Gartner believes that software and hardware companies do better in 2013 than last year. I hope so this happens, it would be good for the industry. Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending Forecast to Reach $3.7 Trillion in 2013. That would be 4.2 percent increase from 2012 spending. At the moment uncertainties surrounding prospects for an upturn in global economic growth are the major retardants to IT growth. According to the IT market research form Forrester IT market will grow globally by 3.3 per cent this year in U.S. dollar terms. Europe continues to decline (except Nordic countries, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), and growth is slower in Japan and India.
Worldwide IT spending increases were pretty anemic as IT and telecom services spending were seriously curtailed last year. Gartner believes that this uncertainty is nearing resolution and thus Earth’s anemic IT budgets to bounce back in 2013. Wall Street Beat: 2013 IT Spending Forecasts Look Upbeat article mentions that fiscal cliff deal will help unlock spending on mobility, analytics, collaboration and security technology.
According to the EPA, the average office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper each year. There is again a Campaign To Remove Paper From Offices. A campaign started by HelloFax, Google, Expensify, and others has challenged businesses to get rid of physical paper from their office environment in 2013. The Paperless 2013 project wants to move all documents online. The digital tools that are available today. The paperless office technology is here – we just need to use it more than our printers.
Intel x86 and ARM duopoly will continue to dominate this year. Both of the processor will sell well on their own main application fields, and they try to push to each others territories. This means that ARM tries to push to servers and x86 is trying to push more heavily to mobile devices.
Software manufacturers aim to hardware business: Microsoft, Valve, Google etc..
Still IT buyers expect too much from software they buy. This has happened earlier for long time and I expect that to continue. IT systems are easier to develop than user brains, but still system that are hard to learn are pushed to users.
IT service companies sill “sell air”. It is a good business to sell promises first and then when you get money try to do make the promised product with it. And are you sure that the backups your service provider makes can really be restored?
This year will not be a year for Linux on desktop. The fact that currently Amazon’s top selling laptop runs on Linux does not change that. Linux is more heading to smart phones and tablets that to win normal desktop.
Gaming on Linux gets boost. Valve released Steam gaming system for LinuxUbuntu users have run to use Steam game service (at the moment 0.8% of Steam users use Ubuntu, the service was started to as beta on December 2012). Valve will release this year it’s own Linux based Steam Box gaming console. Exclusive interview: Valve’s Gabe Newell on Steam Box, biometrics, and the future of gaming.
Windows 8 slow start continues. Windows 8 sales are well below projections. Computer sales dropped after release of Windows 8. U.S. consumers hesitant to make switch to Windows 8. Uncertainty could turn Windows 8 into the next Vista. Independent report says that Windows 8 Even Less Popular Than Vista and Microsoft voice says that its new OS are chugging along quite nicely, thank you very much, in much the same fashion as Windows 7 before it. Who to believe? Let’s wait and see what happens. I expect that some users will get Significant booting challenges on EFI systems when upgrading to Windows 8.
Interest in Java will decrease compared to other languages for various reasons, recent security issues playing part on that. C Beats Java As Number One Language According To TIOBE Index. It happened already.
Software optimization becomes again talked about when CPU usage on cloud system is easily measured and costs money. Cost-Aware Architectures will be talked bout. Keeping control over cost, architecturally, is just plain hard. Usually engineers we are remarkably badly trained in thinking about cost, but corporate bean counters can now start to ask how we save cost in running the software in cloud. Pinterest Cut Costs from $54 to $20 Per Hour by Automatically Shutting Down Systems.
The world of smart connected devices (desktops, notebook, tabs and smartphones) is becoming bigger and bigger on the expense of traditional PC manufacturers. At the end of 2012 HP is still top of PC league, but trailing fourth in all-devices rankings. Samsung leads the pack in terms of device shipments and Apple is next. Lenovo is the third biggest shifter of devices on the planet. The bets for increased sales are being placed behind smartphones and tablets.
It’s deja vu all over again. You see the phrase “any time, any place, anywhere” in relation to mobile access. Mobile devices bring back that old client-server feeling. The realization dawned that client-server brought with it as many problems as it solved. Following a period of re-centralisation using Web-based architectures, it looks as if we are beginning to come full circle. When the next generation is getting all excited about using mobile apps as front-ends for accessing services across the network, we can’t help noticing parallels with the past. Are HTML5 and cross-platform development and execution environments are now with us to save us? In the real world, the fast and reliable connectivity upon which this model depends just isn’t there in most countries at the moment.
End of netbooks as we know it. Netbook sales go to zero. All major manufacturers in this category has ended making netbooks. They have been replaced with booming tablet sales.
Tablet PC shipments are expected to reach more than 240 million units worldwide in 2013, easily exceeding the 207 million notebook PCs that are projected to ship, according to NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report. The market that has been dominated by one major player, Apple, but Android tablets are quickly getting more market share.
Thin client devices seem to be popping up here and there. Dell introduces HDMI stick that turns any screen into a thin client PC. And so will several other small stick computers coming. Raspberry Pi pocket computer is selling like hot pies (nears one million milestone).
Directly soldered to board CPUs are already norm on smart phone, tablets and some laptops. There will be more and more questions when manufacturers start to drop CPU sockets on the computers. Rumors about Intel Corp.’s plan to abandon microprocessor sockets in the future has been flowing and official response has been:
Intel to Support CPU Sockets for Foreseeable Future. AMD Vows Not to Drop Microprocessor Sockets in Next Two Years. Question is still when transition to BGA starts to happen on desktop PCs.
USB speed will increase again this year. So there is again a new USB version. The future of USB 3.0 coming mid-year with data speeds doubling to 10Gbps. USB 3.0 speed to DOUBLE in 2013 article tells that USB 3.0 – aka SuperSpeed USB – is set to become 10 gigabits per second super-speedy, with a new specification scheduled for a mid-2013 release. The aim is to brings USB closer to the class-leading Thunderbolt standard. It is expected that the new specification ends to consumer hardware a year later.
Higher resolutions will become commonplace. Earlier full HD was a target. Now high end devices are aiming to “retina” and 4K resolutions. Panasonic shows off 20-inch Windows 8 tablet with insane 4K resolution Qualcomm outs Snapdragon 800 and 600: up to 2.3GHz quad-core, 4K video, due by mid 2013.
Solid state storage becomes cheaper and cheaper. You can get ssd-storage at as low as less than one dollar per gigabyte. Moore’s Law may not be running out of steam in memory as we have an insatiable appetite for memory these days. Nowadays our tastes are changing from DRAM to nonvolatile flash memory used in SSD device. For example Kingston just unveiled the world’s first 1TB USB stick and SSD drives are also getting bigger every day. We are already encountering floating-gate scaling problems for NAND flash and answer to the scaling problem appears to be growing devices “up”.
