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Four Microsoft security patches due next week

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:53:00 GMT

Microsoft plans to fix critical bugs in its Word, Publisher, and Jet database software next week.

The software vendor also plans to release a less-critical update for its antivirus products, fixing a flaw that attackers could use to launch a denial of service attack against products such as Windows Live OneCare and Microsoft Forefront Security.

The updates will be released Tuesday, the day set aside for Microsoft's monthly set of security patches. Microsoft provided some early details on the patches Thursday, in a note on its Web site.

Microsoft considers flaws to be critical when they could be exploited by attackers in order to run unauthorized software on a victim's system.

Although Microsoft's note does not describe the bugs in detail, it looks like the company is planning to fix a known bug in the Jet database engine, which was disclosed in late March. Attackers had figured out a new way to launch a malicious Jet file using Microsoft Word, Microsoft warned in a blog posting.

Jet files, which have a .mdb extension, are typically blocked by Outlook, but "attackers have figured out a way to work around the mitigations built into Outlook," Microsoft said in its post.

The Jet flaw affects Windows XP, 2000 and Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

The Word flaw is rated critical for both Windows and Mac users.

Although rated only "moderate," the DoS bug in Microsoft's security products is also a cause for concern. It affects many Microsoft security products including OneCare, Antigen, Windows Defender, Standalone System Sweeper, and several Forefront Security products.

OpenOffice.org beta fails the Office 2007 test

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:40:17 GMT

I'm not embarrassed to admit it: I'm a big fan of Office 2007. I think Microsoft got a lot right with its latest release, starting with the ribbon interface and including any number of tweaks and improvements that make my day easier. I can't say I'm thrilled about the price of the suite, however; nor the countless SKUs to choose from. Plus, I'm also a big Linux fan. That's why I always try to keep my eye on the current state of OpenOffice.org, the open-source office suite founded by Sun Microsystems.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 has just entered public beta, and it promises plenty of improvements from the previous version. Mac users, in particular, will be pleased with the new native Aqua UI. Unfortunately, however, the one feature that I was really looking forward to on the Windows side -- compatibility with the Office 2007 XML file formats -- could still clearly use a lot of work.

As an experiment, I saved a simple Word 2003 document in Word 2007 format. Office 2007 opened it just fine, but OpenOffice.org Writer only got as far as the first two lines of the text; instead of skipping the next line, the rest was truncated. An Excel 2007 template fared no better. OpenOffice.org Calc preserved labels, numbers, and formulae; macros, embedded graphics, and page layout options disappeared. A plain .xlsx file created with the same template yielded identical results.

I'm very disappointed to have to say it, but OpenOffice.org's support for the Office 2007 file formats simply isn't ready for prime time. I haven't had time yet to do a full review of the suite, but the tests I tried were extremely basic import/export operations on documents that were not in the least bit complex. Unfortunately, the beta OpenOffice.org struck out.

It's strange, if you think about it. Wasn't the whole point of XML file formats for Office to make the documents more compatible with other software? Isn't XML a self-describing, human-readable file format that should make reverse-engineering a breeze (compared to the old, binary Office formats, at least)? And isn't OOXML, the Office 2007 file format, a public ISO standard?

But then, if you've been following the news, you know that there's more going on with OOXML than meets the eye. Not to mention the fact that Office 2007 itself reportedly doesn't conform to the published standards.

The final release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is still a few months away (and, to be fair, the developers do not recommend the current beta release for production use). There may still be time to get involved and help iron out the bugs with Office 2007 support -- but I doubt it. For now, my recommendation remains the same: If you're an Office 2007 user, like me, you'll probably want to keep saving your documents in Office 2003 format -- at least until OpenDocument becomes more mainstream.

Water-cooled servers gaining steam

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:09:24 GMT

When the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications set out to build a machine with more than 200,000 server cores, the key wasn't simply shelling out cash for newer, faster silicon chips. The trick was harnessing the power of a substance that comes right out of your kitchen sink: water.

Using water to cool servers isn't a new idea, but it is gaining new converts at a time when fears of global warming and rising energy costs are making datacenter operators and server vendors search for ways to increase efficiency.

To Rob Pennington, deputy director of the NCSA, water cooling offers one huge advantage: power density. The NCSA's planned Blue Waters petascale computing machine will fit more than 200,000 cores in a space that's about twice the size of a current NCSA machine that has 9,600 cores, according to Pennington.

"Water cooling makes it possible," Pennington says. "If we had to do air cooling, we'd be limited by how much air can be blown up through the floor."

Blue Waters will be operational in 2011 and will likely use servers based on IBM's future Power7 chips. (Compare server products.)

Water cooling is inherently more efficient than air conditioning, Pennington says. That efficiency is being exploited to greater effect with today's multicore processors and multisocket motherboards. When a motherboard had one socket a decade or so ago, the advantage of water cooling didn't mean as much as it does today, when you're typically trying to cool four sockets on the motherboard, he says.

NEC, using Intel Pentium processors, began selling a water-cooled server at the end of 2005. IBM is just returning to water cooling servers after not using the technique since 1995. Big Blue abandoned water cooling after shipping its last bipolar mainframe with CMOS (complementary metal--oxide--semiconductor) technology, according to Ed Seminaro, chief system architect for IBM's Power Systems.

"We actually went from a product that used almost 200 kilowatts of power down to a product that could basically satisfy the same function with about 5,000 watts," Seminaro says. "That's why we didn't need water cooling anymore. There was far less power required and far less heat density."

Times have changed. Last month, IBM added what it calls a hydro-cluster water cooling system to its System p5 575 supercomputer. As the number of transistors on a chip increased over the past decade, IBM wasn't always able to keep power usage steady. So it turned to water cooling with an innovative design that brings water almost right up to the chip.

Why is water so efficient? Because heat from servers eventually gets transferred to water anyway, even in datacenters cooled by big chiller air conditioning systems, says Jud Cooley, senior director of engineering for a Sun Microsystems water-cooled product known as the Modular Datacenter. With computer room air conditioning systems, chillers are placed by the racks, and from the resulting hot air, heat is moved into liquid and pumped outside the building, Cooley says.

"Every datacenter does move water. We get that water closer to the point where you're actually generating heat," Cooley says.

Sun isn't bringing water into the servers just yet.

"What comes along with it is the need to bring water into every server, and all the plumbing issues," Cooley says. "Sun does not have a product in this space right now. But every vendor is looking into this."

Rather than put water inside the servers, Sun placed the water cooling technology in the Modular Datacenter, which is essentially a computer room in a large box that's been generally available since the end of January. Standard servers are placed inside the box, bringing them closer to water and reducing the amount of hot air that needs to be moved around a datacenter.

