AJAX, agile programming are highlighted by Tibco, Rally

13.02.2006
Two trendy software development technologies, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and agile programming, are being advanced this week with rollouts from Tibco Software and Rally Software.

Featured is a new version of Tibco's General Interface development platform that includes a free deployment option.

Although AJAX technology has gotten hot in the past year, General Interface has featured AJAX-style development since 2001. The General Interface development platform is being upgraded this week by Tibco, which acquired General Interface in the fall of 2004.

The platform currently has an installed base of several thousand users, according to Tibco.

But with General Interface Version 3.1, a new deployment option called General Interface Professional Edition is intended to boost that installed base. The Enterprise Edition is being upgraded as part of the rollout, also.

Professional Edition features a licensing plan that lets developers build and test applications for free. Applications can be deployed to the general public at no cost; privately deployed applications start at $499 for five concurrent users. The goal of Professional Edition is "to make the technology available and affordable to a much broader developer community," said Kevin Hakman, director of product marketing for General Interface at Tibco.