Software Testing Tools Blog – Testertools

LAFAYETTE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–nSyte Software, a Colorado start-up specializing in software testing tools,  announce the launch of its new product called nQuire which will help software development companies audit code real-time to proactively address the potential inadvertent use of licensed open source software.

“There’s nothing wrong with utilizing free open source code”

Use of open source software has exploded in recent years among software development companies of all sizes. Pressure on companies to keep software development costs low and meet demanding development deadlines has resulted in more programmers looking for ways to crunch more code in less time. The result is that more proprietary software may inadvertently contain open source code, much of which is subject differing and often cumbersome license agreements.

“There’s nothing wrong with utilizing free open source code,” states Philip Bice, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for nSyte Software. “The issue gets tricky, however, when a company needs to certify that there either isn’t any open source in their product or that they have complied with all necessary licensing terms when open source has been used. Ignorance isn’t an excuse and stating that you are compliant only to find out that is not the case can be a costly mistake, both legally as well as from a product reengineering perspective,” he adds.

Many outsourced software developers have contracts requiring them to provide details of any known open source software used during development. “We’re keenly interested in a product that will raise any red flags about the use of open source software during a project and not months or years later after we’ve invested thousands of programming hours,” says Ryan Shuttleworth, CEO of Cobalt Storm, a SaaS development shop based in the United Kingdom. “Getting an accurate view of any open source code in a few seconds is a massive time saver and risk reducer. The cost of getting it wrong is very high,” he adds.

While Bice admits that other open source code auditing tools exist, he points out that most of them stress a one-time review after a program has been completed. “Our nQuire tool is quite unique in that it provides a highly cost effective way to audit software code real-time during development in order to help companies proactively manage any open source licensing issues before it becomes a problem,” he says. It’s an approach, nSyte Software believes, that promises to save some companies tens of thousands in reprogramming dollars while keeping companies legally compliant on a continual basis.

The nQuire audit tool works by comparing program coding to date against a database of thousands of the latest known open source software – either on an ad hoc basis or each time a software build is triggered. Any open source code used can be quickly identified to determine what, if any, work-around is required in order to avoid potential open source software licensing issues. Because nQuire is a subscription based software audit tool, software developers of all sizes will pay as little as $250 per month to get the protection they need to be legally compliant with open source code licensing. According to Bice, the competition charges as much as $20,000 for a one-time opens source software audit, making nSyte’s tool a much more affordable alternative.

The launch of nQuire could not come at a better time. With over 50,000 software development companies and $220 billion in annual software revenues in the U.S. according to Hoover’s, Bice expects first-time subscriptions for nQuire’s on-demand software auditing to be robust. “Informal discussions I’ve had with CIOs of several large corporations point to a growing concern over the use of open source software,” he says. “A few of them have even admitted that because of the sheer enormity of their company’s software code they have absolutely no idea how much open source could be in use.”

nSyte Software is betting that the peace-of-mind, sleep-better-at-night factor of nQuire will prompt many software development companies to finally take a proactive approach toward managing the use of open source code during development and not afterward. So far, early market analysis is positive and suggests a majority of software development companies would easily adopt a true code auditing tool if it were both easy to use and affordable. Because nQuire is a cloud-based solution and requires no up-front investment, that should not be a problem. Indeed, nSyte Software is quietly confident they have the right tool with the right subscription pricing to address a risk that’s much on the minds of CIOs having trouble falling asleep at night.

About nSyte Software

nSyte Software offers best of breed tools and services focused on helping organizations to identify inefficiencies in their software development, quality assurance and project management processes, to implement the right tools to build higher quality software and to improve their time to market, in a manner more responsive to customer needs. nSyte Software makes its customers more successful and more profitable by only offering tools and services capable of demonstrating a quick return on investment. It is an approach that sets nSyte Software apart from the competition and has been proven effective in serving businesses of all sizes, from independent development shops to Fortune 500 organizations.

Visit www.nsytesoftware.com for more information.

Things seem to be hotting up for android smartphone users.

Google is the latest to bring out a software tool for the Android phone app. The free software, which is intended to make it easier for people to write applications has been under development for a year.

User testing has been done mainly in schools with groups that included sixth graders, high school girls, nursing students and university undergraduates who are not computer science majors.

Screen shot of Googles android app in action.

The App Inventor team has created blocks for just about everything you can do with an Android phone, as well as blocks for doing “programming-like” stuff– blocks to store information, blocks for repeating actions, and blocks to perform actions under certain conditions. There are even blocks to talk to services like Twitter.

For more detailed information on this excellent Google App Inventor for Android which is free to download click here http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/.

www.iquate.com announced today that following a comprehensive nine month review and testing process, iQSonar is the first third-party tool to be verified by Oracle’s License Management Services (LMS) group, as having the detail and level of accuracy needed to support an effective Oracle license management process.

