We are entering an era of Rich Internet Applications (RIA), and many enterprise development managers are facing the dilemma - which way to go - remain with tried and true Java or .NET technologies or less known (as yet) yet AJAX, Flex, OpenLaszlo...

It's unlikely, however, that Google, the target of the proposed merger, can do much of anything other than raise dust - like its move over the weekend to raise the specter of Microsoft's possible monopolization of the Internet and its illegal leverage into 'new, adjacent markets.' As the Journal observes, Google would have a tough time making a bid for Yahoo itself because its owns too much of search and Internet advertising to clear the regulators, and even the alternatives - underwriting another white knight or helping Yahoo stay independent by guaranteeing 'revenue in return for a Yahoo advertising outsourcing pact' - would probably meet with regulatory headwinds.

During development, Java database migration a big deal because each engineer has two instances of the database, one for unit tests and another for running the application. We need an easy way to create a new, up-to-date database and update existing databases. Once a project has launched, it's a big deal because we need a way to migrate a database teeming with important production data to the latest version without losing critical information.

VX30, a Java-based streaming video software company announced a new release of its market leading Java based media player. Unlike competitors, VX30 utilizes a zero client solution, meaning viewers will not have to install any additional software or plug-ins to receive a video stream. Because the player is Java based, any client with a Java enabled browser can view the video stream irrespective of the underlying operating system.

Aonix celebrated a solid year of growth with the launch of a second French office devoted to professional services. The new office, centered in Toulouse, France?s heartland for aeronautic and space industries, will provide expertise in real-time and embedded solutions in Java and Ada languages.

Software Research has announced the general availability of a new subsystem in its eValid Website Test & Analysis Suite. eValid V8 introduces a powerful Programmatic Interface (EPI) that provides direct control access to all eValid functions and brings eValid as a test engine into the scope of popular programming languages. This new eValid capability allows web developers, programmers and web application testers to directly program the test engine inside the eValid browser from major Windows programming environments such as C/C++/C#, Java, PERL, and Visual Basic (VB).

Wavecom announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Anyware Technologies, an industry leader in machine-to-machine (M2M) client-server software solutions located in Toulouse, France. Anyware is a recognized leader in developing M2M software solutions for customers who use wireless technology to enhance their business processes. Anyware Technologies M2M-specific solutions perfectly compliment Wavecom s secure and scalable Intelligent Device Services (IDS) platform, with the combination creating the most advanced end-to-end software solution in the industry, said Ron Black, CEO of Wavecom.

Day Software announced that its Communique; Web Content Management Suite (CQ WCM) was selected by F5 Networks to power the latest version of F5's Ask F5 Portal. A powerful online knowledge portal created to help customers and partners find answers to their product and support questions quickly and efficiently, Ask F5 conveniently addresses questions about F5's application delivery networking products and services. In search of a solution that would help best facilitate productive information sharing between F5's end users and partners, the company chose Day's Communique; for its content-centric approach and innovative architecture.

Recursion Software announced the extension of its popular C++ Toolkit Suite to HP Integrity servers. The C++ Toolkits are portable, reusable class libraries for multi-threaded applications and are offered with complete source code. With library subsets for time, threading, streaming, networking and more, the C++ Toolkits save developers time and effort allowing them to focus on higher-level development objectives.

Sun Microsystems announced that a division of Reuters, PLC has selected the Sun Java Real-Time System to develop and deploy market-facing services. The Sun Java Real-Time System (Java RTS) is a software product that provides a high-level development platform for creating applications which require absolute execution predictability. Compliant with The Real-Time Specification for Java it uses the power and scalability of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and the flexibility of the Java platform to provide the environment necessary for the growing demand of predictable computing applications in industries such as financial services, aerospace, industrial automation and scientific research.

Rogue Wave Software announced the release of Rogue Wave HydraSDO for XML 2.2 and the next edition of HydraSDO for Databases. Rogue Wave HydraSDO data components automate the creation of high performance, service-oriented data services in Java and C++. The components enable developers to expose any data source as lightweight, independent, and decentralized data services through the Service Data Object (SDO) API, the industry standard data access in SOA.

Oracle announced the general availability of Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97. This latest release provides an open platform for customers to choose hardware, operating systems and database technologies based on their unique IT strategies and business requirements. Relying on JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97, customers may also adopt current advancements in Oracle Enterprise Linux and many components of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

'It is very important to me that Acquia has a marketing leader who understands the importance of growing and sustaining a community and who is passionate about the principles of open source software,' said Acquia co-founder and CTO Dries Buytaert as Jeff Whatcott joined the company as vice president of marketing, responsible for all marketing activity. Whatcott arrived from Adobe, where he led marketing for LiveCycle and Flex.

At today's market close Quest Software's market cap was $1.52B vs $1.44B for TIBCO, two similar size software companies, with a huge difference being TIBCO's name is being rumored to be the next SOA acquisition target, while no one even realizes the existence of Quest as a software company.

