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• Silverlight Cream for April 12, 2010 -- #837

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Michael Washington, Joe McBride, Kirupa, Maurice de Beijer, Brad Abrams, Phil Middlemiss, and CorrinaB. Shoutout: Charlie Kindel has a post up about the incompatibility between VS2010RTM and what we currently have for WP7: Visual Studio 2010 RTM and the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP and if you want to be notified when that changes, submit your email here. Erik Mork and Co. have their latest This Week in Silverlight 4.9.2010 posted. From SilverlightCream.com: Simplified MVVM: Silverlight Video Player Michael Washington created a 'designable' video player using MVVM that allows any set of controls to implement the player. Great tutorial and all the code. Windows Phone 7 Panorama Behaviors Joe McBride posted a link to a couple WP7 gesture behaviors and a link out to some more by smartyP. Event Bubbling and Tunneling Kirupa has a great article up on Event Bubbling and Tunneling... showing the route that events take through your WPF or Silverlight app. Using dynamic objects in Silverlight 4 Maurice de Beijer has a blog up about binding to indexed properties in Silverlight 4... in other words, you don't have to know what you're binging to at design time. Silverlight 4 + RIA Services - Ready for Business: Ajax Endpoint Brad Abrams is still continuing his RIA series. His latest is on exposing your RIA Services in JSON. Changing Data-Templates at run-time from the VM Looks like I missed Phil Middlemiss' latest post on Changing DataTemplates at run-time. He has a visual of why you might need this right up-front, and is a very common issue. Check out the solution he provides us. Windows System Color Theme for Silverlight - Part Three CorrinaB blogged screenshots and discussion of 3 new themes that are going to be coming up, and what they've done to the controls in general. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Oracle HRMS API – Update Employee

  - by PRajkumar

  API - hr_person_api.update_person Example --   Before Firing Update API -- Middle Name and Status is NULL lets update Middle Name and Status     DECLARE     -- Local Variables     -- -----------------------     ln_object_version_number       PER_ALL_PEOPLE_F.OBJECT_VERSION_NUMBER%TYPE  := 7;      lc_dt_ud_mode                            VARCHAR2(100)                                                                                     := NULL;      ln_assignment_id                       PER_ALL_ASSIGNMENTS_F.ASSIGNMENT_ID%TYPE          := 33564;      lc_employee_number                 PER_ALL_PEOPLE_F.EMPLOYEE_NUMBER%TYPE               := 'PRAJ_01';        -- Out Variables for Find Date Track Mode API     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------     lb_correction                                  BOOLEAN;      lb_update                                        BOOLEAN;      lb_update_override                      BOOLEAN;       lb_update_change_insert           BOOLEAN;    -- Out Variables for Update Employee API     -- -----------------------------------------------------------      ld_effective_start_date                       DATE;      ld_effective_end_date                        DATE;      lc_full_name                                         PER_ALL_PEOPLE_F.FULL_NAME%TYPE;      ln_comment_id                                    PER_ALL_PEOPLE_F.COMMENT_ID%TYPE;       lb_name_combination_warning    BOOLEAN;      lb_assign_payroll_warning             BOOLEAN;      lb_orig_hire_warning                        BOOLEAN; BEGIN     -- Find Date Track Mode     -- --------------------------------      dt_api.find_dt_upd_modes      (    -- Input Data Elements           -- ------------------------------           p_effective_date                           => TO_DATE('29-JUN-2011'),           p_base_table_name                    => 'PER_ALL_ASSIGNMENTS_F',           p_base_key_column                   => 'ASSIGNMENT_ID',           p_base_key_value                       => ln_assignment_id,           -- Output data elements           -- -------------------------------          p_correction                                   => lb_correction,          p_update                                         => lb_update,          p_update_override                       => lb_update_override,          p_update_change_insert            => lb_update_change_insert    );      IF ( lb_update_override = TRUE OR lb_update_change_insert = TRUE )    THEN           -- UPDATE_OVERRIDE           -- ---------------------------------           lc_dt_ud_mode := 'UPDATE_OVERRIDE';    END IF;    IF ( lb_correction = TRUE )    THEN          -- CORRECTION          -- ----------------------          lc_dt_ud_mode := 'CORRECTION';    END IF;    IF ( lb_update = TRUE )    THEN         -- UPDATE         -- --------------          lc_dt_ud_mode := 'UPDATE';    END IF;       -- Update Employee API     -- ---------------------------------       hr_person_api.update_person     (       -- Input Data Elements             -- ------------------------------             p_effective_date                              => TO_DATE('29-JUN-2011'),             p_datetrack_update_mode         => lc_dt_ud_mode,             p_person_id                                     => 32979,             p_middle_names                            => 'TEST',             p_marital_status                             => 'M',             -- Output Data Elements             -- ----------------------------------            p_employee_number                       => lc_employee_number,            p_object_version_number              => ln_object_version_number,            p_effective_start_date                      => ld_effective_start_date,            p_effective_end_date                       => ld_effective_end_date,            p_full_name                                       => lc_full_name,            p_comment_id                                   => ln_comment_id,            p_name_combination_warning   => lb_name_combination_warning,            p_assign_payroll_warning           => lb_assign_payroll_warning,            p_orig_hire_warning                      => lb_orig_hire_warning     );      COMMIT; EXCEPTION        WHEN OTHERS THEN                    ROLLBACK;                    dbms_output.put_line(SQLERRM); END; / SHOW ERR;   After Firing Update Employee API -- Middle Name and Status  

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• Vouchers grátis para exames de implementação (SOA, E2.0, etc)

  - by pfolgado

  Gostaria de receber 'vouchers' grátis para os exames de Implementação? É fácil! Registe-se numa das Comunidades de Parceiros de EMEA. A maioria destas Comunidades oferecem aos seus membros 'vouchers' grátis para os exames dos produtos cobertos por essascomunidades. Por exemplo, os membros da Comunidade Parceiros de SOA podem obter 'vouchers' grátis para os exames de implementação de SOA e BPM. Para mais informação sobre as comunidades de Parceiros Oracle ver: Tópico Contacto Applications & Systems Management Javier Puerta Business Intelligence & Enterprise Performance Management Mike Hallett Communications Paul Thompson CRM On Demand Paul Thompson Enterprise 2.0 (previously "Content Management") Hans Blaas Exadata Javier Puerta Healthcare Paul Thompson Identity Management & Security Wolfgang Ehrenthaler Manufacturing, Retail, Distribution and Life Science (MRD/LS) Paul Thompson Public Sector Paul Thompson SOA / Integration Jürgen Kress

