Nawiazujac do poprzedniego artykuly oto mamy przyklad inicjatywy Microsoft:
Microsoft releases key management software
By John Fontana Network World Fusion, 08/25/04
Microsoft Wednesday released the latest versions of its performance and monitoring tool, which forms a cornerstone in its plan to create a management platform for Windows.
Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and MOM Workgroup Edition were released to manufacturing and should be generally available Oct. 1.
MOM 2005 is a major part of Microsoft’s Dynamic System Initiative, a comprehensive management platform being developed for Windows that includes upgrades to Visual Studio as well as infrastructure software.
“MOM is a major step for us,” says David Hamilton, director of the Windows and enterprise management division at Microsoft.
Along with System Management Server (SMS) 2003, MOM 2005 will become the foundation for a new product called System Center, which is due to be released next year. It will feature a common interface to link MOM and SMS and a set of reporting services that will draw information from the two management tools.
Last month, Microsoft’s chief software architect Bill Gates called out MOM, SMS and System Center, along with Windows XP SP2, the next version of Windows Server 2003 (called R2), and Internet Security and Acceleration Server, and said those products would help transform security “from a concern for [Microsoft] into something that’s a significant, unique asset as well as a business opportunity.”
Microsoft has more than 50 Management Packs available for use with MOM, including 20 new packs with the 2005 version. Management packs are linked with certain applications, such as Exchange or SQL Server, and communicate knowledge about an application’s functions and errors to MOM.
The new packs track application state, model health and support the ability to correct errors or restart services or entire servers. A new reporting and analysis engine includes hundreds of pre-built reports.
Microsoft added a wizard setup tool, a configuration checker, discovery and automatic installation of Management Packs to help ease installation. Also new are an Outlook-style interface and a role-based console to tailor MOM for administrators, operations staff and those collecting reports.
MOM 2005 ships with the MOM Connector Framework, which includes connectors to other management platforms, including HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, and CA Unicenter.
Also, 20 third-party partners announced Management Packs, including Siebel, SAP, Cisco and Dell, while others offered add-ons or integration with MOM, including BindView, eXc Software, JalaSOFT, MetiLinx, Motive, NetIQ, NetPro Computing, Opalis Software, Quest Software, Silect Software, Skywire Software, Tidal Software and Veritas.
MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition offers functionality similar to that of MOM 2005, but is limited to use on 10 devices.
MOM 2005 is priced at $729. Users are required to have an Operations Management License (OML) for each device managed by MOM. An OML five-pack is priced at $2,689. MOM 2005 Workgroup is priced at $499.
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czwartek, sierpnia 26, 2004
Siedem drog do osiagniecia Nirvany w Data Center
Siedem sposobów obniżenia kosztów eksploatacji DataCenter pozwalających obniżyć koszty i zwiększyć efektywność pomimo rosnącego obciążenia.
Nowoczesne centra przetwarzania danych wyposażone w najnowsze rozwiązania technologiczne takie jak wirtualizacja serwerów, wsparcie aplikacji webowych oraz przetwarzanie autonomiczne zakłada w efekcie lepsze wykorzystanie sprzętu, oprogramowania oraz personelu. W miarę jak coraz więcej firm inwestuje w CPD doświadczenie zebrane w trakcie eksploatacji dochodzi jeszcze do tego obniżenie kosztów operacyjnych. Analityki wraz z użytkownikami potwierdzają, że koszty mogą zostać obniżone w granicach od 25% do 90%. Drogą do takich oszczędności jest wdrożenie siedmiu nowych:
1) Konsolidacja pamięci masowej - polega na zgromadzeniu indywidualnych urządzeń pamięci masowej (podsystemy macierzy dyskowych) w hierarchię pamięci najczęściej wykrzystując architekturę SAN (storage-area network) lub NAS (network-attached storage). Wybór jednej z tych architektur zależy od przeznaczenia pamięci masowej. Do przechowywania plików i archiwów najlepiej nadaje się NAS. SAN z kolei nadaje się dobrze do przechowywania danych z baz danych. Dodatkowo w trakcie eksploatacji CPD należy wyznaczyć zarządcę pamięci koordynującego udostępnianie i wykorzystanie tego zasobu,
2) Wirtualizacja serwerów - niestety w każdym centrum można znaleźć wiele nie do końca wykorzystanych serwerów. Uniknąć takiego marnotrawstwa można poprzez konsolidację serwerów w klastry (drogą sprzętową lub specjalnym oprogramowaniem systemowym) i wprowadzenie bardziej efektywnych technologii takich jak blade server i wirtualizacja softwarowa (oprogramowanie VMWare należące do oddziału firmy EMC). Dzięki temu uzyskuje się znaczną efektywność w obszarze wykorzystania sprzętu (mniejsze zużycie prądu na zasilanie serwerów i klimatyzacji, mniejsza powierzchnia centrum, mniej zasilaczy awaryjnych UPS) i obsługi (mniej operatorów). Podobnie jak powyżej należy uwzględnić specyfikę konsolidacji np., że jeden motor bazy zarządza wieloma instancjami bazodanowymi i jego zatrzymanie powoduje przestój wszystkich baz. Dlatego krytycznymi elementami jakie należy uwzględnić podczas konsolidacji jest: zarządzanie zasobami i siecią, zarządzanie zmianami, zarządzanie aktualizacjami oraz testy regresyjne.
3) Konsolidacja centrum przetwarzania danych - obniżenie kosztów eksploatacji oddzielnych CPD powoduje zainteresowanie się konsolidacją kilku CPD w jedno wielkie centrum. Skutkuje to przeniesieniem sprzętu z wielu CPD do jednego centrum położonego w terenie poza terenem miejskim, gdzie można zapewnić większe bezpieczeństwo. Oczywiście taka konsolidacja jest możliwa dzięki dostępności i niezawodności łączy szerokopasmowych.
4) Cienki klient do aplikacji outsourcingowych - obniżenie kosztu wsparcia oprogramowania systemowego i aplikacyjnego poprzez wykorzystanie technologii zdalnego przetwarzania Citrix lub usług webowych (Web Services).
5) Wykorzystanie open source - po skonsolidowaniu sprzętu nadchodzi pora na skonsolidowanie aplikacji. Dobrą strategią obniżenia kosztów jest stopniowa migracja jedna po drugiej tych aplikacji (być oże nawet przeprogramowania) do darmowego systemu operacyjnego Linux. Im więcej jest takich aplikacji, tym większe mogą być oszczędności z tego tytułu. Jest jeden tylko warunek - to prawda, że cena licencji za Linux jest zero złotych, ale inne koszty związane TCO jak przekwalifikowanie kadry, wsparcie i administrowanie systemem, aktualizacja oprogramowania oraz zapewnienie bezpieczeństwa trzeba nadal ponosić.
6) Telefonia internetowa - znaczne obniżenie kosztów telefonicznego wsparcia klientów i użytkowników może przynieść wykorzystanie technologii VoIP. Polega to na obsłudze rozmów telefonicznych z wykorzystaniem łączy internetowych. Obniżeniu ulegają koszty nie tylko samych rozmów ale również zwiększa się przepustowość kanałów telefonicznych i centrali. Naturalnym krokiem po konsolidacji CPD jest konsolidacji central telefonicznych w jedną infrastrukturę opartą o telefonię internetową. Przy okazji zmniejszeniu ulegają koszty utrzymania personelu konserwującego centrale.
7) Autonomiczne przetwarzanie - jednym z kluczowych czynników obniżenia kosztów eksploatacji CPD jest automatyzacja pracy centrum np. w zakresie utrzymania aplikacji, monitorowaniu pracy całej infrastruktury IT, uruchamianiu alarmów bezpieczeństwa, wykonywania aktualizacji oraz łatania dziur w zabezpieczeniach (narzędzia z firm St.Bernard Software oraz Microsoft - Windows Update Server). Dzięki automatyzacji obsługi eksploatacyjnej istniejących aplikacji ten sam liczebnie personel może wspierać wdrażanie nowych aplikacji (np. korzystanie z narzędzia NetIQ application manager). Oferuje to dużą oszczędność z punktu widzenia zasobów ludzkich.
HP odklada na polke projekt antywirusowy
HP puts choke hold on virus throttling product
HP zaprzestała rozwijać swój wewnętrzny produkt antywirusowy z uwagi na przeszkody jaki napotkała w implementacji tego rozwiązania w środowisku Windows. Ogłoszony w lutym projekt serwisu antywirusowego miał skutecznie zatrzymywać wirusy i robaki w heterogenicznym środowisku sieciowym poprzez: ograniczenie możliwości ataku Ddos (komponent Virus Throtler) oraz skanowanie sieci (Active Countermeasures). Oba te produkty sprawdziły się znakomicie w wewnętrznej sieci korporacyjnej HP liczacej 247 tyś. Komputerów. Produkty miały wejść na rynek w 2005 roku i mialy oznaczać nowe proaktywne (zamiast defensywnego) podejście do problemu wirusów. Problemy z Windows spowodowały, że oba te produkty wróciły do laboratorium.
HP zaprzestała rozwijać swój wewnętrzny produkt antywirusowy z uwagi na przeszkody jaki napotkała w implementacji tego rozwiązania w środowisku Windows. Ogłoszony w lutym projekt serwisu antywirusowego miał skutecznie zatrzymywać wirusy i robaki w heterogenicznym środowisku sieciowym poprzez: ograniczenie możliwości ataku Ddos (komponent Virus Throtler) oraz skanowanie sieci (Active Countermeasures). Oba te produkty sprawdziły się znakomicie w wewnętrznej sieci korporacyjnej HP liczacej 247 tyś. Komputerów. Produkty miały wejść na rynek w 2005 roku i mialy oznaczać nowe proaktywne (zamiast defensywnego) podejście do problemu wirusów. Problemy z Windows spowodowały, że oba te produkty wróciły do laboratorium.
środa, sierpnia 25, 2004
Badania organizowane przez University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
W tym roku index ASCI wynosi 72.5 na 100 punktów. Badano trzy kategorie:
- national cross industry - 74.4
- e-commerce (podróże on-line, sprzedaż, aukcje, zakłady) - 80.8
- e-business (portale, wyszukiwarki i wiadomosci) - 72.5
E-business tak się rozkłada:
- Portale - 71 tj. Yahoo (78), MSN (75) oraz AOL (67)
- wyszukiwarki - 80 tj. Google (82), Ask Jeeves (71)
- wiadomości prasowe - 75 tj. MSNBC, ABCNew, CNN dają 74, razem inne - 75 )
Zwrócono uwagę na zacieranie się granic między w/w trzema składowymi e-business np. Yahoo rozszerza się na obszar wyszukiwarek, Google wprowadza elementy portala.
Unia ponownie rozpatruje zachowanie się firm amerykańskich na rynku europejskim
Chodzi o ponowne rozpatrzenie wniosku o ukaranie MS za praktyki monopolistyczne w dziedzinie systemu operacyjnego Windows i Media Player, oraz rozpatrzenie zgody na przejęcie firmy ContentGuard Holdings Inc. specjalizującej się w DRM (digital right management) przez MS oraz Time Warner. Konsekwencją tego ostatniego jest zmonopolizowanie rynku ochrony praw do zasobów cyfrowych przez w/w firmy. Przewiduje się, że po przejęciu firmy ContentGuard spowoduje umocnienie dominującej pozycji MS. Rynek DRM rozwija się dynamicznie; wg. IDC w 2007 r. przychodu mogą wzrosnąć do 570 mln $ w tym 70% będzie pochodzić ze środowiska Windows.
The European Commission (EC) opened an in-depth investigation on Wednesday into plans by Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. to take over U.S. digital rights management (DRM) company ContentGuard Holdings Inc.
The transaction might create or strengthen a dominant position by Microsoft in the digital rights management market, the Commission said in a statement.
As part of the investigation the Commission will also investigate further competitive concerns related to the vertical integration of Microsoft in other markets, it said.
Microsoft had no comment on the decision early Wednesday. Time Warner, based in New York, was not immediately available to comment.
In April, Microsoft announced that it was increasing its investment in the Bethesda, Maryland, DRM firm, while Time Warner said that it was adding a new cash injection. Together the companies purchased substantially all the ownership previously held by ContentGuard's original technology provider Xerox Corp. The value of their investments has not been disclosed.
They sought clearance for the deal from the E.U. in July, when the Commission opened a first-phase investigation. The in-depth second phase investigation could take up to four months, the Commission said.
Both Microsoft and Time Warner are keen to invest in DRM, which is used to protect digital content against illegal uses. Concerns have been raised, however, that Microsoft and Time Warner could wield their combined power in the software and media markets, respectively, to dominate the DRM market.
The in-depth probe will evaluate whether the ContentGuard deal will put Microsoft's rivals in the DRM market at a disadvantage or whether the joint acquisition will slow development of open interoperability standards, the Commission said Wednesday.
Such outcomes could tip the DRM market toward the current leading provider, Microsoft, the Commission said.
The ContentGuard probe follows the E.U.'s scrutiny of Microsoft's dominance in the PC operating systems market. The Commission wrapped up its five-year investigation into the software maker earlier this year when it levied a fine of €497.2 million, or around $600 million, and ordered Microsoft to offer a version of its Windows operating system without the Windows Media Player software for abusing its dominance in the market. Microsoft has appealed the decision.
The worldwide DRM market is expected to grow quickly over the next few years, generating revenue of around $563 million by 2007, according to IDC. Furthermore, the researcher predicted that over 70 percent of DRM revenue in 2007 would be derived from the Windows operating environment
The European Commission (EC) opened an in-depth investigation on Wednesday into plans by Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. to take over U.S. digital rights management (DRM) company ContentGuard Holdings Inc.
The transaction might create or strengthen a dominant position by Microsoft in the digital rights management market, the Commission said in a statement.
As part of the investigation the Commission will also investigate further competitive concerns related to the vertical integration of Microsoft in other markets, it said.
Microsoft had no comment on the decision early Wednesday. Time Warner, based in New York, was not immediately available to comment.
In April, Microsoft announced that it was increasing its investment in the Bethesda, Maryland, DRM firm, while Time Warner said that it was adding a new cash injection. Together the companies purchased substantially all the ownership previously held by ContentGuard's original technology provider Xerox Corp. The value of their investments has not been disclosed.
They sought clearance for the deal from the E.U. in July, when the Commission opened a first-phase investigation. The in-depth second phase investigation could take up to four months, the Commission said.
Both Microsoft and Time Warner are keen to invest in DRM, which is used to protect digital content against illegal uses. Concerns have been raised, however, that Microsoft and Time Warner could wield their combined power in the software and media markets, respectively, to dominate the DRM market.
The in-depth probe will evaluate whether the ContentGuard deal will put Microsoft's rivals in the DRM market at a disadvantage or whether the joint acquisition will slow development of open interoperability standards, the Commission said Wednesday.
Such outcomes could tip the DRM market toward the current leading provider, Microsoft, the Commission said.
The ContentGuard probe follows the E.U.'s scrutiny of Microsoft's dominance in the PC operating systems market. The Commission wrapped up its five-year investigation into the software maker earlier this year when it levied a fine of €497.2 million, or around $600 million, and ordered Microsoft to offer a version of its Windows operating system without the Windows Media Player software for abusing its dominance in the market. Microsoft has appealed the decision.
The worldwide DRM market is expected to grow quickly over the next few years, generating revenue of around $563 million by 2007, according to IDC. Furthermore, the researcher predicted that over 70 percent of DRM revenue in 2007 would be derived from the Windows operating environment
Windows XP SE co o tym mysli Gartner?
Opinia Gartnera na temat Windows XP SE - nie jest dobrym pomysłem ograniczenia funkcjonalności Windows-ów ponieważ MS uwzględnił doświadczenia first-time user zamiast first-owner user (wielu użytkowników ma dostęp do oprogramowania MS w kafejkach internetowych).
According to Gartner, Microsoft has made the mistake of focusing on first-time users and not first-time owners. "Many citizens who do not own a PC are already familiar with basic PC use from cyber-cafes and schools," said Martin Gilliland, Principal Analyst at Gartner. "XPSE is likely to frustrate these users as it is not delivering the same quality experience due to the limitations imposed and the failure to allow the operating system to grow with users as they gain experience. We believe this will result in increased piracy as Microsoft has no upgrade path unless users pay full retail price for the Windows XP Home edition."
According to Gilliland, Microsoft has put significant effort into its XPSE having studied 1,000 first-time users in Thailand for almost a year following the launch of the Thai ICT PC programme last year. As a result, a number of new features that help first-time users have been added including a new support centre, tutorials on how to use the mouse and beginners' guides to using Windows and common applications. A number of features that are of little relevance to a first-time user - such as those that simplify overall use such as file and print sharing and local area network support - have also been removed from the operating system.
