Oracle breaks silence on Sun plans in ad

Oracle Corp. ended it silence Thursday on its post-merger plans for Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Unix systems in an advertisement aimed at Sun customers to keep them from leaving the Sparc and Solaris platforms. Ever since Oracle announced in April its plans to acquire Sun, its competitors - notably IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co. - have been relentlessly pursuing Sun's core customer base, its Sparc and Solaris users. Oracle's ad to "Sun customers," makes a number of promises that includes spending more "than Sun does now," on developing Sparc and Solaris, as well as boosting service and support by having "more than twice as many hardware specialists than Sun does now." Analysts see Oracle's ad as a defensive move that doesn't answer some of the big questions ahead of the $7.4 billion merger with Sun . In fact, there may be a lot of room for skepticism and parsing of Oracle's claims, despite their apparent black and white assertions.

Among the top hardware makers, Sun registered the biggest decline in server revenue in the second quarter, offering evidence that this protracted merger may be eroding Sun's value. Europe is allowing until mid-January to sort this out, which keeps the merger in limbo for another quarter. Oracle wanted the acquisition completed by now but the European Commission this month said it would delay its antitrust review because of "serious concerns" about its impact on the database market. Analysts point out that Oracle's plans to spend more "than Sun does now," may be a little hallow because Sun's spending on developing Sparc and Solaris is probably at a low. "The ad sounds convincing - but perhaps being a word nitpicker, the Sun does now' might not mean much if Sun has drastically cut back due to plummeting sales," Rich Partridge, an analyst at Ideas International Ltd., said in an e-mail. "I think someone at Oracle suddenly realized that Sun was bleeding so badly that what would be left when Oracle finally got control would be worth a small fraction of what they paid and no one would buy the hardware unit," Rob Enderle, an independent analyst, said in an e-mail. But Enderle said the ad's claims do not preclude Oracle from selling its hardware division, and says the company "will have to support the unit for a short time after taking control; during that short time they can easily outspend Sun's nearly non-existent budgets." Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata Inc., said if it was Oracle's plan to start on day one of the merger to shop the Sparc processor around, "would they have put this ad out? Taken at face value, the ad seems to indicate that Oracle will keep Sun's hardware and microprocessor capability and not spin it off, as some analysts believe possible.

Probably not," he said. "Does it preclude Oracle from changing their mind? Indeed, Oracle's major competitive concern was indicated in the ad in a quote by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison: "IBM, we're looking forward to competing with you in the hardware business." No. Companies change their mind all the time." An erosion of Sun's customer also hurts Oracle, because a lot of Sun customers are also Oracle customers, and Oracle doesn't want its existing customer to go to IBM and move away from Oracle's platform, Haff said.

Ballmer: Windows 7 sells twice as fast as past operating systems

Microsoft Corp. said today that Windows 7 has sold twice as many units as any other Microsoft operating system in the same time period. Those Windows 7 sales include pre-orders that Microsoft and partners began taking in June. During its annual shareholders' meeting, CEO Steve Ballmer also dismissed market share gains by Apple Inc.'s Mac computer to "a couple of tenths of a percent" and said that many young people would eventually outgrow their preference for Macs. "Some of it is marketing, some of it is phase of life," Ballmer said in response to a shareholder question about Microsoft's poor perception among younger buyers. "The truth is we do quite well, even among college students. "Windows 7 gives us a real opportunity to get back that audience," he continued. "With the down economy, people understand that the Mac is a lot more expensive for essentially the same computer" as Windows 7. NPD Group reported earlier this month that first-week retail sales of Windows 7 in North America were 234% higher than Vista's were at launch. The Mac has been making strong market share gains for most of this decade, though that has been limited mostly to North American consumers.

