As the doom-and-gloom of wide-ranging corporate layoffs continue - I got to thinking about not only those poor souls who now face a Christmas of uncertainty - but about the poor folks who didn’t get laid off and what the heck they are going to do - with 10% - 50% less people and the same amount of work to do.

To that end, we’ve put together some Holiday Specials that were designed to help those of you that find yourself in the position of having to do more with less.

Let me give you a real-life example. This past week I was speaking with a very large, multi-national company who has an application used by 500 people in 4 call centers around the world. They are currently using a hodge-podge of applications - different ones in each country - and are getting ready to try to implement a single solution worldwide.

They picked a huge (and well-known) vendor who wrote a “custom” application for them - that’s browser-based. This application has not even been rolled out widely yet - and already the customer doesn’t like it. In addition, they are going to have to pay over $1 million (US) per year to license the application - and getting changes made - according to the customer - “Takes about 4 weeks and $15,000 each.”

Huh?

I agreed to look at their requirements - and for once - they had really good ones! They had detailed information on how each of the call centers handled each process - and had documented the differences in business models that each region had.

We had a conversation a week ago Friday, and agreed to have another meeting in a week to discuss how Servoy could help them get a better application, and make the new one faster, more flexible, and much more sexy.

This past week I was able to cobble together a quick demo in about a day and a half that demonstrated some of the key requirements that they really needed in order to gain efficiency.

We had an international conference call - where I did an introduction of Servoy, and then showed the brief demo. Apparently - they were “blown away.” Because Servoy is so flexible and easy-to-use, and because it handles all the “heavy-lifting” - I was able to bang together a compelling demo (both Smart Client and Web Client) that was 100% focused on the most important aspect of any software: making it easy and productive for the end users.

So, if you find yourself in a position where you’re forced to do more with less - seriously take a look at Servoy 4.1 - and have a look at our Holiday Specials. We’re here to help.

Join us for a live, FREE Webinar this Wednesday, December 10 at 10 am Pacific Standard Time.

Register here.

Webinar description:

Everyone knows that mobile applications are all the rage today. But, if you’ve ever tried to build one yourself - you know how much work they can be.

All the sample applications you looked at on the Internet include all kinds or CSS and HTML and include all kinds of confusing JavaScript.

On top of that - getting the application to connect to your databases and run business logic can really be overwhelming.

Even IF you do get an application running - what will you do when your users want additional functionality or want things re-arranged on the screen? Maintenance can be a nightmare.

In this webinar we’ll take you on a tour of Servoy’s FREE iPhone Application Builder. This application will allow you to build and deploy iPhone applications without writing a single line of code.
This webinar is intended for anyone interested in Servoy - whether you’ve used it before or not.

Go ahead and register NOW, and we’ll send you a reminder email about an hour before:https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/878257454

Well, we’ve been a little busy here at Servoy! The “radio silence” on this blog is due to the fact it has been an “all hands on deck” effort to get the latest Servoy release out the door… well - we did it. We’re pleased to announce the immediate availability of Servoy 4.1.

So, what’s the big deal - you’re asking? In a word: plenty! Here’s a quick overview:

• SolutionModel - Create objects on-the-fly
• Virtual Data For Forms - You can now create a new dataSource from any data and bind it to a new form
• Up to 50% faster solution loading
• Ability to do a “clean” import from the Server Admin page
• “Create Log Server” option when setting up auto-tracking
• New arguments for logging a user out that includes the ability to open a new solution
• Outline view for forms- shows all the objects (named and un-named)
• Option in Developer that allows you to see all of the objects from modules in context
• Single record saves
• Removing and getting a list of applied table filters
• Adding i18n keys dynamically at runtime
• Getting the SQL statement that generated an error
• DBTreeView bean - allows checkboxes to be non-editable
• Many code-completion enhancements - it will now work for objects referenced by variables
• Control+L works both ways: to show a form in client as well as other way around
• Ability to synchronize a single form - rather than an entire solution
• Added a context menu to show the form you’re editing the script on in the Form Designer
• Font and color choosers now available on the stylesheet editor
• Option to specify the number of rows of sample data to export - rather than max of 10,000
• …. and about 350 other minor enhancements and fixes!

You can get the full listing of all the betas and release candidates on our free, online web forum. In addition, I’ll be hosting a “What’s New in Servoy 4.1″ hour-long webinar TOMORROW - December 3rd at 10:00am PST (1:00pm EST). To register for the webinar CLICK HERE.

