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+ - News International pruning historic email archive->

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes "In a letter, sent on behalf of HCL by Stuart Benson, a lawyer, the company disclosed that it had been involved in discussions about deleting emails nine times since April last year. It said: “It is of course entirely for News International, the police and your committee as to whether there was any other agenda or subtext when issues of deletion arose, and that is a matter on which my client cannot comment and something which you will no doubt explore direct with News International ..

HCL disclosed that News International asked three times for emails to be deleted in April last year .. Last September more emails were erased as part of a process that involved “pruning the historic email archives”."
Link to Original Source
Patents

+ - MPEG LA says 12 parties have essential WebM patent-> 2

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes "MPEG LA says 12 parties have essential WebM patents:

The hopes that the VP8 codec at the heart of Google's open source WebM video standard would remain unchallenged in the patent arena are diminishing after the MPEG LA says 12 parties hold patents that its evaluators consider essential to the codec. The disclosure came in a recent interview with StreamingMedia.com. MPEG LA says that, in response to their call for essential patents in February, a number of parties submitted patents for evaluation and twelve of those parties' patents have been examined and found to be essential to VP8.

The parties involved are as yet unnamed and MPEG LA told patent analyst Florian Mueller that "confidentiality precludes [MPEG LA] from disclosing the identity of the owners". Mueller thinks it is likely that there is an overlap between the twelve companies and the members of the MPEG LA AVC/H.264 patent pool.

H-online: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/MPEG-LA-says-12-parties-have-essential-WebM-patents-1288232.html"
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

+ - Microsoft extending Linux patent deal to SUSE->

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes "No big surprise, but Microsoft has now officially extended their patent, interoperability and Linux resale deal to SUSE. This was the deal that Novell had originally signed and now with the Attachmate sale, Microsoft is bringing the deal back to SUSE.
The deal is now being extended until 2016 and Microsoft is set to invest another $100 million into SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates. This is on top of the $300 million plus they've already bought since 2006."
Link to Original Source
Crime

+ - Japanese Man Arrested for Storing Malware->

Submitted by Orome1
Orome1 writes "38-year-old Yasuhiro Kawaguchi is the first person in Japan to get arrested for storing malware on his computer after the upper house’s Judicial Affairs Committee has confirmed the new anti-malware law passed by the Japanese parliament. The law considers the creation, distribution and storage of malware a crime punishable with up to three years in prison and a fine that could reach the sum of 500,000 yen ($6,200)."
Link to Original Source

+ - Software Freedom Day registration opened!->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "For those of you who think technology and more importantly software should be open and shareable, the annual celebration of Software Freedom Day has opened its registration and you have about 10 days to get a free team pack to help you with your own event organization. SFD represents about 500 teams worldwide organizing events to discuss about the importance, benefits and usage of Free and Open Source Software on the same day: September 17th this year! It's also an opportunity to preach to your local community and gives them ideas and reasons about why they should care and use FOSS. Have you considered yourself as a good advocate to convert your whole neighbourhood? Then PARTICIPATE!"
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Government

+ - Malware Is A Disease; Let's Treat It Like One->

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes "The most common metaphor we have for computer malware — "virus" — emphasizes that in many ways malicious computer code mimics biological pathogens. And yet, while the U.S. government has rapid response plans in place for an outbreak of a new disease, we're content to let the private sector react to hugely damaging computer infections. Tom Henderson thinks we need the cybersecurity equivalent of the CDC."
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Cloud

+ - ITV ditches Windows for Macs and Google Apps->

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes "ITV will move the majority of its staff from PCs to Apple Mac computers and introduce Google Apps across the business as part of a comprehensive technology transformation project .. The broadcaster will roll out the Google Apps software-as-a-service technology to its 7,000 employees .. while Google Chrome will become ITV's standard browser, with the aim of providing faster and more reliable internet access .."
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

+ - The Big IE6 Debate.. Has Microsoft Got It Wrong?->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "In engineering a web based app like our room scheduling software MIDAS (http://mid.as/), we had to make some decisions as to which browsers we were going to support. When we first started work on MIDAS back in 2005, there were then essentially only two key players in the internet browser landscape — Internet Explorer and Mozilla FireFox, and we provided support on them both. Today, there are now 5 main players in that same market; Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Apple Safari... all of these fight it out for a share of the market. In the early days Internet Explorer rules the landscape, with nearly a 90% share at its height, but its dominance has subsided in recent times, as evidenced from our own website statistics so far in 2011:

Current Browser Market Share:
Internet Explorer: 43.94%
Mozilla Firefox: 26.64%
Google Chrome: 17.39%
Apple Safari: 7.37%
Opera: 3.15%
Current IE Users:
IE8: 66.97%
IE7: 19.04%
IE6: 6.96%
IE9: 6.92%

From these statistics, we can see that 6.96% of Internet Explorer users are still using IE6, (unexpectedly slightly more than those who use the current version, IE9 (just 6.92%)). Most users of Internet Explorer currently use IE8 (67%) or IE7 (19%)

Current versions of our browser based room scheduling app, MIDAS, can be used in recent releases of all five main internet browsers, but we finally dropped support in Internet Explorer 6 last year.

But we are aware that there are plenty of organizations across the globe still force their users to use Internet Explorer 6 through their corporate networks.. but why is this? Why would companies insist on sticking with a web browser that's now a decade old, given how quickly the Internet has changed and evolved during that time!? We decided to try and establish why...

