March 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Keeping the debate alive, a reader writes into Bob Lewis about previous posts discussing the viability of unlocked PCs and stating that, when it comes to workers downloading apps onto their PCs, "the reward that something might happen there of value is far out weighed by the risk the corporation faces."
Yes, but no so fast, Lewis asserts in Another take on opening PCs, or not. And while it's true that risks associated with random, aimless activity far exceed the potential benefit, that's beside the point.
"All I have to say is that if your employer hires employees who spend most of their time engaged in random, aimless activity, the company has a much bigger problem than the risk of a computer virus."
Related: More on whether or not to open PCs.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2008 10:23 AM
March 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 31, 2008
Adobe on Monday said it is joining the Linux Foundation and foreshadowed an "alpha-quality" release of AIR for Linux, though the company stopped short of publishing source code for the software.
The ballots for voting on whether Microsoft's Open Office XML spec should become an international standard closed amid a tight race.
Sophos warns of money-grabbing malware that attacks Macs by claiming false privacy problems in an effort to install itself, but the security vendor tells users not to panic.
With Vista breached, Linux remains unbeaten in a hacking contest that saw MAC OS X fall first, followed by a Windows Vista machine.
And WSO2 boosts Spring developers with Web services.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2008 09:06 AM
March 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Adobe joins Linux Foundation, foreshadows AIR for Linux. Also, EC opens investigation of Nokia's plan to buy NavTech, Linux laptop is last one standing in hacking contest, and more 
LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2008 07:54 AM
March 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Being paranoid today is being rational tomorrow -- at least according to an official from the Cato Institute.
"To help you gauge the appropriate level of hysteria, we've rated each threat on our Paranoia Meter," Dan Tynan explains in Top 10 reasons to be paranoid.
Just think, Hollywood wants to terminate you but you are your own worst enemy. Except, of course, for anyone lurking around your wide-open Wi-fi network.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2008 07:48 AM
March 31, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The "surprisingly affordable" M6300 is a "superb portable for the demanding user," Andrew Binstock found during the course of several weeks in which he used the notebook.
Binstock goes on to call it "a breed apart; legitimately, a laptop workstation. I suspect, however, that many users will see it as a superior business laptop. And given its reasonable pricing, the only thing those power users will have to consider carefully when examining this system is whether they can comfortably deal with the weight. If so, they'll find a truly terrific machine."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 31, 2008 06:14 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Is Microsoft Office Online next?
It's a question lots of folks are searching for clues with which to answer.
Ephraim Schwartz may have found one in the form of a press release Microsoft issued indicating that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live is being renamed CRM Online, as the IDG News Service reported in this news story.
Perhaps more telling than the re-christening, though, is a line in Microsoft's statement about the company's "tremendous investment in and focus around on-demand technology for business users."
That's why Schwartz is asking Will Microsoft Online Office follow?
"One piece of advice: don't laugh."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 09:41 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 28, 2008
After the rules were relaxed a bit, it took Charlie Miller only 2 minutes to hack a MacBook Air and win it along with $10,000 in CanSecWest's hacking contest.
A speaker at Black Hat says that money will fuel mobile spying programs, and as more sophisticated developers get in the game, programs will be harder to detect.
Google search is behind most phishing sites, according to brand protection firm MarkMonitor, and some 750 Google search terms are used to find sites likely to have easily exploitable vulnerabilities.
Microsoft renames CRM Live to CRM Online, a change that one official says is intended to distinguish its consumer lines from its business offerings.
And in the latest geek week in review Robert X. Cringely meets a gin-soaked barroom queen, a well-endowed blond nymphomaniac, Comcast plays the role of Big Brother and Cringe, in an unusual moment of sincerity, asks that you visit Heal Emru and tell your friends about it. Emru Townsend has leukemia and wants your blood marrow if you're a healthy person under age 60 of West African descent.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 09:31 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SAP retires overlapping BI products, TorrentSpy shuts down, Charlie Miller wins hacking contest, Microsoft brand in sharp decline, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 08:20 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Mario Apicella's first impression of Infortrend's EON B12 is that it's green enough to make IT pros reconsider the long-term viability of behemoth arrays.
"I was drawn to its potential to reduce power consumption, as well as its small footprint," Apicella writes in Time to bury big drive "diskosaurs."
"The B12 is happily idling in my lab at 238 watts. Care to measure how much juice your 3.5-inch-drive arrays are slurping?"
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 08:06 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How a whitelist can save personal computing
When unique malicious programs outnumber unique legitimate programs, it makes sense to do something about it.
A whitelist is one option, Roger Grimes proposes in Can a whitelist save personal computing?
"In my thinking, the necessary whitelisting program would be heavily integrated with the underlying OS, work across multiple platforms, and intercept downloads and content execution of any type. This would include intercepting browser downloads, instant messaging transfers, p-to-p exchanges, installable programs, and locally loaded content (such as USB flash drives, CD-ROMs, and more). The program would have to intercept executable programs at the very least, but the best-of-breed program would also intercept content that could be used maliciously (JavaScript, ASP, Flash files, PDFs) and potentially cover Web pages and Web sites."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 07:49 AM
March 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The last five days were social ones. Apple, Facebook, Motorola.
