ZDNet Must Read:
Google's Chrome OS: Will you give up desktop apps?
Google revealed a bevy of noteworthy developments for its Chrome OS. However, the success or failure of the Chrome OS will ride on whether users will give up desktop applications.... Continued »
Category: General
November 20th, 2009
Mozilla: Still too dependent on Google for revenue; Can it diversify?
Mozilla reported its 2008 audited financials and the organization behind the Firefox browser delivered consolidated revenue of $78.6 million, up 5 percent from 2007. And the revenue picture looks even better if you exclude the $7.8 million loss in Mozilla’s investment portfolio. The worry: Google, now a competitor, is still bankrolling Mozilla.
Mitchell Baker, chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, outlined the financial picture on her blog. There’s a lot of good stuff in there.
To wit:
- Mozilla funds 200 people working full or part-time on Mozilla.
- The company has outposts across the globe and Firefox comes in 70 languages.
- Mozilla is launching messaging software.
- And Firefox has 110 million daily users as of November.
The worry for me as a Mozilla fan: The foundation’s financial stability depends on Google. Baker noted that Mozilla is diversifying its revenue base somewhat, but not enough in my view. She notes on her blog the majority of Mozilla’s revenue “is generated from the search functionality in Mozilla Firefox from organizations such as Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and others.”
A trip to the actual audited PDF of Mozilla’s financial results and a note on “concentrations of risk” reveals:
Mozilla has a contract with a search engine provider for royalties which expires in November 2011. The contract was recently amended and extended to November 2011. Approximately 91% and 94% of Mozilla’s revenue for 2008 and 2007, respectively, was derived from this contract. The receivable from this search engine provider represented 80% and 86% of the December 31, 2008 and 207 outstanding receivables, respectively.
Obviously that search provider is Google. Simply put, Mozilla needs to diversify that revenue base from Google, which funds the foundation, but is increasingly a competitor. Having a rival fund your operations isn’t comfortable for any organization. Mozilla’s current situation is like Oracle accounting for the bulk SAP’s revenue. Or Microsoft providing most of Red Hat’s revenue. Or MySpace accounting for the majority of Facebook revenue. You get the idea.
Baker notes in her blog:
The past few years have seen an explosion of innovation and competition in web browsers, demonstrating their critical importance to the Internet experience and marking the success of our mission. In 2008 not only did Microsoft and Apple continue developing their web browsing products, but Google announced and released a web browser of its own. Competition, while uncomfortable, has benefited Mozilla, pushing us to work harder. Mozilla and Firefox continue to prosper, and to reflect our core values. We expect these competitive trends to continue, benefiting the entire Web.
Can Mozilla realistically diversify its revenue base away from Google? That’s unclear on many fronts. Google has the dominant market share in search. Yahoo is a non-factor. And Microsoft has the Bing search engine, but isn’t likely to support Firefox, a browser that competes (and often wins) against the software giant’s Internet Explorer.
Given that landscape Mozilla needs to get creative about that lucrative search box. Of Mozilla’s revenue generating partners only Amazon and eBay have the heft to really help diversify the foundation away from Google. Instead of a search box, perhaps Firefox needs a commerce box that would allow eBay and Amazon to pick up some of the revenue slack.
How do you think Mozilla can diversify away from Google?
November 20th, 2009
Research paints ugly IT employment picture: Almost 2 million jobs gone in 14 years
The Hackett Group reports that 300,000 IT jobs have disappeared in 2009, a spike that will translate into nearly 2 million eliminated technology positions between 2000 and 2014.
In a report, Hackett notes that IT is taking the brunt as companies cut back-office jobs. In 2009, 630,000 back office jobs will be lost at the world’s largest companies. Overall, there’s an “extended jobless recovery” in “IT, finance, procurement, HR, and other general and administrative (G&A) areas.
Hackett reports:
Longer-term, Hackett’s research estimates that nearly 3.6 million G&A jobs in North America and Europe will have been eliminated between 2000 and 2014. More than half of these losses, or nearly 2 million of these jobs, are in IT, making it the largest back office area to be hit by a wide margin.
