ZDNet UK Application development Toolkit

Microsoft releases free software testing tool

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:11:01 +0000

Spec Explorer 2010, a model-based software testing tool that took 10 years of research and is designed to cut testing costs, gets a public release

Microsoft PDC continues web developer momentum

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:17:22 +0000

Lamentably, its only the once that Ive been to Microsofts PDC developer conference and that was back in 2004. Ive never seen a keynote like it I promise you, the audience applauded every slide...

Microsoft open-sources .NET for embedded devices

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:28:02 +0000

The software giant has released most of its .NET Micro Framework product, used in devices ranging from sat-nav units to remote controls, under the Apache 2.0 licence

The search for the true Open PC

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:41:02 +0000

I was fortunate enough this week to help conduct an interview with Frank Karlitschek who founded KDE-Look.org back in 2001, which has grown to become one of the biggest online communities for...

Novells Mono Tools tunes up for stereophonic Linux, UNIX &...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:57:48 +0000

Amidst news of job cuts, support for Moblin 2.1 and its enterprise collaboration platform called Pulse, Novells new Mono Tools add-in module for Microsoft Visual Studio seems to have slipped...

Debugging triage for developer warfare

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:16:15 +0000

Im no military man, but I could only think of battlefield warfare strategy when I read over a couple of testing and debugging stories this week. Approaching bugs and fixes with military precision...

Did Microsoft violate the GPL?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:19:29 +0000

Over on ZDNet.com, Mary Jo Foley is reporting that Microsoft has pulled a Windows migration tool from its site after evidence was found that it used code released under the GNU General Public...

Taking Out the Skype Garbage

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:33:16 +0000

I don't write much about Skype any more, mostly because I find the entire company, its product and the situations surrounding it totally disgusting. However, a couple of things have come up which...

RIM pushes boat out for BlackBerry developers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:26:01 +0000

Saying BlackBerry software is 'no longer an island', the handset company at its developer conference unveiled new tools and APIs for building mobile apps

Is SCM a prerequisite for follow-the-sun development teams?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:24:09 +0000

I love a good case study dont you? You dont? Well, ok, neither do I to tell you the truth. It takes a half decent yarn to capture my attention. So what would I rank as a half decent technology...

Apache Software Foundation takes Subversion in

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:56:41 +0000

Subversion, the open source version control system, is now an Apache Software Foundation incubator project. Subversion was previously sponsored by software lifecycle tools vendor CollabNet, and...

Google releasing JavaScript programming tools

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Stephen Shankland) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:32:02 +0000

In a step to make the web a more powerful foundation for programs, Google is releasing Closure Tools that it says produce faster, better code

Moblin v2.1 new polish or just box ticking the building bl...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:28:10 +0000

Moblins strategy for mobile Linux on Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) built around the Intel Atom processor has, according to the projects steering committee, reached the Moblin v2.1 project...

Is Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7 a bit difficult?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:34:24 +0000

In my capacity as man with finger in more than one editorial pie (or freelance journalist I suppose), I have been getting some feedback from Windows 7 users that the data movement wizard Windows...

If software companies were movie stars

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:46:36 +0000

In the spirit of balanced tech blogging I had two choices to make before writing my blog today: a) an analysis of the latest Business Process Management tools or b) a fanciful blog that asks the...

Microsoft rolls Windows 7, Azure into Eclipse

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:06:33 +0000

Microsoft has announced the integration of Windows 7, Azure and Silverlight tools into the open source Eclipse development platform. The joint project with Canadian company Tasktop Technologies and...

Symbian SEE & the salmiak salted liquorice

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:28:51 +0000

Its tough to add much to the already very extensive ZDNetUK report on the Symbian Exchange and Exhibition (SEE), but for the record I was there too and I had some interesting meetings with Symbian...

Apple drops ZFS project

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:50:02 +0000

Apple has cancelled its plans to port Sun's high-volume storage file system to the Snow Leopard release of Mac OS X

Citizen developers to shake up IT advances?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:01:45 +0000

Analyst house Gartner has predicted that 'citizen developers' are set to play an increasingly important role in creating business apps. Gartner defines citizen developers as users, working outside...

Now where did I leave my Computertastaturreinigungsmittel?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:47:20 +0000

Having been involved with a German publishing project at various times this year I have been fascinated with the use of the German language when it comes to IT. As most readers will know, if the...

BlackBerry developer relations: the state of the nation

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:39:17 +0100

After recently taking a technological quantum leap forward and getting myself down to Staples to buy my first white board, I was pleased this morning to mark in a meeting for next month with Mike...

Mind mapping software as a lifecycle management tool

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:44:35 +0100

Mind mapping is the kind of term that would normally make me switch off immediately. Its right up there with blue sky thinking and call to action as some of the most unnecessary...

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4 Beta 2 hits MSDN

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:00:15 +0100

Hushed mutterings around the MSDNs many chambered portals this afternoon confirm that today is in fact the launch of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 Beta 2 to MSDN subscribers. General...