Oracle’s LMS group assists companies in managing their Oracle software license risk by ensuring Oracle customers are correctly licensed for the software they are using. However, one of the key challenges for LMS and their customers is establishing an accurate inventory of Oracle software in use within complex IT networks.

iQSonar automates the process of uncovering all information on installation and usage of Oracle database software, options and management packs across physical and virtual/partitioned Unix and Windows platforms in large, complex networks.

This formal verification by Oracle LMS assures customers that the information on Oracle software deployment and usage produced by iQSonar will be accepted by Oracle as accurate and comprehensive.

“Oracle licensing is complex. As a result Oracle customers sometimes pay for software that is not being used, or are unintentionally using software they haven’t paid for”, said Pat Durkin, iQuate CEO “iQSonar automates the discovery and analysis of Oracle software on customer networks. Armed with accurate data, Oracle customers can now ensure they are making well informed decisions on their spend and remain solidly in control of their license risk.”

Inventory carried out manually or with non verified tools risks inaccuracy and typically involves spreadsheets and months of effort. iQSonar automates this task, saving time and providing reports in a format directly accepted by Oracle as an accurate statement of software deployment.

OAT is an Open Source Security tool designed to check the password strength of Microsoft Office Communication Server users. After a password is compromised, OAT demonstrates potential UC attacks that can be performed by legitimate users if proper security controls are not in place.

OAT has a user friendly tabbed interface that begins with a password strength test feature. Once the OAT user has successfully elicited the password, attack modules from subsequent tabs can be used for launching UC attacks against valid, registered OCS users.

Features Include

• Online Dictionary Attack
• Presence Stealing
• Contact List Stealing
• Single User Flood Mode (Internal)
• Domain Flood Mode (Internal)
• Call Walk (Internal/External)
• Play Spam Audio
• Detailed Report Generation

View Testertools.com to access Microsoft OCS Assessment Tool

A event worth attendening if you live in  asia that is the STEP AUTO Conference to be held in Gurgaon India on 9^th July, 2010. Featuring AppLabs, the world’s largest software testing and quality management company , Kalyana Rao Konda, Vice President for Technology Vertical and Process function at AppLabs, will be the plenary speaker there.

The presentation will provide insights into why TCoEs are becoming more viable as an alternative to maintaining internal Quality Assurance organizations and bring a factory like efficiency to organizations that have historically lacked testing maturity. The presentation also looks at how TCoEs play a pivotal role in lowering Quality Assurance and maintenance costs while enabling tighter alignment of IT with business objectives. The speaker will give audience a detailed description of the AppLabs’ TCoE, which is delivered using proprietary SCORE (Standardize Centralize Optimize Review Expand) methodology. In addition, the presentation will focus on quality analysis tools and techniques and help organizations achieve Return on Investment (ROI) and efficiency gains.

The STEP AUTO Conference is one of the most important information technology events for software testing professionals in India. The conference brings together software test professionals, testing gurus, academicians and service / product vendors to share their ideas and software testing related experiences.

Media contact details

Vijayalakshmi Kara,
AppLabs,
+91 (40) 23558000/ +91 9849083391,
Vijaya.lakshmi@applabs.com

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that its Open Accessibility Workgroup is releasing IAccessible2 for Windows under the BSD license. It is also announcing the availability of AccProbe, a new desktop application testing tool that is available under the BSD license.

AccProbe uses IAccessible2 platform services to assist developers in discovering and correcting code problems in their Windows applications. It was developed in Eclipse by IBM and donated to The Linux Foundation’s Open Accessibility Workgroup.

At this year’s CSUN Conference on Disabilities, Adobe Systems Incorporated discussed plans to support IAccessible2 in the next major releases of Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) and Adobe Reader(R). IAccessible2 is already supported in IBM Lotus Symphony, Firefox, and Eclipse. Assistive Technology (AT) vendors supporting the API include JAWS, NVDA, Window-Eyes and ZoomText.

“Adobe applauds The Linux Foundation’s release of IAccessible2 under a BSD license,” said Andrew Kirkpatrick, group product manager for Accessibility at Adobe. “IAccessible2 contains important technological improvements that we plan to incorporate into upcoming versions of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash(R) Player, and Adobe AIR(R) in order to continue improving on existing accessibility support in these products.”

The license change to BSD makes it easier to integrate open source AT into proprietary Windows environments, making programs more accessible to computer users with disabilities. Because the BSD license is designed to allow software released under the license to be incorporated into proprietary products, Windows users with disabilities can gain access to more applications while all Windows users will experience more reliable, fully tested applications.