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• Create a Social Community of Trust Along With Your Federal Digital Services Governance

  - by TedMcLaughlan

  The Digital Services Governance Recommendations were recently released, supporting the US Federal Government's Digital Government Strategy Milestone Action #4.2 to establish agency-wide governance structures for developing and delivering digital services. Figure 1 - From: "Digital Services Governance Recommendations" While extremely important from a policy and procedure perspective within an Agency's information management and communications enterprise, these recommendations only very lightly reference perhaps the most important success enabler - the "Trusted Community" required for ultimate usefulness of the services delivered. By "ultimate usefulness", I mean the collection of public, transparent properties around government information and digital services that include social trust and validation, social reach, expert respect, and comparative, standard measures of relative value. In other words, do the digital services meet expectations of the public, social media ecosystem (people AND machines)? A rigid governance framework, controlling by rules, policies and roles the creation and dissemination of digital services may meet the expectations of direct end-users and most stakeholders - including the agency information stewards and security officers. All others who may share comments about the services, write about them, swap or review extracts, repackage, visualize or otherwise repurpose the output for use in entirely unanticipated, social ways - these "stakeholders" will not be governed, but may observe guidance generated by a "Trusted Community". As recognized members of the trusted community, these stakeholders may ultimately define the right scope and detail of governance that all other users might observe, promoting and refining the usefulness of the government product as the social ecosystem expects. So, as part of an agency-centric governance framework, it's advised that a flexible governance model be created for stewarding a "Community of Trust" around the digital services. The first steps follow the approach outlined in the Recommendations: Step 1: Gather a Core Team In addition to the roles and responsibilities described, perhaps a set of characteristics and responsibilities can be developed for the "Trusted Community Steward/Advocate" - i.e. a person or team who (a) are entirely cognizant of and respected within the external social media communities, and (b) are trusted both within the agency and outside as practical, responsible, non-partisan communicators of useful information. The may seem like a standard Agency PR/Outreach team role - but often an agency or stakeholder subject matter expert with a public, active social persona works even better. Step 2: Assess What You Have In addition to existing, agency or stakeholder decision-making bodies and assets, it's important to take a PR/Marketing view of the social ecosystem. How visible are the services across the social channels utilized by current or desired constituents of your agency? What's the online reputation of your agency and perhaps the service(s)? Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a facet of external communications/publishing lifecycles? Who are the public champions, instigators, value-adders for the digital services, or perhaps just influential "communicators" (i.e. with no stake in the game)? You're essentially assessing your market and social presence, and identifying the actors (including your own agency employees) in the existing community of trust. Step 3: Determine What You Want The evolving Community of Trust will most readily absorb, support and provide feedback regarding "Core Principles" (Element B of the "six essential elements of a digital services governance structure") shared by your Agency, and obviously play a large, though probably very unstructured part in Element D "Stakeholder Input and Participation". Plan for this, and seek input from the social media community with respect to performance metrics - these should be geared around the outcome and growth of the trusted communities actions. How big and active is this community? What's the influential reach of this community with respect to particular messaging or campaigns generated by the Agency? What's the referral rate TO your digital services, FROM channels owned or operated by members of this community? (this requires governance with respect to content generation inclusive of "markers" or "tags"). At this point, while your Agency proceeds with steps 4 ("Build/Validate the Governance Structure") and 5 ("Share, Review, Upgrade"), the Community of Trust might as well just get going, and start adding value and usefulness to the existing conversations, existing data services - loosely though directionally-stewarded by your trusted advocate(s). Why is this an "Enterprise Architecture" topic? Because it's increasingly apparent that a Public Service "Enterprise" is not wholly contained within Agency facilities, firewalls and job titles - it's also manifested in actual, perceived or representative forms outside the walls, on the social Internet. An Agency's EA model and resulting investments both facilitate and are impacted by the "Social Enterprise". At Oracle, we're very active both within our Enterprise and outside, helping foster social architectures that enable truly useful public services, digital or otherwise.

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• Data and Secularism

  - by kaleidoscope

  Ever since we’ve been using Data we’ve been religious. Religious about the way we represent it and equally religious about the way we access it. Be it plain old SQL, DAO, ADO, ADO.Net and I am just referring to religions in MSFT world. A peek outside and I’d need a separate book to list out the Data faiths. Various application areas in networked computing are converging under the HTTP umbrella with a plausible transition to purist HTTP and in turn REST fuelled by the Web2.0 storm. It was time the Data access faiths also gave up the religious silos wrapped around our long worshipped data publishing and access methods. OData is the secular solution we have at hand today. It is an open protocol for sharing data. It can be exposed via REST. It is Open as in the Microsoft Open Specification Promise. This allows virtually everyone to build Data Services for any runtime. OData is one of the key standards for Data publishing/subscribing on Microsoft Codename Dallas. For us .Netters OData data sources can be exposed/consumed via WCF Data Services and the process is very simple, elegant and intuitive. Applications exposing OData Services Sharepoint 2010 IBM Web Sphere Microsoft SQL Azure Windows Azure Table Storage SQL Server Reporting Services   Live OData Services Netflix Open Science Data Initiative Open Government Data Initiatives Northwind database exposed as OData Service and many others Some may prefer to call it commoditization of data, unification of data access strategies or any other sweet name. I for one will stick to my secular definition. :) Technorati Tags: Sarang,OData,MOSP

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• Unleash AutoVue on Your Unmanaged Data

  - by [email protected]

  Over the years, I've spoken to hundreds of customers who use AutoVue to collaborate on their "managed" data stored in content management systems, product lifecycle management systems, etc. via our many integrations. Through these conversations I've also learned a harsh reality - we will never fully move away from unmanaged data (desktops, file servers, emails, etc). If you use AutoVue today you already know that even if your primary use is viewing content stored in a content management system, you can still open files stored locally on your computer. But did you know that AutoVue actually has - built-in - a great solution for viewing, printing and redlining your data stored on file servers? Using the 'Server protocol' you can point AutoVue directly to a top-level location on any networked file server and provide your users with a link or shortcut to access an interface similar to the sample page shown below. Many customers link to pages just like this one from their internal company intranets. Through this webpage, users can easily search and browse through file server data with a 'click-and-view' interface to find the specific image, document, drawing or model they're looking for. Any markups created on a document will be accessible to everyone else viewing that document and of course real-time collaboration is supported as well. Customers on maintenance can consult the AutoVue Admin guide or My Oracle Support Doc ID 753018.1 for an introduction to the server protocol. Contact your local AutoVue Solutions Consultant for help setting up the sample shown above.

