Can "Girl Power" Save Europe's IT Sector?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 03:35 PM

Much like America, Europe is faced with a bit of a crisis -- interest in IT-related jobs is waning among students. Computer and engineering majors are dwindling, placing the future of IT in jeopardy on both sides of the pond. However, the European Union's Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has a solution: Mars -- I mean -- IT needs women!

Continue reading "Can "Girl Power" Save Europe's IT Sector?"


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p0wned
Posted By Lori MacVittie at 10:52 AM

Scott Wahle describes the "secret" language known as L33t5p34k, and gets it all wrong.

Is it just shoddy reporting or a case of technical incompetence?

Continue reading "p0wned"


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TechQuiz: ESB
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 05:28 PM

Having a tough time with our ESB TechQuiz (based on our March 16th cover package)? Our answer key is below:

Continue reading "TechQuiz: ESB"


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It's Time for a Web Services-SIP Standard
Posted By Dave Greenfield at 02:27 PM

Avaya, Cisco, and Sphere Communications took the first step this week towards VoIP-enabling corporate applications by introducing Web service interfaces to their underlying VoIP servers. Such interfaces enable applications to perform nearly any VoIP functions, such as initiating, answering and transferring telephone calls, just by calling a web service. These interfaces radically reduce the development times needed to deploy VoIP-enabled applications while expanding the pool of potential developers by eliminating the need for telephony expertise.

Continue reading "It's Time for a Web Services-SIP Standard"


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Proprietary standards
Posted By seandoherty at 04:51 PM

So I'm coming up with a list of the most proprietary equipment on enterprise networks and need some help. I'm starting off with power supplies/adapters, rack ears, and console cables. Help me out here.

The Standards Guy

June 9th Issue Online
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 01:51 PM

Greetings all,

The June 9th Edition of Network Computing is now available. Here's what you'll find:

Continue reading "June 9th Issue Online"


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Recording ISOs Made Easy
Posted By Lori MacVittie at 07:36 PM

Sometimes, the strangest things drive us to find interesting little utilities.

I'm preparing for a test of Sun's Application Server 8.1 and NetBeans 4.1. The test bed requires Red Hat AS 3.0 Update 3. No problem, right? Just download the ISOs and burn them, right?

Either I'm too comfortable with a Linux desktop or Windows makes the process of creating a CD from an ISO too hard. (I'm guessing it's a little of both, but I never had a problem doing this on the command line in Linux... )

A quick search finds me the perfect tool for XP. ISO Recorder. After installation I was two clicks away from burning a CD from an ISO. No heavy lifting required.

The only gotcha is that if you're running XP SP2 you need to install the beta version - anything before SP2 requires the original version. Other than that, it's just the thing for quick burning of ISOs to CDs.

And the best part was that it was F R E E. So check out Alex Feinman's ISO Recorder if you're looking for a down and dirty, easy to use ISO to CD burning tool.

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CEO Minute: Packeteer's Dave Cote
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 08:02 PM
If you're podcasting-enabled, you're welcome to download my recent interview with Dave Cote, President and CEO of everyone's favorite network traffic management company. In this Q and A, Dave touches eloquently on making network monitoring more efficient and on scaling with existing hardware. I hope you enjoy it.

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Send that SPAM Right Back, Man!
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 01:59 PM

I can hear Elvis now, "Return to SPAM sender!"

Alright, maybe I'm taking a little creative license here, but if IBM's claims are to be believed, we may be able to do just that very soon. This week the company unveiled a new solution called FairUCE -- a service that uses a giant database to identify computers that sending spam. The emails are jettisoned directly back to the computer, not just the email account, that sent them.

The cynic in me says that the SPAMMERS will get around this in a month's time -- but what a wonderfully tranquil month that would be.

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Vulnerabilities Taking Bigger Bite out of Macs
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 01:06 PM

We've touched upon this subject before -- the fact that contrary to popular belief, the Macintosh platform is not threat and vulnerability resistant. According to Wired.com, the folks at Symantec have reported over 37 high-vulnerabilities in Mac OS X this past year.

Granted, the Mac's security track record is a lot better than its Windows counterparts -- but most experts agree that's simply because the Mac's share of the user pie is that much smaller, making them a smaller target for malicious activity.

With the arrival of the Mac Mini on the scene, however, all that could change very quickly. The average, not-so-security-savvy user will no doubt be eagerly eyeing the inexpensive computer. And you can bet as they quickly disappear off the shelves, the hackers will be taking notice, and quickly update their armaments to adversely affect the new Mac adoptees.

The bottom line here is use your common sense. Having a picture of a half-bitten apple on the side of your computer isn't going to amount to much when you can't access your files thanks to malicious code. Whatever your platform is -- it's vulnerable.