Hackett researched 4,000 global companies with $1 billion in revenue.
Also see: TechRepublic’s IT Training Directory · Career management blog · IT leadership blog
The underlying trends behind these job losses are well known. In a nutshell, companies need to keep improving profit losses, jobs are going offshore, outsourcing and process improvements. In a report, Hackett writes:
Hackett’s analysis of close to 4,000 large (over $1 billion in revenue), publicly held companies reveals that as a result of efficiency gains made through automation, process improvement, outsourcing and offshoring, G&A functions cost approximately $333 billion less to run in 2007 than in 2000 for this group of companies. However, these improvements have come at the cost of 1.4 million net back-office G&A jobs at these companies. This job loss occurred despite average annual economic growth of 2.2% during this period, which offset a portion of the jobs eliminated through efficiency gains. On balance, the pre-crisis years showed a healthy trend for an increasingly knowledge-based, industrialized economy, modest net declines in lower-value-added jobs, and net creation of higher-value-added jobs elsewhere in the economy. However, the current economic downturn has disrupted this trend. In order to protect margins in the face of declining revenue, companies have been forced to accelerate G&A cost take-outs.
Here’s a chart of the IT job losses in context of other positions:
November 20th, 2009
CIO Sanity Savers: Five ways to become a more effective executive
This episode of CIO Sanity Savers looks at some time-tested tips that leaders can use to be more effective with their time.
November 20th, 2009
News to know: Google Chrome OS; Dell; AOL; Microsoft
Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage:
Google Chrome coverage:
- Ryan Naraine: Inside the Google Chrome OS security model
- Larry Dignan: Google’s Chrome OS: Will you give up d
esktop apps? - Sam Diaz: Live from Googleplex: Chrome OS details revealed
- Paula Rooney: Google makes Chrome OS open source today
- Jason Perlow: Chrome OS: Some Early Preview Videos
- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Google Chrome OS announcement
- Dana Blankenhorn: ChromeOS says tear down this network regulation wall
- Do we need a ‘beautiful mess’ in operating systems? Yup
- Gallery: Chrome OS revealed
- Google: Releasing the Chromium OS open source project
- Chrome OS documentation
Larry Dignan: Dell’s third quarter disappoints yet it sees IT demand improving
Dreamforce coverage:
- Jennifer Leggio: Hello Salesforce Chatter, so long Yammer?
- Brian Sommer: Dreamforce post#2: Chatter, Events, REA and the Future of Management
- Dennis Howlett: Chatter: Amplified
- How FinancialForce crushes it in SaaS accounting
New PDF downloads: Readers Choice: Top 25 lightweight apps
2009 Smartphone and Carrier Buying Guide
Larry Dignan: AOL: Will Armstrong get any honeymoon?
CNet News: Going rate for acquisitions at Intuit: $170 million
Unboxing the free PDC laptop (photos right)
A PDC peek at a Microsoft server container (photos)
Doug Hanchard: FCC releases broadband agenda
- Politician wants Twitter banned from use by….wait for it — politicians!
