Tag Archives: Apple Macintosh

About 648 days ago Hardware | Tablets and eReaders

Is Apple Using ‘Sneak Tactics’ to Defend Tablet Turf?

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Remember Apple’s 1984 commercial introducing the Macintosh? Back then, Apple was about fighting conformity and subverting Big Brother. These days, though, Apple is effectively “The Man.” READ MORE »

About 797 days ago Hardware

Apple Revenue Hit $27B Last Quarter

News of Steve Jobs taking a medical leave shocked Wall Street, but here’s the Apple kicker: the Cupertino tech giant sold almost $27B last quarter, mostly due to iPad and iPhone sales. From the CNN Money report: “The iPad’s success is coming from multiple sources. While Apple’s Macintosh computers have always struggled for traction in the business world, Apple said the iPad is generating strong crossover interest from business customers. Around 80% of Fortune 100 companies have deployed the tablet for their employees.” Apple sets new record with sales of $27 billion [CNN Money]  

About 1785 days ago Hardware

How to Make the Switch to Mac

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They aren’t exactly fleeing like lemmings, but it’s safe to say many business users are less than thrilled with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Vista. While nine out of 10 computers in the world are PC’s running on Windows, the latest numbers show a steady trickle of users abandoning Microsoft-based PCs in favor of either Apple’s Macintosh or a Linux-based PC. “Last week, I got the blue screen of death again and I swear that it’s the last time I’m reinstalling Windows. I expect it will take about three years, but I’m converting my office over to Macs,” says Reuben Swartz, founder and president of Mimiran, a software company that specializes in pricing analytics based in Austin, Texas. In a Net Applications survey released in June, Macs hit a record 7.8 percent of the total operating system market share, up 5.69 percent in just one month. At the same time Microsoft has hit an all time low dropping a half of a percent to 91.17 percent. This may not seem like a big deal given Microsoft’s continued overwhelming dominance. But consider this: just five years ago Microsoft held just under 98 percent of the operating system market share, while Apple’s Macintosh bumped along at a measly 1.43 percent according to OneStat.com. How feasible to make the transition The question is, for small business owners like Swartz, just how feasible is it to make such a huge transition in technology and what steps would a company take in implementing such a commitment? “Apple’s backend systems aren’t anywhere near Microsoft, so large businesses won’t be going to Macs anytime soon. But smaller businesses don’t have that problem. I haven’t had a lot of customers converting over, but I’ve had some. All of them were businesses with ten computers or less,” says Josh Kaplan, president of Rescuecom, a nationwide IT consulting firm based in Syracuse, N.Y. Kaplan offers the following tips to get the ball rolling: Take an inventory of all the applications currently in use. Make a list of which ones are compatible with both Windows and Macs. In all likelihood, businesses will need to pay for an additional operating system license to run Windows on top of the Mac O/S. “It’s more expensive. But, you can have the best of both worlds. Companies that do a lot of file sharing are most likely to have conflicts,” says Kaplan. Plan on an incremental roll-out. Most companies don’t have the luxury, or the capital, to convert their entire system over at once. More likely a switch over to Macs will come incrementally, as Swartz is planning to do replacing the twelve PCs in his office with Macs one at a time as they need to be retired. “In terms of the network, there’s no problem with a mixed environment,” says Kaplan. Computers first, servers last. Integrating Macs on a Windows-based backend isn’t difficult. The same is not true the other way around. Kaplan warns his clients to change over to Mac servers last, switching over PC’s and laptops first. Budget heavy duty IT support in the beginning. There will be glitches. That’s the one thing you can always count on when dealing with any kind of technology. Businesses planning on making a commitment to such a transition need to also make a commitment to not only additional IT support, but IT support that’s harder to find. It’s going to require support that is trained in both the Microsoft and Mac environment. Plan on a learning curve. Given that nine out of 10 computers in the world currently run on Windows, it stands to reason nine out of 10 employees are trained accordingly. “To switch over because you hear Macs are easier may be true. But if your staff is used to a Windows world, they still have to relearn everything,” Kaplan says. “The Mac will be counter intuitive for awhile. It’s something you’re likely going to deal with every time you make a new hire, as well.” Factor in maintenance and replacement parts. In addition to the added expense of more specialized IT help, hardware is going to cost more as well. “Warranty wise, parts are easier and faster to replace on a PC. With Apple products, only Apple can fix its own products,” Kaplan says. Weighing the pros and cons Capital costs, retraining, a lengthy rollout process, possible compatibility issues —  it’s easy to see why nine out of 10 users are still sticking with Microsoft. Making the switch is clearly a big commitment and, perhaps, just too intimidating for most companies. However, the computing landscape is undergoing dramatic changes these days that some would say is setting up a perfect storm of factors to ease those anxieties over switching platforms. The move towards Web-based computing. Less work is happening on the desktop and more of it’s happening online. “Most of our core business applications run on the cloud,” says Swartz. Cloud computing is a euphemism for running applications off of a patchwork network of up to thousands of computers and servers on the Internet. Apple is going after business users. Historically, Apple has settled for its niche customer base of consumers and mostly creative types in the business world; like graphic designers, for example. However now emboldened with a Windows version that runs on Mac and this summer’s release of the latest version of the iPhone that touts compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and Office and tools for IT departments to use their own custom applications, Apple has made it clear that it means to do a better job of accommodating business users. Windows Vista is a flop. Microsoft would argue this point. But as of June 2008 and 18 months after its release, two separate surveys of IT decision-makers, one put out by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and the other by Computer Economics, both show that most companies ranging from small companies to the enterprise level have still not adopted Vista and have no plans to do so in 2008. “I loaded it on one of my desktops and just wasn’t impressed. Still, I offered it to my other employees who might want to upgrade. No one wanted it. I don’t know why I keep having to buy these faster and faster computers that just run slower and slower,” says Swartz. Of course, there is a third option out there: Linux-based operating systems. But that’s a story for another day and one sending a chill down the spines of both Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

About 1785 days ago Computer Security

World of Web Browsers: Are Alternatives Safer?