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Happy Birthday Yahoo!
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:53 AM

Things certainly have changed for the website once known as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web." Back in 1995, two Stanford University students -- David Filo and Jerry Yang -- were looking for a way to organize their website interests. Not long after changing their creation's name to the shorter and catchier "Yahoo," the guys were contacted by venture capitalist firm Sequoia Capital in April 1995. $2 million in initial funding later -- well, the rest as they say is history.

Yahoo's ten years have seen the rise and fall of the dot.com industry, challenge to their Web authority from their 'Googly' rival and much more -- but the site with the 'rude, uncouth name' has managed to weather it all, and plans to do so for another ten years -- and more.

For some extra Yahoo nostalgia, check out this link which offers a glimpse of what the site looked like when it first came on the scene.

(Our thanks to the fine folks at Geek.com for reminding us about Yahoo's Birthday.)

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SageTV
Posted By Lori MacVittie at 10:08 AM

A new Linux version of a TiVo like product, SageTV, has been introduced. Their TiVo like product was once only offered for PC's but they have now introduced their Linux product which can be directly connected to the TV. This is a complete home entertainment system with the ability to have recorded shows streamed across the entire home (not needed to have several box sets like other products on the market), record multiple shows at one time and even share music, videos and photo slide shows throughout the entire home network. The software includes TiVo like functionalities allowing you to pause Live TV, see a 14-day Integrated Programming Guide and search features.

The only bummer - it's only available for OEM's right now. But keep your eyes open for consumer set top boxes soon!

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Saying Goodbye to Apple's employee #31
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:06 AM

In a world dominated by Windows-Centric machines, some may claim that the Apple user is a dedicated one, their devotion to their Macs almost romanticized. Of course if it weren't for Jef Raskin, that 'love story' might never have come to fruition. A computer interface expert, Jef was the thirty-first employee when he was hired in 1978. The following year, Jef began work on what he called a "computer that's priced affordably, targeted at consumers and extremely easy to use." His initial conception and ideas are what gave birth to the Macintosh several years later.

Jef passed away Saturday, February 26th. But his legacy will live on through the love, dedication (and sometimes fanatical obsession) that many people share for his creation.

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Podcast: Tideway Systems' Richard Muirhead
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 04:21 PM
Tune in for a quick interview with Richard Muirhead about the roadblocks to IT transparency that crosses both business, applications and infrastructure. If the IT gods are smiling and you own an iPod or an RSS reader that enjoys enclosures (like iPodder), you should be able to enjoy this Podcasting-enabled broadcast offline, at your leisure.

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Oh Goody -- FireFox Malware and Worms On the Way!
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 08:44 AM
While it does sound rather pessimistic, I guess you can't blame the industry experts who predict that FireFox's extreme popularity will cause it to start attracting viruses, spyware, and other nasties very soon. One analyst predicts at least two exploits by year's end. Stu Sjouwerman, COO of Sunbelt Software says he and his folks have spotted several security openings or vectors that could leave the up-and-coming browser vulnerable for an attack.

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Cisum.A, the Comic Insult Worm?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:20 AM

Got a chuckle off of Geek.com this morning, though I suppose it's really not funny in the long run.

There's a new worm ciculating, called Cisum.A. Once your computer is infected with it, it pops open a window with the words, "YOU ARE AND IDIOT!" It then plays and MP3 file with the same words repeated vocally every five seconds. Geek's got more on this nasty.

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Ever heard of "Click Fraud?"
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:05 AM

I hadn't until just this morning, but apparently it's a relatively new scam in town -- and if you advertise on search engines, you should too.

The scam involves someone clicking on your ad multiple times -- not to buy the product -- but to increase your ad spending, bump your ad off the search engine, or even make money off you.

Worst of all, there appears to be no real solution at this time.

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2015: Life Without The 'Net?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:13 AM

Here's something to 'brighten' your day. According to a recent survey on the future of the Internet, 66% of more than 1,200 tech experts and analysts predict that the 'Net will experience a devestating and severely damaging attack within the next ten years.

Either that, or they forsee an assault on the nation's power grid sometime around 2014.

It's encouraging to see that so many folks in our industry have such a bright and positve outlook for the future. I guess we better get an early start on our "Surivor's Guide to 2015." Should be an interesting read.

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New 'Tsunami' Email Scams Latest Low
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:19 AM

A sign that there are some truly despicable individuals in the world (I refrain from using humans). A new email scam reaching inboxes is that of fake requests for help from "Tsunami victims." The messages ask for donations through a Web site or an offshore bank account. Of course, the money never reaches the real survivors.

This should be a given, but obviously if you want to contribute to the Tsunami relief, you can do so through any number of official and legal charitable organizations (CNN provides a detailed list).

