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BetaNews.Com (12 non lus)

'Macs don't get viruses' myth dissolves before public's eyes

Publié: août 28, 2009, 11:07pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Apple never said OS X was invulnerable to viruses. Well, not in so many words.
It's just one of those things that the media hungry --but security disinterested-- public has turned into an axiom.
But now that OS X is garnering an increased share of the operating system market, it is increasing its value as a platform for malware, and consequently increasing in value in the software security market.
The built-in security measures that have existed since Tiger (OS X 10.4) have been brought to a position of much greater prominence in Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). This week, there has been a considerable amount of discussion about two invisible anti-malware mechanisms which pop up any time certain Mac viruses are found (OSX/Puper, OSX/IWService.)
Security software company McAfee Avert Labs' Craig Schmugar pointed out that "the growth rate of malware (notably PC malware) is partly due to the success of defenses; the bad guys react and pump out more and more malware in an effort to circumvent those defenses. Apple's inclusion of malware identification into the OS could certainly be a catalyst for a more intense game of cat and mouse with virus authors, an ironic scenario should this come about."
Also, security company Trend Micro reports that the release of Snow Leopard has brought out a number of malicious Web sites where an OS X mountable Disk Image (.DMG) with malicious Install Operation scripts are being spread. Trend Micro researcher Ivan Macalintal found the most recent variant of this common malware last Sunday.
"The said downloaded script resets the DNS configuration of the affected system and adds two new IP addresses as the DNS server. As a result, users may be redirected to phishing sites or sites where other malware may be downloaded," says Trend Micro's threat definition.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
DHS: Expect your computer to be seized without suspicion

Publié: août 28, 2009, 9:55pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

In what was presented to the public this week as a clarification of its privacy policy, the US Dept. of Homeland Security published a paper referring to new guidelines for its immigration and customs agents regarding how they may conduct border searches of travelers' computers and electronic media. Clarifying the existing law, both sets of guidelines reiterated the department's policy created during the previous administration: Agents may seize, detain, and/or retain individuals' PCs and media without having reason to suspect that those people or those machines and devices are connected with a crime.
"ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Special Agents acting under border search authority may search, detain, seize, retain, and share electronic devices, or information contained therein, with or without individualized suspicion, consistent with the guidelines and applicable laws set forth herein," states the new policy for immigration authorities published last August 18 (PDF available here). "Assistance to complete a border search may be sought from other Federal agencies and non-Federal entities, on a case by case basis, as appropriate."
The guidelines for Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) agents says pretty much the same thing, adding that whenever a CBP agent encounters technical trouble figuring out how a mechanism works, or what the meaning of some piece of information is, he can seek help from other US government sources. "In such situations, Officers may transmit electronic devices or copies of information contained therein to seek technical assistance from other federal agencies," reads the CBP guidelines (PDF available here).
What's been a subject of contention ever since the government tightened border inspection policies in the wake of 9/11 hasn't been so much agents' rights to act without suspicion (although for some, that already crosses the line) as the authority DHS grants them to transmit the information they find elsewhere, under the auspices of "seeking help." Both guidelines now state that agents may only seek help from other federal sources, but they are not explicit with regard to what level -- for example, whether a private consultant under retainer for the FBI would qualify.
In their assessment of the extent of the risks this clarified policy might pose to citizens' and visitors' personal privacy, published last Tuesday (PDF available here), both border agencies, acting jointly, identified six specific areas: "(1) travelers may need additional information regarding the authority [agents have] to conduct border searches; (2) the traveler may be unaware of the viewing or detention of his/her information by CBP and ICE; (3) personally identifiable information (PII) may be detained where it is not needed; (4) PII may be misused by CBP and ICE officers; (5) CBP and ICE may disclose PII to other agencies that may misuse or mishandle it; and (6) new privacy risks may arise as the technology involved in this activity is ever-changing."
In other words, individuals may not be fully informed as to the extent of agents' authority, and what safeguards there may be to protect identifying information from falling into the hands of someone who can misuse it -- the privacy threat here being that the traveler may not know what the threat really is. The solution, DHS asserts, is by making that information about the private information that could be misused, public -- specifically, by publishing it in the Federal Register.
Under the heading, "Principle of Transparency," the DHS report explains, "When ICE or CBP retain information from electronic devices, that information may be subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act requires that agencies publish a System of Records Notice (SORN) in the Federal Register describing the nature, purpose, maintenance, use, and sharing of the information. This PIA and the several SORNs published by DHS provide notice of the retention of PII at the border and the retention of some of the contents of electronic devices."
So at the very least, an explanation of the events surrounding the detention or seizure of travelers' computers may be available online to those travelers (along with everyone else) on GPOAccess.gov. However, the Department goes on to say, the extent of the information shared online this way may be limited, especially with regard to how much the detained information is being shared, as well as with whom. This is for the good of any investigation that may arise.
"Because notifying the traveler of the sharing of information could impede an investigation or other law enforcement or national security efforts, CBP and ICE do not make the information sharing process fully transparent to the public," the report states. "To ensure the protection of personal data without compromising the investigation, CBP and ICE have instituted strict oversight and review processes. Generally speaking, information, including PII, will be shared with other agencies where CBP and/or ICE require subject matter expertise, decryption, or translation."
Those oversight and review processes will make the sharing of that information with other agencies legal and permissible under the Privacy Act of 1974. Appropriate safeguards and audit trails will be kept to track when and where information is exchanged, but for the sake of privacy, that information will be kept private.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
AT&T announces tentative wireline union deal

