May 19, 2004
Google Moves Toward a Direct Confrontation With Microsoft
By JOHN MARKOFF
AN FRANCISCO, May 18 - Edging closer to a direct confrontation with Microsoft, Google, the Web search engine, is preparing to introduce a powerful file and text software search tool for locating information stored on personal computers.
Google's software, which is expected to be introduced soon, according to several people with knowledge of the company's plans, is the clearest indication to date that the company, based in Mountain View, Calif., hopes to extend its search business to compete directly with Microsoft's control of desktop computing.
Improved technology for searching information stored on a PC will also be a crucial feature of Microsoft's long-delayed version of its Windows operating system called Longhorn. That version, which is not expected before 2006 at the earliest, will have a redesigned file system, making it possible to track and retrieve information in ways not currently possible with Windows software.
Google's move is in part a defensive one, because the company is concerned about Microsoft's ability to make searching on the Web as well as on a PC a central part of its operating system. By integrating more search functions into Windows, Microsoft could conceivably challenge Google the way it threatened, and destroyed, an earlier rival, Netscape, by incorporating Web browsing into the Windows 98 operating system.
A Google spokesman declined to comment about the new search tool.
Although Google's core business rests on huge farms of server computers that permit fast searching on the Internet, the company has already taken several steps to move beyond that business.
Last year, Google began testing a free program called the Google Deskbar that makes it possible to search the Web by entering words and phrases in a small dialog box placed in the Windows desktop taskbar at the bottom of the computer screen.
Google also sells a computer search system designed to index and retrieve information created and stored by a single organization.
There is a rich history of less-than-successful attempts to create information search tools for personal computers. In the 1980's, for example, Mitchell Kapor's On Technology developed On Location for retrieving information on Macintosh computers and Bill Gross, a prominent software developer, led a group of programmers to create Lotus Magellan for the PC.
Digital Equipment's Alta Vista search engine group also developed a search tool for data stored on desktop PC's. Today there are a number of commercial products for desktop searches like X1 and dtSearch. Moreover, both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems have file and text retrieval capabilities.
The Google software project, which is code-named Puffin and which will be available as a free download from Google's Web site, has been running internally at the company for about a year.
The project was started, in part, to prepare Google for competing with Windows Longhorn, which according to industry analysts will dispense with the need for a stand-alone browser.
The disappearance of the Web browser and the integration of both Web search and PC search into the Windows operating system could potentially marginalize Google's search engine. Google, well aware of this threat, hired a Microsoft product manager last year to oversee the Puffin project as part of its strategy to compete with Microsoft's incursion into its territory.
Microsoft has shown demonstrations of its new search technology, which emphasizes the use of natural language in queries like "Where are my vacation photos?" or "What is a firewall?" Microsoft believes that Longhorn users will no longer think about where information is stored; they will instead see a unified view of documents stored on both the Internet and on the desktop.
The looming confrontation between Microsoft and Google is coming as Microsoft prepares to introduce its own advanced Web search service, possibly later this year. The company is revising its MSN strategy and backing away from its Internet dial-up service, looking instead to get more revenue from the search advertising market that Google dominates.
Web and PC-based searching is a particularly thorny subject for Microsoft because the company's chairman, Bill Gates, first outlined the idea of "information at your fingertips" in a speech given at a computer industry trade show in 1990. Yet the company did little to innovate in the areas of Internet search or text and file searches on the PC until it discovered how profitable search had become for Google.
Google's strategy is to move quickly while Microsoft is still developing its Longhorn version of Windows, adding programs and services like its recently announced Gmail electronic mail program. The intent, say people who are aware of the company's strategy, is to lower its vulnerability to Microsoft by adding businesses that are "sticky" - in other words, businesses that create strong customer loyalty or are hard to switch away from.
Internet searching is widely seen by industry executives as a powerful commercial service, but one that is difficult to defend. It is widely presumed that Internet users who find a search service that is better than Google's will be willing to defect.
Searches for information stored on a PC, however, could offer an advertising arena that is more readily defensible. Indeed, desktop searching might be particularly valuable for Google's commercial advertisers, which may be willing to pay dearly for the ability to place targeted ads in front of personal computer users.
