Web 2.0 Development Platform Goes Open Source

Once Technologies has released what it says is the first open-source browser-based Web 2.0 development platform

Australian software company Once Technologies has released what it claims is the first browser-based Web 2.0 development platform as an open source project.

The environment, dubbed once:radix, is a rapid application development system for intranet and extranets which allows developers with "basic programming skills" to create enterprise-grade applications.

Read More Article...

How To Save Money With Software Development Offshore

As the owner of your own business, there will definitely come a time when you need some software to keep your company growing but you are unable to find a supplier for the program you need. Maybe the program does not exist yet, or perhaps the programs you have tried have all failed to live up to the hype. Whatever the reason, there is simply no need to suffer at the whim of poorly designed software for your business when you can always have another programmer create a personalized piece of software especially for your business. And there is no better way to get the program you want for an exceptionally low price than by having a software development offshore firm do the work for you.

Outsourcing software development offshore has almost become a way of life for many companies around America. Let's face it, India and China are chock full of programmers who are just as capable as their American counterparts - and they charge far less for their products than just about anyone here in this country. So, if you are looking for a great deal on your software products, you should consider turning your attention to what is going on overseas, as you may be extremely surprised by what the Asiatic competition can do for you.

Along with the lower price tag for development, you may find that the differences in culture actually work to your advantage. Unencumbered by ideas that programmers in the United States may hold based on societal norms, persons who are used to a different way of looking at things will of necessity bring a different perspective to the process of software development. What this means for you is the potential to be the first one on the block to have a software package that does things in a new and interesting way.

Even if you own your own software development company, there is simply no reason for you to hire a slew of expensive American programmers to do a lot of the mindless programming work for you. Instead, consider outsourcing some of the tedious programming to companies overseas. You have your in house programmers do all of the conceptualizing and planning for the software. They draft up a few flow charts and code templates and then you branch out to Asia for all of the mind numbing work, freeing your in house staff to do more planning for future software releases. It is a win, win situation with software development offshore, allowing your company to reap higher profits in no time.

Source : http://www.articleblotter.com/

Mayoor Patel is the writer for the website software-development.wares-are.us. Please visit for information on all things concerned with Software Development Offshore

Get rewards for finding flaws in software

Good news for hackers and software security experts. Wabisabilabi (WSLabi), a Swiss security firm has created an online auction house called 'WabiSabiLabi' to bring together people who can find loopholes in the software used by companies and can find a solution.

Many criminal hackers rely on loopholes in widely used software, usually Windows, to get access to the valuable information on computers.

Read more Article...

Outsourcing Software Development To India

The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing software development to India.

Advantages in Outsourcing

Primarily it is cost. The cost of resources are up to 30% of an IT resource in the US or Europe, and probably better qualified. The salary of a developer is a mere $9000 per year. The resources that you are using are likely to incur lower expenses and promise to be more flexible. There are no employment issues. Most Indian employees will be happy to fly economy class and do not demand business hotels. Resourcing is not a problem with 70,000 IT professionals graduating in 2001.

Disadvantages in Outsourcing

Many outsourcing business cases are drawn up on the understanding that the development will be done off site, maximising cost savings. However, those that have done it in practice have ended up onsite. This is due to business understanding; it becomes important to be in the same room as your users. This is particularly the case with web development, where some western businesses have found the Indian view of colour co-ordination somewhat lurid.

There are also significant cultural differences that have to be appreciated. In Indian culture, there is a great deal of respect shown to your manager and their word is rarely questioned, certainly not in public. Communication is much more formal, people call each other by their surnames and call their managers "sir". Many managers have also witnessed an unwillingness to admit mistakes or a lack of understanding amongst Indian workers. All managers interviewed have also found out the hard way that Indians will follow written instructions to the letter rather than seeking clarification or by using common sense. An example where a specification asked for too many buttons to fit on one screen - rather than reduce the size of the buttons, the developers created a second menu screen with a solitary button on it.

Risks in Outsourcing

1. Unproven on Large Scales

It is apparent that the industry is still young and largely unproven. There are, however, many success stories which are fuelling the fire. It is important for business managers to realise that there will not be any perceivable benefit for at least two years. Overall costs will increase during this time as you simultaneously retain local staff while the Indian resources come up-to-speed.

2. Work Permits

Part of the outsourcing arrangements are to have some of the team come and work in the customer's premises for a few months, most arrangements stipulate that there are resources stationed onsite liasing with colleagues abroad. It will be difficult for outsourcing companies to offer onsite resources and retain savings. This could severely disrupt the outsourcing arrangements. Check your contracts!

3. Stability of the Offshore Countries

Many of my work colleagues are predicting the worsening of relationships between India and Pakistan. Fearing the worst, a nuclear war would have a severe impact on any economic activity in India, in spite of the centres being far away from the disputed Kashmir region. While it is hoped that conflicts such as this will never arise, India is still relatively unstable. The riots in Chennai two years ago caused many lost days of development time and forced several firms to up and move from the region.

Companies must ensure that the outsourcing companies have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, or in the worst case should prepare for the eventuality of non-availability of their outsourcing partners.

About the Author:

For further information on software outsourcing, offshore outsourcing and offshore software development, http://www.a1technology.com/ .

