One of the ebooks (1311 pages) is Programming Windows Store Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, Second Edition, by Kraig rockschmidt.
MVA has added 3 New Free ebooks. You can access them here.
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In a prepared statement Ballmer said that “There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,”
Bill Gates said that “As a member of the succession planning committee, I’ll work closely with the other members of the board to identify a great new CEO,” he added that “We’re fortunate to have Steve in his role until the new CEO assumes these duties.”
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by ehavir
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One of the critical vulnerabilities include Internet Explorer 9.
Microsoft customers will have the opportunity to ask questions on the security bulletins in a web-cast that will be held by Microsoft on July 11, 2012, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada).
As always, you should install the security updates as soon as they are available.
]]>Launched in 2008, Yammer now has more than 5 million corporate users, including employees at 85 percent of the Fortune 500. The service allows employees to join a secure, private social network for free and then makes it easy for companies to convert a grassroots movement into companywide strategic initiative. The basic version of Yammer is free, and customers can pay to upgrade their network to receive advanced administrative and security controls, integrations with enterprise applications, priority customer service and a designated customer success manager.
Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division, led by division President Kurt DelBene, and the team will continue to report to current CEO David Sacks.
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According to Microsoft there will be two versions of Microsoft Surface. One running Windows RT and another one running Windows 8 Pro.
An interesting feature is that the cover becomes an ultra thin keyboard.
The Windows RT version will have the following characteristics:
The Windows 8 Pro version will have the following characteristics:
Microsoft has no data on the mobile information related to Surface.
For a hands-on review click here.
It appears that Microsoft tries to create a tablet that will be comparable to iPad. To my opinion this is a tough task to succeed.
From what I saw, the only feature that is new is the touch cover. I am using a tablet (iPad) for long time now. I bought a keyboard / cover that I do not use. In my opinion this is not a great feature to decide for a purchase of a tablet. You can always buy an external keyboard if you need one.
In my opinion tablet software is still in its infancy. We are approaching the tablet from the wrong angle. Even companies have not decided yet on the features they want to offer for the tablet.
Let’s take for example the iPad. I have the iPad 3G. I do not want to jailbreak it. I cannot use it as a phone. I need to carry 2 devices. A mobile phone and a tablet. I have the simplest mobile phone on the planet (without camera) just to make phone calls and I do all my work using the iPad. Will Microsoft give 3G to Surface? Will Microsoft allow users to make phone calls from their tablets? Will Microsoft use the kinect knowledge to create a more intuitive interface for Surface?
A Lot of questions which only the future can answer.
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This security vulnerability is serious for big corporations and governments that use Internet Explorer. The German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (known as BSI) recommends that all Internet Explorer users switch to an alternative browser.
Personally I doubt that home users will be affected from that vulnerability. Mainly the threat for the time being is for corporate and government users. In any case you should immediately upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. You may also choose to use another web browser until Microsoft releases a fix for this vulnerability.
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As a conclusion, I believe that this Microsoft move is a great help for the startups. They have the tools and the opportunity to create new and innovative software solutions without the initial cost of an MSDN subscription. If you qualify get that opportunity.
]]>There is a difference between open standards and open software. It is very important to note that open standards can be used by both open source and closed source software programs. There are cases that the reference implementation of an open standard can be available for non-commercial use. (Dave Welsh, 2004).
The open source initiative gives guidelines about what is open source. Open source does not mean only access to the source code of a software program but also includes guidelines for the distribution of the source code. The license must allow derivate works and modifications. The license must not restrict the use of the source for a specific field, such as only for non-commercial use or only for research.
The simplest way to make software public is to put it into public domain without any copyright. This method does not protect the source code and the creator of the source code from someone else (individual or corporation) to copy the code, and create proprietary software. Open source licenses come to solve many problems involving with open source. The license is needed for a simple reason to protect open source. There are many types of licenses including:
There are also licenses of free software that are incompatible with the GPL licensing. Such licenses include:
There are many variations of licenses regarding free software. A company must invest a lot of time to read and comprehend the various licenses especially if you want to use some open source library in a commercial product. Some licenses may allow only the distribution of the source code along with the source code of the derivative work or that someone can use the source code and the derivative work can be a closed system. It is worthy to note that open source software does not necessarily means free software.
