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Red Hat CEO on certification, Jboss and open source (Red Hat Summit podcast)
Red Hat today unveiled several new open source projects at its second annual Red Hat Summit in Nashville, TN. One of the projects will seek to create a set of open source testing and certification tools.
At the event, the company's chief executive Matthew Szulik was kind enough to make some time in his scheduled to sit down and discuss his comapny's plans for the certification tools, the recent Jboss acquisition and Red Hat's role as a commericial software vendor in an open source world.
You can download this podcast interview as an mp3 file here or use the embedded player below.
Tags: Linux, Red Hat, Matthew Szulik, Red Hat Summit 2006, podcast
Red Hat beats the open source drum
Red Hat chief executive Matthew Szulik this morning kicked off the second edition of the Red Hat summit.
Where Red Hat last year in New Orleans focused on its software stack and middleware products, the focus this year in Nashville appears to have shifted back to developers.
The company during Szulik's keynote presentation unveiled several new open source projects to improve code quality and allow for faster testing.
The big picture of Szulik's presentation is a focus on transparency and open content. Red Hat has always positioned itself as the true commercial steward of the open source community.
But especially after Red Hat made a very old school capitalistic move by acquiring Jboss for $420m, the firm needed to reaffirm its commitment to open source and the "democratized content" ideals behind it.
Szulik did just that.
Tags: Linux, Red Hat, Matthew Szulik, Red Hat Summit 2006
One Laptop per child computers work
The one laptop per child (OLPC) project has its first working prototypes - previous models were merely mock-ups. A Red Hat engineer who is a contributor to the project showed the picture below at the Red Hat summit this morning, displaying a working laptop.
The OLPC project is spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte, who is scheduled to speak at the Red Hat summit on Friday.
Microsoft's Nascar approach to security
Computers aren't exactly known for their appliance-like characteristics, and the ability to customize them is probably on of the device's main strengths. But customization and openness is a curse when it comes to security.
Microsoft on Wednesday is launching its OneCare performance suite in the US, and has come up with the perfect analogy: that of the race car driver. He too needs optimal performance and control, but doesn't want to be bothered with changing tires, refuelling and fine-tuning the engine.
The company therefore has "borrowed" a Nascar vehicle from the BestBuy retail chain and will have it compete in OneCare colours on Sunday 4 June at the Dover Speedway in Delaware.
Now let's hope that it doesn’t crash.
Photo courtesy of Microsoft
Kicking Microsoft’s beta tires
Microsoft’s parting gift to all those attending WinHEC this week was a set of DVDs with the Longhorn Server and Windows Vista Beta 2 software. The code should be available for the public to download within the next few weeks.
VMWare’s free (beta) virtualization software provided a safe testing environment, so it didn’t take long before a Vista virtual machine was made on my home computer and the x64 Vista beta disk was spinning around. Time to catch up on lost sleep and the next morning everything was done.
Similarly, downloading and installing the public beta of Office 2007 was a piece of cake.
Between the two applicaitons there are many new features and items that take some getting used to, but so far I’ve been able to at least locate everything.
The only serious issue is the inability to get the Aero graphical look to show up. To get semi transparent windows, you need an advanced graphics card and plenty of memory (1Gb). The system doesn’t recognize my card, even after downloading the special Vista 2 driver from the manufacturer’s website.
Word’s blogging feature furthermore turned out to be a disappointment, but for reasons outside of Microsoft’s control. The typepad blogging service that runs this blog doesn’t support FTP uploads. Posting text is no problem, but adding pictures is impossible. Boo! for Typepad.
Adding a link on the other hand is gem, since Word will display a list of recently visited websites to link to – although I doubt that that feature will support Firefox.
Tags: office 2007, windows vista, Microsoft, blogging, typepad, beta, winhec2006, winhec
Investers say no to Vonage IPO
Vonage shares are down significantly following the company's IPO, dropping by a total of 23.5 per cent in the first two days of trading.
It's shouldn’t be too much of a concern for Vonage, as the company already has cashed in its $531m. But it looks like future sales aren't an option any time soon.
It furthermore appears that Vonage's spam campaign to lure in subscribers didn't result in any material demand for the stock either.
For a company that sells an intermediary technology that everybody knows will be gone in a few years, Vonage makes for a lousy investment. For a company that charges for a product that Skype gives away for free, Vonage makes for a lousy investment. For a company that was founded by a convicted criminal, Vonage makes for a louse investment.
Buy lottery tickets instead. At least they benefit some charities.
Microsoft dreams up niche UMPC devices (WinHEC pics)
The first ultra mobile PC (UMPC) devices might be somewhat of a disappointment, that doesn't prevent Microsoft from dreaming of niche applications for the device.
Below you'll find photos of slides that Microsoft displayed (so forgive the less then perfect quality), showcasing concepts of niche applications. Some of these are being pursued by manufacturers, but Microsoft declined to go into any details for competitive reasons.
Key is that all these systems use Windows XP (or Windows Vista in the future) on a small display device.
Media player with dedicated control buttons on the side of the display
Japan is looking to deploy UMPCs in education. It requires additional robustness and adaptations for small hands.
Communications device with a keyboard. Front...
... and back
Fitness/healthcare monitor. Targeting baby boomers who don't use PCs on a regular basis.
GPS navigation system - as a portable unit...
...or built in
And lastly: Gaming. Can you say: Xbox Mobile?
Tags: Microsoft, UMPC, origami, winhec2006, winhec
Talking security with Microsoft's security boss
Talk to a Microsoft executive about Vista, and he'll tell you that security is the single most important feature of the forthcoming operating system.
So instead of taking their word for it, vnunet.com sat down with Michael Nash, Microsoft's corporate vice president for the security technology unit. He worked on bolstering Vista's security for the past four years.
To listen to the interview, use the embedded player below or download the mp3 here.
Michael Nash
Tags: winhec2006, winhec, microsoft, windows vista, windows longhorn server, beta
Microsoft to offer Vista UEFI support after all
Windows Vista will receive support for the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface technology by late 2007, Microsoft promised. The technology is set to replace the Bios, leading to shorter boot times and unlocking advanced features.
Microsoft disappointed many users and developers earlier this year when it pulled support for the technology from Windows Vista. That was in part because Apple is using UEFI on its Intel powered systems and UEFI Vista would enable users to run Vista on their Macs. But Apple itself has solved that issue with the creation of Bios powered Bootcamp.
