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tomhenderson

tomhenderson

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Member since: December 2009

Bio: Tom Henderson is principal researcher for ExtremeLabs, Inc., of Bloomington Indiana. Thirteen years in research (investigations, investor technical due diligence, product reviews) after sixteen years in corporate America, lastly as VP of Engineering for one of the largest publicly traded interconnects. Technical conference advisory board memberships in InterOp, Networld, COMDEX, SuperComm, and many others. Author/co-author of ten books on software and operating systems. Former vice chair of PBS affiliate WFYI of Indianapolis.

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Activity

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Mint is fun, client-focused Linux distro
    When Ubuntu decided last year to abruptly replace the familiar Gnome UI with its own Unity interface, many users were upset. And according to the latest numbers from DistroWatch, Linux Mint has been the major beneficiary, so we decided to test Linux Mint 12.

    2 weeks 11 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Review: Encrypted solid state drives protect laptop data
    Vendors are touting solid state replacement drives as a way to protect corporate data in the event of a laptop being lost or stolen, and to boost performance at the same time.

    3 weeks 3 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote First look: Windows 8 breaks new ground
    The first public beta for Windows 8 is expected to be released in February, but we've been testing pre-beta code in our lab. Our overall impression is that Windows 8 represents an aggressive effort by Microsoft to deliver a single OS that runs just about everywhere and takes on all of Microsoft's key rivals.

    3 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Cloud activity to explode in 2012
    In testing cloud computing services and observing the growth of cloud activities, we've noticed that there are distinct phases that organizations go through in adopting cloud.

    4 weeks 10 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Cloud activity to explode in 2012
    In testing cloud computing services and observing the growth of cloud activities, we've noticed that there are distinct phases that organizations go through in adopting cloud.

    8 weeks 1 day ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote iPad 2 vs. business class tablets
    Tech lovers have been flocking to the iPad 2 and other tablets in order to watch movies, read books, surf the Web and make video calls on the latest, greatest, thinnest, lightest, coolest devices. But where do tablets fit within the enterprise?

    14 weeks 23 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote 4 valuable additions to your cloud security toolkit
    DigitalPersona, CloudPassage, NetIQ and GlobalScape deliver unique ways of protecting cloud data.

    14 weeks 1 day ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote You've been sued!
    If your organization is sued, many IT and data handling procedures can change, some radically, and perhaps forever. The ability to effectively manage the process of litigation or regulatory inquiry mandates bridging the communications gap normally found between IT management and staff, and the legal departments (or other legal counsel) of an organization. It's a non-trivial exercise, and can have a huge result on the desired outcome of the inquiry.

    19 weeks 5 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote You've Been Hacked!
    Take it from someone who knows. You must a plan, but you need to prepare for the worst. Tom Henderson, principal researcher for ExtremeLabs, Inc, recently watched a hacker breach one of his company’s primary servers. While he had taken all of the necessary steps to protect the server, it still happened. Here, he shares the experience and the steps he took to mitigate the damage and get the server back online.

    19 weeks 5 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Cookie killers: Changing the model
    It doesn't take a cop or a private eye: you're being followed everywhere you go. Your phone company knows of your travels, and your browser vendor knows of the sites you visit. They would lift the curtain and peer inside your bedroom window if they could. The dignity and privacy robbing ways of the sponsors of what you do need to shift their models. Here's how to do put pressure on them.

    19 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Oracle has a Sun spot
    Oracle is pushing itself into a corner, a fantastic money-making corner, but a corner nonetheless.

    20 weeks 6 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote The crazy PC morticians
    When faced with a new and shiny hammer people will use it on any nail they can find, including things that aren't nails. That sums up what's happening now with the breathless declaration of the end of the PC. Tablets are new and shiny, but they aren't killing PCs.

    20 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote vSphere5 sets the virtualization bar
    VSphere 5.0, the latest iteration of VMware's "Cloud Operating System," boasts a wealth of updates, including new tools to manage fleets of VMs, and vast tiers of virtualized, vMotion-enabled storage links.

    20 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Want to be a billionaire and a hero? Solve the final steps in the recycling chain
    There's a huge opening for someone to get rich, developing a usable taxonomy of parts and materials so that products can be safely and profitably devolved. The way you do it is clear: Find a method to describe parts in such a way that they can be taken apart and recycled or safely disposed of. We need a taxonomy, a method to affix material markings, and a database access method that tells the devolvers how to make money.