Quick: that last company is breaking into two, what will each be called?
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 28, 2008 06:43 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
In the course of beat reporting and ongoing coverage of H-1B visas, Ephraim Schwartz has written about non-U.S. companies that don't even keep their employees who have the H-1B visa in the States.
"Rather, after being trained here they are sent back home to complete the task," Schwartz explains.
Well, one reader claiming first-hand knowledge of the situation wrote to Mr. Schwartz and he, in turn, published that e-mail in Eyewitness to H-1Bscammers.
The mantra: flood the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with applications, the more that gets in, the better for the company.
"Appalling but true."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 10:22 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 27, 2008
One can only imagine that they chose the code-name before the most famous resident of New York's capital city stole so many headlines; nonetheless Microsoft has been secretly working on the Albany project, a set of hosted, low-end productivity applications to compete with Google Docs.
Speaking at the Black Hat conference, London School of Economics Professor Ian O. Angell says that computers plus people equals risk. Angell says to expect uncertainty and be careful when crunching data because sometimes, "if you count, you miss the most obvious things."
The Hacker Super Bowl, meanwhile, kicks off this week at CanSecWest, where organizers pit Mac OS X against Linux and Vista, and hackers get the chance to win a $20,000 purse by writing a zero-day attack that's never been seen before.
AMD introduces new Phenom Chips, including its first triple-core offering, which OEMs have said will ship in PCs next quarter.
Amazon adds resilience to its cloud computing service in the form of two features designed to simplify failover and address management.
And as security threats increase, more IT shops are gripping PC reins tighter and blocking users from non-work Web sites and applications. Attacks are pushing Web controls.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 09:41 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
5 green ways to recession-proof your business and reap ROI
Being environmentally conscious and fiscally smart are not opposing forces -- and it's about time corporations realize that "green-technology investments positively affect the bottom lines of the companies that make them," Ted Samson contends.
In The ROI of green IT, Samson shares five examples of "green-technology projects and investments that, in the right organization, will likely yield cost savings while delivering environmentally-friendly benefits."
"If your company is among those facing tough choices due to the frosty economic climate, don't be too quick to dismiss any proposal with the word ‘green’ attached," Samson asserts.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 09:08 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Sun's SPARC platform may have become, in tester's Paul Venezia's word, "bereft" since its heyday way beak when in the late eighties and early nineties.
But nowadays, "the SPARC platform still has some kick left, and while that may not be in clock speed, it's certainly in the threads," Venezia writes.
"Overall, the UltraSPARC T2 and the T5120 build upon the hallmarks of the first-generation UltraSPARC T1-based servers, and remind us that although the SPARC CPU may have been marginalized in recent years, it hasn't surrendered, and may in fact be making a comeback."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 08:44 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Dirty little secret of multi-core chips
While AMD and Intel pound their chests, boasting about new chip cores, developers must labor to keep up.
"The dirty little secret (and it's not all that secret) is that the gap between hardware and software has never been greater. Today's software can barely (if at all) take advantage of quad-core processors, but Intel and AMD seem to be giddy with rivalry, rushing to push out chips with even more cores," Bill Snyder writes in this week's Tech's Bottom Line, in which he asks Multi-core to leave developers in the dust?
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 08:24 AM
March 27, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Hacker Super Bowl pits Mac OS X vs. Linux, Vista. Also, AMD introduces Phenom, Microsoft to take on Google Apps with 'Albany' project, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 27, 2008 08:04 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Selling management on unlocked desktops
A reader writes into Bob Lewis agreeing with the assertion in
the feasibility of unlocked desktops but pointing that it's a really tough sell to higher-ups.
"One of the best approaches is to force people in leadership roles to lead, rather than critiquing," Lewis explains.
The challenge is assigning a business value to the preconditions that encourage individual acts of innovation, Lewis adds in this Advice Line post.
"Part of asking leaders to lead is asking them to tell you what they value, especially when the connection between good practice and business success is indirect. Some will answer the question when you ask it. Others will duck. Either response tells you something important."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 10:33 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 26, 2008
In a move not altogether surprising, Motorola says it will split into two companies. One will focus on mobile phones, the other on networking infrastructure. Analysts contend that the company "had to do something," and that a healthy Motorola phone unit is "needed to provide some balance with Nokia. A Nokia-Samsung duopoly isn't good for anyone."
IBM partners with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Ohio State University to push cloud computing in hopes of bolstering the autonomic capabilities of physical and virtual servers in broad-scale computing. Related: Cloud computing begins to emerge from the haze.
Oracle breaks the Linux clusterting component out of RAC and offers it to customers of Unbreakable Linux.
Hackers seize on Excel vulnerability. Researchers at Symantec spot a Web site hosting a malicious file that, if downloaded, can infect PC and redirect victim to the site.
