StillSecure, After All These Years

Come on baby hit me one more time (Its iPhone upgrade time again, Oh God)

Image via CrunchBase

I don’t know what is with me. I must be either a  closet masochist, a glutton for punishment or just plain stupid (or maybe all of the above).  For whatever reason I felt it necessary to try and upgrade to the latest version of iPhone software today when prompted.  Every fiber of my being was screaming no don’t do it. But I did anyway.  For those not familiar, every since I got my iPhone about a year ago, everytime Apple has put out an upgrade to the OS, my phone has bricked.  So why should this time be any different?  Did I really think Apple would give a crap about their AT&T customer base and actually fix whatever bug consistently causes this problem?  Of course not! 

Same old, same old. I upgraded, the phone bricked, iTunes froze, locked up the computer. Had to reboot, same thing happened. When on to another computer did a clean install. Wiped out everything on my phone, came back to my old computer did a sync and now I am spending the rest of the night re-customizing and trying to find what I have lost. 

When am I going to learn.  Apple you suck!

Blogging at 35 thousand feet

Travelling to Denver today on Delta.  My flight is equipped with GOGO Internet so I am able to have full access while flying. It is really pretty cool.  The only thing is that when I signed up for it last week it was 9.95 for the duration of the trip. Today it is 12.95! Are they experimenting with pricing to see how much people are willing to pay?   Much more than this and unless I am on a 5 hour flight, it doesn’t pay.  Also with battery life being what it is, how much on line time are you actually getting.  But for now the novelty hasn’t worn off and am enjoying the freedom it gives me!

Is the Blackberry the new Pinto?

Image via Wikipedia

OK that is what Galen Gruman says over on InfoWorld.  I actually remember the Ford Pinto, it was a great little car until we found out that certain rear end collisions could ignite the fuel tank causing an explosion.  Since I have not heard of many Blackberries actually blowing up, I don’ think a Pinto is exactly what Gruman meant.  However, I do agree that comparing it to an iPhone for the most part is today looking at yesterday. I would probably pick a Duster or Pacer to a Prius though.

In any event I agree, while the Blackberry brought mobile email to the masses, the iPhone has brought web browsing, first rate phone and all of those apps besides email.  Blackberry has not succeeded in moving beyond email.  Now, if they could just do something about making the upgrades work better, Apple might be on to something!

In the case of Chrome 2.0, does speed kill?

Image via Wikipedia

On my laptop in addition to IE 8.0 and the latest version of Firefox, I also keep the latest version of Safari and Google Chrome.  While I don’t use the two latter browsers very much, I do occasionally log in with them and compare performance.  However since my password manager does not support those browsers and I use random passwords now, it is a pain for me to browse the sites I visit frequently and require me to log in to my account. As a result I primarily use IE or Firefox to browse (usually both are open on my desktop).

When I heard there was a new version of Chrome, of course the geek in me rushed over and downloaded it to see what was new and improved.  But like Preston Gralla says, the Chrome 2.0 upgrade can be underwhelming. The clean Spartan interface remains virtually the same, there are no new killer features. Unless of course you think speed kills.  This new version of Chrome is lightening fast! It was already my fastest loading browser before this upgrade and now it is sick fast. Yes Chrome does not have many of the bells and whistles that IE, Firefox and even Safari have.  But I really do like its clean interface and look and most important of all, I love the speed!

I just checked on my password manager (Roboform) and they will have a beta for Chrome by Q4.  Maybe then I will start using Chrome more.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google Chrome's JavaScript Engine Is CRAZY FAST (paulspoerry.com)
• Google Chrome, anyone? (netnewsdaily.com)
• Google Releases New Stable Version of Chrome: Faster, Full Screen Mode, Form Autofill (readwriteweb.com)
• Google claims 30 percent Chrome speed boost (thaibrother.com)
• Google claims 30 percent Chrome speed boost (news.cnet.com)

Would taxing tech companies foreign income kill the goose that laid the golden egg or just close an unfair loophole?

No sooner had President Obama announced plans to close down some loopholes that allow US based companies to defer and in some cases not pay taxes on income earned out of country, a group calling themselves the Silicon Valley Leadership Group voiced their objections. They claim that many of the largest tech companies like HP, Google, Microsoft and Cisco earn half or more of their money from foreign markets.  They pay the usually lower taxes in those countries and as long as they don’t take that money back in the US, they should not have to pay the higher US tax rate on it.  The group further argues that if these poor tech companies had to pay that tax, it would make them uncompetitive and wind up costing jobs. 

I think they talk out of both sides of their mouth.  I think the present system of letting them avoid taxes by not bringing dollars into the country incents them to keep their money and their employees and spending out of the country!  These countries often get their start by building a US presence. Yes they need to compete internationally but it is high time that we close the loopholes that allow these companies with billions in profit from paying their fair share.  As it is now if a company pays foreign income tax, they can take that as a deduction even though they do not take that income or revenue into the US and pay taxes on it.  Additionally they can deduct from their US taxes money they use to build foreign operations, while again not paying taxes on the money they earn from those operations.

