System iNetwork

July 2009

July 29, 2009 10:47 AM

IBM Sees BI Future Through SPSS Acquisition

IBM has been investing in business intelligence (BI) solutions the last few years, and it's still going strong: IBM announced it plans to acquire SPSS Inc. in an all cash transaction at a price of $50 per share that--if approved--will bring the price tag to $1.2 billion.

IBM's primary interest in SPSS appears to be the company's expertise in predictive analytics, an area of BI that focuses on analyzing historical and current data to predict future outcomes and trends.

"With this acquisition, we are extending our capabilities around a new level of analytics that not only provides clients with greater insight--but true foresight," notes Ambuj Goyal, IBM's general manager of Information Management. "Predictive analytics can help clients move beyond the 'sense and respond' mode, which can leave blind spots for strategic information in today's fast paced environment--to 'predict and act' for improved business outcomes."

For IBM i-focused organizations, SPSS offers its ShowCase Suite, an end-to-end BI solution.

IBM's Information on Demand

IBM says this acquisition is expected to further expand IBM's Information on Demand (IOD) software portfolio and business analytics capabilities, including the range of offerings available through IBM's recently-announced Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization and network of Analytics Solution Centers. The acquisition is also expected to strengthen IBM's Information Agenda initiative, which is aimed at helping companies turn information into strategic assets.

As companies attempt to control costs and use resources more wisely, IDC estimates that the worldwide market for business analytics software will grow to $25 billion this year, up 4 percent over 2008.

IBM says the acquisition of SPSS will add a wide array of advanced analytic capabilities to IBM's IOD software portfolio enabling many new industry-focused solutions including: customer acquisition and retention for financial services, patient care improvement for the healthcare industry, crime prevention for public sector and ideal store location for retailers and manufacturers. In addition, software capabilities that address all industries will include demand forecasting, employee hiring and retention, customer profitability, credit scoring, and fraud detection.

Predictive Analytics in Crime-Fighting Action

As an example of predictive analytics in action, IBM is touting the recognition of patterns based on the analysis of the thousands of incident reports, crime tips, and other data that police departments receive every day, is critical to fighting crime and protecting the public. Police services often use predictive analytics to identify and predict patterns of criminal behavior to help forecast which minor crimes are most likely to escalate into violence. By investigating dispatch data, the police can also create models that pinpoint crime "hot spots," so they can place tactical units where they anticipate crime is most likely to occur.

The Richmond, VA police department provided the results of this kind of predictive analysis to detectives and saw a 20-30 percent decrease in violent crime and homicides in a 12-month period. SPSS has an interesting NBC video segment on its web site describing the results.

IBM says it will continue to support and enhance SPSS technologies while allowing customers to take advantage of the broader IBM portfolio. Following the close of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate SPSS within IBM's Information Management software portfolio and into the many industry offerings already available.

The acquisition is subject to SPSS shareholder approval, applicable regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close later in the second half of 2009.

--Chris Maxcer, news and Database/SQL editor

Posted by cmaxcer on July 29, 2009 at 10:47 AM | Comments (2)

July 28, 2009 2:11 PM

IBM Acquires Ounce Labs to Extend Application Security and Compliance Offerings

IBM has acquired Ounce Labs, Inc., a privately held company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, whose software helps companies reduce the risks and costs associated with security and compliance concerns. IBM will integrate Ounce Labs, a leading provider of enterprise source code security testing, into its Rational software business.

As today's systems become increasingly interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent, they are also becoming more complex, forcing organizations to protect themselves from an evolving array of security and compliance risks. The Ounce Labs solutions scan software source code and identify potential security and compliance vulnerabilities during the earliest stages of software development, when they are less expensive to correct. Ounce Labs software can also help organizations assess and remediate risks posed to their businesses through their legacy applications.

