Deskzilla Lite 2.0

Deskzilla Lite is a desktop client for Bugzilla (tm) bug tracking system, free for small projects with less than 1,000 bugs.

It delivers features for better productivity and improved working environment for Bugzilla users. Deskzilla downloads bug information from Bugzilla and stores it in a local database.

You can view and edit bugs and upload changes to Bugzilla. Additionally, it indexes all downloaded bugs, providing you with search capabilities and live statistical numbers. Benefits:

(a) Increased project visibility: use issue breakdown structure and live issue counters to monitor and analyze the state of a project
(b) Greater mobility: work with local copies of your issues when you are offline. The changes are synchronized to the server automatically when you become online.
(c) Improved productivity: save time by using interactive desktop application interface.

Key Features:

(a) Offline availability via cached bug records.
(b) Issue breakdown structure with queries and sub-queries.
(c) Instant issue counters providing immediate insight into the state of the project.
(d) Visual merge for merging parallel conflicting changes for a single bug.
(e) Screenshot capturing and editing tool.
(f) Aggregated access to several Bugzilla accounts in one rich user interface.

System Requirements: 2000/XP/Vista
License: Freeware

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Alfresco the Next Generation Platform

Alfresco is the leading open source alternative for enterprise content management. It couples the innovation of open source with the stability of a true enterprise-class platform. The open source model allows Alfresco to use best-of-breed open source technologies and contributions from the open source community to get higher quality software produced more quickly at much lower cost.

Alfresco is built using the latest open source infrastructure components including: Spring, Hibernate, Lucene, MyFaces and is based on Aspect-Oriented-Programming.

Alfresco's use of state-of-the art technology enable it to deliver a supported system that is:

   * 5 Times Faster than Traditional Closed Systems
   * 90% Less Expensive than Traditional Closed Systems

Alfresco is:

   * Open – Open Source, Open Standards
   * Source – Best-of-Breed Open Source Components
   * Enterprise – Enterprise-Scale, Enterprise-Infrastructure, Enterprise-Control
   * Content – Documents, records, Web Pages, Images, Rich Media
   * Management – Most Experienced Team in Content Management in the World from Documentum and Vignette.

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Free Services to Monitor Your Site’s Uptime

 You can’t sit staring at your monitor 24 hours a day to keep an eye on your website(s), so thank the heavens for the free services out there that do it for you.
Whether site downtime means loss of revenue or just loss of face, or you need to stay a step ahead of your clients, these services offer you a completely free way of knowing what’s up, what’s down and in some cases, why.
Read on for our list of ten suggested solutions, but as this list is by no means exhaustive, please do share any services you favor in the comments.

1.UptimeRobot

Number of Sites you can Monitor: 50
Regularity of Checks: Every 5 minutes
Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMS, RSS
UptimeRobot looks at your site header’s status codes every five minutes and if the code comes back with a problem, does further checks. Then, if there are still issues, it lets you know about it pronto. Created by two devs who think the web should be free or cheap, it’s guaranteed a no-payment service until August 2010, so hop over now to check it out.

2. Pingdom

 

Number of Sites you can Monitor: 1
Regularity of Checks: User set, from 1 minute upwards
Methods of Alerts: E-mail, SMS (up to 20 per month), push alerts via iPhone app
Pingdom is a big boy of the paid monitoring services market, but does offer a very basic free account. Although the free service only lets you monitor one site, we feel it’s particularly worthy of mention since it comes with a free iPhone app gives you a handy on-the-go solution for monitoring your website’s status.

Pictures: New 7 Wonders vs. Ancient 7 Wonders

Pictures: New 7 Wonders vs. Ancient 7 Wonders

Release Readiness Review Checklist

 Below is a sample checklist for Release Readiness Review and Pre Delivery Audit. It is useful both for Project Managers and Software Quality Analysts.

    * Is delivery going against approved Contract/Statement of work/work order? If not, is the mail for approval from senior management available for the delivery?
    * Has the requirements document / FSD validated and approved by client?

