Hey, Larry, What About Java?

Press reports of Oracle buying Sun imply it's a done deal, and maybe it is. Some of these deals go fast and smooth and others collapse faster than a Jenga stack. Some open source fans may prefer the latter as it's unclear how the commercially oriented Oracle (and boy, is it ever) may not have the love for Java, open source IDEs and MySQL that Sun has.

With the wealth of Sun open tools, it's pretty clear that not all would survive being commandeered by Oracle. Many see NetBeans getting quickly roasted. Beyond that, will Oracle put muscle behind OpenOffice just to irritate Microsoft, or set it adrift? And what about Java itself?

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 22, 20090 comments


Mailbag: Oracle-Sun, Office Ribbon, More

Readers had mostly positive reactions to the recently announced Oracle-Sun deal , with just a few words of caution mixed in:

I think that you're right. The creative company meets the marketing giant. Could be a great match!
-Chris

I have to agree with you. I didn't see it coming either, but for high-end databases requiring more robust hardware than Intel can offer, Oracle+Sun could be a winning combination to compete against IBM.
-Marc

I think the Oracle acquisition of Sun makes a whole LOT of sense. Oracle's No. 1 platform is Sun; it's their core development platform for the Oracle database. Oracle's DB is heavily Java-centric; their management tools and installers are all Java. They need Java to survive unless they want to rewrite their installers, Oracle Enterprise Manager, etc. Sun now owns MySQL, a free, powerful, entry-level database. Now, THERE'S a good play for Sun/Oracle to build a migration path from MySQL to an enterprise-class DB when your needs "grow up." Databases are highly storage performance-dependent. Sun has a great storage story, excellent products in the disk and tape worlds, and excellent OEM agreements. Now Oracle has the ability to enhance revenue on both sides of the equation: leverage storage with DB engine licenses, or vice-versa. Oracle already had a "preferred" licensing model on Sun's SPARC processors that makes even more sense now. Buy Oracle on Sun and pay less than if you put in on Wintel platforms, etc. Overall, I just think it makes darn good sense.

What was IBM going to do with Sun? Migrate Solaris to PowerPC? More likely just kill it and "migrate" users to AIX. There was no strategic play in that world. Everything Sun has, IBM already has. It was just more of a "buy a competitor and shut them down" play to me than a marriage of technologies.
-Pete

If Oracle acquires Sun, it creates a large-systems-plus-applications rival to IBM. It might work for a while and then die like Unisys or DEC. It moves BOTH Oracle and Sun away from their failed bids to beat Microsoft on low-end servers and high-end desktops.

The Oracle-Sun California tech culture is a far better fit than if IBM absorbs Sun. Such a combination may be the only way to keep Sun's valuable hardware innovations alive for several more years. However, a far better combination would be a Cisco acquisition of Sun. The California tech synergy would still be there but with a far better product fit for both firms.
-Mark

Not sure about how Oracle will deal with the HW/OS mix. They currently are dabbling in Linux distros, though. They do share a similar Bay Area corporate culture, in a way that the Sun/IBM combo didn't.

The real question is: Is $7.4 billion too much to pay to squash a competitor (MySQL)? That open source DB has a large footprint in the Web world. I'll be downloading the latest (last?) version, just in case.
-R.C.Z.

The thing I'm most concerned about is the ripple effect in the open source continuum. Ellison will no doubt kill MySQL, creating a black hole that could suck in many more open source projects.
-Jacob

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 22, 20090 comments


Office 2007 Gains Native OpenDoc/PDF

Office 2007 is gaining a new service pack -- and this puppy isn't just about bug fixes, performance tweaks and random features that few will use. SP2 brings Office further into the open world with native support for the OpenDoc file format, letting you share files with your OpenOffice brethren. And finally it gains the built-in ability to save files as PDFs, rather than through a clumsy add-on.

