Adobe Reader is about as ubiquitous to PC users as milk is to babies. That's
why the Adobe Reader's stack overflow flaw is so troubling and installing
Adobe's
new patch so important.
Without the patch, hackers can build a malicious PDF -- and once one is built,
these creeps will pass it around like a bottle of Ripple in a hobo camp. This
one bad PDF, then, could let hackers control literally millions of PCs.
Another smart move? Updating your Reader, as the flaw only affects older versions.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/06/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Readers share their thoughts on the presidential election and what it would
really take to boost the economy:
I think that many will be surprised at the election results this year.
And as for the economy, I think we have more tough times ahead and getting
the government involved may not be the best course of action, unless it is
to encourage the banks to work with their customers to see what can be done
to keep them in their homes. I believe that these business cycles will happen
no matter what the government tries to do. All we can do is pray and vote.
-Raymond
The Austrian School of Economics' theory of the business cycle predicted
America's current financial fiasco, and its proponents like Congressman Ron
Paul not only recommended methods to avoid the disaster but have provided
recommendations on how to get ourselves out of it. Unfortunately, neither
of the leading presidential candidates (one of whom will be president-elect
shortly after I send this message) seems to have ever heard of the Austrian
School of Economics and probably wouldn't recognize that their own proposed
"solutions" are merely warmed-over Keynesian or even Marxist/fascist
ideas in some cases.
That said, I believe three things about the election: One, whoever wins
will regret winning by this time next year. Two, nothing is going to fundamentally
change for the better. Three, Americans are hosed (or should I say sheared?)
regardless of the outcome. Also, government should leave IT alone. But I think
government should leave everybody alone which would put all of those government
busybodies out of work -- so that ain't gonna happen, is it?
-J.C.
You said: "Apparently, when you have a $10 trillion deficit and a
collapsing economy, the answer is to increase spending and cut taxes. If I
ran Redmond that way, it would be out of business; and if I ran my house that
way, I'd be in a run-down apartment and my 1980 Porsche 928 would be repossessed."
I would like to point out that tax rates (I emphasize the word "rates"')
are a lot like prices. When a business is not getting enough buyers for its
products or services and its revenues are down, reducing the prices for those
goods and services is often a good idea. It is often possible to get enough
new buyers to bring overall revenues up. Government tax rates often behave
in a similar fashion, which is why, for instance, capital gains tax rate reductions
have usually resulted in increased revenues. I think you will also find that
the last few times that income tax rates were reduced, revenue did not fall.
-Rich
But it was Doug's ride of choice -- the aforementioned 1980 Porsche 928 --
that caught Bill's eye:
I always wanted a '80s 982 convertible but the family doubled from two
to four in '83 and '84. I have a '96 SL320 now -- probably cheaper to maintain
than the 928 but not the same.
-Bill
Check in tomorrow for your thoughts on cloud computing. 'Til then, tell us
what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/05/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Chrome is still in beta, but that isn't stopping reviewers from weighing in.
On our Web site is a
review
that finds Chrome to be pretty good, pretty simple and pretty much in need of
a few more features like RSS.
But if you want to really dive deep into Chrome, check out what you and your
fellow IT pros had to say in this
Reader Review. And thanks to the dozen-plus of you that answered my many
Chrome questions.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/05/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Anyone with a 401(k), a TV set or an ounce of sense knows our economy is in
deep fill-in-the-blank-with-the-expletive-of-your-choice. IT has been through
bad times before -- jobs were lost, budgets were slashed and cool technologies
were never adopted.
This one could be even worse. And preparations, if not already underway, should
be made soon. Smart IT folks like yourselves are proactive, finding ways to
cut spending before bosses decide your salary is a great place to start. Upgrades
may be downgraded, servers virtualized so they do more, little-used apps decommissioned,
and perhaps cloud services eyed as replacements for expensive server-bound programs.
What are you doing now, and what will you do in the near and perhaps grim future?
Inquiring minds want to know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/05/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Yesterday,
I wondered where Sen. McCain and now President-elect Obama stood on high-tech
issues. Well, all I had to do was go to the candidates' Web sites -- the answers
were already there!
Obama is for network
neutrality (so we can do pretty much what we want with our broadband connections),
wants to expand these broadband networks to areas not currently covered, invest
in the American high-tech industry, and use the Internet to let citizens track
government more closely.
McCain also posted
his positions on his Web site. He believes low capital gains taxes spur
risk and innovation, seeks low taxes for those investing in research and development,
wants the Internet to be a tax-free zone (at least on Internet use), and wants
more H-1B visas (which Bill Gates has long sought, as well),
Like his rival, McCain wants to expand broadband access. While he doesn't specifically
support net neutrality, he wants to preserve consumers' freedom to use their
connections as they like.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/05/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
HP is trying to reinvent the world of magazine publishing with wholly-owned
MagCloud.com, a Web site and system that
makes it almost as easy to publish a magazine as it is for an amateur (to be
kind) writer to blog.
