Gates steps aside; Ozzie steps up ... Oracle's Q4 revenues top expectations

HIGHLIGHTS

Daily IT News Audio Update
Gates to step away from day-to-day role at Microsoft, Ozzie elevated ... Oracle revenues surpass expectations ... Google targets U.S. government and Shakespeare with new search sites

News: Blu-ray Disc players, movies coming next week
News: Oracle's Q4 results to top expectations
News: Vulnerability found in Microsoft Excel
News: Gates to scale back Microsoft role in 2008
Data security tip: Identify What you Need
ITwhirled: Geek Comic of the Week -- White Ninja


NEWS UPDATES

Blu-ray Disc players, movies coming next week
Next week, the high-definition video fight for consumers' hearts, minds, and wallets begins in the U.S. when the first player and content for the Blu-ray Disc high-definition movie disc format will be launched.

Oracle's Q4 results to top expectations
Oracle Corp.'s fiscal fourth-quarter results are set to top expectations, led by a surge in revenue from new software licenses, the company said Thursday.

Vulnerability found in Microsoft Excel
A new vulnerability has been found in Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet program, just a few days after the company fixed problems with several of its applications in its monthly patch distribution.

Gates to scale back Microsoft role in 2008
Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Thursday he will step out of his daily role at Microsoft in July 2008 so he can take on a full-time role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity organization he runs with his wife.

Ozzie's illustrious IT career takes another turn
Within minutes of the official Microsoft Corp. announcement Thursday that Ray Ozzie has stepped into the role of chief software architect, his official biography at the company Web site was updated to reflect this latest development in what was already an illustrious IT career.

Microsoft WGA program continues to irk users
Microsoft Corp.'s program for testing whether a PC is running a genuine copy of Windows, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), has drawn considerable fire from users since it was launched last July.

Wall Street Beat: Apple buzz renewed
Market buzz around Apple Computer Inc. sounded again this week, as better news about chip companies helped break a losing streak on several exchanges.


TIP

Data Security: Identify What you Need
By David Hill, Mesabi Group

When you are evaluating vendor products, look at what part of the data security problem they solve -- data preservation, data confidentiality, or both. For example, an encryption product provides for data confidentiality. However, unless encryption key management is well-handled, there is a risk of the permanent loss of all the encrypted data (as unencrypted data that cannot be read is effectively lost). So you must weigh the need for data confidentiality with the risk to data preservation. Keeping in mind that data security is about data preservation and data confidentiality is the starting point for thinking about data security in greater depth.


ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: White Ninja
What to say about White Ninja? Well, he's a Ninja dressed in white ... though he doesn't really do very Ninja-esque things. Mostly, he finds himself in absurd situations -- accidentally turning into a peanut, say, or trying to stop his roommate's habit of collecting newspaper obituaries, or forcing his five-year-old son to get a job.