TechBlog.TheVanguard.Org predicted it, and it is now a matter of fact: Apple and Cisco settled out of court, and both companies will be allowed to use the iPhone name. This ends several weeks of predictions and Internet rumor that led some to speculate that Apple would be forced to change the name of the iPhone before it starts shipping this summer. The Apple iPhone lives!
Coming soon. Really. I promise.
Even though Microsoft is still in court in Europe for anti-competitive business practices, they are still up to their same old (dirty) tricks.
According to this Slashdot article, Microsoft is using dirty computer tricks to bypass the hosts file.
For those of you who aren’t tech-savvy, here’s what the hosts file does: Every server on the Internet that hosts webpages such as Google, Microsoft and Apple all have Domain Name System (DNS) entries on servers across the Internet that point a worded URL such as www.google.com to the appropriate IP address, such as 64.233.167.99 . Your computer doesn’t think of websites in terms of www.google.com, but rather an IP address. Names are just to keep us all straight, since remembering all those digits would be a very inefficient way to run the Internet! The hosts file is a way for your local computer to bypass your ISP or company’s DNS server. So, if you want to block an X-rated site from your browser, you could go to your hosts file and enter a bogus IP address to prevent the page from displaying. You could also plug in a legitimate address if there is a security issue within your company that prevents DNS from functioning properly on a certain domain name. Those of us in the IT industry rely heavily on the hosts file. I should add, at this point, that you should never modify your hosts file. Your company’s IT department probably forbids it and in some cases it might get you fired. So, don’t do it unless your IT Manager is standing right over you.
Now, for the game Microsoft is playing. Microsoft is bypassing your local hosts file and allowing its pages to be displayed anyway. While this doesn’t create a problem for most people (we have no real reason to block the Microsoft website) it is an unfair business practice because it produces anti-spyware software and other companies compete with it. This means that if a piece of spyware prevents Ad-Aware (a popular anti-spyware program) from downloading updates, it will not be functional while Microsoft, utilizing its inside knowledge about the code of Windows XP and Vista, will function. Since this is a security problem, Microsoft should immediately release the necessary code for its competitors to also fix this potentially dangerous security flaw. At the very least, Microsoft should allow other security firms’ IP addresses to be allowed to pass over the hosts file.
The built-in security flaw is obviously a problem. If the user is running as Administrator, spyware can totally reconfigure the machine’s ability to get on the web (and find the necessary patches to be fixed). Microsoft should fix the real problem rather than crippling the user’s machine and taking control away from the user, who paid for the OS.
Yet another reason to ditch Microsoft……
According to a Newsmax article, recently released documents reveal that Saddam Hussein ordered terrorist attacks on Americans just six months before the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
If this stands up to scrutiny, it would make George Bush look brilliant and Ted Kennedy and George Soros look like traitors and idiots.
The same Democrats whose restrictive anti-corporate policies have devastated Internet growth in the last few years are now saying that they’re going to make sure every American has access to broadband Internet in five years according to Nancy Pelosi, the Wicked Witch of the House (that should be her official title). Aside from being a silly promise she can’t keep, which is not an unimportant fact, Pelosi suggests that broadband is a “guarantee” and the government should make sure it happens for all Americans. I must’ve missed that right the last time I read the Bill of Rights. This is yet another clear-cut example of out-of-touch people trying to legislate about technology. They’ll honestly be shocked when the blogging community blasts them.
What should this say to Internet evangelists and tech capitalists? Watch your back!
We tech guys are capitalists, and the most terrifying thing in the world should be government control of the Internet.
In another clear-cut case of Pelosi and the Democrats not having a clue how big-boy economics works, Pelosi said, “I was told that an entry level person at Wal-Mart, who works his or her entire career at Wal-Mart, would make as much as the CEO makes in two weeks. A lifetime of work versus two weeks in the executive suite — this is not America, this is not fairness, this is not the basis of a strong middle class that is essential for our democracy. We must change that in our country,” she said.”
Of course, Nancy. Capitalism must not be working. You sure haven’t benefited from it, have you? Oh, wait… you have. You’re a hypocrite!
The idea that the government needs to be involved in wages is terrifying. What reason is there for advancement and innovation if the end result is the Democrats taking it all away, “for the common good”? What a Marxist piece of crap. The Democrats won’t stop until they kill the Internet because its capitalistic, open and free nature contradicts the socialist agenda they have been pursuing with the help of trained, brainwashed media elite for 50 years. They cannot allow it to continue to allow free dialog and worldwide capitalism, lest their socialist empire fall. Pelosi and her cohorts want to beat us to control of the Internet, so they might plot its destruction.
Microsoft finally decided on the number of differing versions for Windows Vista - and the number is 8.
