As the previous item indicates, Microsoft and IBM get along about as well as Jon and Kate Gosselin. But one thing they do agree on is helping IT adopt Hyper-V as part of datacenter restructuring.
What does IBM get out of it? It wants IT to restructure around brand-new IBM high-end servers! The two have developed the kludge-ly named Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit for IBM 1.0. (Man, those marketing folks really have a way with words!)
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/02/20090 comments
There's nothing worse than a boring actor, politician or CEO. That's why I'm such a fan of Steve Ballmer. Boring he's not. Nor is Steve shy.
In a recent interview, Mr. Ballmer analyzed IBM's business moves over the last decade or so and found them wanting. In particular, he wondered why IBM would purposely divest itself of businesses such as network hardware and PCs, and purposely become a smaller, less strategic company.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/02/200910 comments
Sometimes, even the most expensive lawyers are worth the dough. And after getting a nearly $400 million judgment against it dismissed, I'm sure Microsoft agrees. The whole dispute centers on whether the activation technology for key Microsoft operating systems (you know how much you love product activation) violates patents held by Uniloc. A judge in Rhode Island says it doesn't.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20090 comments
In simpler times, a firewall (and some anti-virus software) was all you pretty much needed to protect the network. But times have changed, hackers are more devious, networks are more complex, and company insiders are more evil. In fact, you even have to keep tabs on your own IT folks, as we explained in a cover story three years ago.
This doesn't mean we should ditch firewalls, but instead equip them with additional layers of protection. First, you should get up-to-speed on the latest in firewall configuration -- and don't simply have them at the perimeter.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/01/20092 comments
After a fairly sensationalistic speech by Larry Ellison, CNNMoney posed its own attention-grabbing headline: "Is Microsoft Relevant?" Bob thinks that's just part of the ratings game:
Regarding CNN and Ellison, consider all the free promotions being given to Michael Moore right now. (He's on the screen again as I type.) The guy is over-the-top, controversial because of the nonsense he spouts, and CNN loves it. They have learned the cardinal lesson of cable TV: Never let news and reasoned discourse get in the way of entertainment and ratings.
-Bob
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/30/20090 comments
There's one big pain for those of us with multiple computers: keeping anti-virus software up-to-date and paying for the darn stuff!
For low-end uses, Microsoft has an answer, and it's free. Microsoft Security Essentials, formerly code-named "Morro," is now present and ready for download. Just make sure you have a legit copy of Windows before you download it.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/30/20095 comments
Bing has two things over MSN Live Search, which it replaces: a cooler name and a slicker interface. Oh, there's a deal to make it the default search engine for Yahoo.
All this is moving the Bing needle up and the Google needle down (albeit by an almost infinitesimal amount). Bing is up nearly 9 percent, and Google is down a whopping 0.1 percent. Once the Yahoo deal kicks in, expect another nice bump for Bing.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/30/20092 comments
Multicore chips sound pretty exciting. In the same space as a single processor, you can have two, four, eight or more cores. Shouldn't that mean that you have two, four, eight or more times the speed? Nope. In fact, these extra cores do little or nothing unless the software knows how to exploit them. It's a complicated area, one we explored in a cover story last year.
In that article, we highlighted some of the key vendors trying to bring multicore capabilities to today's software. I'm not sure if Intel or Microsoft read the piece, but both recently snagged multicore companies. Intel, which already has multicore development tools, actually bought two: Cilk Arts and RapidMind. Microsoft, meanwhile, nabbed Interactive Supercomputing.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/30/20096 comments
As an IE 8 user, I'm relatively happy, but I have noticed slow page loads which made me question my cable Internet connection. According to current wisdom, my connection is just fine -- it's IE 8 that's slow.
Google has what sounds like a neat solution: Web developers can invoke the Chrome engine from within IE 8, dramatically speeding performances. The Google Chrome Frame is in beta, but early reports are promising. And all developers have to do is add one simple tag.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/28/20098 comments
Critics like to argue that Microsoft's security is worse than a Barney Fife jail cell. But a quick glance around shows that nearly every piece of hardware or software has flaws.
Take Cisco: Its hardware has been stung by an unrelenting swarm of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Where Microsoft patches each and every month, Cisco rolls it patches out only twice year.
Early last week, Cisco put out 11 advisories that are well worth looking into for security-conscious network pros.
Posted by Doug Barney on 09/28/20091 comments
The success or failure of a new OS has way more to do with compatibility than it does with hot new features or smokin' performance. A lack of apps has given Linux on the desktop less market share than Moxie soda, and it was only after the Mac got real file interchange that it became truly viable for business.
That's why Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to help Windows 7 run as many programs as possible.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/28/20093 comments
Money aside, what's your dream IT job? These two readers have a similar idea:
If money was no object, I would definitely teach. It most likely has the same silly politics of the corporate environment, but you get to see the impact you are making immediately. For those students you are actually getting through to, it is a satisfying feeling and one that would allow me to overlook the above-mentioned nonsense.
But money IS an object, so I work.
-Avi
Since you asked, my ideal job, if money were no object, would be to be a university professor (comp sci) at a TEACHING institution in a country other than the U.S. I have the qualifications (Ph.D. in infosec, years of real-word development and infosec work experience, forensics certification, several years as an adjunct in a graduate infosec program, speak several languages), but the pay usually is not quite what you can make in industry. China or Wales would be ideal.
I specified teaching institutions because I want to TEACH. I'll do research on the side, but I want my primary duties to be teaching and working with students, not writing grant proposals to pull in research money. I enjoy teaching and helping people.
-Glyn
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Posted by Doug Barney on 09/28/20091 comments