From Application Virtualization to Xen, a round-up of the virtualization themes & topics being discussed in NYC June 23-24, 2008 by the world-class speaker faculty at the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held by SYS-CON Events in The Roosevelt Hotel, in midtown Manhattan.

Last week I posted a screen shot of the new 3D Rendering capabilities being added to some of the 3D graphs in PowerBuilder 11.5. It was met with mixed reviews on the PowerBuilder Futures newsgroup (forums.sybase.com) so I went back to the drawing board to see what I could come up with. Apparently there are quite a few configuration settings one can set programmatically to render better looking graphs.

BluePhoenix announced that it has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft on legacy modernization projects. The collaboration provides customers moving their applications or databases to .NET-based environments the best in both modernization services and technical support. BluePhoenix enables organizations to modernize their legacy data stores such as ADABAS, IDMS, IMS and VSAM to SQL Server, and from application languages such as COBOL, Natural, RPG and PowerBuilder to .NET.

Sybase announced that AJAX development capabilities and further Microsoft .NET enhancements have been added to the latest version of Sybase PowerBuilder 11, the premier 4GL rapid application development (RAD) tool. PowerBuilder 11.2 represents another milestone in the PowerBuilder roadmap for delivering .NET interoperability and incorporates new features such as AJAX functionality for WebForms, which enables richer, more interactive data-driven application development.

Sybase has released the production version of its flagship .NET development tool - PowerBuilder version 11.2. This latest release of its premier IDE for RAD includes not only standard fixes but also a good list of new features. Here is the 'Coles Notes' version of these new features.

In June of 2007, Sybase released PowerBuilder 11. PowerBuilder developers can now deploy PowerBuilder components as .NET Assemblies or as .NET Web Services. A PowerBuilder developer can now create these .NET resources so that those who develop .NET solutions can benefit from PowerBuilder and DataWindow productivity regardless of what development tool they use. PowerBuilder 11 also gives its users the ability to deploy entire applications as ASP .NET Web Forms applications (WebForm) as well as to deploy entire applications as .NET Windows Forms (WinForm) applications.

A shortcoming of PocketBuilder 1.x and 2.x has always been the difficulty in accessing Web Services. This shortcoming had always irritated us, but the limitations of the PocketPC and the size of the traditional PowerBuilder approach prevented us from providing an adequate traditional solution. We have a sample up on CodeXchange that wraps a simple API around the free 'Pocket SOAP' client, but that had its own limitations and we were never really satisfied with it.

I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

The mouse was the original idea of Doug Engelbart who was the head of the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart's philosophy is best embodied, in my opinion, in the design of another device that he invented, the five-finger keyboard - with keys like a piano, used by one hand. The problem was, Engelbart's five-finger keyboard and mouse combination was very difficult to learn.

'Unlocking content to be remixed into new business value' is the driver of Web 2.0 in the enterprise, says Rod Smith, IBM VP of Emerging Internet Technologies, in this Exclusive Q&A with Jeremy Geelan on the occasion of IBM's release of a new technology created by IBM researchers, codenamed 'SMash' - short for Secure Mashup.

Here is a question that I have been pondering on and off for quite a while: Why do 'cool kids' choose Ruby or PHP to build websites instead of Java? I have to admit that I do not have an answer. Why do I even care? Because I am a Java developer. Like many Java developers, I get along with Java well. Not only the language itself, but the development environments (Eclipse for example), step-by-step debugging helper, wide availability of libraries and code snippets, and the readily accessible information on almost any technical question I may have on Java via Google. Last but not least, I go to JavaOne and see 10,000 people that talk and walk just like me.

Sybase iAnywhere announced availability of support for Apple iPhone during the first international iPhone Developer Summit, colocated with AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2008 East. Information Anywhere now enables IT organizations to provide secure delivery of Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange enterprise email to iPhone users, in addition to a broad range of other mobile devices. Sybase iAnywhere?s unique approach to providing enterprise email support for the iPhone reduces potential security concerns while still providing a rich user experience utilizing native iPhone applications.

A sign of a vibrant developer community is the active blogosphere that surrounds a technology. Here's a more or less random selection of what's being talked about this month in the PowerBuilder community's blogs. Support for the Data Pipeline in PowerBuilder .NET Windows Forms Targets - by Dave Fish.