Everyone wants our economy to do better and have more jobs here.  That means we need to put the incentives in place for these companies to hire Americans in America. It is very hard to feel sorry for these tech companies crying with two loaves of bread under their arms.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Obama targets foreign tax havens (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Another snort-inducer: Obama to crack down on tax cheats (michellemalkin.com)
• Battle Lines Being Drawn As Obama Plans To Curb Tax Avoidance (news.slashdot.org)

When am I going to learn, stay away from iPhone upgrades!

Image via Wikipedia

I am a glutton for punishment.  How many times do I need to be kicked in the crotch to remember that when Apple puts out an update for the iPhone, stay as far away from it as I can! I went to update today because iTunes said there were important security updates.  I bricked my phone, iTunes bricked my wireless NIC on the laptop and now the phone upgrade just hangs.

I called ATT and after several busy signals got through.  They of course were useless (what else is new) and transferred me to Apple.  Josh from Apple gets on the phone all chipper and asks what the problem is. I tell him and at 3:20pm my time tells me that this is the second problem like this he has heard today.  I ask him how long he has been working today and he tells me his shift just started 20 minutes ago!  I am now waiting while another computer in the house downloads the 250mg update (slowed down by the load on Apple’s servers) and tries to upgrade my phone.  Until then no cell phone.

What will it take for Apple to get a simple upgrade right?  Why should it be torture every time there is an update to iPhone?  Every time you think it is safe to go back Apple shows you that they just can’t get it right!

The Facebook Phenomenon

Image via Wikipedia

OK, I will admit it.  I have been spending an increasing amount of time on Facebook over the the last month or so.  I am even chatting live with Facebook friends at night on line.  I haven’t done online chat since the days of the Imagination Network by Sierra back in 1992. I don’t think I have twittered more than 3 times during this time, preferring to post my updates on Facebook instead.  I see my friend’s twitter updates on Facebook and that seems to be good enough for me. I look at pictures posted, comments, status updates, friends of friends, groups, even stupid applications involving sharing gifts and such (I did join a group that professes to hate those stupid application requests).

So what is driving this near obsession? Am I alone in this? Based upon what I am seeing, I am certainly not alone.  In the last month or so my friend count has gone from about 75 to near 200.  My friends fall into three categories:

1. Family and current friends (people I am in touch with anyway)
2. Business contacts (not too dissimilar from LinkedIn)
3. Old friends and distant family I have not seen in years and years (this is the real driver for me)

There is just something very cool, and strangely appealing in a very weird way, about talking or finding out about someone you have not seen for 10, 15, or 20 years or more. I think this is the attraction that is driving this critical mass of Facebook adoption. The students who originally powered Facebook are still there. In fact my impression is that most of that generation have in excess of 400 friends. They are wired in and using Facebook a lot! 

However, I have also found that students prefer My Space better (I’m not sure why though). For business contacts, sites like LinkedIn would be sufficient, and its popularity attests to that.  As for real-time friends and family, you are in contact with them regularly anyway.  So it is the long lost friends and family that are unique to Facebook.  In many ways it fulfills the promise of a World Wide Web (of people that is). However, to be fair, Facebook also enhances the relationships and experiences of those in the other categories as well.

I find meeting old school and neighborhood friends really cool in a weird sort of way.  Finding out what ever happened to so and so and actually interacting with them is just freaky, but in a good way. Let me give you a case in point. During Junior High School there was a boy in my class name Jordan Gruber.  Jordan and I were never best friends, but we knew and liked each other.  After junior high, Jordan’s family moved from the neighborhood and I never saw him—or probably even thought about him—again.  Then, through the magic of Facebook, I saw Jordan’s name listed as a friend of another friend of mine from the same era. I sent him a friend request and presto, we are now Facebook friends. 

Turns out that after he moved, Jordan went on to get his undergrad and master’s degrees, and then a law degree. Now he lives with his wife and child out in the San Francisco Bay area. Take a look at http://www.JordanGruber.com, and you’ll see that by day, Jordan is the “Practical Wordsmith,” ghostwriting a wide variety of books in financial services, law, technology, and self-help psychology. By evening, Jordan is the CEO of Enlightenment.Com, a site dedicated to figuring out “what works” in the realm of spirituality and what he calls self-development, including his fascination with the mini-rebounder (mini-trampoline) as a form of highly effective and fun exercise.

In his spare time, Jordan, like me, is strangely attracted to the magnetic pull of contact with old classmates and friends on Facebook.  We had a live telephone call about this and agree that there is just something about it that is very fulfilling.  Jordan and I are going to get together for coffee next time I am out in the Valley, but we will keep in touch on Facebook in the meantime.  He also turned me on to some other mutual friends already on Facebook too.

