Google has found itself in hot water with the open source community by reneging on a promise it made regarding Istio.
Istio is a “mesh service,” a critical piece of cloud architecture that ensures all the various microservices that comprise a cloud platform work together. Google developed Istio, and it quickly became one of the most popular mesh services available, supported by a wide array of companies. Part of this popularity came from the boost IBM gave Istio, when they merged their own Amalgam8 mesh service into Google’s project and joined forces with search giant to promote Istio.
The controversy is surrounding Google’s 2017 promise to turn Istio over to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Instead, the company has decided to turn over control to the Open Usage Commons (OUC), a brand-new, open source organization Google created, and then announced on July 8. Needless to say, this bait-and-switch has not sat well with the open source community.
“Today’s announcement by Google of the creation of the Open Usage Commons (OUC) is disappointing because it doesn’t live up to the community’s expectation for open governance,” writes IBM’s Jason McGee. “An open governance process is the underpinning of many successful projects. Without this vendor-neutral approach to project governance, there will be friction within the community of Kubernetes-related projects.
“At the project’s inception, there was an agreement that the project would be contributed to the CNCF when it was mature. IBM continues to believe that the best way to manage key open source projects such as Istio is with true open governance, under the auspices of a reputable organization with a level playing field for all contributors, transparency for users, and vendor-neutral management of the license and trademarks. Google should reconsider their original commitment and bring Istio to the CNCF.”
These are strong words from Google’s Istio partner and should cause the company to reconsider its position. Google has spent years earning the goodwill of the open source community, something this debacle is quickly undoing.
An issue with Facebook had far-reaching consequences, taking down some of the biggest names in iOS apps.
Spotify, Pinterest, TikTok, Tinder and Call of Duty Mobile, along with many others, were all offline beginning Friday morning. The issue was tracked down to the Facebook iOS SDK that all of these apps rely on. The Facebook SDK helps integrate Facebook into an iOS app, and provides access to Facebook Analytics, Facebook Login, App Events, Graph API and sharing options.
Facebook’s developers acknowledged the SDK was the source of the problem, and worked to quickly fix it.
“We are aware and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.”
Later that morning, Facebook’s developers had identified and fixed the issue.
“Earlier today, a code change triggered crashes for some iOS apps using the Facebook SDK. We identified the issue quickly and resolved it. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
TSMC has reported its earnings and things are looking good for the semiconductor manufacturer.
TSMC is currently benefiting from multiple industry trends. The global pandemic has increased demand for datacenters as companies are turning to the cloud to continue running.
Similarly, US officials have placed greater emphasis on in-country semiconductor manufacturing, as the pandemic showed the dangers of relying solely on overseas manufacturing. Capitalizing on that, TSMC announced its plans to build a semiconductor factory in Arizona
While not immediately benefiting TSMC, another factor that should help it in the long run is Apple’s decision to move Macs from Intel chips to custom silicon. TSMC already makes the custom silicon in Apple’s iPhones and iPads. It stands to reason TSMC will likely handle the chip manufacturing for Apple’s Macs as well.
As a result of these various factors, according to Bloomberg, TSMC “reported sales of NT$120.88 billion ($4.1 billion) for June on Friday. That likely means TSMC’s revenue grew about 29% to NT$310.7 billion last quarter, based on previously reported figures, beating the NT$308.8 billion analysts expect on average.”
It’s likely TSMC will continue to rise, both in the short and long-term. These various factors will also help offset lost business from Huawei, as the US has greatly restricted TSMC’s second-largest customer.
The UK and Australia have announced a joint investigation into Clearview AI—to cheers of privacy advocates the world over.
Clearview quickly made a name for itself as a facial recognition firm that had scraped billions of images from millions of websites. Ignoring platform policies and user agreements, Clearview even scraped images from the top social media companies, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Things only got worse from there, as the company was found to be monitoring police searches to discourage them from talking to journalists. Despite repeatedly insisting it only sold its software to law enforcement and security personnel, information came to light showing the company had allowed investors and friends to access and use the platform as their own plaything. To top it off, Clearview began selling its software to authoritarian regimes.
