So far I have not come across a good computer virus, even though they remain a theoretical possibility.
For now all viruses are either bad or impotent, though some are worse than others. Most viruses disrupt our computers, and can force a rebuild. Some viruses delete data. Some take over and use our machines as launch pads for spam. And some steal our info (and are especially fond of passwords).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/24/20120 comments
While bringing together disparate storage systems can reduce complexity, it's important to remember that you can overdo it. Rick Vanover, a software storage strategist at Veeam Software and upcoming sessions speaker at this year's Live! 360 event, recommends separating storage resources when provisioning vSphere and Hyper-V environments.
Q: Are virtual environments more complex when it comes to storage?
A: Absolutely. Virtualization introduces abstraction and consolidation. Both of these factors, one good and one bad, introduce complexity to the design, troubleshooting and provisioning processes. In fact, many of us didn't likely spend much time using the IOPS term before virtualization. There's a phenomenon called an I/O tipping point, which many people find when critical workloads become virtualized.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/24/20120 comments
Just like the recently announced opening of preorders for Windows 8, Microsoft is now accepting money for Surface devices. Both the OS and the tablets built on it are available Oct. 26 -- at least for the ARM-based Surfaces. Oddly the Intel-based devices will lag by three months. Seems like it should be the opposite since Windows already runs on Intel, no?
The real news is Surface pricing. A machine with 32GB of flash RAM is $600 and the 64GB version is an extra hundred. If you want a machine sans keyboard (not sure why you would) you can scoop one for $500.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/22/20123 comments
IE 10 was really designed for Windows 8. Now comes official word that the browser will run on Win 7 as well, something that has been talked about less than the CIA's personnel files.
True to its recent words, Microsoft is now prepping an IE 10 preview for Windows 7, due out next month.
The last word on IE 10 for Win 7 was a Platform Preview this past June. IE 10 is a pretty big departure. It not only has a touch interface (along with the older interface), but it does away with plugins with the huge exception for Flash (at least on Win 8). Not running Flash would be a deal breaker for most.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/22/20123 comments
When it comes to virtualization and Microsoft software licensing, few things are more jaw-dropping. And fewer people know the ins and outs of Microsoft licensing requirements. One who knows all about how to sift through the complexities of desktop and server licensing in a virtualized environment is Cynthia Farren, president of Cynthia Farren Consulting and upcoming sessions speaker at this year's Live! 360 event.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/22/20120 comments
One of the biggest ways Microsoft reveals itself is through its blogs. In fact most minor product announcements are made this way nowadays.
Product groups go deeper, and generally have blogs that offer a step-by-step commentary on how a product is being built, what new features the company is willing to talk about and what the developers were thinking along the way.
The company also spends a good deal of time talking to blogs of others, and these conversations can serve the same purpose.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/22/20120 comments
Google continues to cut ties with older Microsoft technologies. Our last report showed that Google Apps wouldn't be supported on IE versions older than IE 8, which means XP users will have to move to Firefox or Chrome (which may be what Google had in mind in the first place!).
Now Google Docs will no longer export to older Microsoft Office formats and will mainly work with the newer DOCX files.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/19/20124 comments
Microsoft shocked me with huge revenues and earnings decline. I mean, have you ever heard of Microsoft sales dropping, never mind collapsing 8%? Earnings were down more fiercely, a gut-wrenching 22 percent.
While enduring endless heaps of pundit criticism, Microsoft set sales record after sales record, like clockwork. It was rarely enough to quell the maddening pundit crowd. Now those years of negative prophecies have finally been fulfilled.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/19/20124 comments
The release of Microsoft Windows Server 2012 is the company's most ambitious effort yet to help organizations build and manage private clouds. Windows Server 2012 is designed with cloud computing in mind and with many new and enhanced features to facilitate the integration and management of cloud computing resources.
Few can dig deeper into the private cloud features of the new OS than Microsoft Senior IT Evangelist Yung Chou. And Chou, who has been penned as an upcoming sessions speaker at this year's Live!360, takes some time to answer some of my questions.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/19/20120 comments
There are two theories as to why Windows is so often compromised. One is that when it comes to security, Windows is just lousy software. The other side is that Windows is so pervasive that hackers can't resist going after it.
Those of the second opinion can find supporting evidence by looking at Android, which is now coming under fire from hackers.
And it isn't just an attack here and there. On the first quarter of this year there were 5,000 malware programs going after Android. In the next three-month period, that shot up to 15,000.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/17/20121 comments
I read the headline, "IE 10's 'Do No Track' Setting Under Attack" and wondered what on earth could be wrong with this privacy feature?
Then I found out that the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is the one with all the complaints. Here's what they whined to Steve Ballmer about: Do Not Track "will undercut the effectiveness of our members' advertising and, as a result, drastically damage the online experience by reducing the Internet content and offerings that such advertising supports. This result will harm consumers, hurt competition, and undermine American innovation and leadership in the Internet economy." Wow. Sounds like Do Not Tack, not communism, is the true enemy of capitalism.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 10/17/20127 comments