In addition to all the great new features in Servoy 4.1 - we’ve also changed our tagline and updated our web site. When you go to the new site - you’ll notice our “Fast. Flexible. Sexy. SaaS.” messaging right away. The old tagline “Smart Technology for Smart Clients” was a little too ambiguious - and we got some great feedback from analysts and press that we needed to be more focused on “what we do.” I think our new tagline sums it all up very nicely.

I also wanted to extend a huge THANKS to all the analysts and press folks that have given us such great feedback and support: Frank Ohlhorst, Amy Wohl, Joel Dreyfuss, Dan Tynan, David Strom, Ray Valdes, Stephen Hendrick, Al Hilwa, Robert Mahowald, Michael Dortch, Mark Driver, Carl Howe, Robert X. Cringely, Vishy Venugopalan, Jodi Mardesich, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Finley, Lana Gates, Tom Murphy, Jim Duggan, Diego Lo Giudice. If I forgot your name - I’m sorry! There have been so many people that have contributed to our success - please email me and I’ll make the correction.

I sincerely hope that Servoy 4.1 stimulates your imagination into creating a kick-ass SaaS or on-premises (or both!) application that will improve the lives of your customers and your own bottom line in 2009 and beyond.

Bob Cusick, President, Servoy USA

Our CEO Jan Aleman will be speaking at this event - you can see him on Wed, October 29 at 1:30 pm in room 301. His topic is “Selecting Your SaaS Platform”. He’ll be comparing and contrasting .NET, Java, Servoy as well as Flash, Flex and Silverlight!

We also have some FREE tickets for the Expo — see the “yada yada” below from the nice people at Dr. Dobb’s Journal who put this event on. Its a BIG one!  A couple of thousand “developers, developers, developers” all descending on “bean town”.  Hope you can join us too.

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Software Development Best Practices 2008
Conference: October 27-30, 2008

Expo: October 28-29, 2008

Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA

http://www.SDBestPractices.com

As an exhibitor, Servoy has made it easy for you to attend!

Simply register with the priority code 8EEXH2 to get a FREE EXPO PASS. Your Expo Pass includes admission to the Expo Floor, all Keynotes, the Developer Bowl, Technical Sessions, the Opening Floor Reception with free food & drinks.

And as an added incentive, we are happy to extend a special CONFERENCE DISCOUNT to our clients. Save $200 off any conference pass when you register with the priority code 8EEXH2.

Software Development Best Practices 2008 is where industry leaders gather to learn about the latest business-critical technologies, network with peers, engage with leading vendors and get inspiration from software visionaries. Don’t miss 140+ in-depth training sessions taught by the industry’s most qualified instructors plus nightly networking events and a lively Expo floor.

Registration is easy – either sign-up online http://www.SDBestPractices.com by October 23 (at noon Pacific Time) or bring a copy of this email with you to the Hynes Convention Center starting October 27 to register on-site.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN BOSTON.

Well - it’s HERE! Servoy 4.1 pre-release is now available for download. You can read the release notes on the forum.

What’s the big deal in Servoy 4.1? Well, it’s all about the power of customization. In addition to a bunch of fixes and enhancements, the big “new” thing is the SolutionModel node in the Solution Explorer.

This new SolutionModel node allows you to modify or create new forms and form objects - on-the-fly at runtime! Oh yeah, it also works in the Web Client!

This means that you can modify any form, create a new, blank for - or programatically use form inheritance (new in 4.0) to make a derivative of an existing form. Now, there are lots of other tools in the market that will allow you to create new objects on-the-fly at runtime, however, no other tool allows you to create objects and have them function automatically the way that Servoy 4.1 does.

For example, all the objects you create will automatically “just work” - including data broadcasting and full AJAX functionality -  just by adding a single line of code to your solution.

This will work for all types of form objects including: forms, fields, labels, buttons, and tabpanels (portals coming in b2). You can add whatever controls you want to any form - and for the first time you can even change any of the properties on objects (even the databinding!) on any object at runtime.

When adding or changing forms you can add/change the parts of a form at runtime to create sub-summary reports on-the-fly! You can even assign global methods to all of the form events (onShow, onHide, onLoad, etc.) as well as all of the form methods (onNewRecord, onDeleteRecord, etc.) This really opens up the world of possibilities for customization of your applications by end-users.

There are, of course a couple of caveats:

1. You can only change the properties of an object on a form that is not currently visible;
2. The changes only persist as long as the client session does. So if you want to keep the changes between sessions - you need to code your solution to restore the changes the user made.

Remember - this is PRE-RELEASE software - so make SURE you back up your databases and workspace before trying it out. The best thing would be just do a FRESH install of 4.1 into a new directory and new workspace, and then import the solution(s) you want to work with - that way you can continue your “normal” development in 4.0 and try out the new SolutionModel in 4.1 and not have to worry about it.

