The face of "lock-in" is changing, says open source middleware maker WSO2. The threat has shifted from big box vendors to cloud providers and their platforms, it says. WSO2 has published a checklist with questions that its says you should be asking yourself before you take a dive into the cloud.

When I was at TechEd last month, I was tipped off about a Microsoft project called KittyHawk that would resurrect FoxPro technology as a RAD tool for .NET. I found a partner that was familiar with the project, but wasn't able to squeeze out any details that were worth writing about. Microsoft clammed up when I fished for more information, so it fell onto my backburner.

That is until today, when my friend Mary Jo Foley landed the scoop, and blogged about some of the details that she has learned.

According to the blog post, KittyHawk is an attempt to broaden .NET development to novice programmers to write business applications. It brings a FoxPro/Access style of programming to .NET, and will employ a visual designer with templates and a drag-and-drop interface. The KittyHawk tool will generate XAML.

One of the biggest complaints that I hear about .NET is that it is a moving target. Developers who are still trying to catch up with frameworks introduced in .NET 3.0 now see things changing again in .NET 4.0 and beyond.

What's more, many FoxPro developers still want to write FoxPro applications, and the FoxPro community is still thriving. It makes sense for Microsoft to tap into that pool of developers, and to lower the barrier to entry to .NET programming. Microsoft needs to do just that, because it's competitors are already doing it.

Spring is making Java programming easier to do, Salesforce prides itself on making service creation possible for non-programmers, and there is now an Android mobile app generator. Microsoft found success with VB and FoxPro, and really doesn't have any equivilent technology anymore. It's about time that Microsoft made .NET more accessible.

CollabNet CEO Bill Portelli and I were exchanging e-mails about the state of open source earlier today. Bill offered some insights into where open source communities were concentrating their development work and what trends could be influencing them. One of the topics that he chose to highlight was the effect of cloud on open source. Here's some of what Portelli had to say:

"This is an interesting discussion topic. I interact regularly with dozens of other CEOs and executives in the open source space, as well as cloud computing (i.e. SaaS) application companies. Interestingly, I am seeing an increasing consensus that the "need" to have open source software at the application level is not as great either as more and more deployments move to the cloud. (Note 1: I am discussing application level code versus infrastructure code. Note 2: This is not a black and white comment, rather it's shades of degree and trending). Here's the rationale. First, for the vendor, it is not as important to have their server side code open as the value to user modification is not as critical to the business. Rather, it's more important to have APIs to i) enable integration to a rich set of remote user applications as well as ii) to build a vibrant community to build plug-ins, etc. around the cloud provider. Second, to the end user, i) many modifications they make have a lesser chance of working themselves back into the vendors' SW stack, and ii) there is lesser motivation as most end users wouldn't subsequently install and run the providers server based stacks in their own data center even if the code were available. Again, to the end user, they care more about open frameworks to build their specific extensions, or access a rich set of plug-ins from the community."

I plan to explore this topic in greater detail in the near future. With many organizations building or hybrid private clouds, I think that open source techonlogies are still very relevant for cloud infrastructure - even if applications served up by the cloud are not open source. For instance, Eucalyptus, a start up, has built an open source solution that mimics Amazon Web Services (AWS). That's a good thing. What do you think?

There may be a very good reason why Apple has placed restrictions on what tools and languages iPhone developers may use: It doesn't want anyone else between it and its developers. Remember CodeWarrior? It was once the leading compiler for Mac PowerPC applications. Motorola, which manufacturered the CPUs, bought the compiler. When Apple made the jump from PowerPC to Intel hardware, Motorola struck back by refusing to port the compiler.

Consequently, Apple did not have a good compiler for its OS under 2-3 years later when it built Xcode and Proejct Builder. That lapse of 2-3 years delaying the porting of popular applications including PhotoShop. It was a painful memory for Apple, a source told me. "The memory of other people between [it] and developers is something [it is] scared of."

Of course, there's more to it. Apple doesn't want its apps walking across the street to Android, so to speak. A cross-platform development platform would loosen the hold that iOS has on developers. Apple allows develpoers to write Web applications using just about any way that they would like, but the real action is in the App Store. The App Store is like a hot nightclub that everyone wants to be in; the Web is the public park across the street. Tailgate if you'd like, but you're not getting in.

