Microsoft to write program (a search engine)

Steve Balmer's biggest regret is watching anyone else get rich doing anything he could do better, and so now Microsoft plan to dominate in the searching world by inventing a second generation search tool. Google perhaps gave the world its first taste of useful search results and how that could make the web into something that formed a kind of importance or relevance heirachy. Simple effective concentration on an application and they were able to attract enough business with their adwords idea that they became a big fish.

Microsoft can compete effectively in the search arena, but the odor of gunpowder is snaking up the corridor. Do we see Microsoft take on a presidentially nasty campaign about how the "others" lead you into places you don't want your children to go... or something equally distilled, and present to you their packaged idea of what you should find? Yeah, right.

Microsoft's world view on anything is going to be very tainted by who is signed up to give them money, as it is with Google and Yahoo already. There is nothing wrong with the commodification of search results, having three good and reliable engines is better than two.

The regulators will probably try and stop Microsoft from dominating in this field. Good luck to them.

Security Pipeline | News | Witty Worm Sneaks Through ISS Firewalls

BlackICE Danger

Internet Security Systems' BlackICE firewall has been attacked by a dangerous new worm called "Witty" due to a comment in its code. This worm is particularly insidious as it requires no interaction on the part of the user, but invades through UDP port 4000 to infect the target machine.

It features an incremental creep hard disk destruction programme, that may not be detected until the machine finally and irrevocably crashes. Any effort to revive the hard disk will only then result in frustration as the data was already slowly destroyed and corrupted.

Backups of the data may also have been compromised. This worm challenges any IT dept to adopt a new set of rules to guarantee operations. It is vital to cycle backups on both a short and long term cycle.

These days it is easy and inexpensive to setup a Linux host, and a couple of huge hard disks, automatically backup all your files and dumping it all out to DVDs once a week or once a month.

Open Source Boom

Linux is a creeping success. And no wonder. Millions of developers who like to have control of their work use it to create software and now users are starting to get wind of the productivity pay off of Open Source Software.

People in both Open and Propriety system camps look to the deficiencies of the other rather than seeing a hetrogenious world where both breeds of software have their place. In web development, it is definitely Linux that takes the lead providing excellent tools for programmers and in support of web based systems.

Propriety systems like OS X and Microsoft Windows excel in other areas like Multimedia. Now why do Linux people care so much about invading the "desktop" that was Microsoft territory? Because they can! And so much better than Microsoft in many senses. Sometimes, not.

The computer industry will one day discover that the best solution is to become good at using ANY operating system that is required TO DO THE JOB.

We develop with Open Source software as it means we can deliver a larger range of systems with smart components that work. We are not limited to our imagination, and can spend more time being creative with what we do well.

Horses for Courses

Cliche´s are fun. So are computer operating systems. Windows XP is a good operating system but is still far too often the subject of security concerns. Earlier versions are innovative but crash too often.

In this article a techie tries to justify why the Linux desktop does not quite measure up to the Windows desktop. Fair enough.

Every office in the world will recognise Microsoft Word skills but will they like to read about Open Office on your CV? This market is familiarity sensitive.

The Linux market, although troubled by legal claims, is thriving on the strength that it is good at what it is good at, as a server Operating system it is superior to Windows XP, it is pervasive and it remains free of licence cost.

It is time for everyone to make money from exploiting Open Source applications, everyone except Microsoft. The desktop is just a computer paradigm just begging to be replaced by something more innovative.