Microsoft, Linux neck-and-neck in cost study

Most US businesses say there is very little difference between the cost of maintaining a Windows versus a Linux-based corporate computing environment, according to a new Yankee Group study just released in the US.

The New York Times reports (4 April) that the main cost difference, according to a Yankee Group analyst, is determined by the amount of time it takes to develop applications or ensure the security of servers, the networked computers that store data, crunch numbers and serve up Web pages.

In the independent study, 88 percent of respondents said that the quality, performance and reliability of Windows was equal to or better than Linux.

Linux, which can be copied and modified freely, unlike proprietary software such as Microsoft's Windows operating system, has been locked in competition for the last several years against Microsoft's Windows Server software for a share of the corporate market.

The paper says that in most cases, both Linux and Windows are growing at the expense of Sun Microsystems's Unix-based servers, which were instrumental in the growth of the Internet during the 1990s.

According to the NYT., in terms of security, Yankee Group's survey showed a sharp rise in companies' assessment of Microsoft's security level, bringing it closer to perceived security level of Linux. On a scale of 1 to 10, companies rated Microsoft's security at 7.6, double the rating in a similar survey conducted last year. Linux's rating was mostly the same at 8.3.

The paper reports that, overall, most companies were content with extracting the most use out of their existing networks and adding Windows or Linux server as needed, depending on specific tasks and needs.

Microsoft meets most EC demands

Microsoft has accepted most of the conditions set by the European Commission to bring the software vendor into compliance with last year's anti-trust ruling.

Microsoft has said that there were 26 areas where the Commission wanted changes to be made and the company was able to say yes to 20 of those requests. Even on the remaining six, significant progress was made, and Microsoft is hopeful that it will get closure within the next two to three weeks.

The Register reports that Microsoft said the firm was still trying to balance protecting its intellectual property with giving open source developers the access they need to create applications which will work with Microsoft servers.

Microsoft told The register, in a ewritten statemnent, that it had undergone a thorough re-examination of the program to identify areas where the company could make changes to address the commission's concerns.

The company told The Register in its statement that "since receiving the Commission's feedback, Microsoft has been working around the clock, and has been able to make significant progress on a number of major issues in this short period of time. We continue to work at full speed on the outstanding issues and remain committed to moving forward with the implementation process as quickly as possible."

The Register says the Commission is still concerned that open source developers have been excluded, or priced out of, Microsoft's licensing programme. It wants lower license fees and longer evaluation periods.

The online publication says Microsoft offered to lengthen evaluation times from two days to eight days and dropped fees to €500 per day rather than €5,000 for one day and €7,000 for two days, according to media reports, as well as bewing prepared to consider flexible or customised licenses.

The Register further reports that Microsoft is also struggling to find a way its API's can be distributed with open source products without revealing Microsoft code, according to Infoworld.

New York lawmakers target modem hijacking

As you're clicking away at your keyboard, you may be turning your telephone modem over to internet thieves who make international calls and a profit at your expense - that's modem hijacking, reports The New York Times and ASssociated Press (5 April).

New York lawmakers on Monday announced what apparently is a first of its kind measure in the USto target the practice, which is estimated to run up millions of dollars in illicit phone calls for Americans whose service is stolen through dial-up connections from personal computers.

Observers say that the hijackers can now probably avoid the law because they flash a pop-up window for the computer user to check, authorising the downloading of modem software that then is remotely accessed to make international calls that are charged back to the unwitting computer user.

The NYT and Reuters say that New York's bill appears to be the first of its kind to target modem hijacking,and other states are considering similar, broader bills and some modem hijacking might be investigated under some states' computer-trespassing laws.

The paper and Reuters report that Verizon Communications has investigated complaints and erased the charges of countless customers thought to be victims of modem hijacking. The company also advises customers how to avoid the practice through consumer alerts and bill messages. Verizon has also sought help from federal officials.

According to the NYT/Reuters report, a profit is turned when the hijacker sells the long-distance service to overseas foreign telephone service carriers, all paid for by the computer user back home. This type of hijacking is generally not an issue for people who access the internet through cable modems or digital subscriber lines, the report says.

Modem hijacking has gained national attention in the US with the adware, spyware, dialers and similar software installed without the knowledge of its owner. Advertisers and peddlers of pornography are often behind the activity.

The paper and Reuters say that consumers can fight modem hijacking by using a dedicated phone line for the computer dial-up connection then blocking international calls to that line.

Verizon indicates it could scrap MCI bid

Verizon Communications has signaled its unwillingness to raise its US$7.6 billion offer for MCI and said it was prepared to walk away from its agreement to buy the company.

The New York Times/Associated Press report (5 April) that, in what amounted to an ultimatum, Verizon, in a letter to MCI's board, said if the board decided that Qwest's US$8.9 billion bid was "superior," Verizon would scrap the current deal.

Verizon also indicated its impatience with some MCI shareholders, who have urged the board to accept Qwest's higher offer, reports the NYT/AP., adding that a determination by MCI that Qwest's bid is better would show "that the decision-making process is being driven by the interests of short-term investors rather than the company's long-term strength and viability."

