bdpnetworks
newsletter - issue #9bdpnetworks
newsletter - issue #9The
Cutting Edge
• Teoma:
New rival for Google?
• SequoiaView: Dramatic way to view your disk space usage
New
Apple announcements!
• OS X 10.2
(Jaguar): Rendezvous, Bluetooth, and more!
• 17"
iMac, new iPods, iTunes 3, QuickTime 6 (MPEG-4 video and AAC audio formats)
• Analysis
- will these technologies catch fire and spread to the rest of the industry?
Tips & Tricks
• New automatic
Windows Update software - works on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Highly recommended.
Information
about my services
• Who is this guy?
• What is this all about?
Fun
& Cool
• Save
Internet Radio - an update
• Citrus Altoids
• Iron Chef drinking game
• Company Anthems
• Homestar Runner
Welcome once again to the bdpnetworks monthly newsletter, an eclectic but hopefully useful assortment of information in a condensed format. My goal is to give you some information you can use, while raising awareness of the types of services I can provide.
If you find any of this information useful or fun, please pass a copy of this newsletter on to someone else. I would really appreciate it.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact me at info@bdpnetworks.com. I do NOT charge for basic questions (even for non-customers), so give it a shot. :)
NEW! I'm now offering fixed-price Project bids, and fixed-price Maintenance Retainer contracts! For details on these and more information on bdpnetworks, please see the section below entitled Information about bdpnetworks.
Special thanks to Katerie Prior for helping to proofread this newsletter. Visit her writing website at http://www.writers-confidant.com
Thanks again for reading!
One of the most important computer-related news items in the last few weeks has to deal with "Trusted Computing." The Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA), spearheaded by Intel and Microsoft, was created to address several pressing issues dealing with hardware and software security. But this concept is not perfect; read on and you'll discover it may have some very serious implications for consumers and businesses.
The TCPA has outlined a series of specifications that control what can and cannot be run on a specific computing device, and what data can and cannot be accepted by that device. This is accomplished by building a separate processor into the system that digitally "signs" hardware and software and checks those signatures against master databases provided by the vendors. For example, your entire hardware configuration & operating system would be given an "integrity & security check" by this processor before being allowed to load. The operating system would then use this system to check applications before allowing them to launch, and the applications would use the system to check documents & e-mail before allowing them to open.
This system can be also used to enforce specific types of security policies that cannot be overridden. For instance, it can be used to denote that all e-mail received from others must also be digitally signed and encrypted by the same type of system. Or it could be used to digitally sign and encrypt all word processing material so it can not be read by any computer outside of a company.
Microsoft's own implementation of TCPA in software is called Palladium; it will be the "gatekeeper" that uses the hardware-based security processor to allow programs to run on Windows. Although the TCPA organization has been around for a while, Microsoft just announced Palladium for the first time a few weeks ago, and it has already generated a huge amount of press.
TCPA is purported to have several benefits for consumers & businesses. One of the big benefits might be increased resistance to viruses & spam, since you can tell the system to ignore any information that isn't already digitally signed by a similar system. Another benefit is increased reliability, since only registered software and hardware would be allowed to run on a TCPA-enabled system which would make it harder for third-party "untrusted" software to be allowed to run. And of course, you could encrypt your information so only the intended recipient(s) could use it.
For software publishers, this system is great - it drastically cuts down on piracy. We've seen some of the first of Microsoft's implementation of this with the Windows XP activation system. This system helps thwart (but still doesn't eliminate) illegal copying of the Windows XP operating system to multiple computers. Microsoft is looking for new revenue streams, and loves to point out how much richer they'd be if they could only combat piracy in other countries (such as China, where piracy is the norm).
Well, there are several problems, generally stemming from the great potential for this technology to be misused. Some of the more dire potential implications include:
This technology could be (and most likely will be) used for Digital Rights Management. DRM is a way for music/movie publishers to ensure that you can only use their data a certain way, usually to prevent piracy. But can you imagine being unable to listen to any music formats OTHER than those that have been sanctioned by the record companies (such as MP3)? You'd only be able to use a certain music player that's "Trusted" by the system, and it would only allow you to play music from specific companies that you'd have to pay for each time you listen. As Internet connections get faster, this would extend to how you use video files as well.
