April 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Notes from the field: When reader D.S. installed an Automatic Update from Microsoft his PC started inexplicably calling an IP address on Verizon's Business Network. "What's clear is that D.S. got off easy," Cringe writes in When critical updates kill. Other folks inflicted by the same, it seems, had printer drivers, or even their entire PCs, slaughtered. The fact that this barely qualifies as an optional update, let alone a critical one, is "yet another reason why Microsoft deserves all the bashing it gets, in this space and elsewhere," Cringe maintains.
Special report: For many a startup, the dream is to build a business that another larger company will ultimately acquire. How to get bought by Google. Hint: To gauge what the next hot enterprise technology could be, scan the consumer space. It's not only Google, either. Stalwarts such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are in an even better position to nab fledgling tech companies. Tomorrow, by the by, kicks off our Month of Startups series.
Security: The description makes them sound like something of a superhero: Capable of cloaking malware, rootkits expose sensitive data without detection. Only these are not fighting for justice. Instead, the question they pose: Are rootkits the next big enterprise threat? Most IT shops "may not realize the growing threat of malicious software intended to keep its presence hidden from administrators and traditional anti-virus software," writes Steve Hultquist. Sure, the vendors are battling back but "the rootkit front is fast transforming into an arms race, with each side innovating in response to developments the other camp pushes forward."
The news beat: The Spring Java framework gets a Java 6 infusion with a concentration on annotations, scripting and, of course, Java itself. Verizon reports growth in its wireless and broadband divisions that boosted revenue. China's Alibaba plans an IPO. And the U.S. Supreme Court rules 7-1 in favor of Microsoft in the case AT&T waged; a decision that some say changes how the software industry looks at patent rights.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 30, 2007 11:12 AM
April 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Oracle introduces first ECM product since Stellent acquisition, Acer ratchets up its defense against HP patent suit, Wikipedia tuned for cell phones, and more
LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 30, 2007 08:01 AM
April 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Columnist's corner: Back to basics. That's the foundational advice guru Roger Grimes offers IT pros in How to become an exceptional security manager. That and congruous practices. "The very human nature of purposefully allowing inconsistency as a norm leads to below-average outcomes," Grimes writes. And the flip side, it follows, is also true. "Applying basic security principles consistently will mitigate more risk and lead to a more secure environment." Lest I forget, evaluate those metrics, too.
Storage: Mario Apicella kicks off with a question: Will SAS 2.0 grow greener storage? The pending protocol has many improvements, "the most visible of these is its doubling of the transfer rate to 6Gb per second," Apicella reports. But there's more to it than just speed. Zoning and 10-meter cables, to name just two features that "should make SAS 2.0 compare well with the popular 4G FC and should tease major storage vendors into embracing the new protocol."
New to our site: For those hard-core readers who relish a printed copy, we offer InfoWorld Express, which editor in chief Steve Fox describes as "an all-in-one PDF featuring the previous week's top articles, as chosen by InfoWorld's editors."
The news beat: In an internal memo, Michael Dell reveals an interest in moving beyond its direct model roots, the first time he has publicly hinted at considering an indirect sales channel. Google partners with four U.S. states to hone their sites for its engine. Yahoo scoops up the rest of Right Media, an online advertising firm it took a 20 percent stake in late last year. And Samsung starts mass production of bigger, faster flash memory chips it claims can hold 2 GB of data.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 30, 2007 05:49 AM
April 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Notes from the field: The venerable Robert X. Cringely entices: And now for something completely silly. Only this one is not about Apache the Airedale in a motorcycle sidecar, his on-again-off-again shenanigans with Pammy, or slinging fiery potshots at tech execs. No, Cringe is riddled with insomnia and bored, to boot. Enough so, indeed, to dial up the Trends Engine on the Google subsite and start running searches on bedwetting, bestiality and incontinence, among others. Surprising, what he finds.
Columnist's corner: Sometimes a programmer's best tactical career move is to run from scary code, particularly when it's lacking documentation. That's the lesson our Off the Record author learned after being hired to step in and take the blame for a failed project. "The HR rep tried to lecture me about how 'unprofessional' I was for leaving the company high and dry," he writes. "I said nothing, asked for two days' pay, and left."
Hardware: Acer surpasses Lenovo in PC sales, and turns its scope toward Dell. The PC maker also says it expects to acquire a small company in the coming months, but that bid won't be for Gateway. Busy this week, Acer also fights back against Hewlett-Packard's two patent lawsuits by hiring the same lawyer who represented EMC when HP smacked the storage titan with a suit.
The news beat: ICANN issues a toolkit for handling new TLDs including .info and .mobi. A few weeks after introducing Google Desktop 5 in English, the search company localizes it in 29 languages. And, continuing with Google here, security and legal experts alike agree that Google AdWords need policing, especially in light of researchers uncovering that malware distributors harness the ads to infect unsuspecting PC users.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 27, 2007 10:56 AM
April 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Sun tells of open source AJAX alternative, OLPC ups price to $175, WebSense bids to acquire SufrControl, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 27, 2007 08:12 AM
April 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Attracting and hiring qualified IT folks
Careers: Pausing to celebrate an article that actually presents a dose of solid ideas concerning how managers can meet good workers has Nick Corcodilos sharing one simple tip: hang out in the right places. "Who has time to find people who are worth recruiting and hiring? Uh, I dunno ... Headhunters who charge $50,000 for the service to managers too lazy to do it themselves?"
From the Test Center: Whereas Network Appliance was once just about the only player in the multilingual file sharing space, much has changed. We looked at 4 such products, one each from Adaptec, Celeros, Dell and, of course, NetApp. Paul Venezia ran them through the same series of tests, and determined that "the numbers were generally all over the place. That said, all four did well," he writes. "As front-line filers, they will do fine up to a point, and then it's time to break into the piggy bank for some higher-end storage." Read the full review.
The news beat: Sun details AJAX alternative Project Flair, which one official describes as a self-supporting Web programming kernel. The One Laptop Per Child program increases the price of notebooks to $175, up from the $100 dollar original dream the organization had. In hopes of becoming a global security solutions company, Websense puts in a $400 million bid for SurfControl. And also on the M&A front, Mitel buys Inter-Tel for $732 million to target IP communications products at SMBs.
Best of the blogs: A layer of confusion around SOA lingers within the U.S. government, just as it does in corporate IT, and the issues are more people than technology related, David Linthicum reports in Practical SOA for government . ROI still rules the day, he adds. Oh yes, and drinking "20 cups of coffee makes you shake."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 27, 2007 04:56 AM
April 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Young MacBook Pro aging already
Hardware: Still fairly youthful in laptop years, Tom Yager's MacBook Pro is already showing signs of slowing down. Battery life, for one, dropped to about 2 hours. That, and the notebook misreports remaining charge time. It gets worse: writable files destroyed, misfired upgrade offers. MacBook Pro health report November through April. "It's a small adventure in the scheme of things that leaves a faint sour taste that will persist for a day or so at most," Yager writes.