IBM did Sun one better with the System p5 575, which uses the Power6 chip. A cabinet that holds 14 servers pumps cold water through pipes onto a little copper plate that sits right on top of the chip, Seminaro explains. The cabinet contains 7.2 gallons of purified water, which is endlessly recirculated, remaining in the cabinet for the life of the product. A connection to a building's plumbing system is necessary for the heat to be transferred from the product to the customer's water pipes.

Naturally, customers may worry about a leak inside the system ruining their expensive processors. IBM uses a corrosion-resistant water distribution system to minimize that risk, and water is kept at a temperature that causes no condensation, Seminaro says. Leaks are possible, he acknowledges. But IBM is confident enough that it plans to expand water cooling to more servers.

"We're evaluating it now," Seminaro says. "We will definitely put it into more of our platforms. We started here because in the world of technical computing there is a real desire for a tremendous amount of compute capacity in a given location."

The System p5 575 with water cooling has 448 processors and is capable of performing trillions of operations per second. Water is about 4,000 times more efficient than traditional air cooling, IBM notes in a video on its Web site. Actual energy savings aren't quite that impressive. The number of air conditioning units can be reduced by 80 percent, and energy consumption for datacenter cooling is reduced by 40 percent, IBM says. Big Blue says its scientists are working toward "direct on chip" water-cooled systems that will be even more efficient by bringing water all the way to the hottest parts of a computer.

While IBM recently rediscovered water cooling, HP has been researching water cooling since 1999 and began offering an HP-branded system about four years ago, says Wade Vinson, HP's power and cooling architect. Like Sun, HP is not bringing water directly into the servers. HP's Modular Cooling System is a water-cooled rack that gets water from one of three sources: a direct connection to the building's chilled water system, a dedicated chilled water system, or a water-to-water heat exchanger unit connected to a water system.

Vinson says the "jury's still out" on whether the complexity of having water inside the server is worth it. Air cooling inside servers is easy and less risky, he says, and customers can still gain 30 percent energy reductions by using the HP water-cooled rack.

At the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Illinois, Pennington is eagerly anticipating the arrival of Blue Waters, the 95,000-square-foot petascale computing facility on the University of Illinois campus. The NCSA, which provides computing resources to scientific engineers and industrial users, uses a 9,600-core machine that's known as "Abe" and is based on Dell blade servers. It requires three floors: The bottom floor for air handling units, the second floor for servers, and the third to handle return air flow, Pennington says.

With the 200,000-core water-cooled system, there will be a mechanical room under the server floor, with the third floor left over for office space. The datacenter will connect to the building's plumbing infrastructure, and from there to a large chilled water plant maintained by the university.

"We spent a significant amount of time working with people on campus and with companies, understanding how to make a water cooling room efficient," Pennington says. "I wouldn't say it's simpler [than air cooling]. It's just a different set of engineering challenges."

Pennington expects to use servers based on IBM's in-development Power7 chip, successor to the current Power6 microprocessor for high-end Unix servers, which IBM unveiled one year ago. Water cooling will be used inside the servers, Pennington notes, but the NCSA project involves considerably more work to optimize the efficiency of water cooling. Including staff, the machine room and computers, Blue Waters will cost $208 million.

"We're providing water to the racks. IBM is doing all the other plumbing within the racks," he says.

The NCSA isn't committed to using only IBM servers. If other suitable water-cooled machines come along, the organization will buy them, Pennington says. What has been clear to Pennington for several years is that water cooling is the only viable technology that can provide the kind of power density the NCSA seeks in the foreseeable future.

After expanding the current machine room eight years ago with dense air-cooled systems, "we looked at what was coming in the next decade," Pennington says. "It was clear to us that water cooling was going to have to be a significant technology for us to think about."

Microsoft's options, post-Yahoo

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:02:42 GMT

Poor Steve Ballmer. Having yanked his offer to buy Yahoo, Microsoft Corp.'s CEO is left to run a $57 billion company that is on track for its annual orgy of profits and continues to dominate several software spheres. And he still gets to decide how -- or even if -- the company should spend its $26 billion cash hoard.

But these aren't breezy times for Microsoft or its top executive. There's a growing sense outside of the company that it needs to make major changes if it wants to continue thriving. For example, Gartner analysts claimed last month that Windows is "collapsing" under its own weight. And George Colony, CEO at Forrester Research, said in his blog this week that a wholesale reformation is required at Microsoft.

[ For the complete saga of Microsoft's unsuccessful bid to take over Yahoo, check out InfoWorld's special report ]

In particular, Ballmer needs to move quickly to shape Microsoft's strategy for the Web, where, with a few exceptions, it remains a laggard behind Google and other online rivals.

That can hurt Microsoft's chances with some users even when its online offerings are equal to Google's technically. For example, the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., recently joined other schools in deciding to roll out the Google Apps suite instead of Microsoft's similarly free Live@edu package.

"On paper, Microsoft's and Google's products looked exactly the same," said Rob Henderson, director of cyber infrastructure at the school. But a poll of the university's 6,000 students showed that a majority preferred Google's technology, Henderson said.

Dana Gardner, an analyst at Interarbor Solutions LLC in Gilford, N.H., said that Microsoft "needs to become No. 1 or No. 2 in online consumer and business 'something' before its Office and desktop Windows franchises go into slow-growth and/or maintenance mode."

So how can Microsoft try to catch up on the Web, now that its bid to buy Yahoo is off the table? There are three main options:

1) Forget about Yahoo and look elsewhere. Abandoning what had become a $47.5 billion cash-and-stock offer for Yahoo showed that Microsoft is belatedly coming to its senses, said Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle.

One upside of the failed merger attempt, he added, is that it opened up possible opportunities for Microsoft with News Corp. and Time Warner that may "turn out to be both less risky and more lucrative than [buying] Yahoo would have been."

Under that scenario, News Corp.'s MySpace social networking unit or Time Warner's AOL subsidiary could become new candidates for acquisition or partnership deals.

Each has some potential appeal for Microsoft: MySpace is essentially the Windows of the casual social networking market, while the "A" in AOL could well stand for advertising at this point. AOL's online ad network delivers 3 billion banner ads daily, tops in the U.S., and reached the most Internet users of any network in March, according to market research firm comScore Inc. And AOL's Web properties collectively rank as the fourth most popular in the U.S., behind those of Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft.

But there are downsides. Time Warner said as part of its first-quarter earnings report that advertising was down year over year on its own Web sites, leading to management changes and an internal reorganization. And a Microsoft acquisition of MySpace -- or of Facebook, in which it has a 1.6 percent stake that cost $240 million last fall -- could alienate the predominantly young social-networking user base.

If Microsoft is fixated on the Web advertising business, other options might include Specific Media or ValueClick. Those two companies operate the largest independent online ad networks in the U.S.

Or if it really wants to get into social networking in a bad way, it could consider trying to entice LinkedIn to agree to a buyout. The professional networking site has 20 million members, and a deal with Microsoft likely would trigger less user backlash than one between the software vendor and MySpace would. On the other hand, LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye has said the company is aiming for an IPO next year and isn't interested in a buyout.