    22 weeks 1 day ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Amazon's tax problem
    Amazon's position as the Better Than WalMart of the internet has become challenging. Amazon can charge less because of The Commerce Clause in the US Constitution — which means that interstate commerce is usually exempt from a state’s sales tax. California believes they have nexus to force Amazon to collect sales tax, but Amazon's trying to deal: Seven thousand California jobs in trade for exemption or assuaging tax. The onerous part is that Amazon's legal department has already tried to thwart the process of protests.

    23 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson commented on Hurricane Irene: Checklist for protecting your technology
    We know the drill. This is your reminder of how to survive the tech side of Hurricane Irene. Bookmark it for future events.

    24 weeks 23 hours ago | Read Article

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote VMware answers the PaaS gloats
    VMware announced vFabric Database Director, a database VM fabric and appliance approach It allies VMware’s vSPhere IaaS towards (and not past) PaaS competitors—especially pieces of Windows Azure Cloud. The rumbling may also be poised towards Oracle’s flagship database products and RedHat’s OpenShift. While free for developers, the fabric and glue can cost $1,700 per VM, making the platform comparatively pricy for production use.

    24 weeks 1 day ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Will Tumblr's seedy side turn advertisers off?
    Visually interesting, and easy to use it may be, but its questionable content may turn advertisers off. What do you think?

    24 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Hurricane Irene: Checklist for protecting your technology
    We know the drill. This is your reminder of how to survive the tech side of Hurricane Irene. Bookmark it for future events.

    24 weeks 6 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote HP drops dead weight to face new targets
    HP just gave up most of the current fruits of its Palm acquisition, abandoning WebOS and its tablets and phones. Perhaps HP now changes its focus from battling Google to battling IBM and Oracle.

    25 weeks 6 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson commented on Android foes still beating GPL non-compliance drum
    An IP attorney states that all Android manufacturers have lost their rights to distribute Android because of non-compliance with the GPL. But the head of the Software Freedom Conservancy states there are still no legitimate claims made on Android GPL violation.

    26 weeks 1 day ago | Read Article

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson commented on Wintel is now Apptel
    Apple's enormous market cap now means that its chip use is no longer subject to the wagging tail of the big dog. Apple has become the big dog. This also means that Intel is now in a race with the consortium of ARM vendors for a potential fight for its life. In the background, AMD sits, doing its nails and biding time.

    26 weeks 1 day ago | Read Article

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Wintel is now Apptel
    Apple's enormous market cap now means that its chip use is no longer subject to the wagging tail of the big dog. Apple has become the big dog. This also means that Intel is now in a race with the consortium of ARM vendors for a potential fight for its life. In the background, AMD sits, doing its nails and biding time.

    26 weeks 2 days ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson shared Broadband bytes have lost their bite on Digg
    With ever-increasing demands placed on infrastructure to deliver video, we need a new and meaningful measuring stick for video. Bytes are becoming meaningless.

    27 weeks 6 hours ago

  • tomhenderson tomhenderson wrote Let’s kill license plates
    License plates are the ugly tags of a bygone era, now turned into a profit center for many jurisdictions. We don’t need them any more. With just a little bit of engineering, every car maker in the world can embed an RFID into a car that can be read by radar.

    27 weeks 2 days ago

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Comments

tomhenderson's Comments (35)

  • Commented on Hurricane Irene: Checklist for protecting your technology

    Interesting post. I can see the possible damage. I'll be in HNL in December. Hope I don't have to test the theory.

    6 months ago

  • Commented on Android foes still beating GPL non-compliance drum

    You're confusing copyright issues with licensing issues. The copyright holders indeed have the copyright. The work of the Linux kernel and associated and appropriated files falls under GPL2. That's the license.

    6 months ago

  • Commented on Wintel is now Apptel

    There's some truth in that. Fun to see what will happen. I wish Andy Grove were still around to shake things up.

    6 months ago

  • Commented on US lacks cohesive plan for malware control. Can a CDC model work?

    I disagree with most all of your points. First, we have no central authority to beat down computer attacks, and CERT doesn't qualify. There's no central statistical bureau, no coordinated fight. Second, virus "outbreaks" can indeed be tracked. ISPs are already mining most of your data, though they'll deny it. They're looking for terrorists. Lets get them to look at virus and malware signatures and spam. Finally, the rubric about surviving doesn't happen in computers. There is no natural immunity, unless you're speaking of an accidental forgetfulness of logging on. No machine is immune, but certainly there is bad code poised at specific target families. Unless there's someone that can also spank OS vendors, nothing happens, but the third party virus makers and their AV counterparts get richer.

