Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Database Change Management | Change Manager 5.1 Beta

Change Manager 5.1 Beta is available now , and the team is very excited to hear your feedback on the flurry of new features and enhancements (both UI and quality) that have been combined to bring the best possible database change management product to market. Below is a short video, highlighting the new features included in the Change Manager 5.1 Beta, which will be generally available at the end of June:

New Features at a Glance

  • Improvements in schema, data, and the general functionality.
  • Auto-Synchronization options on the data comparison (using the DT/Engine) and schema comparison jobs to make the target match the source when the job is run
  • Data Masking: shuffle or randomize columns in a data comparison with auto-synchronization job
  • Unicode support
  • Cross-DBMS platform schema comparison between Oracle and SQL Server, and Sybase and SQL Server
  • Data comparison job history, track high level results of previous data comparison jobs on a new history page in the data comparison job editor
  • Project support allows users to group jobs and results into named groupings, each of which can be independently connected with source code control repositories via Eclipse plug-ins provided by
  • And many many more…

Beta programs are designed to meet the needs of our customers and our internal development teams during the launch of a new version a product. The beta test process helps Embarcadero determine the quality of a product before it is released to the general public.

Monday, May 4, 2009

What's Next For Java?


As the new steward of Java, will Oracle make it a proprietary platform like .NET or will it advance the JCP?

When Oracle stunned the IT world last week and snapped up Sun Microsystems from right underneath IBM in its $7.4 billion deal, I posed the question: What will happen to the open source MySQL database platform? But the bigger question many developers are asking is: What impact will Oracle have on the future of Java?

As the new steward of the Java brand, will Oracle make it a proprietary platform like Microsoft's .NET or will it embrace and advance the existing Java Community Process (JCP) and assure that it does not become fractured? No one will know for sure until Oracle closes the deal. In the meantime, stakeholders are holding their collective breath.

Java is Sun's most valuable asset and Oracle could change its course on Java, according to a research note by Gartner analysts last week. That Sun owns the Java trademark, Oracle stands to retain influence over the JCP, which play a key role in the evolution of Java standards.

"Vendors were comfortable with Sun because it is a benevolent dictator over Java," said Gartner analyst Mark Driver, in an interview. "They influenced it but there was nothing in Sun's business model that was outwardly and obviously opposed to what Oracle or IBM, BEA or SAP was. All of a sudden with Oracle acquiring Java, you do have a case where Oracle and IBM [and others] compete much more heavily."

So the dichotomy lies in the fact that Oracle's key rivals are dependent on Java. If Oracle maintains and extends the JCP, all should be fine. "Despite the hype of write once run everywhere, Java has been remarkably successful in establishing a big binary compatible platform," Driver said. "Technically and politically, my enemy controls a technology that I depend upon. So if Oracle doesn't placate those concerns, IBM will become more aggressive in forging its own open source efforts."

For example, he said IBM could decide to focus on the Apache Harmony Project, a clone of Java. IBM hasn't done much with it, he pointed out, because there was no need to date. "If there is any issue with Oracle, either the perception or the reality, that it is manipulating Java for its individual benefit or does anything to unlevel the playing field, we could get fragmentation, we would lose a Java brand or it becomes another proprietary stack," Driver said. "It would be in Oracle's interest to open it up more."

It could do that by addressing one of the biggest complaints about the JCP: The fact that each working group has a specification lead typically represented by a single vendor that has substantial influence over where a specific piece of Java goes. "They may very well need to evolve the JCP to address those concerns, open it up even more," Driver said.

Wayne Citrin, CTO and founder of JNBridge, a supplier of software that links Java and .NET applications, agrees, saying there are issues with the way Java Specification Requests (JSRs) are handled. "JSRs that get implemented are kind of messy and not particularly coherent," said Citrin, who like Driver, is betting that Oracle won't look to hijack Java. "I think if Oracle were really heavy handed, people might just drift away from Java, but I think there's so much invested in it that that's unlikely to happen, and I think Oracle knows the lure of Java is that everyone is using it. It works both ways."

