Web Development Live

SEATTLE Microsoft Corp. is giving students free access to its most sophisticated tools for writing software and making media-rich Web sites, a move that intensifies its competition with Adobe Systems Inc. and could challenge open source software’s popularity.The Redmond-based software maker said late Monday it will let students download Visual Studio Professional Edition, a software development environment; Expression Studio, which includes graphic design and Web site and hybrid Web-desktop programming tools; and XNA Game Studio 2.0, a video game development program.The company will also give away SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Windows Server Standard Edition.Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the company’s past efforts to arrange educational discounts for these programs limited the number of students who ultimately could use them. DreamSpark, as Microsoft is calling the free software offering, opens up access to many more students.It’s also good for Microsoft’s business, Gates added.”We give up some revenue, but we gain the fact that we’ll get the feedback of these students, get more courses to incorporate our tools into the programs and get more startups where kids are familiar with Visual Studio, Expression Studio and SQL Server,” Gates said in a phone interview.The program, which Microsoft says will put its software and Web development tools in the hands of 1 billion students, gives momentum to an attack Microsoft launched on Adobe Systems Inc. last year with the release of Expression Studio and Silverlight, its answer to Adobe’s market-leading Photoshop and Illustrator design programs and Flash, the technology behind much of the video and animation on Web pages.”It’s a brilliant strategic move on the part of Microsoft,” said Chris Swenson, a software industry analyst with NPD Group. “This is one of the core audiences you have to hit if you really want to make a difference in the rich Internet application market going forward.”Handing out free copies of Expression Studio to students today increases the chance that the next big Web 2.0 craze will be designed with Microsoft’s tools and accessed using the Silverlight plug-in, rather than with open source and Adobe technology.DreamSpark could also win a generation of programmers away from open source software, which companies from small startups to Google Inc. use as an affordable, flexible alternative to software from the likes of Microsoft and database maker Oracle Inc.Gates said students will want to try Microsoft’s tools because they’re more powerful than the open-source combination of Linux-based operating systems, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database and the PHP scripting language used to make complex Web sites.But Gates said giving away Microsoft software isn’t intended to turn students against open source software entirely. Rather, he hopes it will just add one more tool to their belt.Giving away Visual Studio, meanwhile, will help ensure a steady stream of new desktop and desktop-Web hybrid applications Microsoft hopes will keep consumers hooked on Windows PCs, even as more programs migrate to the Web.The programs are available now to more than 35 million college students in the U.S., Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.DreamSpark will open to high school students around the world starting in the fall and to college students in other countries in the next year.Microsoft said it is working with individual schools, governments and student organizations in each country on systems that confirm students are currently enrolled.

SEATTLE Microsoft Corp. is giving students free access to its most sophisticated tools for writing software and making media-rich Web sites, a move that intensifies its competition with Adobe Systems Inc. and could challenge open source software’s popularity.The Redmond-based software maker said late Monday it will let students download Visual Studio Professional Edition, a software development environment; Expression Studio, which includes graphic design and Web site and hybrid Web-desktop programming tools; and XNA Game Studio 2.0, a video game development program.The company will also give away SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Windows Server Standard Edition.Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the company’s past efforts to arrange educational discounts for these programs limited the number of students who ultimately could use them. DreamSpark, as Microsoft is calling the free software offering, opens up access to many more students.It’s also good for Microsoft’s business, Gates added.”We give up some revenue, but we gain the fact that we’ll get the feedback of these students, get more courses to incorporate our tools into the programs and get more startups where kids are familiar with Visual Studio, Expression Studio and SQL Server,” Gates said in a phone interview.The program, which Microsoft says will put its software and Web development tools in the hands of 1 billion students, gives momentum to an attack Microsoft launched on Adobe Systems Inc. last year with the release of Expression Studio and Silverlight, its answer to Adobe’s market-leading Photoshop and Illustrator design programs and Flash, the technology behind much of the video and animation on Web pages.”It’s a brilliant strategic move on the part of Microsoft,” said Chris Swenson, a software industry analyst with NPD Group. “This is one of the core audiences you have to hit if you really want to make a difference in the rich Internet application market going forward.”Handing out free copies of Expression Studio to students today increases the chance that the next big Web 2.0 craze will be designed with Microsoft’s tools and accessed using the Silverlight plug-in, rather than with open source and Adobe technology.DreamSpark could also win a generation of programmers away from open source software, which companies from small startups to Google Inc. use as an affordable, flexible alternative to software from the likes of Microsoft and database maker Oracle Inc.Gates said students will want to try Microsoft’s tools because they’re more powerful than the open-source combination of Linux-based operating systems, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database and the PHP scripting language used to make complex Web sites.But Gates said giving away Microsoft software isn’t intended to turn students against open source software entirely. Rather, he hopes it will just add one more tool to their belt.Giving away Visual Studio, meanwhile, will help ensure a steady stream of new desktop and desktop-Web hybrid applications Microsoft hopes will keep consumers hooked on Windows PCs, even as more programs migrate to the Web.The programs are available now to more than 35 million college students in the U.S., Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.DreamSpark will open to high school students around the world starting in the fall and to college students in other countries in the next year.Microsoft said it is working with individual schools, governments and student organizations in each country on systems that confirm students are currently enrolled.