Ounce Labs technology will be offered as part of the IBM Rational AppScan family of web application security and compliance testing solutions. The combined offering will provide a comprehensive solution for organizations concerned about correcting security vulnerabilities in applications before they go live. The Ounce Labs and Rational offerings let IBM provide application security analysis capabilities across the software development lifecycle, from coding to production.

• Read IBM's full press release about this acquisition.
• Learn more about the IBM security portfolio.
• Read an eWeek article that speculates that the acquisition will spur HP and Microsoft to strengthen their own application testing offerings.

--Linda Harty, executive editor & security/availability/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on July 28, 2009 at 2:11 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2009 10:16 AM

Next RPG & DB2 Summit Set for October 13-15

System i Developer has announced its next RPG & DB2 Summit conference dates and location: October 13-15, 2009 at the Sofitel in Minneapolis. In a year that finds many conference organizers cutting back, System i Developer says it's planning a full conference program of four tracks spanning three full days, plus a fourth day of optional Headstart Seminars. The curriculum focuses exclusively on topics of interest to RPG and DB2 development professionals.

System i Developer is a consortium led by four i-focused partners: Susan Gantner, Jon Paris, Paul Tuohy, and Skip Marchesani.

In addition, the conference boasts some additional expert speakers: Scott Klement, Barbara Morris, Mike Cain, Kent Milligan, Bruce Vining, and Aaron Bartell.

"Once again, we're fortunate to have our favorite gurus working with us," Paris says. "Each of these individuals adds a unique dimension to the Summit, and we have a great time together. The dynamics create a fantastic environment for teaching and for learning."

He adds, "With many IT departments facing budget and staff cuts, it is even more critical for developers to stay up-to-date and improve their personal productivity. We try to do our part by inviting the best speakers in the industry and by making the Summit affordable."

Full disclosure: The RPG & DB2 Summit is sponsored by System iNetwork, in addition to IBM Systems Magazine.

System i Developer says it has significantly updated its agenda for 2009, focusing on practical, in-depth, use-it-today tips and techniques on topics ranging from RPG IV to SQL to modernizing program architecture as well as user interfaces. The four optional half-day Headstart Seminars on Monday, October 12 focus on SQL, PHP, Subprocedures and Service Programs, and HTML/Javascript/CSS for RPG developers.

Attendees can add seminars to their conference registration at $215 for one seminar or $295 for two. Early registration rates are $995 ($895 for Alumni) through August 31. Attendees can book rooms at the Sofitel for $99 a night.

For more information, check out http://www.systemideveloper.com.

Posted by cmaxcer on July 27, 2009 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2009 5:37 PM

Defy the Economy, Outsourcing, and More

An article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper, titled "Experts seeing more IT jobs than workers," takes a look at Colorado State University's CIS program and, combined with statistics from local employers, concludes that there is a shortage of qualified IT workers. Enrollment in the program has dropped significantly, and the demand for highly technical workers (especially in business management contexts) has never been higher.

How can this be, given the doom and gloom we hear on a daily basis? Could this region in Colorado (which is local to Penton Media's office that handles its IT publications, including System iNEWS) be an anomaly, or is there something to these results? Perhaps the problem is not that open positions don't exist but rather that the current skill sets don't line up with the jobs currently in demand. Could we need more IT workers trained in core, strategic roles that can't be outsourced or replaced with less technical individuals?

To examine this issue further, I spoke with System iNEWS technical editor Jef Sutherland, former head of IT and current vice president of business for KOA Kampgrounds.

How has the down economy shifted the job market for IT pros?

The obvious answer is for those looking for jobs, they are finding a tighter market. I don't know if the article you refer to could be regional and there are pockets of the nation where the IT pro is finding more openings. For those with IT jobs now, they may find reduced work hours in the form of mandatory days off as well as hiring freezes and pay freezes. We went into a hiring freeze even though our budget called for adding a programmer in 2009. We went so far as finding the right candidate but then held off as we realized this position was a "nice to have" versus a "need to have."

How have these shifts interacted with changes in the job market due to the changing environment over the past decade (examples include outsourcing, virtualization, cloud computing/hosted solutions, mobility/smartphones)?

