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Licensing in the modern world Your guide through the software jungle WIN! See page 12 for details

Welcome Contents Editorial IBM launched the IBM PC in 1981, bringing the 4 Latest News Editor:...... Matt Nicholson microcomputer into the office and simultaneously opening Adobe, GFI, InstallShield, Technical Editors:... Sean Wilson, Paul Edwards up a whole new market for IBM ‘clones’ from companies such as Embarcadero, Wolfram News Editor:...... Paul Stephens and much more. Publisher:...... Andrew King Compaq, Ericsson and Tandy. The IBM PC used Intel’s 8088 processor Contributors:...... Tim Anderson, and introduced an architecture that allowed a full megabyte of 11 Inside Data Mary Branscombe, Kay Ewbank, Jon Visual Studio LightSwitch Honeyball, Graham Keitch, Paul Stephens, memory to be addressed; so when Intel launched the 80286 processor Simon Williams, Peter Worlock a year later, which could directly address 16MB of data, the industry 2011, Denali and Juneau. Design and layout:...... Jason Stanley waited to see what IBM would do. Two years later, IBM responded with 12 Competition Illustration:...... Sholto Walker the IBM PC AT, which again was widely cloned. Win a licence to SAP Web Developer:...... Dave Clayton Then in 1985, Intel introduced its first general-purpose 32-bit Crystal Reports 2011! Advertising & Circulation processor in the 80386, and IBM hesitated. The company was frankly 14 The licensing jungle Marketing:...... Holly Hudson, Ash Khagram, fed up with the clone manufacturers, whose ranks now included Dell, Software licensing in the Anna Roach Gateway, Olivetti and Zenith, and was looking for strategies that modern workplace. Tel: 01364 654 100 would enable it to reclaim the market. Furthermore, the power of Email: [email protected] Intel’s new processor meant that a PC based around it might well HardCopy is edited for Grey Matter four compete with IBM’s own lucrative minicomputer range, which did not times a year by Matt Publishing, Bristol, UK seem like a good idea at the time.

Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc, UK and Unfettered by such considerations, Compaq seized the initiative requested by 15,000 readers. with its Deskpro 386. IBM faught back with the PS/2, in a desparate attempt to regain its position. This was a nice design, introducing the Copyright © 2011 Grey Matter Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be MCA (Micro Channel Architecture) expansion bus which IBM took the reproduced in any form without prior precaution of patenting, but it was too late. A group of PC 20 Health check consent of the copyright holder. manufacturers called the ‘Gang of Nine’ championed its own All trademarks acknowledged. While Tools for monitoring and all reasonable attempts are made to ensure expansion bus which it called EISA. This was an Extended version of managing your network. accuracy, Grey Matter and Matt Publishing the expansion slots used by the PC and the AT, which by implication 25 Office 365 disclaim any liability whatsoever for any use (and to IBM’s annoyance) became labelled ISA, or Industry Standard of information herein. Any prices shown Delivering Office services exclude VAT unless otherwise specified. Architecture. IBM became just another manufacturer and eventually from the cloud. sold its PC business to the Chinese company Lenovo. 28 Online learning Cover Image credits: My reason for mentioning all this is that I can see parallels ©iStockphoto.com/ctoelg The flexible alternative to between the situation then, with IBM on one side and the ‘Gang of training and books. Advertisers Index Nine’ on the other, and the situation now, with taking the 30 Straight talking IBM role and exponents of Cloud Computing the other. Microsoft has 2 Visual Studio LightSwitch Cross-platform long dominated the office with its highly lucrative Office suite and programming from 8 Infragistics associated servers, which accounted for some $22 billion in sales and Embarcadero. 10 Red Hat $14 billion in profit over the 12 months to 30 June 2011. Microsoft has 32 And Another Thing 13 SAP Crystal Reports 2011 a monopoly here, which is why it can get away with the torturous Jon Honeyball finds chaos 16 Microsoft Office 2010 licensing system that Peter Worlock describes on page 18, designed to in the tablet market. 19 JetBrains extract as much revenue as possible from its customers. 23 Ipswitch 34 Short Cuts However the game is changing with the advent of The Cloud in Views from the edge. 24 Embarcadero which Microsoft faces serious competition from the likes of Google 24 Sybase and Apple. Microsoft’s response is Office 365, which Mary 27 Microsoft Office 365 Branscombe looks at on page 25, and as you can see, licensing Office 31 AVG 365 is a much more straightforward proposition with just one plan for Register Now! 33 WinZip smaller companies with up to 50 employees; four clearly delineated HardCopy magazine is published four times 35 Symantec plans for larger organisations; and a handy ‘kiosk worker’ plan for users a year. Make sure you don’t miss out by 36 Flexera that don’t have their own desk. Long may the competition continue! registering or updating your details at Grey Matter Limited www.softwareknowhow.info/hc/register Prigg Meadow, Ashburton, Devon, TQ13 7DF, UK Read HardCopy online [email protected] HardCopy is hosted on Grey Matter’s software information portal. To view buyer’s guides, news, blogs and forums go to Matt Nicholson www.softwareknowhow.info Editor, HardCopy

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 3 Grey Matter Latest News InstallShield 2012 goes Agile Flexera • www.greymatter.com/flexera

Flexera Software has released intensive installation experiences for InstallShield 2012, a major upgrade of ‘app-store savvy’ users, while 32 and 64-bit its Windows application installation package. application versions can be bundled together New features include support for packaging for automatic selection by target platform. suites of applications, installation streaming Also targeting the App Store generation and software compliance tagging, while is Installation Streaming, which aims to make enhancements include additional collaboration installation “painless, fast and virtually which can be linked into the project’s overall features aimed at Agile development teams, transparent” by using a small startup file to MSI at build time. extra support for 64-bit systems and additional give immediate user interaction then There are also improvements to 64-bit installation prerequisites. download or uncompress only the packages support, including updated dependency The new Suite project selected. Meanwhile application tagging (or scanners, 64-bit permissions and a 64-bit VSTO type lets software developers ‘self-instrumentation’) addresses the concerns 2010 runtime prerequisite. Other offer products individually or of compliance managers, with InstallShield enhancements include IE9 and SQL Server 2008 bundled into suites, with a 2012 becoming the first major installer R2 Native Client prerequisites, a consistent installation interface product to create ISO 19770-2 software RequiredExecutionLevel property and sniffers that doesn’t require custom identification tags. for IE9, Microsoft Office (2003-2010) and Adobe launchers or bootstrappers. It Support for Agile development is Reader 10. uses a new setup.exe to enhanced in InstallShield 2012, with the conditionally run multiple Collaboration add-on offering improved • Private equity firm Thoma Bravo recently sold installations (.msi or .exe) and features to help distributed development a majority stake in Flexera to Teachers’ Private apply teams manage their own sections of a Capital, the private investment arm of the patches. A new user interface product’s overall installation. A new Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Although little and wizard page editor are Developer Installation Manifest (DIM) project known, TPC is one of the world’s largest private aimed at creating graphic- type caters for feature-sized project subsets, equity investors, with assets of $107.5 billion.

Adobe Edges its bets with HTML5 animation tool Adobe • www.greymatter.com/adobe

For years Adobe’s Flash has been the rich content features aim to (largely) replace code. The firm has avoided reinventing any dominant technology for displaying both systems, especially on mobiles. One wheels, instead basing Edge on leading rich content such as video and animation in problem, however, has been the lack of open-source technologies – the package uses a Web browsers, challenged only in recent times enterprise-quality HTML5 authoring tools. WebKit-based design surface and generates by Microsoft’s Silverlight. Now HTML5’s intrinsic Strangely enough one company limbering up JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data to stake a claim to the structures which are processed at runtime using tools market – and thus the JQuery javascript . The preview arguably hasten Flash’s doesn’t support code editing, or HTML5’s demise – is Adobe. Canvas or video features, but these are The company has promised in later versions. released a pre-beta Adobe says that the early preview reflects preview of Adobe Edge, its open development methodology for Edge. the HTML5 animation “With Adobe Edge, we’re taking our HTML5 designer first shown at last tooling to a whole new level and look forward October’s MAX to getting some really useful feedback from the conference. Using a community over the next few months” said Paul timeline interface it lets Gubbay, the company’s VP of Design and Web you animate text and Engineering. Edge runs on Windows and Mac graphics (include SVG OS X, and you can view example animations, Adobe could hasten the demise of its own Flash product with Edge, an vectors), producing and download the preview, from authoring tool for HTML5 animations. HTML5, CSS and Javascript http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/

4 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Grey Matter

Embarcadero offers private app store system Embarcadero • www.greymatter.com/embarcadero

When tools vendor Embarcadero demand and executed with zero installation. All launched its ToolCloud software of Embarcadero’s XE packages are AppWave- deployment server last year, it announced plans ready, while an AppWave Studio toolkit allows Embarcadero’s AppWave aims to give Windows users a to develop a version that would allow customers third-party and in-house applications (currently ‘mobile-like app experience’. to serve up their own products alongside 32-bit only) to be packaged into ‘Apps’ too. Embarcadero’s. Now it’s delivered the goods An Administrator console is provided for selection of free applications (such as , with AppWave, a ‘private PC app store’ that licensing and usage monitoring (it integrates and OpenOffice). The package itself is also free allows in-house and commercial Windows with LDAP directories and, Embarcadero says, to download from Embarcadero’s Web site. applications to be packaged for zero-footprint works with existing software licensing streaming execution, complete with Store-style technologies), as well as creating App Channels • As well as supporting private app stores, features such as channels, user reviews and focussed on user departments or application Embarcadero is building a public app store to ratings. types. Apps can also be ‘socialized’ by allowing take on the might of Apple and Microsoft’s AppWave (which replaces ToolCloud) is users to write reviews and give them ratings. forthcoming . The AppWave Store is designed to run on private networks/extranets, The end user interface is via an AppWave currently in beta and accepting free software providing a central application repository with Browser client which lets you search, browse, only, but it aims to go live later this year, licensing and version control, and allowing rate and run apps from a single screen. allowing developers to sell their apps on a software to be streamed to workstations on AppWave comes pre-loaded with a royalty-only basis.

ComponentOne ships Mango-ready Windows Phone controls ComponentOne • www.greymatter.com/componentone

As HardCopy went to press, controls and XML/XAML documents. Coverflow provides and rotating of UI vendor ComponentOne was readying the now-classic 3D iPhone scrolling ‘album elements, while the first release of Studio for Windows Phone, a cover’ display, with control of angles and Reflector provides 2D suite of UI controls compatible with the distances and the ability to display rich data as and 3D reflections. forthcoming ‘Mango’ (7.1) release of Microsoft’s well as images. The suite’s Maps control comes There’s also a PDF smartphone platform. The controls, based on pre-linked to Microsoft Bing Maps (you can add Viewer with text the Studio for Silverlight code base, include your own services) and supports map item and search and a charting and a rich text editor alongside ‘native’ vector graphics overlays, as well as the KML GetPages API. phone items such as an iPhone-style coverflow. markup language. Studio for The controls use the Metro design theme and ComponentOne says its Rich Text box is Windows Phone will support Windows Phone touch and gesture the only Windows Phone 7 control to support be included in ComponentOne’s Silverlight-based controls for features. HTML and RTF formats. Its MaskedTextBox, ComponentOne’s Windows Phone include charting, rich text and an The Chart control features 30 chart types meanwhile, allows validated text input, while Studio for Silverlight, iPhone-style ‘album cover’ carousel. with static or touch-reveal legends, multi-type NumericBox supports .NET format strings, Enterprise and charts, 22 colour palettes (including Metro and range-limiting and increment buttons. Ultimate bundles, and also available as a Office schemes) and binding to business objects LayoutTransformer provides scaling, skewing standalone product.

