The Visual Basic 6.0 product line is now more than a decade old, and the majority of Visual Basic 6.0 customers and developers have adopted the .NET Framework and are in the process of, or have already completed, the migration of their key Visual Basic 6.0 assets. Still, many companies retain a valuable portfolio of stable, legacy Visual Basic 6.0 applications that they would like to continue to support in Visual Basic, either for a year or two while other applications are migrated, or for many years.
This article will provide guidance for companies that want to keep some of their Visual Basic 6.0 assets operational and available indefinitely, while simultaneously mitigating the risks that are inherent in running legacy technologies in a modern environment.
Prior to the introduction of the .NET Framework, Visual Basic 6.0 was the tool of choice for many organizations building LOB applications, because it provided developers with a highly productive and efficient tool for building "forms over data" applications. Vast numbers of Visual Basic 6.0 applications were built, and these applications remain mission-critical components of IT infrastructure for many businesses.
The applications are currently working properly and meeting existing business needs. A replacement would offer no new business value.
The applications are large and need to migrate gradually, with much of the existing legacy code base remaining in production for many years.
The internal functioning of the application no longer is well-understood. Relearning the internal functioning would be costly, and the odds of misunderstanding the internal operation of the application would be high—making migration risky.
The legacy applications have deployment challenges, namely DLL hell, that are becoming increasingly difficult to manage as other software is upgraded, updated, patched, etc.
The company wants to consolidate its physical servers, but can't because legacy applications require older, less efficient hardware.
With IT organizations being tasked to enable new business strategies and increase operational efficiency, the migration of working applications might not be the best use of scarce resources. In addition, most IT organizations can relate to the experience of an application rewrite project gone awry: As Bjarne Stroustrup commented, "Legacy code often differs from its suggested alternative, by actually working and scaling." The trend of failed rewrites is so prevalent that it has led to a shift in thinking about legacy applications, and brought about the notion of "legacy modernization" instead of costly and constant wholesale replacement.
The inherent risk in maintaining a portfolio of legacy applications is that they might prove incompatible with newer versions of commercial software. In the case of Visual Basic 6.0, while Microsoft is committed to supporting Visual Basic 6.0 applications through the life cycle of Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server 2008, many Visual Basic 6.0 applications rely on components and software manufactured by third-party technology companies. Some of those third-party components might become (or already are) incompatible with both operating systems, and there is no guarantee that those third-party software vendors will provide newer versions of their components.
In the case that third-party vendors do manufacture newer software, it might not be compatible with a legacy Visual Basic 6.0 application, a situation which could prevent the company from upgrading users to newer software that provides real productivity gains.
While most Visual Basic 6.0 applications should not present this kind of dilemma, when one does, it leaves IT organizations choosing between the lesser of two evils. Either the IT organization potentially traps a segment of their users on older software required by the legacy application, or the IT organization is forced to rewrite legacy applications, at high risk and cost, not because of any new functionality required for the legacy application, but simply to remove the legacy application as an obstacle to larger IT strategies.
Virtual Server with Terminal Services, where the virtual computer is hosted on a server and delivered to end-users via terminal services. This works better in an environment where end-user computing resources are limited and there are a large number of users.
Application Virtualization, where the application layer itself is virtualized, not the entire operating system. This approach works best when a widely-used application is incompatible with modern software, but where extensive application use of local computing resources like the registry, local temporary files, etc. makes Virtual Server with Terminal Services impractical.
Finally, if the application has no compatibility issues and is easy to support, simply leave it as is.
Is the application incompatible with modern software that must be in place on end-user machines?
How many application end users are there?
What are the costs of supporting the existing, unvirtualized application on end-user desktops?
Does the application have personalization, registry, local file access, or other features that make it impossible for each end-user to run the application on a single machine?
What kind of computers do end users have? Can they support a Virtual PC?
These five factors, while not an exhaustive list, should help organization determine how to assess which virtualization technologies are the best fit for their environment. The following table gives a summary of how these five different factors relate to virtualization options.
Beginning from the assumption that the preservation of legacy applications is (and always has been) a completely normal and typical responsibility of IT organizations, this article will walk through concrete tactics that can be used to preserve the Visual Basic 6.0 application investment of a company, while mitigating the risks of keeping older software running. For the purposes of illustration, this article will consider a number of "typical" application types, and focus on how to preserve and keep them available.
Stand-alone desktop applications are applications that users run to perform processing on their local computers. Common examples would include image viewers, text-file editors, and even complex applications such Microsoft Office Word and Office Excel.
Processes text files that are exported from a mainframe, and generates monthly reports.
Must be installed on the computers of three users: one person who has the primary responsibility of generating the reports, a backup resource who can generate the report when the primary individual is unavailable, and their manager.
The application is not compatible with Windows Vista, because it reads from and writes to files under C:\ and other directories that are protected in Windows Vista. There are too many hardcoded file paths to fix easily, and the security policy of the company requires users to run User Access Control (UAC) and log on as non-administrative users.
Client-server applications—perhaps, the most common Visual Basic 6.0 application type–consist of a desktop application that communicates with a back-end database. Typical examples include order-entry applications, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, resource management, and many other forms of LOB applications.
The client user interface (UI) is installed on the computer of each sales representative; there are 30 sales representatives. It is rare for more than five people to use the application concurrently.
The application does not maintain any state—such as registry keys, local files, and so forth—on the host computer. In other words, the application could have multiple instances running on the same computer without a problem.
While the client application itself is compatible with Windows Vista, there are many critical forms that use a complex, third-party ActiveX control that does not run on Windows Vista. The company that built the control is no longer in business, and the control is used so frequently in the application that it is not feasible to remove it.
Each client connects to a back-end Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database (SQL Server 7.0 is not supported on any operating system (OS) after Windows Server 2000). While the company could upgrade to a more recent version of SQL Server, it has decided not to, for the time being.
Some Visual Basic 6.0 applications are more complex than client-server architectures; this application is divided into three (or more) tiers. The first tier is the client UI, which is installed on the desktop of each user. The middle tier contains business rules, which are implemented often as COM components. The business rules communicate with the back-end database.
Three-tier applications can be used for the same scenarios as two-tier applications (ERP, CRM, and so forth); however, three-tier applications typically are more complex, serve more users, and benefit from having centralized business rules.
The application is mission-critical and must have near 100 percent uptime.