Only a limited number of PC systems will feature UEFI support by the time Vista comes out. PC manufacturers simply needed more time, and that's what Microsoft is giving them.
The latest Beta 2 release of Windows Vista offers UEFI support for testing purposes only. Microsoft will strip the feature from the final release.
Introducing new technologies such as UEFI is a chicken-egg dilemma. If there are no operating systems supporting the technology, system builders won't build them. But without hardware in the market, Microsoft is right to focus on finishing Vista.
Building ecosystems is hard, even for Microsoft.
Photo: Andrew Ritz, a Microsoft development manager for the core platform architecture team delivering his UEFI session at WinHEC 2006.
Tags: winhec2006, winhec, microsoft, windows vista, beta, UEFI, BIOS
Microsoft shows off Vista-Office collaboration (WinHEC Video)
Windows Vista and Office 12 aren't just stand alone products. In this demonstration at the WinHEC 2006 show in Seattle, the company demonstrates how the two work together.
Tags: winhec2006, winhec, microsoft, windows vista, beta, office 12
Microsoft tempts Vista's fate
Public workstations at WinHEC here in Seattle are running Windows Vista Beta 2 that was released officially only earlier today. Given that this is still a test version and should have plenty of bugs, Microsoft must be pretty comfortable about put this in the of the WinHEC crowd.
From hardware to application virtualization: Microsoft explains virtualization strategy (WinHEC podcast)
Virtualization is far more than running a copy of VM Ware or XenSource, or even Windows Virtual Server. If you're getting lost between hardware virtualization and application virtualization, this podcast with Microsoft's group product manager for Windows Server Marketing Jim Ni is for you.
Use the embedded player below or download the mp3 here.
Gates does a partner dance
Bill Gates in his opening keynote at WinHEC today had his usual photo opportunities with third party devices.
Having Gates hold up you device is considered a major honour for partners, althoug many devices that receive Gates' endorsement never make it very far in the market place.
Gates with the Samsung Q1...
... reviews have absolutely thrashed the device.
Motorola Q: the much anticipated smart phone that Motorola launched yesterday.
and finally: iriver clix
Bill Gates talks up Windows Live (WinHEC Video)
Video below shows Bill Gates talking about Windows Live, followed by a demonstration.
Don't expect Gates to stick around for the demo however, he always leaves the stage to make sure that he isn't around if a demo goes wrong.
Microsoft talks virtualization: WinHEC demo video
Microsoft on the first day of WinHEC made a lot of noise about virtualization. In the video below you can watch a demonstration from one of the keynotes.
Microsoft declares Tuesday Beta day
Not that is came as big surprise, but Microsoft at WinHEC here in Seattle unveiled beta versions of Windows Vista, Longhorn Server and Office 2007.
The triple beta launch surely is intended to show that Microsoft is on top of its software development process and that every thing is on track.
But following Gartner's report in which the firm warned that Vista will likely face further delays, most people are already acting like further Vista delays are a fact more than an option.
The picture becomes even bleaker after talking to the Longhorn server team. The group may have launched Beta 2, but was unable to provide any data on its plans beyond that. Yes, there will be Community Technology Previews – the same interim beta releases that Microsoft used for Windows Vista. But as of yet it isn't clear what will determine when a CTP will be released.
It might not look like a big deal, this isn't representative for a company that is demonstrating that it is on top of its software development process.
Intel talks low power
On the eve of WinHEC in Seattle, Intel organised a briefing at one of its Oregon campuses to talk about energy efficiency.
The timing for the event is suspect, as AMD last week unveiled its latest line of low power desktop processors.
Intel was beating its old platform drum: computers are about more than just raw performance. A good computer also offers wireless networking (Centrino) management functionalities (vPro) or entertainment features (Viiv). Similarly, a chipmaker can cut back on power usage by making sure that tasks like virus scanning or remote management are performed in a way that is as power efficient as possible.
Power usage hasn't been a big issue in the computer industry, but Intel now is claiming that it really, really has been working on this for years – ever since it launched the Pentium M laptop processor. But the company only last year decided to bring those features over to its server and desktop processor lines.
It's clear that Intel is on the defensive in the processor market. But the company admittedly is on its way back and should be able to soon take back the lead from AMD in terms of raw performance as well as performance per Watt.
The company furthermore has plenty of initiatives in its technology pipeline that do promise to take on power consumption. But the big "Intel power cutting picture" currently isn't very clear.
Intel's Jones Farm Campus - looks about as exiting in reality is it does on this picture
Photo courtesy of Intel
Tags: intel, power, performance per watt
Symantec raises legal challenge to Vista
As Microsoft is preparing a major Windows Vista cheering session at its annual WinHEC conference next week, Symantec filed a lawsuit that could further delay the launch of Microsoft forthcoming operating system.
The company alleges that Microsoft stole intellectual property from Veritas, a storage vendor that is a Symantec subsidiary, and baked that into the Vista operating system. Veritas wants a judge to force Microsoft to rip out the technology and block any Vista development in the mean time.
If there is any truth to Symantec's claims, the latter part would be the most juicy. Delaying Windows Vista any more could force the product launch into the company's next fiscal year, thereby greatly impacting the 2006 fiscal year. Consumers furthermore are likely to further delay investing in new systems, dealing a severe blow to Dell, HP, Gateway and their peers.
Tags: windows vista, microsoft, symantec, lawsuit
Blue Security admits defeat in spam war
Blue Security has ceased its anti spam operation that went after spam websites by counter-spamming them.
The company sent a slew of messages to websites that were advertised in spam, overwhelming their email systems.
The idea was to defeat spammers at their own game, but Blue Security didn't play the game very well. One spammer retaliated by launching a denial of service attack against the venture, which in the end force the company to pull the plug.
Security Vendor Kasperksy Labs in a blog posting cautioned that Blue Security called this upon itself.
"Destabilizing sites if the site names are mentioned in spam is a very dubious tactic - it’s neither ethical or really legitimate," the company pointed out.
"I think that the path Blue Security chose was more or less doomed, if not to failure, then at least to causing a lot of Internet users, not just spammers, to react negatively."
I'd argue that Blue Security programme wasn't necessarily bad, it was just poorly executed and vulnerable to retaliation.
Spammer spam because they have an economic incentive to send their messages. To kill spam, you have to kill their business: prevent spam from reaching inboxes (filters) or close down websites that are advertised in spam (Blue Security's approach).
