mip's scan

The Operating System of the Future (Part 2) - Unleashing the Tiger

You just have to love Apple - not just for their continued push on innovation but also in their sassy jabs at the crew in Redmond. Today we'll chat about the next release of the Mac OS codenamed Tiger. Apple's next OS is scheduled to arrive at least a year ahead of Microsoft Corp.'s long-awaited Longhorn OS, which is currently on track for 2006. In typical fashion Apple had some fun with this time lag at a recent conference where banners hanging outside the WWDC keynote stage poked fun at the competing software giant with slogans such as "Redmond, we have a problem," and "Redmond, start your photocopiers."

The Operating System of the Future (Part 1 - Sun Java Desktop)

I was recently in Toronto having an informal meeting with a client when the conversation turned to their operating system (OS) on their computers within the company. They are contemplating a rollout of XP through out their organization (they are currently on Windows 98 and some NT). We were talking about OS alternatives and the possibilty of doing a feasability and perhaps a pilot of an alternate as well as running a scenario of waiting for Microsoft's Longhorn. Here are some thoughts I wanted to share with my readers around the future of the OS.

Where Are IT Dollars Being Spent?

It seems the push for corporate fiscal transparency is now turning inward. Increasingly, cash-strapped business divisions are demanding to know where, who and how IT dollars are spent. The usual models of charging for IT — by user or by usage or even for distinct services — aren't up to the task of providing that transparency, experts say. They also contend that transparency in IT cost recovery will go a long way to restore trust between IT and the business units. This article that I'd read and used earlier this month, looks at how IT can create a transparent cost-recovery method that's understandable to the business.

Interesting Stats

40 percent
Percentage of Barclays Bank's IT budget spent on regulatory compliance — primarily Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel 2.
Source: ComputerWeekly.com

$11 billion
Projected spending on Web services by 2008, according to a new report by IDC. Given corporate conservatism, however, some analysts say we should take this number with a grain of salt.
Source: internetnews.com

18.2 percent
Predicted compound annual growth rate for CRM applications in the Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan). The prediction for the U.S. is in single digits.
Source: Tekrati

Detailed Review of Robosapien (Part 1)

This Review Will Be Posted in Two Parts - Click on Any Picture to Make it Larger

As I'd commented in a previous post I was to acquire 6 Robosapien robots for our Youth Technology Camp in Sauble Beach. They arrived this past Tuesday just in time for our grand opening / open house event at the new Youth Technology Camp facility. Since then I've spent a lot of time with this robot and I wanted to post my detailed review.

So let me start off by saying that this is one very cool looking toy. As I unpacked the boxes and pulled out the large box that Robosapien was in both my children said in hushed tones "Wow..." My two year old then added "Dat's Buzz Lightyear!" You can tell even before taking the robot out of the box that it is solidly built. And its big. Much taller than I thought.

Once out of the box you can confirm what your eyes were telling you - Robosapien is well built. And its heavy. Now here is a word of advanced warning and a bit of advice. This is a cool toy and you'll want to start using it right away - so be sure you have batteries! You'll need 4 D batteries for the robot and 3 AAA batteries for the remote control. The D batteries for the robot go into his feet (2 in each foot). I have a picture showing Robosapien laying down exposing the little doors in his feet (you'll need a screwdriver to open those up).

Once I'd put the batteries in there is a small button behind his shoulder that I pressed to turn him on. The eyes lit up red and he immediately throws his arms up to stretch like his waking up from a sleep. Both my kids took a big step back when this happened and I must admit I also felt like I should move back a bit. Robosapien goes through a little startup routine that lasts about 10 seconds or so. Then he's waiting for you to give him his orders through the remote control. I say again, its a cool toy and so you'll probably just start pressing button on the controller - that's what I did. Who wants to read a manual with all this excitement. Of course, if you read the manual you'll get some important information like that each button actually can execute three functions. Press the button and you get the function of the icon on that button. Press the SELECT key and you'll see a green light turn on at the top of the remote control. Now each button will perform the function written in green beside each button. Press the SELECT key again and the green light turns orange and now each button will perform the function written in orange next to each button. It's a actuallly fairly well laid out and I really liked the remote. More importantly, my 6 year old caught on to it really quickly.

Web Services Debate

This is a debate I often hear going on - J2EE or .Net. A friend and client of mine recently asked if I'd get involved in a think group for regarding this very issue. They have a client that is trying to decide on what direction to go. So in beginning to prepare and understand these two options I came across an interesting read I thought I'd post here for anyone interested in this debate. The article from Computer Weekly gives a good overview.

