Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

A recent blog posting by a Microsoft project manager spawned ablizzard of discussion on one of the Internet's major tech forums andgenerated speculation that Microsoft may be ready to improve its relations with the open-source community Josh Ledgard, a program manager for Microsoft's Visual Studio communityteam, sparked a flurry of comment at Slash...

Despite a drop in its overall share of global spam, the United States remains the number one originator of unsolicited e-mail in the world Those are the findings of antivirus, antispam software maker Sophos in its latest "dirty dozen" report, which identifies the 12 top countries where spam originates....

It's as jarring as former First Lady Nancy Reagan saying yes to drugs The maker of the code hackers love to crack -- Macrovision -- is touting the sharing and copying features of the next version of its CDS-300 copy-protection scheme when it's released in this year's fourth quarter....

For the first time ever, the major providers of DSL broadband services garnered more new subscribers in a calendar quarter than their cable television competitors According to figures released by the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) in Durham, New Hampshire, the top DSL providers added 895,336 net new broadband subscribers to their rolls in this year...

The desire to learn won't be the only thing returning with students to their universities this fall College IT departments can expect a wave of viruses, worms and other computer nasties to accompany their charges as they connect their computers to their college's networks When many students return to school from summer vacation, they're returning w...

Microsoft has introduced a new version of Windows XP designed for computers sold in emerging markets -- and analysts contend that is a sign that the Redmond, Washington-based software giant is worried about threats to its leading market position by Linux as well as to its bottom line by pirates Popularly known as "XP Lite," the new stripped-down ed...

Phishing attacks increased 19 percent in June over May, according to a report released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group Of the 1,422 new unique attacks, 92 percent of them used forged, or "spoofed," e-mail addresses. To somemembers of the working group, that fact reveals a crying need for sender authentication in all e-mail in order to limit both...

In a move expected to be a stimulant for the high-speed wireless market, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted an order to restructure frequencies within one of the several bands used for wireless broadband communication Industry insiders maintain that the order, adopted on June 10 and published for the first time last week, is a ...

Virus writers busily scribbled code during the first half of 2004,introducing 4,677 new viruses into the wild, a 21 percent increase overthe same period last year, according to a report released by Sophos, aninternational maker of antivirus and antispam software "There's a greater interest in writing viruses than ever before," SophosSenior Technica...

After a growth surge that contributed to the decline in market share ofMicrosoft Internet Explorer (IE) for the first time in six years, usageof the Mozilla browser flattened out during much of this month "The general trend over the last two weeks, at least, seems to havemostly flattened out," Geoff Johnston, an analyst with WebSideStory, aSan Dieg...

Hewlett Packard has issued a statement calling a two-year-old internal memo that has been circulating on the Internet and raises fears that Microsoft would mount a litigation campaign to "shut down open-source software" now outdated and largely irrelevant The memo dated June 3, 2002, a copy of which was obtained by LinuxInsider, has been circulatin...

Microsoft has formed a new Media/Entertainment & Technology Convergence Group, a move analysts say is calculated to build trust between the Redmond, Washington, technology giant and the media and entertainment industries. "Clearly Microsoft is trying to reach out to the companies that own rights to digital media because having that media compatibl...

In an apparent move to avoid the mistakes made by the recording industry in managing digital forms of its intellectual property, two movie studios have cut a deal with several major technology companies -- including Microsoft and IBM -- to develop a scheme that will allow limited copying ofnext-generation DVDs "They're trying to be wiser than the r...

After more than 70 months without a significant drop in its share of the U.S. Web browser market, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) saw its hold on the mouse clicks of Web surfers slip by one percent over the last month On the basis of a daily survey of some 30 million browsers, WebSideStory, a San Diego-based Web metrics company, reported that IE's...

More than a third of the software on the world's PCs has been pirated from its makers, according to a study released yesterday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), whose members include Adobe, Apple, Cisco Systems, IBM and Microsoft The annual study -- this year conducted for the first time by IDC of Framingham, Massachusetts -- showed that 36 ...

A move to help TV viewers avoid restrictions on digital broadcast signals scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2005 has been launched by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) The campaign is targeted at something called the "Broadcast Flag," a digital rights management scheme that the EFF maintains will stop viewers from making digital copies of ...

As part of its "Patent Busting Project," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) yesterday released its "Ten Most Wanted" patents -- patents it claims pose the greatest threat to the public domain At its web site, the EFF has posted a "wanted poster" that mimics those found on post office walls. "Wanted," the poster declares, "by EFF Marshals" for...

To kick off its big JavaOne party for its software developers in San Francisco this week, Sun Microsystems made a flurry of announcements aimed at rekindling enthusiasm for the once high-flying company's future prospects. But some critics of the Santa Clara, California enterprise remained unimpressed by the festivities "At the moment, Sun is sort o...

File-sharing appears to boost music CD buying, according to survey results released by Warez.com, a maker of file-sharing software The online survey, which reportedly has been taken by some 150,000 people, shows that the purchasing of music increases slightly for some consumers after they discover peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Light buyers of...

Hot spots for making wireless connections to the Internet are popping up in places like MacDonald's, Starbuck's and Panera's, but WiFi remains just a side dish for outfits trying to make a buck from the technology The hot spots are a premium service used to attract customers to their sponsors' locations, explained Roberta Wiggins, an analyst with t...