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Some Microsoft users have found recently that upgrading to the software maker’s latest version of its popular Web browser Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) can be an extremely frustrating experience. In fact, one of the most common complaints is that that the product has features that “nag” the user. “IE7 works, but it has way too much in the way of security notifications that aren’t actually doing anything but bugging the user,” says Peri Naccarato, computer technician and owner of The Computer Guys in Saugerties, N.Y.  “In my opinion Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is far better at protecting you, and doesn’t annoy with the kind of constant pop-ups IE does.” For more than the last decade, Microsoft has had a death grip on the browser market, with more than 85 percent of computer owners using IE. In fact, in 2000, as part of a federal court’s finding that Microsoft used monopolistic practices to maintain a hold over the computer operating system software market, the court also found the software giant attempted to monopolize the Web browser market. But times have changed. A variety of new browsers are giving business Web users new choices in Web browsing. Many of these browsers put additional functionality into your browser, including e-mail, chat, photo sharing, and more. And despite the new security features in IE7, there are many who contend that the alternatives may provide higher levels of security — one reason, of course, being that they aren’t targeted by hackers as much as Microsoft’s market-dominant IE. “I’m a multiple browser user, depending on what I want to do,” says Michael Belfiore, tech writer and author of the book Rocketeers (Smithsonian Press, 2007). “The only thing I use IE for is watching Netflix Instant Viewing films, which requires IE.” Belfiore says that on a PC, he tends to use the Opera browser for large file downloads because it has BitTorrent, a file-sharing communications tool, built in. He also uses Firefox for research “because of the multiple search engines it has incorporated into the interface. On the Mac I use Safari, which is getting a lot of development from Apple right now.” History of the browser war The first widely used World Wide Web browser came along in 1992, in the form of Mosaic, the great-grandparent of many of today’s browsers, including Mozilla and all its derivatives. Mosaic, developed in the academic environment, was the first browser to actually implement images embedded in the text, rather than displaying them in a separate window. Some of the Mosaic programmers went on to develop the first commercial Web browser at a company called Netscape. The Netscape Navigator browser was the most popular browser until Microsoft started incorporating its own browser, IE, into it’s market-dominant Windows operating system software in the late 1990s. Since then, of course, Internet browsers have grown to become one of the most necessary tools for anyone using the Web, and if you use Web-based e-mail, possibly the only tool used. Despite being overshadowed by IE, alternative Web browsers are finally making it less a Microsoft-dominated world of browsers. While some are specific to certain computer operating systems, there are a few browsers that cross all boundaries. The primary alternatives to IE across all platforms are Mozilla Firefox and Opera, with Apple’s Safari this past year bringing its particular brand of browser to Windows as well as Macs. After Microsoft, Firefox appears to be the obvious leader, but Opera has been making some big strides recently. Opera has just formed a partnership with Haute Secure, a security vendor founded in 2006, to protect users from rogue sites known for drive-by malware and malicious links. This two-pronged approach takes browser security a step even further than Mozilla Firefox, which protect against malware but not malicious links. Haute Secure’s protection is incorporated into Opera’s version 9.5, currently available as a beta release. There are quite a few other choices in the world of browsers, and the differences can be a bit confusing. So if you’ve been tempted to switch your business off of IE but haven’t been too sure where to start, here’s a list of the most popular currently available mainstream browsers. Browser alternatives Mozilla Firefox was designed for simplicity, security, and extensibility, with hundreds of extensions available. Originally branched from Netscape Communicator, Mozilla Application Suite was an all-in-one software that included Web, e-mail, IRC chat, and HTML editor. Mozilla later developed each of these into separate individual applications. The Mozilla Thunderbird mail and news client is an alternative to Microsoft Outlook Express. The HTML editor became Nvu, a stand-alone website builder that’s growing a large following of its own, and the IRC chat feature became Chatzilla, a downloadable add-on to Firefox. All applications are open-source, and versions exist for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Features: Web, RSS headlines, e-mail and full RSS via Thunderbird, extensions for chat, customization, etc., skinnable, phishing filter. Opera is a full-fledged Internet suite with Web, e-mail, news (usenet and RSS) and chat, with a wealth of other features available. Recently, Opera added better security in its latest version 9.5 to protect users from malware and malicious links. Due to the fact that Opera runs leaner on less memory, it is often the best choice if you have older machine. Versions for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Features: Web, e-mail, RSS, chat, skinnable, phishing filter, widgets, BitTorrent. Apple Safari is designed for elegance and speed, and is now the default browser on the Mac. Starting with version 3 (currently in beta), Safari is also available for Windows. Features: Web, RSS. Mozilla Seamonkey is an all-in-one Internet suite that grew from the original Mozilla Application Suite, including browser, e-mail/newsgroups client, address book, and an HTML editor, with many of the features that have since made Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird popular. Essentially, Seamonkey can be considered the next generation of the Mozilla Application Suite. Versions for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Features: Web, e-mail, chat, HTML editor. Flock is a “social browser” built on a Firefox core that integrates with Web services for blogging, photo sharing, and bookmark sharing. Flock supports bookmarks sharing in del.icio.us, webmail integration with Gmail and Yahoo!, and integrates with photo services Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucket. Blogging services it supports include Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and many others, and also integrates with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Versions for Windows, Linux and Mac. Features: Web, blogging, photo sharing, social networks, favorites sharing, RSS reader, skinnable, compatible with many Firefox extensions In addition to Firefox and SeaMonkey, Mozilla’s “Gecko” engine is the basis for a number of platform-specific browsers, including K-Meleon for Windows, Camino for Macintosh, and Galeon and Epiphany for Linux.