Publié: août 28, 2009, 8:39pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

AT&T announced details of its tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America who began contract re-negotiations in April.
The CWA represents 7,000 of AT&T's legacy wireline workers, whose contracts expired in the spring. Today, AT&T announced it has tentatively arrived at a three-year agreement upon wages, pension band increases, and health care. CWA workers were threatening to strike if AT&T changed their health care benefits, which included an HMO with 100% of the premiums covered by AT&T.
The health care aspect, at least, remains largely unchanged. A statement from AT&T this afternoon said, "[CWA] health care benefits remain among the best in the nation, providing for fully funded preventive care and company-funded health reimbursement accounts that can be used toward any eligible health care expense."
In the revised contract, CWA wages will increase 3% in the first and second years, and 2.75% in the third. Pension bands will increase 2% annually. In the third year, for both wage and pension band increases, there is an opportunity for a cost-of-living adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Roughly half of AT&T's union contracts have been ratified, and negotiations are continuing in three major CWA districts.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Financial institutions vulnerable to phishing-by-CD, says security report

Publié: août 28, 2009, 7:53pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The National Credit Union Administration this week issued an alert warning credit unions of an innovative form of scareware that utilizes traditional postal mail and a piece of malware that the user actively installs.
Some NCUA member credit unions have reportedly received letters that claimed to be from the NCUA which contained CDs of important "training materials" that would help inform users about phishing scams. Running the discs, naturally, loaded up credit union computers with a bunch of malware.
Kaspersky Labs said the letters themselves read like phishing scam e-mails rife with grammatical and spelling errors.
For example: "The NCUA has warned numerous times about 'phishing' scams in which crooks send e-mails claiming to be from legitimate financial institutions, companies, or government agencies asking consumers to 're-submit' or 'verify' confidential information such as bank accounts, Social Security Numbers, passwords, and personal identification numbers...Please read the included document, as it contains important training and informational material regarding the risks of fraud..."
Brent Huston from security assessment company Microsolved came forward, saying this physical scareware was part of an authorized penetration test that was not intended to be made public through the NCUA.
"The person responsible for the penetration test was out the day the letter arrived," Huston said today. "The receiver of the letter followed their incident response process and reported the suspicious activity to the NCUA Fraud Hotline, just as they are supposed to do...The employee of the credit union had followed the process, just as they should, and alerted the proper authorities to the potential for fraud. We immediately contacted the NCUA Fraud hotline and explained that the process was a part of a standard penetration test. Eventually, we talked with executive management of NCUA and offered them any information they desired, including the source code to the tools on the CDs."
"However, in typical Internet fashion, the story had already taken on a life of its own. The next thing we know, the press is picking up the story, there's an article on Slashdot and people are in alert mode," Huston continued. "We then set about trying to calm folks down and such on Twitter, through e-mail and such. The bottom line here is this: This was a controlled exercise in which the process worked. The social engineering attack itself was unsuccessful and drew the attention of the proper authorities. Had we been actual criminals and attempting fraud, we would have been busted by law enforcement."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
'Up-to-Date' Snow Leopard customers aren't getting what they paid for