Photo: Luis Alves
Tags: blue security, spam, security
Google product manager explains the Google Web Toolkit (podcast)
Google earlier this week at JavaOne launched the Google Web Toolkit. The tool allows programmers to create flawless Javascript for their Ajax applications, which today are mostly created through manual coding. The tool also ensures that the code works across browsers.
Shortly after the launch, I sat down with Bret Taylor, Google's program manager for the tool.
You can listen to the 7 minute audio interview through the embedded player below or download the mp3 here.
Apple shows off design to New York
Apple on Friday will cut the ribbon on its New York retail store. Passers-by will merely see a glass cube with the famous Apple logo. Visitors will be lead down a flight of stairs to the actual store.
No bargain basement here, but a 24/7 retail bonanza.
Please don't touch the glass, the window washer already has a tough job here.
Tags: Apple, new york, architecture
Anti war protesters flock to US army recruiting game
Anti war protesters are using an army recruiting tool to draw attention to Iraqi war casualties.
Joseph Delappe in March started logging in on the free America's Army online first person shooter game. But instead of wandering around the digital world looking for enemies to kill, he'll use the life of his "Dead-in-iraq" persona to enter the names and dates of death of the more than 2,000 US soldiers who died in Iraq.
The game was created as a recruiting tool by the US Army in its efforts to find future cannon fodder.
"The work is essentially a fleeting, online memorial to those military personnel who have been killed in this ongoing conflict. My actions are also intended as a cautionary gesture," the artist explains on his website.
Judging from the response that he is getting on the in-game chat, he at least is making people think.
Tags: Americas army, gaming, anti-war movement, iraq
Google Trends as a sociological barometer
I have no idea what this stat means… but one tipster pointed out that there must be a major need to find information on gay sex in the Arabic world. At least that's what Google Trends is showing.
Tags: Google trends
IBM looks for a new stick to beat Sun
IBM and Sun Microsystems have a healthy rivalry going on.
Sun refers to Big Blue as the army of blue suits (consultants) that will keep coming up with billable hours until you're out of business. And IBM has spared no efforts to spark flame wars over Sun's refusal to release the source code of its Java technology.
But when Sun this week promised to release the Java source code, IBM lost a valuable weapon in its war of words. So instead the company used its open source Eclipse project to seed a rumour that Sun would be warming up to the development environment, which is a direct competitor of Sun's NetBeans.
During a keynote at JavaOne earlier today, IBM executives suggested that Sun had contributed the x86 version of Solaris to Eclipsse.
Sun quickly dogged the assault with some hard facts: a Sun engineer had assisted in creating a bug fix for Eclipse for a customer who was running the application on Sun hardware. Nothing less, nothing more.
IBM's poor attempted at a boobytrap blew up in its face. But the company only had two days to come up with a new Sun taunting scheme. Cynics would argue that blue suits like to take it slow. That makes for more billable hours.
Java mascotte Duke
Comparing Apples and Dells and Oranges
Contrary to popular belief, Apple computers aren't insanely more expensive then PCs, they are just plainly more expensive, claim financial analysts with PiperJaffray.
The firm found that PCs were about 13 per cent more expensive than similar models from Dell, and laptops were priced 10 per cent higher. Perception has them to be at about 30 per cent more expensive.
The study is great for those looking for an academic discussion, or merely looking for arguments for or against Macs/PCs. But it means very little.
Where does product variety come into play? Users demanding certain features are often forced towards high end Apple products. The PowerBook for instance used to have a hot-swappable battery that would allow users to replace the battery without having turn off their systems. You wouldn't find that in the lower priced iBook.
A hot-swappable battery might not be an option on a Dell or Thinkpad, but they accomodate dual batteries and battery expansion packs instead.
If flexibility in your battery supply is an important feature, Apple will force you towards a premium priced Macbook Pro (starting at $1999) where a $1500 model will do in the PC world.
Differentiation in the computer sector is about offering specific features. Each user has different priorities between unique technologies, price and performance. Manufacturers with a broad selection of models are more likely to win.
PiperJaffray's price comparison is cute, but not very relevant. In will loose in some cases and win in others. But how often will price be the sole determining factor?
Tags: Apple, piperjaffray
AMD digs a low power moat
AMD is kicking some serious Intel but in the market place these days. The company in the retail segment is quickly catching up with its longtime competitors, and might even overtake the company this year.
Intel has made some major mistakes to fall so far behind, and AMD now has upped the stakes even further. The company this week unveiled several new low power processors that will drastically improve the performance per Watt.
Intel meanwhile has yet to ship its first chips that use the energy efficient Core Architecture that will be at the core of all future desktop, mobile and server processors.
Few people doubt that Intel won't take back the lead– both in terms of market share and technology. But AMD is putting in a major effort to make sure that it delays that moment as long as it cans, and in the process succeeds in making Intel look bad time and time again.
Tags: intel, AMD, semiconductor
Google creates some Day 2 JavaOne excitement
The main news from JavaOne on Tuesday didn't come from any of the major sponsors. Instead Google made some big waves when it launched the Google Web Toolkit, the first software development tool for creating Ajax applications.
Ajax currently requires some major manual coding, leading to typos, bugs and bug hunting. The Google tool takes a Java programme and turns it into Javascript.
Sun was happy to accommodate Google, but merely provided the company with a regular session, where a keynote would have been more justified.
But holding on to a tradition of providing keynotes to the high paying sponsors, Oracle got the honour of providing the second day main keynote. There were some titbits of interesting news, but Oracle has yet to deliver a major impact keynote at a non-Oracle conference.
Judging by the audience's response to the Google announcement and the fact that the room was packed, the search engine's launch was far more relevant than Oracle's news.
Schwartz steering for developer focus?
Sun's newly appointed chief executive Jonathan Schwartz today made his first major appearance at that JavaOne tradeshow in San Francisco.
While he's only been working in his new role for a few weeks, there are some signs of a fresh wind blowing through the company that brings an increased focus on developers.
The most visible example were the decision to open source Java and to change the Java license to allow the technology to be bundled with the Linux operating system (which previously was prohibited). It probably would have happened under Scott McNealy's rule as well, but it seemed to be going more smoothly now, indicated Sun's open source guru Simon Phipps.
Even Schwartz admitted during a questions and answer session with media that he has more of a developer focus than his predecessor. But when asked how that would impact future developer programmes, Schwartz quipped that:
"A lot of the DNA of the company was built 24 years ago. That's not new because of me. That's been there for an awfully long time."
"How I shape the dialogue and how I talk to the marketplace is different from Scott. How I cut my hair is different from Scott. But philosophically what we believe in is innovations and innovators."