About 1785 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

How to Make the Switch to Mac

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They aren’t exactly fleeing like lemmings, but it’s safe to say many business users are less than thrilled with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Vista. While nine out of 10 computers in the world are PC’s running on Windows, the latest numbers show a steady trickle of users abandoning Microsoft-based PCs in favor of either Apple’s Macintosh or a Linux-based PC. “Last week, I got the blue screen of death again and I swear that it’s the last time I’m reinstalling Windows. I expect it will take about three years, but I’m converting my office over to Macs,” says Reuben Swartz, founder and president of Mimiran, a software company that specializes in pricing analytics based in Austin, Texas. In a Net Applications survey released in June, Macs hit a record 7.8 percent of the total operating system market share, up 5.69 percent in just one month. At the same time Microsoft has hit an all time low dropping a half of a percent to 91.17 percent. This may not seem like a big deal given Microsoft’s continued overwhelming dominance. But consider this: just five years ago Microsoft held just under 98 percent of the operating system market share, while Apple’s Macintosh bumped along at a measly 1.43 percent according to OneStat.com. How feasible to make the transition The question is, for small business owners like Swartz, just how feasible is it to make such a huge transition in technology and what steps would a company take in implementing such a commitment? “Apple’s backend systems aren’t anywhere near Microsoft, so large businesses won’t be going to Macs anytime soon. But smaller businesses don’t have that problem. I haven’t had a lot of customers converting over, but I’ve had some. All of them were businesses with ten computers or less,” says Josh Kaplan, president of Rescuecom, a nationwide IT consulting firm based in Syracuse, N.Y. Kaplan offers the following tips to get the ball rolling: Take an inventory of all the applications currently in use. Make a list of which ones are compatible with both Windows and Macs. In all likelihood, businesses will need to pay for an additional operating system license to run Windows on top of the Mac O/S. “It’s more expensive. But, you can have the best of both worlds. Companies that do a lot of file sharing are most likely to have conflicts,” says Kaplan. Plan on an incremental roll-out. Most companies don’t have the luxury, or the capital, to convert their entire system over at once. More likely a switch over to Macs will come incrementally, as Swartz is planning to do replacing the twelve PCs in his office with Macs one at a time as they need to be retired. “In terms of the network, there’s no problem with a mixed environment,” says Kaplan. Computers first, servers last. Integrating Macs on a Windows-based backend isn’t difficult. The same is not true the other way around. Kaplan warns his clients to change over to Mac servers last, switching over PC’s and laptops first. Budget heavy duty IT support in the beginning. There will be glitches. That’s the one thing you can always count on when dealing with any kind of technology. Businesses planning on making a commitment to such a transition need to also make a commitment to not only additional IT support, but IT support that’s harder to find. It’s going to require support that is trained in both the Microsoft and Mac environment. Plan on a learning curve. Given that nine out of 10 computers in the world currently run on Windows, it stands to reason nine out of 10 employees are trained accordingly. “To switch over because you hear Macs are easier may be true. But if your staff is used to a Windows world, they still have to relearn everything,” Kaplan says. “The Mac will be counter intuitive for awhile. It’s something you’re likely going to deal with every time you make a new hire, as well.” Factor in maintenance and replacement parts. In addition to the added expense of more specialized IT help, hardware is going to cost more as well. “Warranty wise, parts are easier and faster to replace on a PC. With Apple products, only Apple can fix its own products,” Kaplan says. Weighing the pros and cons Capital costs, retraining, a lengthy rollout process, possible compatibility issues —  it’s easy to see why nine out of 10 users are still sticking with Microsoft. Making the switch is clearly a big commitment and, perhaps, just too intimidating for most companies. However, the computing landscape is undergoing dramatic changes these days that some would say is setting up a perfect storm of factors to ease those anxieties over switching platforms. The move towards Web-based computing. Less work is happening on the desktop and more of it’s happening online. “Most of our core business applications run on the cloud,” says Swartz. Cloud computing is a euphemism for running applications off of a patchwork network of up to thousands of computers and servers on the Internet. Apple is going after business users. Historically, Apple has settled for its niche customer base of consumers and mostly creative types in the business world; like graphic designers, for example. However now emboldened with a Windows version that runs on Mac and this summer’s release of the latest version of the iPhone that touts compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and Office and tools for IT departments to use their own custom applications, Apple has made it clear that it means to do a better job of accommodating business users. Windows Vista is a flop. Microsoft would argue this point. But as of June 2008 and 18 months after its release, two separate surveys of IT decision-makers, one put out by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and the other by Computer Economics, both show that most companies ranging from small companies to the enterprise level have still not adopted Vista and have no plans to do so in 2008. “I loaded it on one of my desktops and just wasn’t impressed. Still, I offered it to my other employees who might want to upgrade. No one wanted it. I don’t know why I keep having to buy these faster and faster computers that just run slower and slower,” says Swartz. Of course, there is a third option out there: Linux-based operating systems. But that’s a story for another day and one sending a chill down the spines of both Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

