Microsoft Announces Architect Cert

Microsoft Announces Architect Cert

Microsoft has announced its first brand-new certification in years, one aimed at high-level IT pros with significant experience in architecting solutions that involve Microsoft -- and non-Microsoft -- products.

At a 101communications' TechMentor conference in Orlando, Al Valvano, Lead Product Manager with Microsoft Learning, unveiled the Microsoft Certified Architect Program, a board-level certification on a scale the company has never attempted before.

Valvano acknowledges that the MCAP is a work-in-progress, very preliminary work has been done, and any details they've worked out so far are sketches. He said to expect a more detailed announcement with solid information in late summer to the end of the year. Eric Ekstrand, a TechMentor attendee who works for Optum UnitedHealth Group, is cautious when he calls the MCAP "a great idea." Like several in attendance, he's "curious to see how it plays out."

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Power-hungry PCs cost users dear

Power-hungry PCs cost users dear

People who cannot be bothered to turn off their computers properly are costing both the environment and their own pockets dear, a study has concluded. Computer magazine PC Pro measured the electricity consumed by PCs, printers and TVs.

It found many devices were extremely hungry when it comes to eating power.

But a few minor adjustments could save people hundreds of pounds.

Turn it off

A CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor left on during the day and in standby mode during the night costs an equivalent in electricity over five years as a brand new flat screen monitor, it found.


Full story: HERE
Source: BBC

UK Officially The Most Hacked Country

UK Officially The Most Hacked Country

While the UK continues to experience rapid adoption of residential broadband, the country has yet to climb the security learning curve, and this has turned the nation into the one with the most hacked computers in the world.

22 Mar 2005, 09:36 GMT -
Research out this week from Symantec places the UK at the top of the league table of countries that have lots of PCs participating in networks of "bots" -- compromised computers that malicious hackers can control to send spam or attack others.

Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report for the second half of 2004 said that 25.2% are located in the UK. That now puts the country ahead of the US (24.6%), China (7.8%), Canada (4.9%) and Spain (3.8%), Symantec said.

It's the boom that's doing it, Symantec speculated. There are millions more broadband subscribers in the UK now than there were a year ago, but not enough have yet learned that a raw, unfiltered,...

Novell Says Its Next Linux Desktop Will Surpass Windows

Novell Says Its Next Linux Desktop Will Surpass Windows

SALT LAKE CITY—While Microsoft still has the monopoly on the desktop market with its Windows operating system, Novell is readying new features and functionality that it believes will propel its Novell Linux Desktop offering into the mass market.

The current Novell Linux Desktop 9, which was released last November, is targeted not at the mass market but rather at those customers with more contained workloads.

But all of that is set to change with the next version of the product, Novell Linux Desktop 10, scheduled for release next year.

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EU warns on Microsoft behaviour

EU warns on Microsoft behaviour

Microsoft has not done enough to comply with sanctions imposed for breaking European anti-trust rules, the European Commission (EC) has said. The software giant was censured in 2004 for misusing its monopoly position in desktop PCs to extend its reach into other areas.

The firm agreed to a 497m euro ($660m, £345m) fine and to make its software work better with competitors' products.

But an EC spokesman said Microsoft was failing to deliver on its commitments.

Full story: HERE
Source: BBC News

SUSE 9.3 Pro for Home Networking

SUSE 9.3 Pro for Home Networking

Novell announced the April release of SUSE Linux 9.3, the next version of its consumer Linux software, today at CeBIT. SUSE Linux Professional 9.3 will include a complete Linux operating system featuring a complete set of desktop applications and home networking capabilities. It is pitched as a reliable and secure alternative to Windows suitable for both experienced users and Linux newbies.

SUSE Linux Professional 9.3 comes with a wide range of consumer applications including an office suite (OpenOffice.org 2.0); Firefox Web browser; email and instant messaging clients. It will come bundled with a range of graphics and multimedia applications including F-Spot photo organizer, the GIMP 2.2 and Inkscape graphics programs, multimedia viewers and CD/DVD burners. It will also feature the latest tools for setting up a secure home network (an integrated firewall, spam blocker and virus scanner), running a Web server and...

Novell to ship next Suse with Xen

Novell to ship next Suse with Xen

The next version of Novell's SuSE Linux product, shipping in mid-April, will let users run multiple versions of the operating system simultaneously, the company said on Thursday.

The support for multiple instances of the operating system in SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 comes through software called Xen, an open-source package that competes with products from Microsoft and EMC's VMware and has won big-name endorsements. Novell is adding the technology, which is useful for a number of tasks, to give programmers new abilities, said Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, director of marketing for SuSE Linux.

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Linux Server Break-in Challenge

Linux Server Break-in Challenge

Are you an Internet security expert at heart or by profession? Ever thought of trying your skill at a professionally set up server? If you are ready, enter.

The Linux Server Break-in challenge. You will have a server available on the Internet 96 hours without interruption starting from 9 March 2005 2 AM IST. However, the server's life on the Net is in your hands.
This server won't be protected by firewall. There won't be any fake demons or honeypots as well. It will be running all the services normally found in a regular Linux distribution and more.

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When Did You Say You Got Your MCSE?

When Did You Say You Got Your MCSE?

Hiring managers may soon be asking IT candidates a new question: When did you take your Microsoft certification exams?

Microsoft Learning is adding hands-on simulation questions to most of its core exams for the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) tracks. The process starts with exams 70-290, Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment, and 70-291, Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure, later this month.

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Make your Windows desktop apps open source

Make your Windows desktop apps open source

Even if you have good reasons for sticking with Windows, you can still keep your desktop applications open source. OpenOffice.org, the GIMP, Gaim, and Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are all pretty obvious choices when it comes to software most of us use on a daily basis. There are, however, quite a few other useful applications that can help you to deal with the daily grind.

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