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2004 -- The Year in Tech
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:58 AM

It may be 2005, but folks are spending plenty of time talking about the year that just was -- and what kind of technological impacts, trends and challenges we faced (or feared).

Over at Geek.com, they're offering several Malware Top 10 lists for 2004.

Jump over to CNN, where their editors present their 2004's top stories in technology.

Not to be outdone, MSNBC pitches their top tech stories for 2004 -- aka "The good, the bad -- and iPods for everyone."

Meanwhile closer to home, our friends at VARBusiness highlight the people behind the technology with their Top 50 Innovators Of 2004. Our amigos at TechWeb have their own list -- the biggest surprises in five major industry sectors during 2004.

Of course, when you're done reminiscing about the past, don't forget to take a look towards the future -- namely the brand new year. Our Survivor's Guide to 2005 will start you on the right path to IT success during the next twelve months.

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My Favorite Error Message
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 10:25 AM
We're always appreciative when folks just come right out and say that their sites are broken, literally. This is the error message graces the pages of Sakamura Laboratory at the University of Tokyo (look for the little red type at the bottom).



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Bill Gates -- King of the SPAMMED?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:45 AM

If you think about this one, it's almost a forgone conclusion: Bill Gates, quite possibly the most recognizable face in the IT industry, is also the most SPAMMED person in the entire world.

Bill's buddy, Steve Ballmer, told folks at their company's Government Leader's forum that on an average day, Mr. Gates gets a whopping 4 Million emails -- the bulk of them being SPAM.

Fortunately for Bill, he has his very own crackerjack team whose sole purpose is to cut the email wheat from the chaff, preventing all but the very important emails from reaching that all-important inbox.

One cannot help but wonder what actually makes it into Bill's inbox. Of course, one can't help but wonder if the occasional SPAM does make it through. Do you think Bill would help out the Nigerian Minister who needs help hiding his millions here in America?

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Firefox - Not just an 80's Movie Anymore
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:06 AM

The Eastwood 1982 vehicle about stealing a top-secret aircraft is easily forgettable, but the Mozilla folks are hoping their new browser, also named Firefox, leaves a lasting impression -- especially on Microsoft and their IE users.

Yesterday the company released the final version of their new browser, with the hopes that scores of tired and frustrated Internet Explorer users will give it a spin, and perhaps even make it their browers of choice.

The idea doesn't seem so far fetched. Last month, a preview edition of the software was downloaded by more than 8 million people.

Besides being open-source, one of Firefox's strongest selling points -- a built in pop-up blocker.

I've got a copy and I'll be taking Firefox for a spin. I'll keep you posted in the coming days/weeks on my experiences with it.

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CSI Show BlogReport
Posted By Dave Joachim at 08:50 AM
Like any self-respecting New Yorker, I'm still recovering from the Massacre of Nov. 2. My Manhattan neighbors chose regime change nearly 9 to 1, so at least I've had plenty of shoulders to cry on--that is, until my employer sent me to the epicenter of presidential politics, Washington, D.C., for the Computer Security Institute conference this week. Sure, the District of Columbia is mourning the loss on the same scale that the Big Apple is, but I would have preferred to experience all the stages of loss before confronting live images of the White House and the Capitol dome.

Ah, well. I'll have to distract myself with discussions of vulnerability assessment, policy management, configuration management, anomaly detection and, perhaps most important, regulatory compliance.

Continue reading "CSI Show BlogReport"


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Phishing All the Way to the Bank
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:39 AM
Those nasty scams have just been 'kicked up a notch.' The latest trick up the phishing authors' sleeves involves manupulating your computer's host file. After making some alterations, a crook waits for the victime to type in the URL -- or even uses a shortcut -- for their online bank. A sneaky and seamless redirect takes the unsuspecting user to a fake site designed to look exactly like their bank's, where they unwittingly enter in all their information (logins, accounts numbers, etc). And of course, the 'phisher' is right there to reel all that data in.

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Debate: Smart Vs. Dumb Networks
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 11:24 AM
I've just finished sitting through a very bizarre (for lack of a better word) session at the NGN Conference where two panelists directly debated the notion of smart (central, AT&T-like) networks vs. dumb (deregulated, open public Internet-style) networks. Here are a few highlights from what turned out to be a very spirited debate.

Continue reading "Debate: Smart Vs. Dumb Networks"


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Q and A with Vint Cerf
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 10:49 AM
Here's my attempt to transcribe (in real time) the Q and A sessions between Vint Cerf and his audience at this morning's NGN Keynote on telecommunications regulation, where he outlined a layered approach to regulation.

