http://www.corante.com/personal/redir/25477.html
The long-unwinding legal dispute between Microsoft and Sun has taken a new turn: Microsoft is no longer forced to carry Java, but neither can it implement its own version of Java since this violated Sun's copyrights. In many technology-related cases [particularly with intellectual property], the legal system seems to produce absurd and unhelpful results. On this one, I agree with the court both on what it affirms and what it denies.
http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/
WHile this is not directly related to Information Technology or teaching, many of those who are interested in computers are also interested in mathematical recreations, of which number sequences is an excellent example, and here is a site which deals with this topic.
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
Especially with all the malware slithering about the Net these days, some of which attached to your startup process and run without intervention, some resource which can help you identify what's going on is more than just handy. You can see what is going on with Task List, but you can't tell the players without a program.
This is a searchable alphabetized source for decoding what the Task List tasks really mean, and whether you can deep-six them safely or not. You can also download programs to help control what happens when you start up, combining remedy with information.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best.htm
Gizmo Richard's "Support Alert" newsletter is a genuine gem, full of rich crunchy goodness -- and in this case, he provides a Web page with generously annotated selections [based on personal experience] of the best available free software.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=4&u=/nm/20030628/tc_nm/tech_cio_dc
Short article summarizing marketing research to the effect that if IT projects cannot generate a fast ROI, most current business will not consider them. Despite a move towards greater standardization, there is no incentive whatsoever for new equipment purchases, and the industry outlook is likely to be flat for some time to come.
If so, this has obvious implications for IT industry employment as well.
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0625w.html
I am not altogether sure that this is a safe resource for its suggested audience. Billing itself as "an objective news digest for busy IT professionals", this site offers twice-weekly news summaries of technically interesting things. Each summary is about 500 words long, and most have links to the full story, report, or resource involved. It certainly does serve up a rich diet of technological red meat, but I wonder if busy IT professionals will have the time to read it.
Of course, they should.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=1841108
"It shouldn't have to be this hard!" is a plaintive cry from the technologically challenged -- and they are entirely right. Moreover, there is a lot of money to be made in realizing more of the potential IT offers. "Sentient computing" expresses the concept that instead of having to register ourselves with the machines, the machines will register themselves for us. The result is more intutitive interaction, which for most is a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Yet again, I can also see second- and n-order effects of this which may be much less congenial for many people [just as the wonderful liberation brought on by the cell-phone has also made many people available for work 24/7 with no private time of their own].
Another of the many straws gently wafting in front of what will become, I am sure, a technological hurricane.
http://news.com.com/2009-1032_3-1020641.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed
There are times when Microsoft seems like one of those B-movie monsters which cannot be stopped by any reasonable means, and here we have another example: embrace, extend, exterminate applied to search services. Given that search services are both fundamental to our lives on the Web, and [justifiably] fundamental to the directions Microsoft sees as useful for operating systems development, the unspeakable force may well be about to meet the inedible object.
Somehow, for some obscure reason I cannot elucidate with any precision, I do not think this bodes any good.
http://useit.com/alertbox/20030616.html
The Net has a number of scale effects, some of which are highly counerintuitive, as this article suggests: even a site which does not rank high in absolute page views may still be a major source in a particular niche. Creating and exploiting such niches is one of the major virtues of the Web environment -- the large do not [and cannot] crowd out the small.
Read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested, this paper has some provocative suggestions about the information ecology of the Net in general, and by implication, about blogs in particular.
http://www.law.com/jsp/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawArticle&t=PrinterFriendlyArticle&cid=1052440872261
One bee in my bonnet which sends steam showers streaming screaming from my ears is the way the latest laws and decisions relating to intellectual property unfairly infringe on legitimate use of published products. I will argue that in fact major social and intellectual benefits are being hindered by the current rigorous stance on copyright; this article at least suggests that there may be some heavy-duty protection available for "fair use".
Those who would trample on this right may find, to their regret, their feet infected by thorns of shame.
http://search390.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid10_gci904778,00.html
There is so much going on out there in the IT workd that getting some straight answers, as this interview with a Meta Group analyst provides, is definitely useful. Some sparks strike to light up that future tunnel where an end, let alone any light, can be frustratingly difficult to see.
Two things stand out from this interview:
1) Far from suggesting that IT doesn't matter any more, we are still in the middle of some major transitions which require careful analysis; and
2) George Gilder's persistent vision of victory going to the "low and the slow" certainly seems to be coming about.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030616091423.htm
Anyone who has read widely in science fiction has come across adventures relating to the presence of "smart dust" -- individual sensors which are the size of a grain of sand. Some of the projections were indeed dire -- now, as this article indicates, another SF prediction has come to pass.
