Go Google Yourself

Do you like what you see? (Oh, and don't pretend that you don't Google, or at least Bing, yourself. We all do. It's only natural.)

Why on earth are we talking about this? Well, it's late August, and there's not much else to talk about. But, beyond that, The Wall Street Journal published an interview this week with Google CEO Eric Schmidt that had some interesting stuff in it.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/20101 comments

Intel Snaps Up McAfee

Here's a quick back-to-school pop quiz. Choose the best answer.

Intel is: 
a) a chip maker
b) a software company
c) a security company
d) all of the above

As of this week, the best answer is d). Intel is buying McAfee for $7.68 billion. That's right; the 'tel in the famous Wintel partnership now has a massive security presence.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/20102 comments

Password Crackers Thrive on GPUs

Here's a pretty interesting story that (once again) pounds home a theme: Come up with long, complex passwords. Of course, our password for everything is "RCPU." Just kidding. Or are we...?

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/20100 comments

Microsoft Releases Small Business Server Preview

This is that 'Aurora' thing you've been hearing so much about. Or if you haven't, check this out.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/19/20100 comments

Microsoft Releases 'Vail' Preview

It's hard to think of a ski resort in the middle of summer, but Microsoft has nevertheless chosen to release a preview of Windows Home Server, code-named 'Vail' to test participants.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/20100 comments

Wired Says the Web Is Dead

This isn't exactly right in RCPU's wheelhouse (whatever that is), but Wired magazine's assertion that the Web is dead -- having given way to apps -- still makes for pretty interesting reading. Plus, there's a cool chart. Will we look back on the browser someday with faint nostalgia? Do we already?

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/20100 comments

HP Makes Boring News with Fortify Acquisition

So, this morning, when your editor saw an e-mail from his colleague, Jeff Schwartz, with "HP" in the subject line, he naturally thought, "Yes! Another Mark Hurd story! Thank you, HP, for this gift that keeps on giving."

Alas, Jeff's story was "only" about HP buying a company called Fortify, a security-software company that... Oh, never mind. Our heart's not in it. Just when news in the dog days of summer was starting to dry up like the Red Sox' playoff chances, Hurd came along like a cool rain on yet another 90-plus-degree day.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/18/20100 comments

IE: 15 Years Already? Oh Yes

So, Internet Explorer is 15 years old, and here we were thinking, "Really, 15 years? Are you sure is hasn't been 20? Maybe 25?" IE seems about as fresh as that milk we accidentally left on the counter before we took a two-week vacation last summer.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/16/20101 comments

When is Open Source Not Open Source? When Oracle Owns the Patent

So, Oracle has sued Google over the use of Java in Android, and man, is Larry Ellison and his fiefdom taking it on the chin.

It's bad enough, apparently, that Oracle seems to be killing OpenSolaris, a move that has helped earn the company the nasty little nickname "SCOracle" (plus a comparison to Darth Vader—and, as you might imagine, we're not finished with those yet).

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/16/201012 comments

Firing Hurd Round the World Continues To Haunt HP

Mark Hurd, you sly devil, you. Not only did you hire a kind-of, sort-of adult actress as a "marketing consultant" of some sort, you also -- allegedly -- went behind your board's back to settle her sexual harassment claim. HP's board wanted to probe (don't make a joke...don't make a joke) the claim itself, but you took care of it on the down low -- according to the Wall Street Journal, anyway.

Posted on 08/16/20101 comments

Reader Feedback: Windows Phone 7

Yes! It's finally happening. We're finally doing it. We're going to let reader feedback slide into your inbox like that JetBlue guy zooming down the escape slide.

Why? Well, because we love you and we appreciate what you have to say. Also, it's the middle of August, and Google News's Sci-Tech section is serving up headlines such as "Iceberg Four Times Size of Manhattan May Hamper Atlantic Ships." OK, granted, that's not uninteresting, but it would be a stretch to comment on it as IT news.

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/12/20107 comments

Reader Feedback: A Windows 8 Wish List

We asked readers to send us features that they'd like to see in Windows 8 (back in June...ahem), and wow, did Jon respond. This e-mail so is worth reading, but it's really long, so we're not going to comment at the end the way we usually do. So, enjoy, gentle readers, thanks again for your participation, and we'll see you next week.

"Thanks for asking about readers' wish-lists for Windows 8.

• When you open and modify an attachment, then Return or Forward it, your edits should not die somewhere in Windows' large intestine. Simply relay the edits, as intuition would suggest, then also ask if the user wants to Save/Save As the document.
• Retain common (and lost!) keyboard shortcuts from Word, and then propagate them throughout Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint -- because those aren't just all Windows programs. They're all in the same SUITE, so a command that works in Program A should do the same in Program B!
  • (E.g., in Word, ALT-O, P opens up the Paragraph formatting box. In Outlook, it's ALT-O, K, P.) There are many other inconsistencies. Standardize on Word, not Excel, as Word is most widely used.
• Any user-defined Autotype or AutoCorrect entry should work in any/every Windows program.
• Windows 8 should require every Windows-compatible program to contain an understandable, popup, functional description of itself and what it does! That will tell us what the heck we're affecting when we're clearing out junk with Remove Programs, or switching off/demoting running services.
  • E.g., since I will never buy a tablet PC, I removed the 'Tablet PC' listing. But doing so deleted Microsoft's very useful "Snipping Tool"—because obviously only people with tablet PCs will ever want to snip, paste and store copies of parts of their monitor screens.  Grrr.
• In Remove Programs, Microsoft's idiot meter advising you whether a program is used Frequently, Occasionally, Seldom or Never needs its digital head examined. I could do better counting hash-marks on my wall. I don't see how so simple a function could be bonkers, but it is.
• The Windows EasyTransfer function from old to new PC, from old O/S to new O/S, from Outlook Express (or its new equivalent) to the newer, grander versions should actually retain email contacts' addresses.
• For Office: Outlook should automate the quick de-duping of addressees after one's second or third botched-up import from EasyTransfer.
• All e-mail clients should contain a warning telling senders when their precious graphics are most likely to be stripped out or turned into Deadly Red X's.  Whatever 'Magical Rules' control that e-mail emasculation, senders should be pre-advised before sending, enabling (perhaps) one to remedy one's unintentional offense.
• Microsoft shouldn't be so giddy-up eager to run small companies out of business by writing others' good ideas for Windows improvements into each new version of Windows. It's okay if a few small forest animals survive the meteor.
• In Windows Explorer (or whatever more-fashionable new name it may have), when I define a certain viewing configuration for a folder -- including column widths and size-shape of the Explorer window -- please stop telling me I must be foolish by ignoring my preferences and returning it to a Windows default view each new time I open it.
• In Windows Explorer, allow a user to apply a viewing configuration -- all of it, including column width and size-shape of the Explorer window -- to an entire tree by a top-down definition capability.

Thanks! I feel better already!"

Posted by Lee Pender on 08/12/20108 comments