"I would spend less time looking for differences [between me and Scott McNealy] and more for the way we see the markets and opportunities that we identify."
Tags: javaone, sun microsystems, java, open source
Sun bows to call for open source Java
After years of resistance, Sun has finally decided to release the source code for the Java technology.
To make sure that there's no misunderstanding: the company will put the technology under and OSI approved license – that's not the same as showing the code to developers.
The move will kill one of IBM's pet PR projects where the company could flame Sun for a lack of open source Java.
IBM furthermore didn't have much right to complain as Sun seemed to have done a great job in making sure that the latest Java EE 5 version met all the partner requests, RedMonk's James Governor pointed out.
Open source Java could attract even more developers, making for even more innovation.
Several developers after all still shun away from the technology out of a religious belief that open source is the only solution. And major technology vendors even more could be reluctant to put their future in the hands of a proprietary technology.
The only potential risk is that open source projects have a tendency to fork, where one group of developers decides to split off and go a slightly different route. That leads to confusion and erodes the group of developers backing a specific technology.
But at this stage, it would require a major fight to cause a rupture in Java. The technology is simply too large by now that any breakup will likely result in the break away group dying a soon, slow and unnoticed death.
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz
Tags: javaone, sun microsystems, java, open source
Ebay patent ruling good news for patent reform
The patent system got a bit less evil today, as the US Supreme Court has overturned a provision that required an automatic injunction if a party was found guilty of violating a patent.
The expiration date on that provision has long since past.
When sewing machine maker Singer ripped off a competing design and actually pushed them out of the market, there was a need for the court to come in an force the company to stop its predatory practices.
But in the case of MercExchange vs. Ebay, there was no need for such protections. MercExchange exists for the sole reason of enforcing the "buy-it-now" patent, and the company had asked for an injunction because that would give it increased leverage in the license negotiations.
In short, MercExchange was using the system to make more money of its patents. And the Supreme Court now has ruled that the system wasn't designed for that purpose, and that it won't tolerate this abuse any more in the future.
If only RIM had had this ruling when the wireless email provider was forced to shell out $612.5m for a patent that will soon be invalidated.
The patent system is still in need of much more reform, but one of its most evil flaws got fixed today.
Tags: ebay, patent reform, mercexchange
Google quietly flips switch on personal search feature
Google desktop search 4 in addition to delivering gadgets outside of the sidebar, has also introduced a personal search beta that the company didn't talk about.
The application is now manipulating the ranking of search results based on a user's personal information.
A query for "sleuth" on my computer for instance put this blog as the sixth result. With the personalized search feature turned off it drops to the 38th position. Both queries give the same number of total search results.
The personalized search feature appears only occasionally. It seems to be related to the possibility of the existence of multiple search categories for a query. Google has frequently used the example of the word "bass", being a music term or a fish. Personalized search was also offered when querying John Doe or my own (rather common) name.
Friends and family with less prevalent names wouldn't get a personalized search and neither would a query for vnunet, as most search results are likely in the same category.
In addition to delivering more relevant search results, Google could benefit even more by delivering personal ads based on the user's information. The ads stayed the same with the feature turned on and off.
In one search, the text advertising a erotic website changed from promoting sexy Russian women in the "personalized" version to sexy Asian women with the feature turned off.
Google, you still have a lot to learn to learn about me.
Tags: Google, personal search
Vonage goes IPO spam crazy
Vonage is looking for investors to fund future growth and a tropical island for its founders through an initial public offering.
Making sure that no idle penny is left behind, the company is aggressively soliciting its customers to partake in the IPO. This week they've received spam emails and spam VoIP voicemails. And now we have the old fashioned letter.
Vonage seems to think that just because someone subscribes to its services, they also believe that the business would be a great investment.
Vonage's quest for investors must be getting desperate. And all the more reason to stay away from funding a business which business model will soon pass its expiration date and that was founded by a convicted criminal.
So if anyone with Vonage is reading this: enough with the spam already! Alternate VoIP providers are two mouse clicks away. (hint: that's two more reasons why you shouldn't invest in Vonage).
Cropped version of the letter below (full version available here).
Word 2007 becomes blog publishing platform
Office 12 will add a feature that lets users publish blog postings directly from the Word text editor.
For all the good things hosted blog publishing services offer, most users will still prefer to use a familiar applications such as Word, if only because it has some pretty powerful spell checking features.
Try pasting your Word text into Typepad today however, and you'll feel like you ended up in lay-out hell. Microsoft's aversion of standards caused the company to use a slew of unofficial HTML tags in Office 2003, which will severely distort the posting's look (mostly the fonts).
No longer so in Office 2007, promised lead of the World design team Joe Friend. Starting with the forthcoming Beta 2 of the application (due out later this month), you'll be able to publish your scribblings to your blog (including pictures) with the simple push of a button.
Ballmer does Silicon Valley
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer today visited Silicon Valley and dropped by for a lunch event at the Churchill Club and the Commonwealth Club. Later on the day he was scheduled to meet a group of 200 venture capitalists in what must be the corporate version of a shopping spree.
Speaking engagements like these typically offer no news, but can provide insights and clarifications on a company's standpoints.
At the question and answer-styled event, Ballmer mostly spoke about Microsoft's aspirations for the online advertising market, and how it plans to compete against Google and Yahoo. But he ended up talking a lot and saying very little.
The company wants to be the number one player in the market. Google isn't as great a company as some believe. Microsoft will rule the online advertising market - nothing new or noteworthy there.
More interesting were his comments on open source. He didn't just mindlessly bash open source, but instead argued that he could beat open source by focusing on creating better software with a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
He also made an attempt at hyping Windows Vista, talking mostly about the operating system's security. He actually went so far as to predict that Vista's security will cause the end of virus and worm attacks.
Steve Ballmer
Tags: steve ballmer, Microsoft, churchill club, commonwealth club
Overactive spam filter nearly prevented Microsoft-Sun Microsystems settlement
It wouldn't have differed much or Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer would never have seen an email from Sun CEO Scott McNealy in which he proposed to settle the company's disputes, Ballmer told today.
The two companies for years were battling each other like arch enemies. But in April 2004 the two patched up in a $1.95bn settlement, which was symbolized by McNealy and Ballmer exchange (ice) hockey jerseys at a press conference in San Francisco.
"When Scott first sent me an email when we were reconnecting, the piece of mail wound up in my junk mail folder," Ballmer said during a speaking engagement before the Churchill Club and the Commonwealth Club.