- FCC to review regulatory and legal impacts to cloud services and identity management
- FCC wants public comment on digital democracy - voting online
- Dignan: FAA hit with network glitch; Flight plans go manual
Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft still working on an Adobe Lightroom competitor, but with a social twist
Ryan Naraine: Microsoft finds security hole in Google Chrome Frame
Matthew Miller: Hands-on with the HTC HD2, most impressive Windows Mobile device to date
Crave: Livescribe pen gets an app store
UK police make Zeus Trojan arrests
TechCrunch: TweetPhoto CEO Says Too Much In Interview, Gets Fired. And That’s Just The Beginning…
Andrew Nusca: Users should be smug, and why the Apple iPhone makes you feel smarter
- Next-gen Flip mini camcorder to sport Wi-Fi; Cisco influence finally materializes
- Rachel King: More leaks on upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad X100e
- Amazon slashes price of Palm Pre to $79.99, Pixi to $24.99
Chris Jablonski: 7 things you should know about Body Area Networks (BANs)
Tom Foremski: Techmeme’s 6 editors signals potential trouble with Google PageRank
Garett Rogers: Chrome OS will give Microsoft a run for their money
Heather Clancy: Peoplesoft founder pops up at eMeter
Andrew Mager: What’s Happening Twitter? Slight languages changes have meaning
Jason Perlow: Messing around with the DROID camera
Sean Portnoy: Vizio announces Black Friday deals on its LCD HDTVs, Blu-ray player
Andrew Mager: Twitter adds “follow” buttons for your site
Tom Foremski: Rewarding tech that benefits humanity
Brian Sommer: Guerilla Marketing @ Dreamforce
Bloomberg: Facebook Common Stock Valuation Jumps 42% to $9.5 Billion
Kingsley-Hughes: GIMP dropped from default Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx installation
Christopher Dawson: How to add value, not just more tech, with Web 2.0+
Kingsley-Hughes: Apple Tablet - Unofficial, unannounced … but still delayed
- Jason O’Grady: iTablet goes OLED bumped until late 2010
Dan Kusnetzky: Delta Sonic Car Wash systems deploys Vyatta
Rooney: Terracotta buys Quartz
Gizmodo: Is There Any Point to the World’s First Wireless USB Drive?
Sam Diaz: AT&T launches Verizon counter-punch ad, keeps digging that hole
Microsoft designs laptop for developer giveaway
Harry Fuller: Alcohol and fuel cells in our future?
Dana Blankenhorn: MindTouch launches its open source cloud
November 19th, 2009
Dell's third quarter disappoints yet it sees IT demand improving
Dell’s fiscal third quarter financials fell well short of estimates across the board.
The company on Thursday reported third quarter net income of $337 million, or 17 cents a share. That tally is down 54 percent from a year ago. Wall Street was expecting earnings of 28 cents a share. Dell’s earnings included pre-tax expenses and other moving parts that knocked 6 cents a share off of the earnings sum. But even excluding those items, Dell fell short.
Revenue wasn’t much better relative to expectations. Dell reported revenue of $12.9 billion, down 15 percent from the $15.16 billion in the third quarter a year ago. Wall Street estimates: $13.18 billion.
Meanwhile, Dell’s gross margins fell short of targets too. Dell reported gross margin of 17.3 percent in its fiscal third quarter compared to Wall Street estimates calling for 18.19 percent.
Simply put, Dell is either taking hits in the PC market or analysts got way ahead of themselves predicting a rebound. In a presentation, Dell did note that pricing has been aggressive (statement).
On a conference call, Dell CFO Brian Gladden said:
Our third quarter reported revenue was adversely affected by the timing of the Windows 7 launch and our SMB and consumer businesses where we did build more backlog than normal due to the later quarter order dynamics. We expect our backlog to return to more normal levels in the fourth quarter.
For its part, Dell did say that things were improving sequentially. Shipments were flat sequentially and down 5 percent from a year ago.
Here’s Dell’s view of the PC market:
November 19th, 2009
Google's Chrome OS: Will you give up desktop apps?
Google on Thursday revealed a bevy of noteworthy developments for its Chrome OS. The company released the Chrome OS to the open source community, laid out its security vision and promised to deliver a simple operating system. However, the success or failure of the Chrome OS will ride on whether users will give up desktop applications.
Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management, outlined the Chrome OS, noted that “there’s a paradigm shift in computing” presumably to netbooks and noted:
“Every application is a Web application. There are no conventional desktop applications.”
And there’s the rub.
November 19th, 2009
Live from Googleplex: Chrome OS details revealed
I’m here at the Googleplex in Silicon Valley where the company has summoned the tech press for a briefing about Google Chrome OS. It’s always great coming to events at Google - very relaxed atmosphere, plenty of bright colors and, in this room, some cool tunes playing (I even heard some metal. It’s certainly not a Microsoft event.)
I’ll be offering a play-by-play of today’s news, so stick with me as I update this blog during the briefing.