What this means is more efficient and ubiquitous information gathering and transmission of information -- with consequences of great moment, since we can vastly enhance the "intelligence" of the material world.
Of course, it can also mean more than this, much more....
An non-technical update on progress in smart dust can be read here:
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031210/5746410s.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59287,00.html
Even though the more extreme potentials of nanotechnology may not be realizable, there is enough going on in this research for ecological groups to be up in arms, as this article records. Much of this currently resembles looking at a scummy swamp -- there is a lot of bubbling and thrashing going on, but we really can't see below the surface.
Merely moderate nanotechnology still will have some far-reaching implications, not least of these for the machinery supporting IT.
While the immediate attraction to the Computer Security Institute site is a free CSI/FBI survey on computer crime and security, announcements of conferences and training opportunities make it worth bookmarking. The advantages of becoming a CSI member are also explained in an attractive fashion.
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_nl_extra_content.asp?articleid=298&zoneid=37
The Cisco Certified Network Associate is a widely popular entry-level certification for networking. Cisco has introduced some changes in the certification, giving candidates a fork to choose: experienced candidates can write one exam, whereas those who are still on the learning track can write two. The implications for recertification are also discussed in this article [though the extra cost of writing two exams is not addressed].
http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a431.asp
Inevitably a blog about IT has to refrence remarks about blogs -- and here is a highly persuasive argument -- that since our trust in big media is continuously eroding [for a host of reasons which make perfect sense to me], that blogs represent a form of high-tech samizdat, operating as a reality check.
Apart from the fact that there is no harm from hearing many voices [so long as they are not prone to deafening argumentation] there is much here, I think, that the eye misses. For "underground" to exist, there must be some "overground" in the first place. Symptom and cause must be closely correlated, which requires more than a little investigation.
The communication web that the Net in general and blogs in particular needs its history recorded and analysed. Remember always, when we watch, the object of our inspection can always be watching us back -- especially if we are looking in a metaphorical mirror.
I have never been able to develop much of an appetite for thin client computing solutions, since they strike me as the antithesis of that empowerment that forms one of the main charms of the PC, in my opinion. But nevertheless, things like CITRIX MetaFrame are a major organizational application, and here is a portal devoted to just this topic.
http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?editorialsid=585
The cloud of doom about depressed salaries in the IT industry may be about to break, according to this short article. At least as interesting as the article itself are the remarks from those in the trenches, who collectively sound a little more than shell-shocked.
A neatly arranged searchable message board site covering tips for Windows, Linux, and Apple OS, plus miscellaneous issues. Comprehensive with archives, downloads, FAQ, fora, news with archive, a glossary, reviews, surveys, tips, and web links, this looks to be a useful site for a wide variety of computer users.
If you are one of those people to whom regular expressions are a piece of cake, you need read no further. On the other hand, if you seek to understand [or to help others understand] what is one of the less pellucid [because, of course, it *sounds* so simple] bits of computer arcana, here is a graphical tool called The Regex Coach which will assist investigating such mysteries.
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2003/0623linuxreview.html
With all the distributions of Linux out there, which one is best? Foolish question, grasshopper! It all depends on what you want to use it for. But for enterprises, the scope is somewhat narrowed, so here is an article which compares Red Hat with several United Linux entries [with the main focus on SuSE] and also gives some glimpses as to how all this stacks up against Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition.
To save some suspense, in case time is too pressing to actually view the article, it was Red Hat by a nose.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/schwartz0703.asp
One-time registration is required to view this article on the problems caused by spam, as well as the cure potentially being worse than the disease. Spam has been with us for some time in a controllable way, but in this last year it appears to have metastisized to a point producing genuine problems for users and the network alike.
There are a lot of sides to this story, which is why it promises to be never-ending.
Everything needed to make you come out of your computing shell -- tutorials, themes, reviews, news, editorials, announcements, and jokes about shells as used in computing. Most of the online magazine issues, including the current one, are available for download as PDF files, for happy browsing offline.
If you find operating systems fun, shells should make you nearly delerious with joy.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1134825,00.asp
With its announcement of 64-bit hardware [easily compatible with the BSD-based OS X], 64-bit computing has moved from mainframe status to a technology which anyone can use [because Apples, of course, are so easy to use that there are no training courses needed for them...]. The dual pinch here is on Windows and Intel, which have 64-bit versions, but with upgrade paths much less attractive than with AMD's OPTERON on the hardware side or with Linux on the software side.
When we first got 32-bit computing on the desktop a bit less than a decade ago, it looked remarkbly like hardware all dressed up with nowhere to go -- and now it is simply essential. The same, no doubt, will ensue with 64-bit hardware, with results impossible to forecast now.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59268,00.html
Of all the future technologies looming ahead, nanotechnology, as based on Eric Drexler's concept of nanobots -- molecular sized manufactories -- promised to be the most revolutionary, simply because they redrew the equations of energy use in relation to production. If anything could counter the Malthusian dystopia of an earth overrun with starving billions, nanotechnology sounded like it.