The release-defining feature of PowerBuilder 11 is its ability to deploy existing applications as .NET Windows Forms and Web Forms applications and components of business logic, namely custom-class user objects (NVOs), as .NET assemblies and Web Services. Although PowerBuilder's adoption of the .NET Framework represents a great leap forward for application developers, the implications of converting a desktop, client/server application to an ASP.NET Web application are significant.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of the iPhone SDK, including discussion of the App Store, Apple's planned distribution channel for SDK applications. Keep in mind that the contents of the SDK and experiences while using it are covered under NDA, so be prepared for me to talk in generics and leave out specific details that might be covered by the NDA. I am planning on providing a quick introduction to Objective-C for those attendees who may have never seen it and might be worried that it will be difficult to code in (it isn't!).

Application development and maintenance require frequent iterations between design time and runtime. This process is necessarily time-consuming, imprecise, and somewhat frustrating. True, this is a characteristic of RAD environments...but isn't there a better way? Runtime-driven development represents a step in the right direction. This article talks about Enable Runtime Explorer (Rex) and shows how a new development cycle can benefit the daily activities of PowerBuilder developers.

I received an e-mail from a loyal reader recently complaining that the magazine was no longer 'primarily about PowerBuilder.' The charge is actually true and, despite the title of this column, is not particularly new. In fact, we had an editorial eight years ago explaining part of that shift (http://pbdj.sys-co n.com/read/42184.htm). That shift has continued, and this editorial will explain some of the reasons for that.

For the past ten years application developers have been stuck with only two desktop client choices. Traditionally, they can choose either a very thin Web-client technology implemented in HTML and CSS, or a very heavyweight thick client experience implemented using traditional client/server (C/S) technologies (e.g. Java Swing, MFC). It wasn't until the introduction of RIA technologies (e.g. AJAX, Adobe Flex, Curl, and Silverlight) and widget engines (e.g. Yahoo! Widgets and Google Gadgets) that we were given more options.

A sign of a vibrant developer community is the active blogosphere that surrounds a technology. Here's a more or less random selection of what's being talked about this month in the PowerBuilder community's blogs. Specifying Null Values as Retrieval Arguments in the DataWindow Painter - by Dave Fish...Some of you have been asking for this enhancement for a long time now.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) was founded in 1987 by David Packard. It's located in Moss Landing, California, where its three research ships and two remotely operated vehicles are berthed, giving them immediate access to Monterey Bay. MBARI also operates several autonomous underwater vehicles and maintains moorings offshore, equipped with ocean-monitoring instruments, as well as two moorings in the equatorial Pacific that are part of the NOAA Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array.

With the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft is introducing a new document format named 'XML Paper Specification' or XPS. Microsoft describes XPS as follows: 'The XML Paper Specification (XPS) describes the format of a new general-purpose document made available by Microsoft to facilitate the easy exchange of documents between applications, platforms and hardware systems...

One of the biggest complaints I hear about PowerBuilder is how the applications developed with it end up looking old and outdated. PowerBuilder allows developers to create complicated, robust, and efficient business applications. What it doesn't do is offer an effective presentation. Sometimes lackluster presentation can hurt an application's marketability. Unfortunate as it is, the look of the application is what gives users their first impression. An old-looking application just won't impress.

I began my career at RCA Aerospace and Defense in 1983 and worked at MITRE Corp., BAE Systems, and the State of NH. I worked in the defense field performing software configuration management (SCM) and release engineering activities from 1983-1996. In July of 1996, I began working for the State of NH, Department of Health and Human Services, performing the software configuration management role. I am the administrator of AllFusion Harvest.

My seven-year-old daughter thinks that there is a knowledge genie that her teacher 'Googles' for answers. While cute, the anecdote also exemplifies how much Google's obsession with simplicity has helped build brand awareness, making their name literally synonymous with search. I can foresee generations X and Y being followed by generation S - one that will rely on search to accomplish almost any task.

At EMI Music Germany, decision makers use detailed business intelligence (BI) analytics to control all sales and marketing activities for new music titles, and to monitor sales success and profitability in real time. To monitor its sales development continuously and respond rapidly whenever necessary, the company analyzes approximately 50,000 sales transactions from five different countries on a daily basis.

Well, if you listened to Rob Enderle of Enderle Group (www2.sdtimes.com/p df/SDTimesBackIssues/sdti mes184.pdf) you might think that Rapid Application Development (RAD) is dead or dying. However, I think it's important to distinguish between two different things that are often lumped together and called RAD. One is the RAD development methodology and the other is 4GL tools that were often used in RAD development.

A sign of a vibrant developer community is the active blogosphere that surrounds a technology. Here's a more or less random selection of what's being talked about in the PowerBuilder community's blogs recently. A Noob's Thoughts on PowerBuilder - by Rob Little. A month into my first-ever official 'real' job and here are some comments and thoughts...