10:00 am: We’ll be starting soon. Some attendees stuck in traffic. (The 101 Freeway in Mountain View was pretty solid considering we’re at the tail end of the morning commute.)
10:05 a.m.: Contrary to reports in blogosphere, Google VP Sundar Pichai says there will be no products today. No beta version. They’re a yeart away from release. Primary reason for here today is to announce open source of project. Code is open.
November 19th, 2009
AOL: Will Armstrong get any honeymoon?
AOL will lay off a third of its workforce once it is spun off as a public company. The company’s ad business is a wreck. And the best thing AOL has going for it is a subscription model (read dial-up) that’s also in decline. Welcome back to the big leagues where there may be little to no honeymoon for AOL Chief Tim Armstrong.
When Armstrong took over at AOL I figured it was a good risk-adjusted career move. AOL was a mess. Armstrong could swoop in with his Google Web cred and either fix it or say there’s only so much one guy can do.
We’ll see how all that goes after a few earnings conference calls as a public company. Simply put, the odds may be stacked against Armstrong and AOL’s success. Meanwhile, these questions about AOL will be raised quickly if shares swoon. How many Time Warner shareholders are really going to hold AOL shares after the Internet company is spun off? And will there be buyers of AOL shares on the other side of the transaction? Add it up and you have all the ingredients for a rocky road once AOL is spun off Dec. 9.
Let’s check out recent events (Techmeme):
November 19th, 2009
FAA hit with network glitch; Flight plans go manual
Updated: The Federal Aviation Authority is looking into a networking problem that threatens to delay flights across the U.S.
FAA spokesman Les Dorr said that there’s a “problem with the telecommunications network that’s affecting automated processing system” for things like flight plans.
“Anything controllers normally have done automatically have to be done manually,” said Dorr. Indeed, the FAA has a ground stop. Atlanta is the hub that appears to be most affected, reports CBS News.
According to the FAA, the problems reside in the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure, or FTI for short. FTI provides the voice, data, and video communications that support operations and mission support functions at more than 4,000 FAA and Department of Defense (DoD) facilities. Add it up and the network provides for more than 20,000 services such as switching and routing, network monitoring and control.
The FAA is currently investigating the problem. Dorr reiterated that the FAA can track planes with radar and have communication with pilots, but there’s an efficiency issue: You can only keep tabs on so many planes manually.
November 19th, 2009
Do we need a 'beautiful mess' in operating systems? Yup
Should PC makers and other hardware players each cook up their own operating systems in an effort to emulate Apple’s success? The short answer: Yes. The more operating systems the merrier we’ll be.
John Gruber at Daring Fireball makes the argument for a land of multiple operating systems and the idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Gruber recaps a post where he argued that there should be multiple operating systems to choose from and then addresses the feedback. The biggest argument for having 35 operating systems instead of three big ones (Windows, Mac and Linux) is the incompatibility argument.
The argument goes like this: It was a mess when there were a bunch of operating systems. Gruber’s reply:
First, it may have been a mess, but it was a beautiful mess. It was glorious. It was fun. The Apple II, the IBM PC and DOS, Commodore, Atari, Acorn. The TI-99/4A.
Gruber argues that we need a beautiful mess again in the PC market. I agree. After all, it’s been fun watching the smartphone industry, which is arguably an operating system mess. There’s Android, iPhone, Research in Motion, Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian. There’s no clear winner yet—and it’s fun. The OS scrum in the mobile industry is a beautiful mess.
Gruber’s argument to counter all the hand-wringing over a world with a bunch of operating systems: The Web is the glue that will bridge these operating systems. Many of the incompatibility root causes—file formats, various CPUs and storage set-ups—have been solved. Simply put, the industry is better equipped to allow 1,000 operating systems to bloom.
He’s right. And the multiple OS argument is something to keep in mind today as Google dishes out a little more information about the Chrome OS.
November 19th, 2009
AT&T launches Verizon counter-punch ad, keeps digging that hole
AT&T may have lost the legal battle with Verizon Wireless over a marketing campaign that compares the 3G coverage of both carriers. But that doesn’t mean AT&T is going away quietly.
