“Peer to Peer Revisited…”

My first of two follow papers for MSC 760

By Tanner Dabel

March 7^th, 2007

As with the prehistoric age of the dinosaurs; traditional peer to peer (P2P) computing is no more. The idea of having a one to one connection is outdated and is quickly being replaced by a more clever way of accomplishing the same thing. This new way is a protocol called BitTorrent. Its inception was just a few years ago, but like that of the mythical asteroid that caused mass extinction for dinosaurs; BitTorrent’s impact has been profound.

The protocol is fairly simple; it replies torrent clients and torrent files. Someone wanting to use BitTorrent technology needs to have a torrent client. This can easily be found at any of the torrent websites out on the net. Once this client is downloaded, one can use the client to create torrent files. These torrent files contain meta data about the file to be shared or available to others on the same network. The information on the torrent files usually consists of a URL that directs a torrent trackers (part of the torrent client) to other trackers (other clients) that host the actual file on their computer. Torrent files also have hash code tables and checksum code to help trackers determine how to cut up and distribute the file wanting to be shared. Now the nifty thing about BitTorrent is it prides itself on a one to many type connection. When someone goes to find an archive of torrent files, they select the file they are looking for, the tracker of the torrent file goes out to the network and looks to see who all has a copy of the file one is looking to download. Once it’s been determined who has it, the hash tables are used to start randomly pulling pieces of the file in 64 kb to 1 mb sizes, slowly constructing the file. Say 20 people on the network have the same copy of a specific file you’re looking to download, when you execute the torrent file associated with file you want, chances are you’ll start getting pieces from those 20 computers out there on the network.

There are many pros and cons to using a system like this. Beginning first with the pros, the over overwhelmingly obvious pro is that of speed. Through the means of being able to pull down multiple pieces of the file all at the same time, you’ve now increased the amount of data flowing into one’s computer. The speed at which the data is flowing in is unaffected and going at the same speed as it always has been, but the amount of points (or entry ways via “pipes”) has been increased to be more than the traditional one point/pipe. Underlying pros to using BitTorrent also include redundancy checks so that no only is the file as a whole checked for errors, but each incoming piece of the whole is also checked for errors. Another benefit to using BitTorrent is alleviating some of the distribution costs and responsibility on the original source of the data. As soon as more than one copy of a file is available on the network, distribution of that file is a shared process, rather then an individual process. This cuts down on bandwidth issues, hardware wear and tear and in some cases hosting costs. This also removes dependency issues on the original person who has the copy of the file one is looking for. In the traditional peer to peer (P2P) computing one was dependent on the source they were downloading from. With a one to one connection, as soon as the distributor of a file went off line, the file was no longer available and a dependency block occurred. With BitTorrent, if one person goes off line, as long as other copies are on the network, requests to fill those pieces of the whole can be answered by other computers.

Quickly discussing the ideal venues in which BitTorrent can be used would be any in which the license of the content can legally be secured, or instances in which the license either is not enforced or is open to the public. Good examples of this would be Open Source Software projects (Linux is currently using this to push versions of Linux OS and patches), independent musical bands that want their music in the hands of as many people as possible, or companies like BitTorrent, inc. or Sub Pop records who deal solely in the distribution of legally bought and licensed material. Another area greatly affected by the technology is the digital multi media industry. On a corporate level, BitTorrent technology would be ideal for them considering the vase amounts of data that is moved around and stored by these companies.

Moving on to discuss the cons, the primary issue at the present time deals with the unintended uses of BitTorrent. Specifically speaking, the moving around and sharing of files that are in direct conflict with the copyrights attached to them. Because BitTorrent allows the moving around and sharing of any type of computer file, this includes, but is not limited to movies, games, applications and music. All of these types of files usually have specific copyrights on them and licenses agreements. However, with the lack of enforcement mechanism on most torrent sites, there are not controls in place to restrict the sharing of illegal content.