    7 months ago

  • Commented on Google avoids the call to arms

    Google is the only one with nexus to litigate. You'd think they'd stand up and do it, but the protracted litigation, given the other litigation they're now involved with, has them pretty tied up.

    7 months ago

  • Commented on Google avoids the call to arms

    I'm quite familiar with open source, concepts, code, community. I'm also very familiar with Microsoft, through its history prior to being publicly traded. What I see is Google getting a free ride, and Microsoft carefully avoiding patent confrontation. Part of my desire is to goad the FOSS community into living up to its lofty standards. Today, as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, the OEMs, used to paying tolls, just does it and it's a cost of doing business. Everyone is skirting the battle because no one who's been approached doesn't want to settle. Microsoft is notorious for following battles through the bitter end of appeals, and has a huge war chest to do so. The war is won for Microsoft without a shot fired.

    7 months ago

  • Commented on Google avoids the call to arms

    In this case, I use "nexus" as "defensible grounds", as in being an injured party in the litigation sense.

    7 months ago

  • Commented on AT&T/T-mobile: Why this new monopoly is bad for consumers

    +1. Easy job, this regulation stuff, when there's only two children to regulate.

    8 months ago

  • Commented on AT&T/T-mobile: Why this new monopoly is bad for consumers

    The Commission is supposed to protect the US and its interests, not the stockholders of the new DeathStar monopoly. Your premise that GSM frequencies can't be shared is pure hubris. The airwaves belong to ALL Americans, not the interests of the shareholders of a single corporation. AT&T is a utility, and now between AT&T&T and Verizon, control has been wrested from the public in ways that clearly (IMHO, and IANAL) violate the Sherman Anti Trust Act, as well as Taft-Hartley, and the TCA, and Judge Greene's settlement. The interests of AT&T mean NOT ONE WHIT to me. Keeping the US competitive matters very much.

    8 months ago

  • Commented on Why the Amazon Android AppStore is a crock

    I presume you have Amazon stock....

    9 months ago

  • Commented on You've been sued!

    It's true that there are various reasons to seek outside help to perform elements of the discovery process. Sometimes it's IT workload, technical resources, and so on. A fairly large business ecosystem now revolves around e-discovery and litigation support in general. As you cite, some IT departments will need exacting instructions, and their legal departments/counsel needs to know how to query and control IT processes-- realistically.

    1 year ago

  • Commented on The Different Universe of Offline

    You might think about using the POP3 feature, creating a different account somewhere that can download them (excite.com, as an example) then simply download them all to that new account. I don't know of a different viable way.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Apple: Eat Dirt.

    The iconoclasm doesn't work anymore. Yes, I like Apple's engineering and for whatever reason, there's an immunity to various malware sources. For now.I've wondered whether I might be succumbing to Microsoft propaganda, or the occasional smarminess of a fraction of the open source communities that have a darwinian hubris going for them. Yet, ultimately, FOSS is a wonderful thing. Some of the code is excellent. Some of it is frankly dog droppings-- just like in the closed source world. Yes, it can be fixed, and it can also be mightily castigated by a community of coders with goodness in their hearts.I liked the idea of the Darwin branch of BSD, and now OpenDarwin is dead as in no more. Thoughts of what that means strikes deeply. I can see Jobs trying to wrest the market away from Microsoft and Google both, preemptively. Microsoft is especially vulnerable right now, and Google has an arrogance second only to Microsoft, and perhaps Apple. I want tools. I don't want the baggage, control freaks, cults, I just want to open my notebook, do work and get on with life. I'm not coding for the iAnything. I'm not an iDeveloper. Apple's doing a great job of distracting the world from other problems..... but I'm not willing to live in a fiefdom for the privilege.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Apple: Eat Dirt.

