Security pros warm to Web 2.0 access
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, once viewed as high-risk, productivity-sucking applications, seem to have wiggled their way into the hearts of security teams nationwide. In fact, most organizations no longer block the popular Web sites and allow employees to access these Web 2.0 applications at work, according to a new survey from the Security Executive Council.
The research, which was released this week at the CSO Perspectives conference, reveals 86 percent of organizations who responded to an open poll on the council's Web site said they do allow workers to use Web 2.0 applications, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, while on the job and/or with a company-issued computer (See also: 3 Ways Twitter Security Falls Short).
[ Become savvy about the professional uses of social networking; read InfoWorld's Six commandments of social networking at work ]
The topic of social networking and work access was the subject of a spirited discussion among professionals who attended CSOP, a three-day event in Clearwater, Florida. Some in attendance pointed to Web 2.0 access as a necessary recruiting and retention tool.
"We talk about Web 2.0, but there is also a concept I call Employee 2.0," said Mark Small, vice president of enterprise sales with Websense, a security software provider based in San Diego."If you go out and try to hire some kids now, they ask: 'Can I have access to Facebook at work?' If you say no, they will go and work for someone else."
Small, in a presentation on Web 2.0 applications, noted among major employers in the United States, IBM currently estimates the company has 33,000 Facebook accounts among employees (See also: Slapped in the Face: Social Networking Dangers Exposed).
CSOs and CISOs that allow access to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking sites were the majority voice in a panel discussion on the topic. Leslie Lambert, CISO of Sun Microsystems, said social networking sites have become a standard part of her hiring process.
"How many of you have hired someone recently without looking them up first on LinkedIn?" she asked the audience. Very few hands went up in response.
Those who restrict access in their organizations were also vocal on their reasons for holding out. Chief concerns included a potential hack or breach of company information because social engineering scams have become common on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other similar sites (See also: Dirty Tricks: Social Engineers' Favorite Pick-up Lines).
Derek Benz, CISO of Honeywell, said another concern is potential damage to the company's reputation.
"Many people form groups associated with their company on these sites and the company can not necessarily control what is said in those groups."
Lambert said Sun Microsystems was also concerned about what employees might do or say as a representative of the company on social networking sites. As a result, Sun has crafted an 'electronic discourse' policy that all workers sign before they start with the company. Policies, however, can only go so far in mitigating risks.
"I have a lot of policies," said Lambert. "But I don't run a police state."
Jerry Nolasco, a vice president of global information security with Franklin Templeton Investments in St. Petersburg, Florida, said he has opened up access to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on a limited basis to select employees, such as human resources, who have a clear business need to access the sites. While only a small number can access the sites now, Nolasco admits he will likely open them up to all eventually.
"We are looking at re-engineering and investing in tools that will allow employees to securely use Facebook and Twitter at work," he said.
CSO Online is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Reports: Microsoft lets users yank IE8 from Windows 7
A just-leaked build of Windows 7 lets users remove Internet Explorer (IE), the first time that Microsoft has offered the option since it integrated the browser with Windows in 1997, two bloggers reported Wednesday.
The move might have been prompted by recent charges by the European Union that Microsoft has stifled browser competition by bundling IE with its operating system, the bloggers speculated.
[ See security reviews of Firefox, Internet Explorer , Google Chrome , and Opera. And for the full Test Center rundown on browser security , see InfoWorld's special report. | Also check out the special report on Microsoft's new OS: Early looks at Windows 7 . ]
According to postings on Chris' Repository of Knowledge and AeroXperience, the 7048 build of Windows 7 -- a version that has not been released to the public but is available as a pirated copy on file-sharing sites -- includes an option to eliminate Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).
Both blogs posted a screenshot of Windows 7's "Windows Features" dialog box, which included an option to turn off IE8. "There is a catch: For now, this only seems to wipe the actual executable running Internet Explorer 8 (iexplore.exe)," said Bryant Zadegan in an entry on AeroXperience.
"This might've been the only way to do it without killing the rest of Windows," Zadegan noted. "In addition, this actually takes two reboots and a configuration step to complete, so there's definitely something going on behind the scenes, likely a remapping of where IE-related functions can be found for other elements in Windows so that Windows doesn't complain about IE's nonexistence."
On Chris' Repository, Chris Holmes chimed in with more information. "All references to IE are removed from the OS," Holmes said.
Both Zadegan and Holmes, who collaborated on digging up the new option, also posted Windows 7 screenshots that showed the operating system sans IE: Microsoft's browser was absent from the "Set Program Defaults" choices.
Windows 7 Build 7048 first began appearing on file-sharing sites, such as The Pirate Bay and Mininova, two BitTorrent tracking sites, on Monday. Traffic has been substantial since then, with Mininova reporting more than 21,000 downloads of the pirated operating system.