Briefly diving into the legal issues that have arisen from BitTorrent, though the inception of it was only a few years ago, BitTorrent’s rap sheet is a mile long. The key players in this are the MPAA (movie industry) and the RIAA (music industry). Over the last three years they’ve come at entities insisting on abusing the BitTorrent technology. Supernova.org whom use to be the popular torrent hub on the internet was quickly and abruptly shutdown in December of 2004. This marked the beginning of the end for BitTorrent abuse. Soon LokiTorrent look the helm of being the popular torrent hub, 3 months after Supernova bit the dust, LokiTorrent was next. They hit finical troubles and quickly became controlled by those who were hunting it; the MPAA. Later that year, EliteTorrent was raided and shutdown by the FBI. In November of 2005 BitTorrent.com made an announcement that all content linked to the torrent files they archived would be legal and legitimate files not infringing upon copyright laws. This was a bold move for the BitTorrent arena as one of the “members” of the community was now showing that it was possible to enforce copyrights on the material that was being accessed through the torrent files hosted at these sites. Popularity of BitTorrent.com quickly fell. Since then a company has risen by the name Pirate Bay. They have been raided in the past, their site has gone down from time to time, but thus far they continue to prevail. Given enough time however, the MPAA and RIAA will catch up to them legally speaking. Until then, Pirate Bay is working desperately to secure an island in international waters that they can claim as their own, not under the protection of copy right laws. If this actually occurs, they will have created a first; a digital nation which is centrally located on the islands servers, but citizenship would be decentralized globally around the world.

Other cons that go against the BitTorrent technology are minor security issues and some networking limitations, but currently the largest barrier for BitTorrent is the legal issues that have given it a black eye in the few years of being around. I think as soon as the abuse of the BitTorrent technology goes down and no longer is in the limelight, the real power of BitTorrent will finally come to light and be used to revolutionize how we move and share information on the global level.

The follow up BitTorrent paper.

Chinnapong Somsueb

ID# 1671071

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution protocol. It is using the distribution of large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the whole of the corresponding costs of hardware, hosting or bandwidth resources. It was originally run under the BitTorrent Open Source License. There are several compatible clients who can use this type of protocol, written in a variety of programming languages, and run on a number of computing platforms. There are several advantages to BitTorrent protocol such as legalized protocol, alternative distribution channels, utilization of computer and networking resources, and an innovation of internet technology.

Unlike some peer to peer applications, the BitTorrent implementation is open source. BitTorrent itself does not offer a search feature to find files and makes no attempt to cover the host ultimately responsible for facilitating the sharing. Noticeably, there are several legal uses of BitTorrent protocol, such as a distribution channel of companies and individually owned or licensed materials, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), a scalable internet-based storage service, and the distribution channels of free and open source software. For that reason, this is a good opportunity for businesses to find ways to expand.

Moreover, BitTorrent could be a distribution channel for samples of music, videos or movies in order to lunch them into the market. This alternative would be a channel for internet and torrent users who might not be reached by other media. The market of both new artists and open source software would be spread through BitTorrent.

In addition, BitTorrent protocol allows the usefulness of computer and networking resources to become more effective. In replacement of using the client-server model, BitTorrent uses similar technology in the peer-to-peer method. Therefore, every computer represents peers who function both as clients as leechers and severs as seeders, who use the same torrent. As a result, a large number of files will be distributed and delivered throughout the internet without loading them onto any particular server.

New innovations or technology would be created to support the use of this innovation. As it is one of internet protocols which was innovated in order to find alternate methods of file distribution. If any technology becomes successful, the improvement or new technology will come after that success. In particular, programmers are free to take the BitTorrent source code to the program and modify it for particular purposes. The success of BitTorrent could encourage upcoming innovation. Thereafter, we will have more advanced technology in the future.

Even though BitTorrent boasts the advantages stated above, there are some disadvantages such as copyright and legal issues, computer security and networking problems, and networking resources. However, we can protect users from these disadvantages by avoiding any inappropriate websites and software and using it for a specific purpose. Furthermore, we should be aware of our own risk and protect our vulnerable data from any threats. Finally, people have a right to use any software that they want to in a proper manner. Thus, we can gain several benefits from this protocol, such as a legitimate protocol, an alternative channel of file distribution, utilization of computer and networking resources, and an innovation of internet technology.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

http://dessent.net/btfaq/

Open Source Software

“First Follow-up Paper”
By Kamakshi Samala

Open-source software refers to any computer software whose source code is available under a license or arrangement such as the public domain that permits users to study, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source software generally allows anybody to make a new version of the software, port it to new operating systems and processor architectures, share it with others or market it. The main aim of open source is to let the product be more understandable, modifiable, duplicatable, reliable, simply accessible, and be still marketable. It’s more like plug and play depending upon ones business requirements. Examples of open source licenses include Apache License, BSD license, GNU General Public License, GNU Lesser General Public License, MIT License, Eclipse Public License and Mozilla Public License.

The participants of open source software, who are mostly volunteers, are distributed amongst different geographic regions and they use tools to collaborate in source code development. Often these tools are available as open source software. Source code availability also makes it much easier to isolate bugs, and helps a programmer to fix them. By having the source code available, it is possible to perform a thorough inspection and verify the correctness of the algorithm and the implementation scheme used. Revision control systems like Concurrent Versions System (CVS) and Subversion (svn) are examples of tools that help centrally manage the source code files and they help make changes to those files for a software project. Examples of some of the successful open source projects and organizations are: Apache Software Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Java, JBoss, Linux, Mozilla Foundation, MySQL, Open-Xchange, OpenOffice.org, etc.

There are many advantages of open source software. Some of them are follows:

There is no one with the power to restrict in a unilateral way how the software is used. Such a power helps, for example, when a proprietary software vendor decides not to upgrade some software product for some old platform. In this case, customers can only stick to the old version of the software or switch to another product. If open source software is used, customers can also fund some development for the desired platform, or look for other vendors to provide the upgrades of the same product.

There is no single entity on which the future of the software depends. This is a very common concern with proprietary software. Say for example that a company uses a software product and relies on the software manufacturer for upgrades and continued development. If the software manufacturer closes doors or decides to discontinue development of the product, no one has the right to take the program and continue development on it, which would in turn kill its usability in the market. This then leads to mergers in the software market which then usually leads to cannibalization of some software product allowing just one or two to get to the market. Open source software protects against this, because if the group or company that originated the code decides to stop development, it is always possible to fund another software group to continue the maintenance and improvement, without any legal or practical limitations.

No per-copy fees can be charged for modified versions, and anyone can use the current code to start new projects. Working knowledge can be gathered at a minimal cost. This is what made internet software systems such an important factor in the new economy. Students and people trying new technologies are able to integrate and adopt them immediately, without the hurdles of commercial or non-disclosure license agreements.

There are fewer conflicting priorities due to marketing pressures. Usually open source software is delivered when it is ready, and when the development team feels that its quality is good enough. This means that software usually does not need as many service packs, updates and helps to reduce the maintenance cost. This could turn into disadvantage if a product is indefinitely delayed, or if some feature is missing one release after another. In this case, the competition between projects generally helps. If a project starts failing to meet the expectations of its users, more often new project is introduced by using the same code base, to fill this gap. This happens especially if there is market for some new features or for better quality versions of the application.

Open source software is a low cost alternative to proprietary software. If we take an example of the open source Linux operating system, it is commonly seen as a low cost alternative to Microsoft's operating system, or Sun's version of Unix. The popularity of open source is seen in the fact that today the largest market share for web servers is held by the open source Apache system. If we take the example of Microsoft, suppose when Microsoft announces a new version of its Windows Server operating system, it invariably phases out support for older versions of the system. Users who are satisfied with older versions of Windows will be eventually forced to upgrade if they want to continue receiving vendor support. In contrast, there is no forced upgrade cycle with open source. Older versions of open source products continue to be supported through the open source community and third party support providers as long as there is demand in the marketplace for such support.

When we compare open source from closed source (or proprietary) software, advocates of closed source argue that since no one is responsible for open-source software, there is no incentive or guarantee that it will be fixed, and there is nobody to take responsibility for negligence. Basically it’s argued that there is no support for open source software. To counter argue, it’s true that open source support usually consists of forums. In practice, existing users of open-source software appear perfectly happy with open-source support arrangements. The breadth of resources available for open-source applications is so great worldwide that we can get support, communicate with a developer or download a patch say within a day. Some open-source applications also have support offered by the original developers. JBoss, for example, is backed by JBoss Group, which includes the 10 core developers who wrote the application. Depending on the contract, users can obtain 24/7 professional support. Another example can be MySQL where MySQL Network offers 24/7 support by having direct access with the developers as necessary to handle problems.

I would say that for software buyers, the best strategy is to consider mature and established open source products as well as proprietary software products that adhere to open standards. In this way, buyers can choose the best software product for the job, by considering the fact that the value of their investment will be preserved without locking the organization in to a single vendor solution. If they do decide that Open Source software is right for them, then they should examine all the various software options carefully first.

• Is the software well established or is it still in its infancy?
• Are there regular updates, patches and new features?
• Is there a support forum?
• Are the support forums active?
• Do forum participants help each other out?
• Are reputable companies using the software?
• Is the documentation complete and coherent?
• What are the general costs with hiring contractors who are familiar with the software?

The bottom line is there are a number of ways to chart successful open source business strategies. Open source provides a powerful tool for getting a business on a faster revenue trajectory, for improving value, and for out-maneuvering the competition. If we consider different business models, some of the models parallel traditional commercial software; others invoke new services or businesses. Examples like Amazon, Google, Neoteris, etc. demonstrate that Linux, MySQL, and other Open Source software can even help companies that are not strictly in the software business achieve tremendous growth and profitability in a relatively short period of time.

Business managers should understand open source business strategies and determine which strategies are useful for their companies to adopt. Investors should consider the models when evaluating companies they may be considering for their portfolios. Therefore, identifying trends quickly and taking action towards adopting a right source of software would be a powerful advantage for any type of business.

Microsoft Vista Operating System

“First Position Paper”
By Kamakshi Samala

After more than five years of intensive efforts, Windows Vista is finally complete. Vista is the successor to Windows XP, the PC operating system which is currently used by over 400 million people. This new operating system is a major Windows update with lots of new functionality and features. In the words of Microsoft, it’s a new operating system which is "Confident, Clear, Connected." It's the first Windows version which provides developers with a major new programming model in ten years.
The first difference of Vista from Windows XP is Windows Aero, an entirely reworked user interface with semi-transparent windows. Microsoft has put a great effort into Vista's appearance. Its new typeface gives the program a modern feeling and subtle animations make its even more attractive. New programs include the Sidebar, a floating layer of single-purpose programs called gadgets; flip 3D presents all open windows in all programs, and visual and feature upgrades are very nice. But the more important areas of improvement are security, stability, ease of implementation, support and improved performance. Intelligent navigation and more powerful file-manipulation tools improve its efficiency.

According to Microsoft, the system requirements for Vista don’t look too daunting: 800 MHz processor with 512 MB of memory, at least 15 GB of free space on a minimum 20 GB hard drive with SVGA graphics. This clearly indicates that Microsoft is referring to the minimum specifications. But migrating one’s PC to Vista means it will need updated drivers for one’s printer, Ethernet card, audio card and other hardware and one may also have to deal with incompatible programs. Microsoft offers six versions of Vista. In all editions of Windows Vista, there are new diagnostic tools and monitors to check and report on the current status of our PC. All editions of Windows Vista include Microsoft's free antispyware application, and Windows Defender. Despite all these features, users claim that Vista runs better in computers with plenty of computing horsepower.
There should be tangible reasons to make the upgrade to Vista. Microsoft offers several reasons starting with security. The security features which are standard with Windows Vista include an improved User Account Control system and built-in malware (spyware, adware, virus) protection. But are the new security features alone enough to compel a small business to upgrade to Vista? I would say probably not, unless the small business already experienced a security breakdown.

Other features like ReadyBoost allow a Windows Vista machine to be able to use a single USB flash memory drive as a caching tool. The Windows XP Standby and Hibernate features have been replaced with a new Sleep option. It works a little differently depending on whether the computer is a desktop or laptop. In the desktop version of Sleep, anything in use is stored to both system RAM and hard drive. This would allow the computer come out of Sleep mode in around 2 to 3 seconds. For laptops, Sleep works by storing data in RAM if battery power is sufficient. When the battery power level has diminished, the data is automatically transferred to disk for protection.

There are many other operating system improvements incorporated into Windows Vista such as improved backup, new explorer tools, simplified networking, search tools, and many more. Even though there are several different versions of Vista, most small businesses will likely focus on Vista Business.

With the launch of Windows XP, Microsoft promised users a more stable operating system which they delivered. For Windows Vista, Microsoft is pointing to a more secure platform. Recalling the service packs and continual updates for Windows XP, a more secure Windows in Vista would be a welcome situation for both users and small business IT support.

Windows Vista promises enhancements that will not only improve the computing experience, but also advance mobile communication. Such features of mobility combine common notebook-focused features, a suite of enhanced security tools, and a Network and Sharing Center. Although these mobility features might tempt organizations to migrate their notebook computers ahead of their desktop PCs, but this would be an ill-advised move. Firstly, migration to Vista or any new platform promises to be a complex process. Planning and validation for a migration should be based on business requirements. Second, even the best-planned Vista migration is likely to encounter unforeseen problems that are best worked out from a fixed location, that is, from the desktop. Third, Vista's security features, even though attractive, offer nothing specific to notebooks and are nearly all available from third parties on XP. Organizations requiring near-term mobile security should better use the third-party tools than to rush and compromise with Vista migration.
Microsoft promotes Vista as a remedy to a large number of mobility challenges like power management, network awareness, offline access to important data, multiple displays, readability, etc. and these new features do make headway in these areas. Although Vista's mobility features are useful, they are not essential. None of them constitute an immediate requirement for any organization. Considering all of the new features along with the concentration on security, will small businesses allocate the necessary resources to implement Windows Vista? Some will, some won’t. For the small companies whose systems are nearing the end of their lifecycle will consider Vista. Vista is a clear improvement over Windows XP, but small businesses who have recently upgraded their system would probably wait till Windows Vista is widely adopted. As a result, organizations should resist the idea of early migration ahead of desktop computers, unless specific business issues are being addressed.