JavaScript is the preferred computer language in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a new survey of developers in that region by Evans Data Corp. Over 60 percent of developers use JavaScript and that usage has outstripped all 3GL and scripting language use, including Java itself. Part of the language's growth is due to the increased use of AJAX, used by 38 percent of developers - a 30 percent increase in the last year, according to EDC.

AJAXWorld Conference & Expo, March 18-20, 2008, in New York City will provide an overview of Canoo's RIA technology as compared to its other European competitors. Upcoming AJAXWorld Conference is demonstrating a stronger interest and participation from delegates around Europe. Canoo announced a new release of its Java library for Rich Internet Applications (RIA), UltraLightClient (ULC). This new 6.2 version offers addons to test UltraLightClient-based applications more easily.

Remember two odd years ago when Oracle went and bought InnoDB, the source of MySQL's crucial storage engine, and there for a heart-stopping minute or two it looked like MySQL was toast? Well, MySQL founder Monty Widenius says the company is moving along toward replacing its own MyISAM default storage engine with a new one called Maria after one of his children.

Google doesn't like the idea of Microsoft buying Yahoo any more than Microsoft likes the idea of Google buying DoubleClick. Today in a blog Google general counsel David Drummond said Microsoft?'s $44.6 billion hostile bid for Yahoo 'raises troubling questions.' 'This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another,' he wrote. 'It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet' openness and innovation,' throwing in Microsoft's face allegations of possible monopolization and antitrust leverage onto 'new, adjacent markets.'

Sun is offering ten grants of US $11,500 - equivalent to several months of pay for developers in some countries - for the best NetBeans projects submitted by open source developers. Conceived as a means of increasing general awareness around the NetBeans project as well as rewarding good work done by the NetBeans Community, the 'Dreams of Reality' contest is described in detail by worldwide NetBeans Community Manager Bruno Souza, the charismatic Brazilian developer, in a special audio webcast currently playing on SYS-CON.TV.

Besides commercial Apache support, Covalent, whose founders helped develop the hysterically successful Apache HTTP Web Server, also sell enterprise subscription to its own Enterprise Ready Server, Hyperic HQ monitoring, Terracotta Java clustering and the WSO2 Web Services Application Server. SpringSource picked up a $10 million A round check from Benchmark Capital last year.

Android Location will what its lead developer Andres Rormoser calls 'a revolutionary social mapping service to change the way people use mobile phones to keep in touch with their friends.' It will facilitate real-world interaction between friends and put an end to frustrating missed connections, says Rormoser, who is currently seeking people 'who would like to join the project to help us build it faster.'

Google, which does not give guidance, missed both Wall Street's top and bottom expectations for its December quarter by a hair and the punters turned vicious pounding it down around 50 bucks after-hours. Consensus demanded non-GAAP earnings of $4.44 on revenues of $3.45 billion. Google came in with $4.43 on revenues $3.39 billion. Those revenues figures are net of what's called TAC, Google's traffic acquisition costs, the money it pays its partners, which it this case amounted $1.44 billion or 30% of its ad revenues.

Phurnace announced support for JBoss web application servers with the availability of its newest version, Phurnace Deliver 3.3. The latest release, available in mid-February, provides IT operations staff with the resources they need to decrease configuration errors, which is one of the biggest sources of downtime. The software reduces deployment times and associated costs for faster, more cohesive enterprise Java deployments on the leading open source web application server. Phurnace Deliver 3.3 is implemented with an Eclipse Rich Client Platform user interface, providing enhanced 'console-like' functionality for the JBoss server.

To satisfy growing customer demand for numerical application development technologies for .NET and Java, and for advanced charting and graph visualization, Visual Numerics announced the availability of the IMSL C# Numerical Library version 5.0 and JMSL Numerical Library for Java Applications version 5.0. These libraries now include enhanced algorithms for better performance, as well as new process control chart capabilities. The combination of these features is optimal for companies that are developing analytical applications in .NET and Java, and require highly accurate algorithms for quantitative analysis such as predictive modeling and quality control.

Microsoft this morning made a $44.6 billion hostile bid for the floundering Yahoo, striking at a point when it has become evident to all and sundry that Yahoo doesn't have a pray of turning things around on its own let alone getting competitive. Yahoo's first official reaction was basically to say it'll think about it. It said it would evaluate the offer 'carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans.' It did not give a timeframe for a response. Although it looks pretty boxed in, it could of course try for more money.

CodeGear announced the sale of a 1 million seat license deal to the Russian Federal Agency of Education for teaching programming and application development to Russian students. CodeGear's products -- Delphi, Delphi for .NET, and C++ Builder - will be available for use in all of Russia's primary and secondary schools to teach its new generation of computer programmers.