The client UI is implemented in Visual Basic 6.0; it is installed on over 200 user computers in a call center that is running Windows 2000.
The application uses registry keys and local files on the host computer for personalization and customization purposes.
The business rules are implemented in C++ and installed on a COM+ application server.
The back-end database is implemented as a SQL Server database.
Preliminary testing suggests that the application would run seamlessly on Windows Vista, but the computer hardware of the call center is at least six years old and not Windows Vista–compatible. The company does not want to purchase new computer hardware just to keep the Visual Basic 6.0 application on a supported OS.
Virtualization has emerged most prominently as a technology for consolidating servers. In its most common form, physical servers are converted to "virtual" servers—allowing multiple virtual servers to coexist on a single physical computer. This alone is transforming data centers and wringing more use out of each costly square foot.
Allow users to run legacy applications that are not compatible with the current OS (for example, Windows Vista) of the user.
Allow users to run applications that depend on outdated software.
For example, a legacy application might depend on Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0. Virtualization allows a user to continue using these applications, even if the user has upgraded to Office 2007 or Internet Explorer 7.0.
Eliminate the need to dedicate physical servers to run legacy back-end software.
Legacy software might require outdated operating systems, such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0. Legacy software might require other legacy back-end servers, such as SQL Server 7.0. The last thing that IT organizations want to do is keep old 32-bit hardware in operation—consuming valuable data-center space just for such legacy applications. These older systems might not support newer, more efficient backup and recovery technologies, hardware, and so forth—which relegates these systems to "one-offs," from an IT perspective.
Virtualization is a broad term that applies to a set of technologies that can abstract one or more layers of the computing stack and ensure that an environment that is compatible with legacy applications is available indefinitely.
These categories will be analyzed individually for the solutions that they provide, and then combined to solve more complex scenarios as efficiently as possible.
Hardware-virtualization technologies allow you to run multiple "virtual machines" on a single physical computer by abstracting the computing hardware—including CPU, memory, mass storage, network interface cards, and so forth.
Each virtual machine provides a basic set of virtual hardware that mimics, or passes through, to the physical hardware. Software that is running inside of a virtual machine sees a CPU, memory, disk drives, network adapters, and other hardware—just as software that is running on a physical computer would.
The OS and software that are running on a virtual machine effectively behave as though they were running on a physical computer. The OS and software are installed and configured just as they would be on a physical computer. The virtual machine gets its own IP address, sees its own drives, and so forth. Virtual machines can exchange data through networks by using standard protocols, such as HTTP, FTP, and SMB. Virtual machines that are running Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) appear on the network as any other Web server, and virtual machines that have SQL Server installed on them appear on the network as any other SQL Server. Legacy applications that are running on virtual machines can connect to databases, Web sites, network shares, or any other resources, without requiring any modification to the legacy application.
The following table shows an example of the hardware on a host computer, and how that host hardware might be represented in the virtual machine (the actual hardware that is seen by the virtual machine can be controlled by the administrator).
Hosted VMMs that run on an existing OS—This is the approach that is used by Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 running on Windows Server 2003 software, and Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 running on Windows XP or Windows Vista.
If multiple virtual machines are running on a single physical server, they are isolated from each other. Any event that happens inside one virtual machine (for example, a virtual machine restarts, or its OS crashes) does not affect other virtual machines or the host computer.
The hard drive for a virtual machine is simply a file that has a .vhd extension. To back up the virtual machine, you just make a copy of the file to another disk, or tape. To move the virtual machine, you just copy the file to another computer.
If, for whatever reason, a legacy application is not compatible with a new OS (for example, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008), you can create a virtual machine, install a compatible OS in the virtual machine, and then install the legacy application. This allows the application to run in an isolated and completely compatible environment, even as your IT organization upgrades to the latest hardware and rolls forward to the latest operating systems. Hardware virtualization is the easiest and most certain way to preserve legacy applications and make them available.
Virtual PC allows you to run virtual machines on your local desktop. Specifically designed to support older desktop operating systems on newer operating systems and hardware, Virtual PC 2007 is available for Windows XP and Windows Vista host operating systems. It offers performance improvements, such as support for 64-bit virtualization hosts and for first-generation virtualization enhancements that are built into the newer AMD and Intel processors.
Figure 5 illustrates how Virtual PC 2007 can keep available a legacy application that depends on Windows XP and Office XP, in an environment in which Windows Vista and Office 2007 are the corporate standard. When the user wants to use the legacy application, they first start a Windows XP virtual machine, and then they run the application within the virtual machine. If the legacy application requires an earlier version of Microsoft Office, this earlier version also runs inside of the virtual machine, and is isolated from the daily productivity suite of the user.
Virtual PC 2007 provides good integration between the host and guest OS. For example, you can perform copy-and-paste operations between the host and guest computers. You can also drag files from the host computer and drop them into the guest computer. Shared Folders also provide an easy mechanism for moving data into and out of the virtual machine.
Virtual PC 2007 focuses on desktop operating systems, including Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Enterprise Business, and Windows Vista Enterprise Ultimate.
Virtual PC 2007 is available free of charge. It can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en.
Where Virtual PC allows you to run virtual machines on your local desktop, Virtual Server allows you to run virtual machines on server-class hardware. Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 is the Microsoft flagship product for server virtualization. It is available for the Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 host operating systems, and is designed with scalability in mind. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit hosts, and 32-bit guest operating systems. On 64-bit hosts, it can scale up to 512 virtual machines—addressing up to 256 GB of memory. It also supports virtualization enhancements that are included in AMD and Intel processors, which further improves performance.
Typically, Virtual Server is the best choice for preserving legacy-application investment. If you have legacy applications that require a certain OS, you can configure a server with Windows Server 2003 R2 and Virtual Server 2005 R2. On that server, you then create a virtual machine that has the required OS.
For example, if your Visual Basic 6.0 application requires Windows 2000 Workstation, or even Windows NT 4.0, you could create a virtual machine with that OS, and then install your application on that virtual machine. Users could make a remote-desktop connection to the virtual machine and run the application, as shown in Figure 6.
Each virtual machine can have up to 3.6 GB of RAM and up to four network interfaces. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 ensures that virtual workloads do not affect each other (or affect the host OS), as Virtual Server allows you to throttle the amount of CPU that is used by any given virtual machine.
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 also features Undo and Differencing Disks, which let you back-out changes that are made to the virtual machine.
