More questions over Computer Associates
386124
At first glance, it might seem as if Computer Associates has cleaned up its act. Yes, its former CEO and another top executive were indicted Wednesday for securities fraud and obstruction
633805
First, thanks for the great comments on yesterday's post about Apple and the hard disk of my MacBook. People were universally positive and helpful, and I can say I really learned some really important things as a result of the discussion. First, the cost of the data on the hard disk swamps the value of the value of the disk and even the value of the computer. There was source code on the computer, and other information, which if it fell into the wrong hands, could cause some serious problems for me. I have no agreement with Apple that covers the security or privacy of the data. As far as I know they think they own the contents of the disk as well as the disk itself. The experience I had with them actually makes me think they probably do feel its theirs. This from a company that takes the security of its own private information very seriously, they seem to have almost no regard for the security of its customers' information. You have no control over when a hard disk will crash, or any foreknowledge of when it's even likely to crash. So there's no way to protect against this kind of security issue. And that's what it is. What kind of sense does it make to invest in firewalls, and of what value is Apple's claim that Macs are inherently more secure, when all the data on one of my computers is now completely out of my control forever? I'm not so concerned about the privacy issues, but I could imagine that other people might be. And if identity thieves are not aware of this backdoor way to get access to private information, how long before they are? Security experts always warn us that obscurity is not a good strategy for security. So what to do?  Basically I've given up on trying to get Apple to do the right thing and give me my disk back. Some people at the Emeryville store are well-itentioned, and are just naive about the problems that can come when you trust people with all your data. Others just don't care. Either way it seems unlikely that I'm going to get it back, and even if I do, it's been out of my control for too long.  I'm going to go through the tedious job of changing the passwords on all my sensitive online accounts. That was overdue anyway. And next time a laptop blows its hard disk, I'm either going to replace it myself and shred the old disk, the same way I'd shred any sensitive documents before throwing them out, or just throw away the whole computer. I know this isn't green, but there seems to be no other course that's anything close to secure. And always be aware that you could lose a laptop, or it could be stolen. So far it seems that this is not yet an identity theft concern, but you can't be sure, and it won't be long before it is.  Thanks again for all the good info, advice and vibe.
46644
Lord_Slepnir writes &quot;Cnet is reporting on a consortium of compainies that wish to develop a Serial ATA hard drive interface for Miniature hard drives called CE-ATA.
673957
By Marshall Loeb  So you've decided to take advantage of the sales to buy a computer this holiday season. Whether it's for yourself or a gift, you'll soon be confronted with a bewildering array of jargon to determine the type of computer you need.
412649
The wild one. Computer Associates International (nyse: CA - news - people ) has named John Swainson as its new chief executive, reports say.
286508
Microsoft has some serious questions to answer....
504530
Looks like I'll get the drive back soon. First I got a call from the Emeryville store, then I got a call from a person in Apple Executive offices (she gave me her name and number, but I'm not going to publish it here). I'll report back when I have more info. PS: The number of idiotic comments has gone way up.
347403
No sense pointing the finger at Hewlett-Packard anymore; we have Congress and the FBI to do that. But I did want to discuss the âI didnât know what my employees/vendors/executive staff were doingâ defense -- which was, of course, made famous by Enron , so you have to know it just wonât do. Instead of looking backward, I spoke with a couple of experts on governance, privacy, risk, and compliance assessment about how companies can do the right thing in the future.
661052
On the verge of signing a large order for PCs, the superintendent of Carterville City Schools quickly put down his pen when Technology Coordinator Sheryl McDonald demonstrated how an iMac could run both Mac and Windows applications. âOur superintendent just about lost it; he was so excited by the capabilities of Boot Camp. We saw that we could have the best of both worlds,â McDonald says. In no time, CCS cancelled its PC purchase plans and ordered a flock of iMac computers.
99466
Jonathan aka &#8220;TrustNo1&#8243;, an ABestWeb Forum Regular tipped me about 6 hours ago off about Google Checkout and issues that emerged for several Merchants with Affiliate Programs. Actually the other way around, issues for the Affiliates that are affiliated with a CJ Merchant that uses Google Checkout. Not all of them though. Todd Martini opened [...]
243844
By Joe Estrella, The Idaho Statesman, Boise  Jun. 20--Brenda Proctor didn't know the first thing about computers back in 1991 when her employer, Key Bank, asked her to head the team that would install the bank's first Local Area Network so that its computers could talk to each other.