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• VSDB to SSDT part 3 : command-line deployment with SqlPackage.exe, replacement for Vsdbcmd.exe

  - by Etienne Giust

  For our continuous integration needs, we use a powershell script to handle deployment. A simpler approach would be to have a deployment task embedded within the build process. See the solution provided here by Jakob Ehn (a most interesting read which also dives into the '”deploying from Visual Studio” specifics) : http://geekswithblogs.net/jakob/archive/2012/04/25/deploying-ssdt-projects-with-tfs-build.aspx   For our needs, though, clearly separating our build phase from our deployment phase is important. It allows us to instantly deploy old versions. Also it is more convenient for continuous integration. So we stick with the powershell script approach. With VSDB projects, that script used to call the following command (the vsdbcmd executable was locally available, along with needed libraries): vsdbcmd.exe /a:Deploy /dd /cs:<CONNECTIONSTRING TO TARGET DB> /dsp:SQL /manifest:< PATH TO .deploymanifest FILE>   To be able to do the approximately same thing with a SSDT produced file (dacpac), you would call this command on a machine which has VS2012 installed (or the SSDT installed, see here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh500335%28v=vs.103%29):   C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DAC\bin\SqlPackage.exe /Action:Publish /SourceFile:<PATH TO Database.dacpac FILE> /Profile:<PATH TO .publish.xml FILE>   And from within a powershell script :   & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DAC\bin\SqlPackage.exe" /Action:Publish /SourceFile:<PATH TO Database.dacpac FILE> /Profile:<PATH TO .publish.xml FILE>   The command will consume a publish.xml file where the connection string and the deployment options are specified. You must be familiar with it if you have done some deployments from visual studio. If not, please refer to the above mentioned article by Jakob Ehn.   It is also possible to pass those parameters in the command line. The complete SqlPackage.exe syntax is detailed here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh550080%28v=vs.103%29.aspx

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• Free E-Book - TortoiseSVN and Subversion Cookbook - Oracle Edition

  - by TATWORTH

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TATWORTH/archive/2013/06/24/free-e-book---tortoisesvn-and-subversion-cookbook---oracle-edition.aspxAt http://www.red-gate.com/products/oracle-development/education/entrypage/svn-tortoise-oracle-ebook?utm_source=simpletalk&utm_medium=pubemail&utm_ad_content=SVNOraclecookbook-20130624&utm_campaign=sourcecontrolfororacle&utm_term=main, Redgate are offering a free eBook - TortoiseSVN and Subversion Cookbook - Oracle Edition "Download your free copy of TortoiseSVN and Subversion Cookbook - Oracle Edition and use these recipes to work better, faster, and do things you never knew you could do with SVN. If you're new to source control, this book provides a concise guide to getting the most out of Subversion."Those of using Oracle for your back-end database, may be interested in a free trial of Source Control for Oracle.

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• Microsoft Generation 4 Datacenter using ITPACs

  - by Eric Nelson

  Microsoft is continuing to make significant investments in Datacenter technology and is focused on solving issues such as long lead times, significant up-front costs and over capacity. Enter the world of modular Datacenters and ITPACs – IT Pre-Assembled Components. In simple terms – air handling and IT units which are pre-assembled (looking somewhat like a container) and then installed on concrete bases. Each unit can hold  between 400 and 2500 servers (which means many more virtual machines depending on your density) Kevin Timmons’, manager of the datacenter operations team, just posted a great post digging into the detail One Small Step for Microsoft’s Cloud, Another Big Step for Sustainability which includes a short video on how we build one of these ITPACs. You might also want to check out this video from the PDC:

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• Optimized Integration between Oracle Data Integrator and Oracle GoldenGate

  - by Alex Kotopoulis

  The Journalizing Knowledge Module for Oracle GoldenGate's CDC mechanism has just been released as part of the ODI 10.1.3.6_02 patch, and a very useful post from Mark Rittman gives detailed instructions about how to set it up in a sample environment. This integration combines the best of two worlds, the non-invasive, highly performant data replication from Oracle GoldenGate with the innovative and scalable EL-T concept from ODI to perform complex loads into real-time data warehouses. Please also check out the new datasheet about this integration.

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• AIIM, Oracle and Keste - Talking Social Business in LA

  - by Brian Dirking

  We had a great event today in Los Angeles - AIIM, Oracle and Keste presented on how organizations are making social business work. Atle Skjekkeland of AIIM presented How Social Business Is Driving Innovation. Atle talked about a number of fascinating points, such as how answers to questions come from unexpected sources. Atle cited the fact that 38% of organizations get half or more of answers from unexpected sources, which speaks to the wisdom of the crowds and how people are benefiting from open communications tools to get answers to their questions. He also had a number of hilarious examples of companies that don't get it. If Comcast were to go to YouTube and search Comcast, they would see the number one hit after their paid ad is a video of one of their technicians asleep on a customer's couch. Seems when he called the office for support he was put on hold so long he fell asleep. Dan O'Leary and Atle Skjekkeland After Atle's presentation I presented on Solving the Innovation Challenge with Oracle WebCenter. Atle had talked about McKinsey's research titled The Rise Of The Networked Enterprise: Web 2.0 Finds Its Payday. I brought in some new McKinsey research that built on that article. The new article is How Social Technologies Are Extending The Organization. A survey of 4,200 Global Executives brought three conclusions for the future: Boundaries among employees, vendors and customers will blur Employee teams will self-organize Data-driven decisions will rise These three items were themes that repeated through the day as we went through examples of what customers are doing today.  Next up was Vince Casarez of Keste. Vince was scheduled to profile one customer, but in an incredible 3 for 1 deal, Vince profiled Alcatel-Lucent, Qualcomm, and NetApp. Each of these implementations had content consolidation elements, as well as user engagement requirements that Keste was able to address with Oracle WebCenter. Vince Casarez of Keste And we had a couple of good tweets worth reprinting here. danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Learning about user engagement and social platforms from @bdirking #AIIM LA and @oracle event pic.twitter.com/1aNcLEUs danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Users want to be able to share data and activity streams, work at organizations that embrace social via @bdirking skjekkeland Atle Skjekkeland RT @danieloleary: Learning about user engagement and social platforms from @bdirking #AIIM LA and @oracle event pic.twitter.com/EWRYpvJa danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Thanks again to @bdirking for an amazing event in LA today, really impressed with the completeness of web center JimLundy Jim Lundy @ @danieloleary @bdirking yes, it is looking good - Web Center shadrachwhite Shadrach White @ @bdirking @heybenito I heard the #AIIM event in LA was a hit We had some great conversations through they day, many thanks to everyone who joined in. We look forward to continuing the conversation - thanks again to everyone who attended!

