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iPhone applications get down to business	Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:00:00 GMT
With its revolutionary design, the first-generation iPhone captured consumers' hearts. But for the device to be welcomed into the business world, Apple understood that it had to address enterprise e-mail and security limitations. That's why the iPhone 3G (and iPhone 2.x software) introduced Microsoft Exchange support, secure VPN and wireless networking, and remote management.

Road warrior power trip: Mobile workstations worthy of the workstation name	Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Among desktop computers, the term "workstation" refers to a high-end PC specially equipped for demanding tasks such as CAD/CAM/engineering, software development, audio and video processing, and heavy-duty number-crunching or data mining. But "workstation" typically loses its meaning when you attach the word "mobile."

Windows on the Mac: Parallels vs. VMware Fusion, round 2	Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
A little more than a year ago, I reviewed VMware's Fusion 1.0 and Parallels Desktop 3.0 to see how they stacked up. Since then, both products have undergone major revisions, so I thought I'd see how this horse race is coming along. Both Fusion, now in Version 2.0.1, and Parallels, in Version 4.0, allow you to run another OS -- Windows, Linux, and others -- on your Mac as a guest of OS X. They provide what's called a hypervisor, which can host multiple guest OSes running at the same time.

Test Center preview: Windows Azure Services Platform gives wings to .Net	Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Microsoft intends its new Windows Azure Services Platform to be a serious cloud computing platform for a broad range of developers and scenarios, from lone developers starting up a new Web-based company on a shoestring to large teams of enterprise developers looking for high-performance, highly available, and scalable Web sites, computing, and storage. A few years out, Microsoft wants Azure to be seen as the preferred location for enterprise data, not as a business risk. It's off to a good start.

Test Center review: Adobe AIR soars to loftier heights	Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Hot on the heels of Microsoft's Silverlight 2 release, Adobe AIR 1.5 adds impressive new features to the desktop extension of Adobe's Flex RIA (rich Internet application) platform. This is the second update since AIR's debut earlier this year, a testament to Adobe's seriousness about owning a piece of the desktop.

Test Center preview: Fedora turns 10	Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
There comes a point in the life of any hard-core Linux user when the idea of digging about to find yet another obscure piece of software, compiling the code, and integrating it into your daily routine just seems annoying, not compelling. This is where Fedora comes through. Because more of the popular and necessary packages "just work" with Fedora, less time is burned spinning wheels and more time is available for productive tasks.

Test Center review: New Day dawns for Web CMS	Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Day Software may be best known for its CRX (Content Repository Extreme) Java Content Repository. But after testing the general release of its Communique 5.1 (CQ5) modular CMS, I think it's time to get reintroduced to the rest of what the company offers. This notable Web content manager will impress business users with drag-and-drop page design, in-context content editing, and a component library that includes Flash elements, form builders, and Google Gadget support. And it will impress IT with a nice complement of enterprise bells and whistles -- from integrated BPM to hot backup, disaster recovery, and clustering capabilities.

Test Center review: Open source data aces	Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
If any software market deserved to be shaken up by open source alternatives, it's enterprise data integration. Commercial, enterprise-grade integration tools -- typically cobbled together from M&A and legacy patchworks -- are notoriously unwieldy and impose an arduous learning curve. Complexity frequently stalls deployments by months, and aftermarket consulting can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the TCO.

Microsoft Response Point SP1 fills VoIP major gaps	Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Like their enterprise counterparts, smaller businesses constantly look for ways to operate more efficiently, increasingly so in today's economy.

Test Center review: AT&T Fuze sparks Windows Mobile	Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT
If you're ready for a Windows Mobile smartphone with a large, VGA (480 by 640 pixels) display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and quad-band radios for worldwide use, the Fuze is an excellent option. Thanks to the Fuze's bigger screen and keyboard, I prefer it to two other very good Windows Mobile 6.1 phones I've tested, the Palm Treo Pro and the HP iPaq 910c.