Hot on the heels of a successful 6.0 release, which we covered here and here, Sun Microsystems has delivered NetBeans 6.1, just in time for the company's annual JavaOne and CommunityOne events in San Francisco, California.

Hands on part 2 When I looked at IronPython in part one, I focussed on how it marries the Python language and libraries with Microsoft's .NET framework.

The sample code that was developed used the Python console (ipy) and a text editor - in other words with simple text-based tools for writing short scripts. But for bigger projects, or when coding GUIs, a text editor obviously isn't enough.

The WS-* stack was conceived and driven forward by IBM and Microsoft, with other vendors cooperating on specifications where they had relevant expertise (Verisign on Security, BEA Systems on transactions and so on). The design philosophy was for a relatively simple and efficient basic mode of operation, with optional features added independently of each other.

More recently, though, something else has taken root among developers building distributed applications: Representational State Transfer (REST). As ever with technology, the debate over WS-* and REST has settled on the death of one technology and the rise of the other. The truth, though, lies somewhere in between.

If you're just thinking about software-as-a-service, then you're a slack-jawed rube. You can have an entire platform-as-a-service with a little effort.

Bungee Labs this week opened up access to its PaaS, which the company calls Bungee Connect. Customers can turn to Bungee Connect for software development and then host their applications on Bungee's hardware. End-to-end software flowgasm? You betcha.

Hands on Last time I described why GUI code is difficult to unit test, and why it's generally better to avoid doing so. But that doesn't mean GUI-related code shouldn't be tested - you just need to separate out the logic.

QCon Kent Beck, agile programming guru, author, and co-creator of Extreme Programming (XP) has ordered developers to pay attention to broad trends and to shape up socially.

Businesses that dominate the global economy have no idea what the financial value of their IT assets is, according to a new study.

Although firms spend billions of dollars on IT each year, few businesses are able to pinpoint the value of their technology assets compared to cash, brand, property and intellectual property, according to UK software developer Micro Focus.

Project management specialist Trilog Group has jumped into the Software as a Service (SaaS) market with its established ProjExec package.

Rushed testing of IT and poor management led to the failure of the single payments scheme for farmers, says a parliamentary report.

The chair of the House of Commons' public accounts committee, Edward Leigh, has condemned the government for its failure to implement the single payments scheme to farmers effectively.

Agile development, for some, means avoiding diagramming (whether for documentation or analysis and design) and just getting on with testing and coding.

So goes the agile ethos: the source code is the finished product, more or less, so if the work you're doing doesn't contribute directly towards creation of source code, then it must be a waste of time. That would include drawing diagrams, exploring requirements in detail and writing them down, and so on. It's bunkum, of course.

One of the big challenges in today's complex environment is getting software done in some close relation to the schedule. I refer to projects with multiple programmers and a team leader or project manager.

Of course, there are a number of planning tools, and project management software has long been available. But there are two problems with this type of software: One is the cost; the second is getting programmers to actually use it.

Ever wanted to go on strike, be part of that feeling of solidarity on the picket line, but felt too cowardly to take the risk? September should see just the opportunity for you.

That is when Rappresentanza Sindacale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU), the official trade union representing IBM's 9,000 workers in Italy, is planning a most novel form of industrial action – a strike on Second Life – and it wants as many avatars as possible manning the picket lines.

Comment Initial reaction to the fact that two sizable retailers are not renewing their outgoing IT director posts could easily be "short sighted mistake".

It's easy to see why they might be doing this though. The retail refresh cycle has seen many retailers catching up on 15 years of under investment. Many may have little appetite for much more, and so a sense of "thanks we'll take it from here/use what we have/try to keep a lid on costs by giving overall responsibility to the CFO", is not surprising.

Oh dear. The PM appears to be in deep trouble and Mugwort is like an excitable child on Haribo, unable to concentrate amidst all the fun. Screwpole is keeping his cool and realises that now is the time for his nephew to apply some of the things he has learnt in a cohesive strategy to cripple the PM…

An external review panel has been formed to ‘suggest improvements’ to the PM’s failing project strategy. The likelihood is that fundamental reforms will be imposed, and senior consultants will soon descend…

As eBay continues to fight off calls for the addition of Google Checkout to its online marketplace, here comes another big-name PayPal alternative.

More moves are in train to bring Requirements Management (RM) out of its fusty corner of esoteric technical argument and into the mainstream of applications development planning.

There are two observations you can make about most new ideas in computing. Firstly, they usually originate at Xerox's legendary Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC). Secondly, they take 10 years to make the transition from the lab to the real world.

Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) fits the bill on both counts.