While initial scientific reception of Drexler's ideas was skeptical, over the early part of the 1990s they garnered some support. This article suggests that the more extreme versions of Drexler's dream (or nightmare) will never be realized. At the same time, the book is not necessarily closed on this subject.
The connections between nanotechnology and computing were immediate and obvious -- so any shortcomings in the former may well circumscribe futures in the latter.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2003/06/16/cx_ld_0616linux.html
Despite a somewhat negative title ["The Limitations of Linux"] this short article looks at some of the pros and cons of the Linux OS for the corporate environment today. The conclusion: Linux has a place, but that place is not all-encompassing.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1055792639_449&type=RES&src=KA_RES
Those in command at Pearl Harbor, it can be argued, were not negligent -- they were just looking for the wrong things in the wrong direction -- and the rest really is history. Here is some common-sense security advice, telling you to tend to the beam in your own eye, before bothering with your sibling's mote: "Sweat the Small Stuff: Making Your Enterprise More Secure with Less Effort".
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1028048649_631&type=RES&src=KA_RES
Although the security community has been fairly vigilant in promoting the fact that just installing a firewall no more handles all your security problems than having a lock on your front door prevents your house from flooding, the general consensus is that a segment of the endangered spaces have not realized this. This white paper: "Beyond the Firewall - Using a Layered Security Strategy to Address Internal Security Threats" provides some practical suggestions about implementing a security strategy which will help repel the variety of threats the real world offers.
http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=2010
Tools for the expert are one thing, but tools for everyman are the ones which really have the most impact on our daily lives [when was the last time Michael Schumaker passed you on the InterState?]. A correlative development with Weblogs is Rich Site Summary -- a way to keep automatically updted on news and developments on the Web, allowing ready communication and networking on any specific topic. This article looks at the implications of RSS for education in general and academe in particular.
As whoever it was that said it said: "Stay tuned -- you ain't seen nothing yet."!
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1121367,00.asp
I can remember, when I first beheld the IBM S360 some 35 years ago, yearning to have one of my own -- little did I dream. Now, of course, reasonably powerful computers are available for everyone, but just as you can never be too rich or too thin, your coumputer can never be too powerful. The popular image of the "big machine" in film and fiction was just that -- a machine housed in massive caverns sized on a titanic scale [for example, Colossus in The Forbin Project.].
And there have been, no doubt, many impressive and gigantic supercomputers, ranging from Crays to ASCII White. Yet again, as has been true so many times in IT's past, at least some of the palm goes to the lowly and humble, as it turns out that it is quite cheap to arrange clusters of Linux machines which are not just resepctable, but in the upper echelons of the supercomputer ranks. There is no reason why such developments cannot continue.
All this suggests to the extent that we allow ourselves to be computationally challenged by raw power requirements, we may well be reading off the wrong disk drive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46807-2003Jun11.html
My position on whether IT is coming or going is neither here nor there, but certainly one of the aspects which has made IT education more difficult is the dearth of degree programmes looking at applied IT [as opposed to computer science, which is a disk of another colour]. The combination of techology and business training is particularly attractive to many students, and this article discusses several new programs from higher education dedicated to technical skills development.
While the news that the Linux Router Project (which provided a single-floppy routing capability in Linux) has been terminated by its author in a state of some bitterness itself represents a sad outcome, some wider reflections are more troubling. The question being: how can Linux developers support themselves? The for-profit model of proprietary software answers this question for its developers without doubt.
True, some people make a living at Linux, and some people don't want to make a living at it, but just want the make the OS live. Perhaps that will be enough, but there are times, like this, when optimism is a bit harder to come by than it normally would.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-1017180.html?tag=lh
Version 2.4.21 corrects some errors and adds support for new hardware, most notably the AMD 64-bit Opteron processor. This might just steal a march on Wintel Itanium, since the AMD is backwards compatible with 32-bit applications. I am sure someday we will look back on 32-bit computing as being limited and quaint, just as we regard 16-bit computing now.
http://http://nefiles.uiuc.edu/rhasan/linux
The tendency in information technology is to look forwards, not backwards. But remember that "the future of the present is in the past". What is now depends crucially upon what was then, and knowing this is helpful in all sorts of ways, not least because of the UNIX tradition of maintaining traditions, sometimes just for tradition's sake. So here is an illustrated and documented history of Lunux, showing how far the OS concept has come in a decade.
http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.DC/0306058
One of the joys of Linux, I am told, is how you can gang a whole lot of little computers to create a sort of Compzilla. I suspect the folks at CERN have more than a little bit of experience with this; the abstract contains a link to the full paper. The noise of 1,000 fans all whirring together at once must be something to be heard to be believed.
http://www.activewin.com/win2000/
Some things do hold their capacity for constant amazement: the wonderous structure of a Bach fugue, the superb complex suffusion of a single-malt scotch on the tongue, but since this is a technically-oriented site, let me adduce one more which is relevant: the fact that even though I surf the Net 'till I nearly drown, and hoover up technology references like an eatanter on steroids, it remains true there are still superb sites that I miss until someone else [my students, in this case] points me at them.