Continue reading "Q and A with Vint Cerf"


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Show Report: Vint Cerf on Regulation
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 10:05 AM
This morning at the NGN Conference, I'm sitting in on the keynote presentation by none other than Mr. Vint Cerf, daddy of the Internet (OK, co-designer of TCP/IP), where he's expected to talk on telecommunications regulation...a topic befitting the day after our presidential election. What follows are my notes from this keynote. Actually, this time out, I think I'll post the most memorable quotes and thoughts.

"To understand the Internet, you must look at it from the side to see the layers--looking down from the top conflates all functions into one solid mass. The regulatory world sees the Internet from the top down."

Continue reading "Show Report: Vint Cerf on Regulation"


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Show Quote: Spam is Good
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 06:59 AM
From yesterday's Next Generation Networks Conference. Dr. Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, president of VocalTec:

Sometimes spam is good: If you've been taking Vioxx, you want to get that spam which asks, "Have you have a number of strokes recently?"

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Live Show Report IP Telephony Security
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 04:23 PM

Scott Bradner

I'm presently sitting in a session at the Next Generation Networks Conference in Boston entitled "IP Telephony Security: Threat and Countermeasures." Moderated by Scott Bradner, university security officer for Harvard University (pictured at left, Scott is a proud Macintosh user, interestingly enough), this panel session hopes to answer the following questions:

• Is it possible for an enterprise VoIP system to be as secure as a traditional PBX system?
• What's the best way to balance the need of VoIP services with the needs of law enforcement (wiretapping)?
• Is it feasible to apply existing telephone industry best practices to VoIP service?
• What regulatory and standards efforts are under way to support E911?

Continue reading "Live Show Report IP Telephony Security"


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Show Quote: Metcalfe was Wrong
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 03:42 PM
From today's Next Generation Networks Conference. Dr. Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, President of VocalTec, speaking on Metcalfe's Law where network value increases relative to the number of nodes on that network:

"Metcalfe's Law doesn't work. You see, as you keep adding hosts to the network the amount of information overwhelms and becomes useless to those on the network."

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Live Show Report: Anti-Spam
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 01:46 PM
Brad Shimmin here, reporting to you live (literally via a handy Wi-Fi connection) from the Next Generation Networks Conference in Boston, Mass. I plan on attending a number of sessions over the next two days, taking notes as I go and sharing those here. I hope you find them useful.

First up is "Anti-Spam: Analyzing the Alternatives," which sounded like it would yield a good mix of approaches to squashing spam, pairing the CEO of anti-spam vendor Barracuda (which won our recent review) with a scientist from VeriSign and the Cyphertrust CTO. Dave Piscitello moderated this panel. He's the technology evangelist with MediaLive International, although the materials from the show have him down as a telecommunications evangelist. Continue reading "Live Show Report: Anti-Spam"


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Into the Mind of a Computer
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 12:33 PM
We've all seen the decision trees Chess programs use to calculate their next move. But those quickly fleeting lists of numbers and locations are frankly less than meaningful to humans. But Thinking Machine 4 is different. The Java-based human Vs. machine game elegantly displays both the "influence" of all pieces on the board (think pebbles in a pond) and the "pressure" felt by the machine to move a given piece, based upon its internal decision tree. The result is nothing short of art. For example, here's how Thinking Machine 4 saw and then dorked my Ruy Lopez opening salvo.



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So That's NOT A PDA In Your Pocket?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:57 AM

Is the era of the Handheld seeing its sunset? As 2004 heads towards a finale, IDC reports that the third quarter this year saw another decline in the wordlwide market for the devices. Shipments are dropping, and as a result, companies are limiting where they sell their products.

One of the main reasons for the decline? New cell phone models are coming out offering many of the features you can find in PDAs -- plus the added benefit of telephony.

Ever see the guys who build their houses out of old tin cans and other refuse? Wonder how long it will be before we see a Cabana made out of handhelds?

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Mozilla vs. Microsoft
Posted By Lori MacVittie at 11:55 AM
Alyce Lomax of Motley Fool fame has posted an article (sorry, registration required) highlighting the continued migration away from Microsoft Internet Explorer and toward the more OSS-friendly Mozilla, citing security as one of the major reasons for this slow defection.

What Alyce doesn't examine, however, is the feature set differentiation between the browsers. Continue reading "Mozilla vs. Microsoft"


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Dethroning the "SPAM King"
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:45 AM

Ah, Stanford Wallace -- remember him? Stanford's in hot water for sending out his unwanted emails, as well as illegally installing spyware and other malicious programs into millions of computers. Then, with as much chutzpah as he could muster, the "SPAM King" would offer "spyware removal" programs to the masses.

