Plus: SCO defendants fire back; Microsoft says patch can cause problems; And delays XP service pack; congressman introduces anti-spyware bill; Google’s IPO could lead to more.
Cisco is expected next week to improve its wireless LAN offerings by adding WLAN features to its Catalyst switches. The strategy, dubbed structured wireless-aware network or SWAN, is a response to rivals that are centralizing WLAN management and security on controllers and wireless switches.
What’s unclear is how many features will shift from Cisco’s Aironet line of access points to Catalyst, how the shift will affect the Aironet product road map and pricing, and whether current Aironet users will need a migration strategy as SWAN unfurls its wings. Also expected is an update on Cisco’s radio frequency management capabilities, currently a weak area compared with its rivals.
Two companies The SCO Group targeted with lawsuits earlier this year have fired back questioning the very foundation of SCO’s allegations. Car maker DaimlerChrysler AG and auto parts retailer AutoZone filed court documents last month responding to SCO’s charges. In a lawsuit filed in March, SCO accused DaimlerChrysler of violating a 14-year-old Unix licensing agreement by not providing “certification of compliance.”
In court documents, DaimlerChrysler says it has provided SCO with appropriate certification and that it in fact is not and has not used the licensed software for more than seven years. AutoZone responded to allegations that it is violating SCO copyrights by running Linux by arguing that questions regarding whether Linux indeed violates any SCO copyrights and whether SCO owns those copyrights to begin with must first be decided in several other pending lawsuits. IBM, Red Hat and Novell are currently in legal battles with SCO over Unix copyrights.
Patches usually fix problems, not cause them. But last week Microsoft said a recently released software patch for its Windows operating system is causing some Windows 2000 machines to stop responding after it is installed. Some systems that use the security update, MS04-011, stop responding when they start up, prevent users from logging on to Windows or bog down, Microsoft said in a story published last week on its Knowledge Base online help database.
The security patch was released April 13 and fixes a number of holes in Windows, including problems with Windows’ implementation of Secure Sockets Layer. The story said a software change in the patch causes Win 2000 systems to repeatedly try to load drivers that cannot load successfully, causing the hang-ups. Microsoft said it is researching the problem.
Meanwhile, key Microsoft Service Pack delayed.
Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, originally planned to ship in the first half of the year, will now at best be released in July. Microsoft as recently as last week said SP2 was on schedule. The company now has decided to delay the update to “some time in the third quarter” because testing has not been completed and Microsoft continues to make changes to the software based on tester input, the company says. SP2 is more than the usual roll-up of bug fixes and updates. It also is being used to make significant changes to the software that are designed to improve security, Microsoft has said.
At best, spyware is an invasion of privacy. At worst, it can steal personal data, track Web activity and breed viruses. Such activities would naturally encourage government involvement, and last week they did. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would forbid people from knowingly sending programs designed to record recipients’ Web browsing habits and collect personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers.
The bill would punish violators with up to five years in jail for the first offense and 10 years in jail for the second. Inslee’s proposal is the third spyware bill to be introduced in Congress this year. As for laws, only Utah has passed one banning spyware. Microsoft estimates spyware is responsible for half of all PC crashes.
Google‘s filing for an IPO last week could provide a boost for other technology companies seeking to raise public funds, although the popular search company is by no means ahead of the field with its move to become a listed company, industry watchers said. Google filed papers for its much-anticipated public offering Thursday, with intent to raise more than $2.5 billion from the sale of its stock.
The company’s popularity, combined with an almost nostalgic regard for its dot-com business model, caused the move to attract widespread attention among investors and the media. The IPO wagon had already started rolling without Google’s help. More than two dozen high-tech companies have filed for public offerings in recent months, including Salesforce.com, Shopping.com, Brightmail and Lindows.
