Here's a couple of responses to Google's practice of checking in on your Gmail accounts:
Google scares the hell out of me. I see just too many articles about them detailing one privacy issue after another. "But Officer, it was an accident. I didn't mean to..." Yeah, right! I wonder how many we haven't heard about yet. I would never have a Gmail account except that they force you to get one when you get an Android phone. I have never used it and never intend to. I own my own domain and that's the only e-mail I use (except for my work address). At least Microsoft lets you use your real e-mail address when you register with them for TechNet services.
-Dana
I don't think I am surprised. I have noticed this for years with both Yahoo and Gmail. I use Yahoo when I really don't want to give out my e-mail, I go in once every few months, clean out the trash and go about my business. I use Gmail for a specific set of people and a Mac e-mail and my personal domain for mail that is important (more or less). I just assumed that any e-mail offered by a search engine has to make money for them somehow. Remember: TANSTAAFL (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch - Robert A. Heinlein).
-Vicke
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Posted by Doug Barney on 12/17/2010 at 1:18 PM2 comments
Billionaires love to fight. Just look at the old battles between Larry Ellison and Bill Gates. Big companies also love to fight, and just like their leaders, sometimes it just makes them look ridiculous.
The latest case in point is Microsoft trying to block Google's acquisition of ITA Software. ITA lets flyers search for flights, and drives most online travel reservation sites. The argument of Microsoft and other members of the FairSearch.org coalition is this will let Google dominate online travel -- even more than it dominates search. And as with any monopoly, prices tend to go up as the monopolists exert near total control.
I'm not a fan of monopolies, but it does seem odd that the company that dominates operating systems and productivity apps is complaining about another potential monopoly.
What say you? Is too much power concentrated in too few companies, or does the free market let the very best rise to top? Opine away at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/17/2010 at 1:18 PM4 comments
We're putting together a story for Redmond on the battle for the cloud between Microsoft and Google. Do you have experience with Google's cloud apps? Have you bought into Microsoft's cloud strategy which includes the Windows Azure platform and Office 365? What's your take on Google's Chrome OS, which presumes users will give up storing data on their PCs in favor of running everything in the cloud? We'd like to hear from you for this story. Please send feedback to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/17/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
The term 'anti-social' usually ain't a compliment. In the case of staving off social engineering attacks, it is a good thing. These type of attacks trick users into surfing over a malicious site to provide personal information or download malware.
NSS Labs tested a half-dozen browsers and determined that IE 8 and 9 (now in beta) offer the best protection.
The results were rather dramatic: IE 9 stopped almost 99 percent of attacks, while Firefox blocked less than 20 percent.
NSS Labs has a long history with Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft paid for the research. A similar report last year on IE 8 rose a bit of controversy over the Redmond connection.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/16/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Here's one reader's take on the whole Wikileaks fiasco:
The worst part about the Wikileaks debacle is that our ability to keep private conversations held in confidence has been compromised.
Conversations between diplomats or heads-of-states must remain confidential if our allies are to have any confidence in our being able to keep sensitive conversations secret. Whenever more than two countries are party to a political situation in the world (which is almost always the case), each party must be able to protect the interests of the others.
You are probably too young to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 but had the private conversations between President Kennedy and Premiere Kruschev of the -- then -- Soviet Union been made public, we might have found ourselves in the middle of a nuclear exchange between the two most powerful nations in the world!
Only after Kruschev's death (long after Kennedy's assassination) were the details of those discussions ever revealed.
Each side had only about 50 strategic nuclear warheads pointed at each other but that was enough to rain mutually assured destruction on both nations. Today, there are literally thousands of warheads targeting each nation by the other.
So far, Assange has only compromised the United States -- which is somewhat embarrassed but not likely to overreact. I doubt Mossad, the Russians, or the Chinese would be nearly as tolerant of his reckless behavior were their state secrets compromised.
-Marc
With the announcement of Google's cloud-based Laptop, Doug asked readers if they would switch to a diskless laptop:
Nope... I would not use a diskless laptop, and here's why:
1. What happens if I am in a place where there is no Internet access?
2. What happens if the Internet has a failure along the way to my information stored in the cloud?
Cloud computing has many great features, but it you have data you need and there is a failure...you could look awful foolish OR even worse, be in trouble needing critical data.
