Google’s official Dart language will be called ECMA-408 in being considered an official ECMA standard.

While ECMA is not necessarily popular, it must be pointed out that ECMAscript is being used by your browser so as to allow you to read a few parts of this page. The reason for this is because ECMAScript is the official standard body for JavaScript. This is the organization that is also responsible for specs behind the Office Open XML format, JSON, C# apart from other various CD-ROM specs.

This development precedes the decision made by Lars Bak who began the standardization process with ECMA when it was clear that the language was stable enough for 1.0 release last year.

It’s been a few days since the ECMA team approved the Dart language formally – specs that are based on Dart 1.3, and which the team shared on Google+ today.

While this might seem like a minor development, the fact that it is approved as a new language will only only create an active ecosystem around this language. With these specs now standardized, it will be easier for people to implement Dart.

And even if the Dart team considers the language to be general purpose, it is clearly designed to write web apps. At the moment, Google Chrome doesn’t support this language but with this standardization, it looks like Dart will be given more attention by other developers and browsers.

That said, the Dart team is already working on aspects that will form the revision of the Dart spec by the end of this year.


Following an email by Satya Nadella only recently, Microsoft announced major layoffs totalling to about 18000 employees getting the axe over the course of a year. Almost 12500 of these employees will be from Microsoft’s newly acquired Nokia assets.

In the note, Nadella said that 13000 of these positions will be downsized in the first wave itself while a majority of this number will be notified within six months. A number of them will be provided further information by their team leaders.

Without a doubt, Nokia will take a big hit in this round of layoffs ever since Microsoft brought on board almost 25000 of the Finnish company’s employees. What this indicates is that almost half of Nokia’s employees will be terminated. However, this will also mean that some of Microsoft’s positions will be eliminated to make way for some of the talent acquired from Nokia.

Nadella’s note also states that these layoffs will also cut a few layers of management giving way to a flatter organization. What will follow is the incorporation of Nokia’s device teams into Microsoft while also axing the Nokia X Android-based designs for the low-cost Lumia running hardware Windows Phone.

Employees will receive severance packages along with assistance to move on to new jobs in a number of locations, Nadella’s note said. The CEO will also host an internal Q&A and will be one to watch out for, considering these huge changes.

Google, not very differently, did the same by getting rid of 6000 jobs when they acquired Motorola. After incorporating the hardware division within its organization, they sold the entire unit to Lenovo.