Scrum it is, so what are the odds

Looks like Larry at ZDNet likes my pick for the sport so Microhoo scrum it is. So that gives us a name for this match. Now I just need some artistic talent to do justice to a good cover for the scorecard. Should we pick colors for the teams, who is the home team. Let's have some fun with this.

As far as odds go I've had no luck finding any listing on that from the betting parlors. I've heard you can get odds on most anything in Vegas, let me know if you find odds posted. The best I've been able to find on odds is this post from MSN Money saying the probability is 55% that Microsoft will win. Longer term and for the really big money what are the odds Microhoo will win against Google and which stock should you buy.

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Google plans for bigger role in Microhoo scrum by ZDNet's Larry Dignan -- Google has hired Frank Quattrone, a long-time Silicon Valley investment banker, and his firm Qatalyst as an adviser. Hiring Quattrone indicates that Google has no plans to let go quietly as Microsoft makes its play for Yahoo. According to the New York Times’ DealBook blog, Google has retained Quattrone’s services. Quattrone, a controversial figure, recently launched [...]

Yahoo going critical

Couldn't resist forwarding the post below from ZDNet, the title caught my eye immediately. If you need a tech soap opera to watch or will this be a drama to entertain you this year then stay tuned, Yahoo, Microsoft and Google are continuing to write the script. Then as I'm writing this post I see this from GigaOm which calls the Yahoo deal with Google "Sleeping with the Enemy", ah the headlines. Oh and the cast of characters is growing according to the GigaOm article now AOL is in the mix. Definitely going to need a scorecard to keep track of the players in this ballgame. Another update now Microsoft is trying to work a deal with News Corp.. Also let's not forget another interested player who may join the mix DOJ or at least Microsoft is bringing up antitrust ramifications, how ironic. So place your bets on who is going to win, is anyone giving odds on who will win this I wonder.

Pass on your favorite headline for the Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL, News Corp. scrum.

(pictures courtesy Wikipedia)

Yahoo goes nuclear vs. Microsoft: Inks limited Google ad deal; Microsoft fires back by ZDNet's Larry Dignan -- Update: Yahoo hit that big red button that could nuke any potential merger with Microsoft (or at least raise the price): An ad deal with Google. As first reported in The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo has launched plans to carry search advertising from Google. The move is a “test” at this point, but could evolve into [...]

PWN2OWN - Apple is now the target

Apple Macs have in the past been perceived as more secure than Microsoft Windows systems and depending on what you read and who did the tests you might have been able to make that argument. Well I think the PWN2OWN contest from CanSecWest last week and last years month of Apple exploits shows that Mac owners just like Windows owners need to keep their systems current on patches. Also with Apples increased market share the size of the bullseye on Apple is growing. The problem I think for Apple is first having to admit their systems need frequent patching just like Windows machines. But a bigger problem for Apple and Microsoft users in general is finding out about patches and then the real killer is getting people to take the time to install the patches once they are aware of them. For Microsoft products you have the Microsoft Update tool which helps users find and if you let it automatically install patches. But the problem is your average Windows machine has lots of other non-Microsoft software on it and Microsoft Update does little to help you with non-Microsoft software. So here is where a free tool that is currently in beta from Secunia called PSI (Personal Software Inspector) helps you find most of your unpatched software. PSI continually scans your Windows PC for installed software and then lets you know if patches are needed and where you can download the patches from, no it will not automatically install patches and probably never will . Now if Microsoft and Secunia would just team up and make PSI part of Microsoft Update so that all Windows users would be more aware of the all the needed patches that would be progress. For Apple owners tools that accomplish what PSI does are also needed and hopefully are a priority for Apple. Overall both Apple and Microsoft need to keep improving their patch management tools so users can easily keep all of their software patched not just the software from the OS vendor. Also scanning for patches needs to be a free tool that is part of the OS, not another paid subscription tool like anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc.. Otherwise most users will not take the time to install a free tool and forget it if you expect most consumers to spend money for a patch management tool.