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• Charms and the App Bar

  - by Dennis Vroegop

  Ok. I admit. I made a mistake in the last post about our planespotter app. I have dedicated a full part of the hub to Social. I also had a section called Friends but that made sense since I said that “Friends” is a special group of people that connect to each other through our app and only our app. Social however is sharing our spots with Twitter, Facebook and so on. Now, we could write that functionality in our app in a different section but there is one small problem with that: users don’t expect that. Ok, I admit. The mistake was quite deliberate to give me an excuse to write this part. But still: the mistake is one I see a lot. People are trying to do stuff in their application that they shouldn’t be doing. This always strike me as slightly odd: why do some work when others have already done it for you and you can just use it? After all: good developers are lazy (lazy people will always try to find the easiest way to do something and in development land this usually means the cleanest and best to support way…) So. What is that part that Microsoft has done for us and we don’t have to do ourselves? The answer lies on the right hand of your Win8 screen: This is a screenshot of my tablet (as you can see I am writing this right now….) When I swipe my finger from out of the screen on the right inside the screen (or move the mouse to the upper right corner) this menu will appear. Next to settings and the start menu button we’ll find the Search and the Share charms. These are two ways that your app can share the information it contains with the rest of the world, or at least: the rest of your system. So don’t write a Search feature in your app. Don’t write a Share feature in your app. It’s here already. Users, once they are used to Windows 8, will use that feature and expect it to work. If it doesn’t, they won’t like your app and you can kiss you dreams of everlasting fame goodbye. So use these two. What are they? Well, simply they are parts of a contract. In your app you say somewhere in code that you are supporting Search and Share. So when the user selects Share the system will interrogate the current app in the foreground if it supports this feature. Your app will say “But why, yes, I do!” Then the system will ask the app “Ok then, wisecrack, then share!” and you will have to provide the system with some information about the format. Other applications have subscribed to be at the receiving end of the Share contract. They have told the system that they support Sharing (receiving) and which formats they understand. If one or more of them support the formats you specify, the user will see them. The user clicks / taps on the app of their choice and data is moved from your app to the new one. So if you say you support Facebook and Twitter users can post data from your app to these networks by selecting Share. The same applies to Search. Don’t make a “search” button in your app but use the contract to tell the system that you support search and use that instead. Users will be grateful (remember that bar with men/women/creatures that are waiting for you?) The more and more people get to know Windows 8, the more they will use this. And if you are one of the people who wrote an app that helped them learn the system, well, that’s even better. So. We don’t have a Share or a Search button. We do have other buttons. Most important: we probably need a “New Spot” button. And a “Filter” might be useful. Or someway to open the camera so you can add a picture to the spot. Where will be put those? The answer is the “Appbar” . This is a application / context aware menu that slides up from the bottom of the screen when you move your finger / mouse from below the screen into it. From above downwards works just as well. Here you see an example of the appbar from the People app. (click on it for a larger version). This appears whenever you slide your finger up from below of down from above. This is where you put your commands. Remember, this is context aware so this menu will change when you are in different parts of your app or when you have selected different items. There are a few conventions when you create this appbar. First, the items on the right are “General” items, meaning they have little to do with what is on the screen right now. I think this would be a great place to add our “New Spot” icon. On the far left are items associated with the current selected item or screen. So if you have a spot selected, the button for Add Photo should be visible here and on the left hand side. Not everything is as clear as this, but this is what you should strive for. Group items together. And please note: this is the only place in Metro design where we are allowed to use lines as separators. So when you want to separate a group of icons from another group, add a line. Also note the simplicity of the buttons. No colors, no lights or shadows, no 3D. After a couple of years of fancy almost realistic looking icons people have finally decided that hey, this is a virtual world: it’s ok to look virtual as well. So make things as readable and clear as possible and don’t try to duplicate nature. It’s all about the information, remember? (If you don’t remember I’d like to point you to a older blog post of mine about the what and why of Metro). So.. think about the buttons a bit and think about Share and Search. What will you put there? Remember: this is the way the users interact with your apps and while you shouldn’t judge a book by its covers when it comes to people, this isn’t entirely so when it comes to apps. People DO judge an app by its looks and the way it feels. Take advantage of that. History has learned that a crappy app with a GREAT user interface gets better reviews than a GREAT app with a lousy UI… I know: developers will find this extremely unfair but that’s the world we live in (No, I am not saying you should deliver rubbish apps). Next time: we’ll start by building the darn thing!

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• Silverlight Cream for April 05, 2010 -- #831

