List: Ten blunders in electronics industry

Every once in awhile, electronics firms or individuals who work for them do something that makes everyone else in the industry scratch their heads and, perhaps, wince. We are talking about actions and decisions that—while they may seem perfectly logical to those making the decisions—don't really add up in the minds of most people.
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Perhaps it is the tough economy increasing the pressure and forcing acts of desperation, but it seems to us that there have been an inordinate number of examples of these head scratchers to come to light in recent months. EE Times has compiled a list of 10 moves that, in our opinion, can be called questionable.

1. IBM layoffs
IBM has quietly let go some 10,000 workers in recent months, according to an IBM workers labour union. Big Blue has for the most part declined to comment on these layoffs (though a human resources vice president told the New York Times that the company is in constant transformation, eliminating jobs in some areas while adding them in others). Speculation by the union and others is that IBM is keeping layoffs on the down low in order to stay under the radar. But, if so, this policy has backfired miserably, with every whisper of an IBM job reduction attracting greater scrutiny and more distrust/publicity courtesy of the union.

2. The paranoid goof up
In May, the European Commission charged Intel with at least eight violations involving rebate payments to Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, NEC and Media Saturn Holding, owner of the MediaMarkt retail chain. It levied a fine of Rs.7,103.11 crore ($1.45 billion) against the processor giant, its largest fine to date. Intel claimed it has evidence that will refute the European Commission's conclusion that the company has engaged in anti-competitive business practices. But why did Intel bother with any alleged bad behaviour in Europe, or, for that matter, in Asia and the U.S. in the first place? It was plain silly. Its rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), never seems to get its act together and stumbles over its own feet. Intel usually wins over AMD by default.

3. Jobs' health mystery
It's hard to fault Apple Inc., one of the few high tech companies sailing relatively smoothly on the wings on the iPhone and iPod through the historic downturn. But the company failed the candor test this year when it disclosed January 5 its chief executive had "a hormone imbalance" then came back less than ten days later to say the iconic Steve Jobs would take a six month medical leave. A week later the SEC opened an investigation of just what was going on. Since then, much of the reporting on Apple has focused on the mystery of Jobs' health. After a decade as CEO, we think it's time for Jobs to get a succession plan and be transparent about it.

4. Hwang's gaffe
Once upon a time, Hwang Chang-gyu, formerly the head of Samsung's chip unit, devised something called ''Hwang's Law.'' Taking a page from Moore's Law, ''Hwang's Law'' implied that NAND transistor count would double every year. Samsung pushed that idea with its own NAND product efforts. Others followed. The idea worked—and backfired. NAND scaling has enabled cheap MP3 players, USB drives and solid-state drives. But NAND scaling in part has also caused excess capacity—and vast losses—among vendors. This was not entirely Hwang's fault, but he took the fall. He was demoted and ultimately resigned from Samsung earlier this year.

5. Microsemi-gate
Chip maker Microsemi Corp. assessed penalties against its president and CEO, James Peterson, after determining that he misrepresented his academic credentials. Microsemi fined Peterson Rs.48.99 lakh ($100,000) and forced him to forgo his annual bonus (worth an average of Rs.3.33 crore ($680,000)) after it came to light that Peterson did not have the bachelors or masters degrees he claimed from Brigham Young University. Prior to the proving of the allegations, Peterson sharply denied them, claimed his academic record was being confused with another man with a similar name and questioned the credibility of the person who first brought the lie to light, Barry Minkow of Fraud Discovery Institute. Peterson remains president and CEO of Microsemi. A high-ranking Broadcom executive was reportedly fired last year for falsely claiming to have degrees from the University of California at Irvine.

6. MIPS' analogue divorce
Analogue is the hottest thing since sliced bread. Not for one IP vendor. MIPS Technologies Inc., which in August 2007 bought Chipidea, a Portuguese analogue and mixed-signal IP company for Rs.720.11 crore ($147 million), in May divested its analogue business group to Synopsys Inc. in an all-cash transaction for Rs.107.77 crore ($22 million). The marriage lasted only 18 months. At the least the divorce went well.

7. Bad memories
As part of its plan to bail-out Taiwan's loss ridden DRAM sector, the Taiwan government proposed consolidating all of the island's DRAM makers into a single company. Thus far, the DRAM vendors have refused. Even a pro-Taiwan lobbying group is mystified. The Taiwanese government plan to consolidate the island's DRAM industry around the government-backed Taiwan Memory Co. (TMC) remains unclear and could do more harm than good, according to a recent report from that group. TMC may never get off the ground.

8. 450-mm fab dreams
Intel, TSMC and Samsung are separately pushing for 450-mm ''prototype'' fabs by 2012. International Sematech is spearheading the effort. Late last year, Sematech updated its 450-mm fab roadmap—amid the worst downturn in the equipment industry. At a Sematech event, no one explained who would pay for the R&D or the 450-mm tools. One analyst said it best: Semiconductor equipment companies should boycott development of tools for the transition to 450-mm wafers, saying chip gear vendors were the losers in the transition to 300-mm wafers and would likely not benefit from the next move to larger wafers.

9. Selling out is OK
Fab automation vendor Asyst Technologies Inc. rejected takeover bids from Aquest Systems Corp. and others last year. Since then the company has filed for bankruptcy and has been all but begging for a buyer. The firm's CEO resigned in April and it was delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange. Similarly, fab tool vendor Axcelis Technologies Inc.rejected bids from Japan's Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. last year. Since then, the company has cut hundreds of workers, been sued by its stockholders, and was forced to sell its stake in a Japanese joint venture to a partner. The company's stock price has declined from nearly $6 per share a year ago to just over 50 cents per share as of June 8.

(tie) 10. ATE standards are proprietary
Standards in automatic test equipment (ATE) look good on paper, but they certainly don't work in the real world. ATE vendors simply can't agree on anything; they hate each other. And consortiums don't work too. For example, the Semiconductor Test Consortium Inc. (STC) was formed in 2003 to devise ATE standards. The end result: The STC flopped and Japan's Advantest built a proprietary tester for Intel. Then, last year, Advantest, Amkor, Infineon, Intel, LTX-Credence, Qualcomm, Roos Instruments, Teradyne, and Verigy formed a new organisation to devise ATE standards in an effort to lower test costs. The group, called Collaborative Alliance for Semiconductor Test or CAST, recently discontinued its operations and was folded into the SEMI trade group. CAST is still alive but don't look for ATE standards in the future.

(tie) 10. Fister fumbles
Cadence Design Systems Inc.'s bid to buy Mentor Graphics Corp. last summer may have been the final nail in the coffin of the Michael Fister regime. Fister was known to think big, and the acquisition of Mentor would certainly have been that. Mentor was initially uninterested, but later grumbled that Cadence did not follow through with face-to-face negotiations. A few months later, Fister was gone and a humbled Cadence was watching its sales tumble as it started back on the path to a ratable business model. Ironically, the Rs.7,837.91 crore ($1.6 billion) that Cadence initially bid for Mentor was close to the amount of the loss that Cadence eventually reported for the fourth quarter of 2008.

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BY Mark LaPedus, Dylan McGrath, Rick Merritt, Nicolas Mokhoff
Source：EE Times

Copyright © 2009 eMedia Asia Ltd. All rights reserved.

Most iPhone application developers are not making a profit

The majority of iPhone application developers are not making large amounts of money, and should not enter the industry with the anticipation of creating a lucrative business, a new survey warns.
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Apple's App Store has gained considerable attention for its incredible success stories, with some application developers quitting day jobs and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few weeks' work.

One example is US developer Ethan Nicholas, who developed an artillery game called iShoot that earned him $37,000 in a single day.

But the new survey, undertaken by Britain-based game consultant Adam Martin, finds that over half of the 85 development teams surveyed have earned less than $15,000 for their work, and 33% have earned less than $250.

Only 1% earned between $500,000 and $2 million, 1% earned $100,000-$250,000 and only 2% made between $15,000-$50,000.

Application developer Keith Ahern, whose development studio MoGeneration has released some of the most popular iPhone apps, says developing apps can be a lucrative business but it must be approached like any other industry.

"When you get a return on investment that sees profit in six months, that's a good arc in every other industry. The App Store is not even one year old, and when you have a solid business proposition and you're prepared to wait six months then there are a lot of profitable businesses out there."

"How many industries have there been where you can make $10,000 in two months for doing one week's work? It's exceptional. If you step back, pick your niche, do your work in marketing and everything else, then you can make it work."

Martin said there were two outstanding elements in his survey. Firstly, most developers had not made games or applications before and secondly, several of the businesses had low business costs.

He warned other developers to immerse themselves in the practice of software development to gain experience, and to keep costs "absurdly low".