Microsoft's revenue model over the past few years has primarily been built on the cost of upgrades for Windows and Office every 3-5 years, whether people needed them or not. Now that Windows and Office are very mature products, they're trying to get companies to switch to more of a revolving charge (which some people think of as a tax) to keep that stream from drying up. Some companies are complaining about the huge costs yet feel they don't have any alternatives... yet. Microsoft sees the totally free and very capable Linux OS (along with other similar open-source projects like OpenOffice) barreling down on them like a freight train, and Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) even admitted a few weeks ago that "we can't figure out how to be lower cost than Linux." Since Microsoft already maintains a monopoly, the potential is great that they could force their own products to ONLY exchange information with their own products, using Palladium & TCPA to digitally encrypt the information. Just like the proprietary file formats that have traditionally kept people from even considering switching away from Microsoft Office on most desktops, this would allow them to lock out operating systems and software they deem "untrusted." "Sure, you can use Linux if you want, but you won't be able to exchange any information with 90% of the computers in use."
What's more chilling than that? TCPA employs a model that allows a third "Trusted" party to have a backdoor key; this could, for example, allow the U.S. Federal Government to decrypt any information that has been encrypted by this system. This has always remained a possibility with proprietary operating systems; since you don't have any access to the source code you must take the vendor at their word that they haven't been in cahoots with an organization such as the NSA (National Security Agency) so they can unlock your data down the road. This possibility alone could make TCPA/Palladium a very hard sell to companies and governments outside of the U.S.
The original intent of TCPA sounds like a good idea... mainly for media & software vendors. But it seems consumers get the short end of the stick as the purported benefits of TCPA to the consumer can already be handled by capable Internet security products, and spam management gets better daily. Operating systems are much more reliable than they were five years ago, while maintaining a reasonable amount of "openness" so anyone can write software or create hardware that's compatible. And public/private-key encryption technologies such as PGP already exist that are extremely effective and nearly impossible to compromise. People that need them are already using them. That leaves few benefits for most consumers.
For business, security policies are already commonly used and can be enforced on a network-wide basis. In fact, all of the purported "benefits" to consumers and businesses can already be handled by appropriate software without employing a hardware security processor.
Designing and implementing a change in PC architecture this great will require lots of time & cooperation between the companies involved, so there's still some hope that the system will ultimately be useful yet unobtrusive. Now is the time to learn as much as possible about this technology, so I've included links to a number of different articles with differing viewpoints.
This article from PC Magazine does a good job trying give a balanced view of
Palladium while factoring in serious concerns about privacy:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,277291,00.asp
But this FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list from Ross Anderson of the University
of Cambridge systematically points out many of the ways this technology could
be (and most likely will be) abused: (This is an excellent, informative, engaging
read)
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
Here's a slightly more positive spin on the issue from noted columnist Dan
Gillmor:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3703600.htm
A good article from David Coursey: (ZDnet Anchordesk)
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2873826,00.html
And finally, for "balance," the TCPA maintains a website that answers
questions from their perspective (specifically, take a look at the FAQ - the
truth most likely lies somewhere between the TCPA FAQ and Ross Anderson's FAQ):
http://www.trustedcomputing.org/tcpaasp4/index.asp
In related news, Bill Gates has started to publish a new periodic newsletter. The first issue details Microsoft's renewed commitment to security and stability under the "Trustworthy Computer" moniker.
http://microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2002/07-18twc.asp
As always, if you have comments on Palladium please let me know and I'll put them in the next issue (Anonymously, if you'd like :)
Every once in a while, I come across a nifty tool that I can't believe I did without. SequoiaView is one of those tools. Produced (and available for free!) by the computer science department of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Netherlands), SequoiaView shows you a graphical representation of the files on your hard drive, grouped by location and represented in varying sized rectangles. They call this technique a Squarified Cushion Treemap. The result is as beautiful as it is useful.