Publié: août 28, 2009, 7:21pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date program promised users who bought a qualifying Mac or Xserve on or after June 8th of this year an automatic upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard for only $9.95.
However, it appears that Apple is only shipping out full versions of the operating system upgrade today, and not the Up-to-Date versions. As to be expected, customers who put in their orders months ago are expressing 140 characters worth of displeasure all over Twitter this afternoon.
"Like others, I'm confused why Apple didn't ship Snow Leopard to Up-To-Date customers to arrive 8/28. My delivery is expected 9/01 to 9/04," one user wrote.
"Maybe Steve Jobs is sealing every up-to-date Snow Leopard order with a kiss. Only logical explanation why my order hasn't shipped," wrote another.
Yet another said, "Whew, glad I ordered two copies of Snow Leopard. Only the retail shipped, the 'Up to Date' program copy has not..."
"Expected Product Availability" on the Up-to-Date site now simply says "September 2009."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
A reluctance to Bing: UK Yahoo portal partner makes first switch to Google

Publié: août 28, 2009, 7:18pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

When Microsoft made its deal last month with Yahoo to provide the search infrastructure for its home page, using technology from Bing, it left open and non-exclusive the fate of several deals the one-time #2 search provider had already made, especially with carriers. Specifically, does Bing become the default search provider for services that had previously made a deal with Yahoo? The answer appeared to be no.
Today, that suspicion was roundly confirmed, as one of the world's largest cooperative portals with Yahoo -- one which still bears the Yahoo brand -- quietly but obviously switched its search box to one that was "powered by Google." In a move first discovered by the UK-based blog Connected Internet, BT's Web portal BT Yahoo became a carrier of Google search rather than Bing.
The move marks the apparent beginning of the dismantling of Yahoo-based search engine resources, as the company itself moves over to Bing technology. But that non-exclusive deal apparently does not bind its partners from making the same move. As of this morning, the US' AT&T Yahoo portal page (still known to customers by its previous name, SBC Yahoo) still bears Yahoo's search engine.
The non-exclusive nature of the Microsoft deal could mean that a multitude of lucrative deals Yahoo made last year with mobile carriers, including UK-based Virgin Mobile, may leave an opening for something other than Bing search. Yahoo had re-announced its Yahoo Mobile service last February, at the pinnacle of which was the mobile edition of its oneSearch mobile search platform, with voice search features. Google's mobile search has similar functionality, pointing to the possibility that mobile services as well as PC pages could open unforeseen doors for carriers that haven't seen any lucrative value in Microsoft's presence in mobile in recent months, to perhaps move to Google without disturbing the spirit or even the letter of their Yahoo deals. Mobile carrier deals are where the money is.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Apple: If an iPhone cracks or overheats, that's your problem

Publié: août 28, 2009, 6:00pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

In the latest indication that Apple tends not to show as much love toward its customers as its customers do toward it, the company made a statement to AFP press this morning effectively saying that fewer than 10 reports from its customers of overheating iPhone batteries are to be believed. Further, it added that anyone who finds herself with a cracked iPhone needs to look into the mirror for the cause.
"To date, there are no confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports we are investigating is in the single digits," an Apple spokesperson told the AFP. The report goes on to say that cracking in iPhone glass cases is due to a phenomenon it has termed "external force."
While overheating continues to be reported by many iPhone 3G and 3G S users on Apple's support forums, perhaps a more common complaint in recent days has been apparent fast drain times. Topics seeking help such as this one asking whether or not Apple has acknowledged an issue with fast drain times, are often met with a flurry of responses from non-official sources. Some refer the complainers to this Apple disclaimer on battery life, which they claim to be evidence that such drainage is impossible. Others refer complainers to official Apple statements like the one this morning to the AFP, saying such issues may not even be occurring; and some tell the complainers to take their phone to the Apple Store's "Genius Bar" and stop bothering them about it.
Some take the unusual tactic of denying the presence of other threads on the topic: "Apparently no one else has had this issue yet," said an early responder to a recently launched topic on drainage and overheating. One responder attempted to compare the ratio of people complaining about the issue, which he estimated in the hundreds, to the total size of the iPhone market to reduce the apparent severity of the problem. In one instance, the complainer was admonished for having purchased an iPhone in the first place, knowing full well that iPhone batteries have been exploding for years -- if he can't take the heat, the post essentially said, he shouldn't have invested in an iPhone.
Then many others take to the time-honored tradition of calling the complainer a moron.
In amidst all the calamity, however, there are some contributors who are offering a potential solution: Have the battery drain once completely, then recharge completely to see if that resets the battery. Some have reported success with this tactic; others who try it, but report that their batteries tend to run hot. Often bringing up the subject of heat on top of drainage collapses the entire thread into a political debate over whether naysayers are trying to slander the iPhone by saying it runs hot, when all batteries run hot. (Similar catastrophes can be found on support threads dealing with MacBook battery issues.)
The case cracking issue is particularly important for many users because Apple's warranty does not cover damage due to stress or personally-applied "external force." Nearly all support threads we've browsed on the topic this morning (there were many more than we had time to read) are from individuals seeking alternatives to completely replacing their phones, especially in situations where they actually appear to work just fine except for the crack.
Apple's stance is an indication that the company does not want to open the worm-can on possible design defects, which could lead to a nightmare scenario where it becomes responsible for replacing units that arguably were damaged due to everyday forces.
Apple's treatment of the glass cracking and overheating issues as separate may be particularly clever, though, especially since these issues could be related: stress fractures on a phone can cause the battery to ignite, as seen in this demonstration video above (which does not appear to involve an iPhone).
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
The Dell surprise: A turnaround suggests the warnings were unnecessary

