Software News

Microsoft reviews its hiring plans

Judi Hasson — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:14:40 -0400

The shaky economy may even be affecting Microsoft, which is now reviewing its hiring plans for the coming year. The world's largest software company, however, denied reports it had instituted a company-wide hiring freeze.

"Given the current economic environment, we are taking the prudent step of reviewing our hiring plans and will make some adjustments as appropriate," said Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos. The company, which employs more than 91,000 people around the world, said it plans to grow and add thousands of new jobs this year while acknowledging the need to be careful.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said last week that the company is not immune to the global financial crisis and that he expects the software giant will see a decline in business.

For more on Microsoft's plans:
- check out this Reuters article

SaaS gains in popularity

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Software as a service (SaaS) is gaining momentum as whispers of recession grow louder and the need to save money grows more important. "There is less upfront and ongoing capital investment, less risk," with software that is delivered as a service and sold via subscription, said Rebecca Wettemann, an analyst with Nucleus Research. SaaS may also be an acronym for cloud computing--tapping physical computing resources over the Internet. Microsoft and Google are both currently scrambling to offer a bigger array of such online services. And that means your costs may be going down as technology moves in new and different ways to deliver services at reasonable prices.

For more on SaaS:
- See this InformationWeek article
- and see this article on how hackers are putting SaaS to work

Forrester predicts tech 'populism'

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

A new Forrester study says there will soon be a proliferation of "technology populism." That means that IT professionals will be rethinking how they currently evaluate, provide and support collective and collaborative software and services. Forrester says this change will increase the pressure to throw out the traditional methods by which technology is deployed. "Technology Populism is driven by people's needs to interact," said Forrester Research Principal Analyst Matthew Brown. "For many employees, the telephone and email are being replaced by text messaging, instant messaging, and mobile devices, such as iPhones and BlackBerrys, and Social Computing tools like Facebook and Wikipedia," Brown said. Is this true at your workplace? Let us know what is happening and what you think of this new trend in the comments.

For more on this trend:
- See this Fox Business article

Who should pay for data loss?

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:00:00 -0500

Should federal, state and local governments get tough on individuals and companies responsible for the loss of a person's personal data online? That is an extremely difficult issue to resolve and even a more difficult one to enforce. But if you look at the history of other issues where personal responsibility became important, you will see a number of success stories. When bars and individuals were held accountable for drunken drivers, they became more responsible about who should be driving after having a drink. The idea of a "designated driver" became a reality across the United States.

When individuals, not companies, were held accountable for white collar crime, managers became more aware of their responsibilities to keep their staffs from dipping into the till. When big companies knew they would be held accountable for accounting violations, they became responsible for cleaning up their acts. And now that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has become law, executives at big companies must vouch for the accuracy of their company statements.

You may say that it is too tough to track and trace exactly who is responsible for hackers sneaking into a database, causing the loss of millions of files. Yet if individuals aren't responsible for making sure a database is tight and secure, who is? "American organizations understand that prevention is cheaper than cure--and implementing encryption technology is cheaper than the cost of a data breach," Joseph Hoban, VP at data protection software company GuardianEdge, a British company, told Silicon.com.

Other countries already are heading in the direction of finding the responsible party when tons of data is snatched out of a database. California implemented such a law in 2003 to make the individuals responsible for a data breach. But using the legal system to cut down on these kinds of data losses may be too tough a burden on a public that doesn't fully understand security issues. Jamie Cowper, director of marketing EMEA at encryption security company PGP, another British company, took a more cautious view toward this burgeoning problem: "Before we go for the nuclear option, perhaps we should first look at how current security regimes can be tightened up with, for instance, stricter enterprise data policies. "We should also test the power of simply naming and shaming organizations," he said.

One of the biggest responsibilities of CIOs these days is making sure the data on their watch is protected. And if that means spending more money on security devices to prevent hackers from getting in, spend it. If your staff doesn't know how to stay on the ball and safeguard data, teach them. Because at the end of the day, the CIO will be called to explain what went wrong and why. And it is likely there will be no one else to take the blame but you. -Judi

Apple squashes more OS X bugs

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Just a few short days after issuing a fix for a critical Quicktime flaw, Apple is releasing Security Update 2007-009 for both OS 10.4 Tiger and the newly-released OS 10.5 Leopard. The Leopard version includes fixes for Core Foundation, CUPS, Flash Player Plug-in, Launch Services, perl, python, Quick Look, ruby, Safari, Samba, Shockwave Plug-in, and Spin Tracer; the Tiger version adds fixes for Address Book, ColorSync, Desktop Services, gnutar, iChat, IO Storage Family, Mail, Safari RSS, SMB, Spotlight, tcpdump, and XQuery while subtracting the Quick Look fix (natch). Both versions are available as Universal Binaries from Apple's website, in case you haven't already updated via Apple's Software Update.