2) Focus internally. Microsoft's biggest online weakness is in the core Web search market. Its Live Search engine is used for just 9 percent of searches by Internet users in the U.S., leaving it far behind Google's 60 percent share, according to comScore.

Since no acquisition apart from buying Yahoo would quickly boost Microsoft's search position, "their best priority for now would be to work on innovating around their own search business," said Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk. "I'd stay out of the acquisition game for awhile and spend my money on my own R&D."

Although that approach has left Microsoft floundering in search, it has worked in other areas. A case in point: Microsoft was rebuffed by federal regulators when it tried to buy Intuit for its Quicken family of personal finance software in the mid-1990s. But afterwards, Microsoft "steadily improved" its own Money application, said Burton Group analyst Guy Creese.

Microsoft may need to look inward and rethink a lot more than just its search strategy -- much like IBM remade itself in the mid-1990s.

Colony wrote in his blog post that Ballmer "unintentionally dodged a bullet" when he withdrew the offer for Yahoo. What's really needed at Microsoft, Colony added, isn't a quick-fix acquisition; instead, the company has to change its culture, software development processes, and financial models in order to become a true online software vendor. If it doesn't, Colony warned, "Google is going to use its citadel of advertising to attack Microsoft's heart -- software."

3) Swoop back in and grab Yahoo after all. Microsoft is distancing itself from the proposed acquisition of Yahoo, which is no big surprise. But there's a possibility that the software vendor's public walkaway from its offer may ultimately end up being a high-risk but successful negotiating tactic.

The fact that as of this afternoon, Yahoo's stock price was off by only 11 percent from where it was prior to Microsoft's pullout -- and that it remains well above the price levels from before Microsoft launched its buyout bid on Feb. 1 -- is being attributed partly to investors remaining hopeful about a deal between the two companies.

Perhaps backtracking a bit under pressure from unhappy shareholders, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang told multiple media outlets this week that a sale of the online services company remained a possibility if the purchase price was right.

But Creese noted that Yahoo needs to meet its financial targets over the next few months. "If it doesn't," he said, "Microsoft may be back with a lower offer price."

Microsoft adds $3 million to small-business subsidies

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:12:08 GMT

Microsoft has invested several million more dollars into an incentive program it recently unveiled for small businesses, hoping to make it easier for customers in that market to run their businesses using Microsoft products.

Microsoft has increased its already $10 million investment in a program it calls the Big Easy by about $3 million, the company said Thursday. Through the program, unveiled in February, small businesses purchasing certain products through authorized specialist partners get a certain percentage of money back that they can use to buy other services from those partners.

For example, using the program, a small business would get back a maximum of 22 percent of the money it spends if it buys six or more products that are on the approved list. Microsoft has said that the average return will be about 15 percent to 17 percent on purchases for small businesses.

Much of the $3 million added investment is going to customers who buy Windows Server, according to Microsoft.

So far, the company has gotten positive feedback from customers about the program and expect small businesses to take more advantage of the subsidies before the program ends June 27, Microsoft said. It defines small businesses as those with 50 employees or fewer, saying companies usually start hiring IT management above 50 employees.

Products available for subsidies under the Big Easy program include Microsoft Office, Exchange Server, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, System Center Essentials, Project, Visio, Office SharePoint Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, and Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006, among others.

More information about the program and the changes can be found on Microsoft's Big Easy Web site.

U.S. lawmakers introduce new net neutrality bill

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:03:15 GMT

Two Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would subject broadband providers to antitrust violations if they block or slow Internet traffic.

Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has sponsored the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act along with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from the Silicon Valley area of California.

The legislation requires ISPs to interconnect with the facilities of other network providers on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. It also requires them to operate their networks in a reasonable and nondiscriminatory manner so that all content, applications, and services are treated the same and have an equal opportunity to reach consumers.

Any ISPs that do not follow these net neutrality rules would be subject to antitrust enforcement.

The legislation, introduced Thursday, earned praised from some consumer and online rights groups. Large broadband and mobile phone service providers have begun to discriminate against some content, with Comcast saying it has slowed some customer access to the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol during times of network congestion, they say. Other broadband providers have talked about managing their networks or asking some popular Web sites to pay more for fast service, net neutrality advocates have said.

"The bill squarely addresses the issue of the enormous market power of the telephone and cable companies as the providers of 98 percent of the broadband service in the country," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "The bill restores the principle of nondiscrimination that allowed the Internet to flourish in the dial-up era, making certain that the same freedom and innovation will flourish in the broadband era without burdensome regulation."

But broadband providers and some congressional Republicans have argued that net neutrality legislation isn't necessary. The broadband market is becoming more competitive and net neutrality regulations could hamper investment in broadband networks, some Republicans said during a hearing this week.

Competition is happened at "all levels of the Internet," Rep. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, said this week. "Our hands-off policy is working."

Conyers and Lofgren were co-sponsors of a similar bill introduced in 2006, when Republicans held a majority in the House. With significant Republican opposition, the 2006 bill died, but Democrats were elected to the majority late that year.

"Americans have come to expect the Internet to be open to everyone," Conyers said in a statement. "The Internet was designed without centralized control, without gatekeepers for content and services. If we allow companies with monopoly or duopoly power to control how the Internet operates, network providers could have the power to choose what content is available."

Intel ports thread optimization tool to OpenSolaris

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:49:49 GMT

C++ developers using Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris OS have a new tool from Intel for optimizing their applications to run on multicore processors, Intel said on Thursday.

Called Threading Building Blocks, the tool aims to reduce the amount of coding that C++ developers have to do to take advantage of the extra computing power in multicore chips.

C++ isn't designed in a way that takes advantage of multiple cores naturally, so application performance won't scale proportionally as additional cores are added. Threading Building Blocks aims to address that.

It is already offered for Windows, Linux, the Mac OS, and FreeBSD and it's now available for OpenSolaris, said Doug Fisher, general manager of Intel's Systems Software Division, at Sun's JavaOne conference. It's offered as a free open source download or with a paid support subscription.

The tool abstracts low-level threading details that applications require to take advantage of additional cores, and does so using common C++ templates and coding styles. The result should be that developers need to write less code to retrofit applications for multicore chips, said James Reinders, the senior Intel engineer who developed the tool.

It's already been used for some commercial applications, including Autodesk's Maya 3D modelling program, he said.

The port announced Thursday is designed for OpenSolaris, the open source version of Sun's OS, but not the closed source Solaris edition, an Intel spokesman said. A version for Solaris is in the works, he said.

There isn't an equivalent tool for Java, although by its design Java is better suited for multicore environments. A Java program running on a four-core processor can take advantage of about 80 percent of the additional processing power, said Tony Baker, an engineering manager at Intel.