It's the Browser not the OS anymore

After seeing a post on Safari for Windows at Because I said So and now this post on the AT&T Pogo browser at Techcrunch I started thinking. What is Apple thinking and especially AT&T what am I missing, why would these large Internet players want to get into the middle of the desktop browser wars. Well It's the Browser not the OS anymore, if you can own the browser which is where many of us live, you own the user for the near future. So what better way to do that then to have a browser that is as similar as possible on your desktop and your PDA/phone. Speaking of the PDA you have browser wars heating up there also. You have a private beta of the Skyfire browser for Windows Mobile and eventually Symbian, next is Firefox Mobile which is suppose to be out sometime this year. Then there is Opera which has a browser version for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile and many phones. But what about Microsoft and IE, IE for Mac had support discontinued in 2006 and Microsoft has never had a direct Linux version. But there is IEs 4 Linux which allows you to run IE5 through IE7 on Linux. So one question is will Microsoft sit around while Apple moves in on Windows with Safari or will Microsoft buy what it needs to fight on all fronts in this round of browser wars. The other question is what will Microsoft arch rival Google do, is Google working on developing a browser from scratch, that doesn't seem to be there style based on what I read. Instead after reading this article at Read WriteWeb about Google and Opera, you wonder if Google is now going after Opera or still working on Firefox or maybe Google buys both Opera and Firefox to keep them from Microsoft. Add it all up and this year looks to be very exciting in the browser world.

Let me know who else we should add to the scorecard I'm sure I have missed some of the players.

Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 performance

You probably know that Microsoft has SP1 in the works for Vista and what many people are hoping for is improved performance. My understanding from the testing that Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet has done is SP1 has improved performance in Vista SP1 but when compared to XP SP2 well XP is still the winner. XP was the winner in 11 of 15 tests and 2 other tests where a tie with Vista SP1 only winning 2 of the 15 tests. So here are my recommendations -

1. If you have an older PC (2.5 Ghz or slower with less than 1GB memory) running Windows XP don't even think about upgrading to Vista.
   
2. If your going to Vista get SP1.
   
3. If you have a newer PC or are buying a new PC get a minimum of 1GB of memory 2GB is preferable for Vista.
4. If your big on running games on your system make sure you get current video card drivers there where significant issues with early versions on Vista.
5. If your buying a new PC buy it before June and get Windows XP (after June Windows XP will no longer be available unless Microsoft changes there mind).
6. Wait for Vista SP2 maybe by then Vista performance will be on par with XP.

Following are links to the ZDNet articles and benchmarks on Vista and XP performance. Also here is a detailed article from Mark Russinovich at Microsoft giving background on how Vista SP1 file copy performance was improved.

Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 - Benchmarked by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- Over the past few days I posted two sets of benchmarks comparing Windows Vista RTM with Vista SP1. These posts generated a lot of feedback, and from reading this feedback it's clear that what many people are really interested in is not the performance differences between Vista RTM and Vista SP1, but between Vista SP1 and XP SP2. How does Windows Vista SP1 compare to Windows XP SP2? Read on ...

Vista SP1 - The promised performance gains are there by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- People are very anxious to know whether Windows Vista SP1 brings with it any noticeable performance gains when carrying out day to day tasks. My preliminary results seem to indicate that SP1 offers measurable benefits when carrying out a variety of tasks.

Microsoft buying Yahoo deal review at SEO Blog

If your looking for a good article outlining some of the details of Microsoft buying Yahoo check out this article at SEO Blog by Jim Hedger. The article has a good metaphor of Microsoft buying an aircraft carrier so assuming Microsoft is successful acquiring Yahoo, the first question is will Microsoft be able to drive there new boat. But more important assuming they can drive the boat will this aircraft carrier add enough firepower to the Microsoft fleet to defeat the current master of the search seas Google. Considering the amount of time it will take for Microsoft to get control of the boat, Google's actions during the next year or more will be of great interest.

OpenID is coming so get a Paypal Security Key

OpenID = one logonid + one password to access any site supporting the OpenID standard.