“The Open Accessibility workgroup is working hard to ensure all developers can incorporate the IAccessible2 API into their work for the benefit of all persons with disabilities,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “By transitioning to the BSD license and providing important testing tools for developers, the workgroup is demonstrating our commitment to computer access for all.”

IAccessible2 is accessibility API for Windows and facilitates access to applications like Firefox and IBM Lotus Symphony for persons with disabilities. It fills critical accessibility API gaps left by Microsoft’s Active Accessibility API (MSAA). Various governments worldwide are mandating accessibility in electronic and information services. For example, the U.S. government’s $40 billion annual budget for IT procurement complies with the law popularly known as “Section 508,” which is moving towards requiring API-based accessibility services.

ATs enable individuals who are blind or visually impaired to read online text and provide the means for individuals who do not have the use of their arms and hands to write and correspond. ATs also enable individuals who cannot speak or hear to participate on today’s teleconferences. For Windows developers, IAccessible2 implementation may be added to their existing MSAA-enabled applications in order to support richer functionality.

“AccProbe is the only game in town for developers and testers who wish to leverage IAccessible2 in their desktop applications or test rich Internet applications in IA2-enabled browsers,” said Michael Squillace, IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center Software Engineer. “Extending our commitment to support AccProbe for The Linux Foundation IAccessible2 effort can help developers make applications more accessible for people with disabilities.”

Related Links

– The Linux Foundation’s Open Accessibility Workgroup homepage: http://a11y.org.

– More information on IAccessibility2: http://a11y.org/ia2

– Getting started with AccProbe: http://accessibility.linuxfoundation.org/a11yweb/util/accprobe/

– About the BSD license: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses

– About “Section 508″: http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm

If you’re looking a company that leads the way in test automation you should seek out T plans robot enterprise automation software testing tool.

Screenshot of  Safari 5

Released recently, the tool supports Apple’s Safari 5 web browser adding to the already extensive list of web browsers  including Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Its Robot Enterprise automation , comes as part of T-Plan’s ongoing application test acceleration and compatibility (ATAC) program that it has launched in cooperation with its US distribution partner – nSyte Software – that seeks to dramatically shorten developer’s time to market by offering support for new web browsers and application platforms the same day they are released.

For additional information please visit www.t-plan.com.

Marwein is a test tool for html pages.

It offers a graphical interface to create an run test cases, as well as a “batch mode” for running tests via a shell script. Marwein is based on the Httpunit library.

Each test case consists of several “tasks” that are executed one after the other. Each task represents either a user interaction with the web page (e.g. ClickButton, FollowLink, FillForm) or some kind of test (e.g. RegexpMatcher, PageCheker).

To access the tool please visit Testertools.com

Proxpy is a TCP proxy and debugging tool.

Proxpy runs on Windows, Linux, Unix and any other system that supports java.

The tool can be used for debugging TCP communications, tunneling over SSL, converting SSL to non-SSL, forwarding traffic.

For more information on this tool visit Testertools.com.

froglogic GmbH have announced  that Squish 4.0, a major new release of its leading, crossplatform and cross technology GUI test automation tool is now available.

Squish can test applications based on a variety of GUI technologies, including Nokia’s Qt Software Development Frameworks,  Java SWT/Eclipse RCP and AWT/Swing, Mac OS X Carbon/Cocoa, native Windows eg MFC,  Web/HTML/AJAX,  iPhone/iPod/iPad CocoaTouch

Squish can also test applications on many different platforms, such as Windows, Linux and various Unixes (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, etc.) and Embedded platforms.

Squish stands out from other GUI testing tools by giving test engineers the freedom to record and write tests using familiar scripting languages such as JavaScript, Perl, Python, and Tcl. Furthermore, Squish provides extremely tight integration with the specific GUI technologies it supports. This gives testers unprecedented access to the internals of the applications they are testing (to data items, controls, and widgets, etc.), and also leads to the production of very robust and stable GUI tests.

Squish 4.0 delivers many major new features including, Complete compatibility with existing tests created with Squish 3.x., A completely new cross-platform GUI test development environment (IDE) based on Eclipse technology.  A new Squish edition that supports the automated GUI testing of native Windows applications based on toolkits such as MFC, .NET, Windows Forms, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and so on as well as aA new Squish edition that supports automated GUI testing of CocoaTouch iPhone, iPod Nano and iPad applications.

“With Squish 4.0 we have broadened Squish’s scope to encompass more GUI technologies, and at the same time made Squish easier and more convenient to use, as well as more flexible and powerful. Throughout the development of Squish 4.0 we made technical previews and betas available to customers and used their feedback to ensure that we stayed focused on and responsive to our customers’ practical needs. We are very excited to finally release this major new version of Squish to the public.” said Reginald Stadlbauer, CEO and co-founder of froglogic.

A 10 minutes introduction video to Squish 4.0 is available at froglogic.com.