Publié: août 28, 2009, 4:58pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Just last month, Dell issued an out-of-cycle earnings warning telling investors the underpinnings of its business didn't look as solid as it thought, and gross margins could be headed for a freefall rather than the anticipated steep decline. If Dell had to make another financial reporting error, perhaps this one was the one to make: The company's $4 billion cost-cutting initiatives kicked in when it needed them most, resulting in an operating income improvement of 62% over the first quarter of the year, and a quarter-to-quarter gross margin increase by 10%.
Not that 18.7% gross margin is anywhere that Dell, or any other company, would want to be for any sustained length of time. But rather than the dire straits the company's July warnings were foretelling, Dell ended up with a better second quarter than its first in several departments -- this while its biggest competitor, HP, took a bigger hit that it expected.
A few weeks ago, HP reported shipment increases for personal systems of about 2% annually. The big question at the time was, did that 2% come at Dell's expense, or was it a result of an economic recovery in the works? Yesterday, Dell reported its shipments rose by 10% over the previous quarter. If those numbers are independently confirmed, Dell may avoid falling to the #3 spot worldwide against Acer anytime this year.
It's the bright, sweet-smelling rose on what was otherwise a pretty smelly quarter by anyone's standards. Unit shipments, while on the uptick, are 14% lower now than they were at this time last year. The company reaped just under $10 billion in revenue during the last quarter, when it was raking in $11.5 billion at the same quarter last year. But that rising operating income to $671 million was hailed by investors yesterday as an extremely positive sign for the economy -- a sign that orders are back up, and that Dell may have a plan for cashing in.
Having learned its lesson during the Windows Vista upgrade cycle, CEO Michael Dell is refraining from betting on early adopter upgrades to Windows 7 to help float those order numbers. Instead -- and very shrewdly -- he believes that the new OS will need maybe a few quarters to stabilize, to make up some ground, before consumers and businesses start treating it seriously.
But then they'll treat it seriously, Mr. Dell believes, because that huge backlog of Windows XP-based machines -- the sheer number of which Dell is intimately familiar with, from servicing them all and even downgrading Vista machines at customers' request -- will be ripe for replacement.
"When you look at the age of the install base, we know that after a certain period of time the cost just becomes pretty onerous," stated Mr. Dell yesterday (our thanks to Seeking Alpha for the transcript), "and the percentage of these machines out there that are based on Windows XP, which again is an eight-year-old operating system in another month or two, you know also what many of you may not have done and I would encourage you to do is go to dell.com, buy a modern PC, put Windows 7 on it, put Office 2010 on it, you will love your PC again. And as more and more people do that, I'm here to tell you there's going to be a refresh cycle next year. It's not all going to come in the first month or the second month, but over the course of the year there will be a big refresh cycle."

