PC News Blog

Apple: Next Mac OS X unlocks chip power

2009-06-09T17:58:00.011-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO--Apple wants Mac OS X to do a better job dealing with the new directions that Moore's Law has taken computer chips.

At its Apple Worldwide Developer Conference here, Craig Federighi, vice president of Mac OS engineering, shed light on technology called Grand Central Dispatch that's designed to make Mac OS X 10.6, called Snow Leopard, take better advantage of multicore processors and graphics processors.

Computer chips for years improved in performance through faster clock speeds, but processor engineers ran into problems with chips consuming inordinate amounts of power and producing inordinate amounts of heat. In addition, the faster clock speeds sometimes meant chips just idled faster because memory access speeds couldn't keep up.

The new direction: multicore processors that put multiple processing engines on the same chip. The problem with the approach, though, is that PC software typically had been written to run with one thread of instructions at a time. Multicore processors work best when software does many things at the same time, which is much harder to program.

Grand Central Dispatch is designed to address that problem for software developers, making it easier to program multithreaded software, use operating system services, and tune program executions.

It also improves how Mac manages those threads, Federighi said. For example, when running Apple's Mail app, today's Leopard OS uses about the number of threads when busy as when idle.

"When it's busy, it uses more threads to take advantage of multicores. When idle, all those threads go away, giving back resources to the system," Federighi said. "When you apply that to every application, you get a big win in performance and responsiveness."

Graphics chip power
The new Mac OS X also is designed to support a programming technology called GPGPU--general-purpose graphics processing unit--which lets a graphics chip run some computing jobs in addition to its ordinary job displaying graphics.

To make its GPGPU technology work, Apple uses OpenCL, a C-like programming technology that has the support of graphics chipmakers Nvidia, AMD's ATI, Intel, and others.

Graphics chips aren't good for every sort of computing task, but they are good for mathematical calculations--including they physics calculations often needed in video games that simulate flowing fabrics, bouncing balls, and other real-world actions.

Mac OS X will be available in September with an upgrade price of $29, a big notch less expensive than the $129 price of earlier upgrades.

Apple also is working to support 64-bit x86 processors, now the prevailing standard. One big advantage of 64-bit processors is support for more than 4GB of memory; Federighi also touted faster mathematical processing such as the doubled speed of fast Fourier transforms.

Apple has been gradually making its operating system fully 64-bit. "Snow Leopard is final stage where all the major system applications are written in 64-bit mode," Federighi said.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Apple: Next Mac OS X unlocks chip power

2009-06-09T17:58:00.009-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO--Apple wants Mac OS X to do a better job dealing with the new directions that Moore's Law has taken computer chips.

Grand Central Dispatch is designed to address that problem for software developers, making it easier to program multithreaded software, use operating system services, and tune program executions.

It also improves how Mac manages those threads, Federighi said. For example, when running Apple's Mail app, today's Leopard OS uses about the number of threads when busy as when idle.

To make its GPGPU technology work, Apple uses OpenCL, a C-like programming technology that has the support of graphics chipmakers Nvidia, AMD's ATI, Intel, and others.

Mac OS X will be available in September with an upgrade price of $29, a big notch less expensive than the $129 price of earlier upgrades.

Apple has been gradually making its operating system fully 64-bit. "Snow Leopard is final stage where all the major system applications are written in 64-bit mode," Federighi said.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Apple: Next Mac OS X unlocks chip power

2009-06-09T17:58:00.007-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO--Apple wants Mac OS X to do a better job dealing with the new directions that Moore's Law has taken computer chips.

Grand Central Dispatch is designed to address that problem for software developers, making it easier to program multithreaded software, use operating system services, and tune program executions.

It also improves how Mac manages those threads, Federighi said. For example, when running Apple's Mail app, today's Leopard OS uses about the number of threads when busy as when idle.

To make its GPGPU technology work, Apple uses OpenCL, a C-like programming technology that has the support of graphics chipmakers Nvidia, AMD's ATI, Intel, and others.

Mac OS X will be available in September with an upgrade price of $29, a big notch less expensive than the $129 price of earlier upgrades.

Apple has been gradually making its operating system fully 64-bit. "Snow Leopard is final stage where all the major system applications are written in 64-bit mode," Federighi said.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

NEC joins IBM on chip project

Multicore chips leave software trailing, warns Gartner

Intel research: Fast radios, flashy chips, low power

Juniper revs Ethernet to 100Gbps

2009-06-09T17:58:00.005-07:00

Juniper Networks has announced the industry's first 100Gbps Ethernet router interface card.

The networking company unveiled the 100Gbps Ethernet interface on Monday. The card will be sold as part of Juniper's T1600 core router, which is a high-performance product aimed mostly at telecommunications providers, but also usable by cloud-infrastructure companies and others rolling out large-scale virtualization.