That's pretty cool, but what's cooler is that the site is testing
out Azure, Microsoft's new cloud platform.
MagCloud.com uses HP printing technology to print these rags on the fly. I've
long had what I think is a better idea: Have home printers built to print magazines
and Web sites formatted as magazines.
Here's what I wrote
in April 2007: "I think the computer industry can and should save print,
and here's how. We get HP, Lexmark and all the other printer companies to make
inexpensive printers that can take a digital publication, print it in all its
four-color glory, staple it and let you take it to where the real learning takes
place -- the bathroom."
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Remember the bank guard on "The Andy Griffith Show," the old coot
who was always asleep and whose gun fell apart every time he drew it? Well,
it seems that's far more protection than many of us give to our e-mail systems.
An
IDC
survey shows that almost no shops control the data sent out over e-mail,
which may or may not contain corporate secrets.
In my opinion, this isn't an e-mail issue. Even if the mail is locked down,
there are a million ways to ship out confidential information -- via an envelope,
Gmail, thumb drive or CD. The real solution is to control access.
The survey also found that only one in 10 shops use anti-spam software. The
implication is this is a bad thing. But I'm not so sure. Spam filters have to
be set up very, very carefully. I've had 'em where the quarantine held all my
important e-mail, and my inbox stored all my spam. Do you have any spam filter
horror stories? Send the scariest tales to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
It's Election Day in the U.S.
I told my staff to figure out the best time to vote and to go ahead and do
it -- don't worry about time away from work. I can't reach half of 'em by phone
or e-mail so they must have chosen the busiest time and the longest line! Hey,
anyone ever heard of a BlackBerry?!
I have no idea who'll win (could be a stunning Nader upset, eh what?), but
I do know that the main candidates talked more about George W. and William Ayers
than about our huge IT industry.
And of course, both lectured about the economy, but seemingly none (except
maybe the Libertarian) passed second-grade math. Apparently, when you have a
$10 trillion deficit and a collapsing economy, the answer is to increase spending
and cut taxes. If I ran Redmond that way, it would be out of business; and if
I ran my house that way, I'd be in a run-down apartment and my 1980 Porsche
928 would be repossessed.
And you have to run your IT shop within a budget, and can't justify massive
deficits by quoting John Maynard Keynes. Unlike you and me, our candidates love
to focus on Keynes' idea that deficit spending stimulates the economy, forgetting
that he advocated paying off these debts during prosperity. Oops.
That said, I personally like and admire the two leading candidates. I'd defend
each with equal ferocity in a bar fight. (Who would be a tougher tangle and
why? Place your bets at [email protected].)
What can the U.S. to shore up the economy, and should it even mess with what
might be natural business cycles? And what about tech? Should politics get involved?
Hanging and non-hanging chads welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Microsoft
released
Vista SP2 in limited beta last week, prompting Doug to ask readers what
they've thought so far about SP1. From your responses, it looks like it's faring
better than expected:
I use Vista Business Edition SP1 at work, and Vista Home Premium Edition
SP1 at home. I have no problems at all with either of them. I can do all of
my work just fine on the work system, and I play all kinds of graphics-intensive
games on my home system. Vista works great for me, so I don't know what everyone
is complaining about.
-Kyle
Don't be afraid of Vista! I am running all Vista boxes in my office, and
have been for a year. I run both 32- and 64-bit machines without any problems.
I do have to admit, however, that there are more issues with 64-bit boxes
regarding driver functionality, but they're workable. SP1 was smooth as silk
with 32-bit systems, but there were a couple of hangs in installing the correct
64-bit patch. Some of my customers for whom I've recently built new Vista
systems are well over 65 and run Vista flawlessly. I receive very few help
calls!
With Microsoft getting ready to retire XP soon, we are all feeling the
pinch to switch over. If we were to wait for Windows 7, we would still be
in the same "wait and see" boat, because I don't think Microsoft
is ever going to have one OS hang around that long again (as in NT, for instance).
-Dan
I've been on Vista since day one, on a machine that was labeled as Vista-ready
and that shipped with XP installed. And it's a x64 machine. I should have
more problems than anyone, but I've been virtually problem-free. I think you
guys all give Vista a very undeserved bad rap. -Anonymous
To be honest, I have no idea what the fuss is all about with Vista being
deployed from an IT perspective. I'm currently working for a good sizeed corporation
(800-plus employees) that owns a large base of financial institutions. We
have a mixture of Windows XP and Vista Business Edition 32-bit SP1 deployed
at the majority of our banks. Vista is working great with our bank applications
and a majority of the older bank apps have been made to work with little effort.
We in IT have welcomed the additional security added to Vista, like a more
robust Group Policy that allows even better control over our users.
We are not waiting for Windows 7 as an answer to what's wrong in Vista
(and we have yet to see many issues at all), as those will be fixed like anything.
