Oracle Promises Integration of Disparate Wares

With its portfolio bulging with 3,000 disparate products based on 59 acquisitions, Oracle outlined some key updates on its efforts to make them work together.

Integrating those products into a seamless stack is a priority, said Oracle co-president Safra Catz, speaking at this year's annual OpenWorld Conference in San Francisco this week.

“If consumers bought cars like most enterprise users have bought technology, they would have to order thousands of little pieces, have them shipped individually to their garages, and then have to hire a mechanic and welder to assemble it.," Catz told attendees. "The pieces matter, but fitting it together is where all the value is.”

Catz and Oracle co-president Charles Phillips told attendees that its Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is key fixing its integration problems. The company used OpenWorld to outline plans for the next release, AIA 2.5, which boasts 10 new cross-industry Process Integration Packs (PIPs), six new industry-specific PIPs, and a library of more than 1,000 enterprise services and 100 enterprise objects.
That's an ambitious goal, said IDC analyst Al Hilwa. “Oracle wants to have it both ways,” Hilwa said. “They want to have a really integrated stack that works together very coherently and forms the basis of their expansive Oracle Fusion Apps, and they also want it to be modular, to plug and play with industry standards. I agree that is a challenge, but it appears they have managed to walk that fine line more or less."

Oracle also announced several planned future releases of key components of its Fusion Middleware 11g product suite. Specifically they include updates to the venerable IDE, JDeveloper component, which will get more than 500 new features, the company said, including support for Maven, JavaSript Object Notation Language (JSON), Facelets, UML 2.0 and Eclipse key mappings. Look also for a new JDeveloper Task connector and BugZilla connector for the Oracle Team Productivity Center.

The company also plans enhancements to Oracle Assembly Builder, which include enabling a single-click deployment of application environment artifacts. This feature will allow customers to deploy an enterprise application or SOA service more quickly and easily, the company said.

Oracle also previewed some enhancements planned to some other product lines. An upcoming version of Oracle’s Enterprise Content Management Suite is expected to provide “more efficient and timely reuse of content,” and tighter integration with Oracle Applications, WebLogic Server, and other Fusion Middleware components.

The company also outlined the next version of its Business Intelligence Suite will come with new visualizations and “a more dynamic interactive user experience.” Look also for a new “Action Framework” designed to help allow users to initiate “business-improving” actions directly in response to an analytics.

Oracle plans to include a number of upgrades to the next release of its Data Integration Suite, including a unified set of design tools, pre-built connectivity and content for Oracle Applications, and APIs for embedding data integration functionality in custom Java applications.

“The fact is, Oracle has become a big tent, from DBAs to application architects, process architects, and now IT operations," said Ovum senior analyst Tony Baer. "What's notable is that you can manage
Oracle apps and middleware using the same declarative ADF framework that you would use if you're working with JDeveloper or any of Oracle's database tooling. It's a compelling story, but only if you're an all-Oracle shop.”

IDC's Hilwa agreed that integration is Oracle's biggest challenge. "It is incumbent upon an enterprise player like Oracle to offer integration capabilities," he said. "It is really essential to see them address this in an architecturally cohesive way.”

‘Extract’: Tasteless, By Kurt LoderOracle To Acquire GoldenGate Software

EC Opens Comments on Microsoft Browser 'Ballot'

The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday took another step closer to resolving its Web browser competition complaint against Microsoft.

The Commission is inviting formal public comments on a Microsoft proposal that aims at broadening browser choice among consumers who use Windows in the European Economic Area. The EC plans to publish a "market test notice" of Microsoft's plan in the EU's Official Journal on October 9. At that point, consumers and any other interested parties will have one month to present their comments on the plan.
As of Oct. 7, the EC just listed preliminary nonofficial versions of the market test notice and proposed commitments. They can be accessed at the EC's Web site here.

To broaden consumer access, Microsoft is proposing the use of a so-called "ballot screen" Web page that will present a list of the top 12 browsers for download. The ballot screen will appear for users of Windows-based PCs and it will only appear if the user has Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) configured as the default browser. Microsoft's Windows Update service will be used to send the code that will launch the ballot screen, according to Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and senior vice president, in a press conference.

