Software Development: November 2009

JavaScript, graphics performance improvements on tap for IE9

by Mohit Jain | 11:41 PM in | comments (0)

At Professional Developers Conference (PDC), Microsoft revealed about what the next version of its browser will bring to the world. The announcement described three main areas of improvement: JavaScript, Web standards, and graphics technology. Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will contain a new emphasis on performance and graphics, and should make the browser far more competitive with its competitors.

As reported by Ars Technica, IE9 will contain a new, significantly faster JavaScript engine and will have a richer support for Web standards like CSS 3. It will also use the new Direct2D and DirectWrite technology for its graphics and text rendering. Microsoft made the point that different websites place different performance demands on a browser. With IE9, Microsoft intends to not just improve performance in limited benchmarks (that focus on a single aspect of browser performance), but also to ensure that real-world websites become faster. Rendering the webpage in IE8 is performed predominantly on the CPU. Direct2D is a new Windows API that uses hardware Direct3D acceleration to accelerate 2D graphics, available in Windows 7 and as a patch for Windows Vista. Through the use of Direct2D, IE9 will perform all graphics rendering on the GPU, providing quicker page rendering, faster, smoother animation, and high quality image scaling.

JavaScript performance has become an increasingly important concern for Web applications. As Web apps have become more capable and more fully-featured, JavaScript engines have had an ever-greater burden placed on them. Though IE's JavaScript engine has got faster - the widely used SunSpider benchmark takes about half the time to run in IE8 as it does in IE7 - it still lags behind other browsers quite considerably. IE9 is getting a brand-new engine that should take IE's JavaScript performance to the proverbial next level. Technical descriptions of the new engine made it sound quite similar to the V8 engine used in Chrome; the new IE9 JavaScript engine will compile JavaScript into native code, just like in V8, and the technique it will use to speed up the object-oriented nature of JavaScript also sounded similar to the approach V8 takes.

Early results suggest that the current IE9 engine performs in the same ballpark as betas of Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. IE is still the slowest, but the difference now ranges from 10 percent slower (compared to Firefox) to 100 percent slower (compared to Chrome), rather than 5-600 percent slower as is presently the case for IE8. The IE team does not want to be trailing any more, and performance is now clearly a big deal.

However, there is considerable demand among developers for new features: CSS 3, HTML 5, SVG, and Canvas. Many of these standards are still themselves in flux, being in the draft stages of development rather than finalized specifications, but many of their features are so compelling (HTML 5's native support for embedded video, CSS 3's rounded corners, Canvas's extensive graphical capabilities) that developers want them right now. At PDC, Microsoft would not commit to supporting any particular features or specifications with IE9. The company did state that its focus would be on providing the features that were actually most useful to developers, and ensuring that those features had robust test suites.

IE9 is still in its early days, and there is no hint of a date at which a beta might become available. Many questions, especially about standards support, remain unanswered. The switch to Direct2D may also mean an end to XP support (Direct2D is unavailable on that OS). Nonetheless, the announcements give a strong indication that Microsoft is taking its browser seriously, and wants it to be a viable alternative to its competitors.

EBay completes sale of Skype

by Mohit Jain | 11:41 PM in | comments (0)

EBay announced that it has completed the sale of its Skype unit, as it had vowed to do before the end of the year. A settlement reached earlier this month over pending litigation involving the web telephone services' founders, eBay and the buyers cleared the way for the sale. Some analysts had worried that the litigation could have derailed the deal.

The deal, which values Skype at $2.75 billion, gives eBay approximately $1.9 billion in cash and a note in the principal amount of $125 million, eBay said in a statement. EBay, which operates its marketplaces business and also owns Web payment unit PayPal, retains an about 30 percent stake in Skype. As part of a Skype debt financing, eBay purchased senior debt securities with a face value of $50 million, it said.

The buyer of Skype is an investor group that includes private equity firm Silver Lake, Joltid, investment firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Chrome OS can start a PC in less than 7 seconds

by Mohit Jain | 11:40 PM in | comments (0)

New Google software will start up a computer as fast as a television, according to Google, as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for computers that do their work on the Web. "From the time you press boot you want it to be like a TV: You turn it on and you should be on the Web using your applications," said Sundar Pichai, Vice-President of Product Management for Google's Chrome OS.

