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Microsoft elaborates on Oslo more similar news »
Shedding more light on its Oslo vision for model-based software development, Microsoft this week elaborated on plans to preview Oslo technologies, offering code names and citing the company's DSL (Domain Specific Languages) concept as a lynchpin of the platform. A Community Technology Preview of Oslo is due at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles on October 27. Featured in the CTP will be a declarative modeling language now being identified by the code name "M," as well as software modeling tool code-named "Quadrant. A repository for integration between models also will be part of the CTP. User feedback on the CTP will help determine the overall road map for Oslo technologies, said Robert Wahbe, Microsoft corporate vice president of the company's Connected Systems Division, during an interview this week. With Oslo, Microsoft seeks to provide another layer of abstraction for developers and make development easier; models become the applications. Business analysts also could make changes to models. For example, an analyst could change an application that requires two managers' approvals for lunch expenses exceeding $100 to requiring these approvals for a $50 lunch, Wahbe said.? "It's easier in many cases to look at a model and see what it's trying to do rather than look at hundreds of thousands of lines of code," Wahbe said. With the M language, ISVs and developers could build textual DSLs, he said. A DSL enables a developer to write down intent in a way that is close to how a developer is thinking about a problem, Wahbe said. M also can be used to build data models. "The idea of DSLs has been around. What we're trying to do with Oslo is make it easier for mainstream developers to use models in general," Wahbe said. Microsoft, as an ISV itself, will use DSLs for building domains for activities like workflow and databases. "[The] notion is that M is excellent at building these DSLs in an easy way," Wahbe said. "In turn, once you have that DSL, what it does is it lets you produce something that the platform can execute directly." A model is translated to XAML, which can be executed by the platform. Oslo also can work with multiple runtimes from platforms like Java if developers customize the Oslo tools. Quadrant, meanwhile, provides a way to author models visually. "The way to think about it is M lets you build textual DSLs and Quadrant lets you build visual DSLs," Wahbe said. Oslo will be featured as part of the Visual Studio product family; the company has not yet announced which version would include Oslo. While Oslo at first glance might appear to be minimizing the role of the developer by raising the level of abstraction, Microsoft believes it is just a natural step in the evolution of software development that does not put developers' jobs at risk, Wahbe said. "Developers can deliver higher-quality applications faster," he said. With Oslo, Microsoft has "definitely raised the bar," said analyst Nick Gall, vice president of the enterprise architecture team at Gartner. "The Oslo approach to modeling is a refreshing new approach. That said, it is ambitious," Gall said. "Any attempt to do really do model-driven architecture is ambitious. We've been trying to do executable models for 25-plus years, and all to date have failed," such as with CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) and Object Modeling Group efforts, said Gall. Microsoft is attacking the two core issues of modeling: translating from models into executable code and the functional aspect of an application, in which functional models must accommodate nonfunctional aspects of an application such as security and systems management, Gall said. Microsoft has not yet completed the integration with nonfunctional models, he said. Oslo integrates with existing applications, according to Microsoft. It brings together a connected view of models and builds on existing investments on top of the Microsoft platform. Microsoft also is working with ISVs on solutions built using Oslo, including line-of-business applications and DSLs, the company said.
Fri Oct 10, 2008 more from this source»»
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US Justice Dept builds microwave heat-ray 'rifle' more similar news »
Settings: Radar, pain-blaster or nudie perv scan
Reports are emerging that the US Justice Department is working on a hand-held version of existing microwave cannons intended for riot or crowd control. The portable raygun could also have applications as a scanner or detector system, apart from being a weapon; and a working prototype has already been built.…
Fri Oct 10, 2008 more from this source»»
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Turbo-charged wireless hacks threaten networks more similar news »
Graphics cards encryption skulduggery
The latest graphics cards have been used to break Wi-Fi encryption far quicker than was previously possible. Some security consultants are already suggesting the development blows Wi-Fi security out of the water and that corporations ought to apply tighter VPN controls, or abandon wireless networks altogether, in response.…
Fri Oct 10, 2008 more from this source»»
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U.S. gov't proposes digital signing of DNS root zone file more similar news »
The U.S. government is soliciting input on a way to make the Internet's addressing system less susceptible to tampering by hackers. Under the idea, records in the DNS root zone would be cryptographically signed using DNSSEC (Domain Name and Addressing System Security Extensions), a set of protocols that allows DNS records to carry a digital signature. [ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ] The U.S. Department of Commerce is asking for comments through Nov. 24 on how DNSSEC could best be deployed. The root zone is the master list of where computers can go to look up an address in a particular domain such as ".com." The DNS translates Web site names, such as www.idg.com into a numerical IP address, which is used by computers to find a Web site. But several security problems within the DNS make it possible for hackers to supply a different IP address for a Web site. It means a user thinks she is viewing "www.idg.com" but actually is on a phishing site. The most serious of these DNS vulnerabilities was revealed in July by security researcher Dan Kaminsky. Nearly all DNS software is vulnerable to the attack. Major vendors have deployed temporary patches but are working on a more permanent fix. Security experts for years have advocated the adoption of DNSSEC, but implementation has been patchy. The U.S. government has said it will use DNSSEC for its ".gov" domain. Other ccTLDs (country-code Top-Level Domains) operators in Sweden (.se), Brazil (.br), Puerto Rico (.pr), and Bulgaria (.bg), are also using DNSSEC. The operator of the ".org" TLD has also committed to the system, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But to get the full benefits of DNSSEC requires domain name registrars, domain name registries, ISPs, and others to upgrade their software. Users' systems would also have to be configured to verify digital signatures. "DNSSEC signed root zone would represent one of most significant changes to the DNS infrastructure since it was created," according to a notice issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Federal Register, a daily digest of U.S. government notices. Implementing DNSSEC would also introduce new steps in how changes to the root zone are published. As it stands now, TLD operators send changes to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which is part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN then sends the changes to the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. After approval, VeriSign -- a commercial company -- modifies the root file and sends it to the operators of the 13 root servers around the world. The heavy involvement of the U.S. government, as well as the interests of VeriSign, in how the Internet's addressing system is administered has drawn criticism that the process is too U.S.-centric. And there appears to be a battle brewing over which entity will manage the cryptographic keys required to sign the root zone file. ICANN has submitted a proposal advocating it should hold the keys. ICANN said it is a nonprofit, transparent organization that is "not subject to market-based profit and loss considerations." VeriSign countered in its proposal that it should be able to hold one kind of key necessary for the signing process, and the other kind should be split among other entities.
Fri Oct 10, 2008 more from this source»»
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