This method of offering PC users a choice of browsers will be in effect for five years, according to Microsoft's proposal. Microsoft issued the proposal in the first place to address the EC's "Statement of Objections" complaint, filed in January, which determined that Microsoft was using its Windows operating system monopoly to distribute IE and dominate the European browser market. The European Union considers such product bundling to be illegal under its competition laws.

The ballot screen will show the top five browsers to the end user in alphabetical order by vendor name, so Internet Explorer won't necessarily be first. After that, the next seven most popular browsers will be listed alphabetically by vendor name, according to Microsoft's proposal.

PC manufacturers can still install the browser of their choice on new PCs, according to the proposal. Microsoft is claiming that it won't retaliate against PC makers should IE not be the default installed browser. In addition, PC manufacturers and end users will have the ability to turn IE on or off.

The Commission's acceptance of the market test represents "a big step forward" for relations between the EC and Microsoft, according to Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition, according to her blog. Kroes noted that Microsoft was the first company that ever refused to comply with an EC decision. She has been a fierce critic of the company.

Microsoft's Smith called the proposal "a big step towards closing a long chapter of Microsoft antitrust issues in Europe." He added that he hoped the formal market test of the proposal would take place "before the end of the year."

In addition to the ballot screen proposal, Smith outlined a "public undertaking" to better enable third-party software interoperability with Microsoft's products, such as Windows, SharePoint and Exchange. Although the EC has imposed fines and penalties against Microsoft in years past over interoperability issues, Smith said in the press conference that Microsoft's interoperability proposal was not released in response to any EC Statement of Objections.

The interoperability proposal, a 10-year deal, seems consistent with past Microsoft interoperability efforts. Microsoft unveiled its interoperability principles in February of 2008, promising to open up its APIs and documentation on various Microsoft software products. However, with this proposal, Microsoft will be required to support certain industry standards and show how it supports those standards. Smith said in the press conference that those standards would include Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format, as well as the OpenDocument Format standard, both of which are used in office productivity software. Smith added that Microsoft would also disclose how it meets browsers standards.

In addition, Microsoft would sell interoperability warrantees for a "nominal sum," Smith said. Annex A in Microsoft's preliminary interoperability proposal suggests that the warranty might sell for a fee of "10,000 Euros" ($14,729).

The warrantees would be "privately enforced," suggesting that the EC would not get involved in policing warrantee disputes. The Groklaw Web site suggested that might be a problem: "And what do you think the future holds if the EU Commission does nothing about the OOXML standards scandal?" the site asked. Groklaw also noted that Microsoft has taken seven years and still hasn't produced software documentation that meets the requirements of a 2002 U.S. antitrust action.

Smith suggested that Microsoft was simply meeting three principles for supporting software standards that were outlined by Kroes in her June speech.

"If you look back to Commissioner Kroes's speech in June of 2008, one of the things she highlighted was the desirability of creating mechanisms so that there would be binding obligations on companies in our industry, but then the industry could rely on those mechanisms in a way that were legally enforceable and did not always require the Commission to have to devote resources to every single issue," Smith said at the press conference. "And, in fact, that's precisely the mechanism in this undertaking, given the nature of these warranty obligations and the ability of other companies to rely on them."

Smith told Ina Fried of CNet News that the proposed model could apply to other software vendors with "high market share," such as Adobe, IBM and Google.

Sam Worthington Says ‘Clash Of The Titans’ Remake Turns Action Up To 11Microsoft Proposes Browser ‘Ballot’ to European Commission

Dynamics NAV 2009 Gets More User Friendly

Microsoft touted new capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, particularly customization features enabled by Service Pack 1.

SP1 became generally available on September 1, but Microsoft began describing some of the benefits this week. Dynamics NAV 2009 is aimed at midmarket organizations and is one of four enterprise resource planning (ERP) products offered by Microsoft and its partners.

The new capabilities are designed around supporting a "role-tailored user experience." SP1 brings new visualization and personalization capabilities, as well as a menu of enhanced features, to the Dynamics NAV 2009 suite, according to Microsoft.
The new features include data entry enhancements, filter improvements, keyboard shortcut changes and improved Internet resource connections. Partners can also customize the user experience using Microsoft's Silverlight multimedia framework.

The real differentiator in the package is the visualization process, according to R. "Ray" Wang, an enterprise strategy partner at Altimeter Group.

