On November 9, Adobe announced in a blog post[1] that it had decided to cease efforts to develop browser plugins for mobile devices to play Flash, indicating that HTML5 was “the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.” In case that sound...

There’s been a lot of discussion since Microsoft’s BUILD conference on the fate of Silverlight. (Something that is an issue for us because Sybase was originally looking at supporting it for web app development in PowerBuilder 15.) Contrary to what a number of the pundits and would-be p...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. There are a lot of changes at TechWave this year, largely due to the somewhat delayed effects of SAP’s acquisition of Sybase. But in many ways, it’s almost a return to the old way of doing them. This will be the first year that TechW...

By the time you read this, PowerBuilder 12.5 should be released. Like several “.5” releases before it (i.e., 6.5, 10.5 and 11.5), this release is a major release with a number of significant new features. We’ll have a number of individual articles in PBDJ that will dive into these new ...

As you may be aware, the company I work for does both PowerBuilder and RIA (Flex) application development. We actually create client/server and web-based front ends for the same application. Doing that has really emphasized just how much faster we can do development using PowerBuilder....

If you’ve been following my recent editorials, you’ll know I have some concerns with HTML5 as the silver bullet for all web / mobile development. As a result, I’ve been a proponent of rich GUI applications for both web and mobile. To that end, I’ve been supportive of adding Silverlight...

I was sort of wondering where application development is headed nowadays. What struck me recently is how long Microsoft has been trying to foster widespread adoption of smartphones and tablet PC devices. They released their first Pocket PC operating system in 2000[1] and the tablet-spe...

...it tolls for....WPF? That may be the case. In case you haven’t been following, WPF is Windows Presentation Foundation, the next generation method of creating a graphical user interface for Windows-based applications. Why is the bell tolling for it? Well, to explain that, we need to ...

I’ve had a number of requests from people in the last few days wondering how to get up to speed with more recent versions of PowerBuilder. Their requests are often in the form of: “I’ve been using PowerBuilder since version X (a very early release) and we’re currently on version Y (us...

If you’ve been following Sybase’s announcements concerning their plans for future versions of PowerBuilder, you’ll know that they are planning for PowerBuilder 15 to be able to generate a Silverlight application and are looking at having it generate applications based on HTML5 as well....

The PowerBuilder 12.1 maintenance release is now available. For people who believe that you should never use the .0 release of any product, the maintenance release means they should feel comfortable using PowerBuilder 12 now. However, there are several good reasons other than that to g...

Sybase is currently in the middle of the most aggressive marketing program that I’ve seen for PowerBuilder in recent history. If you’ve been following my blog (and if you haven’t you should) you’ll know that Sybase recently ran a four-page ad in Visual Studio magazine promoting the rel...

The 2010 survey is currently in process and the results of the 2009 survey are in. Several months ago we looked at the comments attached to the 2008 results, and I’d like to take a look at the comments on the 2009 results to see how things have changed. One big difference is that this...

PowerBuilder 12 has been released. The new version represents a huge leap forward as far as support for .Net development, particularly reflected by the introduction of a new .Net IDE based on the Visual Studio Isolated Shell. That doesn’t mean that people who aren’t doing .Net developm...

If you’ve been following the product direction for PowerBuilder for the last few releases, and particularly with respect to the upcoming PowerBuilder 12, you know that PowerBuilder is evolving into a .NET development tool. As PowerBuilder developers, you’ll also know that the key stren...

One of the indications of how well a product is doing is how well the ecosystem surrounding it is doing. For a software product that can be determined by a number of things, including how active user groups are and whether the number of third-party products that work with it are increa...

One of the main issues that PowerBuilder and PowerBuilder developers have been facing for the last few years is the lack of mind share for the product. All that seems to have changed with Sybase’s announcement of the beta of PowerBuilder 12.0. Articles on the release appeared in a larg...

John Strano came to Los Angeles on part of the PowerBuilder 12.0 ISUG road show. If you have an opportunity to attend one in your area, run by either John or Dave Fish, they’re well worth attending. John demonstrated some impressive new features of the new version of PowerBuilder, incl...

PowerBuilder fans have been sharing code with one another since...well at least since the beginning days of CompuServe in the early 1990s. When PowerBuilder users gathered in just a single section in a general interest programming forum, we had an associated file library section, and w...

The PowerBuilder 12.0 beta has officially started (http://response.sybase.com/forms/WW09JULPB12beta1). It’s pretty hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are taking place within PowerBuilder for this version. As a result, it’s more important than ever for as many people as...