About 2424 days ago Business Software

The Browser Wars Are Back

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Once the undisputed champ of the Web browsing market, Internet Explorer now must share the ring. The unlikely-named contenders include Firefox, Opera, Safari, Sea Monkey, and Konqueror. Indeed, IE has seen its previous 95 percent share of the market slip to between 80 and 85 percent, thanks to these new browsers. Fortunately, sorting through the teeming mass of Web browsing options in search of a standard for your business usually means focusing on a few key criteria. IE may have lost some of its market share in the past few years. But for a business that already has help desk familiarity with the browser and systems tested to work with it, sticking with the Microsoft solution makes sense. On the other hand, because Microsoft no longer supports IE on the Macintosh, Mac shops have a clear reason to go with Safari, the standard Apple browser. Meanwhile, companies with an Open Source orientation, or those that support Windows, Mac and Unix-variety systems should consider Firefox as the best cross-platform solution. “For an organization, the most compelling reason to switch to Firefox or stay with IE may simply be ease of support,” says Adrian Roselli, senior usability engineer with Algonquin Studios, a software and Web applications firm in Buffalo, N.Y. who maintains a browser encyclopedia online at Evolt.org. Supporting more than one Many companies have given up on the search for a standard browser and simply support more than one solution, Roselli says. “When it really comes down to it, if the browser consistently supports standards, then there is no real difference,” he says, a software and Web applications firm in Buffalo, N.Y. ”. “They can only differentiate themselves on user interface and perhaps other, unnecessary features.” To keep things simple, experts suggest that a single browser standard for internal company usage will minimize Web development, testing time and effort inside a firm. But for anyone creating applications facing the open Internet, it’s important to keep in mind that applications being added to the site could be accessed by customers using different types of Web browsers. Market share Statistics compiled by Browser News, a website that tracks the browser market, show that IE’s latest browser currently maintains somewhere between 56-80 percent of the browser market. Gecko, the underlying technology for Firefox, Mozilla, Sea Monkey, and related Web browsing software, finds a healthy niche with between 7  and 35 percent of Web user’s attentions. The wide variety in usage estimates underscores the complexity of settling on a single software standard in your firm, and point to the direction many companies have taken – in using more than one browser. “I used to think only one browser would survive the race, but IE has seen some of its market share eroded by Firefox,” Roselli points out. A study of the browser market released by Forrester Research, the Cambridge, Mass. market research firm, reports that 30 percent of Web users who switched browsers last year moved to Firefox. Choice comes down to features Choosing between IE 6 and its upcoming 7 release or Firefox and its many relatives comes down to personal taste. Tabbed browsing has become a must for the regular Web user. Strong print and history tracking features can also make Web browsing easier. Forrester lists pop-up blocking, security and browser speed as its top three user features. User-defined style sheets, auto-completes in the address bar, external search engine integration with sites such as Google and the Wikipedia, spell checkers and even real-time weather reports might show up as big needs for certain users. Just keep in mind: One user’s key feature is another’s frill. “If I poll my clients, I get the sense that everything from RSS support to toolbars are frill,” Roselli says. “Some of them don’t even know they have pop-up blocker support built in now, and if I asked if they wanted it, they’d note that they don’t see many pop-ups, so it would be frill to them.”

About 2577 days ago Computer Security

Making Your (Power) Point

The only thing worse than sitting through a boring PowerPoint presentation is delivering one. Yet death by PowerPoint may be one of the biggest risks of doing business. On any given day, some 30 million PowerPoint presentations are delivered, according to Microsoft. Of course, when it was released for Windows in 1990, the software was an exciting new way of presenting information. But that’s not always the case today. Among the most common offenses: Speakers simply read the slides to the audience; the text is too small; the color and animation are dull; the charts are too complex. Technology got us into this mess; now, technology is working hard to get us out. There are scores of new products designed to enhance, or even replace, PowerPoint. Some cost thousands, others are free. Here are six offerings that can help make your next presentation less of a snooze and more of a blockbuster. Best For… Instant feedback TurningPoint Cool Features: With TurningPoint’s instant-polling technology, each audience member gets a credit card-size response pad. Using PowerPoint, the presenter puts questions up on the screen. Audience members key in their responses, which are funneled via a wireless connection into the presenter’s computer. The results are calculated and organized into PowerPoint graphs