So I am off to hunt down more names and faces from my childhood.  Who would you find if you could?  How long will it be until first loves find each other and run away together? This phenomenon has reached enough of a critical mass where we are going to see some very amazing interactions that are going to make Facebook a central and key part of our social lives.

Or as my friend Jordan in his best Enlightenment.com manner says,

“I think there is the potential for a powerful "integral" spiritual practice involved in embracing people and relationships from your past, that it is right here on our doorsteps, and that it is an incredible mirror for self-growth. I know I have been positively affected, and, it's quite the ride.”

The social networking race may in fact  be over.  Game, set, match Facebook!

 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Facebook nearly twice as big as MySpace
• What is a conversation anyway?
• Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: Jan 27, 2009

Does anyone use Technorati anymore?

I was going through my bookmarks in Firefox the other day (it is amazing how quickly bookmarks get out of control) and I came across my technorati log in page.  Luckily I use a password manager because I have no idea what my password is anymore for that site.  Do any of you still use Technorati? I hadn’t logged in a while myself.

I was thinking back to when I first started blogging. I used to manically check to make sure my pings were working and Technorati was indexing my posts.  How many sites linked to me (in later Technorati terms they call it your authority) was a good part of how I judged how my blog was doing.  I don’t know, somewhere along the way who cares about what Technorati says about your blog.  They just seemed to have totally faded into obscurity as far as that is concerned.  Do any of you have a different experience or opinion on their impact?  Would be interested to hear.

Google is building a router, should Cisco or Juniper care?

Image via Wikipedia

I saw two articles (here and here) today speculating on rumors of Google building a router to handle the mega-gigs of bandwidth they use. Both speculated on Google's ability to build a competitive product to handle the load. I don't think there is any doubt that if they want to, Google can build such a router. Will they open source it a la Android is a good question. 

I have heard similar rumors of them building their own switches.  In fact I think that Google building their own switches was a factor in the recent Force 10-Turin merger. Losing a big customer like Google is tough for a company like Force 10.  Now what effect it would have on Juniper is another story.  I am sure that Google buys lots of Juniper routers, but so do lots of carriers out there.  Big high speed routers is Juniper's game.  I don't see a reason for a run on their stock because they may lose Google as a customer.  Also, I think Google may find that just building the router is a fine first step, but maintaining and continuing development to keep pace with technology may be more than they want and using a COTS solution is just plain cheaper.

Also remember that almost since the beginning Google has built their own servers.  In fact I had heard that Google is actually the 3rd or 4th largest server manufacturer in the world.  That has not taken a bite out of Dell, HP or IBM.  Google doesn't sell servers commercially.  They build them for their own dedicated purposes.  I think we would see the same thing with switches and routers.  So besides losing one big customers, Cisco, Juniper and the like should not have anything to fear.

Now like I said earlier, if Google were to open source the software and hardware designs for their routers, that would be another story all together.  That would enable any number of companies to instantly have a high performance competitor to Cisco or Juniper.  You could see IBM or Dell jumping on that pretty quickly, HP ProCurve as well.  Of course from what I know of routing, Google would have to make sure they don't run afoul of the many patents filed on routing protocols.  This could prevent them from releasing anything commercially as well.  If they used it only internally, how would anyone find out?  Interesting.

And the winner and still champion is - Perpetual Licensing

Eric Lai has an excellent piece up in ComputerWorld on software licensing. Eric concludes that in spite of a crappy economy that would favor paying less money up front, in spite of the popularity of SaaS models and their monthly or subscription billing, most companies still prefer a perpetual based licensing model.  Eric's conclusion rings true with my own experience at StillSecure.

Almost 9 years ago when we first started at StillSecure, our research indicated that subscription pricing was going to be the wave of the future.  Microsoft was embracing and pushing subscriptions heavily.  The AV guys like Norton-Symantec and Network Associates/McAfee were selling AV on a subscription. It was less money up front and best of all for us, offered the very desirable reoccurring revenue model.

Funny thing happened though.  Pretty quickly we found out people hated it.  They didn't like the idea of buying the same software year after year. Customers who had the product for multiple years wound up paying a lot more for the product. As Eric points out, they couldn't put the cost down as cap ex and that was a problem. The cost difference up front between the two models was not sufficient enough to win them over.  So we pretty quickly started offering our software in a traditional software perpetual model with its 20% yearly maintenance. We offered both subscription and perpetual licenses to our customers and even discounted multi-year subscriptions so that it was price neutral if you bought a 3 year subscription. Well pretty quickly the overwhelming (and I mean overwhelming) majority of customers went perpetual.  We thought the fact that sales people were making more commissions on the higher up front costs of perpetual had them steering customers to perpetual.  But that wasn't it.  As Eric points out, even companies who themselves sell software on a subscription model, prefer to buy perpetual.

So we stopped banging our head on that wall and we offer both models today with most people opting for perpetual.  Now with increased economic trouble and more and more people buying security as a service, maybe that will change.  But I will believe it when I see it. Until then, the winner and still champion is ...