Llega el nuevo ISeries: i7.1

En "breve" tiempo, IBM ha entregado dos nuevos releases del sistema operativo OS: el 6.1, y ahora, ya casi, el 7.1, manteniendo el soporte del R5V4 hasta 2012 aproximadamente. Grandes cambios en el hardware, y grandes cambios en el sistema operativo y sus recursos. Vamos a tener que forzar la marcha...
El nuevo equipo está basado en los procesadores POWER7, e incorpora mejoras importantes de hardware y software, desde el mismo procesador y su inclusión múltiple y la utilización de almacenamiento en estado sólido, hasta la ampliación del soporte de XML y del RPG.

Chris Smith, en MC Press, destaca los principales aspectos de la nueva versión:

IBM announced a significant new release of IBM i this week, the first major release to the operating system since 2008. While IBM i 7.1 touches on nearly every aspect of the operating system, making it easier to work with new technologies such as XML, the company took the opportunity also to announce enhancements to the RPG language that will make it easier for developers and ISVs to interface with mobile devices and Web services. The company also announced new BladeCenter hardware running the POWER7 chip as a continuation of the rollout of POWER7 servers that will occur throughout 2010.
(...)

Highlights of the enhancements to i 7.1 and RPG include the following:

• DB2 support for XML and column-level encryption
• PowerHA asynchronous Geographic Mirroring and LUN-level switching
• IBM i 6.1 virtualization for i 7.1 partitions
• Automatic movement of frequently accessed data to solid-state drives
• Open Access for RPG to allow extended application reach to mobile devices and Web services
• Enhancements to System Director and System Navigator

Para la gran masa de aplicaciones basadas en RPG que existen en el iSeries, los cambios en el lenguaje son de gran importancia para su modernización. Para sus usuarios, quizá esta sea la noticia más importante:

ISVs and most RPG developers will be intrigued by the changes IBM is announcing to the RPG language. The new feature is called Rational Open Access: RPG Edition. In essence, RPG applications with Open Access will have the option of extending the reach of applications to pervasive devices such as mobile phones, XML, and Web services.

"In many respects, this is a dramatic change, given that since the 1970s, RPG has always had the development environment that [outputs a 5250 data stream]. Most people today don't use green-screens, and they certainly don't use terminals; they all have PCs, and most convert that 5250 data stream into a browser or some other device…. For the first time, we're separating the RPG runtime from the output device so you have the user interface completely separate from the business logic."

The solution doesn't change (read: "break") any existing applications but is instead an option for new applications or for rewriting older RPG applications, he said. The way the process works is that the data goes through what IBM is calling a "Handler" before being directed to the device or browser. We're just learning what these handlers are, and Jon Paris and Susan Gantner give a good overview in their MC Special Issue article, "V7's RPG Enhancements Include Open Access!" The enhancement to RPG will allow programmers to write handlers (IBM is apparently leaving this up to ISVs and developers), which are routines that are run when updates, deletes, etc. are done to the file. The handler is similar to today's SPECIAL file support except that it goes beyond what SPECIAL files offer. Open Access can be used with any RPG file type and reportedly will be available on V6.1 as well as 7.1.

Sobre este aspecto se extiende más el blog de Help 400.
Entre otros recursos, es base de mucha información la nota de prensa de IBM sobre el POWER7, del 8 de febrero. Información completa, incluyendo especificaciones, se puede encontrar en la página del POWER.

Plex-XML

Para usuarios de Plex: el proyecto Plex-XML parece haber alcanzado un interesante grado de madurez. Para todo aquél interesado, puede obtener más información en el sitio de AllAbout, y luego seguir el interesantísimo tutorial (interesantísimo para quienes conocen lo que esos tres o cuatro paneles implican). AllAbout mantiene una Wiki con información sobre el crecimiento del proyecto. Este sigue un camino doblemente interesante: en primer lugar, extiende las prestaciones de Plex, explotando las características que lo permiten: el API del modelo, la posibilidad de desarrollar patrones, y las facilidades de exportación. En segundo lugar, el recurso a la apertura a la comunidad de desarrolladores, que sigue demostrando que el producto se está potenciando a través de su relativa apertura a la iniciativa de sus usuarios.

