silicon.com : Software

Windows 7: Over 200 per cent more popular than Vista

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:01 GMT

That Windows 7 is more popular than Vista is no surprise - but just how much more love is Microsoft's latest OS getting?

According to research by analyst NPD Group, Windows 7's first week after release blew Vista's out of the water.

Bletchley Park's World War Two codebreakers in their own words

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:02 GMT

The work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers is credited with shortening the Second World War by two years. But for three decades, those who worked on decrypting Nazi communications could tell no one what they had done.

Such was the secrecy in which the codebreakers operated many did not even realise the true importance of their work until Bletchley's wartime activities were made public in 1974.

Exclusive: Jimmy Wales on what's next for Wikipedia

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:37:01 GMT

In an exclusive interview, Wikipedia founder and silicon.com Agenda Setter Jimmy Wales talks to Natasha Lomas about what's next for Wikipedia and why the site needs geeks of all kinds.

If you've ever written something about Jimmy Wales and posted it online, chances are he's read it. He mentions a Twitter post I made, prior to our interview, asking whether people think he's a hero or villain.

Telegraph CIO on the rocky road to going Google

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:49:01 GMT

Businesses thinking of switching to cloud computing should expect a bumpy probation period, if the experience of The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) is anything to go by.

The company's CIO Paul Cheesbrough knows all about the challenges of moving to the cloud, after recently migrating 2,000 staff from Microsoft Outlook and Exchange to Google Apps Premier Edition and Google's email archiving service Postini.

Phishers set their sights on corporate accounts

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:36:01 GMT

Fraudsters have attempted to steal an estimated $100m from corporate bank accounts using malware and money mules, the FBI said yesterday.

The FBI is seeing several new victim complaints and cases every week, according to an Internet Crime Complaint Center report.

Why the UK will never create a Google, Microsoft or Oracle

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:20:01 GMT

The UK will never create a software giant to rival the likes of Microsoft, Google or Oracle.

That's the sobering conclusion of the silicon.com CIO Jury which voted 10 to two against, when asked whether the UK could create a global software business to rival the technology industry's most powerful companies.

'Incompetent': Watchdog's verdict on prisoner database

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:28:01 GMT

Parliamentary spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee has branded the implementation of the National Offender Management Information System (C-Nomis) a failure.

Chair of the PAC, Edward Leigh, said of the programme that was designed to implement a single database between the Prison Service and the National Probation Service: "Even we were surprised by the extent of the failure of C-Nomis", adding: "there was not even a minimum level of competence in the planning and execution of this project".

'You're responsible for your own wi-fi security' say ISPs

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:48:02 GMT

Customers are responsible for their own wi-fi security, according to hotspot operators.

BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile all recommended wi-fi users adopt VPNs to help protect themselves while using hotspots.

Maemo and Android: Symbian's open source rivals up the pressure

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:14:01 GMT

While Symbian continues to dominate the smartphone market it could soon be facing increasing competition from a new quarter - Maemo.

There's no debating that the Symbian platform remains the daddy of the smartphone world: one in every two sold today carries the Symbian OS.

Photos: Google Waves hello to a new way of doing business

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:39:02 GMT

Since Google launched its Wave collaboration platform this year businesses have been testing how they can make use of the system.

The Wave platform offers users a chance to chat and work together in real-time within a window in a web browser that Google calls a 'wave'.

Microsoft to Office Accounting: Your number's up

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:37:01 GMT

Microsoft announced on Friday it is to kill off its Office Accounting product line.

Microsoft's Redmond campus. The software giant has called time on accounting software(Photo credit: Microsoft)

Photos: Salesforce.com rides the Google wave with CRM app

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:25:02 GMT

Earlier this year, Google launched a collaboration platform called Wave.

Using the platform, individuals can access shared windows called 'waves' where they can collaborate in real-time, swapping IMs, photos, videos, maps and documents as they work together.

Taxman to save £110m by taking an axe to its IT estate

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:09:01 GMT

The taxman will cut £110m from its annual IT bill by trimming its IT infrastructure.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will reduce the £840m it currently spends on IT each year by ditching or shrinking the size of 40 computer systems and shutting down a number of datacentres.

'UK must up privacy safeguards following Phorm'

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:40:01 GMT

The European Commission has said the UK government doesn't have adequate communications privacy legislation and must step up its efforts.

