BEA, Booz Allen Hamilton, Computer Associates, Entrust, Gluecode Software, IBM, Sun, and others advance open standard for secure information access control.

The next generation of Visual Studio contains the new version of the .NET Framework 2.0 that enables an easier and more robust programming model. In these sessions we will cover these new programming models and how they can be used to develop a variety of applications.

If the task at hand is to connect a Pocket PC running the .NET Compact Framework to a Java back end, and if Web services are ruled out as an interoperability solution, there are not many viable options available. The one presented in this article may well be the only one.

In a memorable discussion, Microsoft SOAP guru Don Box and Anders Hejlsberg - the 'Father of C#' - both paid tribute to Java last week at a conference in Canada.

'We looked at the request,' reports Sun's EVP of Software Jonathan Schwartz, referring to last week's Open Letter from IBM about collaborating on the open-sourcing of Java, 'and our first question was, 'That seems a little bonky. Could you explain what it means?'' He was speaking in San Francisco, where he also called Red Hat the 'only...Linux distribution that matters in North America.'

In recent times, and with good reason - as attacks by worms such as Code Red, Nimbda, and Slammer have shown - security has been pushed to the forefront of the minds of architects and developers. And just as Microsoft has rededicated itself to security through its Trustworthy Computing Initiative, your organization should be sure to design and implement its applications using secure coding practices and principles.

One of the great benefits of building applications that utilize the .NET Compact Framework is, of course, that the application is installed on the device so it can work in both disconnected and occasionally connected modes. But as with most things in IT, there is a trade-off lurking around the corner.

In order to host quality mobile applications, smart devices require characteristics that include being small and portable, having a decent battery life, displaying information with richness and quality, having memory to hold plenty of information and applications, and the ability to access remote data. In this column, we'll introduce the topic of accessing remote data using the .NET Compact Framework by focusing on just one of the several ways in which remote information can be manipulated.

As many developers are already aware, the impending release of Visual Studio .NET 2003 will serve to bring the benefits of XML Web Services and the Microsoft Windows .NET Framework to smart devices via the inclusion of the .NET Compact Framework and Smart Device Projects. However, for those not already initiated, the following excerpts from Building Solutions with the .NET Compact Framework will explore the five basic questions that every developer asks when first thinking about the Compact Framework.

There are so many cool things that can be done with .NET applications today, including extending their reach. In Part 1 of this series we looked at the technology and tools used to add mobile accessibility to Web applications using as an example Quilogy's system, which utilizes ASP.NET Mobile Controls, known as the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT) before VS.NET 2003. This month we will examine using Mobile Controls to access accounting, financial, and other information

It's very typical for developers to focus on enterprise applications (with databases, application servers, etc.) without paying much attention to PDAs. In the past, PDA developers were a separate community. And there is a reason for that ­ they usually face a lot of unique challenges: slower processors, limited memory, small storage space, and use of a specific language.

Life is pretty exciting for a .NET developer these days. There are so many cool things that can be done with applications today, including extending their reach. In this two-part series we'll look at the technology and tools used to add mobile accessibility to Web applications. One of the easiest ways to introduce this type of development is to look at an existing system and talk about its support for mobile devices.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about mobile technology, but one of the often overlooked cornerstones of mobile development is the fact that application mobility means more than just being wireless. Truly mobile applications need to reach everywhere - including remote areas not covered by wireless access as well as the end user flying 40,000 feet in the air somewhere over the Midwestern United States.

Microsoft's Mobile Internet Toolkit represents one of the best ways available today to create Web-based applications that target multiple kinds of mobile devices, including:

If you want to extend your existing systems, as well as your knowledge of .NET development, while building solutions for smart devices, the forthcoming .NET CF (Compact Framework) and SDE (Smart Device Extensions) are definitely the way to go. In this article we provide an example of how to implement a mobile application that can work as an extension of your existing systems, and help you extend your knowledge of .NET development.