"Typically, specific visual configuration for micro-verticals takes place in the last mile," Wang explained in a telephone interview. "Prior to this release, smaller companies with 100 to 250 employees relied on partners to develop user interface enhancements. Now, they have a much simpler platform to begin that process."

Wang added that Microsoft's announcement shows its continued commitment to creating role-based personalized experiences critical for small-to-medium organizations.

Dynamics NAV addresses the needs of a number of vertical markets, according to Guy Weismantel, director of ERP marketing at Microsoft.

"We have a wide variety of vertical-specific partner solutions available for, but not limited to, customers in chemical manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, construction, food and beverage, high tech, industrial equipment manufacturing, public administration, specialty retail, and wholesale distribution," Weismantel explained via e-mail.

Wang said that each of the four Dynamics ERP lines addresses targeted vertical markets with a suite of applications. Microsoft is also moving closer to integrating social enterprise apps with its ERP products.

"As they use more of their internal tools such as Silverlight, SQL Server Reporting Services and Windows Workflow Foundation, they will be able to move towards more social, connected enterprise-class apps," Wang said. "Continued investment in dynamic user experiences, business process, and community connectedness will give Microsoft Dynamics a head start towards the development of more Social Enterprise Apps."

Wang estimates Microsoft's share of the enterprise software market to be about $1.1 billion. Microsoft holds eighth place in Wang's "Software Insider Index" of enterprise application vendors. SAP and Oracle top that list with shares of $14.6 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively.

Microsoft Targets Retailers With Dynamics POS 2009‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Get Over Kissing Qualms

Cloudera Releases Desktop UI for Hadoop

Cloudera, a commercial distributor of the Hadoop data storage and processing platform, late last week released a unified graphical user interface for applications based on the open-source framework for building and running scalable Web applications.

The Cloudera Desktop UI is designed to simplify cluster management and job development for developers using Hadoop, an effort by the Apache Project that has rapidly gained in popularity among enterprise developers over the past year. With the release of the Cloudera Desktop, the company is seeking to extend the reach of Hadoop.

"We’re trying to expand the user base for Hadoop to non-developers and beginning developers," said Jeff Hammerbacher, VP of products at Cloudera. "And rather than delivering separate management and developer tools, we thought giving both a uniform look and feel would be the most useful."
Hadoop is a Java-based open-source framework for data-intensive distributed computing, offered under the Apache license. The Hadoop Framework is an open-source distributed computing platform designed to support parallel computations over large data sets on so-called unreliable computer clusters. It’s based on Google’s MapReduce, a programming model for processing and generating large data sets, which divides an application into multiple units of work, each of which can be executed on any node in a server cluster. Hadoop supports the HDFS distributed file system, which is designed to scale to petabytes of storage and to run on top of the file systems of the underlying OS.

Yahoo has been one of the biggest proponents of Hadoop. According to Shelton Shugar, Yahoo’s senior VP of engineering, cloud computing, and data infrastructure, Hadoop runs on tens of thousands of servers inside the company, which makes the Yahoo Hadoop distribution the largest in the world.

Built on Cloudera’s own commercial Hadoop distribution, this first release of Cloudera Desktop comes with four components:

File browser, which is essentially a Finder- or Windows Explorer-like interface for copying and browsing data files stored in a Hadoop distributed file system. "It allows users to interact with a file system that’s running on clusters of tens to thousands of nodes the same way they would interact with a file system running locally on their laptop," Hammerbacher said. Job submission tool or job designer, a tool for creating MapReduce jobs and submitting them to the cluster from the Web interface. "You can do it without having to download any client software," Hammerbacher said. "We think this is going to help bring Hadoop to more people inside the enterprise."Job browser, which lets users view and drill down into jobs running on Hadoop clusters. "The job browser provides a way to visualize what jobs are running, and then drill down and get more detail at the task level," he said.Cluster health dashboard, for monitoring the condition of a Hadoop cluster and alerting operators in case of problems. "We expect people to have this open at all times," Hammerbacher said. "It provides a quick glance at how everything is doing with my cluster."

Cloudera Desktop runs inside the Web browser -- which isn’t surprising, given that the company’s founders come from Facebook, Yahoo, and Google. The browser-based UI eliminates the need to update client software, Hammerbacher said, and "you don’t have to punch a new hole through the firewall -- you can just use Port80 like everybody else."