Well the first step to showing Mr. Wallace the error of his ways has come to pass. A Judge has placed a temporary restraining order upon the SPAM-meister, ordering him to cease and desist all activity.

This may not seem like much, but its still an important step -- one of many.

The eventual goal is no doubt to see Mr. Wallace paying an exorbitant fine, as well as perhaps spending some quality time as a guest of New Hampshire's finest correctional institutions, where the only SPAM he'll get to deal with is the stuff on his cafeteria tray.

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2005: Mo' Money? Mo' Money? Mo' Money?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 02:13 PM

Is 2005 the year you see a pay increase? The Meta Group thinks so.

According to a new report, the research firm says the improving U.S. economy should help to give a boost to salaries for IT professionals, and could be as much as 15% over the next three years.

The report also says this could lead to a familiar Tech sector tactic from the mid-90's -- job-hopping as IT professionals look for better payscales.

Think the odds are good for getting a pay boost next year? Think its about as likely as George Lucas ever doing anything other than Star Wars movies? Take our Quick poll and let us know!

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Slammin' the SpyWare Sneaks
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:38 AM

Uncle Sam's not letting up on the Sleazy spyware makers. Under the banner of the "deceptive business laws," the government has filed a suit against Sanford Wallace of New Hampshire.

If you're Sanford's neighbor, or see him occasionally in the aisles in the local Stop 'n' Shop, you may want to thank him for his involvement in trying to trick people into thinking their computers are on the fritz, and therefore need to download the 'spyware' software his convenient pop-ups advertise.

Meanwhile the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a second spyware bill -- that imposes jail sentences -- with an impressive unanimous vote of 415 to 0.

Seems both liberals and conservatives can finally agree on something!

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Oh Goody!!! Another MS Security Breach!
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 02:24 PM

Our good friends at InformationWeek announced yesterday that a flaw in MS Word 2000 -- and possily in Word 2002 -- could be utilized by hackers to crash PCs or run other malicious code on the invaded machines.

We've got a few months left in the year -- wanna take bets on how many more bugs we see before the clock chimes 12:01 am 2005?

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DWT: Drinking While Typing
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 03:42 PM

How fast can you type on your PDA? TextWare solutions wants to know, and they're willing to hand over a sweet bottle of Dom Perignon to the speediest typer.

The Dom Perignon IV Speed Contest runs from October 1 to November 6. Speed demons can use any stylus text entry system on their Palm or Pocket PC to enter the contest. Naturally, shortcuts and word completion functions are a no-no and must be disabled. The fasted typist gets the bottle, while twenty runner-ups get other awards.

Given my typing speed, I'd probably be looking at winning a 5 year-old bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

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"403,300"
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:00 AM

If you saw that number and replied "What is the number of high-tech jobs lost between March 2001 and April 2004." then move over Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings, because you're right on the money!

Even more surprising, half of those jobs were lost after "experts" announced the economic recession was over in November 2001.

Not much of a surprise, the outlook for the tech job market suggests little sign of recovery.

So, on to the next category -- "Fast Food Jobs."

The answer, "You want fries with that?"

The question, "What some IT professional making a six figure salary a few years ago is saying right now."

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Neighborhood Tech Support
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 09:52 AM
For our Geeks Illustrated issue, which will ship in late November, we're gathering reader horror stories on providing tech support to friends, family and neighbors. So far we've received a number of very funny stories (sadly funny actually). Here's one of my favorites from Tim Osborn.

I kept getting a call from my friend (let's call her Jean) to fix a floppy disk that was leaking data. I would sit down with her format the floppy write data to it and read it. Everything was fine until I would leave. I would go back to her office insert the floppy and it would be blank. I could not figure out what was going on. Finally one day out of frustration she called me I went over reformatted the floppy and started to leave. As I was walking out the door I looked behind me and saw her using a VERY large magnet to stick the floppy to the metal filing cabinet....!!! I couldn't believe it! I told her I think I finally know what your problem is..... The Magnetic Field of Death.

If you have your own story of tech support woe, send it to us, and we'll throw your name in the hat for a 50 dollar gift certificate to Amazon, and we just may publish your entry in our special issue of Network Computing. Good luck!

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Geek Wish List
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 09:31 AM
Thanks to those who have already sent in their holiday geek wish lists. Here are a few of my favorites received thus far.

• Steve Delahunty wants a Panasonic ToughBook P1 which is Ruggedized and Moisture Resistant, equipped with GPS, Phone and Wireless
• Dave Zielinski wants a Dell Axim X30 with its Integrated Wireless + PocketPC 2003 OS
• Robert Pritchett wants an Apple iMac G5 20", a 64-bit Supercpomputer

You can submit your own wish list item now for a chance at a 50 buck gift certificate from Amazon. At least you could put it toward your wish list. Good luck. At a minimum, you may end up in our November special issue, Geeks Illustrated. Good luck!