Plex: A tres días de la conferencia

Esta semana, desde el 23 hasta el 25, se desarrolla la cuarta CA 2E/Plex Worldwide Developer Conference. No estaré, pero espero que el próximo año sea distinto. En el sitio de la conferencia puede consultarse el programa de sesiones para los tres días (a propósito, la grilla del programa de actividades está hecha con Plex y XML).
Quisiera destacar de su contenido, la nota inicial de Simon Williams, capaz de dar una visión en perspectiva del producto, considerando que es su constructor inicial. Y luego, la gran cantidad de material sobre la orientación de Plex a servicios Web y aplicaciones Web: Plex y WCF, desarrollo con Ajax, Plex y XML, y otras de mucho interés. Se puede observar una gran potenciación de la actividad de terceros, tanto empresas como usuarios individuales.
Trataremos de disponer aquí las presentaciones o sus enlaces públicos tan pronto estén disponibles.
La conferencia en la Wiki (estarán seguramente aquí las presentaciones).
La conferencia en Facebook.

Plex-XML

Para interesados en Plex: All About Software de Alemania ha comenzado alrededor de un año atrás, el desarrollo de patrones y un marco de trabajo para extender Plex con un cliente Web basado en transformaciones XSLT. La empresa alemana abrió una wiki que utiliza para difundir el proyecto.
Presentado en la reunión de usuarios en Cincinatti, este nuevo emprendimiento amplía la serie de esfuerzos convergentes para implantarlo en las tecnologías web. Se agrega a los patrones ampliados de Websydian, y a la oferta también presentada allí, del generador web de ADC Austin.
Pueden consultarse las presentaciones de todos los nuevos productos en la wiki de Plex.

MSXML entra en fase de despedida...

La noticia en InfoQ:

Back in March we reported that Microsoft was going to "killbit" MSXML 4. Due to its wide use and a lack of a suitable replacement, they have rescinded that decision.
Non-critical support for MSXML 4 ended a long time ago. However, the replacement, MSXML 6, lacks CAB support, which in turn makes switching to it more difficult than necessary.
CAB files are compressed files similar to ZIP, but specifically designed for Windows OS and Software components. They can be signed like ActiveX components, making them a primary means for deploying extensions to Internet Explorer.
Early responses to this are not favorable. Complaints are centralized around Microsoft waiting until just before the cut-off date to reverse their decision and complaints that lack of CAB support was a well-known issue that should have been addressed months ago.
For the time being, security issues will be addressed in MSXML 4 while new features and performance enhancements will only be given to MSXML 6. Microsoft's XML team has also promised to better integrate MSXML 6 into the OS deployments, presumably via Windows Updates and future service packs. There is no word on how long this reprieve will last or when MSXML 6 will finally be fully supported.

Es conveniente leer la nota original de la que parte InfoQ.
Habrá que prever soporte de más parsers donde corresponda...(tarea a realizar). Como sucede en general, probablemente la compatibilidad hacia atrás será árdua. En algún momento hablaremos sobre las política de actualizaciones...

ISO rechaza el estándar OOXML de Microsoft

Microsoft viene intentando establecer como estándar ISO a su formato de documentos Office Open XML desde hace algún tiempo. Barrapunto sigue este esfuerzo (con bastante desacuerdo al intenso lobbismo desarrollado por Microsoft) desde hace semanas, y había anticipado informalmente el resultado que hoy reportan New York Times e InfoQ, entre muchos otros. El resultado es el rechazo a su formato como estándar ISO. NYTimes destaca el aspecto comercial de la disputa por el estándar:

The fight over the standard, while technically arcane, is commercially important because more governments are demanding interchangeable open document formats for their vast amounts of records, instead of proprietary formats tied to one company’s software. The only standardized format now available to government buyers is OpenDocument Format, developed by a consortium led by I.B.M., which the I.S.O. approved in May 2006.
(...) More than 90 percent of all digital text documents in the world are in Microsoft formats, according to the consulting firm Gartner. Many national and local governments in Europe and some in the United States are requiring open formats to reduce their reliance on Microsoft. In an open format, the computer code is public, which allows developers to create new products that use it without paying royalties.

Sobre la votación, NYTimes:

Of the 87 countries that participated, 26 percent opposed Microsoft’s bid. Under the rules for approval, no more than 25 percent of the countries could oppose the bid. Microsoft also failed to win the vote of 66 percent of 41 countries on another panel of I.S.O. and I.E.C. members.

