Opinion

What’s Wrong with My Wheel?

You know, there are some things I just don't get. These network admin backup solutions that everyone keeps trying to push off on is are starting to really get to me. I'm getting on this topic now because I was looking at Microsoft's DP

By Sean McCown

Feb 13, 2007 4 mins

Databases

Progress ships service-oriented apps builder

Progress Software has announced shipment of its Progress OpenEdge 10.1B platform for developing service-oriented business applications. OpenEdge features a development environment that allows developers to concentrate on creating business logic, Prog

By Paul Krill

Test Center Tracker: Parallels security alert and laptop raves

Heads-up on Parallels: Kevin Railsback, InfoWorld's IT director, is spreading the word about a potential vulnerability in the Parallels beta. (For more about this Windows-to-OSX connection technology, check out our review of Parallels.) Accordin

By Stephanie McLoughlin

Favorite Long Terms of 2006: Gateway M255-E SB

OUR FAVORITE VALUE NOTEBOOK: GATEWAY M255-E If it's one thing SMBs need to watch, it's the bottom line. Getting the most for your buck is synonymous with success in that arena, so we take anything with a 'value' prefix seriously.

When your position evaporates

Dear Bob …As IT Manager in a small company, I did it all, from application development, to LAN architecture, to help desk, to managing the budget, to telephony, to managing a small staff, to replacing the burned out light bulbs. I taught myself pro

By Bob Lewis

Mama, don’t take my jet away

<p>This is definitely not a good time to be a corporate chieftan. In the wake of a string of scandals over the past several years boards and stockholders are considering everything from limiting executive runaway pay to stripping CEOs of their

By John West

Careers

Service Performance Optimization 101

Service Performance Optimization 101 Download file Don't forget about the free "SOA Jump Start Webinar" next week. Sign up here….

By Dave Linthicum

The real appeal of SaaS

Enough of the software-as-a-service vendor's hype … what do their customers think? If we are ever to cut through the hype in hopes of determining how good SaaS (software as a service) really is, the best way would be to talk to companies that

By Ephraim Schwartz

Feb 13, 2007 3 mins

Cloud Computing SaaS Technology Industry

The real appeal of SaaS

Enough of the software-as-a-service vendor’s hype. What do their customers think?

By Ephraim Schwartz

Feb 13, 2007 3 mins

Curse of the call center

Why was our new call center taking 10 seconds to connect callers? And why didn't anyone care?

By InfoWorld Anonymous

Feb 13, 2007 3 mins

Powerware Lockout Software Locks In Customers

In 2003 the U.S. Air Force held an open bidding for a post-warranty service contract on about $80 million worth of Powerware uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment it had purchased in 2001. At that meeting, Air Force officials and the other bid

By Ed Foster

Dual mode Wi-Fi/ cellular — a very short-term solution

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced today that is has certified its 100th Wi-Fi-enabled phone for interoperability with other devices and Wi-Fi networks. Of those, 82 are dual mode. I've read the usual cant about how with Wi-Fi and cellular in a single

By Ephraim Schwartz

Backup Service EULAs Warrant a Closer Look

It comes as no surprise when you read a EULA to see it disclaims all warranties and excludes all damages. But one reader recently got to thinking about this in regards to the online backup services he was evaluating for purchase. Since backup vendors

By Ed Foster

Feb 12, 2007 5 mins

Review: Ruby in Steel proves a speedy debugger

SapphireSteel Software recently shipped Ruby in Steel Developer, a professional Ruby programming environment for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition and above. I have used Komodo, RadRails, and the free tools that ship with Ruby before,

By Martin Heller

My First Kill

That's right! I've claimed my first victim– Director of Product Management for SQL Server, Francois Ajenstat. Shortly after I posted my blog, I got the most fabulous email from him. And I'm sharing it with all of you guys (with Franco

By Sean McCown

Feb 12, 2007 5 mins

Databases

Apex, SOQL, and salesforce.com

Peter Coffee got in touch the other day, not from eWeek, where he was for 18 years (counting its previous incarnation as PC Week), but from his new gig as Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com. There was a period

