A decade ago, European countries leapt out of the gate to take the lead in the radical open source movement -- none more so than France -- and left US developers in the proverbial dust. Through policies and high-profile projects, the French Republic for years has been advocating for all open source all the time, in government and education.
Tempers flared inside a San Francisco datacenter on Friday, June 20, igniting the greatest public spectacle pitting a lone tech worker against management, media, and the law. Tension between network admin Terry Childs and his managers had been simmering for years and reached a boiling point on one of the hottest days of the summer.
Call it the great multicore discord: a parade of major hardware and software vendors promising desktop applications powered by multicore chips yet all marching out of step, leaving confused software developers in the dust -- but times are changing.
Two weeks ago, VMware found itself squarely in Microsoft's crosshairs -- and chaos followed. VMware lowered its revenue expectations for the year earlier this week. Its stock took a nosedive, which likely led to President and Chief Executive Diane Greene's sudden resignation yesterday.
Although Google always seems to be up to something, the past few months have seen a flurry of activity in a space long associated with IT: Google has driven its cloud computing applications -- Google Apps -- into businesses.
Will Apple iPhone's "greatest show on Earth" sway Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry's business faithful? Hint: Bet on the BlackBerry for business.
Businesses often thwart Macs from infiltrating their laptop ranks, and one reason given is that there's no good way of encrypting data. A lost personal Mac may bring a few tears to the hapless owner, but a corporate Mac with sensitive data falling into the wrong hands is a lawsuit in the making and potential headline-grabber.
Two years ago, GreenBorder, one of the early "sandbox" browsers, received mighty applause from Wall Street Journal tech guru Walt Mossberg. The sandbox browser -- basically, a browser running in a virtual container -- promised to keep nasty code from spilling into a computer's operating system and wreaking havoc.
Everyone knows that server virtualization shaves hardware clutter in the datacenter, boosts workloads, brings disaster recovery flexibility, slashes costs and basically saves the planet from nasty carbon emissions. But here's the dirty little secret: Many pitfalls await server virtualization adopters, and a stumble can ruin all your virtual dreams.
Tech vendors have made headway in the war on spam, yet spammers are returning volley with sheer numbers. Perhaps it's time for more drastic measures? These are the rumblings from InfoWorld Test Center analysts, who reviewed anti-spam email appliances and released their findings last week.
With its 7,000-square-foot datacenter nearing capacity, NetApp decided last year to squeeze more out of the space. By consolidating servers and replacing older hardware, the company created an energy-efficient, high-density facility with superior server utilization. That, in and of itself, is a worthy sustainable-tech project, but special kudos go to NetApp's unsung heroes who dealt with the upgraded datacenter's dirty little secret -- a whole lot of hot air.
Tech vendors have made headway in the war on spam, yet spammers are returning volley with sheer numbers. Perhaps it's time for more drastic measures? These are the rumblings from analysts, who reviewed anti-spam e-mail appliances and released their findings last week.
Nobody misses the network - until it's down. When a corporate network crashes, its damaging ramifications often sweep across national headlines, wreaking havoc on the company's bottom line and throwing a fiery spotlight on its CIO.
In 1997, when Anne Martinez set out to write her book, Get Certified and Get Ahead (MacGraw-Hill, 1998), she didn't expect much fanfare. She figured she'd turn an obscure writing assignment into a fast buck or two. "I was just looking for something to write a book about," recalls the soft-spoken Martinez. "The further I went in my research, the more I said to myself, 'Wow!'"
Nobody misses the network-until it's down. When a corporate network crashes, its damaging ramifications often sweep across national headlines, wreaking havoc on the company's bottom line and throwing a fiery spotlight on its CIO.