2013 in storage is dominated by flash and file systems. We will finally see some all-flash arrays starting to ship from the big boys – and this will bring credibility to some of the smaller players. Management tools are going to be big again. Expect a lot of pain as infrastructure teams try to make things just work.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Death of the Desktop
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1365&doc_id=270105&cid=nl.dn14&dfpPParams=ind_186,industry_consumer,aid_270105&dfpLayout=blog
Mobile browsing is set to overtake traditional desktop browsing in 2015. Global smartphone sales passed 250 million sales in the third quarter of this year and with ongoing new tablet and smartphone releases, December 2013 will no doubt see millions of devices finding their way under a tree to be opened on Christmas morning around the world.
The smartphone revolution is changing how consumers use the Internet. This is slowly leading to the death of the desktop. What does this mean for the design world? How will designers prepare for this user experience change? Is responsive design enough? There are some big questions that need answering.
Mobile Design
Mobile design has already influenced desktop web design to the point where some user interfaces are solely mobile orientated.
Technology
There won’t be a formal day or week or month when this death comes, but it is inevitable it will be within this decade.
A shift in society
We’ve become a species obsessed with demand and access to content, and perhaps rightly so.
Demands
Design responds to the changing needs of society, and sadly for the traditional desktop, this is only a matter of time before its purpose expires. Product design is a design built around the proportions of contemporary societal demands — the desktop will not fulfill this by the end of the decade.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft codename ‘Threshold’: The next major Windows wave takes shape
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-codename-threshold-the-next-major-windows-wave-takes-shape-7000023832/
Summary: Microsoft’s wave of spring 2015 updates to its various Windows-based platforms has a codename: Threshold.
When I blogged recently about Microsoft’s plans on the operating-systems front following Windows 8.1, I mentioned a couple of “spring 2015″ releases.
It turns out the Microsoft codename for that wave of deliverables is “Threshold.”
If all goes according to early plans, Threshold will include updates to all three OS platforms (Xbox One, Windows and Windows Phone) that will advance them in a way to share even more common elements.
From what I’ve heard, Threshold doesn’t refer to a single Windows OS — not even the expected, converged hybrid comprised of the Windows Phone OS and Windows RT. Instead, the codename refers to the wave of operating systems across Windows-based phones, devices and gaming consoles.
From what I’ve heard, Threshold doesn’t refer to a single Windows OS — not even the expected, converged hybrid comprised of the Windows Phone OS and Windows RT. Instead, the codename refers to the wave of operating systems across Windows-based phones, devices and gaming consoles.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Branded server vendors: Who ate our lunch?
Oh crikey, ODMs have got a belly full of cloudy revenues
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/12/05/idc_odm_direct/
The overall branded server market may be in continual decline, but there is one area that is flowering – the Original Design Manufacturers building systems directly for cloudy giants such as Amazon and Facebook.
For the first time IDC has broken out the numbers for an ODM Direct segment, which includes Quanta Computer, Wistron/Wiwynn, Inventec Corporation, Compal Electronics, due its size and growing importance.
More Reading
Salesforce slaps Amazon, Google with glove: ‘I’m THE FIRST $1bn-quarter enterprise cloud biz’Amazon, Facebook, Google give Cisco’s switches the COLD shoulderThe TRUTH behind Microsoft Azure’s global cloud mega-cock-upLenovo on the hunt for UK server and storage techies, sales bodsInternal power struggle at Oracle leaves Brits cool on Sun
Cloudy service providers are bypassing the big branded players to place orders for complete- and partial sub-systems where final assembly is frequently done by channel folk, mainly large integrators.
The ODM Direct segment is still dwarfed by individuals sales from HP, IBM and Dell – this is likely to change in years to come.
IDC reported 45.2 per cent year-on-year rise to $783m as white box shipments went up 30.7 per cent to 326k units.
This accounted for 6.5 per cent of server revenue and 14.4 per cent of market shipments. Nearly 80 per cent of this was generated in the US “primarily through sales to Google, Amazon, Facebook and Rackspace,” said IDC.
Eastwood said second-platform workloads represent a “healthy consolidation” play that may push demand for consolidated systems, and third-platform apps are driving server demand into cloud service providers.
“This is opening up demand for both ODMs and Chinese OEMs,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple desktops overtake Dell on shoppers’ holiday wish lists
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57614582-37/apple-desktops-overtake-dell-on-shoppers-holiday-wish-lists/
It appears Dell has lost its multiyear edge on Apple as US consumers’ most-desired desktop computer brand. Apple also beats out Roku for streaming media devices and Samsung for smartphones.
Apple has long been the most-desired brand for tablets, smartphones, MP3 players, and streaming media devices on US shoppers’ holiday lists. And, for the first time, the company also got ranked as the top brand for desktops this year, according to data from market researcher Parks Associates.
“Apple topped the list of intended brands for desktop purchases for the first time this year,” John Barrett, Parks Associates director of consumer analytics, said in a statement Wednesday. “In 2011 and 2012, Dell was the top desktop brand, but Apple has displaced it, making Apple now the most popular brand across even more key CE categories.”
Steadily moving up the list for desktop brands, Apple was in third place in 2011. In 2012, it displaced Hewlett-Packard for second place; and now, it has conquered Dell for first place.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fast and flashy: Famo.us JavaScript framework revealed
http://www.infoworld.com/t/web-applications/fast-and-flashy-famous-javascript-framework-revealed-232046
Famo.us’s product to bring complex 3D graphics, realistic motion to stock Web browsers and ordinary Web developers
The biggest problem with most HTML5 apps is that they’re slow. Not because JavaScript runs slowly, but because the overhead involved in manipulating your browser’s DOM (Document Object Model) to do the kinds of useful things people expect from a modern app brings everything to a grinding crawl.
Back in October, InfoWorld’s Eric Knorr wrote about a little San Francisco startup called Famo.us. Its product, which has attracted some 70,000 developers for a private beta, is a framework for creating Web and mobile JavaScript applications that break the performance bottleneck without plug-ins or native code.
Today, Famo.us is announcing that it will be offering its framework under an open source Mozilla Public License Version 2.0 (MPLv2) license and is unveiling demonstration code on the Codepen code-sharing site. It is also partnering with Firebase, a database as a service for mobile and Web apps.
