MKS Interoperability Times

MKS Software Inc.

MKS Partner News: Mitsui Knowledge Industry co. Ltd.
MKS Toolkit and Virtual Server Licensing
Customer Alert: MKS Toolkit Users VISTA Compatibility Reminder
Working with X Vision with plans to Move to Windows VISTA?
Attention MKS Toolkit Valued Customers!
Independent Evaluation Gives MKS the Highest Score for Current Requirements Management Offering
Upcoming MKS Events
MKS Toolkit Quick Tips
Buy MKS Products Online

MKS Partner News: Mitsui Knowledge Industry co. Ltd.

MKS has worked with this important partner in Japan for over 10 years. Originally Mitsui, the company now operates under the name of MKI and have been one of our largest and most successful business partners.

Over the years MKI has concentrated on customers porting applications from UNIX to Windows in their marketplace and have many customers who have used their services for years. MKI has trained support staff and therefore support their customers locally. MKI has also translated much of the MKS documentation into Japanese.

Long term accounts include many well know organizations in the business sectors of Science, Banking and Finance, and Engineering. These are only a small sample of the more than 300 accounts MKI has worked with during the past 10 years. Customers in Japan who have a need for either UNIX/Linux to Windows Migration or scripting on Windows, you will find that MKI has vast experience and can be of great assistance to you.

We salute MKI for their long term partnership with MKS. You can find more information about MKI and MKS at http://www.mki.jp/products/manufacture/mks/mkstoolkit.htm.

MKS Toolkit and Virtual Server Licensing

MKS Toolkit is compatible with Virtual Server, correct licensing is required. Each Virtual Server is treated as Microsoft treats the product; if you have 5 Virtual Servers, each having access to MKS Toolkit, you will require a minimum of a 5 user MKS Toolkit license. Since MKS Toolkit is licensed on a per user/machine basis, whether you have 5 Virtual servers on 1 physical machine or on 5 physical machines, you need a license for every user running on each server.

If you have further questions regarding Virtual Servers or would like more information, please contact: mailto:tk_info@mkssoftware.com

Customer Alert: MKS Toolkit Users VISTA Compatibility Reminder

If you are working with an older version of MKS Toolkit and have updated to VISTA you may be experiencing some problems. Are you aware that undocumented APIs are not present in DLLs, APPInit_DLLS are no longer processed (DLL hooking)? Have you run into a "Penalty Box" where you're being asked "are you sure you want to move the mouse there?" What about Virtualization? Some XP enabled features are now disabled by default. These are just some of the issues. Also with the MKS Runtime products 'Sockets" plain and simply DO NOT WORK on VISTA. So Runtime customers deploying to VISTA, need to act now to get updated and tested!

So what do you need to do to get updated?

MKS Toolkit v9.2p1 now supports Microsoft Windows Vista. Please go to: http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/upgradeform.asp to update TODAY!!! Or please call 1-800-637-8034 or +1-703-803-3343 or via email at tk_info@mkssoftware.com.

For information on what's included in the MKS Toolkit v9.2p1: http://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/rn/relnotes_tk92p1.asp

Working with X Vision with plans to Move to Windows VISTA?

You can now replace your PC X/Server with MKS X/Server and everything will work as it did before. MKS X/Server is Vista and 64-bit compatible and can save you money! Windows-based PC's continue to grow in the Enterprise - but the fact remains - there will always be end users needing the computing power of UNIX/Linux. Whether you are looking for new PC X Servers or you are interested in reducing your existing X Server maintenance costs, MKS can help.

The MKS X/Server can provide the following benefits:

An immediate cost savings versus your yearly Exceed maintenance.
Ongoing annual cost savings which could be as high as 80%
Significant savings on any new PC X Server licenses you may need in the future.

Features include:

Secure Shell 2 Support included
FTP and secure FTP clients
3D Graphics - OpenGL and GLX support. No additional 3D license is needed

MKS X/Server brings the Power of UNIX/Linux to Windows. Learn more on how you can better meet business demands, yet save substantial dollars.

For more information on the MKS X/Server visit: http://www.mkssoftware.com/products/mksx/

Attention MKS Toolkit Valued Customers!

To ensure your free copy of MKS Toolkit version 9.2p1, it is important your Preferred Customer Subscription (PCS), documented at http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/services.asp has not lapsed.

PCS is a 12 month maintenance contract that entitles you to all patches, bug fixes, and product upgrades for the duration of the contract. If you allow your PCS coverage to lapse, the cost to reinstate it can more than double, as you will be charged for "Software Maintenance Reinstatement" at a significantly higher cost. Not only do you benefit from cost savings, renewing your PCS means your business can continue to benefit from using the most up-to-date version of your entitled software.

