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).
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/23/20100 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 08/23/20101 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).
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/23/20103 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
More
Posted on 08/23/20100 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).
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/20103 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).
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/20106 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
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/20/20100 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 08/20/20106 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.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/20107 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.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/20102 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
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/20101 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?
More
Posted by Doug Barney on 08/18/20102 comments