If you have not heard of OpenID start paying attention when you do. OpenID is a open source sign-on standard that has been under development for awhile and now appears to be getting ready for prime time. According to a PCWorld article last week Yahoo is close to announcing support for OpenID. In addition according to TechCrunch UK Google, IBM and VeriSign are in final talks with the OpenID foundation. Microsoft and AOL have also previously committed to support OpenID. Also AOL is already publicly testing OpenID support with there Plaxo product. Add it all up and there should be enough of the big players to push OpenID prime time and thus make OpenID the default sign-on standard.

OpenID = one logonid + one password + PayPal Security Key = Greatly Improved Signon Security

So one id and one password for accessing all your websites what could be better. Well here is where PayPal comes into the picture. PayPal is offering a Security Key for $5 which generates one time passwords (i.e. 6 digit random number). If your in the Corporate world you may already have an equivalent to the PayPal Security Key in your SecurId token (~$40) which many corporations already use for increased signon security. Anyway if you don't understand one time passwords, they are a second password to use in addition to your primary password. These security tokens generate random numbers/passwords which are tied to your logonid and are only good for 30 seconds in the case of PayPal or 60 seconds with SecurId. So what this means is if someone at your favorite Wi-Fi Hotspot shoulder surfs your passwords or some spyware/malware should happen to capture your primary password and your one time password it doesn't matter since you need both passwords and the secondary password generated by the security token is only good for 30 seconds. Currently the only OpenID Provider I have found that supports the PayPal Security Key is VeriSign hopefully other OpenID Providers will join in supporting the low cost PayPal Security Keys. So the VeriSign support for OpenID and the PayPal Security Key is currently in beta but hopefully with OpenID going prime time VeriSign will move the service out of beta quickly and in addition keep providing the service free of charges. VeriSign also offers a couple of other nice features I have not seen with the other OpenID providers, the ability to set expiration dates by website for your access and a access log showing the sites you have accessed with your OpenID signon. VeriSign is also providing a Firefox extension called Seatbelt which provides assistance with the OpenID signon process and some phishing protection.

If your interested in learning more about OpenID here are some additional sites you might want to visit -

OpenID.net
OpenID Foundation
Spread OpenID
Lifehacker - One OpenID to Rule Them All...or Not?

Update - earlier today Yahoo officially announced support for OpenID. According to Yahoo beta testing of OpenID will begin on Jan. 30. Also it appears Yahoo will initially only support itself as the OpenID provider, so the PayPal Security Key I previously mentioned will not work unless Yahoo adds that feature or Yahoo in the future supports 3rd party OpenID providers such as VeriSign.

My Gmail IMAP experience

Well I have been testing the Gmail IMAP feature and so far Mozilla Thunderbird is the winner from the client side. First a little background I have roughly 79,000 pieces of mail in my Gmail account which takes about 1.6GB of storage.

In addition to Thunderbird I have also been using Outlook 2007 and MailStore. Well Outlook took forever to pull down my mail and in general Outlook is now so slow I'm going to have to remove the IMAP account for Gmail from my account list. In addition Outlook times out trying to pull updates from Gmail. Well MailStore has a similar problem it also times out and took over a day to pull in all my mail from Gmail. MailStore is also very slow to pull in new updates. Now the reason Thunderbird may be working well is the fact that Thunderbird does not pull in all the mail from my various folders until you click on the folder the first time. Also to be fair as far as being slow pulling in mail all 3 programs average about 300kbps so that would seem to be a Google or IMAP protocol issue since I can consistently access other sites at a sustained rate of well over 2Mbps on my 6Mbps DSL connection.

In case your wondering why I'm testing Gmail IMAP it's because I'm hooked on Gmail but wanted to have a backup in case Google happens to mess up my account, delete my Inbox etc.

More Gigapixel images to explore

Started getting interested in Gigapixel images and I found this Microsoft Research project called HD View: Gigapixel Panoramas. You will need to install a HD View addon which is browser specific one for Firefox and one for IE which for the small amount of trouble is worth it to explore the images that are available. So as I started to explore the Microsoft HD View site I found some incredible outdoor panoramic images by xRez Extreme Resolution of Yosemite's (Divingboard, Glacier Point and El Capitan), there are others but these caught my eye first. There is also integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth and over 50 HD View images located around the world on the Microsoft Virtual Earth map. In addition there is a RSS feed available of HD View image favorites.