Windows Web Solutions UPDATE—brought to you by Windows Web Solutions, the Windows & .NET Magazine print newsletter with tools and solutions for managing your Web site.
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December 17, 2002—In this issue:
1. COMMENTARY
- IBM's Rational Purchase
2. KEEPING UP WITH IIS
- Analyze URLScan Log Error That Doesn't Affect Web Site
- Results from Last Issue's Instant Poll: Standardize the Web Browser Version?
- This Issue's Instant Poll: Prevent Users from Accessing IM
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Planning on Getting Certified? Make Sure To Pick up Our New eBook!
4. RESOURCES
- Event Highlight: XML Web Services One
- Featured Thread: IIS Language Problem
5. NEW AND IMPROVED
- Transform Legacy Data into XML
- Submit Top Product Ideas
6. CONTACT US
- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. COMMENTARY
On December 6, 2002, IBM announced its intention to buy Cupertino, California-based Rational Software for $2.1 billion to expand IBM's software-development offerings. IBM will pay about $10.50 per share for the company, a premium of more than 28 percent over Rational's December 5 closing price of $8.17. The announcement surprised most analysts and sent shockwaves through the industry for a couple of reasons. First, many Microsoft Partners, including me, believed that Microsoft would eventually acquire Rational. Microsoft really isn't in the enterprise life-cycle tools space yet, an area that's key to winning the enterprise, and purchasing Rational would have been a logical jump start into that space. Second, a Microsoft/Rational merger has been an industry rumor for years, although many have speculated that Microsoft's purchase of Visio, a Rational competitor, actually hurt its relationship with Rational and the odds of a buyout or merger.
After the IBM/Rational announcement, Microsoft was positive publicly. I spoke to Dan Hay, Microsoft lead product manager of Visual Studio .NET, who said, "Microsoft's take is that this is overall a positive thing for .NET customers because many of Rational's customers are using .NET to build on the Microsoft platform. In the interest of supporting these newly acquired customers, it seems likely that IBM will continue to support Rational for .NET customers, effectively increasing IBM's overall investment in .NET. And, as Microsoft has partnered with both IBM and Rational for many years, we expect those partnerships to continue." Hay's comments make perfect sense, considering that IBM has one of the largest Microsoft consulting divisions in the world. The Microsoft Technology group is a part of IBM Global Services, and the relationship was strong even before Microsoft .NET existed.
I also talked to Steve Lasker, national director for R&D at Immedient, a company with Rational toolset users and a longtime Rational relationship. Lasker told me, "Within the Rational suite of tools, Rational XDE has surfaced as one of the best tools for designing .NET Enterprise applications. Rational Software has probably one of the best integrations with the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment. The only limitation to XDE is while it's very powerful, it can be difficult to use because the UI is complex. While the Java community is used to complex tools, Microsoft developers hold such a high bar on tool usability, that Rational XDE just hasn't met it. IBM needs the Microsoft tools just as much as they need the Java tools, and everyone needs better usability so we can focus on delivering the business solutions, rather then just writing code." Lasker makes an interesting point about how the Microsoft platform developer has been spoiled by a toolset that's better than any other available on any platform. If Rational provides that type of power to the IBM/Java developer, then it can only serve to raise the bar of competition for Microsoft, rallying Redmond to develop something even better—something Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has always publicly stated that he encourages.
Lasker went on to make another interesting point: "I don't think this acquisition will be a net negative for the Microsoft side of the Rational tools. I would think it's just a question of how much positive it will have on the Microsoft side of development tools. Microsoft is definitely here to stay for a long time. Continuing to evolve the Microsoft tool support will only grow IBM revenue. IBM didn't get as big as it did by being shortsighted."