Efforts are under way to create extensions for Java to improve on that figure, a Sun official said. "We're also looking at whether we can take some of the work being done [with TBB] to get better performance scalability," he said.

Fisher was at JavaOne to encourage developers to work more closely with Intel to make the most of advances in its hardware.

Cablevision plans Wi-Fi network in NYC

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:46:18 GMT

A day after Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced investments in a WiMax joint venture spearheaded by Sprint and Clearwire, Cablevision said it would build its own wireless broadband network, using Wi-Fi.

While Cablevision's announcement may sound outdated given the failures of some once-hot municipal Wi-Fi networks, its model makes sense, said Phil Solis, an analyst with ABI Research.

Cablevision, which plans to build the network covering its footprint within the next two years, will allow subscribers of its Optimum high-speed-access service to use the wireless network as part of their regular subscriptions. The company, which offers cable service in parts of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, is already offering the Wi-Fi services in some areas, said Tom Rutledge, chief operating officer for Cablevision, speaking on Thursday during a conference call to discuss financial earnings.

"The primary purpose is a free, value-added service to new or existing customers," Solis said. That's what sets this network apart from some of the other municipal networks that have failed, he said. "A lot of these muni Wi-Fi networks that have been built have been stand-alone entities that have relied on subscribers to pay fees or on advertising revenue," he said. They also often designed their business models around city contracts that never came.

The network should be relatively easy for Cablevision to build since the company already has a network of high-speed lines to attach Wi-Fi access points to. In essence, Cablevision is "letting people, via Wi-Fi, tap into their broadband network," Solis said.

In addition, Cablevision customers may already have devices like iPhones, handheld gaming devices, and laptops that have Wi-Fi capabilities. Cablevision said users will receive download rates of around 1.5Mbps.

Still, Cablevision's network will be complete after Clearwire will have built much of its network. Clearwire will use WiMax, a newer, longer-range wireless technology, in licensed spectrum to deliver the service.

WiMax and Wi-Fi each have advantages and disadvantages in comparison, but Wi-Fi makes sense for Cablevision, Solis said. The operator has a relatively manageable area to work with, which is important because the range of Wi-Fi is shorter than WiMax, so building a Wi-Fi network requires more equipment.

EarthLink's municipal Wi-Fi struggles perhaps best reflect the overall trouble the sector has experienced over the past couple of years. The company bet big on citywide Wi-Fi projects, but building the networks turned out to be expensive, and local politics slowed progress. While EarthLink still operates Wi-Fi networks in a handful of cities, last year it called off plans to build additional networks and said it was open to selling its municipal Wi-Fi business unit.

Can the Clearwire coalition save WiMax?

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:45:17 GMT

For the past year, WiMax has been a technology under siege.

It has faced criticism as an unreliable and untested technology, and not only from promoters of the rival HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technologies.

Earlier this year, Garth Freeman, the CEO of Australian WiMax operator Buzz Broadband, described his experience with the technology as a "disaster" and cited problems such as latency, jitter, and poor indoor service. While WiMax equipment vendor Airspan claimed that Buzz Broadband's poor WiMax experience was due more to the company cutting corners in its deployment than to the technology itself, Freeman's anti-WiMax tirade generated unwelcome negative publicity at a time when the technology experienced delays in some of its key deployments.

Additionally, the recent corporate upheaval at Sprint Nextel , which has been WiMax's chief booster among U.S. carriers, has also added to the uncertainty surrounding WiMax in the United States. In particular, the company's commitment to the technology was questioned after former CEO Gary Forsee, who was instrumental in the company's decision to invest in WiMax, stepped down in October. Months later, interim Sprint CEO Paul Saleh suggested that the company could spin off its WiMax division to concentrate more fully on customer service and on improving its basic wireless offerings. And at around the same time, Sprint announced it had terminated its original letter of intent to build out a nationwide WiMax network with Clearwire.

These persistent questions about WiMax led Sprint's Xohm CTO Barry West to hit back at WiMax skeptics at a Wireless Communications Association conference last month. Noting that it would be at least two years before LTE services and devices hit the wireless market, West accused LTE-adopting companies of "not having anything to offer" and of "trashing the system that's out there working."

But WiMax received a big boost this week when Sprint and Clearwire announced that they will be combining their WiMax businesses to create a $14.5 billion mobile broadband company. As has been rumored for the past few months, the new company will be focused primarily on deploying a nationwide WiMax network that will provide 4G coverage to consumers, businesses, and even government public safety services in urban and rural markets.

And that's not all: The new company, which will be known as Clearwire, has already secured $3.2 billion in total investments from several major tech and communications companies, including Google, Intel, Comcast, Time-Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. Under the strategic investment agreement signed by the companies, Sprint will own the largest stake in the new company at 51 percent, Clearwire will own about 27 percent of the company, and the group of five major investors will own 22 percent.

What's in it for the tech, cable companies?
After the deal is finalized, Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House will enter into wholesale agreements to become official vendors of Clearwire's 4G WiMax services. Additionally, the three television companies will become bundled providers of Sprint's 3G wireless voice services, which Sprint hopes will expand the reach of its network to millions of new customers.

Google, meanwhile, has agreed to develop new Internet services, advertising services, and applications for all Clearwire WiMax devices. In return, Clearwire will support Google's open-source Android operating system on all of its WiMax devices. And finally, Intel has agreed to work with manufacturers to install WiMax chipsets into Intel-based laptops and mobile devices, and also to market Clearwire's WiMax service in congruence with Intel's performance notebook PC brand.

Nemertes analyst Mike Jude says that securing these heavy-hitters as partners and investors was essential for the Clearwire venture to differentiate its WiMax services from current 3G technologies, such as HSPA. Because each of these companies has a strong reputation for delivering innovative and unique content and products, says Jude, they will play an important part in building WiMax's brand as a relevant and important new technology.

"Just having a high-speed connection is OK, but if you need it to consume something that you want, then you have an incentive to actually pay for it," he says. "If Sprint-Clearwire could introduce WiMax with some really serious content-delivering applications that consumers want, then that would be a very good thing and would likely make the rollout successful."

Jude says that the cable companies in particular are eager to get into the wireless market and go toe-to-toe with telecom carriers Verizon and AT&T, which have each been aggressively promoting their FiOS and U-Verse services as alternatives to traditional cable television and Internet. A report issued earlier this year by researchers Information Gatekeepers projects that telcos will be able to match the total number of high-speed accesses offered by cable companies by 2011, thus giving the cable companies further motivation to up their wireless offerings.

"WiMax provides a new market for cable companies that remains largely untapped," he says. "Although there are some trivial applications out there like wireless TV over cell phones, they suffer from bandwidth constraints and limited availability. Armed with high bandwidth and significant coverage, the cable operators would actually have a viable channel for the content that they can deliver."

Too little, too late?
But while Sprint and Clearwire have clearly succeeded in bringing market leaders aboard the WiMax bandwagon, questions remain about whether the WiMax alliance has been formed too late in the game.