There seems to be a bit of excitement in the ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) world just now. As we predicted, the big boys are fleshing out their offerings by acquisition – and exciting new products are appearing.

At a recent BCS CMSG gathering, we were rather taken by the intriguingly-named Plastic SCM (Software Configuration Management) tool from Codice Software, a Spanish company headed by Pablo Santos.

The question of what units you are working with is one that will at one time or other have plagued anyone who studied a science or a branch of physical engineering.

Teachers go to great lengths to make sure students remember to specify their units. It is not enough to say that the answer is 42. Forty-two what? 42 metres? 42 electronvolts? 42 furlongs per fortnight? Without a clear understanding of what units are involved, certain results and claims can be meaningless, misleading or simply expensive.

And so it is with software testing.

Serena Software is reaching outside its enterprise IT base with new Agile tooling and betting on a online market to challenge Borland Software and IBM.

We recently published an article on all-pairs testing (read it here) by Keith Vanden Eynden of Seapine Software, in which he was enjoined not to “push” Seapine’s tools.

Nevertheless, Seapine’s TestTrack TCM tool is still an interesting product, accessible to the smaller business, so we asked Keith about using it in practice – and, especially, about using it to implement All-Pairs Testing.

As Kermit the infuriating frog puppet once said "It's not easy bein' green" - especially as a software developer. OK you can do all things that everyone else does - buy a Toyota Prius hybrid or even cycle to work (as long as you avoid Lycra and silly helmets). You can scribble notes on recycled paper with a pencil (made of wood from managed forests) and turn your machine off standby. You can even diligently recycle your printer ink cartridges and offset your energy consumption by planting a few trees.

It's hard enough trying to run one development project, let alone several. Managing a whole portfolio of projects across a business can easily be compared to juggling Faberge eggs in a tornado, with only one arm.

Projects need to be delivered on time, to the original requirements. Resources need to be deployed appropriately – whether they're staff or infrastructure. Then there's the really tricky bit, making sure that all the projects are aligned with the business aims. Today's flexible businesses need IT departments that can respond to changing needs – adapting project plans quickly.

The Project Manager is completely unable to explain why his staff are behaving so miserably (unaware that the stifling office environment is sucking all the enjoyment and creativity out of the team) and is resorting to micromanagement to sort things out. Bad move – his team is a mixed bunch, some more capable than others and the PM’s directorial approach is making some of them resentful…

Every now and then, I think it's healthy to sit back and recap on industry best practice. However, I'm not going to do that here. It's much more fun to tear into worst practice.

I'm talking about the sort of institutional behaviour that transforms the simplest task into something requiring a 20 person committee. The measures put in place to offset competitive advantage. The pointless and unavoidable bureaucratic method that drags us down to the baseline level of performance (or more accurately, lack thereof).

Unfortunately, I've got no quick fixes to the hardship and stress these people cause, but if I can make fun of them for a page or two, at least we might feel better about it...

There are two sorts of people in the world: those that divide the world into two sorts of people and those that don..... No, those who measure what they do; and those (probably a larger group) who trust to luck and public opinion and love the dangerous life. I think the first group should be running businesses people (customers, employees) depend on.

On the other hand, I've gone on record as being very cynical about the "measurements" represented by most surveys. So I'm pleased that Hewlett-Packard (HP) is continuing its recent acquisition Mercury's approach to measuring the environment it's playing in with properly designed surveys overseen by an independent third party (the Economist Intelligence Unit). As someone at HP marketing said to me, "we'd perhaps have liked it to say that Requirements Management was more important in Europe than it did - but you simply can't manipulate this sort of survey...." Good.

IBM has finally finished digesting Consul InSight, the risk management software that it bought last December, and has re-released it in expanded form as Tivoli Compliance Insight Manager.

Rumour has it that TJX, the embattled US retailer trying to recover its reputation following the loss of 45 million credit and debit card details, is dishing out free ice creams to entice shoppers back in to their stores in major US cities.

Mugwort has been getting less and less favoured by the iteration. However, there is hope following an isolated period of success for the young demon. Several key members of his victim’s development team have left and, due to inadequate training, this means that Mugwort’s intended victim, our young project manager, has struggled to keep the existing project on track.

The project manager has been tasked with relocating his stakeholders, sorry - worthless underlings - to a new office environment. An ideal opportunity for Screwpole to convince his nephew to press home the advantage…

Ever since I first read Geoff Reiss’ Programme Management Demystified, I’ve felt there was something wrong with most conventional approaches to IT project management – most IT projects aren’t discrete units of work but share resources (including people) with other projects - including past projects, now in “maintenance”. And, real projects generally don’t end, they go into maintenance.