Here First - Science and Technology Blog

BMW, located in Markham, Ontario, used over the years a variety of Microsoft products for its information technology infrastructure. Now the auto dealership, with the help of an IT outsourcing consultant, has slipped a Linux appliance into the mix that has eliminated difficulties with viruses, incompatibility, and security. The dealership also uses the Reynolds and Reynolds management system, which allows the service department to access inventory and parts databases. Not only that, but a separate accounting system handles financial issues and other internal operations. "When we first approached Town and Country, they pointed out their requirement to meet BMW's corporate secure network access requirements," says John Gray of Bentor Technologies, a Canadian IT consultant. "We also had to support an open link in the customer lounge, with secure access to the Internet." That prompted Bentor to begin looking at Linux boxes for its customers. Those customers had to h...

In its bid to repair the damage to Vista's image, Microsoft will be restructuring the company by splitting its Platform & Services division into a dedicated Windows & Windows Live division and a separate Online Services division. Besides that, Apple was singled out to be the primary focus of the Windows team noting that both the desktop operating system as well as Windows Mobile provide a choice of hardware but aren't as tightly integrated as Mac OS X or iPhone and thus suffer for it. Microsoft also plans to improve PCs' experiences with cloud computing, or the integration of PCs with Internet platforms, as well as to wage a "long-term battle" in search versus Google.