Jim Rapoza

Standards are crucial in many information technologies, but in no area are they more intertwined and vital than in Web services. Its no stretch to say that without standards, there would be no Web services. The first phase of Web services followed the launch of XML in 1996. As XML use grew in enterprises, many […]

Maxamines Maxamine knowledge Platform 2.2 is clearly one of the best visual Web site analysis tools Ive seen. Maxamine Knowledge Platform is available as a hosted or server-based product. (I tested the server-based version.) Both utilize the same Windows-based analysis application. I was able to quickly scan several Web sites and could also scan network […]

Systinet Server 5.5 provides strong Web services management and security capabilities. The product makes it possible for businesses to greatly increase the scalability and reliability of Web services by integrating them with enterprise-class, message-oriented middleware. Click here to read the full review of Systinet Server 5.5. 2 Systinet Server 5.5 provides strong Web services management […]

I was recently very late getting to work, but this time I had a good and unique excuse: I was driving my brand-new Lexus and decided to use the cars navigation system to come up with an alternate route to the office. The next thing I knew, it was many hours later, and I was […]

Like many other open-source applications, Magnolia 2.0 has inherent benefits, such as broad platform support (it runs on almost any platform, including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) and excellent standards support. And, of course, its free. Click here to read the full review of Magnolia 2.0. 2 But there are also important differences that […]

In our review in 2003 of Rhythmyx 5.0, we said the traditionally midtier product had been overhauled to the point where it could be considered a high-end Web content management solution without sacrificing the usability features it had from its midtier days. With Rhythmyx 5.5, which was released in November, the product continues to add […]

These challenges—and the responses to them—can be seen clearly in two recent releases of Web content management products: the open-source Magnolia 2.0 and the commercial Rhythmyx 5.5 from Percussion Software Inc. In many ways, Magnolia represents the third wave of the open-source challenge to commercial Web content management products. Bricolage (bricolage.cc) took on the high […]

Thats it. Im ripping out my wireless cards and throwing them in the garbage. I just heard the most terrible thing: According to heavily covered and overly hyped news stories, an insidious new attack method called Evil Twin will make public wireless networks terribly insecure and dangerous. Oh, wait a second. We already know that […]

A couple of years ago, I wrote a column lamenting the idiocy of many computer users and how they continue to fall prey to viruses that are easily avoided with even a modicum of common sense. I wish I could say that things have changed for the better since then, but I cant. In fact, […]

It was just like old times. There they were—Craig, Carly and, of course, Bill, standing on stage in Las Vegas and proselytizing about all the ways we will benefit (really soon!) from their great new technologies. Why, it was enough to bring a smile to the face of any business technology worker. Except, of course, […]

“So, Charles, tell me: How are your computer systems running?” “Quite excellently, James, quite excellently. For months now, Ive seen neither hide nor hair of a security problem or vulnerability in any of my software applications.” “Thats splendid, Charles, just splendid. Of course, things have been grand for all of us since users and companies […]

With the release of Altova Enterprise XML Suite 2005, Altova Inc. has boosted usability and added a number of new features—especially to the core XMLSpy XML editor—that make this a worthwhile upgrade for users of previous versions and for companies looking for a comprehensive set of XML and Web services editing and design tools. Click […]