Microsoft has only released one build to the public -- Windows 7 beta, build 7000 -- which it rolled out Jan. 10 but has since stopped offering. The company has been mum, however, about when it will deliver another build to users, though it has hinted that it would do so when it wrapped up a "release candidate."
Zadegan and Holmes each mentioned the accusations made last month by EU antitrust officials against Microsoft's bundling of IE, and the possible actions it may demand. One solution under consideration would require Microsoft to disable IE if the user decided to install a different browser, such as Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome.
"A quick solution to the EU's argument against them?" asked Holmes. "Time will tell."
Microsoft had no comment when asked to confirm whether Windows 7 will let users dump IE8 or whether the option was in reaction to the EU charges.
Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Nvidia mulls x86 chip for low-cost computers
Nvidia may develop an integrated x86-based chip for use in low-cost computers, an Nvidia executive said this week, a move that would step up its rivalry with Intel.
Nvidia is considering developing an integrated chip based on the x86 architecture for use in devices such as netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs), said Michael Hara, vice president of investor relations at Nvidia, during a speech that was Webcast from the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference on Tuesday.
[ Nvidia is already going up against Intel with its Tegra processors. | Stay ahead of advances in hardware technology with InfoWorld's Ahead of the Curve blog and newsletter. ]
Nvidia has already developed an integrated chip called Tegra, which combines an Arm processor, a GeForce graphics core and other components on a single chip. The chips are aimed at small devices such as smartphones and MIDs and will start shipping in the second half of this year.
"Tegra, by any definition, is a complete computer-on-chip, and the requirements of that market are such that you have to be very low-power and very small, but highly efficient," Hara said. "Someday it's going to make sense to take the same approach in the x86 market as well."
He didn't discuss specific plans but said such a move might make sense in two to three years. He also did not say if Nvidia would develop the x86 chip itself or license it from another company. Derek Perez, an Nvidia spokesman, said Nvidia is considering all its options and has reached no firm decision yet.
Part of Nvidia's interest in developing a new integrated chip, also known as a system-on-a-chip, or SOC, is to gain a larger share of the emerging netbook market, said Ian Lao, a senior analyst at In-Stat. The main players in that market today are Intel, whose x86-based Atom processor is most widely used for netbooks, and Via Technologies.
Nvidia currently offers a GPU for netbooks with its Ion platform, but it does not have the accompanying CPU. The Ion pairs Nvidia's GeForce GPU with Intel's Atom processor in a chip package about the size of a deck of cards.
As long as Nvidia doesn't have an x86 processor, it remains at a disadvantage to Intel and Via, Lao said. Netbooks rely more on CPUs than GPUs for the basic Web browsing and word processing they are designed for, he said.
Nvidia could license an x86 design from a third party and put its own silicon around it, or it could buy a company with the rights to develop an x86 core and build its own, Lao said.
Beyond netbooks and smartphones, an x86 chip could extend Nvidia's reach into embedded computers such as GPS devices, he said.
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Schwartz: Not worried about Sun's future
Sun Microsystems President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz is not worried about the relevance of what Sun offers or about the role of information technology, despite the current difficult economic climate.
In the first of a planned series of three or four blog entries on Sun's future, Schwartz said the company will have announcements this year pertaining to open source storage; networking; OEM partners on Solaris, MySQL, and Java; cloud offerings; and startup programs. His blog was accompanied by a video message echoing the written sentiments.
[ Sun recently announced plans to detail its grand entrance into the cloud computing space. | Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]
"Sun is privileged to have an exceptionally strong balance sheet, over $3 billion in cash, and a nearly two-decade history of generating positive cash flow," Schwartz wrote in his blog. "We've also got a set of technologies and people that continue to play an ever more vital role in the economy. Sun's products help companies grow and help them consolidate, and they help governments stimulate the economy, as well. From building bridges to automating health care, government stimulus will undoubtedly drive technology investment, and we're well positioned to participate globally."
He continued, "Which is all to say, I'm neither worried about the role information technology will play in the economy, nor am I worried about the relevance of Sun's offerings. I'm not worried about the future, I'm focused on its arrival date."
Schwartz also said he has customers who have been struggling and those who have been succeeding.
"Let me start by joining the chorus of those worried about the global economy. I am routinely talking to customers now partially owned by governments, whose share prices have declined 95 percent or more, whose balance sheets and basic business models are under extraordinary duress. Like every business, our health is a derivative of our customers', and to that end, we've got our challenges -- sure, innovation loves a crisis, but only after customers have stepped out from under their desks," Schwartz said.
But other customers, such as media startups, telecommunications firms, and government agencies, have "never had it better," said Schwartz. But these are a "cheerful minority," he said.
Sun needs to recruit developers to use Sun software and services, deliver compelling commercial offerings, and execute selling and service connections related to the first two priorities of recruiting developers and providing products, Schwartz said.