A tighter market, a tighter budget doesn't mean the work isn't still there. Companies still have to produce to keep the doors open. These shifts mean taking a new look at ways to be more productive or cut costs. If anything, this reset of the market has opened our eyes to the changing environment items you mention.

What types of positions will employers always want to keep in-house?

Smart companies keep core positions in-house. If the IT pro is involved in the business's core activity, that position should be kept in-house. That means areas such as networking, maintenance, and support are options for outsourcing. Usually, this means development/developers are kept in-house when that team works on the company's core set of applications or produces a proprietary product.

What should IT pros be doing right now to shift into these types of positions?

Analyze their current skill set. What is needed to get into core, in-house positions? If training budgets are cut, what is an IT pro willing to do on his or her own time or with his or her own dollars to improve the personal assets they can offer? And, depending on the environment of the organization, an IT pro should be asking his or her supervisor for opportunities.

Don't hole up in the office and just hope you aren't in the next downsizing memo. Be active, show you care, ask for a chance to grow. It doesn't take a lot of money sometimes for people to learn how they can help the company—they just have to be given the opportunity.

How can IT pros leverage the skills they have already developed (e.g., programming, development) to help them secure business/management positions?

A little bit to the prior point, make sure their value is being brought out. Offer to assist, help, mentor, or learn in a project that may be outside of your current role or job description. Just the fact that you ask is a plus.

Do you have any words of wisdom or encouragement for individuals who have been laid off, hit with pay cuts, or forced to downgrade to a lower-level IT position?

I have the same advice as for the last question and it is one word: network. It isn't what you know but who you know that will make the difference. Be around people, make contacts, be ready to be seen. Have the right attitude about the situation: Look for the opportunity with a smile.

--Brian Reinholz, training & certification editor

Posted by lharty on July 23, 2009 at 5:37 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2009 10:15 AM

Big Analysts Use Erasers to Adjust IT Spend Calculations

Remember erasers? For those of us who now live on the keyboard, the eraser is the little pink nubbin that rubs out tiny graphite flakes that adhere to paper when deployed from the end of a pencil. Its modern day equivalent is the delete key. Back when I was a kid, I'd use the eraser to fix mistakes. Nowadays, I use the delete key, and the massive size of my right pinky finger is an indication of how often I have to use delete.

Meanwhile, the number crunchers at Forrester and Gartner have revised their IT spend calculations, and you guessed it, spending has decreased (or will likely decrease) more than they originally expected.*

Forrester Research

Forrester's most recent stance is that global purchases of IT goods and services by businesses and governments in 2009 are projected to decline by 10.6 percent, compared with the 3 percent decrease previously projected at the beginning of the year. The latest quarterly update of Forrester's IT spending outlook also projects a 5.1 percent decline in the U.S. annual IT market, compared with the 3.1 percent decrease previously forecast.

Forrester says that new data about large declines in business technology investment during the first quarter prompted the research firm to update its forecasts for technology spending.

Surprisingly, Forrester still expects growth in U.S. IT investment to resume in Q4 2009, and 2010 is expected to bring a revival of IT buying in other markets as well.

"While Q1 2009 saw a scary drop in purchases in the U.S. tech market, ironically that is good news for the long run and we expect to see a stronger rebound sooner," notes Andrew Bartels, Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst. "The big drops are not precursors to further declines; rather, we think they are evidence of a temporary pause in U.S. tech purchases, which we expect to start recovering in Q4 as businesses realize that they overreacted in the first quarter."

He adds, "We also expect that tech markets in Europe and Asia will start to recover in the first half of 2010."

Gartner

Gartner says worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.2 trillion in 2009, a 6 percent decline from 2008 spending of $3.4 trillion. Continued weak IT spending because of the economic situation--combined with the effect of exchange rate movements--has resulted in Gartner lowering its 2009 forecast from its 1Q09 projection. In March of this year, Gartner had forecast 2009 IT spending to decline 3.8 percent.

