eWeek articles from February 2004

eWeek archives from February 2004

SCO's MyDoom DDoS Hammering Begins.(SCO Group Inc)
February 1, 2004... The SCO Group Inc. confirmed that by midnight EST today, a large-scale, DDoS (distributed-denial-of-service) attack had rendered its Web site completely inaccessible. The MyDoom (dubbed Novarg.A by Symantec Corp. and MiMail.R by Trend...

GIS Mapping Software Jolts City Governments.(geographic information system)
February 1, 2004... NEW YORK (AP)--The bureaucratic, pothole-plagued world of big-city government is making creative use of sleek, innovative technology. Specialized mapping software helped New York plot the addresses of people who had called to complain about...

Some Managers Hold Firm Against Pressure to Move IT Jobs Overseas.
February 1, 2004... BOSTON (AP)--Like many Americans, Michael Prince worries about the economic impact of "offshoring," the trend of sending information-technology jobs to countries like India and the Philippines. But politics isn't why Prince isn't exporting...

Lotusphere and Loathing in Orlando.
February 2, 2004... As Spencer lapped up libations with the legion of Lotus loyalists at Lotusphere in Orlando, he noted wistfully the absence of a Spartacus-like customer revolt at this year's event. Instead, damning with faint praise was the order of the day....

PeopleSoft Speeds Up Timeline for Vote.(Oracle Corp. planning acquisitions)
February 2, 2004... Responding to Oracle Corp.'s ploy to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. through a proxy battle, PeopleSoft's board of directors voted late last week to hold its annual shareholder meeting two months earlier than anticipated. PeopleSoft's board voted...

MyDoom.B Is For Bust.
February 2, 2004... The rapid spread of MyDoom.A was a pretty scary thing to witness. I knew that I had immediately recognized it as a worm when it showed up here, but still it's scary when so many people out there get infected. Then MyDoom.B came out and I really...

Visto Buys Psion Software.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Visto Corp. has acquired the software division of Psion plc., company officials have confirmed. Psion Software makes Transcend Mail, enterprise-level push-based e-mail software for the Symbian operating system. Psion plc., based in London,...

Intel Launches Prescott; 64-Bit Question Unanswered.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Intel Corp. formally launched its next-generation "Prescott" microprocessor on Sunday, providing slight performance increases over the previous Pentium 4. Intel executives also declined to put to rest rumors of Prescott's 64-bit capabilities....

EclipseCon: IBM, Sun Set the Tools Stage.(Interview)
February 2, 2004... This week's EclipseCon confab on the Eclipse open-source development platform is expected to foster hearty discussion on the state of Java tooling, particularly as Sun Microsystems Inc. continues to consider how it can work with Eclipse. ...

Whiteboard: Business by Design.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... The role of the enterprise architect is much like that of a city planner. Too often, in a city, buildings are constructed using completely independent designs, infrastructure is slapped together over time, and attempts to build comprehensive...

SCO Launches New Site Following DDoS Attack.(The SCO Group Inc.)
February 2, 2004... The main SCO Group Web site (www.sco.com) was made inaccessible, as expected on Sunday. However, SCO announced Monday that will shift its Web site to another domain, www.thescogroup.com as the destination for the company's Web site through the...

Microsoft Patches Serious IE Flaw.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Microsoft Corp. on Monday finally released a patch for a dangerous vulnerability that lets attackers trick Internet users into visiting malicious sites. The flaw has been public knowledge for some time, but Microsoft failed to include a fix for...

Social Networking... or Notworking?(importance of social networks)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Social networking is on the bubble, with Orkut the latest to spur invites from friends, virtual acquaintances, and "others." I've been watching the Lord of the Rings DVDs with family, and somehow this feels like the gathering of wizards, men,...

A Letter from the Liberty Alliance.(management)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Liberty Alliance president Michael Barrett responds below to comments made by IBM's vice president of security for Tivoli and IBM Security Products, Arvind Krishna, on working with the Liberty Alliance. Since its inception in October 2001, the...

Apple Updates Safari Browser.
February 2, 2004... Apple Computer Inc. on Monday released an update to its Safari Web browser that adds new digital certificate and Java support as well as greater keyboard accessibility. Safari 1.2 is only available for Mac OS X 10.3, known as "Panther."...

Oracle to Lower Price for 10g Standard Database.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Oracle Corp. on Tuesday will unveil a sharp $1,000 price reduction in its entry-level Oracle 10g Standard Edition One database release during an Oracle 10g-related news conference, officials of the software maker confirmed. During a...