This is definitely one of them -- ActiveWin2K is a sure and certain bookmark for those working in W2K, with articles, updated news on software and hardware, reviews, fora, a support centre, links to other MS operating systems, FAQ's on OS and a whole host of related subjects, and, as they say on the Ronco commercial, "much, much more". Whether you are interested in W2K, you work with it professionally, or you teach/train in it, this is a site to bookmark.
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20030617/index.html
An illuminating article on an important topic -- file systems. The standard file system used on most PCs, FAT, is really starting to show its age, and NTFS, while considerably more capable, is about a decade old too. Yet advances have been made in this area, and we can benefit from their application.
Microsoft's "Loghorn" will gore us, will-nilly, and one of the major things promised in this new release is a new file system which functions like a relational database [if I understand it correctly]. This is the sort of innovation which Microsoft needs to make if it wants to retain its premier position on the desktop. That it also can give Microsoft OS an additional competitive advantage has probably not escaped the attention of those in charge at Redmond.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107_2-1015566.html
Not only is Moore's Law [one of the fundamental statements about microprocessor evolution] not about to be falsified any time soon, but also it is in fact misunderstood and misquoted in spite of its apparent simplicity. The analysis given here of the impact of competition on technological developments suggests that the ""End of IT" argument is, perhaps, over-stated.
http://www.corante.com/index.shtml
Blogs and news digest covering inter alia e-business, communications, the InterNet, and personal technology.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=88-ec5PQQKmi5OsSUzRjhGvQVQSUDrR
A useful summary by an interested participant, Hewlett-Packard, on the "Linux Strategies And Solutions" offered by five major suppliers of Linux systems. Oddly enough, Microsoft is not on this list of names....
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=73-__ZeIBBaP5il9iGAQhILJQGrBFRR
Changing from an old version of a Windows OS to a newer one is never to be taken llightly, but Microsoft's support policies are certainly going to push 9x/ME/NT users in the direction of 2000 or XP. So it is useful to have some hints and tips on how to do this well, which this white paper "OS Migration Best Practices for Midrange Organizations", supposedly offers.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-23-1-1-618817-760-1
Since backing up is probably the single thing most computer users should do but don't, this article indicating that the backup traditions of small businesses need re-examination may spark some useful reflection. The reward of backup is the ability to smile seraphically when your server is smoking junk, and to answer the frantic question: "We DO have backups for that, don'e we?" with a confident, jaw-thrusting "Yes!" -- well worth the agony and pain of actually doing backups properly in the first place.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-23-1-1-618817-742-1
One can almost hear the shark music rising steadily and stridently. This article suggests that Microsoft has taken notice of the blogging phenomenon, and may well Do Something About It. One in a number of points on the media landscape suggesting that the humble blog has become a very important tool indeed.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5846
Short article reporting on research study indicating that the instant messaging tidal wave is about to break over the corporate reefs. This suggests two things right away:
1) the security problems will be horrendous; and
2) give people a new way to communicate, and they will do so.
While the report emphasizes the North American context, elswhere much more widespread use of mobile devices could lead to an even greater demand for IM as being customary.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/port-table.html
This entry combines two things -- an excellent example of a local community net which has been in existence for nearly a decade (which has evolved its services over the time) and the specific reference, on port use.
For someone from the seaport of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a little bit of home....
The OS files is one of those sites, well worth bookmarking, which takes your breath (and time) away. From W95 to "Blackcomb", MS-DOS to FreeDOS, Linux in a variety of distros, BeOS to Netware, there is something here on just about every operating systems running on a PC. In addition to reading about it, there is a links page to free OS that you can download and play with.
Nothing quite like whiling the time away twiddling with an obsure OS....
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_nl_infosec_content.asp?articleid=260&zoneid=39
The extent to which viruses and related malware have become serious and persistent problems is indicated by this range of sources for such information.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1098455,00.asp
This points to an article about an article in the Harvard Business Review, to the effect that information technology has simply become a part of business, without much scope for demand. Holding down spending, becoming a follower, and examining vulnerabilities have become the priorities for business today.