The announcement follows complaints by UK citizens and privacy groups over the government's lack of action after telco BT conducted trials of the Phorm behavioural advertising service without getting consent from its customers.

Photos: Ubuntu unleashes the Karmic Koala

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:20:02 GMT

Want to know how Ubuntu 9.10 will look once installed? silicon.com sister site ZDNet Australia takes you through the install.

Once booting from the CD is complete, this is the installation screen that welcomes you. Note the release notes link at the bottom.

Windows 7: Not perfect - but ready for prime time

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:43:02 GMT

While Windows 7 solves most of the qualms about Vista, the new OS still has plenty of room to grow, says Quocirca's Clive Longbottom.

The much vaunted Windows 7 is now among us, and consumer pre-orders look strong.

Why CIOs are saying yes to open source software

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:05:01 GMT

It's a question many CIOs are wrestling with: can open source help make your IT budget stretch a little further in these tough economic times?

While some CIOs are enthusiastic about the potential savings that can be made, others still warn of the hidden costs that can lie in wait for the unwary.

How will you use Google Wave? Recruiting, decision-making, dealing with complaints

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:40:01 GMT

It may have only been launched a few months ago but Google's Wave collaboration platform is already attracting attention from businesses, according to one of the key architects of the service.

Lars Rasmussen, Google's software engineering manager and co-creator of Wave, said unlike typical Google services, Wave has stoked early interest among both consumers and enterprises.

Server virtualisation: Why CIOs should start small but think big

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:19:01 GMT

It might not currently be as widespread as industry hype might have it - but server virtualisation is poised to grow rapidly as smaller businesses catch on to the benefits.

Server virtualisation allows multiple instances of an operating system to run simultaneously within one physical server, cutting the amount of hardware organisations have to buy and manage. And because fewer physical servers are required, virtualisation also helps to cut energy costs: no small thing for CIOs and CFOs after a recent study found that, thanks to rocketing energy prices, it now costs more to power some servers than to buy them in the first place.

Photos: Top iPhone apps for business

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:45:01 GMT

Apple's iPhone might be seen by many as largely a consumer device, with games and media apps regularly topping the 'What's Hot' list on iTunes.

However, the App Store currently stocks more than 2,000 business apps and, with the iPhone currently dominating around 13 per cent of the smartphone market, the device's potential as a business tool can no longer be ignored. Here we take a look at some of the best business apps that can help turn your iPhone into a portable office.

Amazon's Kindle ignites legal upheaval

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:01 GMT

Amazon's Kindle e-book and Google's Book Search will change the way we read books forever. And that will keep the lawyers plenty busy, says Callum Sinclair.

The internet, as the daddy of all disruptive technologies, heralded a new era of litigation. Now with Amazon's Kindle e-book reader available internationally - in the UK and some 100 other countries - and all the controversy over the Google Book Search settlement, it looks like e-book readers are the next space for legislative upheaval.

Cheat Sheet: Augmented reality

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:03:02 GMT

Augmented reality? Is this another name for Apple CEO Steve Jobs' infamous reality distortion field? Nice try but no. Augmented reality (AR) means overlaying computerised elements, such as graphics or text, on top of a real-time video or other real-world display with the aim of providing additional information to the viewer.

That sounds pretty abstract - do you have a few examples? The most basic examples of AR can be seen on televised sports games, where scores are overlaid on match footage, or digital annotations are added to show the trajectory of the ball or highlight a particular player.

Video: 60-Second Pitch: End-point security

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:29:01 GMT

CIOs spend hours listening to suppliers pitch their latest technology. How would these vendors fare with just one minute to get their message across?

silicon.com turns up the heat and gives vendors only 60 seconds to impress a panel of CIOs with their products. The IT chiefs then quiz them before delivering their verdict on the technology in the form of a red or green light.

Hackers breach Guardian Jobs site

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:13:01 GMT

The Guardian Jobs site has suffered a hack that could have exposed the sensitive data of some users.

Personal details included in users' job applications may have been accessed by the hackers, according to an email sent to affected users by Guardian Jobs on Saturday.

Augmented reality's time is coming thanks to smarter smartphones

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:11:01 GMT

Today's increasingly feature-packed smartphones are likely to propel the use of augmented reality into the mainstream in the coming years.

Augmented reality - the process of superimposing digital information or objects onto real-time video streams in order to create the illusion that they are part of the physical scene - will be pulling in revenues of more than $350m by 2014, up from $6m in 2008, according to analyst ABI Research.