I've used other disk space management programs in the past, but they all had traditional bar graphs or pie charts on them. What makes SequoiaView different is HOW the files are displayed. You can get the entire contents of your hard drive (or network server partition) onto one screen and instantly tell by sight which files and directories are taking up more than their fair share of space. It has a pretty advanced color-coding tags, and you can even filter by specific types of extensions, and group them into profiles... such as "colorize all media files" (MP3, MPG, WAV, MOV, AVI, etc.)
Even though it is pretty much a one-trick pony, I would gladly pay money to register the program. But it's free!
You can download it from here:
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
Sorry, it's only available on Windows at the moment. I found a similar program (not as good) for Mac OS 9, but was unable to get it to function properly under OS X (with the OS 9 emulator) so I can't recommend it here. And I know of no similar program (yet) available for Linux.
Everyone loves Google... it produces great search results very quickly. And the people at Google have been very active at adding new technologies to their service, such as an Image search, Headlines search, catalog searches and usenet newsgroup searches. But it doesn't mean they necessarily hold a monopoly on Internet searching.
TEOMA is a new search engine that uses a totally different ranking technique called "Subject-Specific Popularity." Google's mechanism (PageRank) counts how many pages link to a specific page, which makes that page appear higher in the search results. TEOMA's approach counts how many pages on the same subject link to a specific page, making it a more "authoritative" hit. This is an interesting approach, and when I played with it a bit I found that it actually works quite well. It will be interesting to see if Teoma makes an impression on users. It's always great to have a second opinion.
Teoma is here:
What do the words sockmonkey, NEWYORK and Hotel have in common? They're all names of WiFi wireless network access points in downtown Seattle!
Reports say one million wireless ethernet cards are being shipped each MONTH.
I've decided to create a benchmark called the "bdpnetworks Wireless Access
Count" or WAC. Each month I'll be driving a specific path around Seattle
(approx 1 mile) through downtown. I'll report the number of access points I
pick up on my laptop & share the results with you. These are not necessarily
"open" access points for anyone to use, they're just the names (called
SSIDs) that are automatically broadcast by these WiFi devices so they can be
located.
The WAC for 07-25-2002 stands at 99. Remember that wireless access points are most likely spreading faster in downtown Seattle than most other parts of the country, so it won't be an accurate assessment of how things are going nationally. But it's interesting, nonetheless.
Here's the WAC homepage, which includes a map of the route I'm taking to pick up these signals:
http://www.bdpnetworks.com/wac.html
Here's the WiFi / 802.11b primer I wrote a few months back:
http://www.bdpnetworks.com/nl/nl04.html#wireless
And finally, here's a link to the Seattle Wireless group - dedicated to promoting free wireless access for all:
http://www.seattlewireless.net
The laptop is an Apple iBook (2001) G3 600 w/ OS X 10.1.5, 640MB of RAM and an Airport (802.11b) card. I'm using MacStumbler 0.6b to find these access points.
Here's a link to the MacStumbler homepage:
http://homepage.mac.com/macstumbler/
Along the route, I discovered ten access points with the name "tmobile." Those are located in Starbucks cafes! (Yes, ten Starbucks along that route... this IS Seattle, you know.)
The are fourteen access points manufactured by Linksys that are just called
"linksys."
Some other names that come up multiple times: NWSCHOOL (the Northwest School), sttlpmt (maybe a point-of-sale system), ER17LAB. These are single (large) locations that need extra coverage, instead of several smaller locations with the same name (like Starbucks).
I also found some place names, such as NEWYORK, aurafice (a cafe on Pine street), and SeattleWirelessBauhaus (another cafe on Pine street). There are some pretty weird names, like sockmonkey, pitabread, muenchen, Kingdom, atlas and taxidog. And a few obvious ones, such as Hotel, Mike's Airport Network, Gary's Airport Network.