Sun's first financial priority is to generate free cash flow and its first strategic priority is to grow its available market, said Schwartz. "When they're in sync, as I believe we are in our Open Storage business right now, you have to beat us in the free software community and then again in front of paying customers. That's a tough combination, especially if you're a proprietary storage vendor that pretends to like free software, so long as it doesn't compete with your products," Schwartz said.
For the company’s second fiscal quarter that ended December 28, 2008, Sun reported revenues of $3.22 billion, a decrease of 10.9 percent compared with $3.615 billion for the same quarter a year earlier but an increase of 7.7 percent compared with the $2.99 billion in revenue during the company's first fiscal quarter.
The company reported a net loss of $209 million for the second quarter.
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Mozilla patches eight Firefox bugs, six critical
Mozilla this week patched eight security vulnerabilities in Firefox, half of them critical memory corruption flaws in the browser's layout and JavaScript engines.
Firefox 3.0.7, the second security update this year to the open-source browser, fixes about the same number of bugs that Mozilla patched a month ago.
[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]
Of the eight vulnerabilities, six were rated "critical," one "high" and one "low" in Mozilla's four-step ranking system. The six critical bugs are in Firefox's garbage collection routine, in the PNG libraries used by the browser, and in the layout and JavaScript engines.
Mozilla was uncertain whether the four vulnerabilities patched in the layout and JavaScript engines could be exploited, but assumed as much. "Some of these crashes showed evidence of memory corruption under certain circumstances and we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," the accompanying advisory read.
Other patches plug holes that could be used by hackers to steal private information and spoof URLs to trick users into thinking they're at a legitimate site.
Mozilla also addressed several non-security issues in Firefox 3.0.7, including unspecified stability problems, a bug that caused some browser cookies to mysteriously vanish, and a Mac-only flaw associated with the Flashblock add-on.
Mozilla Messaging's Thunderbird e-mail client, which uses the Firefox rendering engine for JavaScript and other functionality, was not patched today, although six of the eight vulnerabilities also affect it. Until Thunderbird is updated with those fixes -- mid-month is the latest estimate for Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 -- users can protect themselves by disabling JavaScript, said Mozilla. By default, the e-mail application has JavaScript switched off.
The new version of Firefox can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from the Mozilla site. Current users can also call up their browser's built-in updater, or wait for the automatic update notification, which typically pops up within 48 hours.
In other Firefox-related news, Mozilla today said that it would change the version number of the next major update from Firefox 3.1 -- the moniker used since May, when the company first announced the upgrade -- to Firefox 3.5.
The change, which had been suggested by several developers, will "indicate [the] increased scope" of the update, according to meeting notes posted online today.
Last week, one developer called on Mozilla to bump up the version number. "That way we would more clearly communicate to users that this isn't just a minor update but a major step forward," said Simon Paquet.
Mozilla also modified the schedule for Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 -- it is too late in the process to change the beta to 3.5 -- today, pushing back the ship date for the oft-delayed preview from an earlier estimate of March 10 to March 12.
Firefox holds a 22 percent market share, according to browser data from Web metrics company Net Applications Inc.
Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Ballmer promises faster Windows Mobile development
Under pressure from popular phones from Apple and Research In Motion, Microsoft hopes it has put in place changes that will help it meet that mobile competition faster, said CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday.
"There are opportunities for us to accelerate our execution in this area," he said. "We've done a lot of work to make sure we have a team that will be able to accelerate it."
[ Microsoft recently unveiled Windows Mobile 6.5. | Keep up with app dev issues and trends with InfoWorld's Fatal Exception and Strategic Developer blogs. ]
Microsoft, which recently said that a Windows Mobile software update will come later this year, has been criticized for failing to improve its platform to better compete with the iPhone and other new touch screen phones.
Ballmer responded to a wide range of questions during the CIO Summit Wednesday, an annual event hosted by Microsoft for government and education sector IT workers. His comments about Windows Mobile were in response to questions from an IT administrator from NASA who challenged Ballmer to offer advice on how to deal with workers who bring consumer devices like the Android G1 and the iPhone into the work place.
Those devices don't meet the security requirements that some organizations have while Windows Mobile devices do, but users don't want Windows Mobile phones, the attendee said.
One of the challenges Microsoft faces is that Windows Mobile supports various kinds of form factors, Ballmer said. "In general, I'll make the argument that having diversity of form factor serves the broadest set of the population," he said. "The question is how simple can we make it to write an application that runs in multiple modalities."
Microsoft is working with the mobile industry to define classes of form factors that might make it easier for Windows Mobile to run with the highest level of capabilities across a variety of form factors, he said.
Ballmer also said the company is working harder on simplifying its software licensing terms across the board, after one attendee said he had to hire a consultant to navigate the options. The question made Ballmer flinch. But he said it's hard. "Here's the Catch-22. A lot of what it would mean to simplify things always looks to us like removing options. For every option we remove I know we'd upset some customers for whom that was the perfect option," he said.