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Rénald Nollet, Davide Zordan(-2-, -3-), Scott Barnes, Kirupa, Christian Schormann, Tim Heuer, Yavor Georgiev, and Bea Stollnitz. Shoutouts: Yavor Georgiev posted the material for his MIX 2010 talk: what’s new in WCF in Silverlight 4 Erik Mork and crew posted their This Week in Silverlight 4.1.2010 Tim Huckaby and MSDN Bytes interviewed Erik Mork: Silverlight Consulting Life – MSDN Bytes Interview From SilverlightCream.com: Home Loan Application for Windows Phone Rénald Nollet has a WP7 app up, with source, for calculating Home Loan application information. He also discusses some control issues he had with the emulator. Experiments with Multi-touch: A Windows Phone Manipulation sample Davide Zordan has updated the multi-touch project on CodePlex, and added a WP7 sample using multi-touch. Silverlight 4, MEF and MVVM: EventAggregator, ImportingConstructor and Unit Tests Davide Zordan has a second post up on MEF, MVVM, and Prism, oh yeah, and also Unit Testing... the code is available, so take a look at what he's all done with this. Silverlight 4, MEF and MVVM: MEFModules, Dynamic XAP Loading and Navigation Applications Davide Zordan then builds on the previous post and partitions the app into several XAPs put together at runtime with MEF. Silverlight Installation/Preloader Experience - BarnesStyle Scott Barnes talks about the install experience he wanted to get put into place... definitely a good read and lots of information. Changing States using GoToStateAction Kirupa has a quick run-through of Visual States, and then demonstrates using GoToStateAction and a note for a Blend 4 addition. Blend 4: About Path Layout, Part IV Christian Schormann has the next tutorial up in his series on Path Layout, and he's explaining Motion Path and Text on a Path. Managing service references and endpoint configurations for Silverlight applications Helping solve a common and much reported problem of managing service references, Tim Heuer details his method of resolving it and additional tips and tricks to boot. Some known WCF issues in Silverlight 4 Yavor Georgiev, a Program Manager for WCF blogged about the issues that they were not able to fix due to scheduling of the release How can I update LabeledPieChart to use the latest toolkit? Bea Stollnitz revisits some of her charting posts to take advantage of the unsealing of toolkit classes in labeling the Chart and PieSeries Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Focus on Identity Management at Oracle OpenWorld12

  - by Tanu Sood

  Heading to Oracle OpenWorld 2012? Then we have Identity Management and relevant sessions all mapped out for you to help you navigate Oracle OpenWorld. Do make use of Focus On Identity Management document online or if you’d like to have a copy handy, use the pdf version instead. In the meantime, here are the 3 must-attend Identity Management sessions for this year: Trends in Identity Management Monday, October 1, at 10:45 a.m., Moscone West L3, room 3003, (session ID# CON9405) Led by Amit Jasuja, this session focuses on how the latest release of Oracle Identity Management addresses emerging identity management requirements for mobile, social, and cloud computing. It also explores how existing Oracle Identity Management customers are simplifying implementations and reducing total cost of ownership. Mobile Access Management Tuesday, October 2, at 10:15 a.m., Moscone West L3, room 3022, (session ID# CON9437) There are now more than 5 billion mobile devices on the planet, including an increasing number of personal devices being used to access corporate data and applications. This session focuses on ways to extend your existing identity management infrastructure and policies to securely and seamlessly enable mobile user access. Evolving Identity Management Thursday, October 4, at 12:45 p.m., Moscone West L3, room 3008, (session ID# CON9640) Identity management requirements have evolved and are continuing to evolve as organizations seek to secure cloud and mobile access. This session explores emerging requirements and shares best practices for evolving your identity management implementation, including the value of a service-oriented, platform approach. For a complete listing of all identity management sessions, hands-on labs, and more, see Focus on Identity Management now. See you at OOW12. 

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• Farewell

  - by brian.harrison

  Dear Friends and Colleagues After 8.5 years with Plumtree/BEA/Oracle, it is time for me to move on to something new and exciting. Tomorrow, May 21, will be my last day with Oracle. Prior to joining Plumtree back in 2001, I had not stayed with any one company for more than two years at a time and I really thought that that might be the case with Plumtree even then. However, 8.5 years later, I can definitely say that it has been a great ride with very few regrets. I have made some fantastic friends and have learned something from each and every one of you. I have definitely considered this to be a rewarding experience and I will miss all of you. I do hope that you will keep in contact. You never know, our paths may cross again in the future. If you would like to keep in contact, then you can find me on Facebook or Linked In and my personal email is: [email protected]. Goodbye and Good Luck. Brian C. Harrison

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• 11.2 Upgrade Companion has been updated!

  - by roy.swonger

  The long-awaited update of the 11.2 Upgrade Companion is now available in My Oracle Support, in the usual location (Note 785351.1). This comprehensive update incorporates lessons learned from adoption of the 11.2.0.2 patchset release. We have also included many more links for customers in a RAC/ASM (Grid Infrastructure) environment, information about the GoldenGate 11g release, and more! As always, the Upgrade Companion is available in PDF and HTML format in addition to the web-viewable java-based document.

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• ODI 11g – Oracle Multi Table Insert

  - by David Allan

  With the IKM Oracle Multi Table Insert you can generate Oracle specific DML for inserting into multiple target tables from a single query result – without reprocessing the query or staging its result. When designing this to exploit the IKM you must split the problem into the reusable parts – the select part goes in one interface (I named SELECT_PART), then each target goes in a separate interface (INSERT_SPECIAL and INSERT_REGULAR). So for my statement below… /*INSERT_SPECIAL interface */ insert  all when 1=1 And (INCOME_LEVEL > 250000) then into SCOTT.CUSTOMERS_NEW (ID, NAME, GENDER, BIRTH_DATE, MARITAL_STATUS, INCOME_LEVEL, CREDIT_LIMIT, EMAIL, USER_CREATED, DATE_CREATED, USER_MODIFIED, DATE_MODIFIED) values (ID, NAME, GENDER, BIRTH_DATE, MARITAL_STATUS, INCOME_LEVEL, CREDIT_LIMIT, EMAIL, USER_CREATED, DATE_CREATED, USER_MODIFIED, DATE_MODIFIED) /* INSERT_REGULAR interface */ when 1=1  then into SCOTT.CUSTOMERS_SPECIAL (ID, NAME, GENDER, BIRTH_DATE, MARITAL_STATUS, INCOME_LEVEL, CREDIT_LIMIT, EMAIL, USER_CREATED, DATE_CREATED, USER_MODIFIED, DATE_MODIFIED) values (ID, NAME, GENDER, BIRTH_DATE, MARITAL_STATUS, INCOME_LEVEL, CREDIT_LIMIT, EMAIL, USER_CREATED, DATE_CREATED, USER_MODIFIED, DATE_MODIFIED) /*SELECT*PART interface */ select        CUSTOMERS.EMAIL EMAIL,     CUSTOMERS.CREDIT_LIMIT CREDIT_LIMIT,     UPPER(CUSTOMERS.NAME) NAME,     CUSTOMERS.USER_MODIFIED USER_MODIFIED,     CUSTOMERS.DATE_MODIFIED DATE_MODIFIED,     CUSTOMERS.BIRTH_DATE BIRTH_DATE,     CUSTOMERS.MARITAL_STATUS MARITAL_STATUS,     CUSTOMERS.ID ID,     CUSTOMERS.USER_CREATED USER_CREATED,     CUSTOMERS.GENDER GENDER,     CUSTOMERS.DATE_CREATED DATE_CREATED,     CUSTOMERS.INCOME_LEVEL INCOME_LEVEL from    SCOTT.CUSTOMERS   CUSTOMERS where    (1=1) Firstly I create a SELECT_PART temporary interface for the query to be reused and in the IKM assignment I state that it is defining the query, it is not a target and it should not be executed. Then in my INSERT_SPECIAL interface loading a target with a filter, I set define query to false, then set true for the target table and execute to false. This interface uses the SELECT_PART query definition interface as a source. Finally in my final interface loading another target I set define query to false again, set target table to true and execute to true – this is the go run it indicator! To coordinate the statement construction you will need to create a package with the select and insert statements. With 11g you can now execute the package in simulation mode and preview the generated code including the SQL statements. Hopefully this helps shed some light on how you can leverage the Oracle MTI statement. A similar IKM exists for Teradata. The ODI IKM Teradata Multi Statement supports this multi statement request in 11g, here is an extract from the paper at www.teradata.com/white-papers/born-to-be-parallel-eb3053/ Teradata Database offers an SQL extension called a Multi-Statement Request that allows several distinct SQL statements to be bundled together and sent to the optimizer as if they were one. Teradata Database will attempt to execute these SQL statements in parallel. When this feature is used, any sub-expressions that the different SQL statements have in common will be executed once, and the results shared among them. It works in the same way as the ODI MTI IKM, multiple interfaces orchestrated in a package, each interface contributes some SQL, the last interface in the chain executes the multi statement.

