Gartner: Don&#39;t Use Google Desktop In Enterprise
3714
Research analysts warn about the danger of using first-generation local search tools from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and others.
328831
Today Brad  gave me a quick demo of Google  Desktop .  Its great that Google keeps innovating (and more power to them) but to be honest I was a bit underwhelmed.  caption: Google Desktop Homepage.  It should be possible to quickly put together a Lucene  Desktop which performed the same tasks but was Open Source and based on web standards.  There are a few steps here of course:   - Integrating lucene to index the filesystem only when files are changed.  This    can be accomplished by looking at directory timestamps and only searching    directories that have changed since the last index run.    - Only indexing during idle CPU time.  On windows you could build this around a    screensaver.   ...
283485
Google Inc. is arguing that Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista violates a 2002 antitrust settlement because its indexing software is hard to turn off. But an expert says indexing can be disabled easily.
92588
Gartner Inc. research director Rich Mogull says that customization of off-the-shelf software is the weakest link in application security. He spoke at the Gartner IT Security Summit in Sydney. Needless to say, some vendors in attendance were moved to respond.
47342
A top Microsoft executive defended desktop application software, the source of the company&#39;s revenue for three decades, arguing on Tuesday that even services-based companies such as Google still need it.
146127
Switch the lights off as you leave Analyst house Gartner is warning technology bosses to take the twin issues of pollution and energy consumption seriously, because policy makers are starting to pay serious attention.â¦
713396
(Corrects name of analyst Gartenbergâs company to Jupiter, not Gartner, paragraph 6)
652739
I donât like self-proclaimed prophets. So, you'll rarely see me quoting them. I guess my aversion originates in so many presentations where the next [insert application or company here] âkillerâ will emerge if we invest some money. And yes, I admit I sat on the side of the table talking about a couple  of those killer apps myself.
679680
Google Founders Selling Off Stock  Is this a sign that Google stack is overpriced? Or does it just mean that since there is so much interest in Google and its shares right now that the founders decided to sell off a big part of their holdings with the search engine. Dow ...
679280
InfoWorld - Security researchers have discovered a serious flaw in Google&#39;s desktop software that could be used to wreak havoc on a victim&#39;s computer.
339881
The logic behind Google (GOOG ) Desktop Search is simple enough: Why shouldn&#39;t the best tool for finding things on the Web do equally well at helping people search their own computers?
313379
IT&#39;S MYSTIC MEG, the Gartner Group is predicting that system downtime will increase from five per cent this year to 15 per cent in 2008 due to security holes.
636369
&quot;If you are talking about the media center PC in the family room, it&#39;s going to be a disappointing experience,&quot; Gartner research vice president Martin Reynolds told TechNewsWorld.
730654
(InfoWorld) - Google believes that its consumer-grade Web applications represent the future of enterprise IT. But while Google is quick to trumpet its products' innovative features, the search giant hasn't said much about their security. Until recently, that is. On Monday,Â Google announcedÂ it would spend $625 million to buy messaging security vendor Postini, a move that will give it access to 35,000 business customers, and provide it with the first security products for its Google Apps portfolio. The Postini acquisition represents the most significant investment into security technology yet made by Google. In recent months, Google has started its own security blog along withÂ acquiring another security-related startup, Green Border Technologies. Google Apps customers will be able to use Postini services for tasks like scanning and encrypting e-mail, and archiving messages for compliance and legal purposes, said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager for Google's enterprise business, during a Monday conference call. Around 1,000 small businesses are signing up for Google Apps each day, according to Google. But the company admitted that big businesses have been reluctant to use hosted services because of concerns about security and corporate compliance issues. It hopes that buying Postini will help relieve those concerns. But now that Google has finally decided to become a security vendor, how far will it go? Rival Microsoft has started buying security companies itself, and recently introduced its own line of antivirus software. And Google's recent Green Border purchase has caused some to speculate that the search giant may soon offer a secure Web browser, locked down with Green Border's safe browsing technology. Google has so far refused to say what it plans to do with Green Border's products, but observers see other opportunities ahead. For example, the company could mine its vast database of Web sites to compete with Web filtering companies like Websense or AE6 Technologies. "There's a lot of money to be made by establishing a blacklist of Web sites," said Forrester Research Principal Analyst Chenxi Wang. "I would not be surprised if once they used their massive crawling infrastructure to turn that into a proprietary list and sell that with their enterprise product line." Google recently gave Web developers a way to access this data for free, but the company could build paid services for enterprise users on top of the free product, much in the same way it has developed Google Apps, observers said. "If they add real-time intelligence and put that in an enterprise product, they can definitely make money," Wang