Richard Stallman initiated the GNU project and the free software movement. The main idea was that users should have the freedom to change the programs in whatever ways they wanted and not to be locked in to a specific product. IBM and Oracle used Linux which is open source and free to weaken Microsoft. Companies started using Linux to and a lot of other open source free software to save money. Companies like Red Hat and Novell are making money by distributing Linux for free and charging for support. The model for free software is not to charge for the software but for the support or the training about the software. Venture Capitalists have invested more than US$ 3 billion in 163 open-source firms between 1997 and 2008. (Economist, 391, no. 8633 p. 69)
Having a free open source product can help a company to have a pull driven marketing approach in contrast to a push marketing approach that closed system companies have. (McInnis, G., 2009, p.81).
As a conclusion, it is evident that open standards with open source is totally different. Open standards promote interoperability of systems. Open source promotes knowledge because the source code is exposed to everybody to see, learn and correct it. Giving open source software for free has many benefits both to the user and to the producer. The benefits for the producer are:
The benefits for the users are:
References
Karen Coyle (2002). “Open source, open standards. ” Information Technology and Libraries 21.1 (2002): 33-36. ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source, ProQuest.
McInnis, G.. Competitive actions of companies whose revenue relies on open source software. Diss. Carleton University (Canada), 2009. Dissertations & Theses: Full Text, ProQuest.
Dave Welsh (2004). Distinguishing between Open Standards and Open Source — Part III of III Available from: http://blogs.msdn.com/dave_welsh/archive/2004/08/28/222206.aspx
]]>Latest update: Truecrypt Shut Down. The sourceforge page informs Truecrypt users to migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform.
BitLocker and TrueCrypt are data encryption software packages. The question is which one to use and why? BitLocker comes with Windows 7 Ultimate edition. It is also available in Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Enterprise editions and Windows Server 2012 R2. TrueCrypt is free open source software. As of this last update, TrueCrypt does not support Windows 8. You can find the supported operating systems here.
Michael Pietroforte at 4SYSOPS has two very interesting articles. In the first article he comparesTrueCrypt 5 vs. Bitlocker. There are no significant speed differences between the two programs. The second article is a discussion about Windows 7 BitLocker. Good news is that with Windows 7 using BitLocker is much easier comparing with Windows Vista.
With BitLocker if your computer does not have a Trusted Platform Module chip the start up key in a USB stick. On the other hand TrueCrypt wants to only to memorize a pass phrase.
Which one to use?
BitLocker:
TrueCrypt:
From the above discussion, I believe that for large corporations the preferred solution would be BitLocker. For smaller businesses or for your personal computer or laptop TrueCrypt offers a really great solution.
For the security perspective there is the ‘Evil Maid’ attack that can be used to TrueCrypt to acquire the pass phrase. BitLocker uses trusted boot that can be attacked too. So, what is the ‘Evil Maid’ attack? In a nutshell the attack is as follows:
The attack, along with the software is explained by Joanna Rutkowska. There is also a very interesting discussion about “Evil Maid’ in Bruce Schneier’s blog.
As a conclusion, both BitLocker and TrueCrypt are excellent programs that can encrypt data. Now that you know the pros and cons of the programs and also the attack methods I hope it is easier to select the appropriate one for your needs.
My personal preference is TrueCrypt for the simple reason that is open source. Being open source makes it very difficult to add a backdoor. The code is visible, anyone can spot it. This might not be the same with commercial products.
(Update April 2014) US consultancy iSEC has completed on April 2014 a detailed two – person code audit of the software seeking security holes. The audit has turned up a dozen bugs in the code that is TrueCrypt, but not signs of backdoors or other critical security holes. You can access the full report in pdf fprmat here.
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