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• The JRockit Book is Now in Print!

  - by Marcus Hirt

  Yes. I know. It’s been in print for some days already, but I haven’t found time to write about it until now. The book is a good guide for JVM’s in general, and for JRockit in particular. If you’ve ever wondered how the innards of the Java Virtual Machine works, or how to use the JRockit Mission Control to hunt down problems in your Java applications, this book is for you. The book is written for intermediate to advanced Java Developers. These are the chapters: Getting Started Adaptive Code Generation Adaptive Memory Management Threads and Synchronization Benchmarking and Tuning JRockit Mission Control The Management Console The Runtime Analyzer The Flight Recorder The Memory Leak Detector JRCMD Using the JRockit Management APIs JRockit Virtual Edition Appendix A: Bibliography Appendix B: Glossary Index The book is 588 pages long. For more information about the book, see the book page at Packt.

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• Oracle is sponsoring LinuxCon Japan 2012

  - by Zeynep Koch

  LinuxCon Japan is the premiere Linux conference in Asia that brings together a unique blend of core developers, administrators, users, community managers and industry experts. It is designed not only to encourage collaboration but to support future interaction between Japan and other Asia Pacific countries and the rest of the global Linux community. The conference includes presentations, tutorials, birds of a feather sessions, keynotes, sponsored mini-summits. LinuxCon Japan will be showcasing Oracle Linux in  following sessions, as well as Technology Showcase booth.  Wednesday, June 6: 2:00 pm - Btrfs Filesystems : Status and New Features, Chris Mason, Oracle, Room 502 Friday, June 8: 3:00 pm - State of Linux Kernel Security Subsystem, James Morris, Oracle, Room 502 5:25 pm - International/Asian Kernel Developer Panel that features Oracle's Chris Mason Register to attend these great sessions.

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• OurSQL: The MySQL Database Community Podcast

  - by bertrand.matthelie(at)oracle.com

  @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } For those of you not aware of it, Sheeri K. Cabral and Sarah Novotny are doing a great job running the "OurSQL" Podcast. A great and convenient way to learn more about various MySQL topics. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Episode 33 is about "Looking through the Lenz"...that is, Lenz Grimmer, MySQL Community Manager at Oracle and long time MySQLer.   Lenz talks about snapshot backups in general, MySQL backups with snapshots, and mylvmbackup, a script he wrote and maintains to easily take consistent MySQL snapshot backups. Check it out!   Keep up the good work, Sheeri and Sarah!

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• Public EC Meeting Today at 15:00; new WebEx password

  - by Heather VanCura

  Update:  Public EC Meeting is today at 15:00 PST; note new WebEx meeting password is 12345; login from https://jcp.webex.com. Audio remains the same: +1 (866) 682-4770 (US) Conference code: 627-9803 Security code: 52732 ("JCPEC" on your phone handset) For global access numbers see http://www.intercall.com/oracle/access_numbers.htm Or +1 (408) 774-4073

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• System.Threading.ThreadAbortException executing WCF service