Ballmer also reiterated comments he's made recently that despite economic pressure, Microsoft plans to continue its same level of research and development investment. The rest of the IT industry probably will as well, he said. And while venture capital might shrink overall, that only means that perhaps fewer competitors creating a certain type of technology will get funding, but the technology will still make it to market, he predicted.
He also offered high hopes for Windows 7, the next version of the operating system. The software has already passed one critical milestone: Ballmer's 14-year-old son downloaded it to a home computer that his mother doesn't like to be fussed with "and she hasn't complained," Ballmer said. His son also loaded it onto his school computer, even though his school -- which happens to be the same one Microsoft founder Bill Gates attended -- isn't supporting it yet.
"14-year-olds are pretty crucial, so we've gotten past that test," Ballmer said.
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NetSuite tries to lure Sage customers
On-demand ERP vendor NetSuite is offering Sage Software customers at least 50 percent off their NetSuite fees for the first year if they switch away from its rival's products, NetSuite said on Wednesday.
Sage is just the latest target of similar campaigns by NetSuite, which have also focused on Salesforce.com and SAP. The new offer is for users of any Sage products and covers the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.
[ Discover the top-rated IT products as rated by the InfoWorld Test Center. ]
NetSuite's offer especially targets companies that were looking at Sage's Sage Live on-demand accounting software. Sage recently halted the Sage Live beta, reportedly to fix security issues.
NetSuite listed some customers in the U.S. and U.K. who it said have already switched from Sage to NetSuite. But a Sage executive scoffed at the announcement.
"This is not a new tactic," said Himanshu Palsule, executive vice president and general manager of business management at Sage North America. "They've done this before, and we haven't seen much traction. It's a sales promo."
NetSuite seems to be targeting much larger customers than Sage, he said.
"We are still solid in the SMB space. We still have 5.8 million customers around the world," he said. "Given that, you can imagine there will be a few who switch."
But Sage might gain just as many customers from those have tried a software-as-a-service offering such as NetSuite and found they don't like it, he added.
As for Sage Live, Sage "didn't want to risk [its] brand and legacy by making a mistake in a new market," Palsule said. Once the security problem was found, the company "took the most responsible course of action" by taking down the beta test site, he said.
Sage customers are definitely the right target for NetSuite but not all will be receptive to the discount offer, said Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang.
"In the SMB deals we are [involved] in, there are just as many people who are on-premise as SaaS," he said, adding that this could change over time.
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Mantissa puts Microsoft Windows on a mainframe
Software that for the first time lets users run native copies of the Windows operating systems on a mainframe will be introduced Friday by datacenter automation vendor Mantissa.
The company's z/VOS software is a CMS application that runs on IBM's z/VM and creates a foundation for Intel-based operating systems.
[ Get the analysis and insights that only Randall C. Kennedy can provide on PC tech in InfoWorld's Enterprise Desktop blog. And download our free Windows performance-monitoring tool. ]
Users only need a desktop appliance running Microsoft's RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) client, which is the same technology used to attach to Windows running on Terminal Server or Citrix-based servers.
Users will be able to connect to their virtual and fully functional Windows environments without any knowledge that the operating system and the applications are executing on the mainframe and not the desktop.
According to the company's Web site, users will be able to create a PC in 15 seconds, have it operational in 15 minutes, and use it once or have it permanently without worrying about depreciation of hardware.
Because z/VOS supports x86 architectures, the technology also can run Linux images.
The z/VM hypervisor already natively supports the ability to run hundreds to thousands of Linux servers on a single mainframe.
Mantissa is attempting to match that performance for Windows via z/VOS.
The company says z/VOS will eliminate the need to acquire and maintain desktop hardware and costs associated with PCs such as high power consumption.
"The product has been a bear for the development group but the thought of being able to run 3,000 copies of Windows on one System z so fascinated the team that we needed very little additional incentive," Mantissa CEO and founder Gary Dennis said on the IBMVM list serve site last summer when he introduced the z/VOS concept.
Dennis did not respond to inquires asking for comment on this story.
He is scheduled to introduce z/VOS Friday at the annual Share conference in Austin, Texas, during a presentation entitled "x86 Virtualization Technology for System z."
Mantissa says z/VOS will be the cornerstone of what it calls its utility virtualization product line.
"To my knowledge this has never been done on a mainframe, but always on some other kind of terminal server with an Intel architecture and not System z," says Clay Ryder, president of the Sageza Group. "I could see for schools or fixed function workstations. It would be terrific in there is nothing to touch and you can deploy those devices and everything takes place in one central location. As students or users leave, files can be cleaned or archived or whatever, and from an administrative point of view that is a real plus."
But Ryder says the concept doesn't come without questions.