Columnist's corner: Unseen, and seen, forces are working against the digitization of healthcare records, as Dave Margulius points out. Take Kaiser Permanente's effort, for instance, which may have sparked CIO Cliff Dodd's resignation. Margulius very precisely stops short of calling the project a failure, and so will I. But it's not a glowing success, either. Those opposing forces were at play -- doctors and IT among them. "The bigger lesson for CIOs is this: Stick to your faith in technology, pay attention to the people and cultural issues, but know that although you may move the ball forward for humanity, you may not yourself get to enter the promised land." RIP electronic medical records?
The news beat: An official at the GSM association says that a standard for secure mobile phone payments is being developed. The U.S. Army reveals plans to test Mobile WiMax for military use. Zend Technologies preps a PHP applications framework. And a fellow at think tank Chatham House Information Security Program reiterates that disgruntled employees may seek IT revenge.
Best of the blogs: This one is not your typical InfoWorld post but it is about technology, and penned by contributing editor Brian Chee. Listen to whale song live from Davey Jones' locker. Oh yes, and read a bit about how Brian made it possible.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 26, 2007 10:51 AM
April 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft issues first public beta of Longhorn, along with several new features. Also, Acer recalls laptop batteries in U.S., BenQ to change name, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 26, 2007 08:15 AM
April 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Open source: Just when it seemed "IBM was getting stodgy and provincial in its views on open source," Matt Asay writes in this post, Big Blue rearranged some borders and aligned with MySQL to resell the database, and then some. "I think this is fantastic news for MySQL, and I believe it will be good for IBM, too." Another bonus for both IBM and MySQL, of course, is that it could be bad for enemies Microsoft and Oracle.
Green IT: California's Governor Schwarzenegger is threatening to sue the EPA if it doesn't grant the state the right to implement its own regulations on greenhouse gas emissions -- a move that could lead to the state implementing a law calling for 25 percent decrease of carbon dioxide and other gases. Ted Samson writes in Sustainable IT that the law "would no doubt touch other industries -- including the state's high-tech companies, which not only make C02-producing hardware but also spew out large quantities to run their datacenter operations."
Columnist's corner: Towerstream shows telcos for the carpetbaggers they are and presents a model for escaping their clutches, but neither wireless nor wired bandwidth can really be free, Tom Yager explains. "Internet tiering, the practice of assigning smaller subscribers reduced qualities of service, bugs the hell out of me," Yager writes. WiMax bypasses the bells. "Telcos, the future of the Internet is way over your head."
The news beat: Microsoft releases the first publicly available beta of Longhorn server, bringing it out of private testing and giving users a first look at new scripting and command line technology. Cybercriminals might be gaming Google AdWords to serve exploits, according to security researcher Roger Thompson. And Gartner analysts warn of IT irrelevance by pointing to four distinct trends the consultancy believes will cause significant disruption in the technology sector.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 26, 2007 05:03 AM
April 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Notes from the field: Apple will uncage Leopard this fall. Dell agrees to ship Linux on a few, privileged models and to give customers the option of ordering XP rather than Vista, for the time being anyway. This trifecta leads Cringe to ask Is Microsoft's monopoly kaput? "The days where mastery of Windows gets you a job are long gone ... Moving from a cheap Linux box to Windows isn't like moving from a Model T to an F16."
Best of the blogs: Using great software to bludgeon competitors manacled by lock-in makes business fun, Matt Asay asserts. He's referring to Red Hat's second big migration, as in data. "First it was Unix to Linux," he writes. "Now, with the announced acquisition of MediaMatrix, Red Hat is moving to the migration of data from legacy applications to an open source architecture."
The news beat: Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld steps down by requesting that his contract not be renewed upon expiration. Microsoft announces two new labs that will focus on malware, in Dublin and Tokyo. A group of computer dealers accuse Sun of interfering with trade in used Sun products in the European Union. And evil twin Wi-Fi access points are on the rise; such attacks are much easier to pull off than those requiring logins or passwords.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 25, 2007 11:14 AM
April 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Open source consolidation rolls on with moves by Red Hat and CollabNet. Also, Chinese court rules against Yahoo, U.S. SEC charges former Apple exec, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 25, 2007 08:22 AM
April 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A funny thing happened to open source
Best of the blogs: Capitalism -- yes, as in money -- changed open source and for the better. It wasn't all that long ago that proponents such as Matt Asay insisted it would never touch the application market. "Suddenly, business models started to be discovered that would allow companies to form communities (or leverage existing ones) to monetize open source," he writes in Open source becoming more innovative? "The next decade goes to the innovators in new markets...not traditional, proprietary software." Related: Red Hat chides Oracle over Linux.
The news beat: With Apple's former general counsel planning to fight the backdating stock options charges the SEC brought against her, the case is sure to be closely watched. CA inks an outsourcing pact with Achievo to provide implementation, customization and maintenance services for CA's Chinese customers. And CollabNet buys SourceForge.
SOA: "I'm among BPM people that are really SOA people and perhaps don't know it," David Linthicum confesses in BPM and SOA. Of course, the idea of BPM in the context of SOA is anything not new, he writes. "The services carry out the work, while the process layer forms the use of services into solutions."
Security: Volunteering for the role of guinea pig to be screened by San Jose Airport's Falcon device, which uses new millimeter wave technology to see through objects like prosthetics, casts and heavy bandages, Bob Garza found the tool interesting and the whole process only slightly invasive. "The problem with what I experienced with this all-seeing device is it's image aperture size and number of 'snapshots' that had to be used to get a clear picture around a prosthetic," he explains in Newest airport screening device a day late and a dollar short. "The image taking process took about ten minutes, and I can't imagine it taking any less then five to ten minutes per person."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 25, 2007 05:47 AM
April 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Is Microsoft support shooting blanks?
Notes from the field: Why, yes it is, at least according to Robert X. Cringely. He's responding to a reader who contacted Team Redmond because he had problems with Windows XP and Automatic Update. The thing is, Microsoft's troubleshooting site served up a bunch of empty pages, and for several topics. Cringe tried it for himself and garnered the same. "I guess Microsoft's philosophy is that no advice is better than bad advice."
GripeLine: The Spy Act only protects vendors and their DRM, but does too little to guard the good citizenry from spyware, Ed Foster reports. What's worse, "it's perfectly OK for basically any vendor you do business with, or maybe thinks you do business with them for that matter, to use any of the deceptive practices the bill prohibits to load spyware on your computer." Like the Can Spam Act before it, Foster predicts this one will take on a new moniker, the Vendors Can Spy Act.
