Software: Opinions

Consumers and business users alike will find things to love about OS X Mavericks and iOS 7, says columnist Ryan Faas. But for enterprise IT pros, this week's announcements are a mixed bag.

At work or play, these 10 applications can be used across a variety of platforms.

As usual, the Apple rumor mill has been on overdrive as WWDC nears. But all the hype about anything CEO Tim Cook might reveal misses the point, says columnist Ryan Faas. WWDC is still about developers.

Microsoft has everything it needs to beat Apple and Google and rule consumer electronics. What it lacks is the will to ship that technology to consumers and provide people with a compelling, breathtaking and wonderful vision of the future.

At Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, which kicks off Monday, everyone's expecting updates for both iOS and OS X. But one of those operating systems is more important than the other.

This week, a collection of goodies. First up for all of you iPad aficionados, a neat wireless Bluetooth speaker called Zooka from Carbon Audio that fits onto the edge of your tablet and boosts your audio volume by about five times (turned up full, that's a sound pressure of 80dB at 1 meter). There's also a built-in microphone so you can take calls if you've paired the Zooka with your iPhone.

The numbers Microsoft is posting in mobile aren't at the level it is accustomed to in areas like desktop operating systems and productivity suites. But they're on the rise.

The radio ad caught my attention: Microsoft is opening one of its new retail stores in the nearby Natick Mall on June 8 and the ceremonies will be followed by a free concert that evening by ... Weezer?

Yep, I've been writing for Network World for 20 years and a lot has happened in that time ... here are 10 of the most surprising

The scoop: Logitech Wireless Headset Dual H820e, by Logitech, about $200 (mono version costs about $180).

If one were to believe the blogs, the recently released 84-page report from The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property is full of dumb ideas, proposed by people who have no idea about intellectual property. But the report is actually quite well done, specifically identifying real problems, including the inaccurate estimates of losses from the theft of copyrighted works, and proposing specific solutions, some of which might actually work.

Kim DotCom holds what may be a key software patent that could rake in huge amounts of cash but he's got bigger plans

UPDATE: When I wrote last week's Gearhead, "No more Adobe Dreamweaver, so how about Xara Web Designer?" I had looked at Adobe's online shop) to make sure that CS6 wasn't available. Clicking on the dropdown showed:

Google this week unleashed a blizzard of updates and improvements that fundamentally change -- and radically improve -- how we get information and communicate.

If you're doing serious Web content engineering you might well choose an all-singing, all-dancing product such as Adobe's Dreamweaver. The latest version of Dreamweaver in Adobe's Creative Suite 6 (released just over a year ago) was really impressive with new features such as an improved user interface, support for jQuery UI widgets, better cascading style sheet Version 3 support and support for PhoneGap. All in all, a very cool and comprehensive Web development platform.

Until roughly six years ago, mobile computers and telephones were really separate things. "Mobile computing" meant laptops -- maybe with broadband wireless for some lucky executives. "Telephone" meant communication device. "Convergence" meant putting your cellphone into your computer bag to go through airport security.

On the ISS, Linux is in and XP is out and open source is the way of the future

Have you had a IT project go astray? Maybe you were lucky and it was a brief hiccup with minimal financial consequences. Or maybe you had a disaster of biblical proportions, such as the one that befell Levi Strauss in 2008.

Premier 100 IT Leader Gary Hensley also answers questions on transitioning to the security field and becoming a leader.

On the face of it, the bill the Senate is considering to levy taxes on Internet retailers simply makes sense. The states are strapped for cash and we have a bifurcated system that requires local brick and mortar outlets to ante up while letting out of state online retailers off scot free.