Daily Archives: 23/11/2011

Ten tests for software applications in the cloud

Cloud-based applications are becoming more common these days whether they are on private clouds, public clouds or a combination of both. Testing for cloud-based applications presents its own specific challenges. Understanding how these applications are structured goes a long way in designing and executing appropriate test plans for them. These tests are in addition to the usual unit, system and performance testing you would need to perform on any software application. The following challenges exemplify what these additional dimensions of cloud-based testing are and how to address them:

  1. Browser testing
  2. Mobile platforms
  3. User interface testing
  4. Performance testing
  5. Service provisioning/de-provisioning testing
  6. Distributed cloud testing
  7. Multi-tenancy testing
  8. Graceful degradation testing
  9. Connected/disconnected operations testing
  10. Cloud portability testing

Cloud-based software applications have some additional characteristics compared to non-cloud-based ones. These pose additional challenges but with a systematic, comprehensive approach to test planning, these could be handled appropriately.

Source: http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/Ten-tests-for-software-applications-in-the-cloud

Did you like this? Share it:

Google ends Wave, Buzz, Knol, Health and Google Desktop

6

Most of us in the U.S. are preparing for Thanksgiving, but it looks like Google is getting a head start on its New Years resolutions. As part of an effort to slim down the company’s multiple projects and put more focus on important sectors, it’s ending service for a handful of once-vibrant projects. Among the biggest are Google’s ambitious but under-used collaboration tool, Wave, Twitter competitor Google Buzz, Wikipedia-like aggregate Knol, medical records engine Google Health, and PC file-searching tool Google Desktop.

A lot of the abandoned projects have simply been superseded by newer technology. Google Wave and Google Buzz have both been overshadowed by Google Plus, which is getting a lot more adoption from mainstream users and technocrats alike. Google Desktop began way back in 2004, but its instant search action has been largely duplicated natively in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and OS X. The last version was released in May of last year.By April of 2012 all the above services will be completely shut down.

As Google expands into more and more markets with the incredibly popular Android, and the considerably less popular Google TV, this sort of this is unfortunately inevitable. There are alternatives for nearly all the services that are disappearing, but there are certainly users who will miss them. Google Desktop should at least continue to function in its current state, and Google has already open-sourced the software behind Wave for the truly dedicated to roll their own.

Source: http://www.slashgear.com/google-ends-wave-buzz-knol-health-and-google-desktop-22197451/

Did you like this? Share it:

Samsung Upgrades a Major Android Smartphone

05

Even from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus lock screen, you get a sense that this Google-backed Android smartphone is going to be different from all those that came before it. The reason: You can unlock the screen by quite literally showing your face.

Facial recognition is one of the cool, if still slightly flawed technologies included as part of Android version 4.0, perhaps better known by its yummy moniker Ice Cream Sandwich. Fortunately, you can rely on PINs and other backup plans when your mug fails to unlock the screen, which in dim light and under other circumstances happens more often than you’d like.

Google and its partners haven’t spilled the beans yet on just when consumers in the U.S. can get their hands on the Galaxy Nexus or what it will cost. Verizon Wireless will be selling a device at launch that will exploit its speedy 4G LTE network. But my test version, provided by Google just a day ago, relied on a T-Mobile SIM card tapping into an HSPA + network. It’s the version, which happens to be compatible with T-Mobile and AT&T networks, that Google says will be sold around the world.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/samsung-galaxy-nexus-android-smartphone/story?id=14982230#.TsxZwHITMS0

Did you like this? Share it: