Reasons why Google Chrome OS will fail

People have been really waiting for the launch and official release of Google’s much-hyped operating systems Chromium. (including myself).

But, because of the length of time that they have announced the launching of this operating system last year, most of the IT experts see its bound to fail. Why?

a) It is really built for netbooks. But as we have observed the current trends in mobile computing, netbooks are going out. They are being replaced by better mobile devices like the IPAD or even the mobile phones which run on Android. By the time Google released this operating system, netbooks are gone.

b) Google Docs is the best that Google can do. Admittedly, we use Google Docs. Its pretty useful. But recent initiatives by Google are really not that successful or useful enough. Besides, Google’s initiatives are really for occassional use only. They are not meant for heavy big users.

c) Compatibilty…nothing more to say…. Even before the official launch, most beta testers complain that Google Chrome OS has difficulty in printing documents.

d) It is not a real operating system. Yes, it is not… It is basically an enhanced browser… How can it run programs and applications?

e) Microsoft will shoot it down… This is what Microsoft is known for….

Outsourcing…The Numbers Tell The Whole Story

In 2003, Forrester Research, Inc., predicted that 3.3 million U.S. service jobs would go offshore by 2015. The respected Cambridge, Mass.-based market research company was pretty close to the mark. Approximately 3.3. million American jobs are indeed expected to be outsourced to India and China during the next several years. No wonder most Americans (more than 66 percent) report that their biggest fear is having their job outsourced overseas.

The scary question that keeps organizational decision-makers up nights is how to pinpoint the countries that will be outsourcing’s beneficiaries this year. That amounts to a daunting task for IT companies.

Each year Gartner, Inc., the Stamford, Conn.-based IT, research and advisory organization, identifies the 30 top countries providing offshore services. In 2009, India and China were cited as the hands-down leaders, but market changes are expected to alter that in 2009. Brazil and Russia, for example, are now  considered viable alternatives.

Here are Gartner’s top 30 locations for offshore services, by region, in 2008:

• Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama
• Asia/Pacific: Australia, China, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
• Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA): the Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and Ukraine

Interestingly, only seven countries from the Americas appeared in Gartner’s list. The reason is that these countries are particularly attractive to the United States, the largest buyer of offshore services. Understandably, Canada was rated “excellent” for language (with fluent English and French). However, Latin American countries have been increasingly leveraging their Spanish-language skills in the U.S., requiring that parts of their offshore workforce speak Spanish as a first language.

There also have been strategic shifts in the outsourcing power mix, according to Gartner. Four countries dropped from Gartner’s list include Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Uruguay. They’ve been replaced by Egypt, Morocco, Panama and Thailand. The reason is strong interest in near-shore locations because of language skills, cultural compatibility, time zone and travel.

Finally, Gartner also noted that external service providers are exploring countries not included in the Top 30 in order to get closer to developed countries, such as the Nordic regions and France, that are showing an increasing interest in offshore prospects.

It will be interesting to see what Gartner’s top 30 outsourcing list will look like next year. Considering the long-lasting effects of the 2008-2009 fiscal crisis, cost will remain the deciding factor.

In 2008, TPI, Inc., the Houston-based outsourcing advisory firm, predicted there will be less multisourcing, which will dramatically cut costs. Outsourcing buyers feel that working with a limited number of vendors will minimize vendor selection and management costs. Time will be saved, and buyers can reap the rewards of faster project turnarounds. TPI also projects that outsourcing pay scales will plateau. Retaining consultants to service outsourcing destinations such as India and China has been a mounting cost for organizations. TPI said that attrition rates have grown by double-digit percentages, largely triggered by skyrocketing salary expectations from consultants. This has resulted in service interruptions and additional costs for  restaffing. Outsourcing buyers are cutting their costs by choosing nontraditional outsourcing destinations that are more affordable, where attrition is kept at a stable pace and salary levels are kept in check.

Basic Security for SMB not enough

While small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are now more aware about the need for IT security, they need to also realize that having only basic tools in place is no longer sufficient to battle cyber threats, note industry watchers.

A number of SMBs, with employees fewer than 500, that use security software grew about 4 percent in 2009 from 2008.

SMBs continue to mature in their adoption of the use of IT, their security needs are also evolving beyond merely blocking spam or preventing virus attacks.

As attacks become more complex as well as more malicious, SMBs are also finding that they need to seek a broader, more holistic approach to security to ensure their information is safe and secure.

According to IDC figures, the fastest growing product category was security and vulnerability management, which included software tools that create, monitor and enforce security policies, as well as determine the configuration, structure and attributes for a given device.

SMBs favor suite-based, end-to-end security solutions that provide a good scope of security capabilities at a lower cost because these suites are often easier to deploy and manage, they are suitable for smaller enterprises that have less in-house expertise.

With software-as-a-service solutions coming up, SMBs are also looking at consuming security technology in that manner.

Basic safeguards no longer sufficient

SMBs typically do not have the luxury of a dedicated IT team so security is not given the full attention it deserves.

Many SMBs use ‘checkbox’ security, such as ensuring only that antivirus and firewalls are installed. These methods are not enough to safeguard against today’s fast-evolving threat landscape.

Noting that malware threats and the security landscape have evolved dramatically over the past five years, he explained that simply deploying antimalware tools and firewalls is no longer enough to protect the dissolving network perimeter.

SMBs are more exposed to the “consumerization” of IT and are usually more willing to explore social networking and Web 2.0 tools to achieve cost savings and efficiency. This is largely also why IT security risks have a relatively stronger impact on SMBs, compared to larger enterprises.

The use of instant messaging and popular social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn at the workplace, has also contributed to concerns over data flow as it increases the risk of inadvertent leakage of corporate information.

Organizations [therefore] not only require an integrated approach to cross-platform security, full-disk encryption and network access control, they also want to do it easily without upsetting the existing security infrastructure and incurring additional costs.

These  come on the back of a recent survey by Symantec which noted that SMBs were placing data protection on a higher IT priority compared to 15 months ago, when a high percentage had failed to enact even the most basic safeguards.

It was also noted that 78 percent of SMBs Asia ranked data loss as their top business risk, while 55 percent pointed to cyber attacks.

The top IT improvement areas for 2010 for SMBs in Asia were to enhance security (74 percent), enhance backup and recovery (72 percent) and improve computing performance (69 percent).

Culled from its 2010 Global SMB Information Protection Survey conducted in May, Symantec polled 2,152 SMB executives and IT decision makers in 28 countries globally.

9 percent of Asian SMBs said they expect to see significant change in their data protection in the next 12 months and to increase spending on such tools by an average 18 percent in 2011.

Dealing with security
In order to improve awareness of IT security,  SMBs are also recommended to develop holistic Internet security guidelines and educate employees in four key areas. “These areas comprise Internet safety, security and the latest threats, how to safeguard important business information and how to implement effective backup and recovery processes.

IT security within an organization and that of its systems, users and data, must be treated holistically as a single goal. To achieve this goal, it is suggested engaging a single provider that can cover all security requirements in a simple and unified manner.

A multifaceted approach is required here: awareness makes up one part of this, policy and ensuring compliance to policies is another adding that these should fused together with the right types of technology.

Real Truth on Software Management

Did you know that companies spend an average of 30% more on software licenses and maintenance than they need to?

It’s not that surprising when you consider the challenges that IT executives face as they struggle to manage software across their organizations. Poor visibility into remote assets, an inability to ensure the security of PCs, and failing to deliver satisfactory service to end users on a consistent and cost-effective basis are a few of the challenges.

