Conference News

Windows 7 To Launch Publicly May 5

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:45:00 EDT

The official Release Candidate of Windows 7 will be available for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers from April 30, according to the Windows Team Blog, but public availability won't begin till May 5th.

Accessing the ASP.NET Authentication, Profile and Role Service in Silverlight

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:00:00 EDT

In ASP.NET 2.0, we introduced a very powerful set of application services in ASP.NET (Membership, Roles and profile). In 3.5 we created a client library for accessing them from Ajax and .NET Clients and exposed them via WCF web services. For more information on the base level ASP.NET appservices that this walk through is based on, please see Stefan Schackow's excellent book Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Security, Membership, and Role Management.

Spice Up User Experience with Silverlight

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Microsoft introduced Silverlight as cross-platform, cross-browser next generation RIA solution. This session will use real world implementations to show you how to build a Silverlight application from start to finish, as well overall strategy why we should or shouldn't use Silverlight. No matter whether you have LAMP, ASP.NET or Java Web application, you can take advantage of Silverlight to impress your user with the 'Wow' effects.

How Linked Data and AJAR Changes Everything

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

The Web has evolved into a structured data space of loosely connected databases, enabling granular data access-by-reference to Web-accessible entities, courtesy of HTTP. This evolution and the emergence of AJAX-based RIA technologies lay the foundation for a new generation of libraries, widgets, and frameworks, that together embrace and extend enterprise data access practices of yore. This session will cover access and exploitation of Web-accessible Linked Data using AJAX- and AJAR-based technologies (Asynchronous JavaScript and RDF).

AJAX, Cloud Computing & Enterprise Mashups

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EDT

SaaS based applications continue to grow at a staggering rate. According to software market analysts, SaaS represented approximately 5% of business software revenue in 2005 and, by 2011, 25% of new business software will be delivered as SaaS and will grow at a 21% % annual growth rate (CAGR) during the next four years. As the acceptance and popularity of SaaS applications has continued to rise dramatically, traditional enterprise integration software has become the Achilles heel of the SaaS industry. Additionally, the wide variety of SaaS vendors specializing in different areas has resulted in companies attempting to stitch together information from a number of different places. Traditional integration software products are inconsistent with the values of SaaS in terms of cost, complexity and time to implement. SOA and XML driven application integrations are very well suited for this purpose. But demand will continue to grow for easy to use, manageable, highly scalable on-demand integration.

Building Great AJAX Applications Using ASP.NET

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Come see a no-slides, code-only presentation that starts with a blank directory and builds a data-driven, AJAX enabled, ASP.NET web application from scratch that implements common AJAX patterns with the rich set of AJAX Control Toolkit, accesses data with LINQ, and implements standards-based styling and layout using CSS and clean HTML. Learn the new features of ASP.NET 3.5 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and how they integrate together to provide the world's most productive Web development experience. This talk uses the 100% free .NET Framework and Visual Studio tools and the resulting application will work with all browsers, Safari, Firefox and of course IE.

AJAX Integration Guide for Spring Enterprise Applications

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Today, there is a wealth of technologies to take advantage of to add AJAX behaviors to your Spring-based Java Web applications. This session will assume you know the basics of AJAX and Spring, and will dive straight into evaluating the leading AJAX technologies, and how to integrate them with Spring to take full advantage of an existing Spring infrastructure. Attendees will emerge with an understanding of which tools to use when, and how they work in a Spring environment to create enterprise class rich Web applications.

The Beauty of JavaScript

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:30:00 EDT

JavaScript is one of the most interesting and misunderstood programming languages in common use today. Most developers will go their entire careers without realizing its full potential. It's not often that you get a language that supports the feature set that JavaScript does, while still being as widely deployed. This talk will spotlight some patterns surrounding JavaScript's most elegant features such as closures, lambdas, object and array literals, object prototypes, private members and dynamic scope resolution -- all without boring you to tears.

Preparing Your Brand for the Mobile Web Experience

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:00 EDT

As the mobile Web matures, we see more and more people running around airports with their mobile devices in hand, searching for hotel rooms, reading the news, or just playing video games. People are more connected with their mobile phone today than any other electronic device they use. What was once a nice-to-have is now the norm, and is quickly becoming an integral part of our culture and society. But how do you connect with users through mobile web sites and create exceptional experiences that are both functional and captivating?

