Amazon.com upgrades Cloud Drive with file syncing

Amazon's cloud storage service adds a feature included in Dropbox and Google's Drive

Amazon.com has added a file-syncing feature to its online storage product, Cloud Drive, putting the service on par with competitors such as Dropbox and Google's Drive.

The syncing feature will allow users to view an up-to-date file across several devices. Cloud Drive is a desktop application for Windows and Mac, and Amazon.com also has a version designed for Android, just for photos. Amazon.com also offers a Web-based upload panel if users don't want to download the desktop application.

Online storage applications are a very competitive market segment. The services allow users to spread the same version of a file across several computers and prevent the loss of a file in case a computer is lost or stolen or breaks. But it is also an area where technical glitches and performance issues are a concern.

Late last month, Google Drive suffered three service problems that prevented some users from accessing their files and applications. One of those outages lasted three hours and affected about a third of requests to the service. Effects included error messages, long load times and timeouts.

Dropbox, which uses Amazon's Web Services for its infrastructure, had problems with syncing and uploading files in January.

Amazon.com's Cloud Drive desktop application is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8, and Mac OS X versions 10.6 through 10.8. Cloud Drive offers 5GB of free storage, with annual subscription packages going up to 1,000GB for US$500.

The company has incorporated Cloud Drive into its Kindle Fire tablet. Photos uploaded to Cloud Drive will appear in the Kindle Fire's Photo library as well as the Cloud Drive Photos application on an Android device. Photos that are uploaded from an Android device are also copied into the Cloud Drive folder on a desktop computer.

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Microsoft to Make Leaps in the Mobile Enterprise

Shocking developments in the mobile enterprise race show the market's incredible volatility, according to a new survey by Aberdeen Group. The survey looked at mobile app deployment plans by platform--Apple iOS, Android, Windows 8/Windows Phone and BlackBerry--covering both tablets and phones.

"The plans for mobile app deployment in 2013 were a big surprise," says Aberdeen research director Andrew Borg. Aberdeen plans to release its official findings next week, but gave CIO.com a sneak peek.

The data shows Microsoft Windows Phone 8 and Surface tablets poised to make a profound leap, as CIOs hope to retake control of the mobile enterprise. Apple iPhones and iPads may be reaching a point of saturation. Google phones and tablets are holding steady, but will users let loose the reins?

As for BlackBerry, the future looks bleak.
Aberdeen surveyed 348 organizations about their mobile strategy in November and December last year. The chart above shows the percentage of respondents currently deploying apps on a given mobile platform, as well as the percentage of respondents planning to build apps on the platform for the first time in 2013.

Here's a breakdown of what's behind the numbers.

Microsoft, Don't Call It a Comeback
Microsoft was the big winner with 35 percent of respondents planning to develop apps on the Surface tablet over the next 12 months, in addition to 8 percent currently deployed. Windows Phone fared well, too, with 25 percent planning to develop apps on Windows Phone, in addition to 26 percent already deployed.

"The data shows that IT is holding out hope that Microsoft's mobile strategy will be well-integrated with their overall data center and cloud strategy," Borg says. "You might say IT has been waiting for Microsoft to make its enterprise mobile play."

Microsoft, though, might have already disappointed respondents. The Aberdeen survey was conducted late last year before all the criticism of Surface RT, well, surfaced and before the Surface Pro was even released. At the time, there was hope that Microsoft would deliver a completely integrated strategy.

But the Windows 8 user interface consistency from smartphone to tablet to desktop did not extend to the back end. In other words, the primary criticism of Surface RT is that the apps are not compatible with the rest of Windows 8. Surface RT is not in the same app ecosystem as Windows 8.

"IT and lines of business were looking for a point of consolidation and integration with backend services," Borg says. "This lack of integration from IT's perspective is a disappointment."

Microsoft blew the branding and messaging opportunity, Borg explains. The average consumer didn't grasp the difference between Surface RT and Surface Pro. Many simply and wrongly expected Surface RT to be a Windows laptop replacement.

It's too bad, because Surface RT is a pretty slick device with a nice industrial design and user interface, Borg says. Among all tablets, Surface RT boasts the best integration with Office. It shouldn't matter that it's not tied to Windows 8 applications on the desktop. Apple iOS apps aren't compatible with OS X, nor are Android apps with Chrome OS.