We would love your feedback on what you plan to do with this new functionality. Please either leave a comment here - or post it to our Online Forum.

Many thanks to journalist extraordinaire - Frank Ohlhorst for being kind enough to include us in his excellent eWEEK cover story article “Armed & Ready” in the August 2008 issue.

In the article Frank outlines the “7 Criteria For Choosing The Right Tool” - and it sounds like it was custom-designed to describe exactly what Servoy is. NOTE: The stuff in italics does not appear in the original article and are my comments:

1. Commonality: A single development model has to cover both desktop and web users, and support native RDBMS, SQL Server, MySQL and PDF reporting. They didn’t mention Sybase, DB2, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc. that Servoy supports - but hey, you get the idea.
   
2. Speed of Development: The tool must have a professional IDE that reduces or eliminates the need for handwritten code. Eclipse is the most-used IDE on the plant - and code samples allow you to get fully working code in a single click.
3. Performance: The tool has to be on par with desktop-only applications. Of course performance is important - but so is scalability. Any product is “fast” with a single user!
4. Ease of use: Language tools are intuitive and allow faster development than Visual Basic, PHP  or others. Yes - especially these days. You want your tool to be more productive, and not less productive. That’s why we’ve done a direct comparison between Servoy and .NET.
5. Versatility: There is complete end-user customization of forms, field rules (via XML) and styles (via CSS). In Servoy you can also extend and integrate the environment itself via Java.
   
6. Integrity: All processing is centralized There would be no client/server or thick client updates. We totally agree - that’s why Servoy’s Web Client processing is all done on the server side - maximum performance, maximum security, maximum concurrency.
7. Functionality: Extensive use of standard library functions cover just about anything, including instance XML DOM manipulation, instead of having to use third-party libraries or extensive custom development. Servoy has it - CHECK!

If you’re thinking about rewriting your application in a tool - make sure that whatever you choose meets those 7 criteria. It’ll save you tons of time and money!

The development team is working hard to put the finishing touches on the public preview of Servoy 4.1. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so I’ll keep you in suspense a little while longer.

If you were at ServoyWorld, or attended the last Virtual User’s Group - then you know what 4.1’s all about. If not, then sit tight - we’ll announce the availability here FIRST!

Well - it looks like our PR pro, Brenda Christensen is at it again! An article about Servoy was just published in Software Magazine. Software Magazine is targeted to ISVs and contains all the latest and greatest technologies that would interest ISVs of all sizes.

Today Joel Dreyfuss, the editor-in-cheif of Red Herring published a story about Servoy! Joel is a very influential journalist and has been around technology since… well… since there WAS technology. We had the pleasure of meeting him in person in Amsterdam shortly before ServoyWorld - he’s a terrific person - and has witnessed the birth of every technology you can think of.

Thanks for the shout-out, Joel!

I just got back from a quick trip to San Francisco for an IDC analyst event. It just so happened that Oracle’s OpenWorld conference was taking place at the same time over at Moscone Center - which explains why I had such a difficult time getting a hotel reservation!

Anyway, Servoy’s PR expert Brenda Christensen managed to work with Emilie Ingram from IDC to set up a separate meeting at the Royal Hotel (where the IDC event was taking place) with noted analyst Al Hilwa. This is really a hard thing to do - but Mr. Hilwa was in town for the Oracle event and there was a “hole” in his schedule (I think it was for dinner - SORRY, Al!).

It’s the first time I’ve met Mr. Hilwa in person. We’ve talked on the phone twice when we were briefing him on Servoy 4.0 and more recently on the upcoming Servoy 4.1, and in those conversations things just really “clicked.”

He’s one of those guys that is just crazy smart. He was an analyst at Gardner in the late 90’s and then moved to Senior Product Manager on the SQL Server database team at Microsoft. He has a ton of real world expertise in enterprise computing and the whole application development and product lifecycle management “thing.”

He had some really interesting observations, insights and advice for where he sees Servoy in the marketplace and in particular how our go to market strategy was particularly interesting. Well, needless to say, that hour absolutely FLEW by! Seriously, it seemed like we had just sat down and it was time for him to bolt off to the next customer meeting (Oracle).

Next, it was off to the IDC event where there were 9 more analysts who specialized in all sorts of industries and market segments. There were also about 90 other people from companies of all sizes who were invited to come and get acquainted with the IDC folks.

What a cool event! It was really cool to talk to some of the other business folks there and understand what business they were in, and talk to (and listen to!) all the other analysts. Talk about a great education… so thanks to Mr. Hilwa, Ms. Ingram and the IDC folks for a great evening.