"While Microsoft should be commended for these efforts, they fall far short in other areas," said Wiggins. "The most significant is the deliberate crippling of the operating system to allow just three applications to run at any one time. Microsoft claims this provides a simpler end-user experience. But if a user were to run Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Microsoft Instant Messenger and an Email client they could not open a web browser or anything else for that matter." The cut-down version of the XP operating system also restricts the hardware the end-users can run. XPSE will not recognize more than 128MB or RAM or 40GB of HDD. On top of this the maximum video resolution is set at 800 x 600.
Wiggins added that although XPSE ships with XP SP2 installed, Microsoft has also failed to address security issues such as ongoing patch distribution on slow and expensive connections and anti-virus. He said the company had also failed to provide the user with any education in these areas.
"While Microsoft has made great improvements for the first-time user experience, it still fails to meet the most basic needs," said Gilliland.
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According to Gartner, Microsoft has made the mistake of focusing on first-time users and not first-time owners. "Many citizens who do not own a PC are already familiar with basic PC use from cyber-cafes and schools," said Martin Gilliland, Principal Analyst at Gartner. "XPSE is likely to frustrate these users as it is not delivering the same quality experience due to the limitations imposed and the failure to allow the operating system to grow with users as they gain experience. We believe this will result in increased piracy as Microsoft has no upgrade path unless users pay full retail price for the Windows XP Home edition."
According to Gilliland, Microsoft has put significant effort into its XPSE having studied 1,000 first-time users in Thailand for almost a year following the launch of the Thai ICT PC programme last year. As a result, a number of new features that help first-time users have been added including a new support centre, tutorials on how to use the mouse and beginners' guides to using Windows and common applications. A number of features that are of little relevance to a first-time user - such as those that simplify overall use such as file and print sharing and local area network support - have also been removed from the operating system.
"While Microsoft should be commended for these efforts, they fall far short in other areas," said Wiggins. "The most significant is the deliberate crippling of the operating system to allow just three applications to run at any one time. Microsoft claims this provides a simpler end-user experience. But if a user were to run Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Microsoft Instant Messenger and an Email client they could not open a web browser or anything else for that matter." The cut-down version of the XP operating system also restricts the hardware the end-users can run. XPSE will not recognize more than 128MB or RAM or 40GB of HDD. On top of this the maximum video resolution is set at 800 x 600.
Wiggins added that although XPSE ships with XP SP2 installed, Microsoft has also failed to address security issues such as ongoing patch distribution on slow and expensive connections and anti-virus. He said the company had also failed to provide the user with any education in these areas.
"While Microsoft has made great improvements for the first-time user experience, it still fails to meet the most basic needs," said Gilliland.
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Rozne rzeczy z sieci
- Make it Acrobat 6.0. And work more securely. Adobe Acrobat offers flexible security options,
proven reliability and is already a document standard with thousands of businesses and government agencies. Download a free tryout of Adobe Acrobat 6.0 today.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,12sw,1,elb5,6n79,48gk,84du - Ciekawe odnośniki do domeny internet.com's network of more than 160 Web sites is organized into 12channels:
Developer http://internet.com/webdev/ Download http://internet.com/downloads/
International http://internet.com/international/
Internet Lists http://internet.com/lists/
Internet News http://internet.com/news/
Internet Resources http://internet.com/resources/
IT http://internet.com/it/
Small Business http://internet.com/sb/
Linux/Open Source http://internet.com/linux/
Windows Technology http://internet.com/win/
Wireless Internet http://internet.com/wireless/
xSP Resources http://internet.com/xsp/ - Ciekawy artykuł na temat pozycjonowania znalezionych przez wyszukiwarki internetowe stron (Yahoo i Google). Użytkownik jest trochę przerażony możliwością "odkrycie" jego upodobań w trakcie przeszukiwania zasobów Internetu. Z jednej strony jest mu potrzebny tak mechanizm który uwzględnia jego upodobania, ale z drugiej strony zdaje sobie sprawę, że te informacje mogą być wykorzystane przeciwko niemu. Oto propozycje czołowych wyszukiwarek: http://www.searchnewz.com/searchnewz-12-20040823SearchEnginePersonalizationTheFallout.html
- Odnośnie XP SP2 "... There are three methods offered by Microsoft to disable automated patching: an executable file (to run on each XP computer to change a registry setting); a group policy template (to apply to Active Directory); or a URL embedded in an e-mail message to each user..." Czy nie aby ten trzeci sposób nie wygląda na działanie poprzez mechanizm podobny do wirusów w poczcie?
- Today's focus: Getting XP security updates without SP2 By Steve Blass
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Can we disable delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2 through Automatic Updates and Windows Update without blocking the delivery of other critical security updates?
Microsoft disabled XP SP2 updates for 120 days starting Aug. 16 because many companies wanted to test the service pack before it got automatically installed.
Update control tools are available from Microsoft (
There is a template for companies that have implemented Active Directory-based Group Policy that centrally disables and enables delivery of SP2. This tool kit includes software that can run on individual PCs for companies that don't use Active Directory Group Policy.
sample script that accepts a machine name as a parameter is provided to support execution through logon scripts or remote script execution commands. A sample e-mail containing an update control URL is provided ( - NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENNIS DROGSETH ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT 08/23/04 Today's focus: Is quality of experience beyond SLAs?
Today's focus: Is quality of experience beyond SLAs?
By Dennis Drogseth
In this column I am going to press the point that quality of experience sets all traditional notions of service-level agreements on their heels. Now - not later - is the time to make the mental leap. QoE represents a fundamental shift in how SLAs can be defined.
Taken at face value, QoE is exactly what it sounds like - the quality of experience. "Experience" is defined in my Oxford American Dictionary as "an actual observation of facts and events," and, as a verb, "to observe, to share, to actually be affected by - a feeling." What's interesting from these definitions is that the word itself combines two very different dimensions. One is a more empirical sense of observed reality, while the other includes sensation and imagination - it is about feeling.
Both definitions play in QoE - which reflects a very different agenda than traditional SLAs. Rather than simply building from what's measurable up to the customer or end user, QoE would suggest starting with the end user, honoring the objective and subjective merits of his or her experience and trying to approximate them in metrics that can be validated in terms of technical performance and customer behavior.
You already may be thinking that this approach is an unhealthy combination of masochism and naiveté, but I would argue just the opposite - it is the shortest path to comfort and mental health for you and your customers.
Business productivity, customer loyalty, and business partnerships depend on QoE in all its dimensions. No one will stick with a provider that gets gold stars for SLAs but still leaves them experientially discontent - especially if other options present themselves. By trying to force you and your customers to live in a simulated universe in which only technical metrics apply, it is you who are being naïve. Sure, you will need to "manage" expectations and set some technical boundaries, but your ability to do this successfully is greatly enhanced once you approach the problem in terms of multi-dimensional experience rather than introverted technical specifications.
A few pointers and observations:
* Listen to your customers. While the old-fashioned help desk approach is often reactive and cumbersome, it can also provide useful background on customer perceptions and requirements. A strong, proactive service initiative will also help to promote dialog and interaction.
* Recognize that while availability and performance remain prime factors, there are other dimensions to QoE - such as consistency, cost to the customer, security, flexibility (e.g., mobility of a service, or customer choice of service), and variety (number of available and customer-relevant services). This is not a finite list - because the dimensions of experience are not finite.
* Look at options for testing responsiveness. Since degraded service has proven to be more of a customer turnoff than intermittent spurts of lack of availability, performance and QoE are probably the two most closely linked metrics. Until fairly recently, synthetic transaction analyses were the top choice for QoE validation, and they do still play a role. Synthetic transactions provide IT with a self-contained context for control. You can set the time and frequency and define SLAs accordingly - and of course synthetic transactions are superior for testing availability.
New technologies - including slimmer, more efficient agent technology, more advanced server-based transaction analysis, and significant advances in techniques for packet analysis - are making observed transactional baselining more possible. Unlike synthetic transactions, observed baselining can inform you, on a dynamic basis, of actual customer behavior and customer disaffection - for example, when transactions are aborted due to impatience. Some techniques are now highly scalable in capturing individual user behaviors as well as infrastructure performance in large, geographically dispersed environments.
These are just a few points. I invite your comments and opinions as well, and welcome intelligent disagreement and notes of support.
Oh, and to answer the question posed in the headline: in my opinion, the glorious and troublesome fact is that QoE is indeed beyond SLAs, which can only, at best, approximate it - and that's because experience, itself, is more sprawling than the Internet, and more complex than all the data centers in the world.
RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS
End-user SLAs: Guaranteeing 'real' service levels
Network World Outsourcing Newsletter, 07/30/03
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/asp/2003/0728out1.html
Why quality of experience is important
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nsm/2002/01502703.html
IOS changes could alter face of Cisco routers
Network World, 08/23/04
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/082304cisco.html?nl2
CA looks to reduce 'integration tax' - Software maker exposes hidden data
Published: August 23, 2004, 9:30 AM PDT
By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Workshare, a specialist in collaboration software built around Microsoft Office applications, is aiming to alert businesses to the danger of hidden data lurking in their documents.
The company on Monday launched Metadatarisk.org, a Web site with information on the dangers posed by hidden metadata in documents. The site includes Metafind, a downloadable tool for automatically analyzing and exposing metadata in documents posted on a given Web site.
"There's up to 25 different types of hidden metadata that exists in Microsoft documents," said Matthew Brown, Workshare product manager. "And the more documents get passed around, the bigger the risk becomes."
Metadata, hidden information that can specify everything from a document's creator to deleted text, has become a growing risk for companies. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was embarrassed last year, when documents meant to bolster his cause for intervention in Iraq contained metadata with information that contradicted the official position. After examining metadata in a legal document of Linux adversary the SCO Group, CNET News.com learned that SCO originally planned to sue Bank of America.
Word and other Office applications include tools for removing such metadata before a document is shared with others, but those capabilities are used inconsistently at best, Brown said. "It's something where it really needs to be part of company policy--how you deal with metadata," he said. "If you don't create and enforce a good policy about cleaning up after yourselves, there's a real risk."
Workshare includes metadata removal tools in its namesake product, an application intended to enhance a company's ability to share and manage Office documents. The company also sells a separate product, Workshare Protect, which automatically strips metadata from documents before they leave a company's network.
"Our vision is to encourage collaboration around Microsoft documents--but to do it securely," Brown said. "Collaboration is a very important part of today's working practices, but it does present some new risks." - Jim Hugunin, the moving force behind IronPython and co-designer of AspectJ, is now a member of Redmond's Common Language Runtime team.
Microsoft is continuing to grab top developer talent. The latest catch: Open source stalwart Jim Hugunin. Hugunin created Jpython/Jython; codesigned the AspectJ aspect-oriented-programming language while working at the Xerox PARC research center; and is the moving force behind IronPython, the implementation of the Python language targeted at .Net and Mono. Hugunin has joined Microsoft's Common Language Runtime team, where he will work on furthering Microsoft's support for dynamic languages. (Dynamic programming languages enable programs can change their structure as they run.)
Hugunin started with Microsoft on August 2. But he hasn't completely abandoned the open source fold.
A posting on the Iron Python home page said Hugunin plans to continue to work on Iron Python from inside Microsoft. The first public version of IronPython was released on July 28 under the Common Public License, an open-source license http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1495495,00.asp
"JimHugunin (sic) has announced that he is going to join the CLR team at Microsoft, to continue his work on IronPython, and further improve the CLR's support for dynamic languages," reads the posting on the Iron Python site.
Since joining Microsoft, Hugunin has launched a blog on Microsoft's Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) site.
"Over the past year, I've become a reluctant convert to the CLR.," he said in his first post. "My initial plan was to do a little work and then write a short pithy article called, 'Why .NET is a terrible platform for dynamic languages.' My plans changed when I found the CLR to be an excellent target for the highly dynamic Python language."
Check Out Hugunin's Site New Microsoft Blog = http://blogs.msdn.com/hugunin/
While many Microsoft staffers posting to their own Web logs seemed most interested in Hugunin's Python roots, his Java-savvy also could be of use to Microsoft.
AspectJ is an aspect-oriented extension to the Java programming language that is currently overseen by the Eclipse.org standards body. And, as Hugunin noted on his personal Web site, "Jython is frequently cited as compelling evidence that the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an effective platform for languages other than Java when making comparisons to Microsoft's CLR - The company on Monday launched Metadatarisk.org, a Web site with information on the dangers posed by hidden metadata in documents. The site includes Metafind, a downloadable tool for automatically analyzing and exposing metadata in documents posted on a given Web site.
"There's up to 25 different types of hidden metadata that exists in Microsoft documents," said Matthew Brown, Workshare product manager. "And the more documents get passed around, the bigger the risk becomes."
Metadata, hidden information that can specify everything from a document's creator to deleted text, has become a growing risk for companies. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was embarrassed last year, when documents meant to bolster his cause for intervention in Iraq contained metadata with information that contradicted the official position. After examining metadata in a legal document of Linux adversary the SCO Group, CNET News.com learned that SCO originally planned to sue Bank of America.
Word and other Office applications include tools for removing such metadata before a document is shared with others, but those capabilities are used inconsistently at best, Brown said. "It's something where it really needs to be part of company policy--how you deal with metadata," he said. "If you don't create and enforce a good policy about cleaning up after yourselves, there's a real risk."
Workshare includes metadata removal tools in its namesake product, an application intended to enhance a company's ability to share and manage Office documents. The company also sells a separate product, Workshare Protect, which automatically strips metadata from documents before they leave a company's network.
"Our vision is to encourage collaboration around Microsoft documents--but to do it securely," Brown said. "Collaboration is a very important part of today's working practices, but it does present some new risks."
wtorek, sierpnia 24, 2004
Nowe pojecie jakosci obslugi uzykownika
Today's focus: Is quality of experience beyond SLAs?
By Dennis Drogseth
In this column I am going to press the point that quality of
experience sets all traditional notions of service-level
agreements on their heels. Now - not later - is the time to make
the mental leap. QoE represents a fundamental shift in how SLAs
can be defined.
Taken at face value, QoE is exactly what it sounds like - the
quality of experience. "Experience" is defined in my Oxford
American Dictionary as "an actual observation of facts and
events," and, as a verb, "to observe, to share, to actually be
affected by - a feeling." What's interesting from these
definitions is that the word itself combines two very different
dimensions. One is a more empirical sense of observed reality,
while the other includes sensation and imagination - it is about
feeling.
Both definitions play in QoE - which reflects a very different
agenda than traditional SLAs. Rather than simply building from
what's measurable up to the customer or end user, QoE would
suggest starting with the end user, honoring the objective and
subjective merits of his or her experience and trying to
approximate them in metrics that can be validated in terms of
technical performance and customer behavior.
You already may be thinking that this approach is an unhealthy
combination of masochism and naiveté, but I would argue just the
opposite - it is the shortest path to comfort and mental health
for you and your customers.
Business productivity, customer loyalty, and business
partnerships depend on QoE in all its dimensions. No one will
stick with a provider that gets gold stars for SLAs but still
leaves them experientially discontent - especially if other
options present themselves. By trying to force you and your
customers to live in a simulated universe in which only
technical metrics apply, it is you who are being naïve. Sure,
you will need to "manage" expectations and set some technical
boundaries, but your ability to do this successfully is greatly
enhanced once you approach the problem in terms of
multi-dimensional experience rather than introverted technical
specifications.
A few pointers and observations:
* Listen to your customers. While the old-fashioned help desk
approach is often reactive and cumbersome, it can also provide
useful background on customer perceptions and requirements. A
strong, proactive service initiative will also help to promote
dialog and interaction.
* Recognize that while availability and performance remain prime
factors, there are other dimensions to QoE - such as
consistency, cost to the customer, security, flexibility (e.g.,
mobility of a service, or customer choice of service), and
variety (number of available and customer-relevant services).
This is not a finite list - because the dimensions of experience
are not finite.
* Look at options for testing responsiveness. Since degraded
service has proven to be more of a customer turnoff than
intermittent spurts of lack of availability, performance and QoE
are probably the two most closely linked metrics. Until fairly
recently, synthetic transaction analyses were the top choice for
QoE validation, and they do still play a role. Synthetic
transactions provide IT with a self-contained context for
control. You can set the time and frequency and define SLAs
accordingly - and of course synthetic transactions are superior
for testing availability.
New technologies - including slimmer, more efficient agent
technology, more advanced server-based transaction analysis, and
significant advances in techniques for packet analysis - are
making observed transactional baselining more possible. Unlike
synthetic transactions, observed baselining can inform you, on a
dynamic basis, of actual customer behavior and customer
disaffection - for example, when transactions are aborted due to
impatience. Some techniques are now highly scalable in capturing
individual user behaviors as well as infrastructure performance
in large, geographically dispersed environments.