March of the Androids
Google Android smartphones and tablets are steadily marching into the enterprise. According to the Aberdeen survey, 23 percent of respondents plan to develop apps on Android tablets over the next 12 months, in addition to 40 percent currently deployed. And 17 percent plan to develop apps on Android smartphones, in addition to 55 percent currently deployed.

These numbers show incremental growth for the platform, which is nothing unexpected.
However, this doesn't mean that Android will continue to plod along. The survey was taken before Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 smartphone, which is expected to be released in late April. For the enterprise, the most compelling feature is KNOX, a dual-persona solution at the kernel layer. If the dual-persona concept takes off, then Android platform adoption in the enterprise could spike.

But dual-persona acceptance on the smartphone is far from a sure thing. For starters, dual-persona has been in the market for at least a year and has had negligible adoption in the enterprise. While dual-persona allows end users to securely separate personal data from work data on a corporate device, we're living in a Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, world.

"With BYOD, the company is going to put its data on your device and borrow some of your assets that you bought--RAM, memory, processor--all of which may decrease performance of your device," Borg says. "Will end users permit that? It's unclear."

Apple's Microsoft Problem
Apple's iPhone and iPad have been enterprise sensations, but there are signs pointing to challenges ahead. In the Aberdeen survey, 15 percent of respondents plan to develop apps for the first time on iPhone and iPad over the next 12 months, with 63 percent and 61 percent currently deployed, respectively.

"We're a little surprised that the numbers show it to be slowing down," Borg says. "Granted, three-quarters of the organizations are still developing for the platform, greater than any other platform. But it could be getting to a saturation point."

Slideshow: Apple's 15 Boldest Computer Designs, 1976 - 2012
As the dominant mobile enterprise player with the biggest app store and the largest percentage of developers, Apple seems to be sitting in the catbird seat. The danger is complacency and lack of innovation. Think: Microsoft during its reign on the desktop.

Today, iOS is looking long in the tooth. Microsoft and BlackBerry have more advanced operating systems. Samsung has shown innovation advancing the Android OS. Where art thou, Apple? iPhone and iPad apps don't talk to each other, don't share data. In comparison, Windows Phone 8 supports inter-app communication, which makes for a fluid user experience.

"If Apple does not innovate on the OS, it may impact enterprise acceptance and continued commitment to deploy apps on the Apple platform," Borg says.

Storm Clouds Over BlackBerry
And then there's BlackBerry. The Aberdeen survey showed a paltry 6 percent of respondents plan to develop apps on the BlackBerry PlayBook over the next 12 months, with only 15 percent currently deployed. On the BlackBerry smartphone, 5 percent plan to develop apps, with 49 percent currently deployed.

"This data does not speak optimistically for BlackBerry's outlook," Borg says. "There are definitely storm clouds over Canada."

Borg does expect the smartphone number to creep up given the release of BlackBerry 10, which appears to be a solid product, but not by much. Meanwhile, the PlayBook outlook is looking worse, as BlackBerry hasn't announced anything of significance with it.

The problem, of course, is that BlackBerry has lost its credibility. It didn't keep its promises, in terms of timeframe delivery. BlackBerry 10 was delayed time and again until its launch earlier this year. The result is that businesses--once, BlackBerry's biggest advocate--have all but abandoned the platform.

"From the data perspective, BlackBerry has significant challenges in 2013," Borg says. "There's a loss of momentum and a lack of confidence in their future from end-users. In addition, BlackBerry has isolated itself from advocates, including analysts. How this all will play out in 2013 remains to be seen."

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Microsoft MCPD Certification Training

Developing for Microsoft doesn't just mean writing code for Windows anymore. In fact, after a few relatively quiet years for Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) credential holders, the job market is heating up. While many jobs for professionals with MCPD training involve maintaining custom software, many Microsoft developers now work on projects designed to move data from legacy systems into more flexible online applications.
MCPD certification includes desktop, Web, and cloud

For years, earning an MCPD certification required dedication to the Wintel platform and the drive to develop custom code for employers and clients. The Internet continues to reshape the job market for coders, especially for developers who write desktop tools that must now interface with remote databases and online APIs. Microsoft certifies programmers who use the latest versions of its Visual Studio development suite and its SharePoint collaboration server:

Windows Developer 4. Programmers writing software for use on Windows desktops, utilizing the latest .NET framework.
Web Developer 4. Specialists who rely on Microsoft's ASP.NET server tools to drive interactive Web-based applications.
Windows Azure Developer. Coders who want to migrate application development and data storage to Microsoft's cloud computing platform.
SharePoint Developer 2010. Programmers using Microsoft's collaboration server to help teams distribute and discuss crucial documents.