According to the NYT/AP.,despite the tough talk, Verizon could still raise its offer or let MCI's shareholders vote on the bid directly, according to industry analysts.

The paper and AP say that in an ultimatum of its own, Qwest last week asked MCI's board to decide by today whether its US$8.9 billion offer is superior to Verizon's. If MCI's board decides that Verizon's offer is stronger, Qwest said it would withdraw its offer.

The phone companies have been engaged in a two-month tug of war for MCI, the struggling long-distance carrier. Verizon is trying to keep pace with SBC Communications, which agreed to buy AT&T in January. By adding MCI, Verizon, would become a major player in the market providing services to big corporations, reports the NYT and AP.

Qwest, the smallest of the Bells, is eager to merge with MCI so it can offer nationwide services and benefit from the more than US$5 billion in net cash on MCI's balance sheet, the report adds.

Panasonic sees strong US plasma TV sales

Panasonic of North America, the US unit of Matsushita Electric Industrial, expects sales of flat panel plasma televisions to surge, reaching 1.6 million units in three years, or about one-third of the US market.

The New York Times/Reuters report (4 April) that Panasonic North America, said the company expected to report North American sales of about US$8.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2005.

Cisco puts US$750m into channel financing

Cisco is 'greasing credit lines' for its resellers with US$750m in extra credit for partners worldwide, reports The Register (5 April).

The Register says that along with the increased credit limits Cisco Capital is also going after small and medium businesses with an improved leasing programme.The money is split: US$250m comes direct from Cisco through 30-day accounts; and US$500m is supplied by Cisco Capital using inventory and short-term project finance to support Cisco resellers involved in projects with longer payment cycles.

According to The Register,in 2004 about 700 Cisco partners borrowed US$5bn from third parties.

The Register says that Cisco also announced the SMB Support Assistant which supplies diagnostic and troubleshooting help for smaller businesses. The company also announced improvements to its Network Assistant - a network manager for SMBs.

Cisco dealers will also be rewarded for selling more integrated application and services contracts, reports The Register, with the Solution Incentive Program supporting collaboration between application developers and networking specialists. Resellers must pre-register to qualify.

The Register reports that eligible projects must be based on Cisco kit, must include at least one business application and integration services. They must increase the need for bandwidth and they must be repeatable.

SAP extends plan to lure Oracle customers

SAP, Europe's biggest software maker, on Monday widened the reach of its plan to take away customers from rival Oracle by extending it to 6,500 Oracle customers who are not currently SAP users.

The New York Tiomes and Reuters report (4 April) that SAP dubbed the extension a "second wave" in its so-called SafePassage program to lure former customers of PeopleSoft, the business software maker bought by Oracle in January for US$10.6 billion, to SAP.

SAP's original program hatched in January was made available to Oracle's new PeopleSoft customers who also used SAP software. The extended plan announced Monday will make the SafePassage program available to those former PeopleSoft customers who currently do not use SAP software, says the NYT and Reuters.

The SafePassage plan offers cheaper prices than Oracle's on the cost of software upgrades and customer support, according to the NYT and Reuters,

A SAP America spokesman said SAP was likely to update its progress in luring away former PeopleSoft customers when SAP reports first-quarter earnings on 21 April, report the NYT and Reuters.

In late February, SAP Americas told Reuters that SAP was talking with around 200 PeopleSoft customers about switching to SAP and the company said "50 or more" Oracle customers had migrated to SAP in the past year.

Netline Open-Xchange - the next Firefox?

The open source community has been a great new source of innovative and high quality products and these are now starting to achieve success above the operating system level, reports The Register (5 April).

The Register says that according to the Mozilla Foundation, their Firefox browser has been downloaded 25 million times since its release a few months ago.

The online publication says that Firefox works fast and well, but some of its success must be due to the weakened position of its main opposition, Internet Explorer. It says Microsoft's browser is badly overdue for an upgrade - an upgrade that was derailed by Microsoft's commitments to improving the security of its software and developing Longhorn.

The Register says that open source products seem to have the best success when they tackle applications that are well defined and universally used. A prime candidate under this definition is email.

According to The Register, this month, Netline AG will launch a commercial version of its open source email product called Open-Xchange. Netline claims that Open-Xchange has 90-95 per cent of the functionality of Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint - providing most of its groupware functions including calendar, contacts, to dos, shared projects and documents, shared knowledge, forums, bookmarks, and web mail.

Netline's Open-Xchange Server is the engine behind Novell's SUSE LINUX Openexchange Server and this commercial version is currently sold through Netline's OEM partner Novell/SUSE LINUX, The Register says

The Register says that just as in the case of Firefox, there is an opportunity for Netline as both IBM and Microsoft are asking their customers to make big changes to their email platforms. As IBM and Microsoft contend with the task of transferring their customers onto new architectures, perhaps they've taken their eyes off the ball in keeping pace with collaboration innovations. Open-Xchange, for example, promises to integrate new functionality such as VOIP, IM, mobility support via SyncML, Blogs, Wikis and so on into their email application, The Register adds.