Security: It's host against network in the battle for the future of network access control, NAC. In the one corner we have folks believing in a centralized network-based approach; the other a cadre maintaining that NAC should be on the endpoint. "Many larger vendors support the notion that both will be adopted by enterprises," Matt Hines writes in this article. "But some agreed that there will not likely be tolerance among customers for multiple systems that require the creation of parallel policies and controls."
The news beat: The U.S. SEC charges a former Apple executive with backdating stock options, while the company's former CFO cuts a deal due to facing similar charges. Microsoft and SAP outline future versions of Duet. And the $10,000 Mac hack impacts Windows as well because the flaw resides in QuickTime.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 24, 2007 11:17 AM
April 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Intel unveils its chip vision. Also, U.S. gov't creating ID theft law enforcement center, London launches Wi-Fi, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 24, 2007 08:03 AM
April 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Columnist's corner: With some 20 years of IT experience under his belt our Off the Record author offers this advice: Take a risk every now and then. It paid off for him, and led to reorganizing the IT department at a major cosmetics firm, identifying drug abuse in patients using pain killers, and picking up on duplicate payments to vendors at a large shipping company. "I did almost all of these things on my own time. I asked for help where required and happily shared the credit. But basically it was me sitting at home writing code," he explains. "I became a company star."
Security: It's something shocking, though not altogether surprising, to read that one-third of all Web sites are vulnerable to a data attack. That's according to a report compiled by WhiteHat Security, tracking 15 months of assessments across millions of active URLs.
The news beat: AT&T reveals intentions to aim the Apple iPhone at business users and, as such, is working to make its back-end systems operate with the device by the time it ships. Analyst house Gartner says that modern IT shops need an overhaul and predicts a demise of the conventional IT organization. AMD looks to raise $2.2 billion through a debt sale. And Intel says that it will give future processors new tasks, including some currently handled by other chips within the PC.
Notes from the field: It could soon be raining subpoenas in Mountain View, Cringe asserts, referring to the town in which Google is headquartered. At issue is the company's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick, a move that has many in the industry up in arms, mostly asking what Google's intentions are for all the information it will be able to gather. "The bigger question is what other folks will be able to do with it once Google has collected it," Cringe explains in Excuse me, but you've just stepped in some DoubleGoo. "Now it's Google's turn to come up with a really good answer."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 24, 2007 05:09 AM
April 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Storage: While most folks preparing to buy iSCSI storage do a fine job defining technical needs, they all too often ignore aspects such as budget capacity, Mario Apicella points out in The Storage Network. "If you don't provision proper budget figures you might end up having to choose a less fitting solution than what your technical requirements and your selection suggests," Apicella explains.
From the feature well: High-performance computing, a.k.a. HPC, is a specialized undertaking, and one that corporations have typically left to scientists and universities. But thanks to clustered standards-based commodity servers, Leon Erlanger writes, "HPC is now firmly within reach of today's enterprise." Four case studies prove it. Take engineering firm BAE Systems for instance, which learned that "little changes can have big implications."
Editor's letter: Steve Fox loves to hear from readers, particularly when they have something kind to say. That's not exactly what his inbox has been flooded with since we switched from print to online, though. "Let's just say you got my attention," Fox begins in Magazine content in a tidy bundle. In response to those of you asking for a select subset of our best weekly content, we've created InfoWorld Express. Register here.
The news beat: Three U.S. groups ask the FTC to block Google's acquisition of DoubleClick for privacy reasons. Motorola scoops up Terayon Communication System for its digital video processing and networking software. And Wi-Fi cloaks the city of London.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 23, 2007 11:26 AM
April 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
RIM brings apps to non-BlackBerry devices, HP smacks Acer with second lawsuit, Intuit to refund users, hacker breaks into Mac and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 23, 2007 07:50 AM
April 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The fascism of citizen journalism
Columnist's corner: The notion that non-journalists could provide worthwhile news sparked a couple years ago and has certainly caught on. But Ephraim Schwartz writes, "citizen journalism is a form of fascism waiting to happen." Beware mob media. The problem is a loss of focus that dwindles toward busybodies, name-calling, and personal attacks on the guy down the street. "As more and more people stop reading newspapers and depend on online community sites to get their information, I see the danger and it may just be too late."
Storage: Startup Woven Systems takes another step toward 10 Gig SANs with a new switch that "promises a low-latency, very reliable 10 Gig fabric that should cost a fraction of the price of current solutions and is open to a future move to 100 Gigabit Ethernet," explains Mario Apicella. "There is little I didn't like about the EFX 1000."
The news beat: Hoping this week will be better than the last, RIM details forthcoming software that enables BlackBerry applications to work on devices running Windows Mobile 6.0. Business Objects buys Cartesis for its finance and performance management wares. And Oracle issues the delayed Windows patch for its database.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 23, 2007 04:56 AM
April 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
RIM comes clean about the BlackBerry outage, AMD posts a loss for the second straight quarter, Bill Gates unveils a $3 software suite, the Justice Department joins the whistleblower lawsuits against HP, Sun, and Accenture, and more. LISTEN!
Posted by Caroline Craig on April 20, 2007 08:12 AM
April 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
SOA governance: Pay now or later
Best of the blogs: Even if it is a vendor-sponsored study, and as such to be read with appropriate caution, Aberdeen's report on the value of services-based software has some good information, David Linthicum writes in Real Word SOA. "Clearly, the notion of governance is sound, and you do indeed need to build some rigor around the design, development, testing, deployment, and management of services," he explains.
Notes from the field: Skeptical readers wrote into Robert X. suggesting that perhaps Thomas Forqueran -- you know, the guy whose vintage pickup was burned to a crisp by a Dell laptop -- is actually an auto arsonist. "That dog won't hunt," Cringe insists in Keep on truckin'. The 1966 pickup was not easy to replace, for starters, and Mr. Forqueran was in the middle of nowhere. "If Forqueran is a con man I'll eat my hat, with a side dish of crow."
Columnist's corner: Fresh from the Web 2.0 Expo where he sat in on a session about taxonomy, David Margulius notes of the people who perform taxonomy, "those meticulous creatures are running scared because of the Web 2.0 development known as tagging ... Should enterprises care? Yes," Margulius writes. For a whole host of reasons, to be certain. Corporate librarian replaced by Web app. Related: IT can't stop Web 2.0, and InfoWorld's ongoing coverage from the expo.
