Posted on Fri, Jan 20, 2012
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 other post this week,
Kindle Fire Could Pose New Challengers for Developers, which looks at how Kindle's Android fork could effectively create a new operating system for developers where they create one app for Android and another for Kindle Fire, please check it out now.
Please consider subscribing if you like what you see here, and if you have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.
And here we go with this week's links:
Big Business, Big Linux - ZDNet
Linux is making big gains in the enterprise Data Center as companies dealing with issues from cloud computing to Big Data look to Linux as the solution.
Three Aspects of DevOps: What’s in a word - Cuddletech
You want to learn about DevOps and the cloud? Well this post attempts to lay it out in three seemingly simple phases.
Football and Weekend Data Warriors - Input Output
Maybe your company is having a a hard time integrating analytics into the business. Have a look at Fantasy Football, the layman's data analysis and you'll find that there are plenty of people who get statistics-based analysis (or at least they think they do) working inside your company and perhaps you can put that to work for you.
Making It in IT - Readers Buoy Ed's Outlook for 2012One writer asked his IT readers about the prospects for 2012 and he was pleasantly surprised by what he found.
The coding game: Microsoft’s Visual Studio gets badges, achievements and leaderboard - GeekWire
As the gamefication of just about everything marches on relentlessly, Microsoft Visual Studio turns programming into a game (and it just might work).
Photo by Tomma Henckel Used under Creative Commons License.
Posted on Thu, Jan 19, 2012
.jpg)
When Amazon made the decision to create a fairly radical fork of Android to create its Kindle Fire, it left open the possibility of a big challenge for developers.
Since it's introduction, the Fire, priced at just $199, has been selling very well.
Amazon reported that sold millions of Kindles in the month leading up to the holiday shopping season in December -- many of which were no doubt Kindle Fires. That means because of its low price and the marketing clout of Amazon itself, the Kindle Fire and its customized version of Android is going to be impossible to ignore.
Todd Anglin, Chief Technology Evangelist at
Telerik, an end-to-end provider of software application lifecycle and content management solutions, whom we interviewed for last week's post,
Android Fragmentation Debate May Be a Red Herring, says one exception to that is the Kindle Fire, which could be a force on its own.
"The Kindle Fire is a new challenge for Android. No fork of any technical significance has had this much support from a big company. Amazon is in a position with the Kindle Fire to effectively introduce a new operating system, even though the roots are based on Android," Anglin explained.
He added that it wasn't unlike when Apple started OSX from the roots of BSD Unix.
The problem for developers is that it will be like developing for an entirely different operating system, which means you have to create one Android app for every other device and one for Kindle Fire.
"If the Kindle Fire gains significant market traction, and all signs are that it will, developers will be forced to address it as a unique device," Anglin said. He adds, "Already, Amazon limits apps on the Fire to those available in the Amazon App Store (instead of granting access to the general Google Android Market)."
What this means is developers will be forced to develop for the device as opposed to the operating system. "Ultimately, the implications are no different than another new tablet entering the device space. The fact that Amazon started from Android is a good reference point, but the Kindle Fire adds another distinct option to a list that include Microsoft's Windows Phone (and soon Windows 8) platform, Apple's iOS, BlackBerry's QNX and Blackberry OS, and, of course, "normal" Android devices."
He points out that there is some cross-over for now, but has Android evolves that is likely to change. "Fortunately, it seems many apps designed to work with Android 2.3 can work with the Fire (which forked this version of Android), but as the Fire fork and Android diverge, this compatibility may not survive."
But Anglin says one way out of this device/operating system morass is t
o develop once on a system like HTML5. And as more devices with different operating system or different developer requirements enter the market, it's entirely likely that developers will choose to develop once with a universal approach, then many times across platforms.
Posted on Fri, Jan 06, 2012
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 other post this week,
Group to Launch Mobile Developer Alliance, please check it out. It looks at a new group that is forming this month at the Consumer Electronics show geared toward mobile developers and their needs.