"The current tactic - relying on 'getting a hit game' - is one of the riskiest and most foolish business plans in the world; they need to learn to make a profit without that one-in-a-million chance," he said.

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BY Patrick Stafford
Source：smartcompany

Copyright © 2009
SmartCompany.com.au P/L
All rights reserved.

New ARM chips headed for iPhone, Palm Pre?

ARM, the company that designs chips for the world's smartphones, said handset makers will deliver the first models using more than one processor core next year, as high-end mobile phones begin to mimic the hardware attributes of PCs.
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And that means top smartphone suppliers such as Apple and Palm, which both use ARM-based processors, will likely deliver models packing at least two cores inside the main processor--referred to as an application (or applications) processor.

This is a natural progression for high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Palm Pre as the software those phones run gets increasingly sophisticated.

"You'll definitely see handsets shipping with a dual-core A9 in 2010," James Bruce, wireless segment manager for ARM, said in a phone interview earlier this week, referring to the next-generation Cortex-A9 processor from ARM.

The Palm Pre uses a processor based on the current-generation Cortex A8. The iPhone also uses an Apple-branded chip that is based on an ARM design.

"The A8 is just a single core while the A9 will be dual-core, all the way up to quad-core to give smartphones an even bigger performance boost," Bruce said.

He said the move to dual-core phones should happen relatively quickly. "It's very aggressive. It's only going to be in a year's time that you're going to get these phones," he said.

And what about power consumption, a critical concern for smartphones looking to deliver all-day battery life? "What we've done on the A9 is actually make it more power efficient than the A8. The dual-core A9 will be coming out on 45-nanometer rather than the (current) 65-nanometer process," Bruce said. Generally, the smaller the geometries, the faster and more power-efficient the processor is.

Bruce continued. "With the dual-core running at maximum load there's probably going to be an increase of about 10 to 20 percent in power consumption but in general day to day use you're actually going to see better battery life."

Manufacturers are very strict about power-consumption caps, he said. "The manufacturers lay down the law that maximum power consumption of the processor is 300 milliwatts. In the mobile space, this is one of those golden rules that we have to live within," he said, speaking about the upcoming Cortex A9 processor.

An ARM diagram showing a quad-core Cortex-A9 processor

(Credit: ARM)

By comparison, Intel's power-sipping Atom processor--used widely in Netbooks--is generally rated at more than 2 watts (2,000 milliwatts), though Intel is expected to get this down to smartphone territory with the future "Moorestown" processor.

Bruce also spoke about the speed of the current Cortex-A8 versus the previous ARM design. The principal reason for the performance boost is the A8's superscalar design, which means the processor can execute two separate instructions per clock cycle.

"You're getting a 2X increase (over the previous ARM design). "And actually the A9 takes that even further, It's a superscalar design but it's also an out-of-order design as well. There is some out-of-order aspects with the A8 but the A9 is a very aggressive out-of-order processor," he said. The ability to process instructions using an advanced out-of-order architecture typically results in better performance.

And graphics will follow suit. The upcoming multi-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments (the OMAP 3 is used in the Palm Pre) is based on the ARM Cortex-9 and will boast graphics that support 1080p video and high-definition record and playback, larger screen resolutions, and "digital SLR-like performance with 20 MP (megapixel) imaging," according to TI documentation.

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BY Brooke Crothers
Source：cnet

Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

New members join WiMAX patent alliance

Beceem Communications, GCT Semiconductor, Sequans Communications and UQ Communications have joined the Open Patent Alliance (OPA).
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Formed in June 2008, the OPA is dedicated to offering intellectual property rights (IPR) solutions that support the development and widespread adoption of WiMAX around the globe, further boosting the open industry standard approach to 4G wireless broadband.

Beceem, GCT Semiconductor, Sequans and UQ come in as associate (non-board-level) members, joining current OPA members Acer, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Cisco, Clearwire, Huawei Technologies, Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics.

"It's been an exciting month for the Open Patent Alliance and WiMAX 4G momentum, in general," said OPA President Yung Hahn. "The OPA ecosystem remains focused on broader choice and competitive equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications globally. With a critical mass of silicon providers now as members, the OPA can continue facilitating the formation of a singular, cohesive WiMAX patent pool to assist participating companies in obtaining access to patent licences from patent owners at a more predictable cost."

The most recent additions to the OPA span silicon providers to wireless carriers around the world, continuing to strengthen the open ecosystem and provide a fair, transparent and balanced IPR licencing structure.

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BY EE Times Staff
Source：EE Times

Copyright © 2009 eMedia Asia Ltd. All rights reserved.

Top ten biggest egos in technology

This week, we count down some of the biggest egos in the IT business - the larger than life personalities that dominate IT.
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Computer geeks aren't really like other people. We dream more of benchmarks and gadgets than red carpets and paparazzi.

That doesn't mean, however, that the tech world is without its rock stars. Intel likes to joke about it, but there really are larger than life characters whose imposing presences rival that of any ego this side of Howard Hughes.

Honourable mention: Woz

Iain Thomson: I've got real doubts about this one but Shaun insisted.

As my co-worker pointed out Woz seldom turns down an interview, always has a pithy quote and is usually pretty free with his personal appearances. His 'Dancing with the Stars' episode proved that.

But my big disagreement comes in the fact that while Woz may have an ego he has the skills to back it up. The guy is a genius when it comes to engineering and computers. A man who writes out an operating system longhand and then makes it work – well I take my hat off to him.

Shaun Nichols: As I will point out multiple times on this list, having a big ego doesn't mean you're a bad guy. The geek-crush we have on Woz has been well-documented. But that doesn't mean he can't go on this list.

The public loves Woz and, let's face it, Woz loves the public. He never turns down an interview or a chance to go on TV and give his opinion on Apple or anything else in the tech world. Maybe it's because Woz is an incredibly nice guy who just loves helping people out, or maybe it's because, like nearly everyone else on the planet, he likes getting attention and feeling important.

And Iain, genius skills and massive ego usually go hand in hand. When someone has prodigious skills and no ego behind them, there's usually a mental disorder involved.

Honourable mention: Dan Lyons

Shaun Nichols: How do you pin a huge ego on a guy who spent the better part of a year trying to hide his identity?

Yes, Dan Lyons did spend most of his time as Fake Steve Jobs trying to remain anonymous, but when the spotlight came he most certainly did not shy away from it. The formerly unknown Forbes editor was unmasked as the brilliant mind behind the satirical Apple blog and then leapt wholeheartedly into the world of geek fame. Book deals, a move to Newsweek and even a speaking engagement at Google were some of the perks Lyons gladly soaked up.

This isn't to rag too much on El Jobso Fake-o. The man has a family to take care of and the journalism profession isn't exactly a gold mine these days. Most of us would have milked such an opportunity for all it was worth as well.

Namaste, Dan. I honour the place where our list and your fifteen minutes of fame become one.

Iain Thomson: Yes but, journos with egos are never a good mix.

As journalists we're supposed to be impartial, unless we're let off the leash for an article like this. That said I have a soft spot for Lyons. The fake Steve Jobs blog was so funny and on the ball that I think he's due the plaudits.

The question remains what he will do with this fame. I'm hoping he'll reap the plaudits and then go back to journalism. If he takes the star route we'll see how big his ego really is.

10. Carol Bartz

Iain Thomson: Well she's certainly got ego, I just wonder if she's got what it takes to back it up.

Carol Bartz comes to Yahoo at a bad time for the company. Yahoo is floundering in a technological minefield. It doesn't know what it is and it's hoping Bartz will show the way.

I've got real respect for Bartz. She beat breast cancer while carrying on working, she drops the F bomb regularly – which is catnip for journalists – and she's a smart woman in a field of male mediocrity.

Bartz has the balls to take Yahoo and remake it (although I suspect some sell outs in the future of the company's core assets). She's the right person for the job, but can she make Yahoo a force again after its egregiously bad management before. I hope so, but we'll wait and see.

Shaun Nichols: Often, one man's (or woman's) chutzpah is another man's giant ego. Carol Bartz has in her short time at Yahoo managed to generate plenty of headlines and industry buzz for the force with which she has taken control of Yahoo.

Walking onto a stage your first day on the job and threatening to "dropkick to f***ing Mars" those who defy you is a pretty good indication that one has a fairly high opinion of one's own abilities. At this point though, a strong corporate leader with a healthy ego could be just the sort of kick in the pants that Yahoo needs to pull itself back up in the market.

9. Jerry Yang

Shaun Nichols: Hopefully Jerry Yang will prove a cautionary tale for all the young geeks who strike it big in the business world. Just because you have a great product doesn't necessarily mean you will be a great businessman.