And Cringe continues the discussion about Smoking guns and broken voting machines. "Once again, rather than open itself up to public scrutiny, Sequoia shops for friendly test firms who answer only to them," Cringe reports on the e-voting company and its comically crippled machines.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 09:44 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center review: Ultimus Adaptive BPM Suite 8
The Ultimus Adaptive BPM Suite 8 is a Windows-based server and development toolset that helps streamline the BPM launch cycle.
"In general, I found the Ultimus solution to undervalue good planning. In comparison to offerings from vendors such as Lombardi that recognize the necessity for discovery/documentation tools, Ultimus has a huge hole to plug," James R. Borck wrote.
What's more, proprietary engine can be difficult to work with, including a lack of integration with standardized design-time tools, no native support for BPMN, and no comprehensive onboard rules-management facility," Borck explained.
But all is not lost.
"On the bright side, Ultimus flaunts a no-code approach to BPM that will have you up and running quickly when implementing document-centric workgroup processes ... I did warm up to BPM Studio. The Ultimus client provides a good interface for task workers to be productive with a very minimal learning curve. And I found the administrative and reporting interfaces delivered good insight with excellent functionality."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 08:33 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
First, an ending: Please understand that when I dig into AMD CPUs and platforms as technology and foundation for IT strategy and investment, I simply see so many changes for the better.
Tom Yager wrote that in AMD's ready to scale you up.
When you get to know Opteron, Yager explains, you'll find many more features than generic x86 and x64 operating systems use.
"You will scale up your quad-core Opteron servers merely by installing a Windows or Linux point release that includes Opteron-specific optimizations, or changing the architectural target of the projects you compile in-house."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 08:11 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
First, an ending: Please understand that when I dig into AMD CPUs and platforms as technology and foundation for IT strategy and investment, I simply see so many changes for the better.
Tom Yager wrote that in AMD's ready to scale you up.
When you get to know Opteron, Yager explained, you'll find many more features than generic x86 and x64 operating systems use.
"You will scale up your quad-core Opteron servers merely by installing a Windows or Linux point release that includes Opteron-specific optimizations, or changing the architectural target of the projects you compile in-house."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 08:11 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Motorola to split into two, NEC breaks two TPC-E records but won't be boasting about one, Google, MySpace and Yahoo from social networking non-profit, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 08:09 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The mobile platform industry is already confusing enough and Ephraim Schwartz has had enough -- particularly in light of the IBM-Sprint Nextel news that the latter will adopt the former’s Lotus Expeditor.
"If IT does detect some kind of business benefit from mobility, my advice is to wait until we see who wins out among all the providers of these discrete, siloed mobile technologies," Schwartz explains in Take the smarts out of smartphones.
"One way to approach untangling this industry, from an IT perspective, would be to declare a companywide edict deciding on one of the above and establishing a policy that supports nothing else."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 10:24 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 25, 2008
Mozilla's CEO has some harsh words for Apple, likening the Safari browser to malware, and calling Apple's approach to Software Update on Windows "wrong."
NEC breaks two TPC-E records with its Itanium server, but the company will only be boasting about one of them.
The Web site that nailed Vista SP1's RTM date, TechARP.com, now says that XP SP3 will ship during the second half of April. Related: How to Dump Vista SP1.
Security vendor FaceTime releases Greynet Enterprise Manager, the first security product to scan Skype's encrypted IM.
And criminals target CA's BrightStor in a new attack, just days after Microsoft warned of attacks against its Jet Database Engine.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 09:17 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Xerox hops on the green IT bus with sustainability calculator, Sun works to let chips communicate via laser, Google asks U.S. FCC to set aside TV spectrum for white space devices, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 08:27 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Xerox today is releasing a sustainability calculator along with a slimmed-down Web edition, both of which help companies gauge the environmental impact of their document-technology systems, such as printers, faxes, and copiers.
"It might be tempting for to dismiss this type of tool as simply a marketing scheme to exploit CXOs who've caught a case of the green fever that's swept the U.S. and beyond," Ted Samson explains in this Sustainable IT post.
"But the reality is there are cost savings to be had from certain sustainable practices, and making adjustments to your company's network of printers and other document-technology products is one of them, such as moving to fewer multi-purpose machines as your older ones are ready for retirement."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 08:12 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Which desktop Linux is best of all?
Faced with yet Ubuntu incarnation, Randall Kennedy is asking how best to scratch the six-month Linux itch?
Indeed, Kennedy is soliciting suggestions on possible alternate paths before he takes the Ubuntu plunge once again.
"So, what do you recommend? Stick with the tried and true Ubuntu? Or take the road less traveled and go with something more radical, such as Slackware or a BSD variant? I'm open to suggestions ..."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 08:07 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Sprinklers matter in the server room
Servers and water do not a good pair make, but not all CFOs know that.
Our Off the Record author learned that the hard way in How to keep your servers moist.