I then spoke to Sten Sundblad, chief architect of Sundblad & Sundblad ADB-Arkitektur AB in Sweden, about what Microsoft's plan might be going forward. Sundblad said, "One possible outcome of \[the IBM/Rational purchase\] is increased Microsoft investment in Visual Studio's and Visio's modeling tools, including the ORM \[Object Role Modeling\] tool and the database-modeling tools. This is especially interesting because the world's number-one ORM expert, Terry Halpin, has left Microsoft to return to the academic world. Does Microsoft have the willingness and power to promote this very useful tool?" My comment was, "Well, if they didn't before, they certainly should consider it now." Sundblad continued, "The only trouble with ORM is that too few know about it and what's possible with it. Many believe it is a data-modeling tool, which is not true at all. Primarily, it's a tool for information and business rules analysis. ORM can help add stability to use case models by adding data use cases." Sundblad then posed the question, "Will Microsoft push its UML \[Unified Modeling Language\] and ORM tools, and will Microsoft increase its investment in that now that Rational Software becomes more of a competitor than it used to be?" That's a good question indeed, and one that only time will answer. IBM's acquisition of Rational invites predictions that Microsoft will probably build its own set of enterprise life-cycle tools integrated into a future version of Visual Studio .NET.
Tim Huckaby, News Editor, [email protected]
2. KEEPING UP WITH IIS
Question: We run URLScan on several Windows 2000 internal and public Web servers. As we examine the URLScan logs, we commonly see rejected requests that read "Client at <IP addr>: Received a malformed request which resulted in error 50 while modifying the 'Server' header. Request will be rejected with a 400 response." Strangely, these entries don't appear in the IIS log files. Despite these errors messages, the Web sites seem to be running fine and we don't receive reports of clients who can't reach their sites. Could these rejected requests be some sort of random automated attack that doesn't generate the usual attack signatures? Click here for Brett Hill's solution to the problem:
http://www.windowswebsolutions.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=37430
The voting has closed in the Windows & .NET Magazine Windows Web Solutions channel's nonscientific Instant Poll for the question, "Does your organization standardize the Web browser and version used on client systems?" Here are the results from the 80 responses:
- 76% Yes.
- 21% No.
- 3% I have no idea.
The next Instant Poll question is, "Has your organization taken steps to prevent users from accessing Instant Messaging (IM)?" Go to the Windows & .NET Magazine Windows Web Solutions home page and submit your vote for a) Yes, or b) No.
http://www.windowswebsolutions.com
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)
"The Insider's Guide to IT Certification" eBook is hot off the presses and contains everything you need to know to help you save time and money while preparing for certification exams from Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and CompTIA and have a successful career in IT. Get your copy of the Insider's Guide today!
http://winnet.bookaisle.com/ebookcover.asp?ebookid=13475
4. RESOURCES
March 3 through 6, 2003
Santa Clara, California
http://www.xmlconference.com/santaclara
XML Web Services One is a conference for software engineers, programmers, application developers, systems analysts, Internet application developers, and corporate Web masters. The conference covers the trends, best practices, and newest developments in software and application development for enterprise interoperability and e-commerce. Tracks include Web Services Implementation Issues, .NET Programming and Development, Practical XML Standards, and Distributed Computing and Web Services Future.
For other upcoming events, check out the Windows & .NET Magazine Events Calendar.
http://www.winnetmag.net/events
Serge has a Windows 2000 server on which IIS was installed in Italian. When users connect to his Web server and get an error message, the message is in Italian. He wants to tell his IIS server to send the error message in English without having to do an English-language IIS reinstallation. To lend a helping hand, click here:
http://www.winnetmag.com/forums/rd.cfm?cid=41&tid=50814
5. NEW AND IMPROVED
(contributed by Sue Cooper, [email protected])
Datawatch released VorteXML Server, which lets you automate the process of transforming legacy data into XML. VorteXML Server lets you convert high volumes of text data to XML; automate complex conversions and transformations; use Java, Microsoft .NET technologies \[? Not sure if this is referring to Microsoft .NET (technologies) or Windows .NET Server (Win.NET Server) 2003 (OS)\], or another Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)-enabled client to invoke conversion remotely through a Web service; run conversions on a recurring basis; and trigger XML conversions based on file creation. VorteXML Server runs on Windows XP and Windows 2000 systems. Pricing is $7999 per server for as many as two CPUs. You need a license of VorteXML Designer to use with VorteXML to transform data. Contact Datawatch at 978-441-2200, 800-445-3311, and [email protected].
http://www.datawatch.com
Have you used a product that changed your IT experience by saving you time or easing your daily burden? Do you know of a terrific product that others should know about? Tell us! We want to write about the product in a future What's Hot column. Send your product suggestions to [email protected].
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