Yang was half of the team of Stanford students that launched Yahoo. When the company began to really get huge, however, he took off. And rightfully so- while an astute computing and engineering mind, Yang lacked the years of experience one needs to run a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

When Yahoo started to sputter in 2007, Yang came back as chief executive to head up the company in what turned out to be an awful decision by Yahoo. Fed by his own ego and the fierce loyalty of the long-time "Yahoos" in management, Yang made a series of mistakes headlined by a refusal to take a generous acquisition offer from Microsoft. With company stock hovering at a fraction of the Microsoft offer, cooler business heads prevailed and Yang was ultimately forced to step down.

Iain Thomson: Yang is a case in point of why innovators seldom make good leaders.

The people behind an idea generally don't have the skills to run the enterprise their skills create. They are blue sky thinkers, who get bored easily by the day to day nitty gritty of running a company.

Yang's appointment seemed like a good idea for Yahoo. After years of disastrous leadership he was a popular choice internally and obviously knew the business. But he was too emotionally involved with the company and one suspects he began to identify too closely with it.

So when Microsoft made a good offer for Yahoo Yang's ego seems to have got in the way of making the best deal for his shareholders. He turned down a good offer and in less than a year his company was worth half of what Microsoft had been willing to spend.

8. Bill Gates

Iain Thomson: Big Bill at number eight – are you on crack I hear you ask. No, it's an honest score.

Gates has evolved from the nerd who knew he could change the world. Yes, in the early days of Microsoft he had an ego the size of Jupiter but he's calmed down since then. He seems to know now that he's not the smartest guy in the room automatically – it's a wisdom that comes to us all with age.

Bill has learned that he's not always right. He's got plenty of experience to show it – Windows ME and Vista, Bob, anti-competition rulings and the plundering of his software by malware writers has tempered him somehow.

That being said he's still got form as the police would say. He ranted at Paul Allen for taking time out to witness the historic launch of the first space shuttle, he whined at Davos about how ungrateful consumers were and he still can't seem to get his head around the concept that people don't need to be grateful for his genius.

Shaun Nichols: I'm of the mindset that one doesn't succeed in sports, politics or high-level business without possessing the sort of self-confidence that comes with a massive ego.

Bill Gates would not have made it too far with Microsoft had he not honestly believed that he was the baddest geek ever to take control of a software vendor. The sheer gall he displayed time and time again in his business dealings show just what sort of an ego was driving Microsoft to the top.

As Iain pointed out, Gates has recast himself as a far more humble and friendly individual in recent years. Well, humble and friendly for a mega-billionaire. I don't think any of us will see Bill pull up a stool at the local pub and talk football with the boys any time soon.

7. Nicholas Negroponte

Shaun Nichols: Even those with the most noble of intentions can get a big head. Negroponte is a well-respected chair of the MIT media lab and head of the most ambitious charitable effort the industry has ever undertaken.

When the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort was first announced, Negroponte's name brought some much-needed media attention to the project and only furthered his own image.

While OLPC is still going strong in its effort to put technology in the hands of impoverished children, one can argue that Negroponte's own ego has brought on conflicts with companies such as Intel and Microsoft who would have only helped the project.

Again, this isn't to badmouth OLPC and its admirable mission, but even the best of intentions can still inflate one's ego.

Iain Thomson: I've got a lot of time for Negroponte if truth be told. He had a great idea with OLPC but failed to see that the rest of the industry wouldn't necessarily bow down and kiss his ring.

What Negroponte did do was spark interest in low cost PCs. Without the OLPC idea it is highly unlikely that Intel would have come up with its Classmate PC range. After all, it wasn't seen as being in the company's interest to build low cost systems when there was so much profit in the high cost ones.

But Negroponte's ego wouldn't let him see that. Instead he ranted and raved at Intel for its duplicitous behaviour. He couldn't see that it was just business as usual in the tech world.

6. Marc Benioff

Iain Thomson: If Steve Jobs leads the Scientologists of the IT industry then Benioff is the Bhagwan of SaaS. He's not quite driving Rolls Royces past his followers but he's not far off it.

It's always slightly disturbing going to a Salesforce press conference. Every employee seems to believe with the passionate intensity that Benioff espouses in the future of SaaS. They may well be right, but the cultishness makes me nervous.

Benioff took on a software industry model and destroyed it – you only have to looks at yesterday's embarrassing climb-down by SAP to see that. But he has too much of a messiah complex for my liking. Yes, everyone likes to be proved right but they don't have to be so damn smug about it.

Shaun Nichols: Marc Benioff was a corporate protege of Larry Ellison at Oracle, and boy does it show. From the permanent tan to the stylish suit without a tie and confident swagger, Benioff is like a double-sized clone of Ellison, Larry's 'Mega Me,' if you will.

But I think that in Benioff's case this sort of ego is an absolute necessity. When salesforce.com started, Benioff was essentially telling prospective customers that they should abandon much of their exisitng IT infrastructure and instead remotely access important business tools with the same application you use to watch dancing cat videos. SaaS would never have succeeded had its main salesman been a quiet, reserved little waif.

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Shaun Nichols: At an age where most of us were watching bootlegged episodes of the Simpsons and building pyramids from empty beer cans, Mark Zuckerberg was making himself a billionaire as the head of Facebook. Can you really blame the kid if he has a big head?

Zuckerberg's ability to sell his company and audience on his product and vision has been likened to some of the older generation of entrepreneurs; a 21st-century Steve Jobs in a fleece pull-over and sandals.

Zuckerberg's youthful arrogance has also made him the target for criticism when his company messes up. When Facebook launched its controversial Beacon programme, Zuckerberg took much of the heat. Later, when the company's terms and conditions drew the wrath of users, Zuckerberg again had to take shots from those who accused him of being too aloof and out of touch with what users really want.

Iain Thomson: Zuckerberg is a classic case of too much too young. Facebook was the media darling for a year and I think he began to believe his own press coverage.

It must have been hard to maintain a level head under the circumstances. If you're barely out of your teens, not exactly a looker and suddenly the world is beating a path to your door it's going to give you ego problems.

The Beacon example was a case in point. He seemed to think that users wouldn't mind sharing their buying habits, since they were sharing everything else on Facebook. He blustered and fumed and then had to back down. It has taught him some humility, but not much.

4. Carly Fiorina

Iain Thomson: Carly Fiorina came into one of the most male dominated organisations in Silicon Valley and changed it - sadly not for the better I feel.

I remember first seeing her speak. My goodness, it was a brilliant performance. She took a floor of hostile HP geeks and enthused them to such an extent that she got a standing ovation at the end and, I'm willing to bet, haunted the dreams of more than a few of them.

But Fiorina became obsessed with making her mark, and the HP/Compaq merger was the result. She took one great company and one OK one and merged them, destroying both in the process. While HP may now be the number one in the PC industry the company has lost its soul and it now stands pre-eminent in an industry that's dying by degrees.

Instead of trying to be the biggest she should have focused on being the best. HP missed a crucial opportunity to lead the pack in the field of laptops - the short term future of computing. Her domineering attitude alienated some of the best tech minds in the company and she was left with a hollow victory and so many enemies that she was forced out and is now reduced to a career trying to get into politics. Given the mistakes she made in John McCain's campaign I'm not holding out too much hope there.

Shaun Nichols: Carly Fiorina's failings are numerous and well-documented, from the Compaq merger to the boardroom spying cases, she made her share of mistakes.

But she also deserves major credit for her perseverance in an industry that was and still is in many areas horribly male-dominated. Fiorina not only took control at a high level of business that is absolutely dominated by hot-shot business types with huge egos, she did so with the handicap of corporate sexism pushing back against her. This would indicate that Fiorina herself carried around an ego that put the boys to shame.

It will be interesting to see how she does in her career as a politician. If Fiorina thought that pushing a multi-billion dollar merger through a Silicon Valley boardroom was dirty work, wait until she sees what a California Senate election is like.

3. Steve Ballmer

Shaun Nichols: Steve Ballmer is seen by many as the Darth Vader of the technology business, a role he seems to be very content with.

Every time the cameras are rolling, Ballmer seems determined to do something memorable. The Microsoft chief executive doesn't suffer from insanity on the stage, he enjoys every minute of it. Whether his infamous 'on your feet' dance or his memorable 'developers' tirade, Steve Ballmer does not have any problem with doing things to get people talking.

Every great drama needs a bad guy, and Steve Ballmer has been more than happy to take the role. So long as his company continues to make money and generate headlines, Ballmer should be thrilled to play the villain.

Iain Thomson: Ballmer is first and foremost a salesmen, and you need a big ego to survive in that trade.

