Links for June 7th through June 11th

A little something extra…

Someone told me recently that the energy management interfaces (typically access to such parameters over SNMP from a MIB, to jangle the wording around a bit) on most hardware was not good and far from open. To access the most of the information you’d need to monitor and then manage power use, you had to use more closed methods. Apple was praised as having “everything” available over SNMP, but not so much with others.

I’ve been looking to verify this. If it’s true, it’s (a.) a damn shame, and, (b.) something to encourage hardware makers to do.

What’s your take?

The Links

• Conviction and confusion in Microsoft's cloud strategy
• Microsoft's Web-based Office goes live
  "The Office Web Apps, as the programs are dubbed, are slimmed down versions of the desktop counterparts, allowing for document viewing, sharing, and lightweight editing. Consumers get free access to the tools, along with 25GB of storage as part of Windows Live, while businesses can also host their own version of the Web Apps using the latest version of Sharepoint. The main catch is that using the browser-based versions require an active Internet connection."
• Muglia on Google, Azure, and the future of Windows Server
  Excellent interview with Microsoft's Server & Tools head Bob Muglia on Microsoft cloud and server, mostly.
• Microsoft: Yes, customers, we will have VM support for Windows Azure
• Microsoft passes the 10,000 customer milestone with Azure
• HP to buy Linux OS and virtualisation software from Phoenix
  HP buying quick-boot embedded Linux distro – no doubt for mobile, tablets, and other non-desktop form factors of computers. Pair it with webOS, I guess.
• Feedback Loops
  Using feedback loops to make software better.
• The Reverse of Spam: WordPress Integration with SalesForce – ReadWriteCloud
• Apricorn NetDock gives desktop functionality to MacBook Air | Hard Drives | MacUser | Macworld
  Provides USB ports, 500 gig drive, and DVDR for your MacBook AIR. Nice desktop option.
• How COPPA Fails Parents, Educators, Youth
  Excellent framing of hacking around a regulation you don't like instead of complying: 'The notifications that say “You must be 13 years or older to use this service” and the pull-down menus that don’t allow you to indicate that you’re under 13 have nothing to do with whether or not a website is appropriate for a child; it has to do with whether or not the company thinks that it’s worth the effort to seek parental permission.'
• Microsoft Tech·Ed Online
  It's actually pretty damn nice that they put all the videos up on this. Also, it's fast! There's a video of a session I attended on Tuesday up there today, on Thursday.
• Adobe AIR 2 Now Available!
  AIR 2.0 is now out.
• Securing the Service Desk in the Cloud [PDF]
  BMC tells you why their service desk in the cloud is secure.
• Eclipse Community Survey Shows Open Source Dev Trends — Developer.com
  OS used for development and deployment, language choices, app servers (Tomcat leads), and version control systems (svn leads, git at around 7%).
• Donate Your Old Computer To Linux Against Poverty
  "On June 19, Linux Against Poverty is hosting an install fest, a one-day marathon of volunteers refitting old computers with a new operating system and getting them ready for donation."
• IBM IMPACT: Clouds on the Horizon
• Sapphire Now: Takeaways for Retailers
• Cisco launches line of desktop storage devices | Storage – InfoWorld
• WebM video lands in Firefox trunk
  More from the ever thrilling video codec patent wars…
• Proprietary software 'a waste of money', says EU commissioner
  "Many authorities have found themselves unintentionally locked into proprietary technology for decades and after a certain point that original choice becomes so ingrained that alternatives risk being systematically ignored," she told attendees. "That's a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford."
• Java fragmentation threatens as Oracle-Apache talks stall • The Register
• Keystone Light Unveils National Advertising Campaign
• Microsofts Flexible Data Center System, Kevin Timmons presents at DCD NY
• CA Selling off Information Governance Software to Autonomy
  "Narrowing down their portfolio is a good way to make sure they can do the multi-year work it'll take to fully deliver [on their cloud vision]," Coté said.
• Christopher Blizzard · intellectual honesty and html5
• Cisco NSS 300 Series Smart Storage – Data Sheet [Cisco Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage] – Cisco Systems
  Datasheet for the Cisco storage box that ships with WordPress and iTunes server.
• Cisco Launches Smart Storage For SMBs
  Let's be honest, normally storage is pretty boring. But this is interesting as this Cisco box ships with WordPress on it (and other apps, probably). List price starts at $913 – the $1,000 WordPress in a box machine? Also, it has "iTunes Server: Media Sharing, Smart Playlist" – wuh?
• App revenues to exceed $30bn by 2015
• Autonomy to Acquire CA Technologies Information Governance Business – CA Technologies
• Microsoft pushes ADFS 2.0, federated identity for cloud security
• iAd details emerge: big money, big companies
  While advertisers don't much info: (a.) they can't ignore the iPhone , and (b.) Google Ads aren't known for their transparency either.
• Mozilla man blasts Apple and Google for HTML5 abuse
• Microsoft launches free Office Web Apps
• Dell Precision Workstation Momentum Continues – Inside Enterprise IT – Blogs – Dell Community
  http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/b/inside-enterprise-it/archive/2010/06/08/dell-precision-workstation-momentum-continues.aspx
• PHP Fog – Bringing Cloud Computing Down to Earth
  "PHP Fog is like Heroku for PHP. But better. We will provide simple one-click installations of some of the most popular PHP applications out there."
• Investing in Russia? Better hire bodyguards and hunker down
• Invoke LiveCycle Data Services via SOAP
  "Join Platform Evangelist Duane Nickull as he further explores how a Java developer can work with LiveCycle Data Services and LC Enterprise Suite 2."
• What Could New-Era Corporate Systems Management Mean For The Home? And Vice Versa? [PDF]
  Presentation by Microsoft's Anders Vinberg on home computing mashing up with corp. IT and what IT staff need to do.
• EGL Development Tools Project
  IBM's modernization (updating COBOL et. al.) framework proposed as Eclipse Foundation project.
• Microsoft makes the business case for Windows Phone 7
• Conference keynotes, and the gulf between simple and complex
  "I won’t go on as the keynote is due to finish soon. But as well as 'star quality' or whatever else we feel should be on the keynote scorecard, let’s have a row for 'ability to deliver in existing environments.' Perhaps it is the absence of this as a metric which has led to so many great ideas, presented at keynotes past, turn into dust – or worse, be rolled out again a few years later under a new terminological banner. IT is complex, and will remain so however hard people try to present it as something that is becoming simpler. And the sooner industry figureheads can take this on board and talk about it accordingly, the better."

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