These are just a few points. I invite your comments and opinions
as well, and welcome intelligent disagreement and notes of
support.
Oh, and to answer the question posed in the headline: in my
opinion, the glorious and troublesome fact is that QoE is indeed
beyond SLAs, which can only, at best, approximate it - and
that's because experience, itself, is more sprawling than the
Internet, and more complex than all the data centers in the
world.
By Dennis Drogseth
In this column I am going to press the point that quality of
experience sets all traditional notions of service-level
agreements on their heels. Now - not later - is the time to make
the mental leap. QoE represents a fundamental shift in how SLAs
can be defined.
Taken at face value, QoE is exactly what it sounds like - the
quality of experience. "Experience" is defined in my Oxford
American Dictionary as "an actual observation of facts and
events," and, as a verb, "to observe, to share, to actually be
affected by - a feeling." What's interesting from these
definitions is that the word itself combines two very different
dimensions. One is a more empirical sense of observed reality,
while the other includes sensation and imagination - it is about
feeling.
Both definitions play in QoE - which reflects a very different
agenda than traditional SLAs. Rather than simply building from
what's measurable up to the customer or end user, QoE would
suggest starting with the end user, honoring the objective and
subjective merits of his or her experience and trying to
approximate them in metrics that can be validated in terms of
technical performance and customer behavior.
You already may be thinking that this approach is an unhealthy
combination of masochism and naiveté, but I would argue just the
opposite - it is the shortest path to comfort and mental health
for you and your customers.
Business productivity, customer loyalty, and business
partnerships depend on QoE in all its dimensions. No one will
stick with a provider that gets gold stars for SLAs but still
leaves them experientially discontent - especially if other
options present themselves. By trying to force you and your
customers to live in a simulated universe in which only
technical metrics apply, it is you who are being naïve. Sure,
you will need to "manage" expectations and set some technical
boundaries, but your ability to do this successfully is greatly
enhanced once you approach the problem in terms of
multi-dimensional experience rather than introverted technical
specifications.
A few pointers and observations:
* Listen to your customers. While the old-fashioned help desk
approach is often reactive and cumbersome, it can also provide
useful background on customer perceptions and requirements. A
strong, proactive service initiative will also help to promote
dialog and interaction.
* Recognize that while availability and performance remain prime
factors, there are other dimensions to QoE - such as
consistency, cost to the customer, security, flexibility (e.g.,
mobility of a service, or customer choice of service), and
variety (number of available and customer-relevant services).
This is not a finite list - because the dimensions of experience
are not finite.
* Look at options for testing responsiveness. Since degraded
service has proven to be more of a customer turnoff than
intermittent spurts of lack of availability, performance and QoE
are probably the two most closely linked metrics. Until fairly
recently, synthetic transaction analyses were the top choice for
QoE validation, and they do still play a role. Synthetic
transactions provide IT with a self-contained context for
control. You can set the time and frequency and define SLAs
accordingly - and of course synthetic transactions are superior
for testing availability.
New technologies - including slimmer, more efficient agent
technology, more advanced server-based transaction analysis, and
significant advances in techniques for packet analysis - are
making observed transactional baselining more possible. Unlike
synthetic transactions, observed baselining can inform you, on a
dynamic basis, of actual customer behavior and customer
disaffection - for example, when transactions are aborted due to
impatience. Some techniques are now highly scalable in capturing
individual user behaviors as well as infrastructure performance
in large, geographically dispersed environments.
These are just a few points. I invite your comments and opinions
as well, and welcome intelligent disagreement and notes of
support.
Oh, and to answer the question posed in the headline: in my
opinion, the glorious and troublesome fact is that QoE is indeed
beyond SLAs, which can only, at best, approximate it - and
that's because experience, itself, is more sprawling than the
Internet, and more complex than all the data centers in the
world.
Proba z OneNote
Friday 5 March 2004
CA disputes Linux licence claim by SCO
Computer Associates has criticised SCO for misrepresenting the terms of a software licensing arrangement between the two companies that protected CA from a potential SCO lawsuit.
SCO chief financial officer Bob Bench confirmed that CA was one of four publicly named companies to sign up for SCO's Intellectual Property Licence for Linux, a $699 licence which, SCO said, Linux users must purchase in order to avoid violating SCO's copyrights.
However, a CA executive said that his company had purchased no such licence, but had instead acquired a large number of licences for SCO's UnixWare operating system as part of a $40m breach of contract lawsuit settlement in August 2003 with SCO investor The Canopy Group.
Around the time of the settlement, SCO announced that it had signed up the first customer for its Linux licence. Although SCO did not reveal the identity of this customer industry speculation centred around it being CA.
By acquiring the UnixWare licences, CA indemnified itself against a possible Linux lawsuit from SCO, said Sam Greenblatt, the senior vice-president and chief architect of CA's Linux Technology Group.
"We did an agreement with the Canopy Group and in the agreement with the Canopy Group, we acquired UnixWare licences," he said. "For every UnixWare licence you acquired, you got indemnified for that number of Linux licences."
SCO spokesman Blake Stowell disagreed with Greenblatt's characterisation, saying that CA had, indeed, obtained an IP Licence for Linux.
“UnixWare licences allow SCO customers to run UnixWare, and the SCO Intellectual Property Licence allows Linux end users to run our Unix intellectual property in binary form in Linux. Today, CA has a licence in place to run our Unix IP in binary form in Linux without fear that they may be infringing on our intellectual property,” he said.
Greenblatt strongly objected to the portrayal of CA as a IP Licence for Linux customer.
"To represent us as having supported the SCO thing is totally wrong," he said.
Greenblatt had harsh words for SCO and the company's chief executive officer, Darl McBride, whose tactics were "intended to intimidate and threaten customers".
"We totally disagree with his approach, his tactics and the way he's going about this."
Separately, another company mentioned as a SCO Linux licensee denied knowledge of any such agreement.
Although SCO's Bench had confirmed Carthage Missouri's Leggett & Platt as a licensee, a spokesman for the manufacturing company said that he had no knowledge of such a deal.
"I have now talked to our people who handle our Linux systems and, at least at a corporate level, we have not bought such a licence from SCO Group," said John Hale, the company's vice-president of human resources.
"It's conceivable - we're a large, far-flung corporation - that some unit of Leggett & Platt in some part of the country may have been persuaded to buy such a licence, but if they did we are not aware of it," Hale said.
One financial analyst said that the conditions surrounding the CA licence did not cast a favourable light on SCO, which has claimed that Linux illegally contains some of its Unix code.
"I think it just speaks to the weakness of their case. Why could [CA] have not been convinced to take a licence without legal action?" said Dion Cornett, a managing director with Decatur Jones Equity Partners.
The other two companies named as IP Licence for Linux customers are Houston-based EV1Servers.net and Questar. Both have confirmed that they did purchase SCO's licence.
CA disputes Linux licence claim by SCO
Computer Associates has criticised SCO for misrepresenting the terms of a software licensing arrangement between the two companies that protected CA from a potential SCO lawsuit.
SCO chief financial officer Bob Bench confirmed that CA was one of four publicly named companies to sign up for SCO's Intellectual Property Licence for Linux, a $699 licence which, SCO said, Linux users must purchase in order to avoid violating SCO's copyrights.
However, a CA executive said that his company had purchased no such licence, but had instead acquired a large number of licences for SCO's UnixWare operating system as part of a $40m breach of contract lawsuit settlement in August 2003 with SCO investor The Canopy Group.
Around the time of the settlement, SCO announced that it had signed up the first customer for its Linux licence. Although SCO did not reveal the identity of this customer industry speculation centred around it being CA.
By acquiring the UnixWare licences, CA indemnified itself against a possible Linux lawsuit from SCO, said Sam Greenblatt, the senior vice-president and chief architect of CA's Linux Technology Group.
"We did an agreement with the Canopy Group and in the agreement with the Canopy Group, we acquired UnixWare licences," he said. "For every UnixWare licence you acquired, you got indemnified for that number of Linux licences."
SCO spokesman Blake Stowell disagreed with Greenblatt's characterisation, saying that CA had, indeed, obtained an IP Licence for Linux.
“UnixWare licences allow SCO customers to run UnixWare, and the SCO Intellectual Property Licence allows Linux end users to run our Unix intellectual property in binary form in Linux. Today, CA has a licence in place to run our Unix IP in binary form in Linux without fear that they may be infringing on our intellectual property,” he said.
Greenblatt strongly objected to the portrayal of CA as a IP Licence for Linux customer.
"To represent us as having supported the SCO thing is totally wrong," he said.
Greenblatt had harsh words for SCO and the company's chief executive officer, Darl McBride, whose tactics were "intended to intimidate and threaten customers".
"We totally disagree with his approach, his tactics and the way he's going about this."
Separately, another company mentioned as a SCO Linux licensee denied knowledge of any such agreement.
Although SCO's Bench had confirmed Carthage Missouri's Leggett & Platt as a licensee, a spokesman for the manufacturing company said that he had no knowledge of such a deal.
"I have now talked to our people who handle our Linux systems and, at least at a corporate level, we have not bought such a licence from SCO Group," said John Hale, the company's vice-president of human resources.
"It's conceivable - we're a large, far-flung corporation - that some unit of Leggett & Platt in some part of the country may have been persuaded to buy such a licence, but if they did we are not aware of it," Hale said.
One financial analyst said that the conditions surrounding the CA licence did not cast a favourable light on SCO, which has claimed that Linux illegally contains some of its Unix code.
"I think it just speaks to the weakness of their case. Why could [CA] have not been convinced to take a licence without legal action?" said Dion Cornett, a managing director with Decatur Jones Equity Partners.
The other two companies named as IP Licence for Linux customers are Houston-based EV1Servers.net and Questar. Both have confirmed that they did purchase SCO's licence.
poniedziałek, sierpnia 23, 2004
Z blogg-u ZDNET
Ostatnio dziennikarze ZDNET wzięli w obronę stanowisko MS w sprawie wypuszczenia SP2, twierdzą, że jest on bezwzględnie potrzebny i należy go instalować mimo wiadomości o odkryciu w nim "dziur". Twierdzą, że użytkownicy mają zbyt wygórowane oczekiwania odnośnie zapewnienia im bezpiecznego poruszania po Internecie. Wiadomo przecież, udział we włamaniu do PC-ta jest taki: 10% wady zabezpieczń systemu, 40% social enginering i 50% głupota użytkownika. Dużą wadą przeglądarki IE jest a) jej pełna i scisła integracja z systemem operacyjnym i b) wykorzystanie technologii COM i ActiveX.
niedziela, sierpnia 22, 2004
Niedziela
Artykul z www.business2.com
Skąd czerpią pieniądze firmy sprzedające produkty open-source? Wszystkie firmy software'owe sprzedają nie programy ale licencje na ich użytkowanie (mają przy tym stopę zysku - profit margin - prawie 100%).
But what's the value of a license to a customer? A license doesn't deliver the code, provide the utilities to get a piece of software running, fix bugs, answer the phone when something inevitably goes wrong, or tweak the software to meet a special need. The value of software, in short, doesn't lie in the software alone. The value is in making sure the software does its job. Just as a traveler should look at the overall price of a vacation package instead of obsessing over the price of the plane ticket or hotel room, a smart tech buyer won't focus on how much the license costs and ignore the support contract or the maintenance agreement. He'll look at the total package and decide if it's worth it.
Open-source is not that different. If you want the software to work, you have to pay to ensure it will work. The open-source companies have refined the software model by selling subscriptions. They roll together support and maintenance and charge an annual fee, which is a healthy model, though not quite as wonderful as Microsoft's money-raking one.
Tellingly, even Microsoft is casting an envious eye at aspects of the open-source business model. The company has been taking halting steps toward a similar subscription scheme for its software sales. Under a software subscription, how much will you be paying for the license part of the package? You won't know or even care. It might as well be zero, because the value of software is in the results it delivers, not how you get your hands on it.
That may explain why Microsoft's subscription program, known as Software Assurance, is struggling. Software Assurance provides maintenance and support together with a software license. It lets you upgrade to Microsoft's next version of the software for a predictable sum. But it also contains an implicit threat: If you don't switch to Software Assurance now, who knows how much Microsoft will charge you when you decide to upgrade?
Chief information officers hate this kind of "assurance," since they're often perfectly happy running older versions of software that are proven and stable. Microsoft, on the other hand, rakes in the software-licensing fees only when customers upgrade. Software Assurance is Microsoft's attempt to get those same licensing fees but wrap them together with the service and support needed to keep systems running. That's why Redmond finds the open-source model so threatening: Open-source companies have no vested interest in getting more licensing fees and don't have to pad their service contracts with that extra cost. In the end, the main difference between open-source and proprietary software companies may be the size of the check you have to write
Skąd czerpią pieniądze firmy sprzedające produkty open-source? Wszystkie firmy software'owe sprzedają nie programy ale licencje na ich użytkowanie (mają przy tym stopę zysku - profit margin - prawie 100%).
But what's the value of a license to a customer? A license doesn't deliver the code, provide the utilities to get a piece of software running, fix bugs, answer the phone when something inevitably goes wrong, or tweak the software to meet a special need. The value of software, in short, doesn't lie in the software alone. The value is in making sure the software does its job. Just as a traveler should look at the overall price of a vacation package instead of obsessing over the price of the plane ticket or hotel room, a smart tech buyer won't focus on how much the license costs and ignore the support contract or the maintenance agreement. He'll look at the total package and decide if it's worth it.
Open-source is not that different. If you want the software to work, you have to pay to ensure it will work. The open-source companies have refined the software model by selling subscriptions. They roll together support and maintenance and charge an annual fee, which is a healthy model, though not quite as wonderful as Microsoft's money-raking one.
Tellingly, even Microsoft is casting an envious eye at aspects of the open-source business model. The company has been taking halting steps toward a similar subscription scheme for its software sales. Under a software subscription, how much will you be paying for the license part of the package? You won't know or even care. It might as well be zero, because the value of software is in the results it delivers, not how you get your hands on it.
That may explain why Microsoft's subscription program, known as Software Assurance, is struggling. Software Assurance provides maintenance and support together with a software license. It lets you upgrade to Microsoft's next version of the software for a predictable sum. But it also contains an implicit threat: If you don't switch to Software Assurance now, who knows how much Microsoft will charge you when you decide to upgrade?
Chief information officers hate this kind of "assurance," since they're often perfectly happy running older versions of software that are proven and stable. Microsoft, on the other hand, rakes in the software-licensing fees only when customers upgrade. Software Assurance is Microsoft's attempt to get those same licensing fees but wrap them together with the service and support needed to keep systems running. That's why Redmond finds the open-source model so threatening: Open-source companies have no vested interest in getting more licensing fees and don't have to pad their service contracts with that extra cost. In the end, the main difference between open-source and proprietary software companies may be the size of the check you have to write
piątek, sierpnia 20, 2004
Linux wspolpracuje z SAP-em
Switzerland's Endress+Hauser (International) Holding AG, a global supplier of process control systems, has migrated all its business applications from SAP AG to a mainframe running the open-source Linux operating system.
The manufacturer, in Reinach, Switzerland, joins a growing cadre of companies moving core IT systems, such as SAP's R/3 ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, to Linux in an effort to lower operating costs and increase performance.
The ERP system runs on Novell Inc's Linux SuSE, which is installed in an IBM Corp. zSeries 990 mainframe and supported by IBM's z/VM server virtualization technology, according to Jan Olaf, manager of marketing and sales at Endress+Hauser Infoserv GmbH, the IT service unit of the Swiss manufacturing group.
"We run a wide assortment of SAP applications, including CRM (customer relationship management), SCM (supply chain management) and the new NetWeaver integration platform," Olaf said. "We use a lot of SAP software, and it's now all on Linux."
More than 3,500 employees use SAP applications within the group, which consists of 35 subsidiaries with 60 sites spread around the globe.
One of the reasons for the migration was to improve performance. "We have much shorter response times with Linux compared to IBM's mainframe operating system, z/OS," Olaf said. "We also find maintenance to be much easier."
The migration to Linux has also resulted in quicker back-up and recovery -- between 10 percent and 20 percent faster than with the former system, according to Olaf.
Asked whether cost also played a role, the manager said, "of course."
In total, Endress+Hauser migrated nearly 20 production applications and over 60 test, quality and development systems to Linux.
The manufacturer, in Reinach, Switzerland, joins a growing cadre of companies moving core IT systems, such as SAP's R/3 ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, to Linux in an effort to lower operating costs and increase performance.
