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Google hopes to find community in security contest

For the last few years, companies have had two primary approaches to security: attempt to plug every security hole themselves, or rely on an open-source community to do so. With its open-source Native Client project, Google actually wants to do both and has launched a contest to attract outside development talent to plug security holes in Native Client's code.

Native Client is a Google-developed technology for running x86 native code in Web applications. Google hopes the code will make it easier for developers to write richer browser-based applications that run across a range of browsers and operating systems.

Google'… Read more

Desktop virtualization picks up the pace

Analyst Brian Madden identifies desktop virtualization as a major 2008 virtualization theme:

If you could sum up the year with a single theme, that theme would be "desktop virtualization is here to stay." I don't want to go so far as to say that desktop virtualization is mainstream, but 2008 saw Microsoft, VMware, and Symantec getting serious about it, and Citrix fighting to keep the lead (it'd) established via XenApp over the past decade.

I concur.

"Desktop virtualization" isn't a single thing; it's really a shorthand for a variety of approaches, the … Read more

The Linux desktop isn't your father's PC

This post by Michael Dolan at IBM is spot on:

Here's the thing, everyone who hears "Linux desktop" has a knee-jerk reaction and thinks of all the things they do on their own PC, laptop, Mac. The reality is you're probably not the target market for virtual desktops. The market is large desktop environments that have thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of users and who are not doing consumer-oriented work (or shouldn't be). The cost savings of moving from physical PCs in a 1 user to 1 PC model to a managed model with virtual … Read more

How 2007's hot trends played out in 2008

About this time last year, I took a look back at some of the macro trends that hit their stride during 2007. I thought it would be interesting to see which of those trends are still noteworthy, which new ones are on the radar, and generally how the landscape has changed.

Server virtualization remains perhaps the hottest trend in IT. It may no longer be pegging the hype meter quite as hard, but that's only because server virtualization has moved into the mainstream. It's ever more clearly one of those fundamental developments that touches and transforms all manner of associated technologies, products, and processes. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 868: Joogle and the Spindle

We rename Google's boring-sounding Native Client project to let you know what it really is: Java from Google. You know, Joogle. Also, HP unveils flexible paper using e-ink and a roller design that inspires version 3 of the Kindle: the Spindle. In non-funny-word related news, we also engage in a nice long conversation about music piracy and college campuses. Feels just like old times. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 868

The mouse hits 40-year milestone http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768481.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7761262.stm http://news.cnet.com/2300-1041_3-6248261.html… Read more

Google's answer to Java, Flash, Windows: Native Client

Rumors have abounded over the years about a Google operating system, perhaps based on the Ubuntu version of Linux widely used within the company, but on Monday the company revealed an open-source project that provides a different answer to the same problem: Native Client.

The reason I've been skeptical about Google releasing an operating system of its own is that the company has such a Web-based view of the world. But Web apps have limits, impressive gains of Google Docs notwithstanding, and Native Client is geared to address those.

"At Google we're always trying to make the … Read more