It ranks in fourth place, behind Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Acer Inc. In the most recent third quarter, Apple's unit shipments grew 6.8% year-over-year to give it 8.8% of the U.S. market, according to Gartner Inc. Ballmer said Microsoft plans to keep investing in Web search, the Windows Phone operating system (formerly known as Windows Mobile), and cutting-edge technologies, such as the Xbox's in-air motion controller, Project Natal. We have about 10%-12%, Android has 3%, iPhone about 20%, RIM 20%-25%, and Nokia about 45%." "It is a competitive game," he continued. "We have a lot of opportunities to improve our products and market position." Addressing persistent rumors of a Microsoft-manufactured phone, such as a Zune Phone, Ballmer said, "We think we have the right strategy, which is to focus on the software, not build a phone, and offer a diversity of phones like we offer a diversity of Windows PCs." He defended Windows Phone from a questioner, saying it was a "small but important fact, that we have quite a bit more market share than Android.

Is Twitter-only gadget TwitterPeek a one-hit wonder?

There's a new gadget out today that will let people Twitter while they're on the go. And that's going to be a problem, according to one analyst. The issue is that it's the only thing the device, dubbed TwitterPeek , can do. Gadget-maker Peek unveiled its TwitterPeek mobile device today on Amazon.com.

Even businesses that Twitter will dig TwitterPeek as a convenient way to stay connected with their customers." But the gadget market has moved beyond devices that can only do one thing. The company is touting the $99 device for people who don't have a smartphone or data plan. "TwitterPeek will make it easy and affordable for everyone who doesn't have a smartphone to really enjoy Twitter on the go," said "Peekster-in-Chief" Amol Sarva, in a statement. ""Twitter die-hards will appreciate its 'always-on' instant tweet delivery and newbies will finally 'get Twitter' once they have TwitterPeek in hand. Are users going to lay down money for a gadget that can't multi-function as a cell phone, camera, digital organizer, video camera and GPS navigator? So for the first year, users will be shelling out $146.70 just for the ability to tweet. Dan Olds, principal analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said he doesn't think so. "Just what everyone wants, one more device to carry around," Olds said. "In order to get on the TweetPeek bus, customers will have to pony up $99 and, after six months, an additional $7.95 per month. And only tweet . This thing is just a piece of high-impact plastic that can send and receive great thoughts in 140 character servings.

That would be handy." I don't see the point." While mobility seems to be the next wave for Web 2.0, Olds added that he doesn't think TwitterPeek will be in a position to benefit from it. "Mobile is certainly going to be an increasingly important part of the advance of Web 2.0, but single-function devices like TweetPeek aren't the route mobile is going to take," said Olds. "I guess people could duct tape this thing to whatever old archaic non-Web browsing cell phone they have and maybe to a cheap digital camera too.

Quick actions help financial firm avoid security disaster

While most of the IT world has been spared a devastating security attack like Blaster and Sasser for the last few years, the damage wrought by all manner lesser-known computer viruses continues to inflict corporate pain. 10 of the Worst Moments in Network Security History For example, New York City-based investment firm Maxim Group, faced a security ordeal this year when a virus outbreak pummeled the company's Windows-based desktop computers and servers. "On early April 15th, a few people called to say they were having problems with their computers," relates John Michaels, CTO there in describing how the investment firm's IT staff started to get an inkling that morning that something was terribly wrong. "After looking into it, we knew something bad was happening, affecting all our users, and my servers." Malware was disabling applications by corrupting .exe files so they wouldn't open once they were closed, while also making thousands of connections to servers, saturating the network. "It damaged all the .exe files by corrupting them," says Michaels. "People were logging on and getting a blank screen." The virus was altering the registry of the computers. Maxim Group didn't have a centralized antivirus product in place, having allowed various groups to go their own way with differing products. In response, Maxim Group told the approximately 325 computer users not to shut down the computers while Michaels and his team contacted vendors for assistance.