This certainly is not a cheerful viewpoint, nor is it one which is necessarily wrong. Nevertheless, I feel something is being missed here -- that people are still creating new tools and systems [of which the whole blogging phenomenon is by no means a minor element], and there is no way we can tell in advance that some new technically-driven inequilibrum will not result. If it does, then an extension of the technological "arms race" in business should logically follow.
My bet here is that this will be driven more by software and its effective application than by hardware.
My attention was grabbed by Brad Gadberry's comment [no mean IT commentator, he] about the relative difficulties of using Windows and Linux, noting that you can have bad Windows experiences also, and that emphasizing the minor problems in Linux makes the OS sound like risky business.
My first response was "Well, yes" -- in the sense that Windows is easier to use than Linux, so that when something goes wrong with it, a relatively inexperienced person can effect a repair more easily than with Linux [to be clear, I am not talking Win 9x here -- it is simply unfair to compare such a limited OS with Linux]. So in that sense, the perception of "greater risk" in Lunux is not necessarily wrong -- my Ford and my Ferrari may both suffer from a problem with their brake calipers, but reparing the latter is liable to be more fraught with angst.
But when I thought about this further, I asked myself: "What does it mean to 'use Linux'?". This is by no means as silly a question as it sounds, because "using Linux" can mean one of (at least) two things:
1) To interact with and employ the capacities of the operating system through the command line interface; or
2) To interact with and employ the capacities of the operating system through the graphical interface.
Now Windows, of course, is primarily graphic [though many useful command-line elements like scripting are possible within it], so when we talk about "using Windows", there is usually no doubt about what we mean. I would argue with equal force that in terms of complexity and power, Windows and Linux are roughly similar [i.e. this difference is not even a single order of magnitude]. Currently, however, the power of Linux is most readily tapped through the CLI, and this is exactly the interface which is most intimidating to most computer users, so that even executing a trivial correction may appear to be non-trivial.
There is, I would argue, some need for precision when talking about "using" operating systems, just to make sure we are not comparing hawks with handsaws.
If you still have a retro hankering to wallow in DOShiness, or if you have a problem which only DOS can solve [increasingly rare these days, but if it is you that has the problem, you don't care about relative frequency, but frequent relief], then this site provides a wealth of resources and links so you can hardness the power of the Net to your quest for obsolescence nirvana.
This is a site for downloadable tools relating to the range of WINDOWS operating systems from 9x to XP, some of which include source code. Information articles on how the operating systems work [e.g an extensive BOOT.INI options reference] are also available on this site.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-19-1-1-618817-625-1
Every once in a while you come across a story which just makes you say "Ooog!" and reach for the nearest container of restorative beverage. This article on the re-integration of Internet Explorer with the Microsoft OS makes so much sense [and is so winningly annotated with links] that this development looks inevitable. Which means desktop bloat and increased operating system instability seem part of our Microsoft future.
Once again, when you look at the broader aspect of this, along with several other intiatives which Microsoft is taking which are hard to interpret as being in the customer's advantage, it makes the potential pain involved in switching to some other OS suddenly seem a lot more bearable.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-19-1-1-618817-592-1
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-19-1-1-618817-595-1
These two articles report on Bugbear.B and W32/Sobig/c-mm, and indicate how much more sophisticated this sort of malware is becoming -- the ability to log keystokes, the capacity to mask or mutate the virus program appeaance, or even having a built-in SMTP engine. The increase in virus capability seems to be outstripping most defences. I am frankly pessimistic about the future [in a manner analogous to the failure of most antibiotics againt real viruses -- we are waiting for the other shoe to drop with a thud].
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1053093882_459&type=RES&src=KA_RES
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1035812992_853&type=RES&src=KA_RES
A couple of white papers offering methods of security implementation for large and medium/small organizations respectively. Reading both gives you some impression of what elements are common across all organizations, and where size matters, when security is concerned.
http://certcities.com/editorial/Tips/story.asp?EditorialsID=25
Given that Cisco requires renewal of its certifications, and given also that the CCNA exam has changed, it is good to be able to sneak up on the beast and take it unawares with a volley of weighty study tips. Which is exactly what this article offers.
http://entmag.com/reports/article.asp?EditorialsID=44
It was not all that long ago that Microsoft seemed to be nothin' but .NET -- confusing their audience more thoroughly than the Globetrotters ever bedazzled their opponnets. The extent to which this has been rewritten in an remarkably short time is eerily Orwellian -- and the .NET designator remains only on the Visual Studio environment. Here is an extensive look at where .NET is today -- again, the potentials here are sufficiently great that some extensive reading, marking, learning, and inward digesting will no doubt be necessary.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=04-k9W0IFQjFfCUUR1_QHNpWzpOYWeR
When a company gets sufficiently worried about the competition to actually lower or eliminate profit margins in order to land the sale, the company is taking its competition seriously. Whether you view this as an anticompetitve tactic or a new-found appreciation of how Microsoft endangered by the Linux legions, the fact that statements like this can be made is an eloquent indicator of how things are changing in the OS arena.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=04-k9W0IFQjFfCUUR1_QHNpWzpOYWeR
There is a lot of interest in saving IT dollars by moving from a proprietary system to one which is open and low-cost. Naturally, Red Hat is only too happy to provide information on how to do this: "Solaris to Linux Migration: An Introduction".