However Ballmer's ego seems large even by the standards of his profession. He seems to think that sheer force of will will get him what he wants. There have been reports of his style, which includes breaking office furniture and screaming in the face of his employees, that speak of a big ego.

But what makes it worse is the Microsoft kool aid. Microserfs are a strange bunch, pathologically loyal in the most part and convinced they work for the best company in the world. Add that to Ballmer's ego and you've a killer combination.

2. Larry Ellison

Iain Thomson: Given my druthers I would have put Ellison at the number one spot, but Shaun's arguments won out.

Ellison has an ego the size of Texas, and he doesn't care who knows it. He's the highest paid tech chief executive in the industry, and you know he justifies it to himself by the repeated assurances that he's simply the best person out there.

In fact Ellison got where he is by having a good idea and then using every means possible to make sure he got to the top. Whether it be in flying or business he holds the attitude that rules are something that happens to other people and by money and force of will he's proved it to be true.

He strikes me as a person who wants to bend the world to his rules, and will do anything to make it so. To some that's an admirable quality. Personally I think it speaks of deeper problems below the surface.

Shaun Nichols: If I could have a beer with any Silicon Valley legend, it would be Woz. But if I could fly out to Vegas for the weekend with any Silicon Valley legend, Larry Ellison would be the guy. He's the sort of guy that obviously knows where to get the best of everything and how to enjoy it to the fullest. Outside of Paul Allen, I can't think of any other figure in IT who has been so successful while still keeping a healthy work/leisure balance in his life.

He's also a hell of a businessman. While Microsoft, Apple and Google get more publicity, no company has succeeded more spectacularly for a longer period of time than Oracle. Ellison obviously hit the market at the absolute perfect time, but he also did a great job of managing the company, staying focused on core products and not making the mistake of trying to do too much too soon.

1. Steve Jobs

Shaun Nichols: If there was any debate over who would be at the top of this week's list, it was over in about five seconds. How do you not recognise an ego so powerful it can distort reality?

Jobs is very good at what he does, and he most certainly knows it. While the engineers and developers get their due, you know that virtually every release from Apple, be it a new iPod or just a TV ad, has Steve Jobs fingerprints all over it.

To have this level of control over a company, one also has to have supreme confidence in his own abilities. Those who have worked with Jobs will attest to his ability to slam anything he doesn't believe in and tirelessly sell his own ideas to others. Reporters who spoke with Jobs back in the 80s when he still gave interviews say that he was constantly asking what was being said about him, both good and bad.

Perhaps the greatest contradiction about Jobs is just how fiercely he guards his private life.

While fellow business icons Richard Branson, Larry Ellison and Mark Cuban make their leisure pursuits public business, the rest of the world would be very hard pressed to know just what Jobs does when he leaves the office. No other person in the business is as visible within his company and invisible outside of it as Steve Jobs.

Iain Thomson: Silicon Valley historian Robert Cringely has a theory about Steve Jobs that he got from a senior Apple executive. Jobs is an orphan the theory goes, and he's convinced that if he makes a big enough noise his real parents will come back and admit they were wrong to give him up.

I've got some doubts about this. I think Jobs is the classic egotist, who feels that he knows what is right and the rest of the world should just shut up and let him get on with it. The rest of the world on the other hand disagrees.

He's thrown his toys out of the pram on more than one occasion and shows a sense of spite that would shame an eight year old. On the other hand he's made Apple into a powerhouse in the computing world. Maybe Shaun is right, with great ability comes great ego.

-----------------------------

BY Shaun Nichols and Iain Thomson

Source：vnunet.com

Copyright © 2009 vnunet.com.

Does Microsoft's Bing have Google running scared?

Microsoft may have developed a contender that threatens Google's Web search dominance.
##CONTINUE##
In a story headlined "Fear grips Google," the New York Post reports that the launch of Microsoft's Bing search engine has so upset Google co-founder Sergey Brin that he has top engineers working on "urgent upgrades" to Google's service. Brin is said to be leading a team to determine how Microsoft's search algorithm differs from the closely guarded one Google employs. The tabloid also notes that it's rare for Google's co-founders to have such a hands-on involvement in the company's daily operations.

"New search engines have come and gone in the past 10 years, but Bing seems to be of particular interest to Sergey," an anonymous source described as an "insider" to the newspaper.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the level of Brin's involvement but did tell the newspaper that the company always has a team working on improving search.

Microsoft, which launched as Bing as its default search engine earlier this month, is reportedly spending $80 million to $100 million in an ad blitz to tout its latest search effort. Rival Google, meanwhile, spent just $25 million total on advertising last year, according to an AdAge report.

Bing's launch bumped Microsoft's search share up to 11.1 percent last week from 9.1 percent the prior week, according to numbers released by market analyst ComScore.

However, that initial increase didn't impress Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who was pretty tight-lipped earlier this week when queried about Bing's arrival.

"It's not the first entry for Microsoft," Schmidt said Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business Network. "They do this about once a year."

Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said Tuesday that the company planned to hold "a review tomorrow on it with the executive committee."

While Microsoft has a long way to go before it makes a dent in Google's business, Bing may end up being the only true alternative to Google if Yahoo decides not to compete in the search market over the next few years.

-----------------------------
BY Steven Musil
Source：cnet

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

苹果iPhone入华难 普及更难

苹果iPhone手机入华难有目共睹，但即使成功打入中国市场，iPhone的普及程度也未必能达到美国的水平。
##CONTINUE##
经过长期谈判，相继与两家运营商接触，时至今日苹果iPhone手机仍未顺利进军中国市场，由此可见这并不是一件容易的事情。

苹果首席运营官提姆·库克(Tim Cook)近期曾表示，希望能于明年打进中国市场。即便如此，iPhone在中国的发展也未必一帆风顺。

iPhone在中国市场的潜力不言而喻，几乎没有几个国家能够与之匹敌。但中国消费者也不会为了苹果的产品而付出额外的高昂成本，因为苹果的品牌知名度在中国并没有像在美国和日本那么高。

当前，iPod播放器在中国的市场份额不到8%，Mac计算机的市场份额更是不到1%。中国的相关法规和文化差异也将在一定程度上限制iPhone在中国的发展。例如，手机的Wi-Fi功能要受到限制。

由于担心版权问题，苹果尚未在中国推出音乐和视频下载服务iTunes，这也将影响iPhone在中国市场的普及。

另外，没有中国移动或中国联通这样的合作伙伴，iPhone很难达到用户手中。但是，与本地运营商合作又不是一件容易的事情，因为苹果向来不向合作伙伴做出妥协。

Gartner分析师肯·杜兰尼(Ken Dulaney)称：“如果中国对苹果做出某些强制要求，那么苹果很可能走开。”

-----------------------------
文章出处：赛迪网
作者：N/A

日本三大运营商计划百亿美元上马4G

日本三大运营商近日陆续公布了其投资于4G网的计划，几年内投资总额将超过100亿美元。
##CONTINUE##
日本最大的运营商DoCoMo最早宣布该计划，也最早开始准备向LTE进军。今年5月，DoCoMo总裁Ryuji Yamada表示，公司计划在2014年前部署20,000个基站，覆盖50%的日本人口。

DoCoMo的这一计划主要是其3G市场已非常成熟，截止到今年三月份为止，整个日本3G市场用户数达到了9963万，占到日本总用户数92.7%，这也是目前世界上3G比例最高的市场。

另外，作为曾经是巨无霸的日本最大运营商，Docomo近年来饱受其它两家运营商的市场蚕食，希望通过更高的技术手段来加强竞争，其希望在明年下半年即2010年把LTE推向试商用。

去年2月份DoCoMo完成LTE的现场测试，达到了下行250兆，上行50兆的试验数据，这给DoCoMo以强烈信心。DoCoMo甚至计划2012年将最后全部终止2G的业务，用户全部转为3G的用户。

但是，其它两家运营商丝毫不甘心落后。最近几天，KDDI和软银公布的4G建网预算也分别达到5150亿日元(约合52亿美元)和2073亿日元(约合21亿美元)。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：银刀

“绿坝”身世之谜：谁赢得了4170万元订单

一纸来自工业和信息化部(下称“工信部”)的价值4170万元“订单”，让郑州金惠计算机系统工程有限公司(下称“郑州金惠”)和北京大正语言知识处理有限公司(下称“北京大正”)一夜成名。
##CONTINUE##
郑州金惠和北京大正通过开发一款名为“绿坝花季护航”的上网过滤软件，分别分得了2180万元和1990万元人民币的合同金额，此后，工信部还有望通过政府采购的方式，每年向两家企业购买使用权，然后供社会免费使用。