and instantly displayed on the large screen. In Action: Architect Michael Dingeldein recently faced 200 parents, students, administrators, and neighbors–all there to see Steed Hammond Paul Architects’ long-awaited designs for a new school building. Rather than waiting for the reaction to trickle in, he distributed TurningPoint response pads and polled the audience throughout his talk. “The audience engagement was incredible,” Dingeldein says. “They were laughing and cheering as the results came up on the screen. What it does to the audience is incredible. They’re right there with you.” Price: $2,920 for a 25-user system Best For… Luddites Ovation for PowerPoint Cool Features: Rather than adding fancy graphics or animation, Ovation software lets people with limited computer skills make their run-of-the-mill PowerPoint presentations visually exciting, adding depth, motion, background, and improved resolution from more than 100 templates. Even better, it’s an out-of-the-box product, with no confusing licensing fees. In Action: Investment manager Sean Lehmann makes dozens of presentations a year–often to employees about their companies’ 401(k) plans. It’s not unusual for him to look into the audience and see the dreaded eyes-glazed-over look. “The material can get kind of dry,” he admits. Ovation injects new life into the standard PowerPoint slide show–allowing Lehmann to, say, place his slide data into a home office environment, so the bullet points move from the animated computer to the to-do list to the appointment book. At a recent presentation, Lehmann could tell the visual gymnastics were making a difference. “Instead of leaning back with their arms folded, they were all sitting up straight, looking ahead, some taking notes,” he says. “We got their attention.” Price: $99.95 Best For… Groovy graphics Keynote 3 Cool Features: In the unending battle between Macintosh and PC users, Keynote wields one of Apple’s most potent weapons–super-rich visuals. Designed by and for Mac users, Keynote presenters incorporate 3-D images, a wide variety of shapes and textures, plus sharp photography and animation. In Action: Richard Warner, CEO of What’s Up Interactive, was just starting his presentation to the Technology Association of Georgia last year when through his earpiece he could hear the chatter of the venue’s audio-visual squad. “As I was beginning my presentation, one of them said: ‘Damn, what is that? It’s beautiful.’ Another responded: ‘I’m sure it’s Keynote.’ ‘Can we get that?’ ‘No, it’s just for Macs.’ ” Audience members seemed equally impressed. Three of them are now his clients. Price: Licensing fees start at $69 per seat per year for 10 to 99 users. Best For… Staying on schedule Thermometer for PowerPoint Cool Features: Thermometer for PowerPoint is just what it says it is: a thermometer-style bar that sits in the bottom area of each slide, displaying how much of a presentation has progressed and how much remains. The tool can be customized to be seen by the presenter, the audience, or both. In Action: Most presentations go on way too long, says Geetesh Bajaj, a technology consultant and author of Cutting Edge PowerPoint for Dummies. He developed the thermometer to make sure that didn’t happen to him during his own client presentations. The gauge keeps him on schedule and ensures he gives enough time to each slide; even better, he no longer finds himself rushing through the end of his slides when time is running out. In fact, Bajaj likes the tool so much that he shares it for free on his company’s website; so far some 100,000 people have downloaded it. Price: Free Best For… Presentations on the road (or even off-road) Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 Cool Features: This laptop is built for abuse–a shock-, dust-, and spill-resistant machine designed to operate while bouncing around in trucks, at construction sites, and on factory floors. Features include an LCD screen, integrated wireless, and a tablet PC function that recognizes handwriting. In Action: To sell their computerized measurement devices, execs at Faro Technologies, based in Lake Mary, Florida, give presentations under harsh conditions. Once, while making a presentation at a St. Louis factory, a Faro rep knocked his Toughbook off its perch and it crashed five feet to the shop floor. Not only did the machine not break, says David Morse, a vice president of sales, it didn’t even stop running its application. Price: $3,000 to $5,000, depending upon configurations Best For… The “wow” factor Ontra Presenter Cool Features: In addition to the standard charts and text, Ontra allows users to easily incorporate video, audio, and animation and can make a presentation seem more like network television than the standard slide show. Ontra can work alongside PowerPoint, or replace it entirely. In Action: Sales execs at Tribune Entertainment rely on flashy presentations to help convince national advertisers to purchase time on its syndicated programming. In the past, that often required using a laptop computer, a VHS player, a DVD player, and a monitor. Ontra combines standard informational slides with digitized video clips–and the entire presentation runs off a single laptop. “Now that we’re not trying to juggle three machines and all their moving parts, we can focus on giving our pitch,” says Clark Morehouse, a senior vice president. Price: $250 per month to $10,000 per month, depending on the number of users and the range of features desired