Please consider subscribing if you like what you see here, and if you have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.
And here we go with this week's links:
Why Ice Cream Sandwich won't be able to save Android tablets - ZDNet
One writer tries some pre-release versions of the upcoming release of Android on his Motorola Xoom and concludes that while it's a huge improvement over the previous version, it's still lacking in many ways and won't be the version that propels Android tablets into the big time (except perhaps the Kindle Fire).
Could coding be the next mass profession? - Also Blog
Coding could be the next big jobs source -- if schools start providing the early training that's needed. The fact is there are jobs and a huge demand for programmers out there. As the author points out, it's a lot better than low-end jobs with lousy pay and no career path.
Analytics' Real Issues for 2012 - Internet Evolution
While many believe analytics is the next big thing, especially in light of the rise of Big Data, the social web and a desire to understand customers and competitors better, this author thinks ultimately the enterprise will proceed as it always has: slowly and cautiously.
The Top 5 Reasons Your App Isn't Selling - Sourcebits Blog
You put all that time and effort into developing a mobile app and it's not going anywhere. The question is why? It could be as simple as bad marketing or it could by your app just sucks.
IT pros lament: Low pay, no perks - Networkworld
Why is the turnover so high among young IT and developer pros? Well, the answer is fairly obvious, they are moving to companies that offer better pay and benefits (duh!). The lesson here is if you want to keep your people, the days of getting them cheap and working them to the bone could be over. Time to pay up.
Photo by Ron Miller. Used under Creative Commons License.
Posted on Thu, Jan 05, 2012
As we start the new year, mobile developers probably are feeling more than a bit squeezed. There are so many directions to go, so many platforms to support and so many new things to learn all the time. That's why one man decided to form a professional association for mobile developers.
According an article on InfoWorld, the group will be launching at the
Consumer Electronics Show this month with the goal of providing a place where mobile developers can band together and collaborate in an online network. Since there are plenty of developer collaboration venues including
dZone, this isn't that great in itself.
Where it gets more interesting is a product testing facility, which will offer members access to multiple platforms and tools. What this means exactly in practice isn't quite clear yet, but if it provides tools for testing on multiple devices, that could be useful to developers who want to see what their apps look like across different devices, screen sizes and so forth.
Members will also have access to training resources, which could also prove useful in helping to expand your skill set. Finally, the group plans to offer discounts on cloud services and storage on
Rackspace, perhaps giving the ability to sand box projects for less than what you might be paying for it now.
In terms of industry backing, Google and RIM might be on board, but Apple and Microsoft definitely won't be, according to the Infoworld article. That would be two key players who aren't involved, and which wouldn't be giving you any goodies in terms of tutorials and learning resources.
There's also the element of having an industry association to go to bat for you in the legislature, and it's fairly obvious right now that most legislators are clueless when it comes to technology issues. What's more, developers probably aren't going to be typically highly political, so having an organization that goes to bat for the issues you find important does have some appeal.
On it's face, an industry association sounds like a good idea. What's not to like about banding together and using the power of big numbers to your advantage, but a lot depends on the cost of joining. It also depends on the quality of the services of course and if the discount you get on the Rackspace services is better say than the deal you might be getting from your own organization, depending on the size of course.
For individual developers who are not necessarily affiliated with an organization, this could be useful. For enterprise developers with access to more and better resources, it's hard to say without knowing more.
The proof ultimately is going to be once the organization gets off the ground. Right now, a search for the term Application Developer's Alliance didn't even bring up a web site. For now, I suggest you stay tuned and see what becomes of this. Could be interesting for you as a mobile developer if it all comes together in the coming months.
