Florencio Benson

Startup Cloudera is introducing a set of applications on Friday for working with Hadoop, the open-source framework for large-scale data processing and analysis. It allows an application workload to be spread over clusters of commodity hardware, and also includes a distributed file system. Cloudera, which provides Hadoop support to enterprises, developed the new browser-based application suite to simplify the process of using Hadoop, according to CEO Mike Olson. "It's an easy-to-use GUI suitable for people who don't have a lot of Hadoop expertise," Olson said. "The big Web properties with sophisticated and talented PhDs have been successful [with it], but ordinary IT shops ... have had a harder time." Hadoop is known for its behind-the-scenes role crunching oceans of information for Web operations like Facebook and Yahoo. But although the technology is "at its best" when data volumes get into multiple terabytes, Hadoop has relevance for a wide variety of companies, according to Olson. "It's increasingly easy to get your hands on that much data these days," especially from machine-generated information like Web logs, he said.

Cloudera and its partners are fine-tuning the suite, which is now in beta, before issuing a general release. The browser-based application set is supported on Windows, Mac and Linux, and includes four modules: a file browser; a tool for creating, executing and archiving jobs; a tool for monitoring the status of jobs; and a "cluster health dashboard" for keeping tabs on a cluster's performance. Hadoop needs many more tools like it, according to analyst Curt Monash of Monash Research. "If Hadoop is to consistently handle workloads as diverse and demanding as those of [massively parallel processing] relational DBMSes, it needs a lot of tools and infrastructure," Monash said via e-mail. "The three leaders in developing those are Yahoo, Cloudera, and Facebook. There's a long way to go."

Google is rich, with a market cap of $183 billion - that's billion with a "b" - already 71 percent the value of its much more established archrival Microsoft. For several years, Google seemed to be focused on Web-based collaboration tools, with its Blogger.com service and acqusition of JotSpot (now called Google Wave) as prime examples. With those resources, Google has created more and more software products in an attempt to build a sustainable business outside of the search-based ads that account for most of its revenue - and in attempt to be the center of your computing universe. But more recently, Google has moved into the cloud business, producing one product after another in a pattern that shows clearly a desire to replace the desktop paradigm - which has Microsoft's Windows and Microsoft Office at its core.

The forthcoming Google Chrome OS is the baldest statement of that mission, redefining a laptop into a Net appliance that relies almost entirely on the cloud for the apps people would use routinely. Google has designs to replace the desktop with the cloud, and Microsoft with itself. But that's just the latest salvo. Microsoft has responded to this direct strike at its business with its cloud/desktop hybrid version of Office, the forthcoming Office 2010 Web Apps. Google has already launched its Google Apps set of services, which are starting to be taken seriously even by large companies and government agencies to handle e-mail, word processing, and more.

But Google keeps pushing: Its still-in-beta Google Wave promises to attack one of Microsoft's most beloved products, its SharePoint collaboration software. Scheier's reporting reveals where Google Apps is a serious option, where it is not, and where the jury is still out. InfoWorld has put together a package of articles that explores Google's attempt to become the center of everyone's technology universe: Robert L. Scheier's "Can Google really hack it in business?" looks at Google Apps and evaluates how seriously businesses can take each of its components, such as Gmail and Google Docs. Galen Gruman has put together a slideshow of Google's business applications, "A tour of Google's business apps," so you can see in one place all the options Google wants to tempt you with. Neil McAllister debunks the myths around the Chrome OS and explains exactly what Google has promised. Neil McAllister pits Google Docs against Microsoft's Office Web apps in an InfoWorld Test Center head-to-head comparison, "Office suites in the cloud." Galen Gruman examines whether Google's mobile OS, Android, has what it takes to provide a real challenge to Apple's widely admired iPhone in his analysis "Android 2.0: The iPhone killer at last?" and in his Test Center comparison, "Deathmatch: Motorola Droid versus iPhone." Several of InfoWorld's experts examine the Chrome OS's potential for creating a new type of computing device that might replace - or at least rival - the traditional laptop and netbook.

Randall C. Kennedy argues that the Chrome OS is destined to fail, and shows how Microsoft could easily kill off the Chrome OS. Kennedy also provides a visual tour of the early beta Chrome OS so you can see what it actually is. This article, "Can Google succeed outside of search?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Eric Knorr tells why he can't wait for a "Chromebook." And Bill Snyder explains why the Chrome OS is a welcome addition to our computing options, not a replacement for existing ones. Follow the latest developments on cloud computing, Google, Google Apps, and Chrome OS at InfoWorld.com.

The holiday season is almost here, and even in a recession huge numbers of people will likely be shopping online for gifts this year. It's also a great time for hackers looking to steal data and money from the unwary millions expected to search for great deals online. The rush by shoppers to the Web makes the season a great time for online retailers. The growth of holiday hackers has annually prompted security analysts, identity theft awareness groups and various government agencies to come up with lists of precautions that consumers can take to avoid becoming a victim of online fraud.

For those unwary consumers, Computerworld this year offers a handy list of tips that can help maximize the their exposure to online fraud. Such lists can prove a benefit to consumers, but unfortunately some people ignore it. Tip #1 : Open all attachments from strangers and click on all embedded links in such e-mail messages. All a hacker needs to do is find computer users who instinctively open e-mail messages from strangers, even those who write in a foreign language. Such actions remain one of the most effective ways to provide thieves with personal information and financial data.