"While the global economic downturn shows signs of easing, this year IT budgets are still being cut and consumers will need a lot more persuading before they can feel confident enough to loosen their purse strings," notes Richard Gordon, research vice president and head of global forecasting at Gartner.

"The forecast decline in spending growth for the hardware and software segments in 2009 has almost stabilized, and only minor downward revisions have been made to these forecasts this quarter," Gordon adds. "However, the full impact of the global recession on the IT services and telecommunications sectors is still emerging, and forecast growth in these areas has been further reduced significantly. Moreover, the rise in the value of the U.S. dollar against most currencies in recent months will have a material downward impact on 2009 IT spending growth, which by convention we report based on U.S. dollars."

--Chris Maxcer, news editor

* Note: We don't really believe that Forrester and Gartner analysts use real erasers, but there's no indication that they do or do not.

Posted by cmaxcer on July 15, 2009 at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2009 11:53 AM

IBM Wins Award for Putting Supercomputing Powers to Work on Humanitarian Issues

This month, Coffey International Limited gave IBM the Coffey International Award for IBM's application of technical expertise in innovative ways to address pressing societal and environmental challenges. IBM received the award for World Community Grid, a world-wide system of linked computers that create the virtual processing power of a supercomputer devoted to humanitarian research.

Coffey International says, "World Community Grid gains its power from the aggregated spare computing capacity of 1.3 million PCs belonging to 460,000 volunteers from over 200 countries. For participating members it provides the opportunity to make a significant contribution to tackling the Millennium Development Goals, and for scientists it allows them to utilise supercomputer processing power free of charge to engage in not-for-profit, humanitarian research."

Since its inception in 2004, World Community Grid has helped causes such as FightAIDS@Home, Nutritious Rice for the World, and Help Fight Childhood Cancer conduct research that might otherwise have been impossible. For more details about the project, visit Coffey International and World Community Grid. You can even make your own computer part of the grid!

—Linda Harty, executive editor & availability/security/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on July 13, 2009 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

July 9, 2009 3:05 PM

IBM's Haifa Lab Working on Platform-Agnostic Data-Masking Technology

I'm always interested in anything that sounds like it will make IT security easier. A recent announcement from IBM details a technology that has great potential for simplifying data security. It's called MAGEN (Masking Gateway for Enterprises), and it uses optical character recognition and screen scraping to identify and cover up confidential data—essentially "catching" the information before it hits the screen, analyzing the content, and then masking details that must be hidden from the person logged in.

You can read full details about MAGEN on IBM's Haifa Research Lab website. Unfortunately, the links to the MAGEN presentation and demo on that page don't work, but the page does contain other interesting information. Maybe if enough of us notify IBM of the link problem, it will get fixed so that we can all see the demo. It sounds intriguing.

—Linda Harty, executive editor & availability/security/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on July 9, 2009 at 3:05 PM | Comments (0)

July 7, 2009 8:28 AM

Pithy Advice from Your Fellow IBM i Pros

If you could give someone just one tip about the IBM i system—your best advice in 100 words or less—what would it be? I posed this question to the "i" industry and received many great pieces of wisdom from a broad spectrum of contributors. I've compiled some of them here for a quick read that will leave you enlightened and possibly even inspired.

Some of the tips generated discussion, which led to more information and sometimes clarification. To see the full thread, visit the original forum post and/or LinkedIn discussion question (both venues require free registration). If you have advice to add, feel free to do so by posting a comment here or by adding to the aforementioned forum thread or LinkedIn discussion.

When available, the contributor's title and/or company name are included with the tip here. To everyone who contributed, thanks!