Infoq explica el significado de estos votos:

According to the official news approval for Microsoft's OOXML Format would have required "at least 2/3 (i.e. 66.66 %) of the votes cast by national bodies participating in ISO/IEC JTC 1 to be positive; and no more than 1/4 (i.e. 25 %) of the total number of national body votes cast negative. Neither of these criteria were achieved, with 53 % of votes cast by national bodies participating in ISO/IEC JTC 1 being positive and 26 % of national votes cast being negative". Microsoft on the other hand speaks of a "strong global support":We are extremely delighted to see that 51 ISO members, representing 74 percent of the qualified votes, have already voiced their support for ISO ratification of Open XML, and that many others have indicated they will support ratification once their comments are resolved in the next phase of the ISO process.

Sobre la actividad lobbista de Microsoft, Infoq menciona los comentarios de Andy Updegrove:

Many voices have criticized the process. Andy Updegrove, a standards expert, is one of them. He stated his concerns about the process in the US and other countries as well as the system in general. One day before the official news he predicted the outcome to the point:With the polls now closed and the early results in (some public, some not), think it's time to predict with assurance that ISO will announce tomorrow that ISO/IEC DIS 29500, the draft specification based upon Microsoft’s Office Open XML formats, has failed to achieve enough yes votes to gain approval at this time. This, with all due respect to the contrary prediction of The Old Gray Lady and US Paper of Record, the New York Times.
The final vote has been a moving target for some time, and for a variety of reasons. In most cases, the dynamism in the vote has been as a result of various types of behavior by Microsoft, both alleged as well as, in some cases, admitted. In one case, that behavior led to the Swedish national vote being thrown out and replaced with an abstention, after it became apparent that one company voted more than once (Microsoft admitted that an employee had sent a memo urging business partners to join the National Body and vote to approve, and assuring them that their related fees would be offset by Microsoft marketing incentives).

ISO emitió un comunicado de prensa sobre la votación y el proceso de aprobación:

A ballot on whether to publish the draft standard ISO/IEC DIS 29500, Information technology – Office Open XML file formats, as an International Standard by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) has not achieved the required number of votes for approval.
The five-month ballot process ended on 2 September and was open to the IEC and ISO national member bodies from 104 countries, including 41 that are participating members of the joint ISO/IEC technical committee, JTC 1, Information technology.
Approval requires at least 2/3 (i.e. 66.66 %) of the votes cast by national bodies participating in ISO/IEC JTC 1 to be positive; and no more than 1/4 (i.e. 25 %) of the total number of national body votes cast negative. Neither of these criteria were achieved, with 53 % of votes cast by national bodies participating in ISO/IEC JTC 1 being positive and 26 % of national votes cast being negative.
Comments that accompanied the votes will be discussed at a ballot resolution meeting (BRM) to be organized by the relevant subcommittee of ISO/IEC JTC 1 (SC 34, Document description and processing languages) in February 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The objective of the meeting will be to review and seek consensus on possible modifications to the document in light of the comments received along with the votes. If the proposed modifications are such that national bodies then wish to withdraw their negative votes, and the above acceptance criteria are then met, the standard may proceed to publication.
Otherwise, the proposal will have failed and this fast-track procedure will be terminated. This would not preclude subsequent re-submission under the normal ISO/IEC standards development rules.
ISO/IEC DIS 29500 is a proposed standard for word-processing documents, presentations and spreadsheets that is intended to be implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. According to the submitters, one of its objectives is to ensure the long-term preservation of documents created over the last two decades using programmes that are becoming incompatible with continuing advances in the IT field.
ISO/IEC DIS 29500 was originally developed as the Office Open XML Specification by Microsoft Corporation which submitted it to Ecma International for transposing into an ECMA standard. Following a process in which other IT industry players participated, Ecma International subsequently published the document as ECMA standard 376.
Ecma International then submitted the standard in December 2006 to ISO/IEC JTC 1, with whom it has category A liaison status, for adoption as an International Standard under the JTC 1 "fast track" procedure. This allows a standard developed within the IT industry to be presented to JTC 1 as a Draft International Standard (DIS) that can be adopted after a process consisting of a one-month review by the national bodies of JTC 1 and then a five-month ballot open to all voting national bodies of ISO and IEC.

Usuarios de Barrapunto señalan que de todas formas el proceso no está concluído; sólo la vía rápida (fast track), como el comunicado de ISO indica.