According to Pichai, those computers running Chrome OS will be able to start in less than seven seconds. Netbooks running Chrome OS will only be able to run Web applications and the user's data will automatically be stored on the Web in the so-called cloud of Internet servers, Google executives said at an event at the company's Mountain View, California headquarters on Thursday.

"It's basically a Web browsing machine," said Altimeter Group Analyst, Charlene Li. Google said that the software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on low-cost netbooks that use memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives, the current standard.

Google gave the world the first peek at its Chrome OS four months after declaring its intention of developing the PC's main software, a move that pits it directly against Microsoft and Apple. True to Google's Internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google's ambition to drive people to the Web, where they can see Google ads. With Chrome, Google is seeking to challenge the dominance of Microsoft's Windows, which runs on nine out of 10 personal computers.

Google said it is giving away the software for free, similar to its Android smartphone software, with the idea that improving the Web experience will ultimately benefit its Internet search advertising business, which generated roughly $22 billion in revenue in 2008.

Google made the computer code for the Chrome OS available to outside developers on Thursday, allowing developers to tinker with the software and potentially design new applications to run alongside it. But, the company said Chrome at least initially will not be able to run on just any PC, and executives said they expected that most consumers would get the operating system when they buy a specially-designed netbook.

Google said that all data in Chrome will automatically be housed in the so-called cloud, or on external servers and also cached on the computer's internal hardware to boost performance. It also said that the Chrome applications, which are used for such everyday tasks such as word processing and email, will be Web-based.

Microsoft to launch cloud computing system next year

by Mohit Jain | 11:25 PM in | comments (0)

Microsoft has announced that it will be releasing its cloud based computing system Azure on January 1, next year. The company plans to take advantage of the growing interest in internet-based software and services, according to Reuters.

Azure provides an online platform for software developers to create their own programs, and space for customers to store data. The service was rolled out for experimentation a year ago.

The announcement was made by Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie in the company's annual software developers conference.

Microsoft is expected to be a big player in the cloud computing market - broadly the trend toward running software in remote datacenters and accessing it over the Internet - but has lagged behind pioneering rivals such as Amazon.com, which already sells cloud-based storage, and Google, which offers a range of free, online software.

The first month of the service will be free, and billing will start in February, said Ozzie.

Google to replace HTTP and make web twice as fast

by Mohit Jain | 2:33 AM in | comments (0)

Google's Chromium group has announced an effort to replace the traditional Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) web browser language with a new protocol that supposedly boosts Internet browsing by up to 55 percent. HTTP currently is the protocol used by all web servers and browsers, hence the "http" in front of web addresses. But, as noted by Ars Technica, HTTP becomes inefficient when transferring many small files on many modern websites.

By contrast, Google's cleverly named SPDY protocol can compress and handle the individual requests via one connection that's SSL-encrypted. That allows higher-priority files to slip through immediately without becoming backed up behind large files.

SPDY has shown up to 55 percent web page loading when tested under lab conditions, and the Google team has released their source code for public feedback.

But Ars Technica raises some points of caution about the mandatory SSL encryption requiring more processing power from small devices and computers alike. Requiring SSL could also worsen the problem where server operators neglect SSL encryption and unintentionally encourage people to ignore warnings about unsecured websites.

Still Google's team recognizes these problems and has already proposed workaround solutions. An open approach has already proven a smashing success on Google's Android operating system, but redesigning the Internet's architecture will undoubtedly prove trickier in the days to come.

Google Search Results About to Get a Dose of Caffeine

by Mohit Jain | 4:04 AM in | comments (0)

It appears that the effects of Google's Caffeine update may be felt sooner rather than later. That is if you really do feel the effects at all.

If you are unfamiliar with Caffeine, it is an algorithm update that Google announced in the summer. Upon the announcement, Google's Matt Cutts said, "The Caffeine update isn't about making some UI changes here or there. Currently, even power users won't notice much of a difference at all. This update is primarily under the hood: we're rewriting the foundation of some of our infrastructure." Cutts told WebProNews about Caffeine in the following interview:

When Caffeine was introduced, so was a sandbox, where people could play around with Caffeine based search results, and get a look at how rankings were altered (if at all), and try to get a feel for how it was going to go. Now that sandbox has closed up shop, it looks like the Caffeine update will be live in Google search before too long. It will start after the holidays at least though.