His company's CFO in particular downgraded the server room with good old standard sprinklers, which eventually brought the company infrastructure to its knees.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 06:05 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How to succeed in the IT boys' club
Recent studies indicate a dramatic downshift in the number of women entering the high-tech workforce -- as much as a 70 percent decline between 2000 and 2005.
But these five women buck that trend and do so rather successfully.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 05:02 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Align IT with business through instrumentation
Most IT organizations have typically invested a fortune in traditional systems management tools that provide insight into each individual layer of the IT platform, Tony Bishop explains.
But many of these companies have done so without deep understanding of the correlation of events across the platform that corresponds with an associated user transaction experience, Bishop adds.
To that end, Bishop offers two core building blocks that help IT gain "insight into the real-time user transaction experience and to incorporate analytical intelligence against end-to-end system events to gain a true understanding of IT system health."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 10:39 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 24, 2008
VMware's chief scientist says that it is focusing on improving virtual infrastructure via high availability, automatic restart, better tolerance, masking of hardware failure, and site disaster recovery.
Sony yanks the bloatware removal fee from its laptops, after raising users' ire for charging $49.95 to remove trail software from the hard-disks of new laptops.
Marking a big jump in capacity, Fujitsu plans to sell new range of high-performance hard-disk drives in June, including a speedy 320GB drive for laptops.
Microsoft warns of a new Word attack by which cyber criminals could tap an unpatched flaw in Windows to install malicious software on a victim's PC, though the company downplayed the flaw's significance.
And Robert X. Cringely weighs in with Sequoia and e-voting, the best government money can buy. "I don't know if you've noticed lately, but our elected officials are being determined by people who can't do simple math or write a comprehensible sentence in English. And no, I don't mean people who voted for Rudy Giuliani," Cringe begins.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 09:42 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Product review: Sun's Honeycomb
Call it sticky and sweet. Senior Test Center analyst Mario Apicella does.
With its StorageTek Honeycomb, Sun has taken a different approach than many of its competitors for addressing the special needs of "fixed content" archiving.
"Sun has not wedded Honeycomb to any specific application, leaving that task to partners and customers. The upside of Honeycomb's openness is that the possibilities are endless," Apicella explains. "In fact, Honeycomb's powerful, built-in administrative software is complemented by an SDK that allows Java or C developers to define their own metadata schemas consistent with the specifics of their application."
All that said, the usual caveats do apply.
"What I feel reasonably sure would remain consistent across different environments are the system's remarkable resilience and persistence."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 08:32 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
First look at Ubuntu 8.04 beta
Nearly everything about "Hardy Heron" feels snappier and more responsive than its predecessor.
It also carries a new kernel, a new version of the Gnome desktop, improved windowing and graphics layers, configuration tweaks, integration with Active Directory and seamless installation from Windows.
"Judging by its stability and polish you'd be hard pressed to tell it's a testing release," Neil McAllister writes in Ubuntu 8.04 beta, an agile upgrade. "Installation may be Hardy Heron’s biggest revelation."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 08:04 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The current open source climate
On the eve of our Open Source Business Conference, we've got a roundtable on the state of open source.
Eleven luminaries -- from Bruce Perens to Eric Raymond, to technology strategists at IBM and Google -- contribute to "to uncover the most vibrant themes and conflicts shaping open source today," Jason Snyder explains.
"Each of our roundtable participants sheds ample light on the opportunities and pitfalls ahead."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 07:46 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Oracle could support Silverlight if demand calls for it, Microsoft warns of new Word flaw, US FBI looks at China regarding a hack of Save Darfur Web site, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 07:40 AM
March 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Review: WSO2 Mashup server takes first steps
WSO2's design team kept in mind what developers seeking a complete environment for building, deploying, and administering composite applications would need, Steven Nunez writes.
Even though business users might be in a good position to create enterprise mashups, they are unlikely to master this tool.
"This limitation might not be entirely relevant at this stage of the game, considering it will probably be several years before even the average corporate IT user is able to assemble useful mashups."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 24, 2008 04:42 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Calling the Federal Government "Fortune 1" in terms of leveraging technology, David Linthicum explains that as it gets its IT house in order, the government is focusing more on architecture, common issues, and indeed, that means SOA.
"SOA varies greatly from government organization to organization, and where some areas of the government are making some headway, others are catching up, or not yet starting," Linthicum explains in The federal government needs to understand SOA.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 11:08 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 21, 2008
Earlier this week the U.S. FCC officially closed its auction for wireless spectrum and has since announced the winners and ... Verizon garnered a large chunk of the 700MHz spectrum, including band that covers nearly all of the United States.
Details are emerging about the future OpenOffice open source productivity suite, with some saying that OpenOffice 3.0 promises to bash Microsoft's Office, when it becomes available.
A project leader within Eclipse contends that cutting some of the IDE's functionality will enable Eclipse to deliver greater value. Eclipse IDE: Due for a trim?
India rejects Microsoft's OOXML again; the latest comes ahead of a March 29 deadline for ISO members to reconsider their votes if they see fit.