It seems the UK and Australia have had enough, as “the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have opened a joint investigation into the personal information handling practices of Clearview AI Inc., focusing on the company’s use of ‘scraped’ data and biometrics of individuals.”
This is further bad news for the company, but great news for the average consumer and privacy advocate alike.
The US is ramping up its pressure on Chinese firms, with plans to ban any government contractor from using equipment from five companies.
Huawei, Hikvision, Hytera Communications Corp, ZTE and Dahua are the five companies that are expected targets of the new regulations. As Reuters points out, the five companies cross a variety of tech sectors. Huawei and ZTE are well-known smartphone and wireless equipment makers. Hikvision and Dahua are top camera and surveillance equipment vendors, and Hytera Communications Corp makes two-way radios.
If this regulation should pass, it will have far-reaching impacts on the tech industry and government contractors. Each contractor will have to prove they are not using any equipment, goods or services from any of the blacklisted companies, not to mention the cost incurred in replacing any equipment they were using.
This is just the latest escalation in the battle between the US and Chinese companies, which officials accuse of being a national security risk. This move will likely have an impact on US/China relations, and could well lead to retaliation on the part of Beijing.
Zoom has taken the next step toward world domination of the video conferencing market by offering hardware as a service (HaaS).
As the pandemic has forced companies and individuals to change how they work and communicate, Zoom has become the clear favorite among video conferencing platforms. Although it has stumbled with some security issues, it has quickly resolved those and continued moving forward.
Now Zoom is launching its HaaS for US customers, offering a high-quality Zoom Phone, as well as hardware for Zoom Rooms, such as wide-angle cameras and touchscreen displays.
“Amazing hardware partnerships are a key part of Zoom’s ecosystem,” says Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom. “With many people globally coping with today’s unique challenges, easy access to hardware is critical for offices, distance learning, telehealth, and more. Zoom Hardware as a Service will help users adapt to new work-from-anywhere environments by making it easier than ever before to get access to the latest and greatest hardware for Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone. “
“Hardware as a Service is a game-changer that addresses key IT challenges of heavy upfront hardware costs, complex deployments, high-touch support, and cumbersome device lifecycle management,” says Roopam Jain, Industry Director, Unified Communications and Collaboration at Frost and Sullivan. “It enables flexible and cost-effective OPEX-based end-to-end deployments that future proof technology investments, allowing business users to leverage cutting-edge communications.”
Launching Zoom HaaS is the next logical step, and allows the company to better control the user experience by taking low-quality cameras, computers and other equipment out of the equation. This will improve the overall experience for customers and likely improve brand loyalty.
Apple plans to continue using Thunderbolt, despite moving away from Intel to their own custom processors.
At WWDC 2020, Apple unveiled its plans to replace Intel with its own ARM-based silicon that it has been using in the iPhone and iPad for years. The iPad Pro, in particular, is a good example of the promise a Mac based on those chips would offer. Even though it is faster than the majority of PC laptops on the market, the iPad delivers that performance without a single fan and still provides a full day of battery life.
One big question has been whether Apple would continue supporting Thunderbolt on the new machines, which are slated to begin rolling out by the end of the year. The interface was originally developed by Intel, with the help of Apple. In fact, Intel just announced new details about the upcoming Thunderbolt 4.
It appears there is no cause for concern among Mac users heavily invested in Thunderbolt peripherals. In a statement to TechCrunch, Apple doubled down on its commitment to the interface:
“Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon.”
This is good news for Mac users, as well as Intel. Ongoing support by Apple will help drive adoption, while Mac users will be able to continue using the devices they already own.
Slack has announced it has acquired Rimeto, a company that has revolutionized business directory software.
Rimeto offers a unique approach to business directories, upgrading the concept from a bland list of names and contact info. Instead, Rimeto pulls information from across a company to develop a rich profile of each employee, including what projects they’ve worked on, what customers they’ve interacted with, their skills, experience and more.
Slack is especially interested in this technology during the pandemic, as employees are struggling to stay connected with their coworkers.
