IE Wins Friends and Influences People
OK, maybe that's not what Dale Carnegie had in mind when he penned that "influential"
book. Nevertheless, Internet Explorer was just named the
most
influential technology product of the last 25 years.
IE's latest accolade comes from a survey conducted by the Computing Technology
Industry Association (CompTIA). IE took the top spot with 66 percent of the
survey respondents voting it into first place.
Microsoft fared quite well in the survey, scooping up four of the top five
spots. Microsoft Word placed second in the poll, followed by Microsoft Windows
95. It will be interesting to see how long the older, stable versions of Microsoft's
operating systems dominate this survey and how long it will take for Vista to
crack the top five.
There was a tie for fourth place, which was also where the only non-Microsoft
product in the top five landed. Microsoft Excel and Apple's iPod split the fourth
position.
Some of the other top influential products were the BlackBerry, Adobe Photoshop
(anything that has become a verb -- as in, "Just Photoshop it in"
-- has got to earn a spot on the influential list), McAfee VirusScan, Netscape
Navigator and the venerable Palm Pilot, which first came out in 1996. Speaking
of product names that become verbs, I'm sure the next time CompTIA conducts
this type of survey, Google will find itself on the list.
What do you think are the most influential high-tech products of the last 25
years? Did your favorite make the list? Do you agree with the survey results?
Let me know at [email protected].
FCC Slowly Moving To Open Wireless
The FCC moved one step closer toward creating an open wireless network by deciding
to auction off currently unused segments of the broadcast spectrum, according
to a ruling
issued late yesterday. Goggle had to be happy with that ruling, as it has
been pushing from its end for more competition in that arena.
This would eventually mean that customers could use whichever device they choose
to access a signal, regardless of which provider owned that portion of the spectrum.
Google has been actively petitioning the FCC to develop such an open national
wireless network, which would also open service access and device sales to greater
competition.
The segment of the wireless spectrum in question is the 700MHz band. The FCC
is opening this to new wireless services and digital television transmission
expected to be fully in place by early 2009.
The auction will start no later that Jan. 28, 2008, as mandated by federal
law. Google has indicated that it would be willing to bid at least $4.6 billion
for ownership of the unclaimed spectrum.
How do you feel about the current wireless access landscape? Too much of a
monopoly? Would open access solve these problems and foster healthy competition?
Wire me a note at [email protected].
Top 10 Trojan Threats
BitDefender Labs today posted its top
10 list of e-mail threats for the first half of 2007. This is far less funny
than David Letterman's nightly top 10 rant.
Mass mailers and trojans dominated the list. The Peed trojan was the top threat
to date in 2007. Variants of this nasty bugger account for about 30 percent
of all detected threats.
Overall, trojans have proven to be the most popular type of malware to date
this year. A generic, behavior-based trojan signature (different pieces of malware
that behave like trojans) came in second on the top 10 list. Another notable
threat was the Win32.Sality.M virus, the only true virus to make the list.
Here's BitDefender's top 10 malware list for the first half of 2007:
- Trojan.Peed.Gen (27.19%)
- BehavesLike:Trojan.Downloader (21.40%)
- Win32.Netsky.P@mm (5.62%)
- Trojan.Peed.A (2.37%)
- Win32.NetSky.D@mm (1.87%)
- Win32.Nyxem.E@mm (1.86%)
- Win32.Sality.M (1.85%)
- GenPack:Trojan.Downloader.Tibs.I (1.33%)
- Trojan.Peed.P (1.30%)
- Win32.Netsky.AA@mm (1.22%)
Those percentages indicate the prevalence of particular malware in overall
detections made by BitDefender Labs.
What viruses, trojans and other nasty nuggets have been coming through your
organization's mail servers? What keeps you on the lookout? Send me a clean,
healthy message at [email protected].
Sun Still Shining
Things are looking good at Sun. Server business is good -- so good that the
Cupertino, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems reported a $329
million profit for its fourth quarter, up from a $301 million loss during
the same period the year before.
This is long-awaited good news for Sun, which has had to cut jobs, cut expenses
and post losses for five quarters before getting into a turnaround mode, posting
a profit for three consecutive quarters. Sun's revenues for the year were $13.87
billion.
Sun execs are still looking at other ways to cut costs to keep the streak going
and the glow on Wall Street Sun worshippers. They're expected to give more details
on their plans at the annual analyst meeting in September. They'll likely forecast
growth for the entire next fiscal year, but at a conservative rate.
This year, Sun has made several product announcements, including working with
processors from Intel and the beleaguered AMD. It's just about ready to show
off its Niagara 2 eight-way processor, which ought to help keep the clouds at
bay.
How seriously is your organization looking at other platforms? Considering
Sun? Open source? How mixed or homogenous is your environment and why? Shine
on, you crazy diamond, and let me know at [email protected].
About the Author
Lafe Low is the editorial liaison for ECG Events.