"[100Gbps Ethernet] has always been inevitable, it has just been a question of when now trends such as cloud computing, datacenter consolidation and virtualization are making the need for [100Gbps Ethernet] more acute and urgent than ever before," Opher Kahane, Juniper's general manager of high-end systems, said in a statement.

The 100Gbps Ethernet standard has not been published yet. Right now, it is being incubated, alongside 40Gbps Ethernet, by the IEEE's P802.3ba Ethernet task force, with final publication not expected for a year, at least. The fastest currently published Ethernet standard is 10Gbps.

Juniper's 100Gbps Ethernet interface card is "expected to be deployed in customer pilot networks before the end of 2009", the company said, but did not say why the product was being released before the standard is finalized.

This article was originally published on ZDNet UK.

Net bombarded by heaviest ever attacks this year

Multicore chips leave software trailing, warns Gartner

Bill Gates donates $12.5M to help poor spend their money

Juniper revs Ethernet to 100Gbps

2009-06-09T17:58:00.003-07:00

Juniper Networks has announced the industry's first 100Gbps Ethernet router interface card.

This article was originally published on ZDNet UK.

Net bombarded by heaviest ever attacks this year

Multicore chips leave software trailing, warns Gartner

Bill Gates donates $12.5M to help poor spend their money

Juniper revs Ethernet to 100Gbps

2009-06-09T17:58:00.001-07:00

Juniper Networks has announced the industry's first 100Gbps Ethernet router interface card.

This article was originally published on ZDNet UK.

Net bombarded by heaviest ever attacks this year

Multicore chips leave software trailing, warns Gartner

Hacker named to Homeland Security Advisory Council

2009-06-09T05:54:00.001-07:00

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Moss' background as a computer hacker (aka "Dark Tangent") and role as a luminary among young hackers who flock to Defcon in Las Vegas every summer might seem to make him an odd choice to swear allegiance to the government. (Although before running his computer conferences, Moss also worked in the information system security division at Ernst & Young.)

I'd like to hear some of the banter as he rubs elbows with the likes of former CIA (Bill Webster) and FBI directors (Louis Freeh), Los Angeles County sheriff, Miami mayor, New York police commissioner, governors of Maryland and Georgia, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, and the president of the Navajo Nation.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

"I know there is a newfound emphasis on cybersecurity and they're looking to diversify the members and to have alternative viewpoints," he said. "I think they needed a skeptical outsider's view because that has been missing."

Asked if there was anything in particular he would advocate, Moss said: "There will be more cyber announcements in coming weeks and once that happens my role will become more clear. This meeting was focused on Southwest border protection... With things like Fastpass and Safe Flight, everything they are doing has some kind of technology component."

Moss, who is genuinely humble, said he was "fantastically honored and excited to contribute" to the HSAC and not concerned with losing any street cred among what some would call his fan base. He did concede that his new position would give him an unfair advantage in Defcon's "Spot The Fed" contest in which people win prizes for successfully outing undercover government agents.

Security consultant Kevin Mitnick, who spent five years in prison on computer-related charges and was once the FBI's most-wanted cybercriminal, praised Moss' diplomacy, but said: "I'm surprised to see Jeff on the list. I would have expected (crypto/security guru and author) Bruce Schneier to be on the council."

Moss "is a great crowd pleaser" and "he's just bad enough for them to say 'we're crossing the ranks,'" said journalist and threat analyst Adrian Lamo, who served two years of probation for breaking into computer networks. "But the reality is he's as corporate as hiring someone out of Microsoft."

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Web 2.0 causing extra strain on telcos

2009-06-09T01:37:00.005-07:00

Web 2.0 sites are causing new strain for telcos, according to a Citrix Systems top exec.

Klaus Oestermann, group vice president, Citrix Systems, said such sites, which typically include social networking and blogging sites, tend to carry rich features which update the page's contents without requiring the user to refresh it.

These features make Web 2.0 "much more taxing" to a telco's IT backend infrastructure, requiring a continuous flow of information streamed, compared to plain "1.0" sites which "only require one response to one [server] request", Oestermann told ZDNet Asia in an interview.

Web apps found on Web 2.0 sites require a one-to-one user connection to backend servers for extended periods, thereby taxing resources, he said.

And telcos are feeling the strain placed upon them by the increasing proliferation of Web 2.0 sites, said Oestermann.

While operators may be happy to see the extra revenue coming in from selling bandwidth, coping with the strain is not a simple task. For example, in the Asia-Pacific region, telcos pulling content from popular Western sites such as YouTube need to decide which videos are to be cached locally, to deliver them to users faster.

