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The world will break the Zettabyte barrier in 2016

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 9:02pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Ghanaian cinema may have already shown us that 2016 is going to be an awesome year, but this week networking technology company Cisco released its Visual Networking Index Forecast which makes some big predictions about data traffic in the year 2016 that are pretty mind-blowing themselves.

Cisco's VNI whitepaper is built upon reputable third-party analyst projections, in-house forecasts, and hard data collection, and it is part of the company's initiative to track the growth of "visual networking," or the use of video as the central communicative and entertainment medium over IP connections, including TV-over-Internet, social video, and video on demand.
In it, Cisco makes a number of noteworthy predictions:

Global IP traffic will exceed a Zettabyte for the first time- Cisco predicts approximately 1.3 Zettabytes of traffic will pass through the global pipeline in the year 2016. This is approximately 109.5 exabytes of traffic per month, or 12.5 petabytes every five minutes.

There will be three times as many connected devices as there are people- In 2011, there was one connected device per capita. Cisco says this will triple by 2016. It's well on track to meeting Swedish network technology company Ericsson's own goal of making 50 billion connected devices by 2020, or 7.3 connected devices per capita (based upon today's global population.)

Wireless end user traffic will exceed wired- . In 2016, wired devices will account for 39 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi and mobile devices will account for 61 percent of IP traffic.

All Non-PC devices will grow at a much faster rate than PCs- Cisco says PC-originated traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate of just 26 percent from 2011 to 2016, while TVs will grow at a CAGR of 77 percent, tablets will grow at 129 percent, smartphones at 119 percent, and machine-to-machine modules will have a growth rate of 86 percent.

Online gaming is the fastest growing segment of consumer Internet traffic- In 2011, Cisco says online gaming (that is, casual online gaming, networked console gaming, and multiplayer virtual-world gaming and not the downloading of games) generated approximately 67 Petabytes worth of consumer Internet traffic per month. In 2016, that will have blown up to 440 Petabytes a month, showing a 46 percent compound growth rate, a faster growth than file sharing, internet video, VoIP, Web surfing, e-mail, and general data exchange.

Long-form video and Live Internet TV will peak in 2015 and decline- Cisco predicts long-form content streaming (that is, any video over seven minutes in length) and live streaming television events on the web will grow to generate a peak combined total of 22,340 Petabytes of traffic in 2015, and then begin to decline in 2016. Cisco predicts all other forms of video (short-form, ambient/webcam, Internet PVR, Mobile video, etc.) will continue unabated growth into 2016.

Cisco's Whitepaper can be downloaded here.
Say, iPad idolaters, don't write the laptop's epitaph just yet

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 8:05pm CEST par Mike Feibus

May you live in interesting times. It’s an ancient curse. Or is it a blessing? There are volumes devoted to that age-old issue. In my world, though, there’s nothing gray about this topic. I get paid to answer questions, so interesting times are a blessing. Straight up. When clients don’t have any questions, now that’s a curse.

These are blessed times we live in, my friends. At least it is in my world. It’s hard to believe that it’s only been two years since Apple sold the first iPad. The year before, the tech world marveled at the vitality of the PC. Incredibly, shipments grew in 2009, defying gravity at a time when the rest of the economy seemed to be in a free-fall. My, how things have changed.

Today, many of you now are busy chiseling the epitaph onto the face of the laptop’s tombstone. Sorry, I don’t mean to spoil the ending. I know you’re still working. But from what I gather, it’s going to read something like this:

"Here lies the laptop
Sluggish, heavy, unresponsive
We’d miss you
If we didn’t all have iPads"

You might want to put the funeral plans on hold for a while, though, because the PC is about to get interesting again. The ecosystem, sparked by Intel’s Ultrabook initiative, has been hard at work trying to erase its shortcomings, which together singed a hole in the market wide enough to drive more than 100 million media tablets through.

I’m fond of saying that equilibrium for personal electronics stands at two devices, one in the pocket and one in the briefcase. When we buy a third device, it’s for picking up the slack for one or both primary devices.

If you’ve strolled down the aisle of a commercial flight during the past year, you might conclude that what the iPad brought to the computing world was Solitaire. I’m being facetious, of course, though the real answer is interrelated.

