- Macs in the enterprise, a study by Lawrence Livermore National Lab
- As the Sun turns...
- Lotus back on track
- Maybe SCO has a point
- It all comes out in the wash
- Tech companies target SMBs
- ERP: Was it it worth it?
- Microsoft gets it all wrong
- Subtraction by addition
- Holding the CAN-SPAM Act accountable (Incredible prices on V-I-A-G-R-A!)
January 30, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Macs in the enterprise, a study by Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Following the publication of my column on Apple and the enterprise this week I got an email with a PDF attachment from "someone" who works at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab [LLNL].
The PDF is entitled: "Case Study: What Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory has learned about integrating Macs in our Enterprise."
The results line up pretty much with the message I was trying to convey in my column.
The biggest message out of this case study has the following headline:
"Difficulties for Apple -- Apple's needed 'confidentiality' and Corporate It's need of 'road-map' information"
The summary report card gives Apple and LLNL the following grades:
* Security = A
* Integration with Enterprise apps = C
* OS 9 to X transition = B
* Getting help from Apple = C+
The study calls on Apple to have a "Stronger Enterprise focus" and concludes that "die-hard non-Mac users in the IT world slowly coming around to see Macs as an attractive platform."
Obviously security is uppermost in the minds of the folks at LLNL and the LLNL case study notes that "cross-platform applications free organizations from a monolithic OS base that by nature places them at an unacceptably high cybersecurity risk."
Here's what the study predicts about Microsoft vulnerabilities--
* "Continued increased MS vulnerabilities--analysts predict Gov't & business will in 2006 be unprepared for 30% of exploits, up from 15% in 2003"
It leaves as an open question mark whether or not the Microsoft bounty for in-formation leading to perpetrators will do anything to ameliorate the problem.
Finally under the heading Difficulties for Apple LLNL lists these:
* "Outstanding product with limited market depth due to lingering past
perceptions
* Complaints of 'lack of' enterprise applications and/or native developer tools from mainstream companies like Oracle, BEA, PeopleSoft, SAP and Siebel."
And under Good Actions for Apple to take are these two:
* "Develop a working balance between Apple's needed 'confidentiality' and Corporate IT's need of 'roadmap' information
* Engage technical staff and users at customers' Mac technical & user group mtgs"
A few background details
LLNL has approximately 6,663 Macs, 219 Appleshare, OSX servers, 10,748 Windows systems, 463 NT3, Win2000 servers, and 2,410 Unix/Linux worksta-tions, 316 servers PCs and 4700 Unix workstations.
Those numbers reflect a 51% reduction in Macs, a 34% increase in PCs and a 42% decreased Unix base up to 42%. Numbers are between the years 1997 and present.
The study was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL.
"The views represented are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of California or the United States Government."
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on January 30, 2004 10:47 AM
January 30, 2004 | Comments: (0)
The soap opera over whether or not Sun Microsystems will join the Eclipse consortium continues in earnest today.
Sun has sent out a quite-long, open letter to Eclipse membership stating the company's concerns. While congratulating the IBM-led Eclipse organization on plans to transition to independence, Sun nonetheless says that 70 percent to 80 percent of Eclipse staffers have been IBMers.
Sun also says it cannot join Eclipse if getting rid of its own NetBeans open source Java initiative is a condition of participation.
"Any entry criteria requiring that Sun abandon the NetBeans open source platform directly conflicts with the concept of choice and diversity, the very bases that gave Eclipse its beginning. If this condition were to change, we would be happy to reconsider," Sun said in its letter.
"We hope in the near future to find a solution that benefits both the Eclipse and NetBeans communities -- in very visible, open ways -- where Sun can be an open contributor to Eclipse, and Eclipse can do the same for the NetBeans platform," Sun said in its letter.
Sun advises Eclipse to be a unifying force for Java technology. The company also says moving to one common source base for tools is a non-starter when considering the players involved.
"We need to work together to make the Java platform a better, broader base for tools. That is the real issue. We trust Eclipse will help, not hinder, the effort," Sun concludes.
The situation between Sun and Eclipse (or IBM, if you prefer) has gone back and forth. But developers are looking for solutions for Java, not vendor bickering. Sun holding out an olive branch of cooperation is admirable.
But as far as whether Sun joins Eclipse, can Sun either join or not, and let the matter rest?
Posted by Paul Krill on January 30, 2004 10:45 AM
January 27, 2004 | Comments: (0)
I just had a meeting with IBM Lotus Software GM Ambuj Goyal here at the company's annual Lotusphere conference. Judging from the general tone at the show, my numerous roadmap briefings with IBM execs, and discussions with customers, it seems Lotus is back on track after scaring the bejesus out of its loyal customer base a couple years back. The J2EE and Big Blue abyss of the Lotus developer's nightmares aren't quite so scary. Or at least it seems that way.