    There's an HP Pavillion... but I'm reluctant to do triple boot. I may run W7 with VBox and put uBuNtU in a VM. This Apple sycophancy cult madness is driving me off the Mac.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Two Bricked HTC Touch Pros

    Two bricked phones make me wonder if HTC can get it together at all. I like sturdy, and Android, while interesting, is still evolving. I just want a phone, not a beta test laboratory. I want to tether, maybe do a couple of cool things (like sync to a Mac OR a Windows machine) and just have it last for two or three years.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on The Death of Net Neutrality Means ISP Slavery

    Desperation moves? No-- the carriers are overcrowded, and value has sunk to the bottom. We allow them to go bankrupt every three years instead of dissolving them, and bringing up quality. Maybe you've never flown Singapore Air or remember the days when flight attendants didn't have to troll through the cattle cars hawking $6 snack boxes. The very sense of value has gone from most every carrier, along with their employee's pension plans. The pirates didn't compel what's happening. Indeed people that weren't ready to face monopolies fought this madness for years. Now you have one; you deserve it. Roll over.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Comcast: Your New Overlord

    It was only a matter of time before the digital versions of stuff migrated to the Internet. Behind those versions are the money makers. Making money is nothing new. The spirit of the web, however, is free access to interesting material, whatever that material might be.Ad sponsorship is one way to underwrite the cost. Admission and toll-gates and paywalls are another way. But we get to do the clicking of what we want, If there's something onerous behind the click, you can complain and get justice (maybe) or leave. Craig of Craigslist got it right. eBay figured it out (although they've become badly usurious). The paywalls come, and the paywalls go. Licensing MP3s was a saviour in a way, because Apple took the heat of the piracy issue of music and made consumption easily and conveniently and inexpensively legal. This will happen again and again as organizations adapt to the delivery model of the Internet. Things will come and go, as you cite. And some bad acts will continue to take it to their websites. So be it. I'll click where I want and when I want based solely on my own motivation and whimsy. My only truck is when people don't get that they have little or no privacy on the Internet. I think that has to change, and soon.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Comcast: Your New Overlord

    It was the 9th Circuit, a court of appeals. It was a bad call, if you examine the FCC's role, and the laws that have governed it since the Communications Act of 1935. Whether the government is ineffective is another question for a different time. What's happened is that the intent of the W3 and the egalitarian nature of the Internet has been subverted, and is now up for 1) caps 2) bandwidth and protocol throttling at the whimsy of Comcast and 3) Comcast assumes the role of a telco in its power over user choice. The FCC, while imperfect, had this one right. The 9th Circuit over-extended its purview; this is an executive branch role, and one that's served us well-- until now.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Why I'm quitting Google Reader

    Use a Mac with NetNewsWire or use their online services. It's. time. to. change. If you still need it, get VMware Fusion or Parallels or even Virtual Box and run an integrated desktop. Operating systems are so 1994.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Tablet PCs: The Top 10 Missing Features

    Let's review:1) Media-- it's missing2) Have you tried video on eReaders? Yes- it works on full-blown tablets from Fujitsu and others. Otherwise, try it on others. Let's see just how realistic it is.3) Again Fujitsu has it. Tried it on the Kindle K2?4) Used Media. Bah5) Free WiFi/3G/4G: show it to me. 6) SD slots, a few have. Does the venerable iPad?7) Auto-adjusting display from daylight to no-light. Not solved yet.8) Keyboards only come with full-blown machines, like the Fujitsus9) Real Apps-- see #810) I haven't seen any of the business plans that entice me yet. YMMV

    2 years ago

  • Commented on iPain: What the iPad Does to its Competition

    Nebooks have keyboards and are a foldable device. The iPad and other tablet devices aren't like that; they're really designed for consuming media. I'd love to see what Google does to counter the iPad. It'll be an interesting war.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on iSnore: iPad

    They haven't been using iWork on any other platforms, either. Sigh.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants

    How droll and yet seemingly witty.I'm glad you've volunteered, as described in your comment, to remove yourself from the gene pool. Certainly with all of the enlightenment you bring, you'd think that there would be lots of opportunities, but nay, somehow that intellectual aloofness seems to drive the procreation possibilities away. So sad.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Great and Disappointing Operating Systems of the Decade

    I wrote them as I recalled them. I name no particular order. Yeah, Linux is fun. No, Linux isn't the be-all, end-all. Maybe one day.

    2 years ago

  • Commented on Great and Disappointing Operating Systems of the Decade

    Fonts kill an operating system? Non-persistent VPN connections irk you that much? We'll have to disagree. I used to have a bunch of mouse buttons. Now I use one. You can get rid of those extra buttons, too.

    2 years ago

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