Luckily, Ballmer occasionally goes through his spam email folder to check if any messages were accidentally flagged as junk. That's when he saw McNealy's message.
"It had the characteristics of spam: it was short, it was a one-liner, it wasn't sent through a rich text editor," explained Ballmer.
Tags: Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Steve Ballmer, Scott McNealy
France chickens out of DRM interoperability
France has given in to pressures from Apple and others, as the Senate adopted a watered down version of a copyright and DRM law.
The revised law no longer requires interoperability between DRM standards and devices. The Senate instead proposed the creation of 6-member committee that will make non-binding interoperability recommendations. The committee will be made up of magistrates and industry insiders.
While it shouldn't surprise anybody that the initial draft was changed, France now is completely giving in to the DRM and copyright holder's lobby. This isn't a compromise but a mandate.
Few consumers will protest some form of DRM, as long as the copyright protection gets out of their way. Why should anyone have to consider what type of DRM that their device ssupport before they goes to a digital music store?
You could argue that the iTunes vs. Windows Media DRM war is no different than a CD vs. tape conflict. Although a CD is a medium and not a DRM standard, a user owning a CD player still has to remember to buy disks instead of tapes.
But at least he doesn't have to consider which brand of CDs he purchases to ensure that he can listen to the music.
The current lack of interoperability doesn't serve consumers, and only allows device manufacturers to lock in their customers. Walled gardens might be nice for copyright holders, but spell doom for end users.
Protests couldn't prevent the killing of a promising DRM proposal
Sun closes Silicon Valley campus
Sun Microsystems is planning to sell one of its three Silicon Valley campuses. The 2,300 employees who currently work from the company's 1.4m square foot Newark campus will have to start commuting across the San Francisco Bay to either Santa Clara or Menlo Park.
Closing the campus should bring Sun about $200m, claims the Mercury News.
The move is a blow to the city of Newark, but could have come at a much worse time.
As the high tech market is expanding, companies once again are hiring and looking to expand their Silicon Valley real estate.
Apple last month revealed plans to build a second Silicon Valley campus that will house about 3,000 workers.
Tags: newark, sun microsystems, campus
Don't mistake Google Co-op for social bookmarking
Google at a company event today unveiled a total of four new products, most of which are aimed at making for more accurate online search.
Google Co-op offers to include search results from a series of partners sites such as Open Table or Digg.
Users furthermore can label websites inside Google's search index, for instance indicating is a medical website lists information about symptoms or cures, and if it's most suitable for physicians or patients.
You will furthermore be able to see the source of those attributes, enabling you to gauge a tag's credibility. A tag from the < a href="http://www.cdc.gov/">Center for Disease Control after all should bear more importance than one by a random Joe from across the street.
The service at first glance resembles social bookmarking websites such as Digg or Del.icio.us, but in reality the two are worlds apart.
Social bookmarking sites are a popularity contest, allowing users to discover interesting web pages based on their overall popularity.
Google Co-op however is an attempt to further classify sites inside Google's index.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt kicks off Google Press Day 2006
Tags: Google, google co-op
Does Google have too much money?
Google today hosts a press day at its Mountain View campus.
The on-site confrence centre is draped in Google curtains, from the walls to the tables and chairs.
Listening to the presentations, the company does a great job stressing that its still innovation driven. But is the company paying too much detail to detail? Or is creating Google themed drapes part of being a succesful search provider?
Tags: google
HP unfolds disperate future vision
Wouldn't an iPod be far better if it would stream music off the internet instead of forcing users to collect music and transfer it to the device?
And what about a route navigation system that would get its maps as well as the latest traffic information in real time? Not to mention a Blackberry or Palm Treo - and of course a genuine, easy to use, cellphone.
There won't be one device to do this all. But having cellular radios and subscription plans isn't a solution either.
So why not unbundle all those bundled products and force them to share, proposes Philip McKinney, chief technology officer for HP's Personal Systems Group.
At a company event in San Francisco he demonstrated a concept (so it's merely an idea, don't expect any products anytime soon) using disintegrated technologies.
A special watch for instance could provide a gateway onto wireless broadband networks, connecting displays large and small to hosted applications and entertainment services.
(click on the images to get a larger view)
A watch could serve as an information gateway, and offer basic notifications (there is an envelope displayed in the right corner alerting the owner that he has mail).
The watch would provide network connectivity to a notebook with a keyboard that McKinney is holding up here, providing a full computer functionality...
...or could power a tablet-like display that would be used to consume information
On the road a small display could be used to check your address book or to view a shopping list.
How new is HP's vision? You'll get the idea when you look at Sanyo's Alviss concept that the company presented in 2003. It used a mobile phone as the central hub in a network of digital cameras, ebook readers, music players and photo viewers. And there were others.
Tags: personal mobile gateway, HP, sanyo, alviss, philip mckinney
Vonage pioneers VoIP spam
In an effort to push its forthcoming IPO, Vonage has pioneered the field of VoIP spam.
The company has delivered a voice mail message (you can listen to it below) to its subscribers, soliciting to purchase stock in the upcoming Vonage IPO. These messages were delivered as an audio email attachment and even to subscribers who don't use the Vonage voice mail service. The email offered no way to opt out from receiving Vonage spam in the future.
The message was preceded by email messages with a similar message earlier this week. In a move that reminds of the hyped IPOs of the internet boom days, the company has set aside some of its stock for subscribers.
Security experts for some time have warned against the threat of VoIP spam, where spammers would use an internet connection to place unsolicited phone calls to internet telephony subscribers. Few would have expected however that a VoIP provider would be the first to abuse VoIP for an unsollicited sales pitch.
Vonage is preparing a $550m floatation that would value the company at about $2.5bn.
The company is leaking money all over the place, posting a net loss of $85m over the most recent quarter on revenue of $119m. Its founder furthermore is a convicted criminal who is barred from association with any securities broker or dealer. In summary: if you want to bet, try the lottery instead of buying Vonage stock.
You listen to the spam (aka: spim) here.
HP launches mini laptop, disses UMPC
HP at a company event in San Francisco launched an ultra light laptop computer.
The nc2400 (picture below) will start shipping later this month and retails at $1599. It weighs about 3 pounds (1.4 kg), boasts a 12.1 inch wide screen display and lasts for 3, 6 or 9 hours depending on the battery you're using.
Consumers looking for an ultra portable device with full Windows functionality will have to settle for devices like the nc2400 for now, and most certainly shouldn't look expect the company to launch a UMPC (aka: Origami) device.