Sony to Invest $325M in IBM Chip Plant.(International Business Machines Corp.)
February 2, 2004... ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)--Sony Corp. will invest $325 million in IBM Corp.'s upstate New York semiconductor plant and work with Big Blue to produce tiny new chips for next-generation computer systems and consumer electronics. IBM plans to begin...

Information Vendor Verity Moves into Electronic Forms Market.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Enterprise search and knowledge management software developer Verity Inc. plans to move into the electronic forms space, announcing late Monday an agreement to acquire Cardiff Software Inc. in a cash deal worth approximately $50 million. ...

Technology Venture Capital Fund-Raising Accelerates.
February 2, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Venture capitalists rounded up $5.2 billion for future investments during the final three months of 2003, marking the industry's busiest quarter of fund-raising in more than two years. The amount of money committed in...

Microsoft Updates Business Portal.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Microsoft Corp. announced Monday the latest version of its Business Portal, bringing other collaborative capabilities from the company to the product, which is used with Microsoft's Great Plains and Solomon business applications. Release...

IM and P2P Security.(Brief Article)(Excerpt)
February 3, 2004... You have all your e-mail and Web-filtering software in place, and you carefully monitor message logs for signs of abuse. But little do you know that for months, a disgruntled employee has been instant messaging company secrets to a friend who...

StarOffice 7 Makes a Run at Office.(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Excerpt)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 3, 2004... Can Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 7 supplant Microsoft Office on your desktop? With previous versions being slow and buggy, you'd probably answer no. But the speed, power, and simplicity of the latest version--combined with its minuscule price...

IBM Middleware Targets Vertical Markets.
February 3, 2004... IBM announced Monday new integration software geared toward vertical markets. The announcement is a proof point of sorts for Big Blue, which first talked about its vertically oriented strategy in December. The company's new middleware...

Eclipse Reorganizes Into Independent Entity.(Eclipse Foundation)
February 3, 2004... ANAHEIM, Calif.--The Eclipse Board of Stewards Monday announced Eclipse's reorganization into a not-for-profit corporation known as the Eclipse Foundation. The organization initially formed after IBM released the Java-based Eclipse...

Alliance Posts Mobile DRM Spec for E-Commerce.(digital rights management)(Open Mobile Alliance)
February 3, 2004... BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--Wireless e-commerce took two steps ahead on Monday, paving the way for improved digital rights management on mobile devices. The Open Mobile Alliance, whose diverse membership encompasses a significant portion of the...

SAS Adds Momentum to Java Tools Movement.(Interview)
February 3, 2004... Members of the Eclipse Foundation and others interested in the future of the Java-based open-source development platform, and in Java tooling in general, are gathering at EclipseCon 2004 in Anaheim, Calif., to assess the state of the technology...

Microsoft Gets New Mobile Helmer.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2004... After several months searching for a new marketing head of its wireless and mobile devices division, Microsoft has hired Suzan DelBene as vice president of marketing for its wireless phone and handheld-organizer software division. DelBene...

MyDoom, Windows and Linux.
February 3, 2004... In MyDoom's aftermath, once more I'm confronted with the old lie that if Linux were only as popular as Windows, it too would have Windows-sized security problems. What nonsense! Yes, Linux has security problems too. Yes, by sheer count of...

Sun Readies Three Linux Desktop Offerings.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2004... Sun's upcoming 3D desktop environment, codenamed Project Looking Glass, drew lots of glances at LinuxWorld last month, largely because of advance demos by Computer Associates (CA). However, Sun is planning not just one, but three new offerings...

Making Wireless Go Ka-Ching.
February 3, 2004... Wringing money out of new wireless services has become something of an obsession recently. And "ringing" may be exactly the right model. But can anyone predict what the next big thing in wireless will be? Consider the most successful...

Is Google Web Search at Risk?(a case, American Blind and Wallpaper Factory Inc.)
February 3, 2004... In its legal battle with Google Inc., American Blind and Wallpaper Factory Inc. is challenging much more than the search engine's keyword-based advertising practices. The home decorating retailer also is questioning Google's cherished search...

Good to Turn a Handheld into a Laptop.
February 3, 2004... For a long while I've been dependent on my Research In Motion Blackberry and it's clear to me that our relationship isn't what it once was. What is driving me nuts right now, and certainly an increasing number of other folks, is that the RIM...

Competitors' Partners Question Oracle's Midmarket Assault.
February 3, 2004... Oracle Corp. made a full, frontal assault on the midmarket on Tuesday when it released Oracle Database 10g at a price nearly identical to that of arch-midmarket competitor Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server database. IBM partners, Microsoft partners...