Oestermann explained videos generally fall into the few which are downloaded by millions, and the "long tail"--the millions that are only seen by a few users. Telcos need to sift out which to cache, he said.

To solve the one-to-one connection inefficiency, telcos can rely on application delivery controllers to offload the strain on Web servers, cutting server costs at the bottom line, he said.

He added that the availability of greater bandwidth through a next-generation broadband network wouldn't alleviate the problem, but worsen the strain through heightened user demand for bandwidth.

"If people have more bandwidth, they will make even more requests, and that will cause greater strain... The fundamental backend problem is still there," he said.

And as bandwidth starts becoming ubiquitous, telcos' "core business" will disappear over time. They have to move up a level to providing "value-added" products such as Web services, in order to differentiate, Oestermann advised.

"One of the benefits [of a telco providing Web services] is that they already have most [enterprise] customers already signed on," he said.

Additionally, there is a market for localized content in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in non-English-speaking countries, Oestermann added. "In countries like Thailand and China, you still have the usual Google and YouTube...on the list of most popular sites, but you're also seeing local services popping up."

This article was originally posted by ZDNet Asia.

Viruses now penetrating deeper

Silverlight to star in NBC’s online Olympics coverage

Hacker named to Homeland Security Advisory Council

2009-06-09T01:37:00.003-07:00

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Hacker named to Homeland Security Advisory Council

2009-06-09T01:37:00.001-07:00

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Hacker named to Homeland Security Advisory Council

2009-06-09T01:36:00.001-07:00

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss, who is 39, said he was surprised when he got the call and was asked to join the group.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Kaspersky denies leaks after SQL hack

Web 2.0 causing extra strain on telcos

2009-06-08T19:03:00.001-07:00

Web 2.0 sites are causing new strain for telcos, according to a Citrix Systems top exec.

Web apps found on Web 2.0 sites require a one-to-one user connection to backend servers for extended periods, thereby taxing resources, he said.

And telcos are feeling the strain placed upon them by the increasing proliferation of Web 2.0 sites, said Oestermann.

To solve the one-to-one connection inefficiency, telcos can rely on application delivery controllers to offload the strain on Web servers, cutting server costs at the bottom line, he said.

He added that the availability of greater bandwidth through a next-generation broadband network wouldn't alleviate the problem, but worsen the strain through heightened user demand for bandwidth.

"If people have more bandwidth, they will make even more requests, and that will cause greater strain... The fundamental backend problem is still there," he said.

"One of the benefits [of a telco providing Web services] is that they already have most [enterprise] customers already signed on," he said.

This article was originally posted by ZDNet Asia.

Viruses now penetrating deeper

Silverlight to star in NBC’s online Olympics coverage

Ballmer calls Obama taxes a moving issue

2009-06-07T13:59:00.007-07:00

Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer offered an unwelcome economics lesson to the Obama administration this week: Higher taxes have consequences that Washington policy-makers may not especially like.

Ballmer said Wednesday that if Congress enacts President Obama's plans to impose higher corporate taxes, a sensible thing for Microsoft to do would be to move jobs offshore.

"It makes U.S. jobs more expensive," Ballmer said, according to Bloomberg News. "We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S."

Last month, the president announced a plan to rewrite tax law by preventing U.S.-based multinational companies from "deferring" and keeping profits offshore, which can lower their tax bills.

The current U.S. corporate tax system is unusual because it taxes income that Microsoft and other companies make in other countries, even if they already paid foreign taxes on that income. That makes U.S.-based companies less competitive than, say, Irish firms that don't pay taxes on foreign income and aren't hit by double taxation; deferred taxation is a way to lessen the sting.

If deferred taxation is eliminated, it becomes more tempting for a company to move its headquarters from Seattle to Dublin. That's voting with your feet.

That's why business groups have opposed the president's plan. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it will "impede growth in the U.S. economy, (and) cause the loss of jobs." The National Foreign Trade Council called it "counterproductive."

Microsoft says it employs about 95,000 people worldwide, and about 56,500 in the United States.

This article was originally posted on CBSNews.com.

Ballmer calls Google’s Android ‘way behind’

Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless

Ballmer praises openness, attacks iPhone

Sprint CEO says Pre deal is longer than six months

2009-06-07T13:59:00.005-07:00

NEW YORK--Verizon Wireless's claims that it will be offering the Palm Pre within six months are not accurate, says Sprint Nextel's CEO Dan Hesse.

"They need to check their facts," Hesse said in an interview at a press event here to launch the Palm Pre. "That just is not the case. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length of the exclusivity deal. But I can tell you it's not six months."

Last week, Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless was quoted by Reuters as saying that over the next six months consumers could expect to see devices "like the Palm Pre and a second-generation Storm" on its network.