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Maybe Mr. Dell has been reading Betanews in recent weeks, because he was certainly in tune with the Windows 7 whether-to-upgrade debate, when asked his feelings directly about customer sentiments by a Citigroup analyst: "It's always a subject of debate in terms of, you know, do you put the new OS on the old hardware? I think that the difference now is the size of the installed base of old hardware has never been greater," remarked Mr. Dell. "And you're talking about...a change from an eight-year-old operating system, so it's a significant change-over in terms of capability, and we see a lot of old machines out there that are going to be replaced. Certainly some people will put Windows 7 on the installed base. You know, generally the larger customers don't like to touch a machine once they've put it out there. It's just more expensive for them to just leave it in place and do a rolling upgrade."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Confirmed: China Unicom in three-year deal for iPhone 3G

Publié: août 28, 2009, 4:06pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

In its quarterly report to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday, the Chinese telephone carrier China Unicom announced it had reached a three-year deal with Apple to sell an iPhone model in China. This in a section of the report dedicated to 3G technology progress, so although the precise iPhone model was not stated, we can assume Unicom will be getting a 3G-capable unit.
The timeframe for the launch will be calendar Q4 this year, in keeping with a new 3G marketing campaign that Unicom is simply calling "WO" (as in "whoa!"). "'WO' carries the Company's brand-new service philosophy and reflects the Company's corporate image of 'being innovative,'" reads the report, quotation marks included. "With the continued improvement of the Company's network quality, the further upgrade of the service standard and the official launch of 3G services, 'WO' will offer a brand new experience for users."
Unicom received an official license from the state to deliver WCDMA service to China last January 7. That's an accomplishment, because there actually is something of a competitive market in China for mobile services, although the state often holds the upper hand in determining the market leader for any given segment. China Mobile is actually the largest mobile carrier in China; since March of last year, China Mobile leaked news it was negotiating with Apple for the iPhone 3G. Those negotiations dragged on through September with no deal.
Although China Mobile had repeatedly denied reports that talks had broken off, even when there was no sign of Apple representatives, state-run business media last February finally squelched Mobile's hopes for good, announcing talks with #2 carrier Unicom were on.
Unicom's 3G rollout has been extremely fast, beginning only three months ago with trial service to 56 cities. Today, it's providing some service on a trial basis to 268 cities throughout the country, with its goal being to service 335 cities by the time sale of the iPhone 3G begins.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Nokia N900: The future of the 'MID' form factor?

Publié: août 28, 2009, 1:03am CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

There have been a couple of form factors in recent years that have completely failed to capture the public's imagination, despite their promising capabilities: Tablets and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).
However, with the dramatic level of rumor circulating about Steve Jobs and Apple's pet tablet project, there may be hope for that form factor after all. And with Nokia's announcement of the N900 today, the MID concept looks like it might stick around too.
But it may not gain traction, so much as evolve into a new high-powered mobile phone category, akin to a "smartbook," but minus the bookishness.
Nokia has been making MIDs for about four years, and the N900 will be the successor to the N810. However, it will be radically different from its predecessors, if only by the simple fact that it now contains quad-band GSM and HSPA cellular radios and can be used as a phone.
With the N900, Nokia has resolved some the issues which prevented MIDs from breaking through. First, MIDs were typically built to be Wi-Fi devices, anchoring them down to hotspot and home use. Not really as mobile as the name "Mobile Internet Device" would suggest. Nokia attempted to beef up the mobility of the form factor by aligning with WiMAX, but with dissolving interest in the wireless standard, the company said it was bringing 3G to its tablets in late 2008. And then reportedly sacked the WiMAX effort at the beginning of 2009. By equipping the device with cellular and mobile broadband signals in addition to Wi-Fi, it has finally become a mobile form factor. The addition of cellular connectivity also plays into the price, which I'll talk about later.
Secondly, MIDs are awkwardly fashioned in between standard form factor sizes. They're too big to fit in your pocket, and too small to view at laptop distance. You'd have to hold them as close as you would a phone, but without any of the ergonomics of a phone. Nokia solved this by keeping the resolution up (800 x 400) and shrinking the screen down to 3.5 inches, the now-standard touchphone screen size.
Thirdly, MIDs were priced out of the range of mobile phones and in the range of notebooks, despite not being as powerful. It is actually the same issue which doomed the Foleo to failure yet made the Eee a triumph. The price to power ratio was just uneven for MIDs. This has not exactly been resolved yet. The N900 is expected to sell for $711, yet it only carries a 600 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM and 32 GB of storage.
However, since it's a full-fledged cellular device, it will likely be subsidized through national wireless carriers and brought down into the smartphone price range.
Even the chipset treads the fine line between MID and Smartphone. The TI OMAP 3430 is described by Texas Instruments as supporting "all levels of handsets, from the entry-level multimedia-enabled handsets to high-end Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)."
Adding to the categorical confusion is Maemo, Nokia's Linux-based tablet OS which the N900 runs. Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Markets at Nokia said, "The Nokia N900 shows where we are going with Maemo and we'll continue to work with the community to push the software forward. What we have with Maemo is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways."
So it's got the chassis and connectivity of a smartphone, and the guts and operating system of a MID. It looks like Nokia has either rejuvenated the MID, or created a new mutant.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
FCC launches investigation of wireless industry