From the economic impact point of view, analysts emphasized that while Microsoft will earn a great deal of money through Vista, even more will be generated by European companies within the Microsoft "ecosystem." Some researches say that Germany, U.K., France, Denmark, Poland and Spain, which collectively account for more than 65 percent of IT spending in the European economic zone (the EU, plus Croatia, Norway and Switzerland) are representative of Europe as a whole and, for that matter, they are much of the developed world. Therefore, the launch of Windows Vista in six large European countries will create more than 50,000 technology jobs and will lead economic benefits for companies there.

The International Data Corporation (IDC), commissioned by Microsoft Corp., has released a research study that reports how the Windows Vista operating system will drive significant economic growth in the United States in its first year of shipment. It indicates that Windows Vista will provide a foundation for the information technology market moving forward, creating more than 100,000 new jobs and driving $70 billion or more in revenues for Microsoft's partners and the industry at large. The impact of Windows Vista on the U.S. market will drive substantial revenue and growth for many companies that are part of the Windows ecosystem i.e., companies that sell hardware, write software, provide IT services or serve as IT distribution channels. The study predicts that the release of Windows Vista will help more than 200,000 U.S. IT companies that will produce, sell or distribute products and services running on Windows Vista. This would also include many small and locally owned businesses. The study forecasts that each dollar of Windows Vista-related revenue earned by Microsoft in 2007 will generate more than $18 in revenue for the IT industry at large. The IDC study also shows that the Microsoft ecosystem is making a sizable investment to roll out Windows Vista worldwide. IDC expects Microsoft partners to invest approximately $10 billion in Windows Vista- related products and services between now and the end of 2007. As these products and services gain mass-market adoption over the course of the next year, IDC expects Microsoft's partners and others in the IT industry to generate more than $70 billion in revenues directly tied to Windows Vista. This includes revenue from manufacturers that sell hardware for running the new operating system, revenues for non-Microsoft software packages built to run on Windows Vista, and other services supporting Windows Vista.

The major pros of this operating system are the beautiful user interface and security improvements. The cons are the significant hardware requirements and compatibility issues with current hardware and software. Despite Microsoft assertions about the improved reliability of Vista, I would wait and see its approach. Microsoft's previous operating system, Windows XP, required two "service packs" issued over a number of years to improve security and new flaws are still routinely discovered. Therefore, the decision to upgrade the system to Windows Vista now or wait depends on the firm and the age of its PCs. Like all new operating systems, it will take time for the major bug fixes to come out (say around six to 12 months). Most likely many existing hardware devices will not work without driver updates from their manufacturers. Vista includes thousands of drivers but most of them have been created directly by Microsoft. Many hardware manufacturers do not yet have drivers available for Vista. According to a leading market intelligence firm, IDC, more than a year after the release of Windows XP, only 10 percent of the world's business community was running it. Vista is a much bigger step taken forward than XP was, and from corporation point of view, I think we can expect it to be adopted at the same rate or slower than XP.

BitTorrent to Industry and Digital Right

"My second position paper"
Posted by Nancy.
March 05, 2007.

BitTorrent was originally created and designed to solve some problems of peer-to-peer sharing of large files. This content distribution protocol was written in the Python programming language by Bram Cohen and is freely distributed under an open source license. The idea of BitTorrent is to enable other users to serve as redistribution points rather than downloading from the original server on every requesting. To share a file using BitTorrent, a user creates a .torrent file, a small file which contains: the filename, size, and the hash of each block in the file, the address of a tracker server. The torrent file can be distributed to other users, often via email or placed on a website. The BitTorrent client is then started seeding, allowing other users to connect and commence downloading. Therefore, this content will make the original server to serve more varieties of files without requiring the huge amount of bandwidth and resources.

Whenever one user completes the download, the content will turn that user as another distribution point in a group by optional reseed choice becoming an additional source for the file. The concept of BitTorrent is a fairly simple one. You can only download if you also upload. This means the more people are downloading from you, the faster you can download from other people. Downloading with BitTorrent is straightforward. Each person who wants to download the file first downloads the torrent and opens it in the BitTorrent client software. The torrent file tells the client the address of the tracker.

Additional features and Rundown Clients

Currently, BitTorrent was added features called multi-tracker and trackerless Torrent. The first feature has multiple trackers in one torrent. This way, if one tracker failed, the others can continue supporting file transfer whereas trackerless is something of a misnomer. Trackerless based on the decentralized or distributed tracking of DHTs (Distributed Hash Tables) essentially treats every peer in the swarm as a tracker.

There are many clients offering different features and service for BitTorrent. Some of them offer more details and some have more functionalities. The rundown examples of 4 major clients are such as the Official Client, Azureus, BitTornado, and BitComet.

