News and analysis to 21st March 2003
US army under
attack
A vulnerability in Microsoft’s web server software was
discovered recently when one of the US military’s servers was compromised. This
‘hole’ enables unauthorised users to take complete control of the server. The
recent incident involved an ‘uninvited guest’ using the server in question to
build a map of the network on which it resided. Let’s hope that the much-touted
‘smart bombs’ are more resilient to hack attacks.
EDS suffers brownout
Outsourcing giant EDS has had a change at the helm in an
attempt to draw a line under what for them has been a terrible year. Heavy
exposure to Enron and WorldCom, coupled with credit rating drops and profit
warnings has led to CEO Dick Brown having more free time. He is replaced by
Michael Jordan, ex CEO of CBS, and Jeffrey Heller, ex vice chairman of EDS. Up
until very recently Mr Heller thought he had hung up his Montblanc for
good.
Penguin attacks Windows
Open source operating system Linux is taking share from both
Unix and Microsoft Windows according to Evans Data Corp. This contradicts
Microsoft’s assertion that Linux is growing at the expense of just Unix.
Specifically 52% of developers now using Linux were Windows based. 30% were
previously Unix based. From the Unix community Sun Microsystems’s Solaris led
the attrition rates with 9%. In summary Linux is more than a Unix replacement.
Symbian’s wild
030303 marked the arrival of Hutchison’s ‘3’ 3G wireless
service in the UK and Italy. Shortly afterwards came the phones needed to use
the service. The phones provided by Motorola are based on the Symbian
consortium’s SymbianOS operating system, which is based on that of erstwhile UK
palmtop maker Psion. Symbian comprises many of the key players in the wireless
marketplace, but it has been slow to make an impact in the market. This is a
critical launch for Symbian as Motorola is also exploring PalmOS and Linux as
handset platforms. Given that Microsoft is also emerging as a player in the
wireless jungle it will be interesting to see how Symbian’s platform fares in
the wild.
WritedownCom
Congratulations to Chapter 11 dweller WorldCom in setting a
new US record – ‘Biggest write-off in US business history’. Their balance sheet
is now $80bn lighter. This perhaps reflects the general drop in value of telcos
since the ‘heady nineties’.
Storm in a coffee cup
The private battle between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems
over the latter’s Java programming languages rages on. Microsoft is keen to
starve the platform independent (ie. not locked to Windows) developers’ tool of
oxygen. To that end it has excluded the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from its
XP operating system. Sun has played the antitrust card and is looking for $1bn
in damages. It has successfully obtained an injunction against Microsoft
forcing it to include the JRE. Unsurprisingly MS is appealing and suggests that
the Court waits to see if Sun will be materially affected by the current
arrangement before an injunction is served. Sun not unreasonably suggests that
by that point the damage will be irreparable and thus the injunction needs to
be immediate. Microsoft does not need to win this case. It simply needs to draw
it out long enough to raise a question mark over Java’s future.
CIO – More for less
Research firm Gartner concludes that CIOs are under
unprecedented pressure to achieve more with less. They propose that key areas
for CIO attention are - building
credibility, configuring a business/IT partnership, synchronising IT-enabled
business investments. And to do all of
this with IT budgets that are likely to remain flat in 2003.
Big Mac – Now with Intel inside
Fast-food burger house MacDonald’s is offering wireless
Internet access in ten of its New York outlets. The first hour comes free with
a combination meal. Subsequent hours are charged at $3. Intel is providing the
wi-fi wireless hotspot technology. This coincides with the launch of Intel’s
Centrino wireless notebook chip, by which I mean the processor, not the Big Mac
accessory.