News in Brief Software Know How • www.softwareknowhow.info/news.aspx

• Backup specialist Acronis has launched API, improved JVM support for dynamic • Ipswitch has released WhatsUp Log vmProtect 6, a new backup/recovery tool aimed languages such as Ruby and Javascript, and Management v10, featuring seamless syslog specifically at VMware environments. The Unicode 6.0 support. The cloud-focused Java EE integration, new point-and click, compliance- package provides agentless, always-incremental 7 is due Q3 2012. centric reporting, and support for IIS and W3C backups of VMware VMs and almost instant log formats. recovery, using a simple Web-based interface. • Grey Matter is developing a UK Web site to compliment Intel’s existing Parallel Universe • Oracle has released Java Platform SE 7, the first magazine. The site is scheduled to go live later update of Java under the company’s this year. For details, keep an eye on stewardship. Features include a multicore-ready www.greymatter.com.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 5 Grey Matter

Wolfram launches Computable Document Format Wolfram • www.greymatter.com/wolfram

We’ve all heard of PDF – now there’s document contains the data and the algorithms interactive documents through an online CDF (Computable Document Format) themselves, computing the results in real time conversion process to make them playable. launched by and allowing users to examine data and adjust Mathematica Player Pro remains available for computational software outcomes via sliders and other controls. applications which require features such as text vendor Wolfram Research Authoring requires Wolfram’s Mathematica 8 input and custom data loading. in a bid to set the standard package, launched last November with new “If a picture is worth a thousand words, an for documents that not free-form linguistic input to ease the job of interactive knowledge app is worth a thousand only display charts and specifying complex formulae. The company has pictures”, said the company’s Strategic figures but allow users to published the CDF standard, so other authoring Development Director, Conrad Wolfram. CDF interact with them. tools may emerge. Player is available for Windows, Mac OS X and The idea is that, CDFs can be viewed via CDF Player, a free Linux (desktop only), and Wolfram is aiming to instead of just displaying desktop and browser plugin package. It produce versions for mobile platforms. the results of pushing data replaces the previous Mathematica Player with Distribution of non-free CDF content requires a through algorithms, the the advantage that there’s no need to put licence from Wolfram.

Embarcadero goes cross-platform with RAD Studio XE2 Embarcadero • www.greymatter.com/embarcadero

Tools vendor Embarcadero has taken the Delphi language. Windows-only development and is enhanced the great leap forward and added Mac Like the previous XE release, RAD Studio with a new styles (themes) feature. New OSX, iOS and (limited) Android target platform XE2 comprises Delphi, C++ Builder and Rad LiveBindings let you connect any data source to support to its Windows-based RAD Studio PHP. Delphi targets the full range of platforms, any VCL/FireMonkey element using software development suite, giving it a key including Windows 32/64, OS X and native code dynamically-evaluated expressions, and there advantage over Microsoft’s Visual Studio. To (App Store compliant) iOS for iPhone, iPod are new RAD Cloud DataSnap connectors for all support the move, it’s added a new FireMonkey Touch and iPad, while C++ Builder targets the major mobile platforms. GPU-powered GUI framework, which replaces Windows and OS X. Remote debugging of OS X New features in Rad PHP XE2 include the existing VCL library for developing apps running on a Mac is supported from the support for touch-optimised Android and iOS cross-platform applications. Also included is the RAD Studio IDE. Web apps, and for native (i.e. App store) phone much-anticipated 64-bit Windows support in Instead of VCL, cross-platform apps use the apps via the open source PhoneGap framework. FireMonkey framework, an all-new package There’s also an expanded Zen framework which supports 3D graphics and animations, component set. RAD Studio XE2 is available in and provides a GPU abstraction layer (although Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate and Architect currently no support for systems without a editions. For further details, see Tim Anderson’s visible GPU). VCL is still supported for take on page 30.

VMware launches vSphere 5.0 and hits pricing controversy VMware • www.greymatter.com/vmware

In July, virtualisation giant VMware virtual CPUs, more scalable (and easier to the small print of the new vSphere licensing launched vSphere 5.0, along with configure) High Availability architecture, terms, some weren’t happy, saying that updated versions of its cloud infrastructure policy-based resource management and a new licensing by virtual resources went against the tools and a new pricing model based on virtual stateless firewall engine. Meanwhile Site basic principles (and cost benefits) of RAM (vRam) rather than physical resources. Just Recovery Manager 5.0 features new replication virtualisation. Main (albeit distant) competitor weeks later, the company had a rethink on the and automated failback/migration capabilities, Microsoft weighed in with a blog post entitled pricing after ‘hostile’ responses from customers, vShield 5 has cloud-oriented, policy-based Trust “Beware the VMware Memory vTax”, complete increasing vRam limits by as much as four times Zones in place of physical boundaries, and the with a promise never to do such a thing with to reduce or eliminate increased charges. vCloud Director 1.5 virtual datacenter Hyper-V. vSphere 5.0, launched on 12 July, is based configuration tool has faster provisioning, an Two weeks later VMware had a rethink, exclusively on the EXSi hypervisor and offers enhanced API and Microsoft SQL Server among other things raising vRam entitlements nearly 200 new and improved features, These support. by 33 per cent on paid licences, and include VM support for 1 TB memory and 32 So far so good, but when customers read quadrupling the allowance on the free version.

6 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Grey Matter

Denali CTP3 brings next release of SQL Server closer Microsoft • www.greymatter.com/microsoft

Microsoft has released CTP3 of SQL rather than rows, is assembled together for T-SQL, including greater ANSI 2008 Server codename ‘Denali’, adding key searching, and that its new batch mode query compatibility. The CTP3 release is new features to what is already one of the execution delivers up to 100 times the downloadable now in 32 and 64 bit formats. biggest-ever overhauls of its flagship database performance on complex queries. product. Heading the list are ‘Always On’ high Project Crescent adds a browser-based availability and disaster recovery (HADR) Self-Service Reporting Capability, replacing SQL functionality, ‘Project Apollo’ column store Server 2005’s Report Builder. New Data Quality technology, ‘Project Crescent’ Business Services integrate with third-party providers Intelligence and ‘Project Juneau’ cloud- through Windows Azure Marketplace, while a compatible developer tools. Microsoft says CTP3 new BI Semantic Model provides consistent is a production quality release and close to views of heterogeneous data sources. feature-complete, indicating that it may yet The Juneau developer interface provides a emerge as SQL Server 2011 later this year. unified Visual Studio-based IDE for database, CTP3 is the second generally-available Business Intelligence and Web, with targeting of preview of Denali, CTP2 having been a ‘private’ SQL Server and Microsoft’s cloud-based SQL release for selected testers. Always On allows up Azure service. to four replicas, each with multiple databases The additions join a (very) long list of new supporting queries and backups, set up through features in Denali, including extended table Windows Failover Clustering. Microsoft says that partitioning, Windows Server Core support, Denali will be the first ‘major general-purpose enhanced PowerPivot analysis, change data database’ (i.e. including Oracle) to have a true capture for Oracle, improved interaction with SQL Server Denali’s Self-Service Reporting combines column store, in which data from columns, PHP and Java and a range of enhancements to heterogeneous data sources.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 7

Grey Matter

GFI takes malware sandboxing out of the box GFI • www.greymatter.com/gfi

It’s been a busy summer at North GFI has also released version 3.4 of GFI Premium Lifetime Edition of its VIPRE package Carolina-based security specialists GFI SandBox, formerly known as CWSandBox and (another Sunbelt acquisition) includes software Software, with a 2011 release of its GFI Backup acquired with GFI’s purchase of Florida-based and virus definition updates for the lifetime of product for SMBs, and its Advanced Technology Sunbelt Software in 2010. Enhancements the PC it’s installed on. Group pitching a new release of the recently- include kernel-level monitoring, faster analysis, acquired GFI Sandbox malware analysis system new detailed malware analysis reports, directly at end-user businesses, as well as improved collaboration and new easy user specialist security professionals. controls. Previously the province of security New features in GFI Backup 2011 include professionals, GFI is aiming the new version at a bare metal/image backups with restore to wider audience. “Our focus is to make advanced dissimilar hardware, SQL Server backup, MySQL malware analysis more accessible to support, handling of long file paths in Windows organisations with limited in-house malware 7 and 2008, and a range of usability expertise, especially in the financial services enhancements. The new release also supports sector where we see a lot of malware activity”, backup, restore and migration for VMware and said GFI Vice President Julian Watts. Microsoft Hyper-V virtualised environments. The package features a Web-based admin console • GFI is also notable for offering that rare breed: (no VPN required) and comes in Professional and a commercial antivirus/security package with GFI Backup 2011 includes support for bare metal backup/ restore, and Network editions. no annual subscription. Launched last year, the VMware and Hyper-V environments.

Business apps at the flick of a LightSwitch from Microsoft Microsoft • www.greymatter.com/microsoft

Microsoft has released Visual Studio required) or as a new project type in an existing applications including Customer Service and LightSwitch 2011, a point and click VS system. Data can be from a SQL database Expenses tracking, and Microsoft is business application generator which produces (SQL Server Express for local storage), encouraging an Extensions market of themes database-connected Silverlight 4 applications SharePoint list or WCF RIA Services feed, and and templates from third-party suppliers. for desktop and Web execution. Unlike many there are entity and relationship designers for Among those early into the fray are controls app generators it lets you add your own creating and joining tables. Screen design is vendor ComponentOne with an Excel-style program code (VB or C#), and deployment ultra-simplified; you merely edit a list of which OLAP for LightSwitch package, and .NET UI options include one-click publishing to fields you want to appear and LightSwitch does specialist Telerik which is offering its Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform the rest. A simplified Solution Explorer view lists RadControls for Silverlight components in (though not, as yet, Windows Phone 7). the project’s assets, but developers can switch LightSwitch-wrapped form. Infragistics has also LightSwitch can install as a stand-alone to a conventional view and start adding code. launched a NetAdvantage for LightSwitch suite. product (separate Visual Studio licence not A series of free starter kits are available for See overleaf for more on LightSwitch.

Doc-to-Help adopts JQuery for new Web Help format ComponentOne • www.greymatter.com/componentone

ComponentOne is perhaps best known favour of the new, JQuery-based NetHelp 2.0. for its ‘Studio’ suites of UI controls but The company cites a number of advantages the company also publishes Doc-to-Help which, including full separation of presentation from as its name suggests, converts help page content (the actual help content is raw XML). content written in Microsoft Word (or HTML) to a NetHelp 2.0 XML can be loaded directly variety of formats including WinHelp and into a SharePoint Library, or to a SharePoint Web-based NetHelp. The firm has followed Wiki. Other improvements include more flexible January’s release of Doc-to-Help 2011 with project file storage, a single project title for all Doc-to-Help 2011 V2, sporting a new version of output formats and synchronisation of Project the NetHelp format, improved SharePoint and Word styles. The Build Scheduler now runs integration and enhancements to Build as a Windows service, and Team Authoring and scheduling, diagnostics and project styles. Team Foundation Server project builds can now According to ComponentOne, NetHelp has be scheduled. Multi-language support has also become the package’s most popular output been improved with the ability to specify a Doc-to-Help 2011 V2 from ComponentOne format, so it’s a brave move to discontinue it in default spell-checking language for each file. supports a wide range of help file formats.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 9

Database Inside Data Graham Keitch finds out what Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011 has to offer the database developer.

