A patch shrouded in mystery

Later today, Microsoft is expected to release a security patch that is believed to address vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. I say "believed" because Microsoft has taken the highly unusual step of forbidding the development team from commenting on the measures until after the patch is released.

So right now, all we have are rumors, educated guesses, and our own imagination. I suspect that this could be a big problem with a signature problem. What other reason could cause this kind of behavior from the boys and girls in Redmond?

Oracle raises prices again

Despite the unassailable growth of low-cost and open-source database solutions, Oracle (ORCL: NASDAQ) commands a huge share of the enterprise class database market. It's no surprise to me that they are looking for ways to capitalize on this by raising prices on ancillary products. The basic entry point for their database software hasn't changed much. But add-ons such as Tuning Pack and Diagnostic Pack have seen jumps by as much as 40%.

Will large businesses be willing to pay these prices? I think so. The improvements in performance gained by the effective use of these tools will more than justify the cost. And when making a purchasing decision, companies don't often look at what the price used to be -- that information isn't often available anyway. They look at the current need, the current solution, and the current expectations of benefit. So, Oracle has made a smart play here. By keeping the cost of entry competitive, they have placed a bet on getting more value out of the products that make their core product even better. This will make their core products even harder to displace, and help to fortify their position in the market.

Current Pricing from Oracle
Other insights from the blogosphere

Microsoft acknowledges IE attacks

If you're still using Internet 6 or 7, then take a look at the article linked below. Microsoft has confirmed that hackers are exploiting a vulnerability in those versions. "A user needs to be lured to navigate to a malicious Web site or a compromised legitimate Web site to be affected ... [but] no further user interaction is needed," according to Chengyun Chu, of the Microsoft Security Response Center's engineering team.

I found IE 7 to be substandard. But version 8 has proven to be pretty good. So make it a point to get your firm's PC's updated as soon as possible.

Credit where credit is due:
Microsoft confirms attack via ComputerWorld

Making Testing Cheaper

Testing is expensive. Of course, unless your code is perfect, then not testing is even more expensive. One of the barriers to entry is, naturally, the creation of the testing environment. Ideally, you want it to be robust enough to handle thorough testing, but you don't want to break the bank on it.

Well, here's an interesting idea ...
Why not rent the environment? Get cheap virtual machine space from any one of a variety of vendors and use that as your test bed. The space will be far more reliable than anything you'd maintain on your own and it's fairly easy to scale its capacity back when circumstances allow.

Contact me if you'd like to learn more about this concept.

I didn't come up with this idea on my own ...
The Cloud's Next Big Thing