The Official Client is originally produced by BitTorrent.com. Howevere, it lacks of features found in other clients but can handle multiple download with no problem.

Azureus is a java-based client, which is pretty new in BitTorrent clients but provides a BitTorrent protocol implementation and offers multiple torrent downloads.

BitTornado, a very similar look of the Official Client, is one of the most popular clients. It is quite functional and easy to use. You can also change IP settings and ports and perform other operations with one or two clicks of the GUI.

BitComet has more functionalities like fast-resume, chatting, disk cache, speed limits, port mapping, proxy, and IP-filter which allow user to check or non-check the contents before the download begins.

BitTorrent is a relatively new way of sharing large amounts of data. Generally the users today are mainly professional who have technological knowledge in information system. In the future, clients would be getting, easier to use, track, and access by people who do not have a great amount of knowledge on this technology. Using the BitTorrent will help internet surfers to reach the large size of material whenever they want.

Impact to Industry and Digital Right

BitTorrent’s popularity has grown exponentially in the past couple years. The advantage of this P2P protocol as mentioned earlier allow people to freely use for sharing and downloading material including the copyrighted music, movies and TV shows so easy. This has caused complaints from the producers of TV shows and film industry due to the illegal distributions. Since it is hard to control posted on web servers and client tracker, the risk of being sued or even arrested is a big disadvantage on using BitTorrent, and other similar programs. Being spread out the internet for free with BitTorrent is where the copyright conflict comes up and leads to legal issue of Digital Right and Piracy.

According to The New York Times on February 26, 2007; BitTorrent Inc. has done agreements with more than 35 entertainment companies to offer their content to run a download service. The options are both offering the purchase of ownership which can be played up to 2 players or rental with variable range. BitTorrent will also use digital rights management (DRM) technology from Microsoft to prevent protected content from being redistributed on the Internet or played on a different PC from illegal file trading.

From my perspective the introduction of the BitTorrent technology these borders have been more or less removed benefiting the free information flow between different parts of the world. The BitTorrent technology gives a person any other part of the world the possibility to take part of information presented. In addition this technology is a cheap and reliable way for distribution of material.

I believe that problems of the legal aspects and illegal file sharing can be resolved soon like another situation. For example, we wouldn’t stop using computers because of virus but we invented the anti-virus program. My side is that how can we use the advantages of the BitTorrent technology to find new opportunity and make it even better. And how can we improve and get rid of weakness to make this protocol much more effective. Today it is just the beginning of a minor revolution regarding data sharing. In the future, I believe that it will probably find new areas where the BitTorrent technique can be used with a great success.

Open Source Software for Business

"My first follow-up paper"
Posted by Nancy.
March 05, 2007.

Many debates surrounding what is best to a company, open source software or closed source commercial software continue to rage. Open source software means the source code that is available to anyone who wants it, and can be examined, changed, and used to write additional programming. Open source supporters claim that it saves money, has huge community supporting, and is able to develop more add-on features. But the question remains: is it the best way for business? We will discuss in more details.

I am also a fan of open source software and has experienced on many of them for a long time. I saw the incremental numbers of new applications, their development, and each community’s growth. Until now I have found that the open source software is all around, and many of them make a best deal. In my personal opinion, open source software is worth and attractive to try individually. However, I couldn’t totally agree with the idea that open source software is the appropriate choice for business. Even free or cheaper cost might seem to be a given, what else should it be considered to choose the software for the company? Is there any issue should we concern more on open source codes? If so, why? And if not, why do so many have that perception?

Cost Advantage:

Most people think open source is free of charge, but that’s not necessarily the case. Actually, there are both free version and enterprise version that could cost you from a few to a few thousand dollars. For example, RedHat Enterprise Linux premium edition lists at $2499 for Intel x86, up to $18,000 for IBM S/390. Although most of core of Open Source software is free and can really cut down on your initial capital outlay, total cost of this perspective may not be totally right. Let’s take a closer look. Your choices can have higher cost of installation, operation and maintenance, technical support, and training services. The hidden costs as stated would free or less for the commercial software since they were forced to configure their products for easy installation, operation and maintenances In addition, they will mostly include training and supporting from their vendors.

What is the second order effect from open source software in terms of cost? Time consuming to fix the problems and uncontrollability of your performance could be considered. Whenever you are in trouble and could not have it fixed fast enough, it will lead to uncontrollability issue. If that issue is big enough to stop some of your other processes, it may rip some extra cost or your reputation. As the result, perhaps they end up costing more.

