Opinion

ZapThinking Now!

First of all, sorry for the lack of blogging this week. It's been a rare week, and a short one with the holiday. I will be back to my old blogging self tomorrow, and will post a new Podcast on Monday night, as per normal. Second, as many of you

By Dave Linthicum

Adobe touts Flash streaming

Adobe Systems on Thursday unveiled features planned for the upcoming Adobe Flash Media Server 3 release. Due in the first quarter of 2008, the upcoming release will offer traditional streaming media capabilities and an environment for building and de

By Paul Krill

Sep 6, 2007 1 min

Back to blogging and more off-topic than ever

I have been struggling trying to decide whether or not I should continue to blog. I am really busy lately and I mostly have felt like my commentary was as useless as the next knucklehead. James and Cote pretty much convinced me I should keep it goin

By Dave Rosenberg

Red Hat Ships JBoss ESB 4.2, Portends SOA Suite

Good news on the open source SOA front. Red Hat has announced the general availability of Red Hat JBoss ESB 4.2. This may look fairly innocent, but it's much more than another competitor to WS02 ESB, Mule or FUSE ESB (formerly known as Celtix fr

By Brad Shimmin

Sep 6, 2007 1 min

Apple iPhone demonstrates the value of brand

The value of brand is incalculable. Consider that Apple entered the extremely crowded cell phone handset market and became a major player overnight. Stats coming in for July sales of Apple iPhones put them as the market leader for the month. I don&#0

Apple to iPhone fans: Bite me

All those eager Appletons who waited in line to plunk down $600 for their new iPhones last June are probably feeling like they just graduated from Screw U. At yesterday's 'Special Event,' Apple announced that it's killing off the

By Robert Cringely

Vizioncore Expands Product Line Beyond VMware

Vizioncore has been around since 2002 as a consulting company in the virtualization field working with products from VMware and Citrix. However, the company is probably best known for its VMware backup solution – esxRanger. Vizioncore has moved beyon

Sep 6, 2007 3 mins

XenSource Offers OEMs an Embedded Hypervisor

With all the hype surrounding virtualization reaching an all time high, virtualization vendors are continuing to scramble to come up with new features, applications, use-case scenarios, etc to try and further penetrate the market. One such idea being

Upcoming Open Source Conferences

There's a slew of open source conferences coming up this fall in the US and in Europe. Here are a few of the highlights: -Utah Open Source Conference, Sept 6-8, Provo -Rails Conf Europe, Sept 17-19, Berlin -Gartner Open Source Summit, Sept 19-21

Sep 6, 2007 1 min

Follow the paperless trail

Companies are finding digital paper more efficient, secure, and economical than the tree-pulp-based variety

By Ted Samson

Sep 6, 2007 9 mins

Are you the IT guy for family and friends?

As an InfoWorld reader, chances are you're the go-to person. Here's how to keep from spending all your leisure time on other people's problems

By David Margulius

Sep 6, 2007 4 mins

Welcome to the (KB) Twighlight Zone

In my last post (“To WGA Hell (and Back)”) I detailed my nightmarish experience testing a pre-release hotfix from Microsoft. The fix in question was designed to correct a Vista problem I discussed in an earlier blog entry (“Vista&rs

By Randall Kennedy

Survey: Companies keen on green but hazy on strategy

Fifty-five percent of large North American companies have established a detailed green datacenter strategy — despite the fact that 73 percent aren't entirely sure just what constitutes a green datacenter.

By Ted Samson

Installation difficulties with Windows LIve: Is it just me?

Okay, so it is nice to write about Windows Live and opine on whether or not they are playing catch up. I could also cite all of Microsoft's past victories where they came from behind only to obliterate their competitors. But before I do that has

Sep 5, 2007 1 min

Open Komodo Project Announced

We pass along this press release from ActiveState… Vancouver, BC, September 5, 2007—ActiveState Software Inc., a leading provider of professional development tools, announced the creation of the Open Komodo Project, a new initiative to create

By Martin Heller

Linux is Alright

There comes a time in every DBA's life when he has to admit defeat in one area or another. Personally, I've done it so much it's old hat for me, so here's another one. For years now I've been ribbing my friend for being a Lin

By Sean McCown

Databases

The Ideal Ultra-Portable?

