Care in the Community

Apple plans to release a cut-down Nano edition of its iPhone 3G before the end of the year, according to a report in the Mail Online on Sunday. The phone will be offered by O2, the Daily Mail site said, quoting an unidentified "industry source".

The idea is that the Nanoesque iPhone would end up in Christmas stockings, as an alternative to the popular, recently launched 8GB and 16GB devices.

There are a couple of things still unclear, such as the specs or even why Apple and O2 would make this move. The Mail Online's source says that the iPhone 3G is "too expensive to be a realistic proposition in the pay-as-you-go market", with the implication that the new device would fill that gap. But O2 says on its site that an iPhone 3G for Pay & Go will be available later this year". And why wouldn't Apple wait for the initial 3G hullaballoo to die down fully before putting out a new version?

Here's a roundup of great posts from this week, with a street-level look at iPhone's MobileMe, a prediction of choppy waters for Microsoft's Vista charm offensive, and Linux on holiday.

Traveling Success with Linux
blog J.A. Watson fires up Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Mandriva on his laptop on a trip to Piedmont in Italy. You can guess the ending.

Will a recession impact security spending?
blog (ISC)2's John Colley on which way companies will jump when making budget decisions.

Let's get Physical ! (sorry couldn't resist...)
blog Security consultants scare ryanpothecary. Find out why.

Vista vs XP
blog Are Vista sales going as well as Microsoft reports say? ator 1940 wonders.

pjc158, your reply shows how badly you miss the point
talkback Open source provides millions of jobs and cooperative work helped lay the foundations of today's industry, 1000132644 argues.

RE:Microsoft's pre-modern message puts a new face on Vista
blog comment Xwindowsjunkie believes that Microsoft could win a lot of friends, if only it would abandon its OS strategy.

MobileMe
member review David Long says that Apple expects users to do their beta testing for them again.

Hush hush
review Remote worker Jake Rayson has some tips on protecting data on an Ubuntu system.

Oracle has posted a security warning about a vulnerability in the Apache component of its WebLogic Server, even though it doesn't have a patch ready yet. It's taken the rare step of making an out-of-cycle security alert because information on the flaw and exploit code for it are already circulating online, it said in a statement on Monday.

Adding to the risk is that the flaw can be exploited over a network without authentication, which means an attacker doesn't need to know a valid username or password.

The software maker says it will release an unscheduled patch as soon as it has a fix, and is urging customers to use its recommended workaround until then.

Full text of a memo Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent out this message to the rank and file yesterday, after the announcement that Windows and online chief Kevin Johnson was leaving. (First published by All Things D.)

-------------------------------

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:30 PM
To: Microsoft - All Employees
Subject: FY09 Strategic Update

With FY08 complete, I want to discuss my priorities for the year ahead and share my thoughts about the key strategic topics that are on everybody's mind, including Windows, competition with Apple and Google, our software plus services strategy, and Yahoo.

I also have news about an organizational change and a transition in our Senior Leadership Team.

First, I want to thank you for your hard work and the dedication you showed during the past 12 months. FY08 was a milestone year. Our revenue jumped $9.3 billion to more than $60 billion. Operating profit grew 21 percent to $22.5 billion.

These outstanding numbers are the direct result of your commitment to the priorities I outlined last July. A lot has happened since then, but our fundamental strengths, challenges, and strategic goals remain largely the same. Therefore, my priorities are consistent with last year. In FY09 we must continue to:

1. Invest in the right opportunities;
2. Expand our presence with Windows, Office, and developers;
3. Drive end user excitement for our products;
4. Embrace software plus services; and
5. Focus on employee excellence.

By focusing on these five areas, we can continue to grow revenue, increase profit, and expand our market share. These priorities are also critical as we work to address key issues surrounding our business in the coming year:

• Windows: The success of Windows is our number one job. With SP1 and the work we've done with PC manufacturers and our software ecosystem, we've addressed device and application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Now it's time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we'll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you'll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.

We also have to drive developers to create rich applications for Windows. With Internet Explorer and Silverlight, we have great tools for creating applications that run everywhere. But we also need to make sure developers have the .NET skills to write unique Windows applications using Windows Presentation Foundation. To keep today's Windows applications alive, vibrant, and exciting, we need both--applications that run everywhere and rich client applications.

• Apple: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we're changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with absolutely no compromises. We'll do the same with phones--providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end experiences.

