.NET News Desk

Moonlight Beta Out

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:48:00 EST

The promised beta release of Moonlight 1.0, the Linux implementation of Microsoft’s Silverlight widgetry, has finally wended its way out. Moonlight is of course the open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight and should give Linux users the same rich, high-definition media capabilities available to the Windows and Apple environments.

Alleged Software Pirate Accuses Microsoft of Antitrust

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:15:00 EST

A dealer in Holland that Microsoft sued in May for copyright infringement has complained to the European Commission that Microsoft charges anywhere from 30%–50% more for its software in Europe than in does in the U.S. – except for Vista, which is only 15% more. It claims it's an antitrust violation in violation of articles 81 (anti-competitive behavior) and 82 (abuse of dominance) of the European Treaty.

ASP.NET AJAX Filter – SQL Generation Control By DevExpress is Now Shipping

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST

The DevExpress ASP.NET Filter Editor was created to address key business issues confronting software developers. The control does not require users to know or understand SQL syntax and does not have any limitations regarding filter condition complexity. To make filtering even easier for end-users, this control automatically suggests conditions and possible filter values for each individual field.

Embarcadero Extends CodeGear

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:04:00 EST

CodeGear RAD Studio 2009, Embarcadero’s flagship product for Windows and .NET platforms, combines the rapid application development capabilities of Delphi® 2009 and C++Builder® 2009 with the recently introduced .NET development capabilities of Delphi Prism™. This combination of products provides developers with a complete environment that supports both low-level native Windows development and higher-level managed .NET code. In addition, the newly redefined RAD Studio Architect edition includes Embarcadero ER/Studio® Developer Edition for rapid application development with powerful database modeling and design capabilities.

Journal Calls Report of Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Baloney

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:18:00 EST

According to the Times of London, Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo's search business. The Wall Street Journal says the story is utter hokum. The British paper puts the price at $20 billion – although all of Yahoo was only worth $15.96 billion as of Friday. However, it says "senior directors at Microsoft and Yahoo are understood to have agreed the broad terms of a deal, but there is no guarantee that it will succeed."

Court Orders Ballmer Deposed

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:24:00 EST

The federal court hearing the disclosure-rich "Vista Capable" class-action suit claiming consumers were misled by the logo has ordered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to submit to a three-hour deposition. Microsoft, which tried to block the discovery, maintains that everything Ballmer knows about the marketing program is second-hand and that the Microsoft executives responsible for it have already been deposed.

Microsoft & Novell Still Together Two Years Later

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:22:00 EST

The two-year anniversary of the Novell-Microsoft alliance that scandalized the open source community passed quietly enough earlier this month. The pair waited a couple of weeks to mark the occasion and then said that in the second year of their arrangement they added upwards of 200 new joint customers, including BP Oil International and China Mobile, which are getting certificates from Microsoft for three-year priority support subscriptions to Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

PowerBuilder .NET Web Services with Various Front Ends

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:10:00 EST

Last year I wrote an article in PBDJ describing an ASP.NET project that was done with DataWindow.NET in the browser ("Prognos," Volume 14, Issue 4) and PowerBuilder Web Services in the back end. The front end consisted of an intro page, two data entry pages, and one page with the result. The front end was rewritten in a couple of other technologies to test different ways to create browser-based applications.

Magic Software Releases uniPaaS Version 1.5 with .NET Rich Internet Client

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Magic Software has announced the release of uniPaaS version 1.5, the company's flagship Rich Internet Application (RIA) and SaaS Enabled Application Platform (SEAP), designed to allow organizations to develop and deploy applications in approximately one-fifth of the time and effort it takes other technologies. The new release includes a migration utility for legacy application versions and a native .NET Rich Internet Application Client that allows users to take full advantage of .NET capabilities to provide a richer and more powerful user experience.

iSuppli Cuts PC Forecast

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

iSuppli has taken the auspices again and now says that PCs won't grow next year by 11.9% like it thought before the sky started falling. Sales will only be up 4.3%, up being better than down let's remember. And it's not quite as optimistic about 2010 as it used to be. It thinks PC sales the year after next will be up 7.1% rather than 9.4%.

Microsoft's Sky Is Filled with Clouds

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:15:00 EST

Microsoft plans to build about 20 "super-size" cloud data centers, each with a price tag of around a billion dollars apiece, according to BusinessWeek. The magazine got it from an unnamed source. All Microsoft's VP of global foundation services Debra Chrapaty would tell was "We’re going to reinvent the infrastructure of our industry."