Such services, while they may be lucrative, will also inevitably force Google to deal with new controversies. Some privacy activists have opposed the Gmail service because they are concerned that the company is automatically extracting information from its customers' Gmail accounts.
środa, maja 19, 2004
wtorek, maja 18, 2004
NewsForge | UKUUG 2004 Open Source Award
UKUUG 2004 Open Source Award
Monday May 17, 2004 (05:15 PM GMT)
Topics: Open Source , Software
UKUUG (the UK's Unix and Open Systems User Group) has made its 2004 Open Source Award to Julian Field of the University of Southampton for his work in creating, developing, and supporting MailScanner, the highly respected e-mail security system. The award is made annually to give particular recognition to the development of free and open source software in the UK. As well as a GBP 500 cash prize, Julian wins an expenses-paid trip to the Open Source Convention in Portland, OR, USA, thanks to support from O'Reilly, organisers of the convention and Gold Sponsors of the Open Source Award.
MailScanner is a complete e-mail security system designed for use on UNIX/Linux e-mail gateways. It protects e-mail client packages such as Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora against viruses and can detect almost all spam. With e-mail viruses costing businesses millions of pounds every year and spam accounting for around 60% of all e-mail traffic, MailScanner is the front line of defence at more than 20,000 sites.
MailScanner has been in continuous development for almost four years. In that time it has grown from a simple virus scanner with 1200 lines of code to a complete email security and anti-spam system of over 30,000 lines. It supports the use of any combination of 20 different anti-virus engines to give the best possible coverage - commercial e-mail systems rely on one or two. It incorporates SpamAssassin, widely regarded as the best anti-spam engine available, and over 800 heuristic spam-detection rules.
Robustness and reliability are of great importance in any software system that handles e-mail, where legitimate content is often transient and business-critical. If an email message is destroyed in transmission, vital information can vanish without anyone noticing. Strenuous efforts have been made in designing and developing MailScanner to ensure that there is no chance of e-mail messages being lost due to failure of any part of the software.
MailScanner is distributed free under the GNU General Public License, as used for a lot of free and open source software. Julian has adopted this approach to maintain direct contact with users. When a new feature is suggested, he is able to gauge very quickly how useful this would be to the majority of users. Having full access to the source code, users can and do suggest fixes when reporting bugs or undesirable behaviour.
MailScanner has been deployed in over 60 countries, and is used for scanning mail destined for all seven continents (even Antarctica). It scans over 5 billion messages per week for numerous government departments, corporations, non-profit organisations and educational institutions. It is used by large ISPs and mobile telephone companies in the UK and Europe, along with the largest space agency. It is now downloaded over 20,000 times each month, a total of more than 250,000 downloads.
The judges noted as "Highly Commended" the Enterprise Groupware System developed by Jake Stride while a student at Newcastle University. Jake, now at Warwick University, wins a GBP 100 book prize, also donated by O'Reilly, and a GBP 100 cash prize.
Monday May 17, 2004 (05:15 PM GMT)
Topics: Open Source , Software
UKUUG (the UK's Unix and Open Systems User Group) has made its 2004 Open Source Award to Julian Field of the University of Southampton for his work in creating, developing, and supporting MailScanner, the highly respected e-mail security system. The award is made annually to give particular recognition to the development of free and open source software in the UK. As well as a GBP 500 cash prize, Julian wins an expenses-paid trip to the Open Source Convention in Portland, OR, USA, thanks to support from O'Reilly, organisers of the convention and Gold Sponsors of the Open Source Award.
MailScanner is a complete e-mail security system designed for use on UNIX/Linux e-mail gateways. It protects e-mail client packages such as Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora against viruses and can detect almost all spam. With e-mail viruses costing businesses millions of pounds every year and spam accounting for around 60% of all e-mail traffic, MailScanner is the front line of defence at more than 20,000 sites.
MailScanner has been in continuous development for almost four years. In that time it has grown from a simple virus scanner with 1200 lines of code to a complete email security and anti-spam system of over 30,000 lines. It supports the use of any combination of 20 different anti-virus engines to give the best possible coverage - commercial e-mail systems rely on one or two. It incorporates SpamAssassin, widely regarded as the best anti-spam engine available, and over 800 heuristic spam-detection rules.