Supporting Issues:

Whenever you find an annoying bug in an Open Source application or when something goes wrong, who you can count on and who you could call. You may need assistance with, but you may not get it without paying someone to fix it. Even with general questions, if you take a look at many forums that act as support centers of Open Software applications, you will see that it is not unusual for questions to go unanswered. Even though you try to retrieve to get the answer or figure it out for yourself, there is no single source information out there. You may be wasting your time until finally be able get the right solution for your problem.

In addition, the Open Source community does not have a legal obligation to answer your questions and there is no warranty if some of them ruin or cause damages to your system. On the other hand, if you are using commercial software, the vendor has an obligation to assist you in a timely manner. Most of well-run commercial software companies will immediately turn around customer requests for enhancements, especially where security bugs are involved.

Perhaps another choice for you to avoid the supporting issue if you really want to use some open source software is to consider the service of the commercial Open Source software. There are many vendors that offer the implementing version with supporting in packages. JBoss is one of them that provide excellent technical services and solutions within the average of 3 hours. However, if you pick this choice, the concept of using open source software is not about the cost concern at all, but it is about the quality of the software itself.

Variety of Open Source Software:

Wow!!! There are so many varieties of Open Source Application out there. It seems like we could have the whole organization as a monopoly Open Source station. But how can we tell which one is good and ready for long term usage? As mentioned, some Open Source software projects can have huge communities of programmers involved, allowing for the rapid implementation of new features and security fixes. The communities of users and programmers are also invaluable resources for asking questions relating to troubleshooting and suggesting enhancements. Therefore, to have the right choice is not only you knew what type of software you want to pick from the basket but also need to know how well of implementation of this software is.

Many Open Source software projects out there stall and extinct. Some of them have very slow response for development, especially when a project is started without strong backing from one or more companies. If it is not possible to get funding or enough programmers cooperating at this stage, the project is just vanished, or perhaps slowly fades out. Sometimes it is hardly to tell the current status of a project. One factor that may use to monitor is the movement of its community. Whenever there is the updating status, report, or plan of releasing, this project still maintains in a good spot.

Feature Development & its Capability:

It is obvious that most Open Source software has more restricted, poor interactive capabilities, less features, and difficulty to use. For example, Open Office which has been launched into a market for a while and was promoted to have the advantages of lower system requirement, boot up time and file storing size comparing to Microsoft office suite, are still struggling in the fact that they have less interactive features and poor visual graphic. For Word and Excel in Open Office suites, you hardly tell any differences comparing to Microsoft Office in basic user level. However, PowerPoint in Open Office is far more behind than in Microsoft Office. Another thing to concern is about file format compatibility and familiarity of users. These problems would occur if you plan to share or use the same file among a group of people.

According to this issue, you may see the reason why those interactive packages in Windows like Adobe PhotoShop, Visual Studio, Microsoft Word and others have GUIs of extraordinary breadth and depth. All accomplished with care and attention to hundreds of thousands of details of the user interaction.

Since the Open Source software was basically built to support specific tasks, most of them may require the technical background or some degree of expertise from users. Open source packages tend to be written by programmers/engineers for other programmers/engineers and for many of them it is accepted that ordinary function will involve creation of configuration files, written scripts, or actual edit and recompile on the source code. Therefore, those programs were written by assuming the modifications will be made by experienced users in this particular area.

Up to this point, perhaps somebody wants to jump in and take the feature adding job. Can we just develop code and add feature that we want? Actually you can, but it does not mean that you will get a vote from community. Limitation of the Open Source Software (free one) is that you need the support of community in exchanges. Sometimes what they want is not what you need and what you need is not really what they want to do right now. Therefore some single requests sometimes are not fully accomplished.

Security Issues:

One of the most important concerns on using Open Source software is the security problem. In terms of security subject, it obvious that having the Open Source code available has both advantages and disadvantages. Vulnerabilities may be found and exploited more easily, if they’re found by the wrong people. However, they may also be fixed more quickly, if they’re found by the right people.

Some said since code is opened, there is no challenge at all for hackers. They would aim to the closed source targets that would be more challenge with higher market penetration like Microsoft products. For my opinion, whether or not the source code is open is probably one of the least important factors. It is all about what is attracted them to do so. Safety or not also depends on the number of developer in community and the popularity of the software itself. However, on the average, this choice will add on another uncertainty to your business processes.

Conclusion:

Open Source software will be remained in the software community as an alternative choice for computer users as long as there are rooms for software development in the market. Even though it offers benefits including availability with less cost than most of commercial software and allows users to study, change, and improve the software for their personal interest, many issues such as higher hidden cost, higher degree of proficient users required to install and operate the software, and security/legal issues still linger when it is considered for business application. However, by adopting proprietary/commercial software and stop using Open Source software may not be a final answer.