In the last issue of Inside Data, I wrote first step is to specify whether it will be a about Oracle Application Express Windows desktop application that will run from (APEX) in the context of its support for Microsoft the Start menu or a web application that will Office. In July 2011 Microsoft released a similar run in a browser. LightSwitch supports Visual in the user interface. You can create tool based largely on Silverlight technology, Basic and Visual C# and once specified, your relationships between entities, including those GRAHAM Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011. from different sources, and this is much KEITCH The two products are not directly easier than with Microsoft Access. A comparable but share common Denali and Juneau graphical designer is used to create objectives in simplifying the Microsoft is also planning to release a more advanced set of queries which can be modified further development of business database developer tools to coincide with the next release of SQL by code. applications, so it might be timely Server (codenamed ‘Denali’). This will be SQL Server Developer Tools Screens or forms based on to look at the Microsoft offering. (SSDT), currently known as ‘Juneau’. predefined templates determine how As any database developer SSDT is intended for both administrators and developers. It LightSwitch displays information and knows, building user interfaces for offers new capabilities in a single environment to compile, refactor enables the user to enter, retrieve and data-centric applications involves and deploy databases to specific editions of SQL Server and SQL edit data. To bind data to a screen, you a lot of repetitive coding. Azure. The tools make it easy to migrate on-premise SQL Server specify the entities or queries to be Graham is the database pre-sales specialist LightSwitch takes care of this, schemas to the cloud on SQL Azure and develop and maintain displayed. The default settings are at Grey Matter and leaving the developer to databases across both platforms. SSDT targets all editions of SQL usually sufficient although the Screen has worked in IT for concentrate on the unique Server 2005 through to 2008 R2, SQL Server ‘Denali’ and SQL Azure. Designer facilitates customisation. This over 20 years. He also helped co-ordinate business logic. The ability to allows you to change the field the European ground- search, sort, rearrange grids and properties and layout. You have to run based efforts that export data is prebuilt into LightSwitch. So too chosen language will be used throughout the the application to see the screen although you supported the space missions to Comet are the components for handling basic data project. can make changes at runtime. Halley. In his spare operations and validation. As part of the Visual The next step involves defining the data to Most applications need multiple screens time, Graham uses Studio and .NET environments, it permits the be used. You create a table (data entity) and use that combine data from disparate sources, or computer sampling technology for music development of conventional classes and can the Data Designer to specify field properties and change the display based on certain conditions. composition. reference external assemblies. It’s a valuable data types. Entities are created using the built-in This is all handled by LightSwitch. The addition to the Microsoft stack, working application database or by importing data from extensibility features allow you to change the grahamk@ alongside Silverlight, SQL Server, RIA Services, an external source. The data you enter and save appearance and layout of applications by hardcopymag.com the and IIS. LightSwitch also in your application is stored in an internal applying themes, custom controls and shell targets Windows Azure and SQL Azure for cloud database. LightSwitch uses custom business extensions. Third party plugins from Infragistics and ComponentOne projects. types to specify complex data typically used in provide additional functionality, again reducing the need for code. The basic steps for building an application business applications such as telephone Validation rules such as required fields and string lengths are built involve creating a project, defining the data and numbers and e-mail addresses. Many business into the screens at runtime. For more complex validations based on creating screens. A LightSwitch project stores types are already defined and the set is business logic, you will have to write code. While testing the and organises the components of your extensible. This reduces the amount of code application, changes can be made to the user interface directly in the application. When creating a new project, the that has to be written and simplifies formatting running application. By impersonating a role under debug permissions, you can test authentication and authorisation. The application can be deployed using ClickOnce, which allows for future silent updates. LightSwitch, in common with other Microsoft developer tools, is licensed on a per developer basis. A free runtime license is included for LightSwitch applications only.

Find out more...

See www.greymatter.com/p785048 for details. A LightSwitch license, with or without Software i Assurance, can be purchased from Grey Matter until 31 January 2012 at a discount of up to 33 per cent. The basic three-tier architecture that lies behind a LightSwitch application.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 11 Competition # WIN a full licence of the NEW SAP Crystal Reports 2011

SAP Crystal Reports 2011 continues to All you have to do to enter is correctly answer build on the powerful reporting features of the competition question below, fill out the rest of the form and send it to: this important Business Intelligence (BI) tool. The new read-only file format secures your intellectual Crystal Reports Competition property, and you can now export to the XLSX file Grey Matter Ltd format introduced with Microsoft Excel 2007. There Prigg Meadow Ashburton is also a new Crystal Reports for Visual Studio Devon TQ13 7DF 2010 which helps developers take full advantage of the facilities offered by this new version. We will also accept entries submitted online at www.softwareknowhow.info/hc/competition

issue 53 SAP Crystal Reports entry form 2011 # Competition question: What does BI stand for? q Business Intuition q Business Intelligence q Bus Inspector

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1. No purchase necessary for entry to this competition. 8. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the # 2. The prize is a full licence of the NEW SAP Crystal Reports 2011. There is no cash alternative. decision. 3. Completed entries must be received by 28 Oct 2011. 9. Employees of organisations connected with this competition are not eligible for entry. 4. Entries submitted online at www.softwareknowhow.info/hc/competition or completed on a 10. SAP and Grey Matter reserve the right to use the winner’s name in promotional photocopy of this page will be accepted. materials. 5. Only one entry will be accepted per person. 6. The winner will be decided by a random draw from the correct entries received by the closing date. The competition promoter is Grey Matter Ltd, Prigg Meadow, Ashburton, Devon TQ13 7DF. 7. The winner will be announced on 31 Oct 2011 and will be notified by email or telephone.

12 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy

Licensing Licensing in a modern world Software licensing is a confusing but important subject. Peter Worlock is your guide through the software jungle.

PETER While there are many aspects of IT deployed. Within the UK alone, the company or installed on all the PCs in an office. As a WORLOCK management liable to provoke a puts those costs at £230 per year for unused consequence, software vendors began a headache, none is more likely to bring on a software and a further £107 per year in dual-pronged approach to securing their full-blown migraine than the subject of ‘shelfware’ for each PC – a total of more than copyright. The first weapon was the rise of copy software licensing. But while managing your £1.7 billion wasted annually. protection systems involving the use of installed software is a painful process, it is as A full discussion of software licensing in all hardware dongles, tying an installation disk to a nothing compared to the financial cost of not its forms could fill a book (and has), so is single PC, and a wide variety of other technical doing so. Software publishers have become obviously far beyond the scope of this article. limitations. The second was the introduction of much more aggressive in policing the use of Here we limit the discussion to licensing for highly-restricted licensing. their products through software audits. One small-to-medium-size businesses, whilst noting Simply put, the concept of licensing means survey suggests that around half of UK that most vendors offer preferential licensing to that you do not buy the product, and you don’t businesses were inspected last year – more government, education and not-for-profit own it. Instead you purchase a licence to use Peter Worlock bought than twice as many as in 2009. organisations. In addition to the general the software according to the strict limitations his first computer in Using pirated software, installing framework of licensing, we will look at Microsoft set out in the licence itself. Those limitations will late 1984. From 1985 to single-user software on multiple machines, or and Oracle as particular examples. usually prevent you from making a copy, 1989 he was contributing editor of MacUser, writing exceeding the numbers of licensed users within providing copies to other people, and reverse the first ever review of an organisation not only leaves you open to An IT-driven problem engineering the software, but they can also Microsoft Excel, and then financial penalties from the software vendor The difficulties in managing software licensing include other restrictions and impositions. went on to edit Macworld but is also a criminal act under copyright law reflect the developing role of the PC and the Some companies have tried to prevent users UK until 1996. For this and can incur hefty fines and imprisonment for increasing complexity of the IT environment. In selling second-hand software, even when the article he is assisted by John Lockwood, who directors. Yet despite the potential penalties, the beginning, PC software licensing was very original buyer no longer uses it. More recent has been advising Grey many IT departments are failing to deal with simple: you bought your shrink-wrapped licences may provide that the vendor can Matter customers on the problem. software from the vendor, installed it on your acquire data from the PC, or restrict you from licensing for 26 years. There is evidence to suggest that PC, and never looked back. There may have running and publishing benchmark tests. managers are often afraid to tackle the issue for been certain copyright restrictions to do with Many users found some of these [email protected] fear of discovering the need to buy additional copying or lending but, much like any other restrictions unacceptable, such as the inability software to cover a shortfall, but another survey product such as a book or a vinyl record, you to install the software on a desktop and laptop (conducted among 500 organisations in the US owned it. system even if only one instance of the software and the UK by researcher Opinion Matters for The serpent in this Eden was the ease with would be in use at any one time, or the general vendor 1E) suggests that most organisations which software could be copied. Unlike a book hassle caused by hardware security systems. So are actually wasting money in purchasing or a record, duplicating software with no loss of software licensing has developed as a trade-off software and paying for maintenance of quality was the simplest of tasks. Copies could between protecting the rights of the software applications that are never installed or then be given to friends, sold in street markets developer, and the rights of the user.

14 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Licensing

ISV Royalty Licensing licensing usually offers discounts over retail Most software vendors recognise the role of ISVs in building a wider market for their products licences. and offer preferential licensing to qualifying companies. Oracle offers a range of licensing Other advantages include improved options that provide savings to application developers that build on its underlying database software management and IT administration, technology, while Microsoft offers a specific programme in ISV Royalty Licensing. since it becomes easier to ensure that all PCs ISVs must fulfil certain requirements to qualify. You must: within an organisation are running the same • Develop software solutions that are sold independent of any hardware. version of operating system and application • Obtain at least 30 per cent of your overall revenue from sales of the solution. software. • Enrol in the Microsoft Partner Network. However, there are a number of points to • Work with Grey Matter as the authorised ISV Royalty Licensing Distributor for the UK. be aware of. Volume licensing doesn’t always While the requirements can be onerous, the benefits are substantial and include discounts on equate to the lowest cost of purchase. product licences, increased revenue potential and the ability to deliver a total solution (at lower Compared to retail products you may pay more, cost) to clients who no longer have to acquire their own Microsoft product licences. although you will get additional features, benefits and services in return. Depending on vendor, you may not qualify for the best prices If the story had ended there, licensing box, increasingly it is presented in electronic and benefits if you cannot meet minimum would still have remained a relatively form as part of the installation process, and the volume requirements: most vendors include straightforward process. But complication terms of the EULA must be agreed to before breakpoints of 5, 25, 50 or more users, PCs or ensued when large organisations began installation can be completed. For smaller licences. Some volume agreements also require deploying software on hundreds of PCs, and businesses (or larger organisations that allow you to predict the number of licences you need then employing servers that may cater for staff to install software on their PCs) this can be over a fixed period (often two or three years), thousands of users. The situation becomes even a simple way of acquiring licensed software, leading either to additional costs if you exceed more fraught when you introduce virtualisation, with the advantage that the licence is the initial number, or paying for unused and now the concept of the Cloud is presenting permanently granted and the software can be licences if you reduce your requirements. vendors and customers with yet more problems. removed from one PC and installed on another. However there are many disadvantages. It Subscription licence The licensing landscape is usually the most expensive way of acquiring Historically, most software vendors allowed Most software vendors offer you multiple ways software, and it is easy to breach the terms of their existing users to acquire interim or to acquire software licences, and each brings its the licence, for example when a user upgrades full-version upgrades at a discount. Although own benefits and drawbacks. There are also to a new PC, sells or passes on the old hardware the situation varies across the industry, some no issues of cost. Briefly, these are the main but does not remove the software. There are longer provide for discounted upgrades even alternatives: also administrative issues, such as the fact that for volume licensees. Instead, vendors have installation usually requires a keycode for introduced the concept of licensing OEM licence activation and codes are easily lost. Also the subscriptions, either as part of a volume licence When you buy a new PC from a computer installation is sometimes tied to the original or as an additional benefit at additional cost. vendor you receive an OEM licence for the hardware and making changes to the system Typically, the subscription gives you the right to software that the vendor has pre-installed on (such as adding a new hard drive) may require any or all interim and full version upgrades, the system. Usually that includes the operating the software to be reactivated. enhanced service and technical support for the system but may also include additional software An important point to note is that with duration. such as Microsoft Office, a Web browser, both OEM and retail licensing technical support But while a subscription gives price anti-virus and other security applications, and may be available for only a limited time, often protection in the form of free or discounted utilities for back-up and more. Typically, the just one to three months although a year is also upgrades, it is also usually severely limited in OEM licence is much cheaper than acquiring the common. Beyond that period support must be term (often as little as one year), which can software through other channels, but while it paid for by subscription or on an incident-by- greatly complicate your ability to calculate will probably match retail software in features, it incident basis. pricing. For example, for a large enterprise the may be restricted in other ways. For example, subscription will often be cheaper and allow you will usually find that the licence expires Volume licence free upgrades to the latest software; smaller when the equipment is disposed of. Perhaps the As the use of PCs spread throughout the businesses with the ability to skip an interim greatest drawback is the fact that you end up organisation, often numbering hundreds or upgrade will often pay less by avoiding, say, a with various versions of operating systems and thousands, software vendors introduced the three-year subscription and simply buying the applications scattered throughout the concept of volume licensing. Volume licensing next major upgrade when it becomes available. organisation as you acquire new computer usually allows you to buy a media kit for the systems. software (often in the form of a single installer Open source licence disk and manual) which can then be installed on There is a widespread assumption that the Retail licence the licensed number of PCs. Increasingly, the problems associated with software licensing When you buy individual shrink-wrapped software is in the form of an electronic can be avoided entirely by opting for open software from a reseller it comes with a retail download. Both as a reward for the fact that source software. Not only is open source licence, commonly called the End-User Licence you’re buying tens or hundreds of copies, and software assumed to be free in financial terms, Agreement (EULA). While the EULA is often because the vendor enjoys considerable savings but it is also assumed to be free of restrictions included as a lengthy printed document in the in media, packaging and shipping, volume and limitations commonplace in >>