Now that Palm has cancelled the mis-guided Foleo notebook computer, I was thinking more about what would be the ideal ultra-portable. To be fair, there are some things Palm got right with the Foleo, so if they ever create a revised device, perhaps th

Programming Collective Intelligence

I receive dozens of computer books to review every month. Many of them are pretty good, but they tend to blend together. That's understandable, since so many of them cover the same products and languages. In one of my favorite Newhart episodes (

By Martin Heller

Microsoft Silverlight to Illuminate Linux

In Microsoft's announcement today that it had released Silverlight 1.0 to the Web, the company lavished special attention on Novell's continuing efforts to extend Silverlight (Microsoft's Flash killer) to the Linux platform via its Mon

By Brad Shimmin

Sep 5, 2007 1 min

Tales of tech terror

After my debacle attempting to replace my HP battery backup unit (the new one appears to be working fine, knock on wood), I received several emails from Cringesters with even more horrifying support stories – mostly HP or Dell sufferers. Here a

By Robert Cringely

Sep 5, 2007 4 mins

UBS Analyst: Is Linux Adoption Slowing?

Just read this on Barron's Online:   Is the growth rate of Linux adoption slowing down? UBS software analyst Heather Bellini asks that provocative question in a rundown this morning on the findings of her firm’s latest survey of C

By Savio Rodrigues

Sep 5, 2007 2 mins

Test Center Tracker: The road ahead for Oliver Rist

Business is business It's an all mobile phone week for Tom Yager, who after completing a comparative review of seven enterprise models brings up the topic of how to get a better deal when buying one. Act like a business, and not like a consumer

By Mario Apicella

Sep 5, 2007 1 min

The difference between objectives and management objectives

Dear Bob …I've recently started a new job where my primary role is to write an information management framework for the organization. This framework will eventually be adopted at a fairly high level as a strategy document by a branch head.My p

By Bob Lewis

Don’t settle for consumer rates

The wireless market is skewed toward locking impulse-buying consumers into extra charges and long contracts, but business can bypass this You might be surprised how the mere sight of a new mobile handset motivates fellow business travelers to vent on

By Tom Yager

Sep 5, 2007 4 mins

SaaS Small and Medium Business Technology Industry

Last call: Oliver’s parting shot

Oliver Rist bids InfoWorld farewell but offers a peek of what's to come

By Oliver Rist

Sep 5, 2007 5 mins

VMware and Parallels are Fine, but what about Free Virtualization Software for the Mac?

Mac users are finding it easier and easier to support Windows applications on their machines. The choices in front of them are numerous and growing. With Apple's Boot Camp not satisfying everyone, Parallels and VMware have created and offer a vi

Sep 5, 2007 2 mins

SWsoft Growing with Acquisitions and Product Creation

When virtualization is spoken about, most people automatically assume you are speaking about VMware. They are after all the world's largest virtualization software company. However, SWsoft might have something to say about that conversation. The

Sep 5, 2007 2 mins

Virtual Iron Looks Ahead With Version 4.0 of its Server Virtualization Solution

Today, Virtual Iron announced the latest release of its server virtualization platform and virtual management solution. The company hopes that Version 4 of its software will continue to chip away at VMware's lead in the market with Virtual Infra

Sep 5, 2007 5 mins

Cassatt’s Power Management Offers the Color Green

Cassatt Corporation announced one of its new technology offerings that allow datacenter managers to safely and intelligently power servers off and on as needed to help move toward a greener datacenter. Cassatt's Active Power Management technolog

Palm Gets a Clue, Cancels Foleo

I need an $500 underpowered Linux Laptop like I need a… a Palm Foleo? While the idea of a fast-booting Palm Foleo laptop as a "mobile phone companion" might have sounded like a good idea to the guys who dreamed it up, this struck me as on

ISO rejects Microsoft OOXML but the battle is far from over

While Microsoft lost round one in its campaign to gain ISO approval of its OOXML [Office Open XML]file format, it is best to remember this is still early in the game, especially when it comes to battles over standards. What the ISO membership really

Moving from Windows to Linux

Moving from one OS to another is never easy. Heck, it's not even easy to migrate from one version of Windows to the next. (My buddies at Microsoft always tell me it's too much work; just wait until you buy your next machine.) That said, the