UK trailing USA in adoption of open source defence technolog...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:28:26 +0100

I am due to meet up soon with an open source enterprise content management (ECM) company called Alfresco whose success in the US may have lessons for us in the UK defence sector. The companys...

Wolfram Alpha opens API to developers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Rafe Needleman) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:22:02 +0100

Wolfram Alpha has opened up its API to open access, allowing coders to query the system and incorporate its data, calculations and rich media results

Text analytics & customer research data: a happy marriage?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:24:37 +0100

Having recently been subjected to a rather bland online questionnaire from my local council on public services, I was equally unimpressed to have been approached a couple of times by clipboard...

Nokia Qt Developer Days: from the show floor

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:48:04 +0100

After 36 hours of developer show-submersion I think I have a pretty good idea of how the Nokia X-factor is playing out in the Qt cross-platform world. There are very few blue Nokia logos around...

What to expect from Nokias Qt Dev Days 2009

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:22:03 +0100

Lets just be absolutely Oktoberfestly clear about this can we? I am in Munich for the start of Nokia Qt Softwares Dev Days 2009 to learn more about customers use of the Qt cross platform C++...

Mobile application strategies & ecosystem domination

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:22:43 +0100

If you find yourself looking up a vendor on ZDNet.co.uk and notice that the bulk of the content you can get your hands are links to white papers rather than news or opinion, you might (if you are...

Sneak Peeks reveals some of Adobe's thinking

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:39:02 +0100

Adobe developers show what they've been working on in a MAX conference session, and their projects could indicate the trends that will define the company over the next couple of years

Does Palms developer programme lack substance?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:31:38 +0100

There was a time, about five years ago to be exact, when Palm held developer press briefings in London and furrowed a relatively deep channel of respect as one of the vanguards of the mobile app...

Palm opens doors to WebOS applications

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:52:02 +0100

A new developer programme will allow mobile apps to be sold and installed without review by Palm, waiving fees for open-source developers

Droid font

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:37:42 +0100

Ever-languishing in the backwash of the web surfing elite, I came across this November 2007 blog entry about the Droid font especially designed for the Android operating system by the Ascender...

Online diagnostics & assessment tools: waste of time?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:28:38 +0100

Sometimes I get the feeling that online diagnostic & assessment tools of any kind are about as intuitive and insightful as one of those fairground, place your finger on the pad to get your sexy...

Adobe puts LiveCycle into the cloud

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:14:02 +0100

The new version of Adobe's web application development tool includes developer productivity improvements, accessibility from mobile devices and integration with Flash Builder

Huddle has an app for iPhone web conferencing

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:31:07 +0100

If theres one thing that recent ZDNet reviews of Microsoft Office Web Apps is likely to leave you thinking about, it should be collaboration. With this in mind, I noticed this weeks news from...

Developers: Do you buy the Context-Aware computing concept...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:43:50 +0100

How many ways can you repackage the concept of metadata, or information about information? Well for starters, if you are Gartner you can coin the term context-aware computing just about any time...

Agile programming power everywhere, no thanks!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:42:12 +0100

Following on from a comment I made in relation to a post by Richard Stobart from Unboxed Consulting last week when he asked whether Agile has done enough to promote itself, I have an additional...

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta does what it says on the ti...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:40:59 +0100

OK so we all like to take pot shots at Microsoft right? Come to think of it, most of us like to take pot shots at most companies if they can be even vaguely accused of trying to pull the wool over...

Microsoft fires up free tools for developers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:35:02 +0100

The new WebsiteSpark programme gives small web design companies access to Microsoft tools and marketing support

Intel invites developers to write apps for Atom

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:21:02 +0100

The chipmaker has set up a developer programme in a bid to have more applications written for small-screened systems running on its low-power processor

Sybase snuggles up with Siemens, but do you care?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:53:10 +0100

Corporate news can be such a pain. All that backslapping and, were delighted to be working with xyz, malarkey is hard to swallow. Its hard to cut through the chaff and find a few scraps of...

Windows 7, consistently, everywhere

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:24:30 +0100

There's much talk in the development sector of the write once run anywhere concept and as we know, this is far from being a new notion. But with devices (particularly tablets perhaps) becoming...

Happy 50th Birthday COBOL

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:38:09 +0100

Its a shame that I dont get fired more information about languages. In that my beat is somewhat focused on software application development, the amount of news that seems to hit me that doesnt...

No need to panic over MySQL

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:02:22 +0100

MySQL users are nervous about Oracle's takeover of Sun Microsystems, according to InfoWorld. You can see their point: Why would a company whose main product is a proprietary database be interested...

Is Gartner a victim of its own terminology?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:59:56 +0100

Theres that thing about acronyms when it comes to technology that leaves the non-techies out there blank isnt there? I had to explain OEM to someone this week for starters! Then theres my...