First and foremost, the tablet is tackling the laptop’s deficient battery life. It’s giving us a chance to read, watch a movie -- and yes, play Solitaire -- without siphoning any of the juice needed for productivity apps.

That’s how the tablet pushed its way alongside the laptop in our briefcases. That it’s a more recline-friendly form factor, that it boasts superior battery life, that it’s easier and quicker to engage and access is why we’re turning to it more and more.

Many of us still opt for the laptop for more creation-centric tasks. But because the tablet is more accessible, it wins out for anything that we can do equally well on either device, like researching something on the web.

So there’s a lot riding on the PC ecosystem’s response, which kicks off in earnest at the Computex trade show next week in Taiwan. It will be the coming-out party for dozens of new laptop models. They’re sleek and sexy. They’re more responsive. They boast better battery life.

Many of them are convertible clamshells that double as tablets for reading, gaming and watching video. Some have touchscreens or offer them as an option.

If you have a tablet and a laptop, these new portables probably won’t convince you to go back to one device. But if you’re deciding whether to buy your first tablet or replace your current system, I’ll bet that one of these new laptops will lure you in.

All in all, a good first step toward bringing us back to equilibrium, and a good reason to put off finishing that tombstone.

Photo Credit: metalstock/Shutterstock

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies, a Scottsdale, Ariz., market research firm focusing on client technologies. You can reach him at mike at techknowledge-group dot com.
XtraFinder 0.5 gives OS X Snow Leopard or Lion more roar

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 7:05pm CEST par Nick Peers

It may not be the sexiest feature in OS X, but there’s little doubt of the importance of Finder to your day-to-day computing. Each iteration of OS X comes and goes, tweaks and refines Finder that little bit more, and yet along come developers who take the Apple ethos that little bit further and find tweaks to make things just work.

Most of these Finder add-ons or plug-ins don’t come free, but if you’re prepared to miss out on some higher end features like tabbed Finder windows, then you can give Finder a welcome shot in the arm for no cost at all with the help of XtraFinder 0.5.

The software comes in .pkg format -- double-click to install it, and it’ll restart Finder and sit unobtrusively in the background. If you’re not aware of what to look for, you might not even notice it’s there, but take the time to dig a little deeper and you’ll like what you find.

There are two noticeable changes -- first, you’ll see folders now appear at the top of all Finder windows, while clicking the green zoom button now maximises all windows to fill the entire screen. Select View > Show Path Bar and you’ll see the familiar Path Bar appear. Now, while it’s normally possible to drag files into different folders on the Path Bar, XtraFinder adds one nifty new feature – it’s now spring-loaded, meaning that if you drag a folder or file on to any part of the path and wait a second or two, the Finder window will jump to that location.

Open Finder’s View menu and you’ll discover more useful additions -- options for showing hidden items and collapsing all expanded folders, plus refreshing the current folder. Even more extras appear when you right-click a file or folder -- Copy to… and Move to… provide an alternative means of shunting files around your system without having to open a second Finder window. Contents allows you to view inside a folder via a sub-menu – you can drill right down to files hidden away via this clever tool.

There’s even more hidden way, accessible via the Finder > XtraFinder menu. Choose “Show Status Bar Icon” to shunt this menu to the menu bar, while Restart Finder and Uninstall XtraFinder are self-explanatory. You’ll also discover the program’s Preferences menu – from here you can disable any of the options you don’t like, plus enable even more cool features, such as clicking any item in the Path Bar to show its contents via a context menu, allowing Cut & Paste or automatically arranging items by name when in icon view.

It all adds up to a tool that should prove its worth to anyone who finds themselves mired in a sea of folders and files on a regular basis. Sure, it’s got some kinks to iron out -- you currently have to uninstall it completely to disable it -- but considering it’s still at version 0.5, XtraFinder has a lot going for it.

XtraFinder 0.5 is a freeware download for Macs running Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.6) or later.
Don't let that software agreement be a devil's deal, try EULAlyzer

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 6:56pm CEST par Mike Williams

You’ve downloaded an interesting new application, and you’re eager to try it out. So it’s hardly a surprise if, when you’re presented with a lengthy and complex licence agreement, you’ll just choose the “Agree” option without even reading it.

