No Time To Test

From Steel Guru

The Ukrainian seamless stainless steel tube producer Centravis announced that it is continuing the implementation of its large-scale technical modernization program aimed at upgrading its production facilities and decreasing its production costs.

At its tube-drawing shop Centravis is currently installing its new Tioda washer for degreasing tubes and is completing the contract testing of its new KPW-25 cold rolling mill, with a capacity of 180 meters per hour, which was supplied by German plantmaker SMS Meer. The second similar mill is scheduled to be commissioned in August this year.

Meanwhile, at Centravis’ tube-pressing shop the new pressing line has been undergoing contract testing for more than two months. The new pressing line, the equipment for which was supplied by German companies SMS Meer and IAS, includes an IAS billet heating furnace, a furnace for heating shells before pressing, and a 44�� tube-profile press. Currently, as part of the contract testing, Centravis is carrying out pressing of tubes with external diameter from 38 to 245 mm.

In addition, Centravis is approaching the implementation stage of its joint project with Austrian consulting company Cziping Consulting, aimed at increased efficiency of resource usage and also at the development of an effective system of management for planning and productivity monitoring. Currently, Centravis and Austrian consultants are working on the reduction of unfinished production, on the decrease of metal discharge coefficient, and on the implementation of the 5S Japanese process method at the plant in order to increase the organization, cleanliness and standardization of work.

Besides the above mentioned initiatives, on July 1st Centravis started to test the SAP ERP R3 corporative management system, which is expected to help boost the value of the company, its transparency of accounting, and the quality of its management.

From PR-USA

One of the most difficult things for a software tester has always been translating what the end-user of a program truly wants it to do, simply because most end-users aren’t familiar with the terminology commonly used in the industry. This language barrier can lead to frustration for both parties when the end-user is unable to adequately express his or her needs, and the tester meets goals other than those required.

At the upcoming CAST 2009 software testing conference being held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on July 13-16, Scott Barber and Dawn Haynes will be offering a tutorial designed to help testers more accurately translate what an end-user is actually asking for when relating their performance desires. The tutorial is entitled Translating Stakeholders’ Performance Desires, and will teach software testers how to understand what their stakeholders are really looking for in software performance.

From Advertiser Talk

Melville, NY (Advertiser Talk) 29-Jun-2009 — The Software Test and Performance Conference and Expo – STPCon (http://www.stpcon.com), the industry’s leading event for the software test and QA community, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. October 19-23, 2009. The event will bring together software development managers, test/QA managers and senior test professionals for five days filled with intensive one-day and three-day workshops and training courses, a core conference featuring three keynote presentations, more than 30 breakout sessions in five tracks, and the STPCon Exhibit Hall.

STPCon 2009 will feature five all-new conference tracks addressing the industry’s top concerns:

Agile Testing Test Automation Performance Testing Test Management FutureTest™ – the latest tools, technologies, and methodologies The Software Test & Performance Conference offers the highest quality content presented by the industry’s most knowledgeable and well-respected experts. STPCon 2009’s conference faculty will include: James Bach, Jon Bach, Scott Barber, Daniel Bartow, Steve Berczuk, Rex Black, Michael Bolton, Ross Collard, Dan Downing, Michael Dwyer, Jan Fish, Bob Galen, Matt Heusser, Linda Hayes, Douglas Hoffman, Eric Pugh, Bj Rollison and Robert Walsh

From PR-inside.com

Noida, India, June 24th, 2009: Although Recession has hit the job market badly yet companies like QA InfoTech are still hiring. They have job opportunities for various posts like Test Engineers for Web and E-commerce Testing, Junior Engineers, etc. They are looking for people who have world class skills, are passionate about their work and have the ability
to thrive in high-energy environments. Those with an interest in innovating and raising the standard of Quality Management, Testing and Certification Solutions are having alluring job opportunities at QA InfoTech.

