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Seven Predictions for Open Source in 2009

Roger Burkhardt — 2009-01-05T14:34:00

2008 was an eventful, breakthrough year for many open source companies, and 2009 will hold even more promise for the open source market, especially in terms of business purchasing patterns, software business model shifts, and enterprise software stack evolution. The current economic conditions will certainly prompt businesses to look more closely at alternative IT solutions and open source technology will be one of the big winners next year.

Obama To Name CTO

K.C. Jones — 2009-01-05T14:30:00

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama could name a CTO as early as Wednesday, but some people in the technology sector have complained about how long that has taken.

In an industry driven by creators of the technology that allows millions of Americans to access information about everything in seconds, it's not surprising that people expect quick decisions. Many are eager to see the impact of the nation's first CTO selected by its first president and political candidate to release a comprehensive technology agenda on the campaign trail.

Twitter Gets Hacked, Badly

Michael Arrington — 2009-01-05T14:24:00

Phishing attacks, which hit Twitter over the weekend, are a sign a service has arrived (Facebook has the same problem). But someone hacking into Twitter's internal admin tools and compromising 33 high profile accounts, including President Elect Barack Obama, has Twitter users freaking out about what to do.

Five Tech Trends to Watch in 2009

Nathan Eddy — 2009-01-02T11:18:00

Small businesses face tightening IT budgets this year, but here are five technology trends all midmarket companies should be keeping an eye on.

With IT budgets expected to be tight this year, small business owners must make wise investments in order to stay competitive. While most analysts believe some cutting-edge trends, like mobile advertising, are still half a decade away from offering immediate ROI to small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), technologies such as virtualization and the burgeoning proliferation of portable, Internet-connected devices can be well suited for midmarket companies.

The 25 greatest blunders in tech history

Neil McAllister — 2009-01-01T11:09:00

Imagine how different the tech industry might have been had Gary Kildall accepted IBM's offer, back in 1980, to license his computer operating system for a top-secret project. CP/M would have been the OS that shipped with the original IBM PC, and the world might never have heard the name of Kildall's competitor, who eventually accepted the contract: a Mr. Bill Gates.

For all the amazing advances that the computing industry has brought us over the years, some of its most pivotal moments are memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Report: SMBs Weathering Poor Economy

Nathan Eddy — 2008-12-31T08:20:00

As small business owners look to the new year, a report from SurePayroll suggests Main Street is doing better than many may have thought. Survival, however, will come at a price.

A December survey by online payroll service SurePayroll, based in Glenview, Ill., suggests small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) are managing to stay alive, despite crumbling financial markets and a government bailout aimed not at midmarket companies but large corporations.

Tour around Silverlight Contrib

Justin Angel — 2008-12-31T08:14:00

I'm a huge supporter of open source software development and I'd like to take this opportunity to go over the Silverlight Contrib O/S project.

Fair disclosure first though, my current role is Program Manager for the Silverlight Toolkit team which ships on codeplex (at http://www.codeplex.com/Silverlight).
I've got a very high quality bar and I expect nothing less from any O/S project that I ask customers to put into their technology stack.

Standard Microsoft disclaimer: KGB Assassins will be hired to... Wait, other Disclaimer: I do not speak for my employer.

Top 10 Resources for Green IT

Nathan Eddy — 2008-12-31T08:04:00

Green technology is a hot commodity these days, but where can the small business owner go to find solutions that make sense? Here are the top 10 online resources for midmarket companies looking to go green.

At this point, you may be ready to go out and uproot a tree with your bare hands after hearing the incessant promotion surrounding "green IT." It seems as though every second manufacturer and service provider has the best solution for reducing your carbon footprint or your energy costs or to improve some aspect of your terribly inefficient, ice cap-melting, polar bear-stranding business.

JavaScript and jQuery: Web Apps as Highly Interactive as Desktop Apps

Riccardo Govoni — 2008-12-31T07:59:00

Use the advanced CSS features of JavaScript and jQuery to create web applications that behave and look like desktop applications, fueled by drag-and-drop, mouse selection, panning, zooming, and more.

Modern browsers have greatly improved their performances, development tools, and compatibility. Even though most web sites still adhere to the page paradigm, rendering their content as it would appear in a newspaper or book, browsers can support highly interactive applications that rival traditional desktop apps.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: January 2009

Smashing Magazine — 2008-12-31T07:53:00

Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That's why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months.

