NewsFactor Business

Firefox Browser Share Tops 19 Percent as Record Set

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:31:11 -0500

The Mozilla Foundation has set a world record and achieved new heights in its battle for browser market share. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Web browser set a record for the most downloads in a day. It was the first time a browser-maker attempted to set a record.

Mozilla set the record with 8,002,530 downloads in June. The Mozilla Foundation will receive the official certificate in London next week.

"Setting a world record really doesn't matter. It's a marketing stunt," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "At the end of the day you still have to look at who has the overwhelming browser market share. It still belongs to Microsoft."

Breaking Down Browser Shares

Indeed, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the dominant browser. But Firefox is gaining ground, according to a new report from Net Applications. The release of Firefox 3.0 on June 17 spurred rapid usage gains, topping four percent worldwide. In the first hour after the product was released, Firefox 3.0 gained one percent of worldwide market share.

Firefox 3 gains came mostly from users upgrading from Firefox 2, while its overall usage share grew about .4 percent, primarily at the expense of Internet Explorer, according to Net Applications.

IE's market share dipped from 73.75 percent in May to 73.01 percent at the end of June, Net Applications' latest data shows. Firefox increased its overall share during the same period from 18.41 percent to 19.03 percent.

Is Firefox Really the Safest Browser?

In a flurry of good news reports for Firefox, Mozilla users are most likely to be using the latest versions of their browsers, with 83 percent of Firefox users patched, according to joint research from Google, IBM and Communications Systems Group in Switzerland.

By contrast, only 63.3 percent of Safari users and 56.1 percent of Opera...

Judge Protects YouTube Code, But Opens User Records

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:27:52 -0500

A Manhattan district judge gave Google some partial victories this week in its copyright-infringement battle with Viacom over YouTube. Last year, Viacom sued Google and its YouTube site for $1 billion for what it called unauthorized use of video clips from Viacom properties.

In Wednesday's decision, Judge Louis L. Stanton granted a protective order to Google so it doesn't have to turn over its search source code as Viacom requested. Viacom argued it wanted to show that Google did not have copyright filters, but Google countered -- successfully, at this round -- that the code is a trade secret. The search code is used both on YouTube.com and on Google's main search engine.

Needs 'Plausible' Showing

In his decision, the judge said Google and YouTube "should not be made to place this vital asset in hazard merely to allay speculation." He added that a "plausible" showing that Google/YouTube's denials were false and that the search function "can and has been used to discriminate infringing content" should be required before "so valuable and vulnerable an asset is compelled."

The judge said there was no evidence that the search engine can separate clips that violate someone else's copyright, such as Viacom's, and those that do not. He did leave open that there may be other ways to filter infringing clips.

Stanton also turned down Viacom's request for Google to deliver its electronic-index data for its advertising and video-content databases, or for the source code of YouTube's video-identification tool. The video ID program enables holders of copyright material to provide YouTube with samples, so infringements can be tracked down on the site.

One aspect of Viacom's case has been that YouTube does not merely share video content that users upload, but that the site copies the uploaded content onto its servers and makes that content available via its search...

Report: Microsoft Seeks Help for Another Yahoo Bid

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:44:16 -0500

Unable to strike a deal on its own, Microsoft Corp. reportedly is hoping to snap up Yahoo's online search operations with the help of News Corp. and Time Warner Inc.

The latest twist in Microsoft's convoluted courtship caused Yahoo's shares to rise more than 3 percent in Wednesday's sinking stock market, even though the chances of a deal getting done still seemed remote.

If nothing else, the enthusiastic reaction to the unconfirmed report in The Wall Street Journal served as another reminder that investors want Yahoo to pursue a different path than the one mapped out by Chief Executive Jerry Yang.

And that could be bad news for Yang, who started Yahoo as an Internet directory 14 years ago. Unless he can sway shareholder sentiment before Yahoo's annual meeting Aug. 1, Yang could lose his job in a boardroom coup being attempted by investor Carl Icahn.

Recognizing Yahoo's vulnerability, Microsoft is trying to recruit News Corp., Time Warner's AOL or other media partners to put together a joint bid that would slice Yahoo into pieces, according to the Journal. The story cited undisclosed people familiar with the discussions.

Microsoft declined comment Wednesday. A Yahoo spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Under the reported breakup plan, Microsoft would emerge with Yahoo's online search operations -- the main object of the software maker's desire since it began stalking Yahoo as long as ago as 2006.

After the two sides couldn't agree on a price, Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety in early May.

Just two weeks later, Microsoft offered to pay $1 billion for Yahoo's search engine and invest another $8 billion for a 16 percent stake in Yahoo's remaining business.

Yahoo rejected that offer, too, and instead forged an advertising partnership with Google Inc., whose rapid growth prompted Microsoft's bid for Yahoo...

