Tuesday, June 16, 2009 4:09 PM/EST
Brian Prince is reporting today that Google is considering enforcing SSL encryption by default for its Google Apps users. It's a good idea--as eWEEK Labs' own Andrew Garcia discussed recently, your on-the-go applications can have an awful lot to say about you.
In fact, enforcing HTTPS encryption for Google Apps by default is such a good idea that you shouldn't wait for Google to implement it. Whether you administer a Google Apps domain or are an individual user of the service, you should enable the mandatory SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption yourself, right now.
Here's how you do it:
Friday, March 27, 2009 2:36 PM/EST
The best and the worst attributes of Linux as a desktop operating system involve acquiring and maintaining software applications. For me, the positives outweigh the negatives, making Linux the best desktop operating system option I've encountered, and the one I choose at work and at home.
If Linux is to pile up more desktop adherents, the vendors and communities that back the open source platform need to work together to accentuate those positives and shrink down the negative aspects of getting and managing software on Linux.
Friday, February 20, 2009 1:05 PM/EST
Since it began life as a bare kernel intended for educational purposes, Linux has steadily accrued higher-level stack layers, which now include the capacity for hosting virtual instances of itself or other operating system environments. It stands to reason that Linux should continue scaling up, into a building block for any number of private, public or test clouds, each bearing their own set of the slight adaptations through which all technologies evolve.
As it turns out, the Linux world's most prominent distributor, Red Hat, is working toward bringing just such a reality to pass.
Monday, February 09, 2009 5:28 PM/EST
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 20 tech-related things, facts, habits or ideas about yourself. At the end, you will tag no one, since you should have forsworn chain letters years ago. However, if you want to share your tech idiosyncrasies, you can reach me at jbrooks@eweek.com or leave a comment below.
1. In 1998, I spent way too much of my meager salary on a Psion 5 handheld computer. The maddening orphaning of that sweet piece of hardware made me appreciate the vendor-emancipating goodness of open source platforms...
Monday, February 09, 2009 1:35 PM/EST
The desktop hasn't reached its end of life, but the desktop does appear to have shifted into maintenance mode. These days, the center of application innovation has moved to the Web.
What's missing from the desktop world, but alive and well on the Web, is the sort of fierce competition that arises from an open platform that is governed by standards but accessible to a diversity of hardware and software components at every layer of the stack.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 3:01 PM/EST
The problem with having a big and bountiful network of Twitter friends is that once your friends list grows beyond a fairly small number of people, it gets really tough to pay attention to what people are saying.
However, I think I have a plan for keeping Twitter useful to me, even as my friends list continues to grow.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:37 PM/EST
Among the rougher edges I've found during my recent OpenSolaris tests has been system's font rendering within the Firefox Web browser. Many of the pages I come across on the Internet render with chunky, pixelated looking fonts that remind me of Linux+Mozilla back when I was a fresher-faced analyst based out of eWEEK's one-time Medford location on the shores of the Mystic River.
Thursday, January 22, 2009 4:56 PM/EST
Should the government boost its use of open-source software? It seems obvious
that if the government can satisfy its IT needs more efficiently through
open source, it should do so.
However, as recent debates over industry bailouts and stimulus packages remind
us, government spending decisions must be guided by more than bargain-hunting concerns.
We must also consider what the impact of fewer government dollars will
be on the software industry, much of which is wedded to proprietary
licensing and business models.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:22 PM/EST
As somebody who enjoys blowing away his notebook computer to install a new operating system every six weeks or so, I have a special appreciation for the way that software as a service lets me leave my key applications and data, accessible and undisturbed, in the cloud.
At least, "accessible and undisturbed" describes the way that things are supposed to be with SAAS, when the chain of components from browser to operating system to client hardware to Internet connectivity to the black box of your SAAS provider's systems remains intact and performing as intended.
I just wrapped up a pair of stories in which I've attempted to flesh out the issues involved in achieving SAAS reliability, a combination of uptime and acceptable performance that can be much tougher to ensure with services that you don't directly control...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 4:34 PM/EST
For those who disagree with the case I've made for open-sourcing Windows, one of the more common points of contention involves a fear of forking--the idea that an open-source Windows would be too fragmented.
If Microsoft open-sourced its operating system, would the Windows world lose its center of gravity and go flying apart in all directions, tearing apart the PC ecosystem on which so many of us depend?
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