Ignoring the EULA does mean you’re missing out on some potentially interesting information, though, as a program’s agreement could reveal how installing it might result in you receiving targeted advertising, spam, or having personal information shared with third parties. Of course you’ll need to pick out these more interesting clauses from the background noise, but if you find that a problem then you can always get a little help from BrightFort’s EULAlyzer.

The program is simple enough to use. Just have it running when your installation starts, then drag and drop the target icon onto the EULA window when it appears to grab the text, and click Analyze to review the results.

Sometimes this results in, well, nothing at all: EULAlyzer will explain that it didn’t find any interesting words of phrases in the EULA, and therefore it’s probably safe. In our tests this was generally correct, too, and in real life would have saved us a little time.

When the program does find clauses it thinks you need to know about, though, they’ll be displayed in the Results window, and organised into categories like “Advertising”, “Promotional Messages”, “Third Party” and so on. So if you’re worried about being sent spam, say, you might expand the “Promotional Messages” section. The program will then display a few words of any relevant clause it’s found, and in a click you can jump straight to that section in the full EULA, to read it in context.

While this sounds reasonable, the actual analysis being performed here is little more than searching for and highlighting a few key words in the text. When we provided the program with one sample EULA, for instance, it added a reference including the word “advertisements” to the “Advertising” section. Did this mean we were agreeing to be bombarded with targeted ads? Not at all: this was a clause saying that we weren’t allowed to use this particular service to send ads, chain letters or spam, all perfectly fair.

And the other problem here is that EULAlyzer scans for a lot of words, which may leave you with a great deal of reading. In one case the Results window presented us with 33 clauses to check, most of which were harmless: it would have been quicker and easier to simply speed-read the original EULA ourselves, without looking for any third-party assistance.

None of this should be a great surprise. EULAs are difficult to understand, perhaps intentionally in some cases: if someone were to develop a program intelligent enough to fully understand what they’re saying then they wouldn’t be giving it away for free.

And, to be fair, we found EULAlyzer was useful sometimes, if only in pointing out which programs didn’t have any dubious clauses in their licence agreements.

For the most part, though, the program just added complexity to a process which is already difficult enough. And so, if you’re worried about what you’re installing, the best advice remains the same as it always has: you should read the EULA yourself. Even if you just do what the program is doing, skim the text just looking for a few key words, you’ll still pick up interesting points occasionally, and it’s certainly better than simply agreeing to a EULA without reading it at all.

Photo Credit: Texelart/Shutterstock
Microsoft turns on 'Do Not Track' in Internet Explorer 10 by default

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 6:23pm CEST par Ed Oswald

In a move that is sure to rankle web advertisers, Microsoft late Thursday disclosed that Internet Explorer will have "Do Not Track" functionality on by default. This will prevent browser data crucial to behavioral and targeted advertising from being sent to third parties and could seriously disrupt the advertising industry in general.

Microsoft is vowing to move ahead despite the complaints of the industry. "While some people will say that this change is too much and others that it is not enough, we think it is progress and that consumers will favor products designed with their privacy in mind over products that are designed primarily to gather their data", IE vice president Dean Hachamovitch says.

The Federal Trade Commission began efforts in December 2010 to develop a standard for "Do Not Track" technology, which allows consumers to choose whether they will permit online tracking. Microsoft launched support for the feature in Internet Explorer 9 that same month, with Firefox and Chrome announcing plans to support the initiative last year.

DNT is optional, which means that advertisers and websites don't need to support it. Either way, the effort is gaining momentum, with Twitter announcing support for do not track last week. Microsoft's support then has to be seen as a good thing, although the move to make it on by default could become an issue.

Advertisers, the Feds, and technology companies are busy hammering out an agreement which both honors the concept of Do Not Track, yet does not restrict the advertisers too much. It's a loose and fragile coalition, and Microsoft's move may blow it up completely.

Why? When Internet Explorer 10 releases, a significant portion of Internet users will upgrade fairly quickly. A sizable portion of surfers will now be unreachable by these targeted ads, which are by far the most lucrative for the advertising companies.

Nothing would stop these companies from then directly appealing to the websites and services to pass on adding support for DNT. Since it's a voluntary service, and needs support from both the browser and the website to work, this would effectively kill the effort altogether.