Contract employees working for the U.S. Department of State breached Barack Obama's passport records during the past three months -- a violation flagged by the department's in-house IT system.
And in Geek week in review, the venerable Robert X. Cringely shares a story sure to chill the heart of many geeks, his take on spectrum analysis, and insights regarding Microsoft's pretzel logic to satisfy Intel.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 09:55 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Verizon wins U.S. FCC wireless spectrum auction, India votes down Microsoft's OOXML, OLPC director of security resigns, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 08:40 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Mario Apicella offers this breakdown of where retrofitting current machines with solid state could reap worthwhile rewards.
"Solid state opens up the possibility of safely using disk drives to move backups off-site. I dropped my test drive from six feet over a concrete floor, and it's still working without problems," Apicella writes. "Try that with a spinning drive."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 07:11 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
This week in tech was ripe with rumors: Android, Apple, Dell.
Lest I forget, Vista SP1, e-voting, and Eliot Spitzer's girl are in there, too.
Think you've got what it takes to pass the test? Then prove it:
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 06:46 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
"Organized criminal groups are hacking Web sites by the tens of thousands to steal money, identities, and passwords."
Roger Grimes sets that stage for this week's Security Advisor column, Thousands of Web sites under attack.
"One of the biggest changes over the past year, as reported by Google and this column, is the inclusion of malicious advertisements on legitimate Web sites. Many legitimate sites end up unintentionally carrying advertisements from malware providers," Grimes explains.
There are ways to safeguard against such attacks, and Grimes offers some tactics. Don't underestimate the power of education, either.
"It's a new way of thinking, and most end-users haven't made the mental update, yet. You can help them."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 06:06 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The real difference between SQL Server and Oracle, in 2 parts
Sean McCown seems to struck a nerve among readers by pointing out that Oracle’s documentation is not so easy to find.
Taking the discussion to a new level, McCwon writes that, "I will say to those of you who said Oracle is easier to admin that SQL, you're just crazy. You've clearly never had to manage tablespaces in Oracle before."
Hard-to-find documentation won't help much either.
"Well, going from my comment stats I'd say that there are plenty of people out there who say I'm wrong and who are very certain that Oracle's community is really on the ball. And there are those who don't," McCown writes in Oracle's community, part 2.
"So what I can gather from this is that maybe Oracle hasn't done enough to get the word out on all of their resources. Because while I don't know the research skills of everyone who wrote me, I do know my own. I research things for a living basically. And if I've had problems finding some of these resources, then I know others have too."
Part 1: The real difference between SQL Server and Oracle.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 05:15 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SOA is expanding but doing so slowly, at least when compared to other technologies.
"This is a good thing, if you ask me, considering the complexity and scope of SOA, and the good or bad impact it can have on a business," David Linthicum explains in It's all about the business case.
Linthicum looks at a recent Forrester Research reports and finds good news about SOA.
"First, SOA is growing, and second the business case is driving it. That's typically healthy when considering how we followed, and then dumped a number of technological trends in the past."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 11:31 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 20, 2008
Sprint Nextel says that later this year it will have a unified architecture for networks that will include a common optical backbone, IP networks, cell-site infrastructure, and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem.
High Tech Computer might be the first to market with a phone called "Dream" that runs Google's Android platform and features a keypad for e-mail and note-taking.
Dell, meanwhile, may be in cahoots with an electronics manufacturer to create a Windows Mobile handheld device, according to reports.
Officials at IBM and Microsoft brainstorm IDE enhancements, considering what IDEs will look like in four years -- as sculpted by trends both technological and sociological in nature.
And New Jersey calls for an investigation into e-voting, after discrepancies were noticed in machines during last month’s presidential primaries.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 11:06 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Test Center guide to Vista and XP service packs
The InfoWorld Test Center takes a surgical look at both Windows Vista SP1 and XP SP 3.
"Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been the recipient of copious undue attention," Randall Kennedy writes in Test Center guide to Vista and XP service packs. "After all, it's just another compilation of patches and minor tweaks -- for an obsolete OS, no less."
But with many IT department considering bypassing Vista, the release of Service Pack 3 takes on new importance in that it "may be the last Service Pack [IT] sees for their chosen platform before Windows 7 arrives in late 2009."
The verdict for both is to deploy -- one is even a "must-have," according to Kennedy.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 09:14 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Early details of HTC's phone for Google's Android emerge, a 21-year old hacker could face prison, Google continues to increase share of U.S. search market, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 08:32 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Nobody wants to be Greenpeace's Public Enemy No. 1. To help companies avoid that by balancing profitability and environmental responsibility, some vendors are rolling out increasingly sophisticated tools.
Ilog, with the Carbon Footprint extension it released this week for its supply-chain application, is one such example.