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 15

Licensing

<< commercial licences. That is often the More commonly, however, it is up to the Acquire software Seek SaaS or Cloud licences provider case, but not always. organisation to ensure compliance by buying Wikipedia notes that there are currently CALs to cover the number of expected users or more than 180,000 open source projects devices, or both. Yes available, subject to no less than 1,400 unique licences. The terms of those licences can make Software as a Service No Is your application the software freely available, free to be SaaS is one of the fastest growing areas of IT. Do you wish to install and available as a SaaS or manage on premises? reverse-engineered, adapted, rewritten or Researcher Gartner estimated the global SaaS Cloud solution? otherwise used in any way the user wishes. market at $10bn last year and predicted it to However, it isn’t universally true and companies rise by 20 per cent this year, and to double by who go down the open source route need to 2015. Although SaaS is best thought of as a Yes No pay attention to the terms of the licence – software delivery model, it applies to licensing particularly as the US federal appeals court in the way it impacts the cost of software. ruled in 2008 that free software licences set Traditional computing models are based legally-binding conditions and are enforceable on computers within an organisation’s premises under copyright law. and software installed on those computers. Among the most common limitations in SaaS differs by hosting the software on a Do you have many users No Buy retail software open source licensing are the ability to use the remote computer which is usually accessed via (typically five or more)? software for personal use but not for the Internet. Instead of buying software commercial or business purposes, and a licences, SaaS users buy a subscription to the restriction on reselling the software in whole or service, either monthly or annually. As a result, Yes in part. the setup cost for SaaS is usually lower than Even where the software itself is free for on-premises installation. commercial use, companies should allow for Other advantages include much simpler Short Seek short-term or training and technical support which may need administration costs since no upgrades and Are you looking for a short pay-as-you-go or long term solution? to be paid for, or may not exist. maintenance is needed on the part of the volume licence organisation, and the flexibility to constantly CALs shift costs in line with the number of employees A potential source of much confusion, CAL can who need to use the software. Long either mean Client Access Licence or Concurrent Against those advantages, the key Access Licence, depending on vendor. The drawback is the limited kinds of software Client Access Licence has been driven by the available in the SaaS model, largely designed to rise of the server, and the fact that while only appeal to large enterprises, such as accounting, Do you want to ensure No Seek maximum future upgrades and volume discount one instance of the software might be running customer relationship management, enterprise maintenance? licence on the system it can be used by many users at resource planning, and so on. For smaller the same time. In addition to requiring a valid companies there is the additional risk that licence for each installation of the software, losing Internet access for any reason means you Yes vendors often require a Client Access Licence for lose access to the software. each user and/or device that accesses the Seek subscription-style server. Virtualisation volume licence with A variation is licensing by users and As complex as the subject of licensing is, a maintenance option devices. With the latter it is the number of recent development has thrown a massive devices (such as client PCs) accessing the server spanner in the works: virtualisation. While A top-level guide through the licensing jungle. that is licensed. User CALs will make more sense virtualisation offers organisations huge for organisations who have staff who access the advantages in IT development, deployment and server from multiple devices; Device CALs are administration, a report by Gartner last year Although some believe that software appropriate for organisations who have staff identified licensing as a “major stumbling block metering will prove to be the way forward, in a who share client PCs or other devices on to widespread adoption.” model similar to mobile phone tariffs, for IT different shifts. The problem is that many software licences managers there is currently no general Some companies define the CAL as a are based on the idea of a single machine, a approach – licensing must be dealt with on a Concurrent Access Licence, recognising that a single CPU, or a single user; but virtualisation case-by-case basis for every server, every OS company may have a large number of users breaks these models by creating multiple virtual and every application. who need occasional access to a server machines accessible by multiple users. application or resource, but only a limited Although licensing in a virtualised environment Cloud computing number who need to do so at any one time. has been an issue for years, many software The final cloud on the licensing horizon is the Sometimes the server software itself will enforce vendors are only now beginning to address it, Cloud itself. All discussions of Cloud computing concurrent access compliance so that if you often creating new problems in the process. begin with a number of assumed advantages, have 100 CALs, the 101st employee who tries to VMware, Oracle and Microsoft have all attracted including reliability, ease of use, ease of access the server software will be refused access criticism in recent weeks after announcements administration, and lower costs. But in the area until one of the existing users logs off. in this area. of software licensing the cost advantages >>

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 17 Licensing

<< are not yet established. As with virtualisation, many vendors have not made Licensing on the map clear their pricing structure for software that is Microsoft offers separate licensing for developers and other organisations wishing to running in the Cloud. incorporate Bing Maps into their products and websites. At the lowest level, where use is on a public, non-password protected site, the use of Bing Maps is free as long as usage levels are low Microsoft licensing (less than 125,000 sessions or 500,000 transactions in a 12-month period). Similar free-use For years there has been friction between agreements are available to education and not-for-profit organisations. Microsoft and its customers over the For commercial and government applications, the Bing Maps technology is available complexity of its licensing policies. The under volume licensing agreements and can be added to existing Microsoft volume licences. Microsoft Volume Licensing Reference Guide, Three pricing models are available based on the number of sessions or transactions in a freely downloadable from the Microsoft Web 12-month period; on a set number of users; and on the number of assets tracked. site, runs to more than 70 pages, and in addition to OEM and retail licences describes volume scheme that includes Software to cater for this. multiple ways in which small or medium Assurance as standard. Payment may be Beyond the processor licence, each Oracle businesses can acquire Microsoft software, as up-front in full at time of purchase, or may be installation requires a Named User Plus licence well as further options for large enterprises, and split per year over the term of the scheme, with that covers both human users and attached separate licensing for both government and protected pricing. The scheme is sub-divided devices, with a minimum of 25 licences per charitable organisations. Microsoft argues that into three further options. processor. Whereas in the case of Microsoft this provides the flexibility – and opportunities Open Value Non-Company-wide is the licensing, the devices are generally assumed to for cost-saving – that customers want. simplest of the variants since the other two be client PCs, mobiles and similar hardware, Customers argue that it is confusing, with a require an enterprise-wide commitment to the nature of Oracle applications means degree of duplication that makes it difficult to certain products. Open Value Company-wide devices can be literally anything that feeds into work out which form of licensing provides the provides additional cost savings, simplified the database, such as thermostats and other best fit for company needs at the best price. licence management and better control of data-logging hardware. For small and medium-sized businesses, licensed product costs, but requires you to While many software vendors count the the breakpoints are at 5 and 250 PCs within the make commitments to certain key products number of simultaneous users, Oracle requires organisation. For companies with fewer than 5, (such as Windows or Microsoft Office) across a licence for every user who will ever access Microsoft recommends buying individual retail your company, which has the added advantage the database. So if you have 200 staff of whom licences. Between 5 and 250 PCs you have two of helping you to standardise. only 50 will use the software at any one time, options (with additional variations) under the Open Value Subscription is similar to Open Oracle still requires you to buy 200 licences. Open Program banner. Value Company-wide but with the lower cost of However, because Oracle also allows licensing Open Licensing is the entry-level volume ‘renting’ the software since the licences are not by processor rather than by user, it can be licensing scheme for businesses, organisations perpetual. However at the end of the licence more cost-effective to take the latter approach. and academia, and generally offers better period you lose the right to use the software In addition to on-premises licensing, pricing compared to retail purchases. Having unless you take the buy-out option. Oracle also provides a SaaS offering through met the initial entry requirements, the scheme One point to consider in the three schemes Oracle on Demand. This allows companies to runs for two years during which period further is that, while all allow you to add extra products have applications, database and IT licences can be added one or more at a time as throughout the term of the agreement, under infrastructure outsourced and managed, with you need them. Although the scheme expires, all but Open Value Subscription you cannot the usual benefits of SaaS such as low start-up the licences purchased are perpetual and may remove licences and unused product must still costs and on-demand subscription pricing. be used indefinitely. All payment is up-front at be paid for until the end of the agreement. the time of purchase. Most product media is Conflicting demands downloadable and volume keys are also Oracle licensing Software licensing has evolved to match the available through the VLSC site. In broad terms, Oracle offers perpetual and developing role of the PC and IT, and continues Software Assurance, Microsoft’s limited term licences to its database products, to do so although, as in the case of subscription programme, is optional. This sub-divided into Full Use, Application Specific virtualisation and the Cloud, it often lags provides a range of benefits including Full Use and Embedded Software licences, the behind. While licensing is undoubtedly enhanced support, additional training, latter two for third-party applications that use complex, it is difficult to see how it could be exclusive products such as the Oracle’s technology, as well as additional otherwise, given the conflicting demands of Enterprise and Microsoft Desktop Optimisation licensing models for Cloud computing and software vendors who must earn a profit and Pack, and new products and upgrades. virtualisation. However because Oracle protect their intellectual property rights, and Open Value Licensing is a three-year software is server-based and multi-user, the customers who want simple agreements that devil is in the details. allow them to minimise cost. Find out more... The first consideration in Oracle licensing is Regardless of the complexity, licensing is the hardware on which the software will be run. a vital consideration for all IT managers. Having Email [email protected] or phone The company offers three licences depending the right number of licences for the right 01364 654 100 to discuss your licensing i on the number of processors on the server, number of users can save you money. Getting requirements in more detail with one of our whether two, four or unlimited. The it wrong can incur severe financial penalties, experienced licensing professionals. development of multi-core processors has and substantially damage your complicated matters but Oracle offers discounts company’s reputation.

18 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy

Systems Health check Prevention is better than cure: Kay Ewbank looks at a selection of tools that can give your network a health check.

