Forrester this week published a breakdown of the application server platform
market and judged that Oracle came out on top, thanks largely to its broad array
of features and robust strategy. Behind Oracle, both IBM and Microsoft earned
praise for their broad and capable offerings.
The report notes that customers are looking to lock in their investments into
either Java-based or .NET-based server platforms. Looking forward, Forrester
says the next generation of app servers will extend feature sets to encompass
SOA, social computing and Web 2.0.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/18/20070 comments
There was a time when I allowed myself to be surprised by Microsoft's ability
to play catch-up, but no longer. So when I ran across Tim Sneath's blog,
Musings
of a Client Platform Technical Evangelist
, I wasn't entirely shocked to
find an impressive list of 50 working Silverlight applications.
Silverlight, of course, is the combination cross-platform media runtime and
application delivery platform that promises to do a lot more than simply give
Redmond a competitor to Adobe Flash. It offers .NET-savvy developers the ability
to deliver functional applications to systems beyond .NET-enabled Windows PCs.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/18/20070 comments
Microsoft has long led the industry when it comes to supporting developers.
Witness useful resources like MSDN, Channel9 and the nonstop parade of conferences
and seminars designed to get coders up to speed.
Now, Microsoft has produced a series of what it is calling Virtual Labs: 90-minute
long, interactive how-to sessions designed to help developers evaluate and master
a variety of specific Microsoft products and technologies.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/18/20070 comments
Just before the July 4 break, Evans Data Corp. released the results of a developer
survey that it says shows
growing
cracks in the dominance of Windows
as a target for programmers. The survey
found that the percentage of North American programmers targeting Windows server
or client OSes has dropped, from 74 percent in 2006 to 64.8 percent in 2007.
Evans Data predicts further erosion, on the order of 2 percent, in 2008.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/11/20070 comments
Or, more precisely, where in the world is Ray Ozzie? Outside of an appearance
at the Web-centric Mix07 developer event in Las Vegas this April, Microsoft's
chief software architect and presumed successor to Bill Gates hasn't been featured
at any of Microsoft's major conferences.
We're reading tea leaves here, but it seems that much of the early light and
heat of Ozzie's arrival in Redmond has burned off. Meanwhile, CEO Steve Ballmer
is taking center stage at key events like Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference,
going
on now in Denver.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/11/20070 comments
We all know the managed code mantra of the .NET Framework -- more robust, more
functional, more secure.
Or is it? Yesterday Microsoft announced
a critical security flaw in versions 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 of the .NET Framework.
In fact, the framework suffers from a trifecta of vulnerabilities that can allow
remote attackers to gain control over the system.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/11/20070 comments
I'm still recovering from a hectic Fourth of July holiday, but it seems another
important holiday is upon us: Fair Use Day. The holiday was founded three years
ago by Eric Clifford as a way to draw attention to the ongoing battle between
software, media and other companies and the consumers and businesses that make
use of their products. The concern: That increasingly aggressive and restrictive
efforts to protect and lock down content was robbing consumers of the basic
right to use the material they owned.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/11/20070 comments
It's no secret that far too many software development projects end in abject
failure. Whether it's a simple internal application or a massive, well-documented
boondoggle like the FAA's disastrous Air Traffic Control system update, there
are a lot of reasons that good software concepts can go bad.
In fact, Forrester Research recently published a report that defines 10 reasons
software development efforts fail. The June 26, 2007 report by Forrester analyst
Peter Sterpe, titled "Ten Mistakes That Send Development Projects Off Track,"
makes for some compelling reading. You can get a quick
intro here.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/27/20070 comments
When we launched
Redmond Developer News
in
November
of 2006
, we knew we were showing up at the right place at the right time.
Microsoft, after all, has been hyperactive in the development tools space, kicking
out one groundbreaking product after the next. In fact, as we look back at the
first six months of 2007, it's remarkable to think how much has already happened.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/27/20072 comments
I'll admit it. I've never honestly believed any of the talk about Google seriously
challenging Microsoft's hegemony in the software business. For all of Google's
success in search, in advertising, in Web mail and in consumer Internet applications,
Microsoft enjoys the strategic high ground.
No, I don't mean Redmond's overriding advantage in operating systems and productivity
applications. I mean the company's incredible developer support network, capable
tooling and vast research efforts, which enable it to stave off almost any threat.
But today, for the first time, I wonder if Google might have an outside shot
at all this.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/20/20070 comments
Late last night, I got an IM from frequent
RDN
contributor Mary Jo Foley
informing me that Microsoft had suddenly and unexpectedly reversed course on
its virtualization licensing policies.
According to Foley's
blog post, Microsoft was set to announce today more relaxed virtualization
policies, which would "allow users to run all versions of Windows Vista
in a virtualized environment." The previous policy (which will remain in
effect for the foreseeable future) only allows the more expensive Business and
Ultimate versions of Vista to run in virtual machines.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/20/20070 comments
You might recall that when Microsoft proudly announced its Silverlight rich
Internet application platform and runtime that
Linux
support was entirely missing
.
Now, Miguel de Icaza and the Novell-sponsored folks who brought us the Linux-savvy
Mono .NET compatibility layer are planning to demonstrate a Silverlight 1.1
beta running on Linux. As
Jeffrey Schwartz reports, the demo will take place at Microsoft's MIX 07
conference in Paris.
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Posted by Michael Desmond on 06/20/20070 comments