At the risk of sounding old (thank goodness for spell check and copy editors or you'd see how senile I am), I cut my teeth at ComputerWorld when the coolest thing a microcomputer could do was emulate a 5250 (if you know what that is you probably went to Woodstock to see the music or make fun of hippies!).
Wyse was an upstart making terminals back then. They were cool. You see, you had this display, keyboard and this long wire that attached to a mainframe. And, by gosh, you could do some real, honest computing with one of these things.
These days it's even cooler. You have this display, keyboard and this long wire that's attached to the data center or the cloud. And, by gosh, you can do some real, honest computing with one of these things. And by that I mean run a true-to-life virtual desktop where all your apps appear as if they were right there.
Like Harley-Davidson, Wyse has taken the best of the '70s and '80s and adapted it to the year 2012. Wyse's thin clients offer cheap computing, easy-to-manage computing, green computing and secure computing.
Don't just take my word for it. Just ask Dell, which just agreed to buy the 32-year-old Wyse to improve Dell's thin client play.
Am I brainwashed by too many lunches with the CEO of Wyse, or did it really adapt to the 21st century? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/06/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments
I've bought six Macs and five of them have been for my kids -- mostly because I don't have to fix them all the time. The only thing that breaks is the hardware. I've never reloaded an OS, installed security software or asked them to reboot the thing. One machine I left running for a year. I forgot it was on! I turned on the monitor, swirled the mouse around, and up came Photoshop! There must have been some kind of special sauce.
Hackers are getting tired of all this fun. It makes them look bad, so now they are getting serious about attacking the Mac.
There have been attacks before, but they've been relatively minor. This time it seems that north of a half million machines were somehow infected by a trojan. It not exactly a billion served but serious nonetheless.
The attack vector, it turns out, was a flaw in Java, which has since been repaired. But of course it is only really repaired if the user updates their Java.
Is the Mac really safer, or do hacker have a soft spot for Steve Jobs' creation?
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/06/2012 at 1:19 PM11 comments
Microsoft chose an odd time to ship SQL Server 2012: April Fools' Day! But this puppy is no joke.
There are two bits of good news: First, the software is generally available. Second, you can download a free eval good for six months. That sounds like plenty of time to see if this is worth the dough.
The biggest change involves pricing, and the story is a bit complex. Microsoft is moving from charging per processor to per core. In short, if you have four cores per processor and are buying the Standard edition you may break even -- but if you have more than four cores per processor and are buying the Enterprise edition, it may cost you substantially more to upgrade.
I mentioned this in a newsletter or two ago. One reader with small servers saw huge savings and bowed before the Microsoft accounting gods. Another with beefy boxes is all set to move to just about any other database.
Have you run the per-core numbers? What does your math say? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
Readers sound off on the idea of Windows 8 not having the Start button:
There is no Start button. Period. But, the same features are found on the Metro Interface. Do you need another Start button? I do not think so. But, this OS does take some time to get used to, and I still have not gotten used to it. Some type of guide would have been nice for the beta test.
-Anonymous
Apart from the Metro UI being one big start button it also has a number of features that make it really easy to find stuff. Just start typing and it will narrow down your application search in real time. You can right click near the bottom of the screen and it will bring up a menu with all apps. Click on that and your apps will be grouped. Click the magnifying glass and it will show a summarized view of your apps. There is probably heaps more of this stuff to be found.
-Gary
Tell me how quickly a new user will be able to open a command prompt. Took me about 15 minutes of pure frustration to get to it.
-Austin
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Remember when Steve Ballmer called Linux a cancer? I'm old enough that it seems like yesterday, and almost old enough that at the same time I almost forgot it!
Times have changed, and a big part of Microsoft's changing relationship with Linux is the détente and patent exchange with Novell. Now Microsoft not only supports Linux interoperability but also adds to the Linux kernel.
The Linux Foundation now ranks (or is that rankles) Microsoft as the 17th most-important kernel contributor, making Redmond a regular Orville Redenbacher.
