Wi-Fi Hacked

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) has a new hack -- but only for those that also use Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP traffic can be decrypted, so your passwords, corporate info and love notes could well be compromised.

The answer? Moving to WPA 2 or adding the Advanced Encryption Standard.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 20, 20080 comments


Yang Yanked from Yahoo?

Jerry Yang resigned this week as CEO of Yahoo, but given the collapse in stock price and fall in market share -- as well as the bungled deal with Microsoft -- many wonder if Yang was yanked.

Yang may have been heckled by investors and the financial press, but let's not forget his accomplishments. He co-founded Yahoo a decade-and-a-half ago while in college and built it into a huge brand and a site with many innovative (at least, at the time they were launched) services like Yahoo Mail.

I'd take 1 percent of Yang's success and be happy.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 19, 20080 comments


Exchange and SharePoint on Cloud Nine

Cloud versions of Exchange and SharePoint have been put through their virtual paces by a bevy of beta testers, who now say this stuff is good enough for release. As far as I know, the features are the same as the site-installed versions.

I'm curious to see a real economic analysis comparing the cost of the subscription services to installing, running and managing it all yourself. Any answers, readers? Shoot your conclusions to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 19, 20080 comments


Mailbag: Your Verdicts on 'Vista Capable' Suit

Within 24 hours of releasing an item on the Vista Capable program, I got 25 e-mails from Redmond Report readers -- which may well be a record. Thanks to all who wrote! We'll run as many of these letters as we can, so check in tomorrow for more:

Microsoft should win this suit. Who buys because a sticker on the box says it can do something? Most of us read reviews first and check the specs. But then, phishing scams wouldn't work if everyone was that way.
-Bill

Microsoft should lose this case. If the logo is "Vista Capable," then it should apply to any Vista product. Microsoft should have incorporated it for the computer hardware that could run any of the Vista products.

It is definitely a misleading statement and users don't need the frustration in these trying times. It might direct them to the nearest Mac.
-Karen

My own feeling is that Microsoft ought to lose this one. It quite obviously betrayed its own standards by lowering the specifications it set for qualifying for the label to apparently help Intel meet its quarterly financial target. HP apparently thought it was a rotten deal. I doubt if it's the only one. Even though I use Vista on my personal desktop and notebook PCs and really have no complaints about it, I think that the sooner Microsoft can successfully leave Vista in the rearview mirror, the better it will be for us all.

Notice I said successfully; Microsoft really has to succeed with Windows 7. Maybe it could be called the "Magnificent 7." Do you think that name would raise the bar too high? The current promotional campaign isn't hitting a note with me. Life without walls? What kind of nonsense is that? If you don't have walls, you don't have anywhere to hang your Windows. Truly goofy.
-Dennis

"Vista Capable" should mean what it says. I think of this as a consumer-satisfaction issue. Everyone who buys one of these "Vista Capable" machines and tries to use it to run anything but Vista Basic is going to be a dissatisfied customer -- dissatisfied with the computer company and with Microsoft. Eventually, they will turn to another company, as they should.

Any company that doesn't put their customers' best interests first (like GM with its gas-hogs) deserves what will inevitably happen: going bust! And it is beyond comprehension that today's "captains of industry" continue to behave as stupidly as their predecessors.
-Erik

It would seem to me that if it is advertised as "Vista Capable," it should run any version of Vista. If it only runs one version of Vista, then the software company has a legal obligation to say so. That is why some cars require premium fuel, even when they will probably run OK on regular.

It is good of you to offer Microsoft cover, but it would have been better if the company showed real concern for the customers. It seems to be more concerned with damage control than making this right. It is not like it does not have the money to fix this. If a system won't run Vista, say so. If it only runs Vista Basic, say so. Microsoft knows when it is being deceptive. So do you.
-Anonymous

I may not fully understand all aspects of the issue, but it seems to me that if a machine is only capable of running Vista Basic, then the labeling should say "Vista Basic Capable" or "Vista Basic Compatible" or, better yet, "WARNING: This machine is only rated for Vista Basic. Other versions of Vista have not been certified to operate on this machine."

If I bought a new machine that had a label saying "Vista Capable," I would be invited to purchase or upgrade to a version of Vista that has the features that I want to use. If those features did not work, then I would certainly want to sue somebody, either Microsoft or the machine manufacturer who misled me with the ambiguous label.
-C.T.

In the early days of Vista Ultimate, I loaded it onto the only expendable computer I had access to at work. It was a P4 1.8 GHZ with 512MB of RAM and a 40GB HDD. I dual-booted this with XP Pro so I could have a look at Vista, locations of user files and other functions. By the way, the computer had on-board video, networking. Though with an experience rating of 1, I would say it was barely capable.

Maybe the ratings could have been simplified to "Capable" (eventually runs Vista) or "Ready" (will run Vista properly).
-Allan

Throughout its history, Microsoft has been misleading the business world and consumers. It knew perfectly well the implication of this label, yet it did it anyway without any form of disclaimer. "Vista Capable" means to most consumers that the computer can run Vista no matter which version. I am sure there are many consumers who probably didn't even realize there were, in fact, multiple versions when it first came out. I just cannot wait until this excuse of an OS passes by.
-Anonymous

Join the fray! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 19, 20080 comments


Cool IT

IT jobs never used to be cool. Then everyone -- celebrities, girlfriends and grandparents -- all got PCs. Now music, movies and the making of the movies all happen on some kind of PC-like device.