With half the world’s population soon owning a mobile phone, the opportunity to reach more people on the web via a mobile device is huge. Research firm Gartner predicts that worldwide mobile advertising revenue will grow from less than $1bn last year to $11bn in 2011. Google has already been adapting its web search, mapping service, and advertising tools to work on mobile phones. And it’s even bidding in a US auction of wireless spectrum and developing software for mobile phones.

The company has also spearheaded the Open Handset Alliance ?which advocates open standards for mobile software ?in an effort to co-ordinate its work with that of handset makers, chip developers, application developers and mobile-phone operators.

Because Google has dominated search and advertising on the traditional internet, the expectation is that the company will also take the mobile market by storm using the same tools and the same strategies. But shoehorning its existing web tools and applications onto a tiny mobile phone isn’t going to be easy. If Google is not careful, it may find itself chasing some new, innovative start-up that figures out how to out-Google Google in mobile.

“In some ways Google is now the incumbent,” said Farhad Divecha, director of the search and mobile marketing firm AccuraCast. “Their search products and advertising tools aren’t the best right now, so there’s a good chance someone could come in and do it better.”

Back to basics with search Google first came on the scene a decade ago with a new search algorithm that could serve up better and more relevant content to users than had ever been done before. So while other companies, such as Alta Vista and Yahoo, had been in the search business for years before Google came along, it was this giant leap forward in the user experience that catapulted the company to success.

It is not surprising that search was one of the first tools Google adapted for mobile phones. And by most accounts the tool works fine. When used with the Google Maps application, mobile users can even search for local restaurants and get directions to each establishment.

But critics of Google’s mobile search tool say its results aren’t always as relevant as results from a desktop Google search. Another common complaint is that Google provides search results from regular web pages and tries to trans-code them for mobile phones. Often these sites don’t render well on certain phones.

Yahoo Go, a similar application, is considered more robust and more user-friendly than Google’s search tool.

The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook’s request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends.
The feature, which goes live early Wednesday morning, is called “SeenThis?” and is powered by a company called Loomia Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Loomia already provides WSJ.com with another feature called “People who read this … also read these stories” which appears on the right-hand side of the text of a story.
News Web sites will commonly feature lists of the most popular stories on the site, as measured by the most views, most e-mailed or most recommended or blogged about.
But by showing articles that were read by viewers who apparently had similar interests, the Journal is hoping to harness some of the magic of successful shopping sites like Amazon.com Inc., which will make recommendations to shoppers based on what other buyers also bought.
Adding the link with Facebook takes the idea a step further, by letting viewers see what stories their own friends are interested in, not only those of the general WSJ.com readership.
Daniel Bernard, general manager for Wall Street Journal Online, said the “SeenThis?” feature will be opt-in only, meaning it won’t start up unless the viewer expressly asks it to, and users can opt out any time.
The application also won’t collect personally identifiable information on which people are reading which articles, just aggregated information on which articles are being read most by those in a readers’ group of Facebook friends or networks.
Loomia’s chief executive, Dave McMurtry, said the Journal was the first media company to fully implement the “SeenThis?” application. General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and CNET have also signed up to use it.
The module that will be visible on the Journal Web site is something called a “widget” in Internet lingo _ a small, self-contained application that does a specific task.
The user can also add that application on to his or her Facebook page, where it would show users not only which Journal articles are most popular among that users’ friends and networks, but also video and other material from CNET or other providers.
Bernard said the Journal’s goal in adding the fixture was not only to help make the Web page more functional for its existing users but also to try and lure in new users from outside sources such as Facebook.
Other newspapers have also been developing widgets that people can post to their Web sites or pages on online social networks like Facebook in hopes of bringing in more online traffic and spreading awareness of their brand name.
The New York Times offers an online crossword puzzle through Google Inc.’s personalized Web pages as well as a news quiz application on Facebook. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also offers users widgets for various uses, as does The Washington Post Co.