Note that registration is required to view this paper, but this site is sufficiently useful that I find it worthwhile to be registered.
Despite the title, this includes Linux tips as well, contiributed by the site users themselves. These range in profundity from basic to advanced, and can be viewed storted into categories.
http://www.groxis.com/cgi-bin/grok/aboutus.html
Although the cost of entry appears high for a beta, this is another entry in the information management derby which may wind up in the winner's circle in the race to tame the InterNet. There is no question we need tools to manage this magnificent information beast, and I think it equally unquestionable that at this point we can only throw the tools into the water and see which ones sink and which ones swim [the puzzle, of course, is always those which just float there unmoving].
But this tool certainly looks worth investigation, because it appears to be offering something like a subject catalogue for the Net -- and that, as any librarian can tell you, is a major part of the information battle won.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5839
Though it may be uncharitable to paraprhrase Mr. Clemins and say "everybody talks about halting spam, but nobody does anything about it", nevertheless the tide appears to be rising above our chins with alarming rapidity. Those nestled behind a good corporate spam-control system may not notice much, but if you have a home account [even one which uses the slightly pitiful blacklisting method] you are probably seeing about 40% of your input taken up by UCE. True, with a good mail client, you can delete it with a click, but even a couple of minutes a day adds up to some serious time considered on a yearly basis.
My gut instinct tells me this is going to get worse before it gets better, and the article referenced above looks at present [failing] and future ways to control spam. For my money, the price of ending spam will be an unforgeable and mandatory identification of source and author for every piece of e-mail -- and despite the charms of InterNet anonymity, given the scope of the problem, it is a price I would gladly pay.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5844
Intrusion detection systems have been traditionally [to the extent that anything as newborn as the current computer security nexus of concerns can be said to have a "tradition"] considered as an important component of the security toolkit. Now some new Gartner analysis suggests that IDS may not be worth it, and will soon be obsolete. Resources previously directed to this sector should be directed towards improving firewalls.
Since this is a contrarian approach to a staple of practical security courses at the higher educational level, it should be worth reading.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1054742400_409&type=RES&src=KA_RES
When two heavy hitters like AT&T and The Economist get together to ponder and pontificate about the future of networking, it probably behooves us to cast an eye over the result: in this case "Networking and Business Strategy", which is the first in a series of white papers on this topic.
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_nl_infosec_content.asp?articleid=271&zoneid=39
An annotated guide to five sites worth consulting when seeking information on security issues: guidelines, news, industry associations, and additional links to other useful Web locations.
http://www.thawte.com/guides/index.html
A small, neatly organized collection of white papers for implementing SSL, securing e-mail, and making sure that other relevant aspects of development and implementation for e-commerce can proceed with some assurance of safety.
http://naramcheez.netfirms.com/free.html
Many, many, many [ranging somewhere between a plethora and a surfiet] WINDOWS users get victimized by software which they download without knowing exactly what it does [they did not real the EULA, like all good IT professionals are supposed to do]; sometimes they are victimized by "drive-by downloading", where a Web site foists some malware upon the unsuspecting. This sort of spyware, as it is called, often gets started whenever you boot up, and it can reside in any of six stages of startup, making it difficult for most users to pinpoint where to look if they are victims, or how to cure it in that case. Among the other interesting bits of free software on this site, InnerReg vV 1.0 takes care of this with some authority.
http://www.freepint.com/issues/050603.htm#tips
The whole point of the Information Technology enterprise is not the whirring disk drive nor the flashing monitor, however absorbing these may be to those of us with a technical bent. In some sense this article refers to what is at the "wide end" of the IT funnel, in terms of how people can be educated for knowledge management -- another facet in the creation and implementation of mind tools. Just scratching the surface, for sure, yet also significant as a signpost -- if we allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the vasty informational deep, we will lose all potential as we fall beneath the shadow.
http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2003/0401.tsu_p.html
Another viewpoint in the "is Linux ready for the office desktop sweepstakes" brouhaha. I find myself in entire agreement with the author -- the geek viewpoint that like spinach, installation pain is fundamentally good for you may be right -- but as far as gaining converts for the desktop, it is dead right -- like the man going on a green light when an out-of-control truck is coming through the red. What most IT people [myself included, much of the time] fail to understand is that people want to do things *with* their computrers, not *to* them.
