UK businesses will spend £37bn on failing agile projects
Businesses in the UK will waste £37 billion on failed agile IT projects in the next 12 months, according to a new report from 6point6. The report is based on a poll of 300 UK and US CIOs. They were asked about their experiences with agile, and how its principles are being applied and executed.
More than half of CIOs (53 percent) see agile development as "discredited," and three quarters (75 percent) don’t even want to defend it any more. Seventy-three percent of CIOs think agile IT is its own industry now, and 50 percent consider it an "IT fad."
How to scale a microservices-based app
The promise of microservices is that you can divide and conquer the problem of a large application by breaking it down into its constituent services and what each one actually accomplishes. Each can be supported by an independent team. You get to the point where you can break the limits on productivity that Fred Brooks described in his book, The Mythical Man-month.
Aside from being able to throw more people at the problem and -- unlike what Brooks observed -- actually become more efficient once you get a microservices-based application into production, you can quickly start thinking about how to scale it. Think resiliency and high-availability. And you can easily determine what services don’t need scaling, or high availability.
fman is a keyboard-powered file manager for desktops
Most Windows file managers sell themselves on working just like Explorer, but adding more features and functionality: more file previews, smarter searching, extra tools, whatever it might be.
Fman’s shareware dual-pane file manager ignores all of that. It’s smaller, has far less functionality than Explorer, is almost entirely powered by the keyboard rather than the mouse, and ignores most Windows conventions. So is there any reason why you might want to install it?
How to increase your laptop volume above 100 percent
Laptop speakers can often be underpowered, and if you’re on the move it might not always be convenient to connect external speakers, or headphones. Another option is to install specialist audio processing software to amplify your system volume beyond the usual maximum.
How well this works depends on the individual device. Your usual volume limit isn’t some definitive physical barrier, and it’s likely you’ll be able to go a little further without any issues, but taking it too far will trash your audio quality.
Should you buy or build your own software?
The build versus buy conundrum is without doubt a big decision for any company looking to adopt a new piece of software; each route has its own merits and both will be a costly exercise so it’s very important to make the right decision.
Although packaged software has now been used for decades there are still many systems developed in-house, perhaps increasingly so now that development skills are on the increase and coding is getting easier and even being taught to children in schools. In fact, IT analyst IDC recently predicted that most of 2017’s IT spending will go on "application development and deployment." However, by 2020 it expects software purchases to "edge out" app development costs as the largest spend. Clearly the balance is starting to shift with more skilled developers available to bolster in-house teams, but for the more complex applications such as the procurement arena, the jury is still out over the decision of whether to develop or buy.
WeWork launches store for services and software
WeWork wants to make sure you never leave it, and it's trying to keep you as a customer by releasing its own tools store. Called Services Store, the new offering gives users simple access to a wide variety of tools and apps, and sometimes even exclusives.
Once logged in, users can search, purchase and download a wide variety of enterprise apps. They can also leave reviews for different products, to help others find the perfect app for their business.
Three signs your product's development is broken
Picture yourself as the head of a product development division at a Fortune 500 company. You and your team are tackling a new project that fits hand in glove with corporate’s new strategic vision.
Unfortunately, your team’s deadlines and goals -- as well as the product’s features -- are all determined by the visionaries. You lack any meaningful control over the process, and the team’s only motivation comes from meeting arbitrary progress points passed down from above.
What you need to know about moving monoliths to microservices
There are many benefits to the "monolithic" application model -- especially at the beginning of a project -- but monoliths can become unwieldy over time, limiting companies’ ability to move quickly and flexibly in today’s dynamic business environment.
To overcome this and other issues, companies like Amazon, eBay and Netflix are leveraging microservice architectures. The microservices model has been defined by Martin Fowler, author, software developer and an early supporter of microservices as "an approach to developing a single application as a suite of small services, each running in its own process and communicating with lightweight mechanisms, often an HTTP resource API."
Clean and optimize your PC with Black Bird Cleaner
Black Bird Cleaner is a suite of PC cleanup and optimization tools, available in a cut-down free version and a $24.95 Pro build.
The program requires installation, but takes up minimal hard drive space -- barely 1MB -- and doesn’t install any system components.
WYSIWYG Web Builder 12 makes building websites easier than ever with new Blocks feature
Pablo Software Solutions has released WYSIWYG Web Builder 12, a major new version of its DTP-style web building tool for Windows users.
Version 12 introduces over 125 new and improved features, with one brand new addition in the form of Blocks, a new option for quickly adding predefined blocks of objects to the workspace. Other highlights include a photo collage tool, CSS flexbox support and new Easy Mode feature.
New solution integrates software asset and security management
Keeping track of software licenses and ensuring that products are kept up to date with the latest patches can prove a chore for businesses.
Software management specialist Flexera Software is launching a new product that integrates asset and security management for better vendor, financial and risk management, as well as operational efficiency and optimization.
Citrix launches Receiver client for Samsung Galaxy S8 DeX
Citrix wants a part of that tasty Samsung Galaxy S8 DeX cake, and it just announced a new software client to make sure it gets it.
The newly announced Citrix Receiver is a free to download client which allows users fast access to XenDesktop and XenApp installations. The client allows users to access applications, desktops and data easily and securely, the company says.
Hide files or folders inside JPEGs with FileFriend
FileFriend is a tiny portable toolkit which can split, join, encrypt or hide your target files in a JPG.
The program organizes its simple interface into four tabs: Split, Join, Encrypt and "JPK" (pack a file or folder inside a JPEG).
Teradata delivers portable database licensing for the hybrid cloud
Whilst cloud and hybrid models offer undoubted flexibility, they can lead to problems when it comes to keeping track of software licenses.
Analytics solutions company Teradata is looking to cut through the confusion with the launch of a new simplified licensing model. This aims to deliver portability for deployment flexibility, subscription-based licenses and simplified tiers with bundled features.
Welcome to the 'post-app era'
How often do you use apps? You probably open a handful on a daily or even hourly basis. You probably ignore the rest.
You’re not alone. Gartner research shows that users from the US, UK and China used just six to 10 apps each month in 2016. This represents a six percent year-on-year decrease and has led Gartner to declare the "post-app era."
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