Sep 4, 2007 1 min

Quality time with hold music

To make a very long story short, an Exchange server experienced catastrophic hardware failure, scrambled the mailstore, and was rendered completely inoperable. An hour on the phone with HP resulted in a promise that the warrantee replacement parts wo

By Paul Venezia

Solaris Will Go After Low Hanging Fruit

There's more noise about Solaris competing with Linux over at slashdot. I can understand the argument that Sun should direct their efforts to Linux. You know, Peace, Love, Linux. But which business would throw away their crown jewel to compete i

By Savio Rodrigues

Test Center Tracker: One Giant Leap for Laptop Security

High Performance High Security: Mario Apicella has looked under the hood of new drives from Hitachi and Seagate, and he likes what he sees. If you're looking for easy configuration and management, Seagate's the way to go: if top performance

By Curt Franklin

New Apple iPods? The bleat goes on

The cryptic invitations have been emailed, the blogs are buzzing, and Steve Jobs has sent his black turtleneck out to be steam-fluffed. It can only mean one thing: another Apple 'Special Event' is coming. Tomorrow, Apple will unveil … som

By Robert Cringely

A Swift Kick in the Mule

In the spirit of sourceforge.net, the folks at MuleSource.org have launched MuleForge, a collaborative site where Mule community members and MuleSource partners can contribute extensions and applications that build upon the open source provider'

By Brad Shimmin

Sep 4, 2007 1 min

Hands-on: dotDefender 3.0 secures Web apps in ways network firewalls miss

Any Web pro worth his or her salt should be able to secure a basic site running under Apache and Microsoft ISA or IIS – especially because by default, features that might lead to hacking are typically turned off. Yet these measures do little to

By Mike Heck

Open source ESB maker starts developer site

MuleSource, makers of the open source Mule ESB, are launching a collaborative development site Tuesday for Mule extensions and applications built by the Mule community and partners. Called MuleForge, the site provides a platform where developers can

By Paul Krill

We don’t need no stinkin’ UPS

Just to prove that the server had its own circuit breaker, Joe went ahead and, well, broke it

By InfoWorld Anonymous

Data Management

GPS in taxis: Big Brother or boon?

New York City cabbies don't like the idea of being tracked by satellite. But what alternative do any of us really have? I feel badly for New York City cab drivers, but I'm inclined to be philosophical about their plight. What they are going

Sep 4, 2007 4 mins

Software Development Technology Industry

Unified communications: Here at last?

So far, IP communications that follow users across voice, IM, e-mail, and other media have benefited a narrow group. That may be about to change

By Leon Erlanger

Sep 4, 2007 10 mins

Everything the iPhone isn’t

Want a phone that can do *real* work? Here’s what a serious mobile device should look like

By Steve Fox

The One-Way Information Highway

Vendor websites increasingly seem to be set up more to collect information about the customer than to provide information about the company's products. As one reader recently noted, just finding a way to ask a few questions about products before

By Ed Foster

Sep 4, 2007 4 mins

Tech Investor Turns Guitar Hero

Roger McNamee may be more famous as a tech investor and author of "The New Normal" than as a guitar player, but that could be changing. For years he's had a jam-band called the Flying Other Brothers as a sideline to his investment work

Sep 3, 2007 2 mins

No Podcast this Week

I'll pick it up next week, so stay tuned. – Dave…

By Dave Linthicum

Sep 3, 2007 1 min

Labor Day

Nothing happens in Andover on Labor Day: it tends to resemble a ghost town. In neighboring Lawrence, MA, however, three festivals are celebrated on Labor Day: Mahrajan, a Lebanese festival; the Feast of the Three Saints, an Italian festival; and Bre

By Martin Heller

Sep 3, 2007 1 min

Is IT working hard for the money?

When we hit the phones and interviewed a random sample of respondents to July’s InfoWorld Compensation Survey, we got an earful about what’s really happening in IT

Sep 3, 2007 7 mins

Careers

Pope Benedict preaches the merits of green

Joining the push for green from politicans and business leaders, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for people to take steps to better protect the Earth.

By Ted Samson

Sep 3, 2007 2 mins

Self-Destructive Drives

<P>As one of the most mature technology product categories, you might think that disk drives would rarely cause customers any grief. So it's a bit surprising that more than one reader recently reports feeling a destructive urge directed at

By Ed Foster

Sep 1, 2007 4 mins