Last, but not least, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 can apply existing security models to every virtual machine, thanks to its tight integration with Microsoft Active Directory.
Microsoft offers Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 free of charge. It can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/software/default.mspx.
Windows Server 2008 will bring a new form of hardware virtualization to the Microsoft product line. Unlike Virtual Server 2005, "Hyper-V" is a bare-metal VMM that will provide better performance and scalability. Thanks to a new virtualized I/O architecture, pass-through access to storage devices, and support for the latest virtualization features that are included in AMD and Intel processors, "Hyper-V" will reduce the typical virtualization overhead and offer substantially better performance.
At the same time, "Hyper-V" will become the solution of choice for running the most complex and resource-intensive applications. "Hyper-V" will support 64-bit guest operating systems and virtual symmetric multiprocessing (vSMP), and will allow you to allocate more memory to virtual machines than Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual PC 2007 allowed.
"Hyper-V" will further extend the Undo and Differencing Disks concept that was introduced in Virtual Server 2005—allowing you to taking snapshots of running virtual machines, and quickly revert to those snapshot points.
"Hyper-V" will be tightly integrated with Microsoft Active Directory, to allow granular assignment of virtual machines to specific domain groups and users.
Microsoft will offer "Hyper-V" as an integrated component in every Windows Server 2008 installation, and will allow a smooth transition for its customers who currently are implementing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.
Like Virtual Server, "Hyper-V" focuses on server OS support, including the Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 families. It is slated to ship as beta technology in Windows Server 2008 and to be finalized within 180 days of the release of Windows Server 2008.
For quite some time, administrators have used presentation-virtualization technologies such as Remote Desktop to administer servers in distant data centers, and users have utilized Terminal Server to access applications that are installed on remote computers.
If legacy applications are compatible with server operating systems such as Windows Server 2003 or even Windows Server 2000, the legacy application can be installed on the server, and users can use Terminal Server to run the legacy application. The local desktop or laptop of the user might be running an OS that is incompatible with the application; however, this does not prevent its use, because the application is running on the remote server and merely is serving its display to the local computer.
Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003 terminal-server technologies transmit the entire remote desktop, as shown in Figure 7. While this is effective, it does provide a user experience that is slightly different from running an application on a local desktop computer.
By using Windows Server 2008, you will be able to remote the application windows without the entire desktop, as with earlier versions of Windows Server. This approach is known as a "seamless window," and makes it appear to the user that the application is running locally on their computer (as shown in Figure 8), even though the application actually is running on a remote server and using the resources of that server.
Often, if you are running a remote application, you might need to access local resources. For example, if the application allows you to export data as an Office Excel spreadsheet, you likely would want to save that spreadsheet to your local file system. If you are printing from the remote application, you might want to print to a local printer. The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) supports these kinds of operations—making local resources such as the file system, printers, and clipboard available. This provides an experience that makes the remote application feel as if it were running locally.
If the legacy application is not compatible with the server OS, the application can be installed on a virtual machine that is running on the server, and can be accessed remotely by using the same remote-desktop functionality.
The oft-mentioned "DLL hell" is a significant issue for legacy applications. If newer software updates the DLLs on which a legacy application depends, the legacy application no longer might function. If the code base for the legacy application no longer is being maintained, it might not be possible to develop a fix for such needed applications.
Many applications require you to uninstall the previous version before you can install the latest version. Developing an application that supports side-by-side operation with previous versions is challenging; Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player are examples of such applications, and a legacy LOB Visual Basic 6.0 application might have similar requirements.
Another challenge with legacy Visual Basic 6.0 applications is that some are designed for desktop operation, with an assumption that it will not be used simultaneously by multiple users on a single workstation. When such an application is installed on a central server, and multiple users are running the application at the same time through Terminal Server, the application might perform erratically, as multiple users simultaneously read and write to the same registry keys, files, and so forth.
By using Microsoft SoftGrid 4.2, application virtualization can address both of these legacy-application scenarios. Application virtualization differs from hardware virtualization in that it focuses on abstracting facets of the OS—such as the registry, file system, permission profiles, application dependencies, and so forth—into "virtual layers." Applications are installed into virtual layers, which are isolated from each other.
To the user, applications that are inside of virtual layers appear no different from traditional non-virtualized applications. Virtualized applications can have installation folders, configuration files, specific versions of run-time DLLs, menu shortcuts, registry entries, desktop icons, and so forth. However, when the application accesses a portion of the OS, such as the registry, it is not accessing the "real" registry, but instead is accessing a virtual registry. The application can make changes to this virtual registry, and these changes are isolated from other applications or the OS. Also, it can have its own set of run-time files that are mutually incompatible with the latest release.
A single OS can run several virtual layers at the same time, and a virtual layer can contain one or more applications.
Virtual layers are represented as simple files, and are stored on the file system of the host. Users can use these layers in the same way that they use other documents. For example, copying a virtual layer from a library to a host OS corresponds to installing a virtual layer.
Virtual layers can be large; to simplify installation and speed startup time, SoftGrid 4.2 features streaming capabilities. By using SoftGrid System Center Virtual Application Server, end users on average can start working with a new virtualized application after receiving just 30 percent of the deployment, which typically takes 5 to 15 seconds. SoftGrid 4.2 uses a local cache on the end-user desktop to avoid re-streaming parts of the application that previously have been sent. This eliminates network bottlenecks and unavailability if the streaming server becomes unreachable, and it shortens startup time after the first use of the application.
SoftGrid 4.2 is tightly integrated with other Microsoft technologies, such as Active Directory, which allows granular assignment of virtualized applications to domain groups and users. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 allows enterprise-wide distribution and maintenance of virtualized applications.
SoftGrid 4.2 is included in the Desktop Optimization Pack, and is available free of charge to all Microsoft customers who subscribe to the Microsoft Software Assurance option.
Application virtualization often is combined with presentation virtualization. This allows applications that are in virtual layers to be deployed to application servers in which users access the applications through Terminal Services—allowing multiuser access to non–multiuser virtualized applications.
Figure 10 shows how a user could connect to a server computer by using Terminal Server. The user then attempts to launch a legacy application, which shows up in the Start menu and appears to be installed. In actuality, the application is in a virtual layer and has never been run on this server. The virtual layer begins streaming to the server from the Virtual Application Server, and, in a few seconds, the application is up and running.