Understanding iPhone JavaScript Extensions

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Apple has introduced a number of extensions to the JavaScript programming language to assist iPhone Web developers. Including new fast lookup functions, native SVG graphics processing, CSS effects, database storage and full screen mode. These new functions will transform the way Web and AJAX developers look at the iPhone for application development. This session introduces the JavaScript extensions, and shows practical examples of their usage.

OpenAjax Alliance: Browser Engine Access To Mobile Device APIs

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Many new model mobile devices allow the 'Web Runtime' (i.e., the browser engine) to invoke device capabilities from JavaScript, such as access to current location (e.g., via GPS), phone dialer, camera, address book, calendar, email, and SMS, whereas previously these services were only available to compiled programming languages, such as C++ and Java. By giving Web developers using HTML and JavaScript the same power as C++ and Java, we will see a large wave of next-generation consumer and Enterprise Web 2.0 applications that take innovation and productivity to new levels. These new Mobile AJAX applications run not only in the browser, but also as AJAX-powered mobile widgets and AJAX-powered installed applications. Two challenges, however, are interoperability (because different devices support different APIs), and security (along with the new feature, we also have new vulnerabilities). OpenAjax Alliance is addressing the two challenges through its open standards, open source, and security initiatives.

HTML 5, WebSocket, and Comet - The Future of the Web

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:45:00 EDT

This session will provide an in-depth look into the use of HTML 5 WebSocket and the techniques and technologies required to build Comet applications with it. Additionally, the speakers will discuss the trade-offs between emerging de jure standards (such as HTML 5's WebSocket) and de facto standards such as the Bayeux protocol. Furthermore, the session will cover the server and network architecture that powers an event-driven Web application. Attendees will be introduced to the technologies and requirements for delivering scalable, real-time Comet Web applications, and, most importantly, to the pitfalls they may face in the process.

Web 3.0 and the Age of Intelligence

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:15:00 EDT

Often called the Semantic or Pervasive Web, Web 3.0 brings a level of artificial intelligence to transform the Internet from a searchable catalog to a personal guide that can reason in a human-like fashion and provide users with more services and options for social networks. This session will map out the world of Web 3.0, exploring the unique benefits for end users, as well as opportunities for businesses. Using specific examples, Jon Doyle will demonstrate how Web 3.0 will change the way users interact with the Web - from planning and booking an entire vacation to automatically scheduling doctor's appointments based on personal preferences.

Showtime: Bringing the Co-Web to a Screen Near You!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:45:00 EDT

The Co-Web, the collaborative, media converged Web, is upon us. The Co-Web is interpersonal; it is about getting work done together. It is much more than surfing a YouTube/Google Map mashup while Twittering with co-workers. Showtime uses those same technologies to build a Co-Web page where we all interact on the same data at the same time, see the same context and make better decisions as a result. A Showtime Co-Web application uses the same standards as a normal mashup - OpenAJAX plus XMPP, RTP/RTSP and H.264 - yet remakes the mashup as the Co-Web. For the Co-Web - It's Showtime!

JavaScript: The Good Parts

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:15:00 EDT

JavaScript is a language with more than its share of bad parts. It went from non-existence to global adoption in an alarmingly short period of time. It never had an interval in the lab when it could be tried out and polished. JavaScript has some extraordinarily good parts. In JavaScript there is a beautiful, highly expressive language that is buried under a steaming pile of good intentions and blunders. The best nature of JavaScript was so effectively hidden that for many years the prevailing opinion of JavaScript was that it was an unsightly, incompetent abomination. This session will expose the goodness in JavaScript, an outstanding dynamic programming language. Within the language is an elegant subset that is vastly superior to the language as a whole, being more reliable, readable and maintainable.

The Business Value of Social Networking on Corporate Intranets

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:15:00 EDT

This Session will demonstrate why social networking is more than just marketing buzz; it is a relational model that has been used for years to define the way human beings interact, and it is the next step in the natural evolution of the Web. Learn how organizations can improve workflow and productivity by utilizing social software and online collaboration. See how social networking can be used to efficiently define and enable how work actually gets done on your intranet. Discover how your intranet can become a dynamic corporate knowledge base that will scale with the company as it grows and will still maintain usability on it own. Understand why no single user, even the administrator, can possibly identify all of the assets, users and groups and how they need to be connected to each other for your intranet to be a truly collaborative business tool. See how social networking will naturally scale your intranet to define these nodes and ties.

