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Our May feature is on the openSUSE Build Service, a great tool for software developers to leverage for distribution of their software. We will also look at a couple of other useful tools that Novell provides, the Novell Partner Product Guide and the upcoming Worldwide Novell Tour, Work Group Works. And finally what Adobe's choice to Open Source the Flex SDK means to developers.
If you haven't checked out the openSUSE Build Service you are missing out on a very powerful resource for easily building and distributing your software. Ever wish you could build your application for the multiple hardware platforms that openSUSE supports but don't have the resources to do so? The openSUSE Build Service provides you with that capability, along with automatically resolving dependencies and rebuilding as needed. And you can also create packages for many of the more popular Linux distributions, including Fedora and Ubuntu.
The Build Service also allows users to browse the latest software versions and download what they need, making upgrading to the most recent build of an application very easy. You can point your users to openSUSE as the source for the latest version of your application. And it's all managed for you, you just drop your source in place, do a bit on configuration and all the magic happens for you.
And if all that isn't cool enough, these last two features will get some of you very excited about the openSUSE Build Service! You can use the Service to create your own unique Linux distribution. The latest feature of the Build Service, KIWI provides you the ability to create a live DVD or virtual machine images for Xen or VMWare. Now you can easily provide an evaluation of your application in an easy to manage format. If you've ever tried to build a Live DVD, you can appreciate how much effort this feature alone can save you.
You'll find the openSUSE Build Service at http://www.opensuse.org/Build_Service. You can get more information on KIWI linked from there. Don't miss out on these powerful services that will enhance your development toolset.
As a developer the Novell Partner Product Guide could be one of your most important reasons for joining the Novell Partner Program. This guide provides users with the ability to find your solution easily and validate your standing as a partner with Novell, delivering solutions supporting Novell platforms.
The Novell Partner Product Guide allows users to search for solutions using a number of criteria, including if the solution has earned the YES mark. Customers know that the YES mark certifies that the solution has been tested and proven compatible with the Novell product(s) shown. Many companies will not purchase a product that is not certified, so obtaining a YES mark for your solution and listing it on the Novell Partner Product Guide are tried and true ways to increase your sales.
The Novell Partner Product Guide and links to the Partner Programs can be found at http://www.novell.com/partnerguide/.
The Worldwide Novell Tour 2007, Work Group Works is coming to locations in North America and Asia-Pacific during May. Dates for other regions will be announced at a later date. The link below will lead you to a list of cities and dates for the May events.
You might be wondering why the Work Group Works Tour would be highlighted in a developer newsletter. Well, with work groups and collaboration being so important to most enterprises these days events such as this can provide you, as a developer, the chance to hear directly from potential customers what really matters to them in these application spaces. It's always good to build solutions that people actually want and will buy.
This half day event covers topics from Windows interoperability to tools for migration and a whole lot in between. As a developer it will be time well spent hearing about the Novell offerings and what customers have to say and questions they might have.
You can get more information on these events at http://www.novell.com/collaboration/workgroupworks/.
The following is a quote from the Adobe Lab's website: Adobe is announcing plans to open source Flex under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). This includes not only the source to the ActionScript components from the Flex SDK, which have been available in source code form with the SDK since Flex 2 was released, but also includes the Java source code for the ActionScript and MXML compilers, the ActionScript debugger and the core ActionScript libraries from the SDK. The Flex SDK includes all of the components needed to create Flex applications that run in any browser - on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux and on now on the desktop using “Apollo”. Developers can use the Flex SDK to freely develop and deploy Flex applications using either Adobe Flex Builder or an IDE of their choice.
Those of you who use Flex to develop Rich Internet Applications (RIA) will immediately appreciate the importance of this announcement. RIAs are becoming a hot topic for delivering very feature-rich applications. RIAs basically are web-based applications that feature the richness and capabilities of a traditional desktop application. If you aren't familiar with RIAs, Google "rich internet applications" and you'll get lots of links to help you understand RIAs and where the industry is headed with them.
Whether you develop applications for sale or for in-house use, you will likely find that RIAs are in your future and Flex is a good place to start. To get Flex and a wealth of tools and resources go to the Flex website at http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/. And to get the complete story on the open sourcing of Flex go to http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flex:Open_Source.
This newsletter (containing current articles, code samples and anything else that might be of interest to developers) is sent on the first Thursday of each month. The purpose of this newsletter is to help developers become proficient in the use of key technologies on the Linux platform and to provide current content on Novell technologies to aid you in creating business solutions.
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