Usually when you set a record, there's celebration, champagne, press
releases and fanfare.
None of that happened for Microsoft this week when it set a high mark for fixing no less than
28 bugs. The patches came out yesterday and fix remote code execution as
well as graphic device interface flaws. All of the patches, save one, are aimed
at clients.
The number of bugs is due to the sheer complexity of Microsoft operating
systems and applications, and the fact that Microsoft publicly fixes as many
flaws as it can. And you thought you were in for a nice holiday break!
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/10/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Is Microsoft cool? The answer ain't easy. Back when geeks were geeks, Microsoft
was only cool with...well, geeks!
But geeks are now cool. They're smart, can make tons of money and change the
world -- all at the same time! And let's face it: The Xbox is now the
game machine to have. How do I know? I was forced by my son Nick to buy the
$300 version for his 13th birthday yesterday (my birthday is today, but somehow
I don't think he'll be returning the favor).
But is Microsoft cool enough to support a clothing line? We'll soon find out
as Redmond is set to launch
"Softwear" T-shirts. You can get a shirt with Bill Gates' mug
shot or one that simply says "DOS."
So is Microsoft cool? Would you buy a DOS shirt? Your thoughts welcome at [email protected].
Slogans for these shirts also readily accepted.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/09/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Many assume that Obama, as a liberal intellectual, would be an Apple guy all
the way. Turns out that our president-elect
uses
a Zune -- or so say those who spotted the Microsoft device attached to Obama's
body at the gym.
What about Vista, you ask? Barack is apparently on record as a Mac user.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/09/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Last
week, we discussed whether open source can support one of the tenets of
capitalism: profit. One guru, Stuart Cohen, argued that the only way to make
money on open source is to sell support -- but the software is so darn good,
it doesn't need much support.
Meanwhile, IBM is arguing that its new open source desktop is just the ticket
for this bad economy. Imagine my surprise when Microsoft publicized that one
of its customers claims open source is the one that chews up precious support
dollars. That's why Speedy Hire (the U.K. equivalent of Rent-a-Center), dumped
open source and paid for Office, SQL Server and Dynamics AX instead. The
company claims the move will save about a million-and-half dollars over the
next half-decade.
The rationale is pretty compelling. Open source may be cheap, but the little
things -- different UI elements and incompatibilities -- are what rack up so
many help desk dollars. Make sense? If so (or if not), please reply to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/08/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
As the beta for Windows 7
approaches,
one reader looks forward to trying it out, while another wonders about its multi-core
support:
I'm hoping Windows 7 will be better than Vista and will work with much
less RAM. I'm hoping to be able to get a copy of the beta version of Windows
7 to run on one of my test machines I have at the house.
I'm a contractor working for the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps building
systems to send to troops around the world. We have access to an MSDN subscription
and I've already gotten calls about getting the beta version of Win 7 when
it comes out to test for possible deployment later on. Time will tell.
-Bob
With all the talk lately about Windows 7, the one piece I don't recall
seeing anything about is (better) support for multiple CPU cores. Do you have
any information about this? My understanding is that even Vista, developed
during the launch of multi-core CPUs, didn't have great support (outside of
the server, anyway). Any information about how Windows 7 fares?
-Dave
What do you think? Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/08/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
IBM once owned the PC business. It, along with Philip "Don" Estridge,
created the IBM PC and in the process made DOS the dominant OS. It tried to
maintain dominance with OS/2, but Microsoft lost interest (as it lost control)
and went with Windows instead. The rest is antitrust history.
IBM would like nothing better than to reassert itself on the desk. Its answer?
A set of open source productivity apps all delivered through virtual
Linux servers. IBM has made headway with a similar approach in Europe and
many internal Big Blue users are on open source clients.
Are you ready for a fully open desktop environment? Answers should be sent
in an open and honest manner to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/08/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Last month, you could've slept through Patch Tuesday, there was
so
little action. But now that you're all rested, you can handle tomorrow's
Patch Tuesday with its
eight
remedies, six of them critical.
Once again, remote code execution (RCE) is the theme of the day, as all patches
address this stubborn bugaboo. If you have Windows XP, Vista, Windows 2000 or
Windows Server 2003 or 2008, get your spackle ready -- cuz it's time to patch!
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/08/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Symantec just
released
a study claiming that as of now, software authors are writing more malware
apps than legitimate, useful programs. And the company says next year will be
even worse.
First, a little caveat. Symantec sells security software, so it's in the company's
interest to scare us. That said, Symantec has always been honest with me so
I must take it at its word.
Here's what Symantec thinks we're in for in 2009: There will be more malware
spread through social networking, more attacks on virtual machines and more
spam.
What are your biggest security headaches? Send 'em to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Microsoft has been cleverly trying to turn the subject away from Vista and
toward...well, toward just about anything else! Vista TV commercials mention
Mojave more than the V-word, and the new, big Redmond word is "cloud."