Why so much fuss over another JavaScript framework? Mainly because it is unlike any other framework out there: Famo.us replaces the browser’s rendering engine with its own, which is written entirely in JavaScript, and fuels it with the GPU acceleration provided by CSS’s 3D transformation functions. Most any device these days that can run a modern browser — even a modest smartphone — has some kind of GPU supporting it, so why not leverage that? Armed with Famo.us, developers can maintain a single code base that performs well across many platforms.
This isn’t a hack, either. It’s all industry-standard CSS3, and the library itself is pure JavaScript with no binaries or other add-ons.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM touts ‘InterCloud,’ cloud data migration tools
http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-touts-intercloud-cloud-data-migration-tools-7000024034/
Summary: IBM researchers have cooked up InterCloud, a patent pending approach, designed to add resiliency to cloud computing and better protect information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why is Microsoft scared of Chromebooks?
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/6/5181974/why-is-microsoft-scared-of-chromebooks
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“It’s pretty much a brick,” says Pawn Stars’ Rick Harrison as he rejects a Samsung Chromebook brought in by an actor playing a customer. Microsoft really doesn’t want you buying this thing.
But why? Just how big of a threat are Chromebooks, Google’s oft-ridiculed web-only laptops, to Microsoft’s core business?
In many ways, 2013 has been the year of the Chromebook for Google. From Acer’s $199 C720-2848 to HP’s $279 Chromebook 11, Mountain View has attracted traditional Windows PC makers to build a variety of low-cost laptops in time for the holidays.
Microsoft’s latest effort to undermine the Chromebooks feels more “Mac vs. PC” — Apple’s famous ad campaign from several years ago — than anything else. The scenes are reminiscent of the “laptop hunter” ads that Microsoft used to attack Apple following the Windows Vista release — it’s a similar approach nearly five years later. The difference this time is that Microsoft appears to be targeting a threat that doesn’t really exist yet: while consumer-research group NPD claimed earlier this year that Chromebook sales have snared nearly 25 percent of the US market for laptops under $300, that market has been largely replaced by tablets.
Tomi says:
DARPA makes finding software vulnerabilities fun
DARPA creates a set of games that covertly search for software vulnerabilities
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/120613-darpa-makes-finding-software-vulnerabilities-276712.html
The U.S. Department of Defense may have found a new way to scan millions of lines of software code for vulnerabilities, by turning the practice into a set of video games and puzzles and having volunteers do the work.
Having gamers identify potentially problematic chunks of code could help lower the work load of trained vulnerability analysts by “an order of magnitude or more,” said John Murray, a program director in SRI International’s computer science laboratory who helped create one of the games, called Xylem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In Three Years, Nearly 45% of All the Servers Will Ship To Cloud Providers
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/12/08/1346251/in-three-years-nearly-45-of-all-the-servers-will-ship-to-cloud-providers
“IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers. In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers. The shift is slowing the purchase of server sales to enterprise IT. The increased use of SaaS is a major reason for the market shift, but so is virtualization to increase server capacity.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
IT managers are increasingly replacing servers with SaaS
Cloud providers take on a bigger share of the servers as overall market starts declining
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244574/IT_managers_are_increasingly_replacing_servers_with_SaaS_
IT managers want to cut the number of servers they manage, or at least slow the growth, and they may be succeeding, according to new data.
IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers.
In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers.
“What that means is a lot of people are buying SaaS,” said Frank Gens, referring to software-as-a-service. “A lot of capacity if shifting out of the enterprise into cloud service providers.”
This shift to cloud-based providers is roiling the server market, and is expected to help send server revenue down 3.5% this year, according to IDC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spinning rust and tape are DEAD. The future’s flash, cache and cloud
I have seen the future, and it is white and fluffy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/flash_cache_and_the_cloud/
That’s the way storage could be going in data centres in the next few years. FCC; flash, cache and the cloud.
Servers or server complexes have directly-attached flash or closely-connected flash arrays, or virtual flash SANs/filers with their server-specific flash stores aggregated and virtualised.
The flash is the tier for primary data; the stuff christened tier 0. Data that needs to be written out to a slower response store goes across a local network link to a cloud storage gateway and that holds the tier 1 nearline data in its cache.
It’s ready for fast promotion to the server flash stores if needed. Otherwise it just sits there, ageing, maturing, and when it’s aged enough, it gets pumped up to the cloud where it becomes tier 2 reference data and, eventually, matures into tier 3 archive data. The cloud provides data protection, data distribution and archiving, with the cloud storage gateway becoming a data centre storage hub.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Leaked Intel roadmap’ promises… er, gear that could die after 7 months
But don’t worry, there’s still two others coming in spring 2014
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/intel_ssd_roadmappery/
Storage community website Myce has posted copies of what it claims are leaked Intel SSD roadmap slides, which show two data centre and one professional user SSD products coming in spring 2014.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The earth more than seven billion people to about 2.5 billion a nettinatiiveihin ie the y-generation.
The 18 and 34-year-old set is already in the workforce and set challenges for information management. More than ten years to get to the world of employed people in three-quarters of the y-generation.
CIO magazine, an international partner of IDG conducted a study of Y-generation. The results confirm the perceptions of nettinatiiveista.
96 per cent of the respondents have at least one mobile device connected to the Internet. The smartphone is 90 per cent, but the tablet device, only 52 per cent of the respondents.
The equipment is used all the time. 82 per cent of those surveyed have a mobile device available at all times.
Privacy is important to respondents. All of them were protected their privacy online in some way.
Web browsing on the divided opinions. Two out of three respondents had personal data or network behavior monitoring unpleasant
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/he+valloittavat+kohta+tyoelaman/a943496
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows XP’s death to cash in
Microsoft’s plan for Windows XP support to end next spring, has received IT services providers as well as competitors to invest in their own services marketing.
For example, HP peddling their customers Connected Backup 8.8 service at reduced prices. According to the company the backup system is a useful tool for large migrations performing organizations. HP promises that the service prevents data loss during migration, to speed up and facilitate the process and eliminates the need for cumbersome and costly migration tools.
The same marker is VMware, which sees the Windows XP at the end of a good opportunity to just buy a cloud desktop service desk One advertising.
Also, Google has been collecting points for the promise of the Chrome browser to the Windows XP version support yet, even after Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer browser support for the operating system runs on time. Analysts have questioned Google’s wooing users to switch to your ChromeOS system by making Chrome’s user interface familiar to wider audiences.
The most effective way XP exploiting is the European defense giant EADS subsidiary of Arkoon, which promises support for XP users who do not want to or can not upgrade their systems.