In the film "The Matrix," actor Keanu Reeves could alter his reality at will; anything was possible within the Matrix. Interestingly, Microsoft has christened a beta of a new free Web application "WebMatrix." Maybe it thinks that it can bend the will of developrs who would typically look toward the LAMP stack for free tooling to take another look at its products.

WebMatrix was launched yesterday, and is comprised of an "express" version of Microsoft’s IIS Web Server, SQL Server Compact Edition, and a view engine that gives developers a templating based approach to ASP.NET MVC that embeds C# and Visual Basic within HTML. Microsoft also supplies code sample, documentation, and links to the open source CodePlex application gallery.

All in all, it weighs in at 15 MB - assuming.NET 4.0 is preinstalled. It can be downloaded through Microsoft's Web App Installer (Web AI).

Whether WebMatrix is enough to win over developers is another story. Express means "limited," and why would a developer switch to a "free" platform that isn't scalable? Developer productivity could be key here. That's what Microsoft does best, and it's what could differentiate its stack.

Microsoft extended Silverlight's reach by millions today with the release of a free Symbian run time. The release comes nearly two years after the project 's beta code was delivered, and brings Silverlight to Nokia S60 5th edition phones. Whether Silverlight's arrival on Symbian can actually help position Microsoft's Silverlight platform as an effective foil against the growing popularity of Android and iPhone among developers is another story.

There is a compelling case for mobile Silverlight application development: developers can reuse their existing .NET programming skills and can take advantage of the platform's rich UI and media capabilities. Silvelright is cross-platform, so applications developed for Windows Phone 7 (when it's actually available) could be ported to Symbian. Microsoft has not yet announced support for Android, but executives have not denied rumors that a project is happening. Regardless, Mono is an option for Android developers whether Microsoft decides to play in Google's backyard or not.

That leaves Apple as the odd one out; it does not permit runtimes on iOS. That's interesting not only because of the competitive dynamics of Apple Vs Microsoft, but Microsoft is being far more open than Apple. Android is arguably open source, and Symbian is the only major open source smart phone OS. Who would have thought that Microsoft would be on the side of developers while Apple lays down restrictions? I guess that the proof will be in how good the apps really are.

Windows 7 is still early in its lifecycle, but Microsoft is already hard at work on Windows 8. Some preliminary indications of where Microsoft is taking the OS emerged on Monday when Windows enthusiast Francisco Martin leaked part of a PowerPoint presentation that the company allegedly gave to HP. Its emphasis was on making PCs that are "always on" and make widespread use of sensors and built-in Web cams to enhance the user experience.

The "always on" concept is simple in theory: PCs should wake from "sleep" mode instantaneously. But it will be a different story in practice. Power management in Windows has always been tricky, because there are so many OEM configurations in the Windows ecosystem. A large OEM such as HP may be able to enhance its performance, but I question whether Microsoft will meet with the same success across the board. There will always be cheaper PCs loaded with commodity hardware and bad drivers that will not perform reliably unless Microsoft becomes more demanding.

Microsoft must get power management right if it wants to remain competitive. It is facing rising competition from devices such as Apple's iPad, and there will likely be a gaggle of gadgets based on Google's Chrome OS. The value proposition of the iPad is that it powers on instantly, and gives the user what they want. Its workflows are simplfied, and the interface is straightforward. Microsoft must play catch up to be a contender in that class of devices. I do not think that porting Windows as we know it to a slate will be a good enough solution.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Windows 7 is selling very well, and is popular with users. The company has also shown that it can push the innovation bar (when it wants to). Windows Phone 7 is an example of how well Microsoft can perform when its back is against the wall, and Windows is now facing what is perhaps its first real competition. Microsoft is demonstrating innovative thinking with its use of sensors and imaging in Windows 8. For instance, users will be identified through their Web cams, and machines will "wake up" when proximity sensors are tripped.