"I know that webmasters can get anxious around this time of year, so I wanted to reassure site owners that the full Caffeine roll out will happen after the holidays," says Cutts on his blog. "Caffeine will go live at one data center so that we can continue to collect data and improve the technology, but I don’t expect Caffeine to go live at additional data centers until after the holidays are over. Most searchers wouldn’t immediately notice any changes with Caffeine, but going slowly not only gives us time to collect feedback and improve, but will also minimize the stress on webmasters during the holidays."

The announcement at what used to be the Caffeine sandbox reads:

We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox.

Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.

Of course as people tested Caffeine via the sandbox, many of them blogged about their results and findings. The general consensus seemed to be that Caffeine is fast and utilizes real-time search a great deal. Given Google's frequent announcements related to speed, and a recently announced deal with Twitter, speed and real-time search seem like logical updates to Google search results.

When SEOBook's Aaron Wall tested Caffeine, he said he thought there was:

- an increased weighting on domain authority & some authoritative tag type pages ranking (like Technorati tag pages + Facebook tag pages), as well as pages on sites like Scribd ranking for some long tail queries based mostly on domain authority and sorta spammy on page text

- perhaps slightly more weight on exact match domain names

- perhaps a bit better understanding of related words / synonyms

- tuning down some of the exposure for video & some universal search results

This stuff should not necessarily be taken as gospel. These are just the results and speculations of individuals from tests of a product that was only introduced (for testing purposes), let alone finalized. It is what it is.

As the Caffeine update rolls out, there will no doubt be more and more mystery unraveled as search industry professionals scramble to stay ahead of the game, and Google drops subtle hints from time to time. It's going to be interesting to see where Caffeine takes the world's most popular search engine.

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/

Google Attract new customers today with a Free Rs. 2500 coupon

by Mohit Jain | 2:58 AM in | comments (0)

You already know that Google Analytics helps you gain rich insights from your website. But did you know that when you combine Google Analytics with Google AdWords search advertising, you can get even more from your website -- more traffic, more qualified visitors and more business. AdWords works by placing targeted advertising alongside Google's search results.

We invite you to try Google AdWords with this free Rs. 2500 advertising coupon. After November 30th, your coupon drops in value to Rs. 1500, so redeem your coupon today!

Four benefits of Google AdWords

Only pay for results: Your ads appear for free, and you only pay when interested users click on your ads and go to your website.
Control your advertising costs: There's no minimum spending requirement, and you can change your daily budget at any time.
Adapt your advertising to changing business needs: Change ads for new products and promotions, and start or stop your campaigns anytime.
View powerful reports: Google Analytics is fully integrated with AdWords, so you'll have easy access to detailed reports that show the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Redeem your AdWords coupon in just minutes:

Visit http://adwords.google.co.in and click "Start now" to create your account.
Log into your new AdWords account, and we'll help you create your first campaign, step by step.
In your AdWords account, fill out your “Billing Preferences”.
In the 'Promotional Code' field, enter the following exactly as given: 34EY-QHFR-NSKQ-4DMD-K8E
Click “Save and Activate.” Now you’re ready to go live and start acquiring new customers.

To link your Google Analytics and AdWords accounts, follow these simple instructions.

Want help? Call 1860 266 6622 to speak to a Google authorised representative who can help set up your advertising (Hotline hours: 9am-6pm, Monday-Friday). Your potential customers are searching right now for what you have to offer, so why wait? Get started with AdWords right now!

Sincerely,
The Google India Analytics Team

P.S. It pays to act quickly. Redeem your coupon before November 30, 2009 to get the full Rs. 2500 trial. After this date, the value goes down to Rs. 1500 (valid until December 31, 2009).

Google plans to restructure programming with Go

by Mohit Jain | 2:57 AM in | comments (0)

Google software luminaries such as Unix Co-creator Ken Thompson believe that they can help boost both computing power and programmers' abilities with an experimental programming language project called Go.

The language has been tested internally at Google, but is still at an experimental stage, so the search giant is releasing it as open-source code in the hope that it will get help with its future development. "We developed Go because we had become a bit frustrated with how difficult software development has become in the last 10 years or so," said Rob Pike, Principal Software Engineer at Google.

