Peter Coffee

I see no good reason for continued contention between the Java and .Net platforms. Thats why Im pleased by the packaging of next weeks OJ.X conference in Detroit, a Compuware event that speaks to the entire managed-code development community — with Java and .Net tracks to address platform-specific topics and nuances, but with an overall […]

The ideal network is invisible: bits go in at one access point and come out at another, in zero time with zero error and with zero administrative workload. All those ideals are challenged, though, by the exploding workloads, surging performance requirements and unpredictable usage models arising from acts of man and nature alike. Anyone whos […]

I cant resist a good paradox. Hardened software and softened hardware are high on my list of interesting contradictions. This week will see two examples of the former and one of the latter coming from the sibilant trio of Softricity, Solidcore Systems and Silicon Graphics. I cited Softricitys application-virtualization technology in an eWEEK story on […]

Twenty-one years ago, the first formal software recommendation that I ever wrote was an in-house memo recommending our companys adoption of a 2-year-old product (barely out of diapers) called AutoCAD. That PC-based technical drawing tool had a solid foundation of floating-point data representation for drawings over a wide range of real-world size, combined with ease […]

Computers defy our everyday experience of knowing what a device cant do. Your TV set cant suddenly start sending information on your video rental habits to the PTA newsletter. It simply doesnt have that capability. Your car cant suddenly take control and drive you to a restaurant specified by the automakers business partner when you […]

With Microsofts Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles filling much of my agenda for the rest of this week, this seems like a good time to look at the progress of developers continuing quest for abstraction: the not-so-secret ingredient, so far, of Windows success. Instead of every commercial application developer needing to master the low-level […]

As I hiked into our final campsite, above Gem Lake in Californias Ansel Adams Wilderness, the three Boy Scouts whod gotten there ahead of me pointed out an appalling mess. Scattered over an area that we later estimated at 2,000 square feet were chips and splinters of broken glass—some of it in pieces large enough […]

People often treat IT in the same way that they treat prescription medications. When they walk into the IT architects office, they dont want to be told to make lifestyle changes like cutting fat from their organization charts and workflows. They want a technology pill that will make them better. Like patients who watch too […]

Throughout the years of pre-announcements, the promised “three pillars” of the next Windows platform have been described as major improvements in data accessibility, interactive presentation and behind-the-scenes communication. The first of these has proved wobbly, but the other two continue to be key differentiators for Microsoft Corp.s forthcoming Windows Vista. The pillar of data access […]

I felt an odd chill up my spine when I read last weeks comments from the U.S. Department of State on the subject of Internet governance. “These systems and networks are subject to threats and vulnerabilities from multiple sources and different geographic locations; security requires a concerted preventive effort by all stakeholders, appropriate to their […]