Microsoft does not intend to publish updates to the Windows XP system after April next year
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/windows+xpn+kuolemalla+rahastetaan/a952596
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you want an IT job you’ll need more than a degree, say top techies
Real world experience more highly valued, says survey
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/if_you_want_an_it_job_youll_need_more_than_a_degree_say_top_techies/
A degree is not enough to help hopeful youngsters drag themselves off the dole queue and into a plum tech job, according to a survey of IT bigwigs.
The employment site CWJobs asked 500 top tech titans about what they were looking for in a new recruit.
Some 60 per cent agreed with the statement that “degrees alone are not enough to help jobseekers break into the IT industry”.
Instead, aspiring IT bods were advised to take up vocational training courses, which were recommended by 76 per cent of the people who responded to the survey.
Richard Nott, director of CWJobs, said: “A shortfall in skilled professionals could have a big impact on Britain’s future as a key power within the technology sector. Whilst degrees undoubtedly form a solid theoretical foundation for professionals, 64 per cent of professionals working in the technology industry do not hold a degree themselves.
“It’s therefore important that alternate routes into the industry are encouraged,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Every man, woman and child in the UK paid HP £21 last year
Plus other fascinating nuggets we found when carving into UK.gov’s IT spending pie
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/11/12/hp_charges_every_briton_21_pounds/
The government spends billions of pounds on IT every year. While individual projects often make the news when investigated by auditors and select committees, the overall picture is less well-known.
But it IS big business – both because of how much is spent, but also because just a few big businesses suck up very large amounts of taxpayers’ money in this area.
In the 2012-13 financial year, the DWP spent £1.17bn across 19 IT and telecoms suppliers, according to the data it released under the Freedom of Information Act.
HP received £532.1m, 16 per cent of total spending with suppliers, for IT systems delivery of all kinds – including hosting, desktop services and application development.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft tarts up software licensing to fend off ‘a few clicks and a credit card’ rivals
‘Why do I need to speak to a rocket scientist every time I buy Microsoft?’
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/microsoft_licensing_overhaul/
Microsoft is trying to make the dark art of software licensing less complicated and more relevant to a cloudier world – but, as always, the devil will be in the detail.
The first signs of a Redmond overhaul came at the end of September when it canned Select Plus Agreement rebates for channel partners in favour of the Next Generation Volume Licensing programme.
More Reading
Germany: SAP’s software licensee conditions are INVALIDWindows 8.1: Read this BEFORE updating – especially you, IT admins
The Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) is the resulting offspring, which aims over time to consolidate all licenses onto a single master agreement, regardless of business size or type.
“Broader trends across the industry towards cloud-based subscription models and per-user licensing models – as opposed to the traditional per-device software licensing model – are creating more demand from end-users for meaningful models that reflect current usage,” he said.
The challenge, he added, will be to manage the new licenses alongside legacy agreements and hybrid infrastructures.
The consolidation approach from Microsoft should be “welcomed” said Rory Canavan, director of ITAM Services at Empowering Efficient IT, “however, also in need of a refresh is the manner by which Microsoft can accommodate transfers of licences between legal entities which is currently paper based and far too slow”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you want to buy Windows 7? I can not longer do it directly
Microsoft has stopped Windows 7 operating system sales: The world’s most popular operating system.
News of Windows 7 the end of the sales are spread all over the internet. The amendment relates to the Microsoft arrangement with the previous version of Windows sales as separate packages for sale can continue year after the release of the new version.
Many users would like to continue to get Windows 7, which is the world’s most popular operating system. According to figures from Net Applications for Windows 7 to use the proportion of the world is almost 47 per cent. Windows 8′s and 8.1 ‘s combined share of less than ten per cent.
With ordinary consumers have Windows 7 yet the acquisition of two possibilities.
The first is Windows 7′s acquisition of computer. These Windows 7 machines are still some available for sale. The operating system may be sold connected to computers until October next year.
Another option is to get a Windows 8.1 Pro version, which is intended for professional users. Pro version included in the so-called downgrade the opportunity , that is, the operating system can also be installed to replace the older version. Downgrade-option is used extensively in the companies.
The operating system update issue in the coming months currently a large number of PC users. Net Applications, Windows XP’s share of operating in the world is still more than 31 per cent. XP all the support – including security updates – run out on April 8 day.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/haluatko_ostaa_windows_7_n_ei_onnistu_enaa_suoraan
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm Introduces Its First 64-Bit Chip, Though This One Takes Aim at the Low End
http://allthingsd.com/20131209/qualcomm-introduces-its-first-64-bit-chip-though-this-one-takes-aim-at-the-low-end/
Qualcomm is detailing on Monday a new entry-level mobile processor that packs a number of high-end features.
The Snapdragon 410 is designed for phones that sell for $150 or less but includes, among other features, support for high-speed LTE networks and improved graphics. It is also the company’s first 64-bit-capable mobile chip.
Tomi Engdahl says:
More on Microsoft’s SKU-morphic Windows vision
http://www.zdnet.com/more-on-microsofts-sku-morphic-windows-vision-7000024092/
Summary: Microsoft’s plans for Windows SKUs is undergoing a transformation. Here’s the latest on what the Softies may be planning with new Windows versions, moving forward.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung squeezes 1TB into an mSATA SSD for Ultrabooks
http://www.geek.com/chips/samsung-squeezes-1tb-into-an-msata-ssd-for-ultrabooks-1579160/
If you own an Ultrabook or laptop that contains an SSD, chances are it uses the mSATA rather than SATA interface. mSATA drives are typically a quarter the size of a standard 2.5-inch SSD, which allows for much thinner devices. However, a smaller component also means limited storage space.
Samsung is upping the storage limitation imposed by the mSATA standard this week by introducing the first ever 1TB mSATA SSD.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix open sources its data traffic cop, Suro
http://gigaom.com/2013/12/09/netflix-open-sources-its-data-traffic-cop-suro/
Summary:
Netflix has open sourced a tool called Suro that collects event data from disparate application servers before sending them to other data platforms such as Hadoop and Elasticsearch. It’s more big data innovation that hopefully finds its way into the mainstream
Netflix’s various applications generate tens of billions of events per day, and Suro collects them all before sending them on their way. Most head to Hadoop (via Amazon S3) for batch processing, while others head to Druid and ElasticSearch (via Apache Kafka) for real-time analysis. According to the Netflix blog post explaining Suro (which goes into much more depth), the company is also looking at how it might use real-time processing engines such as Storm or Samza to perform machine learning on event data.
