An Access Killer?

The reporting engine in Access is almost 10 years old with major modification. It is that good. Now something better has come around. SQL Server Reporting Services, due out any week now, could be an Access killer. After demoing it to the London Database Forum last night, we all realized that it is pretty cool. An Access Report Killer, yes it is (but Access will still be better for local disconnected reporting). Attention Access developers, SSRS is based off the old Access report designed, so you have a leg up, so go learn it. If you don’t know about SQL Server Reporting Services, go download it from Microsoft now!

And Microsoft: Its about time!

A killer Infield

Japanese star Kazuo Matsui decided to join the New York Mets, accepting the Amazins’ three-year offer today. Kazuo has been called a "faster, stronger version of Inchiro.” Now the Mets will have two killer shortstops. My guess is the Jose Reyes will go to second. With Matsui and Reyes, the Mets now have two switch-hitters at the top of their lineup who have speed, power, high OBPs, high BAs and great defensive skills. Playoff bound? Not yet. A major improvement, sure.

Now the true question: Is New York City ready for two Matsui’s??

Molloy Boys Take Bubble Baths…

I was changing this at Kenny Anderson last night while I was in the front row of the Sonics loss against Indiana. He must not have heard this chant in over 15 years. You see Kenny is a fellow Queens boy who attended the (all boys) Arch Bishop Molloy which was a arch rival to my High School St. Francis Prep and we use to taunt him with this chant in his 4 years as the #1 High School player in the country. Kenny is the best passer in the NBA and along with Reggie Miller just housed the Seattle Super Sonics. I had my fun at Kenny’s expense, but he got the last laugh.  

SCO is Desperate

SCO, who is suing IBM over Linux (and is threatening more lawsuits against corporate Linux users), yesterday attacked the GNU GPL (General Public License) in which Linux is distributed. In an open letter from SCO CEO Darl McBride, SCO said the the GPL is in violation the United States Constitution (and also some U.S. copyright and patent laws).  

They are bringing in the US Constitution to this debate? Please.

Here is my open letter to SCO:

Dear Darl McBride,

Drop the damn lawsuit already.

Regards,

Stephen Forte

New York, NY

Open Season for Hackers on Linux Systems

Yet another high-profile attack on Linux- someone broke into one of the servers used to distribute versions of Gentoo Linux on Tuesday.

CLR v TSQL Stored Procedures

I am here in Redmond chatting with a few fellow .NET gurus about SQL Server and Yukon’s ability to create stored procedures with any CLR language. We have decided, TSQL for everything, except when you 1. need something from the .NET framework like encryption or RegEx and 2. you are doing something that is a very CPU intensive operation.

So why bother with the CLR inside of Yukon? I think that the convergence is a good thing, but TSQL will be around for a long time (as it should be). It is not an every day occurrence that you will use the CLR (think replacement for extended stored procedures), but when you need it, you will be very thankful.

So I am going to make a prediction that a lot of people will try to create their whole app around CLR stored procedures when they fire up Yukon for the first time. Please don’t fall in this trap!

Linux For the Masses?

Linux has always been a back end server and workstation for uber geeks only. A few workstation class systems have come out in the past but a compelling one is now released to the world, the Java Desktop System (JDS) from Sun Microsystems.

While this shows how desperate Sun is for any kind of revenue and proof of their relevance, JDS is pretty cool. It combines Linux, Mozilla, GNOME and StarOffice in one unit. Selling for around $150, this creates true competition to the Windows/Office offering. (Attention DOJ and EC, drop your suits. J)

So, does this mean corporate American (and elseware) will run out in droves and drop Windows/Office for JDS? Probably not. There are migration, document conversion, TCO and other concerns, but enough will make the move to JDS to scare the crap out of Redmond. I have to say that this is exciting. True competition is only good for the consumer, Microsoft and Sun will create better software and offer it cheaper than it is today, that is Adam Smith at work.

Serious Security Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

In light of the recent attack on the Debian Project’s servers, researchers have found some serious security vulnerabilities in the Linux Kernel. This vulnerability can enable a hacker to gain root access to a machine. (For those of you Windows only types, this is like the Admin). Once you have root, you can do anything, root is the uber user.

The vulnerability is in the form of an integer overflow in the brk( ) system call (memory-management). When the call invokes the do_brk( ) function, using user-supplied address and length variables, the call does not check for integer overflows when adding the variables together.

I am not one to dwell on an email virus or something like that. But fundamental problems in the Kernel are pretty catastrophic. Let me explain why. Because the vulnerability is in the OS kernel itself, the problem affects just about every distribution of the operating system from kernel version 2.4.0 through 2.5.69. That means that every version of Linux installed on every computer on the planet needs to be upgraded when a fix is available.

I am not going to lower myself to the mudslinging of the MS v Linux silliness, but am going to remind all the folks out there who tell us that Linux is free. The Linux community will rally fast to address this very serious security issue and everyone everywhere will have to upgrade their Linux installs worldwide (including Nicole’s machine in my living room sitting on my nicely secure Windows network). That is a total cost of ownership (TCO) issue. Nothing is free. It costs time and money to do this (just as it does when you apply a MS patch or upgrade).

I am Your Slave

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I hate Political Correctness-I call a spade a spade. If you also know me personally, you know that I hate-despise actually the city of Los Angles. So those of you who know me personally don’t have to read anymore if you heard about the LA County who recently asked computer and video equipment vendors to consider eliminating the terms "master" and "slave" from equipment because they may be considered offensive.

PC has gone too far when the PC Police are starting to talk about device drivers and the like. The terms are an industry standard. Will someone please just tell this guy to get his nose out of my industry.

Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music

Just when I thought I have seen it all.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;261186&Product=win2000

Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music

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