Microsoft Unfazed by MyDoom's DDoS Attack.(Distributed Denial of Service)
February 3, 2004... Microsoft Corp.'s main Web site on Tuesday showed no ill effects from the scheduled denial-of-service attack generated by computers infected by the MyDoom.B virus. Machines infected by the less-common of the two MyDoom viruses are...

Oblix Makes Service-Oriented Moves With Confluent Buyout.(acquisition of Confluent Software Inc.)
February 3, 2004... Oblix Inc., maker of enterprise identity management and Web access control solutions, has all but acquired Confluent Software Inc., a maker of Web services management solutions, eWEEK has learned. Cupertino, Calif.-based Oblix has agreed to...

Oracle Targets Mid-Tier Market with 10g Standard Edition.(product prices)
February 3, 2004... Acknowledging its intentions to scoop up smaller database customers who may have shied away from pricey Oracle entry points, Oracle Corp. on Tuesday slashed the price of its entry-level product. The company was buoyed by the release of its...

Cisco Systems Exceeds 2Q Expectations.(financial reports)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)--Cisco Systems Inc.'s second-quarter earnings and sales exceeded Wall Street expectations as businesses around the world loosened their purse strings and bought more networking equipment. For the three months ended...

Microsoft's New Linux Salvo: IT Interoperability.
February 3, 2004... Microsoft Corp. looks to be turning its pitch away from the total cost of ownership comparisons between Windows and open-source Linux, and is now tackling the thorny issue of interoperability. The Redmond, Wash., software firm on Tuesday...

Wi-Fi's Still Free--In Some Places.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2004... Should ubiquitous wireless access be free? An Atlanta company, 3rd Wave, believes it should be as commonplace in many kinds of businesses as water and bathrooms. The company is already putting its money where its mouth is by installing free...

Nuance Hones Speech Recognition.(Nuance Communications)
February 4, 2004... Nuance Communications Inc. on Tuesday rolled out updated versions of its speech recognition engine and voice authentication software with a focus on improved accuracy and performance. With Nuance 8.5, the speech vendor's latest version of...

Why the Buzz Over MSN Search Beta?(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Search engine message boards and Weblogs are aflutter with news of a new MSN Search beta, but officials at Microsoft Corp.'s Internet division say the beta test is nothing new. MSN began a beta test of its Web search site early in the fall...

Nokia, Intel, Others Start Mobile Anti-Piracy Push.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Several top names in mobile phones, microchips and media this week said they will work together to license an anti-piracy technology for sending movies and music to cell phones. Juha-Pekka Sipponen, the director of media player applications at...

Tech Job Outlook Sizing up Security.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... There are no universal truths in the I.T. world, but one statement that comes as close as any is that the demand for I.T. professionals with bona fide enterprise-security experience is strong and growing. While the overall job market has begun...

Ensim Launches Next-Gen Spam Filters.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Ensim Corp. has released two new control panels that enable service providers to offer user-level spam filtering. The products, dubbed Ensim Pro and Ensim Basic, are the latest iterations in the company's WEBppliance Pro and Basic lines,...

Microsoft VP Champions a New System of Measurement.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Microsoft Corp. Group Vice President Jeff Raikes says it's high time to move beyond the industry debate over whether IT offers companies competitive advantage. Instead, he says, it's time to question how companies measure the impact of IT. ...

Eclipse 3.0 to Get More Mature, Open Look.
February 4, 2004... ANAHEIM, Calif.--Attendees of this year's EclipseCon conference got a glimpse Tuesday of the latest Eclipse. In a keynote speech at the conference here, two lead Eclipse platform developers praised the newly independent organization and...

KDE 3.2 Gains Speed, Loses Bugs.(KDE launces Desktop Accessory Software)
February 4, 2004... Improved performance, new applications and new bug fixes highlight the changes in Version 3.2 of the KDE Project's KDE desktop software for Linux, which KDE released Tuesday. The release, available for free download at KDE's Web site, has...

Oracle Raises Bid for PeopleSoft.
February 4, 2004... The bitter battle between Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc. has taken on a new twist. Oracle this morning raised its bid for PeopleSoft by $6.50 a share, or about $9.4 billion. PeopleSoft, of Pleasanton, Calif., announced positive...

Bug Endures in Microsoft's IE Patch.(Internet Explorer patch)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... A patch Microsoft Corp. released on Monday for a dangerous Internet Explorer vulnerability that lets attackers trick Internet users into visiting malicious sites doesn't completely fix the problem. The cumulative patch addresses, among...

HP Acquisitions Bolster OpenView.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Hewlett-Packard Co. is adding to its utility computing strategy by buying management software vendors Consera Software Inc. and Novadigm Inc. Officials with HP, of Palo Alto, Calif., said on Wednesday that the software the two companies...