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Dinosaurs, Dodo Birds and Floppy Drives
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:30 AM

One of the oldest and most common computer storage methods is close to joining Eight-Track Tapes and Phonograph records in their retirement.

The Floppy Disk Drive is a feature quickly vanishing from newer computers. Dell Computers stopped offering it in 2003, and Gateway is following suit on some of their models. Ironically enough, you can request the drive be added to the computer -- for an additional fee.

But with writable CDs and portable storage options like keychain flash devices at great prices and offering more storage -- the poor little floppy doesn't stand a chance. Now just a handfull of users still ask for a floppy drive to be added to their computers.

So bye bye Floppy Disk Drive. But don't worry, you won't be lonely long. According to Bill Gates, soon you'll be joined by all my DVDs (Great. Thanks Bill). After that, technology will find a way to make something else obsolete...or someone (SkyNet anyone?).

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Longhorn's '06 Debut Will Be Short Major Feature
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:34 AM

If there's one thing you can rely on Microsoft for, it's major delays for the release of their newest version of Windows. Longhorn won't be any exception -- the folks at Redmond are now touting its debut will be sometime in 2006.

Longhorn, however will be "short" one major feature: a new system -- originally lauded as a key component -- for finding and storing information.

MS promises the feature will follow soon behind.

Hmmm, wonder if this would make a good Top 11 for us -- "Other key features Microsoft sacrifices to ensure LongHorn gets delivered on time."

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What's your E-Sign?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 02:52 PM

We recently asked NWC Readers if electronic signatures figure into their enterprise master plans? (For more on this topic, see our workshop)

Here's what your fellow readers had to say:

20% said, "Way too risky for this IT Pro"

28% chirped, "Absolutely, we're using them now"

44% said, "Signatures are so 80s; PKI's the thing for me"

8% lamented, "E-sign? Is that like a sig file?"

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Happy Birthday To You...
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:14 AM
Happy Birthday To You...
Happy Birthday, Dear Internet...
HAP-py BIRTH-day, To Youuuuuuuu!

On September 2, 1969, a couple of UCLA computer scientists named Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf linked two large computers together with a 15-foot long grey cable. Their hope -- to exchange data over networks.

And here we are, thirty five years later -- clicking away from pop-up ads and trashing penis enlargement SPAMs that fill up inboxes faster than we delete them.

Cynicism aside, it's a milestone to be sure.

So Happy Birthday, you great big Internet. Oh, and thanks for the job. I'd probably be selling dirty-water dogs to Republican Conventioneers right now in NYC if it weren't for you.

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GPL Gets its day in court
Posted By Don MacVittie at 07:59 PM
Well, IBM finally started to use its massive resources and tons of IP to smack back at SCO this week. They filed countersuits left and right. The one that interests me the most is the one reported on Groklaw and mentioned on SlashDot.

If you read the filing carefully, IBM is finally building a case wherein GPL will be used to protect the rights of a copyright holder. In short they say:
"SCO attempted to charge people royalties for using Linux. The GPL does not allow for charges other than those associated with distribution. IBM holds copyrights on hundreds of thousands of lines of Linux. SCO is distributing that copyrighted code. Violating the GPL by charging is violating our copyright on that code. Thus, we want a cease and desist order against SCO for distributing Linux."

That is very paraphrased, but that's it in a nutshell. It seems very clear cut, and if a judge agrees, the FUD mongers out there who worry about the enforceability of the GPL will get their first real case to reflect upon.

Me? I am for both Open Source and Commercialization. I don't think it has to be either/or. I think there's room in the modern enterprise for both, and like I have said for years... "My Daddy taught me to use the right tool for the job, what did yours teach you?"

Hence, I want to see this end in IBM's favor, so that we can get past the FUD and down to tecnological usefulness when looking at products - no matter which side of the fence they come from.

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Google Rolls Back Share Price
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:44 AM

Can't you just see the yellow "Have a Nice Day" smiley guy from the Wal-Mart commercials whistling as he glides through the Google corporate office -- everyone smiling and waving as he yanks out his giant scissors and starts slashing at Google share prices?

The price of a Google share has gone from the estimated $108 to $135 to a low, low, low $85. Gotta love those Rollbacks...

That is if you managed to get in on that annoying "Dutch Auction" Google implemented.

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Are you Ready for a Network Audit?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:56 AM

We recently asked our readers if they were ready for a network audit?

Here's how the thirty-six respondants answered:

• 31% said positively, "'Compliance' is our middle name"
• 22% lamented, "We're not covered yet"
• 47% replied, "Not sure -- do I need last year's receipts?"