From the Test Center: Desktop virtualization is maturing into a two-horse race. In this case, Randall Kennedy is referring to "the deployment of corporate applications and data within discrete VM images that then run independently on a host-client system." He looks insdie Kidaro and Sentillion. "Both provide a variety of additional unique and highly innovative features that differentiate their products from the more basic VMware offering, and also from each other." Read the full review.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 20, 2007 04:33 AM
April 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of Talkback: Language debate, burned-truck rebate
This week's top most-discussed stories are two hot-button issues (the second of which renders the phrase "hot-button issue" a real groaner of a pun). First, there was Andrew Binstock's article about IT managers embracing dynamic languages like PHP, Ruby, and Python in order to more quickly complete their ever-growing list of tasks. Second, Robert X. Cringely asked if Dell helped or hurt its reputation with how it handled the case of the man who claims his overheated Dell laptop made his truck catch fire.
Dynamic languages: More than just a quick fix
Dell's reputation: Up in smoke?
Dynamic languages Talkback highlights
Andrew's central thesis is that "by taking a measured approach to matching dynamic languages to the right kinds of projects, IT can tap the unique expressiveness of dynamic languages to create clean, reliable, and reusable code — and thereby realize productivity benefits without compromising the integrity of the enterprise."
You said:
adrocknaphobia 2007-04-17 16:18:36
Good read on dynamically-typed languages, although the half-million ColdFusion developers worldwide might be upset you forgot about them. They've been pioneering enterprise development with a dynamically-typed language for over a decade.
(In Talkback, Andrew later clarified why he didn't mention ColdFusion:
I didn't overlook ColdFusion. I thought it was fairly clear that single-vendor, closed-source scripting languages were not part of this article. Else, I would have discussed the many Microsoft languages as well, plus 4GLs, and so on ad infinitum. ColdFusion is fine as a tool but it's not in the same category as the products described here.)
david 2007-04-17 18:59:56
The TIOBE "rankings" are fundamentally flawed - to be clear, it doesn't rate the popularity of USAGE of a language, it rates how often they are MENTIONED in web searches. Some classic examples are glaring on this list: COBOL - I used to be a cobol programmer (back in the day) and I can tell you that there is no WAY a google search can account for the billions of lines of legacy COBOL code out there. Same with ColdFusion - how do you account for Intranet development done in this language with a google search? Any language, for that matter. Finally, to keep things fair - "VBScript" at #41, behind REXX. That's all I needed to hear! Really, this list is given FAR too much credibility when it comes to the "popularity" of development languages.
Trent 2007-04-18 07:21:29
Writing 'quick and dirty' code is not optimal but it is an unfortunate necessity of life. When you are handed a task without a clearly defined goal, and no budget behind it, and you are told it has to be done by the end of the day there is often little choice. Any of the languages you mention in the article can be used for both 'quick and dirty' code as well as good, clean, well-organized enterprise level applications. I have to agree with some of the other commenters in that you neglected to mention ColdFusion. Soon to see its 8th major version release later this year it has been used for everything from small mom and pop stores to major sites like myspace.com.
ldaniel 2007-04-18 12:15:21
Awk is so old school, IMHO. Perl out-awked awk so long ago, I ashamed to mention it. And, importantly, awk is a security risk when running from a script file, where Perl has strict and taint checking to secure it's script way better than most scripting languages and C programs for that matter.
fxnoria 2007-04-19 09:58:15
"scripting languages, such as PHP and Perl; and, at the top of the heap, general-purpose dynamic languages such as Ruby and Python." I don't see on what basis do you put Perl in a different category, PHP is certainly more specialized, but Perl, Ruby, and Python are general-purpose languages.
Dell's reputation: Up in smoke? Talkback highlights
Robert Cringely points out that an investigator concluded that the laptop didn't start the truck fire, thereby exonerating Dell, but he also says that the company missed out on a great opportunity to score some much-needed positive PR.
You said:
x_hobbes at April 18, 2007 12:36 PM
Though call... On one hand, it would be a fairly cheap publicity win for Dell to buy the guy a new truck and say "because we care about our customers," versus the negative publicity they're getting because of it. On the other hand, where should the line be drawn on paying folks that just want a quick buck? How about a hybrid solution? Get the guy a new truck 'because Dell cares,' but then sue him for fraud, saying 'don't screw with us.' =-) Just a thought.
Mark Z. at April 18, 2007 03:03 PM
The first two posters are unreal... Why does it not surprise me that Dell's own investigation turned up nothing... Hmmm, to avoid liability??? So, it's two possibilities... Shells in the glove compartment magically catching fire, despite two (experienced?) hunters, or laptops known to catch fire. Shells are normally pretty stable. Looks like Dell laptops aren't... I'm curious to hear what Dell's "investigation" yielded--swamp gas that built up in the truck that was ignited by the light from Venus that was magnified due to a temporary shift in the Earth's magnetic field....
Stan at April 19, 2007 04:30 AM
Sorry...but, my insurance adjuster would have been the first guy I'd have called. As for Dell's missing the boat...I disagree. This CF should have been cut off at the pass from the beginning: let the insurance company handle it.
What, no insurance on a 'valuable' family heirloom.
Not Dell's fault.
p.s. I'm work in an hp shop...they don't catch fire. The capacitors just explode!
Bill L at April 19, 2007 05:30 AM
Older Ford pickups had the gas tank located behind the seat, inside the cab. That is definitly unsafe practice today. And yet, a smoldering, melting laptop on the seat should be well away from the tank and the glove compartment. Sounds like fraud to me.
Peter at April 19, 2007 05:48 AM
I think Dell should buy me a new truck even though I use an IBM laptop.
Posted by Pete Babb on April 20, 2007 04:30 AM
April 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's anti-Linux campaign
Open source: Rather than litigating against companies for using Linux, perhaps Microsoft will continue to get foolish ISVs and IHVs to join its patent bandwagon, Matt Asay speculates in Microsoft's anti-Linux whisper game . Mr. Asay does have a thought, though. "Novell could call Microsoft's bluff on this patent charade and regain some credibility in the open source world."
Best of the blogs: Sustainable IT guru Ted Samson has an assignment for readers: an article titled The Power of Green, written by Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times, and The World is Flat fame. "It's not just the stereotypical tree-hugger types in tie-dyed T-shirts and hemp shorts demanding respect and love for Mother Nature," Samson writes in this post. "Tech companies are already working to influence the government, calling for funding and support that can really drive sustainable-technology innovation." (N.B. That NY Times story won't stay free for long, so it's best not to put this one off.)
