Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

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Whoa. Microsoft Is Using Linux to Run Its Cloud

Wired – By: Klint Finley – “Microsoft has admitted to something that used to be unthinkable: using Linux to run some of its own operations.

In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft Azure networking principal architect Kamala Subramaniam explained how the company developed a new software system, dubbed Azure Cloud Switch, for running the networking gear that Microsoft’s cloud service depends on.

Network switches typically come with their own software baked right into the product. The problem Microsoft faced, according to Subramaniam, was integrating the software that ships with those switches with the wide variety of software it uses to run its Azure cloud service. So Microsoft had to build its own switch software—and it turned to Linux to do just that.

While the move to Linux is certainly a departure for Microsoft, which used to be quite hostile to open source, it’s not a huge surprise. Microsoft has cozied up to the open source community in recent years. It now offers Linux as an option for Azure customers, helped port major open source projects like Hadoop and Node.js to Windows, and even open sourced its own .NET development platform last year.

A Little More Daylight

This also isn’t the first time that Microsoft has used open source operating systems internally. When the company acquired Hotmail in 1997, the web-based email service ran on the Unix descendant FreeBSD and did so for many years after the acquisition. But Microsoft’s decision to use Linux for a new internal project is unusual, especially considering the fact that Microsoft makes a slimmed down version of Windows that can be used to run gadgets like networking switches.

Microsoft isn’t the first tech giant to decide it needs its own software for its networking gear. Facebook and Google have been rolling their own networking software for years. That need for custom networking software among large-scale web companies led to the creation of OpenDaylight, an open source networking platform backed by Cisco, Microsoft and others.

Although there’s no mention in Subramaniam’s blog post of OpenDaylight, Microsoft is using Linux for Azure Cloud Switch for the same reason that any company would use open source: by building on open source software, Microsoft can take advantage of improvements to the code made by other companies with similar problems.

‘We’re talking about ACS publicly as we believe this approach of disaggregating the switch software from the switch hardware will continue to be a growing trend in the networking industry, and we would like to contribute our insights and experiences of this journey starting here,’ Subramaniam wrote.

That’s what open source is all about.”

Yes, there were Apple announcements this past week. Some good, some just OK, but here is a guy that sees the good and the bad!

Why Apple’s announcements are both dream and nightmare

Venture Beat – By: Robert McCarthy – “Like everyone, I was wide-eyed and paying close attention to Apple’s announcement Wednesday; not only to see what was going to be unveiled, but to discern what impact those announcements would have on the industry. The event left me both excited and terrified – some announcements are what dreams are made of, while others might make up someone’s worst nightmare – especially for those in IT and Information Security.

First … the stuff of dreams

The announcement of iOS9 a few months ago foreshadowed the inevitable release of ‘bigger, better, faster’ hardware and devices designed to make use of the new features within the OS. Wednesday’s event was no different, with the announcement of an impressive new array of devices for home, mobile, and the office designed to delight and dazzle the average consumer, and (hopefully) compel them to upgrade to the latest and greatest Apple offering.

One platform that really stood out to me – even as an avowed iPad pessimist – was the iPad Pro. To date, iPads in general have been nothing more than a toy for enterprises; they’ve lacked the horsepower, battery life, and productivity apps necessary to move the budget needle for most serious companies. But that may change with this latest offering. Featuring a class-leading processor in the A9X, a powerful graphics chip, smart energy conservation, and an elegant set of input mechanisms, this is a device I can see being used in a number of enterprise settings. For example, design and creative teams sketching wireframes, boardroom collaboration on spreadsheets and charts, and meaningful – not gimmicky – presentations anywhere. Until now, without the iOS9 capabilities for multi-app usage and lacking the horsepower to drive enterprise-class apps, the iPad had been relegated to personal note-taking in the enterprise and treated as a second-class device in the world of IT.

A few key elements to the power of this new iPad Pro: the 3D Touch, the Keyboard, and the Pencil. Since each of these will have hundreds of articles written about them, I will just point out the things about them that resonated with me.

The 3D Touch opens a new dimension (quite literally) in navigation. It enables applications to open up and display inner contents or provide contextual menus, and it provides much-needed efficiency to touch-based productivity apps.
The keyboard input, as commonplace as it is today with laptops, desktops, and even older iPads, was sorely lacking the ‘Apple finish’ until now. Its addition to the iPad Pro makes for a seamless, integrated, elegant experience.
The Pencil, which garnered a few laughs from the audience, actually demonstrates how serious Apple is about the enterprise. This input device could only be introduced with hardware like the iPad Pro to support it, as it tracks multiple input components like force, speed, and angle to accurately reflect the user’s desired actions. The fact is, whiteboards, paper, and even slate still exist in the enterprise because creativity of all sorts – from wireframes to logical architecture to roadmaps and product packaging – flows most naturally from a person’s brain through the tip of the pen; removing the speedbumps of clicks and taps and drags in all the drawing software means people can be more creative, more engaged, and more poised to layout and share their ideas using iPad Pro and Pencil than they ever have before with an iPad.