The company is also working on a Desktop API, which will allow developers to create Hadoop apps that integrate the UI. Cloudera is currently working with partners to stabilize the API before publishing it for general use, Hammerbacher said.

Although this release of the Cloudera Desktop is aimed at novice and non-developers, it offers seasoned coders a way to make the case for the platform, Hammerbacher said. "If you’re a developer who really likes working with Hadoop but you’re having a hard time selling it internally, Cloudera Desktop gives you a way to turn to your compatriots and say, 'Look, this Hadoop thing isn’t rocket science. Just use this UI. I’ll build your jobs for you and you can go run them.'"

The initial release of Cloudera Desktop will work only with the Cloudera distro of Hadoop. "That’s primarily because of the changes we had to make to the open source Hadoop project to enable it to display this information to this interface were substantial," Hammerbacher said. "We’re still working with the open source community to give those changes back to the project. We have every intention of making it possible in the next 6 to 12 months for Cloudera Desktop to run against any distribution of Hadoop."

Cloudera Desktop is free; the company expects it to drive adoption of its own open source Hadoop distribution. Cloudera launched its own distribution of Hadoop last spring. Hammerbacher calls it the "open-source core of the company." The company has promised to deliver several commercial products based on that distro over the next few months.

The company launched Cloudera Desktop at Hadoop World, held last week in New York. It's the company's first release of a Hadoop-based commercial product. It comes on the heels of news that Doug Cutting, the creator of Hadoop, would be leaving Yahoo to join Cloudera. Yahoo hired Cutting in 2007 to work full-time on the Hadoop project. Cutting created the Lucene, an open-source information retrieval library with Mike Cafarella, and the Nutch, an open-source search engine based on it. Both projects are now managed through the Apache Software Foundation. Yahoo released to developers the source code for its internal distribution of Hadoop this summer, as reported (see Yahoo Releases Hadoop Source Code).

In August, Cutting announced that he would be leaving Yahoo to join Cloudera. In a blog posting, Cutting explained the reasoning for his move: "Going forward, Cloudera presents an opportunity to work with a wider range of Hadoop users. I hope to help synthesize these many voices into a project that best serves all."

Palm Extends Effort to Woo Developers‘Michael Jackson’s This Is It’ Premieres Worldwide On October 27

Report: Microsoft Key to IT Jobs Growth

A Microsoft-sponsored IDC study predicted relatively healthy employment prospects for skilled IT labor over the next four years, largely driven by the so-called "Microsoft ecosystem."

That ecosystem consists of Microsoft and its partners, as well as the various IT professionals working with Microsoft products.

Microsoft is responsible -- either directly or indirectly through its partners -- for the employment of 6.1 million people worldwide, according to the study, which tracked the economic affects of Microsoft's software across 52 countries.

The Microsoft ecosystem becomes even larger when 8.8 million IT professionals who work with Microsoft software are added to that 6.1 million figure. IDC estimates that a total of 14.9 million IT pros are involved with Microsoft software, or "42% of the people working in the IT industry."
The report didn't specify to what degree Microsoft would increase employment over the next four years. Microsoft's last fiscal year actually saw direct job cuts at the company, with 5,000 Microsoft employees scheduled for termination. Salaries at Microsoft remained flat for the fiscal year, according to Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell.

Overall, the IDC study expects that IT employment will grow by three percent per year through 2013, adding 5.8 million jobs, "which is more than three times faster than the growth of total employment," the study explains.

Such a rosy IT jobs estimate contrasts very sharply with the general employment picture in the United States, as recently described by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent," the Bureau announced on Friday.

Microsoft famously relies on its partners to sell and support its software. The formula, according to IDC's report, is that for every dollar that Microsoft will make in 2009, the Microsoft ecosystem will get $8.70. Moreover, the Microsoft ecosystem will generate nearly $537 billion in revenues this year, according to the report.

Growth areas in the near future for Microsoft software will be in so-called "emerging markets," or all countries except Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, United States and Western Europe. Emerging markets will account for "more than 70% of net new GDP growth during the next four years," according to the report.

Surprisingly, IDC's report didn't track the effects of cloud computing on employment. Cloud computing, in which Microsoft's applications are delivered and maintained by Microsoft or its partners, can be considered a form of outsourcing in which IT jobs likely will be lost. Cloud computing is a big part of Microsoft's "Software plus Services" marketing push with Windows Azure. The report said that cloud computing "is in its infancy" and currently represents just one percent of IT spending. The market may triple by 2013, according to IDC.

