Bill Lindner

Sun Microsystems Inc. agreed to acquire MySQL AB, developers of open source databases for about $1 billion -- about $800 million in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock and to assume about $200 million in options. The transaction is reportedly ... expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of this year. Sun Microsystems Inc., based in Santa Clara, CA said the acquisition accelerates its position in enterprise IT to now include the database market, saying MySQL "will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new ... (view more)

While in Las Vegas this past weekend, Gates boasted that Microsoft has served more than 100 million copies of Windows Vista since the OS was launched to consumers last January. At first 100 million sounds impressive, but in fact it indicates that ... Microsoft's once dominant grip on the operating system is loosening. Based on what Gates said, Windows Vista was only on 39% of PCs that shipped in 2007. Statements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by Bill Gates this week show that Windows Vista is proving far less popular with new PC buyers than Windows XP did during its first year in the ... (view more)

If you visited Sears.com or Kmart.com and agreed to join their "online community," you may have installed spyware without your knowledge. Late last year, Sears.com and Kmart.com reportedly began asking users if they wanted to participate in a ... "community" online -- presumably a community made up of Sears and Kmart partners. In late December, security researcher Benjamin Googins of Computer Associates noticed that the "community" actually installed software from comScore, a market research firm, in order to track the web activities of the site's visitors. Googins noted on his company' ... (view more)

In what's being called a big blow to a One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program designed to bring millions of low-cost laptop computers to children in developing countries, Intel Corp. has abandoned the program, citing disagreements with the ... organization. (Source: yahoo.com ) Intel joined the OLPC board in July, agreeing to contribute money and technical expertise. The fallout came a few days before the OLPC-designed laptop that uses an Intel chip was going to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy, the company quit the non-profit project and ... (view more)

CNET has an interesting article article praising the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), encouraging Windows Vista users to upgrade to Windows XP. In comparing Windows Vista to utter "crap," the report details what a substantial and ... extremely helpful upgrade Windows XP SP3 is -- going so far as to exclaim that it creates the best windows experience the author has ever had. Windows Vista still receives, for the most part, a lukewarm reception from consumers, even less from businesses. Windows Vista SP1 will be released early this year in hopes of gaining a greater customer base, but ... (view more)

A cryptographically flawed pseudo random number generator is reportedly being added to the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1, raising concerns about a new random-number standard that includes a slow, badly designed algorithm containing a ... backdoor for the National Security Agency (NSA). Cryptographers Dan Shumow and Niels Ferguson wrote a yp.to (PDF) that revealed flaws in Dual_EC_DRBG standard at the Crypto 2007 conference this past August. Dual_EC_DRBG is one of four approved random number generators that's three times slower than the others. The design is based on the mathematics of ... (view more)

A report from the Associate Press reveals details of a telephone survey of 1,623 Internet users conducted between Nov. 30, 2006 and Dec. 30, 2006 by Pew Internet and American Life Project showing that more Americans are Googling themselves, their ... friends, co-workers and romantic interests. According to the report from Pew, 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have searched for information about themselves through Google or another search engine, more than doubling the 22 percent of users from the previous survey conducted in 2002. About 60 percent of Internet users aren't worried about the ... (view more)

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has issued an hp.com warning regarding a gaping security hole that affects 82 laptop models running Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. According to reports from the company, the 'backdoor' could put users at risk for ... drive-by code execution attacks. (Source: zdnet.com ) The 82 laptop models are listed in the advisory from HP as open to the ActiveX vulnerability found on the HP Info Center software. A roadmap for exploiting the vulnerability is making rounds on the Internet. HP has rated the issue as "critical." To run the exploit, all the laptop owner has to to ... (view more)

Somewhat contrary to a report from eweek.com regarding the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Team's claim that Microsoft Vista is far more secure than Windows XP, Linux and Mac OS X, Microsoft has released a 47-page microsoft.com detailing Vista ... Service Pack 1 (SP1) which describes more than 300 hot fixes covering everything from data protection to video performance. (Source: informationweek.com ) Microsoft says the 47-page document is not exhaustive since they plan to add more fixes and patches to the final version of Vista SP1 before it's released to the public early next year. Among the ... (view more)

A new version of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is being rolled out with the first "service pack" for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008. The new WGA will employ nagging alerts on computers suspected of using pirated software instead ... of disabling programs on the suspected computer. (Source: nwsource.com ) When computer users activate Windows or try to download software from Microsoft's web site, WGA scans their system for signs of pirated software. If WGA finds an unauthorized copy of Windows, in many instances the computer becomes non-functional, only allowing a user to connect ... (view more)