Archives


Pricing Politics; Saying Goodbye

That First Step Is Tricky

You're responsible for soup-to-nuts implementation of a new system. Before you start, here are a few suggestions to make the project run smoothly.

Something New Under the Sun

What do Haskell, F# and OCaml have in common? They’re functional programming methods that can infuse your programming with new ways to do things.

A Patchwork Quilt

Patch management is no longer a luxury to have a secure network—it’s a necessity. We test six solutions to the problem of knowing whether or not your servers and desktops are up to date.

SQL Server Developer Edition Price Drops to $49 Friday

Microsoft will drop the price of the Developer Edition of SQL Server 2000 by 90 percent on Friday, from $499 to $49.

SFU 3.5 Coming This Year, 4.0 in 2004

Microsoft is cooking up some changes for its Services for Unix product set, but the company is tight-lipped about what those changes might be.

HP Tops TPC-C Benchmark with HP-UX, Oracle

Hewlett-Packard claimed the top spot in the high-profile TPC-C scalability benchmark this week with a system running its HP-UX 11 operating system and an Oracle database. The feat was accomplished on the same HP Superdome server with 64 Itanium processors that Microsoft used with Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 to claim the top spot on the TPC-C in May.

Microsoft NT 4 Security Patch Flawed

Users running systems with RRAS enabled encountered problems after installing the patch. A hotfix is available and Microsoft will re-release the patch after more thorough testing is complete.

Visual Studio 'Whidbey' to Ease 64-bit Transition for Developers

Taking another step in the major effort to enable 64-bit computing across its product lines, Microsoft will bring support for 64-bit CPUs to the next version of Visual Studio .NET, code-named "Whidbey."

BI Consolidation Continues as Hyperion Acquires Brio

Less than a week after Business Objects acquired enterprise-reporting specialist Crystal Decisions, Hyperion Solutions countered by snapping up Brio Software.

IBM Introduces AMD Opteron-Based Server

IBM unveiled a server based on AMD's 64-bit processors that will be offered with Linux or Windows, the company announced Wednesday. The introduction of the IBM eServer 325 delivers on IBM's vow to ship an AMD Opteron-based system.

Critical Windows Flaw a Potential Springboard for Damaging Worm

Microsoft is feverishly trying to get users to apply a patch it released two weeks ago for a critical RPC vulnerability that affects most supported versions of Windows before a widespread worm based on the vulnerability can break out.

Active Directory Design on a Dime

Four forests or one? Four domains or one? The best AD design strives for simple and secure administration.

Windows Server 2003 Outpacing Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003 is selling much more rapidly than Windows 2000 Server did at this stage in the product lifecycle, according to Microsoft officials.

Complete Windows SMB Server Systems to Cost Less than $1K

Complete server systems running Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition will cost less than $1,000, a Microsoft executive says.

Microsoft Patches 3 Security Holes

Microsoft issued three security bulletins this week fixing a critical flaw in DirectX, some important problems with SQL Server and a moderate security bug in Windows NT 4.0 Server.

Critical Flaw in DirectX Makes Windows Computers Vulnerable

A major security hole in Microsoft's DirectX technology makes it possible for attackers to take over computers running most versions of Windows.

NSI Offers Lower Cost Disaster Recovery for Windows

NSI Software moved to push data replication into more cost-conscious sectors of the enterprise by introducing a workgroup NAS-focused version of its Double-Take product.

Business Objects to Buy Crystal Decisions

Two major business intelligence vendors whose products are used heavily on Windows platforms announced a major merger this month. Business Objects will acquire privately-held Crystal Decisions for about $820 million in a deal the two parties expect will close near the end of 2003.

Serving Time

Get the exact time that Windows processes via the WMIC command.