"What is the magic seat count number where it makes more sense to do this on a mainframe? And the z is not the kind of machine people have laying around. There is certainly a lot to think about here," he says.
Another issue is the System z was designed originally to do transaction processing, not the kind of workloads that are done on PCs today.
"But that said, the z is a very powerful and fast system," Ryder says. He says the design of the z9 and z10 and off-load engines in the mainframe, such as the IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) make it likely the system could take on some workloads not anticipated in the system's traditional design.
Users who responded to Mantissa CEO Dennis when he floated the concept last summer approached the idea with intrigue and questions.
"We can hope that the version of Windows will be more stable than Windows Vista. Moving that kind of instability into z/VM is not particularly attractive. Otherwise, on a conceptual basis, it opens up many possibilities," said a discussion participant named John Baker.
Others speculated that the technology might work better for server applications that have fewer GUI requirements that could tax the mainframe.
"Most likely this would be to run things like MS SQL Server, MS Exchange, and other 'server' software. Not an end-user GUI session. Just like most z/Linux users are not running X applications. They are running 'servers' such as e-mail, web, WAS, etc," wrote poster John McKown.
The little information available on z/VOS from Mantissa doesn't give any hint whether the software will support both the Windows client and server operating systems.
In terms of licensing issues, Mantissa's Dennis doesn't see anything out of the ordinary with current virtualization licensing.
"We don't see anything in the Microsoft EULA that would permit or cause them to treat this environment any different than existing VM environments. This environment should work in their favor since the images (and therefore the licenses) can be deployed more efficiently than in a blade warehouse environment," Dennis wrote on the discussion list.
Network World is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Microsoft releases Vista SP2 RC to the public
Microsoft quietly launched the release candidate of Windows Vista SP2 (Service Pack 2) to the general public on Tuesday , making good on a promise from last week.
Vista SP2 RC (Release Candidate) can be downloaded today from Microsoft's Web site in versions for both 32- and 64-bit systems.
[ Get the analysis and insights that only Randall C. Kennedy can provide on PC tech in InfoWorld's Enterprise Desktop blog. And download our free Windows performance-monitoring tool. ]
As first reported by Neowin.net, while Microsoft has made Vista SP2 RC available to the public, it has yet to change the download pages' titles to reflect that the files are the release candidate and not Beta 2. The file name of the disk image, however, reveals that it is, in fact, the RC: 6002.16670.090130-1715_iso_update_sp_wave0-RCSP2.0_DVD.iso .
"This build is the same build sent out to select testers last week," Neowin said.
A week ago today, Microsoft announced it had wrapped up Vista SP2 RC, and had posted it to TechNet and MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), the subscription-based services that cater to IT professionals and developers. At the time, a company spokeswoman said that the release candidate would be offered to everyone else this week.
Microsoft has not nailed down a ship date for SP2, and in the past has only said it plans to deliver final code during the second quarter of 2009.
Others, however, have pegged the release sooner rather than later. The Malaysian Web site TechARP.com, which has accurately predicted past Windows delivery dates, has said Vista SP2 is on track to launch no later than mid-May.
Users can download Vista SP2 RC as a standalone fresh installation disk image, as an update for the 32-bit version of Vista or as an update for the 64-bit version from Microsoft's site.
Although Microsoft will offer Vista SP2 SC through its Windows Update service -- as it did when it rolled out SP2 Beta 2 late last year -- it has not yet turned on that switch. Most people will use Windows Update to get SP2 RC, if only because downloads through the service will be significantly smaller, between 41MB and 90MB, as opposed to the 302-508MB of the files available now.
Machines must be running Vista SP1 to download and install the SP2 release candidate.
Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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AccuRev looks to woo ClearCase users
Seeking to invade a competitor's turf in the software change and configuration management space, AccuRev unveiled this week its ClearCase Upgrade Program, enabling ClearCase users to purchase the AccuRev SCCM system for less than the cost of their current IBM Rational maintenance agreement.
ClearCase users can adopt AccuRev at their own pace, AccuRev said. AccuRev shares concepts with ClearCase, such as the stream architecture leveraged in ClearCase for project-oriented branches, according to AccuRev.
[ Last year, AccuRev unveiled its AccuRev 4.6, which linked with ClearCase. ]
AccuRev said companies have transitioned from ClearCase to AccuRev because of the ability of AccuRev to support agile and non-agile development environments for better performance of geographically distributed development teams and for increased developer productivity and zero administration costs. AccuRev users also can manage componentized development for project sharing between teams using multiple platforms.
"We expect this will be a compelling offer to customers on maintenance with ClearCase who are looking to reduce their costs and improve their productivity," said Lorne Cooper, AccuRev CEO, in a statement released by the company.
AccuRev users can integrate into ClearCase and ClearQuest infrastructure.