The news beat: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates unveils a $3 software suite for emerging markets that houses XP Starter Edition, Office Home and Student 2007, Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 and Windows Live Mail. Mozilla releases the Thunderbird 2 e-mail client which, it claims, improves message labeling and organization. And Red Hat builds a services center in India.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 19, 2007 10:49 AM
April 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
BI 2.0 wraps wikis, mashups and open source. Also, RIM restores BlackBerry service, HP boosts PC lead over Dell, MS joins with Lenovo, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 19, 2007 09:17 AM
April 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Web 2.0 sparks BI 2.0 revolution
Applications: Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, mashups and data tags are lighting up what Business Objects CEO John Schwarz calls a 'Business Intelligence 2.0 Revolution'. The coming changes will make data more accessible and, ultimately, result in social networks to give users the ability to pool resources. Related: Next OpenOffice to include Pentaho BI.
Video: Speaking of Web 2.0, there's a conference on that very subject taking place this week. Executive editor Eric Knorr speaks with three CEOs from the Web 2.0 realm attending the show. "On the one hand are wild and wooly mashups," Knorr kicks off the conversation. "On the other is enterprise IT." Watch it here.
Best of the blogs: Open source is both threat and oppurtunity for Microsoft. "The real question is how to work with a company that must, of necessity, turn a Janus face to open source," Matt Asay writes in Microsoft tries to maintain its monopoly, are you surprised? "Microsoft has been very helpful to a range of open source startups, including my own. Kudos for that. But does that work outweigh the harm that Microsoft does with things like this Florida shenanigan?"
The news beat: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that SaaS should not create a widespread loss of jobs. (I'll let you, reader, decide whether to believe this or not...) Hewlett-Packard soars higher in PC sales, continuing to boost its lead over rival Dell. And the wife of an imprisoned Chinese dissident smacks Yahoo with a lawsuit for allegedly revealing information that led to her husband being not only arrested, but also tortured.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 19, 2007 05:26 AM
April 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Green not an easily measured trait
Best of the blogs: Looking at tech companies that are garnering attention for eco-friendly accomplishments points one to Sun and HP. "The problem is, it's difficult to gauge which company is the greenest, because the potential criteria are so broad," Ted Samson explains in Who's the greenest of them all? "I'm not convinced the rankings have too much value."
Columnist's corner: After seeking instances where iSCSI made inroads into more than just SMBs database server or SAN box, Oliver Rist writes, "I'm just not seeing it." No warm fuzzies for iSCSI? It's not for lack of software support, either. "Give virtualization a little time to spread into the SMB segment, however, and we may see that change."
Notes from the field: Despite its customer claiming otherwise, Dell inspected the now-notorious vintage pickup truck that exploded after a Dell laptop caught fire inside and determined that the notebook was not the cause after all. What's more, the company is citing rules about customer confidentiality as a reason to keep quiet on further details. "It was an opportunity lost," writes the judicious Robert X. Cringely. "Dell had a chance to show itself as something more than a faceless multibillion corporation that doesn't seem to care about its customers." Dell's reputation up in smoke
The news beat: RIM's BlackBerry service is back, but users are unhappy with the company's responsiveness. Google offers up an AJAX API for creating mashups. And Oracle unrolls its content management strategy scroll.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 18, 2007 10:59 AM
April 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Verizon talks up CaaS while Savvis and Symantec make SaaS waves, Oracle leaves Windows hole unplugged, Intel to inject Centrino with WiMax, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 18, 2007 08:24 AM
April 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Why IT and business are inseparable
Columnist's corner: Looking for the perfect example of why business and IT cannot be separate in your organization? Ephraim Schwartz has just that -- the best of breed vs. trusted partner debate. While many companies that do not need bleeding-edge technology can opt for the trusted partner approach, Schwartz asks how many can say they don't require the latest and greatest? That's precisely where best of breed comes into its own. "CIOs and CEOs will have to confront this issue sooner rather than later," Schwartz explains.
Hardware: Apple faced "the ugly reality of having neither product go out on time unless it called all hands on deck." The wares to which Tom Yager refers in The method behind Apple's madness are the iPhone and Leopard, the latter of which Apple this week said is now delayed. "I think it was an easy choice. iPhone is a non-product with an installed base of zero."
Careers: When most IT folks start out, they don't see the big picture because they're getting the job done, head down and all. At some point, though, vision will become paramount to a career. For starters, though, John West offers this tip: breathe normally and take enough time to do it right. What's vision and how do I get some?
The news beat: Verizon says it will offer CaaS later this year -- no, that's not a typo, it's short for computing-as-a-service. According to network security firm Support Intelligence major corporations are still serving up lots of spam. Microsoft says that, as of now anyway, it won't resell fuel-cell battery chargers. And IBM faces a slowdown in its U.S. enterprise business.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 18, 2007 04:56 AM
April 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)
It's time for alternatives to MS Office
Platforms: "I'm guessing the new [Office 2007] interface is Microsoft's way of trying to preserve lock-in without the proprietary file formats that used to make it easy," Bob Lewis postulates in While we're on the subject of Vista, the fourth in his series about upgrading to the new OS. "Microsoft is in a risky position right now -- in much the same place Novell was way back when, when it moved from the Bindery to NDS (Network Directory Services, the predecessor to eDirectory)." We all know how that particular bit of history unfolded. Hence, Lewis asserts, the time is ripe for considering other options.
Columnist's corner: This saga begins with a sort of rhetorical question, if you won't listen to the IT people you hire, what's the point of having them in the first place? Instead, our Off the Record author's boss went with the lowest bid for upgrading a 10Base-T network to 100Base-TX topped off with Cat-5 cabling. "Suddenly stations would go off the net, and when my techs went crawling into the overhead, they'd find cables that were running over fluorescent lights, jacks and patch panels that were not Cat-5 compliant." When bargain cabling is no bargain. The plot thickens as a new boss opts for a network assessment that doesn't go so well either.
The news beat: Intel claims its forthcoming Penryn desktop chips will run as much as 40 percent faster than current versions when they ship in the latter half of this year. Amazon.com's groundbreaking Web services business is losing money, according to CEO Jeff Bezos. Sun, Fujistu and Hitachi all detail new servers. And Xerox brings 15 printers to market.
Best of the blogs: VMware issues the first public beta of its benchmarking tool, VMmark. "Some of the more important changes include the distribution of virtual appliances for the Linux-based workloads, distribution of an XML-based open-source benchmarking harness for STAF/STAX, reduction of the memory footprint from 7GB per tile to 5GB per tile and replacement of the database workload with SysBench running against MySQL," David Marshall explains in The Virtualization Report.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 17, 2007 10:59 AM
April 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Oracle details Project X for integration. Plus, Intel says multi-core chips to be compatible with x86 instruction set, Adobe CEO questions Microsoft's commitment to Silverlight, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 17, 2007 08:18 AM
April 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Peer-to-peer comes under the gun
Networking: Peer-to-peer worms get their turn and security experts remain steadfast in predicting that botnets of hijacked PCs will pose one of the toughest challenges to IT. The Storm Worm this week, in fact, represents what some believe is the beginning of a new wave. A U.S. man, meanwhile, pleads guilty to distributing copyright materials over a peer-to-peer network, marking the fifth conviction in the DOJ's Operation D-Elite crackdown.