Oracle Must Build a Future Without PeopleSoft.
February 4, 2004... It appears increasingly unlikely that Oracle will succeed in its hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, even if it gets the green light from government regulators in the U.S. and Europe. That's because it is now highly doubtful that Oracle will be...

SCO Critic Joins OSRM.(Open Source Risk Management LLC appoints Pamela Jones)
February 4, 2004... Open Source Risk Management, LLC (OSRM), an open-source risk management company, announced today that Pamela Jones, the editor and moderator of Groklaw.net has agreed to become the company's Director of Litigation Risk Research. Groklaw.net is...

Sun Extends Office Alternative to Solaris x86 Platform.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
February 4, 2004... Sun Microsystems Inc. on Wednesday released a version of its StarOffice 7 office productivity suite for the Solaris x86 platform. StarOffice 7 for the Solaris operating system x86 platform is priced at $79.95 and is available via download....

Red Hat CTO: Can Eclipse End 'Java Apartheid'?(chief technology officer)
February 4, 2004... ANAHEIM, CALIF.-- The Eclipse open source development platform has reached a critical point in terms of developer attraction and industry impact, and now having an independent organization to run it will only increase its impact, said Michael...

VoiceXML 2.0 Step Closer to Web Standard.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... VoiceXML 2.0 is one step away from becoming a full-fledged standard of the World Wide Web Consortium. A Web specification for the development of voice response applications, Voice Extensible Markup Language 2.0 has reached the W3C's...

Broadcom Raids SATA Startup.(Serial ATA I and II)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Chipmaker Broadcom Corp. this week announced its acquisition of RaidCore Inc. Broadcom spent $16.5 million on the RAID controller startup. Broadcom expects the combination of its own technology with RaidCore's to lead to new server I/O...

Hitachi Cuts Storage Losses.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... Hitachi Ltd. cut the losses in its hard-disk division (HDD) by about 75 percent, as Japan's largest electronics company announced profitable third-quarter financials. "We had originally forecast an annual operating loss of [about $400...

RazorGate 100.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... The RazorGate 100 is a compact, 1U appliance designed for rapid deployment alongside any existing e-mail server to provide protection against spam, viruses, and hacker attacks. Key features include spam analysis, identification, filtering,...

PrivacyKeyboard for Workstations 3.1.(Raytown Corp. LLC)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2004... PrivacyKeyboard for Workstations 3.1 from Raytown Corp. LLC protects against all types of software- and hardware-based keyloggers. It protects privacy by blocking suspicious activities, such as keystroke capture, screen capture, and copying...

HyperTransport 2.0 Boosts Speeds, Maps to PCI Express.
February 4, 2004... The HyperTransport Technology Consortium next Monday will announce Version 2.0 of the HyperTransport I/O specification, sources close to the group said. The next-generation, high-bandwidth interconnect will provide higher performance as well as...

Albertson's: A Shot at the Crown.
February 5, 2004... Wal-Mart only began selling groceries in 1988. Now it sells $56 billion of foodstuffs and household goods in its supermarkets every year. That makes Larry Johnston an underdog. The alumnus of the fabled Jack Welch era of General Eelectric...

AmericaWest: Flight Plan.
February 5, 2004... On Feb. 17, 2000, the America West Airlines flight-planning computer system collapsed. The airline was forced to cancel 128 flights that day and following morning, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Bob Ewers was headed to his...

Save the Mails.
February 5, 2004... Bill Gates' comments at last month's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, were widely reported. "Two years from now, spam will be solved," Microsoft's chairman confidently declared. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I received this news...

IBM Slims Down ThinkPad Line With New X40.(International Business Machines Corp.)
February 5, 2004... IBM officials said the company next week will unveil its lightest ultraportable notebook yet. Depending on configuration, the ThinkPad X40 will weigh as little as 2.7 pounds, which makes it 14 ounces lighter than its predecessor, the...

Novell's HQ Move Raises Questions About NetWare.(Novell Inc moved headquarters to Waltham)
February 5, 2004... Novell Inc. officially put its headquarters flag in Waltham, Mass., last week when it designated its address there in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week. But the move, in the works for some time, came as no surprise and will...

Cornice Secures $51M in Additional Funding.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Cornice Inc., manufacturer of the 1-inch drive known as the Cornice Storage Element, announced that it has received an additional $51 million in funding. The additional funding brings the total capital invested in the company to $81...

Sun Releases J2SE 1.5 Beta.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
February 5, 2004... Sun Microsystems Inc. Wednesday officially released the beta of the next version of its standard Java platform, Java 2 Standard Edition 1.5, making the technology available for download from its Web site. The new release gains several...