For more on the Security Update:
- see this Ars Technica article

Latitude XT panel to power other portables

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

So, you likey that Latitude XT, eh? I've got to say, it's a pretty attractive machine, especially since Dell announced it will be getting multitouch capabilities next year via a software update. But if that $2500 price tag is a bit too rich for your blood, you might want to hold on and see what other manufacturers are cooking up using the same technology. Gizmodo recently spoke with N-Trig, the company behind the DuoSense technology that allows the XT's screen to operate as both a multitouch screen and a stylus-input device and discovered that Dell is only "the first of many leading manufacturers" planning to use the technology in their notebooks and portable devices. Apple Tablet, anyone?

For more on N-Trig:
- read this Gizmodo interview

ALSO NOTED: Samsung's BlackJack II gets a quick review; Android shown running on live hardware;

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:51 -0500

> Skype gets increased video quality with software update. Article
> Japanese mobile operator gets Android running on live hardware. Article
> HP halfway to "IT revamp." Article
> Symantec's Norton AntiVirus gets friendly with Leopard. Article
> Samsung's BlackJack II gets a quick review. Review
> Asus brings its U6 laptops to the States. Article

And Finally... Microsoft offering Vista for free, in exchange for user data. Article

Apple unleashes slew of OS X updates

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:59:57 -0500

We've been talking about the possibility of an OS X update ever since Leopard was released and here it is: OS 10.5.1. Included in the release are fixes for a few problems that we've seen popping up, like that nasty data loss issue and a few of those those Time Machine and AirPort disk shenanigans. The update should be popping up on your screen any minute now, via Software Update but if you don't see it, be sure to head on over to Apple's website.

Leopard might be hogging the limelight these days but that doesn't mean that the folks in Cupertino are going to stop showing love for older versions of the OS. To wit, the company rolled out some updates for both OS 10.4 Tiger and OS 10.3 Panther yesterday, along with a slew of upgrades for some of the company's Pro-level applications and its Safari browser for Windows. Here's what Apple Software Update had in store for the faithful:

OS X Tiger 10.4.11 upgrade for both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs
Security update for OS 10.3.9
Feature update for Safari browser (Windows)
iPhoto 7.11 Update
Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 Update
Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2 Update
DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1 Update
Motion 3.0.2 Update
Color 1.0.2 Update
Cinema Tools 4.0.1 Update
Compressor 3.0.2 Update
Pro Application Support 2007-02 Update

Looks like there's something for everyone this week: bleeding-edge folks running Leopard, owners of PPC-based Tiger/Panther machines, even Windows users!

For more on the updates, see these MacRumors articles:
- Leopard Update
- Tiger Update
- Safari Update
- iPhoto Update
- Pro Apps Update

AFP hack allows iPhone root access

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:53 -0500

Good news for iPhone hacking enthusiasts and bad news for iPhone security enthusiasts: An iPhone hacker going by the name of "Core," has uncovered a previously unknown AppleTalk Filing Protocol vulnerability that allows for full read/write access to an iPhone or iPod Touch's memory. The hack makes loading applications onto the device as easy as pie; unfortunately it also makes pulling data off of the phone easy--including confidential emails and documents. It seems pretty likely that Apple will patch this hole with the next software update--so as usual, iPhone hackers, enjoy it while it lasts.

For more on the hack:
- see this article from TUAW

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon reviewed

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Thinking of deploying Ubuntu in your place of toil? Well, in that case, you had better head over to Ars Technica and let those folks drop some science on you. As expected, they've run the latest version of the Linux distro through the paces, churning out a five-page review in the process. So, what did they think? Ars walked away mostly impressed with the OS's easy installation process, automated software update manager, improved display/graphics support and other new features. While a few new tools seemed a little half-baked, Ars still seems to think that Ubuntu 7.10 still offers the best desktop Linux experience. "Distributions have improved at an astounding pace, and Ubuntu leads the pack on the desktop," Ars writes. "Ubuntu 7.10 provides an effective and usable Linux platform that has a lot to offer a more mainstream audience as well as Linux enthusiasts."

For more on Gutsy Gibbon:
- see this Ars Technica review