The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook’s request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends.
The feature, which goes live early Wednesday morning, is called “SeenThis?” and is powered by a company called Loomia Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Loomia already provides WSJ.com with another feature called “People who read this … also read these stories” which appears on the right-hand side of the text of a story.
News Web sites will commonly feature lists of the most popular stories on the site, as measured by the most views, most e-mailed or most recommended or blogged about.
But by showing articles that were read by viewers who apparently had similar interests, the Journal is hoping to harness some of the magic of successful shopping sites like Amazon.com Inc., which will make recommendations to shoppers based on what other buyers also bought.
Adding the link with Facebook takes the idea a step further, by letting viewers see what stories their own friends are interested in, not only those of the general WSJ.com readership.
Daniel Bernard, general manager for Wall Street Journal Online, said the “SeenThis?” feature will be opt-in only, meaning it won’t start up unless the viewer expressly asks it to, and users can opt out any time.
The application also won’t collect personally identifiable information on which people are reading which articles, just aggregated information on which articles are being read most by those in a readers’ group of Facebook friends or networks.
Loomia’s chief executive, Dave McMurtry, said the Journal was the first media company to fully implement the “SeenThis?” application. General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and CNET have also signed up to use it.
The module that will be visible on the Journal Web site is something called a “widget” in Internet lingo _ a small, self-contained application that does a specific task.
The user can also add that application on to his or her Facebook page, where it would show users not only which Journal articles are most popular among that users’ friends and networks, but also video and other material from CNET or other providers.
Bernard said the Journal’s goal in adding the fixture was not only to help make the Web page more functional for its existing users but also to try and lure in new users from outside sources such as Facebook.
Other newspapers have also been developing widgets that people can post to their Web sites or pages on online social networks like Facebook in hopes of bringing in more online traffic and spreading awareness of their brand name.
The New York Times offers an online crossword puzzle through Google Inc.’s personalized Web pages as well as a news quiz application on Facebook. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also offers users widgets for various uses, as does The Washington Post Co.

The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook’s request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends.
The feature, which goes live early Wednesday morning, is called “SeenThis?” and is powered by a company called Loomia Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Loomia already provides WSJ.com with another feature called “People who read this … also read these stories” which appears on the right-hand side of the text of a story.
News Web sites will commonly feature lists of the most popular stories on the site, as measured by the most views, most e-mailed or most recommended or blogged about.
But by showing articles that were read by viewers who apparently had similar interests, the Journal is hoping to harness some of the magic of successful shopping sites like Amazon.com Inc., which will make recommendations to shoppers based on what other buyers also bought.
Adding the link with Facebook takes the idea a step further, by letting viewers see what stories their own friends are interested in, not only those of the general WSJ.com readership.
Daniel Bernard, general manager for Wall Street Journal Online, said the “SeenThis?” feature will be opt-in only, meaning it won’t start up unless the viewer expressly asks it to, and users can opt out any time.
The application also won’t collect personally identifiable information on which people are reading which articles, just aggregated information on which articles are being read most by those in a readers’ group of Facebook friends or networks.
Loomia’s chief executive, Dave McMurtry, said the Journal was the first media company to fully implement the “SeenThis?” application. General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and CNET have also signed up to use it.
The module that will be visible on the Journal Web site is something called a “widget” in Internet lingo _ a small, self-contained application that does a specific task.
The user can also add that application on to his or her Facebook page, where it would show users not only which Journal articles are most popular among that users’ friends and networks, but also video and other material from CNET or other providers.
Bernard said the Journal’s goal in adding the fixture was not only to help make the Web page more functional for its existing users but also to try and lure in new users from outside sources such as Facebook.
Other newspapers have also been developing widgets that people can post to their Web sites or pages on online social networks like Facebook in hopes of bringing in more online traffic and spreading awareness of their brand name.
The New York Times offers an online crossword puzzle through Google Inc.’s personalized Web pages as well as a news quiz application on Facebook. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also offers users widgets for various uses, as does The Washington Post Co.

