Posted on Fri, May 17, 2013
By Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, Reducing Complexity: The Next Software Development Imperative, please check it out. As we move from monolithic enterprise software packages to smaller more discrete apps, your job as a software developer is shifting and reducing complexity has suddenly become Job One.
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
Simply renaming "IT" won't fix the core problem | Waxing Laconic
Netflix CIO Mike Kail has some ideas on how to transform IT and he describes how he does it at his company. Walking the walk, folks. Walking the walk.
Maybe it's time to get rid of your IT department | CITEworld
Provocative title for sure, but it's really not about scrapping IT. It's about getting rid of the old IT command and control mindset, or perhaps even a centralized, entrenched IT. Intriguing read.
Promoting Agile in a Waterfall Culture | Mendix Blog
It's all well and good to say you need to move to Agile, but when Waterfall is baked into your development methodology, it poses a unique challenge. This article explains how to get the ship moving in a new direction.
The Twisted Personality of the Software Tester | Smartbear
Even though software testing and QA is clearly a key part of the software development process, people probably don't aspire to be software testers when they're kids. The question is how do you get there and what makes a good one? This article answers some of those questions.
The Top Five SaaS Risks and How to Mitigate Them | Cloud Computing Journal
Sure, the cloud offers you utility style computing, but this writer argues there's a dark side to it, and you need to know what you're up against. He offers a listing of some these risks.
Photo by Ron Miller Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Wed, May 15, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
For a long time software development was about complexity, making applications that did a big job, but as we enter the age of tablets, smartphones and apps, we are moving away from these complex applications, and your job is increasingly about reducing complexity.
Earlier this month, at the Gartner Portals, Content and Collaboration Summit, Gartner analyst Whit Andrews talked about complexity as it related to search tools (but which really applies to any software development project). He referred to the Conservation of Complexity, which he likened to conservation of matter --it doesn't go away. "We always face complexity in a given system, but we might push complexity like toothpaste in a tube," he explained.
From a software development perspective, you might introduce complexity to your user as a way of reducing the complexity you face as a developer, or you might sacrifice your time in order that the user not face that complexity.
In a truly great post this week with a terrible title, Tail Wagging the Dog, Matt Gemmell talks about simplicity from a design context, but he could be talking about software development too when he wrote, "For [Apple's Jony Ive], simplicity is about immersion: becoming so engaged with the task or experience that the device disappears. The iPad becomes a stack of photos, or a novel, or a calendar. A noble and sensible goal," Gemmell wrote. (I encourage you to click through and read the whole article.)
And that should be the goal of all developers to make an app so elegant, so well designed; you forget you're using it --or even the device on which it's installed. The reason people gravitate toward apps at work is because mobile devices often offer the most elegant solutions to long-standing problems. Instead of fighting with clunky enterprise software, users find software that does what they need it to do and nothing more --and more importantly that just works.
As 451 Research anyalyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe said in his talk at AIIM 2013 in New Orleans in March, we don't want a website with 57 options. Instead, we want to little apps that do little jobs and we want them to do those discrete jobs very well.
Mobile has clearly changed the mindset and expectations of users and it's up to developers to deal with that new expectation, even in the enterprise where traditionally you have been more concerned with function than with form. Now you have to worry about both, and you have to look for ways to simplify and distill every process and take advantage of the fact you're using a touch device. Sometimes that will take imagination and a change in mindset to get past the models and ways of doing things you've done in the past.
But if you want to reach your users you need to make reducing complexity your biggest priority. Like it or not, your users and customers have been spoiled by their smartphones and tablets they use in and out of work, and they expect nothing less from their enterprise applications. It's up to you to deliver it.
Photo Credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino on Flickr. Used under CC 2.0 Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Fri, May 10, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, Infographic: The Paradox of Too Many Passwords, please check it out. In an effort to protect our networks, we might in fact be making them less secure. This infographic illustrates why.
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
I Am a Bad Software Developer |Pen.io
Sad tale of a guy who really appears to be a good software developer (and more importantly a decent person) who took time off to reassess his life. He practices his craft and really seems to care about doing a good job -- yet he can't find a job. His only conclusion is that he is a bad software developer. I don't believe that. Do you?
What I Was Thinking... During Our Last Outage | Enterprise Efficiency Blog
Great post from a CIO who explains his thinking during an outage that coincides with his organization's most important event. He was panicked, desperate and ill prepared --and quickly realized the limitations of his infrastructure and his vendors.