638287
Computer Associates on Monday announced it is upgrading and consolidating its storage management software line. The computer software giant is offering 13 new versions of its BrightStor storage management line and also announced a new product in a move to better compete with rivals EMC and Veritas Software.
375927
Chuck Shotton has his Leopard, but hit a wall. "Leopard's migrate user function has failed 3 times on 3 separate clean installs. This is a seriously broken, critical piece of the OS."  Mossberg and Pogue missed it, didn't make it into USA Today. That's the motivation behind the flash conference idea. After two or three days, organize the knowledge as covered by the bloggers, really cover it as tech news has never been covered before. If necessary, have another flashconf two weeks or a month later.
303212
When I got back from Europe my black MacBook wouldn't boot, it just sat there with a disk icon and a flashing question mark. So I made an appointment at the Apple store in Emeryville to have it looked at. When I got there, there was no wait, they were calling my name. The repair guy opened the Mac, took out the disk, went into the back room, and came back saying the disk was bad, I'd need a new one. How much? $160. How large? 80GB. I've been buying disks lately, I bought a 500GB disk for $150 a few weeks ago, and just bought a 1TB disk for $280. So I knew that $160 for 80GB, even in a portable form factor, was probably a ripoff, but I figured here I am now, I can get the computer working, so I said OK and shrugged it off. The new disk went in, I signed a form, and was about to leave and asked for the old disk and the clerk said it was his not mine. They were going to send it back to the manufacturer. I figured it would be refurbished and sold cheap to someone in a third world country. Little did I suspect.  He got his supervisor. She insisted that the drive belonged to Apple, even though I had paid an inflated price to buy a new one. She showed me the language on the reverse side of the form I signed. It was even worse than she had said. There was no guarantee that the drive they had just put in my Mac was new! It might have been someone else's defective drive. I said it was outrageous. I grabbed a copy of the agreement and left.  I scanned the agreement, highlighting section 4, the part the store manager cited. Now there are a lot of speeches I could give. Here are a few. 1. I buy Macs knowing they're more expensive, but I expect to be treated better. I drive a BMW for the same reason. Luckily there's Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, et al to keep BMW customer service in top form (which it has been so far, I'm on my fourth BMW). I always say this -- Apple service is outstanding when you buy something, but it falls down, often, when you need it fixed. Not always, but often. 2. There are consumer protection laws that require auto repair shops to offer you the old parts. Why doesn't that apply to computer repairs? Or maybe it does. 3. Apple prices are ripoffs, but this is an unusually heinous ripoff. To charge such inflated prices for used parts, they should have some shame. 4. They don't seem to have any fallback when there's a dissatisfied customer. As an Apple shareholder, I think it would work better if store personnel felt they were guardians of the company's reputation. Consider for a moment that you are ripping off the customer. What tools can you offer the sales person to make good with the customer? Could you let the customers who object take their drives home? Could you offer a discount coupon on the next purchase, or free premium support for a year? That they let me walk out of the store, a person who spends thousands of dollars with Apple, feeling like I had been abused, says they haven't got all the glitches out of their retail process.  5. Falling back on the fine print is really lame. I think they should tell you up front, before they do the work, that you're not getting the old drive back. What if the data on the drive can be recovered? What if there are credit card numbers and other personal information on the drive? Source code? Trade secrets? Does Apple really want to treat their customers privacy so shabbily? For what? Don't they already make enough money off the $160 price for the new disk? It's amazing that a company can make it this far, having such special customers, and rarely if ever acknowledging it.
111963
Q: I recently started working for a new employer, and I find I'm receiving a number of r&#xE9;sum&#xE9;s from former colleagues. To be honest, I don't feel comfortable recommending these people to my new company. Although we're on friendly terms, I don't have the strongest confidence in their abilities. I've also been given r&#xE9;sum&#xE9;s by friends of friends, but I ...
751078
By Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle  Feb. 27--Sick puppy that I am, I love a good computer problem. When issues arise, it's an opportunity to learn something new.   However, I'm not so warped that I don't want to find a solution eventually.
343695
Computer Associates will offer an on-demand pricing model for many of its mainframe applications. The licensing program uses what CA calls &quot;measured-workload pricing&quot; based on actual system