For one thing, WiMax could face problems related to its technological limitations. For instance, Gartner analyst Phil Redman says that because WiMax is a data-only technology that can only transmit voice services over IP, it will have limited market appeal for users who want all-in-one 4G devices.

"It's going to be a challenge," he says. "Can you name any successful data-only networks that are around today? People who want cell phone and voice technology are going to have to carry second device unless they make it a combination device that uses both WiMax and cellular technology."

What's more, WiMax is due to face stiff competition in two years from LTE, the 4G standard that has been adopted by competitors Verizon and AT&T, and which is considered by many to be the next big wireless broadband standard. But while WiMax is expected to have at least a two-year head start over LTE, delays in deploying WiMax nationwide in the United States mean that Clearwire's time-to-market advantage is shrinking by the day. And as ABI Research analyst Phil Solis noted in a report issued earlier this year, delays in certifications by the WiMax Forum could further constrain the time WiMax has to enjoy the 4G market all by itself.

However, all is not lost. Jude says that if the Clearwire coalition can get its act together and start delivering a strong array of services and products quickly, it will still retain a good-sized time-to-market advantage over LTE vendors.

"If Sprint can get to the market yet this year, with a decent set of service offerings, it could generate a fair amount of buzz before the LTE crowd shows up," he says. "I think one key would be to tie up some of the content providers so that the LTE gang has a harder time delivering equivalent service offerings. So, bottom line, I think there could be some method to the madness when Sprint and Time Warner engage in talks."

Solis, meanwhile, acknowledges that WiMax could have a more limited time-to-market advantage than it had initially hoped for, but also thinks that investments from major tech and cable companies will give WiMax just the boost it needs to get back on track.

"With the infusion of capital, they should be able to stick somewhat to the aggressive nationwide rollout of the network and have decent nationwide coverage by the end of 2010 compared to maybe decent nationwide coverage from Verizon Wireless' LTE network by the end of 2011," he says. "So there is still at least a year gap looking at it that way."

Jeff Thompson, CEO of enterprise wireless broadband ISP Towerstream , also says that the high quality of the investors in the new Clearwire venture makes it hard to dismiss, and shows that many within the telecom, tech and cable industries view WiMax as an important technology that will bring 4G wireless broadband services to Americans before any LTE products come to market.

"Clearwire has got a huge amount of titans that are validating this technology," says Thompson, whose company has already deployed fixed WiMax technology and is currently testing the mobile WiMax standard. "I think it's going to bring a lot of awareness for new products like this and it will lower the costs of devices. These are good things for the WiMax base."

House passes copyright enforcement bill

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:38:45 GMT

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would allow law enforcement authorities to seek the forfeiture of property used in copyright infringement.

The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, or PRO-IP Act, would also create a new Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement representative, often called a copyright czar, in the White House. The bill would also expand a U.S. Department of Justice program that gives local law enforcement agencies grants to fight computer crimes, including grants for copyright infringement enforcement.

The bill allows both civil and criminal forfeitures of property used to commit copyright infringement.

The bill was sponsored by Democratic Representatives John Conyers of Michigan and Howard Berman of California, as well as Republican Lamar Smith of Texas. It passed the House on a 410-11 vote on Thursday.

In March, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property killed the most controversial section of the bill, which would have increased fines for compilation CDs containing pirated music by 10 times or more.

Critics had complained that one of PRO-IP's provisions would have assessed fines for each separate copyright work on a compilation work such as a CD, meaning the fines for a 10-song compilation CD would range from $7,500 to $1.5 million, instead of the current $750 to $150,000.

The Recording Industry Association of America praised the House for passing the bill. "Intellectual property industries" create millions of jobs and bring billions of dollars into the economy, RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said in a statement. The bill is a "strong, common-sense measure" that will provide the tools needed to protect intellectual property, the statement added.

JavaOne: AMD cites Java improvement efforts

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:45:00 GMT

Emphasizing the company's commitment to the Java platform, AMD detailed Wednesday how it is building technologies to make Java work better.

The company promoted its Java support at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco during a keynote presentation. AMD is working on improvements in compilers, operating systems, middleware and development tools as well as Java Virtual Machine improvements. AMD is finding ways to improve Java performance across multi-core environments and has been researching improvements in garbage collection, according to AMD. Garbage collection involves the discarding of objects from memory after they are no longer needed or referenced.

"AMD understands that good software is critical to our product roadmap," said Leendert van Doorn, a senior AMD fellow. Without software, silicon just conducts energy, he said.

Multi-threaded programming "is inherently easier to do in Java," because of Java's built-in support for concurrent programming, van Doorn said.

But there are hurdles to overcome in application performance, said van Doorn. "This is an issue we're working on to help address," he said.

AMD has proposed its Light-Weight Profiling software parallelism specification to help managed code like Java run more efficiently by using continuous performance feedback. Also, AMD's Advanced Synchronization Facility proposal increases software concurrency.

The next big platform involves integrating the graphics processing unit and the CPU, van Doorn said. "Our vision is to fully integrate these functions into one robust unit," he said.

Also at JavaOne on Wednesday, Sun announced a technology preview of its open-source GlassFish Enterprise Server version 3 application server and the new GlassFish Communications Server.

Version 3 focuses on Web 2.0-style application development and a modular architecture that can be used with specific versions of Java technology optimized for developers' specific applications. An update center will notify users about component updates.

Sun also introduced GlassFish Unlimited Pricing, enabling enterprises to purchase rights to use the server for a flat fee based on the user site's number of employees.

GlassFish Communications Server is based on Project SailFin, a project to build a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) communication server. Developers will gain access to telecommunications technologies to develop instant messaging, VoIP, and shared multimedia applications on the Web. Ericsson is partnering in the project. GlassFish Communications Server is scheduled to be available by the third quarter of this year or later.

Sun also is creating the GlassFish Enterprise Service Bus community to help enable development of global services using Java Business Integration technologies. Additionally, Sun, the OpenPortal community and Liferay are working on a common Web presentation platform incorporating portal and integration technologies. The goal is to give developers a Web-based presentation platform.

Products resulting from the initiative with Liferay will give developers lightweight presentation capabilities for GlassFish, Sun said. Sun also is announcing a preview release of a lightweight platform for simplifying Web site development and building collaborative work spaces.

Kagermann reflects on his years at SAP

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:52:29 GMT

SAP co-CEO Henning Kagermann took center stage at this week's Sapphire conference in Orlando, but that may not be the case next time around, as the veteran company leader enters his last year on the job.

In an interview with the IDG News Service at Sapphire, Kagermann reflected on his career and how his successor, fellow co-CEO Leo Apotheker, will do when he takes the reins next year.

