2009/06/22
TheRegister: Apple won't let Commodore onto its baby
by Bill Ray
Apple has rejected a licensed Commodore 64 emulator application for the iPhone, citing its own rules that forbid virtual environments - something aimed more at Java developers than nostalgic gamers.
Publisher Manomio thought it was on to a good thing; cashing in on all those iPhone users still desperate to hear the congratulatory speech at the end of Impossible Mission, but despite apparently having the vocal support of Apple Europe, the completed application fell foul of the iTunes rules and won't be available.
The iPhone application rules are pretty clear on the subject of virtual environments, preventing anything that might download and execute code sourced from somewhere other than the Cupertino-controlled repository that is iTunes:
"An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."
InfoWorld: The Open Group offers enterprise architecture tool
by Paul Krill
Providing an assist to IT shops looking to implement an enterprise architecture, The Open Group on Monday is offering is offering a tool to help with putting TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) 9 into action.
Donated by Capgemini, the TOGAF Customizer tool is a free, open source technnology based on the Eclipse Process Framework. Users can more easily align enterprise architecture practices with TOGAF 9 and develop organization-specific versions, Open Group said.
"One of the things that we wanted to do in The Open Group community was really to augment the traditional Open Group [publication] mechanisms with a tool that would allow a user of TOGAF to really pick up the TOGAF method" and customize it, said Mike Turner, enterprise architect at Capgemini.
Plugging into the Eclipse IDE, the tool contains TOGAF 9 content in a structured and editable form, including guidelines and checklists as well as materials accommodating the Architecture Development Method in the framework. Users also can use the tool to integrate TOGAF with other enterprise architecture frameworks such as Zachman.
The tool is a desktop client that publishes HTML output that can be edited; it will generate a Web site for user reference.
Specific features of the tool include:
- Constructs and tasks to enable processes to be defined with related content such as outputs, inputs and roles.
- A supporting editor to make changes to the standard framework.
- A content management system for group collaboration, editing and versioning.
- A plug-in architecture for adding content packages such as document templates.
TOGAF 9 was launched in February.
CNet: Retiring application data to the cloud
by Dave Rosenberg
As the world pushes ahead with cloud computing and business users demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, many IT departments are struggling to keep legacy applications on life support. Many of these zombie applications are there only for storage and audit purposes, not for real-time data interaction.
Even if applications have been "turned off" the data continues to live on in databases and file stores, continuing to take up storage space and software licenses. The result is a state of paralysis, with application retirement merely a dream.
U.K.-based Clearpace recently unveiled a cloud-based data archiving service called RainStor. RainStor's technology is being used to solve a completely overlooked problem domain: application retirement. I spoke via e-mail with RainStor CTO Andy Ben-Dyke to understand how the service works and why it makes sense.
RainStor's Instant Application Retirement service works in 3 steps:
1. Send-Structured data from any RDBMS is automatically compressed by 40x or more, encrypted and sent to the cloud using a client-side software appliance. The extreme compression that is applied significantly reduces the time to transfer large volumes of data to the cloud.
2. Store-The encrypted data is stored in a private archive on Amazon's highly available and secure storage cloud (S3). Though compressed, the original schema format is preserved and RainStor is able to layer on additional archives which reflect any schema changes (e.g. add or delete of columns).
3. Search-Running on Amazon's highly scalable compute cloud (EC2) RainStor allows you to query data through any industry-standard reporting or BI tools over ODBC or JDBC with lightning speed. Providing "point-in-time" query capability based on its ability to store schema evolution changes.
The RainStor service can be had for as little as $1 per GB of data stored per month with no commitments, including Amazon storage and resource costs. Clearpace is also offering a 90 day free trial.
Given that there is a untold fortune of hardware and software tied up in legacy apps waiting to freed up, turning off those apps and sending the data to "heaven" in the clouds just seems like a no-brainer.
