The Wars are continuing

E-Passport Oracle Microsoft and Linux. Nokia. Todays Stories. S.C.
Oracle's Linux Push Is a No-Brainer
April 17, 2006 By Lisa Vaas
Oracle wants to cook up its own stack, based on Linux and has pondered purchasing Novell as a quick way to get its own Linux flavor to kick-start the project, Larry Ellison recently told the Financial Times.
That's a no-brainer. Oracle has been pushing Linux like mad for some time. Small wonder, given that it provides Oracle users who run on Microsoft's operating system and applications with an alternative stack.

The IOUG (Independent Oracle Users Group) recently put out the results of a survey showing that only 7 percent of 812 surveyed Oracle shops run exclusively on Oracle, with the Microsoft product set being the closest contender at these sites: Seven out of 10 respondents support SQL Server.


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Oracle's Linux push has paid off, with Linux in the coming year set to unseat HP-UX as the dominant operating system on which to run Oracle technology, according to the IOUG's survey.

Forget IBM and DB2; Microsoft is Oracle's most threatening rival.

Microsoft's control over the Windows operating system and its applications have given it a complete stack for some time now.

More recently, Red Hat's announced acquisition of JBoss means that it, too, is set to be a serious threat to Oracle, given that it has grown that much closer to offering a complete stack.

So why not buy Red Hat? As Ellison told the Financial Times, the price was just too steep, particularly when you're talking about open-source—in other words, free—software.


"I don't see how we could possibly buy Red Hat... I'm not going to spend $5 billion, or $6 billion, for something that can just be so completely wiped off the map," Ellison was quoted as saying in the FT. He also said that he had considered making an offer on Novell.


Novell is too expensive as well. Why pay billions for Novell SUSE Linux when there are much cheaper and more deployed Linux distributions out there, with robust communities in place, to be had for probably what would amount to a few million?

I had a recent conversation with Richard Monson-Haefel, an analyst with Burton, in which he told me that Ellison is likely telling us he doesn't have to buy a company with a huge existing open-source presence.

Instead, Ellison likely wants to buy an existing variation of Linux around which Oracle can build a community.

Second Page: Strong contenders.

Ubuntu and Mandriva are two strong contenders, Monson-Haefel believes. They're both on the Top 10 Linux distribution list.

He thinks Ubuntu in particular is a likely candidate to play the starring role as the Linux operating system in an Oracle stack.

Ubuntu, which has only been in distribution since 2004, is now cited as the most popular of all the distributions. It's based on what's considered to be the "unstable" branch of Debian and, according to Linux Forums, features "a fast release cycle, up to date and numerous packages, fast download mirrors, great documentation and even free shipment of CDs."

According to Linux Forums, it's unclear whether the distributing company, Canonical Ltd., makes a profit off the distribution, but that's reportedly not the main purpose or priority. Hence, its only "con" is considered to be an unviable business model.

A possibly unviable business model: That's one thing Oracle, one of the world's largest software vendors, would certainly be able to help with.

Besides it being an ideal target, Ubuntu also is darn flexible, serving both as a desktop and server platform.

"Ubuntu really makes a lot of sense" as an acquisition, Monson-Haefel said.

"It's a popular open-source platform, as well as being a desktop and server platform. If you want to create a full stack, that's an important element."


If you could buy the most popular Linux distribution for a figure in the low millions, compared with buying Novell for what could have amounted to billions, it's not too hard a choice, he said.

"I don't see where the hesitation would be," he said.

What do users think of all this? I would have thought I'd be hearing from users who would be leery at the idea of having Oracle control everything from the operating system on up through the database, management tools, middleware, development tools and applications.

But as Ari Kaplan, president of the IOUG, pointed out in a recent conversation, based on recent history, Oracle can be trusted not to lock anybody into an Oracle-only setup.

"Based on recent history, you can still run PeopleSoft on IBM or other databases," he said.


"It would be a mistake for Oracle" to do otherwise, he said. After all, it's a heterogeneous world, as the IOUG's survey pointed out, with Oracle users running Windows, Linux, HP-UX, mainframe—you name it.

It's up to Oracle to make the Oracle stack compelling from the customer's point of view, Kaplan pointed out. And that's not too hard to imagine, given that a company like Teradata has developed its database to be so tightly coupled with hardware and software and the operating system that Teradata also owns.

An Oracle stack: Tell me why this isn't going to pose a serious threat to Microsoft. Tell me why this wouldn't be a technology boon for Oracle users.

