Don't Let A Software Vendor Compromise Your Security

I've spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks working with various software vendors both on site and remotely. These vendors were in various stages of trying to install software on several of our Clients networks. I have to say that it amazes me that the skill level of some of these technicians is terrible. And their understanding of network security is non-existent.

Most of these people probably know their software very well (I would hope). But many of them know nothing about the servers or networks they are trying to install on. This can be very serious for the stability of your network as well as the security level. Most of these vendors think nothing of asking for the administrative password or asking me to open up folders to "Everyone". Many have installed software that has caused network related issues. (Ooops, sorry!)

For our Clients, watch those software vendors! They may not be as smart as you or they think they are. They can compromise the security of your data and/or cause harm to your network. Don't give them free reign.

For you software vendors, security is not something you should be compromising. Make your software works correctly, and train your installers better. Getting your software up and running at all costs is simply not acceptable.

Verizon Pulling The Plug On In-Flight Phones

Verizon has decided to discontinue its in-flight phone service on commercial airlines. I can understand why. How many people have you ever seen use them? The cost was ridiculous! Actually they probably see the writing on the wall. In-flight cell phone usage is getting close to being approved and several airlines are testing WiFi Internet service which will allow not only browsing but VoIP service as well. By 2010 Verizon expects to have the phones removed on all the airlines.

In the meantime Carnival Cruise Lines is beginning to offer cell phone service on one of their ships. You can use any cell phone anywhere the ship goes. Very cool. But what will this do to my vacation? They expect to offer it on all their ships eventually.

Bill Gates Stepping Down At Microsoft

Bill Gates announced today that he will be stepping away from his full time position at Microsoft over the next two years. Ray Ozzie will be taking on the Chief Software architect duties. Gates will remain Chairman of the Board "for the foreseeable future".

I really hate to see this guy leave. I have been a fan of his over the years. I am always impressed with his communications skills. He is truly the brightest visionary in this business. But he is also 50 years old. He is the richest man in the world. I'm sure he has a few other things he would like to do.

His departure comes at a time when Microsoft is feeling pressure from companies like Google, Yahoo, and other web based companies that have developed new and innovative programs. Microsoft seems to be trying to catch up for the first time in a long time. But they have been there before and have always managed to pull it together. Even during this "tough" period they are able to net about a billion dollars a month. How can you not respect this guy?

You can find the Microsoft press release here.

Vista Beta 2 Woes

I've been using Windows Vista Beta 2 for a couple of days now. Overall I like what I see so far. Things are moved around a bit so it can be frustrating to try to do something that was a simple click or two before. That will pass as I become more familiar with the new Interface. Glass (the new Graphical User Interface) is very cool. Does it make me more productive? I doubt it.

It's not all roses though. I have had several hangs, I can't print properly to my computer and I'm generating a huge amount of traffic on my VPN. This can be very frustrating, and time consuming. However, this is part of what you bargain for when you beta test software.

I might mention that I am also beta testing Office 2007. When I was running Office 2007 in Windows XP, I saw very few if any issues. Now that I am running it in Windows Vista several problems have came up. Very interesting.

Windows Vista Beta 2

I installed the new Windows Vista Beta 2 over the weekend on my home computer. Vista is the next version of Windows that is expected to be released to the public in early 2007. The installation takes a long time! The beta is a 3.2G download which you must burn to a DVD in order to install. The installation went without a hitch, although I had to remove Windows Defender and Norton AntiVirus as they were not compatible with the installation. Windows Defender was reinstalled during the installation process. I will look for a compatible AntiVirus program today. The only other application that would not run so far was the Symantec enterprise VPN client. I will try reinstalling it after Vista is installed to see if that corrects the problem.

So far I like what I see. Screen handling in Vista is very nice. Windows and menus fade in and out nicely. Note that the video hardware requirements for Vista are not light. You must have good video in order to run Glass, the very cool video UI in Vista. The first few machines I put Vista on were not able to run Glass. Vista itself ran OK but without the nice video stuff.

The other thing that is very noticeable is the security in Vista. Almost everything I do for the first time requires that I approve the application. This is good but I wonder how the everyday user will feel about it.

I haven't had a lot of time to play around with the new stuff in Vista but as I do I will post my findings here. Remember that we do not suggest our Clients run any beta software on their production machines. Windows Vista is no ordinary beta. You will probably cause yourself some problems if you install it.

Microsoft is not always the bad guy

One of the nicest features of the upcoming release of Microsoft Office 2007 is the ability to save files from any Office program to PDF format natively. I've been using this feature in the current beta version of Office 2007 and it works great. This is one of those things that a lot of our Clients have been asking for over the last couple of years. Last week Microsoft announced that it is removing this feature from Office 2007 due to a threatened lawsuit by Adobe, the owners of the PDF technologies.

Adobe has stated in the past that the PDF format is open. This means that anyone can utilize the standard to create PDF content. I guess that means anyone except Microsoft or anyone else that Adobe may feel threatened by. Microsoft has said that they will remove the feature but offer it as a free download. Adobe wants Microsoft to charge for the download, presumably to ride the coattails of the extremely popular Office product.

This doesn't speak well for Adobe. Going back on public statements is never a good thing. There are several free programs on the Internet that allow you to print to PDF. Why hasn't Adobe gone after them? Perhaps they will now.