Most of the rest are pretty boring, but hey, you're welcome to look at the list yourself.
http://www.bdpnetworks.com/nl/wac.html
My goal is to ultimately reduce your dependence on outside computer networking support organizations. I want to help you to be more self-sufficient, so that you don't have to worry about managing disasters as they happen. A good network is one where the individual components don't crash or unpredictably fail, and one that is as secure as possible from viruses or outside intruders. It means you spend less time worrying about the state of the network or the attached computers, and have more time to focus on your business.
How can I make a living by helping you to be more self-sufficient? I'll recommend new features and technologies that you may not have heard of that can be added to your existing network. These features can help you manage your information, or help you and your employees get access to their information in new and useful ways. I only ask that you think of calling me when you're ready to move on projects like this. I am much happier expanding and extending networks with valuable features than when I have to run around and constantly put out fires! Some companies make lots of money putting out fires, but customers are often unsatisfied with these companies' "break & fix" attitudes. I want your company to get past that level and to focus on business processes, not computer procedures. Your network should work for you and around you, not the other way around.
And now, I offer maintenance plans that keep your system in great working order so it's always ready when you need it. For a low fixed monthly rate, you can have the benefits of having an "on call" expert network engineer available at all times. These plans specify an unlimited labor scope, so you won't have sudden huge costs to contend with if things start going wrong. Additionally, you'll get automatic scheduled maintenance visits to check on virus protection, backups, and any other "laundry lists" of problems your network may have. You'll even receive full documentation for your system as well as regular written logged updates about the status of your network devices & software.
For more information on network maintenance plans, visit this link:
http://www.bdpnetworks.com/maintenance.html
And if you'd like me to put together a customized proposal for your environment, please e-mail me at info@bdpnetworks.com, or call (206)351-7964.
I know most of my readers don't use Macintoshes (and it may be a few years before many would even consider switching), but hopefully you'll take a look at what Apple's doing and keep it in the back of your mind.
CEO Steve Jobs has been credited with the ability to cause a "reality distortion field" around his audience when introducing new technologies due to his enthusiasm and casual style. I will admit I've been a bit swayed by this "Reality Distortion Field" at times, but it's hard not to be excited about their products once you get your hands on them. Over the past few years, Apple has completely turned themselves around; everything they make does what it's supposed to with little fuss and lots of class.
Recently during Macworld New York, Jobs announced a bunch of upgrades and features for their state-of-the-art operating system (Mac OS X) and for some of their hardware products. I try not to comment on stuff until after it has shipped and I've gotten my hands on it, but some of this stuff is simply too cool to ignore:
Jaguar builds on the stability and slickness of Mac OS X (based on UNIX, but with a beautiful easy-to-use graphical interface) and adds a bunch of features that Microsoft (and Linux!) will have to catch up to in the next year. Some of the most important new features are:
Bluetooth (used to connect desktop devices to your PC without wires--see issue #6 for background) will be integrated into the core operating system, enabling all sorts of cool features such as data transfer and synchronization with cell phones, and connections to Bluetooth keyboards, mice, printers and scanners. Thanks in large part to Apple's early push, we already have "the wireless Internet." It looks as if Apple will once again be first to market with "the wireless desktop."
Rendezvous is a new protocol that Apple has created and made open source (source code freely available for public use) that allows automatic detection and connection to other devices and computers on the same network. This sounds simplistic, but believe me - it's not as easy as it sounds.
Jobs demonstrated Rendezvous a few different ways; one was by running iChat (an AOL Instant Messenger clone) that automatically created a buddy list of the people on the local network (wired, Bluetooth, WiFi or USB--it didn't matter HOW they were connected). Imagine a meeting with several people in it who want to pass files and notes during the presentation; now they can do it without having to configure anything.
Jobs also demonstrated a Bluetooth printer with Rendezvous built-in (Epson, HP and Lexmark will all support it in their newest printers) that automatically popped up and configured itself in the printer selection screen. Take it from someone who has to do this stuff on a daily basis--this is the first time I've seen a company do this that REALLY looks like it's going to work out well for everyone. (Novell has a pretty good system called Novell Distributed Printing Services (NDPS) that does this, too... but it still requires quite a bit of back-end configuration). Jobs did not say anything about security or access control in Rendezvous, though - that may be the downfall.