Each legacy application should be analyzed individually. What makes the most sense for one application might not make the most sense for another. Depending on the architecture and dependencies of a Visual Basic 6.0 application, and on the needs of the company, some virtualization technologies are best suited for preserving specific types of legacy applications. The three example legacy applications that were introduced earlier—while not comprehensive in the variability of legacy Visual Basic 6.0 applications that are deployed today—serve as a way to understand how to choose the virtualization technologies that will be best suited to your business needs.
The application is not compatible with Windows Vista, because it reads from and writes to files that are under C:\ and other directories that are protected in Windows Vista. There are too many hardcoded file paths to fix easily, and the security policy of the company requires users to run UAC and log on as non-administrative users.
Run the application as virtualized on the local computer.
Running the application remotely requires configuring a server with the application installed, and providing access to that server for the users.
There are only three users who need access to this application, and they are all within the same department.
The application is relatively lightweight, and does not require extensive amounts of disk space or memory. In addition, the application does not connect to a back-end database. It needs only text files as input.
The users have newer computers, with 2 GB of memory and 80 GB of disk space.
For the IT department to configure a server for this application will take weeks or months, given current high-priority IT projects that are in progress.
Virtual PC 2007 is compatible with Windows Vista. Users could use Virtual PC 2007 to run the application in a Windows XP virtual machine, on their local desktops.
Running the applications in a local virtual machine would let users drag files that are exported from the mainframe and drop them into the virtual machine for processing by the application. Alternatively, the application that is running in the virtual machine could connect directly to a share that contains the files that are to be processed.
If running the application in a local virtual machine is difficult to support or otherwise problematic, the virtual machine could be moved easily to a central server later.
Based on this analysis, it makes the most sense to use Virtual PC 2007 to run a Windows XP virtual machine on the local computer of the user.
This will provide access quickly to the legacy application before the reports of next month must be generated, and will minimize the impact on a busy IT organization. If the solution continues to work well, it can be left in place as is. However, if the IT organization does not want to put one-off solutions such as this one in place frequently, the virtual machines can be moved later to a server that is in the data center, where they can be centrally backed up and managed. The only change to users is that they would access the virtual machines through a remote desktop connection, instead of launching them locally by using Virtual PC 2007.
The client UI is installed on the computer of each sales representative, and there are 30 sales representatives. It is rare for more than five people to use the application concurrently.
While the client application itself is compatible with Windows Vista, there are many critical forms that use a complex, third-party ActiveX control that does not run on Windows Vista. The company that built the control no longer is in business, and the control is used so frequently in the application that it is not feasible to remove it.
Each client connects to a back-end SQL Server 7.0 database (SQL Server 7.0 is not supported on any OS after Windows Server 2000). While the company could upgrade to a more recent version of SQL Server, it has decided not to, for the time being.
Obviously, this application is more complex than the stand-alone application; however, by analyzing each piece—client and server—independently, the best solution for preserving the application can be obtained.
The virtualization solution here is to virtualize both the client and the server applications, and have them run on a server. Users would connect to the client application by using either Windows 2003 Terminal Services or the Windows 2008 Seamless Windows terminal-server technology.
The back-end database is SQL Server 7.0.
SQL Server 7.0 is not supported on any OS after Windows Server 2000.
Windows Server 2000 can be run as a virtual machine by using Virtual Server on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008.
Running the database as virtualized allows the database server to be consolidated on the latest hardware with other servers.
Doing so requires each user to have 2 GB of physical memory, and approximately 10 GB of free disk space. Ensuring this across 30 users might be difficult.
Having each user run the virtual machine locally complicates the configuration of the computer of the user, each of which would need more than the standard IT configuration.
Training new salespeople (who are the users of this application) is more complicated, because they need to understand the basics of Virtual PC 2007.
The application could be run remotely.
The application is compatible with Windows Server 2003.
The application was designed to be run on a workstation, and it does not work correctly if multiple users try to run it simultaneously on a server.
If SoftGrid 4.2 is used to deploy the application onto the server, it can be run by many users simultaneously, because each instance is running in a separate, isolated virtual layer.
The database will run on a Windows Server 2000 virtual machine, and it can continue to run on this virtual machine indefinitely. Running the database in a Windows Server 2000 virtual machine, which is installed on a Windows Server 2003 (or in the future Windows Server 2008) physical computer, allows the database to benefit from faster processors, faster IO subsystems, hot-swap drives and memory, and other leading-edge technology. It also simplifies the backup and recovery of the database, as the entire virtual machine is just backed up and restored.
The client application is run on a separate virtual machine, hosted on a central server. Based on the preceding analysis, it likely would create too many support requests and require too much hardware for the computer of each user to run the virtual machine on the local system of the user. Running the client application on a server-side virtual machine also allows easier backup, restore, and monitoring by the IT organization. This also keeps the legacy application from being a one-off solution, and keeps the legacy application from requiring special configuration of the computer of the user.
To allow multiple users to access the application simultaneously, the users connect to the virtual machine by using Terminal Services. Although the application was not designed for multiuser operation on a single computer, SoftGrid 4.2 provides isolation between each instance, so that multiple users can access the application simultaneously.
The client UI is implemented in Visual Basic 6.0 and installed on over 200 user computers in a call center that is running Windows 2000.
Preliminary testing suggests that the application would run seamlessly on Windows Vista, but the computer hardware of the call center is at least six years old and is not Windows Vista–compatible. The company does not want to purchase new computer hardware just to keep the Visual Basic 6.0 application on a supported OS.
The third example, a three-tier application, does not actually differ much from a virtualization perspective.
While apparently quite different from the two-tier application—with respect to scope, scale, availability, and so forth, from a virtualization perspective—the three-tier application is the same as the client-server application, except that a business-rules layer exists between the UI and that database. The same analysis that applied to the client-server application applies to the three-tier application, with the additional constraint that the three-tier application must be used by hundreds of users—making it completely unfeasible to deploy the UI in a virtual machine to each user. The UI application must be placed on a central server. The database can run on a server in a virtual machine, just as with the client-server application. The business rules, which typically run on a separate application server, can run also in a virtual machine.
There is one critical difference, however: The two-tier application could run as multiple instances on the same virtual machine or physical computer. The three-tier application cannot run as multiple instances on the same computer; each user experience is customized by using local files and registry keys. The most efficient solution here is to use SoftGrid 4.2 to virtualize the application layer itself—allowing hundreds of users to access the application concurrently.
