News

• Experts torn on Oracle's chances of appeal in Android copyright ruling

  By Chris Kanaracus | 01 June, 2012 19:08

  Oracle has pledged to appeal a judge's ruling Thursday that Java APIs cited in its lawsuit against Google weren't subject to copyright protection, but legal scholars and attorneys not associated with the case expressed mixed opinions whether that would be successful.

• Microsoft previews new versions of Visual Studio and .Net

  By Joab Jackson | 31 May, 2012 23:13

  Closely following its preview release of Windows 8, Microsoft has also posted a release candidate of its next version of the Visual Studio IDE (integrated development environment), as well as release candidates of the .Net framework and the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 source-control software.

• Judge clears Google of Java copyright infringement

  By James Niccolai and Chris Kanaracus | 31 May, 2012 21:25

  A U.S. judge has ruled that the Java application programming interfaces used in Android are not protected by copyright, marking a defeat for Oracle in its high-stakes lawsuit against Google.

• Oracle prepares to enter PaaS wars

  By Chris Kanaracus | 29 May, 2012 20:59

  Oracle may lay out how it plans to become a player in the burgeoning PaaS (platform as a service) market next week during a webcast event featuring CEO Larry Ellison and co-president Mark Hurd.

• Oracle NetBeans 7.2 supports the latest PHP, C++

  By Joab Jackson | 25 May, 2012 18:34

  The newest version of the Oracle NetBeans IDE (integrated developer environment) will come with support for the latest versions of PHP and C++.

• GitHub embraces Windows developers

  By Paul Krill | 22 May, 2012 02:27

  Looking to make its GitHub social coding and coding-hosting site easier to use for Windows application builders, GitHub beginning on Monday will offer a native graphical Windows client for developers and designers.

• Microsoft's Visual Studio 11 lineup adds Windows Phone, Azure tools

  By Paul Krill | 21 May, 2012 20:11

  Microsoft on Friday shared final product lineup and specifications expected for its upcoming Visual Studio 11 IDE, featuring accommodations for the Windows Phone mobile OS and Windows Azure cloud platform.

• We're not waiting for Android 5 'Jelly Bean,' developers say

  By Paul Krill | 18 May, 2012 20:09

  Unconfirmed reports say that Android 5 "Jelly Bean" could be released this fall, featuring such improvements as Chrome browser integration, better enterprise security, better power management, and maybe dual-booting support for Microsoft's Windows 8. Google did not respond to requests for comment about its future OS plans.

• Mozilla readies app marketplace for public beta

  By Paul Krill | 16 May, 2012 20:12

  Mozilla Marketplace, which is Mozilla's entrant in the online application store arena, is set to move to a public beta stage in a few weeks, a company official said on Tuesday.

• Sencha Architect: Visual HTML5, sort of

  By Neil McAllister | 16 May, 2012 20:12

  Sencha describes Sencha Architect 2, the latest incarnation of its visual Web development tool, as "a massive upgrade to Ext Designer," the previous version. The name change from Designer to Architect reflects the product's new focus. Instead of a tool for building Web UIs, Sencha says the new version is suitable for creating complete Web applications, both for UI designers and back-end developers. That's true up to a point.

• Xamarin adds Android designer to Visual Studio

  By Paul Krill | 15 May, 2012 20:08

  Xamarin, with an upgrade to its Mono for Android SDK on Monday, is adding a drag-and-drop, graphical designer for building Android application interfaces within either Microsoft's Visual Studio or Xamarin's own MonoDevelop IDE.

• Researcher runs IP network over xylophones

  By Joab Jackson | 12 May, 2012 06:56

  Vint Cerf once wore a shirt that read "IP on Everything," a wry comment on the versatility of the Internet Protocol he helped invent, a protocol that underlies all Internet communication. Now a University of California Berkeley researcher has put Cerf's maxim to the test, running an IP network over a set of xylophones, played by human participants.

• C keeps its lead over Java, but index's accuracy is questioned

  By Paul Krill | 11 May, 2012 03:25

  The C language, which displaced Java as the most popular language in the Tiobe Programming Community monthly assessment in April, has maintained its number 1 spot in the May report released this week. But a high-profile member of the PHP community is questioning the accuracy of the index itself.

• Open source Java moving to Linux, AIX on PowerPC

  By Paul Krill | 10 May, 2012 06:14

  Open source Java will be brought to the PowerPC architecture for Linux and IBM's AIX OS under a proposal floated this week that could eventually benefit the different Linux distributors.

• Google simplifies use of Analytics API

  By Juan Carlos Perez | 10 May, 2012 04:27

  Google has developed a tool to automate the creation of custom-reporting dashboards for its Analytics website-usage tracking service, the company said on Wednesday.