryant are upgrading development tools this week, with Real Software focused on its RealBasic platform and Veryant on Cobol. Real Software is shipping RealBasic 2008 Release 3 on Tuesday,...

Troubleshooting tool for Java offered; Sun's Java VisualVM open-source technology views apps while they run on a JVM and is billed as all-in-one solution.
July 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sun on Tuesday announced availability of Java VisualVM, an open-source GUI tool for troubleshooting and profiling Java applications. Users can view detailed information about Java applications while they are running...

The birth of the InfoWorld WorldBooks; What sort of laptop could PC makers create if they were willing to think outside the boring old box? To find out, we took to the drawing board ourselves.
July 8, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager Windows notebooks offered for sale in North America are stuck in evolutionary stasis. The reason is simple: A small number of Asian manufacturers build major brand notebooks. Exterior design and interior components shared...

Linux build service offered; The Novell-sponsored openSuse Build Service 1.0 provides access to code repositories and makes it easier for developers to contribute code.
July 9, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The Novell-sponsored openSuse project for Linux released openSuse Build Service 1.0 on Wednesday, providing developers with access to code repositories for the openSuse Linux distribution and making it easier for...

Artificial intelligence tied to search future; IBM-sponsored conference focuses on paradigms for "The New AI".(Conference notes)
July 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill AI (Artificial intelligence) has the potential to enhance Internet searches, but obstacles still must be overcome, a speaker stressed at a technical conference Thursday hosted by IBM. Entitled "The New AI: New...

Lab test: HP grooms iPaq for business; Slick, versatile smartphone builds on Windows Mobile 6.1's features to deliver Exchange e-mail support and more.
July 10, 2008... Byline: Mike Heck There are enough smartphone choices to make you dizzy. Yet in the business world, it arguably comes down to RIM's BlackBerry and select Windows Mobile-based devices – with the strong possibility of Apple's 3G iPhone...

Apple turns its back on mobile standards; The iPhone continues to go its own way when it comes to industry specs for remote management.
July 11, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Many companies may be willing to take a second or perhaps first look at Apple’s mobile wunderkind, the iPhone, now that it has access to a 3G network. A 3G version also extends the reach of the iPhone to more...

Micro Focus buys Liant; PL/I, modernization capabilities picked up.
July 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Cobol tools provider Micro Focus on Friday announced its acquisition of Liant Software for $5 million, adding PL/I and modernization capabilities to the Micro Focus fold. The acquisition complements Micro Focus...

Sun lays off approximately 1,000 employees; More staff cuts planned in wake of restructuring, poor quarter.
July 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Following through on a restructuring plan announced in May, Sun on Thursday laid off approximately 1,000 employees in the United States and Canada. All told, the company plans to reduce its workforce by...

Dialing down software support; Enterprise software maintenance and support costs are rising even as budgets tighten. Can you cut back safely?
July 14, 2008... Byline: Tom Sullivan It's no secret that maintenance and support for enterprise applications is wildly profitable for vendors and, likewise, incredibly expensive for IT shops. Some of those IT shops, in fact, are overwhelmed by the cost...

Enterprises become the battleground for social networking; Who will dominate social networking: Major software vendors or sites like Facebook?
July 14, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The battle to provide social networking in the enterprise is under way between solutions from established software vendors and readily available offerings such as Facebook and LinkedIn, with these sites possessing a lot...

Mac (in)security: How to secure Macs in business; As Macs make their way into the enterprise, IT needs to address these six security flaws before disaster strikes.
July 14, 2008... Byline: Glenn Fleishman Macs are immune from security threats, right? It's Windows we have to worry about. That water-cooler wisdom needs to be flipped on its head, security experts and IT managers warn. Microsoft has gotten its security...

New Eclipse member looks to rival Visual Studio; Russian company also added to the fold at open-source tools organization.
July 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Two new members of the Eclipse Foundation will make their formal debuts with the open-source tools organization Tuesday, including Sonatype, which plans to offer a Java environment to rival Visual Studio, and Excelsior,...

Adobe readies 'Gumbo' upgrade to Flex; Company cites SDK component and skinning architecture as highlights of the next version of the Flex platform.
July 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Seeking to bolster Flash and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) application development, Adobe is working on "Gumbo," the next version of the Flex platform. Adobe in blog entries and Web pages focused on improvements in...

Can you really live without Microsoft Office? Open source and cloud computing alternatives can replace Office in some circumstances.
July 15, 2008... Byline: Curtis Franklin Jr. If there's one application that everybody has, and depends on, it's Microsoft Office. The newest Office, though, has met with a mixed reaction, thanks to a changed user interface that caused concern in some...

Test Center review: Office killers pack some heat; Cloud-based Google Docs and Zoho, as well as desktop-bound IBM Lotus Symphony and OpenOffice.org, put Microsoft's productivity suite on notice.
July 15, 2008... Byline: Curtis Franklin Jr. There are few pieces of software that users touch more often than office productivity suites. The market monster is, of course, Microsoft Office, with the lion's share of all licenses for office productivity...