The company is airing a commercial of its own, which features actor Luke Wilson inside what appears to be a warehouse, standing in front of an orange magnet board with a checklist that compares AT&T and Verizon. (Techmeme)
When it comes to the fastest 3G network, AT&T wins, Wilson says. If you want to talk and surf at the same time, AT&T wins. Who has the most popular smartphones? AT&T, of course, home of the iPhone. Who provides access to more than 100,000 apps? You guessed it. Then, in the category, he asks which has a name that starts with the letter V.
I’ll give AT&T credit for making the attempt to even the playing field but - and maybe this is just me - the commercial felt sort of low-budget, like something thrown together in haste. Cheap set. Cheap props. Marketing messages in place of statistics. What is it telling me that’s new? I’ve been hearing that “Nation’s fastest 3G network” for some time now. As far as that “talk and surf” feature, I’m assuming that refers to tethering - mostly because Mr. Wilson doesn’t elaborate - but last time I heard, AT&T still wasn’t offering that for the iPhone.
November 19th, 2009
The future of...remote controls
How often do you lose the TV remote? ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das explains why the days of digging under couch cushions may be numbered thanks to sensors and chips that can “see” and “understand” hand gestures.
November 18th, 2009
Dreamforce: Benioff introduces Chatter
At Dreamforce Global Gathering 2009 in San Francisco, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and technology head Parker Harris show attendees Chatter, a new collaboration and social media tool built for the enterprise. Benioff says the new tool will leverage social-networking models and bring them into a secure and private cloud where people, content, and applications will have profile feeds and groups.
November 18th, 2009
Sony in danger of fumbling its big e-reader shot
Sony says it can’t guarantee shipments for its latest e-readers for the holidays and that could be a big issue as it tries to compete with Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s nook.
Here’s all you need to see from the SonyStyle store:
When Sony launched its latest e-readers in August the company said it would be set to meet holiday demand. Now that the demand is here Sony isn’t so sure about the supply.
Also: Sony Reader Daily Edition available for pre-order now; unclear when you’ll get it
Barnes & Noble is also cutting it close for Christmas deliveries, but says it can hit the Dec. 18 shipment date.
If Sony and Barnes & Noble struggle it will be a big win for Amazon’s Kindle.
Related: Retail distribution may tip e-reader race; Barnes & Noble rolls out Nook
November 18th, 2009
IBM makes progress toward 'thinking' computing system
IBM said Wednesday that it is making progress toward cooking up a computer system that emulates the human brain and simulates abilities for sensation, perception, interaction and cognition. The end goal: Create a computing system that thinks like the human brain.
In addition, IBM announced that this “large-scale cortical simulation” and the algorithm behind it rivals the brain’s power, energy consumption and size.
A new algorithm, dubbed Blue Matter, was developed with Stanford University and maps and measures all the connections in a brain. Blue Matter rides on IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputing architecture. There’s still some work to do though: IBM’s system thus far can emulate the brain of a cat, but that’s progress over previous efforts.
November 18th, 2009
Yahoo's dwindling search share: Time to panic?
Microsoft’s Bing search engine continues to grab market share from Yahoo in a perverse dance before these two companies partner in an attempt to conquer Google.
The latest comScore stats tell the tale. Simply put, Microsoft has nearly garnered 10 percent market share as Yahoo gives ground monthly. Google continues to gain share.
Now compare this to the picture at the end of 2008:
The twisted part: Microsoft and Yahoo are future partners on search (assuming regulators play along). 
The companies announced in late July that Yahoo would outsource search to Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz looked like long lost college pals.
Since then, Microsoft has systematically grabbed share from Yahoo. It appears that Microsoft will grab its search share with or without Yahoo. And if Microsoft acquires Ask.com, which may be on the block, the software giant picks up more share. Bottom line: Microsoft
has played the Bing marketing game well. By portraying Bing as a rival to Google it has crowded out the No. 2 player—Yahoo.
Is it time for Yahoo to hit the panic button? Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay addresses the issue in a research note Wednesday.