Microsoft is not just involved in Linux, but also active in Hadoop (hey, a few months ago I had to look this one up). For those not as wise as I (or as active on Google), Hadoop is an open-source technology that makes sense of reams (or, to be more precise, petabytes of data) to take data mining to a higher level.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Like SQL Server, Microsoft also chose an odd time to ship System Center 2012 (at least to volume licensees). Yes, readers of the previous item, this management tool also shipped last Sunday, which just happened to be April Fools' Day.
Formerly known as MOM (remember that?), this is Microsoft's long-time foray into the management market pioneered by feisty third parties -- many of whom have been forced to graze on other pastures not yet discovered by Redmond's ever-moving jaws.
But heck, a good product is a good product. And by the accounts I'm getting, System Center is worth its weight in zeros and ones.
This latest version is all about virtualization. System Center 2012 is taking the virtualization to the extreme -- to where it essentially becomes a private cloud, meaning it is elastic and can be provisioned through a self-service process (at least, that is the hope).
To be honest, I'm not a builder of private clouds, nor am I a System Center user. So please, help separate the self-service provisioning hype from the "it still breaks reality" and write to me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Financial analysts think they know when Windows 8 will ship. According to the latest scuttlebutt, there will be a release candidate (another term for a late, late beta) this June, a release-to-manufacturing version (this means it is ready to go if no show-stopping bugs are found) a month or two later and then we should all be able to buy a finished version in September or October.
What funny about these reports citing unnamed sources? This is pretty much what Microsoft watchers have been saying all year.
The same unnamed source was apparently told Win 8 won't have a Start button. Isn't that something many of you Redmond Reader have been harping on these past months?
Hmmm. I have to admit I'm still a mite bit confused over the state of Start. Does the Desktop interface have Start or is it just plumb gone? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/02/2012 at 1:19 PM6 comments
One reader gives his in-depth analysis of the current cybersecurity landscape:
I think the Internet is growing faster than we can keep up with it. I think people, as a whole, put too much faith into the Internet-based products and services they consume. I think most people use the Internet like many others drive their vehicles; it is a necessary convenience that tends to be abused and misunderstood up until a life is radically changed. Then we wake up to the problems with our abuse of the system the whole time.
The internet is not a secure place, and nothing you do on it is private. The security measures currently in place are like vaulted locking mechanisms on a sliding glass door -- they do an excellent job at keeping out honest men and someone that requires a lockpick set, but anyone with unconventional tools, like a hammer, can just barge right in (like firesheep).
Also, I hope everyone understands that, aside from script kiddies, most hacker groups and individuals are only able to continue doing what they do because they are far more intelligent than you are (not you Doug-- I mean 'you' the reader).
The malware that makes the news isn't the stuff we should be too worried about -- most well-adjusted, technically savvy people can pretty easily avoid such nuisances -- it's the malware that's on your machine right now quietly sending out small payloads a few times a year that we should be worried about.
I'll agree that most Internet-based services are a necessity these days -- things like e-mail, social networking and online banking are almost essential. Malware and exploits of these systems are just the big red flags that everyone walks past to consume such services. Just like vultures circle above a dead animal, malware and exploits swarm around broken software and protocols. But the real problem with e-mail, social networking, and online banking isn't their existence -- its their implementation (like most Microsoft Windows applications, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, SSL, and most EULA and privacy statements that no one ever reads).
As for where you, Doug, are torn -- I personally would never sacrifice personal freedom in favor of the 'greater' security. I would advocate for the rewrite of broken applications and protocols. To those doing the rewriting, I would like to remind you of Occam's razor -- for instance: IPv6 is not a suitable alternative to IPv4; IPv4.1, however, is.
-David
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/02/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
There is a lot of confusion about what is happening with Wintel PC and laptop devices. Before smartphones and tablets, these machines had around 95 percent of the market share, with Mac and Linux picking up the crumbs. Now that all kinds of new devices are counted as computers (Kindles, Droids, iPhones, and the like) Wintel share is down to about 36 percent.