Robustness and reliability are of great importance in any software system that handles e-mail, where legitimate content is often transient and business-critical. If an email message is destroyed in transmission, vital information can vanish without anyone noticing. Strenuous efforts have been made in designing and developing MailScanner to ensure that there is no chance of e-mail messages being lost due to failure of any part of the software.
MailScanner is distributed free under the GNU General Public License, as used for a lot of free and open source software. Julian has adopted this approach to maintain direct contact with users. When a new feature is suggested, he is able to gauge very quickly how useful this would be to the majority of users. Having full access to the source code, users can and do suggest fixes when reporting bugs or undesirable behaviour.
MailScanner has been deployed in over 60 countries, and is used for scanning mail destined for all seven continents (even Antarctica). It scans over 5 billion messages per week for numerous government departments, corporations, non-profit organisations and educational institutions. It is used by large ISPs and mobile telephone companies in the UK and Europe, along with the largest space agency. It is now downloaded over 20,000 times each month, a total of more than 250,000 downloads.
The judges noted as "Highly Commended" the Enterprise Groupware System developed by Jake Stride while a student at Newcastle University. Jake, now at Warwick University, wins a GBP 100 book prize, also donated by O'Reilly, and a GBP 100 cash prize.
IT-Analysis.com - A Short Defintion of Service Oriented Arch
IT-Analysis.com - A Short Defintion of Service Oriented Arch: "A Short Defintion of Service Oriented Architecture
Wednesday 5th May 2004
A Short Defintion of Service Oriented Architecture
Wednesday 5th May 2004
The phrase "Service Oriented Architecture" (SOA) is used extensively in the industry. Although it was first used eight years ago, it has only come into common use in the last year to eighteen months with the rise of Web Services. The problem with that timeline is that the people who use it now tend to use it without defining it.
This article is a synopsis of the many definitions1 that can be found on the web.
Firstly a negative definition SOA and WS are not synonymous, however there is a significant movement to suggest that future implementations of SOA will be based on WS.
An2 SOA defines how services are used to implement a business process. So what is a service? In the broadest sense a service is something that provides something for something else. For example a car hire service provides cars for business people. I have used a business service example here but in the IT industry, an SOA service is limited to mean a piece of executable code. At the end of the article, I will come back to a discussion of a business level SOA.
Not every piece of executable code is a service; in fact, the majority are not. A service will always interact with a requestor and will have certain attributes, which can be summarised as follows:
A requestor must be able to invoke a service remotely. This means that they cannot assume they have a shared environment.
There is no shared state information (for example in a shared database). The only information passed will be in the invocation process (probably in a message sent from the requestor).
A service must be able to describe and advertise itself to potential requestors. The description must be sufficient to allow the requestor to invoke dynamically the service. This implies a shared protocol at this level even though protocols for service implementation may vary.
The description not only defines the service but also defines the Quality of Service provided by the service and the Service Level Agreement. It will also define the format(s) and protocol(s) supported by the service (it is very possible, but not inevitable, that a service will mandate a single format and protocol).
The requestor must assume an asynchronous interaction with the service. This is essential to provide a reliable service. This does not preclude the service offering a real-time synchronous communication as an option.
An SOA defines how these attributes are implemented.
The attributes were developed with an IT environment clearly in mind, however they actually apply to business services as well (the car hire service should conform to these attributes). The broadening of SOA to cover business services would be helpful because we could then talk to the business in the same way as we talk within IT. To avoid confusion I would recommend that SOA is kept to mean just IT and the business version be called Business Oriented Services Architecture (BOSA).
Footnotes:
There are many definitions on the web but in particular this article is based on articles by Y Natis, C E Perez and P Gralla.
Can some style pedants help me to decide whether this should read 'A SOA' rather than 'An SOA'
Wednesday 5th May 2004
A Short Defintion of Service Oriented Architecture
Wednesday 5th May 2004
The phrase "Service Oriented Architecture" (SOA) is used extensively in the industry. Although it was first used eight years ago, it has only come into common use in the last year to eighteen months with the rise of Web Services. The problem with that timeline is that the people who use it now tend to use it without defining it.