IBM Wants To Put its Initials on All Clouds Everywhere

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:45:00 EST

In a fascinating move to co-op the cloud, IBM is proposing to rate other people’s clouds, people like Amazon, GoGrid, Mosso and FlexiScale. Hopefully it will do better than Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s did with the bonds created out of sub-prime loans. It’s unclear why anyone would submit to such a search by IBM, but – if they do and pass – IBM is proposing to reward them with a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” or “Resilient Cloud Proven” logo.

Microsoft Sues WebXchange over IDE

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:15:00 EST

Microsoft has filed one of its rare lawsuits against online transaction service provider WebXchange because WebXchange sued FedEx, Allstate and Dell, three of Microsoft’s big customers, back in March. WebXchange claims FedEx, Allstate and Dell’s online services trample on its patents because they use Visual Studio, SOAP and Web Services. Like when FedEx’ online system lets people send their print job to FedEx’ Kinko shops. WebXchange apparently has an e-commerce routing patent. Microsoft wants the court to tell WebXchange to take a hike, invalidate its patents based on prior art and declared Visual Studio free of taint.

Taking Yahoo Apart Brick by Brick?

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:15:00 EST

Seems Microsoft, which doesn’t want to buy Yahoo anymore, has rustled Yahoo’s VP of search technology Sean Suchter, the Inktomi legacy who ran Yahoo’s search engine, responsible for engineering and P&L. He’s due to leave Yahoo right before Christmas. Microsoft said at press time that he would be general manager of its Silicon Valley Search Technology Center working on Live Search. Meanwhile, Kara Swisher of BoomTown, who’s had the inside track on all things Yahoo from the beginning, thinks that Microsoft is trying to hire the former EVP of engineering of Yahoo’s Search and Advertising Technology Group Qi Lu, who quit in disgust in June.

OpenSpan and TIBCO Team on Desktop Integration for SOA and BPM

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:15:00 EST

OpenSpan and TIBCO have announced a technology and business partnership designed to extend TIBCO solutions to desktop environments. The partnership will enable TIBCO Service-Oriented Architecture, Business Process Management and Business Optimization solutions to more rapidly integrate with desktop applications without requiring changes to those desktop applications. “The OpenSpan technology helps our joint customers service and event enable any desktop application without changing the code and with nearly zero impact to that application,” said Tom Laffey, executive vice president, products & technology at TIBCO.

Virtualization Expo: Cute Trick Saves Dell’s Bad News from Being Worse

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

At the end of one of the worst days in the history of Wall Street, when every metric ultimately reacted like acid eating through a thin plate of copper, Dell posted its third-quarter results, returning a surprise 9% increase in EPS on deflated revenues and net earnings apparently because of stock buybacks. The company made no quantitative forecast. It only said that it believes global end-user demand “will continue to be challenging” and that it would focus on optimizing “liquidity, profitability and growth,” particularly profitability.

Microsoft To Kill Windows Live OneCare for Morro

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:45:00 EST

In a move that looks tailor-made for an antitrust suit, Microsoft says it’s going to give away a consumer security kit that it’s building code named Morro. It should be available in the second half of next year – probably more like mid-year. The freebie widgetry is supposed to defend even smaller PC form factors against malware like viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans and means that Microsoft will dump the retail sales of its Windows Live OneCare subscription service on June 30. The company said direct sales of OneCare will be phased out when Morro becomes available.

Tidal Software Announces Intersperse 8.0

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:30:00 EST

Tidal Software has announced Intersperse 8.0, a product that monitors J2EE and .NET applications and their transaction component performance to produce meaningful metrics for managing applications and high-level business processes. The product leverages a combination of lightweight Java Management Extensions (JMX) and byte-code injection to span the need for both lightweight and deep level analysis. This provides a meaningful basis for monitoring and trending the performance of components as well as business processes.

DataGuise Introduces Data Masking for Multi-Database Environment

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:00:00 EST

DataGuise has announced their first masking in place solution for multi-database environments such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and others. The dgSolution Suite provides secure masking of database content and is designed for the highest level of flexibility and functionality across heterogeneous environments. Beyond conventional masking tools, DataGuise brings unprecedented point-and-click usability while delivering the most comprehensive feature set for streamlined application development, testing and training.

Cloud Computing Journal: Yang To Step Down

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

Yahoo has confirmed that Jerry Yang will be stepping down as soon as the board can find a new CEO. Yahoo said the executive search has started. Yang, who botched a sale to Microsoft, saw his backup ad deal with Google trumped by the Justice Department and couldn’t put anything resembling a viable strategy together, is supposed to return to his role as so-called Chief Yahoo once his replacement is found. He will also stay on the board.