Fragmentation good for the user, says Nokia

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:58:27 +0100

Fragmentation within mobile platforms helps handset manufacturers and software developers to properly address customers' needs, a senior Nokia executive has said. Sebastian Nystrom, the vice...

FluidHTML seeks to bridge web-programming divide

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Stephen Shankland) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:22:02 +0100

A start-up called FHTML hopes its software will let traditional web programmers tap into the power of Flash more easily

Is Windows 7 greener? Yes, but only by about 50 a year.

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:37:46 +0100

Over the last five years I've worked on and off with one of Microsoft UK's most genuine Windows commentators. Paul Foster doesn't have a hint of the 'evangelist' about him and our conversations...

Skype closes door to third-party developers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Jessica Dolcourt) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:17:02 +0100

The company has closed its Extras programme, which helped coders create add-ons such as emoticons for its VoIP service

Nokia unveils beta SDK for Ovi app platform

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:58:02 +0100

The invitation-only SDK was announced at Nokia World, alongside a new navigation API

Sony Ericsson's land of make.believe

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:42:01 +0100

The relationship between Sony and Sony Ericsson has long been of interest to industry watchers. Sony is a fractious company, with plentiful tales of inter-division rivalries and politics that could...

VMware service links public and private clouds

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:53:02 +0100

The company has launched vCloud Express, a pay-as-you-go service that lets developers write applications for internal virtualised environments and external clouds

Is Freeware the new Open Source?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:47:16 +0100

As open source technologies continue to pound an increasingly heavier footprint throughout the worlds enterprise IT portals, could we be about to see a new surge in the freeware space as this...

Twitter spambots, LinkedIns phony friends & Skype smut

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:28:25 +0100

Are we being sold down the river by some of the social networks that we are placing some degree of trust in as we use them for business purposes? I only ask because I had a delightfully polite...

BI vendor bends to support mainframe chipset

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:06:02 +0100

So just yesterday I was rambling on about data event management and RDBMSs that juggle huge throughput workload spikes - and today its a case of more data-intensive number crunching. I see...

Data in space: no one can you hear you scream

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:41:51 +0100

A 20-stone Panamanian DBA who fancied himself as a bit of an event data management specialist once cornered me at a developer event to talk my ears off while I was trying to beat my own personal...

Microsoft pulling Live Framework test bits

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:09:02 +0100

Introduced at last autumns's developer conference, Live Framework, which is essentially the developer side of Live Mesh, is being folded into Windows Live

How do we fix the UK governments IT woes?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:06:04 +0100

The NHS seems to think that all us journalists ever want to do is knock it. Thats not true. When I was treated in Poole Hospital for an arm fracture the nurses asked me what I did for a living, so...

Recession-driven development testing blindness syndrome

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:40:50 +0100

Im busy. I mean really busy. This tough market means I work every hour I can, including weekends and late into the evening to share time with our American cousins. Companies are busy too, maybe...

Provably correct code - perfect for sharing

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:45:18 +0100

The Australian researchers who have been able to prove that the seL4 kernel is mathematically correct have done well to extend a technique that's generally only been used for smaller sections of...

Australian Collaboration Situation

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:02:58 +0100

Collaborative Australian and Kiwi software application development has always benefitted from the nine to ten-hour time difference we share with the boys and girls down under when it comes to...

White-labeling the managed cloud

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:55:40 +0100

Would it be true to suggest that a product only truly comes of age when it can be re-packaged, re-labeled or re-purposed in a simple to manage context that boosts its proliferation and sales...

RIM launches BlackBerry developer blog

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:04:01 +0100

The blog is intended to get developers more engaged with the BlackBerry at a time of increased competition between smartphone platforms

Do we need a multi-touch gesture alphabet?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:55:39 +0100

Developers working in the touch screen arena are, it appears to me, wielding some of the greatest wow-factor breakthroughs around at the moment. It was only at Microsofts ReMIX 08 rich media...

Java gets new maths know-how

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:14:01 +0100

A major update to Apache Commons Math adds new features, but is not backward-compatible, developers said

Lazy developers throw clunky applications over the wall

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:09:29 +0100

Go to any large-scale developer event these days and chances are there will be an operations track focused on trying to provide programmers with an insight into what they should be thinking about...

Embarcadero's new IDE enhancements a sneaky peak

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:56:38 +0100

Its not just Microsoft Office making waves with a 2010 release product push just now you know? Database tools player Embarcadero is currently showcasing sneaky peaks of its RAD Studio 2010 IDE...

PHP framework gets enterprise features

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:51:03 +0100

Zend Framework 1.9, released on Friday, adds business-friendly features to web applications, including support for Active Directory and eDirectory

IBM acquires source code-scanning tools

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Matthew Broersma) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:47:02 +0100

The company has acquired Ounce Labs, which makes products intended to help companies catch security and compliance problems early in the development process

BlackBerry dev tools target Eclipse, Visual Studio

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:59:02 +0100

RIM's latest plug-ins are aimed at developers looking to build BlackBerry web apps in familiar coding environments