Tuesday 18 October 2011

Another day, another coup for ChangeBASE


So here we are at VMware Europe 2011, Copenhagen and very nice it is too.
The show is busy and we’re looking forward to hearing what VMware has coming down the track in 2012 and beyond and just where the world of virtualisation will take us and how it will sit along side the rapid growth of cloud based applications and services.
But for ChangeBASE it’s another show and yet another development. Today we announce the launch of our VMware ThinApp plug in for AOK VReady-It. This plug-in enables organisations to convert their MSI applications to a virtualised ThinApp application and ensure that it is ready for deployment on the VMware platform.
You can read the release here.
As with all of the ChangeBASE plug-ins for AOK VReady-It,  the ThinApp plugin enables;
  • ·         Bulk conversion of applications to ThinApp
  • ·         Dramatic reduction in the time it takes to manually convert applications to a virtualised platform
  • ·         Conversion of legacy applications that may not migrate to new operating systems
  • ·         Ability to create a single executable with no dependencies
  • ·         Significant savings of time and resource
We’ve got it on stand (Stand 137) so why not pop along to say hello and see AOK VReady-It in action!

Friday 14 October 2011

Linkbait: October 2011


My colleague Carl has done it again and delivered some great links to some good reading on our industry and ChangeBase.


Migration news
A powerpoint presentation called “Life after Windows XP” containing some great arguments for upgrading to Windows 7.
Windows 7 has just passed XP as most widely used OS
The Microsoft performance team explain the advantage of 64bit Windows
Converter Technology look at whether it is worth skipping Windows7 and going straight to Windows8. Microsoft say 10 years is enough, just upgrade now will you?
Chris Jackson posted a link to his chat with Emily and Greg.

Packaging News
Symantec have announced that they will discontinue Wise. In my opinion they have never understood the asset that they had.  It’s not just a piece of software but the fuel for an entire industry.  It is still used by a vast proportion of all packaging teams.  Aaaagh I am so angry, upset and disappointed right now.
Can you pass the Windows 7 Deployment exam? I’ll admit that I scraped a pass by 1%
After reporting last month that AppX may succeed, an article on why AppX Just Might Fail.
A Microsoft mindmap download is available on the topic of deployment
A ThinApp guide to the Taskbar, and Start Menu Pinning gives you an insight into their virtualisation process.
The unattend file allows you to change some standard windows folders but not Program Files.

Windows 8 News
The Building Windows 8 Blog is a very well-written guide to the design philosophy behind the new features.  Learn about how the start menu has evolved into the start screen.
Translations are being sought for the new charm and app terminologies
Desktop gadgets are being axed, but you never used them anyway

Obituary Corner
Dennis Ritchie, inventor of the C programming language, co-author of the famous book on it, and co-creator of the Unix operating system, has died ;

Mobile News
The new 64Gb iPhone 4S has been launched.  Apple say “It’s a good phone”
The Samsung Galaxy SII has won every award going and has sold 10 Million

Cloud News
Windows 8 can seamlessly integrate with skydrive

Technology News
Microsoft have slipped to third most valuable tech company behind IBM and Apple
I want a new computer, the best one consumes 10Mw although the old ones look nice.
Our partners Converter Technologies write about broken links in office documents.

Browser News
Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7 Passes 30% Share in the US
Firefox 7 has shipped, version 8 is now in beta
What is The Internet and How does it Work?

Enjoy and have a listen of the Chris Jackson pod-cast. Chris is always both entertaining and educating.

Thursday 6 October 2011

AOK Browse-It for Firefox Launched!


They say that you should try to learn something new every day. And I have to say that within my world at ChangeBASE that is usually the case. I’m always astounded at the things I learn, see and experience on my travels and when working with partners and customers.

One thing that has really stood out for me this year has been the increase of multi-browser deployment within organisations. It reinforces the fact that the growth of web applications and use of the internet is rapidly enveloping our daily working lives. It also provisions a more versatile approach to the IT environment which is always a good thing.

Today we launched AOK browse-It for Firefox. Much has been written about Mozilla Firefox and in both my experience and via evidence of the usage analysis, Firefox is the second most popular browser to Internet Explorer holding over26%  market share. This is why our development team decided to develop the AOK Browse-It plug-in alongside the IE9 plug-in for our award winning solution.

The AOK Browse-It for Firefox plug-in ensures Firefox compatibility for web applications. It quickly and accurately identifies the six key areas of compatibility including;

  • Proprietary Internet Explorer calls and functions
  • Non-standard HTML functions and event calls
  • Non-compliant CSS functions and calls
  • DOM model quirks and non supported functions
  • JavaScript standards compliance
  • Plug-in manager component and configuration compatibility


So have a look, I believe that the multi-browser environment is here to stay and Firefox plays a major role in that.