And now … the nightmares

As a security advisor, I am always concerned about data leakage, which can come in so many forms. Data is lost to poor database management, poor policies surrounding mail and apps management, and of course to malicious agents (such as bad apps and external hackers). Hot mics (as any politician can tell you) are the bane of a security person’s existence when trying to control the data, message, and information.

In the interest of keeping up with the competition, like Android’s Now, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri now comes in the form of an always-on, hands-free wakeup, called ‘Hey Siri.’ I can only hope that there are well-built device management policies surrounding this service to lock it down, containerize it, and secure the flow of the information – or iOS9 will be a non-starter for a number of sensitive enterprise industries.

I imagine there are also a number of mobile UX designers in panic mode following the announcement of 3D Touch. Their UX designs – as they stood on September 9 – will have to radically change in order to accommodate the demands of these new platforms and input methods. There will no doubt be a number of competitors with their own ‘z-axis’ implementation of UX in the coming year, so design won’t be relegated to ‘iOS9 only.’ Creative designers will have to think through the impact of new elements like ‘peek and pop,’ new navigation paradigms, and of anticipating demand for new input methods that test the boundaries of app design.

All in all, this was a much more positive set of announcements for enterprise mobility and productivity than I had expected from Apple this year. While there have been a number of strategic initiatives around partnerships with Cisco and IBM, I had expected this year’s announcements to focus much more on the consumer market – on cars, TVs, and selfies. Instead, they surprised everyone with their continued aggressive push into the enterprise, seeking to displace a number of incumbents who have stood too long in the supply chain delivering cookie-cutter, boring, and uncreative enterprise solutions because there was no alternative. But now there is.

Robert McCarthy is Tech Advisor at Mobiquity.”

On Google’s new logo I am meh. Which pundits say is good. I didn’t over react to it. Google put out a little 17 year “What has changed” video, which is kinda cool!

Here’s the Prologue to the first Season 9 Episode:

BBC just released 2 minutes of footage from ‘Doctor Who’ season 9 and it’s pretty mysterious

Tech Insider – By: Kirsten Acuna – “BBC has released two new minutes of footage from the next season of ‘Doctor Who,’ and we’re not too sure what to make of it.
The two-minute prologue for season 9 shows the Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, back on Karn, a planet which was shown in 2013 during the mini episode ‘The Night of the Doctor,’ a precursor to the 50th anniversary special. That clip showed the Doctor with the Sisterhood of Karn, a female group who protect a ‘Sacred Flame’ which creates the elixir of life.

The new footage shows Capaldi’s Doctor speaking with one of the members of the Sisterhood, Ohila, as she attempts to convince him not to meet up with one of his long-time enemies.
The Doctor seems pretty set on the meeting though, giving Ohila a mystery item to hand over to someone.

The clip leaves us with a lot of questions: Who is the Doctor going to meet up with? Why did he head to Karn to consult the sisterhood? What’s that mysterious object he left behind, and why did he leave it with Ohila?

One thing seems certain: It sounds like the Doctor is heading to stare death straight in the face.

The last time we saw the Doctor in season 8, he was parting ways with his travel companion Clara (Jenna Coleman). Though it looks like he’ll be off on his own at the start of the season, we’ve seen in trailers that he’ll be back with Clara soon enough.

The next season of ‘Doctor Who’ premieres September 19 on BBC One.”

I use Roundcube… simple, easy… it works for me!

5 open source alternatives to Gmail

Open Source – By: Jason Baker – “Gmail has enjoyed phenomenal success, and regardless of which study you choose to look at for exact numbers, there’s no doubt that Gmail is towards the top of the pack when it comes to market share. For certain circles, Gmail has become synonymous with email, or at least with webmail. Many appreciate its clean interface and the simple ability to access their inbox from anywhere.

But Gmail is far from the only name in the game when it comes to web-based email clients. In fact, there are a number of open source alternatives available for those who want more freedom, and occasionally, a completely different approach to managing their email without relying on a desktop client.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the free, open source webmail clients out there available for you to choose from.

Roundcube

First up on the list is Roundcube. Roundcub is a modern webmail client which will install easily on a standard LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack. It features a drag-and-drop interface which generally feels modern and fast, and comes with a slew of features: canned responses, spell checking, translation into over 70 languages, a templating system, tight address book integration, and many more. It also features a pluggable API for creating extensions.