Use JavaScript 2 Today with OpenLaszlo

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:15:00 EDT

JavaScript 2 is becoming increasingly important. Learn how to take advantage of JavaScript 2 while still running in today's browsers. Leverage your current JavaScript and HTML skills to build applications that run in Flash 7-9, DHTML and more with no code changes! OpenLaszlo 4.2 includes a new JavaScript 2-based compiler that translates JS2 syntax to a variety of formats, including JS 1.5, Actionscript 1 & 2 and Actionscript 3. When Firefox 4 is out, we'll be ready with native JavaScript 2.0 support! Come learn about this exciting new development, and about the new features designed to make developing complex apps easy, including cross-browser history and vector graphics support.

Building RIAs Using Microsoft Silverlight 2

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Many of today (and tomorrow's) development projects lend themselves nicely to RIA application patterns. Silverlight offers a compelling RIA development experience that works on Linux, the mac and windows as well as all major browsers. With HD video, vector based graphics and a rich set of controls including DataGrid Silverlight offers a compelling development experience in nearly any programming language you'd like from C# and VB to JavaScript and Python. Learn how to use Visual Studio to create applications, how to create UI using XAML markup and code, how to retrieve data from the web, and how to manipulate data with XML and LINQ. This talk uses the 100% free Silverlight runtime and Visual Studio tools.

FLEX + AIR + Mobile

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:15:00 EDT

In this session Thomas will share his experience in migrating from AJAX to Flex, the advantages/disadvantages that Flex has as the primary client for a consumer web-based SaaS product, and his vision of how Flex + AIR via any desktop + Mobile (in one or more technical forms) takes us a step towards the vision that Mark Weiser presented in his original works on ubiquitous computing.

Do RIA Widgets Open Security Back Doors?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

By producing a popular RIA widget you can distribute your code to millions of users practically overnight. Most widgets are designed to gather data from the web and then present that data to the user. In order to enable this functionality, Google Gadgets for example support a rich programming model based on based on JavaScript and the Gadgets' API. Unfortunately, rich platforms tend to lead to programming errors and security issues. The users of a poorly written RIA widget can have their online accounts breached, web site passwords compromised, local computer data stolen, and even lose control of their computer. This presentation, via code snippets, flow diagrams, and other means, discusses how to write an RIA widget that avoids these pitfalls.

Building RIAs Using Google Web Toolkit (GWT)

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:45:00 EDT

Rich Internet Applications using AJAX technology has truly improved the end user experience. But, as a developer if you are new to it, be warned: AJAX projects can quickly degenerate into a nightmare of spaghetti script. Large JavaScript technology code bases are often hard to write, read, test, and debug--not to mention the complexity of efficiently supporting multiple browsers. If you are a Java developer, you have another choice - the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). GWT is a lightweight, reusable Java technology framework has taken a unique approach to developing rich internet applications to wrangle AJAX coding issues. The Google Web Toolkit addresses code reuse, performance, multibrowser support, debugging, and testing AJAX applications.

Server-Side JavaScript - All the Cool Kids Are Doing It!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EDT

In this session that no developer who uses JavaScript or ActionScript will want to miss, delegates will learn how to: Overcome common hurdles and pitfalls of client-side only JavaScript development. Speed up development time by cutting out extra server-side code and processing scripts that are no longer necessary. Clean up your code base by reducing (or even eliminating) the number of languages needed to leverage to accomplish common tasks (i.e. Why bother with server-side PHP scripts to fetch database results when you can do it all in JavaScript on the server? Why mess with Curl to fetch content that your JavaScript code can grab in one line?) Selby will also get hands on with live demonstration of how to: Create JSON data services for your Ajax, Flash, Flex and Silverlight apps, Implement JavaScript RMI, Use your favorite AJAX libraries server-side. Manipulate the DOM server-side, Talk to databases, file systems, networks, and remote sites or services (cross-domain XHRs are now a possibility! The session will show Web developers how they can put their JavaScript skills to work on the server side using technologies like Mozilla Rhino and Aptana Jaxer, which embeds the entire Mozilla browser on the server side.

Building AJAX Mashups with Google APIs

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:15:00 EDT

This session will cover how to integrate various Google APIs including Google's AJAX APIs including Maps, AJAX Search and Feed into superior AJAX mashups. The session also shows how to use Google's App Engine as an AJAX Web application provider. Finally, this session will also show how to socialize your AJAX applications using the OpenSocial APIs and Google Friend Connect.