The ClearCase Upgrade Program is available until June 30. Costs of the program will vary based on particular situations. AccuRev has a list price of $1,495 and includes integrated issue-tracking.
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MS to hire H-1B workers, even as it lays off visa holders
Microsoft will lay off H-1B workers as part of its recently announced plan to let go of 5,000 employees over 18 months, but it will continue to hire foreign workers as well, even though Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) insists that the software maker has an "imperative" to ensure that American workers "have priority in keeping their jobs over foreign workers on visa programs."
If there is any imperative for Microsoft, suggested the company's general counsel, Brad Smith, in a written response to Grassley on Monday, it is that the company will hire and fire in its own best interest. Smith didn't use those exact words, but there is no mistaking the meaning of his letter.
[ Get sage advice on IT careers and management from Bob Lewis in InfoWorld's Advice Line blog and newsletter. ]
Citing the large enrollments of foreign students in graduate and doctoral programs and its need to hire these graduates, Smith told Grassley that "we do not expect to see a significant change in the proportion of H-1B employees in our workforce following the job reductions."
Microsoft also pointed out that its planned job cuts are not as bad as they seem. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., laid off 1,400 employees in January, more than 800 of whom are in Washington state.
But during the same 18-month period in which it will cut 5,000 jobs, Microsoft said it plans to hire 2,000 to 3,000 people, meaning the potential net payroll reduction may be no more than 2,000 jobs. The company did not say what percentage of those new hires will be in the U.S. It employs about 90,000 people worldwide, and about half of those workers are in the U.S.
With regard to how many H-1B holders will be cut, Smith wrote that "it's too early to know the precise answers."
Grassley, the Senate's leading critic of the H-1B visa program, could have sent his Microsoft letter to any number of high-tech companies that employ visa holders and have announced layoffs in recent months. But he took deliberate aim at Microsoft because of Bill Gates, the company's chairman, and his repeated defense of the visa program in Washington.
Among U.S. companies, Microsoft is a leading recipient of H-1B visas from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Smith's letter makes clear that its ability to hire H-1B workers remains as important as ever.
"Although they are a small percentage of our workforce, H-1B workers have long made crucial contributions to Microsoft's innovation successes and to our ability to help create jobs in this country. We are confident this will continue to be true in the future," Smith wrote.
Grassley is seeking tighter controls on H-1B use. He recently succeeded, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in restricting the use of H-1B visas by financial services firms that receive federal bailout funds.
Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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Windows 7 will include features that cater to enterprises
Windows 7 will include features specifically developed for enterprise customers and partners in an unprecedented number of technology early-access programs Microsoft is offering for the forthcoming OS.
Microsoft invited more than 100 customers and partners to give feedback on Windows 7 early on in its development process in an attempt to learn from mistakes it made when building Vista, said Gavriella Schuster, a senior director of Windows product management, in an interview Tuesday.
[ From InfoWorld's Test Center: Windows 7 benchmarks unmasked | Special report: Early looks at Windows 7. | Get the analysis and insights that only Randall C. Kennedy can provide on PC tech in InfoWorld's Enterprise Desktop blog. And download our free Windows performance-monitoring tool. ]
Microsoft developed four new customer and partner focus groups and spent six months planning how it would build Windows 7, and how it would engage customers early and often in that process, before even beginning development, she said.
Microsoft revealed more about this process in a blog post on the Windows Team Blog Wednesday.
In addition to expanding the number of testers in its existing Technology Adoption Program from about a dozen to nearly 20, Microsoft formed a Desktop Advisory Council, an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) engagement group, a Windows ecosystem readiness program and a First Wave program of customers to deploy the beta in live environments to garner "really early insight" from customers and partners about what the final OS should look like, Schuster said.
The company invited 4,000 enterprise customers in the U.S., Germany, Brazil, Japan, India, and China to provide feedback as part of extensive research as well, she said.
Enacting this unprecedented level of early customer engagement, combined with an effort to make the development process more predictable in general, were aimed at avoiding missteps the company took as it built Vista. Features Microsoft promised early on in Vista's development didn't make it into the final code, and the process itself was shut down and restarted midway through.
"We know the stop-and-start nature of Vista [development] posed a lot of challenges for customers," Schuster said.
With Windows 7, Microsoft has tried to share information "only when we had a higher degree of certainty" Microsoft could deliver on features or time frames for release milestones, she said.
As a result of all of this effort, Windows 7 will include several enterprise-specific features developed based on feedback from Microsoft's focus groups and other research.
Customers and partners said that protecting corporate data was a key priority, which is why Windows 7 will expand the BitLocker feature from Vista with a BitLocker To Go feature, Schuster said.
BitLocker To Go will extend the encryption already provided by the feature not only to the PC's hard drive itself but to any external USB device that is plugged into the laptop, she said. This will make it more difficult for hackers to access data not only on the PC but on peripherals connected to it.
