I have three kids that are dedicated Mac-oholics. One sure sign? Every time they see one on TV, they have to point it out. For instance, there's an ad that runs non-stop on basic cable for FinallyFast.com, which is software that promises to speed up your PC.
"Look, Dad, there's an iBook!" they all said in unison. And there's an iMac! They sure looked like Macs to me, but there are so many styles of laptops and monitors, I wasn't 100 percent convinced.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 13, 20095 comments
I have a love/hate relationship with Keith Olbermann. When Republicans are in power, I can half-stand the smug partisan attacks. And when Dems rule, the fawning (plus the continuing smug partisan attacks on Republicans) sicken me. In fact, to maintain any sanity, I shift from right-wing ideologues to left-wing dogmatists every half-hour or so, whether it's the radio, TV or a friend on the phone.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 13, 200916 comments
As a Microsoft vet, Steve Sinofsky is no stranger to pressure. But he better have his Alka-Seltzer ready as Sinofsky has just taken over as president of the Windows Division.
Sinofsky is already off to a good start. The man helped run Windows engineering and has been given credit for producing Windows 7, an OS that while not yet released, is stable enough to let me write this newsletter! Thanks, Steve.
Posted by Doug Barney on July 10, 20090 comments
North Korea loves attention. Kim Jong Il gets headlines with tough talk and feeble and embarrassing missile tests. Now, North Korean hackers may be trying to spread fear with a series of denial-of-service attacks on South Korean and U.S. government Web sites.
But according to security experts, these hackers are as ineffective as current North Korean missile technology. The worst that happened, according to those attacked, was a bit of annoyance.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 10, 20092 comments
This coming Tuesday will be moderately busy for IT patching pros as Microsoft plans a half-dozen fixes.
I know I sound like a broken record, but nearly all the patches address remote code execution (RCE) flaws. In fact, one patch helps close an RCE hole in all currently supported revs of Windows. Pretty handy.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 10, 20090 comments
Forefront is Microsoft's suite of enterprise security applications, but it has a bug in it when working with SharePoint. It can delete data when running a manual scan.
Microsoft appears to have a big task getting all of its various Forefront security solutions to work with Microsoft's various software products. But who else will you buy security from for your Microsoft products?
Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 08, 20090 comments
In another sign that Google means business, the search giant dropped the "beta" tag from its Google Apps brand of hosted applications.
IT pros are used to tracking and testing software upgrades and patches in their shops. Common wisdom suggests they wouldn't deploy a beta version of any piece of software live on the network. But for some time now, Google has established contracts with companies running essentially "beta" software.
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Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 08, 20090 comments
A recent announcement from Google seems to be stepping all over what used to be considered sacred ground for Microsoft. On Tuesday, Google announced "Google Chrome OS," a new Linux-based OS to be publicly launched in the second half of next year. Chrome OS will run on netbooks, as well as desktops.
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Posted by Kurt Mackie on July 08, 20093 comments
Microsoft was never really hot to trot over Java, but when the language/system threatened to take off, Microsoft cooked up a deal to support it. Now, Java is still cool, but hasn't entirely set the world on fire. Maybe that's why Microsoft is comfortable enough to drop Java Virtual Machine support. As of now, the JVM that Microsoft licensed from Sun will no longer get patched.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 06, 20096 comments
Talk to any self-appointed pundit and they'll tell you that Google, Web 2.0 and clouds are the future. And usually, they tell you this by writing blogs, articles or columns. And what do they craft these masterpieces on? Thin clients? Google Docs? Their iPhones? No, it's usually just Microsoft Word running on either a Windows fat client or an Apple fat client.
As we move to these new computing paradigms, are they simply in addition to what we already have -- in effect, thin-client software running on a good, old-fashioned fattie? Or at some point, does the new way replace the old? That is, do we no longer need Windows or the Mac because all the smarts are in the cloud? And if so, what do these new clients look like?
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 06, 20096 comments
With only so much network gear that can be sold, Cisco has been steadily encroaching on Microsoft's territory. One move was unified communications. A more recent gambit involves selling servers stacked to the gill with virtualization wares.
Neither action inspired a meaningful Microsoft response, but the latest Cisco move probably won't be taken lightly. The network king is making noise about a new Web-based system to create and share productivity documents and files. Can you say Office Live?
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 06, 20092 comments
CIOs might not have much fundage these days, but only the most short-sighted would stop spending altogether. What's different form the past is every dime gets close scrutiny now, and money goes to areas most in need. (Congress could learn a lesson or two from this!)
In a recent survey by Robert Half Technology, some 1,400 top IT chiefs detailed their priorities. The No. 1 priority is unfortunate: security. It's great that IT takes this issue so seriously, but it's a disgrace that hackers, cybercriminals and Internet low-lifes dictate IT spending, especially in these volumes.
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Posted by Doug Barney on July 01, 20092 comments