“If there’s one thing we’ve heard over and over from our customers and employees alike during the pandemic, it’s that people are struggling to stay connected,” writes the Slack Team. “We all want to understand the people we work with and have context around their lives. Employees with weak social ties to their colleagues aren’t as happy or productive as employees at companies with a thriving, healthy culture.”
Integrating Rimeto with Slack is a natural fit, and will significantly improve Slack’s profile and directory features. At the same time, Slack intends to keep offering Rimeto as a standalone product and continue supporting their existing customers.
This is good news for all parties. Slack will see a significant boost to their directory features, while Rimeto and their customers will likely benefit from the additional resources Slack brings to the table.
DocuSign has acquired Liveoak Technologies in an effort to offer remote notarization services to customers.
As an unprecedented number of individuals are working from home and companies are conducting business remotely, the ability to sign documents remotely is more important than ever. Unfortunately, notarization is a weak point in the process, often still requiring in-person dealings.
DocuSign is working to change that with the acquisition of Liveoak. The two companies previously had a partnership, integrating DocuSign’s eSignature into Liveoak’s platform. With the acquisition, DocuSign will use Liveoak’s technology to rollout DocuSign Notary, a remote notary service that will use video concerning to enable legally binding, notarized transactions. State laws are increasingly recognizing these kind of agreements, and the pandemic is likely to drive further adoption.
“DocuSign is practically synonymous with the electronic completion of agreements from almost anywhere, on almost any device,” said DocuSign COO, Scott Olrich. “But there is an important class of high-value agreements that require the live participation of a notary or other representative. With this acquisition, we intend to bring the DocuSign experience to those agreements too—so signers and those assisting can get business done no matter where they are.”
“Given the state of technology today, people often wonder why they still need to sign any document in-person—and the pandemic has only exacerbated this concern,” said Liveoak CEO, Tim Ramza. “We’ve been working to solve this very issue for years, and we’ve had a strong partnership with DocuSign as a result. By joining forces and fully integrating our solutions now, we can bring the ease and simplicity of DocuSign to the execution of notarized and other complex assisted agreements.”
DocuSign Notary is the next evolution of electronic document signing, and will help address one of the pain points associated with contracts and transactions.
The Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2019 (EARN IT Act) has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee after addressing concerns about weakening encryption.
The EARN IT Act is aimed at protecting children and eliminating online sexual abuse. Many critics, however, were afraid the bill went too far in weakening encryption that law-abiding users rely on.
The bill addresses the Section 230 protections that limit the liability companies incur from the actions of users on their platforms. In order to maintain their protections, the original bill called for companies to follow mandatory “best practices” outlined by a commission of experts. Many companies and critics warned that these “best practices” could require companies to weaken industry-standard encryption, leaving them little recourse.
Senator Graham filed an amendment that waters down that provision of the bill, specifically changing the “best practices” to recommendations rather than requirements. In addition, according to The Verge, Senator Patrick Leahy filed an amendment—that was approved—that would “exclude encryption” as a factor that would increase a company’s liability.
The bill will now move to the Senate floor for a vote by the entire body.
Following a six month grace period, California has begun enforcing its new privacy regulation, effective July 1.
The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) was signed into law on January 1. Similar to the EU’s GDPR, the CCPA is a robust set of laws designed to protect individual privacy and give consumers more control over the data companies collect about them. Companies were given a six month grace period before enforcement began, but that grace period ended on June 30.
The CCPA likely impacts more companies than many realize. It directly applies to companies that do $25 million in annual revenue, companies that derive at least half of their revenue from selling their customers’ data or companies that collect data on at least 50,000 individuals.
Potential penalties are high enough to ensure compliance. Non-intentional violations could cost as much as $2,500 per incident, while intentional violations could cost as much as $7,500.
While many companies have struggled to be ready for the new law, privacy advocates have praised it for protecting the interests of consumers.
Google is pushing back its plans to reopen offices amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.
CEO Sundar Pichai had previously stated that offices would open on July 6. In recent weeks, however, several states have seen significant increases in the number of cases, with some also seeing increased hospitalizations.
As a result, Google has pushed back its reopening date, saying that offices will remain closed until at least September 7. According to Bloomberg, Chris Rackow, Vice President of Global Security, informed employees via a memo.