The decision to change that practice was made on the spot. It wasn't easy. "Symantec took about three days to identify what the variant of the virus was," Michaels says. "They said they had never seen a variant of this." The virus was finally identified as a variant on "Sality," an older virus that strikes at .exe and now also will install a backdoor and Trojan. "We asked Symantec, are we the only ones telling you about this? Antimalware vendor Symantec was called in to set up a centralized antivirus server, while also attempting to analyze what the malware was and advise on clean-up. And they said 'We have 3 million infected.'"Cleaning up more than 300 virus-riddled PCs was a huge headache. In the course of beating back Sality, Michaels says he also contacted another vendor, Cymtec Systems, whose product he had demoed, to install the security vendor's Sentry gateway, which monitors traffic and bandwidth usage, enforcing Web site policies and blocking antimalware. Symantec advised total re-imaging of the computers, which Maxim Group undertook, a process that consumed several weeks.

The reason for the Sentry gateway is to prevent employees from going to "Web sites they probably shouldn't," especially as Web surfing raises the risks of malware infection, Michaels says. To this day, Michaels says he's not sure how the Sality variant got into Maxim Group's network to explode in that April 15 outbreak. "Maybe it was a Web site or a USB device, I don't know," Michaels says. But the virus outbreak also showed there was communication from the infected PCs to what might be a botnet. "They were connecting to rogue Internet sites," Michaels says, saying Sentry would help monitor for that kind of activity in the future. But on that day things changed in terms of the investment firm deciding to enforce stricter Internet usage policies. "Before this episode, we allowed social network sites, but we don't now," Michaels says. And are the old Blaster and Sasser worms that struck with such devastation over half a decade ago gone?

Social networking sites are gaining a reputation as places where malware gets distributed, and if there's no clear business reason for using them, they're put off limits. Unfortunately not, says the "Top Cyber Security Risks" report released this week by SANS Institute in collaboration with TippingPoint and Qualys. The report — which examined six months of data related to 6,000 organizations using intrusion-prevention gear and 100 million vulnerability-assessment scans on 9 million computers to get a picture of various attack types — notes "Sasser and Blaster, the infamous worms of 2003 and 2004, continue to infect many networks."

Mac News Briefs: Chronos updates SOHO Notes, Organizer

Chronos overhauled both SOHO Notes and SOHO Organizer Thursday, adding a slew of changes to its note management and information organization applications. The application also provides a way to store voice, video, and photo notes. SOHO Notes 8 adds new ways to view notes, with Cover Flow and Icon views to go with a standard list view. In addition, users will be able to sync notes with their iPhone or iPod touch via the new NoteLife mobile app. (As this article was published, NoteLife was not yet available from Apple's App Store.) SOHO Notes 8 also features new backup and encryption systems as well as overall performance improvements, Chronos says.

The look of Desktop Calendar is customizable, and users can position it at any of nine different locations. The new version costs $40, with a family pack available for $70. Users who bought SOHO Notes 7.x after July 21, 2009, can upgrade for free; otherwise, upgrades cost $25. Changes in SOHO Organizer 8 include a desktop calendar feature that puts users' schedules on the desktop for convenient viewing. Organizer also features e-mail integration and the ability to record or shoot video, photo, or voice notes and attach them to contacts. SOHO Organizer 8 costs $100, with a family pack available for $180. As with Notes, anyone who bought SOHO Organizer 7.x after July 21 can upgrade for free; others can upgrade for $50.-Philip Michaels Bug fixes highlight NetNewsWire update NewsGator on Thursday announced the release of NetNewsWire 3.2.2, the latest update to its popular news-reading application for the Mac. Other features include a new print preview and performance improvements.

The new version primarily fixes issues in earlier iterations, such as a bug where command-W would accidentally close a tab instead of a window, a problem where the program could crash while getting the unread count of flagged items, and a broken Check for Updates feature (as a result, you must download the update manually). In addition, NetNewsWire now sports a French localization. The new version incorporates a number of fixes for users running Snow Leopard, including a pair of crashing bugs. NetNewsWire 3.2.2 costs $10 and is also available as a free ad-supported download; it requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later.-Dan Moren Delicious Library update rolls out Snow Leopard fixes The latest update to Delicious Monster's media-cataloging software, Delicious Library 2.3, was announced on Thursday. Other enhancements include the introduction of Help files, faster browsing in cover view, and faster selection of large shelves. Delicious Library 2.3 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later and a license costs $40.-DM Sente 6 academic reference manager released Sente updated its self-titled academic reference manager this week, adding synchronized libraries, reference tagging, and PDF markup features. There are a number of other improvements with iSight scanning, Bluetooth scanners, and the program's Feedback Panel.