You'll have to spell it out, because from where I stand, it all looks good.

Lisa Vaas is Ziff Davis Internet's news editor in charge of operations.

Nokia:CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Wireless handset maker Nokia is hoping to speed the process of product innovation through a new research and development effort launched in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nokia and MIT officially opened a new joint research facility in MIT's Kendall Square neighborhood here April 20, telling media and analysts gathered for the event that the facility's existence will greatly improve the two organizations' ability to share breakthroughs in wireless technology.

The research center will specifically tap into work being conducted at MIT's CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory).

While Nokia has teamed with MIT for research efforts since as far back as the early 1980s, officials said the opening of the Cambridge research center will allow for the sort of daily interaction necessary to move development efforts forward at a rapid pace, and push some of those technologies into Nokia's products sooner.


U.S. Completes E-Passport Testing
By Roy Mark
April 20, 2006


Reporter's Notebook: Testing of biometric passports and e-passport readers is complete, and the United States plans to implement the readers for processing Visa Waiver Program (VWP) visitors by the end of October.

E-Passports contain an individual's biographic information and a digital photograph on a contactless chip embedded in the document. The Department of Homeland Security hopes biometric technologies will prevent the use of fraudulent or stolen international travel documents.

Travelers applying for admission under the VWP are allowed to enter the United States for up to 90 days for business or pleasure without obtaining a non-immigrant visa. Those VWP travelers that are issued a passport after Oct. 26 must present an e-passport to enter the country.

The State Department plans to begin issuing e-passports to U.S. citizens this summer.

Originally scheduled for implementation two years ago, critics have complained about the lack of documentation issued by the government. In particular, the security industry has questioned just how secure the information contained on the contactless chips really is.

DHS Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson says not to worry.

"We are adopting biometric, electronically-based and secure travel documents that are tamper-resistant, yet provide a very convenient way to move back and forth across our borders," Jackson said in a statement this week.

He added that the DHS recently completed testing e-passports and readers with Basic Access Control (BAC) at San Francisco International Airport.

According to Jackson, BAC "enhances" the document security by preventing the unauthorized reading -- known as "skimming" -- of information contained on the e-passport.

"We have now successfully completed e-passport technology testing in a live environment. Working with Visa Waiver countries, we will begin to deploy these important security enhancements this year," Jackson said.

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Speaking of homeland security, the Government Accountability Office issued a report last month stating that the DHS and other government agencies still have no real plan or system in place to share sensitive, but unclassified, terrorist-related information.

"More than four years after September 11, the nation lacks government-wide policies and processes to help agencies integrate the myriad ongoing efforts ... to improve the sharing of terrorism-related information that is critical to protecting our homeland," the report states.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 both call for improved information sharing between agencies.

"A large amount of terrorism information is already stored electronically in systems, but there remains an unknown quantity of relevant information not captured and stored electronically," the report continues.

"However, many users are not connected to these systems ... the information about terrorists, their plans, and their activities is fragmentary."

Perhaps the DHS could put it all on contactless chips.

Trading For Jobs. Being President Bush's United States Trade Representative (USTR) is proving to be a good career stepping stone for Republicans loyal to the White House.

Earlier this week, Bush nominated the current USTR, Rob Portman, to be the new director of the Office of Management and Budget. Portman replaced Robert Zoellick, who is now the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.

Bush nominated Deputy USTR Susan C. Schwab to replace Portman and used the occasion to tout his administration's free trade successes.

"Trade is one of the most powerful engines of growth and job creation. America accounts for about 5 percent of the world's population, and that means that 95 percent of our potential customers live overseas," Bush said in a Rose Garden ceremony Tuesday morning.

"So my administration has taken an aggressive agenda to break down barriers to American exports across the world."

Bush noted that when he took office in 2000, the United States had three free trade agreements in place. Since then, Zoellick and Portman negotiated free trade agreements with 11 countries with another 18 pending.

"Last year, the countries with which we have free trade agreements represented about 7 percent of the economy abroad, but about 42 percent of our exports," Bush said.

"Lowering trade barriers to the sale of our goods and services helps provide a level playing field for American workers and farmers and ranchers."

According to the American Electronics Association, U.S. high-tech exports increased by 4 percent last year with exports of $199 billion in 2005. Tech exports to China increased by 14 percent.

The bad news: imports from China increased by 26 percent.