SYS-CON Webcast - The Blackberry Technical Webcast Series

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

The BlackBerryR Technical Webcast Series is designed to help BlackBerry administrators better manage and leverage the capabilities of their BlackBerry solution. Each webcast is packed with detailed technical information, covering topics that are relevant to you. Our on-demand webcasts include: Troubleshooting the BlackBerryR Enterprise Solution, Troubleshooting Enterprise Activation, Troubleshooting Messaging Delays, What is provisioning, and Managing Application Push in the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution.

EMC’s New Cloud Concern is, Well, Very Cloudy

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

EMC has taken its Mozy and Pi holdings – Pi being the stealth-mode mystery start-up it bought to acquire ex-Microsoft kingpin Paul Maritz before it fired Diane Greene and put him in charge of VMware – and Mozy being its year-old $76 million online consumer backup acquisition – and put them in a new cloud concern called Decho Corporation. Decho is supposed to stand for a people’s “digital echo.”

SYS-CON Webcast - BlackBerry Technical Seminar

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST

The BlackBerry Technical Seminar is back this fall with breakthrough new sessions you won’t want to miss! Managing and extending applications to your mobile users, overcoming development hurdles; and leveraging mobile technology to create new opportunities for your business – if it’s about getting the most from your BlackBerry solution, you’ll find it at the BlackBerry Technical Seminar. This free online event gives you the opportunity to build your BlackBerry solution administrator and developer knowledge without ever leaving your desk.

The Planet Launches New Storage Cloud

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:30:00 EST

The Planet has announced limited availability of its new highly scalable and on-demand storage cloud service. The Planet has merged on-premise storage performance with cloud storage capabilities, which opens a whole new world for companies to extend their hosted environments directly into the cloud. By combining two products into a single offering, customers gain additional benefits, including free uploads to the local node and a single policy-driven account to manage all file-based storage needs. Today, many companies are hesitant to build their businesses on the available cloud platforms due to hidden fees and inconsistent performance. By contrast, The Planet provides simple and transparent pricing, backed by an industry-leading Service Level Agreement, creating a competitive value proposition.

The Cloud Comes This Week to San Jose

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST

A round-up of the many themes and topics of interest to infrastructure architects, developers and IT managers featuring at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo being held November 19-21, 2008 at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. The conference is expecting a record turnout of senior technologists including CIOs, CTOs, VPs of technology, IT directors and managers, network and storage managers, network engineers, enterprise architects, communications and networking specialists, and directors of infrastructure.

Moderro to Announce "Turnkey Cloud Computer" This Week at 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:47:00 EST

Moderro Technologies www.moderro.com will debut its Xpack Internet Computer – an integrated (hardware, operating system and web management) solution for the Web 2.0 desktop SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, November 19-21, in San Jose, CA. The Xpack features a clean and friendly user interface and operating system that was written by Moderro specifically for interacting with Web 2.0 applications. This functionality, combined with simplicity, security, a small footprint, energy efficiency, and backward compatibility make the Moderro Xpack a perfect choice for Web 2.0 office.

SYS-CON's 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo Attracts 40 Sponsors and 1,000 Delegates

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST

"More than a half dozen conferences and events targeting Virtualization and Cloud Computing canceled in the past two months," said Fuat Kircaali, CEO of SYS-CON Media. "We predicted that this would be the outcome for many competing shows due to the current economic conditions," he adds. "We will serve the Cloud Computing industry, our sponsors, advertising partners, and delegates as the leading global event around the globe for the next decade," said Carmen Gonzalez, Sr. VP of sales and advertising at SYS-CON Media.

More Than 40 Companies to Exhibit at the 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:15:00 EST

SYS-CON Events announced today that more than 40 Cloud technology providers, as well as Virtualization and SOA companies will exhibit at the upcoming 1st International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo (www.CloudComputingExpo.com), November 19-21, in San Jose, California. The conference will be colocated with SYS-CON’s 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo (www.VirtualizationConference.com).

Citrix Claims to Cut Cost of Delivering Enterprise Web Apps

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:00:00 EST

Citrix has upgraded its NetScaler web application delivery appliance with a welter of 350 new features whose biggest trick is configuring each web application automatically and optimally. This new NetScaler 9 facility is supposed to cut the cost of delivering enterprise web applications by up to 50% – stuff like Microsoft’s SharePoint Server 2007, Oracle’s E-Business Suite and SAP’s widgetry.