About 3550 days ago Computer Security

System Alert: You’ve Got…Worms

As anyone who has an e-mail account knows, the past few weeks have seen unprecedented virus attacks on computers around the world. With names like Sobig, Blaster, and Welchia, these viruses are the bane of many an IT department — not to mention an “I-was-here” calling card for their nose-thumbing authors. No longer confined to e-mail attachments, the latest worms can spread through the Internet, wreaking havoc as they take advantage of vulnerabilities in exposed computers. A company’s entire network can be brought to its knees in minutes — and many recently were — as infected machines become mass-mailers that cause the virtual equivalent of clogged arteries. Was the recent spate of attacks just more of the same — or are virus writers beginning to infect computers with other gains in mind? Experts at Wharton and elsewhere weigh in on possible motives, what businesses should do to protect themselves — and which industry sectors stand to gain from the chaos. Malicious Code or Marketing Tactic? Some media reports suggest that a few of the present crop of viruses differ from those that infected computer systems in the past. One difference, they say, is that these bugs can capture e-mail addresses as well as IP addresses “that can later be used to generate massive amounts of spam.” How real is that concern? While it’s tempting to wonder whether the latest viruses are being unleashed with a profit motive — and the goal of using computers to send spam — most people agree that it’s unlikely. “The haxors [a term derived from "elite hacker"] and ‘script kiddies’ who write viruses actually hate spammers,” notes Dan Hunter, a professor of legal studies at Wharton. “It doesn’t seem likely that they would get into bed together. The recent big viruses have been e-mail viruses because it’s easy to exploit — since Microsoft Outlook is so pervasive and so buggy — and they cause huge problems. Most people run some type of mail client, as exploited by Sobig; quite a few people run SQL Server, as exploited by Slammer. This explains the pervasiveness of mail viruses better than the idea of a grand conspiracy of spammers.” What’s more, says Hunter, it’s not worth the grief: “Viruses are clearly illegal in many jurisdictions, whereas spam isn’t. Why would a spammer, or a conspiracy of spam enablers, subject herself to criminal prosecution when it’s unnecessary?” Chris Belthoff, senior security analyst in the U.S. office of Sophos, a U.K.-based anti-virus protection firm, has seen no direct evidence that new spam messages have been sent from infected machines. However, he notes, it’s not impossible. “The author of the most recent Sobig virus variant almost certainly used some heavy-duty spamming techniques to initially distribute the virus, which is the main reason it caused so many problems. While there is no hard proof that e-mail addresses are being harvested with recent viruses, it is certainly possible to do so on an infected system with some fairly simple techniques.” Due to the nature of e-mail addresses, moreover, it would be difficult to follow a money trail even if it did exist. “Since this pure information product can be gathered, sold, and used without ever taking on physical form like a CD or printout of names, it’s very difficult to track who’s profiting from it,” says David Croson, visiting professor of management science at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Stay Current or Else While estimates of the exact economic impact of viruses vary widely, just about everyone agrees that the costs to business are substantial. So what should firms do to protect themselves from a virtual blackout? “Companies not only need to ensure virus protection is in place on every single system (especially remote and mobile systems) but that virus protection programs on these systems are kept up-to-date with automated methods,” says Belthoff. Patches — software fixes that close holes in programs — need to be applied regularly, he adds. “Security policies for all companies need to include detailed steps on identifying new vulnerabilities, quickly testing available patches, and deploying them.” A third consideration is end users: “IT departments should feel compelled to either directly lead or heavily influence end-user training for security issues, getting the end users to be more security-aware,” says Belthoff. Wharton chief information officer Gerry McCartney notes that security needs to be an organization-wide endeavor. “If all the energy is put into guarding the perimeters of the organization — but people inside don’t feel the need to be vigilant — then large-scale bad things can happen if the perimeter security is broken. Organizations need to be vigilant in terms of keeping their machines fully patched and acting quickly and decisively to remove infected machines from their network, no matter who they belong to or what they do.” Shuttering the Windows Since most viruses target Microsoft programs, the obvious question in many an IT manager’s mind is: Is it wiser to switch to another system, such as Macintosh or Linux? Hunter believes that for some firms, going the non-Windows route could make sense. “I think that some businesses will look to other platforms and factor virus costs into their IT departments. Linux and Mac — which of course uses UNIX — are inherently more stable than Windows, and the security on the applications tends to be better. They are also, because of their low user base, a much less attractive target for virus writers. As a result I’m sure there are some places that are looking at their total computing infrastructure costs and realizing that migrating to another operating system is going to be cheaper in the long run than maintaining Windows. Microsoft has been trying to push its ‘trustworthy computing’ initiative, one major component of which is resistance to viruses. Recent events haven’t helped their position.” Croson points out, however, that viruses would probably go wherever the users are. “Remember, Windows is a target of opportunity because (a) it’s popular, so the fixed cost of writing a worm to attack it can be spread over a lot of computers that it could infect, and (b) users of the Windows OS are, on average, less sophisticated than, say, Linux users. If the majority of systems — especially those run by novice users, who don’t really understand operating systems or security — were Mac, then the worms would attack Macs. Thinking about the supply-side incentives for people to produce viruses will give us more insight into how to defend against them, by learning how to automatically defend against prosaic ‘script-kiddie’ viruses and making it not worthwhile to create really clever ones.” In addition, the costs of switching are not insignificant, cautions Belthoff. “Migration to Linux or Mac from Windows may appear attractive at first glance to someone dealing with a major virus infection and cleanup tasks. However, migration costs are sometimes more than they initially appear, particularly with Linux. The cost of the operating system is only one of several cost factors. Others are initial deployment, training or hiring of proper IT personnel, maintenance, and migration of applications to the new platform.” Besides, migrating isn’t a cure-all, he adds. “It is important to note that, although Mac and Linux systems were not ‘infectable’ directly from Sobig.f, users of these platforms could suffer just as much as Windows users from all the resulting e-mail bounce backs and undeliverable returns caused by the worm. From that perspective, you couldn’t hide from Sobig by being on Mac or Linux.” Place Your Bets Not surprisingly, one firm’s infection is another’s profit opportunity, and several players are emerging to take advantage of it. “The big winners will be data security vendors,” says McCartney. “Between people’s concerns about what and how personal data is stored and available and these continuous security compromises, there is a strong argument to be made that most places are not yet doing enough to protect their data assets.” Anti-virus vendors and intrusion prevention firms aren’t the only gainers, adds Belthoff. “There is also increased interest on the part of organizations in performing some form of ‘lockdown’ on the end-user desktop, which would drive increased interest in personal firewall and content filtering vendors.” Established players like Norton and Symantec, notes Hunter, may be joined by new entrants in such niches as plug-ins for mail clients. Alternative platforms will likely tout their superiority, too: “Apple and the Linux-purveyors will probably use this as a marketing benefit. Why wouldn’t they?” All materials copyright of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