At this conference, Lotus has drawn out a clear game plan, showed live code for some of what they plan to do, and are giving customers the tools to get there.
Workplace was introduced earlier this year, and the opening session here demonstrated the Workplace Client, and a technology preview of how traditional Notes applications can run unmodified within the J2EE-based Workplace environment.
"Customers who want to move forward in the network-based world with the web-based client and collaboration platform will not" be asked to rip and replace their Domino applications, Goyal said.
"I feel very comfortable and [ customers ] are starting to feel very comfortable, that we have a path for them and they don't have to move from Notes 6 or 6.5 to some realase of Workplace," Goyal said. "They can just go [eventually] to Notes 8.0 and they will have all the Workplace technologies with them."
"They can remain in Notes/Domino and they will get the Workplace technology," Goyal said.
Posted by Cathleen Moore on January 27, 2004 07:57 PM
January 26, 2004 | Comments: (0)
SCO cannot be winning many friends with its naked disdain for the wildly popular open source Linux platform.
Suing IBM over code in Linux that SCO says is its property is a bit of a peculiar way to attract the masses over to your products. But when SCO says Linux is bad for the economy, maybe we should at least hear the company out. Microsoft, for its part, also has questioned the economic benefit of Linux and open source, calling it un-American and even a cancer.
In a letter to U.S. Congress persons, SCO contends Linux is not only a threat to the economy but to national security, too, since unfriendly nations can get the Linux code and use it to build a supercomputer. Linus Torvalds, founder of Linux, disputed this notion, saying export controls apply to hardware, not software.
The economic question, however, also deserves further review. Linux and open source are popular because of the free nature of this software paradigm, although money is being made on open source through support and licensing arrangements.
However, if the trend of giving away software continues to gather momentum, how do developers and software companies put bread on the table? Work a second job?
This question is something I've pondered before, and now SCO seems to be backing me up.
The capitalist economy is based on selling products and services for the top dollar that the market demands. If the user community begins to expect its software free of charge, what happens to the innovation and incentive to improve software, or to even build it at all?
Posted by Paul Krill on January 26, 2004 10:49 AM
January 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
I had an interesting talk with Dan Gruhl, chief architect for IBMs Web Fountain technology, still at the research stage so I am told.
Web Fountain looks at thousands of content feeds from blogs, Web services, and the like plus the normal news and business feeds.
"We have created a database for unstructured text and use it for many
applications."
One of those applications in particular is worth mentioning.
It seems under the rules of the Patriot Act, according to Gruhl, if you walk into bank with $5,000 the teller will likely send you over to a junior executive who has the right to ask where that money came from among other things.
In order to spot money laundering operations, the banks are required to do these background checks when the dollar amount hits a certain threshold.
There is an as yet unnamed company that wants to use the IBM Web Fountain technology. I suppose under the banner of efficiency it will reduce the number of people hours it takes to do these background checks at the bank.
So, using Web Fountain the clerk need not even speak to the depositor, the teller just types in the name and the program tells you how many links you have to go from that name to a money laundering watch list.
In other words it can tell the clerk how many degrees of separation there are between the customer and the money launderer. This is augmented by naming and weighting the degrees, such as 'cousin' or 'wife of,' or 'stock holder.' Stock holder is not a strong relationship but majority stock holder is.
If the Web of relationships looks suspicious the customer's name comes up in red.
Tie this in to the IRS database and you're really cooking. Think of all those folks in what is euphemistically called "cash businesses," everyone from people doing flea markets to small business owners like copy centers, groceries, and newsstands.
Oh well, next time around, as in reincarnation that is, if you can arrange not to be issued a social security number at birth, it is probably a good idea.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on January 22, 2004 03:32 PM
January 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
More and more I've been hearing how companies are repositioning its products to address the needs of small and medium business (SMBs). At first I didn't get, so I asked.
One person I talked to was Atchison Frazer, the vice president of marketing at ServGate. I definitely asked the right guy.
He explained to me that the aggregate spend of the 10 million SMBs this year is the same as the Fortune 1000. He also mentioned IBM is spending $400 million on a marketing program to reach the SMBs, and that Cisco Systems is privy to the fact that less than 50 percent of SMBs don't have a LAN. The Linksys acquisition is starting to make even more sense.
He attests the arrival of worms, like Sobig, exploited the needs of the SMBs. Now everyone is out to redesign its products to be more modular, easier to manage, and chockfull of features, so that the non-savvy IT companies can operate into today's networked world.
Beyond the security market, I also see storage vendors targeting SMBs. The arrival of the iSCSI protocol makes it easier for those SMBs with a LAN to also begin networking its storage.
Posted by Scott Tyler Shafer on January 22, 2004 01:42 PM
January 22, 2004 | Comments: (0)
There is no question that some enterprises look back on the ERP applications they have instituted and wonder whether it was even worth the trouble, not unlike the way an overgrown frat boy eyes an empty pizza box and thinks 'I can't believe I ate the whole thing.'