那么，如此巨大的“收益”何以归于郑州金惠和北京大正？这或许才是“绿坝花季护航”作为一个商业故事的核心所在。

胜者“身世”
赢得一年4170万元“合同大单”的郑州金惠和北京大正，究竟何许人也？如果仅仅把他们看做是两个创新型的科技企业，一切似乎就太简单了。

记者调查获知，北京大正系内资公司，注册资本金为1000万元，但其中700万元为“知识产权出资”，法人代表孟东豫，由中科院声学研究所和北京麦纳新技术有限公司(下称“北京麦纳”)共同组建，孟东豫同时还是北京麦纳的法人代表。

蹊跷的是，出资成立北京大正的麦纳公司系在北京大正公司成立之后方才设立，而据本报记者掌握的情况，北京大正于2000年成立。

而郑州金惠的董事长周慧琴则在此前曾担任中科院下属的科海集团的党委书记兼常务副总裁。

而记者掌握的情况表明，在强制预装绿坝花季护航软件的消息公诸媒体之前，工信部已经分别向中小学校和各大PC厂商发出通知，要求在出厂过程中，强制预装该软件。其中，由教育部转发给各中小学的通知中，明确规定截止期限为2009年5月。

经查证，北京大正法人代表孟东豫名下还有多家公司，如北京软媒视频技术研究院、北京麦宁科贸有限公司、北京基尔斯电讯技术开发有限责任公司等，其中北京麦宁科贸有限公司还处在“吊销”状态。

更为微妙的是，北京大正的分公司还曾在深圳市地税局的欠税名单之上，深圳市国家税务局深国税告[2008]4号文件显示，北京大正深圳分公司欠缴企业所得税总计563.22万元。

利益几何
6月12日下午，《中国经营报》记者来到位于北京市海淀区人民大学附近的北京大正办公地点——威地科技大厦7层，该公司工作人员告诉记者，北京大正于2002年在此办公，此办公地的总计人数大约有70人左右。

在其公司的墙壁上悬挂着营业执照、某大学科研中心等多项证明文件，“北京大正”的字样并不明显，仅见于营业执照之上。显然，“绿坝花季护航”的开发并非该公司的唯一一项业务，但正是这一个软件产品的开发，给北京大正带来了一年1990万元人民币的现金收入。

记者了解到，当日，该公司法人代表孟东豫正在外地出差。“这完全是一个商业行为，与政府没有任何关系。”郑州金惠总经理张晨民在接受媒体记者采访时表示。而搞清“绿坝花季护航”软件为两家企业带来收益的最简单办法，就是搞清该软件的开发成本。

来自业界权威安全厂商的人士表示，此类过滤软件的开发并不复杂，其成本至多不会高于10万元。该人士还曾对该软件进行过详细分析，发现绿坝软件的图像识别部分甚至使用了来自互联网的开源代码，而按照工信部公示的信息显示，图像部分的识别由郑州金惠负责开发。

6月11日，网易科技频道挂出的消息也表明，绿坝软件的破译技术难度并不大，网上甚至已经出现了破解该款软件密码的示意教程。

6月10日晚，中央电视台《晚间新闻》中援引工信部相关负责人的话称，“绿坝花季护航”不会监控网民的个人信息以及上网行为，只是过滤色情等不良网络信息，该软件在PC终端上亦可由使用者自行卸载。

但正是这一款可以自行卸载的软件，工信部正在准备以政府采购的形式向开发者支付使用费，供社会免费安装使用，由此，“绿坝花季护航”被外界称为中国覆盖率最高的“正版软件”。

前述业界权威安全厂商的人士还透露，类似安全软件的销售如果是随硬件绑定，一般会按照终端点数的多少来进行定价。诸如微软的windows操作系统，只要硬件厂商预装数量足够大，其售价并不高，一般为几十元至几百元。

垄断嫌疑
就在工信部6月9日公布的《关于计算机预装绿色上网过滤软件的通知》之后三天，亦有法律界、学界人士致函国务院和国家反垄断委员会，指出工信部下发的通知涉嫌违反《反垄断法》，此前亦有律师向工信部提出申请，要求进行信息公开。

记者了解到，向国务院致函的两人，系媒介法专家魏永征和中国青年政治学院副教授、知名律师周泽。

两人致函国务院的信件中指出，强制预装的要求，涉嫌滥用行政权力，排除和限制竞争，违反了《反垄断法》的规定。目前金山等安全软件都可以提供类似过滤功能，甚至微软vista系统也预置了相关功能。工信部要求计算机预装“绿坝花季护航”软件，可能限制和排除其他同类软件经营者与“绿坝花季护航”软件经营者的竞争。开发、生产与“绿坝花季护航”软件类似软件产品的企业，应享有公平竞争的权利。

“我们认为，当前对公众威胁最大的是木马、病毒等恶意代码，作为志在保护公众隐私的技术型公司，对于什么是信息不良网站，我们其实很难去做评价。”旗下拥有360安全卫士和软件管家的奇虎公司董事长周鸿祎告诉《中国经营报》记者，绿色过滤软件更多是由孩子家长控制的市场，而非大众市场。因此，国内知名安全厂商诸如360、金山、瑞星等，尽管软件均具备类似功能，但都没有针对该细分市场推出专项产品。

一个由软件引发的故事，或许刚刚开始。

-----------------------------
文章出处：中国经营报
作者：N/A

“3G”再来：存上网费白送上网本风潮逼近

上网本将与手机一起，成为3G时代最主要的移动终端
##CONTINUE##
无网络,不生活——已经成为现代人们标准的生活方式。

“3G上网本”再次将“3G”引入我们的视线。今天，你已经可以自由地选择上网地点，而不必非要在家里、办公场所，或者某个特定的咖啡厅，只要在有手机网络的地方，你就可以畅游网络；你甚至可以用笔记本打电话给家人或者朋友——这一切改变的前提，是你拥有一个3G上网本。

简单地说，3G上网本就是在上网本当中植入3G模块，从而实现真正的随时随地、无线宽带上网。理财周报记者在北京中关村地区的各大数码商场看到，各大品牌的3G上网本的广告铺天盖地，主攻人群也是年轻时尚的移动办公人士。6月，联想3G上网本将率先实现“白送”。如果你到中国移动营业厅购买联想产品，只要承诺消费3800元左右的上网费用，就可以免费获得联想笔记本。类似“存话费送手机”的促销手段，如今在3G上网本的营销活动中再次上演。

目前，中国移动已携手惠普、戴尔、方正、同方、三星等11家厂商推出集成TD模块的上网本和笔记本电脑；中国电信也联合厂商推出了基于CDMA2000技术的3G上网本。

未来，上网本将与手机一起，成为3G时代最主要的移动终端。

看明白资费与网速再选购
1. 中国移动G3（TD-SCDMA）上网本
资费：TD数据资费按0.01元/K收取，套餐分五档，5元套餐、20元套餐、50元套餐、100元套餐、200元套餐， 分别包含30M、150M、500M、2G、5G流量，超出部分按照0.01元/K收费，套餐月流量15G封顶，月费用500元封顶。

中国移动为每台G3上网本补贴约600元通话费、1500元上网费并且内置TD模块。如果你是中国移动老客户(如1990年12月31日入网)，你甚至能在刚才补贴的基础上再获得1500元的花费，折算下来你的上网本几乎是“免费”。

G3上网本的价格均在3000元左右。此外，用户不论在本地还是外地，均可享受全国统一资费标准，无需漫游费。

现阶段网速：目前测试的结果是连接速度可达2Mb/s，根据地方不同，下载速度在80KB/s。

理论网速：3.6Mbit/s(实际速度也可达1～3Mbit/s)下行速度，上行速度也可达384kbit/s。

2. 中国电信天翼（CDMA2000）上网本
资费：中国电信的CDMA上网卡业务采取的是按时间收费的模式，套餐包括：每月160元包300小时本地和5小时国内漫游上网;200元包200小时上网(不分本地和漫游);300元包360小时上网时长(不分本地和漫游)。

现阶段网速：目前中国电信CDMA2000 EV-DO实际下载网速在150KB/s，峰值可达近200KB/s。

理论网速： 3.1Mbit/s下载、1.8Mbit/s上行数据业务速度。

目前CDMA2000上网本的价格在2000元-4000元之间。

3. 中国联通WCDMA上网本
中国联通推出三大套餐,分别为150元/月包3GB流量,200元/月包5GB流量,300元/月包10GB流量。超出部分按照0.01元/MB收取。超过30GB流量后将自动关闭上网功能,次月自动恢复。上网费用全部每月800元封顶。