From the feature well: Dynamic languages are more than just a quick fix. But as Andrew Binstock points out, "banging out 'quick and dirty' code just to finish a project remains an ill-advised way to incorporate dynamic languages into the enterprise development mix." Instead, with the right tools "IT can tap the unique expressiveness of dynamic languages to create clean, reliable, and reusable code." Think PHP, Python, Ruby, which are proving their mettle. Related: The shortcomings of scripting.
GripeLine: Comcast customers are making noise about the company cutting off service without warning. "Clearly, they are trying to keep it as quiet as possible," Ed Foster reports in this post. "That's not going to work if their customers refuse to remain silent."
The news beat: Symantec is taking its first steps into SaaS with the launch of its Online Backup Service. Oracle shares details about its Project X; hint: integration. And rivals are complaining about Google's DoubleClick acquisition.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 17, 2007 04:34 AM
April 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
What Google knows but Microsoft doesn't
Notes from the field: The acquisition of DoubleClick proves "Google isn't a technology company that makes money from ads, it's an advertising company that uses technology to lure eyeballs," pens Robert X. Cringely. Google goes click. "GoogleClick is still better than an ad network controlled by Microsoft, if only because Google seems to understand what consumers want in a way MS never will." Related: Google-DoubleClick a dangerous monopoly?
Hardware: The Apple II turns 30. "Apple II was a follow-up to a market flop, the Apple I. The failure of that first effort was a blessing," Tom Yager writes. "Apple II had more in common with commercial arcade games than with competing home computers of the day."
Columnist's corner: Referencing Douglas Adams' most famous work, editor-in-chief Steve Fox offers this to readers: Don't panic. Favorite columnists still in the fold. "Just because we've stopped print publication doesn't mean we've cut back on our content. All your favorite print columns and columnists are still alive and well at InfoWorld.com," Fox writes. Fox also announces and details our new Best of Talkback feature.
The news beat: A new worm is working its way around Skype's VoIP service, replicating by sending malicious links via instant messenger. Adobe says it will show off its first desktop media player, which will enable users to 'download and carry' videos. And an open source project aims to erase the fog around e-voting.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 16, 2007 10:52 AM
April 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft unveils Flash killer Silverlight. Also, Adobe to demo new media player, Intel details PRAM to replace DRAM, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 16, 2007 08:19 AM
April 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
One change to cut security risk
Columnist's corner: There is a single alteration to PCs that can "significantly reduce the risk of malicious exploit." But, as Roger Grimes explains, "removing admin rights is difficult for different reasons." Yes, Mr. Grimes does offer some advice on how to do just that. Five steps for reducing unnecessary use of administrator accounts. "No matter how you go about it, you should audit your company's use of elevated accounts."
Storage: Most storage networks run on Fibre Channel but it's limited to the back-end and data has to jump over barrels and through myriad hoops en route to users. "Sound inefficient?" Mario Apicella asks in A single protocol in your SAN. "You bet it is." But a potential solution lies in Fibre Channel over Ethernet, or FCoE for short. "What FCoE proposes is essentially running FC directly over Ethernet, without using another transport layer."
The news beat: BEA Systems injects its portal with Web 2.0 capabilities, including an AJAX-style framework, support for REST Web services, and tools for portal management and governance. Intel says it will demonstrate a potential DRAM replacement that it is calling PRAM. Medis Technologies begins commercial production of a fuel-cell charger for Microsoft. And a special committee at CA blames co-founder Charles Wang for the accounting fraud scandal that rocked the company and for which former CEO Sanjay Kumar was ordered to pay in excess of $1 billion in restitution.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 16, 2007 05:40 AM
April 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Calling Google Apps e-mail 'moronic'
Open source: Google Apps Email -- I am forced to give you the finger. Those words come from Dave Rosenberg who is amid a switch over to Google Apps. "What a world of pain we ran into with some of the stupidest "features" I have ever seen from a business application," he practically screams. Ouch.
Off the Record: There's a lot to see in IT, that's certain. But one professional services consultant for a top computer manufacturer has likely witnessed more than most. "I do love this job," he insists. "My wife really believes I love my computer far more than I do her, but then, computers just seem less complicated." The joys of complexity.
The news beat: Microsoft warns of a DNS server flaw in several of its products that could let hackers run malicious code. Sun scoops up SavaJe for its mobile phone software. Apple delays Leopard, saying it will no longer release it in June and blaming the iPhone. And IBM touts new "low-carb" blade servers.
Best of the blogs: As larger companies keep swallowing smaller ones, David Linthicum pauses to wonder Will acquisitions kill SOA innovation? "The core concern is that most of the innovative work occurs within venture funded startups," he writes. "When these guys are acquired the innovation typically slows down. I've seen this time and time again, and have been involved personally."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 13, 2007 10:41 AM
April 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Agencies score low on cybersecurity tests, Qualcomm rejects Nokia's payments, Microsoft hunts for source of Vista SP1 leak, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 13, 2007 07:10 AM
April 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Caveat: Tech is for creative types
Best of the blogs: Technology professionals are undoubtedly imaginative and clever folks, at least for the most part. That certainly has benefits -- but deficits, as well. "I have found that creative people do not respond well to "management,'" espouses John West in this Leading from the trenches post. "Management creates boxes and moves people and tasks around within them. Boxes do not lead to innovation and creation."
From the Test Center: Data leaks are only going to occur with greater frequency in the foreseeable future, at least according to analyst firm IDC. And so go the associated business risks. To that end, we look at four products for keeping data safe and sound. "These systems have gotten much better at discovering leaks of personal information and intellectual property," writes Mike Heck. Just don't expect anything to solve every insider threat. Read the full review.
The news beat: Dell has ceased sales of its Axim handheld computer thereby leading insiders and pundits to ask whether or not the PC stalwart might just buy Palm. Microsoft pushes back the delivery date of two key virtualization products, a public beta of Windows Server virtualization and the first service pack for Virtual Server 2005. And U.S. agencies still get low cybersecurity grades -- Homeland Security is particularly disappointing with a D for its measures in a number of areas.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 13, 2007 05:18 AM
April 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of Talkback: Content lockdown, end of print stirs
InfoWorld Chief Technologist Tom Yager is not new to stirring the pot on hot topics, and his recent "Content in lockdown" column, which looks at how new ATI technology aims to make DRM a thing of the past by taking the fight to the GPU, is no less rattling.
This week, the column has risen to near the top of Most-Commented articles, a new feature on the InfoWorld.com homepage (under the tab next to Top Stories) where you can see what's hot Talkback-wise (in real-time).