Crafting Rich Web Interfaces

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:15:00 EDT

In every field of design one of the first things students do is learn from the work of others. They study and break down real-world examples in order to understand the underlying principles and patterns that make for successful design. Then they learn to apply these to their own set of problems. The real trick is to apply them in a nuanced manner. To be nuanced is 'to be sensitive to delicate differences of style.' Most of the art in crafting a rich experience on the Web can be summed up with this one word -- 'nuance'. Over the last 24 years Bill has been involved in the study of nuanced design in crafting rich interfaces. Prior to joining Netflix, Bill led the effort to launch the public Yahoo! Design Pattern Library where he cataloged many examples of common design patterns. More recently Bill has been working on an upcoming O'Reilly book on design that explores the nuance of rich Web interfaces.

Reporting Portals - Creating the No-Pain, All-Gain Customer Experience

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:45:00 EDT

As any successful marketer knows, understanding customer needs and designing an experience tailored to those needs contributes to the overall success of the product. Whether the portal is private, such as an intranet-based reporting tool, or public, such as an enterprise application delivering time-sensitive data over the web, user experience needs will be similar. Recognizing these needs and incorporating them into the portal design will give users reasons to want to shop with confidence. Using the analogy of a retail giant, this session will provide some guidelines for creating a rich User Interface for reporting portals, providing a no-pain, all-gain customer experience.

IA and RIA - You Know More Than You Think You Do

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EDT

For the last couple of years, there has been a lot of giddiness around the creation or Rich Internet Applications or RIAs. Their fluidity, animation and ability to present and manipulate large amounts of data makes them readily appealing to businesses that want to go beyond the linear processes that HTML web sites offer. They are becoming more common and the demand from clients is increasing. What's the buzz about? In this session Travelocity's Principal Information Architect will share his experience and some things he has learned about RIAs that validated much of what he already knew. The session will discuss both process and dynamics. Polansky will look at how some things will stay the same and some things will be different. He'll discuss some built-in advantages when it comes to planning and usability testing as well as give a few tips on things to help you work with designers and business owners. Attendees will also get a free Visio stencil with transition icons for key-frame models.

High Performance in Rich Web Apps: Five Practical Strategies and How to Implement Them

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:15:00 EDT

Those of us in the business of writing rich Internet applications have seen the focus swing from how to add richness to how to manage richness and the resources it demands in the browser. Steve Souders's recent volume from O'Reilly, High Performance Web Sites, and the canonical performance rules Steve pioneered with the Exceptional Performance Team at Yahoo in recent years have helped bring data-driven order to the lore that surrounds browser performance.

Who Says Web 2.0 is Hard? You Don't Need a PhD with AJAX

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Web applications continue to evolve to support a far richer user experience than in the early days of the Internet. However, delivering these solutions adds complexity and demands additional programming skills. This session provides an overview of how the innovative IBM Rational technology delivered through its new Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) capabilities, helps dramatically simplify the construction of rich user interfaces and their integration with back-end services, transactional systems, and data sources for any platform, including System z and System i. This revolutionary approach enables companies to leverage their valuable IT assets into state-of-the-art SOA-based and web solutions in record time while leveraging existing skills.

AJAX for Oracle: Building RIAs Without Browser Plug-ins

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:45:00 EDT

Enterprise developers (and users) definitely want Web 2.0 features, but unfortunately very few of them have the time to learn and keep up with the swift pace of advancement in AJAX. One approach to solving this problem is to take a bunch of AJAX features and bake them into APIs stored in a database that can be called using simple declarative markup language. In this session John Krahulec will show how the the application server middle tier can be virtualized into the Oracle database, bridging the gap between front-end rich UI and back-end data systems.

AJAX with jQuery

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:30:00 EDT

jQuery is a rapidly growing, popular JavaScript library. Its powerful and modular architecture, which emphasizes a simple yet heavily extensible API, has helped it to become one of the most popular Javascript Libraries. Because of its dead-simple plugin architecture, many even begin extending jQuery's core features within hours of first using it. This talk will demonstrate how the library works, and show you why so many users are able to build fully AJAX-enabled Websites in their first day using jQuery.

AJAX and Enterprise RIA Tools - JSF, Flex, and JavaFX

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:45:00 EDT

2008 is going to be an important year for Rich Internet Applications. Most organizations are delivering or planning to deliver Rich Internet Applications; however, at the same time, most IT managers are facing a dilemma: which Rich Internet Application technology and platform to use? The number of different frameworks and libraries is too vast to even consider evaluating a fraction of them.