现阶段网速：下载速度可达160KB/s，打开网页和播放在线视频的网速可达到120KB/s。

理论网速：7.2Mb/s下载。　

如何选择一个好的上网本？
第一， 产品稳定、散热好。目前的主流配置基本是：英特尔凌动N270 1.6GHz处理器、1GB内存、160GB硬盘、10英寸显示器。　

第二， 续航能力至关重要。

第三，易用性。要关注上网本触控面板的灵指技术、大容量网络硬盘的附加功能等，另外，蓝牙、无线网络标准等相关附加硬件参数也是考量一款上网本的必要条件。

-----------------------------
文章出处：理财周报
作者：祝贺

谷歌成立研发团队评估必应搜索算法 创始人督战

知情人士透露，谷歌对微软新版搜索引擎必应(Bing)十分紧张，导致谷歌联合创始人赛吉·布林(Sergey Brin)亲自上阵督战。
##CONTINUE##
知情人士称，必应让谷歌感到不安，布林已亲自上阵，成立一支由谷歌顶级工程师组成的研发团队，评估必应搜索算法究竟与谷歌搜索算法的不同，对谷歌搜索进行“紧急升级”。

该消息称，布林如此深入地参与公司日常运作，这是不同寻常的。对此，谷歌发言人拒绝发表评论，但表示：“我们一直有一只团队负责完善搜索，我们在搜索领域投入的时间和精力最多，搜索算法也经常升级。”

两周前，微软推出了新版搜索引擎必应。有消息称，微软将斥资8000万美元至1亿美元推广必应。凭借漂亮的首页和方便的导航，必应推出后不久便赢得分析师的好评。

早期数据显示，必应将微软搜索市场份额提升2个百分点，达到11%，但增长的这部分份额并不是来自谷歌和雅虎。

标准普尔分析师斯科特·凯斯勒(Scott Kessler)认为，必应还有很长一段路要走，目前还无法取代谷歌的垄断地位。

微软发言人表示， 必应目前主要强化四个方面的搜索结果：购物、旅游、健康和本地搜索。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：李明

中移动TD三期招标排名：中兴华为大唐列前三

备受关注的中国移动TD三期设备招标的评分结果已出炉，中兴、华为、大唐列前三名，将获得较大市场份额。
##CONTINUE##
分前四名和后四名
据业内咨询公司三电咨询的报告披露，参加中国移动TD-SCDMA三期建网招标的各设备商分数排名已出，参与的厂商总共8家，其中，评分排名分为前四名和后四名。

根据三电咨询的了解，此次招标评分按照商务、技术、后评估、品牌与产业贡献展开，分别为商务标占50%、技术标占25%、一二期后评估占15%，品牌与产业贡献占10%。

前四名中，中兴在四项评分中均位居第一，华为排名第二，大唐移动排名第三，诺西排名第四；后四名的排名依次为普天、烽火、爱立信和新邮通。

此次中兴和华为在商务招标中占据明显优势，而大唐移动市场份额较TD二期招标预计将大降，这主要是因为其此次商务招标价格远比华为、中兴高，但这有可能保证其一定的利润。

后四名将获得25%份额
此次招标拖延时间非常长。5月4日，中国移动举行了TD三期的商务招标，当天进行了商务唱标，实际上各厂商之间的商务报价已明晰。但过了一个多月，市场份额仍未出炉，目前主要是评分排名结果出炉。

此前曾初步确定过一个各厂商市场份额，例如中兴通讯获36%，华为和诺西加起来30%，大唐移动18%。但是，目前中国移动已经推翻了这个市场份额的划分，重新确定的市场份额还要等中国移动正式宣布，将要过段时间出炉。

不过，三电咨询透露，以普天为首的后四名将总共获得25%的市场份额，以鼓励各厂商参与的积极性，这种做法的方向是对的，若只考虑商务报价，各厂商市场份额差距太大，不利于自主研发厂商的积极性，也为导致鼓励价格战。

TD招标格局大致已定
在评分排名中，因各项分数排名第一，中兴通讯毫无争议地获第一，但中国移动也对其它一些厂商高度评价，认为大唐移动、鼎桥、普天等在产业贡献中也较高，这些厂商都是很早就投入TD设备研发，且都为自主研发，目前也在持续研发TD-LTE。

另外，由于此次招标数额巨大，涉及城市200多个，将深刻影响TD长远格局，未来TD市场格局可能基本定局。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：康钊

Microsoft, Novell talk up collaboration success

Novell and Microsoft have signed up over 100 customers and successfully developed new products since signing a joint interoperability agreement in November 2006.
##CONTINUE##
The two gave a number of examples of new products developed between the two companies.

Novell today said it would ship a new plug-in tool for Microsoft’s management tools to enable users to manage Novell’s SUSE Linux from the same from the one console next week.

The SUSE Linux Enterprise Management Pack for Microsoft System Centre Operations Manager, has been designed to extend monitoring capabilities within Operations Manager 2007 R2 across seven SUSE Linux Enterprise operating system (OS) services.

This latest tool follows on from the partners' first jointly developed product, launched last November, for optimising Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 running as a guest OS on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

The pair also said that their combined customer sign-up rate had doubled since they signed the 2006 agreement. In fact, the pair said they had sold more than $200 million in certificates for Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support and maintenance to more than 300 customers

“The relationship has substantially benefited Microsoft’s Linux integration story and has driven Linux revenue for Novell,” said analyst Jay Lyman of analyst firm, 451 Group.

“The development and work by the two companies to improve Linux and Windows interoperability addresses the reality of mixed enterprise environments for customers, who were largely the impetus for this collaboration and are now benefiting from the resulting technology and support.”

-----------------------------
BY Miya Knights
Source：vnunet.com

© Incisive Media Ltd. 2009 Incisive Media Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, is a company registered in England and Wales with company registration number 04038503.

IBM expects Linux to make money

IBM has combined its “church” and “state” Linux functions under Bob Sutor, whose title now reads vice president of open source and Linux. (Picture from the resume page of Sutor’s Web site.)
##CONTINUE##
In the latest installment of his podcast interviews, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin found Sutor focused mainly on opportunities for server and cloud Linux, through partnerships with Red Hat and Novell.

A rush transcript has been posted to the Linux Foundation web site, for those who find reading faster than listening.

Sutor’s latest promotion gave him not only corporate responsibility for Linux but profit responsibility also.

“If it’s IBM software, and if it runs on Linux, I care about it, and from a software company perspective, we want to sell more of it,” he told Zemlin, and much of the discussion involved IBM’s search for Linux profits.

Sutor described Linux as a secret sauce that lets it sell complete systems which may include Tivoli management, Rational tools, Websphere web servers, and IBM hardware. He said IBM currently has over 500 software products running on Linux and over 30,000 Linux desktops.

Still, IBM is tightly focused on server sales and the development of clouds, which can be sold, rented, or deliver profitable services.

For cloud computing, “why wouldn’t you run it on Linux?” he asked, because Linux can deliver all kinds of virtualization and those who want Windows desktops need never know they’re not.

(Picture of tux in a suit from IBM developer Tung-Sing Chong.)

Thanks to clouds IBM can profitably deliver thousands of desktops that look like Windows but have Linux on the back-end. It can also sell servers that are compatible with its clouds at the deepest level. Its alliance with Novell assures Windows file compatibility, and the one with Red Hat helps it in the corporate market.

Sutor also said IBM’s intense efforts on behalf of the Open Docuement Format are centered on interoperability:

by driving something like OpenDocument Format, it means you could have an organization that used these tools, and some people could be on Windows, and some could be on Linux, and some could be on the Mac, and some could be on iPhones, and some could be on Android phones, and so forth and so forth.

Thanks in part to IBM’s work, Sutor said, some 16 governments are now either mandating ODF or “suggesting it very strongly,” which can be almost as good.

Sutor and Zemlin also discussed what might be called the “corporate-cloud boundary,” the point in the growth of an enterprise system where building a cloud starts to make economic sense. Clouds start to make sense when heavy virtualization takes place, Sutor said, and there are new problems to solve.

But Sutor also defended the enterprise model:

if you’re purely looking at Enterprise workloads, no—it’s not all going to go to a cloud. It may not even be the majority of it goes to the cloud.

One final point Sutor made is that cloud computing will not always be a Linux lake. There will be clouds that, for technical or billing reasons, run things other than Linux. IBM will be happy to build them, if it can make money at it.

And that’s the real bottom line here. For Sutor today, the bottom line is the bottom line. I see nothing wrong with that. Having profit going to vendors who use Linux may be the best possible advertisement for open source. And IBM is doing that.