AMD’s Shanghai Chip a Go

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:00:00 EST

The day after Intel slashed its guidance and told the press that “orders just died,” AMD, a company laboring under a really bad karma, said it’s started selling Shanghai, its first 45nm quad-core Opteron chip, a few months earlier than expected and plunk in the middle of an economic apocalypse. AMD, which is also trying to split itself into two parts, one manufacturing, one design, expects OEMs including IBM, Sun, HP and Dell to field 25 Shanghai-bearing server systems between now and the end of the year. The question is will anybody be left to buy them?

Amazon, Google, Microsoft - Big Three Cloud Providers Examined

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:00:00 EST

There’s been quite a bit of chatter on the web about Microsoft's Azure Services Platform. Obviously I’m excited to see people talking about our new platform, especially when there is plenty of good, some bad, and some good if not somewhat rambling. There will be no shortage of guessing as to what Microsoft is “really up to” with our development efforts.

Ex-Oracle Heavyweight Lands SaaS Uppercut to Larry’s Jaw

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST

John Wookey, who until a non-compete-suggestive 13 months ago ran Oracle’s applications development – you know, its crucial next-generation “stitch-$20-billion-together” Fusion program – has gone to work for Oracle’s hereditary enemy SAP. He has been named EVP of large enterprise on-demand, a yet-to-surface revenue-protecting Microsoft-style software-plus-services entity.

Building a Composite Application Using Multiple Web Services

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:25:00 EST

What happens when your cloud provider has multiple datacenters and has the ability to move your code around based on their need (read: not your need)? One thing that any enterprise IT buyer knows how to say is “who’s throat do I choke?” When you have a composited application, who exactly are you going to be calling? The cloud providers have yet to address the myriad of problems which can, and will, arise.

Microsoft to Deliver Keynote at SYS-CON's Virtualization Conference & Expo, November 19-21, in San Jose, CA

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:00:00 EST

SYS-CON Events announced today that Mike Neil, general manager for virtualization strategy at Microsoft will deliver the keynote speech, entitled "Virtualization Futures: From the Desktop to the Datacenter," at SYS-CON’s upcoming “International Virtualization Conference & Expo 2008 West” event due to take place November 19-21, 2008, in San Jose California.

Tap In Systems to Exhibit at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Conference & Expo

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:00:00 EST

The Tap In Systems consists of a team of engineers and software developers with many years of experience in network management, systems management, software and web application development. Its members have worked in large corporate environments as well as start up ventures. Tap In Systems was formed to provide IT management solutions that were previously only available from high cost enterprise software vendors. This is accomplished by leveraging the latest open-source technologies to build applications which use the latest web-enabled techniques. Our philosophy is to emphasize integration of existing and common tools rather than re-deploying new tools which have a disruptive effect on an IT orgnization.

How To Take Advantage of the Cloud and Beat the Recession: Cloud Computing Bootcamp

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:15:00 EST

SYS-CON Events announced today that Cloud Computing Conference & Expo (www.cloudcomputingexpo.com) will offer a free Cloud Bootcamp on November 20, 2008, at the Fairmont Hotel, in San Jose, California. Being held for the first time at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA, on November 20, 2008, the Cloud Computing Bootcamp will show you how to take advantage of the cloud. Cloud computing is an opportunity for businesses to implement low-cost, low-power and high-efficiency systems to deliver scalable infrastructure. But moving to a cloud infrastructure is not necessarily as nice and clean as the providers would want you to think. With cloud infrastructures problems don't magically go away; they just shift: you don't have scalability or storage problems any more, but you need to constantly monitor the cloud and your application in it.

Microsoft, Amazon, Google, VMware - Cloud Computing Is an Arena for Big Players

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST

Considering that the price tag for state-of-the art data centers is now reaching $500M, cloud computing is an arena for big players. I don’t expect small players to stay competitive for long in this game. Cloud frameworks are very diverse, and switching from one cloud to another is going to involve massive changes at best and complete rewrite at worst.

1105 Media Cancels "Virtualization Live" Conference Due to Recession, It Says

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:30:00 EST

This is the sentence that screams "We don't get it, we don't get it, someone please help us, we don't get it!" Hello my friends at 1105 Media, hello there! There have not been "print issues " or "print magazines" or print anything for the past five years in technology media. IDG does not do print; CMP does not do print; SYS-CON does not do print.

VMware Named "Gold Sponsor" of SYS-CON's Virtualization Conference & Expo, November 19-21, San Jose, CA

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:45:00 EST

SYS-CON Events announced today that the leading global virtualization technology provider VMware named "Gold Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo, (www.virtualizationconference.com) which will take place November 19-21, 2008, at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California.

VMware Named "Gold Sponsor" of SYS-CON's Virtualization Conference & Expo, November 19-21, San Jose, CA

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:11:00 EST