See also: Special Report: Palm Pre's got everybody talking

AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson also said last week that he hoped to have the Palm Pre on the AT&T network when the exclusivity deal with Sprint ended.

The Pre, which was announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is expected to be Sprint's flagship smartphone. And the company has high hopes that the device, which will be sold only on Sprint's network starting Saturday, would help the troubled carrier improve its image and retain customers who might be tempted to defect to AT&T for the iPhone. Early reviews of the product have been positive with many reviewers, including CNET's Bonnie Cha, calling the phone a good alternative to iPhone.

But claims that the Pre exclusivity deal with Sprint would only last six months had undermined expectations about what the Pre could do for Sprint.

Indeed , there is a lot riding on the success of the much-hyped Palm Pre for Sprint. The company has struggled over the last year to repair its badly damaged reputation as a wireless provider that offers poor customer support and unreliable network performance. But Hesse said during his presentation here at the launch event that the company has improved on all fronts over the past year. And he called the Pre launch the debut of a transformed Sprint.

"We are very different company than we were 12 months ago," he said. "And the Pre is the coming-out party for the new Sprint that shows off our fantastic data network and rate plans."

Hesse told the audience of customers and press that for 15 consecutive months consumers' satisfaction with Sprint's customer service has gone up. And he added that the company has refocused attention on improving its network and has actually been cited by independent consumer surveys as the most reliable 3G network on the market.

Hesse also emphasized Sprint as a value player in the market. Specifically, he said that subscribers signing up for Sprint's $100 Simply Everything Plan could save up to $1,200 over competing plans for smartphones offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

But he also acknowledged that Sprint has a long way to go to convince the public that it has turned a corner. He cited an internal survey that found that subscribers who used the company's service within the past year rated the service very positively. But subscribers who hadn't used the service within the past year had a somewhat negative perception of the service.

"We have this gap," he admitted. "(But) if you look at the changes in what we provide to customers in terms of the quality of the network and the customer experience, as well as, the rate plans we offer, this is a very different company than it was a year ago."

This article was originally published on CNET News.

Apps to dominate CTIA Wireless 2009

Murdoch says News Corp, Yahoo tie-up very unlikely

Google debuts Chrome for Mac, Linux

2009-06-07T13:59:00.003-07:00

Google released Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux on Thursday, but only in rough developer preview versions that the company warns are works in progress.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please don't download them," Google product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg said in a blog post, evidently trying to use a little reverse psychology. "Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable and potentially crashing software."

Until now, Google's open-source browser has been a Windows-only product, and some Mac and Linux users have been clamouring for their own version. Google coders have been working to rebuild some Chrome components, such as its graphical interface and its sandbox that isolates different processes from each other, to move beyond just Windows.

Google offers three versions of Chrome: stable, beta and developer preview. The Mac OS X and Linux versions fall into this last category, the most buggy and least tested and complete.

The Flash plug-in will not work, for example, so watching videos is out of the question. Printing or bookmark management are not yet implemented; and privacy controls are not complete. Google said there are more than 400 bugs that need to be resolved.

Although they are released only for the experimental crowd, the new versions are a big step forward for the browser. First, the versions will plug into Google's auto-update service that automatically downloads new versions. Second, the products bear the Google Chrome brand, not just the Chromium label of the only incarnations available until now. And third, a much larger audience will be helping Google debug the code through automated crash reports of the new versions.

Not everyone can try the Mac and Linux versions, however. Google spokesman Eitan Bencuya said the Linux version is supported only in the Debian and Ubuntu incarnations of Linux, and the Mac OS X version only works on Intel-based Macs.

Google is not saying when the new versions will make it to beta status, much less stable. "It's unclear. This is a first step," Bencuya said.

After years of near-dormancy when Microsoft's Internet Explorer ruled the roost, the browser world again is on fire, fuelled by competition and a new generation of more interactive web applications. Mozilla is on the cusp of releasing Firefox 3.5, as is Apple with Safari 4 for both Windows and Mac OS X. Opera 10 is in beta, and even Microsoft is slowly starting to speed up with the weeks-old Internet Explorer 8.

According to Net Applications statistics, Internet Explorer remains at the top, with 65.5 percent market share in May 2009. Firefox has 22.5 percent, Safari 8.4, and Chrome has edged up to 1.8 percent since its launch in September.

All this variety means web developers have to test their sites to make sure they work with more versions. Because Chrome uses the WebKit engine for interpreting and displaying web-page coding, the same engine Safari uses, Google argues that Chrome should be similar. But Chrome uses a different engine for JavaScript called V8, and web-based JavaScript instructions are at the heart of much of the present proliferation of elaborate web pages and applications.

