Sean Michael Kerner

Architected Rapid Application Development (ARAD) tools have a dramatic impact on productivity and ROI, according to a new study by Gartner Group . In comparison to traditional application development tools, Gartner’s survey found ROI improvements ranging from 2 to 1 to greater than 15 to 1. Furthermore Gartner also calculated that only with the ARAD […]

Linux vendor Mandrakesoft today released the latest version of its distribution, Mandrakelinux version 10.1. The new version builds on the community release of the same number with additional stability and support. The last official version of Mandrakelinux version 10.0 was released in May of this year. “Compared to 10.0, the 10.1 release is more polished […]

A new version of GForge, the open source software project development and management tool, was released this week with features developers hope will help it better compete with commercial products. GForge is a fork of the open source version of the SourceForge.net (SF.net) application that powers the world’s largest open source software repository of the […]

The explosion of new devices like USB memory sticks and iPods is adding to the quagmire of security challenges faced by IT enterprises. But a new offering announced today by security firm SecureWave claims to help mitigate the threat posed by those end points by granting ‘Sanctuary’ to authorized devices and shadowing them to log […]

In a public post on the popular BugTraq Security vulnerability posting newsletter, Microsoft’s maligned Internet Explorer got an unexpected boost this week. According to a post by security researcher, Michal Zalewski, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) may be more secure than its alternative counterparts in certain respects. Zalewski created what he referred to as a, “trivial […]

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has released a new update to its Apache 1.3.x Web Server line. Apache 1.3.32 includes numerous bug fixes and a critical vulnerability fix. The new Web server fixes CAN-2004-0492, a heap-based buffer overflow that exists in Apache Web Server versions 1.3.25 through 1.3.31. The vulnerability could potentially allow a malicious […]

An effort to stop software patents in the European Union (EU) got a boost this week with the launch of NoSoftwarePatents.com. Red Hat and MySQL AB are among the high-profile open source companies backing the effort. The site, which is offered in 12 languages, is intended as a lobbying and public relations effort to stop […]

Unisys announced two new partnerships this week, which it hopes will help reinforce its commitment to Linux. The mainframe vendor has partnered with business intelligence vendor SAS to provide 64-bit BI solutions for Linux. According to Derek Rodner, Linux program manager for Enterprise Systems at Unisys, the deal is part of growing a Linux ecosystem […]

McAfee today announced that it was awarded a patent to detect malicious software. U.S. patent 6,775,780, “Detecting Malicious Software By Analyzing Patterns Of System Calls Generated During Emulation,” covers a broad swatch of programs and situations. “This patent involves determining whether software is likely to exhibit malicious behavior,” Chris Hamaty, director of Intellectual Property for […]

According to a new study by research firm Radicati Group, most IM usage within enterprises occurs over the free public IM networks. In a study titled “Instant Messaging Corporate Survey, 2004-2005,” Radicati found that 76 percent of organizations have not deployed a formal IM solution. The study surveyed 78 global corporations, which the firm said […]

Call it a case of dueling, nuanced, advisories. Research in Motion has challenged a risk advisory from security firm HexView that it put out this week about RIM’s popular Blackberry handheld device, which prompted a new advisory from HexView. The HexView advisory on Tuesday claimed that the RIM Blackberry could potentially suffer data loss and […]

As part of Microsoft’s update package released this week to patch numerous vulnerabilities, the company included the MS04-028 Enterprise Scanning Tool. The tool is intended to help enterprises identify and apply updates specific to the MS04-028 security bulletin regarding a Buffer Overrun in JPEG Processing (GDI+). According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the company issued the […]