6 Ways to Determine a New Programming Language is a Turkey | Mendix Blog
Every programmer wants to keep on top of the latest trend. The worst thing is to find yourself without the latest skills, but you also need to recognize that not every new language that comes down the pike is going to stick or even be serviceable. This article explains how to separate the good from the bad.
Open Compute to open-source high-end network switches | ZDNet
We've all seen the power of open source software, and we've even begun seeing the same dynamic with Facebook's Open Compute Project's work on open source computer hardware designs such as motherboards and servers. Now the project is turning its attention to high end network power switches -- and this could be the biggest step of all.
Stable of Horses | A Screw Loose Blog
If you're an IT pro trying to figure out how to navigate the changing IT landscape, you need to read this. It's all about enablement.
Photo by Ron Miller Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Fri, May 03, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, Infographic: The Paradox of Too Many Passwords, please check it out now. With so many passwords to access so many systems, employees may resort to writing them down. This infographic illustrates the too many passwords paradox.
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
3D Printing: The Current State of the Star Trek Replicator | Digital Replicator Blog
3D printers have the potential disrupt just about everything. When you can print anything, it completely changes the way we think about the entire economic process from manufacturing to purchasing. This post looks at the state of the art and how far we could be from the Star Trek replicators.
Don't believe the naysayers. The cloud is real. | CSC Blog
If you still believe that the cloud is just a bunch of marketing hype, you really need to wake up because the cloud is taking over every aspect of computing from software to platform services to infrastructure. If you don't believe it, as the author says he'll see you on the unemployment line.
Windows 8 developers wonder, where's the ad revenue? | ITworld
Last month Windows 8 developers, who hope to make money from their apps, got zero dollars in revenue because there were no ads. Up until last month, Microsoft had been buying Bing ads, but stopped those in April, leaving a huge gaping void and Windows app developers wondering if they should be looking for another channel.
Hacking Pacemakers | IEEE Spectrum
As we head into a world of interconnected devices, and not just traditional ones, the idea of hacking medical devices could become a reality. This podcast looks at the security implications of medical devices like pacemakers and if the manufacturers are paying enough attention to that aspect of them.
Brain Computer Interfaces Inch Closer to Mainstream | NYTimes.com
As wearable computers enter the mainstream, some companies claim we not be far from controlling our devices with our minds. Not sure we're quite as close as this article suggests, but it's clearly something companies are working on.
Photo by Ron Miller Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Thu, May 02, 2013
In an effort to protect our systems, we have inadvertently made them less secure. That's because employees sometimes have 10 or 15 separate passwords they have to remember.
What's more, some IT departments force them to change them every 30-60 days.
You may think that's making you more secure, but with so many passwords to remember, users can't possibly track them. When I spoke to Alison Ruge, a Cisco researcher recently, she told me that it's gotten so bad 2/3 of the people she interviewed in a small study reported carrying their passwords on a piece of paper. How much more vulnerable does that make you in the name of protecting your systems?
The data in the inforgraphic below isn't quite that bad with 59 percent saying that they are relying on memory, while 33 percent are using a password manager. The trouble is, can you actually believe them? Are people going to admit they are writing them down?
Regardless, most companies could benefit from some sort of single sign-on tool that reduces the complexity of having all these passwords.
This infographic illustrates some of the issues with managing multiple passwords across a variety of systems.
Posted on Fri, Apr 26, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, 5 Things You Need to Know About Massive Announcements that Might Reshape the Mobile Web, please check it out. Earlier this month, there were two major mobile announcements that had to the potential to rock mobile developer's world...but did they?
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
Designing Apps with Automation in Mind | Mendix Blog
Sure, all developers start a project with the goal of creating a great application, but some are more successful than others at achieving this. And whether your users really love your application can pivot on design decision on how to automate certain processes for them. This article looks at five key areas you should paying attention to as you design and application.
How to build applications your users will hate | mrc's Cup of Joe Blog
What? Why would I want build an application my users hate? Well, of course you wouldn't and this post looks at some ways you could be doing just that -- and by understanding what to avoid, you can build applications that people will love.
The New API Gold Rush | ReadWrite
There's a lot happening around Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as evidenced by Intel's recent purchase of Mashery. Trying to manage APIs is not always a simple matter and this article explains some of the issue involved.
10 Non-Computer Network Security Dangers | Smartbear
Remember Murphy's Law? This writer did and he applies it to network security. Sure, you're watching the obvious security holes, but as Murphy would point out, if it can go wrong it will, and you need to be prepared for as many eventualities as possible.
Christopher Haag, Hamster Chase, developer | APPetite App Marketing podcast
Listen and learn how this game developer released his new game and achieved 10,000 downloads in just 8 days. What strategy did he employ to achieve this? Listen and find out.