The browser challengers argue that having multiple browsers on the market means web programmers will aim more for supporting standards such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript. And indeed, Microsoft made a standards mode the default for IE8. However, varying interpretations of standard and varying degrees of support complicate the matter, and a large number of people have not upgraded from IE6, much less IE7.

This article was originally posted on CNET News.

Google project promotes Chrome, JavaScript

What browser battle? They’re more alike than different

Crypto project seeks to lock down net security

2009-06-07T13:59:00.001-07:00

VeriSign will administer encryption for the internet's Domain Name System, according to the organization that oversees the fundamental internet address system.

Icann said on Wednesday that VeriSign will sign the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) at the root zone of the internet. The announcement suggests a resolution to a longstanding political argument about who would have responsibility for such encryption.

The US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology are working with Icann and VeriSign on the initiative.

In an interim arrangement between the participating organizations, VeriSign will manage and have operational responsibility for the zone signing key, while Icann will manage the key-signing-key process. Icann said it will work closely with VeriSign regarding the operational and cryptographic issues involved.

"This is very important for the global community of internet users. We will work closely with all participants on this crucial security initiative," Paul Twomey, president and chief executive of Icann, said in a statement.

The Domain Name System (DNS), the addressing system used to route information packets on the internet, has long been known to have numerous critical vulnerabilities. Due to the open nature of DNS architecture, DNS cache poisoning, which allows an attacker to falsely redirect a user, has been a recurrent problem since at least 2005. In 2008, security researcher Dan Kaminsky outlined a fundamental DNS flaw which forced multiple vendors to scramble to produce a patch.

The use of DNSSEC, an encrypted protocol, would mitigate many DNS flaws, but has so far been unworkable due to political tensions between DNS-using organizations, who have been unable to agree who would sign the root. This was recognized by the DNSSEC Deployment Working Group in 2005.

"Unfortunately, there are political issues," the working group said at the time. "The root is just another trust anchor but it is a 'special' one."

At the time of writing, Icann had not commented as to how these political issues had been resolved. However, Icann said in a statement that it "recognizes the urgency surrounding the issue of electronically signing the internet's 'root zone'".

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

‘.wow’: ICANN to allow almost any domain suffix

EMC offers tool for managing virtual systems

Cisco patches Security Manager flaw

Why Linux is ready for the desktop today

2009-06-05T14:39:00.009-07:00

Commentary--Over the years, the question is Linux ready for the desktop has been raised time and time again, and countless articles have been written about the strengths and weaknesses of this operating system. While desktop Linux adoption has yet to go completely mainstream, recent indicators show that a major change is underfoot.

Linux is primed to take the PC market by storm as more enterprises recognize the value proposition that Linux offers business - more flexibility, customization and affordable options. We're also seeing hardware manufacturers expanding their Linux offerings on a range of devices. The recent roll out of the new ProBook series of HP notebook devices available with a fully supported Linux operating system is one example and these options is only expected to grow.

Until recently commercial desktop Linux deployments had mostly been limited to single task applications, such as cash registers or transactional workstations. But Linux offerings are now mature enough and ideal for a wide range of workers. In fact, power users all the way down to users who perform such basic tasks as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email and web browsing are benefiting from a Linux operating system. In addition, due to the current economic environment, enterprises are required to rationalize the cost of their server and desktop software and thus they are reevaluating their use of costly proprietary software. As customers seek fully functional operating systems and applications at a fraction of the price of Windows or Mac, Linux has become a truly attractive alternative.

So the question remains: is Linux ready for the enterprise desktop today? A steady increase in user adoption and key developments over the past six to 12 months suggest that the answer is yes:

Open source applications reach maturity
First, a number of open source applications have become more technical mature, and a lot more user-friendly over time. One example of this is OpenOffice.org, which has reached new levels of sophistication that allow it to be used by almost any worker in the enterprise without losing a single degree of productivity.

In addition, open source software adoption is growing. According to a recent CIO.com survey of IT and business executives and managers, more than 50 percent of enterprises are already using open-source applications. Interestingly enough, a number of public sector organizations such as government and education are also beginning to migrate away from proprietary standards and are embracing open standards such as Open Office XML and the Open Document format, for storing and sharing content. Because these open source applications are based on open standards, these organizations are helping to drive the adoption of Linux forward. Linux preloads on PCs increase
Another key trend impacting the growth of enterprise desktop Linux can be found within the hardware ecosystem. Several key OEM vendors, such as HP, Lenovo and Dell, are preloading desktop Linux, and more importantly, they are preloading desktop Linux at a much faster rate than ever before. What were hearing from several vendors in the industry is that they want to be able to offer preloaded Linux systems at the same time as proprietary Windows systems. Thats really an inflection point in the industry - Linux is no longer the laggard.