(For more on the subject see our Workshop)

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MetaFilter Blog Sources
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 11:23 AM
If you're a daily visitor to the community Weblog, Metafilter, you may have contemplated the fact that this site appears to cast a pretty wide net, staying away from familiar haunts. Well, now it's official. The kind folks at Waxy.org have tabulated counts for each referral domain from MetaFilter.

If you look at the entire list, you can see some tried and true destinations, like news.bbc.co.uk, which garnered the biggest chunk (1,218 links), but out of 27,173 total sites to which MetaFilter has linked, 18,840 of them have received only one mention. Now that's spreading the wealth..."like buttah."

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Enroll at IT University
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:48 AM

Utah-based Northface University is a new school that hopes to offer something unique. It's dispensing with liberal arts courses and focusing solely on a tech-centric curriculum. The goal is to produce software designers ready to jump into jobs, which in turn will please potential employers that their new hires require little or no training.

Tuition at Northface costs $60k for an intensive 28-month bachelor's degree in computer science. The school is backed by main sponsor IBM Corp., as well as Microsoft, Oracle and Unisys, all of which have donated software, tools and training regimens.

Already there are some critics to the program, who fear that removing the liberal arts courses may produce skilled IT personnel who will lack a more rounded knowledge base.

Whether that turns out to be true remains to be seen. We'll know for sure by May 2006 - when the first of the school's initial 130 enrollees make their way into the world. The school expects 1,200 graduates a year by 2007.

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HP's New Laptop is Smitten with the Penguin
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 09:08 AM

Hewlett-Packard's new notebook has got a thing for flightless waterfowl -- particularly the open-source breed.

The company has announced that they will be the first large PC maker to offer a business notebook computer with Linux pre-installed.

The H-P Compaq nx5000 will feature Novell Inc.'s SuSE Linux and will market for around $1,140.

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Too Young for Tech?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 11:05 AM

Take a walk through a Target, Walmart, or Babies R Us, and you'll find a ton of software dedicated to very young children. Add to the fact that there is a myriad of websites for entertaining and educating those youngters. The message is clear -- introduce your children to technology early, because their living in an IT world, and they are our future programmers, IT support staff, etc.

But is that such a wise mantra after all? Some parents, scholars and child development advocates think not. There's growing concern that all this early exposure does absolutely nothing...or worse, can actually hinder child development.

What do you think? Take our quick poll and let us know!

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Reading, Writing, iPod?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:02 AM

North Carolina's Duke University is handing out more than just campus maps and directions to the bookstore to their incoming freshmen this fall -- they're also giving each an every one of them an iPod.

No, the faculty hasn't gone MP3 happy. Aside from its main music playing capability, iPods can house information. The University plans to import school-related info into the players, including freshmen orientation info, the academic calendar, campus tours and more. In the works as well is a web site where students will be able to not only download songs, but course content including language lessons, lectures and audio books.

Jeez, these kids get iPods. Only thing my College gave me besides my diploma was tuition loans.

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Return of the Browser Wars?
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:15 AM

Is it possible? Could the timeless battle between Internet Explorer and some Web-surfing rival renew once more?

It seems very plausible. With yet another barrage of security patches being announced, Microsoft has seen a 1% drop in Internet Explorer usage within the last month. That may not seem like such a huge number, but it still has an ominous impact -- MS is slowly bleeding IE users. And the constant patch releases are really akin to slapping a couple of bandaids on the wound without giving it proper medical attention.

So the time is ripe for web-brower companies like Mozilla and others to really stand up, shine and make names for themselves. And make no mistake, there's plenty of IE alternatives out there.

In the movie Highlander, the catch phrase was, "There can be only one." That's not necessarily the case in the browser game. But if it is, Microsoft better be careful. The "One" may not be them anymore.

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Patents, Patents Everywhere
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:28 AM

A week ago we quick polled our readers, asking them if "embarrassingly broad technology patents are being handed out like candy by the Patent and Trademark Office?"

Here's how the fifty respondants answered:

• 58% Duh. The EFF is right. We need to throw out existing idiotic claims.
• 34% Yes. The Gov should enforce stricter claim requirements in the future.
• 4% No. I think they're doing a good job challenging new patent claims.
• 4% What's the patent trademark office again?

Don't forget to take this week's Quick Poll on online conferencing services.

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The Dangers of Online Job Hunting
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:17 AM

A woman in Texas was recently arrested as she entered her local bank, charged with with conning a Florida Ebayer out of nine grand for a motorcycle that never existed.

Only thing is, "Bobbie-Jean" claims she's the one who was conned.

The fifty-one year old unemployed accountant said she accepted a job she found on CareerBuilder.com for an overseas company. Part of her responsibilities included collecting payments from clients in the U.S. and wiring the dough to the UK.