To anyone familiar with the big data space, the names of the various technologies at play here are probably associated to some degree with the companies that developed them. Netflix created Suro, LinkedIn created Kafka and Samza, Twitter (actually, Backtype, which Twitter acquired) created Storm, and Metamarkets (see disclosure) created Druid. Suro, the blog post’s authors acknowledged, is based on the Apache Chukwa project and is similar to Apache Flume (created by Hadoop vendor Cloudera) and Facebook’s Scribe. Hadoop, of course, was all but created at Yahoo and has since seen notable ecosystem contributions from all sorts of web companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fast-growing IT automation startup Opscode raises $32M, changes name to Chef
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/fastgrowing-automation-startup-opscode-raises-32m-chef/
Seattle entrepreneur Barry Crist likes to say that the best time to raise money is when you don’t really need it.
And that was certainly the case for Opscode, the fast-growing IT automation startup that today is announcing an oversubscribed $32 million venture round led by Scale Venture Partners and including investments from Citi Ventures, Battery Ventures, DFJ and Ignition. Total funding in the 100 person company, which expects to double its staff in the next year, now stands at $63 million.
As part of the funding, Opscode is changing its corporate name to mirror its wildly successful product, known as Chef.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Grace Hopper gave us COBOL, ‘debugging’ and inspiration. So Google gave her a Doodle
DISPLAY ‘Animated tribute to pioneer’. STOP RUN
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/09/computing_pioneer_grace_hopper_gets_birthday_doodle/
Google has created a homepage doodle to mark the 107th anniversary of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper’s birth.
A pioneering figure in the development of modern computing and programming theory, Hopper, born today in 1906, is credited with developing the programming language COBOL and working with many of the earliest computer systems.
During her time in the Navy, Hopper was one of the first people to program the enormous IBM-built calculator called the Harvard Mark I and its successors. And she famously popularized a phrase in the computing lexicon when a moth was found wedged in one of the system’s relays: she attached the offending insect to a fault report, describing her work as “debugging” the massive Mark II.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Moore’s Law blowout sale is ending, Broadcom’s CTO says
Regular cost declines with each new generation of silicon are coming to an end
http://www.itworld.com/hardware/385701/moores-law-blowout-sale-ending-broadcoms-cto-says
Tomi Engdahl says:
Obama Says Everyone Should Learn How to Hack
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/12/obama-code/
President Barack Obama kicked off Computer Science Education Week on Monday with a simple message: “Don’t just play on your phone. Program it.”
“Learning these skills isn’t just important for your future, it’s important for our country’s future,” Obama said in a YouTube video. “If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans like you to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything.”
The Computer Science Education Week is organized by Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding computer science education, along with Computing in the Core, a coalition of organizations that advocate computer science education. This year’s Computer Science Education Week is timed to coincide with the birthday of Grace Hopper, the United States Navy rear admiral who pioneered the field of computer science during and after World War II.
This year, Computer Science Education Week is pushing everyone to participate in a one-hour introduction to programming this week referred to as an “Hour of Code.” Any computer science teacher can create an Hour of Code tutorial, and the event organizers have provided a collection of tutorials aimed at different age groups and experience levels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CIOs Say Cost, Complexity Impede True Mobile Gains in Enterprise
http://www.cio.com/article/744246/CIOs_Say_Cost_Complexity_Impede_True_Mobile_Gains_in_Enterprise
A new survey of 300 CIOs found that while the majority of IT executives see real value in mobilizing existing enterprise apps or rolling out brand new mobile innovations, they also see the costs and complexity of these initiatives as real challenges.
Mobile Development Usually Siloed, Slowing Growth
“Part of the problem with mobile is that it is treated as a silo that, by nature, has to be different than existing IT investment. Therefore, there tends to be a raft of tactical mobile solutions deployed,” says Mobile Helix President Matt Bancroft. “Taking an overview that employees use applications in a range of different contexts to do the job from the desktop to the laptop to the tablet and to the smartphone can lead to better thought-through applications. The goal is to enable employees to work and be productive irrespective of location and device they are using.”
CIOs can further embrace mobile by taking a simpler approach, according to Bancroft.
“On the delivery side, IT must move away from delivering tactical solutions that are both mobile-specific and app-specific and therefore address very limited needs,” says Bancroft. “This is one big ingredient in the current cost/complexity recipe.”
Enterprise Apps Poised to Go Mobile
In the future, Bancroft says CIOs should expect to see more and more key mobile device features integrated with enterprise apps.
“For example, integrating location information into common enterprise application like CRM systems and contacts directories will allow employees to instantly find customers close to their current locations&or find colleagues that are physically close while in transit in order to schedule impromptu meetings to facilitate important discussion that need to take place on short notice,” Bancroft says.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data-hipsters favor magnetic tape: a cheaper and more durable storage
Magnetic tape has been declared the death of memory as a tool for decades, but forecasters are deluding themselves. Tape Sales this year turned a long time for growth.
Magnetic tape storage mass storage device in computers came into use as early as the early 1950s.
When the disk memory storage capability of the developed quickly and the price became cheaper, began in the 1980s in guessing the magnetic strip outgoing gradually completely
Tape sales began to decline, which has been going on at all times ever since. This year, the market research firm in Santa Clara , however, told a small increase in sales.
Twist to the back of the magnet of memory are some of the good properties of disk storage in comparison.
Large amounts of data storage is still cheaper on tape drive. A gigabyte of disk space costs ten cents, the price on tape is less than half of that.
Tape data also remains even decades, when the disc is spoken in the memory of years. However, the Dutch Twente University researchers recently reported the methodology used to maintain the data on the disc even millions of years, but this type of product on the shelf does not exist yet.
Norton Resources in a world threatened importance is also the fact that the destruction of the data from the disc is simpler than the same amount of data on the tape destruction.
Tape drives also evolving all the time, even if the disk storage has taken steps faster.
Have been put onto the tape for about 30 gigabits per square inch, which means a mile-long strip of 35-terabyte storage capacity.
It looks like the tape is a long time to save their own place in the world. Maintain the necessary information is stored in flash memories, often used for the data to disk, and the background material nature of the data on the tape.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/uutisia/datahipsterit+suosivat+taas+magneettinauhaa+halvempaa+ja+kestavampaa+tallennusta/a953087
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open source ‘wasn’t available’ two years ago, says Universal Credit chief
Howard Shiplee said that the welfare project will now be using open source and web-based tech
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3493090/open-source-wasnt-available-two-years-ago-says-universal-credit-chief/
“The current system for Universal Credit is a conventional system being developed on a waterfall approach. When you look at digital [the enhanced system], it’s very different – it relies not on large amounts of tin, black boxes, but uses open source and mechanisms on the web to store and access data,” Shiplee told MPs.