It comes with a comprehensive search tool, and a number of features on the roadmap, from calendaring to a mobile UI to conversation view, all sound promising, but at the moment these missing features do hold it back a bit compared to some other options.

Roundcube is available as open source under the GPLv3.

Zimbra

The next client on the list is Zimbra, which I have used extensively for work. Zimbra includes both a webmail client and an email server, so if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, it may be a good choice.

Zimbra is a well maintained project which has been hosted at a number of different corporate entities through the years, most recently being acquired by a company called Synacore, last month. It features most of the things you’ve come to expect in a modern webmail client, from webmail to folders to contact lists to a number of pluggable extensions, and generally works very well. I have to admit that I’m most familiar with an older version of Zimbra which felt at times slow and clunky, especially on mobile, but it appears that more recent versions have overcome these issues and provide a snappy, clean interface regardless of the device you are using. A desktop client is also available for those who prefer a more native experience. For more on Zimbra, see this article from from Zimbra’s Olivier Thierry who shares a good deal more about Zimbra’s role in the open source community.

Zimbra’s web client is licensed under a Common Public Attribution License, and the server code is available under GPLv2.

SquirrelMail

I have to admit, SquirrelMail (self-described as ‘webmail for nuts’) does not have all of the bells and whistles of some more modern email clients, but it’s simple to install and use and therefore has been my go-to webmail tool for many years as I’ve set up various websites and needed a mail client that was easy and ‘just works.’ As I am no longer doing client work and shifted towards using forwarders instead of dedicated email accounts for personal projects, I realized it had been awhile since I took a look at SquirrelMail. For better or for worse, it’s exactly where I left it.

SquirrelMail started in 1999 as an early entry into the field of webmail clients, with a focus on low resource consumption on both the server and client side. It requires little in the way of special extensions of technologies to be used, which back in the time it was created was quite important, as browsers had not yet standardized in the way we expect them to be by today’s standards. The flip side of its somewhat dated interface is that it has been tested and used in production environments for many years, and is a good choice for someone who wants a webmail client with few frills but few headaches to administer.

SquirrelMail is written in PHP and is licensed under the GPL.

Rainloop

Next up is Rainloop. Rainloop is a very modern entry into the webmail arena, and its interface is definitely closer to what you might expect if you’re used to Gmail or another commercial email client. It comes with most features you’ve come to expect, including email address autocompletion, drag-and-drop and keyboard interfaces, filtering support, and many others, and can easily be extended with additional plugins. It integrates with other online accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Dropbox for a more connected experience, and it also renders HTML emails very well compared to some other clients I’ve used, which can struggle with complex markup.

It’s easy to install, and you can try Rainloop in an online demo to decide if it’s a good fit for you.

Rainloop is primarily written in PHP, and the community edition is licensed under the AGPL. You can also check out the source code on GitHub.

Kite

The next webmail client we look at is Kite, which unlike some of the other webmail clients on our list was designed to go head-to-head with Gmail, and you might even consider it a Gmail clone. While Kite hasn’t fully implemented all of Gmail’s many features, you will instantly be familiar with the interface. It’s easy to test it out with Vagrant in a virtual machine out of the box.

Unfortunately, development on Kite seems to have stalled about a year ago, and no new updates have been made to the project since. However, it’s still worth checking out, and perhaps someone will pick up the project and run with it.

Kite is written in Python and is licensed under a BSD license. You can check out the source code on GitHub.

More options

HastyMail is an older email client, originating back in 2002, which is written in PHP and GPL-licensed. While no longer maintained, the project’s creators have gone on to a new webmail project, Cypht, which also looks promising.

Mailpile is an HTML 5 email client, written in Python and available under the AGPL. Currently in beta, Mailpile has a focus on speed and privacy.

WebMail Lite is a modern but minimalist option, licensed under the AGPL and written mostly in PHP.

There are also a number of groupware solutions, such as Horde, which provide webmail in addition to other collaboration tools.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. What’s your favorite open source webmail client?”

Windows expert Paul Thurrott confirmed this week in his “Short Take” column:

“Yes, Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to PCs that haven’t chosen to accept the upgrade

I’ve spent a lot of time (easily) recently debunking all of the supposed Windows 10 privacy violations. But this latest accusation against Microsoft is … troubling. And real. Microsoft is downloading the 4-6 GB of files needed to upgrade to Windows 10 to PCs on which their users have not asked to upgrade. Why? Because everyone wants Windows 10, of course. Some people just don’t realize it yet. ‘For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade,’ Microsoft told The Inquirer, confirming this incredible act. ‘When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.’ That is unacceptable, completely unacceptable. And no one ‘chooses’ to receive automatic updates. They’re coerced into doing so. By Microsoft. This needs to change. Now.”

Wow. The hubris!