Photo by Ron Miller Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Thu, Apr 25, 2013
by Glenn Gruber
Ness AVP Travel Technologies and Mobile Solutions
April 3rd was an interesting day for the mobile industry with two major announcements that could reshape the mobile web. Two days earlier and I might have thought someone was playing a rather large joke.
The news that got most of the attention was Google’s decision to diverge from WebKit to introduce Blink as Chrome’s new rendering engine. Many people – myself included – referred to Blink as a fork of WebKit. While this is accurate, it’s often short-hand pejorative term that implies bad intentions. But before we ascribe good or evil to the move, let’s take a step back for some context.
Webkit has been the most popular browser engine, but has not been used on a majority of the desktop web.
But the numbers tell a very different story when you look at mobile browsing statistics (I used US numbers as a proxy for smartphone usage). On mobile devices (which now outnumber desktop devices) WebKit was the clear winner:
But Webkit was never a homogeneous entity. With the many flavors of Webkit-based browsers (about 40 according to Wikipedia) many of them used different JavaScript engines. So the idea of a pure WebKit browser was never true. As such, the forking of WebKit might not be as big of a deal as many fear.
But Blink wasn’t the only news...
1. Samsung/Mozilla Partnership Could Have a Bigger Impact on the Mobile Industry
On the face of it, the other announcement seems less dramatic, but is likely more intriguing. Mozilla announced that they are partnering with Samsung to create a next-generation browser engine called Servo. Two thoughts come to mind:
- Samsung seems to be steadily pseudo-forking Android for its own purposes. TouchWiz, S-apps that replace core Google services (e.g. messaging, translation, voice, navigation, app store) and the Knox platform seem to be creating a Samsung experience, almost to the point that it wouldn’t be recognizable as Android. In fact if you look at Samsung’s advertising it’s virtually free of any mention of Android. What’s missing is a browser and this could be their plan. Could the browser be the last step before truly forking Android as Amazon has? And if that happened, could it be said that Google has lost control of the platform? That could have a seismic impact on the industry.
- For Mozilla this could be the next step in maturing the FirefoxOS and more importantly, lining up the #1 non-Apple smartphone brand in the world as a manufacturer.
2. Community Projects Aren’t Always the Utopia We Want Them to Be
Google is no doubt making this decision to further its own interests and perhaps Blink will allow them to speed up the delivery of improvements to Chrome as well as perhaps our browsing experience. According to Alex Russell, a Google Chrome engineer, this is the primary driving force behind the move. Nothing nefarious, just Google’s laser-like focus on execution and speed.
Or is it?
The truth is that when you have a lot of people contributing to a project you reach a point where priorities diverge and that really seems to be at the crux of Google’s decision to introduce Blink. All you have to do is look at Chrome’s current advertising spot and it becomes clear.
Google wants to more tightly integrate your browsing experience across all devices (even though the ad doesn’t include TVs, it’s definitely part of the vision) and having greater control of the core browsing engine was likely seen as a linchpin to deliver that. With all the different voices that are part of a community project, Google probably couldn’t get where it wanted to go without going off on its own. Besides, if Google thinks it provides a competitive advantage, I can understand why they would choose not to share.
Further, the conspiracy theorist in me also sees this as a move done primarily because it directly hurts Apple --Google’s primary (only?) competitor in mobile. Lee Matthews of Geek.com notes that “For quite a while now, Google has held the number one spot on the WebKit code commit “leaderboard.” Now that its engineers are working on Blink, that leaves WebKit with a greatly reduced number of active contributors”, which can pose quite a challenge for Apple to ensure that WebKit keeps up with Chrome from a technical perspective. With Samsung joining forces with Mozilla on Servo, we don’t know how much future WebKit contributions we can expect from either – Seeing as Samsung has no love lost for Apple either.
And while Google gave good reasons for pulling out of WebKit, primarily pointing to Chromium’s use of a multi-process architecture, it didn’t have to go down the way it did, according to an Apple developer who is part of the WebKit team:
“…the main reason we built a new multiprocess architecture is that Chromium's multiprocess support was never contributed to the WebKit project. It has always lived in the separate Chromium tree, making it pretty hard to use for non-Chrome purposes.
Before we wrote a single line of what would become WebKit2 we directly asked Google folks if they would be willing to contribute their multiprocess support back to WebKit, so that we could build on it. They said no…
If Google had upstreamed their multiprocess support, we almost surely would have built on it. And history might have turned out differently.”