“While conditions do vary from state to state, we need to see that the U.S. outlook as a whole is stable before we move forward,” wrote Rackow. “As the recent resurgence of cases demonstrates, Covid-19 is still very much alive in our communities.”
Many experts have said the pandemic would forever change how companies do business and interact with their employees. Some companies, such as Twitter, have said they plan on allowing employees to work from home forever.
Only time will tell if Google is able to meet its new September 7 deadline, or if the pandemic will push it back even further.
Comcast has become the first ISP to join Mozilla’s initiative and “provide Firefox users with private and secure encrypted Domain Name System (DNS) services through Mozilla’s Trusted Recursive Resolver (TRR) Program.”
Mozilla has been one of the companies on the forefront of protecting user privacy. One of the areas they have been focusing on is encrypting DNS traffic, which helps protect browsing activity from collection, interception or manipulation. For this to work, however, it requires partner companies to agree to standard rules about how data is collected, protected and used.
While companies like Cloudflare and NextDNS have signed on to Mozilla’s TRR Program, Comcast is the first ISP to sign on.
“We’re proud to be the first ISP to join with Mozilla to support this important evolution of DNS privacy. Engaging with the global technology community gives us better tools to protect our customers, and partnerships like this advance our mission to make our customers’ internet experience more private and secure,” said Jason Livingood, Vice President, Technology Policy and Standards at Comcast Cable.
“Comcast has moved quickly to adopt DNS encryption technology and we’re excited to have them join the TRR program,” said Eric Rescorla, Firefox CTO. “Bringing ISPs into the TRR program helps us protect user privacy online without disrupting existing user experiences. We hope this sets a precedent for further cooperation between browsers and ISPs.”
This is good news for Comcast and Firefox users. Hopefully Comcast won’t be the last ISP to sign on with Mozilla’s TRR Program.
Apple has acquired Fleetsmith, the creator of a device management solution that helps companies manage their Apple devices.
According to the company’s site, their solution “automates device setup, intelligence, patching, and security, for your company’s Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.”
In a blog post, co-founders Kenneth Kouot and Zack Blum, as well as Jesse Endahl write:
We’re thrilled to join Apple. Our shared values of putting the customer at the center of everything we do without sacrificing privacy and security, means we can truly meet our mission, delivering Fleetsmith to businesses and institutions of all sizes, around the world.
The acquisition will likely be a big help to Apple as their devices continue to gain popularity in the enterprise. Fleetsmith will give them a viable first-party device management option to offer customers.
Another day, another attack on the encryption standards that protect every single person using the internet and computing devices.
Senators Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Marsha Blackburn introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act in a bid “to bolster national security interests and better protect communities.”
It’s hard to tell whether the authors are trying to attack encryption, or if they simply don’t understand how it works…or both. Either way, the result is the same: This legislation will gut the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) billions of people rely on.
Case in point:
“After law enforcement obtains the necessary court authorizations, they should be able to retrieve information to assist in their investigations. Our legislation respects and protects the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans,” says Graham.
Similarly:
”This bill will ensure law enforcement can access encrypted material with a warrant based on probable cause and help put an end to the Wild West of crime on the Internet,” said Cotton.
The announcement specifically states:
“Encryption is vital to securing user communications, data storage, and financial transactions. Yet increasingly, technology providers are deliberately designing their products and services so that only the user, and not law enforcement, has access to content – even when criminal activity is clearly taking place. This type of ‘warrant-proof’ encryption adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user, but it is a serious benefit for those who use the internet for illicit purposes.”
These statements ignore some of the basic facts involved in the encryption debate. Let’s break this down.
All of the above statements place a great deal of emphasis on a warrant. The encryption debate has never been about tech companies’ willingness or unwillingness to abide by a warrant. The issue, plain and simple, is that you cannot have strong encryption that has backdoors. Experts have been warning about the dangers of weakening encryption for years. They’ve done so here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here and here, as well as countless other places too numerous to list.