Do you know if your network is Instrumentation (WMI), which is used to devices on your network, and will generate KAY healthy? It’s tempting to ignore such monitor Windows systems, but it’s worth maps showing the layout of your network, both EWBANK questions while your servers seem to start and finding out if you can also write your own wired and wireless. System Center will identify your users can log on, but it makes more sense queries using other methods such as WQL (WMI all SNMP devices. As you might expect from to periodically test the health of your network Query Language). Microsoft, there’s a strong emphasis on and take action before any problems get out of Finally, look for a trial version of the Windows. In the past, this meant you couldn’t hand. software so that you can find out for yourself monitor Linux and UNIX systems, but full The trick is to find monitoring and whether it meets all your needs, and is simple System Center will now monitor and manage management software that steers the fine line enough for you actually to use it regularly. All these systems, and System Center Essentials between keeping you informed and total the software mentioned here offers this option. 2010 has also added this support. information overload. You need to be able to If you’re running virtual machines then the view the network health, check specific devices Microsoft System Center full System Center can be used to monitor and Kay is a database more closely, and run tests on all the elements Microsoft System Center is often chosen manage virtual machines running on Windows consultant in your system. This includes not just servers because of the company that makes it, but until Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual specialising in EIS, financial analysis and and desktop PCs, but network hardware such as relatively recently it was restricted to big Server, and VMware ESX. Essentials 2010 has GIS systems. While routers and switches, and non-desktop clients business. This changed with the advent of also added support for virtual machines much of her work such as laptops and smartphones. Some System Center Essentials, a cut-down version running Microsoft Virtualisation, though you is based in London, being a consultant network protection and testing software goes aimed at smaller and medium sized companies. need full System Center to get VMware support. gives her the freedom further, with options to monitor the health of All versions of System Center, including If you’re using System Center Essentials to sail, travel and help key application software servers such as your Essentials, are designed to let you monitor and 2010, the console is Windows based and will be out as a part-time sheep farmer. database and email servers. manage your network and to help with the familiar to anyone used to Microsoft Outlook, If problems are building - CPUs everyday tasks of software installation and with overview panes and separate workspaces kaye@ overloaded, networks clogged with traffic – upgrades. Away from the Essentials version, for each element. The workspaces show the hardcopymag.com then the console should highlight the problem, System Center includes the elements of the old tasks for that element, reports of current status, and if thresholds are reached, you should have Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) and and where to look for help. There’s a Web the option of being alerted by email, SMS or Systems Management Server (SMS), as well as console you can use if you have Remote instant message. It’s also important to have a Configuration Manager, Capacity Planner, Operations Manager. console that gives useful at-a-glance displays, Virtual Machine Manager and Data Protection If a problem occurs on a device that is and being able to view the details via the Web Manager. You don’t have to use all the elements, being monitored, you can choose to be notified or on your smartphone can give you more but they all work together under the umbrella by email, SMS or instant message, or to run a freedom than a console that is only visible from of System Center. script or executable file. You can control the within the network. In terms of network protection and testing, notifications by group membership, by object Getting started is one of the biggest System Center starts by automatically types, by alert criteria such as severity, priority, hurdles to using a network monitoring discovering the computers and network resolution state, and by category of alert, and package, so it’s important that the software automatically identifies the devices on your Windows InTune network and ideally build a map showing how they fit together. Depending on your Microsoft Windows Intune is designed to let you manage PCs using Windows cloud services and infrastructure, the option of building separate Windows 7. The cloud-based service is accessed through a Web-based console and has both sub-maps showing parts of the network may standard management and security options, although it requires a browser that supports make life easier. . Tasks are split into a number of workspaces: system overview, computers, The software you use also influences your updates, endpoint protection, alerts, software, licences, policy and administration. choice of package: Windows systems are You can use the console to manage Microsoft updates and deploy service packs, monitor supported on all the software we discuss here; PCs in terms of updates and potential threats, and provide remote assistance to end users. You but coverage for non-Windows devices such as can set global security policies including firewall and malware protection settings, and cover Linux or UNIX machines, and mobile devices machines that are outside your corporate network. More generally, you can make use of the such as iPhones or BlackBerries, is something to Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection and Microsoft check for. The range of checks it can perform is Security Essentials to manage security on the PCs. It also allows you to keep track of hardware something else to look out for: you should find and software inventories across your company. support for Windows Management

20 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Systems

you can also configure alert aging. develop your own custom sensors using You are unlikely to run out of features if you WQL or SQL queries. go for Microsoft System Center, but that If a problem or event occurs, you can richness does require work learning how to get choose to be notified by email, SMS or the best out of it all. pager, or by instant messenger. You can choose to play alarms or to run a script to Paessler PRTG Network Monitor trigger some external technology. You can PRTG Network Monitor is designed to be easy to make use of escalation and threshold use, lightweight on resources, and to let you alerts, as well as multiple conditions that keep track of your network, which it does by are only triggered when more than one monitoring using various methods from simply problem has been found. You can also set pinging devices through to SNMP and WMI up dependencies so you don’t get tests. You can check on elements such as HTTP, hundreds of emails telling you about all Remote Desktop, and DNS using specific checks, the other problems triggered when a as well as monitoring applications such as particularly major event has occurred. Exchange and SQL Server. You can also monitor Other options include stopping alarms virtual environments running VMware, Microsoft once you’ve acknowledged the problem, Hyper-V or Xen. and alert scheduling so you don’t – for Viewing alerts in Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold, including the Map View. There’s a choice of interface for PRTG example – get disturbed at night by low Network Monitor, from a standard desktop priority alarms. particular groups of device. application to Ajax Web-based and Android and Paessler has a new version 9 of PRTG due You get a choice of three ways to monitor iOS smartphone consoles that allow you to keep this month, but details were unavailable at the and manage what’s happening: on a schedule, track no matter where you’re working. The time of writing. in response to an event such as a network Web-based and mobile consoles are limited in device becoming unavailable, or according to features, but at least let you see the basics. All Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold some performance criteria you’ve defined (CPU the user interfaces allow SSL-secured local and Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold lets you identify all the usage, for example). If problems occur, remote access and can be used simultaneously. devices on your network so you can monitor administrators can be notified by SMS, email or There’s a network mapping option so you can them, receive alerts and updates when things pop-up messages. see problems in the context of where they occur happen, and view reports on their overall In addition to the basic editions, WhatsUp on your infrastructure. health. The administration console lets you map Gold has plug-ins for options including PRTG uses ‘sensors’ to monitor network and monitor network devices, and will find all extended network mapping, VOIP monitoring devices, and comes with over 100 sensors for the devices on your network. Network traffic and support for segmented networks. Flow keeping track of your network, with options for and bandwidth usage can be monitored, and Monitor is another plug-in that can be used to monitoring downtime and bandwidth using devices can be grouped and managed together show where network bandwidth is being used SNMP, WMI, NetFlow, sFlow, jFlow, and packet in logical units. WhatsUp Gold will automatically in terms of users, applications and protocols. sniffing. You can monitor virtual servers and create certain groups, such as Cisco devices and The more comprehensive editions of WhatsUp carry out monitoring without installing local those with SNMP credentials. You can then Gold come with application monitoring agents, though there is an optional agent that monitor by group, give permission by group, support so you can monitor the health of gives you more information if it is used. You can and produce reports on the network health of applications including Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server.

GFI Network Server Monitor GFI Network Server Monitor can keep track of servers, desktop PCs, devices such as routers, and application servers such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server. Network Server Monitor carries out automatic scans for potential problems or failures and will alert you by email, pager or SMS if a problem is detected. You can also set Network Server Monitor to carry out corrective actions automatically, such as restarting a service or services, rebooting a server, launching an executable program or running a script. The software comes with built in monitoring rules for network features, including disk space, services and processes on both servers and workstations, and you can create your own custom monitoring functions in A comprehensive display from the Paessler PRTG console. VBScript, ADSI and WMI. In some cases, >>

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 21 Systems

approach to network testing. drill-down to see greater detail. You drag and Big Brother was originally developed by a drop network devices onto your maps, then systems administrator who didn’t like the click a ‘Connect Now’ button to have Network options he was offered by existing software, Performance Manager discover the and many of its plus points reflect this: for connections and add them to the display. The example, if your network is heavily protected by maps can also take account of the firewalls, you can set up Big Brother to route authorisation level of the user, so someone in messages to an internal display server that the Manchester office wouldn’t be shown the relays to an external display server, so network details from Edinburgh, for example. minimising the need to open up your firewall If you’re running VMware vSphere, ESX or and the amount of traffic across the firewall. ESXi, then Network Performance Manager can The displays use colours to signal at also monitor your virtual environments. If you top-level any servers that have problems. If a want to monitor Netflow traffic you’ll need problem occurs, the notification can be set to another SolarWinds add-on: either the Orion show what test failed, on what machine and at NetFlow Traffic Analyzer or SolarWinds’ free Monitoring status with the GFI Network Server Monitor. what time. Data can be displayed by Realtime Netflow Analyzer. geographic location and you can view data NPM comes with a range of pre-defined

<< the monitoring is more extensive than from multiple consoles in a single view. You can reports, and there’s also a report writer so you that of other products; for example, the set up groups who should be paged, and make can create your own custom reports if the terminal server check involves the software use of notification features such as supplied options don’t meet your needs. You actually logging onto the server and checking acknowledgments and escalations. You can also can view Top 10 lists for network traffic, CPU to see that the session is established correctly. choose to set a delay before paging to avoid and memory use, disk use, and network The checks on email services such as POP3 and being notified of problems that might be response times. SMTP go further in not just logging on but also resolved automatically. carrying out a task. Big Brother is set up to test FTP, HTTP, GlobalScape EFT Server GFI Network Server Monitor can be used to SMTP, POP3, DNS, Telnet, IMAP, NNTP and SSH Network management isn’t just a matter of monitor both Windows and Linux servers, and servers, and you can add additional tests as keeping track of software licences and updates: lets you monitor CPU usage, file existence, what required. When installed on a local machine, Big you also need to make sure activity on the processes are running, folder size, file size, users Brother tracks disk space, CPU usage, messages, network happens in a secure and appropriate and groups membership, disk partition check and the existence of user-defined processes. Big way. If your users transfer files in and out of and disk space. Brother was written with the idea that it could your network, part of your role may be to While Network Server Monitor comes with be extended, and there’s a thriving culture with ensure the transfers happen securely. EFT a console for local network use, there’s also a more than 1,000 free third-party add-ons Server is a secure FTP server that allows Web monitor for checking system status from available covering everything from VMS and supports multiple transfer protocols, secure anywhere with Web coverage. The remote Web AS/400 clients to CPU temperature on Solaris access, and flexible authentication. monitor is configured for both normal Web machines. Authentication formats include PCI, FIPS, and browsers and mobile phones or handheld HIPAA. devices such as a BlackBerry or a Palm. SolarWinds Orion NPM The basic server has the protocol support As the name suggests, Orion Network with add-ons providing auditing and reporting Quest Big Brother Performance Manager (NPM) concentrates on and extra transfer facilities for more specialised Big Brother is a Web-based product that lets monitoring network performance. If you need cases. There’s an AS2 module that lets your you monitor system and network information application monitoring then SolarWinds’ business users exchange data or EDI messages on Windows, Unix and Linux. It can be used Application Performance Manager is the sister using the Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) with agents running on the systems being product to NPM. Network Performance Monitor protocol, and an Advanced Workflow Engine monitored if you need detailed information, or lets you keep track of the performance of wired (AWE) Module lets you automate file transfers you can run it without agents for a more ad-hoc and wireless networks both locally and by putting together event-driven file transfer remotely. processes based on real-time processing of 200 Network Performance Manager has some automated actions. You can make use of a Find out more... nice touches when it comes to viewing your multi-platform DMZ Gateway for greater network graphically. A feature called Network security, while the High Security Module (HSM) Microsoft System Center www.greymatter.com/p462446 Atlas shows you a picture of your network and module complies with FIPS 140-2 and PCI DSS Paessler PRTG Network Monitor lets you track performance statistics on the 1.2. There’s a Web client that gives an easier www.greymatter.com/p624044 maps in real time, while ConnectNow lets you option and that can be used by business Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold www.greymatter.com/p491004 automatically display the connections between partners who don’t have EFT Server or suitable GFI Network Server Monitor www.greymatter.com/p377243 i network devices on your maps. The software other software, and a PGP module encrypts Quest Big Brother www.greymatter.com/p245121 comes with built-in geographic map templates data using OpenPGP encryption. SolarWinds Orion NPM www.greymatter.com/p623061 or you can import a logical image of your own EFT Server isn’t a complete network GlobalScape EFT Server www.greymatter.com/p389659 network based on floor, building, department protection and monitoring solution, but it does Microsoft InTune www.greymatter.com/windows-intune or geographic location. You can also nest cover the protection of file transfers very network maps within maps so users can effectively.