Photo Credit: Sweet Lana/Shutterstock
Confused yet? NetApps ranks Internet Explorer No. 1 (Microsoft agrees), but StatCounter puts Chrome tops (Google agrees)

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 5:58pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

The battle of the browsers reached new territory in May, as IE and Chrome directly engaged for the first time. Firefox is collateral damage -- destined to fall to No. 3, whether by Net Applications' or StatCounter's reckoning. Mozilla's open-source champion that took back the web from Microsoft, falls before Chrome's advances. The browser wars are back with a vengeance and the heretofore top two are in retreat. Well, depending on whose counting you believe.

While the top browser, as measured by usage share, may be disputed, Firefox's decline is not. StatCounter put Chrome ahead of Firefox last summer. NetApps has the Mozilla browser and Chrome in a May photo finish -- 19.71 percent and 19.58 percent share, respectively. Given the downward and upward trajectories of both, Google's browser is all but certain to claim second place during June. Firefox's decline is all but inevitable -- that despite Mozilla adopting similar fast-track development that sets both browsers' apart from slow-updating Internet Explorer and Safari.

If NetApps is to be believed, Microsoft needs only worry about which competitor is No. 2. IE usage share was 54.05 percent in May, down slightly from 54.09 percent in April. IE share has fallen from 75.47 percent in January 2008, first eroded by Firefox and later Chrome, which officially shipped in December of that year. StatCounter ranks the browsers remarkably differently -- Chrome leads with 32.43 percent usage share, followed by IE and Firefox, with 32.12 percent and 25.55 percent, respectively.

"The browser wars are back with a vengeance", StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen says. "This time there are three major players competing for the top spot but, ultimately, the real winner will be the end user who can look forward to more choice and innovation as a result of this increased competition".

StatCounter's full-month data corroborates that for the week May 14-20, when Chrome nudged ahead of IE. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft regards NetApps' data as more credible. In March, Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer product marketing, peeled back StatCounter's methodology layer by layer, repeatedly impugning its credibility while praising NetApps. Among his points:

Net Applications actually reports usage share based on unique visitors. It is this type of analysis that allows them to achieve more accurate representations of browsing habits and actual usage by removing Chrome prerendering traffic (4.3 percent last month) in an effort to separate real page views from invisible page views. It is also seen as a more accurate way to determine actual browser usage because it is less susceptible to fraud.

Google now prerenders pages for the purpose of offering search suggestions as users type and to deliver the results more quickly. However, NetApps started adjusting for prerending in May, which had little to no perceptible impact on Chrome's share rise, which diminishes one of Microsoft's core StatCounter criticisms.

It's no shocker that Google supports StatCounter's results. Yesterday, during the D10 conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Google senior veep Sundar Pichai told veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg: "Our internal data corresponds pretty well with what StatCounter quoted. We are No. 1 or a bare No. 2 in almost all the countries in the world". Chrome is most popular in emerging markets, where in some "our share is over 50 percent there today".

While NetApps and StatCounter are leaders compiling browser usage data, they aren't alone. W3Counter is another tracker, but I don't see a May report available this morning. In April, W3Counter ranked IE tops with 28.9 percent share, followed by Chrome and Firefox, with 25.9 percent and 24.1 percent share, respectively. While Chrome trails IE, the trend more closely aligns with StatCounter than NetApps.

Clicky also offers browser share data. IE and Chrome played kissing cousins on May 27 with 31.38 percent and 31.47 percent share, respectively. Again, the trend is more in line with StatCounter than NetApps.

In April 2011 I asked: "Is web browser development moving to fast?". After all, Microsoft bet on stability -- that businesses need something they can put in place and leave there for a long time. Google's approach means new versions in stable or beta channels about every six weeks. But perhaps fast-track development has merits.

Certainly, many BetaNews readers don't mind or even embrace the six-week cycles. Among the 1,437 that so far responded to our browser poll, Chrome is "preferred primary" among 46.69 percent of you, followed by Firefox and IE with 25.47 percent and 19.35 percent, respectively.

No matter where Chrome ranks in relation to Internet Explorer, Firefox is the loser, but by no means finished. "While attention has recently been focused on the battle between Chrome and IE, not-for-profit Mozilla's Firefox with its loyal membership base should not be underestimated", Cullen says. Is he right?