That’s right. There are 6 main desktop versions with 2 that will meet EU regulations. With 6 versions in the U.S., it is inevitable that consumers will become confused and purchase the wrong version (or their requirements will change) forcing them to pay for the Windows OS a second time.
Already Microsoft has cost business customers money by having three main versions of its XP operating system while only one of these is suitable for a business environment due to feature issues. With 6 being released, only more confusion will result - and more market share for Apple.
Not just because Google fights against everything holy for business. Not just because Google’s senior leadership jets around in huge jumbo jets while telling the rest of us poor slobs that we should avoid SUVs….
…. But because Google is dangerous in the workplace.
Google finally admitted that they might have caused some security problems by allowing your employees to use Google desktop to upload proprietary company information to Google’s servers on the Internet for storage. Gee, what brilliant people they are.
If you’re a VP or Director of IS and you haven’t heard a peep out of your IT staff, you might think about making a phone call to make sure Google desktop is forbidden in your organization. If you haven’t done so already, you might have to answer for that one day in the not-to-distant future.
Protect intellectual property – ban Google.
As I was scanning the news this morning, the following quote jumped out at me in reference to the Danish newspapers’ printing of political cartoons that offended Muslims and the Danish government’s refusal to censor the media.
From the Financial Times: Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, said he believed “freedom of the press should always be exercised in a way that fully respects the religious beliefs and tenets of all religions”.
The idol of modern society, tolerance, has been used for many years to destroy our God-given freedom. Now, the statists at the United Nations seek to make the end of freedom official.
Home computer users and IT Managers usually have very little in common. While the home user or end user in business sits at home or in his or her cube downloading every piece of shareware/freeware available (and thus clogging their Windows systems like my arteries and a two cheeseburger lunch!) the IT Manager sits in his office, pontificating about the stupidity of the users he manages and how they all waste air with every breath. The IT Manager is willing to admit that he probably shares in the blame for not being proactive enough, but the solution is less than obvious to him.
Later, he goes out for drinks with friends in IT, and they rant for hours about the latest technology from Microsoft while drinking margaritas and eating too much cheese dip.
Yep, we’ve all done it, and if you’ve been in IT management or user support for five minutes you know exactly what I’m talking about.
The answer is out there, and it’s not as illusive as you might think.
A poster using the username “reece_james” made this astute and hilarious observation on a Mac fan-boy website recently regarding “How to Get a Virus in OS X”:
“1. Find a Mac compatible questionable website and click on the virus you want to download.
2. When Safari asks if you really want to download, ignore and click download.
3. Once downloaded double-click on the application ‘MacVirus’.
4. When prompted for a password type in the administrator’s password for the computer.
5. Thats it! Now you can go and write an article along the lines of ‘Mac OS X, less secure than Windows’ and get 100+ posts a day from Windows fanboys…””
While not completely accurate, this post makes it painfully obvious where Microsoft got it all wrong (and where Apple got it right!).
In corporate IT and home computing environments, stability and low Total Cost of Ownership are key. While the Windows Servers may have some neat new features, the TCO for a Windows system is much higher over time, mainly due to spyware, malware, adware and viruses.
If you’re a home user, look into buying one of the new Intel Macs for price, performance, and stability. Over time, your Mac will save you money (and allow for a much bigger beer budget! No more cheap, watery beers for you!). If you’re an IT manager or CIO, Macs are attractive because they provide a low TCO. When you’re a cost item, that’s important stuff.
Okay, so maybe the title didn’t surprise you. Microsoft is well known for being a sub-par company when it comes to security. That’s why more corporate IS departments are choosing UNIX and the Mac OS for their server and desktop machines. What may surprise you, however, is exactly how dangerous using a Microsoft OS is.
Most people think of virus attacks as being something only an amateur would fall for – in other words, people think you must click on an executable or batch file to have your machine infected. Not so, according to the Financial Times. Due to a just-found security issue in every single version of the Windows OS, script-kiddies are now able to infect a computer with malicious computer viruses by only convincing the user to view an infected webpage. To make matters worse web servers can be easily hijacked. Many systems administrators don’t even change the default passwords on their web servers, making it incredibly easy for malicious attackers such as script-kiddies, Islamic fascists, etc. to use the servers to spread viruses and/or hate propaganda.
This new threat highlights the inherent problem Microsoft, both as a company as well as with their operating system.
This new exploit was located over the holidays and all the college kids had a full week to write their malicious code. By now, hundreds of variants are no doubt at work, infecting a computer simply because the user viewed a webpage.
If you’re using a Microsoft Windows computer, beware! If you’re using a Linux or Macintosh computer, be thankful that your OS is more secure than Windows.