Articles by Jack M. Germain

Microsoft made good Tuesday on a promise it made months ago to the open source community that it would not sue software developers who use its EMCA C# programming language and Common LanguageInfrastructure, or CLI This announcement aims to calm growing fears that Microsoft might restrict open source projects by going after program developers for pa...

This story was originally published on April 6, 2009, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. Does cloud computing cause a dilemma for application developers? Does it present problems that devs would not face in building software for earth-bound applications? ...

Here's one of the many questions facing device makers targeting the mini notebook and netbook markets: When business users or consumers want to access the Web on the go, will they be willing to set aside a smartphone or cellphone and instead log on using a next-generation PDA? Dell may be wagering the answer is yes. The Wall Street Journal reporte...

Adesso's newest keyboard, the Wireless Slimtouch Ergo, is a love-it-or-hate-it type of product. If you can getalong without the features it misses and get through the learning curve,you might just keep it It has a few interesting features to offer those looking for a changeof pace. However, making the move probably will not be an easy transition....

T-Mobile's Tuesday announcement that it will offer a new Android smartphone in August has raised interest in the possibility of greater competition for enterprise adoption The new Android-powered smartphone, the myTouch 3G, will come loaded with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a 3.5-megapixel camera and a preinstalled 4-GB microSD memory card. However, the...

SourceForge, a media services and e-commerce company that provides open source software downloads and development, is enjoying the best of both business worlds. It is one of the largest open source software repositories -- the SourceForge Web site has more than 30 million unique visitors permonth -- and it reported more than US$40 million in earnings for its last quarter, with no outstanding debt...

Wind River on Tuesday announced the availability of a high-performance Type-1 hypervisor as the latest addition to its VxWorks product portfolio. The Wind River Hypervisor Multicore Software Solution for device development supports virtualization on single and multicore processors....

The economy is still broken, and businesses are scampering to savemoney and entice back lost customers. Don't remind Brett Caine, though. As president of Citrix Online, he's too busy growing thecompany's customer base into aUS$100 million business that a few years ago didn't exist As a young startup in 1997, Expertcity was a provider of Web-basedde...

The Asus EeeTop ET1602 is an interesting computer with some potentialfor home and business use. However, it will surely cause considerablediscussion over what users might really do with it The ET1602 is essentially a netbook-like computer with a 14-inch by8-inch LCD touchscreen wrapped around it. With an overall unitmeasurement of 16 X 11.5 inches,...

Google released on Tuesday a plug-in to its Google Apps arsenal thatcould be the last push needed to nudge some businesses into fully adoptingits cloud computing services The product, Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, works withthe Premier version of Google apps, which costs US$50 per business user per year,as well as the free educational ver...

Trend Micro on Monday announced LeakProof 5.0, designed toreduce the complexity and cost often associated with the discovery,monitoring and blocking of sensitive enterprise data. New features are builtaround the Active Update service andlanguage-independent fingerprinting technology the company calls "DataDNA." Leakproof 5.0 will be available June...

The end of mainstream support by Microsoft for Windows XP ended onApril 14. That deadline came and left with barely an audiblegroan from the minions of enterprise, small business and consumerusers of the decade-old operating system The steadfast legions of corporate Windows XP users -- and theMicrosoft Office 2003 suite that also is no longer suppo...

Think of the ideal software asset management (SAM) system as a monitor that displays what exactly drivesyour business operations. It provides a readout of all the softwareinstalled throughout the company's computer systems, andmuch more SAM programs also help IT departments rein in duplicate or redundantsoftware applications. Software budget overru...

Google is now field testing its PowerMeter software with over 10million customers of eight large utility partners in threecountries Google on Wednesday announced it's lining up energy companies so it canenlist the utilities' customers to start using the home energyconsumption software. PowerMeter helps consumers monitor their energyuse through data...

A new wave of phishing and spamming attacks is hitting Facebook users as scammers attempt to get hold of their passwords, the social networking site acknowledged in a statement. Similar phishing and spamming scams -- in which messages supposedly from their friends lure victims to a malicious Web site -- have been occurring with greaterintensity si...

With the Congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committeetaking a fresh look at the privacy and security risks posed byusing LimeWire and other peer-to-peer file-sharing applications, nowis a good time for both home and office users of these services toreassess the safety of their own sensitive data Committee members last month directed Mark...

Google launched on Tuesday a series of new search features that letusers integrate options for displaying and analyzing their searchresults beyond the traditional listing of keyword hits ranked byassumed relevance The new services are part of a platform of additional features Googleis developing and will make live in the future, though it offered n...

It seemed like a simple enough idea when FixYa.com CEO and founderYaniv Bensadon sought a solution for consumers caught in the maze oftech support that encompassed nearly every piece of consumerelectronics equipment and household appliance on the market. Why not offer acommunity-based service, not unlike Google Forums or eBay, so consumerscould fi...

Over a dozen technology companies announced Thursday their participationin the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance, an organization formed toestablish a unified specification for 60 gigahertz (GHz) wirelesstechnology. The new wireless alliance has been working behind closeddoors for more than a year The collection of semiconductor makers and digital ...

Virtualization and cloud computing specialist Citrix wants to do for its IT customers what Apple does for users of its App Store. Instead of selling programs like games or restaurant finders for the iPhone or iPod touch, however, Citrix's new Dazzle service will provide on-demand business applications Citrix announced its Dazzle online storefront s...