22 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy

24 Sep 2011 || Issue 53 || HardCopy Cloud Computing Office365 Office 365 delivers Office services from the cloud: Mary Branscombe logs on and tunes in.

Microsoft Office 365 gives you cloud Exchange 2010 too, setting Active Sync Policies business intelligence, but you can still build an services for email, spam filtering, for what information can sync to a phone, intranet for users, complete with a personal MARY document management and collaboration, enforcing strong passwords or encryption, and page for each employee, and an external-facing BRANSCOMBE intranet and public Web sites, unified messaging blocking or wiping devices remotely. There’s a Web site for your customers, as well as using and online meetings, plus a range of ancillary self-service option to let users block or wipe lists and libraries for document management services that ‘light up’ features in Office missing phones themselves. and collaboration with social network-style applications. And depending on the plan you If you don’t give your users Outlook, or they tools such as ‘liking’ and tagging documents. choose, it gives you the latest Office desktop need email access from elsewhere, Exchange You can group sites into collections to software as well. There’s a third-party Online has the same powerful Outlook Web simplify management, and manage users from marketplace for services you can use with Office Access as Exchange 2010. This supports the vast the admin console, but you set most of the 365, and Microsoft is promising its own majority of Outlook features, including options on the Team Site itself. These give you Dynamics cloud CRM service will work with it. conversation view, reminders, rules and creating the same powerful options as SharePoint So what do you get and how mature is it? out-of-office messages. Server such as adding Web parts which can Mary is a freelance IT writer who’s worked on Spam and anti-virus protection comes from make SharePoint sites extremely powerful both side of the fence, Online servers Forefront Online Protection for Exchange without being complex to use. There’s a rich from writing manuals to All Office 365 plans include the latest version of (FOPE), and you can leave this to default mix of templates, themes and styles that you developing a technology area for a major online Exchange Online. This gives you the vast protection or set up custom filters for both can apply quickly, or you can use custom service. She’s also majority of the features in Exchange 2010 inbound and outbound email, whitelist trusted backgrounds and borders to get your own look. the editor of IT Expert (excluding only the highest-end ‘legal hold’ IP addresses, set up Sender Policy Framework SharePoint Online can act as a host for magazine. Mostly you’ll find her tinkering with features) and you can manage it the same way credentials and run audits on messages. The InfoPath forms but allows customers and gadgets that let her you would Exchange Server, using PowerShell, FOPE interface isn’t part of the well-designed partners to fill them out in a browser so they take the technology System Center or the Exchange Web console. Office 365 interface and isn’t as well laid out, but don’t need to have a copy of InfoPath installed. with her when she escapes from her desk. You can have a mix of Exchange in-house and it’s still clearer than the on-premise Forefront You can also use it to host Access database online for different users if you don’t want to console. applications that you convert to SharePoint [email protected] migrate completely to the cloud and manage sites. PowerPoint Broadcast lets a PowerPoint the users side by side. Or you can use the A place for sharing 2010 user invite people to a presentation that simplified Office 365 console, which has a Office 365 gives you pretty much the full power visitors can view from their Web browser. friendly and accessible interface, and still get of Exchange without you having to manage a SharePoint Online also powers the Office access to powerful Exchange features. server. By contrast, SharePoint Online doesn’t Web Apps, which are Web versions of Word, You can manage mobile devices from give you quite as many of the features of Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These don’t Exchange Online in the same way as from SharePoint Server 2010. The main omission is have the full features of the desktop apps but they do show you documents with full fidelity, and you can share them with partners and customers. The Office Web Apps are also capable editing tools that allow real-time collaboration and stop users from overwriting each other’s work. Features like charts and Word Art that you can’t edit from Office Web Apps are still visible, and the formatting won’t change when you get the document back into a full Office application (unlike Google Docs). Some of the Office 365 subscription plans include licences for Office Professional Plus 2010 which includes SharePoint Workspace (the replacement for Groove), allowing users to synchronise documents from SharePoint and work offline. Otherwise they can open the The Office 365 services come with straightforward administration consoles. SharePoint library in Explorer and use >>

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 25 Cloud Computing

in-house PBX so that users can dial phone calls and listen to voice mail in Outlook.

Office with cloud power Office 365 promises 99.9 per cent uptime: the same as Google Apps but with a much more generous financial SLA that credits 25, 50 or 100 per cent of the monthly charges if availability falls below 99.9, 99 or 95 per cent. You also get true 24/7 phone support for all issues, or you can request support right from the admin console. The number of plans might look confusing but they’re actually easy to understand. The P1 plan is for small businesses of up to 50 users and it includes Exchange, SharePoint and Lync Online with a public-facing Web site and Office Web Apps. The four enterprise plans Office 365 promises 99.9 per cent availability and shows any recent issues as well as planned downtime. (E1 to E4) all include Exchange and SharePoint Online with each plan adding

<< the standard Windows ‘always available who can transfer files and who can make video more features: Office Web Apps, rights to the offline’ option. Users can synchronise or audio calls. Office suite and on-premise IRM and voice SharePoint lists to Outlook, or arrange to be If you want external users such as partners integration. The K2 kiosk worker plan is for notified of changes in libraries, discussions and to be able to phone in to a meeting, even if they users who don’t always have a PC of their own calendars. don’t use Lync, you can buy an audio but share a computer to get Web email, This is where the combination of Office conference option for Lync Online from BT. And SharePoint intranet and Office Web Apps. The and Office 365 is really powerful, enabling while Lync Online doesn’t have full enterprise result is that you can pick what you need and features that are in the Office applications but voice features, so you can’t use it to provide full just pay for that, which is the other big that only work with access to the corresponding unified communications, you can connect to an benefit of cloud computing. Office server products, and bringing them within reach of smaller businesses that would find managing that many server tools a burden. The alternatives to Office 365 The obvious comparison for Office 365 is Google Apps, which is also a cloud email and Keeping in touch application service with per-user pricing. It includes Gmail with Postini spam filtering, The other significant tool in Office 365 is the Calendar and Contacts, Google Docs, Chat, Groups and Sites. While Google Apps has some online version of the replacement for Office powerful features and compelling simplicity, it doesn’t have the sophistication of Office and Communication Server, Lync Online. This also Exchange, the video chat doesn’t have the same meeting tools as Lync Online, the document turns on various Office features such as management features lag far behind SharePoint, and integrating it with on-premise servers is showing who is available to chat and letting a complex and fragmented process. you start a text chat or a voice or video call from Microsoft’s existing Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) cloud service doesn’t Office, from the Lync client for Windows or from compete because over the next year BPOS customers will be migrated onto Office 365, which Windows Phone (Microsoft is also promising means some changes and several definite improvements. Office 365 runs on more modern Lync clients for other smartphone platforms). data centres than BPOS so it’s more robust. It’s also based on the 2010 versions of Exchange, In addition, Lync Online lets you schedule SharePoint and Lync rather than the 2007 versions that run BPOS. Not only do these include meetings with up to 250 people using audio, new features like MailTips in Exchange, but they were designed to run on a cloud platform video or Web conferencing. Lync Online which Microsoft claims will make them more reliable. Certainly, SharePoint 2010 has a federates with Windows Live Messenger and completely new architecture and can handle much larger libraries and lists. AOL by default and you can set up federation Lync Online replaces Office Live Meeting in Office 365, but BPOS users can continue to with Lync servers run by partners (they will use Live Meeting (but not the Office Communicator client) if they prefer not to install the new need to whitelist you if they’re not running Lync Client. Office 2003 (and especially Outlook 2003) doesn’t work with Office 365, so you’ll open federation). You can block individual users have to upgrade to Office 2007 or 2010 (remember that some Office 365 plans include from chatting outside the company, and control licences for Office) or to Office 2011 or Office 2008 for Mac, or use the Office Web Apps. You can’t use IE6 either (although Firefox, Chrome and Safari are all supported and you can use it from Windows XP). The Live Sign-in assistant from BPOS isn’t available for Office 365, but you Find out more... can implement single sign-on by integrating with ADFS 2.0. Hosted Exchange Online and SharePoint Online are also based on the older versions of See www.greymatter.com/office365 for more details, Exchange and SharePoint, but they are separate products with different Web consoles instead and to request a free trial. i of the (mostly) unified Office 365 interface, and they don’t include LiveMeeting or Lync Online.

26 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy

Business Online learning You can learn face-to-face or from books, but there’s a third way which can be cheaper than a seminar and more interactive than a manual. Simon Williams goes online.

As software grows more feature-rich, it accessible media, needing no power or Internet to be able to absorb all the information in a SIMON automatically becomes more complex. access. They’re also the least expensive form of fixed number of sessions. Since face-to-face WILLIAMS Sitting down to learn the features of a new learning and training can be suspended at any courses normally involve specialist trainers, version, or to pick up a new application from point and restarted with only the aid of a working with comparatively few learners, they scratch, becomes more long-winded too. We bookmark. are also likely to be the most expensive option. can all do with whatever assistance is available, Disk-based learning, with course content The advantage of face-to-face training is to make learning more enjoyable and so more provided on CD or DVD, is similar to online direct interaction, where learners can ask effective. learning. Course materials can be text, photos, questions to clarify points they are uncertain Online learning has all the benefits of a animations and videos, all of which can be about. None of the other forms of training offer multimedia presentation with slides, video, accessed from any device with a suitable drive. this very useful aspect of question and answer. animated walkthroughs, audio and text, while This means you have to have such a device with Here are just some examples of the courses leaving learners to progress at their own pace you to be able to start or continue training. The that are available online, in both general and from wherever they choose to log on. This main advantage is that the materials are business and specialist technical subject areas. Simons Williams has been method of learning can have cost advantages available anywhere you have the disk and you a technology journalist for too, as even dedicated courses in specialist don’t need access to the Internet. Microsoft Training 365 over 25 years, writing for subjects can be taken in modules, from a place Online training removes the need to carry With the huge range of products available from many leading magazines of work. They don’t require time off-site at a disks, though in their place you do need Microsoft, you’d expect the company to offer a and Web sites. He also writes and tutors poetry specialist venue, where an entire subject is Internet access. The same forms of media large number of training courses, and it does. and runs monthly open covered in an intense cramming session. should be available through online as through From mainstream applications like those in the mic sessions in pubs. disk-based learning and there’s the potential for Office Suite, to Windows itself, to specialist (Photo: Amy Boswood) Where online learning fits interaction, in the form of online chat. That said, languages and backroom software, there are The simplest but also the most passive of two-way communication has yet to be over 1,650 courses on how to use Microsoft [email protected] learning techniques is the book. The learner has exploited by many of the online learning software and how to get the best from it. to be motivated enough to read through its providers. These courses are by no means all pages, selecting those chapters or sections The least flexible form of training is the intended for advanced users, there are which are relevant to what they want to learn face-to-face course. This is nearly always beginner, intermediate and advanced level and having only static pictures as illustrations. available only at a set time and location, modules in most subjects, so you can start from Books are, however, the most portable and involves one-to-many tuition and learners have scratch in even complex topics, such as Online with LearnKey We tried two LearnKey courses in ‘Helping Customers Through Quality Service’ and ‘JavaScript Fundamentals’. Both take a different approach from Microsoft with each having a trainer on-screen, talking you through the subject. Both tutors start with an introduction, and the customer service course then moves off into a number of example scenarios in a hardware store tele-support helpdesks, illustrating the importance of acting naturally and finding out exactly what a customer wants. The JavaScript course runs through a brief history of the scripting language which helps to position it in relation to Java and other tools, before starting with a ‘Hello World’ example with the tutor typing code on screen (with more than a few typos and corrections). This approach helps maintain interest in what could be a very dry subject These courses don’t progress at the breakneck speed of some of the Microsoft offerings and make good use of the multimedia available in online training. The multiple-choice self tests at the end of the Connecting with Customers modules suffer a little from having fairly obvious answers, but they do help push home the This is your tutor for LearnKey’s JavaScript Fundamentals. Top marks points LearnKey wants to reinforce. for graphic effort, but what message does the peeling plaster give?