The ERP system runs on Novell Inc's Linux SuSE, which is installed in an IBM Corp. zSeries 990 mainframe and supported by IBM's z/VM server virtualization technology, according to Jan Olaf, manager of marketing and sales at Endress+Hauser Infoserv GmbH, the IT service unit of the Swiss manufacturing group.
"We run a wide assortment of SAP applications, including CRM (customer relationship management), SCM (supply chain management) and the new NetWeaver integration platform," Olaf said. "We use a lot of SAP software, and it's now all on Linux."
More than 3,500 employees use SAP applications within the group, which consists of 35 subsidiaries with 60 sites spread around the globe.
One of the reasons for the migration was to improve performance. "We have much shorter response times with Linux compared to IBM's mainframe operating system, z/OS," Olaf said. "We also find maintenance to be much easier."
The migration to Linux has also resulted in quicker back-up and recovery -- between 10 percent and 20 percent faster than with the former system, according to Olaf.
Asked whether cost also played a role, the manager said, "of course."
In total, Endress+Hauser migrated nearly 20 production applications and over 60 test, quality and development systems to Linux.
Dlaczego IM jest lepszy od E-Mail?
Popularność IM wynika z tego, że e-mail coraz bardziej jest zanieczyszczony poprzez spam i ludzie coraz mniej chętnie czytają e-maile.
Fenomen IM polega na jego świeżości i natychmiastowości, coś w rodzaju "głowi kolegi w drzwiach, który przyszedł za sprawą".
Walory:
1) Wysyłający wie dokładnie, że odbiorca jest na komputerze.
2) Wygladem przypomina wymianę karteczek w podczas lekcji klasie.
3) Coś w rodzaju ulotności, nie zostawia śladu w poczcie. Wiadomość może być zabarwiona emocjonalnie co może wywołać podziw wśród znajomych.
Fenomen IM polega na jego świeżości i natychmiastowości, coś w rodzaju "głowi kolegi w drzwiach, który przyszedł za sprawą".
Walory:
1) Wysyłający wie dokładnie, że odbiorca jest na komputerze.
2) Wygladem przypomina wymianę karteczek w podczas lekcji klasie.
3) Coś w rodzaju ulotności, nie zostawia śladu w poczcie. Wiadomość może być zabarwiona emocjonalnie co może wywołać podziw wśród znajomych.
Ukryte koszty VPN
Użytkownicy zauważają, że mimo obniżenia kosztów wynikających ze stosowania VPN zamiast tradycyjnej sieci, wcale nie obniżają kosztów całkowitych. Ma się to szczególnie w obszarze gdzie użytkownicy sami eksploatują infrastrukturę VPN. Użytkownicy przyznają, że wykorzystanie Internetu z VPN może spowodować znaczne oszczędności w (obszarze ruchu w sieci rozległej: wide-area) w porównaniu z łączami dzierżawionymi lub usług frame relay, nawet wydajność i przepustowość sieci jest zadawalająca. To co zżera koszty to bieżąca obsługa klienta końcowego (instalacja, konfigurowanie i wyłapywanie błędów) i koszty help desku
TOra - Toolkit For Oracle - narzedzie dla administratora bazy
Narzędzie Tora - Toolkit for Oracle
Strona: http://www.sofotex.com/TOra---Toolkit-For-Oracle-download_L2090.html
Zawiera:
========
Służy do wsparcia DBA i programistom bazodanowym: PL/SQL Debugger, SQL worksheet z podświetleniem składni, przeglądarkę bazy oraz narzędzia dla administratora
Cena: 100$ dla użytkownika komercyjnego (przedsiębiorstwa)
Inne produkty:
=============
Visual SQL-Designer is a program for easy visual constructing hard SQL-query for any ...
MyDBA - Oracle Databases Observer: MyDBA is a powerful graphical tool to retrieve essential information from any Oracle ...
Oracle Reports Barcode Library: Add barcodes to Oracle Reports with this library. The barcode library is a PLL file that ...
Odbc 4 All: Allows any application, including DOS, to easily run SQL queries using any ODBC data ...
DB SynchroComp: DB SynchroComp compares two SQL Server databases, determining differences between them, ...
Strona: http://www.sofotex.com/TOra---Toolkit-For-Oracle-download_L2090.html
Zawiera:
========
Służy do wsparcia DBA i programistom bazodanowym: PL/SQL Debugger, SQL worksheet z podświetleniem składni, przeglądarkę bazy oraz narzędzia dla administratora
Cena: 100$ dla użytkownika komercyjnego (przedsiębiorstwa)
Inne produkty:
=============
Visual SQL-Designer is a program for easy visual constructing hard SQL-query for any ...
MyDBA - Oracle Databases Observer: MyDBA is a powerful graphical tool to retrieve essential information from any Oracle ...
Oracle Reports Barcode Library: Add barcodes to Oracle Reports with this library. The barcode library is a PLL file that ...
Odbc 4 All: Allows any application, including DOS, to easily run SQL queries using any ODBC data ...
DB SynchroComp: DB SynchroComp compares two SQL Server databases, determining differences between them, ...
czwartek, sierpnia 19, 2004
The Code Project - A db grid control using ASP - ASP
The Code Project - A db grid control using ASP - ASP: "Introduction%0D%0AA grid control for editing databases on the web. It is written for ASP with JavaScript%2C but should be fully usable from VBScript as well. With just a few lines of code%2C you will%2C with this control%2C be able to edit your data.%0D%0AFeatures%0D%0AWrite protect fields you don%27t want the user to edit. %0D%0AID fields can look up values in other recordsets. %0D%0ASort by any column that supports sorting. %0D%0APaging with custom page size. %0D%0AAutomatically detects primary key%2C but can also be manually overridden. %0D%0AGet default values for new records with custom select statement. %0D%0AUsage"
wtorek, sierpnia 17, 2004
Finalisci LinuxWorld Expo
Best Data Backup or Storage Solution
PolyServe, Inc: PolyServe NAS Cluster Solution
Storix, Inc: System Backup Administrator
Computer Associates: BrightStor ARCserve Backup
Best Database Solution
Computer Associates: Ingres
Oracle: Oracle Database 10g
IBM: IBM DB2 Universal Database
Object Web: C-JDBC
Voltaire: TerraGrid DBScale
Best Open Source Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla FireFox
Computer Associates: Ingres
Novell: Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
Gentoo Linux: Gentoo Linux 2004.2
Best Utility/Grid Computing Solution
IBM: IBM Deep Computing Capacity on Demand
Topspin Communications: Topspin Utility Computing Solution, featuring VFrameT software suite
VMWare: VMWare GSX 3.1
Emic Networks: Emic Application Cluster 2.0
Best Security Solution
NetIQ: NetIQ Vulnerability Manager 5.0
Novell: Novell Nsure
Astaro: Astaro Security Linux
Best Productivity/Business Application
Sun Microsystems: StarOffice and Migration Tools
Novell: Novell Evolution 2.0 / GroupWise
KDE: Quanta Plus
Hummingbird Ltd: Exceed onDemand 4.5
Computer Associates: BrightStor Document Manager
Best Messaging Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla Thunderbird
Barracuda Networks: Barracuda Spam Firewall 600
Novell: GroupWise 6.5 for Linux, Evolution and Gaim
Stalker Software: Communigate Pro v4.2 Real-Time Communication
Best Application Development Platform or Tool
Red Hat: Red Hat Application Server
Novell: Mono
Parasoft: Insure++
Sun Microsystems: Sun Java Studio Creator
Best Systems Management Tools
Novell: ZENworks Linux Management
Black Duck Software: protexIP/development
RLX Technologies: RLX Control Tower 6G
Xandros, Inc: Xandros Desktop Management Server
Best Embedded Solution
IBM: IBM Cloudscape V10.0
Trolltech: Qtopia Phone Edition
Best Clustering Solution
Red Hat: Red Hat Global File System
IBM: IBM Departmental Supercomputing Solutions
Penguin Computing: Scyld Beowulf
Most Innovative Hardware Solution
Rackable Systems: Rackable Systems Scale Out Server Series
E28 Limited: E2800+
Sun Microsystems: Sun Ray Thin Client
Best Integration Solution
Alacos: Linux Migration Agent Professional
Novell: exteNd Suite 5.2
Veritas: Storage Foundation 4.0
PolyServe, Inc: PolyServe NAS Cluster Solution
Storix, Inc: System Backup Administrator
Computer Associates: BrightStor ARCserve Backup
Best Database Solution
Computer Associates: Ingres
Oracle: Oracle Database 10g
IBM: IBM DB2 Universal Database
Object Web: C-JDBC
Voltaire: TerraGrid DBScale
Best Open Source Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla FireFox
Computer Associates: Ingres
Novell: Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
Gentoo Linux: Gentoo Linux 2004.2
Best Utility/Grid Computing Solution
IBM: IBM Deep Computing Capacity on Demand
Topspin Communications: Topspin Utility Computing Solution, featuring VFrameT software suite
VMWare: VMWare GSX 3.1
Emic Networks: Emic Application Cluster 2.0
Best Security Solution
NetIQ: NetIQ Vulnerability Manager 5.0
Novell: Novell Nsure
Astaro: Astaro Security Linux
Best Productivity/Business Application
Sun Microsystems: StarOffice and Migration Tools
Novell: Novell Evolution 2.0 / GroupWise
KDE: Quanta Plus
Hummingbird Ltd: Exceed onDemand 4.5
Computer Associates: BrightStor Document Manager
Best Messaging Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla Thunderbird
Barracuda Networks: Barracuda Spam Firewall 600
Novell: GroupWise 6.5 for Linux, Evolution and Gaim
Stalker Software: Communigate Pro v4.2 Real-Time Communication
Best Application Development Platform or Tool
Red Hat: Red Hat Application Server
Novell: Mono
Parasoft: Insure++
Sun Microsystems: Sun Java Studio Creator
Best Systems Management Tools
Novell: ZENworks Linux Management
Black Duck Software: protexIP/development
RLX Technologies: RLX Control Tower 6G
Xandros, Inc: Xandros Desktop Management Server
Best Embedded Solution
IBM: IBM Cloudscape V10.0
Trolltech: Qtopia Phone Edition
Best Clustering Solution
Red Hat: Red Hat Global File System
IBM: IBM Departmental Supercomputing Solutions
Penguin Computing: Scyld Beowulf
Most Innovative Hardware Solution
Rackable Systems: Rackable Systems Scale Out Server Series
E28 Limited: E2800+
Sun Microsystems: Sun Ray Thin Client
Best Integration Solution
Alacos: Linux Migration Agent Professional
Novell: exteNd Suite 5.2
Veritas: Storage Foundation 4.0
Nogrodzeni wystawcy na LinuxWorld Expo
Winners of Product Excellence Awards Announced at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo
Sandy Dawkins
08/04/2004 - Awards recognize the best products and services on the exhibit floor
FRAMINGHAM, MA – August 4, 2004 – IDG World Expo, the leading producer of world-class tradeshows, conferences and events for technology markets, has announced the winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards. Presented in a ceremony held yesterday afternoon at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®, the awards recognize the best products and services showcased on the exhibit floor at this week’s event. LinuxWorld Conference & Expo runs through Thursday, August 5 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards were managed in conjunction with LinuxWorld Magazine, and winners were selected by a panel of judges comprised of respected industry experts. Divided into 13 product categories, the awards represent major areas of innovation in the Linux and open source community.
“The winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards represent the best that open source has to offer,” said Warwick Davies, group vice president, IDG World Expo. “With the help of LinuxWorld Magazine and our experienced judges, we have selected the most innovative and effective solutions for users of Linux and open source. We applaud the developers of these solutions for their hard work and dedication to innovation.”
The “Best of Show” award, which recognizes a product deemed by the judges to be an important advancement and a major step forward for Linux in the marketplace, was presented to the Mozilla Foundation for Mozilla FireFox.
Additional award winners included:
Best Data Backup or Storage Solution
Storix, Inc: System Backup Administrator
Best Database Solution
Voltaire: TerraGrid DBScale
Best Open Source Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla FireFox
Best Utility/Grid Computing Solution
Topspin Communications: Topspin Utility Computing Solution, featuring VFrameT software suite
Best Security Solution
Novell: Novell Nsure
Best Productivity/Business Application
Sun Microsystems: StarOffice and Migration Tools
Best Messaging Solution
Stalker Software: Communigate Pro v4.2 Real-Time Communication
Best Application Development Platform or Tool
Red Hat: Red Hat Application Server
Best Systems Management Tools
Novell: ZENworks Linux Management
Best Embedded Solution
Trolltech: Qtopia Phone Edition
Best Clustering Solution
Red Hat: Red Hat Global File System
Most Innovative Hardware Solution
Rackable Systems: Rackable Systems Scale Out Server Series
Best Integration Solution
Novell: exteNd Suite 5.2
The LinuxWorld Product Excellence Award judges included: Kevin Bedell, editor in chief for LinuxWorld Magazine; Bill Claybrooke, industry analyst at New River Linux; Gary Hein, vice president and service director for Application Platform Strategies at the Burton Group; Sam Hiser, marketing project co-lead for OpenOffice.org; Dee-Ann LeBlanc, Linux author, consultant and trainer; Robin "Roblimo" Miller, editor in chief for OSDN; Paul Nowak, CIO for the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE); Brian Proffitt, managing editor for Linux Today, LinuxPlanet and JustLinux; Stacey Quandt, industry analyst at Quandt Analytics; Bill Roth, senior technical evangelist at E.phiphany; Doc Searls, senior editor for Linux Journal; Leon Shiman, president of Shiman Associates and member of the Board of Directors for X.org; John Terpstra, mentor on the Samba Project; James Turner, senior editor for LinuxWorld Magazine; Maria Winslow, open source business analyst; and John Weathersby, executive director of the Open Source Software Institute.
Sandy Dawkins
08/04/2004 - Awards recognize the best products and services on the exhibit floor
FRAMINGHAM, MA – August 4, 2004 – IDG World Expo, the leading producer of world-class tradeshows, conferences and events for technology markets, has announced the winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards. Presented in a ceremony held yesterday afternoon at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®, the awards recognize the best products and services showcased on the exhibit floor at this week’s event. LinuxWorld Conference & Expo runs through Thursday, August 5 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards were managed in conjunction with LinuxWorld Magazine, and winners were selected by a panel of judges comprised of respected industry experts. Divided into 13 product categories, the awards represent major areas of innovation in the Linux and open source community.
“The winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards represent the best that open source has to offer,” said Warwick Davies, group vice president, IDG World Expo. “With the help of LinuxWorld Magazine and our experienced judges, we have selected the most innovative and effective solutions for users of Linux and open source. We applaud the developers of these solutions for their hard work and dedication to innovation.”
The “Best of Show” award, which recognizes a product deemed by the judges to be an important advancement and a major step forward for Linux in the marketplace, was presented to the Mozilla Foundation for Mozilla FireFox.
Additional award winners included:
Best Data Backup or Storage Solution
Storix, Inc: System Backup Administrator
Best Database Solution
Voltaire: TerraGrid DBScale
Best Open Source Solution
Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla FireFox
Best Utility/Grid Computing Solution
Topspin Communications: Topspin Utility Computing Solution, featuring VFrameT software suite
Best Security Solution
Novell: Novell Nsure
Best Productivity/Business Application
Sun Microsystems: StarOffice and Migration Tools
Best Messaging Solution
Stalker Software: Communigate Pro v4.2 Real-Time Communication
Best Application Development Platform or Tool
Red Hat: Red Hat Application Server
Best Systems Management Tools
Novell: ZENworks Linux Management
Best Embedded Solution
Trolltech: Qtopia Phone Edition
Best Clustering Solution
Red Hat: Red Hat Global File System
Most Innovative Hardware Solution
Rackable Systems: Rackable Systems Scale Out Server Series
Best Integration Solution
Novell: exteNd Suite 5.2
The LinuxWorld Product Excellence Award judges included: Kevin Bedell, editor in chief for LinuxWorld Magazine; Bill Claybrooke, industry analyst at New River Linux; Gary Hein, vice president and service director for Application Platform Strategies at the Burton Group; Sam Hiser, marketing project co-lead for OpenOffice.org; Dee-Ann LeBlanc, Linux author, consultant and trainer; Robin "Roblimo" Miller, editor in chief for OSDN; Paul Nowak, CIO for the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE); Brian Proffitt, managing editor for Linux Today, LinuxPlanet and JustLinux; Stacey Quandt, industry analyst at Quandt Analytics; Bill Roth, senior technical evangelist at E.phiphany; Doc Searls, senior editor for Linux Journal; Leon Shiman, president of Shiman Associates and member of the Board of Directors for X.org; John Terpstra, mentor on the Samba Project; James Turner, senior editor for LinuxWorld Magazine; Maria Winslow, open source business analyst; and John Weathersby, executive director of the Open Source Software Institute.
poniedziałek, sierpnia 16, 2004
Techworld.com - Microsoft firewall could be security risk
Techworld.com - Microsoft firewall could be security risk: "But if an installer can switch off Windows Firewall%2C so could an attacker%2C%0D%0Aargues Zone Labs%2C maker of the popular ZoneAlarm firewall. The company said%0D%0Aits own products are locked-down in such a way that third-party applications%0D%0Acan%27t disable firewall protection without uninstalling the software.%0D%0A%0D%0AMicrosoft admitted that%2C in some cases%2C malicious code could indeed switch%0D%0Athe firewall off. However%2C this isn%27t so much a flaw as a limitation on the%0D%0Arole firewalls should play in a company%27s security system%2C Microsoft said.%0D%0A%22An attacker could misuse that %28administrative%29 capability%2C%22 said Microsoft%0D%0Atechnical specialist David Overton. %22But you%27re already in a compromised%0D%0Astate%2C if you%27re at that point.%22 He said that Windows Firewall is designed%0D%0Ato stop malicious transmissions to the PC%2C rather than protecting the PC%0D%0Aonce it%27s been infected."
