HP has trouble hanging onto top bosses: Carly Fiorina was let go, only to chop off her hair and run for office, and Mark Hurd resigned after charges of sexual harassment -- although both parties claim there was nothing going on. Weird.
Redmond magazine Executive Editor Lee Pender has a solution: HP should hire him! Lee has no business degree or P&L experience. But he has two things going for him: His last name isn't Hurd or Fiorina.
While, admittedly, incompetent (at least as HP CEO), Lee has made a number of campaign promises: He won't fudge expense reports (I approve his and, so far, they are clean) and promises no harassment of any kind (Lee is, reportedly, happily married).
The whole post is hysterical, and I suggest you read it here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/23/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Our associate Web editor Chris Paoli has a great job -- he gets paid to surf the Web for fun and unusual items to post every Friday. Last week, Chris's four items were worthy of note. There's a YouTube video of a porcupine that acts like a dog, Denise Richards (reportedly) troubleshoot a firewall, a spoof on the Facebook movie and a goof about online music provider Pandora trying to find the perfect song for one of its customers.
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/23/2010 at 1:18 PM1 comments
We all know times are tough, and IT budgets are more squeezed than Charmin. One way IT may save a few bucks is to give up Microsoft Office and go with a free (or less costly) alternative. Or so says Forrester Research. The research house says that 10 percent of those surveyed already have some OpenOffice in their shops (though, technically, it is now called Oracle OpenOffice.org).
Many alternative suites, such as the Web-based Google Apps, are used in conjunction with Office to give more options for mobile workers and collaboration.
What say you? What is your favorite productivity app of all time? Cast your vote at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/23/2010 at 1:18 PM3 comments
One reader points out some facts Doug may have gotten wrong in his Forefront blog entry:
I'm not sure why you say it comes with a "built-in firewall." To quote the article: "...includes firewall integration and enhanced protection against Internet-borne exploits. With the firewall integration, users now have the option to turn Windows firewall on or off."
I can tell you from personal experience with both the new version of MSE and the new version of FF, there is no additional firewall included.
You also might want to have the author of the article last week on the Forefront 2010 go back and do a little research. No previous version of FF have used SCCM (the first version used SCOM, and version 2, "Stirling" also used SCOM -- but that project has been canceled).
-Robbie
Here's some positive reader praise for Microsoft's Security Essentials:
I use MS Security Essentials (SE) on my three home PCs and love it. I found out yesterday one of our clients, a multinational corporation, will be using SE on all of the PCs/notebooks at their two U.S. locations. I'd guess that is about 250 nodes. I looked into the EULA and discovered it is meant for home use and also for home-based small businesses. I don't think he should be using it for that, but he says it works great.
Another client of ours told me yesterday he will be using ClamWin for his 40-node Windows network that we will also be migrating to Exchange Online soon.
-Dan
I have installed MS Security Essentials on several consumer-client XP machines, Pro Version and Home Edition. It works very well -- easy to install and configuration is automatic. The GUI interface is easy to understand, even for novices.
It runs more efficiently than other paid antivirus programs (not bloated, slow startups, etc). Also, it found a virus that a very popular antivirus suite did not! I recommend it for home users.
Thank You Microsoft!
-Mike
I have to say, I am hooked on MSE. I tested it out pretty extensively and researched it to see how its detection rates compared to other major engines. For detection and false-positive rates, it is one of the best in class (at least according to the guys and gals who test virus scanners).
As for how well it works in the real world, I had been a very big fan of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise prior to MSE. I have since been replacing VirusScan with MSE on everything I own and now recommend this to most small customers. I have noticed a LOT less speed slowdowns when using MSE. On VirusScan, I used to have the system get slow when sometimes opening programs. The VirusScan engine was scanning everything being opened. MSE hasn't slowed my machines down yet. Another benefit with MSE is that includes anti-spyware tools. Most virus scanning engines do not do spyware at the same time. MSE does and, from my experience, it has caught things that would have been missed by VirusScan. The updating process being integrated with Windows Update is a bonus, but not game changing. All engines update themselves (or can be set to). I just like it being in Windows Update. Lastly, the price is right. Free, fast and good beats any paid combination there is.