Open-Xchange is priced to cost 50 per cent less than Microsoft Exchange and is targeted at two main markets: small to medium businesses (SMBs) with 5-250 employees, which want to save costs yet still work with MS Outlook; and larger organisations of up to 5000 employees who have decided to move to Linux, The Register adds.

The Register says that most mature markets settle down to three contenders and with the email market evenly divided between IBM and Microsoft, there's a good case for additional competition. In this market the third contender is likely to be open source and could well be Open-Xchange.

Google feature incorporates satellite maps

Online search engine leader Google has unveiled a new feature that will enable its users to zoom in on homes and businesses using satellite images, an advance that may raise privacy concerns as well as intensify the competitive pressures on its rivals.

The New York Times and Associated Press report (4 April) that the satellite technology, which Google began offering late Monday at https://maps.google.com, is part of the package that the company acquired when it bought digital map maker Keyhole for an undisclosed amount nearly six months ago.

The paper and AP say this marks the first time since the deal closed that Google has offered free access to Keyhole's high-tech maps through its search engine. Users previously had to pay US$29.95 to download a version of Keyhole's basic software package.

According to the NYT/AP report, a more traditional map will continue to be the first choice served up by Google's search engine. Users will have the option of retrieving a satellite picture by clicking on a button.

The paper and AP say that the satellite maps could unnerve some people, even as the technology impresses others. That's because the Keyhole technology is designed to provide close-up perspective of specific addresses.

Google believes most people will like the convenience of generating a satellite image with a few clicks of a computer mouse. The company envisions people using the service as a way to scout a hotel's proximity to the beach for a possible vacation or size up the neighborhood where an apartment is for rent.

Google's free satellite maps initially will be limited to North America, with images covering roughly half the United States, Google said.

The NYT and AP say the satellite maps up the ante for the many challengers chipping away at Google's share of the lucrative internet search engine market by adding more bells and whistles. For instance, Amazon.com's A9 search engine earlier this year introduced a feature that includes an index containing 20 million street-level photographs of building exteriors in 10 major US cities.

Emerging poularity of satellite radio in US

The New York Times carries a lengthy report (5 April) on the rapidly expanding  satellite radio market in the United States, revealing that XM Satellite Radio - the bigger of America's two satellite radio companies - added more than 540,000 subscribers from January through March.

The paper says this pushed the industry's customer total past five million after fewer than three and a half years of operation, and which analysts described as remarkable growth for companies charging more than US$100 annually for a product that has been free for 80 years.

According to the NYT.,total subscribers at XM and its competitor, Sirius Satellite Radio, will probably surpass eight million by the end of year, making satellite radio one of the fastest-growing technologies ever - faster, for example, than cellphones.

The paper says that to keep that growth soaring, XM and Sirius are furiously signing up carmakers to offer satellite radio as a factory-installed option and are paying tens of millions of dollars for exclusive programming.

Though satellite radio is still an unprofitable blip in the radio universe, the NYT says it is pushing commercial radio to change its sound. Broadcasters are cutting commercials, adding hundreds of songs to once-rigid playlists, introducing new formats and beefing up their internet offerings. A long-awaited move to digital radio could give existing stations as many as five signals each, with which they could introduce their own subscription services - but with a local flavor that satellite is hard pressed to match, the paper adds.

The NYT says that satellite networks XM and Sirius expect to begin making money in the next two years, but how big the market can become remains debatable. By 2010, analysts estimate, subscriber levels will hover anywhere from 30 million to 45 million. Some think the totals could eventually rival or surpass the 90 million people who pay for cable and satellite television.

Hitachi headstand sets new HD density record

Hitachi has demonstrated the disk industry's highest magnetic recording density yet - 230 Gb per square inch, or 356 Mb per square mm. The demo used perpendicular recording technology, and Hitachi Global Storage Technology (HGST) said it could lead to 20GB one-inch Microdrives in two years time, compared to 6GB today.

The Register reports (5 April) that the big challenge is how to shrink the magnetised grains in the media, according to HGST's chief technologist, who said: " the problem is if they get too small, they affect each other too much, plus the energy in each bit gets close to the background thermal energy of the platter - hence the super-paramagnetic effect. The limit is therefore in sight for longitudinal recording, which stripes bits over the magnetic surface and currently peaks at around 100 Gb per square inch."

According to The Register, Hitachi is not the first to demonstrate perpendicular recording though - Seagate used it to demo 100 Gb per square inch back in 2002, and last year Toshiba said it would be the first to commercialise the technology, using it to design an 80GB 1.8 inch drive. The Toshiba drives are 133Gb per square inch and 40GB per platter, and a spokesman said they will be in mass production by June this year.

Meanwhile, The Register says Hitachi is testing perpendicular recording in 2.5 inch laptop drives now, and will have products for sale by the end of this year. These won't be 230 Gb per square inch though - that's only in the lab, says The Register, adding that a 2.5 inch drive using perpendicular recording to achieve 120 or 130 Gb per square inch could still offer 75GB per platter - some 50 percent more than today's longitudinal recording equivalents.