Ultimately, this is not a case where these senators can ‘have their cake and eat it too.’ Either everyone has strong encryption that protects them, or no one does. Even these senators rely on encryption to conduct their business. Signal is widely considered to be the most secure messaging app on the planet, in large part because of the type of encryption this legislation targets. It is so secure that the Senate specifically encourages Senate staff to use Signal.
Yet this legislation is so dangerous to the very type of encryption that Signal relies on that the company has already warned that, if it passes, Signal will likely stop being available in the US altogether.
Again, either everyone has strong encryption or no one does…including the senators targeting encryption.
The legislation wrongly asserts that companies fail to cooperate with law enforcement, “even when criminal activity is clearly taking place.” Again, this is not a matter of intentionally failing to cooperate; it is a technical impossibility.
Companies simply cannot create strong encryption that can simultaneously be accessed at will, either by the company, law enforcement or anyone else. In many cases, such as Apple, companies cooperate as much as they possibly can, but they cannot change the laws of physics.
The assertion that “‘warrant-proof’ encryption adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user” ignores how the technology is frequently used by the “ordinary user.” The fact is, E2EE protects private communication, securing text messages, video chats, emails and voice calls, ensuring people can communicate without fear.
Businesses rely on E2EE on a daily basis to ensure they can freely discuss internal matters without fear of corporate eavesdropping and espionage. Victims of abuse often rely on these services to communicate with loved ones without their abuser being able to find them. Journalists and activists in areas ruled by oppressive regimes rely on E2EE for their very lives.
The announcement cites several examples where E2EE thwarted attempts by law enforcement. While true, the question remains: How is that different from any other technology?
One example encryption proponents cite is shredder manufacturers. Do these companies have to create shredders that reconstitute a document just because some bad actors use paper shredders to cover their tracks? Of course not. While some do use shredders to cover illegal activity, the vast majority of individuals use them for perfectly legal reasons.
The same is true of E2EE. There will always be those who use any technology for illegal, immoral and unethical reasons. The vast majority, however, will use it as it was intended, for perfectly legal activity.
If passed, however, this new legislation will punish the whole on behalf of the few.
As we previously reported, Tim Cook announced what many had predicted: The Mac is officially moving to Apple’s custom silicon.
Apple has been rumored to be moving working on moving the Mac to ARM processors for years, especially as Intel has struggled to keep up with industry developments. In many ways, Apple’s current situation mirrors the situation it found itself in with its last line of chips, the PowerPC semiconductors.
Apple’s Semiconductor History
Used by the AIM alliance (Apple, IBM and Motorola), PowerPC was a RISC-based architecture that had a number of advantages over Intel and other x86 lines. Ultimately, however, Motorola and IBM fell behind Intel, in terms of development and processor speed. Regardless of how much more advanced the PowerPC chips may have been, Intel’s sheer processing speed eventually surpassed it.
To make matters worse, IBM was never able to solve the issues with heat. This was especially evident with the PowerPC G5 line of chips. While extremely powerful for desktop computing, it could never be used in a laptop, consuming too much power and producing too much heat.
After several years of falling behind, at the mercy of IBM and Motorola, Apple jumped ship to Intel. Once again, however, Apple is in the same boat. Intel has been struggling to keep up with demand and the move to 10nm processors, leaving room for its old rival, AMD, to make significant headway.
To make matters even worse, Apple has had issues with some recent MacBook Pro models not being able to sustain high-speed operations because of the heat generated by the Intel processors. Instead, the machines have had to throttle their performance, in some cases making top-end models run slower than low-end and mid-level MacBook Pros.
ARM Chips To the Rescue
The game-changing element for Apple is the rise of ARM chips, which the company uses in its iPhones and iPads. Arm Holding, the creator of ARM processors, was originally a joint venture between Apple and Acorn, before ultimately being acquired by SoftBank.
Unlike Intel or AMD, Arm doesn’t manufacture its own chips. Instead, it designs and licenses them for its customers to manufacture on their own. The company offers different license level, some of which allow customers to modify the designs to better suit their needs.
Apple, however, has the broadest license of all, essentially allowing it to do whatever it wants with Arm’s designs. The results are industry-leading chips that provide unrivaled performance. Case in point is Apple’s recent iPhone SE. Despite having an under-clocked A13 Bionic chip, it significantly outperforms flagship Android phones.
