Mobile
Computerworld, 3/28/03: Analyst: mobile computing should not be ignored
By Ryan B. Patrick
If enterprises don't see mobile computing as being business critical, they'd better hope they're correct in that assumption, according to one analyst.
Kevin Burden, program manager, Smart Handheld Devices for Framingham, Massachusetts, research firm IDC made the comment Monday at a ComputerWorld Canada Technology Insights seminar series in downtown Toronto. The event featured speakers from wireless and mobile vendors including Palm Inc., XcelleNet Inc., Infiniq Inc., Rogers AT&T Wireless and IBM Corp.
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Computerworld, 3/28/03: How to cope with wireless security and cost issues
By Arvind Krishna
If creating a wireless workforce were simply a matter of business expedience, and we ignored security, wireless connectivity would be as ubiquitous today as laptops and cell phones. But it isn't. Most companies are holding back on deploying wireless because they're not convinced it can be made secure or that it can be made secure at a cost they can afford.
Are the holdouts right, or are they just being alarmist while their competitors deploy and gain an edge? Or maybe a better question is, Do early adopters of wireless know something about security and costs their competitors don't?
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TechWeb, 3/28/03: Microsoft's Wi-Fi ups and downs
By Joe Wilcox and Richard Shim
Microsoft's decision to wait on delivering faster, "g"-class Wi-Fi gear may have reversed huge market share gains the company made in the hot consumer category.
In January, Microsoft captured the No. 2 position in U.S. retail sales of Wi-Fi wireless networking gear, only to see its share drop back down to fourth place in February, according to NPDTechworld. The market researcher tracks sales at retail, which is where the bulk of wireless networking gear is sold.
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Security
PC World, 3/28/03: Failure to Patch NT Flaw Causes Concern
Users question Microsoft's promise to support the aging version of Windows.
Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
Microsoft's statement on Wednesday that it would not offer a version of a security patch for NT 4 has called into question the company's earlier promise to continue supporting the operating system through the end of 2004, and has raised concern among its customers.
A new vulnerability could expose computers running certain Windows operating systems to a denial-of-service attack, Microsoft warns in a security bulletin, MS03-010.
The flaw lies in Microsoft's implementation of a protocol called RPC (Remote Procedure Call), which allows applications on a computer to call applications on another computer in a network. An attack on the RPC service could cause the networking services on the system to fail, Microsoft says in its bulletin.
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Internet News, 3/28/03: When Patches Aren't Applied
By Ryan Naraine
Enterprise IT administrators, bombarded by daily software vulnerability warnings on a daily basis, have not been serious about applying security patches despite the clear danger of worms, viruses and intruder attacks.
That's the word from online security experts who estimate that up to 50 percent of all enterprises could be sitting ducks for hacker attacks because of unpatched, vulnerable computer systems.
While it is impossible to figure exact percentages of critical or important patches that have been downloaded and installed, experts believe the application of fixes are delayed for months, even with the increased awareness after the recent Code Red and Slammer incidents.
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TechWeb, 3/28/03: Gartner Outlines Top Enterprise Security Threats For 2003
By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
With the war in Iraq into its second week and with security a global worry, what better time to delve into the defensive and protection issues enterprises will face through the end of the year?
Market research firm Gartner obviously thinks so. It released a report this week that leverages the news to put corporate security front and center.
At the just-concluded Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in San Diego, where Gartner brought together thousands of IT professionals from companies both here in the U.S. and overseas, analyst Victor Wheatman outlined a top-10-plus-one list of security issues businesses will confront during 2003.
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Utility Computing
The Wall Street Journal, 3/28/03: Pay as You Go
Instead of buying computers, you pay for the work you do on them. It's a whole new business model -- and it has some big backers
By GARY MCWILLIAMS
There's an idea sweeping through the computer world -- one that has companies rethinking how they buy digital gear and manufacturers rethinking how they sell it.
The idea -- called "utility computing" -- involves paying a company to provide you with computing power when you need it. So, instead of buying hardware and software, companies would pay for the work delivered on those systems, much like paying for electricity rather than constructing a power plant.
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Microsoft
Infoworld, 3/28/03: Windows Server 2000 adoption to be slow
Survey cites low figure
Microsoft on Friday said it has wrapped up the development work on Windows Server 2003 and will ship the operating system on schedule next month. However, a just-released survey by the Yankee Group says that only 12 percent of the current Windows installed base plans to adopt the new OS in the next year.
That figure compares to about 30 percent of the installed base that adopted Windows 2000 server in the first 12 months after it shipped.
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