Photo Credit: Marc Majcher
Most of you use Google Chrome

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 4:20am CEST par Joe Wilcox
On June 1, Net Applications and StatCounter will release browser usage share for May. But why wait? Ten days ago I asked which is your preferred primary browser. You answered, and Chrome takes the crown, followed by Firefox and Internet Explorer. The days of IE dominance are over. No wonder the European Union is crawling down Google's throat over search.

The poll results are fairly consistent with those from one conducted last year, even though the sample size is smaller, 1,160 as I write. I asked: "Which is your preferred primary web browser, meaning when you can choose it? (For personal computer, not phone or other device.)" The idea is to gauge browser usage based on what people would choose, pushing aside what they might be compelled to use at work. A stunning 46.72 percent of respondents choose Chrome, 25 percent Firefox and 20.4 percent Internet Explorer.

I asked about browser usage because of a May 14-20 StatCounter report that put Chrome global usage share ahead of Internet Explorer -- 32.76 percent to 31.94 percent, respectively. Today during the D10 conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Google senior veep Sundar Pichai told veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg: "Our internal data corresponds pretty well with what StatCounter quoted. We are No. 1 or a bare No. 2 in almost all the countries in the world". Chrome is most popular in emerging markets, where in some "our share is over 50 percent there today".

Mossberg asked Pichai about different operating systems. He said that Chrome is "more popular on Windows" because Google launched the browser on the platform first and the Mac later. "But we are seeing the same trends there".

Remember that Internet Explorer is only available for Windows, so Chrome success cuts Microsoft's browser to the quick. The real question: What can Internet Explorer 10 do to recover users and perhaps regain share?

Earlier today, Microsoft issued Windows 8 Release Preview. The new version ships with IE10, which will be the only primary browser on ARM version Windows RT. It's all leverage for regaining lost usage share, assuming there is rapid adoption of either or both operating systems.

Chrome 1.0 shipped in December 2008, making its rise in popularity a simply stunning achievement. The browser benefits from a number of factors, including:
- Speed -- the browser is fast and reliable.
- Privacy, such as multiple user accounts for one browser.
- Security, both perceived (against IE) and real (for Chrome).
- Leverage from search (Google share is tops in most geographies).
- Ties to other Google services, such as Google Plus, Gmail or Maps.
- Web applications that run in the browser, from the cloud rather than desktop.
- Marketing -- Google is aggressively advertising Chrome, now in TV commercials.
- Rapid-fire development cycle delivering new features (Chrome 17-19 released this year).
- Little legacy -- Google doesn't need worry about supporting business users or years of plugins.
"I use Chrome as my main browser, although simultaneously Firefox (Pale Moon version) for web work and IE when I have to check compatablity", charliemaggot comments. "Chrome's add-ons, speed, and flexibility are the main reasons. I still like Firefox and again the add-ons are a huge plus".

It's my experience, particularly Windows, that Chrome demands too much, and charliemaggot aggrees: "Chrome, however, can be a definite hog. Too many tabs with too much session history will eat up resources, and I find myself killing of tabs and restarting the browser to get it back under control. But that is still not big enough to move me off it".

Which is your preferred primary web browser, meaning when you can choose it? (For personal computer, not phone or other device.)

Reader malin makes an important point about Internet Explorer: "The United States is not the only country in the world! In Europe, IE is stripped out of Windows and not the default browser. Also, the French and other Europeans are very suspicious of Microsoft and IE and it is very poorly thought of there". Because of an adverse antitrust ruling on the continent, Microsoft makes available one version of Windows without Internet Explorer.

"Yes, in the US IE will probably always be dominant on desktops and laptops", malin continues. "But in other countries no way. In many European countries IE has been a minority browser for many years, and the only real trend we see in those places is people switching from Firefox to Chrome due to IMO the reliability of Chrome and the inability of Firefox to fix itself when it gets mangled".

"I have tried many of the popular browsers and go back to Chrome because I perceive it to be the fastest, both on my MacBook Pro and my Windows PC", Alan Freeman comments. "It is not bloated like Firefox".

And you? If you haven't taken the poll, please do.
Judge strikes down Oracle API copyright claims against Google

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 2:51am CEST par Ed Oswald

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison may have felt like king of the world Wednesday night as he announced his company's move to the cloud, but today he's likely licking his wounds: Oracle's case against Google over Android's use of Java is essentially dead.