"We'll no doubt continue to see more vendors offering similar assistance -- such as tools for predicting the carbon output of a newly remodeled datacenter -- aimed at helping companies gauge the carbon footprint of their operations," Ted Samson writes in Carbon-measuring software evolves. "The market is ripe as more decision-makers are forced to choose between saving that extra dollar or releasing that extra pound of CO2."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 08:17 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Vista looks a lot like Me, Windows Me
After years of making jokes about Microsoft's quickly-forgotten Windows Me, J. Peter Bruzzese insists, Windows Me never got the recognition it should have for its desktop innovations within.
Long Zheng, too, argues that Windows Me deserves more respect and "draws a parallel between ME and another arguably under appreciated OS: Vista."
"It may be a few more Windows releases before we fully appreciate Vista and all it is brought to the table today," Bruzzese writes in Windows Vista: Another Windows Me? I hope so!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 06:56 AM
March 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Remember that documentary that was designed to literally scare kids away from a life of crime by giving them a hard look inside a real prison? Scared Straight.
Applying a similar thought, Cisco Chief Security Officer John Stewart claims that the spoken word, not all the security tools at his disposal, is the most powerful tactic he has to get users to do their part in security.
"Stewart said that his practice of sharing gory details of the attacks that get leveled at the company's computing systems every day is one of his most effective means for pushing everyone in the massive firm to keep security on their minds as much as possible," Matt Hines reports in Scaring users into IT security.
"Each Friday, the company's senior executives are asked to join a call on which one of Stewart's 250 security staffers recounts the most dangerous attacks and incidents that have occurred at Cisco over the previous week."
Have any tales to tell that might scare users straight? Share them via the comments function below...
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 19, 2008 10:33 AM
March 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 19, 2008
Apple issues a whopper of a security update replete with 90 fixes that may seem "frighteningly large."
The U.S. FCC closes its 700MHz spectrum auction after raising $19.59 billion; winners got the right to build wireless networks that operate in the given spectrum band.
Adobe Systems, meanwhile, unwraps rights management server software for protecting video content from, say, ending up on YouTube.
Google brings 'gadgets' to Google Docs' spreadsheets to give the ability to display data in new ways.
And Robert X. Cringely weighs in on Scientology, The China Syndrome and wiki ways. "Can't get wikis off my mind these days," Cringe muses. But there's still room in there for those protestors taking aim at China and the Church of Scientology.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 19, 2008 09:52 AM
March 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Adobe unveils rights management server for video, Vista SP1 becomes officially available, Google brings gadgets to spreadsheets, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 19, 2008 08:50 AM
March 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Are metrics practicable for IT?
That is the question one reader asks of Advice Line guru Bob Lewis.
"As I was crafting a message to a colleague today, I had an 'ah-ha moment' fueled by and reinforcing my skepticism," the reader explains. "I wondered: Can we measure the value of performance metrics?"
Lewis answers: "Ah, you remind me of me! Way back when, I asked the budget director of my then employer what the Return on Investment was on the budgeting process."
Getting back to the concrete, though, "for questions of this kind -- do metrics/SMART goals/outsourcing/offshoring/whatever the heck -- result in business success, I go back to the two big studies I know about that looked at the sources for long-term business success," Lewis writes in The ROI of Metrics.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 19, 2008 08:07 AM
March 19, 2008 | Comments: (0)
In just 8 months Apple redefined the entire smartphone market, or so CEO Steve Jobs claims.
"This mirrors the swipes that Apple used to take at Microsoft. They're always delivered with the Jobsian wink and smirk, but they are far from the offhand remarks they're packaged to be," Tom Yager writes in Apple's BlackBerry offensive.
"In BlackBerry's case, Jobs took the opportunity to reveal some little-known information about BlackBerry -- widely published, just not the kind of details that BlackBerry users care about -- and portray it as a powerful disadvantage that makes the fresh technology that iPhone brings to the market a necessity."
Then again, Yager points out, "there are some facts stated by Steve Jobs that were flat wrong."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 19, 2008 06:20 AM
March 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How fast can you move a datacenter?
With plans to upgrade power, cooling, fire suppression, and build a new datacenter room, our Off the Record author got word that the current co-location facility was kicking the company out with only 45 days notice.
"Luckily the team I have is top notch and rather than panic, we aggressively planned," the anonymous writer explains in How fast can you move a datacenter?
Faster than one might think, it turns out.
A mere three hectic weeks later, and the group was out celebrating a job well done over dinner and drinks, "having a good time until I said 'Next time we should do it in 20 days.' I thought I was going to get hung."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 18, 2008 01:19 PM
March 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 18, 2008
Cybercriminals got away with an estimated 4.2 million credit and debit card records in one of the largest reported data heists from a retailer in U.S. history.
Sybase adds support for the iPhone to its Information Anywhere Suite, thereby enabling businesses to securely push Lotus Notes messages to iPhone users.
Intel says it will shrink Nehalem chips for laptops after initially targeting the architecture at servers and high-end desktops.
Toshiba and Samsung, meanwhile, rank atop Greenpeace's latest environmental report, which rates consumer electronics companies based on recycling practices and the toxic content of products.
JasperSoft claims to be the most widely-deployed BI tool, at least among open source offerings.