About 4311 days ago Computer Security

A Soloist’s Nightmare

Managing Technology Independent contractors often can’t diagnose their own computer ills. And a sick system can leave a soloist’s business on life support Beverly Samaniego was in a stone-cold panic. “I couldn’t sleep. I was sick to my stomach,” says Samaniego, who runs a nurse-education consulting company out of her home in Elk Grove, Calif. The cause of her distress? Losing all the data on her brand-new handheld. One day this past April, Samaniego had spent five hours loading customer information into the database on her handheld with the help of the software vendor’s support person, who was located 3,000 miles away. Then the system crashed — leaving a string of indecipherable error messages in its wake. It was almost more than Samaniego could bear. Computer problems are no fun for anyone anytime. But when they strike a sole proprietor or a two- or three-person operation, PC woes can threaten the very existence of the business. Most soloists assume that they are too small to get the attention of a “real” com- puter consultant — and most don’t have the budget for in-house tech support. Soloists have traditionally relied on phone support provided by their vendors — which can be spotty at best — and on friends and family. Once the warranty runs out, vendors charge hefty fees for support, even if in the end they aren’t able to solve the problem. Long waits on hold can dissolve into finger-pointing. But take heart: there are better ways for soloists and small companies to get the support they need. Systems integrators and other computer consulting companies have long done their work at the office buildings of their Fortune 500 clients. But independent contractors have usually had to schlepp broken machines to computer-repair shops; house calls were unheard of. Until recently, that is. The boom in home-based work has resulted in a new crop of consulting businesses that provide IT support — including house calls — to independent contractors and other small companies. The businesses provide a range of on-site services, from repairing broken machines to providing software fixes, networking advice, and even application training. The hourly rates for such services range from about $70 to $130. Some companies, such as Virtex Networks of Atlanta, provide subscription IT services that can run upwards of $100 per person per month. Cyber hand-holding During the past few years, Anita Bailey, principal at Bailey Marketing Communications, in Nashville, has noticed a huge jump in the number of companies that offer on-site computer services. “The landscape for computer resources in my city has changed simply because there are more independent business owners that need support these days,” she says. Many of the new companies, such as PC on Call and SOHO Computer Pros, are more focused on the needs of small-business owners than their larger counterparts have ever been. Case in point: My Home Tech of Rancho Cordova, Calif. According to founder and co-owner Darren Hans Bobella, the eight-person start-up handles any type of computer hardware or software problem at any location (at the client’s home or office or at My Home Tech’s facilities). Bobella maintains that although large IT-services companies are reluctant to visit home offices, his company isn’t. “Your typical small-business owner is working like a dog. It’s a 24-hour job for them. They have IT needs just like a big company,” he says. My Home Tech offers its services seven days a week, until 8 p.m. most nights. The company hands out its emergency phone number to repeat customers and offers them round-the-clock service. And it provides something many soloists need but never get: one-on-one instruction. In essence, companies like Bobella’s are designed to hold the hands of small-business owners who typically don’t know where to turn for affordable technology assistance. For fees ranging from $40 for one-shot deals, like installing a hard drive, to $70 an hour for diagnoses and advice, My Home Tech professionals accompany owners on computer shopping trips, act as consumer advocates when equipment fails, and sketch out technology road maps. In her desperation last April, Beverly Samaniego contacted My Home Tech, which had recently been profiled in the business section of the Sacramento Bee. She reached Bobella, who pledged to come to her house early the next morning to straighten out the problems. Samaniego was thrilled. Previously, when she had experienced a problem with her Mac or her PC, she had had to unplug the offending component and take it into a local computer-repair shop. The idea of having someone come to her was a “total joy,” she says. The next day Bobella determined that Samaniego needed to install a single computer platform and blend her three customer databases into one. “He told me I was working harder than I needed to because my equipment wasn’t networked,” she says. Together, Bobella and Samaniego worked out an integration path aimed at helping to improve her operations. Besides moving some applications from the Mac to the PC, which is now her sole platform, Bobella advised her on exactly what else she needed to buy and even went with her to the store. Says Samaniego, “I need advice. My business works, but I’m not a techie. I run on instinct.” Digital intervention Computer support arrived with almost transcendental timing for Carrie Reber, who is the sole proprietor of a marketing-communications business in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. One night, during a thunderstorm, Reber heard a loud noise — “like a crack of thunder” — come from her office. “I ran in there and found that my modem didn’t work anymore,” she says. (She had a surge protector for her computer but not for her modem.) The next morning, Reber was leaving the house when she noticed a van driving by with the words “PC on Call” painted on the side. It seemed like a message from above. “They came out and replaced the modem with one that was faster and better the next day,” she says. She paid “a couple hundred” dollars for the timely service. Reber had chanced upon a new type of regional company designed from the ground up to serve the home-based and small-business market. In 1997, in response to the growing need for on-site service, Steve Pollak had started Cincinnati-based PC on Call and outfitted its technicians with mobile “computer labs” — retrofitted vans in which, the company claims, workers can build up to three new computers from scratch. Pollak had been helping his friends with their home computers, says marketing director Kevin Boothe, and “it got to the point where he had to keep parts in his car to keep up with the demand.” PC on Call now operates in seven cities and plans to expand in the near future. The service was well worth the money, says Reber, especially since the technician discovered a completely empty disk drive on her computer. “I thought I was running out of disk space and would have to get a new computer. He informed me it was just sitting there, waiting to be used,” she says. Support for penny-pinchers If you need computer support but must do it truly on the cheap, take a page out of Shel Horowitz’s book. Horowitz, the author of four books on the topic of frugality, is a master of free computer support. An early adopter of the Macintosh, Horowitz relies on a Macintosh-related Internet newsgroup. The list’s participants take care of most of his support needs, gratis. “Just the other day, I asked how I could change the default E-mail client on Internet Explorer [from Outlook Express] to Eudora. I got a quick, good answer from the people on the list in under 24 hours,” says Horowitz, who lives in Hadley, Mass. The king of cost-effectiveness, Horowitz also recommends buying computer equipment from stores or mail-order houses that offer free support (if only for a limited time). Beverly Samaniego is not worried about the warranty on her new handheld running out. These days she sleeps well at night, secure in the knowledge that if her computer breaks down, Darren Hans Bobella will come to her rescue and fix it. Says Samaniego, “I totally love this man.” Lauren Gibbons Paul is a freelance writer based in Waban, Mass. Good Questions Before you hire the company you hope will be your on-site savior, ask these questions: Do you make house calls? Do you guarantee that you’ll arrive within a certain window of time? If I have to bring my machine to you, will you repair it yourself or send it elsewhere? How long will it take? Do you guarantee a rapid return? Are you available during emergencies, in person or by phone? How do you charge? By subscription or flat rate (per problem, or what the company may call an “incident”) or with a mix of flat-rate fees and per-hour charges for diagnoses and advice? If you don’t solve my problem, will you still charge me for the visit? (Some small companies don’t charge you unless they heal your ailing system; others charge a fee to arrive at your doorstep.) Are your staffers certified? If they are, which software programs are they trained to use? Do you offer one-on-one training? If you do, in which applications? Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4584 days ago E-Commerce

