Virtually Secure

Security for virtual environments is a problem many shops haven't fully addressed. But when you think about it, one hack can bring down a host of VMs -- not pretty.

McAfee has a new program -- actually more of a service -- that audits the security of your virtual infrastructure, including people and processes. Afterward, McAfee recommends technology to protect your shop.

Posted by Doug Barney on March 03, 20080 comments


Another Stupid Idea

I am not a fan of Microsoft buying Yahoo. Yahoo has nothing that Microsoft hasn't already built or bought, and is, in fact, a legacy Internet company.

Now, a New York Times wonk has what he calls a better idea: Redmond should buy SAP.

I'm not entirely sure this guy's neural connections are working properly. Look up "legacy" in the IT dictionary and SAP is the first definition. SAP does have great technology and, after a long process of installation, has helped many companies operate more efficiently, rationalize supply chains and tie in partners. But is it the future? No.

That said, I'm not sure if NYT author Randall Stross realizes that Microsoft currently owns four separate ERP platforms: Great Plains, Axapta, Navision and Solomon. Not only that, but Microsoft is currently re-architecting these ERP tools so they'll be more modern than anything SAP has.

I'm actually pretty darn comfortable with Redmond's ERP plans, and believe buying SAP would be a move backward.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 25, 20080 comments


Virtualization Growing Really Fast

Ask entrepreneurs and IT pros what's hot, and you won't hear much about browsers, fat client OSes and Cat 5 cable. You will hear a lot about virtualization. In fact, the vast majority of IT pros have "a strong interest in virtualization." Still, only a minority in IT are currently doing virtualization.

Redmond readers are different. Many (if not most) of you are virtualizing, according to our own research.

Fortunately, there's a brand-new resource that will tell you all you need to know. VirtualizationReview.com is now up and running, and it comes with a new newsletter with weekly analysis.

Let me know what you think of the site and what you need to know about virtualization by writing [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on February 25, 20080 comments


Vista Almost Ready

When Microsoft is wrong, I'm not shy about telling the world. When it's right, I'm the first to pat 'em on the back. In the case of the new class-action lawsuit over Vista Ready logos for PCs, I'm patting and complaining all at once.

Here's the rub. Dell, HP, IBM et al have been selling millions of PCs with Vista Ready logos. Consumers complain that many of these units can't handle higher-end revs of Vista, especially the Aero interface.

Here's where I defend Redmond. Vista comes in many forms and the lower-end versions do run on these machines. On the other hand, Aero is graphics-intensive, and requires the kind of GPU processing that used to be the domain of top engineers, scientists, videographers and pimply faced teenage gamers. And, to be legally precise, the logos don't say "Vista Aero Ready."

On the other hand, Vista does not play nearly as nice with hardware as I'd like. I've upgraded three or four older machines to XP, and in each case it was surprisingly flawless. Vista is a lot more demanding, making it tough to upgrade our current machines. And -- let's face it -- many of the units sold by Best Buy and Circuit City may run Vista, but they move slower than an Oscar acceptance speech.

Have you bought a Vista machine that wasn't up to snuff? Share your stories by writing me at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on February 25, 20080 comments


Sleeping Ain't Always Safe

When I was a kid, I owned a wall hanging made by my grandfather that was inscribed with an old English evening prayer -- including "If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee, Lord, my Soul to take."

I treasured it, but it also scared the bejeepers out of me. I wanted to wake up.

Now, we have to worry about our computers either never waking up or waking up hacked.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation claims that encrypted disks can be, er, decrypted while the computer sleeps. BitLocker from Microsoft was cracked by EFF and Princeton University experts by finding passwords in RAM, which isn't flushed during sleep or hibernation.

Microsoft isn't the only vendor with this the problem; Apple has it, too!

Posted by Doug Barney on February 25, 20080 comments


A Busy Patch Tuesday

Last month's Patch Tuesday had less action than a Kate Hudson romantic comedy. Tomorrow's, though, will be a little more intense, with a dozen fixes expected for everything from Visual Basic to IE and Office. Microsoft's most-loved client OS, XP, gets some tweaks, as does the New Coke of software, Vista.

A lot of the exploits concern that old bugaboo, the remote execution of code. And seven are deemed critical.

I have to hand it to Microsoft. While other vendors quietly release fixes, Microsoft sticks its neck out each and every month and boldly proclaims where its faults lie. And that takes guts. Agree? Let me know by writing [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on February 11, 20080 comments


Single Sign-On Nirvana

How many Web sites or services have you signed up for, only to forget your user name or password? Here's the problem: You try to register, but the user name you want is taken, so you add a bunch of random numbers to the end of your name (say, dbarney8256). And even though nothing special is happening on the site, the security gods who run it demand a complex password (say dBarn&y8256H20).