And experts speaking at the CSO Perspectives conference in Atlanta say that building an IT security team that stays focused on your organizations' top priorities demands a mix of hiring, promoting, and training employees to maintain a desired level of corporate protection, all of which requires year-round attention.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 18, 2008 09:53 AM
March 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Cloud computing shifts toward integrated apps, Toshiba and Samsung rank atop Greenpeace list, Sybase enables Notes to be pushed to iPhone, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 18, 2008 09:12 AM
March 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How Microsoft is trying to eradicate e-mail
Spam has reached tragic proportions.
Paul Venezia points the finger at none other than Microsoft for that. Now, let's look at some facts.
"Hundreds of thousands of connections, coming from thousands of hosts. What are those hosts anyway? The vast majority of those are exploited Windows systems. They're zombies run by botnet operators," Venezia explains in How Microsoft is trying to eradicate e-mail.
"Let's not mince words here: Botnets are comprised of compromised Windows systems. Thus, Microsoft's massive security failures are at the very core of the spam problem."
And then there's the case of the disappearing e-mails that Microsoft has the temerity to simply never deliver...
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 18, 2008 07:39 AM
March 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
iPhone raises enterprise questions
Apple's claim that IT professionals will be able to seamlessly integrate the iPhone into their enterprise environments raises "a great many questions," as Ephraim Schwartz points out.
"The problem as I see it is this: Apple has been, in essence, a 'unified experience' company (controlling the hardware and user experience with its own UI, operating system and support software) pushing out products that are basically plug-and-play within the Apple environment," Schwartz explains in Will iPhone force Apple to change course?
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 18, 2008 06:21 AM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
It's a question someone was bound to ask.
A recent survey of IT shops shows that over 70 percent of respondents will still be using their 'current OS' in 2009, Kennedy explains.
"Since the overwhelming majority (92 percent) of these sites are still running Windows XP, that means that Vista will likely never achieve critical mass in the enterprise."
So, was Windows Vista dead on arrival?
"Many of us who were beta testing Vista back in 2006 quietly expressed our concerns to one another in web forums, chat rooms and the occasional e-mail thread. After all, we were privy to some of the earliest Vista bits, and what we saw disturbed us."
But the seminal moment came when "I realized that the vague sense of unease I'd felt early on was in fact my subconscious telling me what I knew to be true all along: Vista was a lame duck; a false hope; a cadaver before it ever hit the operating table," Kennedy writes.
Got an epitaph for Windows Vista? Share it via the comments function below...
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 12:09 PM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Legal challenges to virtual machines
"I wonder to what extent fear of SPA audits prevents good business," Bob Lewis begins his answer to a reader who wrote in questioning the ongoing discussion about letting users manage their own PCs.
The reader penned concerns about illegitimate copies of software residing on machines that connect to the corporate network, regardless of which virtual machine such an app might be in.
"I don't know the answer. I do know that Exxon/Mobil is pushing the legal theory that it isn't legally responsible for the actions of the Exxon Valdez's captain," Lewis writes in Legal challenges to virtual machines. "That would seem to be an applicable precedent."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 09:53 AM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 17, 2008
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Perhaps not so much for the notorious 'King of Spam' who pled guilty and now faces a potential 26-year prison sentence and a sit-down with a lie detector and authorities to discuss financial assets in relation to his unpaid legal fines.
BMC, though, is celebrating -- if not for the Irish then at least for buying BladeLogic and its data center automation software for $800 million.
Microsoft says that Windows Mobile will support Flash and PDF, meaning that users of devices based on the OS will be able to run both Adobe software and Microsoft's own Silverlight tool for building multimedia applications.
eBay announces that it will take over affiliate program's management for its core marketplace and its Half.com site.
And IBM's India research laboratory develops a customer service tool that, Big Blue claims, uses algorithms to discover business insights hidden within the data customer service calls collect.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 09:30 AM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Perhaps buried among the news of its interoperability with Microsoft Exchange is the fact that Apple will be treating the iPhone as a full-blown platform for development of mobile applications.
While it's not a fully open platform, it is possibly open enough to enable corporate developers and ISVs to build smartphone applications for the iPhone using JavaScript and CSS, Zack Urlocker explains in iPhone as a platform?
"The real power of the platform will be in what kind of applications are created," Urlocker writes. "One 'killer app' can make a platform successful if it solves the right problem for the right audience."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 08:33 AM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Even the best laid plans and efforts of the security-elite can crumble when any of these common mistakes are made.
Trusted partners wind up being anything but, a finger slip reveals company secrets, and employees give away passwords without thinking first. Those are just three of the Top 10 security land mines that plague enterprise IT shops.
"Security experts say that all are easily avoidable," Matt Hines reports. "And almost all can be done without spending one more dime."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 07:37 AM
March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Special edition: InfoWorld's Save XP campaign hits 100,000-signature milestone. Here's what it means to IT -- and what to expect next LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 17, 2008 04:35 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
9 items to consider about services and orchestration
The most practicable way to think about services and orchestration is as independent layers in which the process layer is the calling application to the services to extract both data and behavior needed to form cohesive orchestrations.