For details on updating visit: http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/updates.asp. Customers with older versions who wish to update may contact MKS toll free at 1-800-637-8034, direct at 1-703-803-3343, in Europe at +49 711-351775-22 or contact your local reseller at www.mkssoftware.com.

As a reminder, technical support is available via the web http://www.mkssoftware.com, Email mailto:tk_support@mks.com, telephone 1-703-803-7660, and fax 1-703-803-3344, during the hours of 9:00 am to 7:00 pm Eastern US time, Monday thru Friday.

Independent Evaluation Gives MKS the Highest Score for Current Requirements Management Offering

MKS has received the highest score for current offering in Forrester's May 2008 evaluation of the requirements management market "The Forrester Wave(TM) Requirements Management, Q2 2008." MKS received top scores for its current offering in the categories of requirements analysis, reporting, security and solution architecture.

"The product includes outstanding support for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel as requirements input mechanisms and superior support for requirements reuse (both core requirements management capabilities) in addition to great strength in security, workflow, and reporting (all typical capabilities of an ALM solution)," declares Forrester.

For the full story, please visit: http://www.mks.com/press/index.jsp?action=readarticle&article_id=22201

Upcoming MKS Events

Getting to Market Faster: Reusing Software Requirements for Competitive Advantage
Date: 22-Oct-2008
Time: 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, EDT
Details & Registration for this online event: http://www.mks.com/iotimes/reuse-requirements-webinar

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008
Date: 27-Oct-2008 to 29-Oct-2008
Hotel Grand Pacific Le Daiba, Tokyo, Japan
Details & Registration: http://www.gartner.co.jp/symposium/

driveIT
Date: 4-Nov-2008 to 6-Nov-2008
Neue Messe, Stuttgart, Germany
Details & Registration: http://www.hundkmesse.de/driveit/driveit-fachmesse.html

For a list of upcoming Tradeshows, Online and Regional events, please visit http://www.mks.com/press/events.jsp

MKS Toolkit Quick Tips

Q: How do the MKS Toolkit porting products enhance my application?
A: Because MKS Toolkit is implemented on Win32, ported UNIX applications can be enhanced in several major ways:

All the critical APIs for commercial databases (e.g., Oracle, Informix, Sybase, SQL Server), Online Transaction Processing (e.g., Transaction Server, Tuxedo, Encina), third-party widgets (e.g., ICS, INT), NFS, and thousands of other APIs that your application may require, are available and can simply be linked into MKS Toolkit ported applications.
Porting to Windows with MKS Toolkit automatically gives you an implementation for all Windows operating systems (see the supported versions chart for more details).
You can take simple steps to make your application feel more Windows-like, such as storing and retrieving configuration information in the Windows registry and using WinHelp to provide Windows-style help.
You can convert UNIX applications into Win32 DLLs and COM components, to be used and reused both in- and out-of-process (distributed with DCOM) by new and existing Windows applications.
You have access to the Microsoft Visual C++ development environment to build and debug any application ported from UNIX, including X and Motif applications.

Q: Can I maintain common code for both UNIX and Windows versions of my program?
A: Yes, 95% of MKS Toolkit customers maintain a single source baseline for both Windows and UNIX, and the fact that the average customer modifies far less than 0.1% of the application code makes maintaining a single source base easy. Furthermore, you can often maintain the same build environment, using the same 'make' files to build your application. MKS has one customer with over seven million lines of source code who maintains a single source baseline.

Moreover, if you want to evolve your application to take advantage of Windows features such as WinHelp or the registry, the changes to your code using MKS Toolkit are straightforward and easy to conditionally compile, using standard MKS Toolkit #defines.

Q: Can the MKS tape backup products save all information you need to restore a Windows file system?
A: Yes. Enhancements to the tape backup utilities, ref="http://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/man1/tar.1.asp">tar, cpio, pax, etc. save Access Control Lists, in addition to traditional UNIX file information. These backup tools let you preserve all the information you need to fully duplicate a Windows file system.

To get more MKS Toolkit Tips visit our knowledge base at: http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/kb/
To see more on the Porting Guide visit: http://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/sg/#uwpg

To download the Resource Kit visit: http://www.mkssoftware.com/reskit/

Buy MKS Products Online

MKS offers the convenience of purchasing our products directly from our Web Store. Buy and download today!
MKS now offers a 30-day UNCONDITIONAL guarantee:

http://webstore.mkssoftware.com/webstore/

MKS Inc. trusts this information is of interest to you. If you are no longer the correct contact for MKS Toolkit Product Family information or would prefer not to receive this Newsletter, please send a reply to this email with the words "Please Remove" at the beginning of the body of the message. If you know of others who might be interested in this information, please forward their name and email address to tk_info@mkssoftware.com.

Published by MKS Inc.