Web Awards 2000: Innovation

First place Sumerset Custom Houseboats (See ” Web Awards 2000: General Excellence.”) Second place Yadda Yadda Yadda Company: Lûcrum Inc. Web address: www.lucruminc.com Why it won: Its cutting-edge multimedia keep visitors coming back for more. Company revenues: $19 million Site-launch cost: $10,000 Judge’s view: “Nice, nongratuitous use of audio media to create, inform, and maintain [its] customer base.” –Jordan Ayan Ben Franklin’s knowing gaze presides over the home page of Lûcrum Inc., an E-business services company in Cincinnati. Those who are well endowed of wallet will recognize the image from the $100 bill. It’s an appropriate image for the business’s site, given the company’s name, which evokes the idea of lucre (money, to the uninitiated). Lûcrum president, CEO, and founder John Bostick explains that the logo and the name are part and parcel of the company’s motto: “Digital strategies that improve your bottom line.” Bostick’s dry sense of humor belies the seriousness of that message: he almost named his software-development shop Vandelay Industries, after the nonexistent company that George Costanza of TV’s Seinfeld claimed to work for. Although there wasn’t anything wrong with that, Bostick, 41, decided to stick with the existing name, Client Server Associates. In recent years the company has caught the Internet wave and refocused on E-business. The new name — and the Web site — were launched this year. Lûcrum’s site is particularly innovative in its use of multimedia. For example, the company’s customers — and others who want to stay in the know — tune in every week to Lûcrum Radio, a weekly Webcast on such timely E-business topics as customer-relationship management. Users have the choice of tuning in live, listening to an archived version, or picking from more than 40 archived titles and creating a customized CD. “Customers can throw their desired content on a CD and play it in the car on the way to work,” says Bostick. For an investment of 8 to 12 minutes per subject, Lûcrum’s customers can get up to speed on all the latest trends. The site also features a collection of video clips and a media digest of pertinent articles on such topics as E-commerce patents and digital-supply-chain issues. Lûcrum pushes hot content to its customers in a weekly E-mail blast. The idea is to give users a quick overview of what’s going on in business through a mix of media. The site gets between 2,500 and 3,500 unique visitors a month, and users stay an average of four to seven minutes per visit. Lûcrum’s sales team garners at least two good leads a week from the site. That all sounds pretty good, but Lûcrum director of marketing Stephen Smith is never satisfied. Smith and Web-content manager Chuck Fields plan to change the site’s navigation to emphasize content first rather than the glitzy (and slow) Flash intro. Says Bostick, “Above all, we want our site to be functional.” Judge Omar Wasow applauded that move. Said Wasow, “Function [must go] before form on the Web.” –Lauren Gibbons Paul Third place Cross-Country Savings Company: Dandelion Moving & Storage Inc. Web address: www.dickerabid.com Why it won: The site offers a clever way to exploit a new market by matching small moving companies with price-conscious individuals. Company revenues: $1.8 million Site-launch cost: $15,000 Judge’s view: “An innovative application of the Internet-bidding concept in a different market.” –Jordan Ayan Bret Lamperes, owner and CEO of Dandelion Moving & Storage Inc., in Fort Collins, Colo., is a true veteran of the schlepping biz. He was in the third grade when his mother and stepfather launched the company with one small truck. He grew up in the family business and bought it at age 25. Lamperes understands a particular truth about trucking: in prosperous times, people move a lot of freight and business is good. But a slowdown can hit suddenly and create cash-flow crunches for small movers. At the end of 1999, says Lamperes, “everyone was moving a ton of freight because they were worried that Y2K would shut everything down.” But in January 2000, demand crashed and fuel prices jumped. Dandelion lost $100,000 to the freight feast-or-famine syndrome. But Lamperes was not the kind of entrepreneur who sinks all his hopes and fortunes into one venture. He had already started an express courier service (from which he later extricated himself) and a ministorage business. And he had a new plan, too: a kind of reverse auction for people who need movers, in which small moving companies could bid on jobs. Typically, the lowest price would win (although some customers choose movers based on their availability on moving dates). Lamperes hooked up with Web designer Erik Madsen, who was between contracts last fall. Madsen wanted to make some quick cash before the holidays, so he cut Lamperes a deal: $8,000 to design, build, and launch the site. By March, Madsen had a working model for the site, called DickerABid.com. Then came a snafu: the company that had agreed to process credit-card transactions on the site backed out. Lamperes scrambled for a replacement, and in June he launched the site with minimal marketing. He used his existing site, Dandelionmoving.com, to direct traffic to the new site, and he registered DickerABid with search engines. Customers who came upon the site posted their moving jobs, and Dandelion and four other companies began bidding on them. At press time, the site, with one employee working on it full time, had packed in an extra $14,000 in business for Dandelion. Lamperes is looking for financing to build DickerABid into a force to be reckoned with. He’d like to expand his base of movers to 20, and he envisions the advertising potential for moving-related companies, such as those that sell blinds or furniture. In the works: a mapping module that will help movers route their trucks for maximum return. “If you have room in your truck, you can pick up a job for $200 or $400 on the way, and that pays for your fuel,” says the CEO. Our judges liked Lamperes’s line of thinking. “This site builds a market where one never existed, and does so elegantly and with a commitment to integrity and quality that all sites would do well to heed,” said Omar Wasow. –Jill Hecht Maxwell Conversation with Guy Kawasaki Judge: Innovation “I have learned that basketball is a window onto a person’s soul,” says Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com, a venture-capital investment bank based in Palo Alto, Calif., that serves high-tech start-ups. “Someone who hogs the ball on the court will not be a team player in a company. Someone who doesn’t hustle on the court won’t hustle in business. Someone who cheats — well, you get the picture.” So, too, is a Web site a window onto a person’s or a company’s soul, he says. “When you see a clean, fast Web site, you can assume that the company is pragmatic and useful. When you see a Web site that takes 15 minutes to boot with all kinds of video, music, and multimedia clogging things up, it’s a warning that the company is more flash than cash,” he says. Kawasaki’s roots with the digerati run deep: He spent six years at Apple Computer, leading the charge that put the Macintosh on the map. Yet despite his self-admitted bias toward pie-in-the-sky product development, Kawasaki has a decidedly retro take on Web-site innovation. “You may find this hard to believe,” he says, “but I’m not sure that innovation is the key factor for a Web site. Factors like usability, elegance, and speed are more important.” The sites he chose as winners, he says, merge creativity with pragmatism to facilitate rather than merely dress up business transactions. “The sites that I liked didn’t look as if they were intended to win awards. They looked like they were built to serve customers.” –Thea Singer Annual Web Awards 2000 General Excellence Marketing Customer Service ROI Innovation Community Judges Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.