Enterprise customers also expressed a need to ensure that corporate users only install and use authorized applications on their PCs and desktops, which led Microsoft to include a new AppLocker feature in Windows 7, Schuster said.
AppLocker allows IT administrators to determine through group policy what applications a user is able to install. For instance, a policy can be set that a user can install any application from Adobe Systems or to be more specific, only Adobe Acrobat 8.1 or later, Schuster said.
Policy setting in AppLocker can also be narrowed down to the "script level," with administrators authorizing that users can install only certain scripts on their machines, she added.
Enterprise customers also told Microsoft during the feedback process that they need to be able to give better remote access to employees because more of them are working outside of the office and that will continue. As a result, Windows 7 will include a couple of new features to make it easier for remote workers to access corporate networks, she said.
One is a DirectAccess feature that replaces a virtual private network with a secure tunnel to the network at the core OS level. Another is a Branch Office Caching feature that allows users on a corporate network to find and access a file on another corporate user's local machine if it already has been downloaded from the corporate network to that machine. This makes it easier for users to get access to files on a corporate network, Schuster said.
Microsoft is widely expected to release Windows 7, which is now in beta, before the end of the year. Microsoft has said it is on track to deliver the OS three years after it released Vista, which went out to business customers in November 2006 and to the general public in January 2007.
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SAP to plug BI into Business All-In-One
SAP is planning to infuse its Business All-in-One ERP (enterprise resource planning) product for midsized companies with preconfigured BI (business intelligence) software from its Business Objects division, the company announced Wednesday at the Cebit conference in Hanover, Germany.
Users will be able to conduct ad-hoc queries and analysis of their business data, viewing information through pre-built dashboards and reports, SAP said. The new capabilities will be available later this year in Brazil, Germany and the US. Other countries will be added later, according to SAP.
[ In other BI-related news, Hewlett-Packard announced a set of BI services offerings. | Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]
"I suspect this goes all the way back to the reason they bought Business Objects," said Denis Pombriant, managing principal of Beagle Research. "They saw a fit between their customer base and what Business Objects offered. This looks like an installed base marketing opportunity."
Another analyst voiced a note of caution, however. While the BI and ERP worlds have been merging for some time, the new BI features must "be thought about really carefully from an architectural standpoint to make sure it's adding a real benefit for customers," said Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research. "Is this a net benefit or is it adding another layer of complexity to the [ERP] application?"
But Forrester Research analyst Boris Evelson said via e-mail that the pre-built BI model is "the way to go" for midmarket products, "since building customized BI solutions is very expensive ($5-$7 for services for every $1 spent on software)."
"Unfortunately it does not work that simply in large enterprises, where data sources and applications are typically highly customized, and therefore you can't really just 'drop' a pre-built BI solution on top of them," he added. "But small and midsize companies tend to do a lot less customization of their ERP and other apps, mostly using out-of-the-box functionality, so there, pre-built BI solutions are a natural fit."
Pricing information was not immediately available.
Also Wednesday, SAP announced plans to work with Intel to optimize the performance of its Business One application for small companies on systems powered by Intel's Xeon chip. Channel partners will be urged to combine the technologies into bundles aimed at various verticals, SAP said.
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Does Microsoft's Kumo herald an era of visual search?
Microsoft's Kumo search engine images leaked when the company asked for internal feedback. I don't care if the release was a surprise or a sly attempt to build media attention; I'm hoping the tool creates a new era of visual searching.
As is, Google searches are indispensable for work and home research. You can find a local pizza, phone number for a distant business, or seemingly answer any question. The Web's growth owes a lot to text searches. I even rely on internal PC searches as a main file-browsing tool.
[ Microsoft confirmed it is testing Kumo internally, and images of the search engine endeavor have leaked: "Sneak a peek at Microsoft's Kumo search." ]
But computers haven't been able to reliably search images. Some have speculated that Kumo could visually search pictures, returning similar hits based on what it sees. Whether Kumo is the first mass market tool that does this or not, the ability could be coming soon -- within years, not decades.
Right now, tools can read text from photos better than ever. A favorite, Evernote, can even read handwriting, making that text searchable.
Apple's iLife 09 can be trained to recognize family and friends with decent success. It'll even spot pets, although that's not a supported use.
Yet, it's hard to even imagine how computing would change with a useful, universal visual search tool. You'd be able to find pictures of certain people, landmarks, or just specific objects. Or you could find a photo of Bill Clinton with Barack Obama and not George Bush.
Google approaches these results by reading file names and text near images. But could Kumo actually spot a white wolf in an image without any help from text? If so, you'd get even more--and better--hits than text searches. And those results would make any searches smarter and better.
It's a huge undertaking, but I think developers are approaching this level of visual searching. Here's hoping that Kumo will retrieve files in a wink with just a glance.