The integrated Address Book is a full-featured (and gorgeous) contact manager that provides information to all of your programs (such as Mail, iCal, your word processor, etc.) Microsoft has tried this for years with MAPI - effectively making a standard API that other address books could plug into. It sort of works, but requires quite a bit of configuration. With the integrated Address Book, most people won't want to use anything else, which is why this one might actually be a success.
iCal is the easiest and most beautiful looking Calendaring application I have ever seen. You can create multiple calendar "views" on the fly with different information, such as a "work," "personal," and "holidays" calendar and toggle them on and off individually. You can even publish your calendar automatically on a WebDAV-enabled website... quite impressive and easy.
iSync is an ambitious approach to synchronizing across disparate devices, such as synchronizing the information in your PDA with your cell phone, Address Book/iCal & even your iPod! It uses a new standard protocol called SyncML, based on XML (eXtended Markup Language--I'll write more about XML in an upcoming issue.)
10.2 has a ton of other enhancements, too - such as IPv6, IPsec (for VPNs, especially the Microsoft-style software VPNs), performance enhancements (including a hardware OpenGL-based GUI called Quartz Extreme that actually converts open windows into textures in the 3D processor's memory, and then manipulates them with hardware--cool!), the ability to act as a full-featured Microsoft peer-to-peer networking client (browse and connect to workstations & servers, connect to a Mac OS X 10.2 computer from a Microsoft machine), the ability to login to a Microsoft Active Directory tree and a ton more!
A new 17" W I D E S C R E E N iMac, a steal at $1999 (including DVD-RW/CDRW combo drive)
A cheaper 5Gig iPod ($299), and a new 20Gig iPod with a fancy new solid-state scroll wheel (4000 128kbps MP3s!) ($499)
A brand-new version of iTunes with song ratings, dynamically-generated playlists based on search criteria, and volume leveling (and it's cool - I'm already using it on my iBook laptop)
Not announced at Macworld New York but recently released was Quicktime 6. This is the first video player to market that supports MPEG-4. MPEG-4 is a Big Deal, because it's the first industry-standard video technology to be specifically built for variable bitrates (i.e. the Internet). MPEG-2 (the most commonly used MPEG) was designed specifically for DVDs and Cable Boxes. MPEG-4 has much tighter compression than MPEG-2 and offers an audio-only option called AAC which compresses audio with better quality than MP3s. (I've heard the difference - it is definitely noticeable).
Make no mistake, Apple has been one of the few truly innovative companies in the computer industry. They've recently helped give USB, WiFi and FireWire (IEEE 1394) mass market acceptance. So it would not surprise me if these things happen over the next few years:
Acceptance of Bluetooth will be driven by Apple, and be pushed into other parts of the market quickly (i.e. all Microsoft operating systems & Linux, cell phones, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, joysticks, PDAs, etc.)
Due to it's nonproprietary nature, Rendezvous could very easily get picked up by the rest of the industry. This is the first time I can recall a major manufacturer helping to develop a completely open standard for automatic network device configuration... at least since the Internet got really big really fast.
MPEG-4 may catch on pretty fast (note: RealNetworks just announced that they're open-sourcing their own streaming standard, codenamed Helix. This will certainly be interesting since Microsoft hasn't opened up their own Windows Media protocol.)
And MP3s could even be phased out over the next few years in favor of AAC! (Though MP3s enjoy so much popularity at the moment that this isn't likely to happen overnight. Also, there is at least one other open standard, the oddly-named Ogg Vorbis, which could steal AAC's thunder)
Go check out all of this new stuff yourself - Apple's website is very well put-together(not to mention visually interesting) and will answer any questions you might have:
and if you want to hear from people who have switched from a PC to a Mac (disclaimer:
these are real people but they were compensated for their time) check
out this site:
http://www.apple.com/switch
Finally, an interesting spin on this casts serious doubts on the continued
relationship between Microsoft and Apple. David Coursey (another new Apple fan)
explains more here:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2874875,00.html
If you've read some of my earlier newsletters, you understand the importance of running regular Microsoft Windows Update scans on your computer to update out-of-date components, and more importantly, patch security holes to help prevent your computer's data from being compromised by outside "unseen" forces. And by now you certainly visit the site regularly and apply the patches, right?