  - by SURESH GIRIRAJAN

  In one of our prod server we recently ran into issue when we went and update the web.config and try to browse the service. We started seeing the service was not responding and getting the following warning in the application log. Our service is WCF service, BizTalk orchestration exposed as service. We have other prod server where we never ran into this issue, so what’s different with this server. After going thru lot of forum and came up on some Microsoft service pack and hot fix which related to FCN. But I don’t want to apply any patch on this server then we need to do on all the other servers too. So solution is simple, I dropped the existing website, created a new site with different name with updated web.config browse the service. Then dropped that site and recreate the original web site and it worked fine without any issue. Event Viewer:  Event Type:        Warning Event Source:    ASP.NET 2.0.50727.0 Event Category:                Web Event Event ID:              1309 Date:                     6/6/2011 Time:                    5:41:42 PM User:                     N/A Computer:          PRODP02 Description: Event code: 3005 Event message: An unhandled exception has occurred. Event time: 6/6/2011 5:41:42 PM Event time (UTC): 6/6/2011 9:41:42 PM Event ID: a71769f42b304355a58c482bfec267f2 Event sequence: 3 Event occurrence: 1 Event detail code: 0  Application information:     Application domain: /LM/W3SVC/518296899/ROOT/PortArrivals-2-129518698821558995     Trust level: Full     Application Virtual Path: /TESTSVC     Application Path: D:\inetpub\wwwroot\RFID\TESTSVC\     Machine name: PRODP02  Process information:     Process ID: 8752     Process name: w3wp.exe     Account name: domain\BizTalk_Svc_Hostlso  Exception information:     Exception type: ThreadAbortException     Exception message: Thread was being aborted.  Request information:     Request URL: http://localhost:81/TESTSVC/TESTSVCS.svc     Request path: /TESTSVC/TESTSVCS.svc     User host address: 127.0.0.1     User:      Is authenticated: False     Authentication Type:      Thread account name: domain\BizTalk_Svc_Hostlso  Thread information:     Thread ID: 22     Thread account name: domain\BizTalk_Svc_Hostlso     Is impersonating: False     Stack trace:    at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)    at System.Web.HttpApplication.ApplicationStepManager.ResumeSteps(Exception error)  at System.Web.HttpApplication.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb, Object extraData)    at System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestInternal(HttpWorkerRequest wr)  <Description>Handling an exception.</Description> <AppDomain>/LM/W3SVC/518296899/ROOT/TESTSVC-6-129518741899334691</AppDomain> <Exception> <ExceptionType>System.Threading.ThreadAbortException, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</ExceptionType> <Message>Thread was being aborted.</Message> <StackTrace> at System.Threading.Monitor.Enter(Object obj) at System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostingEnvironment.HostingManager.EnsureServiceAvailable(String normalizedVirtualPath) at System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostingEnvironment.EnsureServiceAvailableFast(String relativeVirtualPath) at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.HandleRequest() at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.BeginRequest() at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.OnBeginRequest(Object state) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.WorkItem.Invoke2() at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.WorkItem.Invoke() at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.ProcessCallbacks() at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.CompletionCallback(Object state) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.ScheduledOverlapped.IOCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped) at System.ServiceModel.Diagnostics.Utility.IOCompletionThunk.UnhandledExceptionFrame(UInt32 error, UInt32 bytesRead, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped) </StackTrace> <ExceptionString>System.Threading.ThreadAbortException: Thread was being aborted.    at System.Threading.Monitor.Enter(Object obj)    at System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostingEnvironment.HostingManager.EnsureServiceAvailable(String normalizedVirtualPath)    at System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostingEnvironment.EnsureServiceAvailableFast(String relativeVirtualPath)    at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.HandleRequest()    at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.BeginRequest()    at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.OnBeginRequest(Object state)    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.WorkItem.Invoke2()    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.WorkItem.Invoke()    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.ProcessCallbacks()    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.CompletionCallback(Object state)    at System.ServiceModel.Channels.IOThreadScheduler.CriticalHelper.ScheduledOverlapped.IOCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)    at System.ServiceModel.Diagnostics.Utility.IOCompletionThunk.UnhandledExceptionFrame(UInt32 error, UInt32 bytesRead, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)</ExceptionString>

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• Solaris 11 Update 1 - Link Aggregation

  - by Wesley Faria

  Solaris 11.1 No início desse mês em um evento mundial da Oracle chamado Oracle Open World foi lançada a nova release do Solaris 11. Ela chega cheia de novidades, são aproximadamente 300 novas funcionalidade em rede, segurança, administração e outros. Hoje vou falar de uma funcionalidade de rede muito interessante que é o Link Aggregation. O Solaris já suporta Link Aggregation desde Solaris 10 Update 1 porem no Solaris 11 Update 1 tivemos incrementos significantes. O Link Aggregation como o próprio nome diz, é a agregação de mais de uma inteface física de rede em uma interface lógica .Veja agumas funcionalidade do Link Aggregation: · Aumentar a largura da banda; · Imcrementar a segurança fazendo Failover e Failback; · Melhora a administração da rede; O Solaris 11.1 suporta 2(dois) tipos de Link Aggregation o Trunk aggregation e o Datalink Multipathing aggregation, ambos trabalham fazendo com que o pacote de rede seja distribuído entre as intefaces da agregação garantindo melhor utilização da rede.vamos ver um pouco melhor cada um deles. Trunk Aggregation O Trunk Aggregation tem como objetivo aumentar a largura de banda, seja para aplicações que possue um tráfego de rede alto seja para consolidação. Por exemplo temos um servidor que foi adquirido para comportar várias máquinas virtuais onde cada uma delas tem uma demanda e esse servidor possue 2(duas) placas de rede. Podemos então criar uma agregação entre essas 2(duas) placas de forma que o Solaris 11.1 vai enchergar as 2(duas) placas como se fosse 1(uma) fazendo com que a largura de banda duplique, veja na figura abaixo: A figura mostra uma agregação com 2(duas) placas físicas NIC 1 e NIC 2 conectadas no mesmo switch e 2(duas) interfaces virtuais VNIC A e VNIC B. Porem para que isso funcione temos que ter um switch com suporte a LACP ( Link Aggregation Control Protocol ). A função do LACP é fazer a aggregação na camada do switch pois se isso não for feito o pacote que sairá do servidor não poderá ser montado quando chegar no switch. Uma outra forma de configuração do Trunk Aggregation é o ponto-a-ponto onde ao invéz de se usar um switch, os 2 servidores são conectados diretamente. Nesse caso a agregação de um servidor irá falar diretamente com a agregação do outro garantindo uma proteção contra falhas e tambem uma largura de banda maior. Vejamos como configurar o Trunk Aggregation: 1 – Verificando quais intefaces disponíveis # dladm show-link 2 – Verificando interfaces # ipadm show-if 3 – Apagando o endereçamento das interfaces existentes # ipadm delete-ip <interface> 4 – Criando o Trunk aggregation # dladm create-aggr -L active -l <interface> -l <interface> aggr0 5 – Listando a agregação criada # dladm show-aggr Data Link Multipath Aggregation Como vimos anteriormente o Trunk aggregation é implementado apenas 1(um) switch que possua suporte a LACP portanto, temos um ponto único de falha que é o switch. Para solucionar esse problema no Solaris 10 utilizavamos o IPMP ( IP Multipathing ) que é a combinação de 2(duas) agregações em um mesmo link ou seja, outro camada de virtualização. Agora com o Solaris 11 Update 1 isso não é mais necessário, voce pode ter uma agregação de 2(duas) interfaces físicas e cada uma conectada a 1(um) swtich diferente, veja a figura abaixo: Temos aqui uma agregação chamada aggr contendo 4(quatro) interfaces físicas sendo que as interfaces NIC 1 e NIC 2 estão conectadas em um Switch e as intefaces NIC 3 e NIC 4 estão conectadas em outro Swicth. Além disso foram criadas mais 4(quatro) interfaces virtuais vnic A, vnic B, vnic C e vnic D que podem ser destinadas a diferentes aplicações/zones. Com isso garantimos alta disponibilidade em todas a camadas pois podemos ter falhas tanto em switches, links como em interfaces de rede físicas. Para configurar siga os mesmo passos da configuração do Trunk Aggregation até o passo 3 depois faça o seguinte: 4 – Criando o Trunk aggregation # dladm create-aggr -m haonly -l <interface> -l <interface> aggr0 5 – Listando a agregação criada # dladm show-aggr Depois de configurado seja no modo Trunk aggregation ou no modo Data Link Multipathing aggregation pode ser feito a troca de um modo para o outro, pode adcionar e remover interfaces físicas ou vituais. Bem pessoal, era isso que eu tinha para mostar sobre a nova funcionalidade do Link Aggregation do Solaris 11 Update 1 espero que tenham gostado, até uma próxima novidade.

