Month: February 2004

Applied Decentralization: A large-scale social system for HLS It's been a few months since I've posted – a very busy and exciting time here at Groove. Both in terms of what's been happening in the business and market, but also because we're closing in on the first beta of Groove V3. I can't wait to… Continue reading

Applied Decentralization: A large-scale social system for HLS

It's been a few months since I've posted – a very busy and exciting time here at Groove. Both in terms of what's been happening in the business and market, but also because we're closing in on the first beta of Groove V3. I can't wait to tell you about the improvements in V3 … because after having used it day in and day out for a few months now, I've simply never felt nearly this excited about a product that I've worked on. And that says a lot. More on V3 in a few weeks!

For those of you who have been following Groove for quite some time, you may recall that the product's original raison d'être was to enable people “at the edge” to dynamically assemble online into secure virtual workspaces, to work together and to get something done, even if those individuals were in different organizations with completely different IT infrastructure.

Today, with the gracious permission of one of our most significant customers, Groove made an announcement that I'd like to talk about for a moment. It's very significant to me for two reasons: First, the nature of how Groove is being used in this solution demonstrates to the extreme the very reason why Groove was built the way it was, from a technology and architecture perspective. Decentralization at its finest. The customer's core challenge was to enable individuals from many, many different organizations – most of whom had little or no opportunity for training – to rapidly assemble into small virtual teams to selectively share information, make decisions, get the job done, and disassemble. The individuals are geographically dispersed. They use different kinds of networks, behind different organizations' firewalls and management policies. They are very, very highly mobile. And there are few applications where the requirement for deep and effective security is more self-evident.

Groove's press release can be found here

Seven Percent of Boston Priests Accused of Abuse, Report Says. About 7 percent of priests who served between 1950 and 2003 have been accused of sexual abuse of children. By Pam Belluck and Carla Baranauckas. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

For Peace of Mind, the One-Button Backup. Everyone knows they should back up their data, but the task is often put off. Thankfully, several new devices make it a less onerous chore. By Thomas J. Fitzgerald. [New York Times: Technology]

The 1060 REST microkernel and XML app server. 1060 NetKernel Suhail Ahmed alerted me, via email, to a really interesting project called NetKernel, from 1060 Research. The docs describe it as “a commercial open-source realisation of the HP Dexter project.” Here's the skinny: Today's Web-servers and Application Servers have a relatively flat interface which creates… Continue reading The 1060 REST microkernel and XML app server

eWEEK: Security Guru Unmoved by Gates' RSA Remarks. “Was it just me or was he just not excited? I expected more excitement,” Schneier said. “When he talks about features and cool things [in his products], he gets animated. But until he gets animated about security you know he's not going to solve the problem.” [Tomalak's… Continue reading Security Guru Unmoved by Gates' RSA Remarks

Exchange 2003 and Active Directory. Chapter one of Steve Bryant's free eBook “The Expert's Guide for Exchange 2003: Preparing for, Moving to, and Supporting Exchange Server 2003” has been published over at Windows & .Net Magazine. “This eBook will educate Exchange administrators and systems managers on how to best approach the migration and overall management of… Continue reading Exchange 2003 and Active Directory

Anti-virus built in to XP SP2?. As Dana pointed out, this is an interesting article about Microsoft adding a built-in virus scanner to Windows XP SP2. I'm torn, obviously. On one hand, for all those home users who never seem to be able to use AV properly, maybe this isn't such a bad thing. Although… Continue reading Anti-virus built in to XP SP2?

Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide.  “This guide is designed to provide you with essential information about how to harden your Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 environment. In addition to practical, hands-on configuration recommendations, this guide includes strategies for combating spam, viruses, and other external threats to your Exchange 2003 messaging system” [MS Exchange Blog]

Does more productive Visual Studio mean fewer IT jobs?. Hmmm, Darcy Burner takes on Jim Fawcette after he wrote that the increased programmer productivity that tools like Visual Studio brings is what is causing developers to get laid off. I too disagree with my old boss. At Demo last week VCs were telling me that… Continue reading Does more productive Visual Studio mean fewer IT jobs?