But apparently the whole thing was a scam. And it's not the first time someone's been duped.

CareerBuilder and other online job search sites like Monster and Hotjobs are fighting a tough battle, trying to weed out fake job postings every day. But the illicit offers still manage to slip through, duping desperate job seekers into committing crimes, giving up cash, or worse -- revealing personal details about themselves.

Naturally, when the authorities come knocking, all fingers, roads and paper trails lead right to the unsuspecting "employee," while the company they work for seemingly vanishes.

Job search sites have plenty of suggestions on how to spot the fake job offers. But some folks feel that these providers should be providing alot more than just some advice.

As for "Bobbie-Jean," Career Builder is looking into her situation with a possiblity of joining in her legal fight to clear her name.

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www. gone byebye
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 05:35 PM
And now from the department of redundancy department, I bring you, "www." Yes, that old friend, the dub dub dub, has outlived its usefulness. Actually, according to the owners of no-www.org, "www" was never useful. It was a mistake to think that a URL (pronounced U-R-L not "Earl"...don't get me started) containing the protocol declaration HTTP needs a subdomain such as www to tell the server that the user is after Web stuff. The HTTP is all you need.

I'm all for simplification, and certainly my "W" key could use the rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, the validation tool used by the folks at no-www.org failed to identify correctly www.networkcomputing.com and networkcomputing.com as being one and the same. Still, it's worth a look to see if you're domain supports the class B method of redirecting www.whatever.com to whatever.com. And if you're a user, try leaving out that little letter the next time you type a url. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Alas poor www, I knew you well.

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Innovation through Hackination
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 04:27 PM
And we thought acquisition was the main source of Redmond innovation:

"A Kirkland man arrested last week on allegations that he stole proprietary technology from the AltaVista search engine two years ago is a Microsoft Corp. employee who has been working on the Redmond company's MSN Search initiative."

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The EFF Names Names
Posted By Brad Shimmin at 10:41 AM
True to its word, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has named the ten worst patents that it thinks the U.S. Patent office should re-examine. According to the EFF, these ten patents are trying to unlawfully take ownership of the most basic processes used by humans and machines. Interestingly enough, many of the patents named belong to communications companies, the most conspicuous being Clear Channel, which has patented the ability to record a live performance and is going after artists who give concert goers copies of their shows. Certainly, we didn't needed a further reason to distrust the Wall-Mart of radio. But this sort of abuse of trademark and patent is just absurd.

You can read about the other nine suspect patents in Wired's excellent story.

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Court: OK for E-Mail Provider to Read Mail
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:51 AM

Those wacky judges are at it again. Tuesday, the Supreme Court squashed the Internet Porn Law designed to protect children from stumbling onto pornography. Yesterday, a federal appeals court said it was totally fine that a company that offered e-mail service tracked its subscribers' messages.

This decision came in lieu of a court case involving a now-defunct company, Interloc Inc. A former VP of the company was accused of ordering his folks to set up a program that made copies of e-mails in 1998 so they could review messages sent to its subscribers by their rival at the time -- none other than Amazon.com.

So how on earth did they escape conviction of the wiretapping charges? Ah the magic of the "loophole." Since the emails were copied while in "electronic storage" -- no real wiretapping ever took place. So by the letter of the law, they couldn't be held accountable.

You can bet that this is a huge can of worms just waiting to rupture and wriggle forth. Basically, this means companies could conceivably do a tap-dance around the law in order to rummage through inboxes.

Sounds to me like we need our legislators to be a little more mindful of the changing face of technology, and the fact that what laws work for one type of tech, may not work well for another.

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Internet Porn Law Blocked -- Judges on Crack
Posted By Tom LaSusa at 10:36 AM

That's the way the news headlines should read, in my opinion. According to the Supreme Court, the law meant to punish pornographers who market their "wares" to minors is a possible breach of the first amendment -- the right to free speech. As a result, they’ve thrown it out.

So either the judges are drugged out of their minds, certifiably insane, don't have impressionable children of their own to worry about, or who knows what.

The law would have required adults to use access codes or other methods of registration before they could see the questionable material online. It would also have levied some hefty fines at pornographers who continued to market to kids.

Opponents claim that it would have been too restricting on free speech. Hey, I'm all for free speech, especially in a time when it seems like so many of our rights are being subtly constrained. But a law that would have enacted security measures to protect children from porn sites? How exactly is that wrong? Hell, it's bad enough that any child with an email account could be greeted at any time with penis enlargement SPAM and a slew of other nasty sounding emails.

Sometimes I just don't understand our society. If there's someone out there who can explain it to me -- feel free.