In addition, Microsoft maintains support for MCPD certifications related to every platform the company currently supports. At this writing, Microsoft still validates professionals working in Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2005. Since many large companies migrate their systems slowly, employers often prefer to hire developers with experience supporting multiple generations of Redmond's operating systems and development suites.

Job outlook for graduates of MCPD training programs
Microsoft certified professional developer training qualifies developers for roles in many large companies that rely on Windows and SharePoint. Banks, law firms, and health care companies top the lists of employers tracked by Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and other industry observers. Although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a booming job market for generalist computer programmers, MCPD training can help candidates qualify for competitive positions that pay 10 to 20 percent higher than the median salary for all developers.

According to the editors of MCP Magazine, MCPDs often quietly support the work of project managers in medium and large organizations. Although project managers usually get the bulk of the credit for successful projects, many MCPDs earn salaries close to those of their non-developer managers. In fact, the magazine's most recent salary survey shows that some professionals with Microsoft Certified Professional Developer certifications actually earn a few thousand dollars more than their supervisors. Both types of IT professional, however, earn close to six-figure salaries.

On the other hand, analysts at Foote Partners note a divergence between employers who require MCPD certification for new hires and those who will settle for IT professionals with demonstrated coding skills. Although the pay gap between the two types of workers continues to narrow, hiring managers still look for evidence that candidates have completed at least some MCPD training programs. Many more employers offer fee and tuition reimbursement for MCPD certification exams as a professional development perk. Either way, hiring managers demand demonstrated experience and a portfolio of work product that reflects exposure to MCPD training.

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Microsoft Office 2013 vs. Office 365 price calculator

Use this tool to determine the better deal -- Microsoft's new Office 365 subscription or traditional buy-now-use-forever licenses

Two weeks ago, Microsoft backpedaled from a sweeping change on how it licensed retail copies of Office 2013, deciding that it would, after all, let customers move the software from one machine to another.

That reversal mooted the original end-user licensing agreement (EULA), which had permanently tied "perpetual" licenses -- those paid for once, with rights to use them as long as desired -- to the first PC they were installed on.

And it again made for fairly straight-forward calculations when trying to decide the better deal between buy-once-run-forever copies of Office, and the rent-not-own deals that Microsoft wants consumers to adopt.

Office 365 Home Premium, which costs $100 per year -- or $10 per month -- includes the right to install a top-end edition of Office 2013 or the business-esque edition of Office for Mac 2011, on up to five Windows PC or Macs in a household.

The trouble with Office 365, however, is that once a customer has committed, he or she must continue paying the subscription fee or lose access to the software.

That's so different from the way people have licensed software for decades that some have had a tough time wrapping their heads around the concept.

Computerworld has pitched in by comparing perpetual licensing and Office 365 subscriptions several times, and discovered that the most important variables are first, the number of licenses a customer actually uses -- or needs, which may not be the same -- and second, the length of time between Office upgrades.

To help consumers calculate which is the smarter move, Office 2013 or Office 365, Computerworld's Online Managing Editor, Sharon Machlis, created a calculator that factors in three variables: The number of machines Office needed to be on, the time between upgrades, and the software required.

Microsoft Office price calculator
On how many PC or Mac systems do you want to use Office in your household?
With Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote
With Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook
With Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher

How many years would you expect to use the above copies (if buying desktop licenses) before upgrading?
Because analysts have said the upgrade average is five years, Computerworld used that time span in its comparisons. But not everyone upgrades Office that often, or that infrequently. Some hold onto Office for ages -- many still use Office 2003, which is slated for retirement next year -- while others lust for the newest, and so are ready to ditch Office 2010.