That's a major culture gap which has to be crossed daily, and lots of Linux mavens are having real trouble with it. Be assured, Bill Gates & Co. have no trouble with it at all, which may go some way in explaining relative market shares for the desktop.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1035812992_853&type=RES&src=KA_RES
"Better Security - A Practical Guide - Network Security for the Small to Medium Enterprise" is available in editions for both distributed enterprises and small- to medium-sized businesses. They show how to build up the barriers to unwanted entry and how to keep an eye on what is going on.
PUBLISHER: WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-18-1-1-618817-502-1
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-18-1-1-618817-505-1
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-18-1-1-618817-508-1
Contradictory positions on the future of Linux are ever with us, like mildew beneath the bedspread, but the latest SCO shennanigans have brought the pot to an intense boil. John Dvorak [who is, on IT matters, always right when he is not wrong] bellows gloom and doom [the comments section is well-worth following up here] in the first of the above entries.
In the second and third articles, continued improvement in the Linux desktop is profiled, suggesting conttinued wind beneath the penguin's wings. For my own part, there are not words fit for a family newsletter [which this definitely is *not*] to express my opinion of it. I expect IBM to win big on this one, with SCO becoming just the memory of another teapot tempest, and Linux moving from strength to strength. I say this based on the evidence, since I am by no means a Linux enthusiast.
According to a recent survey conducted by gradschools.com, an Internet research site, clinical psychology and mental health therap are now preferred by those pursuing graduate studies over computer science. How this impacts on information technology education as more narrowly viewed is not entirely clear. There always has been some association between intense computer fascination and a lack of mental health, so perhaps this development represents a new growth field consequent on IT developments....
http://www.urltrim.com/ct/t.php?l=36
There are lots and losts of Registry cleaners out there, but Registry First Aid has the imprimatur of WUGNET itself, which is enought to prompt a trial, I would think.
http://www.urltrim.com/ct/t.php?l=40
Breathes there the man with soul so dead, who had not to himself said, I could make a better desktop than BillG's crew the worst day I got out of bed? Well, probably not too many such, since WinGuides Tweak Manager joins the teeming throng of programs designed to do this, but as an added bonus, including tweaks for popular software like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html
Keynote is an Open Source freeware program which is another in the series of tools which I think help tame the information morass into something our minds can use. I have been using such tools for over a decade, and could no more think of working effectively without one [I use AskSam, but it is not free] than I would think of going hunting in a boat without an accordion -- no, wait! I mean that the ability of this sort of tool to allow us to squirrel things away and call them back with trapeze-like ease is something you have to experience to see if it works for you. As Jerry Pournelle is wont to say: "If you need this, you need it bad".
A searchable listing of all the UseNet News FAQs -- which should be just about invaluable for anybody wanting to trying to net the elusive eels of information which abound in shimmering shoals within this tremendously topical and yet well-aged resource.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1052235515_440&type=RES&src=KA_RES
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1052235513_540&type=RES&src=KA_RES
The above URLs reference white papers on IP telephony and the relationships between IP and LDAP for ubiquitous remote access.
http://www.gregorybraun.com/MSWinErr.html
This utility allows you to "to look up MS Windows error code numbers and display a descriptive message explaining what the numeric code actually means". It works for all versions of Windows [except Server 2003!] and could be a handy tool for the trouble-shooter.
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3150-2001-0-1-0.html?qt=packet+sniffer&tag=new
Here is a list of free and for-pay software resources which allow you to see what is going on in the LAN. Such tools can be very helpful for allowing students to see dynamically what their texts describe statically -- they can also allow people to see what should not be seen, if not used carefully. Caveat computator!
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=c9-3OZLQpggZBgsGQ8rwVAHbryvhV4R
The Role of Linux in Reducing the Cost of Enterprise Computing is an IDC paper on the virtues of Linux in the enterprise.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,454224,00.html
While the focus on the article is how IBM is employing intellectuals, some of the tools described here are right on target for those interested in harnessing the powers of the Net. This is another situation in which I think we are just in the process of creating/evolving the tools -- when we have them and a body of praxis, the degree to which the Net represents a "revolutionary" phenomenon will be more readily evaluated.
With a title like ModemHelp.net, you might expect this to be a resource about modems, and you would be quite right. It is both tabbed and searchable, so you can dig out the information in a variety of ways. Modems may be "yesterday's tealeaves" for many fortunate enough to have faster Net access, but plenty of people still depend on them.
http://mcpmag.com/Features/article.asp?EditorialsID=348
http://com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=552
http://mcpmag.com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=555
Three articles on firewalls, wireless security, and implementing security in Office XP, respectively.
http://www.cybercrime.gov/usamarch2001_6.htm
is an explanation from the USA DOJ as to why people fail to report computer crime.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/searching.html#A
provides a USA DOJ manual on "Searching and Seizing Computers and Related Electronics Issues".
