Novell’s SUSE Studio 1.0 is a Web-based service for building Linux-based software appliances that outshines similar services, such as rPath’s rBuilder, with its ease of use and tight integration with the existing framework of SUSE software tools and services. Also impressive is the service’s Test Drive feature, which enabled eWEEK Labs to cycle quickly through the tweak-build-test process of honing a software appliance.
By Jason Brooks
– …
IBM acquires Ounce Labs to build out its application testing capabilities. The purchase, which follows continued growth in the market, may trigger a reaction from HP and other vendors.
– IBM has acquired Ounce Labs to bolster
its application testing abilities.
The move underscores the demand
for vulnerability testing, which analysts say has continued to grow even in the
face of an economic downturn. According to Gartner, the market for both dynamic
and static testing has grow…
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 is a facelift focused on the PowerPoint component of the productivity suite. In this version, Microsoft Word for Mac gets a bug fix for a formatting problem that occurred when numbered lists were copied into another document, and Entourage for Mac #151the suite’s much-maligned e-mail client #151gains automated features for connecting to Mobile Me and Windows Live Hotmail accounts. None of the Entourage changes pull the product out of the ditch it’s in, however #151it’s still an inferior version of Outlook. Here is a look at some of the tweaks made to the Microsoft tools designed to work on the Apple platform.
By Cameron Sturdevant
– …
Google recently launched Google City Tours in Google Labs. As mentioned here in labs, Google City tours helps you plan your city tours when you are on vacation in a major metropolitan area. You can specify the location of your hotel, and the length of your trip (1-5 days), and City Tours will map a [...]
rPath’s rBuilder enables companies to build, maintain and deploy their own Linux-based software appliances. The 5.0 version of rBuilder adds support for multiple Linux distribution platforms, as well as a management console for launching software appliances on a handful of virtualization and cloud computing platforms. Check out these slides for a look at eWEEK Labs’ tests of the 5.2.1 rBuilder update.
– …
Research in Motions latest smartphone #151the BlackBerry Tour 9630 #151fits sizewise between the BlackBerry Bold and the Curve. While not breaking any new ground in smartphone technology, the Tour features many features consumers want and slides easily into enterprise BlackBerry deployments. Available on the Verizon and Sprint networks, the Tour talks CMDA/EVDO Rev A. at home and GSM/EDGE/HSPA in international locations. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi connectivity was sacrificed for world coverage.
By Andrew Garcia
– …
Intel Parallel Studio, which works with Microsoft Visual Studio, is designed to inspect code for errors and help developers optimize programs for use with multicore processors. eWEEK Labs puts Parallel Studio through its paces, and finds that the platform simplifies the difficult task of writing parallel code that takes advantage of processors with multiple cores. By Jeff Cogswell
– …
The host profiles feature is one of the most significant additions to the VMware vSphere 4 platform. A host profile can automatically configure network, storage, security and other features on a physical host system running ESX 4.0 or ESXi 4.0. The host profiles feature also enables IT staff to check host systems for configuration compliance, and to easily remedy systems that have drifted out of compliance. This feature should significantly reduce operations costs associated with large vSphere 4 installations, although it does not lessen the need for VMware expertise; crafting a host profile requires expert virtualization knowledge to ensure that hosts created using a host profile will operate as expected.
– …
With the recent release of Silverlight 3, Microsoft has continued to move quickly to try and catch up with Adobe Flash (and its AIR and Flex brethren) in the race to be the rich Internet application platform of choice. Silverlight 3 includes many welcome new features, including the ability to run offline and outside of a browser (a feature already found in Adobe AIR and other platforms). In this review, eWEEK Labs looks at the release candidate of Expression Blend 3, the main tool for designing and delivering Silverlight 3 applications– and, for some, even developing them (though serious developers will probably stick to Visual Studio).
– …
The NetBeans 6.7 IDE is fully integrated with Project Kenai, Sun’s open-source collaboration site. In this slide show, eWEEK Labs explores a few of the integration features.
By Jeff Cogswell
– …
Version 5.5 of the no-cost Citrix XenServer provides improved backup and snapshot capabilities, as well as the ability to integrate with Microsoft Active Directory. However, while the no-cost version will be suitable for modest-size organizations, data centers that must ensure high performance will need to move up to the Essentials, which costs from $2,700 to more than $5,000 per server.
– …
Xobni July 15 rolled out a paid version of its Xobni mailbox search and management tool. Current users of the free Xobni plug-in would do well to ask, Why buy what I can get for free? For a one-time fee of $29.95, users get several advanced search features that improve the process of sifting for e-mail needles in their in-box haystacks.
– …
Just when Windows users started to become accustomed to seeing .docx extensions and to finding their way around on the infamous Office 2007 Ribbon, Microsoft is shaking things up again with a brand new version of its omnipresent productivity suite, Office 2010. eWEEK Labs has been trying out the Technical Preview version of the new suite, and we’ve encountered a raft of really useful new features, particularly around data visualization in Excel. What’s more, Office 2010 is mercifully devoid of major file format or interface metaphor shifts.
This Technical Preview will be accessible to a limited group of testers, but you can try to get added to the list by signing up at www.office2010themovie.com. Expect to see a broad public beta later this year. Until then, check out the screen gallery below for our take on Office 2010 so far.
– …