-----------------------------
BY Dana Blankenhorn
Source：ZDNet

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

Symantec vows huge push into SaaS market

At its Financial Analyst Day event in San Francisco Thursday, Symantec's top executives vowed a major push into software-as-a service and also offered a glimpse at upcoming back-up products.
##CONTINUE##
Enrique Salem, president and CEO, kicked off the event with the investment industry's analysts by saying Symantec intends to expand into software-as-a-service, an area in which it already has experience (the company now backs up 32 petabytes of customer data in the cloud with continuing growth at 5 petabytes each quarter). Salem predicted SaaS, in which Symantec will have new offerings, could comprise "15% of total revenues in the next five years."

Symantec's detailed announcements pertaining to its SaaS strategy may not come until later this year, but executives told industry analysts from the financial world that Symantec is developing a "cloud storage platform" it will offer based on what it has learned hosting massive amounts of data.

Symantec is pursuing some of these cloud-based storage efforts through its joint venture with Huawei in China, mainly to be able to deliver cloud-based storage systems to firms based in that country. Symantec also can be expected to detail various types of host- and hybrid cloud-based SaaS offerings in the area of messaging security from this fall into next year.

Adrian Chamberlain, senior vice president in Symantec's Software-as-a-Service Group, which absorbed the products, services and development team associated with the $700 million MessageLabs acquisition last year, said the objectives over the next fiscal year would be to ‘"develop new hosted and hybrid security solutions."
But Symantec also acknowledged to industry analysts it has not been as successful as it would hope in selling security products and services to customer in the small-to-mid-sized business market.

"We've fallen short on delivering on the needs of small-business customers," admitted Greg Hughes, group president of Symantec's Enterprise Products Group. A specially-designed version of Symantec's Endpoint Security product for SMBs, released in May, is the vendor's latest attempt to woo these customers.

Separately, Symantec gave more specifics about upgrades to existing products. NetBackup 7.0, expected out the second half of the next fiscal year, will include deduplication and application recovery for Oracle, while Backup Exec 2010 will include a light version of Enterprise Vault in it.

And on the prickly question of the $375,000 fine slapped against Symantec (and McAfee separately) this week regarding the automatic charging of customers for software subscriptions without their permission—Symantec has an automatic renewal-by-default policy but was accused of burying that information too deeply in contracts—Symantec today indicated it would be making changes to its method of charging customers through the opt-out approach.

Although Symantec has grown to be a $6 billion company by making about 30 acquisitions, it may not be done with buyouts, Salem hinted.

But instead of entering wholly new market segments through acquisitions, Symantec's strategy next time around is likely to be targeting companies in areas where it already is strong in order to drive consolidation, Salem said.

-----------------------------
BY Ellen Messmer
Source：Network World

Copyright © 1994 - 2009 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.

Microsoft Tops IBM And Oracle On R&D Spending -- Combined

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says his company will spend $9.5 billion on R&D this year. That's almost 50% more than IBM's $6.5 billion, and it's more than the combined R&D spending of IBM and either Oracle ($2.7 billion) or Google ($2.8 billion). And almost nine times as much as Apple's $1.1 billion. Is Microsoft deriving equivalent multiples in business value?
##CONTINUE##
Microsoft says the answer is yes, and extols its world-leading R&D budget in the "Shareholder Letter" in its 2008 Annual Report, which says the following in a section titled, "Transformation Through Innovation":

"At the heart of our success lies our commitment to innovation. No company in our industry invests more in research and development or has the same depth and breadth of talented researchers, scientists, and engineers working across the globe to create new technology breakthroughs. In 2008, we invested $8.2 billion in research and development, an increase of almost 15 percent compared with fiscal 2007."

But an investment manager who holds a long position in Microsoft says its R&D spending is out of control – he believes Microsoft needs to vigorously reassess its R&D philosophy, cut back on spending, and demand greater ROI from its R&D.

"Spending a lot on R&D would be a good thing for Microsoft if it was generating a large return from that investment. But that's not the case and it hasn't been the case for a long time," writes investment manager Eric Jackson on Seeking Alpha.

In a provocative investment-side analysis of the R&D situation at Microsoft – and remember, Jackson is writing as an investor with a strong and very direct financial interest in the company's share price – he poses some tough questions about R&D that would be relevant at any time but are particularly so during today's troubled economic times that are accelerating the evolution – and sometimes the collapse – of a range of business models.

Noting that Microsoft in the past 10 years has invested $62 billion in R&D, Jackson says, "It's hard to know exactly what Microsoft has delivered for its R&D investment; it doesn't break out the numbers according to its five business segments."

Jackson then exercises his right as an investment manager to do a little speculating to try to see inside the numbers: "However, the two smallest business segments -- Entertainment & Devices, which includes the Xbox, Zune, and Windows Mobile software groups, and Online Services, which includes Search, and the Microsoft MSN, Hotmail, and Messenger properties - likely have taken the lion's share of the investment. Combined, these two divisions have delivered $71 billion in revenue for Microsoft over those 10 years and $15 billion in losses."

And then Jackson, in what is otherwise an intelligently reasoned piece, gets way too caught up in his own speculative somersaults and comes up with this baseless doozie: "So, what Microsoft's $62 billion R&D investment has led to is a $15 billion loss for at least those two businesses in 10 years." Like I said, remember his one and only POV on R&D is ROI.

But a short time later Jackson has regained his intelligent grounding and offers a compelling analogy:

"R&D spending can lead to blockbuster returns. And Microsoft has a big advantage relative to its competitors in that it can invest enormous sums for future product development. But Microsoft, in being proud of the fact that it can spend almost $10 billion a year on R&D, is like a driller of oil and gas being proud of the fact that it can drill thousands of dry holes. It doesn't matter what you spend on R&D; it only matters what return you make from that investment for your investors. So far, Microsoft hasn't delivered on its promises."

Again, Ballmer and Microsoft would no doubt beg to differ, and here's another excerpt from that 2008 Annual Report about the impact its R&D has had on the company's products and processes:

"We launched Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. We released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and introduced advances in our search and online advertising technologies. We rolled out Surface—a groundbreaking new device that transforms a tabletop into a computing surface that enables people to interact with digital content using gestures, touch, and physical objects—in a number of retail and hotel locations. We unveiled new products and services for the healthcare industry. We announced important changes to our technology and business practices to increase the openness of our products and drive greater interoperability and choice for developers, partners, customers, and competitors."

A large portion of that Shareholder Letter is devoted to Microsoft's sprawling R&D operations and commitments, with the company saying it opened four research or development centers in 2008 while investing heavily in many new technologies.

So there's no question that Microsoft is making massive and even unprecedented investments in people, products, facilities, technologies, novel approaches, new collaborations, and other facets of R&D – no one could convincingly dispute that. But it would be revealing for the company to offer some tangible financial links between those staggering R&D investments and the financial payoff of customer acceptance in the marketplace.

As Jackson says in his closing comment, "The onus should be on the company's management to articulate why its status quo approach for running this function will lead to different results in the next 10 years. Otherwise, I can think of several better ways to spend the next $62 billion of cash flow."

-----------------------------
BY Bob Evans
Source：Informationweek

Copyright © 2009 United Business Media LLC, All rights reserved.

Linux first to offer USB 3.0 driver

A kernel hacker from Intel has posted a Linux driver for USB 3.0, making Linux the first operating system (OS) to support the new connectivity standard. Sarah Sharp (left) announced that her xHCI-compliant driver for USB 3.0 will be supported in Linux 2.6.31 in September.
##CONTINUE##
The xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) host controller driver is available now, and will be formally supported by the Linux kernel in September in version 2.6.31, reports Sharp, also known as the "Geekess." This should make Linux the first OS to offer a USB 3.0 driver, according to Sharp, who says she has worked a year and a half on the project.

Sharp is now working with fellow Intel "OSV person" Keve Gabbert to ensure that Linux distributions including Ubuntu and Red Hat adopt the xHCI driver. She also plans to release instructions soon on how to compile a kernel using her git tree.

USB 3.0: ten times faster throughput
The Intel-backed USB 3.0 spec was completed by the USB Implementers Forum under the formal name "SuperSpeed USB" in November. The spec is said to offer physical-layer throughput speeds of up to 5Gbps (gigabits per second), compared to USB 2.0's 480Mbps (megabits per second). By comparison, Firewire (IEEE 1394) currently tops out at 3.2Gbps.

It's said real-world transfer rates for USB 3.0 may be as much as 500Mbps, compared to 25Mbps to 35Mbps for typical USB 2.0 mass storage drivers, offering the potential for 20x faster speeds. The technology is also claimed to offer reduced power consumption compared to USB 2.0.

USB 3.0 is targeted initially at PCs, Blu-ray players, hard drives, flash card readers, and optical drives such as DVD. The technology is said to be backward-compatible with USB 2.0, and will first appear in discrete silicon products, as opposed to being integrated in system-on-chips (SoCs). By September, says Sharp, NEC estimates it will have produced one million xHCI PCI Express add-in cards.