Sorry...the Internet may be a great tool, but it still has issues. Hackers? Viruses? Attacks?
-Dave
No.
- I teach, and I have to keep information on my computer that has a lot of privacy issues connected to it.
- I research, and some of my research material has even more privacy issues that the above.
- My work uses a lot of maps and discipline-specific software. ArcGIS doesn't even work all that well over Citrix... I can't imagine the pain that would come with trying to use it "in the cloud" (not to mention how one would deal with ESRI's arcane licensing system), and over a slow network (even 4G probably wouldn't cut it, and "dropping the call" in the middle of something would be beyond aggravating). Digital image processing would be even worse.
Having my apps on the computer, at hand, without being dependent on a reliable high-speed connection still takes the prize. I'd like to see cheap high-capacity SSDs (300-500 Gb, for a tabletPC) though.
-Bob
We use thin clients mainly now but our data is here. I don't foresee us moving to that setup anytime soon. We have about 65 users and six locations.
-Edward
The Internet PC may be a good idea for those that have highly reliable and high bandwidth Internet connectivity, but are we anywhere near having that luxury widespread enough to create a market? Also, is it really a good idea to tie ourselves so completely to the cloud so that we are at the mercy of anyone that can manage to disrupt connectivity? As for me, I'll hang onto my fat PCs as long as they still sell them and keep my Big Chief tablet and number two pencil word processing system nearby as well.
-Anonymous
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 12/16/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
If WikiLeaks taught us anything, it's that our government (heck, pretty much all governments) does a lot of things behind our backs. Some of this is necessary and justified, and some seems just stupid and sometimes evil.
Now an ex-consultant for the FBI says a decade ago the bureau modified OpenBSD (you can do that since it is open source). It didn't improve security or performance. Nah, the feds installed a backdoor so it could spy on U.S. attorneys who used the OS.
The charges, made by Greg Perry, were denounced by an OpenBSD developer as poppycock.
This is a bit different from WikiLeaks as Perry claims his charges were meant to be private and to serve as notice to get the OpenBSD code fully audited.
It will, I think, take an audit, to get the bottom of this fiasco.
Do you trust our key pieces of software or suspect manipulation? Send your opinions to [email protected]. We only publish first names so you needn't fear retribution.
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/16/2010 at 1:18 PM7 comments
Paul Allen's suit against nearly the entire software industry (with the exception of Microsoft) hit a speed bump this week, or for the yacht-happy Allen, a rogue wave may be more accurate.
Back in the '90s, Allen had a research company called Interval. It did a lot of work, but ultimately produced mostly patents. These patents, which cover many of the fundamental aspects of Internet (too fundamental to deserve protection, some argue), are being used to sue everyone -- including Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Apple and eBay. There are 11 defendants in all, and if Interval somehow prevails, I'm sure there will be more.
The suit, for now, has been dismissed because Interval lawyers were vague about exactly what products violated what patents and how. The judge, however, is giving Interval until just after Christmas, to refile -- this time with specifics.
What is your take? Should a multibillionaire like Allen hold the entire industry hostage (with the exception of Microsoft) over ideas as broad as "alerting users to item of current interest" and "browsing audio/visual data?" You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/2010 at 1:18 PM6 comments
I have to admit I had no idea what MultiPoint server was. Apparently it is like Terminal Services (which I'm sure has been renamed but I'm not going to look up the new name) in that a single computer drives multiple dumb terminals, which we now call thin clients.
MultiPoint Server 2011, now a release candidate (late beta in my book), can drive a couple dozen thin clients.
Unlike Terminal Services (or whatever it's called these days) which is aimed at general purpose IT, MultiPoint is aimed at smaller, more controlled environments such as schools and libraries.
Do you like MultiPoint or know what Terminal Services is now called? Answers to each equally welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/2010 at 1:18 PM5 comments
F5 is a pretty interesting company. In the networking space, F5's bread and butter, Cisco, has bought or killed a good portion of its competitors (Juniper is the one impressive company left standing).
F5 is alive and well because it always pushes the envelope, entering new markets or inventing new takes on existing ones.