In fact, industry research shows that Linux, as an operating system, is growing. Gartner predicts the install base for Linux users will be 34 million by 2012. This growth is very appealing to many hardware vendors, who are hearing from their customers that they want choice and flexibility.

Customers dont want to be locked into using Windows they clearly want a more cost-compelling solution, and thats something that hardware vendors are increasingly offering on a wide range of devices. Netbook and Thin Client growth leads to Linux surge
New form factors have emerged recently which make desktop Linux a logical choice. Netbook sales, for example, have really taken off in the past 12-18 months and offer a bright spot on the computing landscape, as consumers are fleeing from higher-end products to these low-cost devices.

In many cases, enterprises are using netbooks as a companion form factor to their existing desktops. Due to its small footprint, netbooks have become ideal for road warriors as well as for those who simply want a light-weight, secondary PC.

As a result, were seeing Linux adoption on the netbook from vendors such as ASUS, MSI, HP and Lenovo. In reality, the low cost of the netbook, combined with the small footprint of desktop Linux, makes this an ideal choice to meet the needs of the enterprise user.

Other form factors include thin clients. Where customers dont need a fully loaded Windows operating system; they can simply use a slimmed down thin client Linux operating system and be just as productive at a fraction of the cost. The growth of these new and right-sized devices are just another reason desktop Linux is becoming more attractive to the enterprise. Security issues plague Windows
Following several high-profile, headline-grabbing data breaches in recent months such as TJX, Monster and Socit Gnrale, organizations are beginning to look closer at their security systems and question the safety of using Windows on desktops. The Windows operating system comes complete with plenty of security holes and Microsoft is slow to release patches for these holes. In addition, viruses on Windows are still very much alive and Windows continues to be their number one target.

While patches and virus alerts are routine for many organizations, the increasing frequency and severity of the threats have put pressure on IT departments to implement better security practices and standards. Take, for example, the recent Conficker virus, a Windows-only virus that has infected roughly seven to 10 million PCs to date. Experts are still trying to understand its impact and what kind of downstream implications it will have in terms of clogging network traffic. As a result, IT is starting to question if there aren't more secure options that reduce this risk. That option is Linux, which, while not necessarily immune to attack, is certainly less susceptible and by design can quickly detect and correct potential threats, reducing costs and headaches for the IT department. Computing heads for the clouds
Yet another key trend affecting desktop Linux adoption is the resurgence of web-based software systems. We know many organizations are moving toward the cloud, or are transitioning off of Microsoft Office in favor of applications such as Google Docs, Google Apps, Zoho, and so on. In essence, enterprises are beginning to ask themselves if they really need a fully-blown Microsoft operating system, with all the bells and whistles, to access applications in the cloud, or if they can simply get a slimmed down, less expensive solution to do the work that they need to do. Again, if all you need is a browser, then you definitely dont need a Microsoft operating system and the associated licensing costs. Here's another place that a more cost-effective, flexible Linux system gives you everything you need and protects your bottom-line.

Conclusion
Linux is ready for the desktop of that, there is no doubt. The ever increasing number of users adopting Linux is testament to its accessibility. According to a March 2008 IDC survey, about two-thirds of IT executives stated that they are "actively evaluating" or "accelerating adoption" of Linux on the desktop.

Furthermore, the report suggested that economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies and punish solutions that are not cost competitive. With cost-cutting pressures expected to continue into the post-recessionary phase, we can expect desktop Linux adoption to only increase. From economic arguments to innovative enhancements, Linux on the desktop clearly offers a compelling value proposition to customers now more than ever.

biography
Kevin Foster is Senior Product Marketing Manager at Novell, a leading supplier of both open source and proprietary software solutions.

IDC: Downturn to drive Linux adoption

Google Gadgets for Linux appears

Why Linux is ready for the desktop today

2009-06-05T14:39:00.007-07:00

So the question remains: is Linux ready for the enterprise desktop today? A steady increase in user adoption and key developments over the past six to 12 months suggest that the answer is yes:

biography
Kevin Foster is Senior Product Marketing Manager at Novell, a leading supplier of both open source and proprietary software solutions.

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Why Linux is ready for the desktop today

2009-06-05T14:39:00.005-07:00

So the question remains: is Linux ready for the enterprise desktop today? A steady increase in user adoption and key developments over the past six to 12 months suggest that the answer is yes:

biography
Kevin Foster is Senior Product Marketing Manager at Novell, a leading supplier of both open source and proprietary software solutions.

IDC: Downturn to drive Linux adoption

Google Gadgets for Linux appears

Android-powered netbooks predicted for 2009

Predictions for Apple's WWDC

2009-06-05T14:39:00.003-07:00

While others are making predictions for what will happen at Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference, which kicks off on June 8, I'm going to start out with two things which are almost certain not to happen.