IDC's study, "Aid to Recovery: The Economic Impact of IT, Software, and the Microsoft Ecosystem on the Global Economy," can be accessed here, along with region-specific reports.

‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Breaks Midnight RecordsForecast: Cost-Cutting Will Drive Open Source Growth

Palm Extends Effort to Woo Developers

Faced with a limited developer community four months after releasing its first webOS-based device, Palm will offer a two-tier distribution option for those building apps for its platform.

The company said it will continue to offer its Palm App Catalog but starting in December developers can bypass it in favor of direct distribution over the Web, the company announced Monday night on its blog.

Since launching the webOS-based Pre in early June, Palm has failed to keep pace with larger rivals, notably Apple and Research In Motion, which have launched large marketplaces. Also Microsoft on Tuesday launched its long awaited Windows Marketplace for Mobile, where 30 manufactures announced new phones based on the new Windows Mobile 6.5.
"Through a self-certification option, the program will also offer Web-based distribution of apps for developers who wish to leverage existing Web channels to reach their customers directly, according to the posting. For developers that contribute open source code, Palm is waving the $99 program fee.

Palm said it will offer transaction and fulfillment for developers using the online option. Each app will be given its own URL, allowing customers to download the apps to the device. Though the advantage of the Palm App Catalog is that it's bundled on webOS-based devices such as the Palm Pre, developers won't have to go through the certification process, which some say will be a key advantage over Apple's iPhone.

"Palm is hitting Apple where it hurts in terms of providing a more open platform for developers," said Jeffrey McManus, CEO of Platform Associates and a user of the Palm Pre.

"This stems from their Web-based development paradigm as well as the way they're managing the way that apps get into the hands of users. The big question will be how they manage the platform down the road and what they can do to match Apple's user base."

‘Avatar’ Hype Continues As Trailer Breaks Apple.com RecordPalm preDevCamp Postponed for Two Months

Compuware To Acquire Gomez

In a move that will extend the reach beyond its core focus of enterprise testing and performance management, Compuware Corp. said it will acquire Gomez Inc. for $295 million.

Gomez is a leading provider of Web and mobile application performance management services. Among its customers are Amazon, Facebook, Google, Expedia, Monster and Yahoo. By combining with Gomez, Compuware is seeking to help enterprises not only test and monitor their internal apps but track the performance of applications beyond the firewall.

"With the combined offering we think we have changed the game in the application performance space," said Compuware president and COO Bob Paul, speaking on a conference call announcing the deal. " The buying decisions of a lot of our customers are starting to move toward a consolidated view, one environment, one source of truth to be able to identify and resolve IT problems as it relates to the application and actually understanding the value impact of those performance issues back in to the organization."
With Gomez in the fold, a bank could help determine why customers may be having trouble checking their balances from their mobile phones, Paul said. While Compuware's software tracks applications and systems behind the firewall, Gomez monitors content delivery networks, ISP, telecommunications and mobile service providers. "The combined solution is compelling," he said.

Several analysts who follow the companies agreed. "The product sets compliment each other well," said IDC analyst Melinda Ballou. "What they currently have is in the emerging market for testing as a service and for cloud testing, which is something we expect to be growing dynamically over next several years."

Jim Frey, research director at Enterprise Management Associates, said enterprises require a more holistic view of performance metrics. "It makes a lot of sense for Compuware because they have done a tremendous job behind the firewall and inside the enterprise architecture, but the Internet and mobile links have always been a blind spot and Gomez does a great job at filling that in," Frey said.

Compuware competes with BMC, CA, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and it wouldn't be surprising to see those vendors to follow Compuware's lead, analysts said. Gomez largest rival, Keynote Systems, could be an attractive target. Also look for vendors to extend their efforts by adding new cloud-based services. IBM this week for example launched its Smart Business Storage Cloud, a private cloud offering that will offer testing services.

"One would expect, that the leading software quality testing vendors will be going into this market with SasS offerings," Ballou said.

The deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter.

Kim Basinger In Talks To Play Zac Efron’s MomSpringSource Acquires Cloud Foundry to Bring Java to Cloud