People sometimes do a double take when I talk about analysis, design and agility in the same sentence. And if I mention UML and agility, they spin round several times and fall over. At the expense of inviting a flurry of email replies for posing a rhetorical question, I have to ask: why?

With speculation building that Microsoft will bring Windows 7 forward by a year, ostensibly to staunch the loss of the Vista weary and Vistaphobes to alternative operating systems, now is a good time to look at the state of development tools for Linux.

It's always a good time for a new paradigm in software development and one of the latest is concept programming. Originated as a private project by Hewlett Packard (HP) software engineer Christophe de Dinechin in 2000, interest in concept programming is on the rise following publication of an updated description late last year.

Teams can get stuck wallowing in trivial details when modeling in UML. Sweating such details can lead to frustration and premature, and rash, decisions on using UML later in a project. But how do you know when a particular nuance is inconsequential and when it's an important item to specify?

In the age of Web 2.0, data is a strategic differentiator. Tim O’Reilly, considered the father of Web 2.0, has claimed “data is the Intel inside” of this revolution. Companies that control a particularly unique or desirable set of information drive more customers to their sites.

Book extract, part 4 In this, the final part of our series of experts from Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML: Theory and Practice Matt Stephens and Doug Rosenberg show you how to draw lean, purposeful sequence diagrams that are driven from the use cases and preliminary design.

One of the goals behind UML is to help stamp out ambiguity in specifications and designs. This is a good and noble goal, but UML is nobbled by its own nobility.

I was talking with a fellow IT professional recently who was saying that you should "program simply" but "design with complexity". I do understand the point that he was trying to make - that is, during the design stage take into account the problems in your domain so that these have been worked out as much as possible before the coding starts.

Book extract, part 3 To get from use cases to detailed design (and then to code), you need to link your use cases to objects. The technique we describe in this chapter, robustness analysis, helps you to bridge the gap from analysis to design by doing exactly that.

Book extract, part 2 In the first extract from their book Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML: Theory and Practice, Reg Dev regular and Agile Iconoclast Matt Stephens and his colleague Doug Rosenberg introduced you to domain modeling.

In this, the second of four installments, the duo show you how to write useful use cases so the design, work estimates and tests flow logically out of each use case.

Think you're organization is ready to transition to an agile software development process? Wondering how to make the move without breaking anything? Not sure how to make the transition stick? Joshua Kerievsky is the man to see.

Book extract, part I Reg Developer regular and Agile Iconoclast Matt Stephens admits to being something of a code fiend since he was 11.

Recently, Matt and his colleague Doug Rosenberg decided to commit the experiences of their youths spent coding software rather then jetting around the park on their BMX bikes to their latest book explaining the best ways for developers to use domain modeling to roll out a solid foundation for Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD).

Long time readers of my blog will know that I'm a huge fan of design patterns. Patterns wrap complex architectures with simplistic descriptions. They create wonderful buzzwords that we can use instead of resorting to actual human language descriptions. And they help enforce that feeling that we're all a part of an elite clique shunned by society not by their choice, but by ours.

More than 430 organizations spanning all fifty US states have fired off a letter urging Senate leaders to oppose a bill that would overhaul the country's patent system. And that includes tech outfits like Qualcomm and AmberWave.

Last month, after a heavy lobby from the likes of Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft, the US Patent Reform Act was passed by the House of Representatives and a similar bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the proposed law is still awaiting a vote from the Senate as a whole.

Interop Rapid innovation, not big R&D dollars, is driving adoption of Google apps at 1,500 new small-to-medium business customer sites per day and a few big companies such as Proctor & Gamble and GE.

That's the message from Matthew Glotzbach, head of products at Google Enterprise, who during his Interop keynote ignored the existence of Microsoft Office Live Services. Instead he pointed to more than 100 new features added to his company's business software services since they debuted in February.

Microsoft has placed the hypercall application program interface (API) for its Viridian virtualization server under the banner of its Open Specification Promise (OSP). But will it help company notch up more open source street cred?

The hypercall API for Viridian, which comes as part of Windows Server 2008, enables developers to integrate non-Windows virtualization components with Windows Server.

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed the first US infringement case to defend the General Public License (GPL) version 2. The case has been brought against Monsoon Multimedia, a specialist in video viewing and capturing devices, which has offices in Silicon Valley and in New Delhi.

An Australian accounting software developer blames a "severe downturn in sales" on people who bad-mouthed its products in online user forums. It wants a judge to muzzle their comments.

The company, 2Clix Australia Pty. Ltd, is also seeking about $125,000 in damages from the operator of the website which hosted the forums.

Microsoft's PR machine is spinning a major setback into a minor victory for ratification of its proposed OOXML specification as an international standard.

The software giant has been left to draw comfort from the high level of voter turnout by standards aficionados across the globe, rather than applaud the hoped for, speeded up adoption of Office Open XML (OOXML) as an ISO standard.

Microsoft has settled a long-running patent infringement suit with Eolas and the University of California in a case which has been running since 1999. Microsoft will make an undisclosed payment to Eolas.

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.

The Swedish Institute of Standards (SIS) has invalidated the vote that controversially approved the OOXML standard at a meeting this week.

