Catalyst Development

Over the past several years, greylisting has become increasing popular among mail server administrators in an effort to combat spam. It works by having the server temporarily reject any email message from a sender that it does not recognize. This will cause the sender’s mail server to wait for a while and then attempt to resend the message. On the subsequent attempt, the recipient’s mail server will recognize the sender, accept the message and deliver it. The reason that greylisting works is because most spamware doesn’t behave like a standard mail server and won’t attempt to resend messages that have been rejected. It’s an attractive option for many mail server administrators because it’s relatively easy to implement and doesn’t require much in the way of maintenance. There are no rule tables to update, no scripts to write and no Bayesian filters to train to recognize new spam. However, greylisting can introduce new problems of its own. Continue Reading »

Windows Vista introduces new opportunities for developers, but it also introduces a number of challenges if Vista is chosen as the primary development platform. The first decision that you need to make is whether you want to simply support the new operating system as another platform and continue to develop your software under Windows XP or Windows 2000, or if you want to upgrade to Vista. A significant factor in that decision is going to be the programming languages and development tools that you use. Continue Reading »

With the commercial release of Windows Vista just a few weeks away, it is important for developers to prepare for the latest version of the Windows operating system and the changes that it introduces. Many companies that decide to upgrade will typically use phased deployment where the upgrade process occurs over a period of several months. This means that it’s not too late (or too early) to start thinking about what you need to do to ensure your users have a smooth transition to the Vista platform. Continue Reading »