The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook’s request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends.
The feature, which goes live early Wednesday morning, is called “SeenThis?” and is powered by a company called Loomia Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Loomia already provides WSJ.com with another feature called “People who read this … also read these stories” which appears on the right-hand side of the text of a story.
News Web sites will commonly feature lists of the most popular stories on the site, as measured by the most views, most e-mailed or most recommended or blogged about.
But by showing articles that were read by viewers who apparently had similar interests, the Journal is hoping to harness some of the magic of successful shopping sites like Amazon.com Inc., which will make recommendations to shoppers based on what other buyers also bought.
Adding the link with Facebook takes the idea a step further, by letting viewers see what stories their own friends are interested in, not only those of the general WSJ.com readership.
Daniel Bernard, general manager for Wall Street Journal Online, said the “SeenThis?” feature will be opt-in only, meaning it won’t start up unless the viewer expressly asks it to, and users can opt out any time.
The application also won’t collect personally identifiable information on which people are reading which articles, just aggregated information on which articles are being read most by those in a readers’ group of Facebook friends or networks.
Loomia’s chief executive, Dave McMurtry, said the Journal was the first media company to fully implement the “SeenThis?” application. General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and CNET have also signed up to use it.
The module that will be visible on the Journal Web site is something called a “widget” in Internet lingo _ a small, self-contained application that does a specific task.
The user can also add that application on to his or her Facebook page, where it would show users not only which Journal articles are most popular among that users’ friends and networks, but also video and other material from CNET or other providers.
Bernard said the Journal’s goal in adding the fixture was not only to help make the Web page more functional for its existing users but also to try and lure in new users from outside sources such as Facebook.
Other newspapers have also been developing widgets that people can post to their Web sites or pages on online social networks like Facebook in hopes of bringing in more online traffic and spreading awareness of their brand name.
The New York Times offers an online crossword puzzle through Google Inc.’s personalized Web pages as well as a news quiz application on Facebook. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also offers users widgets for various uses, as does The Washington Post Co.

A Russian website called CyberLover.ru is advertising a software tool that, it says, can simulate flirtatious chatroom exchanges. It boasts that it can chat up as many as 10 women at the same time and persuade them to hand over phone numbers.
An Australian anti-virus software firm, PC Tools, has warned that the software could be abused by identity fraudsters trying to harvest peoples personal details online. The Russian site denied it was intended for identity fraud.
The program, so far available only in Russian, will go on sale around February 15, just after St Valentines Day, said the CyberLover.ru website.
Not a single girl has yet realized that she was communicating with a program! it said, adding that the program could also simulate virtual sex online.
Its happened - a program to tempt girls over the internet! said the site.
Within half an hour the CyberLover program will introduce you to … girls, exchange photos and perhaps even a contact phone number, it states.
Chatrooms have developed into a popular social networking section of the internet, where people can converse anonymously by keyboard on any topic, from flirting to fishing.
CyberLovers website explains that the settings on its program can be changed to attract men, persuade people to visit a website or encourage them to top up mobile telephone credit, and that all the data collected will be stored.
CAN FOOL USERS
A spokesman for PC Tools said the program had a terrifyingly well-organized interaction that could fool users into giving up personal details and could easily be converted to work in other languages.
As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering, Sergei Shevchenko, Senior Malware Analyst at PC Tools, said in a statement.
It employs highly intelligent and customized dialogue to target users of social networking systems.
He said the program can monitor Internet browser activity, automatically recognize and fill in the fields in the web pages, generate keystrokes and mouse clicks, and post messages, URLs, files and photos.
It can do exactly what users normally do when they are online, only in an automated pre-programmed way.
The CyberLover.ru site denied the program did anything wrong, saying it only gathered information that chatroom users themselves were volunteering.
The program can find no more information than the user is prepared to provide, one of the sites employees, who gave his name only as Alexander, said in an emailed reply to Reuters questions.
It maintains a dialogue with a person, but is not engaged in hacking or any other such schemes, I think this should be obvious, he said.
If you have someone who is ready to hand over secret information to the person they are chatting to after having known them for all of five minutes, then in that case a leak of information is possible.

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch joined MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe to make the announcement before Silicon Valley’s Internet elite and answer

questions about the media conglomerate’s digital future.

“We are opening our platform in the next couple of months,” DeWolfe said, confirming months of speculation that MySpace would follow in the footsteps of

Facebook, which emerged as a serious competitor after allowing software developers to create applications for its users.

At the same time Murdoch signaled lower expectations for MySpace revenue in the company’s 2008 fiscal year ending in June, suggesting it may not reach a

previous forecast of over $US800 million.

“I might say $US750 (million) but it’s at least 30 times what it was the day we bought it two years ago,” Murdoch said at the Web 2.0 Summit in San

Francisco. “If we keep that trajectory going like that we’ll be very happy.”