If malicious code makes it past the firewall, it is the role of anti-virus
software to protect the machine, Overton said. Likewise, it is not the
firewall's place to stop malicious code from sending outbound packets -
Microsoft argues companies should use perimeter technologies to examine
outbound traffic. "The firewall is a management process, not a silver
bullet," Overton said.
If malicious code makes it past the firewall, it is the role of anti-virus
software to protect the machine, Overton said. Likewise, it is not the
firewall's place to stop malicious code from sending outbound packets -
Microsoft argues companies should use perimeter technologies to examine
outbound traffic. "The firewall is a management process, not a silver
bullet," Overton said.
Narzedzia dla obszaru serwerow MS Windows mozna znalezc na LinuxWorld
Podsumowanie:
===========
Dwie ciekawe technologie pracy wieloprocesorowej:
1) kombinacja platformy sprzetowej blade z Linux (opcja wbudowana wirtualizacja) IBM + TotalStorage SAN = niegraniczona rozbudowa mocy obliczeniowej i niezawodnosci,
2) rozwiązanie klastrowe Boewolf mozna dodawać/zdejmować węzły - całosć pracuje jak jeden wielki komputer,
Rozwiązania Novell: nowe serwery, ZenWorks oraz nasladowcy Exchange'a
=====================================================
Good stuff, but the combination of IBM's blade server platform running Linux, taking advantage of Linux's embedded server virtualization capability while running a TotalStorage SAN solution on the back end, has so much flexibility that it's mind-boggling
If I only had a dime for every time someone asked me that last week, I'd be wealthier -- by about 10 cents. But why shouldn't I be at LinuxWorld? After all, I write about the best ways to manage a Windows-centric enterprise network, and we all know that isn't always done by using only Windows-based products.
LinuxWorld was actually an eye-opener for me in a number of ways. For one thing, I couldn't believe the number of Windows XP machines running at this show. And not just in the press room, although here I was mighty surprised to be the only one with Slackware available on his notebook. I was also surprised by the ratio of green hair and lip piercings to khakis and golf shirts; khakis and golf shirts were definitely winning. Except over in the dot.org section where it was still T-shirts and anti-Bill tattoos. Frankly, it was a little disappointing. My first Linux gathering and everyone was corporate. Might as well have been at TechEd .
I saw a couple of upsides to all the Windows machines at the show, however. First, I can stick it to some of those Linux OS zealots I run into from time to time (of which, again, this show had surprisingly few). Second, it shows you really can integrate Linux into a Windows-based installation without compatibility taking a dive and the world coming to an end.
But from a Windows IT management perspective, Linux still isn't a cure-all. The battle for the Linux desktop seemed on many folks' mind at the show, but from my perspective, that was the least interesting aspect. What made my eyes flutter was clustering, blade server management, and storage management.
Microsoft is making a big deal out of its Windows Storage Server product line, along with hardware partners galore. Good stuff, but the combination of IBM's blade server platform running Linux, taking advantage of Linux's embedded server virtualization capability while running a TotalStorage SAN solution on the back end, has so much flexibility that it's mind-boggling. Any server you want, any capacity you want, any number of network interfaces, any amount of fail-over. All in software, all via a sweet little interface with IBM's ultra-quality hardware making you feel warm and fuzzy all over. That is one tough solution to beat.
Scyld Software's Beowulf clusters were similarly impressive, although they were flexible in the opposite way. Whereas server virtualization lets you expand your hardware into as many virtual software nodes as possible, Beowulf clusters let you easily combine your hardware resources into a single, and heavily muscled, logical computing resource. And what a resource. Scyld Beowulf solves many of the problems of the first-generation Beowulf clusters by effectively using a single-system front end. The entire cluster can be completely managed from a single console and looks to that user as a single computer. Even better, groups of nodes can be split off for individual tasks with just a few mouse clicks and can then be added to the grid again to help out with works in progress with the same number of index-finger motions. It's smart, it's seamless, and it really works.
Another company that's going to give Redmond some real headaches in the coming year is Novell. They're back, they're loud, and they're serious. The SuSE distro is being expanded into a heavily muscled enterprise server platform that will soon have a front end unified with Netware. No, it's not a bad LSD flashback to SuperNOS, but a single management front end that can run over both operating kernels. SuSE is also becoming a powerhouse on the desktop side with Novell promising a new desktop distro that will allow Windows XP users immediate gratification with no learning curve. We'll see.
Managing that desktop, however, is going to be one of Novell's real strengths with a new version of ZENworks that spans over both Linux and Windows XP desktops with equal effectiveness. That's a real boon to those of us in mixed platform marriages, because ZENworks really delivers, feature-wise.
SuSE Openexchange is also on the warpath as we'll soon see in an upcoming review of non-Windows Exchange-killers. It's a little unclear how Openexchange will play out with Groupwise for Linux, but it's not unclear that messaging and collaboration are Linux server darlings. Scalix, Stalker Software, and others are working hard to give Exchange administrators viable alternatives without loss of features or front-end compatibility.
It may be strange talking about the rebel OS in a Windows management column, but many of the rebels have gone mainstream and are truly worth a look for any Windows network installation. Linux still can't run everything, especially Windows-based client/server applications, but it can sure make a dent in core network services.
Oliver Rist is a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld.
===========
Dwie ciekawe technologie pracy wieloprocesorowej:
1) kombinacja platformy sprzetowej blade z Linux (opcja wbudowana wirtualizacja) IBM + TotalStorage SAN = niegraniczona rozbudowa mocy obliczeniowej i niezawodnosci,
2) rozwiązanie klastrowe Boewolf mozna dodawać/zdejmować węzły - całosć pracuje jak jeden wielki komputer,
Rozwiązania Novell: nowe serwery, ZenWorks oraz nasladowcy Exchange'a
=====================================================
Good stuff, but the combination of IBM's blade server platform running Linux, taking advantage of Linux's embedded server virtualization capability while running a TotalStorage SAN solution on the back end, has so much flexibility that it's mind-boggling
If I only had a dime for every time someone asked me that last week, I'd be wealthier -- by about 10 cents. But why shouldn't I be at LinuxWorld? After all, I write about the best ways to manage a Windows-centric enterprise network, and we all know that isn't always done by using only Windows-based products.
LinuxWorld was actually an eye-opener for me in a number of ways. For one thing, I couldn't believe the number of Windows XP machines running at this show. And not just in the press room, although here I was mighty surprised to be the only one with Slackware available on his notebook. I was also surprised by the ratio of green hair and lip piercings to khakis and golf shirts; khakis and golf shirts were definitely winning. Except over in the dot.org section where it was still T-shirts and anti-Bill tattoos. Frankly, it was a little disappointing. My first Linux gathering and everyone was corporate. Might as well have been at TechEd .
I saw a couple of upsides to all the Windows machines at the show, however. First, I can stick it to some of those Linux OS zealots I run into from time to time (of which, again, this show had surprisingly few). Second, it shows you really can integrate Linux into a Windows-based installation without compatibility taking a dive and the world coming to an end.
But from a Windows IT management perspective, Linux still isn't a cure-all. The battle for the Linux desktop seemed on many folks' mind at the show, but from my perspective, that was the least interesting aspect. What made my eyes flutter was clustering, blade server management, and storage management.
Microsoft is making a big deal out of its Windows Storage Server product line, along with hardware partners galore. Good stuff, but the combination of IBM's blade server platform running Linux, taking advantage of Linux's embedded server virtualization capability while running a TotalStorage SAN solution on the back end, has so much flexibility that it's mind-boggling. Any server you want, any capacity you want, any number of network interfaces, any amount of fail-over. All in software, all via a sweet little interface with IBM's ultra-quality hardware making you feel warm and fuzzy all over. That is one tough solution to beat.
Scyld Software's Beowulf clusters were similarly impressive, although they were flexible in the opposite way. Whereas server virtualization lets you expand your hardware into as many virtual software nodes as possible, Beowulf clusters let you easily combine your hardware resources into a single, and heavily muscled, logical computing resource. And what a resource. Scyld Beowulf solves many of the problems of the first-generation Beowulf clusters by effectively using a single-system front end. The entire cluster can be completely managed from a single console and looks to that user as a single computer. Even better, groups of nodes can be split off for individual tasks with just a few mouse clicks and can then be added to the grid again to help out with works in progress with the same number of index-finger motions. It's smart, it's seamless, and it really works.
Another company that's going to give Redmond some real headaches in the coming year is Novell. They're back, they're loud, and they're serious. The SuSE distro is being expanded into a heavily muscled enterprise server platform that will soon have a front end unified with Netware. No, it's not a bad LSD flashback to SuperNOS, but a single management front end that can run over both operating kernels. SuSE is also becoming a powerhouse on the desktop side with Novell promising a new desktop distro that will allow Windows XP users immediate gratification with no learning curve. We'll see.
Managing that desktop, however, is going to be one of Novell's real strengths with a new version of ZENworks that spans over both Linux and Windows XP desktops with equal effectiveness. That's a real boon to those of us in mixed platform marriages, because ZENworks really delivers, feature-wise.
SuSE Openexchange is also on the warpath as we'll soon see in an upcoming review of non-Windows Exchange-killers. It's a little unclear how Openexchange will play out with Groupwise for Linux, but it's not unclear that messaging and collaboration are Linux server darlings. Scalix, Stalker Software, and others are working hard to give Exchange administrators viable alternatives without loss of features or front-end compatibility.
It may be strange talking about the rebel OS in a Windows management column, but many of the rebels have gone mainstream and are truly worth a look for any Windows network installation. Linux still can't run everything, especially Windows-based client/server applications, but it can sure make a dent in core network services.
Oliver Rist is a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld.
sobota, sierpnia 14, 2004
Service Pack 2 sheds light on Longhorn
Service Pack 2 sheds light on Longhorn
With the release of Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 for Windows XP later this month, users will be re-evaluating their upgrade plans.
Existing Windows XP desktops are likely to receive the SP2 update, while Windows 2000 users have the choice of moving directly to XP SP2 or waiting until Longhorn, the next major Windows release arrives.
Service Pack 2 is widely viewed as a significant update, offering greater security and bundling more functions into the operating system. More importantly, it will offer a taste of things to come from Microsoft: the eagerly-awaited operating system codenamed Longhorn.
This, the next version of Windows, has been described by Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates as the biggest product release for Microsoft since Windows 95.
"[Longhorn] is going to be a very big release: the biggest release of this decade," he told a developers conference in October 2003. "We are tackling three different areas: the fundamentals - that means the security - the auto-installation and applications not interfering with each other."
Currently scheduled to be released in 2007, Longhorn will alter the way the operating system functions and integrates with other applications.
Neil Macehiter, research director at analyst firm Ovum, said, "Longhorn is a very significant release for Microsoft and it does change some of the rules of what an operating system does. Microsoft is fundamentally re-architecting the operating system so it can deliver more sophisticated capability than before."
Planned new features include a new mechanism for storing files, technology to help different applications to talk to each other, probably using web services technology and speech recognition.
Meanwhile, Longhorn development rumbles on. In June, Microsoft released an early version of the operating system to subscribers to its developers network and to WinHEC 2004 conference delegates.
"The WinHEC build represents the next milestone of Longhorn on the way to the final release," said Chris Sells, content strategist for the MSDN Longhorn Developer Centre.
He said Microsoft plans to provide regular updates of Longhorn code to the developer community to obtain their feedback.
Although Longhorn is still three years away, IT directors and their system software developers can begin to review the operating system and plan their IT strategy.
The Longhorn developer community is already producing ideas for new applications and initiatives using the next version of Windows.
Third-party suppliers are working on ways to combine voice, video and data in the next-generation graphical interface, Avalon. They are also developing voice functions for speech-to-text conversion and a new graphic interface called Facetop. This appears to project the end-user’s face over the windows and applications they are working on.
But the changes to the platform may be too ambitious, according to some industry commentators who are sceptical about the potential take-up of Longhorn.
Annette Jump, principal analyst at Gartner, said, "Microsoft is not very good at communicating the roadmap or sticking to it."
Longhorn’s beta and final release dates have slipped already, with final availability being delayed a year to the first half of 2007, she said, adding that most companies will wait a further year before adopting it.
"Microsoft is keeping very quiet about Longhorn. This could present a problem of how to persuade customers to sign up to licences if they don’t know when it is out," said Jump.
Gates has talked about the Longhorn wave: a number of Longhorn products are being released before and after the operating system, although they will be aligned with the core operating system. Products such as Visual Studio 2005 (code-named Whidbey) and SQL Server 2005 (Yukon) will come out before Longhorn, but will contain some of its technology. Next-generation products, such as Visual Studio, code-named Orcas, are expected post-Longhorn.
Microsoft builds three pillars for Longhorn
Pillar one is a common communications framework, called Indigo, which can control the way different applications communicate and share data. Indigo works out how to package information and the best channel on which to send it, whether that is web services through the .net infrastructure, by using peer-to-peer technology or instant messaging.
"All the investment Microsoft is making into web services will appear in Indigo," said Neil Macehiter, research director at Ovum.
Although the changes Microsoft is making will have benefits, he said, they will also affect the fundamental design of other applications. "The implications for Microsoft’s other technologies are very significant: where, for example, does Microsoft Exchange store its information if you change the operating system’s file system?"
Pillar two is a storage mechanism for files in the operating system, which will sit on top of the NT File System. Microsoft is tying certain elements of relational databases and the data exchange standard XML into the data filing system to give users more control over how they store and access their data. It will use a common store for data such as contact information which can be accessed centrally by Outlook and an instant messaging client.
Macehiter said, "WinFS essentially allows users to define more about how they want information to be stored and the relationship between data. You can build up some sophisticated ways to manage your data. Microsoft is exploiting the expertise it has in Sequel Server and relational databases and applying it to the operating system."
The final pillar is a graphical user interface, dubbed Avalon, which has 3D and 2D elements and features such as transparent Windows.
Microsoft has chosen a design-led, rather than a programmer-led approach and will allow the application developer to define what they want to see on the desktop, or how they want an application to look, and the code will match it, said Macehiter.
"Apple and Macromedia have been doing this for a long while and successfully. Microsoft is clearly trying to extend the desktop and reassert the position of the rich client, as opposed to the browser," he said.
The image revamp will also help companies to deal with the vast amounts of data produced by IT systems, Microsoft believes.
Another significant addition to Longhorn is the Dynamic Systems Initiative, which is akin to IBM’s adaptive and autonomic computing aspirations. Microsoft’s initiative can be used in a datacentre to automatically add and take away computing or storage resources as applications require, and manage the infrastructure as a whole.
However, complete resource automation through DSI is six- to eight years away, according to Microsoft.
Is Longhorn worth the wait?
Annette Jump, principal analyst at Gartner, said that for organisations using Windows 2000 rather than Windows XP, Longhorn may be their next standard platform, depending on when it arrives.
The main question users have to ask about Longhorn is whether it will be compatible with previous versions of Microsoft software such as Office, she added. Companies should talk to Microsoft’s software partners to see what they are doing about compatibility, she advised.
Ovum research director, Neil Macehiter, said users need to be clear about whether some of the more eye-catching features in Longhorn will be useful for businesses.
"There needs to be a clear business case for Longhorn. Is a 3D desktop useful for a call centre? Probably not. There are compelling capabilities, such as [messaging framework] Indigo, especially for companies that do a lot of application development. And I understand there will be a version available that runs on Windows Server 2003."
