Linux’s lack of software is a myth

When I first started dabbling with Linux back in the 1990s, a lot of various types of software was missing for me to be able to use it full time.Games. Video editing tools. High-quality productivity software. Those three categories were the most critical for me (and from what I’ve seen, for most people). Sure, there were some projects in those categories, but not many—and they were not typically overly robust or polished. + Also on Network World: Ultimate guide to Linux desktop environments +So, I kept dabbling. I’d use Linux for a few weeks, then go back to a different system (Mac OS, Windows, OS/2, you name it). There just always seemed to be something—some critical piece of software—missing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Virtualized Security: Finding a Balance Between Opportunity & Threat

Forget about securing a perimeter.

Worth Reading: HPE trims back

The trouble that Dell and HPE found themselves in is that they did not build platforms fast enough as the market shifted away from selling or reselling licensed software and putting platforms together piecemeal for customers and towards companies using a public cloud as a platform or companies using a set of open source components figuring it out on their own. Frankly, companies like IBM, HPE, and Dell charge too much for such integration services, they take too long, and companies are always dependent on others to make changes to that platform because they lack expertise. —The NExt Platform

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Extreme swallows Zebra’s WLAN biz for $55 million

Looking to fill in some gaps in its own wireless LAN portfolio – such as security and managed services -- and jump into some new vertical markets like retail and transportation, Extreme Networks said it would buy Zebra Technologies wireless business for $55 million in cash.With the purchase, Extreme will get Zebra’s wireless LAN 802.11ac high-speed wireless access portfolio, which includes Zebra’s WiNG wireless operating system, NSight advanced network troubleshooting package as well as a managed service suite that Extreme does not currently offer, said Extreme President and CEO Ed Meyercord.+More on network World: CEO Ed Meyercord talks about Enterasys merger and an expanding set of software capabilities undergirding Extreme’s wired-wireless switches+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

OpenText to buy Dell EMC’s enterprise content division

Canadian enterprise information management vendor OpenText has agreed to buy Dell Technologies' EMC enterprise content division for $1.62 billion in a deal that, the companies say, will allow them to focus on their core missions. The acquisition of the "highly profitable" Dell EMC Enterprise Content Division will allow OpenText to expand its related services to Asia and Africa and across a larger customer base, including the healthcare and oil production industries, said OpenText CEO and CTO Mark Barrenechea. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Docker + Golang =

This is a short collection of tips and tricks showing how Docker can be useful when working with Go code. For instance, I’ll show you how to compile Go code with different versions of the Go toolchain, how to cross-compile to a different platform (and test the result!), or how to produce really small container images.

The following article assumes that you have Docker installed on your system. It doesn’t have to be a recent version (we’re not going to use any fancy feature here).

Go without go

… And by that, we mean “Go without installing go”.

If you write Go code, or if you have even the slightest interest into the Go language, you certainly have the Go compiler and toolchain installed, so you might be wondering “what’s the point?”; but there are a few scenarios where you want to compile Go without installing Go.

• You still have this old Go 1.2 on your machine (that you can’t or won’t upgrade), and you have to work on this codebase that requires a newer version of the toolchain.
• You want to play with cross compilation features of Go 1.5 (for instance, to make sure Continue reading

Standards Move at Snail’s Pace for the NFV Community

Code or die!

Microsoft releases one of its biggest security updates this year

Microsoft released one of its biggest security updates this year, fixing 50 vulnerabilities in its products and 26 more in Flash Player, which is bundled with its Edge browser.The patches are split into 14 security bulletins, including the one dedicated to Flash Player, seven of which are rated critical. They address vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office web services and apps.For desktop deployments, administrators should prioritize the fixes for Internet Explorer, which are covered in the MS16-104 bulletin, Microsoft Edge (MS16-105), Microsoft Office (MS16-107), Microsoft Graphics Component (MS16-106), OLE Automation for VBScript Scripting Engine (MS16-116) and Adobe Flash Player (MS16-117).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft releases one of its biggest security updates this year

Microsoft released one of its biggest security updates this year, fixing 50 vulnerabilities in its products and 26 more in Flash Player, which is bundled with its Edge browser.The patches are split into 14 security bulletins, including the one dedicated to Flash Player, seven of which are rated critical. They address vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office web services and apps.For desktop deployments, administrators should prioritize the fixes for Internet Explorer, which are covered in the MS16-104 bulletin, Microsoft Edge (MS16-105), Microsoft Office (MS16-107), Microsoft Graphics Component (MS16-106), OLE Automation for VBScript Scripting Engine (MS16-116) and Adobe Flash Player (MS16-117).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Riding the new Wi-Fi wave, part 3: AmpliFi

New home Wi-Fi systems based on wireless mesh technologies keep coming out of the woodwork. That’s a good thing, because being able to compare different systems, seeing what works and what doesn’t, should spur innovation. While most people want a system that you just set up and forget (until the kids complain), I like having a system that you can tweak or obtain data from. But yeah, easy setup also makes it worthwhile.Enter the AmpliFi wireless mesh system, courtesy of Ubiquiti Labs (the new consumer arm of Ubiquiti Networks). This system includes a cube-shaped router with two satellite units - vertical rectangles attached to a magnetic sphere with a power outlet (more on that later). The router includes an LED screen that displays data about your Wi-Fi network, as well as four Ethernet LAN ports and a USB port (reserved for later use). The company offers three models - the basic system ($199) includes a router and two satellites; the LR system ($299) stands for Super Long Range, and the HD system ($349) supports high-density environments. For this review, I tested the HD system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Vectra Extends Its Threat Management Into the Data Center

The threat management startup joins the data center crowd.

