Windows Leader Leaps to Juniper

• By Doug Barney
• 07/24/2008

When I first heard the news, I figured Johnson was taking the rap for the poor market performance of Vista, and the fact that Microsoft lost over a billion dollars in its online business.

I was wrong. Johnson is the new CEO of Juniper, the high-flying network gear maker. Juniper is one hot company. A nobody seven years ago, it's now arguably the only networking company that can truly challenge Cisco. Good luck, Kevin!

Open Source Open to Hacks
Critics love to slap Microsoft around for its security problems. And by admitting its faults each and every Patch Tuesday, Redmond gives these nitpickers plenty of ammo. The open source world tends to keep its flaws more on the down-low -- not exactly hidden, but not exactly disclosed with fanfare, either.

That's why it may be a surprise to some that open source apps have more holes than a pair of hippy jeans, and are far less secure than commercial apps.

Do you trust open source? And do you miss your old, patched, hippy pants? Send answers to both to [email protected].

Jobs OK?
Wall Street and Mac fans are biting their nails over rumors that Steve Jobs is in poor health after he made public appearances looking thin and sickly.

The New York Times looked into the matter and reporter John Markoff writes that Jobs himself has been reassuring friends and Apple board members that he's just fine. There's apparently a problem that caused him to lose weight, and he had surgery to straighten that out (imagine that: surgery to actually gain weight!).

Still, there's pressure for Apple to disclose its succession plan in the event that Jobs steps down. If Apple ever does get a new leader, could that person please, please license the Mac OS to hardware OEMs like HP and Dell? The market needs a good $500 Mac laptop.

Mailbag: Thoughts on Jobs, BlackBerry vs. iPhone, More
OK or not, Steve Jobs' health and Apple's future are still on top of many people's minds. Here are some of your thoughts:

Mr. Jobs IS a rather remarkable man, but every remarkable human in history has had to retire at some point.

Organizations need to plan for the same and the rest of us can count our blessings to have coincided in time with the lives of the living remarkable.
-Anonymous

I watched the iPhone 3G announcement video a while back and I was taken aback at how gaunt Jobs looked. Not being an Apple customer, I don't keep track of what happens there so I was not even aware he had been sick. After reading that investors are dumping stock simply on the rumour of his ill-health, I can't imagine what will happen if/when he passes away.

I agree with you. The industry will, eventually, lose one of the most important figures in the history of personal computing. Get well, Steve!
-Dan

One reader thinks the recent BlackBerry flaw, now patched, still isn't enough to make people turn to the iPhone:

What? No one is dropping the BlackBerry to get an iPhone. If you can find a 3G network, if Father Steve allows you to run the app you need and if you don't mind doing hard resets to restore your phone once or twice a day, you might want an iPhone. If you don't mind very short battery life unless you turn off the GPS and Wi-Fi, you might want an iPhone. If you want to restrict yourself to one carrier -- and not the best one, at that -- you might want an iPhone. If you want to send the phone in just to change the battery, you might want an iPhone.

The iphone is a toy, and not a very good one, and is not suited for business use. The BlackBerry may not be perfect but it works and it works every time you use it, something no one can say about the iPhone.
-John

Doug asked for advice recently on how to keep multiple machines in synch. Jeff thinks the answer is in Google:

Just give in to the dark side. Turn your life and your documents over to Google. No OS needed, any computer will do. If that won't work, try Mozy. Great backup program. Restores are a little slow but you can initiate them yourself. I recommend only restoring what you need to begin with; get the rest when you get your full machine up and running. If you have Google popping all your e-mail accounts, you'll always have copies of them.
-Jeff

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