By Martin Heller

Test Center Tracker: 10G at $1,500 per port

Dell delivers: Value-conscious network admins would be well-served adding Dell's new PowerConnect 6248 to their short list of switches. Test Center analyst Paul Venezia finds the gear — a full Layer-3 switch that can handle up to four 10G ports

By Ted Samson

Feb 12, 2007 1 min

When to become angry

Dear Bob …Your logic (in "The mathematics of organizational dysfunction," Keep the Joint Running, 1/22/2007) is impeccable. Unfortunately, managers don't care for logic. It usually comes down to ego which means that they can't b

By Bob Lewis

No principle at all

<p>One of the most fundamental steps you can take to setting the stage for your own successful career is to know what your principles are, and to be prepared to stick with them. But like all really good platitudes, this one hides some whopping

By John West

Feb 12, 2007 4 mins

Careers

More on SPO…

Continued from my last blog on SPO…Service Performance Optimization Second, Experiment and Test Many of those who focus on the discipline of performance within complex distributed systems such as SOA will first steer you toward modeling. Unfortunat

By Dave Linthicum

Feb 12, 2007 6 mins

Sepaton pushes more VTLs and de-dup

If you never heard of Sepaton before (wherever you have been, lucky you) just read their name backward to get a hint of where they stand on backups. For a quick update on their approach to de-duplication this should help. Following last year's b

By Mario Apicella

Feb 12, 2007 1 min

Going virtual

Apologies for the “virtual” quips; I just can’t seem to stop myself

By Steve Fox

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Linux kernel developers offer free support to struggling hardware manufacturers

By Neil McAllister

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Application and desktop virtualization under the hood

Slash desktop management overhead, gain more control, and eliminate application conflicts

By Randall Kennedy

Feb 12, 2007 7 mins

Software Development Technology Industry

Server virtualization under the hood

Get more compute power out of servers while benefiting from a more adaptable datacenter

By Neil McAllister

Feb 12, 2007 6 mins

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Virtualization reality check

Virtualization crosses so many boundaries, expect quite a few roadblocks on the way to a successful initiative

By Robert Mullins

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Server virtualization specialists

In addition to the systems management heavyweights, you can look to a number of specialists for virtual machine management and automation

By InfoWorld

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Application and desktop virtualizers

In addition to a handful of blade system and thin client hardware vendors, a number of software providers are working to change the face of desktop computing

By InfoWorld

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

Are You Attending InfoWorld’s Virtualization Executive Forum?

Are you planning on attending the InfoWorld Virtualization Executive Forum on February 12, 2007 in San Francisco? If you haven't signed up yet, don't worry, it isn't too late! For those of you attending, I know you won't be disapp

Feb 10, 2007 1 min

VMware Cancels VMTN Subscriptions

With its introduction in June of 2005, VMware launched the VMware Technology Network (VMTN) Subscription program – an award-winning offering that provided software developers and QA professionals with access to VMware's powerful suite of virtual

VMware Workstation Guest Isolation Vulnerability

SecurityFocus.com and Eitan Caspi have published an issue with the way VMware handles the guest operating system by allowing malicious programs installed under VMware to access sensitive information stored under the clipboard. In it, they write: Each

How Can Virtual Lab Automation Help You?

VMware is offering three new Webinars to help educate people on the use of Virtual Lab Automation as it begins to promote one of their latest offerings – VMware Lab Manager. Overview of Virtual Lab Automation Wednesday, February 14, 2007 9:00 AM Paci

Feb 10, 2007 1 min

Lxlabs Launches New hyperVM 1.4

Lxlabs launched version 1.4 of their flagship virtualization management software – hyperVM. The software brings enterprise virtualization management features that will allow the hosting companies to deliver assured levels of service to their customer

Can 3D Graphics be Achieved on Virtualization?