28 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Business

programming languages. If you are already Microsoft Training 365 in action familiar with an application such as Word or We tried out a couple of Excel, there are advanced level modules on, for courses, namely a example, creating macros with VBA. mainstream application The various training modules run through course called ‘Intermediate your browser (Internet Explorer 6 or above as Skills in Microsoft Word 2010’ they don’t run well in Chrome) which means and a fairly technical course they don’t rely on special client software. You ‘Introducing Windows pay for the number of licences you need and Communication Foundation can access and run the courses on any suitable (WCF) using .NET 3.5’. computing device. Furthermore the technical The WCF course starts courses give you access to live installations of with an audio introduction the relevant tools, running remotely in a virtual from a Microsoft Technical environment. Product Planner, who Most of the Microsoft Training courses are explains what the module available individually at prices ranging from six covers. A transcript of the or seven pounds up to a couple of hundred introduction is available to pounds. If you are responsible for organising print out. Each module is training within a company, you should try and divided into a number of This Microsoft Training 365 course module provides an introduction to Windows plan the number and types of courses you’re screens which are either text Communication Foundation (WCF) in easy stages. likely to need in a year. If this works out at more or video-based. In this case, a than seven or eight individual courses, it will video is an animated diagram, used to illustrate the spoken text of the instruction, which is again available as a transcript. probably prove more economic to consider the The text appears to be spoken by a text-to-speech synthesiser (apologies if this a human tutor). subscription-based model offered by Microsoft The screen is sub-divided with a course outline down the left-hand side, a diagram of the module content at bottom Training 365. left and room for your notes bottom right. You can type into this panel at any point, so you can refer to personal notes at As the name suggests, the subscription any time you return to the module. The course is broken into a three-stage introduction, four stages describing the lasts for one year and, depending on the level of creation of a WCF service and a further six exploring WCF features. subscription, you can access as many courses as The Word course works on much the same principles, though there are fewer components to the screen – there’s no you need within that time. Any of the courses module diagram or notes pane – and the animated diagrams are replaced by screen grabs, with the steps and options can be rerun at any time during the highlighted and operations described on a voice-track. Interspersed with these sections of tuition are tasks, designed to subscription, and you get access to any new be performed in a copy of Word using prepared documents downloaded from the Labs section of the course module. content as it becomes available. This particular course looks at customising Word, enhancing and reviewing documents, sharing and protecting There are six levels of subscription, ranging documents and creating complex documents. Once you’ve worked through each module in the course, there’s a multiple- from Desktop at £99 up to Premium at £1,049, choice self-test so you can assess what you’ve learned and, if necessary, revisit parts of it. with the more expensive including IT Pro, Developer and Dynamics courses, as well as those for desktop applications. The more customer service. They use professionally filmed organisation who can field questions that may expensive subscriptions cover a wider range of video to illustrate their subject matter and crop up during the online training sessions. topics, including the less mainstream, more trainers who appear well used to leading If you’re running a 64-bit version of developer and IT support-led subjects. face-to-face training courses. As with Microsoft’s Windows, you may also have trouble running At the other end of the spectrum, there are courses, all tutors are American. some courses within Microsoft Training 365, a number of shorter courses that bring you up They include the same tuition, practice and which require Silverlight for animation and to date with the latest versions of Microsoft test elements as Microsoft’s courses, reinforcing videos. There’s currently no 64-bit version of applications. These can be very useful if you’re each topic to check what’s been learned. Single Silverlight so you need to run them with a considering buying new versions of existing user licences for LearnKey courses cost from £30 32-bit browser. applications as part of an upgrade cycle. to £910 depending on subject. Online learning can provide an excellent Most courses take between one and two balance between the flexibility of multimedia hours to complete, but you can pause at any Things to check courses and the convenience of cloud point and continue where you left off. You can The main drawback of pulling your training computing. It provides the ability to learn in also run the courses from several different PCs from the cloud is that you need a reasonably just about any environment that has and devices, if that suits you, so you could start fast broadband connection to cope with the networked, Wi-Fi or 3G access to the on your work PC, continue on a laptop or tablet videos and animations. If your business is based Internet. during a commute and finish on a home PC, as out of town, with limited download speeds, you long as you have Internet access at each should trial the packages before buying them. location. Both Microsoft and LearnKey offer demos, so Find out more... you can try a sample module or two and check LearnKey they run smoothly. LearnKey products are also To find out more about online learning, visit These courses are available individually, rather available on disk if this proves to be a problem. greymatter.cblearningdirect.com/ than on subscription, and cover both IT-related It’s also important to have a training i computerbasedtraining.asp subjects and more general topics, such as professional on hand from within your

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 29 Back End Straight talking Tim Anderson gets a taste for some of that Delphi cross-platform magic, just in from Embarcadero.

New versions of Delphi followed, but the product from a company called KSDev, from product suffered some neglect as Borland whom Embarcadero acquired the intellectual became Inprise, and then Borland again, and property and main developer in January 2011. the company lost its way in the twisty passages DXScene includes 2D and 3D vector graphics Embarcadero’s RAD Studio XE2, which of model-driven development, Application and effects for Delphi’s VCL (Visual Component includes Delphi XE2, is a standout Lifecycle Management, Enterprise dashboards Library). Embarcadero took DXScene and put it release that recaptures the excitement of the and such like. There were versions for .NET and together with the work it was already doing on original Delphi, but now repositioned for the Linux, but neither succeeded. Delphi remained a compiler for OS X to create FireMonkey. world of cross-platform and mobile. popular in its niche, but seemed to be playing Therefore, when you start a new Delphi project, The first Delphi release in 1995 remains catch-up to Microsoft’s tools. you can now choose FireMonkey 2D or 3D one of the most impressive product launches I In 2008 Embarcadero acquired Delphi and applications alongside all the familiar project have seen. Back then, if you wanted to code for its sister product C++ Builder from Borland. This types such as a VCL Forms application. Both Windows, the most popular choices were Visual proved beneficial for the product and the FireMonkey and VCL support 64-bit targets, but Basic, with a fantastic form designer and company started talking about not only 64-bit only FireMonkey will run on the Mac. third-party component support spoilt by Delphi, but also cross platform development for The appearance of a Target Platforms list in performance compromises and a slightly Mac and Windows. That has been a long time Delphi’s project manager is another thing you eccentric language; or Visual C++, fast and coming; but curiously, Embarcadero says that will notice immediately. There are currently up sales of Delphi have increased to three platforms available in a single project: by 15 per cent each year since 32-bit Windows, 64-bit Windows, and 32-bit the acquisition, despite new Mac OS X (Linux is down for a future release). releases offering little radical Creating a 64-bit application is a matter of improvement. adding 64-bit Windows as a target platform, Nobody can accuse though you will encounter the issues you would Delphi XE2 of being light on expect. High level code should port easily, but new features. This new pointer operations and Windows API calls need version delivers 64-bit checking. The size of a pointer is now eight compilation at last, plus rather than four bytes, and Windows message support for Apple’s OS X and calls must use the correct WPARAM and even iOS, the operating LPARAM types, not Integer or Longint. Most system for the iPhone and data types remain the same though, noting that iPad. How significant is this Delphi already had an Int64 type. The IDE is Click Run in Windows and your Delphi application runs on the Mac. new version? I asked 32-bit, so you need 32-bit versions of all Embarcadero’s Jason Vokes, a components even if you only want to target capable but challenging to learn and use. Then Delphi evangelist from way back. “It’s the 64-bit systems. Borland released Delphi. biggest since version 1,” he replied. “There’s so Cross-platform development is a more I recall the first press briefing, where we much in here!” radical departure for Delphi developers. were shown how the product combined a FireMonkey is not compatible with the VCL, VB-like visual form designer with a modern Monkey on fire though it does work with the non-visual RTL object-oriented language, two-way so that you At the time of writing I have only seen a late (Run-Time Library). What this means is that you could edit either in code or in the designer. Best preview version. While I do have reservations, cannot port an existing application without of all, you could compile to a native code the product is a lot of fun to try. I am running it recreating all the forms and finding new visual executable that had no runtime dependencies on a Parallels virtual machine on Mac OS X, for components. Non-visual code is more likely to and ran as fast as a Visual C++ executable. While reasons you will see in a moment. To be precise, work, provided it avoids Windows-specific calls. Delphi never matched Visual Basic in terms of I am running RAD Studio, a combined IDE The first experience of cross-platform popularity, it did attract an enthusiastic which also supports C++ Builder. development for Mac and Windows feels like following, becoming something of a secret The first thing to observe about the Delphi magic. In order to try it, I created a simple weapon for Windows developers who did not XE2 is the appearance of FireMonkey, a new calculator application using a 2D FireMonkey want to compromise either on performance or cross-platform application framework. form. I found that the new framework still has productivity. FireMonkey seems to go back to DXScene, a familiar Delphi components like TButton and

30 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Back End

TListBox, though they are implemented in new compiler on the Mac, as well as Delphi source the initial release than there were in the 2010 units with names like FMX.Controls. I tested and code libraries for FireMonkey. Next, you have to release of Delphi XE, for example. ran the application on Windows. Just for fun, I create a dedicated iOS FireMonkey project on Second, even if everything works as Straight talking then added a 64-bit target and that ran fine too. Windows. You build and debug this as a documented, FireMonkey lacks the maturity Using Task Manager I confirmed that my Windows application, and then use a command- and component support of the VCL. It is strong calculator was now running in a 64-bit process. line tool to export the project to the format for 3D and graphical effects, but weak for In order to build for the Mac a few more used by Xcode, Apple’s IDE. The final step is to business applications, though the dbExpress steps are needed. Lurking in the RAD Studio open the project in Xcode and compile. database framework is supported. In mitigation, application folder is a utility called PA (Project It is somewhat messy, and I understand all components in both FireMonkey and the Assistant) Server. This is actually an OS X that Embarcadero intends to improve the latest VCL support a feature called LiveBinding, application. I copied this to the host Mac and process and probably use its own compiler in which means you can bind properties to source installed it, then opened a terminal to run the due course, which will be good since objects with great flexibility. project assistant. Returning to Windows, I was compatibility between Delphi and the Free Third, note that FireMonkey is a then able to set up a remote profile targeting Pascal compiler is not perfect. Nevertheless, you lightweight framework that draws all its own the Mac. You do not have to use a virtual are able to create an iOS executable developed controls, rather than one that uses native machine, as long as the Windows development in Delphi, though note that this is currently for controls on each platform. On the Mac it uses box can reach the Mac over the network. Delphi only and not C++ Builder. OpenGL, and on Windows Direct2D or . Then the magic happens. I created a Mac Although there are already many other This is good for cross-platform consistency, but target, clicked to run, and my calculator ran on ways to develop for iOS, many of them are bad for getting the best possible native look the Mac desktop as a native OS X application. I compromised either in terms of productivity, or and feel. was also able to set a breakpoint and debug performance, or both. Even Apple’s own Xcode The transition from VCL to FireMonkey is from Windows. and Objective C lacks the ease of development non-trivial and it is best to think of it as a What about iOS? This strikes me as equally which Delphi brings. framework for new applications, rather than or more important than Mac development, So what are the reservations? The first is something to which you can easily port an given the rapid growth of Apple’s mobile that the extent of the new features and existing application. Nevertheless, this is an platform. Unfortunately support for iOS is less compilers, and the short time since the KSDev interesting release, and at best a new start for advanced, but I was able to get this working too. acquisition means that Delphi XE2 should be Delphi that at last takes it beyond Targeting iOS involves installing the Free Pascal approached with caution. I expect more flaws in Windows.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 31 Back End …and another thing Jon Honeyball is exasperated by the state of the tablet market, but tentatively enthusiastic about moving to Office 365.