Russian hackers accused of leaking U.S. Olympic athletes’ medical files

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was hacked and confidential medical files of U.S. Olympic athletes Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams, and Elena Delle Donne were leaked online. The hackers said the dump is “just the tip of the iceberg.”A group claiming to be the Fancy Bears' Hack Team took credit for the attack and accused American Olympic athletes of doping, of using “dirty methods to win.” Furthermore, the hackers claimed that although the U.S. Olympic team "played well but not fair,” it had “disgraced its name by tainted victories.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Russian hackers accused of leaking U.S. Olympic athletes’ medical files

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was hacked and confidential medical files of U.S. Olympic athletes Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams, and Elena Delle Donne were leaked online. The hackers said the dump is “just the tip of the iceberg.”A group claiming to be the Fancy Bears' Hack Team took credit for the attack and accused American Olympic athletes of doping, of using “dirty methods to win.” Furthermore, the hackers claimed that although the U.S. Olympic team "played well but not fair,” it had “disgraced its name by tainted victories.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Russian hackers accused of leaking US Olympic athletes’ medical files

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was hacked and confidential medical files of US Olympic athletes Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams and Elena Delle Donne were leaked online. The hackers dubbed the dump as “just the tip of the iceberg.”A group claiming to be the Fancy Bears' Hack Team took credit for the attack and accused American Olympic athletes of doping, of using “dirty methods to win.” Furthermore, the hackers claimed that although the US Olympic team had "played well but not fair,” it had “disgraced its name by tainted victories.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Russian hackers accused of leaking US Olympic athletes’ medical files

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was hacked and confidential medical files of US Olympic athletes Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams and Elena Delle Donne were leaked online. The hackers dubbed the dump as “just the tip of the iceberg.”A group claiming to be the Fancy Bears' Hack Team took credit for the attack and accused American Olympic athletes of doping, of using “dirty methods to win.” Furthermore, the hackers claimed that although the US Olympic team had "played well but not fair,” it had “disgraced its name by tainted victories.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The scourge of LEDs everywhere: Readers speak out

We didn't claim that our recent story titled "Lights out! Why IT shops are disabling wireless AP LEDs" was tackling one of the world's major problems, but it clearly addressed one of the tech world's ongoing annoyances.Roughly 300 comments have been made about the story by those who found it on the Slashdot website, others chimed in on Reddit, and more contacted me directly. (The original story was prompted by discussion among IT professionals at universities, seeking ways to reduce light pollution in dorm and hospital rooms.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

When a project fails, don’t blame your end users

It’s an all-too-familiar tale: A CIO pushes a new process, platform or digital transformation effort across the company and when it fails (as 70 percent of all change programs do, according to the famous statistic reported by Harvard Business Review), the CIO pins the blame on uncooperative end users.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

DataRobot aims to help create data science executives

Data scientists are in short supply. But so too are managers that understand data science and machine learning enough to spot the opportunities for using these disciplines to optimize their businesses.McKinsey Global Institute has projected that by 2018, the U.S. alone will face a shortage of 1.5 million managers and analysts with the necessary analytics and data science expertise to fill demand.The business side of machine learning To combat this problem, Data science automation specialist DataRobot announced today that it has updated its DataRobot University curriculum with Data Science for Executives, a half-day offering that teaches executives interested in the benefits of advanced data science how to identify opportunities to optimize their business using machine learning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

56% off Poweradd Pilot X7 20,000mAh Power Bank for Smartphones and Tablets – Deal Alert

This power bank from Poweradd delivers huge power. Its 20000mAh capacity means you can charge an iPhone 6 eight times, Samsung S6 over five times, or a a large capacity iPad Air 2 almost twice.  It will auto-detect the status of your device, to intelligently deliver power at the fastest possible speed with 2.1A max output. 900+ people rate this item 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews), and its typical list price of $49.99 has been reduced a generous 56% to just $21.88.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: IoT is not about radios; it’s all about data

The initial challenge for the Internet of Things (IoT) was how to provide physical connectivity of small and often remote devices to the Internet. This issue has basically been solved with the plethora of wireless connectivity solutions. The real challenge for IoT is data organization, sharing and search on an unprecedented scale.Most discussions about IoT usually point out in passing that today’s machine data is concentrated in vertical, or isolated, data silos. However, they rarely explain why this is a problem. More important, they do not give a roadmap of how to solve this problem going forward. I will try to provide some insight on both points.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here