From Internet Explorer 6 to today..
Internet Explorer 6 was first released back in August 2001 just a year after the release of IE5.5. Since version 6's release, Microsoft have subsequently released 3 major updates to their Internet Explorer software. IE7 became available in October 2006, IE8 in June 2009, and this year marked the release of Internet Explorer 9, with development on IE10 already well underway. But there was a painfully long period between the release of IE6 and IE7 (5 years to be exact!) this allowed for massive adoption of IE6 by IT departments the world over in this period.

The importance of keeping current
Now, any home user knows it's vital to keep their web browser current, not only to keep the best possible user experience with the latest web technologies (which are progressing at a very fast speed these days!), but additionally, and more critically to keep their web browser and computer safe and protected from security vulnerabilities and exploits. Browser updates are always offered free of charge and are easily available — some also automatically update without user interaction!... so why do corporate IT networks remain with IE6 and not keep their software infrastructure up to date?

Should Corporations & IT departments be doing more?
We'd always put the main reason why organizations haven't migrated from IE6 down to laziness, but speaking to one IT professional about her own experiences of a recent corporate roll-out of IE8, sheds a different light on the matter:
"We went from (Internet Explorer) 6 to 8 and it's a nightmare, it's random things like some of our web based apps which use Windows authentication no longer work, others that use the "remember me" option now don't log you out properly, we have issues retaining our proxy settings and to top it off it's so slow! ... (IE6) works better!"

So are IT departments purely not migrating because of usability and compatibility concerns with their existing software infrastructure? At MIDAS, we always make sure that our web based room scheduling app is fully compatible with the very latest releases (and development builds) of the 5 major internet browsers. Should other developers of web based apps be following suit? We think so!! ...but should Microsoft themselves be doing more as well?

Could Microsoft do more?
Whilst Microsoft do provide some helpful resources via their www.ie6countdown.com site for corporate IT departments wishing to move away from IE6, Microsoft have chosen to extend support for IE6 until 2014 (to coincide with the "End of Life" of Windows XP), mainly because of this corporate sector! In our opinion, Microsoft should have ended support for IE6 a long time ago. If they had, it would encourage corporations and developers alike to take steps to update and modernize their software. Ultimately, this benefits the wider Internet community as developers can then concentrate on employing new and emerging internet technologies, for instance HTML5, CSS3, and so forth, offering a richer, stable and secure experience for the user, rather than developers having to devote time trying to make their modern software backwards compatible with a decade old obsolete web browser!

The road ahead for IE6
Google, YouTube, Hotmail, WordPress, and several other popular sites have already ceased support for IE6 in recent months, and we ourselves took the decision last year to no longer work on ensuring IE6 compatibility for our room scheduling web app, MIDAS, as it was holding back development and restricting us from implementing new features, utilizing new and emerging browser technologies.

Conclusions
Whilst we're encouraged by Microsoft's recent reinvigorated approach and commitment to future development of Internet Explorer, they should never have allowed IE6 to stand still for as long as it did between releases of IE6 and IE7. This has led to many organizations becoming too dependent on an obsoleteAantiquated and insecure browser. Microsoft's commitment to continue supporting IE6 until 2014 has, and will continue to hold back development of the world wide web.

We would urge any organization or IT department still deploying IE6, not to wait until its "End of Life" but to upgrade as quickly as you possibly can! If there's compatibility problems with your 3rd party apps or software, contact the developers of them... if they are as devoted to their products as we are to our room scheduling system MIDAS, they'll want to ensure maximum compatibility of their product with the latest internet browsers. If they are unable to do this, perhaps it's time to begin looking for alternatives now before it gets too late!

We're very inspired by the future direction that the web is taking, with the new standards and technologies that are just around the corner, but we need corporations to help move the internet forward! This is hindered by the continued use of IE6!"
Link to Original Source
Sony

+ - Sony insurer won't pay for security breaches

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes ""Sony has been sued by its insurance company, which says the policy it issued doesn't cover a series of high-profile security breaches that exposed personal information associated with more than 100 million accounts" link"

Comment: "The Ether" and patent protection (Score 1) 67

by doperative (#36813870) Attached to: Napkins and the History of Ethernet, Compaq, Facebook

> The sketches featuring boxes labeled PDP-11 and pointers to "The Ether" would eventually be translated into a big-time business for 3Com, Digital Equipment Corp, and now, just about anybody in the computer, telecom and networking businesses ..

How did this happen without patent protection for "The Ether"?

Technology

+ - Complexity killing IT quality of service?->

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes "It doesn’t matter if the system is an order entry function, a customer service call management function, or whatever: if systems are not performing well the first the IT department hears about it is when a user calls.

And if there is a tangible impact on throughput or productivity, that’s when supervisors, managers and execs get involved and the stakes are raised.

This is why it is important to nip problems in the bud, or better still prevent them from happening in the first place. Letting things drag on, especially when incidents are occurring frequently, leads directly to problems between IT and management, not to mention a difficult life on the front line of IT.

OK, I hear you thinking, but users often don’t help. In our little scenario above, the truth might be that when problems occurred the day before, the accounts clerk took the opportunity to sneak off for a quick cigarette on the fire escape.

Had she reported the problem to IT instead, there would have been an opportunity to investigate and avoid the next day’s more persistent performance issues.

Wouldn’t it have been better if the IT team had visibility of such problems beforehand, instead of relying on users to pick up the phone?"
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Ubuntu

+ - Linux saved my computer from Windows Update->

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes "If it wasn't for Linux, a Windows Update crash would have forced me to format my drive and reinstall everything.

On Friday I got home from work, powered up my HP Pavilion DV6 6055ea laptop and watched as it promptly shut down to churn through Windows Update. It got 30 percent of the way through then the blue screen of death (BSOD) appeared."
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