Posted by Doug Barney on April 20, 20090 comments


Mailbag: Thoughts on Patches, Windows 7 Upgrades, More

One reader shares his thoughts about the impact of malware writers taking shots at Windows, while another wonders what can be done to stop them in the first place:

Regarding patches, at some point, it could be that Windows might just end up the most secure. When everyone is taking shots, Windows will either die from the wounds, or strengthen the armor. But who knows?
-Andrew

I would love to help nab some of the malware promoters, or at least divert some of their energies. But running a honeypot properly takes a bunch of time and energy, both of which are in short supply in most IT shops.
-Robert

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 20, 20090 comments


Oracle Predicts Sun Sale

A few weeks ago, it was IBM looking to buy Sun. Today it's Oracle offering $7.4 billion to buy the company that brought us Solaris, SPARC, Java and Jonathan Schwartz's ponytail. 

At first blush, I just didn't see a fit. Buying Sun turns Oracle into an altogether different company, one focused on server and storage hardware, operating systems, and infrastructure and development software.

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 20, 20090 comments


Microsoft Continues Commercial Security Software Push

Microsoft tried to play in the consumer client security space with OneCare and then enterprise client security with Forefront. OneCare got the hook, but Forefront is still very much alive.

I wasn't a fan of Microsoft's client security play. I felt Microsoft was simply copying the pioneering work of companies like Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and Sunbelt.

Fortunately, Microsoft is pushing a more comprehensive strategy in the form of "Stirling," a suite of tools that protects clients and servers, and handles identity management and compliance. As Microsoft has built a large suite of IT products, it makes sense for it to have a broad suite of security tools. Stirling will be out next year.

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 20, 20090 comments


2010: An Exchange Odyssey

The next rev of Exchange, Exchange 2010, is now in beta and is due later this year. This version can run in your datacenter or in a cloud. The software also has a raft of unified communications features such as built-in voicemail and instant messaging.

IE haters will love the fact that the Web client is now fully compatible with Safari and Firefox. I use Firefox and never had a problem with the Web client.

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20090 comments


Mailbag: Ribbon Yeas/Nays, More

This week, Doug asked readers to speak up about their Office ribbon experiences . So far, reviews are still mixed:

You said, "The new Office 2007 interface is more confusing than a conversation with Paula Abdul." At first. But I'm starting to like the changing icons based on context of the tabs. It makes more sense, but it is way different than in the past.

I'll give Microsoft credit. They are trying to come out with a better approach, rather than wait for someone else to come up with it. Many companies would just let the product turn into a cash cow and eventually die.
-Andrew

Regarding the Office 2007 ribbon -- OMG, I can never find anything on the thing. The few users that I have tried installing it for begged me to switch them back, and these were the users that normally like change and trying new things. As long as you don't actually want to do anything requiring actually finding anything buried in the ribbon, it is fine.
-Tom

I have used Office 2007 for quite some time now. I use Access, Word, Excel and Outlook on a regular basis. At first, I didn't like the ribbon menus at all but it was probably because I was so familiar with the old toolbars and menu style that when I started using the new ribbon, I couldn't find where everything was.

With time and learning, I now like the ribbon style and know where to find things. I don't think it is better but different and requires some relearning so people don't want to leave their comfort zone.
-Duane

I have worked with Office 2007 since the beta and now have become so used to it that when I am faced with Office 2003, I really have to think. It was hard at first before Microsoft introduced the interactive command reference guides. Now if you need to know where something lives, just download the guides. You'll soon get used to it and remember. Hell, I was even tempted to try OpenOffice, but that was going to be just the same sort of learning curve, and if you used Excel to any degree of sophistication, forget it.