What’s more, Apple’s manufacturing process has been able to keep up with the demand for iPhones and iPads, which far exceed its Mac base. As a result, the writing has been on the wall for some time that Apple would eventually switch to its own custom silicon, taking its fate back into its own hands once again.
Performance and Power
One of the biggest benefits of moving to its own silicon is the ability to deliver Macs that offer better performance while consuming less power. For example, the current generation iPad Pro delivers better performance than most PC laptops on the market, and does so without a single fan to help manage heat.
Macs with Apple Silicon
In the large case of a MacBook, iMac or Mac Pro, the performance possibilities are thrilling. During the demo, Craig Federighi showed one of the new Macs running Final Cut Pro. Not only could he edit and add effects while the video was playing, but Final Cut could run three simultaneous 4K streams.
Final Cut Pro
Developers and Compatibility
While any processor change is a monumental undertaking, Apple has a history of pulling it off, with this being the third such transition.
Xcode Recompile
Federighi highlighted the work the company has done to help ease the process for developers, with many of them able to update their apps with just a few days of work. Microsoft and Adobe have already ported their software to run on the new architecture.
Microsoft Word
In addition, the company will make it possible to ship Universal apps that contain binaries for both Intel and Apple’s CPUs. Apple has labeled this Universal 2, and improved version of the Universal apps that contained PowerPC and Intel binaries during that migration.
In addition, macOS will include Rosetta 2, a translation layer that will run Intel-based software that hasn’t been updated yet. Again, Apple first introduced Rosetta during the Intel migration, allowing the Intel-based Macs to run older PowerPC-based software.
The new version of Rosetta is a significant upgrade, however. Whereas the original Rosetta translated an app at runtime, Rosetta 2 will translate the time of install. This will significantly improve performance of these older apps. Meantime, a just-in-time (JIT) compiler is still available if needed, such as when working with plugins.
In addition, Andreas Wendker demoed Parallels running Linux. This is an important factor, as it shows that virtualization is alive and well on Apple’s silicon.
Parallels on Apple Silicon
He also demoed Shadow of the Tomb Raider running in Rosetta translation mode. Despite running at 1080p, the game was flawlessly smooth.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
As an added bonus, the new ARM-based Macs will be able to run iOS and iPadOS without modification, thanks to the shared architecture.
Mac Running iOS Apps
Custom Silicon—A new Era of Mac Computing
Without a doubt, Apple’s move to its own custom silicon has been a long time coming. The move will help usher in a new era of Mac computing, with Apple firmly in charge of its own processor development.
As a company that has built its experiencing on tight control of the hardware and software, this is a move that will help usher in a new wave of Mac innovation.
“Today is going to be a truly historic day for the Mac,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at their at the Worldwide Developers Conference. “Today we are going to tell you about some really big changes, how we are going to take the Mac to a whole new level. From the very beginning, the Mac redefined the entire computer industry. The Mac has always been about innovation and boldly pushing things forward, embracing big changes to stay at the forefront of personal computing.”
The Mac has had three major transitions in its history. The move to PowerPC, the transition to macOS X, and the move to Intel. Now it’s time for a huge leap forward for the Mac. Today is the day that we are announcing that the Mac is transitioning to our own Apple Silicon. When we make bold changes it’s for one simple yet powerful reason… so we can make much better products. When we look ahead we envision some major new products and transitioning to our own custom silicon is what will enable us to bring them to life.
At Apple, integrating hardware and software is fundamental to everything we do. That’s what makes our products so great and silicon is at the heart of our hardware. So having a world class silicon design team is a game changer.
Apple CEO Tim Cook: Mac Transitioning To Our Own Apple Silicon
As the battle for corporate messaging clients heats up, investors and traders are beginning to choose whom they believe will be the winner.
Slack helped revolutionize the corporate messaging market and is still considered the market leader, in terms of features and maturity. In recent years, however, Microsoft Teams has gained ground, even surpassing Slack in overall users.