Other companies, meanwhile, have harnessed ERP's nourishment to streamline operations for competitive advantage and to better their bottom line.
You've deployed ERP -- now tell us about your experience. Would you do it all over again if you could?
Please take our brief ERP survey by Monday, Feb. 9, and see the results in the March 15 issue of InfoWorld.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 22, 2004 09:45 AM
January 09, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Whatever possessed Microsoft to drop support for Mira technology and in the same week actually go ahead with SPOT, in the form factor of a so-called smart watch. It is beyond me.
Sure Mira, which allowed users to have a portable display, connected via WiFi back to the PC, was over priced. But given a chance that technology would have taken off and prices would have come down.
For years, Microsoft has been trying to get into the home entertainment, or home electronics business and this could have been their entrée.
As video, both in movies and home movies, becomes increasingly more accessible on your PC what better way to win the hearts and minds of home entertainment freaks than to have a portable screen to watch videos on. Anywhere you go, just unhitch if from a stand and bring it to the next room.
No more yelling across the house, "honey, you have to see this, come in here, you won't believe it!" scenarios. Instead, you just bring what your honey must see to her or him.
No, too logical I suppose, So instead, Big Red drops that and goes with a watch upon which you can get weather reports, stock quotes and CNN. Big deal.
Just what we all need another device blinking, tinkling and vibrating on our body to alert us to more useless information.
Microsoft has ruined my day.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on January 9, 2004 03:33 PM
January 07, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Spin doctors at Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems and Oracle are telling us this week that the formation of the Java Tools Community organization should help provide for a smoother path to interoperability between Java tools.
So now, we can add this organization, JTC for short, to the list of industry organizations or industry efforts that are supposed to be improving Java. Also on this list are the Java Community Process (JCP), for standardizing Java technologies, and the Eclipse Consortium, which provides open source Java tools.
Developers, not to mention journalists, must have their heads spinning trying to decipher the differences between these three outfits. Evidence of the confusion was witnessed during a press conference call Tuesday, when it was noted that a perception exists, incorrectly, that Eclipse is working on its own variation of Java.
In addition to tracking these three groups, developers must have their hands full keeping tabs on other organizations as well, such as the W3C, OASIS, WS-I, etc.
Perhaps instead of forming yet another industry organization, Sun should have hopped onboard Eclipse and worked with IBM to meet the goals now being pursued by the JTC. But we all know these guys often can't find a way to work together.
Maybe another organization is needed just to help developers and the IT community at large be clear on the differences between this multitude of industry organizations.
Posted by Paul Krill on January 7, 2004 11:20 AM
January 05, 2004 | Comments: (0)
Holding the CAN-SPAM Act accountable (Incredible prices on V-I-A-G-R-A!)
Why worry about your own New Year's resolution when you can focus on holding someone else accountable to theirs?
Re: introducing a NEW investment opportunity
HELLO!!!!
One company is kicking off the new year with an attempt to hold the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to its resolution to slow the deluge of unsolicited email. SpamSpotting.org, launched by spam filter vendor SpamButcher, has created a spam tracking index designed to determine whether the new legislation is making any dent in the spam problem.
TOP URGENT BUSINESS
§K¶O¯Á¨ú¡ãÅ]±mª´ºÀ¤f¬õ²Õ¡AÅý±z¾Ö¦³°{«G²¢»eªº«C¬K®B§©
The Can-Spam (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing) Act requires senders of junk e-mail to allow recipients to opt out of future mailings and imposes penalties for deceptive messages. It also requires all e-mail marketing messages to provide a valid reply address.
Critics charge that the law will do little to stem the flow of spam, primarily
because most unsolicited email comes from outside the United States. In addition, the law may legalize unsolicited email because it forces users to opt out of commercial e-mail instead of requiring spammers to receive opt-in permission to send junk mail.
Paris caught on video--here FREE
The SpamSpotting.org site hosts the SpamButcher Spam Index, which is an indicator of how much spam is being sent on a given day. According to SpamSpotting.org, the index has a base level of 10,000, which corresponds to the average level of spam sent daily in December 2003. An index level of 5,000 would indicate roughly half as much spam is being sent, while a level of 20,000 would suggest twice as much spam e-mail.
The index is based on publicly available information, and is not related to the SpamButcher spam filter program, according to Rich Olson, CEO of SpamButcher.
kEYS To StAYING YOUng
Drop Pounds Fast!!!
Hey hot stuff! Can we meet?
(Note: These little italicized morsels are actual spam headers in my inbox today. After a week long vacation I had 1,874 e-mail messages to sort through, probably about 80-90 percent spam.)
Posted by Cathleen Moore on January 5, 2004 05:10 PM
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