This article is a synopsis of the many definitions1 that can be found on the web.
Firstly a negative definition SOA and WS are not synonymous, however there is a significant movement to suggest that future implementations of SOA will be based on WS.
An2 SOA defines how services are used to implement a business process. So what is a service? In the broadest sense a service is something that provides something for something else. For example a car hire service provides cars for business people. I have used a business service example here but in the IT industry, an SOA service is limited to mean a piece of executable code. At the end of the article, I will come back to a discussion of a business level SOA.
Not every piece of executable code is a service; in fact, the majority are not. A service will always interact with a requestor and will have certain attributes, which can be summarised as follows:
A requestor must be able to invoke a service remotely. This means that they cannot assume they have a shared environment.
There is no shared state information (for example in a shared database). The only information passed will be in the invocation process (probably in a message sent from the requestor).
A service must be able to describe and advertise itself to potential requestors. The description must be sufficient to allow the requestor to invoke dynamically the service. This implies a shared protocol at this level even though protocols for service implementation may vary.
The description not only defines the service but also defines the Quality of Service provided by the service and the Service Level Agreement. It will also define the format(s) and protocol(s) supported by the service (it is very possible, but not inevitable, that a service will mandate a single format and protocol).
The requestor must assume an asynchronous interaction with the service. This is essential to provide a reliable service. This does not preclude the service offering a real-time synchronous communication as an option.
An SOA defines how these attributes are implemented.
The attributes were developed with an IT environment clearly in mind, however they actually apply to business services as well (the car hire service should conform to these attributes). The broadening of SOA to cover business services would be helpful because we could then talk to the business in the same way as we talk within IT. To avoid confusion I would recommend that SOA is kept to mean just IT and the business version be called Business Oriented Services Architecture (BOSA).
Footnotes:
There are many definitions on the web but in particular this article is based on articles by Y Natis, C E Perez and P Gralla.
Can some style pedants help me to decide whether this should read 'A SOA' rather than 'An SOA'
IT-Analysis.com - The importance of encrypting data in stora
IT-Analysis.com - The importance of encrypting data in stora: "The importance of encrypting data in storage
Monday 10th May 2004
The importance of encrypting data in storage
Monday 10th May 2004
Storage companies must be having a field day. It is estimated that around 80% of all business information is now stored in electronic form - all of which must be carefully and securely stored, not least to comply with the wide variety of legislation that has been passed recently, making us more accountable for the integrity of our business information.
Compliance with these regulations means that companies must be able to produce business records on demand, with different laws specifying different periods of time over which the data must be kept securely. This includes all sorts of records, from databases to informal e-mail systems.
But this information cannot be kept entirely secure unless it is encrypted and those encryption keys locked down in a totally secure hardware environment. Without encryption, it is perfectly possible for someone to take data and make copies - for example, a company database containing sensitive information.
Given that internal attacks make up anywhere from 50% to 80% of the security breaches encountered by companies, it is particularly important that companies take care to secure confidential business information away from prying eyes. Compliance with legislation is forcing companies to take a close look at their risk management procedures - and the possibility of an employee altering or deleting information, whether on purpose or not, is one that companies must take care to avoid.
Using computer forensics techniques available today, even files that have been deleted can be recovered, making it of great importance that companies should think of security when they dispose of their data as well - in much the same way that highly sensitive paper documents are fed through the paper shredder. Unless you are absolutely sure that you have software running to electronically dispose of data once and for all - covering all systems, storage mechanisms and all data that could be considered sensitive - the electronic equivalent of the shredder is encryption.
But ensuring security of information in storage is more than just encryption and secure disposal. It requires that complementary technologies be deployed in parallel - most specifically robust and secure access and authentication tools, as well as the capability to log activity. That way, you can be sure that information can be viewed only by those for whom it is intended.