Despite Teams’ gains, Slack continues to be heavily used and has racked up contract after contract with some of the biggest names in tech. In spite of that, investors are worried about Slack’s long-term ability to successfully compete with Microsoft.
According to TheStreet, Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini downgraded Slack from neutral to sell based on these concerns.
“While we continue to view Slack as a best-in-class team messaging offering that is favored by the technical community, we expect Microsoft Teams to continue to try and leverage its packaging within Office 365 to drive increased adoption, thus creating the potential for a more competitive environment,” wrote Bellini.
Another factor in the equation is Slack’s existing customer base. Because it appeals to small and medium-sized companies, Bellini believes it is more vulnerable to coronavirus-related economic issues. Despite downgrading Slack, she maintains her target price of $30.
Microsoft has a long history of entering a market with what is widely considered to be an inferior product, when compared with the market leader. Leveraging the power of their operating system and business-class software, however, Microsoft is usually able to make significant headway while improving their initial offering.
Only time will tell if Slack is able to succeed where so many other companies have fallen to the juggernaut from Redmond. If not, it may lend weight to Amazon’s rumored interest in buying the company.
Apple has changed its trade-in policy to accept in-person Mac trade-ins at the Apple Store.
Prior to the change, Apple excluded Macs from in-person trade-ins, forcing owners to use the website option instead. Alternately, users could opt to sell their Mac via Craigslist, Facebook or some other platform.
The company’s site promises a competitive trade-in value, saying: “Just answer a few questions about your device. Based on what you tell us, we’ll offer you a competitive trade-in estimate for an Apple Store Gift Card or instant credit at an Apple Store. Or you’ll have the option to recycle it for free.”
This change is a welcome one for users who want a hassle-free option for applying the value of their existing Mac toward a new purchase.
Microsoft has acknowledged a bug in its Storage Spaces feature that leads to file corruption, and is working on a resolution.
Storage Spaces is a features that uses regular hard drives to provide RAID-style storage redundancy. It’s also a useful way to create a pool of storage from a number of different drives.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, the latest Windows and Windows Server updates have a major bug impacting Storage Spaces.
“Devices using Parity Storage Spaces might have issues using or accessing their Storage Spaces after updating to Windows 10, version 2004 (the May 2020 Update) and Windows Server, version 2004,” reads the company’s support site. “When using some configurations, partitions for Parity Storage Spaces might show as RAW in Disk Manager.”
Unfortunately, “issues using or accessing their Storage Spaces” are just the beginning of the problem, as some users have also reported corrupted partitions and files.
At this time Microsoft does not have a permanent solution, only a workaround. This is just the latest in a string of issues Microsoft has had with data-eating bugs making their way into major OS releases. Here’s to hoping the company can get a handle on this one quickly.
Work-from-home is one of the biggest impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, and it appears its a change that is here to stay.
As the pandemic swept the globe, companies big and small sent workers home to telecommute. Some even went so far as to provide budgets for their employees to buy what they needed for their home offices. Even as restrictions have eased up, many companies have decided to make work-from-home options a permanent option.
According to a new S&P Global Market Intelligence survey, 67% of enterprises expect their work-from-home policies to extend permanently, or at least for the long-term. S&P Global surveyed 575 IT decision-makers across a range of industries.
“As organizations are heading back to the office in the wake of COVID-19, it is important to quantify what changes materialized during these past few months as a potential indication for the future of work,” said Liam Eagle, Head of Voice of the Enterprise Research at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Leveraging timely data from our flash survey capabilities can help us better understand these changes and overall market sentiment, while enabling organizations to make informed business decisions during times of uncertainty.”
The survey found that only 19% of organizations intend to bring back employees as soon as possible, 25% in a month or more and 24% have no planned timeline. Not surprisingly, 79% see social distancing as the single biggest impediment to returning to normal office operations.
An interesting side effect is an expected reduction in office space. Some 47% of companies said they are likely to reduce their physical office space as a result of the pandemic and the changing work landscape, with at least 20% planning to reduce their office space by as much as 25%.
The survey is an interesting look at the long-term issues facing companies, and a barometer of just how much the pandemic has permanently changed the workplace.