There is a workaround to using SoftGrid 4.2 application virtualization, which is available only as part of the Software Assurance support package that is found at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/sa/default.mspx. For example, if the two-tier application accessed also local files and registry keys, the low number of concurrent users provides a workaround: With no more than 5 concurrent users out of 30, the company could have five or more virtual machines on the server that users could access via Terminal Services. This workaround would be cumbersome, however, with hundreds of concurrent users.
There are a number of options for preserving legacy applications. If the application is needed by very few users, and if the organization is small, it might make sense just to use Virtual PC to keep the application available. If the application is needed by more than a few users or comprises two or more tiers, or if the organization is large enough to have a data center and centralized IT, running the application on the server side makes more sense. In this architecture, the user accesses the application by using Terminal Services. If the application was not designed to be run on one computer by multiple simultaneous users, SoftGrid 4.2 can be added to the equation to provide isolation between the application instances.
Most applications fall into the categories that are discussed in this article and do not require any exotic configurations. Hopefully, the majority of legacy applications in your organization can be well-serviced by a combination of hardware, presentation, and application virtualization. However, there are specific "gotchas" that are worth pointing out before you travel too far down the path with an envisioned virtualization solution.
Sometimes, applications require access to specific hardware devices, such as copy-protection dongles, smart cards, and so forth. In these cases, the required hardware should be connected to a Windows 2003 Server or Windows 2008 Server, and the software should be accessed by users via Terminal Server. Some forms of hardware (for example, USB devices) currently are not passed through to virtual machines, so it is important that the legacy application be compatible with some server OS that supports Terminal Server (which does pass through connections to USB devices).
In most scenarios, it is highly recommended to use Microsoft virtualization solutions in conjunction with Active Directory. This lets you leverage the existing corporate security model and control access to virtualized applications strictly.
If Active Directory is not being used, Virtual PC, Virtual Server, and Terminal Services still are options, as they can operate outside of an Active Directory infrastructure. SoftGrid 4.2 requires Active Directory.
Through the combined use of hardware virtualization, presentation virtualization, and application virtualization, Microsoft delivers a cost-effective virtualization strategy to help customers support their existing legacy applications in the environments of tomorrow.
Virtual Server 2005, Virtual PC 2007, and Windows Server 2008 Virtualization allow you to access applications on computers that have incompatible operating systems. These technologies allow you, for example, to run an application in a Windows 2000 virtual machine that is running on a Windows Vista desktop or Windows Server 2003 (or Windows Server 2008) OS.
Combining SoftGrid and Terminal Server provides remote access to mission-critical legacy applications—allowing many users to be serviced by a single server, and insulating the application from compatibility issues with desktop operating systems and other software.
Often, virtualization technologies will be combined to provide the optimum solution. If the application runs in tiers or requires a back-end database, those tiers might be run in virtual servers. The client often will be deployed to a central server and accessed through Terminal Server. To ensure the best operation and performance, and to overcome issues of multiple users running applications that are designed to run as a single instance, SoftGrid 4.2 often will be employed in conjunction with Terminal Server to provide application isolation.
Virtualization is a key deliverable on the Microsoft Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) road map, in line with the continued investment of Microsoft in delivering technologies that help IT organizations manage complexity and achieve agility.


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Kitsap A&E
Kitsap A&E What's going on and what's coming up on stages and in clubs, galleries and other venues in and around Kitsap County: All the "ews" — previews, reviews and breaking news, from A&E reporter Michael C. Moore and contributor Katrina Dahlke:
Our new blog is at KitsapSun.com/blog/kitsap-ae/
Auditions that will have local actors chomping at the bit
michael c. moore
Local actors will have a couple of out-of-the-ordinary opportunities in the coming months, but only if they audition:
Changing Scene Theatre Northwest is auditioning for Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy," while the Admiral Theatre is looking for local cast members for the upcoming return of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding."
Changing Scene's auditions will be 2 p.m. April 8 and 7 p.m. April 9, both at the Bremerton Eagle Aerie 192, 205 Sixth St. in Bremerton. Auditions for three men and three women will be via cold readings from the script, except for one of the female roles, which includes singing torch songs. Hopefuls for that role should contact director Pavlina Morris at 360-813-1820. The lead role of Arnold already has been cast. Performance dates are June 22 to July 21.
A touring company of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding will perform at the Admiral May 31 to June 3, but needs a number of local male and female actor-singer-improvisers ages 18 to 65 to complete its cast, including many paid positions. Auditions are 6 to 10 p.m. April 27 and noon to 4 p.m. April 28, both at the Admiral, 515 Pacific Ave. in Bremerton. No experience is necessary, but improv skills and acting experience both are helpful. RSVP with name, e-mail address and phone number to 360-373-6010 or admiraltheatre.org by April 25 to set up an appointment. Rehearsals are May 27 to 30.
March 30, 2012 Theater"Tony n' Tina's Wedding", "Torch Song Trilogy", Admiral Theatre, Changing Scene Theatre Northwest, Harvey Fierstein, Pavlina Morris
About michael c. moore
Michael C. Moore covers arts and entertainment for the Kitsap Sun. He's been a newspaper reporter and editor for more than 33 years, at the Sun since 2001 and in his current post — covering music, art, theater, film and other A&E fare, since 2006. He's a 1978 graduate of Washington State University, and lives in East Bremerton with his daughter, Kate.	View all posts by michael c. moore →
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Capalino+Company Named to Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces 2017 List
Capalino+Company is proud to be ranked on Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces List for 2017, the publication's second annual ranking of fast-growing private sector companies.
Featured on Inc.com, the award recognizes companies that foster a productive and happy workplace for its employees, create a vibrant culture, and offer impressive benefits.
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Home abbreviation Univac Full Form
editor May 4, 2019 - 11:03 am May 9, 2019 abbreviation
Univac in short means Universal Automatic Computer, Univac is a series of digital electronic computer programs. It was first in use with products from a Computer Corporation known as Eckert–Mauchly. After some time the name was also used in a section of a computer company known as Remington Rand company henceforth by other successor organizations.
Univac History.
It was initially assigned to be used by the census bureau which funded much of the investment before it officially went into production. The 1951 Univac I mainframe was the most famous product after it predicted the presidential election results in the US the succeeding year. The Univac presidential prediction was remarkable in that the computer predicted the overthrow of sitting president when all legendary interviewers were of the Elayhower.