So far, Google's Go project consists of the programming language, compilers to convert what programmers write into software that computers can run and a runtime package that endows Go programs with a number of built-in features. It's most similar to C and C++, but, Pike said, it employs modern features and has enough versatility that it could even be used within web browsers, reports CNET News.

Go aims to improve on the way existing programming languages manage dependencies, which are the software components that applications re-use, such as libraries, Pike said. The language is also designed to handle multiprocessor work particularly well, thanks to its concurrent programming model.

Google started working on Go about two years ago and devoted a team to work on it full time about a year ago. It was conceived as a language for systems programming, such as web servers, storage systems and databases. However, Google is open to seeing it branch out into other areas.

At this point, Go is not used in any user-facing Google service or application, since it still has to mature, which is where external programmers come into the picture. "We need better libraries and tools, and the open-source community is great at helping you with things like that," Pike said.

By creating a new programming language, Google continues making inroads into the realm of computing building blocks, prompted by a sense of urgency at making them better. This motivation has also led Google to embark on developing the Android mobile operating system, the Chrome PC browser and the still-unreleased Chrome operating system.

Google set to launch free videoconferencing

by Mohit Jain | 3:43 AM in | comments (0)

Search giant Google is all set to strengthen its voice and video chat capabilities. The voice and video chat featured in the company's email service, Gmail, is currently limited to one-to-one communication. However, Google wants to broaden this capability to more than two participants.

The Google Apps Product Manager Rishi Chandra said that Google is set to roll out its first update in a long line of updates that will include multi-user video conferencing. He said, "This (current Gmail capability) is the first step in a much broader set of features we hope to roll out over the next 6-12 months around video (and voice) chat capabilities." He also added, "It's a great opportunity for us to push that space along."

Google acquired the Web and video conferencing software in 2007 from Swedish company Marratech.

New SMS technology to bring internet on cellphones

by Mohit Jain | 3:09 AM in | comments (0)

The people who cannot afford advanced cell phones have a reason to smile, a new technology will enable internet based services to the most basic handsets. The network protocol being built by Umesh Chandra from Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto, California, will get mobile phones connected to the web via SMS.

Chandra believes that the system will be beneficial in countries like India where most of the population cannot afford to buy a computer or advanced model handset to access the internet.

"For a lot of people in India, the cellphone is the first communication device and slowly it might also become a computing device," he was quoted as saying in New Scientist.

The technology will upgrade mobile phones with a particular Facebook like application, which will allow people to text and locate friends in a specific area.

Shifting from the previous location based SMS systems, which could provide static information, such as the position of the nearest library, this new system can use location information based on the nearest cellphone base stations to send a response. It will also be able to send details of any nearby active vendors on sites like Craigslist.

The system can trace a person using it to within 300 metres in cities with a high density of cellphone base stations like Bangalore.

"What location means to us [in the west] is not exactly what location means in India. [in India], when you tell somebody where you live, you don't give them your complete address. You give them a point of interest," said Chandra.

He insisted that GPS enabled phones would offer better accuracy down to 10 meters. The character limit of SMSs normally acts as a limitation to the amount of information that can be exchanged. However, the new technology has tried solving it by developing a concise syntax to encapsulate the information the user wants.

Microsoft launches on-demand e-mail solutions in India

by Mohit Jain | 3:06 AM in | comments (0)

In order to enable easy access to its cost-effective business productivity software, Microsoft launched its online services in India. Starting at $2 (about Rs.100) a month, the service will allow small and medium business and enterprise customers to access Microsoft's e-mail, collaboration, conferencing and productivity capabilities online.

Customers can access the suite directly from www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices and pay a use-based monthly subscription fee. According to Microsoft, savings are expected to be between 10-50 percent on IT costs.

HCL Infosystems, Infosys and Wipro are among the companies to market and offer Value Added Services (VAS)around the Microsoft Online Services. The launch is part of Microsoft's Software Plus Services strategy that aims to provide flexibility and choice of accessing and using software both on premise and off the Internet or as a combination of both.

"In today's competitive global market businesses need cost-effective technology that allows flexibility and adds value to their organizations," said Microsoft Business Group President, Stephen Elop.

The services will be available in India from November 7. According to a study by global consultancy Browne and Mohan, the market for hosted email will grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 50 percent, with over 28 percent of email solutions to be run on the hosted model by 2012.