Posted on Thu, Nov 10, 2011
by Glenn Gruber
AVP, Mobile Solutions
In a move that was a long time coming and not terribly surprising, Adobe announced this week that they will drop all future development of Flash player on mobile devices. Instead Adobe will put most of its energy behind HTML5. During the past year, Adobe has steadily moved towards embracing HTML5 and refocusing its efforts on continuing to create the world’s best design tools and less on propping up a legacy, proprietary technology. Putting HTML5 first is a continutation of the path they committed themselves to last month at their MAX 2011 conference when they announced the acquistions of Nitobi (maker of the PhoneGap cross-platform mobile development framework) and TypeKit. It’s also not surprising given the fact that for all their protestations, and pronouncements about hardware acceleration, Flash was a dog on mobile devices. Performance was poor and battery life suffered even more. Adobe is saying that to ease the transition of Flash developers that they will still be able to leverage their skills for mobile development using the AIR framework which is approved on iOS, Android and Research in Motion platforms (BlackBerry OS and BBX née QNX). Adobe will also continue to support Flash on the desktop into the future with a focus on “advanced gaming and premium video”.However, the move could spell the end of Flex as a framework as noted by this tweet from Forrester’s Mike Gualtieri:
That would suggest that anyone who’s made an investment in the Flash/Flex world better start to think about how to transition to solutions that leverage the open web standard trinity of HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3. I’m sure that Adobe’s tools will support HTML5 output making the transition easier without retraining.So now that that’s settled, what will the Android phone makers use as a differentiator from Apple’s devices now that they can’t trot out “support for Flash Player 10.2” anymore? What’s your point of view? Does this announcement affect your approach to mobile development or had you already moved off of Flash-based development? Please let us know in the comments below.
Photo by Lee J Haywood on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.
Posted on Wed, Oct 05, 2011
By Glenn Gruber, AVP, Travel
In a somewhat surprising announcement one the first day of their MAX 2011, Adobe Systems announced that it was acquiring Nitobi Systems, the creator of PhoneGap.
At Ness we’re big supporters of PhoneGap and have used it for clients in some cases, so we’re happy to see this deal happen -- not at happy as the Nitobi guys are :-) -- as we think it will lead to more enhancements to an already strong platform.
There are three things that I think mobile developers should take away from the announcement:
1. Adobe is Looking Forward
With the purchase of Nitobi and Typekit, Adobe signals that it is unequivocally moving to reorient their development tools and “Write Once, Deploy Anywhere” strategy around Open Web standards of HTML5, JavaScript and CSS and moving on from the legacy of Flash. This is great news for all developers for two reasons: first from a skills development perspective it simplifies things. Secondly, all of Adobe’s energies will be to ensure that their industry-leading tools will stay there. Certainly this is part of a plan to re-engage and re-energize the developer community who on average prefers an open, rather than proprietary approach.
2. It’s a great fit
This was a surprising deal to me only because I didn’t think Adobe was shopping for one of the mobile cross-platform framework companies. But it makes a ton of sense. Now developers can create the apps in HTML5 using Adobe CS5 and then deploy that code into native binaries via the PhoneGap framework with the click of a button. Dead easy (oversimplification, but you get the idea). I expect that the integration between CS5 and PhoneGap will improve over time to make it a seamless experience.
And I expect that this is the end of Adobe’s Packager for iPhone to translate CS5/Flash files into iOS compatible code. Good. I hope they put the extra development dollars from that project right into PhoneGap.
Further Adobe also released the third public preview of Adobe Edge a HTML5 motion and interaction design tool that enables Flash-like animation to websites and mobile apps via the Open Web Holy Trinity (HTML5/JS/CSS3, not to be confused with onion/celery/carrot for you cooking fans).
This has a chance to really get devs excited about Adobe again…not that Adobe hasn’t had great products all along – they have – but with all the posturing over Flash in their spat with Apple, they haven’t generated the excitement with the developer community that they had in years past. That should change now.
3. Adobe continues PhoneGap’s Open Source Culture
Initially I wondered whether Adobe would continue to keep PhoneGap open source and include the developer community in enhancing the platform or if it might simply make the code available as Google does with Android. But Adobe was pretty emphatic in its support of the Open Source community as the code was donated to the Apache Software Foundation.
The Open Source nature of PhoneGap is part of what made it so popular with developers.