When asked why he didn’t adopt this approach two and a half years ago at the start of the project, Shiplee said: “Technology is moving very rapidly, such things weren’t available as they are today.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Makes Creating Online Exhibitions Easy For Anyone With Google Open Gallery
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/10/google-open-gallery/
Google has been working with museums to populate its Google Cultural Institute, an online collection of virtual exhibitions from around the world. Today, it’s opening up that project to anyone who wants to create an online exhibit can do so, from independent museums to individual artists. Google’s Open Gallery tool makes it possible, letting anyone upload videos, images and Street View content, and then combining that with text to publish an interactive guided tour through a collection of cultural artifacts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oracle showers gold on OpenStack, dreams of open-source splashback
Joins the Foundation – but where are the code contributions, Larry?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/11/oracle_openstack_foundation/
Oracle has started sponsoring an open-source cloud tech that it already uses within its commercial offerings, as the company tentatively embraces a market it once reckoned inconsequential.
The company announced on Tuesday that it had become a “Corporate Sponsor” of the OpenStack Foundation, following El Reg reporting in September that the company’s new public cloud was partly based on the software.
“Oracle is planning to integrate OpenStack cloud management components into Oracle Solaris, Oracle Linux, Oracle VM, Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance, Oracle Infrastructure as a Service, Oracle’s ZS3 Series, Axiom storage systems and StorageTek tape systems,” the company wrote.
It also aims to provide broad data compatibility between many of its storage and virtualization and compute services, and their OpenStack equivalents.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft might bring back the Start Menu in Windows 8.2
Codenamed ‘Threshold’, the update could also bring a merge of operating systems
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2318286/microsoft-might-bring-back-the-start-menu-in-windows-82
SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft reportedly is planning to bring back the Start Menu as we once knew it, in the Windows 8.2 service pack.
According to Winsupersite, Microsoft is planning the return of the Windows Start button under the codename “Threshold”, and this will be the first time we’ll see it in its original form since Windows 7.
Windows 8.1, which was released this October, brought back the Start button but not the full features of the Start Menu found in previous versions of the Windows operating system (OS).
Project Threshold is likely to arrive along with updates to all three Microsoft operating system families – Windows and Windows RT, Windows Phone and Xbox One. It’s also likely to come at the same time as a merge of Microsoft’s rather unsuccessful mobile OS Windows RT with Windows Phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 7 was more a reprieve – Microsoft has gone back on his speech
Microsoft last week announced pyörtänyt to your Windows 7 systems sales end, ZDNet reported . Last week, the company announced on their website that it intends to deny their partners to the Windows 7 system configurations, with sales for 2014 in late October.
Now, an indication of the date has been removed from the company’s website.
However, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 7 licenses no longer sell to consumers through retail sales since October of next year.
Service Pack 1 update with Windows 7 may be Microsoft’s full support for free until January 2015. Extended support, which includes, for example, free security updates will continue until 2020.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/windows+7+sai+lisaa+armonaikaa++microsoft+pyorsi+puheensa/a953293
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Data Complexity Blinding Your IT Decision-Making?
http://www.cio.com/article/744464/Is_Data_Complexity_Blinding_Your_IT_Decision_Making_
The ever-increasing complexity of data about IT environments is making it increasingly difficult for organizations to make effective IT decisions.
Is the complexity of your company’s data making it difficult to make effective IT decisions? If so, you’re not alone. Keeping the lights on and systems running while still finding the resources to innovate is a challenge for most IT organizations, and the growing complexity of data about IT environments is making that challenge nearly insurmountable for many.
According to a new study by Forrester Research, commissioned by Data as a Service (DaaS) company BDNA (creator of the Technopedia repository of information on enterprise hardware and software), 73 percent of high-level IT decision makers cite the complexity of data as the largest challenge in making effective IT decisions in the next 12 months.
“We’re a big company with lots of systems, and harmonization is a monumental task—taking inventory, what systems are out there, what validation state they’re in, what systems they can combine,”
There are two main drivers of the accelerating challenges around data complexity says BDNA CMO Mahesh Kumar: innovation and the Internet of Things.
Innovation by both an organization and its vendors (i.e., new products) and the introduction of new complex technologies like cloud, mobile and virtualization are add to the volume and complexity of data.
The addition of new connected technologies like wearable technology, vehicles and even buildings that are part of the Internet of Things will exacerbate the problem.
“Enterprises need to take a step back and honestly assess the magnitude of the problems that lie ahead,”
“Several years ago, outsourcing was going to reduce all the money we spend in IT,” Kumar says. “It really didn’t happen. Then virtualization was going to be the panacea. Cloud computing is it now. The thing that everyone is overlooking is that each of these endeavors is complicating the data behind it all. A lot of the efficiency you gained in virtualization is lost in trying to manage the data or the environment itself. You’re simplifying one aspect but complicating another. We believe it’s the data that’s getting so complicated right now that the benefits of innovation are getting delivered in a very localized fashion.”
As Kumar puts it, IT patterns are pretty consistent in a lot of different enterprises. Often it’s able to aggregate and normalize a majority of an organization’s data with very little effort and is then able to focus its attention on things unique to the engagement in question.
Once the data has been aggregated and normalized, it then appends rich market intelligence to the data.
“We have data that shows that the oldest 20 percent of the servers in a data center consume up to 40 percent of the power in that data center,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
People are interfaces
Lack of software interfaces give rise to a lot of manual medium-sized enterprises.
In particular, health care providers working systems used to monitor lacks an interface payroll systems. In addition, scheduling, and billing system no-interaction, for example, to force the workers to fill a variety of Excel spreadsheets. In practice, employees are often substitutes for the missing interfaces.
According to the report the company’s financial management the time it takes now to a large extent reconciliations, consolidate their IT projects, as well as problem-solving situations. The actual analysis and development of financial management can use only one-fifth of their working time
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/ihmisista+tehdaan+rajapintoja/a953288
Tomi Engdahl says:
UNSTOPPABLE data GROWTH in storage has … er, stopped
EMC remains dancing atop shrinking storage sales number-pile
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/11/disk_storage_market_shrinks/
The global disk storage market shrank 5.6 per cent from the third quarter last year to the third quarter this year, the third quarter of decline in a row.
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker says the third 2014 quarter saw total disk storage systems revenue of $7.44bn, compared to $7.88bn a year ago, and down by 4.1 per cent compared to the second 2013 quarter. If we abstract out external disk storage system revenues (the stuff not attached to servers) it fell 3.5 per cent over the same period, from $5.95bn to $5.75 billion.