—Linda Harty, executive editor & availability/security/networking/connectivity editor

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Establish reasonable object and user profile security right from the start rather than trying to build it in later.
— David Shirey, Shirey Consulting Services

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If you have one, keep it and upgrade it. If you don't have one, get one!
— Ray Bassett, Independent Information Technology and Services Professional

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I would highly recommend investigating every aspect of what the i System has to offer. Most customers only use about a third of the power and tools shipped in the i System. I have personally utilized Apache, SMTP, LPAR, Linux, IXS Servers, NFS, PASE, DNS, BOOTP, Fibre SAN, Java, QSH, PHP, MQ, TSM, ODBC, SQL, just to name a few items. The options are endless to solve business problems. Even in Disaster Recovery the i System makes Bare Metal Restores easy. So my tip is, understand the architecture, use it to solve problems.
— David Pota, iSeries Expert/Linux & SAN Consultant

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Do NOT attempt to configure or administer the operations or systems aspects of a system i box with non-specialist personnel, especially existing in-house personnel. Hire or contract with a competent professional System i administrator (preferably IBM certified). The ROI will be profound even though it will be unprovable. This is the one person who can potentially save you hundreds of hours of down time, bad performance, and security breaches.
— Tom Duncan, Senior iSeries Administrator

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There is no such thing as an 'IBM i system'. What you have is a 'do everything' System capable of running multiple virtualised instances of not only a great OS called IBM i (i5/OS), but also AIX (Unix), Linux (32 and 64 bit) and Windows (via co-processors). It does this all securely on an in-built SAN and virtual network. This means that it can run your entire business including your infrastructure servers and telephones (OK, so you will have to migrate any Z/OS apps) ... and it can do it today ... and most of it is free.
— John Taylor, Owner, Typex Group

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IBM system i: when losing data is simply not an option. It's ironic but just today, an important non-IBM SQL database went down. When it was brought back up, all the tables in the production DB were gone, kaput! The techs have been working on it all morning and still have no idea why this occurred, or where the data is. I've been with the i from the S/38 days and further back to the S/34 and S/36, I've never seen any of these system lose customer data, period.
— hcedmondson (System iNetwork forums handle)

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[In response to hcedmondson, Rocky writes:]

I have - when IBM hardware engineers became brain dead on the 820 - only provided 1 power cable (even with redundant power supply), no cable relief and to add insult to injury removed the backup battery. IBM Engineers became slightly smarter since by solving the dual power connection and strain relief - they have yet to regain their sences on the backup battery, one of the worst, if not THE worst, design decisions IBM has ever made in regards to the AS400/iSeries/i5 platform and I am still convinced it is a major error on IBM's part... - but there's hope for recovery. At any rate - on our 820 the power cable got pulled loose - and anything that was in system memory went the way of the dodo bird. IBM's answer? Journal... I think they really just wanted to sell more disk space.

So - my advice is - Journal - and even better use a Continous Data Protection solution such as iTerra Vault from Vision Solutions.
— Rocky

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Here's a thought that can save you some grief: If you deploy an open application such as Apache, OpenSSH, PHP, etc., be sure to understand how to implement security. The security models for these applications are quite different than normal IBM i applications. You can easily leave your IBM i open to exploits with default configurations. Still helping a customer clean up after an Apache web server exploit . . .
— Patrick Townsend, Patrick Townsend Security Solutions

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Here's 100 words of tips:

• sarcastic tip: "Don't get too attached to the name."
• inscrutable tip: "Here's a tip - with an IBM i system, you don't need a tip."
• business tip: "You want to run a business just like a Fortune 500 does? Buy an IBM i system and you will."
• technical sales tip: "Need to run all major technologies integrated together with leading edge performance? Buy an IBM i. The i stands for integrated."
• business sales tip: "Oracle is trying to put something together to compete with the IBM i system. Why not buy the real thing."
• programmer tip: "Write RPG subprocedures. They can be used anywhere no matter how your architecture evolves."
• DBA tip: "Sorry, with an integrated DB2 database on the IBM i system, we don't have DBA's."
• architectural tip: "i5/OS is what the rest of the computer industry wishes they had invented."
• user tip: "yeah, we still call it the AS/400 too."