Web services by definition must support certain standards: XML, SOAP, and those developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and OASIS. Beyond those items, vendors fall into the two camps we mentioned above: J2EE developers (IBM, BEA, Oracle, Sun, SAP) and those using Microsoft's .NET platform.

The two approaches to web services are running roughly neck-and-neck in terms of current usage. IBM is the clear market leader and BEA is a strong second. Web services shoppers will be interested in the company-by-company customer lists provided in this article.

Interesting Stats

Here are a collection of interesting stats that I'm sharing. I have created a new category where I will post Interesting IT Stats that I come across in the various pieces of work I do with clients.

$733 million, 11 percent
First quarter security hardware and software revenue, and increase over the last quarter of 2003, according to Infonetics Research.
Source: Next-Gen Data Center Forum

$1 billion to $5.5 billion, 4 percent to 44 percent
VoIP spending and portion of business lines that use VoIP now and in 2008, excluding contact centers, according to the Radicati Group.
Source: destinationCRM.com

175 million units, 13.5 percent
Projected 2004 PC shipments and increase over 2003, according to IDC.
Source: smallbizpipeline

Cost of Spam

Nucleus Research says that spam is costing employers $1,934 a year in lost productivity. The company reports that, if anything, the estimate is conservative as it does not count hidden costs such as IT staff time, software, hardware, bandwidth lost, and the impact on customer satisfaction. Some other interesting items are that employees at companies that use company-wide spam filtering get 20 percent less spam. A major reason cited for some companies not implementing aggressive filtering is a result of the fear of missing legitimate email.

The metrics used to calculate the costs were as follows:

The researchers calculated productivity loss at 3.1% by estimating that users spent an average of 30 seconds to handle each spam message. To get the $1,934 figure, Nucleus multiplied 3.1% by 2,080 hours--52 40-hour weeks--at a labor cost of $30 an hour.

Attack the Attacker

Some of my clients have engaged me in the past year to help them with internet & PC security. From drafting policies & assessing risk through to evaluating software & creating cost-benefit analysis I've seen a lot on this subject in the past year. Layer on the new privacy legislation that came into effect this year in Canada and it can all get pretty complex on what a company can and can't do to protect itself from internal & external security risks.

That's why this recent article from the Globe & Mail titled Vigilante Justice Comes to Cyberspace rather intrigued me. I read it a couple of days ago and I have found myself thinking about it off and on trying to formulate an opinion. The article is about a solution from a company called Symbiot Security Inc. and they have developed the Intelligent Security Infrastructure Management Systems that not only defends networks but will also mount an attack on the attacker. Now while this may give you that sense of being Charles Bronson out to teach the bad guys a lesson, it does raise a very interesting situation.

Though the notion of striking back against "bad guys" may satisfy primal urges, most security experts question whether retaliation will actually halt cyber attacks. Instead the skeptics worry that fighting back could trigger lawsuits, Internet traffic jams and more digital onslaughts.

What happens when the software, say installed at some Fortune 500 company, strikes back at an attack that might be coming unknowingly, from another company? What if in defending and attacking an attacker, the Intelligent Security Infrastructure Management Systems encounters itself out in cyberspace? What about when

the "attacker" could be thousands of computers whose users have no idea their machine is infected with a virus.

I would think that hackers & network attackers would actually try and exploit this technology to further clog the Internet. So on the surface it would seem that this would be a disastrous step in the area of network security due to its potential to cause widespread problems on the net.

For those of you who have been dealing with network security, either from a legal, technical or business perspective, I would welcome your comments on this subject.

Flipstart PC

I am finding this emerging area of handtops to be quite interesting, albiet, its hard to guess how well these will fair. I commented a few times on entrants into this market, most recently in my post about the Sony Vaio U50 and U70.

Here is some info around another entrant into this market, the FlipStart. The official web site provides a familiar set of specifications and features. I particularily like the Low-Power Interactive Display (LID) module which seems to allow you to get access to information like email and contacts without having to open the unit up. This really seems like a great feature as it gives you the ease of use and quick access to info that PDA's provide; excellent blending of the full power of a very portable PC with the great features of a PDA. For some of the more recent photos / details you can also check out this article.

The FlipStart has no official launch date as of yet, but is targeted to the first quarter of 2005.