Since Remington Rand, a computer corporation had own computer lab in Norwalk, acquired the engineering researchers association in St. Petersburg. In 1953, Remington Rand acquired Univac information technology department and the Norwalk tabulating machine science department, the engineering research association under the brand name Univac.
Remington Rand in 1955, united with Corporation known as Sperry to form a single corporation known as Sperry Rand. At the same time, Univan information department in the Remington Rand was renamed Sperry Rand Univac.
The company new director in Univac was the former general D. MacArthur. It became one of the largest computing companies in the USA by around 1960 under the name IBM a play about the company supremacy that showed as the snow white and the other as small seven dwarfs. In 1970, RCA was sold to sold Univac, a seven-dwarf analogy became less relevant.
To improve the Univac corporate brand name, the name changed to Sperry Univac among others. In 1978 Sperry Univac, a multidisciplinary conglomerate decided to focus only on its IT interests and all irrelevant departments were sold. The Univac corporation removed the name Rand from the title and returned to Sperry Univac Corporation.
Fortran Full Form


Carolina Panthers versus Denver Broncos was a brilliant finish to last season, and the same two teams get the 2016 NFL season under way this week.
Tom Young and Alex Butcher have filed their thoughts on who will underwhelm, surpass expectations and go on to lift the Lombardi Trophy in Houston when February arrives.
A couple of weeks ago I'd have said the Vikings were on their way to the play-offs with a realistic chance of competing in the Super Bowl – but not anymore.
Expectations of a breakout season from Teddy Bridgewater would help take some of the burden off Adrian Peterson's shoulders to make a true dual-threat attack – that was until Bridgewater was ruled out for the year with a freak injury. Instead, the Vikings head into the season with inconsistent Sam Bradford under centre.
I'm not saying the play-offs are out of reach, but a late post-season charge seems all but gone.
Jacksonville are in one of the weakest divisions in the NFL – Houston Texans won the AFC South last season with only nine wins – and they are set for a season of improvement.
Last year they were .500 at home but struggled on the road with just one win. They performed below expectations last year but this time around I think they'll get it together enough for a play-off appearance.
The Jags have a wealth of talent in the offence with Blake Bortles, receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, along with the running back competition between T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory. All they need is an above average defence and Jacksonville will make their first post-season appearance since 2007.
As we've seen numerous times in recent years, defences win titles, but what could be better than having one of the best in the league along with an elite offence too?
The Seahawks struggled at the beginning of last year and never looked themselves, but still managed to reach the Divisional play-off. Russell Wilson has another year under his belt and the defensive line and secondary hasn't lost any of its key pieces that has taken Seattle to two Super Bowls in the last three years.
The biggest question lies at running back with the off-season retirement of Marshawn Lynch but Christine Michael or Thomas Rawls should fill some of the void and a much-improved year from Jimmy Graham will also help.
I've made my selections for the season and Houston Texans and Washington Redskins are the only two of last year's Playoff teams I've tipped to miss out this time around — and I think they both over-performed last year.
So I'm going to say Kansas, who will be expected by some to take advantage of Denver's quarterback conundrum and take first spot in the AFC West. But not for me.
I'm a big fan of Jamaal Charles, but the Chiefs are far too reliant on a running back who is now in his ninth year and has struggled with injuries in the past. They should have enough to reach the post-season again — but they'll fall at the first hurdle.
The Giants have failed to make the post-season since lifting the Lombardi Trophy back in 2011, but I expect that to change this year.
The NFC East is a tight division, but not a particularly strong one. Odell Beckham Jr will continue to make a difference, but Eli Manning will have more wide receiver options with the fit-again Victor Cruz, versatile Dwayne Harris and second-round draft pick Sterling Shepard.
Manning — a two-time Super Bowl winner — will also welcome what looks to be a settled running game, with Rashad Jennings set to carry the load this year. The Big Blue rotated four backs during last year's second successive 6-10-0 season, but a sole focus in the backfield should give something else for the opposition to think about.
The defence also looks strong after an impressive free agency, so if the offensive line can step up then the Giants are poised to go well.
On paper, the strongest roster in the NFL, so could this be Arizona's year?
Last year, Bruce Arians' Cards ended up 13-3-0 and claimed their first divisional crown since 2009. They fell emphatically short against the Panthers in the NFC Championship game, but I'm confident that they can bounce back in style.
Quarterback Carson Palmer is blessed with attacking weapons, and I can't wait to see running back David Johnson return to the gridiron after an outstanding rookie season. With playmakers in the defence too, this franchise looks like the real deal.
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The Rock Castle is set in Shimla, 2.2 mi from The Mall Road. The hotel has a sun terrace and views of the mountain, and guests can enjoy a meal at the restaurant. Free WiFi is offered throughout the property and free private parking is available on site.
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We had been looking for many years to find just the right combination we were looking for to breed back into our lines, and we are thrilled to have finally found him!
This stunning boy newest addition to our home and breeding program. He is a beautiful, athletic, well balanced and typey dog with tons of charisma. However, his most endearing quality is his loving and sweet disposition. His pups have shown the same dynamic, loving and happy demeanor of their sire.
We are more than pleased with our decision and what we have seen in his pups!


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#include <boost/fusion/container/list/list.hpp>
#include <boost/core/lightweight_test.hpp>

#define FUSION_SEQUENCE list
#include "nest.hpp"

int
main()
{
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    return boost::report_errors();
}

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Home EDM Interview: FIGURE Talks About Culture in Dance Music and Eating Squirrel Meat
Interview: FIGURE Talks About Culture in Dance Music and Eating Squirrel Meat
Gerod Roth
Those that have familiarized themselves in the bass or dub-step scene are no strangers to the name Figure. Considered one of dub-step's most renowned and seasoned artists, Figure (real name Josh Gard) is ranked with some of the greats such as Flux Pavillion, 12th Planet and Kill The Noise.
Coming off of his 10th headlining tour, Gard is showing no signs of slowing down or stopping anytime soon. With a signature sound that is loud, crazy and damn near violent, Figure has made a name for himself in a big way by putting his all into the music he produces and tours with.
Before playing an absolutely slammed house at Atlanta's own Believe Music Hall, we got the chance to sit down and talk with him, read what he had to say below:
So right now you're near the very end of your "Bloodbath" tour. You've made a lot of stops this go around, what would you say would was your favorite experience?