Now if I was cynical or suspicious I’d think that the donation to ASF was the final effort of the Nitobi management to ensure its legacy is maintained. Perhaps the Nitobi founders made it a condition of the deal? You only have to modestly parse the statements in the press release to say that Adobe endorsed the decision post the transaction, not encouraged it. Who knows and who cares. What’s important is that it’s done.
Are you using PhoneGap already? Does this announcement make you more or less interested in it as an option for mobile development? Let me know in the comments.
Oh, and one more thing. Do you think Samsung, Motorola and RIM will stop advertising Flash compatibility as a reason not to buy an iPad now? I hope so.
Originally published on Software Industry Insights. Connect with Glenn on Twitter: @ggruber66
Posted on Fri, Sep 30, 2011
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 other post this week, Study Finds Freemium Model Generates Big App Store Revenue, please have a look. We look at how giving away your app, then charging for additional functionality may make you more money than simply charging more for an app up front.If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing and if you have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.And here we go with this week's links:The Great Web Hope: HTML5 On Mobile Still A Work In Progress - paidContentAt a conference recently, developers batted around the idea of an open, standards-based, HTML5-driven mobile web. Such an approach has to be pretty attractive to a developer, but there are limitations and we are probably not going to be abandoning stand-alone apps just yet.What's With all the Cloud Paranoia - ZDNetOne writer is confused by the rabid response he gets every time he writes about the cloud and he's wondering where all this fear is coming from.It Takes Open Source to Raise a Village - Network WorldMuch of the same philosophy that drives the open source community is also driving ecologists who are trying to develop an open platform on which they can build eco-friendly industrial machines.Identifying Passionate Developers - Musings of the Bare Bones CoderIt takes more than pure coding skill to get hired at this company. It takes some passion and the desire to help your fellow developers. This article looks at ways you might be able to find people with those traits as you go through the interview process.The Future Desktop - ReadWriteWebWhat might the future PC look like? Think holograms, molecular computing or quantum computing. Whatever comes next it's probably not going to involve silicon which could reach the end of its capacity to scale up in the next 10 years. This article explores some possible silicon chip replacements.Photo by Tomma Henckel Used under Creative Commons License.
Posted on Thu, Sep 29, 2011
A study by Distimo, an analysis firm that watches the AppStore market found that a strategy of providing free or low-cost apps, then charging for fuller functionality accounted for significant income for developers -- and developers may want to pay attention to that.In fact, the Distimo study found that in-app purchases -- defined as upgrades to the free or low-cost app -- accounted for an astonishing 72 percent of Apple iphone app store revenue in July, up from 28 percent just a year ago. That could by why Distimo warns developers not to overprice apps or risk turning off buyers before they try your app. And it's not just iOS that's seeing this boom. Android introduced in-app purchases just last Spring and they already account for 68 percent of the revenue for the 25 top grossing Android apps.The big lesson here is that if you offer something free, people are more likely to try it, and if people like the app, this research is proving that people will pay to see more. As developers (or any content producer for that matter), you make an investment to learn to use the app development tools, you spend time developing your app, and it makes sense to want to make some of that investment back by charging for the appBut like much of Internet economics, it's not the best path to making money. Instead, give it away or charge a nominal amount like .99 and then wait. If your work is good enough, people will buy it.Companies like Box.net, which is holding its first Boxworks conference this week is a poster child for the successful freemium model. While Box began as web-based app, over time it has built support for a number of mobile applications including iOS, Android and HTML5 versions of the app.Box has built the company on the freemium model giving away a free version of the service, while selling an enterprise-level pay version with increased functionality and security that larger organizations demand. And as I wrote in an article on Internet Evolution last year, Box CEO Aaron Levie originally charged for the service, but he and his partner quickly realized if they wanted the company to grow quickly they had to do things a little differently.
""If you want scale, you need low friction. Happy customers will pay you. If we continued to offer value, [we figured] some percentage [of customers] would be paying," Of course, Levie added, in order for freemium to work, you have to have a good product in the first place."