It seems that unstoppable data growth has, well, stopped.
IDC’s storage research director, Eric Shephard, attributed the drop to: “reduced spending from the U.S. government, increased use of storage efficiency technologies, increased investment in public cloud capacity, and general price pressures associated with increased competitive environments.”
The Open SAN market declined by 6.1 per cent year over year during the quarter
Tomi Engdahl says:
How your data loss prevention plan is killing your business
Data stored factor? Repeat 1000 times
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/02/analysis_incredible_exploding_data_storage/
Are enterprises asking the right questions about data and its storage?
This may seem an unusual question – it should not be treated as an abstract issue
It is a mantra today that data is valuable. The chart below (from a Freeform Dynamics report entitled “Storage Everywhere and Anywhere”) shows how data found in 300 medium-sized enterprises continues to expand.
To support more and more data most enterprise IT employs specialists to plan, monitor and manage storage. With all the complexities of multi-tiering (primary, secondary, tertiary, tape, online, offline, etc.), plus performance, optimisation and compliance, it is not surprising that many organisations have had to invest in storage technologies to ensure data quality and accessibility. Indeed, most organisations gradually have had to add staffing as their data complexity has increased.
The operative word here is gradual. Remember that even mid-size enterprises can own 100s of terabytes (if not petabytes) of data. Storage has, therefore, become a discipline where the accepted wisdom is often that preserving many generations of data to ensure business continuity is almost more important than what this costs to achieve. This explains in part why enterprises spend so much — on staff as well as storage technologies.
Storage administrators do not set out to ‘over-store’, though this approach is no doubt backed up by compliance officers arguing that you cannot store a piece of data often enough. What has really occurred is that modern storage technologies have improved hugely in reliability but past storage practices, formulated when storage was not so reliable, have not kept pace.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NSA-proof Euro cloud gang: Cool idea, bro… until it turns into MARKET-EATING beast
Euro ‘IT Airbus’ could lead to ‘competition concerns’ – expert
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/04/european_it_airbus_could_lead_to_competition_concerns_says_expert/
The creation of a European “IT Airbus” could raise competition concerns within the EU, an expert has warned.
Some German politicians and lobbyists have been pushing for some of Europe’s technology companies to group together and create separate IT infrastructure from US-based or US-controlled systems. These calls have come in light of concerns about US intelligence agencies’ surveillance of data held by US technology companies.
“The consolidation of several European IT companies with the aim of closing itself off to the global market does not make any sense whatsoever,” Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-chief executive of SAP said, in a statement sent to Out-Law.com. “The consequences would be less competition, a slowdown of the pace of innovation, and ultimately less progress and lower economic growth. We need the exact opposite: a dynamic, open market environment, international talent, more young entrepreneurs and more ideas.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Xbox One Sales Hit 2 Million in Race to Catch Sony
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-11/microsoft-s-xbox-one-sales-hit-2-million-amid-race-to-catch-sony.html
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said sales of the new Xbox One video-game console reached more than 2 million in its first 18 days on the market, as the company vies to keep pace with Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 during the holiday season.
Sony said on Dec. 3 that it had sold 2.1 million of its machines since they went on sale Nov. 15 in North America.
“Sales of both platforms are basically on par with each other,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. in San Francisco. “Production seems to be roughly the same for both platforms and they’re both doing well at retail.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
For Steve Ballmer, a lasting touch on Microsoft
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/12/11/for-steve-ballmer-a-lasting-touch-on-microsoft/
As the world prepares for Microsoft to announce a new chief executive, we ask the company’s top executives — including the man himself — to take a look at the legacy Steve Ballmer leaves on the technology company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What might a new Windows Start Menu look like?
http://www.zdnet.com/what-might-a-new-windows-start-menu-look-like-7000024193/#.
Summary: Microsoft is believed to be planning to reintroduce a ‘mini’ Start Menu with a coming Windows release. But what will it look like?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft considers free versions of Windows Phone and Windows RT to battle Android
Redmond wants to counter Mountain View
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/11/5199446/microsoft-considers-free-versions-windows-phone-windows-rt
Microsoft is considering making Windows Phone and Windows RT available free of charge to device makers. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans have revealed to The Verge that free future versions are under serious consideration by OS chief Terry Myerson. We understand the plans aren’t fully set in stone, but they’re part of broader changes Myerson is planning for the future of Windows.
We’re told that the free versions of Windows RT and Windows Phone would likely be delivered with the Threshold range of updates. Microsoft currently licenses Windows RT and Windows Phone software to device makers, and the majority of its Windows revenue comes from OEMs who build systems based on Windows 8 and Windows RT. While Microsoft generates revenue from Windows Phone licenses, Nokia dominates shipments of Microsoft-powered handsets with over 80 percent market share. Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s phone business removes the largest source of potential Windows Phone license revenue.
We understand that any decision to axe the license fees for Windows Phone and Windows RT would be backed by a push for revenue from Microsoft’s apps and services. Microsoft has been experimenting with ads in Windows 8 apps, and any associated revenue from those apps and the company’s built-in Bing search results would help offset the lack of license fees. Microsoft would also push consumers to subscribe to services like SkyDrive, Office, and Skype for additional revenue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft introduces online tool for Gmail switchers
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-introduces-online-tool-for-gmail-switchers-7000024190/
Summary: A year after its rebranding of Hotmail as Outlook.com, Microsoft is taking aim at Gmail users with a new online service that simplifies the process of switching.
Microsoft rebooted its aging Hotmail franchise a year ago, giving it a new name, Outlook.com, as well as a spiffy new interface and all the bells and whistles you expect from a modern free email service.
As in so many other areas, Microsoft’s chief rival is a Google service: Outlook.com competes directly with Gmail, and the two services each have hundreds of millions of subscribers. Part of the goal of introducing Outlook.com was to lure back former Hotmail subscribers who had switched to Gmail since its launch almost a decade ago.
The trouble with switching email providers is that the process is technically daunting, especially for consumers whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of acronyms like POP and IMAP.
That’s the impetus behind Microsoft’s introduction today of an online service designed to make it easier to migrate from Gmail to Outlook.com. The service allows you to set up an Outlook.com account, connect it to an existing Gmail account using the secure OAuth protocol, then copy existing messages from Gmail to Outlook.com.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Valve: First version of SteamOS to be released to the masses on Friday
Release comes as Steam Machine prototypes ship to beta testers.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/12/valve-first-version-of-steamos-to-be-released-to-the-masses-on-friday/
PC gamers who are champing at the bit to build their very own “Steam Machines” won’t have to wait long to start tinkering, as Valve has revealed that its recently announced SteamOS will be available this Friday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your cloud provider may be lost
Up to a quarter of all cloud services for enterprises that will disappear in a few years. Research firm Gartner forecasts that up to one in four of the operator either stops or is acquired, the latter being the more general situation.