JSF did well in 2007. Let's put it this way: If job demand for the Struts framework and JSF were a stocks and you invested in it in April of 2005 by July of 2007 you would barely break even with Struts, but with JSF your investment would have grown 700% as of July 2007. (According to indeed.com.) Struts continues to do really well; it is still number 1. Yet after Struts, JSF is doing well and Struts growth is as flat as EJBs.

Imagine you are a contestant on a TV game show and your grinning quiz master pops the question: 'Name the one thing you most associate with Google?' Think about your answer - write it on a card (don't show me yet). Turning your card over, it's likely to be one of the following...Great Internet search engine on google.com; Wicked share price, wish I'd bought some a few years ago; Powerhouse of innovation for Java

InterSystems announced that Oleen, an InterSystems implementation partner, will provide the InterSystems CACHÉ-based SurgiDat system to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). A database provider in healthcare, InterSystems develops and markets innovative database and integration software. Its product line includes the InterSystems CACHÉ high-performance object database, InterSystems Ensemble rapid integration platform, and InterSystems HealthShare platform for regional and national electronic health records.

In response to the proliferation of other frameworks used to create rich Internet applications such as Flex from Adobe (formerly from Macromedia) and AJAX-based frameworks, Microsoft Silverlight was recently introduced. All three of these applications, as well as the others on the market, enable a web developer to create an interface on a web page that is much more robust than traditional HTML-based pages once were.

Terracotta announced it has closed a $10 million round of venture financing. In this latest round, DAG Ventures made its initial investment in Terracotta, and was joined by existing investors Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, and Goldman Sachs. This latest investment from top tier investment firms highlights an enormously successful 12 months since Terracotta launched its open source business and product strategy. Terracotta will use the funds to expand its operations to meet the needs of its rapidly growing customer base and to broaden its reach and impact in new markets.

Managed Methods has announced the availability of their SOA management and runtime governance product JaxView 3.7. While providing full support for SOA and Web service management for the IT operations, JaxView 3.7 expanded runtime policy enforcement features around the creation of Service Policy Profiles.

PreEmptive Solutions announced that it has launched a Professional Services organization and is shipping new releases of DashO, Dotfuscator Gold, Dotfuscator Professional, Dotfuscator Community Edition (CE) and Dotfuscator CE Enhanced.

Our very favorite reaction to the Sun-MySQL acquisition came from industry pundit John Dvorak who calls it 'perhaps the worst single event I have ever witnessed in the history of tech mergers and acquisitions.' He says that given Sun's abominable track record with acquisitions and the fact that Sun can't afford to spend a billion dollars on a company with $60 million in revenue coupled the fact that MySQL is 'the most competitive and biggest threat to Oracle,' he's close to being convinced that Sun is acting as a 'stooge' for Oracle, which wants it dead. The MySQL code can be resuscitated from a fork.

Software professionals usually take a great deal of pride in some combination of: Chasing and groking the latest software methodology/technology (e.g., AJAX, JPA, PMP, Spring JMS, Ruby, etc.) making them more marketable (and better positioned to pay their bills!). Creating software products and libraries (open source included) that can be reused (the DRY principle) by other technologists, Building and deploying software projects that are successfully used by their business customers.

Sun Microsystems announced that it has expanded the Sun Startup Essentials(SM) program into Canada, France and Germany to help early-stage companies in these countries get up-and-running quickly while conserving cash. As part of Sun's ongoing commitment to fostering the global startup community, the company continues to support programs and events around the world, such as hosting the Sun-sponsored Startup Camp(SM) in London this spring.

Klockwork announced the availability of Klocwork Insight, a major product release that is designed to dramatically change the effectiveness of source code analysis technology. Klocwork Insight brings the full power of Klocwork's sophisticated, system-wide source code analysis capabilities to the developer desktop. This patent-pending innovation combines the productivity benefits of fast, local desktop source code analysis with the accuracy of system-wide analysis, transforming source code analysis from a build audit report to a true, developer-support tool.

The turn of the year provides an opportunity to review the events of the past and to think about what lies ahead, so I'll address these themes in this month's column. But first I'd like to wish you all a peaceful and successful New Year. It's been a year of steady progress for the JCP. Our membership grew by more than 10% to a total of 1,427.

The term Software Archeology has been used in various forms since early 2001. The concept of Software Archeology is an approach or methodology that helps individual team members or entire teams to understand exactly what they have in the code they're going to be working on. The approach is also very useful when deconstructing an existing piece of software to find patterns of design and development that could be 'harvested' in future developments.

You're paying your application developers to write code. But are they doing what you're paying them to do? In most IT organizations, the answer is no. Industry analysts estimate that developers spend only about 20 percent of their time designing and coding. How do they spend the bulk of their time? Resolving application problems. Identifying and correcting defects discovered in the testing phase of a software project consumes 50 percent or more of your developers' time.