And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we've decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn't it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?

Windows 7 takes shape

Galen Gruman — 2008-12-30T10:21:00

We all knew it was coming, but now it feels real. With its debut to select developers in November, Windows 7 is no longer just a label but a real OS. And the public beta is expected this spring.

Those expecting a radical redo of Windows will be disappointed; Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other company executives call it a fixed Vista. And a fixed Vista will be welcome to users who found the operating system's security controls, new interface, and application compatibilities woes to be very off-putting. (Whether they'll like the revamped Windows 7 UI remains an open question -- it's already received criticism.)

CNET Year in Review: The cloud soars

Dawn Kawamoto — 2008-12-30T10:09:00

Look beyond the tumultuous economic storm and you'll see something else forming--cloud computing, a term and concept that took off in 2008.

"If you look at Google Trends, 'cloud computing' came out of nowhere in 2008. People were searching for it in the third quarter of 2007, but it went bonkers in 2008," said Frank Gillett, vice president and principal analyst with Forrester Research.

HostSearch Year in Review

HostSearch.com — 2008-12-30T10:00:00

What's in store for the web hosting industry in 2009? It's difficult to say - although Derek Vaughan's recent HostSearch article gives us some insights. We do know that 2008 was the year that was, and it was a year that independent research firm Tier1 launched a 62-page research report suggesting web hosting was under pressure from a range of factors, including the "proliferation of wireless and broadband access, web-enabled mobile devices, and the movement of personal and business lives to an online environment".

Looking Back On 2008 With Top Web Designers

Steven Snell — 2008-12-30T09:53:00

The start of a new year is often a time of reflection on the past year, both personally and professionally, as well as a time to look forward to the year ahead. With that in mind, we thought it would be interesting to do a New Year's group interview with a number of top designers and developers. We put together a big list of questions and posed two in particular to each of the participants.

Economic stimulus could boost IT job prospects

Patrick Thibodeau — 2008-12-29T09:46:00

The outlook for IT jobs in 2009 may not be as bad as some observers suggest. While some indicators and surveys are showing some declines in tech jobs, none predict a precipitous drop. In fact, a federal economic stimulus package may even add IT positions.

"IT jobs are relatively safe in the aftermath of the economic meltdown compared to jobs in general," said David Foote of Vero Beach Fla.-based Foote Partners, which analyzes IT wages and hiring data.

Creating Falling Snow in Silverlight!

Kirupa Chinnathambi — 2008-12-29T09:28:00

Exactly a year ago (plus one day...but who's counting?!), I posted a sample WPF application that simulates falling snow. Since Silverlight 2 was released since then, below you will find a Silverlight version of a similar falling snow effect.

Free Icons, Photoshop Brushes and a WordPress Theme

Smashing Magazine — 2008-12-29T09:24:00

We are definitely not Santa Claus, but we love to release high-quality sets and themes for free. And, of course, we do have some beautiful and unusual and (hopefully) useful presents for the upcoming New Year's Eve. Today we are glad to release three icon sets, one Photoshop brushes set and one exclusive WordPress-theme. A couple of more presents will be released over the next days. Happy New Year, folks!

Windows Server 2008: Windows also rises

Doug Dineley — 2008-12-26T10:02:00

We suppose it happens in families too, where one twin seems charmed from the start while the other lives under a shadow. Certainly that's the case with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, the one almost universally heralded and the other widely snubbed. Still, isn't it odd? How do two operating systems, born together and sharing so much DNA, arrive to such different fates?

According to InfoWorld Test Center's Tom Yager, the reason is simple: Microsoft got it right when it listened to the customer and got it wrong when it didn't. Windows Server 2008 is everything that IT buyers asked for, while Vista is the product of an older Microsoft design paradigm: "You'll know what you want when we show it to you."

The best 2009 web development tool?

Robert Scoble — 2008-12-25T09:56:00

I remember the good old days of 1994. Back when your only choice of developing a web site was doing it by hand. Remember typing HTML codes like <b> and <table> and making it all work? Or, if you didn't know what those meant, you had to pay some developer $100+ an hour to do it for you. Seriously, back then HTML developers were in short supply and building a web site was expensive. The magazine/conference company I worked for, Fawcette Technical Publications, paid more than $100,000 to build its first web site, which was a pretty rudimentary one.