— ralphdaugherty (System iNetwork forums handle)

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size your system properly before you sign for the purchase or lease! i inherited one that wasn't...lots of upgrades followed quickly (disk space running over 90% and % of used disk growing at least 1-2% per month!)
— Tommy Holden, System iNetwork Forum Pro

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If you haven't already begun modernizing your UI, start now. Push decision support tools to browser-based applications. Provide analytical data in spreadsheets so accountants and salespeople can review, sort, subselect, chart and whatever else they need to do their jobs better.

Heard from a newly hired engineer: "The AS/400 is like a DOS box, right?"

From salespeople being shown a new browser-based account inquiry: "When we change this in the AS/400, how long until it's updated here?" It took some effort to convince them this was still the same "AS/400" and would reflect any changes immediately.
— bryan641 (System iNetwork forums handle)

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Journal, journal and journal... Make sure your critical business applications are journaled; you never know when you'll need to investigate historical file updates, for evidence against disgruntled employees or unsatisfied customers. And, if you are already journaling, the best tip is to make sure you receive real time alerts when critical data changes by more or less than a pre-determined amount or percentage (this will also catch unrealistic data-entry additions/updates before they flow thru your application).
— Eli Spitz, Raz-Lee Security

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One thing I've found over the years, and the previous post about journaling brought it to mind, is that it is essential to design cleanup and maintenance into any process that we create. Here are a few areas that we need to pay attention to:

• Journal receivers: So many times have I found journal receivers taking up tons of space that long ago should have been purged.
• Physical files with lots of deleted records: I just reorganized a work file with 35 million deleted records! It had not been touched in years. And yes, I did change reuse deleted records to yes.
• Temporary files: This includes transmission files, archived files, work files and the like. Any non-production file should have a life span associated with it. These things pile up fast.
• Misc objects: Anything that a process creates on the fly should be looked at. Sometimes QTEMP is a great solution and other times its not. Regardless of how its is done a well designed process cleans up after itself.

— Ray Marsh

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1. When you make a decision, imagine the results of your decision for as long as you intend to be with the company.
2. When you want to introduce a technology, don't ask. Just make a prototype, and the show the prototype. Nothing convinces like a working model.
3. Most temporary fixes will run 5 years minimum.
4. It only takes twice as long to do it right. With the way everyone in your company wastes time, it will probably be done before anyone notices, no matter what they say.
5. Don't write programs one at a time. Always think what reusable tool, procedure, or template would help you this time and in the future.
6. Any time you start to copy something, you are missing a chance for (5) above.

— Lynne Noll, System iNetwork Forum Pro

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Don't pigeon-hole the iSeries as a single purpose machine. It isn't just for serving up green screens sitting on top of your grandfather's monolithic code. There are 1000's of things it can do from network security to web serving to file serving to solid computing platform to data center. Just because no one is using a part of the OS, don't assume that it is a hopelessly complex task to figure it out.

(Of course, the IBM manuals *are* hopelessly complex but User Forums like this one can cut through the junk.)
— Bob Genis

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Just one tip? The F4 key! Stuck? Type something and then hit the F4 key. Evokes a plethora of choices & advises & help & extended prompts etc. Most cases will finish what you're trying to do or give you another avenue to explore, or help in trying to navigate your way.
— Robert McCarty

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It is commonly known that Microsoft Excel (2003 and up) can read from, and write to the popular Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). What is not well know, is that if you save an HTML file with the .xls extension, Excel will read in the HTML data and do its best to convert the contents to an Excel spreadsheet complete with cell width and most formatting. Similarly if you create an XML file with an .xls or .xml extension, using appropriate Excel XML tags, the resulting file should read into Excel as a regular Excel file complete with formatting, formulas and multiple tabs. While most programmers are familiar with HTML syntax, XML files are not as commonly understood. To get a quick understanding of the XML format, try saving your favorite Excel spreadsheet in XML Spreadsheet format and read it back into a text editor.