The key message there from Levie is the idea of making the transaction low friction and you don't get much less friction than free. The other key point is that the app has to capture your audience. Free isn't enough if the app isn't good enough and there isn't motivation to want that additional functionality you provide for that fee.
While it might seem counter-intutitive to give away your work, the fact is that this research has shown that free really can drive revenue, especially when it comes to apps -- so long as your product is good enough, that is, for people to want to see more.
Posted on Fri, Sep 23, 2011
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 other post this week, Metro Doesn't Mean the Immediate Death of .net, where we look at the role of .net in the new Metro world, please check it out now. It's been one of our most popular posts ever.If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing and if you have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.And here we go with this week's links:Google Needs to Clean Up its Android Market's Malware Mess - HP Input-OutputGoogle needs to rid its marketplace of Malware before it gets out of control. In fact, McAfee reported that malware targeting Android phones was up 76 percent last quarter. Google has to do better.Why the Desktop Will Never Die - ReadWriteWebAll this "post-PC" talk has veteran technology journalist Pam Baker's dander up. She explains why the stand-alone PC is going to be around for some time to come.MySQL Moves Closer to Closed - Open Source MattersMySQL announced recently that it was no longer free and moving to an "Open Core" model. Might have something to do with Oracle's purchase of Sun (which had purchased the company that created MySQL). Let's just say that MySQL's founder Monty Widenius was none to pleased with the development.Is Android Really Free Software? - GuardianWhen Richard Stallman talks, you know it's going to be interesting and in this post, he discusses the differences between open source (as in code) and the free software foundation (which he says is about respecting the freedom of users). And he suggests that Android may be violating the freedom idea. Always worth a read.Wouldn’t it be nice if you could identify the development underperformers this easily? (humor) - Software Quality ConnectionAh, if the underperformers only sat in the middle of the room blubbering incoherently and smashing a keyboard against their skulls, it would be so much easier for managers to identify them. Alas, it's not that simple I guess.Photo by Ron Miller Used under Creative Commons License.
Posted on Thu, Sep 15, 2011
There's a lot of discussion about Microsoft Metro, the new programming environment Microsoft was talking up this week at the Build Conference -- and it could have a big impact on developers.The news is that when Windows 8 comes out, you will need to develop apps in the Metro style. This means essentially like Windows Phone 7 with its tile interface, and that appears to be whether we are talking desktop, phone or tablet apps.Unlike Apple or Google, Microsoft has taken the approach of building a single XAML/HTML5 development platform for use across the board on desktop, mobile and tablets. You can read an overview Microsoft's take on this on their web site. Whether you think this is a good approach or not is up to your personal taste I suppose, but it does present a significant development challenge for shops that need to come up with the skill set to create these new Windows applications.Enterprise IT is rarely on the cutting, but things change so quickly these days. Metro is yet another challenge to your planning, resource allocation and deliverable schedules. After watching HP pull the rug out from under developers recently when it quite suddenly abandoned webOS, it's hard to know when and if to jump on board, and it's just another level of uncertainty that IT shops supporting Microsoft products must deal with moving forward. If you're planning on moving slowly (and that may wise until this shakes out), you might not have to deal with Windows 8 deployment for some time to come. For now, it's not even clear when it will be released, although all signs point to some time next year, but you should at the very least be thinking about the fact that Microsoft has made a radical change to its development environment and you need to be prepared.And it's not just the development environment that's changing, it's also a complete makeover in the look and feel of Windows itself, and with great reports on Windows 7 stability, I'm wondering how many companies are going to want to rock the boat and go with Windows 8 until all the kinks get worked out.Regardless, when you're faced with a new development platform on top of radically altered OS, you may want to let a third-party consulting firm figure it out for you, then let them help bring your people on board slowly.It's hard to know how this will all play out in the end, but for now, it's worth thinking about Windows 8 and Metro and how it will affect your company moving forward, and what kind of resources you'll be needing to make the transition.