Publié: août 28, 2009, 1:02am CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

This afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission gingerly passed measures that will result in the publication of three "Notices of Inquiry," seeking public input not only on the status of wireless broadband communications in this country, but what measures it should take to better judge just what "good" or "bad" means for that industry. While all those positive words were being spoken on the industry's behalf, however -- references to "the spirit of American innovation" abounded from both sides of the bench today -- from the other end of the building this afternoon, the FCC formally announced it will be launching an inquiry to "identify concrete steps the Commission can take to support and encourage further innovation and investment in the wireless marketplace."
"Wireless mobility has become central to the economic, civic, and social lives of over 270 million Americans," a statement from the FCC said this afternoon. "We are now in the midst of a transition from reliance on mobile voice services to increasing use of and reliance on mobile broadband services, which promise to connect American citizens in new and profound ways. A robustly competitive mobile wireless market will be essential to realizing the full benefits to American consumers and channeling investment into vitally important national infrastructure. The FCC is seeking to ensure that competition in the mobile wireless market continues to bring substantial benefits to American consumers."
The FCC announced its intention to vote on this inquiry last week, and now the commission will develop a framework for analyzing the wireless industry that will shape regulatory issues moving forward.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009
Mozilla: Privacy concerns initially prevented some upgrades to Firefox 3

Publié: août 28, 2009, 12:29am CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

One of the benefits of working in an organization whose founding premise is based on openness is that mistakes can be openly admitted, and thus more quickly rectified. An example of this principle in action comes from the blog for Mozilla's own analytics team, which earlier this week presented a very telling discovery from a survey of Firefox 2 users who continually declined making the upgrade to version 3.0 (we're not even dealing with 3.5 yet).
The most oft-cited reason users declined to make the upgrade -- from one declining user in four, or about 1,250 users, according to survey results -- was the apparent fact that a user's history of previously viewed Web sites could not be deleted from the address bar. As a result, when typing in an HTTP, any user could discover the addresses of similarly-named Web sites that any other user of that same browser (under the same logon name) had previously viewed.
"The browser is not very secure if browsing history cannot be deleted from the location bar," reads the team's citation of an actual comment from a browser user.
As a reviewers' guide to Firefox 3.5 indicates, a new feature in the Privacy panel under Options lets users limit the categories of information the "Awesome Bar" may provide, making it arguably less awesome but, in some minds, more secure. More frequent use of the Private Browsing feature, which does not record the user's history when active, may also appease these users' concerns.
The problem is, many of these users may already have been turned off of Firefox, and as result, will not have read either the reviewers' guide that points these facts out, or this article that attempts to shed extra light on them. So the analytics team openly suggested a change to Firefox itself: incorporating, in a future edition, the filtering control from the Options panel directly into the address bar itself.
What were users' thoughts on that? Not a complete solution, many said, because that doesn't resolve the issue of bringing back the users that didn't upgrade. Another user was the first to invoke the dreaded "p" word: A user who may be viewing porn may not want the opportunity to accidentally leave any trail of attempting to not leave any trail, and a switch that can be left to filter out history may provoke skepticism.
Firefox security contributor Jesse Ruderman pointed out the irony of users refusing to upgrade to a demonstrably more secure browser, for security reasons. "It sounds like users declining major updates is the main way we lose users to insecure versions, but it's not the only way," Ruderman wrote. "Should we try surveying users who uncheck 'Automatically check for updates' to find out why they do that?"
But perhaps the most enlightening comment came from a contributor who pointed out that the "freedom of expression" that characterized the original Firefox 3.0 "Awesome Bar" probably did raise some concerns during Mozilla's long beta period. Had enough attention been paid to beta testers' concerns at that time, before 3.0 went RTM in June 2008, the entire survey itself might not have been necessary.
"I think the other half of the solution is to see if there are ways to help developers predict or better gauge the response during beta releases," wrote "Lucy." "Obviously not every issue brought up during beta turns out to matter, but how to do a better job of telling them apart?"
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009