The big issue facing MSE adoption in the enterprise is the lack of centralized console and distribution tools. If Microsoft builds it in to System Center in the near future,e I think a few of those third-party security vendors better find new products. It is typical of Microsoft. The first few revs of a product are garbage. They just seem to persevere until they come up with a product that is a "must have." So far, I am satisfied with MSE and assume it will only get better.
-Daniel
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 on 08/23/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Intel and Microsoft have been joined at the hips for decades. Back when Microsoft was being investigated by the FTC and then by the DOJ, I argued that the bigger issue was the Microsoft/Intel duopoly. No one in power took up my suggestion.
Intel and Redmond still do a lot of work together, but a move this week by the processor giant puts them in direct competition -- at least in one market. Intel pulled out its bulging corporate wallet and shelled out nearly $8 billion for McAfee (I always have trouble spelling that name).
Intel isn't just interested in securing apps and OSes -- it wants to add security right down at the chip level. And that could be a very good thing.
Are you a McAfee fan or foe? Cast your ballots at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2010 at 1:18 PM3 comments
AV-Test, an IT consultancy company, just, ummm, tested an array of security tools against Windows 7 and the results were surprising. In fact, I'm not sure they are entirely accurate. I'm not really dissing AV-Test, but two major products failed to get certified: Trend Micro's Internet Security Pro 2010 and McAfee Internet Security 2010.
Microsoft's free Security Essentials 1.0 came out fine, especially for usability (go figure).
What security tools capture your fancy or are subjects of disdain? Send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2010 at 1:18 PM6 comments
Here are some reader thoughts on Google's Eric Schmidt's comments on Web anonymity:
This is definitely a stake in the ground. The Internet has to move towards identification of all entities which transact information through it. This is not unlike anything else. You can't broadcast a television or radio message, or publish a book without accountability. There is always an option for those who, like Thomas Paine, can publish something anonymously. But, by and large, we cannot move forward. Accountability will allow the Web to move forward into the next echelon of improved service in terms of finding reliable information we can use, engaging in successful business efforts and cooperative communications.
-Dave
"Anonymous people on the internet can do bad things." They can do bad things in person too. Does that mean we should all have GPS trackers embedded in our bodies by the government on the day we are born?
Concerning Google drones: I wonder if it's illegal to shoot them down. Or send up my own drone and do battle with it.
-Anonymous
A reader experiences the joy of unplugging from the real world, even for just a short period of time:
I can certainly relate to your recent article in Redmond magazine regarding your July trip to the Cape. I am a small business owner of an IT Services company (Wincourse Technologies) just outside of Charlotte, N.C. and very much have the same issue. Whether we are out to dinner, movie theatre with the kids or even poolside, my Blackberry is always nearby.
That is until this past weekend. My wife had a girls' weekend planned, so it was a perfect opportunity for the boys (seven and 11) to get away for a well-needed boys' weekend. Knowing work always needed to be a cell tower away, I brought my Blackberry, netbook and mobile GSM card. I had great reservations, however, about anything working since our getaway was smack in the middle of the mountainous terrain of Virginia's Jefferson National Forest. Just in case, I set my Out Of Office Reply with hopes users would contact our support department instead of me. Luck would have it, of course, request after request came in requiring my attention. Nature, however, proved to be a great blessing in that it was able to delay all messages for several hours at a time, making my responses very untimely. Finally, the battery, tired of searching for signals all day, dried up and died. This was my opportunity to pack the thing away and finally enjoy the short vacation.
Thanks for the article Doug.
-Mike
One reader thinks Microsoft's mobile strategy is a dud:
Does Microsoft have a shot at the mobile phone market? NO.
Not just mobile phones, but lots of consumer IT exist in a VERY dynamic market.
Zune is great, but it came late to the MP3 party.
Competitors are already out there doing what Microsoft said (six months ago) its product would do when it gets released (six months from now). Microsoft's time from announcement to product release is too long.