At the recent InfoSec in London, there was a lot of noise around securing data in flight and keeping external attacks out. Many were pointing out that the mobile worker is a threat - but it is not just the communications networks that need securing. We need also to think about what happens when they are inside the organisation's business systems. Keep the doors locked and encrypt data at rest.
Monday 10th May 2004
The importance of encrypting data in storage
Monday 10th May 2004
Storage companies must be having a field day. It is estimated that around 80% of all business information is now stored in electronic form - all of which must be carefully and securely stored, not least to comply with the wide variety of legislation that has been passed recently, making us more accountable for the integrity of our business information.
Compliance with these regulations means that companies must be able to produce business records on demand, with different laws specifying different periods of time over which the data must be kept securely. This includes all sorts of records, from databases to informal e-mail systems.
But this information cannot be kept entirely secure unless it is encrypted and those encryption keys locked down in a totally secure hardware environment. Without encryption, it is perfectly possible for someone to take data and make copies - for example, a company database containing sensitive information.
Given that internal attacks make up anywhere from 50% to 80% of the security breaches encountered by companies, it is particularly important that companies take care to secure confidential business information away from prying eyes. Compliance with legislation is forcing companies to take a close look at their risk management procedures - and the possibility of an employee altering or deleting information, whether on purpose or not, is one that companies must take care to avoid.
Using computer forensics techniques available today, even files that have been deleted can be recovered, making it of great importance that companies should think of security when they dispose of their data as well - in much the same way that highly sensitive paper documents are fed through the paper shredder. Unless you are absolutely sure that you have software running to electronically dispose of data once and for all - covering all systems, storage mechanisms and all data that could be considered sensitive - the electronic equivalent of the shredder is encryption.
But ensuring security of information in storage is more than just encryption and secure disposal. It requires that complementary technologies be deployed in parallel - most specifically robust and secure access and authentication tools, as well as the capability to log activity. That way, you can be sure that information can be viewed only by those for whom it is intended.
At the recent InfoSec in London, there was a lot of noise around securing data in flight and keeping external attacks out. Many were pointing out that the mobile worker is a threat - but it is not just the communications networks that need securing. We need also to think about what happens when they are inside the organisation's business systems. Keep the doors locked and encrypt data at rest.
IT-Analysis.com - Thick Client Bad, Thin Client Bad, IBM goo
IT-Analysis.com - Thick Client Bad, Thin Client Bad, IBM goo
Thick Client Bad, Thin Client Bad, IBM good?
Thursday 13th May 2004
Thick clients are bad because of the challenges with distributing code, the high cost, both to IT and the end-user, of management and maintenance, and the fact that the solution is limited to PCs.
Thin clients are bad because they do not provide the rich user experience that can be developed on a thick client. Add to this conundrum the fact that more and more business users will want to move between different client types during a working day - high specification desk top in the office, tablet in the client, voice activated PDA in the car - and you can understand the logic behind IBM's latest strategy announcement.
The key to the announcement is the concept of server-managed clients. The idea being that any application, data, user interface, transaction or message on the client can be managed from the server. This means that the user does not have to worry about anything but their business problems. Data created on the client will automatically be synchronised with a copy at the server. Applications can run in the client or the server depending on the form of the client and the type of connection. The application and data will be provisioned when needed (on-demand). All of this with the TCO profile of a thin client.
It is an appealing vision: TCO of thin client, richness of the thick client and flexibility to run across any client. Can IBM deliver on the vision? They have a strategy for doing it and they announced product that starts them on the journey.
Recently they announced WebSphere Studio 5.1.2 which provides support for three new Java specifications: Java Server Faces, Service Data Objects and Portal Tools. All of which assist the development of rich function on a thin client, for example they can include dynamic graphs that reflect changes put in by the user without having to round trip to the server.
With the strategy they have announced new versions of Workplace Client, Rich Edition to support a thick client PC, and Workplace Client, Micro Edition to support a variety of small forms factor devices.
The rich edition provides the support for dynamic provisioning, data synchronisation, and a set of component such as calendaring and a word processing editor. Together they should supply a productive workplace for the user, which can be used on any thick client operating system, Windows, Linux and even Mac/OS.