Cloud services providers are currently faced with the pressure to reduce prices, but the buyers should not be too hard to tighten the service providers, advises Gartner Data Center Conference in spoken analyst William Maurer.
“Buyers need to ensure that the service is successful. Also, they need to be given the opportunity to get the benefit of their investments. If the money is not available, soon there will be no service at all, “Maurer warns.
Cloud buyers seem to be well aware of the potential risks, as many as half of the Data Center Conference event participants saw the cloud services outsourcing “significant risks”.
Nevertheless, Gartner predicts that up to 80 percent of all organizations to use cloud services for end of this year.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/pilvitoimittajasi+voi+kadota/a953372
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does a Hybrid Offshore IT Outsourcing Model Make Sense for Your Company?
http://www.cio.com/article/744328/Does_a_Hybrid_Offshore_IT_Outsourcing_Model_Make_Sense_for_Your_Company_
In theory, a hybrid offshore deal combines the best of pure outsourcing and a captive IT services center. In reality, it’s more complicated — and not for everyone.
Companies have often used a mix of captive offshore centers and outsourcing deals with offshore service providers to meet their global IT and business process needs. In recent years, however, some mature outsourcing customers have embraced hybrid models that, theoretically, deliver the best of both worlds.
With the build-operate-transfer model, customers partner with an offshore outsourcer who builds a service center, runs it for specified number of years, and then transfers ownership to the customer.
The idea is that it’s a less risky entrée into the captive space; the customer pays the provider to do all the heavy lifting from construction and setup to hiring and training, paying an operating fee and eventually a buyout fee for those benefits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I want virtualisation on my iPhone, and I want it NOW
You’re holding the next virtual battleground in the palm of your hand
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/12/virtualisation_on_mobile_phones_is_coming/
By turning computers into software, virtualisation can increase security and free us from underlying complex hardware. Systems can be deployed in moments, and we’re offered much better efficiency and flexibility.
Which are all really good things, albeit things commonly associated with PCs and servers. But virtualisation would be just as good on smartphones. So where’s our virtual mobile? And what will it look like when it turns up?
ARM has had virtualisation extensions since ARMv7, but the ARM-powered world is nothing like the realm of x86.
Such a broad, well-documented set of standards makes it very possible for an x86 hypervisor to host any x86-compatible guest operating system or virtualised application efficiently.
Unfortunately, there’s no such common hardware underpinning for ARM systems.
SoC it to ‘em, that’s part of ARM’s charm
At the hardware level, different ARM platforms, even those running common operating systems, present wildly differing selections of chips, memory maps, and peripheral configurations. ARM defines the instruction set and a few basic bits and pieces, but the individual manufacturers of countless system-on-chips (SoCs) ultimately decide where all the magic control switches are hidden on their silicon.
There’s some consolidation going on, as industry economics push engineers into using truly all-in-one SoC designs such as Samsung’s Exynos series – and some SoC architects like keeping things the same across generations, as that reduces the amount of time needed to develop the software that runs on the things.
But that doesn’t mean you can download a virtualisation app for your phone that can easily boot a generic “ARM-compatible” OS on top of the operating system installed on the handset.
A stock x86-64 Linux, Windows or BSD will painlessly start up in your choice of x86 hypervisor, be it VirtualBox, KVM and so on. But you won’t be able to do the same on your mobile: you won’t be able to find a generic ARM version of those OSes that’ll Just Work™ in a generic ARM hypervisor app – because no one can decide on a common, generic platform*.
Which is not to say that there isn’t room for multiple kernels on today’s ARM-driven smartphones. ARM, the company, has been pushing its TrustZone concept as the preferred way it packages virtualisation. In short, it allows a secure OS to run separately from the operating system the user fiddles with.
But, as ARM told The Register, “the successful virtualization solution should be invisible to the consumer”. Indeed, the first mass-market phone to use this system was the Samsung Galaxy S3, which runs a secure microkernel called Mobicore and a handful of trustlets handling stuff like Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM (yes, your Android phone has Microsoft DRM in it). And it’s most certainly invisible to the consumer – if not to security researchers.
Virtualisation in the PC world means more freedom, not less: you want to run multiple operating systems, you want to make applications work where they weren’t intended, you want to move and multiply, backup and transfer, no matter what.
And this is coming, despite the general “look away, nothing to see” approach of much of the ARM virtualisation movement to date. It has to. With ARM and friends really very keen to see the architecture move into the data centre and cloud infrastructures – the biggest hive of virtual activity on the planet – a solid, bare-metal approach to proper full-fat virtualisation can’t come soon enough.
The big guns are already up and running. KVM and Xen have code to play with, if you’ve got the right development system or, at a push, the right Chromebook.
Things are more complicated on handsets. Both Samsung and VMware have dual persona systems, Knox and Horizon Workspace, that look a bit like virtualisation but are software-managed work and play environments that don’t rely on full-blown hypervisor control. But Samsung is also working with Red Bend, a mobile software management company with TRUE, a bare-metal hypervisor-based dual persona system, but that’s not part of Knox.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ballmer: ‘We made more money than almost anybody on the PLANET’
And then Apple came along, sighs Microsoft’s soon-to-be-ex-CEO
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/12/11/steve_ballmer_final_interview/
Outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have egg on his face when it comes to missteps like Windows Vista, but he has no regrets about what he saw as his real job at Redmond: pulling in profits.
“How do you make money? How do you make money? How do you make money?” Ballmer bellowed in a new interview with Mary Jo Foley for Fortune magazine. “That doesn’t mean nobody else ever thought about it, but ‘How do you make money?’ was what I got hired to do. I’ve always thought that way.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just when you were considering Red Hat Linux 6.5, here comes 7
Next beta release brings usual enterprise improvements
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/11/red_hat_enterprise_linux_7_beta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Want more software built for HANA? Cry us a River, SAP. Oh wait, you have
New dev language for polishing backends, plus HTML5 tools open-sourced
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/11/sap_cloud_river/
SAP is embracing open-source developers to promote its flagship HANA in-memory data and application architecture.
The software giant announced today SAP River, a hosted development environment for building native backend applications using HANA.
SAP River will be available worldwide on the company’s HANA Cloud Platform, aka HANA One on Amazon Web Services, and for on-premises installations for use on HANA SP7.