Murdoch’s acquisition of MySpace for $US580 million in 2005 crowned him as the smartest media executive at the time, once rivals realized the potential of

its growing base of users for promotions and advertising.

But privately-held Facebook has surged to a strong second place in the social network world since it opened its site a year ago beyond an original base of

college students and started allowing in May independent software makers to build applications for users and profit from it.

“There’s been so much excitement, energy and growth on the part of Facebook,” said Forrester analyst Charlene Li.

“There’s a lot of pressure on MySpace to capture that energy.”

While MySpace remains the leader with nearly 110 million users, Facebook’s rapid growth to over 47 million members has made it a new media darling, with

media reports pegging its potential value to investors as high as $US15 billion.

“I would say we’re different (than Facebook) and in spite of all the hype we seem to be growing faster,” Murdoch said.

Asked what he thought of such a valuation, Murdoch added: “What it really does is it tells you that News Corp is totally underpriced.”

MYSPACE IS THEIR SPACE

For four years MySpace has allowed users to embed features from other Web sites by pasting bits of code on their MySpace pages.

But Facebook’s open call to developers has already attracted 6,000 independent applications to its site.

“YouTube, for one, basically generated all their early traffic on MySpace,” DeWolfe said of the company’s traditional willingness to let other Web

companies build businesses on MySpace. YouTube is the online video unit of Google.

DeWolfe said he was seeking to create a far more lucrative environment for outside developers on MySpace than currently exists on Facebook, where so far

advertising opportunities for independent application developers are limited.

“The idea will be to allow outside developers to tightly integrate their applications into MySpace,” DeWolfe told Reuters following his on-stage appearance.

Software programmers will be able to control key aspects of how features like photos or user authentication work, allowing them to build more complex Web

services than the restrictive approach MySpace has employed to date with outsiders.

Importantly, the company plans to give developers control over advertising that runs on the Web pages they create to host new services on MySpace.

“There is going to be paid revenue opportunities for all the developers,” DeWolfe said.

MySpace also plans to take steps to protect its users from potential security problems or overload created by a sudden flood of new applications.

It is setting up a “sandbox” version of the site for 2 million users who elect to get early access to new applications while they are still in test mode.

DeWolfe also said he and MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson have signed up for an additional two-year contract. He did not disclose financial terms.

MySpace had already taken steps to bulk up its presence and showcase its technology expertise, opening an office in San Francisco this week with about

50 employees and plans to expand its team to about 200 people within the next year.

The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook’s request to be online friends.
Hoping to tap into the growing buzz of online social networks, the Journal is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which Journal stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends.
The feature, which goes live early Wednesday morning, is called “SeenThis?” and is powered by a company called Loomia Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Loomia already provides WSJ.com with another feature called “People who read this … also read these stories” which appears on the right-hand side of the text of a story.
News Web sites will commonly feature lists of the most popular stories on the site, as measured by the most views, most e-mailed or most recommended or blogged about.
But by showing articles that were read by viewers who apparently had similar interests, the Journal is hoping to harness some of the magic of successful shopping sites like Amazon.com Inc., which will make recommendations to shoppers based on what other buyers also bought.
Adding the link with Facebook takes the idea a step further, by letting viewers see what stories their own friends are interested in, not only those of the general WSJ.com readership.
Daniel Bernard, general manager for Wall Street Journal Online, said the “SeenThis?” feature will be opt-in only, meaning it won’t start up unless the viewer expressly asks it to, and users can opt out any time.
The application also won’t collect personally identifiable information on which people are reading which articles, just aggregated information on which articles are being read most by those in a readers’ group of Facebook friends or networks.
Loomia’s chief executive, Dave McMurtry, said the Journal was the first media company to fully implement the “SeenThis?” application. General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and CNET have also signed up to use it.
The module that will be visible on the Journal Web site is something called a “widget” in Internet lingo _ a small, self-contained application that does a specific task.
The user can also add that application on to his or her Facebook page, where it would show users not only which Journal articles are most popular among that users’ friends and networks, but also video and other material from CNET or other providers.
Bernard said the Journal’s goal in adding the fixture was not only to help make the Web page more functional for its existing users but also to try and lure in new users from outside sources such as Facebook.
Other newspapers have also been developing widgets that people can post to their Web sites or pages on online social networks like Facebook in hopes of bringing in more online traffic and spreading awareness of their brand name.
The New York Times offers an online crossword puzzle through Google Inc.’s personalized Web pages as well as a news quiz application on Facebook. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also offers users widgets for various uses, as does The Washington Post Co.