FSD Audit Checklist

Checklist for Work Product Audit of Functional Specification Document:
1.    Does the customer approve the System Study Document?
2.    Does the FSD follow Quality Management System template?
3.    Are the requirements specified in the FSD consistent with the system study document and / or the contract for the project?
4.    Does FSD contain details about the existing system and the scope of the proposed system?
5.    Are the features of proposed software were listed out in the FSD?
6.    Are all the functional requirements were listed in the document?
7.    Does FSD addresses non-technical requirements?
8.    Does the FSD address interface and other implied requirements?
9.    Does the FSD identify all other interfaces like Hardware, Software, communication and user with which the software is expected to interface with?
10.    Are Sub requirements for product components identified?
11.    Does the product component sub requirement satisfy the parent requirements in terms of functionality?
12.    Have alternate requirements been identified, in cases where betterment on cost, reduction in risks and functionality could be achieved?
13.    Have risks, if any, related to requirements implementation, been identified for documentation in the project risk plan?
14.    Does the document addresses the assumptions, constraints made during FSD preparation?
15.    Are the reports and screen formats given in FSD?
16.    Is all the list of inputs and outputs were listed out in FSD?
17.    Does FSD contain the inter-relationship among the modules identified?
18.    Are the requirements specified in the FSD, verifiable?
19.    Are the performance requirements of the software addressed in the FSD?
20.    Are the reliability requirements of the software addressed in FSD?
21.    Are the safety requirements of the software addressed in the FSD?
22.    Are the security requirements of the software addressed in the FSD?

Top 10 unknown Google tricks

Below is a list of top ten Google tricks many users don't know about.

1. Definitions - Pull up the definition of the word by typing define followed by the word you want the definition for. For example, typing: define bravura would display the definition of that word.

2. Local search - Visit Google Local enter the area you want to search and the keyword of the place you want to find. For example, typing: restaurant at the above link would display local restaurants.

The Rise And Fall Of Waterfall

Google is testing a new search interface

Google is testing a new search interface, the new look is not visible to everyone, but only for some users. The new look is with a new Google logo, colorful buttons and a permanently featured sidebar, something similar to Bing. The sidebar allows to narrow down the search to News, Blogs, Images, Video, Maps etc.

If you want to try the new search look for yourself try this java script trick

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

Go to Google.com and then paste the javascript code in the address bar of the browser and hit enter. Now reload the page you will see the new Google.com look with colored buttons. If it doesn’t work you may need to logout of Google and try again.

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 - Enterprise Edition

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is an ideal, production-quality server for consolidating multiple workloads onto a physical server, allowing organizations to make more efficient use of their hardware resources. Built upon Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition and bolstered with new functionality, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 enables IT organizations to enhance their administrative productivity and rapidly deploy new servers to address changing business needs through automated deployment and configuration of connected virtual machines that are easily administered with standard server management tools. Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 now provides improved performance for non-Windows guest operating systems by leveraging hardware-assisted virtualization, high availability for both planned and unplanned downtime, and improved support for backup and disaster recovery. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is an extensively tested and well supported virtualization solution that is supported both by the broader ISV community and by Microsoft in conjunction with its server operating systems and applications.

Because it is part of the Microsoft Windows Server System, Virtual Server 2005 R2 is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments.

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Google will no longer support Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6‏

Good News for Designers: As of March 1, 2010, Google will no longer support Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 browser

Inside the Excruciatingly Slow Death of Internet Explorer 6

It's the bane of Web designers everywhere, and it makes most modern Websites look broken and horrible. So why are 20% of web surfers still using it?
Today was supposed to be a great day for the Web. As of March 1, 2010, Google will no longer support Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 browser-a decade-old dinosaur engineered to navigate the Web as it existed in the year 2000. Why would this be cause for celebration? Because IE6 is barely capable of navigating the modern Web and a total nightmare to build sites, services and applications for.
But ten years after its release, it's still being used

Google. Facts and Figures !!

A 'more revolutionary' Web

Just when the ideas behind "Web 2.0" are starting to enter into the mainstream, the mass of brains behind the World Wide Web is introducing pieces of what may end up being called Web 3.0.

"Twenty years from now, we'll look back and say this was the embryonic period," said Tim Berners-Lee, 50, who established the programming language of the Web in 1989 with colleagues at CERN, the European science institute.

Windows 7 Desktop Optimization Pack 2010

Microsoft has labored to tailor its Desktop Optimization Pack solution accelerators to the latest iteration of the Windows client and server. On February 22nd, the Redmond company delivered the first Windows 7-  and Windows Server 2008 R2-friendly components of the Microsoft Optimization Pack 2010 (MDOP 2010), which are designed to play nice with additional technologies from the software giant, including the upcoming Office 2010.