Apple Computer's CFO Anderson to Retire.(Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... CUPERTINO, Calif.--Apple Computer Inc. said Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson will retire June 1. Apple said Peter Oppenheimer, senior vice president of finance and corporate controller, will replace Anderson. The...

Former Microsoft Visio Execs Regroup.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Four former Microsoft Corp. executives have banded together to form a new company that is developing social-networking software and Web services that will build on top of .Net and Microsoft's forthcoming Longhorn Windows operating system. ...

Check Point Patches Severe FireWall-1 Flaws.(Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. on Wednesday released a fix for a set of severe security vulnerabilities in its FireWall-1 product that enable attackers to execute commands on the vulnerable server. The problems are a group of format...

PeopleSoft, You Will Be Assimilated.
February 5, 2004... It's been easy to scorn Oracle's grubby cash tender offer of $19.50 per share for outstanding PeopleSoft shares. After all, PeopleSoft's stock has been trading above that for some time. And it's not only the insultingly low-ball offer...

Reflections on Thompson's 'Reflections'.
February 5, 2004... Every few years, I find it worth my time to re-read Ken Thompson's August 1984 article, "Reflections on Trusting Trust," based on his 1983 Turing Award lecture that described what he called "the cutest program I ever wrote." The lecture does...

AIM Embraces Video Chat with the Mac.
February 5, 2004... AOL Instant Messenger is entering the world of video chat and joining hands with Mac OS X users in the process. America Online Inc. on Thursday launched AIM version 5.5 for Windows with a new streaming video chat feature that includes...

iSight for the Blind: iChatAV Opens Windows.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Apple has shipped a public beta of iChatAV 2.1, including support for video conferencing with the AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows. It's iPod all over again. Everytime a Windows user hooks up to an iSight chat, they'll be...

Sun: 'Secret Negotiations' on Eclipse Continue.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)(Eclipse Foundation)
February 5, 2004... ANAHEIM, Calif.--Sun Microsystems Inc. on Thursday formally addressed the lingering question of whether company would join the newly independent Eclipse Foundation and the answer remains: Maybe. Simon Phipps, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s chief...

EDS Loses $354 Million in Fourth Quarter.(Electronic Data Systems Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... PLANO, Texas (AP)--Electronic Data Systems Corp. swung to a loss of $354 million in the fourth quarter after writing down the value of a big contract with the Navy. EDS said Thursday it lost 74 cents per share compared to a profit of $360...

China: Spam May Be Subversive.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... BEIJING (AP)--China has a new message for computer users: Spam isn't just annoying, it might well be subversive. The government has launched a fight against junk e-mail, fearful that the spam amassing in citizens' inboxes may contain...

RealNetworks Patches Security Holes.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... RealNetworks Inc. recently released a security update to plug a series of vulnerabilities in its media players that could open a user's machine to malicious code. Security researchers at British-based NGSSoftware Ltd., which issued an...

Seagate Names its Future Small Enterprise Drive Line.(Seagate Technology Inc. introduces Hard Disk Drive)
February 5, 2004... Back in the spring, Seagate Technology LLC introduced its "Enterprise Disc Drive," a new 2.5-inch hard disk format with enterprise-class performance and interfaces. According to marketing materials seen by eWEEK.com, the company will brand the...

Web Backbone Carrier Level 3 Narrows Loss.(Level 3 Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP)--Level 3 Communications Inc., the Internet backbone carrier, Thursday posted a narrowed loss in the latest quarter as revenue rose. But the Broomfield-based company projected challenges for 2004, and its stock slid....

IBM ThinkPad X40: Best-in-Class Ultraportable.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 5, 2004... With the arrival of the best-in-class IBM ThinkPad X40, other ultraportables have a lot of catching up to do. Even with a system weight of just 2.7 pounds, the X40 still has the features serious road warriors demand--notably that...

Are You Leaving Money on the Table?(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Most companies that receive revenue from licensing their technology do not have a program in place to insure that they receive the correct amount of royalties. They should. Why? Because they may very well be leaving dollars on the...

The Layton Companies: Paper Chaste.
February 5, 2004... While building a multimillion-dollar structure, the imprecise choreography between a general contractor, a dozen or so subcontractors and hundreds to thousands of laborers is anything but graceful. When things go awry with just about any single...

Albertson's: A Shot at the Crown.
February 5, 2004... Wal-mart only began selling groceries in 1988. Now it sells $56 billion of foodstuffs and household goods in its supermarkets every year. That makes larry johnston an underdog. The alumnus of the fabled jack welch era of general electric...