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Stardraw.com Announces Official Release of Stardraw Control 2010

Following its initial preview at InfoComm 2009, Stardraw.com has announced the official release on September 1 of its latest system control application, Stardraw Control 2010. Control 2010 is a significant step up from the previous 2007 version, offering users greater flexibility, even sexier User Interfaces (UIs) and the ability to exploit the ever-increasing processing power of modern hardware.

Control 2010 is, however, fully compatible with 2007 meaning that all current projects can easily be transferred to the new platform and benefit from its improved features and capabilities.

An important addition in the Control 2010 platform is the inclusion of a generic HTTP, or WebServices driver. This means that anything that talks HTTP can talk to any system controlled by Stardraw Control, anywhere. For example, you can use any browser on any device anywhere on the planet as a UI - that includes Smartphones of any kind, including, but not limited to, the ubiquitous iPhone; PDAs, tablet PCs or indeed any device capable of running a web browser, and you can still have all of the advanced graphical features in your UI that you would have on a full-blown PC running a dedicated application.

Key to this is support of Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML). With Ajax, web applications can retrieve data from the server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page - in other words, when you transmit and/or receive new data, the browser does not have to reload the whole page. It is also browser-independent, which means that Control 2010 users can now enjoy exceptionally smooth and fluid UIs deployed through the web browser of their choice.

Another new feature is event logging: deployed projects write all events to a self-contained log file (.txt file) during use so that the installer can review any and all events over any timeframe to analyze and diagnose system activity remotely. In this way, if the client encounters a problem, all he has to do is email the log file to the installer who will be able to identify exactly what happened and when in order to take the appropriate action.

Also new to Control 2010 is the ability to write and debug drivers using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, (including the free Express edition). This is a superb tool for developers wishing to create their own drivers for Control 2010 as it enables them to exploit all of the professional development tools within Visual Studio, such as IntelliSense (Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion), and references to external assemblies, classes etc. Visual Studio can also be used to debug the control program while it is running, allowing serious developers to set breakpoints, examine and set values, and use the full arsenal of professional developers' techniques.

Stardraw Control 2010 also includes a wealth of low-level technological advantages derived from its use of the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5: firstly, the support of both 32- and 64-bit platforms, which means that the software can exploit whatever hardware it is running on to the maximum. The selfsame generated executable will run as a native 32-bit application on a 32-bit machine and as a native 64-bit application on a 64-bit machine, thus maximizing performance. In a similar vein, support of Parallel Extensions means that the application is able to exploit the full number of CPU cores in any machine.

Stardraw.com CEO, David Snipp, commented: "Stardraw Control 2010 uses the very latest technology to provide stunning UIs, blazingly fast performance with scalability, reliability and integration with the very latest development tools from Microsoft that makes writing sophisticated drivers even easier - in any .net programming language you choose. This, together with the ability to be controlled from any type of device means that there are no limits to the level of customization and integration that an installer can provide to their customers."

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Stardraw.com Announces Official Release of Stardraw Control 2010

3rd September 2009

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