[ For more news from Sapphire, see related stories: "SAP sheds light on new BPM tools," "SAP exec: No plans for additional on-demand ERP," and "Plattner: On-demand ERP delay has silver lining." ]

IDGNS: What kind of advice are you giving Apotheker?

Kagermann: I don't give him advice. We're pretty much aligned. The transition: That's why we had a year as co-CEO, I think it helps. I can hand over responsibilities slowly, and he can get used to it. This is not a concern for me.

With his team, he will see that we meet our 2010 targets. Next year is the first time we will declare the strategy for beyond 2010. We are waiting half a year. Otherwise, I would have done it this year, but it's something I feel the new team should be behind.

IDGNS: Apotheker is not a technologist or scientist, unlike many other top SAP executives [Kagermann is a former theoretical physics professor]. Is that a handicap?

Kagermann: No. Look, SAP is a different company now. We are pretty large, we are balanced. We have many, many people who are driving the technology position. It's not only one person any longer. From that point of view, you need someone more who understands SAP, and he understands SAP and the clients' issues, and is able to assemble a good team around them. I think that's more important in the future. It's not necessary that somebody must be a technologist to run a software company.

IDGNS: Can the co-CEO concept work in the U.S. tech sector, where you have strong personalities like Larry Ellison and Steve Ballmer?

Kagermann: No, I don't think so. Whenever you speak to CEOs of the U.S., they are surprised at what we are doing. For SAP, it's not exceptional, I think. I was co-CEO with [SAP co-founder] Hasso Plattner for five years. Now it's more a question of preparing the transition. Maybe it's different if you don't know each other. But in this case [Apotheker and I] have worked together for many, many years.

It's better for a company, also. People feel it's a more continuous succession. It's not 'a new man is coming' and then the organization is speculating what has to be changed, etcetera. A year as co-CEOs sends a good signal. People see that there are no radical shifts. Decisions that are made now are backed up by the new CEO. It's much better.

IDGNS: Speaking of strong personalities, do you miss Shai Agassi? [Agassi, former head of SAP's product and technology group and an expected successor to Kagermann as co-CEO, left the company in 2007 after Kagermann's contract was extended into 2009.]

Kagermann: I cannot say. We have to respect decisions. If you look at the bench strength of SAP, it's pretty large. It's not really, for a large company like SAP, an issue. I always say, there's nobody who cannot be replaced within SAP. Otherwise something's wrong in a company. It has to be that way.

IDGNS: Regarding SAP's culture: The company went through a publicly ugly battle a couple of years ago over the enactment of a worker's council, which was ultimately forced by court order. Top executives and most employees had opposed the council, saying the company's "startup" like culture didn't mesh well with it. Has the council affected the entrepreneurial spirit within SAP?

Kagermann: [The worker's council] is a very special voice that is not, I would say, represented globally for SAP. It's something elected in Germany, that is representing some people in the German locations, but not all. Many people were not in favor of it. But we have to respect it, it's the law. We work with them, we listen, we support them.

It's always difficult to speak about entrepreneurial spirit in a company. ... I think you cannot run a company that is publicly listed like you are the founder of the company. That's not possible. You have many shareholders and are responsible to all shareholders. From that point of view, sometimes decisions take longer. You cannot do it out of the air. However, if I look to what we have done in the last years in terms of innovation, new products, no one can say it is less than before.

IDGNS: What do you see as your major accomplishments, as you wrap up your tenure?

Kagermann: We started in 2002 in a very tough environment, to come back to double-digit growth and market share gains. We are now in the largest acquisition SAP has ever done [with Business Objects], and I think [the new on-demand ERP offering] Business ByDesign is another important piece. As I leave, SAP is in a good position to grow into new areas and from a product point of view, and has a good product portfolio for the next five to 10 years.

Judge slaps TorrentSpy with $111 million damages

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:35:26 GMT

A U.S. judge has ruled on a nearly $111 million copyright-infringement decision against TorrentSpy.com, the BitTorrent peer-to-peer search site.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, awarded the judgment to the Motion Picture Association of America, the MPAA announced late Wednesday. Cooper entered a default judgment against the operators of TorrentSpy in December, saying they had destroyed evidence related to an MPAA lawsuit against them.

Last May, another judge ordered TorrentSpy to keep server logs, user IP addresses, and other information in support of the MPAA's lawsuit against the site. Cooper ruled in December that TorrentSpy had ignored that order.

Valence Media, the company operating TorrentSpy, shut down the site in March. The company, based in the Caribbean, has filed for bankruptcy.

Cooper issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the company from further infringing any of the studios' copyrights. The judgment, of $30,000 per infringement, was for willful inducement of copyright infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious copyright infringement, the MPAA said.

"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," Dan Glickman, the MPAA's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders."

Five things to consider before committing to SAP

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:04:45 GMT

Installing SAP applications is no picnic. Employees who are capable of deploying and maintaining SAP software are in high demand and practically form a whole profession by themselves.

SAP, which built its reputation with ERP software, is rarely chosen by enterprises for one-off applications, AMR Research analyst Jim Shepherd notes in a report this month titled " The five SAP strategies that you need to understand." "For huge organizations, this is typically a multiyear, multimillion-dollar effort to transform the business," he writes. Unfortunately, executives often pay little attention to SAP installations after they are deployed, he adds.

That's a big mistake. Let's take a look at the five SAP strategies Shepherd details in his report, and how they affect your technology decisions.

SAP's growth strategy
SAP tries to increase revenue by licensing 75% or more of each customer's employees, and by convincing ERP customers to sign up for an ever-expanding portfolio of business tools, such as Microsoft Office integration and Business Objects' set of reporting, business-intelligence and analytics applications. "The strategy is to create capabilities that either encourage additional user seats within the existing products or require licensing brand-new products outside the Business Suite [software line]," Shepherd writes.

Customer challenge: SAP's large customers generally expect to pay a lot of money upfront on licensing charges, and then a lesser amount in ongoing payments for additional licenses as needed and maintenance fees. SAP does want a lot of money upfront -- but it also wants a lot of money later, and this creates "considerable debate and tension," Shepherd writes.

Customers think new capabilities should be available for free as product enhancements, but SAP likes to position new capabilities as brand-new products, Shepherd adds."Like most established software vendors, SAP derives most of its revenue from the installed base," he writes. "Its object is to ensure that customers never stop buying licenses, maintenance and servers.

SAP's platform strategy
SAP's platform concept emerged in 2003, when it packaged a large number of technology components and renamed them the NetWeaver line. SAP built the platform to develop its product line for service-oriented-architecture (SOA) deployments, and it has been successful even though there doesn't seem to be any huge increase in demand for a business-process platform.

Customer challenge: With the SAP platform, customers are expected to deploy standard SAP applications and use NetWeaver's development tools and library of Web services to build new applications and modify existing ones to adapt to changing business processes.