If you aren't in the habit of regularly updating your computer with the latest Microsoft fixes, Microsoft has made it easier for you by introducing the automatic Windows Update service. If you are continuously connected to the Internet (i.e. via DSL, Cable Modem, ISDN or T1 line) then Windows Update will run in the background continually checking for updated patches. If it finds any, you can set it to either install them automatically or just download them and notify you. It'll then ask for your approval before installing them.
To install the new Automated Windows Update, you'll need either Windows 2000 or Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 or above. Visit the Windows Update web site as normal (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) and you can install it from the "recommended patches" section.
An automated Windows Update system probably should have been around a few years ago, but it's better late than never. I've run the new automated Windows Update system in a few different situations and I think it's a pretty good implementation... it seems pretty reliable and helpful.
Get the new automated Windows Update program here: (Windows 2000 & XP only)
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
bdpnetworks (located in Seattle, WA) is a Limited Liability Corporation managed by Brian Place (that's me!). I maintain a network of contacts with other independent computer consultants and support firms for subcontracting purposes. I've been doing this consulting thing for quite a while as an employee of other computer service companies. While my experiences were very enriching, I've generally been frustrated by the lack of consistency or innovation at those companies and the overhead a lot of them carry. I figured I could do a better job at a lower cost, so I formed bdpnetworks in June, 2001.
Many companies are pouring vast sums of money into their infrastructure just to keep it stable, let alone add value or features to it. This doesn't have to be the case; I have the experience necessary to help get these networks running well again and the know-how to add innovative features that will benefit everyone. My focus now is primarily on small businesses in and around the Seattle area. I enjoy working with small companies and am looking forward to forming new relationships, especially with organizations near my Capitol Hill office.
I offer a free onsite consultation to new clients, so you have NO RISK! If you would like to set up an appointment, give me a call at (206)351-7964 or e-mail me at bdp@bdpnetworks.com
In issue #7, I reported on the huge rate increases that were in danger of being imposed on small web broadcasters. Things are better, but not great. Many streaming Internet radio stations are now being forced off the air because of huge royalty rates imposed by CARP and indirectly by RIAA. To see how you can help, go here:
http://www.saveinternetradio.org
Not that I'm endorsing new Citrus Sour Altoids (though they are tasty and come in a cool tin,) but this Flash-based website is pretty cute:
http://www.altoids.com/gonesour/
I am a huge fan of the Iron Chef on FoodTV network; I love its pomp and pageantry combined with the hilarious English-dubbed voices. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. Someone stole my idea of an Iron Chef drinking game and made a website of it, though I think the rules get too complex after the third drink.
http://www.lemurlove.com/ironchef/
If you're unfamiliar with Iron Chef, here's a great place to learn more about it:
Did you know almost ALL major computer & telecommunications companies have their own theme songs? Yeah, I didn't either. It's probably just as well most people don't know about this.
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/specials/2002/it-anthems/
I've mentioned this site before, and it's still one of my favorites. In case you haven't seen it yet...
(c)2002 Brian Place for bdp networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Proofread by Katerie Prior of The Writer's Confidant, http://www.writers-confidant.com
Feel free to forward a copy of this to whomever you wish; please leave the contents intact.
If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send e-mail to subscribe@bdpnetworks.com or unsubscribe@bdpnetworks.com
Questions, comments, concerns or flames may be directed to newsletter@bdpnetworks.com
Thank you for reading!
INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. NEITHER BRIAN PLACE NOR BDPNETWORKS TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF ANY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT. DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY READ THIS STUFF?