HP's executive vice president for the personal Systems Group Todd Bradley called the UMPC a "tweener type of product".
"It's no laptop and no PDA," he complained. HP will monitor what its competitors are doing with the devices, but has no concrete plans to start developing any Origami devices.
Instead HP plans to hold on to its line of iPaq handheld computers. Never mind that Gartner yesterday unveiled that HP last quarter saw shipments of its iPaqs drop by over 30 per cent. Or maybe HP actually understands that the UMPC won't fly because of its experience with the iPaq.
Ted Clark, general manager HP's notebook business unit.
Why you shouldn't study law to compare apples with oranges
The vast majority of lawyers are a waste of resources. They create needless lawsuits over frivolous disputes.
Today we witnessed more proof of this theory when a
London
judge denied a claim by Apple Corporation against Apple Computer over the latter's rights to sell digital music.
Both companies use a logo depicting a common item to their companies, yet they feel it's justified to claim ownership on this generic form. Apple the corporation, owned by Paul McCartney, Ring
o Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison, believes that the fruit name is theirs, and repeatedly has sued Apple Computer.
The computer maker, the Beatles argue, shouldn't be allowed to use anything Apple-shaped to market music, including digital music told through the iTunes store.
It is beyond me what horrible damage Apple Corp suffers from this grave injustice.
Luckily the judge in London seemed to agree. But lawyers are only encouraged by such defeats. Filing for appeal after all only makes for more billable hours to uphold a system that wastes a lot and produces so little.
Now as for the pictures in this post: they all look like apples to me, yet they some represent billion dollar corporations and others don't. Surely there must be some lawyer willing to sue the photographers of the other three apples for their trademark infringement?
Tags: apple, the beatles, trademark
Samsung takes a wrong turn in copyright land
Samsung has large ambitions to become one of the world's leading technology vendors, but the company over the weekend has proven that it still has trouble shedding the old Asian copy-cat image.
Designers in Samsung's mobile phone department choose to copy icons from Apple and Microsoft instead of designing anything new. The firm as a result was forced to recall several recently launched handsets.
As depicted above, one of the icons shows a striking resemblance to the MSN Messenger icon.
Another case of "oops".
Silicon Valley recycles SGI leagacy
Silicon Graphics today filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The bankruptcy filing is just another sign of the workstation maker's demise, but Silicon Valley didn't wait for that to happen. The remnants of the multi billion dollar company have already been recycled.
As proof that tomorrow's innovations are taking over from yesterday's failures, Google has moved in to corporate campus that SGI build during the dotcom boom.
And the irony doesn't stop there: SGI had erected a highly visible corporate headquarters next to Silicon Valley's busiest highway. The building today houses the Computer History Museum.
Google colours now fly over the former SGI campus
while the former headquarters are now quite litterally part of history
Tags: SGI, silicon graphics, google, computer history museum, mountain view
Reviewers disgusted by first UMPC
The first UMPC is set to hit stores this weekend, but judging from some of the early reviews, the device will be an enormous disappointment.
Samsung's Q1 will have the honor of setting the standard. But the devices aren't up to par. The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg summarized it with painful precision:
"Unfortunately, the Samsung Q1 is so deeply flawed in key respects that it amounts to little more than a toy for techies. For everyone else, it's impractical and frustrating. Unless the UMPC can evolve significantly beyond this first effort, it may wind up as a footnote in the history of personal computers."
At $1099, the Q1 is more expensive than a basic laptop. Battery life too is disappointing. And thirdly, the Q1 fails to solve the the PDA's biggest flaw: it's lacking a keyboard. Mossberg also trashed the tiny screen size and clumsy navigation.
David Pogue with the New York Times added that the gadgets are painstakingly slow.
He also pinpoints the problem with the screen: it isn't about the size, but about the 800 by 480 pixel resolution. That wouldn't even be such a huge issue if the UMPC wouldn't be running Windows XP: some of the dialog boxes won't even fit on the screen.
For all the hype that Microsoft and Intel created around the UMPC's launch, it sounds that they have failed to deliver.
Tags: intel, Microsoft, samsung, q1, UMPC, origami
AOL retreating from Europe
If you though that the AOL-Time Warner was a disaster, you should prepare for things to become much worse.
AOL allegedly is looking to retreat from the European market because the company is unable to keep up the competition with local powerhouses including Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom.
How the mighty empire has crumbled.
AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000 in a deal that was valued at $120bn.
European regulators weren't happy. AOL and German publishing juggernaut Bertelsmann had jointly built out an internet provider business under the Compuserve and AOL Europe brands. Being that Bertelsmann at the time was the world's fourth largest publishing company, an AOL-Time Warner-Bertelsmann alliance had "monopoly" written all over it. AOL ended up paying $8bn to buy Bertelsmann out of the joint venture.
The deal at the time was ridiculed but in hindsight the sale was one of the best business decisions of the internet bubble era, and an enourmous waste of money for AOL.
AOL in the mean time has withered and has come to represent the internet 1.0 of the dial up generation. Ending the European adventures further strengthens that image.
Revolutions tend to make victims. But few people in 1999 could have predicted that AOL would be one of them.
Tags: AOL, compuserve
Google's secret child pornography revenues
New York politician Jeffrey Toback (the handsome chap on the right) has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of making "billions" of child pornography.
After Al Gore claiming to have invented the internet, we have another (Democrat) politician who will go down history as being utterly clueless about the workings of the online world.
The charges assume that derives the bulk of its revenues (last year $6.1bn) from advertising online child pornography. That little fact by itself should make anyone realize that Toback has been sniffing the glue jar too much.
There furthermore isn't a shred of evidence to support his claims.
The lawsuit seems nothing more than a cry for attention in an election year, and that strategy has obviously worked. The next thing to do is ignore Toback in the upcoming elections, just like we should ignore his baseless lawsuit.
Tags: Google, Jeffrey Toback, child pornography
McAfee joins the OS X scare choir
McAfee has published a white paper (PDF download) warning against the pending onslaught of OS X worms, trojans and viruses.
Unfortunately the report will mostly confirm Mac zealots' perception that the evil outside world is out to get OS X at all cost.
The whitepaper compares that increase in the number of reported vulnerabilities in both Windows and OS X and draws the conclusion that Apple vulnerabilities are up 228 per cent and Windows holes merely 73 per cent between 2003 and 2005.
But McAfee is playing number games. The percentage looks a lot less impressive if you consider the raw data: Windows went from 92 to 159 vulnerabilities, while Apple rose from 45 to 143. Why not correct for market share as well? The number of flaws per user for Apple after all is far greater than for Windows (it might not be a very relevant number however).
The timing for McAfee's publication soon becomes obvious. The company also has released a version of its anti-virus software for OS X for Intel systems.
Surely OS X is vulnerable to worm and trojan attacks, and the software has seen plenty of serious security vulnerabilities that could have been exploited. But playing number games won't convince any Mac users. Concrete evidence and genuine threats tend to have more power of persuasion.
Tags: OS X, security, anti virus
Web 2.0 growing pains spread to YouTube
The Youtube video hosting service has come under attack from users over intransparent policies and random rejections.
The site joins Digg, which last month came under attack for deleting user accounts and blacklisting URLs for no apparent reason.
In a blog posting titled "screw youtube", one user complained about video's disappearing from his account, even though they didn't violate the site's user policies.
Both the YouTube and Digg problems show that these services have trouble scaling and now face possible collapse under their own weight. They rely heavily on peer review, but fail to take into consideration that those peers can zealots or just plain wrong. The sites also fail to provide a way to challenge those faulty bans.
"YouTube isn’t the attractive video hoster it used to be. It became too corporate, too yadda yadda and far too bloathed with options, groups and whatever," the blogger concluded.
It seems that we've landed at a stage where the visionaries are separated from the posers who mask a technology as a solution. Things will get bloody, but that's what evolution is all about.
Time to bring out the protest signs
photo: Steve White
Spam fight creates some collateral damage
A fight between a Russian spammer and the Israeli Blue Security is spilling over to other parts of the internet.
Blue Security claims to have a clever way to fight spam: flood them with unsubscribe request, creating what amounts to a denial of service attack against their mail servers.
The method apparently worked well enough to piss off one spammer in Russia, who decided to launch a denial of service attack against Blue Security.
Looking for cover, Blue Security decided to hide between innocent bystanders, moving his website to the Sixapart owned Typepad blogging service, which is also used by this blog.
You'd assume that their servers could withstand the DoS attack, as they host thousands if not millions of blogs. But in this case they couldn't. As the Blue Security website fell again on Tuesday, it took all the other Typepad blogs down with it.
Any attempt to fight spammers should be applauded, but it should never put the integrity of the internet at risk. In this case the cure proved more disastrous than the ailment.
Tags: blue security, spam, security, typepad, six apart
Bill Gates complains about his $50bn load
Bill Gates longs for a lower position on the list of the world's wealthiest people that he has dominated for over a decade.
"I wish I wasn't. There is nothing good that comes out of that," Gates said at the MSN Strategic Account Summit. "You get more visibility as a result of it."
A mere slave of the corporate payroll, I can't really relate to Gates' hardship. But my hopes of getting some further insights were squashed, as I got none. Gates didn't really dive into the curse of his massive fortune. He even mentioned that he is still comfortable going around in public and has no problems signing the occasional signature.
Gates' wealth dilemma must be something like being a 100k frequent flier member. It's heaven the first time you get there. But soon you realise that even with preferred boarding privileges a flight from Boston to San Francisco is one of the most boring things on earth.
Tags: bill gates, Microsoft, billionaire
Convicted felon sues over broken encryption (and loses)
Michael Crooker tried pursuing legal action against HP because the company's encryption software failed to protect his sensitive information.
Crooker is currently suffering from a surplus of free time as he has been awaiting trial for the past two years after he illegally shipping an air-gun silencer.
On 13 January, he filed suit against HP, accusing the company for breach of contract. In 2002 he had purchased a Compaq notebook because of its "DriveLock" encryption feature that would block access to the hard drive's contents.
Authorities seized Crooker's laptop on 23 June 2004 after finding some substances in his house that could be used to make bombs. His laptop was sent to the FBI to have the encryption broken, he Crooker now claims that authorities told him that they would use a Compaq provided backdoor.
There is no information indicating how they succeeded, but the encryption was somehow broken and information from his computer was used as evidence against him.
"It is therefore obvious that Compaq did indeed give the FBI backdoor access to Drivelock," Crooker alleged in his suit. He is demanding $250,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.
Regardless of the fact that Crooker doesn't provide any proof that Compaq cooperated, Crooker more importantly filed his suit "in forma pauperis", claiming a reduction in legal fees for poor people including inmates. But he failed to file the proper forms, as well as pay the reduced $250 filing fee. The case was thrown out on 13 April over this technicality.
For your reading enjoyment here are PDFs of 3 legal documents:
- Crooker's complaint
- The "notice of insufficiency", giving Crooker 30 days to correct his filings
- Judgement of dismissal
The news story in the Hartford Advocate (linked in the first paragraph) sadly enough doesn't mention the dismissal, even tough the case was dismissed 14 days before the publication.
Michael Crooker's mug shot
Tags: encryption, HP, FBI
Microsoft and the rationale for a Yahoo! acquisition
Microsoft is allegedly considering a Yahoo! acquisition, the Wall Street Journal claimed based on anonymous sources (the story is available online for now, but will move to the premium section of site in a few days)
The deal could kick-start Microsoft's foray into the online search market. Despite large investments, MSN so far has had limited success in the search market.
Assuming there is a core of truth to the story, it's worth considering why anyone would want this out in the open.
In this case there are three likely sources:
- A disgruntled party within Microsoft or Yahoo! who hopes that going public will end internal discussions and force the company to make a decision.
- A disgruntled external party such as an investment banker or consultant who didn't get the deal or who fears that the deal is about to fall through. Going public is either revenge or an effort to get the talks going again.
- A coordinated effort by Microsoft or Yahoo! to see how the market responds to the idea.
You can find hints supporting either theory in story.
Microsoft and Yahoo got a taste of each other's companies last year when they negotiated an interoperability deal between their instant messenger platforms.
A French DRM legislation linking catastrophe
France apparently is considering to back down on its anti-closed DRM law, Cnet reported yesterday.
The source for the story is another story in The Inquirer (full disclosure: The Inq' is published by the same company as this blog), but does a poor job at proving that France is actually scrutinizing the legislation.
The Inquirer story then? It turns out to be based on a report in Arstechnica, which claims that the law has been "gutted" but again doesn't provide any evidence. Instead it links to a Boingboing post from April 28.
Here we finally get some on the record evidence: the site received an email from the political activists of EUCD.info, as site agitating against the EUCD legislation which they describe as the European equivalent of the DMCA.