Computerworld's conclusion: Households that needed Office on four or five machines should steer for Office 365. But those that required one, two or three copies of Office were better off sticking with perpetual licenses of Office Home & Student 2013.

But those calculations had a flaw some saw as fatal: They did not account for what applications Office 365 Home Premium gave consumers.

The subscription includes a top-of-the-line version of Office 2013, one that includes not only Excel, Word, OneNote and PowerPoint -- the quartet in the $140 Home & Student 2013 -- but also the Outlook email client, Publisher and the Access database.

Yet some people need Outlook at home, others Access, in effect tossing a wrench into any calculations dependent only on Home & Student 2013.

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Email addiction: Why the enterprise can't break free

Atos CEO Thierry Breton caught a lot of flak last year when he announced he wanted his employees to give up email, but he may have been on to something.

Kids these days don't use email -- digital market research company comScore found that use of Web-based email dropped 31% among 12- to 17-year-olds and 34% among 18- to 24-year-olds in the period between December 2010 and December 2011.

And consumers are off email as well. The Radicati Group, which tracks use of email and other messaging media, projects the number of consumer emails will decrease by 3% to 4% each year between 2012 and 2016.

Then again, there was a reason Breton came in for so much derision: Email in the enterprise isn't going anywhere. Or more precisely, it isn't going anywhere but up. Radicati is projecting the number of business emails to increase by 13% every single year between now and 2016.

For enterprise employees, that means more time spent in the inbox, not only on PCs and laptops but now on tablets and smartphones, wading through newsletters, social media notifications and unfiltered spam in search of the mail they truly need to do their jobs, to say nothing of the time spent filing, archiving and retrieving those messages.

For IT, that means more screams from users about storage limits being too low (especially when Google lets them keep everything), as well as worries about security, archiving, retention, ediscovery, deletion and syncing mail between mobile devices. And then there's the cost: In 2010, Gartner estimated associated email costs of $192 per user per year.

Why do we subject ourselves to this madness? Because for all its aggravations, email works. "It's still an efficient way of communicating, almost in real time," says Phil Bertolini, CIO of Michigan's Oakland County, who's responsible for 10,000 email boxes.

"It does what it's designed to do quite well, which is allow us to securely communicate on a one-to-one or one-to-few basis," says Rob Koplowitz, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Simply put, we may hate email, but we can't work without it. But if enterprise email volume is going to boom the way Radicati's numbers indicate, something's going to have to change, CIOs and messaging experts agree. Email is going to have to get more sophisticated and, at the same time, easier to use. And the people doing the using, who often make life harder for themselves, need to evolve, too.

Why we love email
We love email because it has utility and ubiquity. It keeps us connected and updated without requiring sender and recipients to be online at the same time, thanks to its asynchronous nature. Everyone doing business today can reasonably be expected to have an email address, where only some use communication alternatives like chat, videoconferencing or SMS texting.

Beyond that, email creates a de facto audit trail as it goes, tracking who sent what to whom when, one that is easily stored, forwarded and, barring space limitations, readily available on one's computer.

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Microsoft's cash-for-apps pitch to devs smells like desperation, says analyst

$100 per published app makes company look like a cheapskate, adds another

Microsoft yesterday kicked off a promotion that rewards Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers $100 for each app that they publish in the company's app stores.

Dubbed "Keep the Cash," the promotion is Microsoft's first overt cash-for-apps program, a tactic rivals Google and Apple have never used to attract submissions.

To one analyst, the $100-per-app pitch was an ill omen.
"It looks a little desperate," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. "It sends the message that Microsoft is having a hard time building out its app categories. And it doesn't bode well for the Windows Store."

Microsoft distributes Windows 8 and Windows RT "Modern" apps -- the full-screen, tile-based software formerly tagged as "Metro" -- through the Windows Store; smartphone apps, which do not run on Windows 8 or Windows RT, are channeled through the Windows Phone Store, a separate mart.

Keep the Cash will award a $100 virtual Visa card -- good only for online purchases -- to a developer for each app he or she publishes, with a maximum payout of $2,000 total for 10 Windows Store apps and 10 Windows Phone Store apps. Those apps must be submitted and published to the appropriate Store by June 30. Microsoft said it's capping the number of rewarded apps at 10,000, meaning it's putting $1 million on the line.