With the release of Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 for Windows XP later this month, users will be re-evaluating their upgrade plans.
Existing Windows XP desktops are likely to receive the SP2 update, while Windows 2000 users have the choice of moving directly to XP SP2 or waiting until Longhorn, the next major Windows release arrives.
Service Pack 2 is widely viewed as a significant update, offering greater security and bundling more functions into the operating system. More importantly, it will offer a taste of things to come from Microsoft: the eagerly-awaited operating system codenamed Longhorn.
This, the next version of Windows, has been described by Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates as the biggest product release for Microsoft since Windows 95.
"[Longhorn] is going to be a very big release: the biggest release of this decade," he told a developers conference in October 2003. "We are tackling three different areas: the fundamentals - that means the security - the auto-installation and applications not interfering with each other."
Currently scheduled to be released in 2007, Longhorn will alter the way the operating system functions and integrates with other applications.
Neil Macehiter, research director at analyst firm Ovum, said, "Longhorn is a very significant release for Microsoft and it does change some of the rules of what an operating system does. Microsoft is fundamentally re-architecting the operating system so it can deliver more sophisticated capability than before."
Planned new features include a new mechanism for storing files, technology to help different applications to talk to each other, probably using web services technology and speech recognition.
Meanwhile, Longhorn development rumbles on. In June, Microsoft released an early version of the operating system to subscribers to its developers network and to WinHEC 2004 conference delegates.
"The WinHEC build represents the next milestone of Longhorn on the way to the final release," said Chris Sells, content strategist for the MSDN Longhorn Developer Centre.
He said Microsoft plans to provide regular updates of Longhorn code to the developer community to obtain their feedback.
Although Longhorn is still three years away, IT directors and their system software developers can begin to review the operating system and plan their IT strategy.
The Longhorn developer community is already producing ideas for new applications and initiatives using the next version of Windows.
Third-party suppliers are working on ways to combine voice, video and data in the next-generation graphical interface, Avalon. They are also developing voice functions for speech-to-text conversion and a new graphic interface called Facetop. This appears to project the end-user’s face over the windows and applications they are working on.
But the changes to the platform may be too ambitious, according to some industry commentators who are sceptical about the potential take-up of Longhorn.
Annette Jump, principal analyst at Gartner, said, "Microsoft is not very good at communicating the roadmap or sticking to it."
Longhorn’s beta and final release dates have slipped already, with final availability being delayed a year to the first half of 2007, she said, adding that most companies will wait a further year before adopting it.
"Microsoft is keeping very quiet about Longhorn. This could present a problem of how to persuade customers to sign up to licences if they don’t know when it is out," said Jump.
Gates has talked about the Longhorn wave: a number of Longhorn products are being released before and after the operating system, although they will be aligned with the core operating system. Products such as Visual Studio 2005 (code-named Whidbey) and SQL Server 2005 (Yukon) will come out before Longhorn, but will contain some of its technology. Next-generation products, such as Visual Studio, code-named Orcas, are expected post-Longhorn.
Microsoft builds three pillars for Longhorn
Pillar one is a common communications framework, called Indigo, which can control the way different applications communicate and share data. Indigo works out how to package information and the best channel on which to send it, whether that is web services through the .net infrastructure, by using peer-to-peer technology or instant messaging.
"All the investment Microsoft is making into web services will appear in Indigo," said Neil Macehiter, research director at Ovum.
Although the changes Microsoft is making will have benefits, he said, they will also affect the fundamental design of other applications. "The implications for Microsoft’s other technologies are very significant: where, for example, does Microsoft Exchange store its information if you change the operating system’s file system?"
Pillar two is a storage mechanism for files in the operating system, which will sit on top of the NT File System. Microsoft is tying certain elements of relational databases and the data exchange standard XML into the data filing system to give users more control over how they store and access their data. It will use a common store for data such as contact information which can be accessed centrally by Outlook and an instant messaging client.
Macehiter said, "WinFS essentially allows users to define more about how they want information to be stored and the relationship between data. You can build up some sophisticated ways to manage your data. Microsoft is exploiting the expertise it has in Sequel Server and relational databases and applying it to the operating system."
The final pillar is a graphical user interface, dubbed Avalon, which has 3D and 2D elements and features such as transparent Windows.
Microsoft has chosen a design-led, rather than a programmer-led approach and will allow the application developer to define what they want to see on the desktop, or how they want an application to look, and the code will match it, said Macehiter.
"Apple and Macromedia have been doing this for a long while and successfully. Microsoft is clearly trying to extend the desktop and reassert the position of the rich client, as opposed to the browser," he said.
The image revamp will also help companies to deal with the vast amounts of data produced by IT systems, Microsoft believes.
Another significant addition to Longhorn is the Dynamic Systems Initiative, which is akin to IBM’s adaptive and autonomic computing aspirations. Microsoft’s initiative can be used in a datacentre to automatically add and take away computing or storage resources as applications require, and manage the infrastructure as a whole.
However, complete resource automation through DSI is six- to eight years away, according to Microsoft.
Is Longhorn worth the wait?
Annette Jump, principal analyst at Gartner, said that for organisations using Windows 2000 rather than Windows XP, Longhorn may be their next standard platform, depending on when it arrives.
The main question users have to ask about Longhorn is whether it will be compatible with previous versions of Microsoft software such as Office, she added. Companies should talk to Microsoft’s software partners to see what they are doing about compatibility, she advised.
Ovum research director, Neil Macehiter, said users need to be clear about whether some of the more eye-catching features in Longhorn will be useful for businesses.
"There needs to be a clear business case for Longhorn. Is a 3D desktop useful for a call centre? Probably not. There are compelling capabilities, such as [messaging framework] Indigo, especially for companies that do a lot of application development. And I understand there will be a version available that runs on Windows Server 2003."
vnunet.com - Gartner questions Munich Linux migration delay
vnunet.com - Gartner questions Munich Linux migration delay: "Gartner questions Munich Linux migration delay
TCO issues may have hit project, suggests analyst
Robert Jaques and Manfred Kohlen in Munich, vnunet.com 12 Aug 2004"
Worries over total cost of ownership rather than growing uncertainty over patent disputes may have formed the main reasons for the city of Munich's decision to defer its high-profile migration to Linux on the desktop, industry experts have speculated.
Concern over EU patents directives was not Munich's primary motivation in freezing its migration of 14,000 desktops from the Windows operating system to an open source offering based on Linux, believes Gartner vice president Andrea Di Maio.
"Legal risks mostly come from US patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit," said Di Maio in a statement.
"Instead, the patenting issue may have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating the total cost of ownership for LiMux."
Gartner added that a recent study by the city of Vienna had been less favourable to migration.
"Both these factors more likely influenced Munich's decision. The EU directive will have no short-term impact on Munich's implementation of LiMux, because it will not go into effect retroactively," said Di Maio.
Munich's mayor has insisted that the project will continue. And while members of the opposition CSU party have questioned whether Linux would really be cheaper than Microsoft, their doubts have been dismissed by insiders.
In the EU, software patents are not currently allowed, but the Patent Law: Patentability Of Computer-Implemented Inventions Directive may introduce them.
The directive, not yet in final form, is receiving its second reading by the European Parliament. Munich has called for concerted opposition to the proposed directive by interested municipalities and enterprises.
TCO issues may have hit project, suggests analyst
Robert Jaques and Manfred Kohlen in Munich, vnunet.com 12 Aug 2004"
Worries over total cost of ownership rather than growing uncertainty over patent disputes may have formed the main reasons for the city of Munich's decision to defer its high-profile migration to Linux on the desktop, industry experts have speculated.
Concern over EU patents directives was not Munich's primary motivation in freezing its migration of 14,000 desktops from the Windows operating system to an open source offering based on Linux, believes Gartner vice president Andrea Di Maio.
"Legal risks mostly come from US patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit," said Di Maio in a statement.
"Instead, the patenting issue may have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating the total cost of ownership for LiMux."
Gartner added that a recent study by the city of Vienna had been less favourable to migration.
"Both these factors more likely influenced Munich's decision. The EU directive will have no short-term impact on Munich's implementation of LiMux, because it will not go into effect retroactively," said Di Maio.
Munich's mayor has insisted that the project will continue. And while members of the opposition CSU party have questioned whether Linux would really be cheaper than Microsoft, their doubts have been dismissed by insiders.
In the EU, software patents are not currently allowed, but the Patent Law: Patentability Of Computer-Implemented Inventions Directive may introduce them.
The directive, not yet in final form, is receiving its second reading by the European Parliament. Munich has called for concerted opposition to the proposed directive by interested municipalities and enterprises.
Thought for the day
Tin men eat their words
Thought for the day
Tin men eat their words
They swore they would never make Linux servers, but the tin makers are changing their tune now that the open-source OS is taking over the top end of the market, says Simon Moores.
Once upon a time I interviewed the managing director of Unisys, Brian Hadfield, and asked him if there might ever come a time when Unisys would consider a Linux alternative to Windows on its flagship ES7000 SMP servers.
His reply still reminds me of Jack Nicholson's snarling put-down, “I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.” I left that meeting with Hadfield realising that Unisys had bet the farm on Windows.
So when I read that Unisys had announced support for Linux, a smile crossed my face. Even three years ago, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun were also dimissing the idea of penguins at the top, but it's now clear that Linux is settling into a comfortable niche at the higher-end of computing.
Sun is rumoured to be on the verge of revealing a Linux port of its Sun Ray Server, and Nasa has announced it will use one of the world’s biggest Linux-based supercomputers, a 1,000Gbyte monster that integrates a score of 512-processor systems, to help revive its shuttle missions after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Unisys says its decision reflects “customer interest in using the open-source operating system in big datacentres”. The company is working with Linux Novell and Red Hat to put the operating system on its ES7000 platform - often seen as the living, breathing proof that Windows delivers at the top end of the server market.
While Microsoft might not be too pleased at having to share its perfect romance with another partner, Joe McGrath, Unisys president and chief operating officer, says, "Our enterprise customers are demanding industrial-strength Linux solutions and we are responding in a revolutionary way."
I've written a number of ES7000 customer case studies and found that many very large organisations get impressive results from mixing Windows with the Unisys ES7000 but rarely mention cost savings with Linux. The fact that it is the enterprise users of Unisys, rather than IBM, who are apparently demanding Linux solutions, suggests that the evolutionary impact predicted by Linux watchers is finally happening.
Not that a rippling introduction of Linux servers will immediately topple Windows from its position at the top of the ES7000 food-chain. After all, Unisys says Linux's appearance on the Intel-driven ES7000 will compete with proprietary Unix servers. That may come as some comfort to Microsoft, which claims Linux victories come at the expense of other flavours of Unix rather than Windows.
Even so, the writing is clearly on the wall and, thanks to aggressive campaigning by IBM and HP, an increasing number of customers will start making the price/performance comparisons that are pushing Microsoft onto the defensive.
The ES7000 represented the Wintel alliance and its technology at its strongest and purest, but market forces or simple common sense have now gatecrashed the love affair between the companies. While William Shakespeare had nothing to say about Linux or Windows, he did write, “Then must you speak of one who loved not wisely but too well.”
Tin men eat their words
They swore they would never make Linux servers, but the tin makers are changing their tune now that the open-source OS is taking over the top end of the market, says Simon Moores.
Once upon a time I interviewed the managing director of Unisys, Brian Hadfield, and asked him if there might ever come a time when Unisys would consider a Linux alternative to Windows on its flagship ES7000 SMP servers.
His reply still reminds me of Jack Nicholson's snarling put-down, “I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.” I left that meeting with Hadfield realising that Unisys had bet the farm on Windows.
So when I read that Unisys had announced support for Linux, a smile crossed my face. Even three years ago, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun were also dimissing the idea of penguins at the top, but it's now clear that Linux is settling into a comfortable niche at the higher-end of computing.
Sun is rumoured to be on the verge of revealing a Linux port of its Sun Ray Server, and Nasa has announced it will use one of the world’s biggest Linux-based supercomputers, a 1,000Gbyte monster that integrates a score of 512-processor systems, to help revive its shuttle missions after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Unisys says its decision reflects “customer interest in using the open-source operating system in big datacentres”. The company is working with Linux Novell and Red Hat to put the operating system on its ES7000 platform - often seen as the living, breathing proof that Windows delivers at the top end of the server market.
While Microsoft might not be too pleased at having to share its perfect romance with another partner, Joe McGrath, Unisys president and chief operating officer, says, "Our enterprise customers are demanding industrial-strength Linux solutions and we are responding in a revolutionary way."
I've written a number of ES7000 customer case studies and found that many very large organisations get impressive results from mixing Windows with the Unisys ES7000 but rarely mention cost savings with Linux. The fact that it is the enterprise users of Unisys, rather than IBM, who are apparently demanding Linux solutions, suggests that the evolutionary impact predicted by Linux watchers is finally happening.
Not that a rippling introduction of Linux servers will immediately topple Windows from its position at the top of the ES7000 food-chain. After all, Unisys says Linux's appearance on the Intel-driven ES7000 will compete with proprietary Unix servers. That may come as some comfort to Microsoft, which claims Linux victories come at the expense of other flavours of Unix rather than Windows.
Even so, the writing is clearly on the wall and, thanks to aggressive campaigning by IBM and HP, an increasing number of customers will start making the price/performance comparisons that are pushing Microsoft onto the defensive.
The ES7000 represented the Wintel alliance and its technology at its strongest and purest, but market forces or simple common sense have now gatecrashed the love affair between the companies. While William Shakespeare had nothing to say about Linux or Windows, he did write, “Then must you speak of one who loved not wisely but too well.”
Gartner predicts a virtual revolution
Gartner predicts a virtual revolution: "Gartner predicts a virtual revolution
Virtualisation will become the most disruptive technology to face the PC in a decade, according to research by Gartner.
It reports that PC virtualisation technology will revolutionise the enterprise desktop by decoupling PC hardware and software, allowing multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on a single desktop.
Gartner says virtualisation will enable IS departments to implement more efficient IT support policies, achieve more cost-effective outsourcing contracts for PC support, and drive total cost of ownership savings in PC deployment.
It also says that virtualisation will dramatically redefine the PC industry, removing product differentiation, and forcing suppliers to compete purely on service and price.
Brian Gammage, vice-president at Gartner, said, �PC virtualisation will achieve a broad appeal over the next five years.
'The technology has been used in niche applications for a number of years, but increased industry support from major players, such as Intel and Microsoft, will rapidly move it to the mainstream.
'This will have significant ramifications for the PC hardware, software and wider ICT services industries.�
Gartner sees PC virtualisation as providing a short cut to deployment best practices for users.
Users would be provided with two different environments: one that is unlocked for users to add devices and to install any software they choose, and a fully locked-down, highly managed, and well-understood environment, to which the IS organisation can securely deploy critical business applications.
The IS department would retain full control over network security, while users can install and run new applications that may enhance their effectiveness, without increasing the burden on already beleaguered support staff.
According to Gartner, IS departments which are successful in the deployment of virtualisation technology are also likely to swiftly review both IT services and outsourcing procedures.
PC virtualisation will reportedly assist in drawing clear lines between what is and is not managed by the IS organisation. Gartner says the potentially huge benefits for users will create equally significant implications for the industry.
“Software suppliers will need to become much more flexible in order to compete in this new landscape. Changes in the way software is licensed are inevitable, as PC virtualisation software will challenge current one-licence-per-user ratio.
"In the short term, some will see this as an opportunity to sell more licences: however, this will be harmful in the long run. Few software suppliers have woken up to this deployment scenario, and there is currently little consensus on how they might respond. This is a wake-up call,” says Gammage.
Gartner adds that hardware suppliers and component manufacturers will also be affected, and predicts that the ultimate new standard for client computing will be a virtual platform based on software, not hardware.
Virtualisation will become the most disruptive technology to face the PC in a decade, according to research by Gartner.
It reports that PC virtualisation technology will revolutionise the enterprise desktop by decoupling PC hardware and software, allowing multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on a single desktop.
Gartner says virtualisation will enable IS departments to implement more efficient IT support policies, achieve more cost-effective outsourcing contracts for PC support, and drive total cost of ownership savings in PC deployment.
It also says that virtualisation will dramatically redefine the PC industry, removing product differentiation, and forcing suppliers to compete purely on service and price.
Brian Gammage, vice-president at Gartner, said, �PC virtualisation will achieve a broad appeal over the next five years.
'The technology has been used in niche applications for a number of years, but increased industry support from major players, such as Intel and Microsoft, will rapidly move it to the mainstream.
'This will have significant ramifications for the PC hardware, software and wider ICT services industries.�
Gartner sees PC virtualisation as providing a short cut to deployment best practices for users.
