Flash Memory Gets Zapped . . .

By Mark Hall

June 13, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld -


John Kish, CEO of Wyse Technology Inc.

... in a scheme to lower costs and increase functionality of network-edge devices. That's part of CEO John Kish's vision to revive the fortunes of Wyse Technology Inc. in San Jose. He arrived seven months ago and replaced nine of 12 top executives and shifted the 20-year-old firm from its hardware bias into thinking it's a software company. Oh, sure, Wyse continues to make thin-client machines, but most of its research and development is dedicated to making devices on the edge of the network -- handhelds, cell phones and even kiosks -- multifunction, on-demand devices. Kish, who holds a doctorate in mathematics, calculates that by combining Wyse's Blazer operating system for thin clients and Rapport, its software management tool, you can deploy low-cost, flash-free devices throughout the enterprise or for consumers. By streaming Rapport over the network to a device, it can load Blazer -- which boots a unit in 3 seconds -- along with an application after a device is turned on, eliminating the need to load software from wallet-whacking flash memory. Technicians in the field could use a single handheld to collect data and then quickly reload it with another application to do analysis; consumers could use their cell phones for chatting one minute and playing games the next. Kish estimates that by eliminating flash memory, device costs could tumble as much as 40%. Look for flashy flashless devices early next year.
Developers can make do without ...
... Make, the software utility that builds a program from multiple component files. Tracy Ragan, CEO of Catalyst Systems Corp. in Glencoe, Ill., claims that "Make, in general, is antiquated." She says developers should dump their creaky Make tool and adopt Openmake, which on July 15 will be upgraded to Version 6.4. The new release will add a real-time build manager that lets you watch the software build as it happens. If you notice a problem during the process, you can fix the errant source code while Openmake continues to run the rest of the build, and then reload the revised file, which Openmake will handle to complete the process. Ragan says this is a boon to folks engaged in extreme programming.
If Openmake doesn't strike your fancy, Ragan generously points you to her competitors. "We love the competition," she says. Next month, one alternative, the first release of PerfectBuild from Codefast Inc. in San Jose, is due. Like Openmake, PerfectBuild eliminates the need for developers to write scripts to link a program's many

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