AJAX World - Adobe Flex 4 Is Shaping Up

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:15:00 EDT

Adobe has published their first plan of what should be included in Flex 4 that is scheduled to release next year. Since Flex is an open source product, you have a say in this too. Obviously, there's a hope that upcoming Thermo release will bring together developers and designers. I'm cautiously optimistic here. It's great that a designer's tool will automatically generate MXML. A developer will pick it up and re-factor. But will the tool be smart enough to reverse-engineer the re-factored code and present it back in a visual form to the designer for further work? That is a million dollars question.

AJAX World - Cooking CRUD with Flex and BlazeDS

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

In today's cooking class you'll add to your cookbook a delicious recipe. It's quick and won't cost you a dime. I'm sure you've been in one of these situations when you have unexpected guests arriving in 20 minutes and need to make a good impression. Let's create an application that will auto-generate a Flex-Tomcat-BlazeDS-DB2 application.

AJAX World - Skyway Software Announces RIA Developer Contest

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:30:00 EDT

According to Sean Walsh, President and CEO of Skyway Software, 'Our Skyway Community is thriving and our members are very talented. We truly look forward to their RIAs submittals and Skyway Builder extensions and are excited that all of the contributions will benefit the entire Skyway Community.' With Skyway Builder CE, Java developers get an open source Eclipse-based plugin that offers a seamless blend of coding and modeling for delivering RIAs and Web Services in Spring. Unlike any other modeling tool, Skyway Builder CE provides comprehensive modeling capabilities at four distinct application layers:

SYS-CON Media Distributes Collectible "Virtualization Journal Mugs" at JavaOne

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:45:00 EDT

Virtualization Journal now reaches more than 60,000 online readers with monthly digital editions and weekly newsletters. The premier issue of the magazine's print edition, which debuts on May 6, 2008, at JavaOne in San Francisco, as a media sponsor of this event, will be available on newsstands worldwide. Article submission inquiries can be directed by email to editorial(at)sys-con.com and the world's most targeted advertising opportunities can be explored by contacting advertising(at)sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.

Is the Silverlight Adoption Rate Artificially Inflated?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:45:00 EDT

Silverlight 2.0 is a freaking phenomenal RIA development environment and I would actually, at this point, put the development experience in Silverlight 2.0 above and beyond Flex. I can do more faster and have it look better and run more efficiently in Silverlight 2.0 than I can in Flex. BUT, when you're looking for case studies, look for ones where the person or organization who adopted Silverlight did so of their own volition, without being approached by Microsoft. I'm interested in hardcore, unbiased opinions from people who have been in the trenches doing their own coding, not watching Microsoft consultants do the coding for them. There are plenty of case studies like that out there, you just have to look past the shiny bouncing balls that are the Olympics and the Oscars and all the other crap that probably cost Microsoft a hojillion dollars in marketing funds and incentives.

Silverlight 2 - Adobe Flex Killer Is on Its Way!

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Silverlight 2.0 kicks ass and I can't wait to start dropping more hardcore blog posts regarding it. Scott Guthrie's tutorials are a fantastic place to start. The issue I have, however, is that all of the tutorials assume you have installed Silverlight 2.0 tools for VS 2008. There is a small issue with that and I'm not sure everyone's aware of it.

Adobe Wants to Be on the iPhone and Will "Reorganize" Its Mobile and Device Business Unit

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Rumor has it that in the next few weeks Adobe is going to 'reorganize' its Mobile and Device business unit where its Jobs-criticized Flash Lite lives and send the engineers to go work with the larger platform effort and Flash proper, which Jobs has also criticized. Presumably, Adobe is going to do what it takes to appease Jobs. It does want to be on the iPhone and needs Apple's help.

AJAXWorld and Bear Stearns

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EDT

This was the first time I've included into the list of the RIA players a little known product called Curl. Even though this language was created in MIT, it's mainly used in Japan. I had a chance to spend an hour with Curl folks today, and it seems that this language may be a good fit for RIA that require solid processing power on the client. I need to spend more time studying this language to form an opinion about this language Curl.

Do We Need to Teach Designers Programming?

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:30:00 EDT

Fast-spreading rich Internet applications require new skills for development of what was known as boring-looking enterprise applications. In the past, development of the user interface was done by software developers to the best of their design abilities. A couple of buttons here, a grid there, gray background. Their users were happy because they did not see any better. This is about to change...