This is a phenomenon which is certainly relevant to the study of security, so these resources may well be worth consulting.
This from the Syllabus News Update:
Copyright Holders Can Shut Down University ISP Services
The U. S. District Court for the District of Hawaii has ruled that the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not require copyright
holders to conduct an investigation to establish actual infringement
before sending notice to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) requiring
them to shut down an allegedly infringing Web site, or stopping service
all together to an alleged violator.
I expect my somewhat sulphurious opinions on the DCMA and similar malign manifestations of information barrier will burble up in this blog later or later, but just for starters, this raises one question in my mind: what has become of the Anglo-Saxon legal cornerstone of assumption of innocence? Surely if I have *not* infringed a law, it is completely inappropriate to sanction me until you have some case or evidence that I *am in fact* infringing it.
But then, I can sigh sententiously about not being a lawyer [and loving every minute of it!], so you can take this with whatever saline grains appear appropriate.
http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=579
Microsoft has [to some eyes at least] resisted getting into the business of certifying security specialties. The unkind would say this results from Microsoft's products having no real security in the first place, but I think any reasonable person would agree that whatever the current problems, the latest server products from Redmond are inherently more secure than those of the past. Given the continuing emphasis on this topic, I would expect this certification to blossom, along with institutions offering bootcamp training to get the certificate.
http://haystack.lcs.mit.edu/index.html
One of the needles in my bonnet is how we use tools to organize and manage information. I am convinced [with a stubborness based on a complete lack of theoretical knowledge or much in the way of empirical examples] that we are in the same stage of tools development that auto manufacturers were when they put buggy whip sockets in their original models -- we have not wrapped our minds around the fact that the tool is *new* as thoroughly as we might.
From Vannevar Bush onward, there have been suggestions concerning methods and modalities to amplify our minds through cognition prosthetics in the form of hardware and software ["cognition prosthetic" is simply professor-talk for a devive which aids our minds in doing something -- say a notepad on which you write a 'to do' list] -- none of which are "there yet".
Indeed, I am not sure we are going to get "there" any time soon, if only, in part, because we don't know *where* "there" is [but we will know it when we find it], but to prevent myself from waxing epistimolgical [as contrasted to waxing my car, a genuinely useful and rewarding pursuit], I will merely note that continuous coverage of tools to expand the reach of our mind will be a permanent feature of this blog.
And the above link is an entry about an ongoing research project which is looking into an aspect of such tools, thus worth reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting. This is something which I consider vital and crucial to the teaching/learning enterprise as we continue to drown in the information deluge.
http://rss.com.com/2100-1012_3-1010051.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news%22
There is, in a sense, no reason to store up trouble for the future, but the plain fact is that Microsoft is determined to keep on churning out versioned OS [as opposed to adding upgradable increments a la Linux kernels]. Here is something about the "next big thing", though there is many a slip between the beta lip and the gold version sip.
Some hints and tips on recovering from disaster are always useful, so here is some information about this:
Disaster Recovery Issues and Solutions http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1021977643_483&type=RES&src=KA_RES
DESCRIPTION: This paper familiarizes readers with the jargon of software copy alternatives and defines currently available remote copy techniques, including network options for replication.
PUBLISHER: Hitachi Data Systems Corp.
Given that Server 2003 is now upon us, being able to find out more about how it works, and what its advantages are is certainly useful -- here is a white paper on this:
Technical Overview of Windows Server 2003 Security Services http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1052321112_291&type=RES&src=KA_RES
DESCRIPTION: This article discusses the tools and processes that deliver important security benefits to organizations deploying Windows Server.
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Corporation
http://storage.ziffdavis.com/article2/0,3973,1108850,00.asp
My prejudice against XP remains considerable, and this is another straw added to the straining camel -- there may be real technical reasons for preferring W2KPro.
Canadian College Offers Virus Writing Class: http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-17-1-1-618817-421-1
Virus-Writing Course Stirs Controversy: http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-17-1-1-618817-424-1
The issues involved in this are worth remark: on the one hand -- there are things man was not meant to know; on the other -- if we want to understand some of the deeper implications of fighting malware, we need to educate in this specialty. One thing for sure -- the graduates of this class can expect the beady eye of authority to be firmly fixed upon them.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134812856_memory26.html
This article on technology dependence exactly reflects what happened recently when the e-mail server went down. I had an appointment in my OUTLOOK Calendar, and did not know where the meeting was taking place. I had not committed it to memory -- because it was safe in my Calendar. I anticipate this will become a bigger issue in the future.