Sente 6 features synchronized libraries, making it easier to maintain multiple copies of a reference library on multiple computers. New PDF markup commands can be used to highlight passages in a PDF file. The update's hierarchical reference tagging allows users to assign and use tags on references; the tags can be assigned hierarchically, and Sente will treat references with child tags as though they had been assigned parent tags. Also, Sente 6 includes support for hundreds of new bibliography formats. Twitterrific 3.2.1 fixes a number of bugs, such as an issue where command-C would not work on Snow Leopard, a problem where tweets were not deleted, and a problem with URLs that use Unicode encoding in the domain name.

A single-user license for Sente 6 costs $130; academic licenses cost $90, with an Undergraduate Edition-which works with 250-reference libraries-available for $35. Users who bought Sente 5 on or after January 1, 2009 can upgrade for free; otherwise, an upgrade costs $40. Sente 6 runs on Mac OS X 10.5.8 and later on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.-PM Iconfactory updates Twitter client for Mac The Iconfactory released an update to its Twitter client, Twitterrific, on Thursday. In addition the program now features a keyboard shortcut to view a tweet in your Web browser: command-shift-left arrow. In addition, it fixes a number of bugs, such as drawing glitches in Snow Leopard and overwriting existing files when exporting to disc. Twitterrific 3.2.1 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later-a new license costs $15.-DM Snowtape adds support for Windows Media streams Snowtape 1.3, the newest version of Vemedio's application for recording Internet radio, was released on Thursday with support for Windows Media streams, a new option to export songs in the MP3 format, and support for HTTP authentication. Snowtape costs $29 and requires Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later.-DM

HP upgrades Unix platform with data protection

HP this week unveiled updates to its HP-UX Unix OS and Serviceguard high-availability software, offering capabilities in data protection, data privacy, and business continuity. The software packages run on HP Integrity and HP 900 servers. [ Check out InfoWorld's report on how HP has been looking to lure Sun Solaris Unix users to HP-UX. ] The Unix upgrade offers automated features to reduce maintenance requirements, improve availability, and enhance security, the company said. Update 5 of HP-UX 11i v3 and Serviceguard restore application services in the event of hardware or software failure, HP said. Users can lower operational costs and increase efficiency in such demanding applications as online transaction processing or business intelligence, according to HP. "Comprehensive" data protection is provided through encryption for data in transit and at rest, HP said.

Update 5 provides as much as 99 percent of raw disk performance, enabling reduction in operational costs for large databases and accelerated access to business-critical information. Enhanced data privacy is provided through Bastille, an automated system-hardening tool that configures a system to protect against unauthorized access. Administrator productivity is improved with expanded security bulletin analysis and patch maintenance. Business continuity is improved through minimization of downtime in the OS's Logical Volume Manager. Security issues are identified for as many as 100 systems in a single view when integrated with HP System Insight Manager. Simplified standards compliance is offered through PCI (Payment Card Industry) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act report templates HP Serviceguard, which is part of the HP Virtual Server Environment software suite, is integrated with HP-UX 11i to protect applications from down time, HP said.

Another improvement is elimination of business interruptions with Online Package Maintenance capabilities that run routine maintenance and upgrades while the system is active. Business connectivity is enabled during Serviceguard upgrades through a Dynamic Root Disk tool that reduces server network down time by 75 percent, the company said. Management of server connections is improved with a graphical cluster topology map for administration and configuration.  Also, traffic is coordinated between clustered servers and storage arrays.