Users would be provided with two different environments: one that is unlocked for users to add devices and to install any software they choose, and a fully locked-down, highly managed, and well-understood environment, to which the IS organisation can securely deploy critical business applications.
The IS department would retain full control over network security, while users can install and run new applications that may enhance their effectiveness, without increasing the burden on already beleaguered support staff.
According to Gartner, IS departments which are successful in the deployment of virtualisation technology are also likely to swiftly review both IT services and outsourcing procedures.
PC virtualisation will reportedly assist in drawing clear lines between what is and is not managed by the IS organisation. Gartner says the potentially huge benefits for users will create equally significant implications for the industry.
“Software suppliers will need to become much more flexible in order to compete in this new landscape. Changes in the way software is licensed are inevitable, as PC virtualisation software will challenge current one-licence-per-user ratio.
"In the short term, some will see this as an opportunity to sell more licences: however, this will be harmful in the long run. Few software suppliers have woken up to this deployment scenario, and there is currently little consensus on how they might respond. This is a wake-up call,” says Gammage.
Gartner adds that hardware suppliers and component manufacturers will also be affected, and predicts that the ultimate new standard for client computing will be a virtual platform based on software, not hardware.
Sleepycat ships Java version of embedded database
Sleepycat ships Java version of embedded database: "Sleepycat ships Java version of embedded database
Sleepycat Software is to ship Berkeley DB Java Edition, a Java version of its embedded database.
Intended for software developers building high-performance applications in which the user does not have to deal with the database, the product is a Java version of the company's C-based Berkeley DB offering.
'Java is more and more important as a big systems language,' said Mike Olson, chief executive officer of Sleepycat. Berkeley
Berkeley DB Java Edition offers Acid (Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, Durable) transactions and recovery for high reliability, record-level locking for high concurrency and schema neutrality for data storage in its native format, according to Sleepycat.
Berkeley DB features the same storage services as the Berkeley DB engine, but was redesigned in Java to take advantage of Java's portability and services such as deeply integrated threading and New IO, the company said."
Sleepycat Software is to ship Berkeley DB Java Edition, a Java version of its embedded database.
Intended for software developers building high-performance applications in which the user does not have to deal with the database, the product is a Java version of the company's C-based Berkeley DB offering.
'Java is more and more important as a big systems language,' said Mike Olson, chief executive officer of Sleepycat. Berkeley
Berkeley DB Java Edition offers Acid (Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, Durable) transactions and recovery for high reliability, record-level locking for high concurrency and schema neutrality for data storage in its native format, according to Sleepycat.
Berkeley DB features the same storage services as the Berkeley DB engine, but was redesigned in Java to take advantage of Java's portability and services such as deeply integrated threading and New IO, the company said."
Thought for the day - Follow that herd!
Thought for the day
Follow that herd!: "Thought for the day
Follow that herd!
You may suspect that the unceasing evolution of the Windows operating system has more to do with Microsoft making sure the bucks don't dry up than with giving users what they want, but it's the only way to get where we really want to be, says Colin Beveridge.
'Longhorn' is an interesting choice of name for Microsoft�s forthcoming �release of the decade� - its new Windows operating system expected in 2007.
For me the word conjures up childhood television memories of cowboys driving teeming herds of cattle over hostile territory towards inevitable slaughter. Week after week in the 1950s and 60s we watched the western heroes deliver their steers safely to their destiny, regardless of the obstacles put in their way by man and nature.
So perhaps the name was simply chosen to reflect the hardiness, resilience and persistence of longhorn cattle - an apposite analogy for a world-class operating system.
This seems quite plausible. After all, what self-respecting company would want to give a flagship development project a lightweight name?
Everybody knows the importance of a project name as an important flag to rally the troops and allies to the cause, and it is difficult to be original, given the burgeoning list of names already used up by an industry obsessed with snappy project titles.
So Longhorn is as good a name as any for Windows 2007, especially as it could end up as Windows 2008, or even 2009 by the time it is finally released.
But some may prefer to believe that the Longhorn label reveals, albeit subliminally, the software giant’s proprietary attitude to herding millions of cowed computer users on a never-ending stampede towards perpetual financial servitude.
That, though, is a short-sighted if widely held view. As an IT director I often hear people who challenge the need for a new desktop operating system. Their concerns generally fall into two broad categories, as follows.
First, why do we need yet another new PC operating system? Why can’t we just call it quits with further development and stick with XP, or whatever flavour of Linux suits our needs now?
Second, why should we let suppliers such as Microsoft drive us ever onwards, beyond our feature comfort zone in many cases? Why do we need a feature-intensive thick-client operating system in the brave new browser-driven world of web services?
My answers to these questions are well-rehearsed but not, I trust, glib.
I am certain we could all exist quite comfortably for many years to come without any further development of the current generation of PC hardware and software. We already have amazing computing power on our desktops and laptops, power undreamed of when the PC revolution began in the 1970s.
But you can be certain that we would not have seen desktop hardware technology advance if we had not been driven by the growing complexity and capability of the operating system. And to be honest, for the last 20 years that has been entirely down to the steady progress of Windows. A bitter pill for some to swallow perhaps, but true even so.
Mankind needs progress and strives for improvement. It's why we're not driving around in cars with stone wheels or in horse-drawn chariots. Technology moves on, relentlessly, until we can't develop it further. So we do need to keep the operating systems moving on if we want to reap the broader benefits of ever faster, increasingly cheaper and pervasive personal technology. If the software stagnates, so will our overall progress.
And until our infrastructure develops even further, we will continue to need feature-intensive, thick-client operating systems for those people who use their computers for all the tasks that are not yet embedded into fully automated business process control systems. We're still a long way from a fully thin-client vision where all our computing is web-served and we must wait and see whether Longhorn complicates or simplifies the move to such a world.
In the meantime, a few mavericks will doubtless attempt to break away from the herd. Good luck to them: genuine competition is healthy. I just hope that Longhorn delivers the promise we need to progress and that the much maligned Office Assistant paperclip is not replaced with a lasso…
Follow that herd!: "Thought for the day
Follow that herd!
You may suspect that the unceasing evolution of the Windows operating system has more to do with Microsoft making sure the bucks don't dry up than with giving users what they want, but it's the only way to get where we really want to be, says Colin Beveridge.
'Longhorn' is an interesting choice of name for Microsoft�s forthcoming �release of the decade� - its new Windows operating system expected in 2007.
For me the word conjures up childhood television memories of cowboys driving teeming herds of cattle over hostile territory towards inevitable slaughter. Week after week in the 1950s and 60s we watched the western heroes deliver their steers safely to their destiny, regardless of the obstacles put in their way by man and nature.
So perhaps the name was simply chosen to reflect the hardiness, resilience and persistence of longhorn cattle - an apposite analogy for a world-class operating system.
This seems quite plausible. After all, what self-respecting company would want to give a flagship development project a lightweight name?
Everybody knows the importance of a project name as an important flag to rally the troops and allies to the cause, and it is difficult to be original, given the burgeoning list of names already used up by an industry obsessed with snappy project titles.
So Longhorn is as good a name as any for Windows 2007, especially as it could end up as Windows 2008, or even 2009 by the time it is finally released.
But some may prefer to believe that the Longhorn label reveals, albeit subliminally, the software giant’s proprietary attitude to herding millions of cowed computer users on a never-ending stampede towards perpetual financial servitude.
That, though, is a short-sighted if widely held view. As an IT director I often hear people who challenge the need for a new desktop operating system. Their concerns generally fall into two broad categories, as follows.
First, why do we need yet another new PC operating system? Why can’t we just call it quits with further development and stick with XP, or whatever flavour of Linux suits our needs now?
Second, why should we let suppliers such as Microsoft drive us ever onwards, beyond our feature comfort zone in many cases? Why do we need a feature-intensive thick-client operating system in the brave new browser-driven world of web services?
My answers to these questions are well-rehearsed but not, I trust, glib.
I am certain we could all exist quite comfortably for many years to come without any further development of the current generation of PC hardware and software. We already have amazing computing power on our desktops and laptops, power undreamed of when the PC revolution began in the 1970s.
But you can be certain that we would not have seen desktop hardware technology advance if we had not been driven by the growing complexity and capability of the operating system. And to be honest, for the last 20 years that has been entirely down to the steady progress of Windows. A bitter pill for some to swallow perhaps, but true even so.
Mankind needs progress and strives for improvement. It's why we're not driving around in cars with stone wheels or in horse-drawn chariots. Technology moves on, relentlessly, until we can't develop it further. So we do need to keep the operating systems moving on if we want to reap the broader benefits of ever faster, increasingly cheaper and pervasive personal technology. If the software stagnates, so will our overall progress.
And until our infrastructure develops even further, we will continue to need feature-intensive, thick-client operating systems for those people who use their computers for all the tasks that are not yet embedded into fully automated business process control systems. We're still a long way from a fully thin-client vision where all our computing is web-served and we must wait and see whether Longhorn complicates or simplifies the move to such a world.
In the meantime, a few mavericks will doubtless attempt to break away from the herd. Good luck to them: genuine competition is healthy. I just hope that Longhorn delivers the promise we need to progress and that the much maligned Office Assistant paperclip is not replaced with a lasso…
Pozycja IE w swiecie
Microsoft's Internet Explorer global usage share is 94.8 percent according to OneStat.com
Amsterdam - January 19 2004 - OneStat.com ( www.onestat.com ), the number one provider of real-time web analytics, today reported
that Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a total global usage share of 94.8 percent. Microsoft's Internet Explorer continues to dominate the global browser market.
Microsoft's IE 6 is currently the leading browser on the web. Microsoft's IE 6 global usage has increased with 1.8 percent from 66.3 percent to 68.1 percent since July 2003. Mozilla's global usage share is 1.8 percent and Opera 7 has a global usage of 0.8 percent.
The global usage share of Apple's Safari browser has increased with 0.23 percent from 0.25 to 0.48 percent since July 2003.
The most popular browsers on the web are:
1. Microsoft IE 6.0 68.1%
2. Microsoft IE 5.5 13.8%
3. Microsoft IE 5.0 11.8%
4. Mozilla 1.8%
5. Opera 7.0 0.8%
6. Microsoft IE 4.0 0.7%
7. Safari 0.48%
OneStat.com is the number one provider of real-time web site analytics in the world. Our superior technology powers more than 50,000 websites in 100 countries. With our accurate, detailed & reliable reports we will be able to answer questions about visitor behaviour, site performance and retention.
The OneStat.com solutions provide executives, marketers and webmasters with answers to critical e-business questions such as:
· Who is visiting my website?
· How many pageviews, visits (sessions) and visitors are coming on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly basis?
· What content, products, and services do my visitors prefer?
· How many visitors return to the website and how often?
· What kind of search engine do they use?
· What kind of technology do your visitors use to view the website?
· What is the return on investment of my advertising campaigns?
· How do I identify significant trends?
· How much time do they spent on the website?
OneStat.com has the intention to become the number one and provider of real-time website analysis software. The web analytics ASP market totalled $49 million in 2000 and could be worth over $700 million in 2004, according to research agencies.
Methodology: A global usage share of xx percent for browser Y means that xx percent of the visitors of Internet users arrived at sites that are using one of OneStat.com's services by using browser Y. All numbers mentioned in the research are averages of last week and all measurements are normalised to the GMT timezone. Research is based on a sample of 2 million visitors divided into 20,000 visitors of 100 countries each day.
Note for editors: for more information, please contact OneStat.com, Belgieplein 84, 1066 SC Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Phone: +31 (0)20 77 92 544 E-mail: press@onestat.com Website : www.onestat.com
Amsterdam - January 19 2004 - OneStat.com ( www.onestat.com ), the number one provider of real-time web analytics, today reported
that Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a total global usage share of 94.8 percent. Microsoft's Internet Explorer continues to dominate the global browser market.
Microsoft's IE 6 is currently the leading browser on the web. Microsoft's IE 6 global usage has increased with 1.8 percent from 66.3 percent to 68.1 percent since July 2003. Mozilla's global usage share is 1.8 percent and Opera 7 has a global usage of 0.8 percent.
The global usage share of Apple's Safari browser has increased with 0.23 percent from 0.25 to 0.48 percent since July 2003.
The most popular browsers on the web are:
1. Microsoft IE 6.0 68.1%
2. Microsoft IE 5.5 13.8%
3. Microsoft IE 5.0 11.8%
4. Mozilla 1.8%
5. Opera 7.0 0.8%
6. Microsoft IE 4.0 0.7%
7. Safari 0.48%
OneStat.com is the number one provider of real-time web site analytics in the world. Our superior technology powers more than 50,000 websites in 100 countries. With our accurate, detailed & reliable reports we will be able to answer questions about visitor behaviour, site performance and retention.
The OneStat.com solutions provide executives, marketers and webmasters with answers to critical e-business questions such as:
· Who is visiting my website?
· How many pageviews, visits (sessions) and visitors are coming on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly basis?
· What content, products, and services do my visitors prefer?
· How many visitors return to the website and how often?
· What kind of search engine do they use?
· What kind of technology do your visitors use to view the website?
· What is the return on investment of my advertising campaigns?
· How do I identify significant trends?
· How much time do they spent on the website?
OneStat.com has the intention to become the number one and provider of real-time website analysis software. The web analytics ASP market totalled $49 million in 2000 and could be worth over $700 million in 2004, according to research agencies.
Methodology: A global usage share of xx percent for browser Y means that xx percent of the visitors of Internet users arrived at sites that are using one of OneStat.com's services by using browser Y. All numbers mentioned in the research are averages of last week and all measurements are normalised to the GMT timezone. Research is based on a sample of 2 million visitors divided into 20,000 visitors of 100 countries each day.
Note for editors: for more information, please contact OneStat.com, Belgieplein 84, 1066 SC Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Phone: +31 (0)20 77 92 544 E-mail: press@onestat.com Website : www.onestat.com
Munich Linux switch back on - News - ZDNet
, Germany's mayor has decided to push ahead with the LiMux project--which will see 14,000 desktops migrate from Windows to Linux--after it was suspended last week due to legal fears.
Munich's mayor, Christian Ude, had frozen the planned call for bids for the LiMux project after fears surfaced in the City council that a pending EU directive on software patents would wreak havoc with the rollout.
Now, the call for bids is back on and Munich's officials have decided to suspend their legal worries rather than the project. Analyst house Gartner, however, has questioned Munich's party line, saying that TCO concerns were likely to be as much of an issue as software patents. "Gartner does not believe that the EU directive was Munich's primary motivation," the analyst firm said in a research note.
Legal risks mostly come from U.S. patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit. Instead, the patenting issue may have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating the TCO for LiMux."
Munich has asked the EU to explain exactly how patent wrangles could affect its Linux rollout but in the meantime is going ahead with the project, with the patents problems expected to hold back the rollout only for a short time.
Ude has also urged the EU to junk the patents directive
Munich's mayor, Christian Ude, had frozen the planned call for bids for the LiMux project after fears surfaced in the City council that a pending EU directive on software patents would wreak havoc with the rollout.
Now, the call for bids is back on and Munich's officials have decided to suspend their legal worries rather than the project. Analyst house Gartner, however, has questioned Munich's party line, saying that TCO concerns were likely to be as much of an issue as software patents. "Gartner does not believe that the EU directive was Munich's primary motivation," the analyst firm said in a research note.
Legal risks mostly come from U.S. patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit. Instead, the patenting issue may have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating the TCO for LiMux."
Munich has asked the EU to explain exactly how patent wrangles could affect its Linux rollout but in the meantime is going ahead with the project, with the patents problems expected to hold back the rollout only for a short time.
Ude has also urged the EU to junk the patents directive
czwartek, sierpnia 12, 2004
IKE (Internet Key Exchange)
IKE (Internet Key Exchange): "IKE (Internet Key Exchange)
The protocol used to handle encryption keys in IPSec-based VPNs.
IKE performs several functions including authenticating endpoints of VPN tunnels, deciding which encryption and authentication algorithms would be used in a session, generating encryption keys and managing them.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is currently looking at alternatives to IKE, which has a theoretical risk of being used in denial-of-service attacks."
The protocol used to handle encryption keys in IPSec-based VPNs.
IKE performs several functions including authenticating endpoints of VPN tunnels, deciding which encryption and authentication algorithms would be used in a session, generating encryption keys and managing them.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is currently looking at alternatives to IKE, which has a theoretical risk of being used in denial-of-service attacks."
IPsec (IP Security Protocol)
IPsec (IP Security Protocol): "IPSec defines encryption, authentication and key management routines for ensuring the privacy, integrity and authenticity of data in a VPN as the information traverses public IP networks.