Serena linking requirements, change management; Serena's Dimensions RM 10.1.4 requirements management software can link to test and change management platforms.
July 16, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Serena Software is introducing this week Serena Dimensions RM 10.1.4, a version of its requirements management software for application development that can link to test and change management platforms. Dimensions...

Microsoft adds workflow to cloud-based SOA platform; BizTalk Services project still is in development as the R12 Community Technology Preview is unveiled.
July 17, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft added this week workflow capabilities to BizTalk Services, the company's platform-in-the-cloud project for SOA and business process management. The R12 Community Technology Preview for BizTalk Services, the...

Test Center preview: Microsoft's "Katmai" is filled to the brim; SQL Server 2008 release candidate sports improvements across the board, but the head turners – and disappointments – will mostly impact large shops.
July 17, 2008... Byline: Sean McCown Katmai, the code name for Microsoft's imminent SQL Server 2008 release, comes from an Alaskan territory know for volcanoes, which may not be the best symbol for a database. So far, however, Katmai hasn't blown up on me....

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
July 18, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan It's been an educational week. We learned what happens when everyone tries try to activate their iPhones at the same time, what people will pay for free software, and what can go wrong when you tick off your IT folks....

Why San Francisco's network admin went rogue; An inside source reveals details of missteps and misunderstandings in the curious case of Terry Childs, network kidnapper.
July 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia Last Sunday, Terry Childs, a network administrator employed by the City of San Francisco, was arrested and taken into custody, charged with four counts of computer tampering. He remains in jail, held on $5 million...

Study: IT jobs will drop in 2009; CIOs plan sharp reductions in contract staff, professional services, and hardware -- and almost no investment in cloud computing.
July 18, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz IT staff jobs are at increasing risk -- both for contractors and in-house workers -- according to a survey of top CIOs by Goldman, Sachs & Co released last week. Global services companies will also feel the pinch...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
July 21, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan It's been an educational week. We learned what happens when everyone tries try to activate their iPhones at the same time, what people will pay for free software, and what can go wrong when you tick off your IT folks....

Linux set to make mobile splash; Executive director of Linux Foundation speaks at conference; obstacles to mobile Web also aired.(Conference news)
July 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Linux is set to make a major impact in the mobile computing realm, the executive director of the Linux Foundation stressed at a conference Monday morning. Speaking at the Open Mobile Exchange portion of the O'Reilly...

InfoWorld adds Twitter to its mobile options; News and alerts service keeps readers up to date on key stories when they are on the go.
July 21, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff Because IT news can be fast-moving and readers don't always have the time to scan sites for the major news, reviews, and blog posts, InfoWorld now offers quick, mobile-friendly access to its key stories via the...

WSO2 adds Google Gadgets to mashup server; Version 1.5 of open source product offered.
July 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill WSO2 is releasing on Monday WSO Mashup Server Version 1.5, an open-source product for deploying mashup services featuring Google Gadgets support and interfaces to relational databases and other data sources. The...

Cloud versus cloud: A guided tour of Amazon, Google, AppNexus, and GoGrid; Cloud computing offerings differ in depth, breadth, style, and fine print; beneath the heady metaphor lurk familiar pitfalls, complex pricing, and many questions.
July 21, 2008... Byline: Peter Wayner Who wouldn't want to live in a "cloud"? The term is a perfect marketing buzzword for the server industry, heralding images of a gauzy, sunlit realm that moves effortlessly across the sky. There are no suits or ties in...

How to handle SOA vendor consolidation; While acquisition sprees reduce infrastructure choices, other factors keep a variety of SOA platforms available.
July 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The SOA concept -- developing a software architecture based on service components that can be mixed and matched as needed to reduce development time and increase application deployment flexibility -- is only a few years...

Intel updates parallel development tool; Threading Building Blocks 2.1 features C++ capabilities and boosts performance, memory allocation.
July 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Intel on Tuesday will unveil at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Portland, what it described as a substantial upgrade to Intel Threading Building Blocks. TBB 2.1, a developer tool that features a C++...

Sun readies Web stack featuring choice of OSes; At OSCON, the company also promotes single sign-on and social networking.
July 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sun is announcing on Wednesday availability of Sun Web Stack, which puts the company’s own twist on the popular open-source LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL Perl/Python or PHP) stack. The company is unveiling the stack...

Symbian: R&D wants motivated open sourcing; Executive dismisses contention that competitive concerns from Android, LiMo were a prime factor.
July 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Research and development efficiency, and not competitive concerns about the Google Android or Linux Mobile (LiMo) initiatives, was a chief driver in the decision to make the Symbian mobile platform open source, a Symbian...

Intel says Moblin update coming soon; Open-source effort set for mobile Linux should have an alpha-level release in a few weeks.
July 23, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Intel is readying a second release of the Moblin open-source platform for mobile computing, with plans set for an alpha-level version in a few weeks, an Intel official said at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON)...