Many RPG programmers have had experience writing text files to the IFS directory that can be read by PC applications. This can be done with the CPYFRMSTMF command, the QtmhWrStout API, free software such as CGIDEV2.

With these two ideas in mind, it is not difficult to imagine how we could use RPG to generate formatted HTML or XML reports into the IFS that can then be read by Excel.
— M. Michael

Posted by lharty on July 7, 2009 at 8:28 AM | Comments (3)

July 6, 2009 1:41 PM

Clear-Text Passwords on Web Forms: Is there a happy medium between security and usability?

Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen's June 23 Alertbox article advocates stopping the use of masked passwords on websites: Masked passwords are when you type in a password and whatever you type is replaced by a row of bullets or asterisks.

I agree with Nielsen's assertion that most of the time when we're typing in passwords, we're sitting alone in our offices anyway. Who's lurking over our shoulders to watch? It would be a great leap forward in usability to be able to see the password as we type it and would probably encourage people to choose longer, stronger passwords, as Nielsen mentions. Of course, I'm assuming that Nielson is referring to clear-texting only the actual typing in of the password. Certainly, the password needs to be encrypted during transfer between the browser and the web server.

Over the weekend, I was at a bookstore and found a book that I wanted to put on hold at my local library rather than purchase it. My husband handed me his iPhone and I surfed to our library website, found the book in the online catalog, and proceeded to place a hold. To place a hold, the library website requires you to enter your last name and, as the "password," your 14-digit library card number. As I fumbled with the iPhone's "touch" keyboard to type in 14 digits, I recalled Nielsen's article, and thought, "Good point!" The iPhone offers the best of both worlds, in a way, because--for just a moment--it does show the actual character that you typed in the password field before it turns into a bullet. However, I was so busy hunting and pecking the numbers that I didn't even notice that handy feature until my husband pointed it out to me and I took my gaze off the keyboard to look at the password field. Even so, I mistyped the password the first time. It took two laborious tries to get it right.

So we have two possibilities for a happy medium when it comes to the question of making password fields more friendly: the momentary display of the actual character typed (such as the iPhone and possibly other devices offer), and Nielsen's suggestion: "Yes, users are sometimes truly at risk of having bystanders spy on their passwords, such as when they're using an Internet cafe. It's therefore worth offering them a checkbox to have their passwords masked; for high-risk applications, such as bank accounts, you might even check this box by default. In cases where there's a tension between security and usability, sometimes security should win."

Anyway, just something to think about as you design web pages for your company. Who's going to be the first to make the password field clear text? I wonder how many users will initially freak out and abandon the form, thinking, "Something isn't right here!" How's that for usability? ;-)

—Linda Harty, executive editor & availability/security/networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on July 6, 2009 at 1:41 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2009 10:23 AM

Pair of Third Parties Validates IBM's App Dev Strategy

IBM is reporting that analyst firm Gartner has ranked IBM as the worldwide leader in the application development software space, while Evans Data Corp. found that app dev users were most pleased with IBM in its "Users' Choice: 2009 Software Development Platform" survey.

More specifically, Gartner named IBM the worldwide market share leader in application development based on total software revenue in 2008. This is the eighth consecutive year that IBM continues to lead in this space, IBM says. According to the independent Gartner report, IBM leads the industry with 27.1 percent share in 2008, growing 7.9 percent as compared to the overall segment's growth of 4 percent. Gartner reports the total worldwide market for application development in 2008 was $7.3 billion.

IBM Rational tools also achieved "top honors" in the annual Evans Data Corp. Software Development Platform User Satisfaction survey, IBM reports. Rational was ranked higher than development tool offerings from several competitors, including Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun. The survey was conducted this spring and polled 1,200 worldwide developers. For the first time in four years, Evans Data Corp. expanded the scope of their user satisfaction survey beyond an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) study to instead rate a broader array of development tools, IBM says.

The Gartner report is available for sale, and the Evans Data Corp. is free but requires registration.

Posted by cmaxcer on July 1, 2009 at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)