At a high-level Lindsay reckons:
- Since the Yahoo-Microsoft deal was negotiated Microsoft has grabbed 130 basis points of U.S. search queries.
- 18 percent market share for Yahoo is an unprecedented low.
- Each 100 basis points of share loss equals a penny of earnings per share.
- Yahoo’s 18 percent market share in search is worth $6 per share to investors.
- Yahoo’s search share could fall nearly 4 points before the deal closes.
Lindsay writes:
The deal structure gives Microsoft a perverse incentive to try and gain search share from Yahoo! rather than Google. As Microsoft cranks up its marketing engine to promote trial of Bing, the player it seems to be hurting most is Yahoo! followed at some distance by AOL. Whether this is a deliberate tactic by Microsoft (which we think unlikely) or not, the 130 bps of search share lost by Yahoo! to Bing we estimate has already cost Yahoo! shareholders $0.40/per share.
Even with all of those moving parts, Lindsay says that the financial impact isn’t as severe as some folks fear. Yahoo’s owned and operated sites carry the day. Simply put, Yahoo is more destination than search player.
Nevertheless, Yahoo is in a dangerous limbo here. Yahoo’s search team is more likely to be focused on sending resumes than advancing the ball. Advertisers are holding out for the deal to close before picking sides and they’re likely to go to the alpha male in the Microhoo deal—Microsoft.
And the biggest problem: Google isn’t standing still. Google is ramping up its mobile features and adding features and functionality at a rapid clip.
Also: Yahoo, Microsoft extend negotiations for search pact
- Yahoo: Major businesses have stabilized; update on Microsoft deal
- Yahoo pays its ‘technical debt’ with IT overhaul
- Yahoo’s search strategy: We’re not fighting “the megawatt war”
- Yahoo-Microsoft deal: Details from the SEC filing
- Ballmer on the Microsoft-Yahoo deal: ‘Nobody gets it’
- Microsoft-Yahoo: Gauging the IT integration risks
- It’s official: Microsoft-Yahoo ink 10-year search pact; Regulator scrum begins
November 18th, 2009
The Big Question podcast: Handicapping the Verizon vs. AT&T marketing war
In this episode of The Big Question, Jason Hiner, Andrew Nusca and I handicap the entertaining marketing scrum between Verizon and AT&T. Who’s right?
The Big Question is a joint production from ZDNet and TechRepublic.
You can play this 18-minute episode from the Flash-based player at the top of the page or:
Stories discussed in this episode:
- AT&T sues Verizon Wireless, calls map ad “misleading” but doesn’t dispute accuracy (ZDNet)
- Verizon to AT&T: ‘Our ads are true and the truth hurts’ (ZDNet)
- Memo to AT&T: When you’re in a hole, stop digging (ZDNet)
- AT&T: The iPhone’s anchor (ZDNet)
- Verizon Droid: Doesn’t match iPhone, but brings Android out of beta (TechRepublic)
- With Motorola Droid, Verizon puts doubts about Google Android platform to rest (ZDNet)
November 18th, 2009
TR Dojo: Common habits of superstitious computer users
From avoiding upgrades to refusing reboot requests, Bill Detwiler takes a light-hearted look at superstitious end-user habits IT pros should debunk. Once you’ve watched this TR Dojo video, you can find a link to the original TechRepublic article and print the tip from our TR Dojo Blog.
November 18th, 2009
News to know: Chrome OS; IE 9; Salesforce; Scareware
Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage:
Larry Dignan: Google to demo Chrome OS; Detail launch plans
Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft to share some details on IE 9 at PDC show this week
Dancho Danchev: Thousands of web sites compromised, redirect to scareware
Larry Dignan: Salesforce delivers solid quarter; Wall Street wanted more
John Morris: New ultra-thin laptops ready to catch on?