In November, MCCI Corp. and Synopsys announced they would together produce USB 3.0 compliant semiconductor IP and Linux-ready GPL'd drivers. Last month, MCCI announced more details about its USB 3.0 SuperSpeed products at the USB 3.0 Developer�s Conference in Tokyo, but has yet to announce details on availability.

Linux 2.6.31 will support the driver when it is expected to be released in September, says Sharp. Linux 2.6.30 arrived this week, offering several new filesystems, among other features.

Availability
A cached version of the apparently overtaxed Geekess blog page announcing the driver, may be found here.

-----------------------------
BY N/A
Source：LinuxDevices.com

Copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Gartner: No Real Tech Recovery Until 2010

With 2009 looking like a done deal, the research firm now expects recovery to begin at least a year from now.
##CONTINUE##
Quick turnaround for IT spending? Don't bet on it.

The current downturn in IT spending is very different from the industry's experience in 2001, and it will take a while for sales to find their feet again, according to market research firm Gartner.

The firm today hosted a strategy briefing here aimed at the semiconductor industry, since semiconductors are a leading indicator of the overall economy. If it's an electronic product, it's got a semiconductor in it somewhere, from an iPhone to a car, so the semiconductor industry will lead the way to recovery.

But that could be a while.

This economic downturn isn't like 2001, when the tech sector was hit especially hard with the dot-com implosion on top of great overspending on the part of IT customers. While the nation was left reeling from the effects of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington and some sectors suffered, like travel, the wider economy was relatively unaffected.

Today, it's an across-the-board general slowdown in demand for products and services because of the economic uncertainty brought about by the financial market crisis, which has since spread to other areas. While it started with housing and banking and spread to the automotive sector, IT spending is not immune.

"2009 is a done deal. We're not going to see any spending increases," said Bryan Lewis, an analyst with Gartner. "We are cautiously optimistic for 2010, with expected growth of around 5 percent. We may see refresh cycles start to kick in but not until well into 2010."

This echoes prior predictions from other firms, that 2010 is the soonest period for recovery to begin.

Lessons from 2001

The one positive in all of the pain of the last few months is that the sector learned its lesson. In 2001, the industry kept producing product for months after consumers stopped buying, resulting in a massive inventory backlog that took years to clear.

This time, having learned from the past, the sector had better insight into a slow down in consumer buying and stopped production, resulting in only one quarter of inventory build-up.

As such, noted analyst Peter Middleton, the dip in sales was very brief and inventory build up was only for one or two quarters. "Revenues have bottomed and are now recovering. The supply chain is normalizing," he told the audience of mostly executives from local chip firms.

During its most recent earnings call, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini said that he was noticing an increase in demand toward the end of Q1, and was bold enough to predict a bottom. His counterpart at AMD (NYSE: AMD), Dirk Meyer, wasn't as willing to predict a bottom, however.

But Middleton cautioned that Gartner is seeing "minimal evidence" that demand is inching back, "except in China where the 3G build-out is taking place."

"The automotive and consumer sectors were the hardest hit in 2009 and given the employment situation, it will take some time for those sectors to recover," he added.

Managing your money and assets

Bob Johnson, research vice president for semiconductors, took over the speech to discuss specific recovery tactics for the industry. The first problem, he noted, was gross margins literally disappeared in some sectors of the semiconductor business. In the memory sector, the margin was negative eight percent. "They were selling memory for less than it costs to make them and you can't make it up in volume," he said deadpan, but to laughter none the less.

To maintain viability, firms need to avoid debt, which should be obvious, keep gross margins above 35 percent, have enough cash to fund capital expenses and avoid leveraged buyouts.

"Debt has a habit of biting you hard in downturns, just when you don't need it," he stated. "Keep those margins above at least 35 percent. Intel likes margins of 45 to 55 percent. Anything above is reinvested or used to build cash."

And don't invest too much. If you build it, you have to maintain it and that can hurt: You can cut a lot of costs but you can't cut depreciation.

"Overinvest in an upturn, you are stuck with them in the downturn, and you have to maintain them," Johnson said.

-----------------------------
BY Andy Patrizio
Source：internetnews.com

Copyright 2009 WebMediaBrands Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Go Big or Go Home, AMD!

If I can make it there,
I'll make it anywhere;
it's up to you,
New York, New York!
-- From "New York, New York"
##CONTINUE##
Thus spoke Frank Sinatra, and now Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is following in Ol' Blue Eyes' footsteps. The chip designer's newly spun-off manufacturing arm is about to break ground on a new factory in New York state.

The GLOBALFOUNDRIES joint venture (Apologies to the company and their love for the Caps Lock key, but I'll be referring to it as "GlobalFoundries" from this point on) is expected to spend $4.2 billion on this new facility over the next three to four years, creating more than 1,400 direct manufacturing jobs and an additional 5,000 jobs within the region.

While that's great news for the Empire State, it also shows the benefits AMD is reaping from this spin-off move. AMD's admittedly shaky balance sheet will not need to bear the full burden of this ambitious project, as wealthy investors in Abu Dhabi help foot the bill. The company can't afford to fall too far behind Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) in the eternal race toward more manufacturing capacity and better chip-making processes. Delaying the new fab while rebuilding AMD's balance sheet could have been a fatal error, which has been avoided for the time being.

It's also a show of strength that coincides with market research firm iSuppli showing that Intel lost 2.3 percentage points of market share to AMD last quarter. And all of these forward-looking moves are happening without the benefit of the new 6-core Istanbul architecture, which launched too recently to have any impact on iSuppli's numbers.

The New York plant should be operational by 2012, and equipped with the latest and greatest manufacturing processes GlobalFoundries can come up with. That includes input from longtime manufacturing tech partner IBM (NYSE: IBM), whose global headquarters are just a couple of hours down I-87 from Saratoga County.

Intel will surely remain the largest processor provider for years to come, but AMD's capacity planning should put some pressure on the giant. Also, GlobalFoundries plans to go a-courtin' other fabless chip designers who need manufacturing done here in America rather than shipping orders off to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) and other far-eastern providers. That could include homeland heroes like Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) and even direct AMD competitor NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA).

As I keep telling you, AMD appears poised to rise from the grave, and is positioned for big things in the near future. We haven't even seen the real payoff from the ATI acquisition yet, but the "Fusion" platform that builds on the combination of AMD and ATI's technologies is coming in the second half of 2009.

-----------------------------
BY Anders Bylund (TMF Zahrim)
Source：The Motley Fool

© 1995 - 2009 The Motley Fool. All rights reserved.

Microsoft may deliver prompts for rival browsers

It will now be up to PC makers to decide whether to install Internet Explorer or another browser on the computers they sell.
##CONTINUE##
Microsoft bowed to pressure from European regulators and announced it would release its Windows 7 operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser.

The US software giant said it still plans to release its next-generation operating system worldwide on October 22, but that customers in Europe will have to install web browsers of their choice.

"We're committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product," Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said.

"Given the pending legal proceeding, we've decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users."

It will now be up to PC makers to decide whether to install Internet Explorer8 or another browser on the computers they sell.

"We believe that this new approach, while not our first choice, is the best path forward given the ongoing legal case in Europe," Mr Heiner said.

In January, the European Commission said its preliminary view was that Microsoft had stifled competition in the browser market by packaging Internet Explorer and Windows together.

The antitrust investigation was prompted by a complaint from Opera, a rival browser, who was later joined in the action by Google. Internet Explorer is the most popular browser worldwide but its market share has been under attack by Mozilla's Firefox and others. Opera wanted Microsoft to offer users a choice of browsers automatically when they used their computers.

Microsoft has argued that the browser is an integral part of the user's experience and should be bundled together with the operating system. It said users were free top choose another browser if they wished.

Mr Heiner said Microsoft expects that stripping IE from Windows 7 will bolster its position that it is not bundling software in order to suffocate competition. But the Commission is likely to continue its investigations and may hit Microsoft with a fine, expected in some quarters to approach the record $1.49 billion fine recently levied on Intel.

"We will continue to discuss browser issues and other matters with the Commission," Mr Heiner said.

He added: "The E(uropean) versions of Windows 7 will include all the features and functionality of Windows 7 in the rest of the world, other than browsing with Internet Explorer. Computer manufacturers will be able to add any browser they want to their Windows 7 machines, including Internet Explorer, so European consumers who purchase new PCs will be able to access the internet without any problem. Consumers will also be able to add any Web browser to their PCs, to supplement or replace the browsers preinstalled by their computer manufacturer."

-----------------------------
BY Mike Harvey, technology correspondent, San Francisco
Source：TIMES ONLINE

Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.