Enterprise Software & Services

No doubt they're breathing a big sigh of relief at Microsoft right now, after the world has had a first look at the Google Chrome operating system. Chrome represents absolutely no threat to Windows for the foreseeable future, just at a time when Microsoft is vulnerable.

I've just put the beta of Microsoft Office 2010 through its paces for a Computerworld review, and while there's plenty to like, there's plenty that should be made better as well. Here are five ways it can be improved.

It's time to download the beta of Microsoft Office 2010. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers put it through its paces and play "guess the release date".
(MSFT)

In a previous Security Levity post, I was asked a question that often comes up. A commenter wondered how is it that spammers can send spam from "my" email address? And is that something we should be worried about?

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By J Schwan

Too often the Buy vs. Build argument gets turned on its head when enterprises who buy a packaged solution to save money, end up spending more customizing it to fit their business' needs. When I say packaged here I am referring to things like ERPs, CRMs and even newer SaaS based applications. Customizing packaged apps is expensive since you often need proprietary skills and knowledge to make any changes. It gets even more expensive when it comes time to upgrade and many of those customizations need to be refactored or rewritten.

Self service, drag and drop application provisioning store, combined with desktop personalization features, give end users more control of their virtualized desktops.

A Google executive has admitted what most already people know: Google Docs simply isn't yet good enough for prime time. "We wouldn't ask people to get rid of Microsoft Office and use Google Docs because it is not mature yet," Dave Girouard, president of Google's enterprise division recently admitted. He said, though, that he expects that to change in the next year.

Microsoft has often been pilloried by European governments and regulators who favor open source technology over proprietary software. But Europe's love of open source software may be one of Microsoft's biggest allies in the company's fight against Oracle.

This week on Security Levity... spam laws around the world. Many of us know about the U.S. federal law regulating spam, known as the CAN-SPAM Act, or at least we think we do. But what about the laws internationally? Here are a few notable international spam laws...

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VMware's View 4 does graphics faster, lowers the cost per PC. But is that enough to overcome objections to broader adoption?

Might Windows 8 or 9 actually have Linux under the hood?

It's not only long-time Linux true believers who say that Linux will eventually wipe out Windows. An former Microsoft employee of 11 years says that "proprietary software is eventually going to be doomed," and believes that Microsoft's future lies in releasing its own version of Linux.

This pilot fish has watched his IT shop grow from a single IBM minicomputer to dozens of servers connected to hundreds of PCs over the past 20 years, and these days he only occasionally sits in on a department meeting. But sometimes, that's a good thing.

This week on Security Levity... how China views Web filtering. It should be no surprise that the Chinese government is sensitive about certain forms of speech. We in the West may not like it, but...

Open-source software is quickly making its way into the federal government.