Ubuntu founder urges Linux desktop to rival Apple; Shuttleworth also cites need for new business models to fund free software.
July 23, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Ubuntu Linux Founder Mark Shuttleworth urged development of a Linux desktop to rival what Apple has done in this space and aired a vision of software changing the world. Shuttleworth, speaking at the O'Reilly Open...

Microsoft bolsters Ruby efforts; Company unveiling initiatives accommodating popular language.
July 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft on Thursday plans to delve deeper into Ruby programming, with plans to ship Ruby libraries and participate in a testing project for the language. The libraries are akin to any other software library,...

Sun technologist: SOAP stack a 'failure'; Tim Bray, co-inventor of XML, prefers REST mechanism over SOAP.
July 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The SOAP stack for Web services was branded a failure this week by Tim Bray, a Sun Microsystems technologist and co-inventor of XML, who hailed the REST (Representational State Transfer) mechanism as a SOAP alternative....

Lab test: Apple gets iPhone 3G right for business; An abundance of new features carries iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 into the enterprise.
July 24, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager With the iPhone 3G's banner opening weekend and newsstands looking like a rack of brochures for the device, a review of the iPhone 3G at this point might be pro forma, except for one thing: Much of the iPhone 3G and the...

Why iPhone 2.0 won't yet rule the roost in the enterprise; The 13 key omissions Apple must fix before it can really compete with BlackBerry and Treo.
July 24, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Most of the world, it seemed, drank the Steve Jobs Kool-Aid about the new iPhone being a BlackBerry killer when the Apple CEO first announced the device earlier this year. But after nearly two weeks with the new iPhone...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
July 25, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan What happened this week? The big names posted their quarterly results, the recording industry suffered more setbacks, and the Microsoft-Yahoo-Icahn kerfuffle once again appears to be over (this time it might actually be...

Open Web Foundation formed; Non-profit group supported by Google, Facebook aims to protect non-proprietary specifications for Web technologies.
July 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill The Open Web Foundation, a non-profit organization intended to help create an "Open Web," was announced Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) in Portland, Ore. Specifically, the organization is...

Test Your Developer IQ; Are you a script kiddie or a hacker hero? Take our quiz to find out.
July 28, 2008... Byline: Neil McAllister As any good software developer will tell you, programming is more than a job. It's a way of life. Top coders practically speak their own language; the trivia floating in their heads would stupefy mere mortals. But...

InfoWorld launches the Design the Perfect Laptop contest; We designed our ideal notebook, and now it's your turn. The best entry wins an iPod Touch.
July 28, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld staff Today's laptops are pretty much all the same, and the technologies they offer haven't really changed much. Sure, you get faster processors and higher-capacity hard drives with each new model, but the basic notebook...

InfoWorld columnist Ed Foster dies; The Gripe Line blogger has advocated for technology users since 1993, and has been a highly regarded, reporter, writer, and editor for more than 20 years.
July 28, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld Staff Ed Foster, InfoWorld's The Gripe Line blogger, died this past Saturday of an apparent heart attack. He was 59. Foster began The Gripe Line as a column in InfoWorld's print edition in 1993, helping technology...

Cisco Nexus 5000 bridges the network gap; Compact switch seamlessly connects Fibre Channel and Ethernet networks.
July 28, 2008... Byline: Mario Apicella Traditionally, network transport has run on two separate technologies, FC (Fibre Channel) and Ethernet, which, like two railroads with different gauges, seemed bound to never meet. Just about everybody agrees...

Mobile computing now an open source driver; Conference centers on potential for device-based software.
July 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Mobile computing has become a dominant focus in the open source arena, a theme on prominent display at a major open source technology convention last week. The O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Portland,...

Sorting out fact from fiction in the Terry Childs case; San Francisco's network-abuse claims raise more questions than answers.
July 30, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia It's been nearly three weeks since Terry Childs was arrested on four counts of computer tampering and sent to jail on $5 million bail. In those three weeks, this event has taken turns to the strange, and wound up...

Lab test: ILOG Rules for .Net meshes well with Microsoft; ILOG brings business rules to .Net while delivering deep integration with Office and SharePoint.
July 31, 2008... Byline: Steven NA*A[+ or -]ez JRules, the Java version of ILOG's BRMS (business rules management system), has always run on Microsoft platforms -- and it's done so quite well. Now, with the latest version of ILOG Rules for .Net, ILOG...

Test Center preview: VMware Fusion 2 Beta 2; Fresh Fusion beta proves snappy and strong with multiple and automated snapshots, VM to host folder mapping, Unity for Linux, and smoother guest installation.
July 31, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia Virtualization on the Mac has never had it so good. There are several options available for running almost any x86-based operating system as a VM under Mac OS X, including Parallels, VMware Fusion, and VirtualBox. If...