"The reality is that SAP customers have to use NetWeaver because their applications won't run without it, and over time, they tend to begin to use the optional components, such as business intelligence, the portal, and integration," Shepherd writes.

SAP's industry strategy
SAP has gained huge market share in such industries as oil and gas, chemicals, and life sciences, by tailoring products to their specific needs. Now SAP is focusing on increasing its market share in industries where it hasn't gained a strong foothold. Look for SAP to use acquisitions and partnership to target the customer requirements of industries where the vendor is looking to grow. These include non-manufacturing such sectors as retail, insurance, education, banking and government.

Customer challenge: If you're in one of those industries that SAP already dominates, you may find that "enhancements requests have a somewhat lower priority than industries that SAP has designated as strategic," Shepherd writes. Long-time customers inevitably will complain they aren't getting enough new features in exchange for their maintenance payments. This, however, could be a bonanza for non-manufacturing customers, who will have the negotiating leverage to convince SAP to fill holes in industry-specific applications.

SAP's product strategy
SAP was basically a one-product company for most of its history, Shepherd writes. "First there was R/1, then R/2, and then R/3 (naming was so much easier then)," he notes.

Since 1999, however, SAP has branched out from its flagship ERP software to deliver dozens of products "with a bewildering set of options, variants, and names," Shepherd writes. SAP now has four ERP product lines targeting companies based on size, and numerous non-ERP products for performance management, regulatory compliance and analytics.

Customer challenge: At large enterprises, CIOs must consider the long-term ramifications of an SAP deployment, which can take years for a global business. SAP's current flagship product, the Business Suite (including ERP, CRM, product life-cycle management and other components), will offer a stable maintenance cycle until 2013. "The SAP Business Suite looks stable until then, and [customers] like the idea of regular enhancement package releases rather than major upgrades," Shepherd writes. "That said, they live in fear that after 2013 they may be faced with another product transition."

The good news: Shepherd thinks the Business Suite will remain the SAP flagship until well after 2013, partly because some customers still haven't upgraded from R/3, and SAP is facing no major competitive threats.

SAP's product-release strategy
SAP historically has overhauled its ERP product line every five years. Customers used to face a difficult choice each time a new product was developed, but SAP finally is providing easier transitions, with enhancement packages being issued every six to 12 months at no extra cost. "Instead of bundling five years of product enhancements and technology improvements into one massive upgrade, SAP has now moved to what it calls a continuous innovation strategy," Shepherd writes.

Customer challenge: Before October 2005, when SAP started issuing more frequent upgrades, customers agonized over whether to install upgrades that were disruptive, expensive and time-consuming. Now customers can decide every six to 12 months whether an enhancement package is worth installing, while knowing another is on the way a year later.

These upgrades aren't nearly as disruptive as those of the past, but they do require a new approach. User departments, rather than IT, often will make the decision about which new features should be activated. "There will be some testing and training required, but nothing like the multi-month efforts associated with traditional upgrades," Shepherd writes.

Network World is an InfoWorld affiliate.

Leopard at 6 months: Does it live up to the early hype?

Thu, 08 May 2008 15:09:45 GMT

It has been just over six months since Mac OS X "Leopard" first shipped, bringing with it a slew of new features, a tweaked user interface, revamped underpinnings, and -- as is often the case -- a healthy batch of complaints from users about problems. At the time, some in the Macintosh community even argued that Apple's new operating system was released before it was ready for prime time.

Given that this was the first major update of the Mac operating system since early 2005 and that it had already been delayed once -- from April to late October -- Apple clearly didn't want to announce another delay. But did the company do a rush job in an effort to push its crown jewel out the door?

[ See InfoWorld's related review, "A developer's-eye view of Leopard" | Read InfoWorld's guide to bringing Macs into business. ]

Apple has taken steps in recent months to iron out any wrinkles that users have found. With two major updates now under its belt (a third update is due out soon) as well as the release of numerous code tweaks and security fixes, Leopard has gained ground and maturity and has grown into a solid computing platform.

Leopard promised enough new features to tempt Mac users to upgrade. Apple touted some 300 changes, major and minor: Time Machine for automatic backups; a more powerful search tool, Spotlight; virtual desktops called Spaces; new Parental Controls to help users track what their kids are doing on the computer; Quick Look, which allows users to open files without having to first fire off an application; an updated user interface with a new Finder and Dock; elegant tweaks to mainstream Mac programs like Mail and iChat; and behind-the-scenes changes aimed at helping developers improve their own applications. (For my money, Time Machine, which makes something as dull as backing up your system easy and fun to do, makes the move to Leopard a no-brainer.)

Finally, with Leopard came the official version of Boot Camp, which allows you to run later versions of Windows XP or Vista natively on a Mac. (An earlier beta version of Boot Camp received no further updates once the new operating system was available.) Boot Camp does limit you to running one operating system at a time. However, if you want to run more than one, you need virtualization software such as Parallels or VMware.

Problems emerge
While Leopard's feature list tempted Apple fans into purchasing Leopard, within days of its release, reports flooded blog and news sites about Leopard installations gone awry, resulting in blue-screened Macs -- a technological irony, given the grief Mac users have given Windows users throughout the years. These issues were soon tied to Unsanity's APE software -- the remedy involved uninstalling the software from single-user mode.

The most alarming of Leopard's initial crop of bugs was a rare but reproducible glitch that involved data loss under specific circumstances. If a user moved files from one disk to another while holding down the Command key, and one of the disks became unmounted during the move, both the original and the copied items would delete themselves.

While the bug was fixed just days after it was found, it raised questions about Apple's quality control and only amplified fears that Leopard had been pushed out of the door too soon. Although nothing as nasty has shown up in Leopard since then, the data-loss issue put off some buyers, and in fact, a lot of Mac fans weighed in on online forums and in blogs, saying they would wait a few weeks before spending their $129 on the operating system.

Less serious were the complaints about changes to the operating system's user interface, which offered a more unified look by ditching the "brushed metal" look used in Tiger. Coming under fire were the changes to the Dock and modifications to the Finder, including a new way to navigate the Mac's file system called Cover Flow. While this new feature allowed for iTunes/ iPhone-like album browsing through files in the Finder, many fans in online forums dismissed it as needless eye candy, while others debated its merits. Even something as minor as the newly transparent menu bar divided Mac users.

Whether you were happy with these interface changes seemed to depend on whether you were a longtime Macintosh user or a recent convert. Generally, long-time users found the new animations and graphics superfluous; new users, by contrast, liked them and found the animations useful.

No taste for eye candy
Complaints seemed loudest about the more graphic-intensive Dock, especially its new reflective quality and 3-D appearance; those complaining preferred the older two-dimensional look. Resourceful Mac fans soon devised ways to change the Dock's appearance -- some involving command-line access, others involving more extensive system changes using third-party software.