On the desktop, Microsoft isn't shy about promoting Windows 7 and making it
seem this OS is right around the corner. And it is -- at least in beta form.
It looks like the first beta will be out
this January. An alpha (I call it that, even though Microsoft has its own
odd nomenclature) is already in the hands of developers who find it pretty solid.
One thing is pretty clear: Windows 7 is an extension of Vista. This means the
hardware makers must build super-fast machines to give proper performance, that
peripheral vendors must work with Microsoft on good drivers, and that Microsoft
must clean up its code. If all three happen, Windows 7 could be a big success.
Now, let's see how they all do!
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
I avoid fighting people that are bigger and better trained than me (which means
I'll have to stop fighting my two sons pretty soon). So I would certainly never
want to irritate an organization with 3 million people, many of whom are armed,
and a huge complement of planes, bombs, tanks and guns.
But that's just what some idiotic hackers are doing by releasing
malware aimed at U.S. Defense Department computers.
Fortunately, military defenses kept the attacks from reaching deep into the
network, but the malware did infect a range of computers in Afghanistan and
elsewhere. If they found the source of these attacks, a little shock and awe
is clearly in order.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
On Tuesday,
Fred
posed a question to fellow Redmond Report readers -- what should he do to
keep his home WEP Wi-Fi connection secure? Here are your responses:
Regarding Fred's question on wireless: WEP is commonly defeated in under
10 minutes, so if someone decides to target your network, any available resource
will be open to them. I'd worry less about the man next door than I would
about the boy next door, who might try to break into your network just for
the 'fun' of doing so. Another worry with WEP is having a stranger gain Internet
access through your network and then use it for criminal activity, which would
trace back to your IP address.
-David
If you don't share anything on your computer, including hidden shares,
a hacker can get access to the Internet only. The harm here is that they can
capture your Internet traffic, but this would be very unlikely in a home environment.
Even if they do capture Internet traffic, https sites are safe because of
encryption. For example, your username and password for most Web-based e-mail
is safe because it is encrypted; the log in page is usually https://something.
However, the e-mail packets themselves are probably not encrypted and can
be captured. You can configure Firefox to encrypt all Gmail traffic, but this
is an exception. If you use e-mail handlers like Outlook or Thunderbird, your
SMTP port is 25 and your POP port is 110, your mail transmissions can be easily
captured. Hackers can also use peer-to-peer file transfers and slow down your
Internet connection (the odds against this happening are astronomical).
I can hack 128-bit WEP encryption in 10 minutes if I am close enough
to the access point, usually within 100 feet. The farther away, the more time-consuming
the hack. Right now, the average hacker would not bother with any WPA because
WEP is easy and plentiful. Almost all wireless routers and network cards can
be configured with WPA. If you really want to be safe, use WPA-2 with AES
and more than 20 characters in the encryption key. Also, keep potential hackers
more than 300 feet away. This is almost as safe as a wired network.
Once again, if you don't have anything shared, including hidden shares,
and you don't have sensitive e-mails, there is not much to worry about from
Wi-Fi.
-Earl
Have you tried the IE 8 beta? A few of our readers have and their responses
are mixed:
I have used IE 8 on Vista SP1 for four or five months without any issues.
-David
One problem I've had with the IE 8 beta is when I tried to uninstall it,
it completely hosed my system, basically reverting it back to the factory
default programs and settings. I had to use System Restore to restore my system
the way it had been, including the beta version of IE 8. I'm using Window
Vista Ultimate with 4GB RAM and a 2.20 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo processor.
-Bob
Joseph thinks the open source business model isn't necessarily "broken,"
as one
analyst said; it might just be suffering from a perception problem:
Making money from 'free' software is not anything new. There are hundreds
of VARs out there that sell products at near-cost to get the implementation
contract. The problem is marketing -- when I had my own consulting business,
I put on a "free" seminar at a local community college and hardly
anyone showed up. I raised the "price" to $99 for the same seminar
and got an overwhelming response from businesses. There is a price-point at
which people perceive "cheap" to be valueless.
-Joseph
And finally, "cloud" might be Microsoft's new buzzword, but Alan
isn't buying into it:
I do not need the cloud, and I do not care about it. It is insecure at
best.
-Alan
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Desktop virtualization has been around for...I don't know. About at least 20
years. But there's a new debate over VDI, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.
Citrix has long had server-based thin client computing, so VDI isn't the first
stab at this kind of processing. Instead, VDI adds an additional layer of virtualization
on top of the hardware so that each client has a more dedicated experience (virtual
gurus, feel free to correct or polish my definition by writing [email protected]).
Of course, others do have differing definitions. What does VDI actually mean?
The answer is murky and is discussed here.
VMware is getting deeper in the VDI game with the release of VMware
View 3, a suite of tools that creates images for users' virtual desktops,
allows users to work even when they're offline (a big shortcoming of thin clients),
and also includes virtual printing.
Some believe VDI isn't
ready for prime time. Here's
what Citrix thinks.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/03/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments