In response to overwhelming demand from end users and businesses that have grown dependent on Windows XP (while growing increasingly wary of Windows Vista), Microsoft has extended the availability of Windows XP through system vendors and retailers through June 30, 2008.
Microsoft had initially planned to phase out Windows XP by the end of January, but persistent problems with software compatibility -- coupled with a number of security glitches that Microsoft apparently didn't expect -- have prevented many in the business IT world from adopting Windows Vista. Many simply prefer to stick with the devil they know instead.
In an "interview" released on Microsoft's PressPass website, Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management explained that the move will not ultimately change the date by which system vendors will stop selling XP-installed PCs. That date continues to be January 30, 2009. Apparently the extended delivery period is meant to keep up with the unexpected continued demand for XP, which will likely remain strong right up to the bitter end. (Although Nash spends most of the faux-interview trying to reassure the world that Vista is spectacularly popular.)
Meanwhile, the world awaits Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which is still in alpha testing. With luck, SP1 will succeed in addressing many of the concerns that IT managers have about deploying Vista in their business environments, and paving the way for a smoother transition once XP is no longer available.
On Tuesday at WiMax World in Chicago, Motorola announced a new WiMax chipset aimed at mobile devices. Made to compete with existing 3G cellular technologies, mobile WiMax aims not only to replace municipal Wi-Fi services, but also to change the entire business model for American cellular carriers. And that could be a very good thing.
Motorola?s Mobile WiMax chipset is smaller, cheaper, and more power-efficient than 3G wireless cards, which could make it easy for hardware vendors ? from laptop makers like Dell and Lenovo to phone vendors including, but not limited to, Motorola ? to crank out lots of affordable devices in short order. Indeed, Motorola plans to have client devices on the market by the end of next year.
Until this announcement, the prospects for WiMax were looking pretty bleak. Once touted as the future of all things mobile, potentially spreading wireless signals far and wide over entire metro areas, WiMax has spent most of its life as a high-end data backbone for large companies and government agencies, with few end users even knowing about its existence. And many analysts predicted it would fade away. But with Motorola?s new plans, WiMax could be back in a big way.
Meanwhile, Sprint is looking to capitalize on its partnership with Moto by launching a new service model for WiMax. Rather than blindly continue with the long-standing American tradition carrier-subsidized (and carrier-locked) hardware that has been so unpopular with more sophisticated users, Sprint will take a laissez faire approach with WiMax, leaving hardware to the hardware vendors and concentrating on providing new services, such as VOIP, for its customers.
If Mobile WiMax takes off, this will be a huge boost for the mobile enterprise, making it easier for IT managers to deploy new devices and configure VPN connections for their companies, and freeing business infrastructures from the self-interest of wireless carriers.
Once upon a time, when the Net was young and innocent, only the most elite hackers could get access to serious network intrusion tools. But those times are long gone, friends. Right now, any fool with an eBay account can get his hands on everything from password grabbers to keyloggers -- including helpful tutorials for the newbie -- for just a few bucks.
Sydney-based Tier-3 warns that the appearance of newb-friendly hacker kits on eBay constitutes a serious threat to businesses, as it increases the prevalence of effective intrusion tools. "It basically puts high level hacking tools, including surreptitious trojan loaders and Web site hacking utilities, into the hands of almost any Internet user - including novices - providing they have an eBay and Paypal account," says Tier-3 CTO Geoff Sweeney.
Sold under a variety of package names, these kits come packed with all sorts of nefarious tools, as one item listing advertises:
Just Look at the featuresguides
tools
tutorials and more for the latest hacking education
Email Bombers
Spoofing
Anonymity Software
Viruses Guides
bluetooth
remote computer access
Hacking Newbie sectionCracking Tools
Keyloggers
Spy Software Detection
Hacking Code
Password Stealers
Sniffers
Library full of useful tips and hints
While the listings for these kits include such verbiage as "for educational use only," the wink, wink, nudge, nudge disclaimer is anything but convincing. What is quite clear and convincing, however, is that there's never been a better time to reassess your network's security.
Last week, the International Organization for Standards (ISO) closed balloting on the draft standard of Microsoft's Open Office XML (OOXML) format, and Microsoft's new format failed to gain the votes it needed for acceptance as an international standard. Frankly, nobody outside of Redmond, Washington was really all that surprised. After all, Microsoft's draft is astoundingly long and fraught with a cavalcade of calculation errors that would make any accountant weep. But this draft specification is just that: a draft. Hopefully Microsoft will seize this opportunity to do some serious revision.
Google's Open Source Programs Manager, Zaheda Bhorat, spoke out Friday in support of the ISO vote in a post on the Google Code Blog. According to Bhorat, Google's own engineers spent some time investigating OOXML on their own, and cited a variety of shortcomings, including undocumented features that would make the supposedly open format difficult for anyone but Microsoft to implement, which is a clear contradiction of the whole concept of open standards.
Meanwhile, an open document format already exists: ODF. The only problem is that hardly anyone uses it. The ODF format is the default file format for documents created using the OpenOffice.org suite, which rivals the functionality of Microsoft Office. However, with most businesses using Microsoft Office ? and with Microsoft hoping nobody will ever discover the existence of ODF ? chances are you've never even heard of ODF, let along considered using it for your business data.
The argument in favor of open document formats is simple and compelling: Trusting your business data to a proprietary format such as XLS or DOC puts your business information at the mercy of someone else's intellectual property. Saving your data in an open format, such as ODF, ensures your ability to access and use your documents in perpetuity, no matter what happens to the company that makes your software. Of course, if none of your colleagues use ODF, it's a pretty tough sell. I know: All of my colleagues use Word, and I save all my documents in DOC format to avoid annoying the people I work with.
Ultimately, what we have here is a stand-off between the open source community, which hopes to perpetuate a truly open format, and Microsoft, which hopes to keep its customers dependent on its proprietary software. Calling its new Office XML document format ?Open? doesn't make it so. Only the creation of a truly open format ? one that people will actually use ? will solve this problem. What Microsoft must do now is go back to the drawing board and use its prodigious resources to revise OOXML, carefully and clearly document its features for the benefit of other vendors, and work with the open source community to create a format that is open both in name and in function.
Meanwhile, international support for ODF is growing (it's already an accepted ISO standard), and it's worth taking a closer look. You may find that the best open format for your business data is the one that already exists.
At long last, AMD has introduced its first line of quad-core CPUs. Built for servers, Quad-Core Opteron (aka ?Barcelona?) processors represent AMD's new challenge to rival Intel, which has marketed its own quad-core CPUs?for servers and desktops?for about a year now.
The Barcelona quad-core brings some new technology to AMD chips, as well as a new metric AMD calls Average CPU Power (ACP), which represents processor power usage across all of the CPU's components, including cores, integrated memory controller, and HyperTransport technology links. By controlling and tracking ACP, data center operators can more accurately budget for power consumption, which will make it easier to calculate the true cost of those systems cranking away in your server room. In addition to ACP, AMD's quad-core chips will provide better energy efficiency by dynamically reducing consumption in each part of the processor, depending on system demand.
From a performance perspective, however, the Quad-Core Opteron is a mixed bag. Early performance analyses rate the Barcelona hit-and-miss compared to Intel's Quad-Core Xeon chips, with Intel retaining the overall performance lead. And with Intel preparing its 45-nanometer Harpertown Xeon line (relative to AMD's continued 65nm development), AMD looks to have a long haul ahead of it before it will catch up with Intel.
To round out its late-blooming quad-core product line, AMD plans to introduce its desktop line?known as Phenom?in December.
As 802.11n draws nearer to a final specification, Cisco has given the technology its blessing with the industry's first enterprise class 802.11n modular wireless solution. Consisting of the new Aironet 1250 Series access point and the 48Gbps scalable Cisco Catalyst 6500-based wireless local-area network controller system, Cisco's offering will -- like all other 802.11n hardware -- support legacy 802.11/a/b/g networking. Unlike other 802.11n gear, however, the Aironet 1250 access point is a dual-radio solution capable of delivering data rates of up to 300Mbps per radio. Coupled with a Cisco Catalyst wireless services module, the Aironet 1250 will be able to power both of its radios from a single Ethernet connection.
Cisco's announcement signals a coming-of-age for 802.11n wireless, raising the technology from its long-standing position as a consumer-class novelty to that of a business-class workhorse that will offer the high-speed performance of next-gen Wi-Fi to an increasingly mobile workforce.
802.11n, which uses both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio bands, offers data rates of up to 248Mbps over a range of 200 feet indoors, according to the Draft 2.0 specification. It is expected to receive final ratification in October of 2008.