So let's all agree that IT is now undeniably cool. The next step is deciding which areas are the coolest. Security is hot; it's the place where IT fights off hackers from China, Bulgaria and the little doofus that lives next door. But what's ultra-cool within the totally cool world of security, which lies within the undeniably cool world of IT?

The security jobs worth bragging about in the singles bar are all front-line positions. Fighting cyber crime hand-to-hand are the top slots. These positions include hacker investigators, penetration testers (you pretend to hack) and forensics. We need more of all three, in my opinion.

What is your dream IT job? Send your dreams to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 19, 20080 comments


Office on Apple Phone

Last week Tarkan Maner, the CEO of Wyse Technology, came by the well-lit Redmond magazine offices for a sit-down. Very cool, very smart, and utterly outspoken -- just the kind of exec I like. After taking about Wyse's approach to client virtualization, Tarkan showed me how Wyse software can present a virtual PC desktop on an Apple iPhone. Slick.

Microsoft is also looking this way and promises now to make its new Web-based Office apps available on the iPhone.

Seems to me the Wyse approach is harder; it's showing and manipulating the actual Windows desktop. Microsoft, it seems to me, is simply displaying its Web apps on a Web-ready iPhone.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 18, 20080 comments


Vista Barely Capable

The lawsuit over "Vista Capable" labels is heating up as more and more internal e-mails pop up, showing a pitched debate over what "capable" means and how Microsoft should proceed. The verdict could really come down to parsing words.

Here's the core issue: Microsoft agreed to provide the "Vista Capable" logo for computers that could only run Vista Basic. Critics argue that this was misleading, that consumers wouldn't understand this limitation. Even Microsoft insiders such as Jim Allchin felt this way.

But words have meaning and the labeling, one could argue, was technically correct. What do you think? Should Microsoft win or lose this case? Verdicts accepted at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 18, 20080 comments


Mailbag: Surviving the Economy

After Sun announced that it plans to lay off up to 6,000 employees over the next year, Doug asked readers what their own companies are doing to deal with the economy:

I work for a company in the transportation industry, which is already getting hit due to the high cost of aircraft fuel. We've taken the path of a hiring freeze and a budget freeze. We've also pushed all IT software purchasing and projects back to 2010. Only essential purchases/projects are allowed.
-Nicholas

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 18, 20080 comments


Small and Medium Businesses Get New Servers

Microsoft is shipping two new servers aimed at small businesses. Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 is pretty obviously aimed at smaller shops (not sure if Joe the Plumber placed his order yet) and is based on its big brother, Windows Server 2008 itself. SBS also comes with SQL and Exchange -- a one-stop shop.

We've looked at an earlier rev and found it solid, pretty easy to set up (some readers disagreed with this notion as I recall), but not great at scaling by making multiple servers work together.

Microsoft is also shipping Windows Essentials Business Server 2008, aimed at mid-size businesses. I was curious about the Essential product. The press release wasn't clear on what exactly it contained, and it took quite a bit a sleuthing on Microsoft.com before it became clear that Essentials is really a higher-end version of SBS with management software, security and SharePoint added to the mix, and with SQL Server only in the premium edition.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 18, 20080 comments


Sun Loses 6,000 Watts of Employee Power

Sun Microsystems, one of the few tech companies with true spunk, is pink-slipping some 6,000 workers. That's almost the entire population of the small Massachusetts town I live in.

Sun has been going through a difficult transition. Ten years ago it was like Apple; almost all of its technology -- SunRay, SPARC and Solaris -- were entirely its own. It's transitioning to a dual strategy, hanging on to its unique technology while embracing other technologies (hint: like Windows!).

The Sun layoffs are a pre-emptive strike. It expects business to slump and customers to delay buys, and wants to get ahead of the problem. Every smart business person I know is doing the same. What about you? How are you preparing for what could be an economic tsunami? Give us advice we can use at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 17, 20080 comments


Live Looking Livelier

Late last week, Redmond continued its Live PR push, announcing or at least pre-announcing a heap of new consumer products and services.

Microsoft plans to enhance its Windows Live services with new Redmond-crafted tools along with items built by partners such as LinkedIn and Flickr. Microsoft also continues to pump out developer tools for the cloud and Web services -- so many, in fact, that it's actually hard to keep track. And I keep track for a living!

Microsoft really needs to distill this all into one cohesive, understandable strategy -- a tough thing for a company of programmers to do sometimes.

Posted by Doug Barney on November 17, 20080 comments


Mailbag: Patch Count Wrong?

For this month's Patch Tuesday, John got way more than the two patches Microsoft announced:

It is curious that the patches that Microsoft sends to the home users seldom matches the number you give. This week I got eight updates to my home computer. No, these were all new. I use my computer daily, and on patch Tuesday, M$ sends me updates that install when I shut down for the day. This week it was EIGHT. That is a lot more than the TWO you warned me about. Do you have any idea why the count is different?
-John

Have an answer for John? How about a comment on anything else covered today? Send 'em all to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on November 17, 20080 comments