While the Dock's appearance could be changed, a new feature called Stacks couldn't Tiger users had grown accustomed to a Dock that showed folder contents as hierarchal, text-based lists, which allowed them to traverse folders and files without relying on the Finder. But Leopard's Stacks displayed icons in either a grid or as an arching fan of icons, depending on where the Dock was on the screen.

If you had a folder with 10 items or less and your Dock was located on the bottom of the screen, icons arched out from a folder when you clicked on it. If you had more than 10 items in that folder, however, you got icons lined up in a grid. And if the Dock was located along one side of the screen, all you saw was a grid.

That's not exactly the model of user-interface consistency that Mac users had come to expect from Apple, to be sure. Adding to the unpredictability: A folder's Dock icon changes to reflect the most recent file added, annoying users accustomed to a consistent Dock interface.

While these seem like minor issues, devoted Mac users take these things very seriously. Apple apparently did so as well -- when the second update for Leopard was released in February, it allowed users to display folder items as they had in Tiger, using hierarchical menus or icons. Right-clicking on a Dock icon now opens a customizable pop-up menu that allows users to choose among the various options, even allowing each folder to have its own setting.

That same update offered a "fix" for Apple's new translucent menu bar at the top of the screen. Until Leopard, it had been white; with Leopard, it looked more like frosted glass. The new look allowed desktop pictures to show through, potentially making menu commands harder to read -- something that was never an issue when the menu bar was a solid white.

As with the Dock, innovative users quickly devised ways to make the menu bar appear to be a solid color, while others tried desktop pictures with a white strip across the top. With the 10.5.2 release, Apple added an option to the operating system that allows users to toggle the menu bar between translucent and solid. (It's located in the Desktop & Screen Saver System Preference.)

Late additions: Java and disk backups
Just as easily remedied was the initial lack of Java 6 support. While most users of Leopard never noticed a problem, Java developers who rely on Mac OS X did -- Java SE 6 offers a slew of new features for developers, such as simplified graphical user interface development, streamlined Web services and a standardized framework for scripting languages.

Apple released a build of Java 6 on Dec. 14, 2007, about six weeks after Leopard's release, quieting the complaints coming from Java developers. It also released another update in mid-February, adding even more improvements over the initial release, though compatibility is still limited to 64-bit Intel chip sets.

It took Apple longer to add a feature to Leopard that had been promised by CEO Steve Jobs and cut from the operating system before it was released: Support by Time Machine -- the backup utility included in Leopard -- for AirPort disk backups. Apple users who relied on the company's AirPort Extreme base station for wireless connections had been told that they could attach a hard drive to their wireless router and use that disk for backups with Time Machine.

When Leopard first shipped, people were surprised to find this a no-go. Without saying why, Apple had culled the feature from the shipping version of the operating system and only implemented it -- unofficially -- when it released a slew of software updates in February. (Apple also released Time Capsule, hardware that made those backups even easier.)

The one change with Leopard that could be a show-stopper for some was Apple's decision to discontinue all support for its "Classic" OS -- meaning no one on Leopard could run Mac OS 9 programs. (In fact, that one change has prevented the company I work for -- a major media firm -- from migrating our users to Leopard.)

This was not unexpected, as even the Intel version of Tiger didn't support the Classic environment. The only users who could run Mac OS 9 programs in Tiger were those with older PowerPC-based hardware. Although Leopard runs on the older machines, support for OS 9 was finally dropped altogether. For Apple, the move was seen as a necessary step, but it's a problem for users with legacy software.

Perfection remains on the horizon
Since Leopard's debut, Apple has been busy, bumping Mac OS X from the initial 10.5 on Oct. 26 to 10.5.1 on Nov. 15 -- a quick update largely aimed at squashing all those niggling bugs that shipped with the operating system. Version 10.5.2 arrived on Feb. 11, and the next update, Version 10.5.3, is expected soon, although Apple hasn't said when. Those revisions have included numerous bug fixes, security updates and code tweaks, including the aforementioned tweaks to the menu bar and Stacks.

By way of comparison, Mac OS X Tiger had three upgrades in its first six months. By the time Tiger was replaced by Leopard, it had received 11 such upgrades and dozens of security updates and software tweaks. What does this mean for Leopard? Look for a series of future updates as Apple continues to improve on the Leopard code base, just as it has for every other version of OS X.

Leopard also offers behind-the-scenes benefits for users: built-in developer tools that allow Apple to detect problematic code and to help boost performance. Because Apple has implemented DTrace in its development environment, Mac users are likely to see a more stable operating system and applications. Anyone using Apple's developer tools for their applications is also using the very same tools Apple uses for its own diagnosing and bug-fixing.

Even as Apple moved to firm up its already full-featured operating system, it looked to build upon the platform by unveiling tools for iPhone application development. The iPhone runs on a scaled-down version of OS X, making it easier for developers to create apps for the phone and do more with apps for the operating system. The iPhone software developer's kit, due out in June and based on Apple's existing Mac SDK, effectively extends the reach of existing tools to allow for a seamless development platform.

With the tools in place, building an application for one Apple system adds knowledge and experience that can be transferred to apps built for another Apple platform. For developers, this means they can create powerful, functional and stable applications quickly, without the need for teams of coders or support squads. For end users, the result is a wider variety of applications and functions, no matter which Apple product you're using.

Is the upgrade worth it?
Six months after its release, debates about whether Leopard is a worthy upgrade have largely vanished. Even large companies are checking it out, uncertain as they are about the future of Vista; for example, IBM is running a test to determine whether Macs in the office would be a smart move. A recent survey by ChangeWave Research found that "Apple continues to set the standard for corporate customer satisfaction." That's noteworthy, given the lack of a specific Apple push into the enterprise.

What's more, the OS x86 project is looking for ways to install Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware. And just last month, Miami-based PsyStar popped up to offer Mac clones. It may not be legal, and Apple will no doubt have a few things to say about the venture, but it shows the energy and enthusiasm of those who have used the Mac OS, and is a sure sign of Apple's continuously extending reach.

With Intel chips inside and Boot Camp installed, Macs can now run Windows, meaning no one is necessarily bound to a single operating system. If you are still on the fence about switching but are a fan of Apple hardware, buying a Mac is win-win. Even if you find that Leopard and all of its features don't suit your fancy, you can easily back up your data, reformat your Mac and install any operating system you desire, be it Windows or a Linux distribution. Because Apple generally chooses higher-end components for its Intel-based computers, most current operating systems should work fine.

Though Apple's hardware is what so often draws a crowd -- remember when the iPhone and MacBook Air came out? -- that hardware is just a collection of parts. Leopard is the heart and soul of the Mac.

Michael DeAgonia is a Neal-award winning writer, computer consultant and technologist who has been using Macintoshes and working on them professionally since 1993. His tech-support background includes tenures at Computerworld , colleges, the biopharmaceutical industry, the graphics industry and Apple. Currently, he is working as a Macintosh administrator at a large media company.

Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.