Microsoft doesn't have the "root for the underdog" support that a certain fruit-named company does.
SteveJ markets iPhones as fun; SteveB talks more from a perspective of Microsoft's profits than a product's public appeal.
-Ray
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 08/20/2010 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Windows turns 25 in November, and we are hot on the heels of the story. As with most of our cover stories, we want YOUR input. What are your memories, and what are your hopes for a bright Windows future? Write me directly at [email protected] and hopefully you can be part of our story!
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/2010 at 1:18 PM6 comments
It's no surprise that Windows Mobile is getting its smartphone butt kicked by the Blackberry, Symbian, iPhone and Adroid (which just pulled ahead of the iPhone largely because multiple carriers carry it).
This past quarter, Windows Mobile lost further ground, claiming just a paltry five percent of the market, according to Gartner. Microsoft hopes to change all that with Windows Mobile 7. Redmond insiders are excited, but some early consultants I've talked to are less than impressed.
Although, one market watcher thinks Windows Mobile 7 has a real shot: Wilson Rothman thinks Windows Mobile 7 will succeed, in large part, because it integrates so well with Xbox Live. That means all those pimply-faced cheese-eating teenage geeks will be pressuring their rents for a Win 7 Phone. This could end up costing me a few bucks!
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/2010 at 1:18 PM7 comments
Microsoft may only be working on version 9 of Internet Explorer, but did you know the Redmond browser just turned 15? It may be legal to surf, but it isn't quite ready to drive.
Our online newshound Kurt Mackie walked all the way through IE's history, from when Microsoft bought the guts of the browser from Spyglass to the controversial bundling of IE into Windows 95 -- an integration so tight that it took a rocket scientist to disengage.
Along the way, Netscape largely died and Firefox emerged as a major force.
Where do you see the browser wars heading? Have the last 15 years been kind to IE? Answers to each welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/2010 at 1:18 PM2 comments
One reader conveys his joy of tackling new patches from Microsoft:
I recently applied the MS "malicious .LNK vulnerability" patch. After the obligatory reboot, my sound was gone.
Advice from the 'Net: "nothing wrong with the patch -- you just have old sound drivers, so go update them."
My take: There was nothing wrong with my sound drivers before the patch -- sound drivers aren't like bread that can go stale or grow moldy -- why update what wasn't spoiled? The update just disabled them.
And sure enough, after uninstalling that update, my sound was back, good as new.
Still, all in all, that was nothing as compared with the time I was offered a video driver update that -- you guessed it -- knocked out my video completely. Rebooting after that one gave me a black screen with not even a hint of a fluorescent glow at the edges. (Thank goodness for [F8] after a forced shut-down, and Last Known Good Configuration).
- Fred
Here are some of your thoughts on Google's new plan for the future of the Web:
QWest already does this -- They control your speed by reducing your
priority -- only the commercial or highest paying customers get fast
service.
-Gene
My mother, a very non-technical individual, had this to say this afternoon about Google and the current direction of the Federal government of the United States of America (individual states seem to still understand our underlying principles) relating to all three Google topics presented in your article: 'You know, the methods Google and our federal government bear striking resemblance to a previous regime that conducted themselves under the same guise of for the good of the people....'
I am a first generation German-American.
This should not only be enough to scare all freedom-loving Americans about the federal Reich, but the corporations being empowered and emboldened by this Reich (it lost the title of administration several laws ago).
-Anonymous
This is not good. We now know where Barack Obama received his money, from big business like oil, telecommunications, etc. He did not receive any money from individuals.
Google would dictate on how much a customer would pay monthly.
-John
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 08/18/2010 at 1:18 PM1 comments
Let's welcome Oracle to the growing list of Google enemies. The database giant claims Google's Android phone violates no less than seven Java patents. Oracle is now the Java king, having acquired Sun earlier this year.
Oracle, like in all patent suits, claims the violations were no mistake but, were in fact, "willful." Oracle even claims Google co-opted Java code libraries, specs and documentation. Wonder if Android developers used Google Code Search?
Who do you back in this fight? Vote at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/2010 at 1:18 PM2 comments