Got those committed to memory? I thought not. Use the Web long enough, and you end up with dozens of these non-intuitive user names and unintelligible passwords.

Single sign-on is one answer, and within high-end corporate environments, single sign-on often gets you access to wide range of corporate info. But it does nothing to help you remember the sign-on to your (my) favorite motorcycle forums.

A bunch of companies that don't particularly like each other have agreed to help. Google, IBM, Microsoft, VeriSign and Yahoo are all members of the OpenID Foundation, which hopes to offer one user name and one password that gets you onto all of your favorite registered sites. Just make sure you keep that info very, very safe!

Microsoft had a decent approach to this. It was called Passport. Unfortunately, not enough sites backed it and Passport is now largely used to access Microsoft-only content.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 11, 20080 comments


Yahoo Says Ya-Noo!

Yahoo's board of directors this weekend formally rejected Microsoft's takeover offer. The board apparently wants either more dough or to hook up with a different partner, such as Google (which would raise antitrust concerns) or AOL.

I'm no stock market whiz (and have the losses to prove it!), but as I understand it, the Microsoft bid was a huge premium over Yahoo's existing share price. And Microsoft offers the ailing Yahoo resources, market share and commitment -- things Yahoo needs.

On the flip side, I still don't think this deal is in Microsoft's best interest, especially if it spends far more than the $44.5 billion it already has on the table.

Instead of trying to out-Google Google, imagine what could be done if all that money were placed in the hands of a bunch of young, smart programmers and visionaries.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 11, 20080 comments


IBM Pushes System p, Sun Rolls Out Datacenter in a Box

Do you remember the PowerPC processor? This little beauty drove everything from late-model Amigas to Macs. After Apple ditched Power for Intel, it looked like Power lost all its muscle.

But IBM is keeping the processor family very much alive, and uses it to drive the world's fastest PCs to what IBM last year claimed was the world's fastest server.

While IBM pushes its x86 Blade and traditional server lines, the company's most interesting family just might be the Power-powered System p. Mostly aimed at the high-end, there are two new System p's: the 520 and 550 Express. Added to that is a new virtualization technology, PowerVM, that lets the System p run a wider variety of software, including Linux apps built for x86 systems.

Unfortunately, the System p still doesn't run Windows, even though years ago NT ran just fine on the PowerPC.

Meanwhile, Sun is now shipping Sun MD. This data system is like a military field hospital. You can drop Sun MD into a new location, and have processing, storage, networking and pre-canned data processing all set to go. Not sure if it comes in Army green.

Get all the details here.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 11, 20080 comments


Yahoo Ain't Worth No $44 Billion

If you listen to Wall Street, paying $44 billion for Yahoo is the smartest idea since E=mc2. Google's stock is down, and Yahoo is on the rise after Steve Ballmer's public pitch for the No. 2 search engine concern.

Let me toss some cold water on this little love-fest.

I don't see anything in the Yahoo portfolio that Microsoft doesn't already have. It's kinda like Time magazine buying Newsweek, Coke buying Pepsi or BP merging with Exxon -- just more of the same. Even worse, Yahoo is on the decline (its market share and financials are more like Boo-Hoo than Yahoo!).

Yahoo is, to a large degree, a legacy company. All its core offerings -- search, e-mail, forums, news and IM -- have been around for years. Why spend $44 billion to buy the past when you could invest that money in inventing the future?

This deal seems like a knee-jerk reaction to the Google threat. Instead of building technologies that can outpace Google, Microsoft is hoping to buy a company that has proven it can't keep pace. From a purely business standpoint, maybe the Yahoo audience is worth that kind of cash -- but this isn't a deal based on technical innovation. What do you think? Write me at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on February 04, 20080 comments


Stripping Vista Down to the Good Stuff

Vista gets far more criticism for what it has than for what it doesn't. The big complaints have to do with too many functions running up against too little processing.

If you want Vista but not the overhead of Media Player and other features aimed largely at consumers, then vLite is for you. This free tool strips Vista of all the features you never wanted in the first place.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 04, 20080 comments


Funny Stuff? You Be the Judge

Every so often, a cartoonist sends me samples of IT humor hoping to get published. In all cases, the work has been lamer than Barbaro's right leg.

There's a new contender for the IT cartoon Hall of Fame, this time sponsored by Microsoft. The strip is called "HEROES happen {here}." Not sure what that name is supposed to mean, but it sure ain't funny.

The strip is also designed to show off Silverlight. In fact, you have to download Silverlight before you can start laughing your IT butt off. I went through the process, wanting to give the strip a full whirl. The result? Less laughter than a Bill Belichick press conference.

Posted by Doug Barney on February 04, 20080 comments