A software developer responsible for a copyright infringement described even by the copyright owner as insignificant still broke the law, a court has ruled (pdf). An injunction has been served even though the infringer has stopped using the technology.

It turns out that my co-author Doug Rosenberg has a few things to say on the subject of use case style. So this week I'm going to leap in the back of the Dodge Ram pick-up truck and let him drive.

Interview I've been an enthusiast for ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) since the days of AD Cycle in the 1980s – but I can't help noticing that universal adoption still seems to be some way off. Perhaps it's the "hero culture" we have in IT: the ALM promises of "getting it right first time, good alignment with the business and no surprises" don't offer much scope for a hero to save the day, riding in on a white charger when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Perhaps no one really wants what ALM promises...

The SCO Group today took a major shot to the groin, when a judge confirmed that Novell still owns the Unix operating system copyrights.

US District Judge Dale Kimball issued a decision that spent 100 pages working its way through the various claims and counterclaims presented by SCO and Novell over the years, concerning Unix ownership rights. Much of the controversy covered by Kimball stems from the vague language of a 1995 Asset Purchase Agreement between Novell and SCO. Subsequent discussions held between the two companies did little to clear up the confusion as to whether or not Novell shifted Unix copyrights to SCO during the technology swap.

A new report has warned that urgent work is needed to assess the best way for higher education institutions to upgrade to XML based file formats.

The Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc) has published a report highlighting the need for coordinated action to help the higher education sector make a cost effective switch to XML based office document formats.

Prepared by Walter Ditch, the Technology & Standards Watch report warns higher education institutions (HEIs) that they need to start planning the switch to XML imminently if they are going to take advantage of the increased interoperability and reusability that it offers.

Pressure to move to open file formats has been growing for several years, and according to Ditch, Microsoft has been slow to move away from its proprietary, binary file formats. He says the company's release of Office 2007 means that existing users who upgrade to the new software will essentially be upgrading to a form of XML.

However, in developing its XML based Office suite, Microsoft has chosen not to support the ISO 26300 Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF) international standard. Instead, it has developed its own specification, Office Open XML (OOXML), which it is claimed provides better backwards compatibility with Microsoft binary file formats.

The OOXML format is currently working its way through the ISO's approval process. This is highly contentious, says Ditch, as if approved it would result in the existence of two ISO standards in the same area. He adds: "The reality is that even if OOXML is not approved by ISO, Jisc and HEIs will still be operating in a 'two standard' world, one a de jure, and the other de facto."

Ditch believes that owing to the long term cost and interoperability implications of switching to XML, work should be commissioned to assess the best approach to upgrading. The work, which could involve Jisc's international partners, should also consider the future use of open source office document packages among students on campus.

The report proposes further work to be carried out into the intellectual property right issues of using the various different formats, and to produce staff guidelines on selecting file formats for document publication.

Ditch advises users of Microsoft Office software to set a time scale for upgrading to the 2007 version. HEIs not planning immediate upgrades should consider installing compatibility packs as an interim measure, allowing the latest Office file types to be opened and saved by existing software installations.

He also suggests that a separate study will need to be carried out for those organisations or departments that are heavily involved with the long term storage of important records, or archiving and preservation.

This article was originally published at Kablenet.

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Qualcomm kept its patents on H.264 a secret until the video standard had been adopted by the industry, and then sued users for breaching those patents, a San Diego federal court has ruled.

Qualcomm was an active member of the Joint Video Team (JVT) which defined the H.264 video standard, now used extensively in mobile phone video applications. But while doing so it failed to mention owning at least two patents which anyone implementing the standard would need to license.

When Broadcom started development of chips using the standard, Qualcomm, "without any prior letter, email, telephone call, or even a smoke signal, let alone attempt to license Broadcom, Qualcomm filed the instant lawsuit against Broadcom for infringement of the '104 and '767 patents", the court said.

The court ruling states that by its actions Qualcomm has waived any right to the contested patents, and goes on to say: "By clear and convincing evidence [Qualcomm], its employees, and its witnesses actively organised and/or participated in a plan to profit heavily by (1) wrongfully concealing the patents-in-suit while participating in the JVT and then (2) actively hiding this concealment from the court, the jury and opposing counsel during the present litigation."

Qualcomm has reiterated an apology made in April "for the errors made during discovery and for the inaccurate testimony of certain of its witnesses", but disputes the idea that companies should be made to reveal patents when discussing or setting industry standards.

Qualcomm is expected to appeal the decision. ®

LinuxWorld Microsoft has defended vendor-led standards and interoperability work rather than waiting for industry bodies to reach an open consensus.

Sam Ramji, Microsoft director of platform technology strategy, said vendors with complicated products like, say, Windows that implement thousands of standards can quickly identify and solve problems in areas like Windows and Linux interoperability.

Google has joined the fight to save Linux from an army of patent-waving Microsoft lawyers.

With Redmond threatening to collect royalties from Linux users and distributors across the industry, claiming that the open-source operating system violates 235 of its patents, Google has thrown its considerable weight behind the Open Invention Network (OIN), a consortium of companies bent on protecting open-source software from legal attack.