The reason behind such lucrative job offers even in this crunch is the realization of the importance of independent testing by various companies. Various firms and businesses are realizing how important independent testing is and how it can help them yield excellent quality products, and thereby, satisfy their customers ultimately. As businesses are outsourcing their software testing tasks and getting a good ROI through independent testing, they are opting more for them. After all who would not like to get a good ROI!

From examiner.com

We’ve all been there. Attended a workshop on a great software application or heard another teacher talking about how much they think this or that program is helping in their classroom. Often, reality sets in when we find that the price of the software is too high for us to be able to realistically incorporate its use into the classroom.

Because of the current economy, many schools and districts are cutting back on budgets, leaving teachers scrambling to find ways to fund their favorite technology tool. One alternative is to find open source software that is somewhat comparable to the high-priced software. At least one district in the Dallas area, Irving ISD, has decided to stop putting expensive Microsoft Office programs on student computers, opting instead to use the free, open-source OpenOffice.

Sorting through open source programs can be time-consuming and difficult. Programs that say they are an alternative may have several differences –sometimes in key functionality. Teachers have to be sure to try out software, testing the particular features they know they’ll need in their classroom, before implementing its use in their classroom. If a teacher decides to find open source alternatives, there are some websites that can help. The Nonprofit Open Source Initiative has a primer to assist individuals in finding suitable open source alternatives. Open Source as Alternative is a website devoted to assisting in the search for alternatives to expensive programs.

From Scoop

HP Offers Customers Free Upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, June 26, 2009 – HP today announced that it will offer the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system on consumer and business PCs from October 22. To meet customers’ computing needs while protecting their investment, the company is participating in the Windows Upgrade Option Programme to help customers transition easily to Windows 7. The programme will enable customers who purchase qualifying HP PCs to enjoy the benefits of a new Windows-based PC today and receive a free(1) upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available in October.

Customers who purchase an HP PC from June 26 may be eligible for the upgrade programme. HP customers can visit www.hp.com/go/windows7upgrade and select New Zealand to check for upgrade eligibility, register and get answers about their PCs and current operating systems. Following Windows 7 general availability on October 22, qualifying customers will receive the Windows 7 upgrade and an upgrade utility disk(2) with a step-by-step guide for installation at their convenience.(3)

“HP has helped guide Microsoft through the development of Windows 7, collaborating and offering unique insight and counsel on emerging technologies, specifically on HP’s leading touch technology and high performance thin and light notebook computing,” said Brent Kendrick, General Manager Personal Systems Group., HP New Zealand. “Because of this early collaboration, HP has engineered truly innovative PCs from our industry-leading notebooks and desktops to our acclaimed TouchSmart PCs, providing advanced performance, compelling user experiences and more functionality overall.”

“We are thrilled with the level of collaboration between HP and Microsoft throughout the development of Windows 7,” said Ben Green, Windows Business Group Manager, Microsoft New Zealand. “Through the Windows Upgrade Option Programme, we can help our joint customers get new PCs now and get ready to experience the innovation and simplification that Windows 7 delivers.”

Throughout the development of Windows 7, HP has had an unprecedented level of collaboration with Microsoft to improve the fundamental user experience. HP has made a significant investment in hardware and software testing to ensure broad compatibility and a satisfying technology experience across its industry-leading commercial and consumer portfolios. For more than two years, HP’s collaboration with Microsoft has consisted of sharing industry best practices and technology for mobility, touch innovation and printing, working to ensure a good customer experience when upgrading to Windows 7.

From Reuters

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - A takeover battle for Micro Focus (MCRO.L) bid target Borland Software (BORL.O) has restarted after the U.S. firm said it has received a proposal that it feels would be superior to one made by Micro Focus.

British software firm Micro Focus, which last week increased its offer to $1.15 per share following a rival bid of $1.20 in cash, said in a statement on Friday it believes its offer is in the best interests of both companies.

It did not say whether it would be increasing its offer again, commenting only: “The board of Micro Focus will maintain its strict financial acquisition criteria.”

