Peter Coffee

With a growing number of users of an exploding collection of data—originating and residing in heterogeneous systems—NASAs Earth Science Data and Information System Project presents challenges that are recognizable to many enterprise IT builders. Applying the principles of an SOA (service-oriented architecture) and taking advantage of the service discovery capabilities of this years Version 3 […]

Quality, not time, has become the critical unit of measure in software development. Microsoft Corp. became a poster child for that doctrine when it announced Nov. 29 that it would start releasing Vista previews based on meeting quality milestones rather than hewing to monthly dates. The quest-for-quality philosophy had been articulated one week earlier, however, […]

My local newspapers recent front-page story desperately needed a quotation from someone to make an obvious point. I read it all the way to the end, but the dog (as Sherlock Holmes might have said) never barked. “A 16-year-old high school student was killed instantly,” the story began, “when the car she was driving crashed […]

When Microsoft Corp. rolls out a major tools release such as Visual Studio 2005, it isnt just equipping developers—its enlisting them. Click here to read the full review of Visual Studio 2005. 2 When Microsoft Corp. rolls out a major tools release such as Visual Studio 2005, it isnt just equipping developers—its enlisting them. Every […]

Anyone whos used Google Earth has seen the value of putting new viewpoints in context. When shifting its scene to a new location, Googles viewer zooms out to show both ends of the virtual journey. Only then does it zoom in on the destination, preserving a users sense of place much better than if it […]

There are three distinct lessons for enterprise IT in the near-sellout status of Apples iPod Nano—and in the associated worldwide crunch of NAND flash memory, which has buyers and sellers all scrambling to make long-term deals and capacity expansions. Let me set the scene by explaining the difference between NAND flash and the more senior […]

Well, eWEEKs Jim Rapoza warned Firefox users of likely problems with extension compatibility in his review last week of Firefox 1.5: Others have since confirmed that theres more than a slight speed bump on the road to adopting this Web browser update. Firefox is a tool that I recommend and that Ive chosen for my […]

Its the paradox of our wired and wireless networks that we have more ways than ever to get in touch with someone, but also more ways than ever to fail to reach them and to waste a huge amount of time in trying to do so. A company called National Notification Networks, or NNN, has […]

Initiatives in digital handling of medical information, for example by the military, and driven by the lessons of large-scale natural disasters like this seasons devastating hurricanes, are going to propel many investments in service-oriented architectures–and drive new demands for secure and flexible storage. Growing awareness of the problems of medical error will lead to opportunities […]

Hot on the heels of my comment last week that “Web app failures dont take holidays,” the United States Census Bureau announced last Wednesday that total business inventories had shrunk to the equivalent of 1.25 months sales: a record low, it appears, and down from 1.4 months just two summers ago. If a drop from […]

Mobile applications are the fastest-growing opportunity and challenge for developers, who are finally getting both the tools they need and the consensus on good practice that liberates them to do their best work. A mobile user should not be envisioned as merely a Wi-Fi-enabled, laptop-carrying knowledge worker in a conference room or a coffee shop. […]

Developers enjoy expanding freedom to treat mobile devices as industry-standard platforms. Developers should be careful, though, not to judge mobile application tools by merely the same criteria that theyre used to applying in familiar enterprise settings. Mobile devices inhabit environments filled with novel challenges and serve users with rapidly rising expectations. Obfuscating tools issues Its […]