I had lunch recently with some senior can be a challenge. Maybe the Ice Cream customer is really cutting back on your sales engineers from a firm that makes tablet Sandwich version coming later this year will opportunities. PCs, amongst other things. The conversation help things along. Maybe Google will have So now it’s a two horse race between iOS was polite and relatively lightweight, right up to finally released the source code to 3.0 by then, and Android 3.x. Except for the big unknown of the point where I asked how they felt their but I’m not holding my breath. You could of Windows 8 for Tablet. Especially the version for relationship with Google was progressing. A course target 2.x, but that is a very sad world of the ARM processor which promises to have very slightly discernible wince was coupled to a conflicting capabilities and form factors. And considerably lower power consumption than notable drop in the temperature of the room. It the versioning of the OS is enough to make the current Intel chipsets. Much more will seems that all is not as it should be in that your head spin. hopefully be announced by the time you read arena. Then there is the sorry tale of Hewlett this, through the conduit of the Microsoft ‘Build’ Reading between the lines, I think there is Packard. What can I say? Their tablet was conference, but at the time of writing, just a few probably a significant shouting match going on interesting, and quite polished in some areas. weeks before it happens, there is still no between what might be called the top tier However, in other, more critical areas, it was agenda, no session list and no idea of what is Android licensees and the, shall we say, more truly horrible as originally shipped. Application going to happen there. ‘bargain basement’ vendors who appear to be loading could take a real age, the multitasking happy to ship out any old rubbish, providing worked like it was hobbling along on crutches Content delivery the price is low enough. And be in no doubt with both legs in plaster, and the battery life Which brings me to the topic of interactive – some of the low end Android tablets really do was a completely random and unknown eBooks and online learning and education. redefine the word ‘rubbish’. My rule of thumb: if quantity. Some rumours suggest that the Some are taking the view that all we need are it’s less than eight inches in screen size, walk original release build had debugging left fancy PDF files. Some think that we need away. If it’s a resistive touch panel, then enabled, and that this was slugging the properly interactive applications with popups absolutely run away. If it can’t do seven hours performance. If true, it’s symptomatic of a and a more immersive interface. Some think battery life, then ignore it. And ask all the hard product that didn’t have a release schedule, but that the rulebook needs to be thrown away, and questions about updating the operating merely escaped captivity. Is system: not only whether it can be done, but there any surprise that HP The Hewlett Packard Touchpad: who is responsible for it and when they will has killed it off after only a here just a few months ago; gone tomorrow. commit to the upgrades. At this point, you are few weeks? left with a terribly small group of products. And what can I say Which is fine, because the rest are just garbage. about the Blackberry tablet But even at the leading edge of tablets, it’s which had no native 3G not all plain sailing. Version 3.0 has been a most option, nor any capability interesting release, although the original to do email or contacts version was somewhat buggy – again, check for unless you had a regular and meaningful updates before Blackberry phone within splashing the cash. However, a recent release of Bluetooth range? Is anyone 3.x is certainly a most usable product, even awake in Blackberry-land? though it unfortunately has a slightly Selling a device that only undercooked feel to it. Screen scrolling can be has full functionality when very slightly laggy and stuttery. 3G integration you are an existing

32 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy Back End

we need to sing a different song altogether. Francisco, I can count over 31 different The problem, of course, is that the PDF Wi-Fi networks within reach of my Experiences with Office 365 approach is simple and low cost. It is also cross laptop. 2.4GHz Wi-Fi simply was not I am about to move offices. Not far – just a few buildings around the courtyard platform and so has a fast route to market with a designed for this, and being able to run in the industrial/business court in Huntingdon where I live and work. But the low investment. The downside is that it’s, well, your Wi-Fi client/server application over expansion of size to over 2000 square feet brings a huge list of things to do, just a PDF file. A fully immersive customised 5GHz N mode might well be a including a complete refit of the office space. product that uses all the features of a platform requirement for your customers. Think It’s caused me to think long and hard about how my firm does email and will take longer to code, and obviously cost for a moment about how many tablets Web. A few years ago, I was happily running on Exchange Server 2003, hosted considerably more. But it might well justify this support 5GHz Wi-Fi and you end up with locally at my old site. This worked well, despite it being on the end of some in the longer term. And where is the data going a very short list of just one family; very slow rural ADSL connections. In preparation for my move to Huntingdon, to be stored for all of this? Can we squeeze it namely iOS. I swung my mail server facility to the datacentre of my ISP, which has been a into the storage on the device itself, or do we And once you have decided to use mixed bag. The implementation hasn’t been as clean as I would have liked, need to fall back to a client/server database Wi-Fi, how many implementations use and the mirroring setup seemed to cause me more problems than benefits. connection over Wi-Fi in order to ensure that the proper long-trousered Wi-Fi hardware At the forthcoming new office space, the BT cabinet is a few yards from data is totally up to date? Again, it all depends with directed aerials and comprehensive the rear wall, and BT Infinity is promised real-soon-now. – how quickly do we need to refresh into the management interfaces, rather than Despite all of that, I think I am going to migrate onto Office 365. The best device, and how often do we need to collect relying on a smattering of low-rent way to try out a service is to use it for real, so Office 365 will be my next test updates back to the central store to allow for domestic products? It might be target. I tried the beta product and found aspects of the setup and redistribution? Many people conflate the two adequate, if somewhat short sighted, for configuration to be rather convoluted and awkward, and whole areas of things together, but they are often asymmetrical the supporting of an occasional laptop, documentation was either missing or wrong. But it was a beta product, so I in nature. but a line of business application needs can forgive it for those things. Now it is a proper shipping entity, and the And if you want to deploy this, do your proper Wi-Fi support. Of course we still excuses have to stop at the point that Microsoft started taking real money for customers really have the Wi-Fi infrastructure in need all that heavy weight core delivering the service. place to make it all work reliably? I wake up in a networking hardware and management, Moving back to Exchange ActiveSync will be a relief after a few years of cold sweat thinking about how amateurish the but the equivalent for client machines SMTP and IMAP, with the occasional POP3 thrown in for good measure. For a Wi-Fi installations are in many locations. might be better being directed into a client side implementation, these have always seemed to be stuck in the dark Especially in areas of high Wi-Fi congestion. Sat proper line of business Wi-Fi ages. Purging them from all devices will be blessing. in my hotel room here in downtown San installation in many offices.

Grey Matter • 01364 654 100 • HardCopy 33 Back End Short cuts A Summer Statistics Special this time around, brought to you by our intrepid observer Paul Stephens.

IE in IQ shock average IE6 user should have spotted that it was fake. They then added a link to a story about Best story of the summer silly season (by miles) was the one disgruntled IE users threatening to sue them which also turned out to be a hoax, proving that in headlined ‘Internet Explorer Users Have Below Average IQ’ that burst into Canada being in a hole is not seen as any reason to stop digging. cyberspace in late July. No less eminent organs than the Daily Telegraph Here at Short Cuts, of course, we spotted it immediately (OK – eventually), not least because at and the BBC (among many others) carried the item, which came from the high end of the IQ scale sat users of Opera (we’re not sure what it takes to rely on a browser AptiQuant, a Canadian psychometric consulting firm. AptiQuant had given produced by people who think that data-compressing the entire World Wide Web via a Nordic server free online IQ tests to 100,000 people, analysed the results and found that farm is a good idea, but we don’t think it’s a Mensa card). Still, it was fun while it lasted. IE users were, on the whole, a bit thicker than average.

Lies, damned lies and… Here at Short Cuts we strongly support research into IT demographics, and would hate to see this important field discredited by a single, ill-advised hoax (see above). Accordingly, here’s our pick of recent findings:

Managers of data centres using AptiQuant backed up their claims with an impressive-looking research Hyper-V are fatter than ones paper entitled ‘Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage: Measuring using vSphere (‘Correlated the Effects of Cognitive Ability on the Choice of Web Browser’ (a title that Obesity in Virtualised Server will no doubt be hard-coded into the dissertation-vetting software of all Environments’, University of good universities next summer). It showed that the lowest IQ ratings were Woolawonga, Australia, 2011). The scored by people who hadn’t even got round to upgrading from IE6, while study found that by keeping those who’d upgraded to IE9 scored lower than those who’d stuck with IE8 managers on their toes with a while giving 9 time to bed in. It all made a certain sense, and constant stream of price rises and commentators queued up to expound theories about the relationship licensing changes, VMware between brain cells and a willingness to try something other than the achieved a 12.5 per cent reduction default browser. in BMI and a 15 per cent reduction in obesity-related illnesses. “We’re proud to contribute to workplace Untroubled Hyper-V data centre managers relax at a recent health,” said a VMware TechEd conference. spokesperson.

Owners of MacBooks are poorer than owners of other laptops (‘Correlation of Disposable Income and Hardware Platforms in mobile and semi-mobile market segments’, MonkeyBoy Research Inc, Bellevue, WA, 2010). This somewhat counter-intuitive conclusion was qualified by the discovery that MacBook owners had been richer than their Windows-using counterparts before buying their MacBooks. Further studies found a correlated net worth discrepancy between owners of iPhones and Android handsets.

AptiQuant’s figures showed that between 2006 and 2011 the average IQ You don’t have to be mad to understand Photoshop but it does actually help (‘Delusional States of IE6 users fell to only just above 80 – barely enough to operate an iPod and Correlated Comprehension of Undiscoverable User Interfaces’, Cognitive Function Institute of Touch, let alone a PC. Potters Bar, 2009). A study of 35 people who believed that David Icke and the Duke of Edinburgh secretly rule the world reported that 85 per cent found it “obvious” that the menu option to resize a Sadly though, the story proved to be a hoax, causing not entirely vector shape in Photoshop CS4 was ‘Free transform path’, whereas 98 per cent of people in the unpleasant visions of Steve Ballmer throwing apoplectic fits at Microsoft’s control group were driven mad trying to find out. PR team to evaporate like early-morning summer mist. AptiQuant didn’t really exist, their Web site was only two weeks old and, rather naughtily, 37 per cent of developers using JSON are actually called Jason (‘Correlation of Non-Familial they’d nicked photos and descriptions of their ‘staff’ from the Website of Naming and AJAX-oriented Data Transfer Format Preferences’, University of Schleswig-Holstein, (genuine) French research company Central Test. 2011). The study discovered, however, a statistical distinction between people whose parents had The culprits turned out to be a shopping comparison site called named them after the character in Greek Mythology (84 per cent likely to use JSON), and those AtCheap, who said it had all been a joke (not one appreciated by Central who’d been named after 1980s soap actor Jason Donovan, who were 96 per cent likely to prefer XML Test, who threatened to sue) and gave a list of reasons why even the and IE6. (that’s enough correlations – Ed).

34 Sep 2011 • Issue 53 • HardCopy