Udayan Banerjee

Mobile development tools are changing rapidly. I had started work on comparing cross-platform mobile tools about a month back. I had initially started with a list of 26 tools. Few got added on the way. However, what is most interesting is that in this short period of time one of the tools (Open Plug) was discontinued. It was a Flash based tool. Since Adobe decided to discontinue Flash for mobile in favor of HTML5 – they really had no choice. Another tool (Pyxis Mobile) has been renamed as (Verivo Software). Coming back to mobile tool comparison – I had categorized the tools into five categories (here is an overview). They are: Mobile Web (JavaScript-CSS library), (here is the detail review) Visual Tool (No access to Code), Hybrid App (Leverages embedded browser control), App Generator (Native application for multiple platforms) and Game Builder. In this post I give... (more)

Microsoft’s Second UI Innovation

Critics have always accused Microsoft of copying UI from Apple. As Chris Madden in this interesting post point out that Apple fans state that: “…every Mac OS feature and icon eventually shows up in Windows (and in fairness many do)…” First time Microsoft came up with a revolutionary UI design was when it created the Ribbon. Like most revolutionary design it was thoroughly criticized. Here is one such post – I am sure if you search you will find many more. It was different and if you keep all your previous learning aside, it was much more intuitive. I think they did one big mista... (more)

Cross-Platform Mobile Website Development – a Tool Comparison

Gartner says, in three years, mobile application development projects will outnumber PC projects by 4-1 ratio and in four years, 50% of the people will primarily access their emails from a mobile device. So, the necessity of establishing a mobile channel for your customer is – well a no-brainer. However, should you just build a mobile website or should you also invest in building native applications is not easy to decide. There can be no doubt that you need to have a website optimized for mobile devices. What is the best way to build and maintain that website is not a simple deci... (more)

Is Write Once Run Anywhere Ever Going to Be a Reality?

The interest in mobile applications started towards the end of last millennium! Since then, as the saying goes, lot of water has flown under the bridge. The technology scenario has changed beyond recognition. None of the platforms which are popular today was in existence when we started our mobile journey. In fact, if you look back, you will find that every three years there is a churn in among the popular platforms. One of the top 3 popular mobile platforms will lose out to an upstart and a new leader also emerges. Three Year Technology Churn Cycle Three years back we were still ... (more)

So, You Want to Outsource an Agile Project?

Irrespective of what the Agile Manifesto says (“Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation”) we do require a signed contract for ANY medium to large software outsourcing engagements – and that includes agile projects. Why? Because when there is a commercial arrangement between two parties for delivery of any service where a significant amount of financial transaction is involved, there needs to be a clear agreement on: What is the service that is going to be delivered and what will be the charges for those services? What happens when things go wrong? Do's and Don’ts of how ... (more)