Why would you move to SaaS-based only? Why not a hybrid model?

Hybrid software development platforms combine the best of two approaches - on-premises and in the cloud - to meet a wide range of customer needs. Combined with mobile enterprise deployment, ISVs can use a hybrid approach to offer customers choices that meet their budgeting, resource, and timing needs and maximize revenue.

Join me for an active discussion on how to grow your profits and subscription, and the key characteristics that your customers are looking for.

Date: Thursday, June 25

Time: 10am PT/1pm ET (additional time zones: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/)

Register today: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/897269784

P.S.: More about our hybdrid offering:  www.servoy.com/SaaS. Also, crunch the numbers yourself with our TCO calculator and see how much money you can save with Servoy: www.servoy.com/tco.

We hope to see you in Thursday’s webinar.

Ilyse pinged me that she saw and interesting article on a popular .Net newssite with the title above. I’m not very suprised by it, Microsoft has a long history of creating new ways of doing things (think ODBC, OLE-DB, ADO, LINQ, etc, etc) and then dropping them. Bad news is that many developers have to continously rewrite their software to Microsofts ever changing mind. With Servoy you always connect the same way to databases and it’s ready for the future! And we don’t plan to drop Oracle support any time soon!

Read all about it here

Thousand Oaks, CA (June 15, 2009) - Servoy, an award-winning platform provider for fast, flexible, and sexy SaaS solutions, today announced a new release of its leading SaaS platform — Servoy 4.13. Servoy’s platform allows development of hybrid applications — which can be deployed as SaaS and on-premises through both a browser and a native client — from a single code base.

Unlike other platforms, Servoy applications do not need remote video technology such as Citrix and Microsoft Remote Desktop to run over the web. Servoy applications typically require up to 10x less server resources than applications deployed using Citrix and Remote Desktop.

“This is a major breakthrough,” said Jan Aleman, CEO, Servoy. “Running native applications over the web without the need for third party technology is unique with significant cost savings — not only licensing costs, but also server and management costs.”

Additionally, Servoy addresses some of the problematic issues of Remote Desktop technologies — mainly hardware access. “Printing and file system integration is always cumbersome and often requires additional tools and costs,” Aleman said, “Servoy’s native client technology has built-in capabilities to access any type of connected hardware with direct access to the local file system. Even more, it is possible to enable native integration with applications that are running locally.”

Servoy has also recently released a free calculator to estimate redevelopment cost and total cost of ownership at servoy.com/tco. Using the Servoy TCO Calculator, ISVs now can quickly estimate the potential savings of implementing Servoy.

“IT decision makers face continually escalating development and administrative costs,” said Aleman. “The new Servoy TCO Calculator allows customers to make strategic IT decisions even faster and enables them to visualize the potential benefits of Servoy. Through our ISV Assurance Program, Servoy partners with ISVs in modernizing their applications — on time, on spec and on budget — guaranteed.”

Join Paul Bakker, Project Manager at Servoy, for a one-hour, information-packed webinar to learn the ins and outs of advanced JavaScript. Watch for a more in-depth description of the upcoming webinar to follow shortly. All you need to attend this webinar is a web browser and a telephone. Make sure to register as soon as possible if you plan to attend.

To register for the Special Servoy Webinar, click HERE.

Jan Aleman, Servoy CEO, will be a featured keynote speaker at this year’s SaaS (Software as a Service) University in Chicago. If you are an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) utilizing or considering SaaS, this conference focuses on marketing and strategic considerations regarding SaaS — such as licensing models, hosting issues and more.

Check out the complete conference agenda.

Take advantage of these offers:
Servoy is a Silver Sponsor and there are 2 FREE tickets to give away (a $2400 USD value)!
Remember, there are ONLY 2 Complimentary SaaS University Registrations available, so hurry!
Contact Yvo Boom today by email at yboom@servoy.com or via phone: 805-990-1865.

Servoy is giving away 10 free copies of The 2009 Softletter SaaS Report!
The just released report contains 425 pages with the most valuable SaaS information. For more information, click HERE.
To sign-up today for the Servoy Softletter Report Raffle, send an email to Carla Benassi at cbenassi@servoy.com.

Register TODAY for the SaaS University and Save $100!
To save an additional $100, type “SERVOY100″ in the promotional code field when you sign up. The special coupon applies to both the two-day SaaS University sessions and the combined two-day/workshop options available to attendees.
To register for the SaaS University, click HERE.

Imagine elections in Europe powered by Servoy! Last week, that is exactly what happened. Servoy was used both on the back end and front end to administer and publish the results during elections held in Comune di Nuoro, an Italian municipality. An early adopter of Servoy technology, Comune di Nuoro has been using Servoy technology for over five years. During the elections, data in the press room from video feeds, mail and reports were automatically updated to the election website; as well as forwarded to governmental institutions — all powered by Servoy!

Comune di Nuoro also uses Servoy-developed applications for: social services (with very sensitive data); help and care of the elderly; street incidents reporting; forum and web backoffice management; buildings management; and network inventory.

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!