Zack Stern is a writer and editor based in San Francisco. PC World is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Apple's desktop refresh 'underwhelms'
Apple updated its consumer desktop line Tuesday, refreshing the iMac and Mac Mini with faster processors, more memory and storage, and more capable graphics.
For the most part, prices have not changed, although the least-expensive iMac with a 24-inch screen has been reduced $300, to $1,499, a price point previously occupied by a now-eliminated second 20-inch model.
[ Related: "Apple launches new iMacs, Mac Minis, Mac Pros." | Discover the key Mac and Apple tech trends for business users. Read InfoWorld's Enterprise Mac blog and newsletter. ]
"No surprises," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "This is exactly what you'd expect from Apple, more stuff for the same price. But for anyone expecting them to be a little more price-conscious, it's underwhelming."
The iMac, which continues to be available in both 20- and 24-inch models, boasts twice the amount of RAM found in yesterday's models: 2GB for the 20-inch and 4GB for the 24-inch. Apple also doubled hard drive space in the 24-inch models -- from 320GB and 500GB to 640GB and 1TB -- and increased storage on the smaller 20-inch iMac from 250GB to 320GB.
Apple equipped the new iMacs with faster processors as well to put the low end at a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo rather than a 2.4GHz chip, although the top end remains a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo.
Prices range from $1,199 for the 20-inch iMac to $1,499, $1,799, and $2,199 for the three configurations of the 24-inch system.
"Another thing they've done across the entire line is to equip it with fairly hefty graphics," noted Gottheil. "They did that not only to be competitive, but also because when Snow Leopard launches, there will be the opportunity to make a bunch of applications run much faster."
Snow Leopard, the name given to Apple's next operating system upgrade, Mac OS X 10.6, will support technologies that let some software offload part of the processing from the computer's CPU to the graphics processing unit, or GPU. Apple has not set a timeline for Snow Leopard's launch, but in June 2008 said it was shooting for a release in about a year, which would put it on the street in three months.
With Tuesday's refresh, Apple has dropped Advanced Micro Device's ATI graphics chip sets from its standard configurations, swapping them out for ones built by Nvidia, a shift it began last October when it moved the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops to Nvidia graphics hardware.
In fact, the two lower-end iMacs -- the $1,199 20-inch and the $1,499 24-inch -- use the same Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chip set as the MacBook and MacBook Air. The upper half of the iMac line, however, retains the discrete graphics of their predecessors: the $1,799 model offers a GeForce GT 120 with 256MB of memory, while the $2,199 system runs a GeForce GT 130 with 512MB of RAM.
Apple also revamped the Mac Mini, its lowest-priced system that sells sans monitor and keyboard. The two new models feature faster processors, larger hard drivers, and in the case of the more expensive unit, more memory. They are, however, still priced at $599 and $799.
"The Mac mini has always seemed like a real oddball product," said Gottheil, who quizzed Apple earlier today on its strategy. "They say people use it for all kinds of things, in vehicles, as an embedded system and to drive their TVs. In a certain sense, I agree. It's not a key product, and in some ways is almost a peripheral and not a computer."
As with the iMac, Apple moved the Mac Mini to Nvidia's graphics, specifically the same GeForce 9400M integrated chip set found in some other models. The $599 Mac Mini features 128MB of shared memory for graphics, while the $799 includes 256MB of shared memory. And for the first time, the Mini includes two video ports, allowing it to drive not just a single monitor like before, but dual-screen setups.
Apple trumpeted the environmental credentials of the Mac mini today, claiming that its power usage at idle -- under 13W -- "makes Mac mini the most energy-efficient desktop computer in the world."
"The iMacs and Mac Minis now have all kinds of energy [efficiency] certification," said Gottheil. "That might have been one of the driving causes for the delay in getting them out."
Gottheil was referring to the long stretch since Apple refreshed its desktop system, a factor many analysts have cited as one reason why iMac sales have plummeted during the last two quarters. "This does seem like a long wait for a set of not-really-newsworthy upgrades," he said. "But at the same time, desktops are so yesterday. If the market is moving to notebooks, the market is moving to notebooks, and nothing Apple can do will change that."
Finally, Apple also brushed up its professional desktop, the Mac Pro, with Intel's quad-core Nehalem processors, Nvidia GeForce 120 graphics cards with 512MB of memory, more RAM and larger hard drives. It also dropped the price of the least-expensive model $300, to $2,499. For $3,299, the higher-priced configuration offers two Nehalem CPUs to create an eight-core system; it also packs 6GB of memory, double the entry-level Mac Pro's.
Apple also updated the Mac Pro's interior layout for easier upgrading. The box now includes four direct-attach cable-free hard drive carriers that can accommodate a total of 4TB of internal storage.
"I don't think Apple is getting the price thing," concluded Gottheil when asked for his overall impression of the refresh. "Underwhelming, that's how I'd put it."
Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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