I would probably say it was when I got to take Megalodon and his emcee Leo Black to a place in New York City called "Sleep No More", It's kind of hard to describe, but it's almost like an interactive, immersive play that's really dark and fucked up similar like a haunted house. It's kind of like if you put The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut together with Macbeth or something, and it takes four hours. It's really hard to describe, but it's really inspirational, maybe just to me because I'm kind of twisted but like, I always tell my friends about it and everyone forgets about it because you know, whatever, it's drunk talk in the green room. But doing that and then I mean in general just doing my tenth headlining tour, just the whole tour in itself was an incredible experience, the fact that I'm older and still kicking and this shit can still happen. Considering how many new and talented producers and all the stuff going on in the industry, there are so many new kids and new things going on for me to still get to do a full three month headline tour on my own and all the stops were good, that's the best part for me.
I know you've played at Iris here in Atlanta a few different times. Is there something in particular that keeps bringing you back to that Believe? Crowd, atmosphere, the vibe?
Honestly I've been to Atlanta quite a bit, every time my management puts offers out for an upcoming tour, Iris is always excited to book me. Anytime, I play the crowd is always super rowdy and into it, they've always been really receptive to my style of music since ATL itself has an inherently bass-heavy music scene. They put a great deal of work into their taking care of the artists that they book and the production value of their venue is top tier. Definitely would love to play at Imagine in the future, so we will see what happens.
I ask this question a lot of international artists who are coming from overseas, but because you're consistently on the road and always touring, what would you say is the most American shit you've seen when you've been on tour?
Well I'm kind of an expert on American shit because I'm an Indiana country-boy (laughing). Probably having promoters offer to take me to go mudding before the shows, you usually end up almost being late to the shows because your Jeep gets stuck, so they have to go retrieve another Jeep to pull your busted ass one out of a mud pit. But we do that shit back at home, so whenever we get the offer to do it, I'm like "Hell yeah man!".That's probably the most backwoods, American type thing I see. I mean then again, I spend a lot of time in airports, so the shit I see in the airport is up there too. From the most far right the most far left, especially in this day and age, like the political landscape., everything has changed with traveling so I'll see old white men being clearly racist out in public, and then get taken off the plane for it. What is that. Yeah just crazy shit like that. Oh… and let's not forget the food.
That leads into my next question, what's the most American meal you've eaten on tour?
Oh Cracker Barrel, all day long. Actually… we could go a little deeper, we went to this after party and this one dude makes his own jerky and all this stuff, so he was just grilling different meats and, I'm sitting here the whole time thinking I'm eating chicken or some shit and we're just eating a fucking squirrel that he shot in his backyard. The best part was he got real shook that I was gonna be like " WHAT THE FUCK MAN?!",but like, I've had squirrel before (laughing). I didn't realize it at first, but I gave him that shock factor he wanted.
Now that 2018 has come to a close, we're just just coming up in 2019. What would you say, producer wise from 2018, that you foresee becoming an unstoppable force in 2019?
I don't think he falls under the category of being an "unknown artist", but I'd have to say Space Laces. I mean I grew up with him, way back, way way back when when the first Skrillex album came out. I remember some of us were like "how the hell are you making these growls?",Those types of noises and stuff, because we were close, but he took it to another level, whipped out his laptop and made similar sounds in like 5 minutes flat. We would sit around and Space Laces just goes "oh watch this", pulls out Fruit Loops, and does the noises in five seconds, then all these people are trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, it's wild. I mean. He's been sending. He's been sending little little clips of songs to everyone from me to Excision to Knife Party, all these people, for 8 years now, and these ID's have been like our secret weapons that we don't talk about in our set. So finally, he basically just, went balls in this year started releasing tons of music, in my opinion he's just outproducing everyone right now. He's an incredible DJ and he looks like young Charles Manson(Laughing) he says looks like Kurt Cobain but nah, he's a young Charles Manson. I mean i every single producer, even if they don't know him, they look up to him and consider him as top tier shit. I've seen some of whoever's reading this favorite producers straight up fan-girl and start to blush when he walks into the green room, almost like he's this enigmatic, closed off entity. Also, Code Pandorum really made a mark this year, I think he released his third studio album, but I think the way that people are going to have a good year moving forward, is if they're doing something different, If you can hear a song, and instantly know it's theirs, I mean that's the reason people are gaining so much traction these days.10 or 12 years ago, my stuff started popping off because it sounded completely different, it had kind of a theme to it,the noises sounded different so it stuck around. A lot of people will have a quick come-up, making shit that everyone else likes because it sounds like everything else but there's something to be said about someone that can create their own signature sound and their own thing, and both of those artists do a really great job of that.
Compared to all the other producers these days, you're definitely one of the more O.G., seasoned dudes that has been in the circuit for a while. How has the mentality or the culture changed since you first started producing and touring, and how does it compare to when you were first starting out?
Man, I haven't thought about that a long time.There's definitely a little more undeserved ego now and certainly some fuck boy mentality happening. You have these kids who copped the new Yeezy Boosts and their song went number one on Beatport which means it only sold 100 copies, like that's awesome, but it damn well doesn't mean that you can turn your chin up to people that paved the way for you. So that's definitely a thing I'll notice. Or you know just people their first year and being really rude to promoters, I'm like " Man… you need to be thankful because people talk about this shit, and if you're an asshole, there's a million producers out there right now, so you're going to be the asshole sitting at home wishing that you were still on the road". But it's also it's also good that there's a lot of new producers because it keeps everyone on their toes, because if it was just the original like 20-25 older dudes, everyone probably would be pretty stale. So we have to have some new spices to keep everything going. The better all the new stuff does, in a way, the better people like me and Kill the Noise and 12th Planet, the people have been around in America since this shit even came to America . It helps us because it keeps everything fresh, we're all grandfathered in basically, so I appreciate all the new sounds and experimentation that's going on for sure.There's still something to be said about the over-saturation of what's going on and that weeds itself out because there are some people that were killing it two years ago and aren't on anything now, it's the idea that everyone has to be tip top. You can't just make good music anymore, It's crazy. I mean you have to have every social platform on lock, and you have to know how to properly market yourself these days. Because it used to be that we're the teachers and they're the students almost, we were making people say "how do you do this", but now with all the Youtube tutorials and just all the sample packs that are universally accessible you can mimic just about anyone's work. So that's what I've really noticed lately, but again that makes the people that have their own thing really shine out and look like an artist more than just some random dub-step producer you see on Soundcloud.