Firstly, Steve Jobs won't take the stage: hopes that the CEO might make a big return were dashed when the name of Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller was allocated to the keynote slot. Statements coming from Cupertino earlier this year say Jobs has been closely involved in all kinds of decisions at the company while on sick leave, including the design of the iPhone 3.0, but I think it unlikely he might return a month early.

Secondly, we won't see a Mac tablet device.

The mythical device long predicted by analysts, fans and the media alike won't be arriving before 2010 - if ever. Even the device's most ardent supporters aren't expecting it until the new calendar year. Two thousand years ago, people poked about in chickens' entrails and studied the flights of other more-fortunate birds to determine the will of the gods. These days, analysts quote unnamed sources within Far East component suppliers and dream up entirely new Apple product categories. The Mac tablet may yet come to pass, although not next week.

Now onto my predictions in terms of what will happen...

It's likely, and appropriate given it's a developer conference, that the event will be dominated by software announcements - although a hardware unveiling will probably dominate headlines.

It's almost certain that Apple will announce new features and the launch date for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

In addition, Apple will take the wraps off a few more iPhone 3.0 features and announce a specific launch date (they've already said we should expect it this summer).

Finally, the launch of the mobile phone software will probably coincide with the release of a new version of the iPhone handset.

Anticipating Snow Leopard
Of the three releases Snow Leopard is the one I'm most looking forward to but the one we'll have to wait longest to get our hands on. While some expect it to be made live at the conference, it's more likely to get a firm launch date in the near future; Apple's Mac OS releases don't tend to be available immediately after events.

For the headline writers Apple's big cat is a bit of a dead duck. The company has made it clear this is not a release packed with exciting new features for consumers. Instead, Snow Leopard is all about taking a step back and refining the underpinnings of what is already a full featured and powerful operating system. When Jobs announced the successor to 10.5 (Leopard) at last year's conference, he talked about better performance, improved stability and a smaller overall installed footprint.

Many of the features are aimed at developers and make it easier for the third parties to write software for the operating system. In addition, the OS is full of new features or technology that allows programs to take full advantage of the processing potential of powerful graphics chips. Snow Leopard will also see Apple offer a 64-bit environment for applications.

Other software announcement could include a new media player in Quicktime X and some user interface tweaks for the OS. Nothing to get overly excited about unless you use a Mac and have become a little tired of the spinning beach-ball of death or occasional sluggish performance.

Given the dearth of marketable features for the OS, the truly interesting news will come in the form of the price announcement. It's unlikely to be either free or the price of previous updates. If it is the latter, then expect that to dominate the headlines.

iPhone intrigue
Since Apple has already announced that the iPhone 3.0 software will be made available this summer and has detailed many of the upcoming features, what will get most people excited will be the launch of a new iPhone handset. Many outlets are reporting dwindling stocks of the iPhone 3G while others have been offering deals on the device in an attempt to shift inventory.

As with all iPhone hardware releases thus far, the update is likely to be incremental. Think evolution not revolution. The device has changed little since it was first released and is, after all, a big screen with a single button - it's in software that the real innovation and development has taken place.

Rumors abound over new features for the iPhone. Among the front-runners are an integrated video camera (and video chat), a built-in compass (presumably to aid turn-by-turn directions) as well as beefed up memory and processor speeds.

Intriguingly, a report by Engadget this week suggests that the iPhone will come in a range of storage capacities from 4GB to 32GB, in an attempt to appease budget shoppers and power users respectively. The article is based on a report that the range of devices has been granted approval by the US standards body responsible for certifying handsets.

A less likely possibility is that the smaller storage capacity might be indicative of a smaller iPhone device. Take it all with a pinch of salt, though.

The most likely date for the release of the third-generation iPhone is the end of June or early July. The timing is important. As a slew of contenders come to market, most notably the Palm Pre, the company needs hardware to tempt those who are coming to the end of their original iPhone contracts to renew.

The future In truth, a part of me hoped the whole suite of software and glittering new hardware to be unveiled by a rejuvenated Jobs. Now I have accepted we are now looking at a new Apple. Not necessarily without Jobs but de-emphasising his iconic status as the magician at the head of company.

His abscence was meant to mark a $40bn drop in the value of Apple. In reality, the stock price has risen significantly in the five months he has been recuperating and dealing with local planning committees (he recently won permission to raze his mansion to the ground in order to build a new one).

So credit to interim CEO Tim Cook for steadying the ship and possibly indicating a way forward for the company.

In the meantime, Apple fans - sit back and enjoy the show, just don't expect it to be a blockbuster.

This article was originally posted on silicon.com.