But this new Best of Talkback round-up is not just about the most comments -- it highlights the best, from you, our reader. And with that brief intro to this new weekly highlighting, here is the best of Talkback this week:
Content in lockdown Talkback highlights
Tom opens the debate with this intriguing look at the issue: I'm increasingly aghast at the erosion of the traditional freedom we've enjoyed to do whatever we please with our personal computers -- but intrigued by the science behind it.
You said:
aahauck 2007-03-29 12:15:44
If you can view it or hear it, you can copy it. These technologies are really about preventing high- or perfect-fidelity copies ... I mostly avoid all this nonsense by avoiding their "entertainment" all together, but I suppose there aren't many people who subscribe to that practice.
RBROOKU 2007-03-29 14:43:17
Hmmm, would consumers buy "open" computers instead of "closed" computers, given a choice? Certainly, a significant number would... But AMD must be asleep at the wheel if they think they can foist this on the market without repercussions to their long range profitability.
vdelong 2007-04-01 10:42:20
How would GPLv3 affect the content providers' ability to apply DRM? As you note, they regard it as crucial. During the v3 drafting process, a high level of hostility to "Tivo-ization" led me to believe that the intent was to totally prevent the use of GPLv3 code with any form of DRM. But a recent article by Bruce Perens says that this is FUD, and that v3 is fully compatible. The discussion boards are largely silent. Have you any enlightenment?
madsailor 2007-04-05 12:06:51
Does anyone remember when Intel supplied Pentiums with the reportable serial number switched on? Remember the brouhaha? Have we become so blase about Big Brother's control of our personal devices that we'd willingly allow Microsoft, Intel, Apple, and the rest of them to tell us what content we can and cannot use with our computers? What happens when the government decides that for our own security (aka War Powers Act) they will be monitoring our content usage so that we are protected from ourselves? I, personally, am very nervous about large corporations' and governments' ability to respect my rights. So far neither corporate America (Sony rootkit) nor the government (warrantless phone taps) has shown any particular restraint. There is no reason to expect they will in the future either.
malachiconstant 2007-04-12 11:07:47
Keep in mind this has nothing to do with what AMD wants, other than the desire to stay in business. Blu-Ray is developed so that it will not work without this kind of copy-protection technology, so you will see exactly the same thing happen with Intel, Nvidia, and anyone else who wants to make next-generation graphics chips that will play the latest media. The reaction to this article is unnecessarily negative toward AMD. People should be blaming the media giants that force not only AMD but everyone else in the market to conform to their standards if they want to keep selling chips that support the latest technology. In short, I agree with Azchjack, disagree with Meme.
BorealisMeme 2007-04-12 11:20:31
Fair enough malachic, I just feel that caving to the industry to support their wacky doomed proprietary formats is shortsighted. Hardware vendors should keep in mind that they sell to the consumer and that the consumer will demand computers that can do what *they* want. This just further ensures that I will never watch a blew-ray (misspelling intentional) movie.
phillfri 2007-04-13 07:43:41 flag as inappropriate
At the rate hackers have been able to break DRM methods to date, AMD would be mad to try this. You can bet as soon as such a chip came to market, some far eastern manufacturer(s) would jump in with a chip(s) that wouldn't play by DRM rules. Its like asking for more competition while simultaneously shrinking your target market. And a lot of the business world outside of the U.S. is not necessarily so hot on DRM as U.S. corporations are. And if "control" of, say, a GPU is limited to "corporations" and not the computer owner, then you have a real legal battle over who should be paying for that GPU - since its nothing more than an extension of the corporations' product, a way to transfer their costs of production to all end users, whether end users want it or not. I just can't see this idea getting any serious traction except perhaps as an OEM chip for special product builds.
It's a Print-Free (Info)World Talkback highlights
Editor-in-chief Steve Fox writes, "The personal e-mails I received [about our shift to Web only at InfoWorld], however, were almost uniformly negative, sprinkled liberally with words like "shocked," "saddened," and even "appalled." As a reader noted, "It will take a tremendous amount of personal value add to convince me to spend more, instead of less, time online." I hear you loud and clear, and we'll be working hard to provide that "value add" in the coming months.
You said:
MakoShark 2007-04-09 10:53:57
I for one congratulate you! If this is the end of the annoying subscription survey calls, I appaud it...
sxw123 2007-04-10 07:51:29
...I am so disappointed at this move. My time with My freshly minted copy of infoworld, over lunch, on a plane etc. is a welcome break .. I will not be making the switch, and I [a CTO at a software company] am now at a loss for where to look to feed my reading need.
crichman 2007-04-10 09:03:20
I'm a government agency CIO and found the hard copy edition perfect for my 25-minute train ride. I'll miss that convenience, and I'm afraid that means I'll miss most of your content as well...
jayvee 2007-04-10 10:46:36
PS: To improve the on-line user experience, you might start by removing the ad that keeps folding a page over the reading space. That is absolutely annoying.
ElRomano 2007-04-11 10:03:27
This online Idea will fail miserably. I do my readings online and on paper I always prefer paper and pay more attention to the paper content.
Jeff 2007-04-11 10:23:16
[Why] not script up a weekly summary of all of the columns, across multiple pages in an easy-to-read format, combine it in to a PDF that could be printed on a duplex printer, and let people subscribe and/or download it...
Posted by Mike Barton on April 13, 2007 04:14 AM
April 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Protecting WEP easier than you think
Security: Many IT managers vowed to avoid WEP some time ago. "The problem is that swearing off WEP for our personal geek machines and swearing it off for a fleet desktops and laptops are two different things," Oliver Rist explains. WEP security is mere clicks away, in Windows. This tale, folks, has spine-chilling twists, repartee fit for dinner vegetables and, of course, violence. But it finally ends with a resolution residing in a place disguised only as itself: Active Directory.
Columnist's corner: The numbers and schemes behind quarterly earnings are often enough to make any techie's head spin until it hurts. "Earnings season is a jargon-laden obfuscation fest. Companies try to smell like a rose even after they've stunk up the joint," David Margulius explains in this quick guide to earnings gibberish. This list includes tactics such as the 'pre-announce' and acronyms GAAP vs. non-GAAP net income, not to mention the ominous terms 'accounting irregularities' and 'alpha' which does not at all resemble the word's usage for software testing cycles. Good luck!
Open source: Call it the acquisition/confusion syndrome. "It can be severely damaging, and anyone exposed to it is susceptible to infection. The point of exposure occurs when a 'Big 4' vendor acquires a smaller, focused start-up in hopes of expanding their offerings," writes Harper Mann in Open source, stat! Symptoms include claustrophobia, cold sweats due to vendor lock-in, dissatisfaction, anger, confusion, disorientation. "But there is a treatment."