The larger question is what will Oracle's acquisition of Java will mean for Web services, asked Rich Wolski, founder and CTO of Eucalyptus Systems, a provider of open source software to enable hybrid public-private cloud-based services. The company, which announced its formation yesterday with $5.5 million in capital from Benchmark Capital and BV Capital., said its service leverages commodity Web services that are Java-based. "Java is so entrenched in the whole Web service arena that people really are anxious about how that's going to break," Wolski said. Ironically, he said in a worst case scenario, tying to Microsoft's .NET could be an alternative. "The .NET Web service infrastructure is very, very powerful, and we could easily port in that direction if Java no longer became viable. There's a question of how much of that we can use as part of our open source mission but technologically, it's very feasible."

Many believe there is no way Oracle will let Java splinter, such as Tony de la Lama, who was at Borland Software at the time it became the third licensee of the Java platform in 1995. "I 100 percent believe that Oracle is going to ensure that Java remains a viable and growing platform," said de la Lama, who recently joined Embarcadero Technologies (which acquired Borland's CodeGear tools business last year) as senior VP of R&D. "It has its own business interest to make sure that happens."

About the Blogger Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of ADTmag.com and news editor of Visual Studio Magazine.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The Database Tools and Developer Software Toolkit

 

Embarcadero All-Access provides all the application development and database tools you need-when you need them-across all major platforms, frameworks, and programming languages. It's the single, cost-effective toolbox solution for developers, architects, performance testers, and DBAs.

 
All-Access provides you with industry-leading database tools, including DBArtisan®, Rapid SQL ®, ER/Studio®, and many more. It also provides powerful application development tools, including Delphi®, JBuilder®, C++Builder®, the InterBase® SMP database, and more.

With Embarcadero All-Access you get:

  • All-Access Pass - a license key that unlocks all tools for a given All-Access level
  • All-Access Client - a portal into the All-Access toolbox, providing convenient access to your tools including launching, installing, updating, versioning, and more
  • All-Access Server (available for network license users) - provisions licenses, installs, and updates to All-Access Clients on your network
  • All-Access Membership - provides support, updates, upgrades, new products, access to premium content on the Embarcadero Developer Network (EDN), plus Embarcadero® InstantOn™ for click-and-run access to your tools without installation

All-Access is designed to help you reduce both the costs and complexity of acquiring, using, and managing your tools. For the first time, you can get a multi-platform toolbox that's complete enough and flexible enough to serve multiple roles, empowering users to design things right, build them faster, and run them better-regardless of their target platform. Supported database platforms, programming languages, frameworks, and roles include:

Databases:
Oracle, IBM® DB2, Sybase®, Microsoft® SQL Server, InterBase® SMP, MySQL®

Languages & Frameworks:
C++, Delphi®, Java™, PHP, Ruby™, ANSI SQL, Procedural SQL, UML®, HTML, XML, BPMN, Data Lineage, ERD

Application & Database Roles:
Developers, Architects, Performance Testers, and DBAs

On-Demand Power with Embarcadero InstantOn™

A unique, innovative capability in All-Access is Embarcadero InstantOn. With InstantOn, you can simply click-and-run the selected tool on-demand, either locally or over your network, without full installation on your local machine. InstantOn saves valuable time by allowing quick access to tools, even in locked-down desktop environments where installing software is problematic.

Benefits of Embarcadero All-Access Include:

  • Convenience: instant access to the right tool whenever you need it
  • Flexibility: a single toolbox serves the needs of developers, architects, performance testers, and DBAs, and supports multiple platforms, programming languages, and frameworks
  • Simplicity: makes it much easier to buy, provision, and manage your tools
  • Predictability: single, comprehensive toolbox provides year-over-year predictability and cost savings

Three License Types

There are three types of licenses for Embarcadero All-Access. Each of license type can be applied to any Embarcadero All-Access level. All-Access licenses are perpetual licenses and can continue to be used, installed, and reinstalled even if annual All-Access membership is not renewed.

  • Workstation License: a workstation license provides a named individual the right to use All-Access on a single machine
  • Networked Named User License: this floating user license provides All-Access license(s) that are assigned to named user(s) but can be used on any machine on the network or checked out for remote usage such as travel or onsite work. This license type lets you manage your licenses easily with the All-Access license server
  • Network Concurrent License: this shared license type can float to any authorized user on the network. Like Network Named User, this license type enables you to manage your licenses via the All-Access license server while at the same time maximize usage of your tooling assets

Learn more about Embarcadero Licensing (PDF)

Four All-Access Levels

There are four levels to Embarcadero All-Access: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each successive level provides access to a wider and more capable range of application development and database tools from the All-Access tool chest. Plus, InstantOn is included with every All-Access membership, at no extra cost to active members.