How that will change Windows applications, I do not know yet. I'd imagine that Microsoft would want its partners to offer apps that build on those capabilities. There must be a compelling reason for end users to sit in front of their PCs when more and more smart devices are replacing the functionality of the desktop computer. A good developer experience can help make that happen. Microsoft needs developers now more than ever. I hope that it has more up its sleeve.

The U.S. Supreme Court just came down with a ruling in the long-awaited Bilski case. If the Court ruled too broadly, software patents could have been invalidated. That was not the case. The Roberts Court ruled narrowly, but without providing any guidance or legal test that would have prevented needless litigation from happening well into the future. There is still going to be ridiculus patent lawsuits and countersuits - my patent portfilo is bigger than yours type junk lawsuits. I'm not anti-patent, but many software patents fail to 'wow' me as being anything more than just obvious. That even goes for some patents that are tied to systems. A strong patent system can feed innovation, but inventors and small businesses will suffer as a consequence of the Court's decision.

Last month, Forrester Research released a wave report about companies that provide elastic caching solutions. After speaking with Forrester in some detail, I'm convinced that the technology will become an integral component of application platforms -  both on premises and in the cloud. Now is the time to take notice.

Elastic caching solutions add scale to applications without requiring developers to re-architect applications, or add additional servers or virtual machines. That capability is especially critical in cloud computing, where data can become a bottleneck, and developers have to pay for what computing they use. "People talk about cloud computing being scalable, but data in a database doesn't scale easily," explained analyst Mike Gualtieri, one of the report's authors. "Data is locked into one database, and can't shard across databases without a redesign. Caching can help scale data across multiple instances [of an application]. Microsoft's decision to fold its "Velocity" caching technology into Windows Azure was an astute acknowledgment of this problem, he added.

"People don't understand this yet, but this is actually a cloud story," Gualtieri added. "[Elastic caching] is one of the gaps to be filled in for scaling data in the cloud."

Some caching solutions have advanced the state of the art to where high-speed data analysis is possible through Map/Reduce techniques. In plain English, that means that work is taken to the data instead of moving data to work. That technique can help solve bandwidth problems that would otherwise occur when working with large data sets, Gualtieri explained. Both Oracle and ScaleOut Software, a company that specializes in creating in-memory data grids, have this capability. You may recognize Map/Reduce through its association with Hadoop, an open source project that takes a disk-based approach for working with massive amounts of data. Commercial solutions including Aster Data work much the same way - with varying degrees of performance.

While using all memory is seen as being less economical than a disk-based approach on a very large scale, using Map/Reduce to apply a method on objects/namespaces in an all memory grid creates new opportunites in e-commerce, finance and other applications that require instant (and fault tolerant) data analysis.

Industry heavyweights including IBM, Oracle and currently dominate the elastic caching market, according to Forrester's weighted assessment based on technology and strategy. Newcomers GigaSpaces and Terracotta are likewise listed as leaders. The report also highlights several smaller players as being strong contenders including Gemstone on the Java side, and Alachisoft and ScaleOut Software on the .NET side (although ScaleOut supports both platforms). Oracle, through its acquisition of Coherence, and Gigaspaces originated the category.

Gemstone was recently acquired by VMware, TIBCO is entering the market with a product called "ActiveSpaces," and Terracotta is a possible acquisition target for Red Hat, which is also entering the market, Gualtieri noted. While it has developed its own caching technology, Microsoft's Velocity is not as robust as its partners' solutions , he said. Microsoft traditionally leaves room for its ISV partners to make money, but could realistically acquire either Alachisoft or ScaleOut, he added.

As the week winds down, there are fewer people, parties, and principals at TechEd. But there is a very good reason to stay: helping rebuild the homes of victims of Hurricane Katrina. DevExpress is organizing a home building project on Friday in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Kudos to DevExpress for factoring people into its marketing plan for this week.

It has been five years since disaster struck the area, but the damage is still apparent in many of the city's poorest parishes. I spent approximately two hour touring the damage on Tuesday, and cannot understate how important it is that relief efforts continue. Many homes are rebuilt, but many others remain as they were after the flood. The 9th ward still has homes with holes punched out of their roofs; others are condemned or empty lots.

BP's oil spill may be dominating the headlines, but Katrina victims still need our help. The poorest people didn't have the choice to leave.