3. Modestly Higher Workloads for Web and Mobile Developers
In many ways the amount of work that development teams need to expend won’t change very much. Servo replaces Gekko for all intents and purposes, so that’s a wash. You can say that Blink becomes the 4th engine, essentially taking the place of Presto (previously used by the Opera browser), but given the low market share for Opera, I would wager that many organizations didn’t develop or test for it specifically.
And even though Blink is a fork of WebKit, will it really be that different? Will it really cause that much incremental effort? Xavier Facon, CTO of Crisp Media (a leading mobile advertising platform provider) doesn’t think so:
“It won't make life easier or harder. These two engines [Blink and WebKit] will stay more similar to each other than compared to Servo and others. I can't imagine it will cause much fragmentation. All WebKit implementations already have different JavaScript engines. A different rendering engine increases the potential differences, but I think the WebKit teams and Blink teams won't work outside the specs much anyway. In fact, the approach of using flags in Blink, and carefully remove webkit prefixes, allows new experimental features to be rolled out in fully backwards compatible approach.”
Bastien Cojan, Technical Director for Ness’ Imano mobile development team, notes that web developers will have to go back to testing Chrome and Safari separately, though he says that many firms were doing that anyway as the differences between the two WebKit –based platforms were already significant enough to merit it.
4. Better Security, Stability and Performance
All code gets worse over time. It’s not that the code itself degrades, but the layers and layers that are added increases code complexity, introduces bugs and expands vulnerabilities. So the streamlining of the codebase that will result from Blink (Google says it will remove 4.5 million lines of code and 7,000 files) and the removal of the Google-dependent code in Webkit should enhance both products.
Veracode, a leading application security platform vendor, agrees noting on its blog that there have been 210 reported security holes in Webkit since it launched in 2007, with 207 of those discovered in the last three years, including some moderately serious security holes. Given that Android accounts for 79% of all malware on smartphones, one can see why Google was keen to close up some of these holes.
5. This will be good for the industry
It’s generally a good thing when everybody works together. Life become more consistent, orderly. Standards, even if they are defacto, help the productivity of developers everywhere. But to really move an industry forward significant change such as Blink and Servo can spur innovation. With Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft all with significant skin in the game they will have to really up their efforts and the consumer will be the beneficiary in the form of better products and experiences.
Crisp Media’s Facon says, “I am pretty certain, all considered, it is a positive. There are various mobile OS and browser projects scheduled by Samsung, Intel, Google, Apple, Opera, etc... that we don't know about. Some of those projects are made complicated for developers when there is code share going on between all these competitors. For Google to take this step was brave, considering they probably expected some backlash, but it solved business problems for both Apple and Google that allow them to move faster on projects we will end up caring about once we know them.”
Cojan agrees: “These new web engines seem to be developed with 'mobile in mind', which should speed up the current mobile development and have a better handle of device specificities as it will be directly developed by the device manufacturers (google+samsung). In theory, this should make the developer’s life easier (think Apple owning both hardware and software) and reduce the need for handling high number of different cases for different devices.
Photo Credit: (c) Can Stock Photo
Posted on Fri, Apr 19, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, Travel Industry Can't Ignore Security When Developing Mobile Strategy, please check it out. As the travel industry grows increasingly mobile, it can't forget about security when developing a mobile strategy, whatever OS it intends to use.
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
Improve Your Open Source Project Adoption by Catering to Integrators | Smartbear
If you can bring in a trusted third party without a sales agenda to push open source products, the likelihood of project success increases dramatically.
The misunderstood Chromebook: Why few get it | ZDNet
The Chromebook is often dismissed as a one-trick pony, a cloud-based laptop with a glorified browser-based operating system, but this author argues that while that's true it misses the beauty of the notion. He uses a great analogy of what would happen if Microsoft did this with Internet Explorer-based operating system.
Open source is taking over the software world, survey says | PCWorld
It's not your imagination, open source is really everywhere and this survey actually proves that it's becoming ubiquitous in organizations. And why not? If you can reduce costs through lower licensing fees with much more flexible delivery models why wouldn't you do it? Why not indeed.
Evernote launches no-equity accelerator program to promote ‘more cool things’ on its platform | VentureBeat
Evernote is offering developers the opportunity to be flown out to the Silicon Valley, given a place to sleep, your meals covered and they even put you through a start-up curriculum. So what's the catch? You have to develop an application on top of the Evernote platform. Win for you, win for them.
Idle Intel fabs foretell PC decline | ITworld
When IDC came out with its dismal first quarter PC sales figures recently, one company was probably not surprised by the news. And that would be chip maker Intel, which has seen a sharp decline in production, which foretold the sales slump we are seeing now.