For academic industry, technical/software development or other related industry, it may be an elegant choice because those industries focus on software developing issues. Whether it will be integrated and implemented into a company IT structure are needed to consider on a case-by-case basis. If Open Source software is well matured and the nature of the company is suitable for some specific applications with availability of the experienced employee support, using Open Source will be effective and liable.

For typical business that time consuming and practicalities are more important, commercial software may be good enough. In some cases, combining both of the proprietary and good quality open source software is also a good choice. Whatever it is, the final decision could be given by main criteria and policy of each company and its benefit.

Smart Company Towards Microsoft Vista

"My first position paper"
Posted by Nancy.
Feb 05, 2007.

At the public launch of Vista, a speech in New York by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stated that Vista Operating System will this time be recognized as a leap past Windows XP and will be a key to the era we are approaching with tons of recognition features. The Vista improvement is not just far more security but most likely to cite the accumulating ability of the digital content uses. As the result, this effort take Microsoft to step up closer to being a digital hub along with handful partners and vendors-- AMD, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, etc. among others.

From the consumer point of views, Vista is the new way to do Windows’s jobs. Photos that were trapped on the hard drive could transmit wirelessly to places around your house through the digital frames and Wi-Fi network. Music and movies can be shot wirelessly to multiple devices without the same old problem of copy protection which has been fixed by Windows Media 11, the technology inside Vista. Up to this point, I found that many new Vista features are already in Mac OS X. However, does it really matter to PC users who came up with those features first as long as Windows operating system is more user friendly? In my opinion, the improvement of technology would reward users no matter who create or develop this technology. Unless PC users have joined the Apple camp, thereafter their new machines will be running Vista.

Nowadays there are more than 90 percent of world wide businesses that their computer networks are running on Microsoft Windows products. Trend of Vista will sooner or later be the next operating systems for most office workstations that have used the Windows platform. For companies, Vista adds new benefits and, in the long run, will make computing easier, faster, and a lot more fun. However, rushing to adopt Vista immediately may not seem likely to be a good choice at this time. In smart companies, IS/IT leaders should aware of those following issues before upgrading or changing their whole new systems.

The potential security hole is one of many issues that were just discovered in the online blogger discussion. The speech recognition flaw generated the new term “Shout Hacking”. Even though it might be easily resolved by disable this feature, this problem may discredit the new launched OS more or less. Microsoft did not consider this as a big problem and also recommended users who concern about this issue to turn off the speech recognition feature or shut down Window Media Player if they encounter a file that try to execute the voice command on their systems (refer to Shout Hacking, InfoWorld 02/01/2007).

Another issue is the incomplete support for Windows Vista in terms of both hardware and software from lead vendors. Many of them could not tell when they will complete new operating system drivers or update their old products. Unbelievably, not all manufacturers are ready for video and sound cards that support Vista highlighted features. In addition, Vista is costly in term of money and time investment. If your company really wants to go with this choice, you’d better ask yourself that “Are you ready to spend huge money to buy or upgrade you workstation and systems to optimize Vista?”, or “Have your teams been ready to configure everything including loading data, installing their applications and getting peripherals working?”

Despite Window XP after years of services, I believed that it will not be obsolete and still has an industry-wide support. According to Computer World Newsletter issued on January 25, 2007, it was reported that, by the end of this year, XP will be installed on 77.1% of all PCs worldwide and Vista on just 12.3%. Of course, these numbers will eventually be switched but it may take a certain period of time. That means the industry will make sure their computer networks still work great on XP platform. As the result, the organization would not have an impact within a few years. On the other hand, companies should take this opportunity to planning ahead on switching XP to new upcoming operating systems (if they want) including training and planning to upgrade new system since Windows Vista contains totally new functions and require an optimized station to run.

In summary, Vista is a cool operating system in the digital world that technology lovers individually should once give it a try. In corporate point of views, there are more than just how powerful this operating system is to be considered. The most important thing is whether this technology change will make an impact on how the company is run and how much benefit will be received. Vista not only requires user knowledge, powerful workstation, and compatible peripherals but also more money to upgrade the existing system that is currently performed. In addition, for now, this new launched OS does not stand in the solid position as XP does. Therefore Vista should be an eye catching OS that still need a period of time to prove how efficient it is and adapt toward the organization growth. The fact that Microsoft has still continue working on XP and will release the service package 3 next year is clearly evidenced to a company using XP that there should not be any problems causing from using XP soon. My perspective to a corporate level is that we should stay a little bit longer with what we have while use a plenty of time to plan on training your staff and managing an IT budget for this new system.