• Business and enterprise: Our enterprise and server business has never been stronger--today we are on the verge of becoming the number one enterprise software company. We need to continue to push on all fronts--mail with Exchange, business intelligence with PerformancePoint, virtualization with Hyper-V, and databases with SQL Server. We have to drive our enterprise search capabilities, our unified communications solutions, and our collaboration technologies. And we must continue to compete against Linux in key workloads such as Web servers and high performance computing.

• Software plus services: Some people think software plus services is all about search. But it's really about changing the way software is written and deployed. The future is about having a platform in the cloud and delivering applications across PCs, phones, TVs, and other devices, at work and in the home. It's also about driving change in business models through advertising, subscriptions, and online transactions. Software plus services is a huge opportunity for us to deliver new value on the desktop and the server to all of our customers. This year at PDC, you'll hear more about our cloud platform initiatives and the next versions of our Live and Online technologies.

• Google: We continue to compete with Google on two fronts--in the enterprise, where we lead; and in search, where we trail. In search, our technology has come a long way in a very short time and it's an area where we'll continue to invest to be a market leader. Why? Because search is the key to unlocking the enormous market opportunities in advertising, and it is an area that is ripe for innovation. In the coming years, we'll make progress against Google in search first by upping the ante in R&D through organic innovation and strategic acquisitions. Second, we will out-innovate Google in key areas--we're already seeing this in our maps and news search. Third, we are going to reinvent the search category through user experience and business model innovation. We'll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white page with 10 blue links to provide customers with a customized view of their world. This is a long-term battle for our company--and it's one we'll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity.

• Yahoo: Related to Google and our search strategy are the discussions we had with Yahoo. I want to emphasize the point I've been making all along--Yahoo was a tactic, not a strategy. We want to accelerate our share of search queries and create a bigger pool of advertisers, and Yahoo would have helped us get there faster. But we will get there with or without Yahoo. We have the right people, we've made incredible progress in our technology, and we'll continue to make smart investments that will enable us to build an industry-leading business.

As I mentioned earlier, I have important organizational news. Today we are announcing that the Platforms and Services Division will be split into two businesses: Windows/Windows Live and Online Services. We are also announcing that Kevin Johnson will leave the company. He will work to ensure a smooth transition.

Since 1992, Kevin has been a key contributor to many of this company's most important achievements. As president of the Platforms and Services Division, Kevin has built an incredibly talented organization and laid the foundation for the future success of Windows and our Online Services Business. Over the last 16 years, through everything from his work as head of the company's worldwide sales, marketing, and services efforts, to his leadership in transforming our field operations and repositioning the company to focus on opportunities in emerging markets, Kevin has played a vital role in this company's success. There is no doubt that his passion and dedication will be missed.

Effective immediately, Steven Sinofsky, Jon DeVaan, and Bill Veghte will report directly to me to lead Windows/Windows Live. In the Online Services Business, we will create a new senior leadership position and conduct a search that will span internal and external candidates. In the meantime, Satya Nadella will continue to lead Microsoft's search, ad platform, and MSN engineering efforts, and Brian McAndrews will continue to lead the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. Both Windows/Windows Live and the Online Services Business are led by a strong group of executives on the technical and business side who have the talent and experience to address the challenges we face and drive the next generation of growth and success.

Looking ahead, I see an incredibly bright future for our company. As I said at the June 27th Town Hall for Bill, we are the best in the world at doing software and nobody should be confused about this. It doesn't mean that we can't improve, but nobody is better than we are. Nobody works harder than we do. Nobody is more tenacious than we are. We're investing more broadly and more seriously than anybody else. Our opportunities to change the world have never been greater.

I look forward to working with all of you as we focus on our five priorities in FY09.

Steve

The people have spoken. Our app dev blogger extraordinaire, Adrian Bridgwater, has reached the final shortlist of the Computer Weekly IT Blog Awards 08. We're very happy that the (ahem! rival) publication has recognised Adrian's work as among the "pick of this year's must-read blogs for IT professionals in the UK".

Adrian is one of ZDNet UK's Core Techs expert bloggers, and over the months he's kept his eye on emerging techniques, the daily demands and the big industry players in applications development. He's travelled the world--including VMWorld--to report back from events such as the IBM Rational Software Developer Conference for people who couldn't get there. And his posts often have a trademark quirk to them--who could forget "Seven reasons to love developers on Valentine's Day"?

So if you enjoy his blogs, why not take a moment to cast a vote for Adrian? He's up for an award in the Programming and technical blogs category. We wish him good luck.