The tax man attempts to keep up with cloud computing
Cloud computing issues are mainstream news. The Washington Post reports on the impact of cloud computing upon state tax revenues: beyond the decisions about which state’s tax rates should apply is also the decision about whether cloud computing software and data is goods or services.
Cisco acquires office collaboration plugin maker Versly
Cisco has acquired Versly, maker of a plug-in for Microsoft Office that adds collaboration capabilities to documents, spreadsheets, presentations and email. Until recently Cisco has been more commonly associated with the production of network hardware but the new acquisition appears to sit happily with its range of cloud computing products, which Quad, Jabber and WebEx.
Database as a service from VMware
VMware has announced VMware vFabric Data Director, an enterprise database as a service (DBaaS). The first database supported by VMware vFabric Data Director is VMware vFabric Postgres 9.0 (vPostgres) which is PostgreSQL compatible.
VMware vFabric Data Director requires VMware vSphere 5.0 Enterprise or Enterprise Plus licenses and one instance of vCenter Server 5.0 Foundation or Standard. It can be used on VMware Cloud Foundry.
VMware vFabric Data Director will be available for download in Q3 2011 and will be free for non-production use.
… and two database as a service from Salesforce
Not to be usurped by VMware’s DBaaS annoucement, Salesforce has officially launched Database.com, it’s own database-as-a-service. Curiously this comes in the same week as its recent Platform-as-a-Service acquisition, Heroku, launched its own PostgreSQL DBaaS.
Assistly announces Salesforce integration
Software-as-a-Service for monitoring customer experience via social media, Assistly, has announced integration between Assistly and Salesforce. Assistly is used by a number of high profile web companies such as Spotify, 37signals, Disqus, Shopify and Vimeo.
Amazon Web Services makes using S3 easier
Amazon Web Services has tweaked its S3 web console to make it easier to use. Whole folders can be uploaded, Adobe Flash installation is no longer required and search has been improved.
Ruby on Rails 3.1 release not uncontroversial
In case you missed it, here’s Morgan Hill’s first take on the Ruby on Rails 3.1 release.
As a contract developer and manager I’ve worked in a wide range of enterprises in a variety of countries where I’ve encountered everything from great work, awful work, bizarre work, all the way down to quasi-legal work. If you think that you recognise your own organisation within my articles then you’re undoubtedly wrong, where you work isn’t that unique.