The cloud is the company's latest playground. Like outfits such as Nasuni, F5 is helping shops store serious amounts of data in the cloud. In F5's case, it is launching new software, the ARX Cloud Extender, that stores data remotely based on preset, IT-determined policies. That storage includes tiering data so older stuff is lower down on the totem pole and important, frequently accessed information is at one's fingertips. F5's new tool works with other third parties such as NetApps and Iron Mountain.
Do you store personal or corporate data in the cloud? Why's, why not's and how's are all welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Some may think this newsletter spends too much time talking about Google, and maybe that's true. But Google is encroaching on more and more aspects of our lives and at the same time becoming more and more of an alternative to Microsoft.
But my main concern is privacy, and here is where I fear Google is far from sincere.
Angela Levin, a commentator for The Daily Mail was a Gmail fan until she realized Google robots were reading her mail, gathering keywords and selling them to advertisers. After writing his lawyer about a sensitive issue, Gmail suddenly started serving up ads for every kind of jurist.
Levin has since switched back to Outlook.
Do you mind Google reading your mail and targeting ads based on the content? Yays and nays equally welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/13/2010 at 1:18 PM11 comments
We've recently had some pretty light Patch Tuesdays. Well, tomorrow will make up for that slack with a massive patch batch -- 17 in all!
As usual, remote code execution fixes lead the charge, but there is also a smattering of denial-of-service and elevation-of-privilege flaws that get fixed.
My laptop, as you'll read in more detail below, was recently ravaged by a particularly aggressive virus -- bringing my fairly new Dell laptop to its knees. I guess Microsoft Security Essentials isn't as good as I thought!
The lesson, I guess, is to make sure patches, and virus/malware definitions are always up to date. Even with that, viruses like the one that hit me can still sneak through.
What is your worst hacker/virus/malware experience? Share the horror at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/13/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Here are some thoughts on the former Beatle's passing:
I was a senior in high school the day John Lennon was murdered. I remember the announcement by Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football and then the news reports.
Tragic event. I would imagine this was comparable to Buddy Holly being killed.
-Brian
I was in seventh grade when Lennon died. Although my parents listened to the Beatles, it did not affect me that much at the time.
The death that has affected me most was Johnny Cash. I knew the words to I Walk the Line by the time I was in kindergarten. When he died, it felt like a part of my childhood did too.
-Mike
I was in a sleazy $38 a night motel in Fairlawn, N.J. on government business travel.
It was the real end of the Beatles era. Saturday Night Live made the joke of offering them $2000 to reunite on the show. We didn't expect it, but the possibility lived on until it was snuffed out that night. I was also freaked that it happened in front of the building where "Rosemary's Baby" was filmed. It hit harder than the passing of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison for me.
-Mark
When I remember John Lennon's death, I also recall when I heard about JFK, RFK, and MLK. Then I always remember the quote from the movie, Billy Jack: "Not dead, their brains blown out! Because your people wouldn't even put the same controls on their guns as they do on their dogs, their bicycles, their cats, and their automobiles. The violence just never seems to stop."
-Rick
A friend of mine from school and I decided to visit another friend who was working in a different part of N.Y. ( Poughkeepsie ). We were traveling from Rochester to there when they broke the news -- needless to say we were stunned, especially since we had been listening to his latest album in the car ( cassette tape -- oh those were the days ). Needless to say all we talked about that weekend was how tragic and senseless it was.
I can remember both Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy being shot and killed -- I remember my mom crying in front of the TV about both of them. All I'll say was I was under the age of 5. I couldn't understand why people would do such a thing.
I was in Los Angeles visiting a friend when John Belushi died. We went to a vigil there for him -- one of the many. This was before Hollywood, Calif. became a war zone for gangs. I was told years later that if I had been wearing now what I was wearing back then, I would probably have been killed on the street (was wearing a red bandanna ). I then asked what color would be safe and was pretty much told "none" - they all have their "colors" and you're fair game for the others -- a very sad commentary on our times.
As Martin Luther King put it himself ( slightly modified for my case ), "I have a dream that my two children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I couldn't have said it better myself.
-Anonymous
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 12/13/2010 at 1:18 PM1 comments