Top 10 Linux Distros

was just doing research the other day…. Found comparative analysis of each Linux distros…. Anyway, here are they:

1. Ubuntu
2. Fedora
3. Mint
4. Open Suse
5. PC Linux OS
6. Debian
7. Mandriva
8. Gentoo
9. Arch
10. Puppy

all of these distros have their own common functionalities that are similar with each other, like a browser, an office suite, etc.

it would be all up to the user to decide what is best for his environment

Net Neutrality

I know, I know. You keep hearing this term (if in case you really have heard it)  and wonder what it really means. I’ve been following the story for five years now, and sometimes I still wonder myself. Is it something that could really end up affecting what I see or can’t see on the Web, or is it just a buzzword that geeks, policy wonks, and politicians like to throw around at parties? Well, it’s really both.

Here I’ve put together a list of basic questions about Net neutrality that, if taken as directed, can help you swim through the spin and hype around the topic. It’ll also help you understand in jargon-free terms what’s being debated now, and how the possible outcomes of the debate could change the Web forever.

Q: What is Net neutrality?

A: At the very simplest level, the term “Net neutrality” is accepted shorthand for the idea that Internet service providers shouldn’t be allowed to block, degrade, or charge extra for legal content and applications that run on the Net–an idea that has pretty much been the standard operating procedure since the Internet’s start, but one that has never been codified into enforceable law.

Q: Why should I care?

A: In its most egregious forms, Net neutrality violations could keep you from accessing content or services you have legally paid for–as in the very first known violation, when a regional service provider blocked users from the Vonage Voice over IP service, or the most recent one, when Comcast used questionable management practices to keep some broadband users from downloading content. While it’s true that most Net neutrality violations are either unknown or still theoretical, consumer advocates who favor Net neutrality regulations say they are needed to ensure that service providers don’t use their market strength to turn the Internet into a place where they can charge both customers and content and application providers premium fees to connect to each other.

What Exactly is Cloud Computing?

People have been hearing the word cloud computing these days…But do they actually know what it is? Is it a new technology? What are the pros and cons of cloud computing? What is its future?

We think if we hear the word “cloud computing”, it is a new technology. But in reality, the word “cloud” refers to the Internet. What cloud computing does is to put the software that is supposed to run on local servers or the local network to the Internet. Nothing special about it. It has been done a couple of years back via virtual private networks or via hosted services like hosted e-mails or hosted websites.

Actually, the new technology surrounding cloud computing are what we call the “SaaS” or software as a service. Basically, SaaS is software that you rent, or that you use on a subscription basis, which runs on the Internet.  Recently, SaaS has been improving where it already supports enterprise software, CRM software, SCM software, and even financial software.

To summarize, cloud computing is the infrastructure, while SaaS are the software being utilized where in runs over the Internet, not on the local network or on a local server.

Who what are the pros and cons of it? One of the pros on using a cloud based computing application or a technology is it can be implemented fast. Why? It is because, the software has been assured to be running perfectly by the applications provider. What the user would only need is an Internet connection, and a subscription agreement with the software provider so it can work. The second advantage in using a cloud based application software is that it can easily be managed via a central location. No need for expensive maintenance jobs, or expensive equipments. The third advantage is if a user does not feel that the software application answers to his/her business requirements, then the user may terminate the subscription agreement. No questions asked. No expensive investments on the hardware, the software or on the maintenance aspect costs.

So what are the cons in using a cloud based application software? The first is security. People do not realize that most hosting sites or even vendor cloud infrastructures do not have adequate security like encryption or even VPN tunnels. Since a business user uses the Internet as its transmission channel, there are lots of ways on how to intercept information going from the users side to the vendors side. If you are a business owner, would you consider let’s say your financial information to be exposed? Or even your client’s records? The second con is contingency and availabiltiy. Sure, the vendors have their own service level agreements, but what happens if for example, their servers bogged down? Or even the Internet line (in case of underground earthquakes, are disconnected)? What will happen to a user’s business operations? Who is at fault if the downtime is caused by natural causes?

The third con in using a cloud based application software is it is generically used… No customizations, just off-the-shelf software that you run via the Internet. To support your business operations, there has to be some platform, in which, the cloud software application has to go to or interface with some of your internal business applications.

So there you go. Again, as I’ve mentioned, the hype of cloud computing exists way way back.