The question is no longer "can virtualization support 3D graphics?", the real question is – when? An interesting video recently showed up on youtube, and oddly enough, the video was showcasing 3D graphics acceleration on VMware's Mac O

IBM and HP Making Virtualization News

Large hardware vendors IBM and HP are making themselves known in the virtualization space yet again. This time, IBM is announcing its powerful virtualization technology, z/VM, and its offering looks like it scales out in a big way. HP is also out the

Feb 10, 2007 1 min

Recovering interviewing expenses

Dear Bob …I have a good one for you. Have you ever heard of a company that makes you use your credit card for traveling to an interview and use their travel company and pay their administrative fees? Is this common now?Well, this happened to me. A

By Bob Lewis

Feb 9, 2007 4 mins

EARLY PEEK: Windows Mobile 6 with Screens and Bacon

Microsoft's PR usually drops me in a barbed-wire protected conference room for demos. So when the Mobile guys offered to do the meeting over breakfast, I stupidly jumped at the change of venue. 'Stupid' because I'm a self-employed

Feb 9, 2007 5 mins

Trend Micro Adds More for SMBs…But No Vista

So Trend Micro's been sending out press releases announcing its big jump from Trend Micro Client Server Security for SMB 3.0 to Trend Micro Client Server Security for SMB 3.5. There's also a Trend Micro Client Server Messaging Security for

Feb 9, 2007 2 mins

Is Redemption Possible?

Before I start the actual blog post I've got a little house cleaning to do. I got called down by a reader who says I should define my terms. As it turns out, he's a Unix user and isn't familiar with our acronyms, and while it's us

By Sean McCown

Feb 9, 2007 6 mins

Databases

Favorite Long Terms of 2006: Dell Precision M90

I had my doubts about this behemoth when it first arrived. See, notebooks are meant to be portable and this thing tops out around 8.5 pounds with all the sundries and has a 17-inch diagonal screen if you'd care to calculate dimensions. Had to u

Feb 9, 2007 6 mins

BEA certifies Java EE 5 backing

BEA Systems has certified its upcoming WebLogic Server 10 Java application server as being compliant with the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5) specification. BEA said its application server is the first to achieve this milestone. The c

By Paul Krill

Feb 9, 2007 1 min

Our Favorites of 2006: The Long Term Reviews

It's February of 07, so it's about time we finish this. During 2006, we hardy reviewers at InfoWorld, especially those dedicated elite who deal with the SMB market, managed a number of long-term reviews. That just means that we got our grub

Feb 9, 2007 1 min

Iron Python for ASP.NET

I mentioned my affinity for Python on my first Weblog entry, at the end of last year. I had intended to tell you about the Iron Python for ASP.NET CTP in my second entry, but it mysteriously stopped working for me before I could write about

By Martin Heller

Feb 9, 2007 3 mins

Service Performance Optimization (SPO)

I've been running into a lot of "early SOAs" that I'm looking at on behalf of my clients . These SOAs just don't provide the performance my clients had expected. Why? Well, I guess you can blame a lot of things for poor perfo

By Dave Linthicum

Feb 9, 2007 4 mins

Test Center Tracker: Color multifunction printer reviews

Color-rific: Can your company's color printer make copies? Fax documents? Serve as a scanner? If you answered "no" to any of those questions and you want to change that, check out the Test Center's head-to-head comparison of four

By Stephanie McLoughlin

Feb 9, 2007 1 min

Hitachi and Archivas tie the knot

Despite a long courtship, the union maintains a certain privacy

By Mario Apicella

Feb 9, 2007 2 mins

The fight against Internet child exploitation

TV news shows aren't the only ones bringing criminals to justice — new tech helps police ferret out online predators

By Roger Grimes

Feb 9, 2007 5 mins

Security

Verizon Never Stops Working Against You

As we've seen many times, it can be awfully hard to get any help from Verizon. But one reader recently discovered that once you do succeed in getting them to do something, it can be awfully to get them to stop. "In December I installed Veri

By Ed Foster

Feb 9, 2007 3 mins