The promotion is intended to delivery quantity, not necessarily quality, the experts said.

"Clearly, they'd like to populate the stores as quickly as possible with more apps," said Ezra Gottheil of Technology Business Research. "But it seems they want to try to pull in the 13-year-olds, because $100 is not at all meaningful to an established developer. Maybe they're looking for the next generation of kid geniuses, and hoping to find the next killer app that comes out of nowhere."

Currently, the Windows Store has nearly 49,000 apps, according to the MetroStore Scanner, a website that uses a counting algorithm created by Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. Miller stopped tallying apps last December.

"They're trying to spur interest," said Miller in an interview today. He agreed with Gottheil that Keep the Cash was aimed at amateurs and hobbyists. "But I'd rather see a smaller number of high-quality apps than a larger number of lower-quality apps,"

That was Moorhead's point as well.
"This doesn't solve their fundamental challenge, which is to get A-list apps onto the app store," said Moorhead. "What they're going for is the long tail, a very long tail [of the number of apps], which is important, but it doesn't solve the problem that they have, such as the lack of a Facebook app, the lack of support for important apps like Time-Warner's TWC-TV."

Both Moorhead and Miller have been long-time critics of Microsoft's Windows 8/Windows RT app strategy, and have repeatedly pointed out that the new operating systems' Modern user interface (UI) has a paucity of top-quality, must-have apps.

Miller wasn't keen on the idea of paying for apps. "I agree with Charlie [Kindel]," said Miller, talking about a blog post from September 2012 where Kindel said paying developers cash was a bad idea.

In that post, Kindel -- until mid-2011 the general manager of Microsoft's Windows Phone developer experience -- also predicted Microsoft would make the move.

"It is highly likely things are about to change and Microsoft is going to start directly incenting developers to build apps with cash," Kindel wrote at the time. "If I'm right, and we start to see clear evidence that Microsoft is paying for apps, then Windows is in even more trouble than most of us already believe."

Miller pointed out that Microsoft has quietly funded established app developers -- either directly or in some circuitous fashion -- to bring their already-available Android and iOS apps to the Windows platform. The company is probably still doing that, he added.

But even Gottheil, the most upbeat of the three analysts, knocked Microsoft for the small-change awards. "This gives people the perception that they're cheapskates," he said.

Microsoft has opened its checkbook. In mid-2010 the company launched a $250,000 contest for security researchers asked to create new anti-exploit technologies to better protect Windows users. The winner, Ivan Fratric, a researcher at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, was handed $200,000 for his work.

"I'm surprised that they didn't go that route," said Gottheil, referring to a competition with larger rewards.

Interested developers can review Keep the Cash's terms and conditions on Microsoft's website.

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NotCompatible' Android malware rears its ugly head, again

NotCompatible' Android malware rears its ugly head, again
Mobile security vendor Lookout says Android malware is showing signs of sudden activity

The "NotCompatible" malware, designed to infect Android devices and turn them into unwitting Web proxies, is suddenly showing a sharp uptick in activity, according to mobile security vendor Lookout.

The malware is essentially a simple network proxy, which pretends to be a system update in order to get unwitting users to install it. The idea seems to be gaining access to protected networks through victims' infected Android devices. It was named for its apparent command-and-control server, at notcompatibleapp.eu.

Last weekend saw the number of detections for NotCompatible rise to 20,000 per day as of last Sunday and Monday, wrote researcher Tim Strazzere, who said that the malware had been largely dormant since it was discovered in May 2012.

But while the initial discovery saw the malware being installed by hacked websites, the latest wave of NotCompatible is being spread by email spam. The usual subject line is "hot news," and the infected messages appear to contain links to fake weight-loss articles.
NotCompatible malware
Credit: Lookout Security
The hacked Web page that can contain the NotCompatible malware.

"Depending on the user's Android OS Version and browser, they may be prompted about the download. Many stock browsers will transparently trigger a download to the device /Downloads folder whereas Chrome displays a confirmation dialog," wrote Strazzere.

Lookout said there is little chance of direct harm to infected devices, and victims must allow NotCompatible to be installed for it to function, further minimizing the overall threat to the majority of Android users. The best advice for safety is simply to never allow any .apk whose provenance you're even a little bit unsure of to be installed on your phone.

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