Because IPSec requires each end of the tunnel to have a unique address, special care must be taken when implementing IPSec VPNs in environments using private IP addressing based on network address translation. Fortunately, several vendors offer solutions to this problem. However, they add more management complexity."
Because IPSec requires each end of the tunnel to have a unique address, special care must be taken when implementing IPSec VPNs in environments using private IP addressing based on network address translation. Fortunately, several vendors offer solutions to this problem. However, they add more management complexity."
Internet Explorer Documentation
Internet Explorer Documentation
There's lots of great documentation on Internet Explorer available on MSDN. http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie is an excellent place to start. If you have feedback we'd like to hear it. What functionality are you finding difficult to find? What topics would you like covered?
Something worth drawing attention to is the fact that each reference page in the SDK for Internet Explorer has and explicit section for standards. This makes it clear if the attribute, method or element falls within a W3C recommendation or not. I mention this because a couple of times lately I've seen it suggested that Microsoft is deliberately not documenting which parts of Internet Explorer fall within W3C recommendations or not. This is clearly not the case and our reference documentation has contained this information for many years.
For example the AUTOCOMPLETE property is something we support in Internet Explorer. We happen to think that the autocomplete functionality is very useful, however it is not part of a W3C recommendation. So the reference page http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/autocomplete.asp states:
Standards Information
This property is a Microsoft extension to HTMLs .
In contrast the ACCESSKEY property that Internet Explorer supports is part of a W3C recommendation and the reference page at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/accesskey.asp states:
Standards Information
This property is defined in HTML 4.0 and is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .
We think this is useful information so it is included in every reference page. Do let us know if you find any errors in the documentation and if there are things you are looking for that you cannot easily find.
The best place to post feedback is the Internet Explorer Wiki on Channel 9
You are also welcome to place feedback here as well. I do ask that you keep posts polite and respect each others opinion. I have unfortunately already had to remove an abusive and obscene comment.
SDK for IE
There's lots of great documentation on Internet Explorer available on MSDN. http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie is an excellent place to start. If you have feedback we'd like to hear it. What functionality are you finding difficult to find? What topics would you like covered?
Something worth drawing attention to is the fact that each reference page in the SDK for Internet Explorer has and explicit section for standards. This makes it clear if the attribute, method or element falls within a W3C recommendation or not. I mention this because a couple of times lately I've seen it suggested that Microsoft is deliberately not documenting which parts of Internet Explorer fall within W3C recommendations or not. This is clearly not the case and our reference documentation has contained this information for many years.
For example the AUTOCOMPLETE property is something we support in Internet Explorer. We happen to think that the autocomplete functionality is very useful, however it is not part of a W3C recommendation. So the reference page http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/autocomplete.asp states:
Standards Information
This property is a Microsoft extension to HTMLs .
In contrast the ACCESSKEY property that Internet Explorer supports is part of a W3C recommendation and the reference page at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/accesskey.asp states:
Standards Information
This property is defined in HTML 4.0 and is defined in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 .
We think this is useful information so it is included in every reference page. Do let us know if you find any errors in the documentation and if there are things you are looking for that you cannot easily find.
The best place to post feedback is the Internet Explorer Wiki on Channel 9
You are also welcome to place feedback here as well. I do ask that you keep posts polite and respect each others opinion. I have unfortunately already had to remove an abusive and obscene comment.
SDK for IE
środa, sierpnia 11, 2004
Piec panstw otrzyma tani Windows
Windows XP Starter Edition – mocno okrojoną wersję XP otrzyma: Malezja, Tajlandia oraz Indonezja pod koniec listopada. MS jeszcze nie wybrał dwóch kolejnych krajów ale mówi się o Rosji i Brazylii lub Jordanii (w niej wzrost inwestycji informatycznych wyniósł od 20 do 400 mnl dolarów w ostatnim roku). Akcja ta wpisuje się w ramowy program (trwający już 18 mc-y) współpracy z rządami krajów rozwijających się mając na celu przybliżenie nowoczesnej technologii z uwzględnieniem specyfiki kulturowej mieszkańcom tych krajów. W ponad 67 rozwijających się krajach wybrane szkoły mają dostęp do upgrade MS Windows i MS Office za 2,50 dol. W MS pracuje w tym programie ponad 600 osób. Cele MS nie są bynajmniej altruistyczne. Obecnie ok. 670 mln ludzi używa PC (1/9 całej ludzkości), a w 2009 będzie ich 1 miliard! Na dodatek tani Windows zniechęci piratów i odeprze atak Linuksa.
MS rzeczywiście okroił Starter Editio – wyposażył je w wygaszacze uwzględniające dany kraj (krajobrazy, flagi, tradycje), nie ma sieci lokalnej oraz jednocześnie można uruchomić trzy programy. Dodatkowo zlokalizował pakiet MS Works. Nie planuje się okrojonej wersji MS Office. Cena jest skalkulowana indywidualnie wg. zasobności danego kraju.
Program już wystartował w Tajlandii – cena 35 dolarów.
Wg. Gatesa nie planuje się wersji dla Chin z uwagi na niższy standard życia, dochodów oraz rozległość terytorialną.
Powyższe trzy kraje nadają się idealnie do eksperymentów z uwagi na gęstość zaludnienia i łączną ilość mieszkańców.
MS rzeczywiście okroił Starter Editio – wyposażył je w wygaszacze uwzględniające dany kraj (krajobrazy, flagi, tradycje), nie ma sieci lokalnej oraz jednocześnie można uruchomić trzy programy. Dodatkowo zlokalizował pakiet MS Works. Nie planuje się okrojonej wersji MS Office. Cena jest skalkulowana indywidualnie wg. zasobności danego kraju.
Program już wystartował w Tajlandii – cena 35 dolarów.
Wg. Gatesa nie planuje się wersji dla Chin z uwagi na niższy standard życia, dochodów oraz rozległość terytorialną.
Powyższe trzy kraje nadają się idealnie do eksperymentów z uwagi na gęstość zaludnienia i łączną ilość mieszkańców.
poniedziałek, sierpnia 09, 2004
Co uzytkownicy chca widziec mowego w IE?
What Users Want in IE Upgrade
Glowne postulaty uzytkownikow odnosnie MS IE (oprocz tych udoskonalen w SP2):
wsparcie pelne CSS
wparcie PNG
zakladki (tabbed interface)
lepszy manager pobierania plikow
czytnik formatow RSS
Glowne postulaty uzytkownikow odnosnie MS IE (oprocz tych udoskonalen w SP2):
wsparcie pelne CSS
wparcie PNG
zakladki (tabbed interface)
lepszy manager pobierania plikow
czytnik formatow RSS
Adam Bosworth's Weblog: KISS and The Mom Factor
Adam Bosworth's Weblog: KISS and The Mom Factor
KISS and The Mom Factor
My new role (I recently moved from BEA to Google) has me working on very different types of software. Rather than worrying about what the IT of large corporations needs to do to support the corporation, I'm worrying about mere mortals. In fact, my Mom. I never find that I can build any software if I don't first get some mental image in my head of the customers. Who are they? How do they look, feel, think? I call this designing by guilt because if you don't do what feels right for these customers, you feel guilty for having let them down. Of course, customers are endlessly disparate, complex, heterogenous, and distinct. But even so, I've always found it necessary to think about a small number of distinct types of customers, and then design for them.
And boy is it satisfying to do this when the people you are designing for are your friends, family, relatives, your smart alec son, and so on and when even your mother can use what you build. I call this the mom factor. It is corny but fun.
It is interesting to me how this focus around simplicity in the services world could carry through even to the plumbing people use. For example take so called web services. The original impetus behind XML, at least as far as I was concerned back in 1996, was a way to exchange data between programs so that a program could become a service for another program. I saw this as a very simple idea. Send me a message of type A and I'll agree to send back messages of types B, C, or D depending on your A. If the message is a simple query, send it as a URL with a query string. In the services world, this has become XML over HTTP much more than so called "web services" with their huge and complex panoply of SOAP specs and standards. Why? Because it is easy and quick. Virtually anyone can build such requests. Heck, you can test them using a browser. That's really the big thing. Anyone can play. You don't have to worry about any of the complexity of WSDL or WS-TX or WS-CO. Since most users of SOAP today don't actually use SOAP standards for reliability (too fragmented) or asynchrony (even more so) or even security (too complex), what are they getting from all this complex overhead. Well, for one, it is a lot slower. The machinery for cracking a query string in a URL is about as fast as one can imagine these days due to the need services have to be quick. The machinery for processing a SOAP request is probably over ten times as slow (that's a guess). Formatting the response, of course, doesn't actually require custom XML machinery. If you can return HTML, you can return XML. It is this sort of thinking that being at a service company engenders. How do you keep it really simple, really lightweight, and really fast. Sure, you can still support the more complex things, but the really useful things may turn out to be simplest ones.
You have to. The scale is orders of magnitudes more than is normally processed by a business process within even the largest corporation. It is hard enough to build these massively scalable services if you keep the moving parts simple, clear, and down to a small number. This is usually called the KISS principle as in keep it simple and stupid or, more rudely, keep it simple, stupid. It reflects the engineering realization that just delivering on the required speed and scale will require a lot of plumbing and monitoring as it is.
So, I'm having a lot of fun learning about a whole new world.
Trudno sie z tym nie zgodzic...
KISS and The Mom Factor
My new role (I recently moved from BEA to Google) has me working on very different types of software. Rather than worrying about what the IT of large corporations needs to do to support the corporation, I'm worrying about mere mortals. In fact, my Mom. I never find that I can build any software if I don't first get some mental image in my head of the customers. Who are they? How do they look, feel, think? I call this designing by guilt because if you don't do what feels right for these customers, you feel guilty for having let them down. Of course, customers are endlessly disparate, complex, heterogenous, and distinct. But even so, I've always found it necessary to think about a small number of distinct types of customers, and then design for them.
And boy is it satisfying to do this when the people you are designing for are your friends, family, relatives, your smart alec son, and so on and when even your mother can use what you build. I call this the mom factor. It is corny but fun.
It is interesting to me how this focus around simplicity in the services world could carry through even to the plumbing people use. For example take so called web services. The original impetus behind XML, at least as far as I was concerned back in 1996, was a way to exchange data between programs so that a program could become a service for another program. I saw this as a very simple idea. Send me a message of type A and I'll agree to send back messages of types B, C, or D depending on your A. If the message is a simple query, send it as a URL with a query string. In the services world, this has become XML over HTTP much more than so called "web services" with their huge and complex panoply of SOAP specs and standards. Why? Because it is easy and quick. Virtually anyone can build such requests. Heck, you can test them using a browser. That's really the big thing. Anyone can play. You don't have to worry about any of the complexity of WSDL or WS-TX or WS-CO. Since most users of SOAP today don't actually use SOAP standards for reliability (too fragmented) or asynchrony (even more so) or even security (too complex), what are they getting from all this complex overhead. Well, for one, it is a lot slower. The machinery for cracking a query string in a URL is about as fast as one can imagine these days due to the need services have to be quick. The machinery for processing a SOAP request is probably over ten times as slow (that's a guess). Formatting the response, of course, doesn't actually require custom XML machinery. If you can return HTML, you can return XML. It is this sort of thinking that being at a service company engenders. How do you keep it really simple, really lightweight, and really fast. Sure, you can still support the more complex things, but the really useful things may turn out to be simplest ones.
You have to. The scale is orders of magnitudes more than is normally processed by a business process within even the largest corporation. It is hard enough to build these massively scalable services if you keep the moving parts simple, clear, and down to a small number. This is usually called the KISS principle as in keep it simple and stupid or, more rudely, keep it simple, stupid. It reflects the engineering realization that just delivering on the required speed and scale will require a lot of plumbing and monitoring as it is.
So, I'm having a lot of fun learning about a whole new world.
Trudno sie z tym nie zgodzic...
niedziela, sierpnia 08, 2004
To jest już wojna
Forbes.com: This is WarInside Microsoft Taylor is building a network of information and relationships aimed at overpowering the rival operating system. His attack spans multiple levels of the Redmond, Wash. empire: product development, marketing, sales and even customer demonstrations. In a building where Microsoft hosts trial runs of its software for customers, Taylor now has 50 servers out of 500 devoted to Linux.
IDC offers sunny forecast for servers - News - ZDNet
IDC offers sunny forecast for servers - News - ZDNet
Raport IDG z 16 czerwca przewiduje stały wzrost na rynku serwerów. Na postawie bieżącego trendu przewiduje się znaczny wzrost - rocznie o około 3.8% tak, że w 2008 wartość rynku serwerów dojdzie do kwoty 61 mld dolarów. Szybkiej wzrośnie segment "blade server" - dostarczy w 2008 roku 9 mld dol. co mu da 30% udział na rynku wszystkich serwerów. Szczególnie silny wzrost będzie miał miejsce w segmencie serwerów bazujących na architekturze x86. Podział rynku serwerów według systemów operacyjnych: 30% - Linux-based (10 mld dol.), natomiast 60% wszystkich sprzedanych serwerów będzie należało do Windows-based.
Raport IDG z 16 czerwca przewiduje stały wzrost na rynku serwerów. Na postawie bieżącego trendu przewiduje się znaczny wzrost - rocznie o około 3.8% tak, że w 2008 wartość rynku serwerów dojdzie do kwoty 61 mld dolarów. Szybkiej wzrośnie segment "blade server" - dostarczy w 2008 roku 9 mld dol. co mu da 30% udział na rynku wszystkich serwerów. Szczególnie silny wzrost będzie miał miejsce w segmencie serwerów bazujących na architekturze x86. Podział rynku serwerów według systemów operacyjnych: 30% - Linux-based (10 mld dol.), natomiast 60% wszystkich sprzedanych serwerów będzie należało do Windows-based.
Nowa wersja korporacyjnego Linuxa rozpoczyna testy
Free corporate Linux set for test phase - News - ZDNet: "peeved "
Znany działacz FOSS Peres oznajmił na LinuxWorld Expo, że przygotował nową wersję Linuxa zorientowaną na rynek serwerów korporacyjnych. Nazywa się UserLinux i ma konkurować z dwiema wersjami z tego obszaru zastosowań Linuxa: RedHat (użytkownik płaci od 300 dolarów roczniej za wsparcie) oraz SuSE (cena opieki rocznej - 350 dolarów). Im wydajniejsza platforma sprzętowa tym opieka jest droższa.
UserLinux ma być znacznie tańszy. Powodem zorganizowania nowej dystrybucji Linuxa (opartej na Debianie) jest rozdrażnienie Peresa faktem, że RH sprzedaje oprogramownie systemowe w skład którego wchodzi program napisany przez niego samego (Electric Fence) za pieniądze.
Pakiet UserLinux wejdzie na rynek we wrześniu. Jedynym hamulcem jest proces certyfikacji samego systemu i wchodzących w skład dystrybucji dodatków. Przewiduje się uzyskanie certyfikatów na poziomie zgodności z Linux Standard Base.
Znany działacz FOSS Peres oznajmił na LinuxWorld Expo, że przygotował nową wersję Linuxa zorientowaną na rynek serwerów korporacyjnych. Nazywa się UserLinux i ma konkurować z dwiema wersjami z tego obszaru zastosowań Linuxa: RedHat (użytkownik płaci od 300 dolarów roczniej za wsparcie) oraz SuSE (cena opieki rocznej - 350 dolarów). Im wydajniejsza platforma sprzętowa tym opieka jest droższa.
UserLinux ma być znacznie tańszy. Powodem zorganizowania nowej dystrybucji Linuxa (opartej na Debianie) jest rozdrażnienie Peresa faktem, że RH sprzedaje oprogramownie systemowe w skład którego wchodzi program napisany przez niego samego (Electric Fence) za pieniądze.
Pakiet UserLinux wejdzie na rynek we wrześniu. Jedynym hamulcem jest proces certyfikacji samego systemu i wchodzących w skład dystrybucji dodatków. Przewiduje się uzyskanie certyfikatów na poziomie zgodności z Linux Standard Base.
Monachium mówi NIE, ale Fraknfurt - TAK
Munich breaks with Windows for Linux - News - ZDNet: "The software giant pointed to a new agreement it had signed with Frankfurt, under which the German city joined a Microsoft program that offered products to German local governments under 'inexpensive and flexible terms.' Frankfurt Mayor Petra Roth said in a statement that the city will save money as a result of the deal"
Okazuje się, że Frankfurt dał się namówić na pozostanie w środowisku Windows w ramach programu MS skierowanego do niemieckich lokalnych administracji.
Okazuje się, że Frankfurt dał się namówić na pozostanie w środowisku Windows w ramach programu MS skierowanego do niemieckich lokalnych administracji.
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