Back in 2002, Sybase announced their four-phase approach toward adding .NET support to PowerBuilder. Phase 1 was the implementation of web services in PB9 and Phase 2 was the release of DataWindow.NET, which was packaged with PB 10. Phases 3 and 4 were the more significant phases. In P...

There’s been a lot of discussion among the .NET folks recently about the magnitude of the changes that are being introduced in the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in .NET 4.0. See, for example, “Windows Workflow Changes Direction” by Kathleen Dollard. It’s just another anecdote that b...

First, I should explain what I’m referring to. Sybase recently announced that the format of TechWave will be significantly different in 2009 than it has been for the last 10 years.

Actually, the new IDE doesn’t arrive until next year. But I thought we could start talking about it now. In case you didn’t make TechWave, any of the PB 11.5 road shows or webcasts, you may not know what’s planned for PowerBuilder 12.0. There’s a lot that they’re talking about already ...

Back in March of 2004, Eric Lippert of Microsoft explained in his “Fabulous Adventures In Coding” blog how Microsoft divides the developer community into three groups, each which is designated by a personality. Apparently, this is a practice recommended by Geoffrey Moore in “Crossing t...

I've been reading "The Future of Management" by Gary Hamel lately. I have a staff of nine developers and, while I believe I'm a pretty good manager, I also believe there is always room for improvement. So I try to keep my eyes and ears open for ways to improve, and reading this book am...

Once again I thought this was one of the best TechWaves in years. Better than last year's, which was good. Having my laptop crash on me when I'm scheduled to do four sessions wasn't pleasant and took the edge off of it for me. Otherwise, it might have been a real blast. Location – I'm ...

Particularly in a means of moving PowerBuilder applications to the web. What I’m looking for doesn’t require a server license or the installation of unmanaged code to the web server, and works well across different browsers (not just Internet Explorer). The WPF DataWindow will help mov...

As in prior years, the first thing I'll cover is what has changed (assuming that you attended in the past few years). We're back at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Near as I can tell, if you have to be in Las Vegas, this is the place to be. About the only complaint I had last year was t...

The PowerBuilder 11.5 beta is officially opened. If you're at all interested in upgrading, particularly to improve the "eye-candy" aspect of your applications, now is the time to get involved. If you wait until after the product has been released and find that there are some key compon...

The first is Borland. Originally known for their development tools (e.g., Delphi, JBuilder, C++ Builder), in February of 2006 Borland announced they were planning to sell off the Development Tools Group so that they could focus on Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) product offering...

If that doesn't ring a bell, it's from the Reagan / Carter debates in the 1980 election cycle. Carter had presented a string of criticisms of Reagan's positions, which Reagan pretty much dismissed with that statement. Back in the heyday of client/server development, the folks at Borlan...

I received an e-mail from a loyal reader recently complaining that the magazine was no longer 'primarily about PowerBuilder.' The charge is actually true and, despite the title of this column, is not particularly new. In fact, we had an editorial eight years ago explaining part of that...

Well, if you listened to Rob Enderle of Enderle Group (www2.sdtimes.com/pdf/SDTimesBackIssues/sdtimes184.pdf) you might think that Rapid Application Development (RAD) is dead or dying. However, I think it's important to distinguish between two different things that are often lumped tog...

That isn't, by the way, a Chinese curse. The phrase 'may you live in interesting times' (which became popular after Robert Kennedy used it in a speech in 1966) probably originated from a 1950's science fiction story. Regardless of its roots though, we find ourselves living in such time...

Or well, perhaps it just seems that way. Like the Dilbert strip where aliens kidnap the PHB and one of them impersonates him. They all notice because he's suddenly more competent and caring, so they don't report it. Sybase released PowerBuilder 11.0 in June of 2007 and hyped it at Tech...

As with previous TechWaves, there are once again a number of changes. The most obvious one is that this year's event is at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino rather than Caesar's Palace. While not the complete move out of Vegas that I was hoping for, at least it's an improvement.

What do you want to see in PowerBuilder 12? That's not just my question for you this month, it's also Sybase's question for you as well. Two things demonstrate that. The first is the recent invitation to participate in a survey by Sue Dunnell, PowerBuilder's product manager, so PowerBu...

Every few years somebody winds up the 'PowerBuilder is dead' argument, and every few years we beat it down again. This time it's Mary Brandel of ComputerWorld and her list of the 'top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills' (www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic...

I just recently (finally) upgraded to a Wii, and I only had to pay about $50 over retail on an auction site to get it. Good luck trying to find one in the LA area; most stores told me it would be at least a month before they had more. Then try finding accessories once you have one. I h...