.gif)
The ever-annoying, ever-moronic[*] Java Updater popped up today and prompted me to update. I indulged it, figuring there was probably some new gaping security hole again.
What did I find as I proceeded? It wanted to install the Google Toolbar. Did I have the Google Toolbar already installed? No. So why is the default action to install it, unless I opt out?
Apple’s taken some heat lately for their decision to push Safari to anybody who runs their Apple Software Update utility. I didn’t want Safari, but unless I opt out of it I’ll get it. Now Sun and Google are doing the same thing with the Google Toolbar. Users know that if they don’t update their software they’ll get hacked, and Sun, Google, and Apple abuse that by pushing unwanted applications (Safari) and spyware (Google Toolbar) to systems that didn’t already have it. It isn’t enough that they allow you to opt-out. They do this knowing that most users aren’t going to opt out, either because they don’t know any better or because they miss the option.
If there was ever a reason for a law to be passed, this is it.
———————-
[*] Ever-moronic because the updater seems to like starting two, three, or four copies of itself, all sitting in my system tray. Maybe they think that I’ll be more inclined to update if the updater takes over the entire bottom of my screen.
Cloud is a shift from the focus on underlying technology implementation to leveraging existing implementations and further building upon them. Cloud orchestration or a network of clouds is the wave of the future where these clouds can operate with elasticity, scalability, and eff...
Citrix has opened up a beta of its CloudStack 3, the first release of the open source cloud platform under the Citrix brand.
Citrix acquired the Java-based cloud management last year when it bought Cloud.com. A full production version of the branded stuff is supposed to be avai...
EMC and VMware are going into the cloud business with Atos, the big, publicly owned, Paris-based global IT services firm, intending to take an equity position in Canopy, an end-to-end cloud company Atos is setting up using EMC and VMware technology.
The companies said Wednesday...
A Tel Aviv start-up called Porticor that’s just hit the radar says it’s got a way to secure the cloud, any cloud. Fancy that, a trustworthy cloud.
And Porticor delivers its data encryption solution to IaaS and PaaS users through the cloud in minutes. Fancy that.
It’s supposed...
"The volume of data we're generating now from machines pales in comparison to the volume of data we'll soon generate from our own bodies," says data security expert Dave Asprey. Writing in a Trend Micro blog, Asprey - who is one of the leaders in the emerging Quantified Self move...