Sam Diaz: AT&T upgrades 3G in SF Bay Area; forgets Silicon Valley is part of region
- Apple’s app approval revolt: Will it matter? Maybe
- Ring Central: a virtual phone system for a 21st Century workforce
Gallery: 
Cricket Captr
Andrew Nusca: Black Friday ‘09: Motorola Cliq, $79; Samsung 50″ plasma HDTV, $699; Sony 15″ dual core laptop, $399
- Hitachi debuts 2TB SimpleDrive; SimpleTech Pro, Duo Pro drives
- Microsoft, former employee settle over spying claims
Christopher Dawson: OpenSUSE Education announces Li-f-e 11.2
Mary Jo Foley: Three new codenames and how they fit into Microsoft’s cloud vision
Matthew Miller: Microsoft may have blown opportunities, but all hope is not lost
- David Morgenstern: Microsoft offers Office 2008 promotion for the holidays
Sam Diaz: Riverbed announces plans for virtual appliance to accelerate, optimize cloud
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: HP Pavilion Elite owner resorts to lawsuit over ‘inherently defective’ PC
- Apple’s “force fed ads” patent more likely related to content, not hardware
- GeForce GT 240 - NVIDIA’s sub-$100 DirectX 10.1 graphics card
Network World: Palm gives up. Latest WebOS update for the Palm Pre lacks iTunes support
- Digital Daily: Palm Smartphone From Verizon by Early 2010
Smart Planet: FedEx launches SenseAware: Collaboration meets GPS meets sensory data
- Clean, sustainable hydrogen from algae could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil
- Ensuring that there’s water, water everywhere
Joe McKendrick: SOA promotes a sea change for the US Coast Guard
Tom Foremski: Tibco: What’s next? - moving beyond real-time IT
Brian Sommer: Inappropriate Performance Review Phrases (We’d All Like to Use)
David Morgenstern: Adding a Wizard to your Magic Mouse
Garett Rogers: Google Image Swirl: Looks neat, but useless
TechCrunch: MySpace Close To Acquiring iMeem
Zack Whittaker: The weirdest Easter egg ever seen on Facebook
Rachel King: Barnes & Noble Nook to make debut November 30?
Samsung upgrading its UbiCell CDMA base station to 3G next year
Heather Clancy: Your tech cast-offs could benefit new project in Tanzania
CNET: The most successful Web scam ever?
TechRepublic: Know your Windows Server 2008 R2 deployment options
CNet News: AdMob brings interactive video ads to iPhone
Doug Hanchard: Internet Governance Forum goes to Egypt and hits a few snags
- The Queen could better manage security of personal information than civil servants are
- Do former CEOs make better politicians than career diplomats?
Ad Age: Why News Corp. and Murdoch Won’t Quit Google
Sean Portnoy: Wal-mart Black Friday deals on HDTVs, Blu-ray players begin to leak online
Dana Blankenhorn: Keep your genes to yourself after this weekend
- Five ways Android could get into trouble
- What a decade taught Larry Augustin
- The emergency room myth busted
Adobe releases Flash, AIR betas; Gauging the potential of multi-touch on the desktop
Gallery: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Kingsley-Hughes: Dance Microsoft Store employees, dance!
Paul Allen diagnosed with cancer
Countries engaging in Cyber Cold War
Harry Fuller: Cap and trade controversial in Australia
IBM researchers speed up medical diagnostic testing via chip
November 17th, 2009
Google to demo Chrome OS; Detail launch plans
Google on Thursday will give a technical update on its Chrome OS.
The company is holding an event at its Mountain View campus. The event will be “a technical announcement,” but Google will be showing a few demos as well as detailing its launch plans for next year.
The Chrome OS is in its infancy, but there has been a lot of buzz around a potential launch. At the event, Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management, and Matthew Papakipos, Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS, will be talking up reporters.
Garett Rogers has wondered if launching a bare bones preview of the Chrome OS is a concern. He noted:
The initial release of Chrome OS will likely be very bare-bones, bordering on useless — but depending on what kind of feedback they get, it may grow rapidly. The “release early and often” mantra adopted by many software companies that use agile practices can be extremely dangerous, however.
Also: Chrome OS: 3 reasons it matters, 4 reasons it’s irrelevant
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
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