The Boingboing story finally lists some of the proposed revisions to the law. If adopted, the French DRM will indeed be a mere shiver of what it was once meant to be.
But we're talking about proposed changes. Nothing is set in stone yet and there can be many future changes. EUCD.info is certainly betting on that, as the organisation is staging a protest march this Saturday.
But in the Cnet story all these subtleties are lost: "The French government has apparently reconsidered a proposal to force Apple Computer to make the songs it sells through its iTunes Music Store playable on devices that compete with its iPods."
The world "apparently" says it all.
Bottom: No to the DRM law. Web radio is being threatened. Support us.
Tags: france, Itunes, DRM, EUCD, CDMA
Where will "ar s*w m" get you online?
Entering the search query "ar s*w m" on MSN will soon get you results for "Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies", Microsoft said today at a company event in Silicon Valley.
Microsoft's "Wild Thing" search technology will take the use of wild cards to a new extreme, allowing searchers to enter very brief search queries, leaving it up to the search engine to guess what the searcher could have meant.
Possible results are ranked based on their popularity, so the more mainstream your search query, the more brief you can expect to be.
Tags: Microsoft, msn search
Microsoft wants open research for closed products
Microsoft Research today opened up its Silicon Valley campus, showing off some of its research projects to the outside world.
Microsoft Research was set up to do long term research, driving innovation rather than concrete products. And to do so, the company is clinging on to the openness of academia: publishing papers, sharing information and subjecting studies to peer review.
"To get peer review, we need to operate as universities do. Then we have the validation that our work is at the forefront of the field and advancing the state of the art," said Roy Levin, director of Microsoft Research in Mountain View, California.
Working with universities to raise the overall level of innovation is great, but Microsoft somehow fails to see the benefit of this approach when it comes to actual products.
Universities, including publicly funded ones, are good enough when Microsoft needs to acquire knowledge. But when it comes to sharing knowledge about say, the Windows operating system with society through the use of open source, Microsoft is nowhere to be seen.
Tags: microsoft, microsoft research, basic research, open source
Gartner makes a case for additional Vista delays
Microsoft will be unable to meet the January 2007 release deadline for Windows Vista, Gartner argues in a newly released research note.
The note is available to paying Gartner clients only. The firm was kind enough to provide me with a copy – but unfortunately I can't provide a link to the report.
Gartner's delay theory is largely based on the experience with past Windows releases.
Microsoft is currently budgeting five months of testing between the forthcoming Beta 2 and the release of the software to PC makers, similar to the beta 2 testing for Windows XP. But Windows Vista is more complicated, similar to Windows 2000, the analysts argue. That version took nine to twelve months of testing.
Whether you're convinced or not, paying close attention to the quality and bug reports coming out of Beta 2 will be a good indicator of future delays. Because Windows Vista comprises a major overhaul of the operating system, a simple bug report can have major implications and force additional delays in the Vista release cycle.
That's exactly what Gartner is betting on.
Microsoft "respectfully disagrees" with Gartner, and the firm doesn't have much of an alternative. Any new Vista delay will further soil Microsoft's image and grow the ranks of the chorus chanting "Vapourware! Vapourware!".
The only way to end Vista's suffering is to put the code in the users' hands. We've seen so many empty Vista promises that Gartner's delay projection doesn't seem out of whack.
Vista proving to be a fata morgana?
Tags: windows vista, microsoft, gartner
Lego to teach children open source 101
The open source community should drop on their knees and hail an initiative by Lego to release the source code for its forthcoming Mindstorms NXT, because it allows children to grasp the concept op open source in a way that they can relate to: by playing.
Mindstorms NXT is a new line of Lego that lets kids create programmable robots, allowing them to create a device that for instance sorts colours or drives around obstacles.
By releasing the source code of the underlying technology, Lego takes creativity to a new level, and creates takes the open source phenomenon to a level that children understand and can be comfortable with.
Tags: lego, open source, minstorms NXT
Google steps up Microsoft fight
net.Google considers Microsoft it main competitor, and for good reason.
Yahoo! might be a larger search provider than MSN, the company is distinctly trying to be a media company (in 1999 you would say: portal) while Google is taking a technology approach.
Microsoft meanwhile is pumping billions of dollars into its Live Software initiative and MSN Search engine. Billions should make anyone nervous.
Google therefore has started to lobby the EU and US government, asking them to prevent Microsoft from 'bundling' its MSN Search service with the Internet Explorer browser. Because having the engine set as the default give Microsoft an unfair advantage, Google alleges.
So far Google has statistics working against it: it owns more than 40 per cent of the online search market in the US, while Internet Explorer makes up about 85 per cent of the browsers.
Microsoft however is starting to more closely integrate its online and offline services. Where hotmail for instance used to be an online service only, users soon will be able to access the service from their desktops.
Google in the mean time is believed to be working on a hosted word processor that would be an obvious Word contender.
If Microsoft bundles the Hotmail client and Word with Windows, Google knows that it's products have no chance of making more than a dent in Microsoft's market share. So it's better to keep the threat of Microsoft's bundling power alive now, before that memories of the Netscape slaughter have faded away.
Tags: google, microsoft, anti trust
Apple looks at open source file system
Apple allegedly is looking at Sun's Zettabyte File System to upgrade the current technology in its OS X operating system.
A Sun employee working on the project claimed that he had been approached by Apple. The computer maker itself is sticking to its policy of "no comment" on unreleased products.
But it would make sense for Apple to embrace ZFS. The system not only gets rid of the current ceiling in data storage limits by offering several billion more times storage capacity than comparable technologies, it also promises an improved data integrity.
Both Solaris and OS X are Unix-based operating systems, so there Apple shouldn't expect any significant problems in porting over the technology. And lastly, Sun released ZFS under an open source license, making it perfectly legal for Apple to use it without paying Sun a dime.
Microsoft meanwhile is struggling to finish its WinFS file system that was originally scheduled to ship as part of Windows Vista, but (surprise!) has been pulled from the release. In case you're curious and want to take a look, it is currently in beta.
Tags: ZFS, Apple, OS X, WinFS, windows vista
Demand customer service guerrilla style
Are you fed up with the customer service at a local retail store? A New York group demonstrated how to hit them where it really hurts: launch a real world denial of service attack by invading the store with people dressed like sales clerks
New York prankster group
Fact is that quite some people dislike Best Buy, so the prank got quite some support.
Tags: best buy, prank, improv everywhere
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