In the April
Redmond
cover story
, I stuck my neck out farther than the Toys "R" Us giraffe. In it, I argued that Microsoft has the talent, product set and fiscal discipline to make it through the recession relatively unscathed.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/27/20090 comments
Microsoft spends billions on security, whether it's built into the products, an add-on or a fix. But as we all know, this isn't enough. Now Microsoft wants a helping hand -- from you! That's right, Microsoft wants IT professionals to
help stem the hacker tide
. It also want resellers and ISVs to kick in, as well.
One recommendation, it seems, is for IT to buy into Microsoft's security vision (and product line) which includes not only malware detection and eradication, but identity verification.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/27/20090 comments
Don't worry, readers: Doug will be back on Monday to deliver Redmond Report as usual, but in the meantime, we're filling in for him. Let's get started:
Microsoft changed its plans: It won't be holding its business intelligence (BI) conference this year in October. Instead, its next BI event will take place in Seattle, Wash. Some time in October 2010, according to Microsoft's
announcement
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/24/20090 comments
Some journalists break big stories like Watergate and Monica. Others search the Internet looking for the tiniest of clues to the tiniest of news which we all rush to publish.
Here is one such story: It seems that an Internet reporter found a Windows 7 screenshot and, by looking closely, identified May 5 as the possible day TechNet and MSDN customers could download the release candidate of Windows 7. Heavens to Murgatroyd!
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/22/20090 comments
Press reports of Oracle buying Sun imply it's a done deal, and maybe it is. Some of these deals go fast and smooth and others collapse faster than a Jenga stack. Some open source fans may prefer the latter as it's unclear how the commercially oriented Oracle (and boy, is it ever) may not have the love for Java, open source IDEs and MySQL that Sun has.
With the wealth of Sun open tools, it's pretty clear that not all would survive being commandeered by Oracle. Many see NetBeans getting quickly roasted. Beyond that, will Oracle put muscle behind OpenOffice just to irritate Microsoft, or set it adrift? And what about Java itself?
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/22/20090 comments
Readers had mostly positive reactions to the recently announced
Oracle-Sun deal
, with just a few words of caution mixed in:
I think that you're right. The creative company meets the marketing giant. Could be a great match!
-Chris
I have to agree with you. I didn't see it coming either, but for high-end databases requiring more robust hardware than Intel can offer, Oracle+Sun could be a winning combination to compete against IBM.
-Marc
I think the Oracle acquisition of Sun makes a whole LOT of sense. Oracle's No. 1 platform is Sun; it's their core development platform for the Oracle database. Oracle's DB is heavily Java-centric; their management tools and installers are all Java. They need Java to survive unless they want to rewrite their installers, Oracle Enterprise Manager, etc. Sun now owns MySQL, a free, powerful, entry-level database. Now, THERE'S a good play for Sun/Oracle to build a migration path from MySQL to an enterprise-class DB when your needs "grow up." Databases are highly storage performance-dependent. Sun has a great storage story, excellent products in the disk and tape worlds, and excellent OEM agreements. Now Oracle has the ability to enhance revenue on both sides of the equation: leverage storage with DB engine licenses, or vice-versa. Oracle already had a "preferred" licensing model on Sun's SPARC processors that makes even more sense now. Buy Oracle on Sun and pay less than if you put in on Wintel platforms, etc. Overall, I just think it makes darn good sense.
What was IBM going to do with Sun? Migrate Solaris to PowerPC? More likely just kill it and "migrate" users to AIX. There was no strategic play in that world. Everything Sun has, IBM already has. It was just more of a "buy a competitor and shut them down" play to me than a marriage of technologies.
-Pete
If Oracle acquires Sun, it creates a large-systems-plus-applications rival to IBM. It might work for a while and then die like Unisys or DEC. It moves BOTH Oracle and Sun away from their failed bids to beat Microsoft on low-end servers and high-end desktops.
The Oracle-Sun California tech culture is a far better fit than if IBM absorbs Sun. Such a combination may be the only way to keep Sun's valuable hardware innovations alive for several more years. However, a far better combination would be a Cisco acquisition of Sun. The California tech synergy would still be there but with a far better product fit for both firms.
-Mark
Not sure about how Oracle will deal with the HW/OS mix. They currently are dabbling in Linux distros, though. They do share a similar Bay Area corporate culture, in a way that the Sun/IBM combo didn't.
The real question is: Is $7.4 billion too much to pay to squash a competitor (MySQL)? That open source DB has a large footprint in the Web world. I'll be downloading the latest (last?) version, just in case.
-R.C.Z.
The thing I'm most concerned about is the ripple effect in the open source continuum. Ellison will no doubt kill MySQL, creating a black hole that could suck in many more open source projects.
-Jacob
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/22/20090 comments
VMware loves clouds so much it wants to help you build your own. VMware last year announced a broad strategy to help service providers build clouds, and for IT to do the same. Then these IT clouds can be linked to outside clouds so extra capacity doesn't require more internal servers -- just a fatter WAN connection.
The notion of an internal cloud may be a bit ahead of its time. We wanted to do a full cover story on how to build your own cloud but felt the tools weren't mature enough and IT not quite ready.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/22/20090 comments
Office 2007 is gaining a
new service pack
-- and this puppy isn't just about bug fixes, performance tweaks and random features that few will use. SP2 brings Office further into the open world with native support for the OpenDoc file format, letting you share files with your OpenOffice brethren. And finally it gains the built-in ability to save files as PDFs, rather than through a clumsy add-on.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/20/20090 comments
A few weeks ago, it was IBM looking to buy Sun. Today it's
Oracle offering $7.4 billion
to buy the company that brought us Solaris, SPARC, Java and Jonathan Schwartz's ponytail.
At first blush, I just didn't see a fit. Buying Sun turns Oracle into an altogether different company, one focused on server and storage hardware, operating systems, and infrastructure and development software.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/20/20090 comments
One reader shares his thoughts about the impact of malware writers taking shots at Windows, while another wonders what can be done to stop them in the first place:
Regarding patches, at some point, it could be that Windows might just end up the most secure. When everyone is taking shots, Windows will either die from the wounds, or strengthen the armor. But who knows?
-Andrew
I would love to help nab some of the malware promoters, or at least divert some of their energies. But running a honeypot properly takes a bunch of time and energy, both of which are in short supply in most IT shops.
-Robert
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/20/20090 comments
Microsoft tried to play in the consumer client security space with OneCare and then enterprise client security with Forefront. OneCare got the hook, but Forefront is still very much alive.
I wasn't a fan of Microsoft's client security play. I felt Microsoft was simply copying the pioneering work of companies like Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and Sunbelt.
Fortunately, Microsoft is pushing a more comprehensive strategy in the form of "Stirling," a suite of tools that protects clients and servers, and handles identity management and compliance. As Microsoft has built a large suite of IT products, it makes sense for it to have a broad suite of security tools. Stirling will be out next year.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/20/20090 comments
Botnets, those little beasts that smuggle themselves into our computers and use our machines to attack others, aren't just a nuisance. They're criminal. Anything that harms property or steals personal information is against the law, and legal eagles have been going against botnet authors using whatever limited resources they can find. But like the corner crack dealer, once you shut down one avenue, they just move to another.
This is why botnets are on the rise, at least according to Symantec, with attacks increasing almost a third last year.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 04/17/20090 comments