Shares in Micro Focus, whose customers include Tesco and Boeing, gained last week on relief that a rival bidder had pulled out of the process. [ID:nLI439420] Texas-based Borland said in a filing on Thursday evening that the strategic buyer had increased its offer proposal to $1.25 in cash, adding it had opened its books to the unnamed party for due diligence.

Micro Focus’ recommended offer values Borland at $88 million and would take the British company’s share of the global software testing market to 15 percent.

From PC World

History is repeating itself: Apple’s activation servers, primed for Wednesday’s release of the iPhone 3.0 operating system to existing users strained to handle the flood of requests.

Twitter is pulsing with frustration, disappointment, contempt, and anger from users seeking the new version of the operating system, which includes such basic, yet never-before-included features like copy/paste. Some have been unable to access the servers at all, yet others say they have and are already playing with the new features.

So numerous are the complaints, they’ve sparked a backlash: Alan Milford (”alz”), a self-described resident techie with CBS Interactive in London, groused “Apple should have their own Twitter server on software release day, so all the fanboys can spam each other without bothering the rest of us.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a Network World query on the status of the 3.0 downloads.

PC Advisor UK is reporting that Apple’s corporate Website – in Singapore – is reporting that the new OS version won’t be released in Asia until tomorrow.

The delays, and frustration mirror a somewhat different situation in July 2008, when the then-new iPhone 3G went on sale. There were a half-dozen crashes of AT&T’s activation servers, slowing the ability for new buyers to get their 3G phones up and running.

Tim Scarfe is a U.K.-based computer scientist who has posted on Twitter just 5 times since his first tweet last November: “I hate Twitter.” His fourth: “timscarfe iPhone activation server is temporarily unavailable. COME ON APPLE GRRR.”

David Elyea is a Java developer. “delyea Oh Apple… your true colors are showing today. Activation Server? Really? It’s called ‘load testing‘.” He followed this post with: “@warneronstine Let me know if it works. I took 10 minutes to download the update and now their Activation Server is hosing me.”

From Live PR

Acutest have launched the Load Cannon: a hosted performance testing service for web applications. A fast and cost-effective service, it is aimed at enabling organisations without the inhouse capabilities to enjoy the benefits of load testing.

Acutest , the UK software testing company, have announced the launch of their new load testing service: the Load Cannon. This is a performance testing service for web-enabled applications and websites. Hosted in the UK, it is a fusion of performance testing tools; load generators; monitors; structured testing methods; risk-based testing techniques and experienced performance testing consultants.

From Data Manager Online

Introduction to the Problems
For something that is so vital to our world, it’s strange that we clearly don’t care much about how secure it is. I’m talking about computers, and software in particular. All kinds of software, from our operating systems through our desktop software tools we use each and every day—and running on anything from large mainframes through small handheld smart mobile devices.

It must be true, we obviously don’t care much about security, or we wouldn’t keep making the same old mistakes over and over again. But when we take a look at today’s software we use, we find security defects repeatedly, even though we’ve known of many of these defects for a decade or more.

Take web applications as an example. If you look at the venerable Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top-10 list[1] of common application vulnerabilities, you’ll find many of them would be eliminated by simply applying positive input validation. But we fail to do it, over and over and over. Why?

I attribute much of the blame to several things, such as:

· Rush to market. Pressure to take software products to market has never been greater. This has been fueled on by the advent of software markets such as Apple’s iPhone application store where a gold rush mentality is prevalent. The result has inevitably been that less and less attention is paid to the security of the end products.

· Focus on functionality. Partly due to the divergence of the security and software development disciplines, we’ve seen almost fanatical attention being paid to simple functionality of software. Security issues, on the other hand, are almost always found in the non-functional aspects—or, perhaps more correctly, the inadvertent functionality—of software.

· Inadequate testing. Similar to developing software with only its functional aspects in mind, most software testing consists of little more than verification of functional specifications. When security testing, which is largely non-functional in its nature, is done at all, more often than not, companies do little more than some cursory penetration testing.