The news beat: IBM details plans to stack processors atop memory or power components then drill holes to connect them, thereby improving efficiency. Oracle makes its CRM reach out to BlackBerry devices via Siebel Wireless. And Vonage Holdings CEO Michael Snyder resigns amid efforts to cut costs by some $140 million.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 12, 2007 10:46 AM
April 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
IT complexity is only getting worse, experts say. Plus, China cracks down on spam, Microsoft refutes reports of Office holes, IBM stacks and drills through chips, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 12, 2007 08:20 AM
April 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
5 things to consider when beginning an SOA
Best of the blogs: Sure, there are more points to understand when embarking on an SOA project, but David Linthicum starts with the top 5 to worry about. The first, of course, is people. I'll not steal the thunder, but the rest follow that lead. Related: OASIS advances SOA standards via its Open Composite Services Architecture program.
App dev: What with the 'previous versions' feature being left out of the Home Basic and Home Premium incarnations of Windows Vista, Martin Heller points out that it "wouldn't be so bad except that the backups are still being made: you just can't get at them." Only one way to manage that, too. Vista backups you can't have.
The news beat: Microsoft and Google trade barbs on enterprise search -- including feigning throwing a punch, just to keep it all fun. Panelists at IBM's 'Navigating Complexity' conference paint a dire picture of IT systems as shops deal with security compliance, root cause analysis, overlapping functions. And trade group CCIA cautions users to avoid sites with URLs similar to irs.gov, including irs.com and irs.net, as they might charge for otherwise free services.
GripeLine: One reader purchased IBM ViaVoice from, quite naturally, IBM. Who else? "It was only when the reader went to get support that he discovered IBM ViaVoice is now sold and supported by ScanSoft," Ed Foster reports in IBM's brand takes on a different Nuance. That's right, the vendor formerly known as ScanSoft. A look around the support Web site results in nothing to shed light on the problems. Nothing, that is, except a $10 charge just to send them an e-mail with a support question. Foster called Nuance, for whom a rep said the product still belongs to IBM. And the old tech support two-step continues...
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 12, 2007 04:48 AM
April 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Living in an interruption society
Video: To buy it all from a single vendor or go best-of-breed is an age old question. "The reality is that for every company I've ever met, small, medium, or large, it's both," says Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. Then the conversation turns toward the personal. As in productivity habits and avoiding distraction. Watch it here.
Best of the blogs: Since we folded our beloved print publication and transformed the entirety of our efforts toward the Web site and events, Robert X. Cringely, now a blogger, has been getting all kinds of feedback. Mostly, this is coming from disgruntled subscribers. The good news? "I was always under the impression I made some readers ill," Cringe writes in Farewell sweet prints. "Turns out they were sick before they started. That's a relief." You see, he has not lost any the snarkiness we all love. (Okay, well, not everyone, but I do.)
Security: Oracle says it will issue 37 fixes next week with patches for its database, app server, and applications. Microsoft, meanwhile, is investigating reports of new Office flaws, including three present in Word 2007, one of which could allow for remote code execution. (This just in: Microsoft refutes Office flaw reports. ) And the Internet Security Alliance outlines government incentives for fighting cybercriminals that call on the private sector.
The news beat: The Green Grid details plans to hold its first technical summit in just over a week. Google plots a worldwide developer day, replete with workshops in 10 countries to spark interest in its tools and APIs. And laptop shipments rose last month.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 11, 2007 10:52 AM
April 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
McAfee: cybercrime will keep on paying. Palm plans OS for Linux, Oracle to issue 37 patches, program aping iPhone still online, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 11, 2007 08:11 AM
April 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Faking referrals, and exit interviews
Careers: After reading a Wall Street Journal tip on how to forge an insider referral, Nick Corcodilos writes, "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried." A less dicey way to fake it. "Lots of luck to you if you try it, and to the sucker who hires you." Personally, I hope you won't make such an attempt, even if it does spring from an esteemed publication.
Advice Line: When you do find yourself in the position of leaving a job, whether by hook or crook, you'll most likely be faced with an exit interview -- and the temptation to let loose for the good of the company. Never a smart move. "My best advice is to treat the exit interview as if it was an entirely legitimate activity, but without saying anything that would be unwise if you were planning to continue as an employee the next day," Bob Lewis suggests in How to handle an exit interview. "What you stand to gain is nothing at all."
Best of the blogs: Search fatigue. You may not have heard that particular phrase but, undoubtedly, you've felt the symptoms. It "is only now becoming recognized as a problem, mostly by reference librarians who see it every day, in online searching," Ephraim Schwartz writes in Reality Check. "My advice to Microsoft is to go to the folks sitting behind the library reference desk. They can probably tell you how to create a better search engine than Google." He's not just picking on Microsoft, either, but more than a year ago the company did claim its search would best Google by now. Only thing is, when Schwartz looped back to speak with company executives about it, Microsoft issued a 'no comment' on search progress.
Open source: With Apache calling on Sun to make available an "acceptable license" for the Java SE test kit, Matt Asay points out that it's not so easy to flick the switch and become open. "I think sun means well here and generally does well," Asay writes in this Open Sources post. "Let's cut them a little slack. But not too much."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 11, 2007 05:11 AM
April 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Do SOA vendors need SOA school?
Podcasts: One might think that companies selling service-oriented architecture wares would be appropriate teachers of the technology. Not necessarily so. "This is a huge issue, as I see it, in the adoption of SOA. Since the vendors have put so much money and time on pushing and hyping so much they tend to miss the bigger picture of what an SOA is and the value that it has within their customer organizations," David Linthicum explains. "Ultimately this is hurting the adoption of service-oriented architecture." Tune into The SOA Report.
Columnist's corner: Every once in a while the danger of suggesting radical change carries more burden than having to actually execute your own idea. Our Off the Record author learned that the hard way after accepting a new gig at a non-profit hospital. First, the CFO thought a $22,000 cost-justification for new hardware was ludicrous. But then that same CFO thought about it a bit more...
Applications: The recent executive shakeup at SAP, in which Shai Agassi left, "underscored the frayed nerves in the corporate boardroom of many leading ERP vendors," writes Ephraim Schwartz in Does ERP matter? Schwartz posed the question to industry analysts. The consensus: Yes, just not as much as it once did.
The news beat: Salesforce.com buys Koral and, in so doing, steps into the content management fold. Iona acquries LogicBlaze, an open source SOA company. Sohu threatens to sue Google for violating its intellectual property rights. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, meanwhile, says it will file two complaints against China regarding copyright enforcement and trade barriers. And Apache battles Sun over Java license.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 10, 2007 10:34 AM
April 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Salesforce.com buys Koral, enters content ma