Microsoft To Put Office Online as Equipt for Consumers

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:49:49 -0500

Microsoft is ready to put its popular Microsoft Office suite online, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Called Microsoft Equipt, the suite will join the software giant's online offerings of Windows Live Mail, Messenger, OneCare and Photo Gallery.

Previously code-named Albany, the consumer-oriented Equipt will be available for purchase on July 15 through Circuit City's 700 outlets nationwide. Each $69.99 one-year subscription will cover up to three home PCs, Microsoft said.

"Certainly the initial move is to capture more consumer eyeballs," noted AMR Research analyst Jim Murphy. "Though it's unclear at this point what the next version of Office will look like, it's likely that it will include a mechanism for Microsoft or its partners to monetize its widespread use -- whether that's through advertising or selling other value-added services."

Equipt For Enterprises?

Microsoft's move to make Office a consumer-friendly online service has some long-term implications for the small-business market. Gartner Client Services Vice President Michael Silver thinks we'll "see more subscription offerings from Microsoft as time goes on" because it would give the software giant a "more reliable" revenue stream.

The software giant's latest move basically adapts the model of Microsoft Software Assurance for enterprises to the home market, Silver said.

"Larger small businesses already have offerings like this through Microsoft's open-licensing program, but the pricing and licensing is more commensurate with prices businesses pay," Silver said. "Small businesses can probably expect something like this suited to them in the future, but may have difficulty buying this version in particular because it does not contain Outlook."

The terms of the current consumer license will prevent a small business from using Equipt, Silver noted. "Microsoft says that business use of Equipt is prohibited," he said.

Way More Functional

When Microsoft eventually does offer a similar model to small-business users, it could cannibalize the software giant's...

Starbucks To Close 600 U.S. Stores, Rein in Growth

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:22:17 -0500

For a decade it appeared there was no such thing as too many Starbucks for U.S. coffee drinkers, whose willingness to buy its $4 lattes and dark drip brews rationalized a second green-and-white mermaid awning just down the street -- and sometimes even a third. But in a sign that those days are over, Starbucks Corp. announced Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year as the faltering U.S. economy hastened the pain caused by the company's own rapid expansion.

Starbucks shares, which have been falling steadily for nearly two years, jumped 72 cents, or 4.6 percent, in extended trading after the announcement. They had lost 12 cents to close Tuesday at $15.62.

Seattle-based Starbucks did not say which stores will be closed, only that they are spread throughout the country. But it did say 70 percent of those slated for closure had opened after the start of 2006.

To put it another way, Starbucks is closing 19 percent of all U.S. company-operated stores that opened in the last two years, Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said during a conference call.

About 12,000 workers, or 7 percent of Starbucks' global work force, will be affected by the closings, which are expected to take place between late July and the middle of 2009, spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said.

O'Neil said most employees will be moved to nearby stores, but she did not know exactly how many jobs will be lost. Starbucks estimated $8 million in severance costs.

In total, the company forecast up to $348 million in charges related to the closures, $200 million to be booked in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30. Starbucks reports third-quarter results at the end of July.

The company had previously planned to shut 100 stores. The 500 more that will be closed had been on an internal watch...

Blogger Opinion: Why We Left NetSuite

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:21:36 -0500

I first met our solution provider, Ray Tetlow, the founder of Skyytek, on the Oracle Small Business (OSB from now on) user forum. At the time we were struggling with version 7 of OSB. It was really incomplete and badly tested software. Not only was it painfully slow, but also a lot of the features on which we based our purchasing decision just did not work.

However, to be fair to OSB, we had a crappy QuickBooks conversion (which OSB, not Skyytek, did for us), and we were trying to customize the software to meet our messed-up business processes before we had it implemented. Honestly, we thought we were smarter than we really were and could do it on our own.

That is where Ray Tetlow entered the picture. Personable dude, professional, good salesperson. I liked him immediately. He took a look at what we were doing, commiserated with me on the sad state of OSB affairs, and told me the first thing I had to do was STOP trying to match the application to our messed-up business processes. OSB has a decent workflow -- learn and embrace that, and then make changes if needed. You might learn something about how your business actually works as opposed to how you think it works. He was right -- same thing I tell my customers now.

We engaged Skyytek, and in about 45 days we had a decent implementation of OSB. It was not perfect by any means, but at least the bleeding had stopped and "everything will be fixed in version 8." I have two funny OSB sayings from those days. One was, "Working with OSB is like having someone pounding on your big toe with a framing hammer. You are just happy when they stop." And my favorite: "Working with OSB is like...

Browser Pioneer Andreessen Joins Facebook Board

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:24:44 -0500

Marc Andreessen, an entrepreneur and software engineer behind the Web's earliest browsers, has joined the board of the online hangout Facebook.

Andreessen's appointment could bring additional clout and insight to a young but growing startup headed by Mark Zuckerberg, 24, who started Facebook as a Harvard undergraduate.

In a statement late Monday, Zuckerberg said Andreessen, 36, "has experience that is relevant to Facebook in so many ways: scaling companies that are experiencing extraordinary growth, creating successful technology platforms and building strong engineering organizations."