Sounds dire, right? Not really. Keep in mind that Wintel sales have grown each and every year. It is just that smartphones and tablets, which often come free with a voice or data plan, have also grown. And since they are generally cheaper (and because we all already have PCs), they have grown faster. According to IDC these devices will keep on chugging, pushing Wintel down share to 25 percent in the next three years.
This is the greatest example of comparing apples to oranges since Kim Kardashian went produce shopping (she's not all that bright you see).
Different devices are used for different things. My son David uses his phone to text and call. He uses his Mac for longer e-mails, school papers, surfing and to write music.
Everyone I know has some kind of a PC and a smartphone. And everyone I know that has a tablet (and that's a lot of people) also has some kind of PC and a smartphone. It is not either-or. And to take market share away from PCs because someone bought a phone is just plain stupid.
I know it makes great headlines to call for the death of the PC, as Gartner so erringly did recently , but it is simply not good research.
What is interesting, however, is time spent on various devices, and here I do see phones and tablets taking over many tasks when one is remote. Heck, I relied on my BlackBerry for a week at Cebit in Gernany recently, but have to admit I missed my Dell Latitude rather desperately by the second day.
How much of your computing time is spent on phones or tablets? Fire up the nearest computing device and let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/02/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments
When Windows 7 first shipped, there was a lot of excitement. For power users and IT, Win 7 has a lot to offer. But for me, it is not enough. My first experience was with the beta and it was solid and snappy.
I have long since moved onto the production version. But like XP, Win 7 doesn't age well. The longer you use it the slower and flakier it gets. It is still perfectly serviceable, but hangs when the computer is sitting, freezes when it hasn't been rebooted for a few days and sometimes the cursor goes south for nearly a minute.
This leaves me pining for Win 8, which leads to the next item...
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/30/2012 at 1:19 PM12 comments
Here are some more reader comments on Windows 8:
I have been playing with Windows 8 both with and without the addon that restores the Start button. I removed that software because I realized that I wanted to work with it the way most non tech savvy people will probably be using it. I have to say, it stinks. It is awkward and difficult to get to things that I access regularly and you are constantly flipping back and forth between the Desktop and the Metro Interface.
Some of the Metro apps, IE for one, are very inferior to the IE program. The Metro stuff is probably fine on touch devices but I do not like it on a regular computer. This is not an intuitive interface, unlike the Apple's IOS products. There seem to be many arcane ways of accessing things and they are not readily obvious. Please give me back a real Start menu and rational ways of accessing what I need.
I will keep playing with it but I really hope MS makes some serious changes for those of us who will use the OS on a PC -- changes like being able to hide the Metro stuff and use a real Start button. It doesn't even have to be a Start button, just some easy way to access all the programs without the Metro stuff or give Metro it's own link on the Desktop so that you access what you want as you desire.
-Andre
Initial impressions from just playing with Windows 8 are, for me, fairly positive. Once I figured out the keyboard shortcuts to switching between apps and such it became a little more enjoyable.
One thought I had was with the Desktop, and not the same one everyone else shares about the disconnect between it and the start screen. I wonder if it will be possible to launch multiple desktops, similar to GNU/Linux. In Windows 8, the Desktop looks like an app, so why not have two, three or more open with their own set of programs running, much the same way that you can have multiple Notepads open with their own files.
-Scott
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/30/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
The Zeus botnet was full of fire just a few short weeks ago. This group of dirt bags managed to purloin almost a half a billion dollars in its decade-plus of operation. Microsoft, working with law enforcement, took down two sites that supported the Zeus malware operations.
The news is good in that these sites spread that malware that stole money. The bad news? These are remote sites, a lot like offshore bank accounts. The jerks that stole all this money were not exactly running the data centers.
I am torn here. I am big on personal freedom, but I am just as big on doing (nearly) whatever it takes to nail these creeps.
Help me with this conundrum oh wise Redmond Report reader. How many of our liberties should we sacrifice in the name of Internet and financial security? Your calculations welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/28/2012 at 1:19 PM4 comments