Article Source: www.iSnare.com/

Software Development services to Boost Profit

When you first set up a website in the World Wide Web, you may stick to something simple. A beginning website resembles a glossy brochure for your company or expertise. It details your mission, your company history, personnel contact information, and some basic services. This is great for some smaller businesses.

But if you run a site that is even slightly more complex than let’s look at some ways in which Software Development Services can benefit various companies and their online marketing strategy.

•Email lists. There are some basic programs available online for compiling email addresses of visitors to your website. Some hosting companies offer this benefit when you purchase a managed hosting package. This may be enough for you, but if you want something tailored to your company’s and your clients’ needs, you should look into software development firms. They can analyze your strategy and your site architecture so that you get a software component suited to your professional image, rather than a cookie cutter program for a basic site.

•Opt-in lists. These are very popular today and most companies need to create an incentive for their visitors in order to be trusted with email addresses without a purchase. Work with your software development team to come up with strategies to offer free information products or sample services in exchange for joining opt-in email newsletters and automatic updates.

•Inventory presentation. You might be able to find a basic check out program through your hosting company or you might be able to insert the shopping cart program from a known online provider into your website code. However, a client who expects unique service and quality products will take notice, even subconsciously, of your web design. You can have slick and stylish web graphics and a killer homepage, but if your inventory display and shopping cart system are bare bones, you will lose the effect of that color scheme.

Fortunately, good software development firms can create an inventory presentation and purchasing system to suit not only your special product needs, but also the esthetics of your site. Plus, the customization possibilities are endless. Size, color, style, and pricing are only some of the variants you might want your customers to select at the point of purchase. These elements, as well as quality graphics, are essential to good inventory presentation and effective sales.

•Search feature. Among all the elements that web users cite as a draw or as a deterrent to specific websites, the search feature is always near the top. One of your website’s intentions is to create an online catalog of products, services, and information for potential customers. To do this, they must be able to find what they’re looking for. The problem with most pre-packed search software is its lack of precision in selecting results that are related to the original search terms. So take advantage of professional Software Development Services to create search engine software that is tailored to your inventory as well as to your typical client needs.

Author Information:
The author is a Writer working with a leading compny provinding services on Software development services,Offshore software development companies, outsourcing software developer. For more information please visit here: http://www.a1technology.com/

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_165241_4.html/

Software developers post dynamic export sales

Recent studies indicate that the outsourcing of IT jobs from the West to Ukraine, primarily software development, has become one of the most dynamic segments of the Ukrainian economy.

However, industry insiders say that problems such as a lack of state support and qualified programmers is keeping the country dependent on less lucrative orders from abroad.

The Ukrainian branch of the United States-based outsourcing corporation TechnoPark Corp announced in a Jan. 18 press release that Ukraine's IT industry exports last year grew 60 percent year-on-year to $280 million, while growth of the overall IT market totaled only 25-30 percent.

TechnoPark said that software development makes up 8-9 percent of the entire IT market in Ukraine, but insiders say the lion's share of exports is software developed for Western clients through outsourcing contracts. Still, insiders caution that official figures designating how much work was done in dollars shows only a portion of the true picture, as much of the work is done under the table and remains unrecorded.

According to Ukraine's State Statistics Committee, the software development market in Ukraine grew from about $90 million in 2001 to $260 million in 2005.

But some estimates suggest Ukrainian programmers could have been churning out in excess of $1 billion in software for foreign clients annually in recent years.

Oleg Babykin, projects manager with Kyiv-based PR2 marketing communications agency, said the fact that Ukraine is culturally closer to Europe and that Ukrainian software developers are highly dependable accounts for the attraction of Western clients.

According to Babykin, Ukraine rates third, after India and Russia, in terms of the attractiveness of its IT outsourcing for countries such as the US, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Israel, Denmark and Finland.

But, in terms of the global software development market, which some estimates as large as $50 billion, Ukraine's share is currently estimated to be small, with India picking up much of the big so-called offshore programming contracts.

Volodymyr Kolomiyets, head of analytical services with Softline, a Kyiv-based software development company, said Ukraine has a relatively advanced telecommunication infrastructure and boasts as many as 55,000 highly qualified IT specialists, including programmers, analysts and managers. But, he added, state support is inadequate.

Andriy Bezgubenko, president of the Kyiv-based IT consulting company E-Consulting, said one of the sorest areas of insufficient support is in education.

Bezgubenko said Ukraine still doesn't have enough qualified programmers, and educational institutions are turning out more and more ill-prepared students.

Bezgubenko said Ukraine's IT outsourcing is primarily attractive to leading Western companies due to its cheapness. Ukrainian developers, for example, do not demand medical insurance or unemployment benefits, he said.

A Western customer would normally apply to a well-known Western software developer, called an "integrator, " Bezgubenko explained. And the integrator then hires cheap outsourcing programmers and developers in Ukraine, without the customer's knowledge.

As a result, Ukrainian developers do approximately 80 percent of the work and get only 10 percent of the real cost of this work, according to Bezgubenko.

"If our IT developing industry were good enough, we would see world-renowned software products [being made here]. But I don't see them," he added.

In addition, Bezgubenko said, 80 percent of Ukraine's IT market is in the shadows and thus it's hard to say who's doing what.

Source : http://www.offshoringtimes.com/