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• Tuxedo Runtime for CICS and Batch Webcast

  - by Jason Williamson

  There was a recent webcast about the new Tux ART solution that we released last month. Here is the link to hear Hassan talk about that Link to Listen to Webcast Below is the market speak about what the webcast is about and what you will hear. From my own experience, there is certainly an uptick in rehosting discussions and projects with customers all around the world. The notion that mainframes can be rehosted on open system is pretty well accepted. There are still some hold out CxO's who don't believe it, but those guys typically are not really looking to migrate anyway and don't take an honest look at the case studies, history and TPC reports. Maybe in my next blog I'll talk about "myth busters" -- to borrow some presentation details from Mark Rakhmilevich (Tuxedo PM for Rehosting). *********** Mainframe rehosting is a compelling approach for migrating and modernizing mainframe applications and data to lower data center cost and risk while increasing business agility. Oracle Tuxedo 11g with CICS application runtime (ART) capabilities is designed to facilitate the migration of IBM mainframe applications by allowing these to run on open systems in a distributed grid architecture. The brand new Oracle Tuxedo Application Runtime for CICS and Batch 11g can significantly reduce your costs and risks while preserving your investments in applications and data. In this on-demand Webcast, hear from Oracle Senior Vice President, Hasan Rizvi, on how Oracle Tuxedo 11g with CICS application runtime capabilities is changing the way customers think about mainframe migration. You'll learn: * What market forces drive mainframe migration and modernization * What technologies and capabilities are available for migrating mainframe transaction processing and batch applications * How Oracle brings rehosting technologies to a new level of scalability, robustness, and automation

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• Backpacks and Booth Paint: TechEd 2012

  - by The Un-T Guy

  Arriving in the parking lot of the Orange County Convention Center, I immediately knew I was in the right place. As far as the eye could see, the acres of asphalt were awash in backpacks, quirky (to be kind) outfits, and bad haircuts. This was the place. This was Microsoft Mecca v2012 for geeks and nerds, the Central Florida event of the year, a gathering of high tech professionals whose skills I both greatly respect and, frankly, fear a little. I was wholly and completely out of element, a dork in a vast sea of geek jumbo. It like was wearing dockers and a golf shirt walking into a RenFaire, but one with really crappy costumes and no turkey legs...save those attached to some of the attendees. Of course the corporate whores...errrr, vendors were in place, ready to parlay the convention's fre-nerd-ic energy into millions of dollars by convincing the big-brained and under-sexed in the crowd (i.e., virtually all of them...present company excluded, of course) that their product or service was the only thing standing between them and professional success, industry fame, and clear skin. "With KramTech 2012," they seemed to scream, "you will be THE ROCK STAR of your company's IT department!" As car shows and tattoo parlors learned long ago, Tech companies seem to believe that the best way to attract the attention of this crowd is through the hint of the promise of sex. They recruit and deploy an army of "sales reps" whose primary qualifications appear to be long hair, short skirts, high heels, and a vagina. Unlike their distant cousins in the car and body art industries, however, this sub-species of booth paint (semi-gloss decoration that adds nothing to the substance of the product) seems torn between committing to being all-out sex objects and recognition that they are in the presence of intelligent, discerning people. People who are smart enough to know exactly what these vendors are doing. Also unlike their distant car show and tattoo shop cousins, these young women (what…are there no gay tech professionals who could use some eye candy?) seem to realize that while IT remains a male-dominated field, there are ever-increasing numbers of intelligent, capable, strong professional women – women who’ve battled to make it in this field through hard work and work performance rather than a hard body and performing after work. This is not to say that all of the young female sales reps are there only because of their physical attributes. Many are competent, intelligent, and driven -- not to mention attractive. They're working hard on the front lines of delivering the next generation of technology. The distinction is pretty clear, however, between these young professionals and the booth paint. The former enthusiastically deliver credible information about the products they’re hawking. The latter are positioned in the aisles, uncomfortably avoiding eye contact as they struggle to operate the badge readers. Surprisingly, not all of the women in attendance seemed to object to the objectification of their younger sisters. One IT professional woman who came of age in the industry (mostly in IT marketing) said, “I have no problem with it. I was a ‘booth babe’ for years and it doesn’t bother me at all.” Others, however, weren’t quite so gracious. One woman I spoke with, an IT manager from Cheyenne, Wyoming, said it was demeaning and frankly, as more and more women grow into IT management positions, not a great marketing idea. “Using these young women is, to me, no different than vendors giving out t-shirts to attract attention. It’s sad because it’s still hard for a woman to be respected in the IT field and this just perpetuates the outdated notion that IT is a male-dominated field.” She went on to say that decisions by vendors to employ these young women in this “inappropriate way” could impact her purchasing decisions. “I might be swayed toward a vendor who has women on staff who are intelligent and dynamic rather than the vendors who use the ‘decoration’ girls.” So in many ways, the IT industry is no different than most other industries as it struggles to maximize performance by finding and developing talent – all of the talent, not just the 50% with a penis. Women in IT, like their brethren, struggle to find their niche in the field, to grow professionally, and reach for the brass ring, struggling to overcome obstacles as they climb the mountain of professional success in a never-ending cycle of economic uncertainty. But as (generally) well-educated and highly-trained professionals, they are probably better positioned than those in many other industries. Beside, they’ve got one other advantage over their non-IT counterparts as they attempt their ascent to the summit: They’ve already got the backpacks.

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