Andreessen's appointment also brings him in alliance with a one-time rival. Microsoft Corp., whose Internet Explorer browser trounced Andreessen's Netscape in the 1990s, has invested $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, giving the privately held company a $15 billion valuation.

Andreessen joins Zuckerberg, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund on Facebook's board. David Sze of Greylock Partners and Paul Madera of Meritech Capital Partners are board observers.

Andreessen also is co-founder and chairman of Ning, a service for letting groups create their own social networks -- potentially competing with Facebook, though Facebook described Ning's system as "complementary."

Andreessen's involvement with the Web spans more than a decade.

In 1993, Andreessen and colleagues at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, the first Web browser to integrate images and sound with words. Previously, access was largely limited to text, with any graphics displayed in separate windows.

Andreessen and others soon left to commercialize the browser, and in 1994 they released the first version of Netscape. But Netscape's use eroded after Microsoft stepped into the market, and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL ultimately bought Netscape for $10 billion. Andreessen stayed on briefly as AOL's chief technology officer.

Citibank ATM Scam Reveals PIN Security Problems

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:43:06 -0500

Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores this year and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.

The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs -- the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions -- by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals.

The case against three people in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights a significant problem.

Hackers are targeting the ATM system's infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet. And despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption -- which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders -- some ATM operators apparently aren't properly doing that. The PINs seem to be leaking while in transit between the automated teller machines and the computers that process the transactions.

"PINs were supposed be sacrosanct -- what this shows is that PINs aren't always encrypted like they're supposed to be," said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm. "The banks need much better fraud-detection systems and much better authentication."

It's unclear how many Citibank customers were affected by the breach, which extended at least from October 2007 to March of this year. The bank has nearly 5,700 Citibank-branded ATMs inside 7-Eleven Inc. stores throughout the United States, but it doesn't own or operate any of them.

That responsibility falls on two companies: Houston-based Cardtronics Inc., which owns all the machines but only operates some, and Fiserv Inc., based in Brookfield, Wis., which...

Nokia Tries Apple's Tune with Fledgling Music Service

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:26:50 -0500

Nokia wants some of Apple's rhythm. On July 1 the Finnish mobile-phone maker said that Warner Music Group has agreed to participate in Nokia's fledgling music service, making Warner the third of the major record labels to join in the effort. The move is one more step in Nokia's effort to compete against Apple for the people who want to carry around music libraries in their pockets.

Nokia's service, which will officially launch in the second half of this year, is called Comes With Music. It will be built into certain Nokia handsets and will allow customers to download unlimited amounts of music from participating labels. The downloaded music can be kept on a PC or mobile-phone forever. In theory, a consumer could download every single song from the labels' catalogs; they'd simply need a very big hard drive on which to store the files. Nokia and its partners have not disclosed pricing for the service, but they believe it has plenty of potential. "We believe this will be a significant contributor of revenue over a long-term basis for Nokia," says Liz Schimel, global head of music for Nokia.

(Almost) All Aboard

The record labels seem to be buying that argument. Universal Music Group in December signed up with Nokia, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment partnered with the service in April. A spokesperson for EMI Group, the sole major label yet to join, says the company is talking with Nokia, although no deal has been reached. Nokia says it is in talks with independent labels as well.

For the music industry, the Nokia venture represents a departure from the old ways of doing business. Susan Kevorkian, program director of consumer markets at research firm IDC, says there is "broader experimentation" as CD sales decline and music revenues slide overall. For record companies, it may...

New-Age Sales-Team Motivation: Quality of Work Life

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:57:22 -0500

Professor Frederick Hertzberg has promoted a theory of motivation that goes a long way forward from the original theory of the "carrot-and-stick" motivation idea, or indeed its extension, the "Reward Theory," which is still used by many managers and companies to try to exhort greater efforts from their sales staff.

The new idea stems from two statements: "What makes people happy and motivated at work is what they do;" and, "What makes people unhappy and demotivated at work is the situation in which they do it."

Managers are going to have to become familiar with three new letters that are going to become increasingly important in the management of people in the future: QWL, which stands for the "Quality of Work Life."

Managers who want to motivate their staff are going to have to improve their own QWL as well as their staff's.

Know Your Sales Staff

This starts by defining people as they are, not as we want them to be.

Many workers whom we have assumed to have certain characteristics are now saying, "We are not like that. Treat me the way I am, not the way you believe me to be."

So the big revolution managers are going to have to face is that of identifying the needs of the people -- not their own projected needs.

The first set of needs defined by Hertzberg is called Hygiene Needs, and they deal with a person's relationship with the environment. They consist of how people are treated at work.

Consider these questions in relation to your employees: Do you pay them well? Do they enjoy good working conditions? Are there good human relations -- is the nature and quality of their supervision positive? What are the nature of the company's policies and administration?

These are called Hygiene Factors because, if the factors are right, they prevent people...