Judge William Alsup ruled Thursday that Oracle could not assert copyright claims on Google for 37 different Java APIs used within Android. Alsup ruled that only the code within, and not the way they are used, are subject to copyright claims.

Oracle was obviously displeased with the ruling and said in a statement that it intends to appeal.

"Google’s implementation of the accused APIs is not a free pass, since a license has always been required for an implementation of the Java Specification", it argues. "This ruling, if permitted to stand, would undermine the protection for innovation and invention in the United States and make it far more difficult to defend intellectual property rights against companies anywhere in the world that simply takes them as their own".

For those keeping score, Oracle won a muddled victory in the copyright phase, with the jury finding that Oracle had successfully proven Google's infringement upon the overall structure, sequence and organization of its Java copyrights. At the same time, the jury could not agree if Google's application of Java constituted "fair use".

In the patent phase of the trial, Oracle lost outright, with the jury finding no evidence at all of patent infringement. Now with the API question resolved in Google's favor, Oracle's case is pretty much decimated.

It should be noted that Alsup's ruling is fairly narrow, which doesn't address the point of whether or not APIs are actually copyrightable. "No court of appeals has addressed the copyrightability of APIs, much less their structure, sequence and organization. Nor has any district court", he says in his ruling.

That statement should calm developers' nerves, says legal site Groklaw "The sky has been full of FUD about this topic, with folks, both self-styled experts and even a lawyer who has done work for Microsoft claiming that APIs have been copyrightable for years and years, throwing cases at us and examples of terms of use", the site writes. (A copy of the ruling is also available on the site as well.)

"Terms of use don't make law, ladies and gents and experts and lawyers. A company can say whatever it pleases, but that doesn't mean they are in harmony with the law". In other words, some company is going to need to take the issue itself to court in order to get solid legal opinion on what has become a hot-button issue for many in the development community.

So where does this leave Oracle? Without a case and with little restitution, it appears. For the copyright infringement portion of its case, the maximum Oracle will be able to collect is $150,000. That's far below the millions it has spent over the last two years to attempt to cash in on Android.

In a statement, Google lauded Alsup's decision as a victory for innovation. "The court’s decision upholds the principle that open and interoperable computer languages form an essential basis for software development", a spokesperson says.

Photo Credit: JustASC/Shutterstock
Microsoft debuts Visual Studio 2012, .NET 4.5 and Windows Server 2012 release candidates

Publié: juin 1, 2012, 1:05am CEST par Ed Oswald

Microsoft's suite of enterprise products isn't about to let the consumer-facing ones steal the headlines. On the same day the Redmond, Wash. company announced the Release Preview of Windows 8, the company's enterprise and developer software arm announced the release candidates of .NET Framework 4.5, Visual Studio 2012 and Windows Server 2012.

Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5 are available for download by anyone by visiting the Visual Studio 2012 website, while Windows Server 2012 is available only to TechNet and MSDN subscribers by visiting TechNet.

New to Visual Studio is a redesigned logo, tweaked to follow the design cues of the Metro interface. Setup is improved, with install times down 20 percent over previous beta releases according to the company. Installation customization has also been added back in -- a vital consideration for those of us that like to tinker with the install itself to save on hard drive space.

Microsoft says testers will notice appreciable performance boosts throughout VS2012. Debugging, the editing of large C++ files, and XAML performance is all improved, along with user interface changes based on tester feedback -- many having to do with giving VS2012 subtle hints of Metro styling.

[See this post on the Visual Studio blog for more on the UI changes.]

On the Metro front, Microsoft has added and improved tools for building upon the platform, including a host of new templates, and improvements to existing ones.

Microsoft is shipping both VS 2012 and .NET 4.5 with "Go Live" licenses, meaning developers are free to begin using and deploying production applications using these tools.

Windows Server 2012 also is out today, and is aimed at solidifying Microsoft's place in cloud computing. The Release Candidate is being marketed alongside the Release Candidate of System Center 2012 as a way to embrace both virtualization and the cloud, both public and private.

"With nearly 300,000 downloads to date of the beta release [of Windows Server 2012], the excitement around this new Windows Server is unprecedented", Windows Server Lead Architect Jeffrey Snover says of the excitement surrounding the product.

Microsoft did not immediately specify when final versions of the product will ship, although it may be a good bet that the development products will release before Windows 8 debuts this fall.

Photo Credit: .shock/Shutterstock