OK, so learning the new menu system wasn't easy. We always look for the negative: Oh, but where do I find this? And where do I find that? Oh, poor me. Go to a country which drives on the other side of the road; you'll hate it just as much, but in the end you learn to accept the change. Move on, get over it, forget the past. Accept change and you learn something new. If you resist, you'll just get left behind or run over by the truck coming the other way.
-Dave

The Office 2007 UI is only usable if you know where things were under the old 2003 menus, because you can then find them under similar menus -- but you have to have memorised the menu commands (sad that I am). The command groupings don't make sense and don't provide the features our users want grouped together. It wouldn't be so bad if it were totally customisable, but even then rolling out customisations to all our users will be difficult.

Bottom line this is not new and improved, and the old is not old and inferior. The old UI is comfortable, clear, well-understood and already trained and supported. Change for changes sake is of no use to us. And if Microsoft thinks we can be forced to change, it's wrong.
-Anonymous

I believe the ribbon is an interesting user interface trip. Might not be perfect, but I prefer it to the other more confusing old interface, which I am not able to work with again. The logic put into the interface is suitable for most of the people I know and can be easily explained in 15 minutes to users via phone. Users seem to be more independent and need little to be explained.

Now, of course this is not entirely true with people who know the older interfaces and do not want to migrate, because they might know some shortcuts, and use Office more on a gesture-driven manner. But once you explain to them the logic (sometimes it's quite difficult to break old paradigms), they are able to move freely.
-Izcoatl

I don't like the ribbon and I resent software that requires me to waste time relearning an interface. The ribbon is very ironic. Microsoft worked hard to standardize application menus -- File on the left with open, save, save as, Help on the right. And they're the ones ruining the consistent Windows application interface.

I had a hard enough time as it was teaching my mother how to use a computer. The one thing I had going for me was saying, "Once you learn one application, you've learned 25 percent of all of them due to consistent menus, icon usage..."
-Anonymous

As for the ribbon, it takes quite a while to overcome the years of training and usage of the old-style menu, but I'm finally there. To be honest, it is only marginally better overall than the previous iterations, and as such will take many years of use to make up for the productivity lost in the transition. Why they didn't make the old UI available as a user installation or configuration option is beyond me.

Change for the sake of significant improvement is good. Change for the sake of change -- to provide a slick, new UI, or as a marketing gimmick -- is yet another form of the asinine in practice.
-John

I don't like the ribbon.
-Rick

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20090 comments


Bots Won't Stop

Botnets, those little beasts that smuggle themselves into our computers and use our machines to attack others, aren't just a nuisance. They're criminal. Anything that harms property or steals personal information is against the law, and legal eagles have been going against botnet authors using whatever limited resources they can find. But like the corner crack dealer, once you shut down one avenue, they just move to another. More

Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20090 comments


Microsoft Branding Is All About 2010

Microsoft is looking to have a busy year next year, rolling out new revs of SharePoint, Exchange, Office and Office Web tools. Even Project and Visio will get facelifts.

Microsoft product names can be confusing, and when you get used to one, Microsoft is liable to change it on you. It also has names like Word, Project and Windows Server that actually describe function. Then it has names that don't mean a thing but are just meant to sound cool, like Zune and Vista.

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 17, 20090 comments


XP and Office Support Saga

All good things must come to an end. On Monday we reported that Microsoft is ending free or "mainstream" XP support. If you have an XP problem, you best have a valid credit card. Then yesterday we ran a nearly identical story -- only this time it was free Office 2003 support More

Posted by Doug Barney on April 15, 20091 comments


IE an Intranet Attack Vector?

IE has always had the rap of being an insecure browser, something that I believe will change as more IE folks move to the more robust IE 8. (Side note: Over 50 Redmond Report readers helped me craft a May cover story about IE 8 which says, in short, that test versions of the browser were a mess but the final product is stable and sweet -- and more secure.)

Regardless of the extra measures, IE 8 and earlier versions have one big flaw, at least according to one security firm: There are four core security settings and the one for internal networks, intranets, is too lax. This could allow scumbag loser hacker creeps to creep into your network and have their way. The saving grace? The hackers need some detail on how your intranet interface looks.

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Posted by Doug Barney on April 15, 20090 comments