The micro edition provides support for micro version of the database, transaction and messaging across 20+ operating environments. This is a fascinating announcement because it has to be seen as IBM going head to head with Microsoft to win the corporate user interface. For the enterprises who buy into IBM's strategy, Microsoft will become the supplier of one of the possible operating systems, and a supplier of some productivity applications.
I expect to see more initiatives from the Java community this year which will directly take on Microsoft and provide an open alternative.
Microsoft and the .NET community will (re)act. So let battle commence.
Thick Client Bad, Thin Client Bad, IBM good?
Thursday 13th May 2004
Thick clients are bad because of the challenges with distributing code, the high cost, both to IT and the end-user, of management and maintenance, and the fact that the solution is limited to PCs.
Thin clients are bad because they do not provide the rich user experience that can be developed on a thick client. Add to this conundrum the fact that more and more business users will want to move between different client types during a working day - high specification desk top in the office, tablet in the client, voice activated PDA in the car - and you can understand the logic behind IBM's latest strategy announcement.
The key to the announcement is the concept of server-managed clients. The idea being that any application, data, user interface, transaction or message on the client can be managed from the server. This means that the user does not have to worry about anything but their business problems. Data created on the client will automatically be synchronised with a copy at the server. Applications can run in the client or the server depending on the form of the client and the type of connection. The application and data will be provisioned when needed (on-demand). All of this with the TCO profile of a thin client.
It is an appealing vision: TCO of thin client, richness of the thick client and flexibility to run across any client. Can IBM deliver on the vision? They have a strategy for doing it and they announced product that starts them on the journey.
Recently they announced WebSphere Studio 5.1.2 which provides support for three new Java specifications: Java Server Faces, Service Data Objects and Portal Tools. All of which assist the development of rich function on a thin client, for example they can include dynamic graphs that reflect changes put in by the user without having to round trip to the server.
With the strategy they have announced new versions of Workplace Client, Rich Edition to support a thick client PC, and Workplace Client, Micro Edition to support a variety of small forms factor devices.
The rich edition provides the support for dynamic provisioning, data synchronisation, and a set of component such as calendaring and a word processing editor. Together they should supply a productive workplace for the user, which can be used on any thick client operating system, Windows, Linux and even Mac/OS.
The micro edition provides support for micro version of the database, transaction and messaging across 20+ operating environments. This is a fascinating announcement because it has to be seen as IBM going head to head with Microsoft to win the corporate user interface. For the enterprises who buy into IBM's strategy, Microsoft will become the supplier of one of the possible operating systems, and a supplier of some productivity applications.
I expect to see more initiatives from the Java community this year which will directly take on Microsoft and provide an open alternative.
Microsoft and the .NET community will (re)act. So let battle commence.
poniedziałek, maja 17, 2004
Microsoft toolkit out under open-source licence
Microsoft toolkit out under open-source licence
===================================
Microsoft has released its Windows Template Library (WTL) technology under an open-source licence, marking the second time the company has turned one of its projects over to the SourceForge.net development site.
WTL is a toolkit for developing lightweight Windows applications. It has always been a little-publicised and barely documented alternative to the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) toolkit."
Ladd said he prefers WTL as a smaller, faster alternative to MFC.
"MFC is a big, bloated library that's not well designed. WTL was developed internally for people at Microsoft. It's small and fast. If you're going to write pure C++ code, I recommend people go with WTL."
WiX and WTL both were released under the Common Public Licence (CPL), a license developed by IBM that does not require derivative works to be freely released, as the GPL does.
===================================
Microsoft has released its Windows Template Library (WTL) technology under an open-source licence, marking the second time the company has turned one of its projects over to the SourceForge.net development site.
WTL is a toolkit for developing lightweight Windows applications. It has always been a little-publicised and barely documented alternative to the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) toolkit."
Ladd said he prefers WTL as a smaller, faster alternative to MFC.
"MFC is a big, bloated library that's not well designed. WTL was developed internally for people at Microsoft. It's small and fast. If you're going to write pure C++ code, I recommend people go with WTL."
WiX and WTL both were released under the Common Public Licence (CPL), a license developed by IBM that does not require derivative works to be freely released, as the GPL does.
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