Photo by Tomma Henckel Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.
Posted on Wed, Apr 17, 2013
by Glenn Gruber
Ness AVP Travel Technologies and Mobile Solutions
That Android devices are much more susceptible to malware attacks than Apple iOS devices is not breaking news. This has been a trend for quite some time. There have been many reasons proposed for this: Android’s “openness,” or perhaps Android users are generally less tech-savvy, or just because of the large target on Android’s back because of it’s leading global market share position.
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Photo Credit: Carlos Varela on Flickr. Used under CC 2.0 license.
Ultimately, the real reasons are not important in the grand scheme of things. But companies must be at least cognizant of this fact when deciding whose mobile technology to deploy -- or when they let their users choose their own phones. For years, security was what made Blackberry the darling of IT departments everywhere.
Security, and the desire to penetrate corporate accounts is also what is driving Samsung’s Knox platform, though I do not like the schizoid manner in which they have implemented it.
So I wasn’t surprised when I saw that Apple hold 58% share of enterprise mobile deployments. What surprised me was the breakdown of mobile device adoption by industry compiled by Citrix.
Image link: http://fortunebrainstormtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/screen-shot-2013-04-14-at-6-54-03-am.png
In Citrix’s Enterprise Mobility Cloud Report Q4 2012 (pdf), they question whether companies should be issuing malware-friendly devices to employees.
What jumped out at me was that Transportation was one of the few industries where Android had the majority share. While it’s impossible to tell exactly how Citrix defines “Transportation”, it at least should make airlines, hotels and other travel companies look at the strategies they have taken.
American Airlines is one of the most aggressive companies in the use of tablets for their workforce, issuing about 10,000 iPads for their pilots and about 17,000 Samsung Galaxy Notes for their flight attendants and 6,000 Galaxy Notes as in-flight entertainment devices as well as used by maintenance crew.
In an interview with CITEworld, Lisa Canada, American’s Managing Director of Operations Technology noted that Samsung’s SAFE - Samsung for Enterprise - platform (which incorporates Knox) was a key reason in their decision:
Photo Credit: Ron Miller
"SAFE was one of several factors that influenced our selection of the device. The product provides increased administrative features and integration with MDM providers that can be used in our development and management of the device," Canada told CITEworld.
These types of mobile devices are likely to be used increasingly in the travel industry as companies look for innovative ways to serve customers quickly and efficiently. While Samsung's approach to security on Android devices certainly isn't the only one, if a company is taking American's approach and distributing a single device to certain employees, then it's one that could be a useful tool for transportation industry users.
But it's worth noting that Samsung's approach only works on Samsung devices and if you are going for a broader approach to mobile, then you need to explore other ways of securing your devices.
Posted on Fri, Apr 12, 2013
by Ron Miller
Ness Blogger
It's Friday and that means it's time for our weekly feature where we search the Web looking for 5 interesting, funny and poignant links for developers and IT Pros.
If you missed our most recent post, If you're adversaries with your software service provider, here's how to get back on track , please check it out. If you're having an adversarial relationship with your software service provider, you're not alone. This post explains in practical terms how you go to this point, and how to fix it.
And without further delay, here we go with this week's links:
Analyzing the Top-Paying IT Jobs for 2013 | Tom's IT Pro
If you're looking for something deeper than a top ten salaries list, this article will help you understand how to interpret these lists and whether they apply to you personally or a more broad overview of your specialty.
Why Boring Data Centers Are the Best | Slashdot
For the second time in a couple of weeks I'm seeing an argument for homogeneity in the data center. If you want consistency across your data center, no better way to do it than to standardize on one vendor's hardware, but then, you're locked into one vendor and that could present a different set of issues.
How to Deal With Software Development Schedule Pressure | CIO.com
Everyone feels it, that pressure to get your software project done on time and within the budget given you, but it's not always practical or easy to achieve. Some software development veterans sit down and talk about how they deal with keeping projects on track (or getting ones that have slipped back on).
15 Programming Skills Most Coveted By Employers | ReadWrite
You're a coder, but maybe you're looking to expand your skill set. This list looks at the most desirable skills based on job listings on the Indeed.com job listing site. Have a look. You might just be surprised at the most coveted one.
Move Over, Apple and Google: Apperating Systems Are Taking Over Your Phones | Wired
When Facebook announced Facebook Home recently, a tool that takes over your phone and gives you information before you even unlock the lock screen, it gave rise to a whole new term, Apperating System, an app that's so important to you it supersedes the OS itself.
Photo by Tomma Henckel Used under Creative Commons Share Alike/Attribution License.