I would like to see Vista stop being treated like the ill-fated stepchild
of Windows ME.
-Bill
We had been holding back on Vista rollout internally as our early experience
with Vista was pretty discouraging. The net assessment was the gains from
Vista were pretty even with the downsides, so why move from XP? But we recently
acquired an HP laptop machine and discovered that it would not be easy to
do with it what we usually do with a new machine, i.e., wipe what the manufacturer
loaded on the hard drive and reload with an RTM version of XP SP3. The RTM
version of XP did include disk drivers for the type of hard drive controller
built into the laptop. We would need to locate the right disk drivers and
hope they would integrate correctly into the XP installer.
It had been a while since we had looked at Vista, and we also were curious
about 64-bit performance, so we elected instead to replace the Vista Home
64-bit version shipped with the laptop with an RTM Vista 64 Ultimate version.
The Vista shipped from HP included all sorts of add-on "crapware"
programs that killed its performance during boot-up. Replacing this with RTM
Vista 64 Ultimate SP1 eliminated the add-on programs and their negative effect
on performance. We were amazed at the high performance of RTM Vista 64 SP1
on this laptop. The hardware choices and Vista seemed tuned for each other.
Vista 64 performed noticeably faster on this laptop than Vista 32 on desktop
machines with faster hardware.
Our take is that Vista's bad reputation comes from insufficient hardware
performance, operating in 32-bit rather than 64-bit mode, manufacturer-installed
applications, and the many pre-SP1 compatibility issues. It is a shame that
this OS is not more appreciated!
-Charles
I have run Vista since it was first released and have been pleased with
it, although it's not without issues. The thing I noticed, though, is that
most of the issues were application/driver-based and not with the core. Once
the problem applications/drivers were updated, the issues went away and I
can honestly say that Vista has run fine since then. The amazing thing is
that my laptop in not a high-end machine like most Vista "haters"
state you have to have, and I still have no real major issues.
SP1 has really helped with compatibility and performance and I really
hope that MS improves the performance even more with SP2. The start up time
is still too slow. I'd also like to see the SP2 include all the latest versions
of the .NET Framework. This is important to me as a developer, since it helps
make deploying applications I write.
-Shawn
Speaking of things you'd like to see in Vista SP2, here are a few more:
There are a couple of things that I'd like to see in the new SP2 update,
namely:
- The Vista Media Center TV Pack 2008 included and not remain an OEM-only
add-on. This is core functionality that would increase the adoption of Vista
Media Center and thus Vista as an OS. Microsoft has a real jewel with Media
Center and some of us geeks migrated to Vista just for the added functionality,
only to see it get lost in the shuffle.
- The ability to Remote Desktop into Vista Premium PCs re-added. With
a Premium edition, you expect to have the features you had in Windows XP
Professional, and more. To remove this ability and only make it available
in the Ultimate edition was simply a bad decision.
- Addition of hooks to support the Motorola CableCard software edition.
Since it will soon be available (if it's not already), this would be a better
solution to providing multi-stream decoding in multi-tuner setups than CableCards
on the individual tuners themselves. Besides, CableCard tuners are more
expensive.
- The ability to share a single physical multi-stream CableCard on one
tuner among all tuners in the system.
May it be so!
-Anonymous
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Last week, Doug wondered whether tough economic times mean
companies
should be extra careful to protect their data against inside threats. Barb
thinks it's a good idea -- but companies should tread lightly:
It doesn't hurt to walk through security practices and settings. It may
be a wake-up call to many of us. But I hope it doesn't create unfounded suspicions
against fellow employees -- witch hunts, of sorts -- timely though it may
be. We have enough bad feelings about our economic quagmire; we don't need
to manufacture more.
-Barb
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/03/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
Google Docs is a low-end set of productivity apps that run on the Web. So what's
Microsoft's response? Turn Office into a low-end set of productivity apps that
run on the Web!
At PDC, Microsoft announced that Office
would run in the cloud, bereft of a few hundred features or so, and be accessible
by PCs and even mobile devices such as cell phones.
This might not take all that long to arrive, as Office Live Workspace is already
in beta. Pricing isn't set, but it seems that it will run through existing volume
licensing programs.
While I like the idea, I want to make sure I can still retrieve all my data,
even if my license happens to expire. What would it take for you to put your
files in a cloud somewhere? Answers can be blown into [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/03/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments
There was so much news last week at PDC that I'll probably spend the bulk of
this week bringing it all to you. We've already talked about
Azure,
Microsoft's cloud operating system/platform. Besides being a development platform,
Azure is also a set of services that will run in the cloud. In this case, Microsoft
defines the cloud as one of its own rather massive datacenters.
Running in this Microsoft-seeded cloud will be database services driven by
a revamped
version of good old SQL Server. Interested folks can get a sneak peak at
these services by looking at Microsoft projects hosted on the SQL Services Lab
Portal.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/03/2008 at 1:16 PM0 comments