Actors paid to line up for iPhone launch in Poland

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From Russia with Mac clones

Actors paid to line up for iPhone launch in Poland

Apple CEO Jobs’ life not in danger: report

From Russia with Mac clones

Predictions for Apple's WWDC

2009-06-05T14:39:00.001-07:00

Secondly, we won't see a Mac tablet device.

Now onto my predictions in terms of what will happen...

It's likely, and appropriate given it's a developer conference, that the event will be dominated by software announcements - although a hardware unveiling will probably dominate headlines.

It's almost certain that Apple will announce new features and the launch date for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

In addition, Apple will take the wraps off a few more iPhone 3.0 features and announce a specific launch date (they've already said we should expect it this summer).

Finally, the launch of the mobile phone software will probably coincide with the release of a new version of the iPhone handset.

A less likely possibility is that the smaller storage capacity might be indicative of a smaller iPhone device. Take it all with a pinch of salt, though.

So credit to interim CEO Tim Cook for steadying the ship and possibly indicating a way forward for the company.

In the meantime, Apple fans - sit back and enjoy the show, just don't expect it to be a blockbuster.

This article was originally posted on silicon.com.

Actors paid to line up for iPhone launch in Poland

Apple CEO Jobs’ life not in danger: report

From Russia with Mac clones

Actors paid to line up for iPhone launch in Poland

Apple CEO Jobs’ life not in danger: report

From Russia with Mac clones

Future of netbooks, laptops unfolds at Computex

2009-06-04T17:54:00.003-07:00

Credit: Concept design from Freescale Semiconductor

Taiwan's Computex conference has been quietly generating some interesting news on the future of netbooks and laptops.

For a peek into the crystal ball of mobile computing, we take a look at what has been announced in Taipei, Taiwan, this week.

Mobile-phone-based netbooks are growing
'Smartbooks', as described by companies such as Qualcomm, seem to be this year's netbook. It is mostly a naming-convention shift: ARM processors based on smartphone chips, such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon, were demoed on Asus Eee PC netbooks, running Android.

While Snapdragon competitor Freescale Semiconductor, which makes an ARM-based iMX515 processor, predicts hybrid smartbooks that will look like tablets, others see them being even-more-portable netbooks.

Android netbooks on the way
Regardless of the processor, companies are also announcing the release of Android netbooks, running a laptop-based version of the Google-created smartphone OS later this year.

Acer took the leap by confirming its release of Android netbooks by the third quarter of this year.

So is Android really a better OS solution? The point may be moot for laptop manufacturers such as Acer who are also entering the smartphone space, and are mostly likely interested in targeting Google for an across-the-board mobile OS option on their future devices. According to Acer, "a majority" of their netbooks will run Android as an alternative to Windows.

The challenge for Linux
Linux's relatively brandless environment has been a challenge in an app-store world, although this week's RealNetworks announcement of RealPlayer being preinstalled on Linux netbooks and Instant-On OS platforms is a big step for Ubuntu being able to keep up with the easy media-playing capability of netbook machines. It also adds some brand recognition and codec consolidation.

Shown at Computex were several Moblin Linux-based netbook prototypes, as well the announcement of Ubuntu Moblin Remix, the next graphical interface evolution beyond Ubuntu and a possible candidate for an OS specifically geared towards ultramobile PCs such as netbooks.

Future technology for screens, touch pads
Regardless of whether Apple moves into the netbook space, Windows netbooks are heading towards MacBook-like touch pad interfaces.

Synaptics's ClickPad version of their next multitouchpad was shown off this week, being targeted mainly at future netbooks with smaller keyboard areas.

Finding a way to fit buttons into small netbook frames has been a challenge, and going button-free would also allow the touch pad to be made even larger. Whether Windows 7 supports the ClickPad as well as Apple supports their MacBook single-button multitouchpad remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, taking a page from the easy-to-read reflective e-ink screens of e-readers, Pixel Qi demonstrated a highly reflective LCD screen on an Acer netbook that can be used in daylight with no backlighting. The hybrid screen can switch between e-readeresque and full-colored brightly backlit states for battery conservation.

Intel, Microsoft leaving netbooks behind?
As Intel continues supporting its Core 2 Duo-equivalent CULV energy-efficient mobile processors, the focus on Atom seems to be waning.

But according to Intel, that is not the case, especially with new Atom processors on the horizon.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has said that it would rather not use the netbook name any more, choosing "low-cost small notebook PC" instead.

As ULV and CULV processors take over the mobile Centrino space to create lower-cost, thinner laptops, and smartphone-evolved ARM processors begin to chip away at the Atom-based netbook category, the days of netbooks as we knew them may already be numbered.

This article was orginally posted on CNET Crave.

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Android-powered netbooks predicted for 2009

Future of netbooks, laptops unfolds at Computex

2009-06-04T17:54:00.001-07:00