So recently you released something on Instagram that was you kind of showcasing your abilities as a hip hop producer. I know you yourself are a big hip-hop fan, is that something that you might try to push out there a little bit more?
Yeah, maybe? I do that all the time because when it comes down to it, I Make music for. personal enjoyment just like I play video-games. I can't just sit around and produce dub-step all the time, so I make a lot of hip hop.
Is it something that you might consider showcasing under a different alias and touring stand alone?
That would actually be awesome, but in the past I actually have toured playing solely hip hop as an opener under the Figure alias. It was with some some really decent names in underground hip hop, I think the most we saw the show was 30 people, so It would be a struggle to balance our show doing figure and a new alias. But just music wise, I'm very much considering doing another alias just to put the music out, not to tour with it, just to put it out. But then there's also the thing where I could just do it as a Figure because it's still kind of sounds like I made it. It's scary sounding and has dark, ominous tones.So yeah, in the future that could certainly be a possibility.
Lastly of course, it's 2019. What do you have in store for your fans this year?
You see all the collabs that are halfway done right now, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about but I have two really big collabs and I think I was counting today six or seven tracks about done. I think I'm really going to bring back the drum-step stuff this year because I've been playing it a lot more on this tour and I love playing it, plus you could see that the kids get stoked. They can realize my involvement with the creation of drum-step in general and it's just faster and more hyper than dub-step sometimes. You can't play a whole set of it, kids will start to get pissed they can't womp around and stuff like that, but I really enjoy making it. And again that's like hip hop BPM, so it's easier for me to go grab rappers and different things or scratch over like hook parts just doing different stuff. But yeah, just tons of new music and we have we have a bunch of support dates for someone I can't really mention just a bunch of shows and now we're planning my next. European and Japan tour, 2019 is going to be one for the books.
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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - Almazbek Atambayev may have won Kyrgyzstan's presidential election, but his moment of glory was soured Monday by a stinging assessment from international vote monitors and news of protests in the turbulent south of the country.
Preliminary returns from nearly all precincts have shown Atambayev winning over 60 percent of votes in Sunday's election, easily pushing aside his closest rivals.
But while international observers said the elections were held in a peaceful manner, offered a wide choice of candidates and followed an open and free campaign, monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have criticized irregularities.
'What we observed also made clear that serious action is needed to ensure integrity of voting, counting and tabulation,' said Corien Jonker, head of the election observation mission of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
Jonker said many people were not included on the voter lists, making them unable to vote. She said better compiled voter lists could have ensured a greater turnout than the 60 percent reported by Kyrgyz electoral officials.
The OSCE report also noted cases of ballot box stuffing, multiple and family voting, vote-buying, and bussing of voters.
Kyrgyzstan earned international plaudits last year for holding a parliamentary election that was deemed to be the first ever fair and free contest in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation's history. That election was the first step on the country's tentative path toward developing into a more accountable parliamentary model as enshrined in a new constitution adopted last year.
While observers would not be drawn on whether this presidential election marked a backward trend, the OSCE clearly indicated that it felt Kyrgyz authorities could have performed better.
'I would like to stress that we had hoped for a better election. It is disappointing that the problems on election day meant that this election did not live up to the democratic promise resulting from the adoption of the new constitution,' Jonker said.
Outgoing President Roza Otunbayeva, who has been running the country since April 2010, when former authoritarian leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown in a popular uprising, is to step down, setting the stage for the first peaceful transition of power in the ex-Soviet nation's turbulent post-independence history.
Although there is limited evidence of mass fraud having taken place, defeated candidates have expressed their determination to dispute the result, questioning preliminary results showing Atambayev with more than 63 percent—well above the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff.
The main challengers, Kamchibek Tashiyev and Adakhan Madumarov—both nationalists from the southern part of the country, have pointed at alleged violations, including ballot box stuffing and repeat voting.
Southern Kyrgyzstan, a major transit area for Afghan heroin trafficking, was devastated last summer by deadly ethnic clashes that killed almost 500 people, mainly ethnic Uzbeks. As the ethnic violence fueled nationalist sentiments within the country, Tashiyev and Madumarov saw their support bases grow.
Tashiyev warned Monday that he would not accept the outcome of the vote and predicted public unrest. 'The people must decide for themselves what authorities they want—fake ones or real ones,' he said.
The specter of a new wave of protests will cause profound anxiety in a country still unstable due to the political and ethnic violence of recent years.
Tashiyev has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from suggestions he would personally lead any mass protests. It was unclear if he was linked to a group of people that marched Monday afternoon onto a highway linking his hometown in southern Kyrgyzstan, Jalal-Abad, to the capital, Bishkek. Local journalists reported that the crowd numbered several hundred and included many well-built young men. More protests are planned Tuesday in Jalal-Abad and the city of Osh, local residents said.
Earlier in the day, Atambayev's opponents in the south issued a petition protesting his alleged manipulation of state resources in the elections. Atambayev, who stepped aside as prime minister last month to take part in campaigning, is a leading member of the governing coalition and a close ally of Otunbayeva.


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One of the most important responsibilities of the SC is the appointment of directors to the OAC Board. The departure of Darcie Beggs as an OMERS Administration Corporation (OAC) Director resulted in a vacancy on the OAC Board effective March 31, 2016.
Charlene Mueller joined the OAC Board effective April 1, 2016. When a vacant term is filled the appointee sits for the remainder of the affected term, in this case until December 31, 2017.
Under its decision-making process the SC considers whether there is a need for benefit or contribution rate changes based on the Funding Management Strategy it adopted in 2014. The Funding Management Strategy outlines how benefits and contributions will be modified as the OMERS Primary Plan (the Plan) cycles through periods of deficit and surplus.
The SC has decided not to invoke the FMS decision-making process in respect of the Primary Plan in 2016 as the measures introduced in 2010 remain sufficient to manage the financial health of the Plan.
However, the SC has decided that it will consider changing the contribution rates of the Supplemental Plan. Although there continues to be no members in the Supplemental Plan, it is necessary to ensure the contribution rates reflect current expectations about the future. The SC will vote on the changes at its June 21, 2016 Board meeting.
The annual valuation of the OMERS Primary Pension Plan must be filed with the regulators every three years, and may be filed more frequently. The SC decided to file the December 31, 2015 actuarial valuations with the regulators in respect of the Primary and Supplemental Plans.