PBDJ's readers ask us from time to time what the most popular article in the magazine has been over recent years. We are delighted to report that the answer is that it is one by our very own and much loved editor-in-chief, Bruce Armstrong. We first published it in 2005. Here it is again in full so that you can enjoy Bruce's insights into the endless scope for customization in PowerBuilder.

MBARI has been making the headlines recently as a high-profile JBuilder 2007 Enterprise Edition user. In this Exclusive Q&A with SYS-CON's PowerBuilder Developer's Journal, MBARI Senior Software Engineer Kevin Gomes talks about the role of Eclipse in that decision, about the LiveSource UML modeling tool, code testing, and the relationship between scientists and engineers.

Helifix is a market leader in the manufacture of wall ties, fixings and masonry reinforcement and repair systems. The company has 35 employees in its West London headquarters and manufacturing plant in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Helifix products are supplied worldwide, with a subsidiary in North America and business partners in Australia, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.

That isn't, by the way, a Chinese curse. The phrase 'may you live in interesting times' (which became popular after Robert Kennedy used it in a speech in 1966) probably originated from a 1950's science fiction story. Regardless of its roots though, we find ourselves living in such times. In a previous issue I talked about the incremental releases that Sybase was doing for PowerBuilder 11.

In the adventurous world of software development, we have all come to experience, criticize, and embrace many software lifecycle approaches (e.g., RUP, Agile, Scrum, XP, etc.). At their core, they intend to identify various stages in the software process and optimize their instrumentation through various iterative techniques. Through my own consulting experience on many projects, I have come to expect a slightly different discrete set of 'stages' that invariably accompany software endeavors.

The rise of Web applications - Web sites that replace the functions of a software program that was traditionally installed on a personal computer - is one of the hottest topics in tech. Huge numbers of Web 2.0 start-ups are competing for user attention and many observers predict the rapid growth of Web applications.

When I was just starting my career in programming, I thought I would be creating new applications. And I did - I created a few applications from scratch. Maybe two or three of them. But for the most part what I've been doing is working with code written by someone else a while ago - legacy code. What is legacy code? You could define legacy code as ancient applications that were written in the past.

SMS or Short Messaging Service is being used by millions of mobile phone users as you read this article. Here is a fact...Sybase 365 aids the delivery of nearly 6 billion messages each month. Originally limited to 160 characters and the small phone keyboard, SMS language was born on December 3, 1992, when an engineer named Neil Papworth sent the very first SMS with 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' on it to his colleagues at Vodafone in Great Britain.

Using the experience and results of the University Education Process Control (UEPC) implementation based on Sybase technology, The Russian Economic Academy of G.V. Plekhanov modernized its entire IT infrastructure by creating informational unity across the university. The Academy developed a new educational program management system and incorporated an innovative way of assessing the quality of education. This system created a new way of communicating among the students and staff, enabling staff to be more efficient and allowing the students to get more from their learning experience.

I am always being told off by i-technologists for quoting Picasso as having said that computers are useless. But I still love his reasoning: 'Because they can only give you answers.' Picasso, like AJAXWorld Magazine, liked questions. So we thought we would share with you what some of the world's leading rich Internet application pioneers are thinking may be the next questions that we need to see answered. From that, readers can themselves infer: where is AJAX headed next?

The 'upgrade' from Web 1.0 to the new Web 2.0 world has been an evolutionary process, continually driving the Web to be more interactive, useful, and interesting for consumers and the business community. The evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has been about improvements in the Web 'experience' - from that of simply browsing static content and graphic images that display upon request, to an all-new highly interactive, programmable, and much more useful Web.

Being held for the first time on March 18, 2008 at the historic Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, AJAXWorld Security Bootcamp is a compelling, intensive, one-day, hands-on training program that will teach Web developers, Web designers, and other Web professionals how to build secure AJAX applications and demonstrate what the best practices are to mitigate security problems in AJAX apps. It is led by one of the world's foremost AJAX security experts and popular teachers, Billy Hoffman.

Key opinion-formers in the field of infrastructure and pioneers of virtualization technologies of all types have already begun submitting speaking proposals to Virtualization Conference & Expo 2008 East, being held in New York City, 23-24 June, 2008. Topics covered will range from Server Virtualization, Application Virtualization, Desktop Virtualization, Network Virtualization, I/O Virtualization and Storage Virtualization, to Virtual Machine Automation, Physical to Virtual (P2V) Migration, Management Applications, Tools and Utilities, and Virtualization Scripts and Procedures.