Gartner: "Windows is Collapsing; Microsoft Must Make Radical Changes"

Speaking at a Las Vegas conference Thursday, Gartner Research analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald described as "untenable" Microsoft's continuing challenges in developing future versions of the Windows operating system. Silver and Mac Donald predicted that if the Redmond, WA based company didn't make "radical change" to Windows soon, they risked becoming a "has-been."

In their presentation, the two analysts said Windows is "collapsing" and issued the following warning to Microsoft:

"Users want a smaller Windows that can run on low-priced -- and low-powered -- hardware. And increasingly, users work with "OS-agnostic applications," the two analysts said in their presentation. It takes too long for Microsoft to build the next version, the company is being beaten by others (GOOG) in the innovation arena, and in the future -- perhaps as soon as the next three years -- it's going to have trouble competing with Web applications and small, specialized devices."

We've been working on and talking about this concept for quite some time. We call it ZEROi.

Our experience around the use and implementation of Google Apps and other software as a service platforms confirms this. Why have lots of expensive hardware, bloated software and even more bloated operating systems when clean, simple, elegant and robust alternatives will do the job?

Don't wait for the consultants and pundits tell you what's next - give us a call here at SADA Systems at 818.766.2400 to see the future!

Google Eases POP3/IMAP Access for ISP's Moving Existing Users to Google Apps

The battle has been going on for some time now in terms of the legal requirements for ISP’s and other users of Google Apps Partner edition who need to migrate their existing users onto the Google Apps platform.

The biggest risk for any ISP? Churn. No matter how great the Google Apps platform is, ISPs fear that any change which requires a lot of action from their existing users will cause a great deal of frustration, lots of calls to the helpdesk, and ultimately, some percentage of their subscribers taking their business elsewhere. Existing subscribers who were accustomed to getting their email via POP3 or IMAP most likely would want to continue to do so, so it’s imperative that POP3/IMAP access is turned on for those subscribers *at the time migration* automatically!

Until yesterday, this was not possible, as Google required that each user agree to their Terms of Services and enable this function manually. I’m happy to announce, after lots of lobbying on the parts of customers, Partners like SADA, and many internal powers that be at Google, the U.S. Google legal team has finally approved a way for allow the Terms of Services to be rolled into the master agreement with the ISP, in which case, all existing users could have their POP3/IMAP activated at the time of provisioning/migration! This is a major victory, and very effective in reducing the risk of churn, and the complexity of the migration process – especially when you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of accounts.

Well done, Google team! You continue to show you understand the requirements and needs of your clients and your partners!

Vista, Mac Hacked in Pwn2Own Contest

This year CanSecWest, an annual security conference held in Vancouver, Canada, sponsored a security contest called "Pwn2Own" (pronounced p-own to own). The targets for this year's security specialists were three fully patched systems that included:

• A Sony Vaio VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10
• A Fujitsu U810 running Microsoft's Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 installed
• A fully patched and updated version of Mac's OSX running on a new MacBook Air.

A successful attack on any of the three came with a cash prize and the successful team got to keep the hacked machine.

The difficulty of the challenge changed over the course of the three day contest. On the first day the contestants were allowed to attack only the default installation of the operating system over a network. Starting on the second day of the contest the competitors were allowed to make attacks on the target systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in Internet browsers and email. The third and final day of the contest the competitors were allowed to make attacks on the target systems through any popular third-party application.

None of the competitors were able to successfully attack any of the three target systems on the first day. Indeed, according this article on The Register, none of the hackers even attempted to assault the systems on day one.

Of interest to the general Internet and computing community is that the first system to fall was the MacBook, which was running a fully patched version of the latest release of OS X (Leopard). Contestant Charlie Miller was able to bring down Apple's entry to the Pwn2Own contest in two minutes by exploiting a vulnerability in the Safari web browser. Miller took home both the MacBook Air and a $10,000 cash prize.

The target machine running Vista was the next machine to fall. It came down on the third day of the contest when Shane MaCaulay exploited a vulnerability in Adobe's Flash. No one was able to make a successful attack on the target machine running Ubuntu. MaCaulay went home with the Vaio and a cash prize of $5,000.

Does this mean that Mac, and more specifically Safari, is actually the most vulnerable machine out there? Does it mean that Linux, and specifically Ubuntu, is actually the most secure operating system? No, on both counts. It is important to remember that tests such as this are a necessary part of uncovering potentially threatening vulnerabilities. It is also important to note that malware threats such as those used by the competitors are commonplace on the Internet. No system, regardless of operating system, is invulnerable to attack. The best way to protect your sensitive information is to practice common sense in your browsing and email habits, and to keep your anti-virus and anti-spy programs up to date. Back up your data often and avoid opening email messages if you're uncertain of the source. These few simple tactics will help prevent your system from falling to malicious hackers.

New and Free - Google Email Uploader now supports Contacts.

Finally, a great, free tool from Google direct which supports migration of BOTH Contacts and Emails from Outlook.

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/email_uploader.html

If you combine this with the great new and free Calendar Sync tool, this is really all you need to move from Outlook to Google Apps (or, even just use both systems).

Well done, Google team!  This means that the Enterprise can rely less on third party applications for basic and fundamental requirements of moving from one platform onto Google Apps.  This should go a long way of increasing the comfort level for any organization wanting to make the move.  Oh, and it’s all free – which doesn’t hurt either.