That's just the beginning, David Linthicum asserts in Considering services and orchestration.
"Orchestration is a necessity if you build a SOA, intra- or inter-organization," Linthicum explains.
So, what else to take into account? Plenty, in fact, from Linthicum's perspective there are at least nine such realities.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 10:59 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Infiniband: Back from the dead once again
Whereas the much-snubbed Infiniband protocol has gained purchase in high-performance computing, in the lower tiers vendors favor Fibre Channel and iSCSI.
But that's a pity, Mario Apicella writes, because "Infiniband could very well be the ultimate server connectivity protocol -- at least for the time being."
Is Infiniband back from the dead again?
"My guess is yes, but only for as long as its current bandwidth advantage will continue. 100-Gigabit Ethernet could be the death sentence for Infiniband, but I don't see that coming on too fast."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 10:44 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Daily news beat for March 14, 2008
Microsoft and Yahoo reportedly met earlier this week to hold merger talks, a pow-wow at which Microsoft pitched its vision for the combined entity, though no negotiations occurred and no investment bankers attended.
That didn't stop the Redmond software giant from making another acquisition, though. Microsoft buys Rapt for ad management tools that it hopes will boost online advertising yields.
Over at the Source Boston 2008 conference, security futurists shun perimeter, anti-virus systems urging IT, instead, to look toward outsourcing and grid computing to fend off sophisticated attackers.
Whereas nearly 80 percent of companies have pulled eco-friendly projects higher up their priority lists, according to research from The Corporate IT Forum, green IT still lags behind security, legacy software, data quality and server consolidation.
And, this week's video recap of tech news includes Bill Gates' appeals to lawmakers for more H-1B visas, the E.U.'s approval of the Google-DoubleClick merger, AOL's Bebo buy, and more. Watch the video.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 10:02 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Geek week in review: AOL and Spitzer
Friday again and that means Cringely weighs in on the woes of the past 5 days.
This time around it's Geek week: AOL goes for younger breed, Spitzer girl gets ID'd. Poetic, no?
"All week long I've been biting my tongue about the Spitzer thing (which, as it turns out, is far cheaper than paying someone else to do it for me)," Cringe writes. "But now that the identity of the mysterious and highly priced 'Kristen' has been revealed, I've finally succumbed to temptation."
It's not all politics and kids, though. Cringe also hits on security vendor Trend Micro getting struck by a Web attack.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 09:45 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
InfoWorld News Quiz: A bizarre week
It's only fitting that this week's test kicks off with a question about NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and the online prostitution service he patronized, or was it prosecuted? Nope, definitely patronized.
Another: It's not all daisies and daffodils at Apple these days. It turns out there's a skunk in the garden. What's making that awful smell?
And for good measure here, one more: WikiLeaks is at it again, and this time it's picked an even bigger target than Swiss bankers. What confidential document has the whistle-blowing site posted now?
Think you can match wits with the InfoWorld News Quiz? Prove it right here.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 09:19 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
MS, Yahoo meet to discuss acquisition proposal, AOL to buy Bebo, Trend Micro struck by Web attack, and more LISTEN!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 07:26 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Solving the unsolvable security problem
Security Adviser columnist Roger Grimes explains that frequently, even as much as once a week, someone will seek his counsel about an unexplainable problem they chalk up to malware.
A recent example is, "we upgraded the file servers for a particular application last week, and now we are having random printing problems. Do you think it might be a computer virus?"
“They seemed surprised when I tell them I don't know of a malware program that causes random printing problems on upgraded server applications.” Grimes writes in To solve the unsolvable problem. “What are they thinking?”
There is nothing random in the computer world, Grimes continues. “Ask any crypto programmer. They spend their lives trying to create realistic randomness but know it doesn't truly exist in the computer world. They can get to very good approximations of randomness, but true randomness does not exist.”
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 06:35 AM
March 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Vista zealots are eating their young
“I love irony,” Randall Kennedy begins.
In this instance, Kennedy is referring to Vista devout, who, he points out, are “attacking those of us who've discovered that the core Vista bits run great, just not when packaged as Windows Vista.”
Yes, this is about Windows ‘workstation’ 2008, alias of Windows Server 2008 tweaked to run in "desktop" mode.
Among the Vista faithful, Kennedy writes, “some claim that the test results are inaccurate, that Vista and Server 2008 share the same code base and thus cannot perform differently." Windows ‘worksation’ results lead to backlash from Vista zealots. "Others are claiming that the tests were invalid because Server 2008 ships with a much 'leaner' default configuration. They say that if you enable all of the ‘desktop’ features on Server 2008 -- or vice-versa with Vista -- you'll see that they in fact perform comparably.”
Kennedy, however, views the workstation option as “salvation.”
Related: Windows ‘workstation’ 2008, one week later, and Windows ‘workstation’ 2008 clobbers Vista in benchmark testing.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 13, 2008 11:21 AM