said. Wang predicted that Google may also look to acquire information leak prevention companies such as Vontu or Vericept. One of Google's harshest critics on the security front said that things might become even more interesting should Google decide to expand its foothold on the desktop. "If they want to build their own operating system and they want to basically start making Firefox the [default] browser...they're going to need to start bumping up the controls and security and the devices to protect that environment," said Robert Hansen, CEO of Web security consultancy SecTheory. How much the Postini and Green Border acquisitions will go to secure existing Google products is unclear. Google said Monday that it will enhance Gmail with Postini's technology, but Hansen thinks that it will take time before Google builds security into its products from the ground up. In the company's rush to deliver cool and compelling features to its users has come at the expense of security, he believes. And until there is some sort of widespread security problem -- such as the worm and virus outbreaks that shut down Windows users five years ago -- Google has little incentive to make security a priority within its existing products. "It comes down to the business case," Hansen said. "If I want to fix Blogspot I have to convince some product manager somewhere that it's worth doing the investment... and in the end users are going to hate it." James Niccolai in Paris contributed to this report. Â
524
(InfoWorld) - Security researchers have discovered a serious flaw in Google's desktop software that could be used to wreak havoc on a victim's computer. The bug, which was made public Wednesday by Watchfire, has now been fixed. While Google is automatically delivering a patch, Google Desktop users who want to be sure they are running the latest version of the software can download it here. Users should be running version 5.0.701.30540 or later, said Google Spokesman Barry Schnitt. Google was first notified of the problem on Jan. 4 and produced its fix on Feb. 1, a Watchfire spokesman said Wednesday. In addition to its bug fix, Google has added, "another layer of security checks to the latest version of Google Desktop to protect users from similar vulnerabilities in the future," Schnitt said. "We have received no reports that this vulnerability was exploited," he added. Watchfire's research underscores the danger of integrating Web-based applications with the desktop, the company said in a white paper published Wednesday. The flaw lies in a search parameter used by Google Desktop's Advanced Search feature, which could be used to execute malicious JavaScript code, according to Watchfire. For this attack to work, the criminal would have to first go through a number of steps, including hacking Google.com to find a cross site scripting vulnerability on the Web site -- something that has been done several times in the past year, according to Watchfire. If successful, however, the attack would be devastating. A criminal could search for anything on the computer or even take over the victim's computer by tricking Google desktop into running malicious software stored on another computer, Watchfire claims.
340882
Today's announcement from Facebook is the reason why Google announced OpenSocial last week. They must have gotten a leak from one of the companies that stood with Facebook, so they knew what was coming. They weren't scared of Facebook's technology, because they didn't respond with technology. They were scared because Facebook has a better advertising story than Google does. They are getting ready to offer some very premium web real estate that (pay attention now) Google can't compete with. And advertising is Google's bread and butter, advertising is to Google as operating systems are to Microsoft. They can't let somebody appear to be better than they are in advertising. Yet that's what Facebook is, better than Google in advertising. Here's what Facebook can do.  Let's say I bought a Wii and I like it. They can tell all my friends "Dave bought a Wii and he likes it." That's a lot more likely to result in a sale  than an intrusive ad like this one, that was displayed next to an email I sent to some friends about their New Networked Living Room. Google thinks I might want to buy Moroccan Lamps, or something called a Unique Shabby Chic (huh?) or Crate & Barrell bedroom furniture. Of course I tune that shit out, I don't even see it. It has zero impact.   Anyway, I was talking with Doc Searls a few minutes ago and he mentioned OpenSocial and I told him it was just a lot of noise meant to distract people from what Facebook was doing in advertising. He hadn't heard anything about it even though he was at a tech conference in Denver today and yesterday. I said there you go, Google's strategy worked. But to no effect, longterm, because Facebook has the momentum and Google, try as hard as they want to stop it, will not be able to, any more than Alta Vista or Infoseek were able to stop Google once they figured out that their lunch was eaten. Google will be around for a long time, I'm not saying they will go away, but Facebook will be around too. And Google will have a hard time catching up to them.  Long-term, however they both have problems because advertising is on its way to being obsolete. Facebook is just another step along the path. Advertising will get more and more targeted until it disappears, because perfectly targeted advertising is just information. And that's good!  8/3/06: "Information is welcome, advertising is offensive."
448634
A Gartner Group report on PC hardware sales in emerging global markets has stirred up controversy in both the open-source and proprietary software worlds. Eighty percent of personal computers sold in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe that ship with the Linux operating system eventually will be running a pirated copy of Windows, predicts Gartner.