The action can open the door to keystroke loggers, rootkits or Trojan horse programs. Once installed, hackers gain unfettered access to personal data and can even remotely control and administer systems from anywhere. Crooks can also easily install backdoors to easily steal data without attracting any attention. Tip #2 Respond to Dr (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha, whose name is used by many hackers who say they have close friends and relatives in Nigeria who have recently been widowed or deposed in a military coup and need your help to get their millions of dollars out of the country. And to make sure to provide bank account information, login credentials, date of birth and mother's maiden name so that they can wire the reward directly into a checking account in time for the holidays. Users are told they will undoubtedly be rewarded for helping to get their 'well-packed trunk boxes' full of cash out of Nigeria.

Tip #3 Install a peer-to-peer file-sharing client on your PC. and configure it so all files, including bank account, Social Security and credit card numbers along with copies of mortgage and tax return documents, are easily available to anyone on the same P2P network. It saves hackers from spending too much time and effort trying to access your PC. Clever sequences such as 123456 and abcdef and your firstname.lastname all make fine, easy-to-remember default passwords for you and for hackers. Your personal data will stream over the Internet while you check out what songs you can download for free without getting sued by the RIAA. Tip #4 Come up with passwords that are easy to crack. For maximum exposure, keep passwords short, don't mix alphabets and numerals and use the same password for all accounts. Keeping operating systems properly patched and anti-virus and anti-spyware tools updated make life hard for hackers.

Tip #5 Avoid installing the latest anti-malware tools and security updates. Users can help them out by making sure their anti-virus software and anti-spyware tools are at least 18-months out of date, or not using them at all. Good luck! Either way, it's very likely that your computer will be infected with a full spectrum of malware.

Informatica is launching version 9 of its data integration platform on Tuesday, a release that emphasizes improved data quality, business-IT collaboration and assembling information from both on- and off-premise sources. The software automatically generates implementation details from those requirements, minimizing the chance something will get altered in translation, the company said. New browser-based tools help business analysts more easily communicate their data requirements to IT staffers. Informatica 9 also includes data-quality monitoring tools tailored for various job roles within a company, from business users to developers.

The release also includes new SOA (service-oriented architecture) data services aimed at helping companies stitch together information from a variety of on-premise and cloud-based applications. The idea is to improve data quality by "empowering" different user types to keep tabs on the data they know most intimately. The services build on a string of cloud-based announcements the company made beginning several years ago, including support for Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and an integration with Salesforce.com. All told, Informatica 9 could raise the competitive stakes between the vendor and larger rivals such as IBM and Oracle, the latter of which made an announcement around real-time data integration on Tuesday. Right now, cloud-based integration projects aren't contributing a significant portion of the vendor's revenue, but the company is "well-prepared to take advantage" when those scenarios become more pervasive, said CEO Sohaib Abbasi. Informatica also faces challenges from smaller companies like startup SnapLogic, which was formed by Informatica cofounder Gaurav Dhillon.

The FCC has approved a notice of proposed rule making on the subject of net neutrality, and here are a few questions and answers to help shine a light on what that means. The FCC agreed to consider what regulations, if any, to impose on ISPs about the applications and services that they allow, ban or rate limit. FCC takes first step toward net neutrality rules What exactly did the FCC do?

The process calls for formally proposing rules and holding public hearings on them. What is net neutrality anyway? A vote about the rules themselves will take place sometime next year. It is the common name for creating and preserving what the FCC calls the "open Internet". The FCC is trying to write rules that enforce six principles it says ISPs must uphold to preserve what the commission calls the "open Internet". These rules would tell ISPs to:* allow sending and receiving all lawful content.* allow all lawful applications and services.* allow all lawful devices that don't harm the network.* allow access to all network, application, service and content providers.* ensure there is no discrimination against particular lawful content, applications, services and devices.* reveal practices necessary network management that might limit the other five principles. A majority of the FCC, Google and other Internet-based companies, consumer advocacy groups and Internet luminaries such as Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee.

Who wants it? They fear that without rules, ISPs will impose tiered service levels, making the top-level services so expensive as to rule out their use by innovators trying to start Internet-based businesses. There have been cases where ISPs blocked VoIP and rate-limited peer-to-peer traffic like that used for gaming and file sharing. They are also concerned that selectively banning certain applications such as VoIP will reduce consumer choice about how to make voice calls. Who's opposed to it?

They say the rules would block charging extra for premium services, the financial incentive they need to invest in network upgrades that keep traffic running smoothly. The loudest opposition comes from AT&T, Verizon and other Internet providers. They say the rules would unfairly restrict what they call differentiating services that might justify higher rates than competitors charge. Sen. They say the consequences of net-neutrality rules would be one of two things: higher flat rates for services or paying by the byte for Internet traffic. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also has introduced a bill to block the FCC's net neutrality rules.

If net neutrality prompts higher Internet access rates for all-you-can-eat ISP services, businesses would have higher ISP bills. What does it mean to businesses? Usage-based fees might or might not increase costs to individual businesses depending on how much they use the Internet. For example, a business that sells HD video downloads over the Internet might sell less if customers have to buy premium Internet access in order to enjoy a movie. Businesses that rely on the Internet to provide services might face decreased demand if their customers are forced to buy more-expensive services in order to consume their products. What does it mean to carriers?

They also say they buy into the principles of an open Internet and that no rules are needed. Carriers fear net neutrality will restrict their ability to make money off their networks to the point that they will slow the rate at which they invest in network improvements that boost Internet performance. What does it mean to residential Internet users? Or they might shift over to billing for the amount customers download, forcing customers to think twice about what they use the Internet for. Flat monthly rates that are common now would likely remain, but ISPs might charge more for them.

At the same time, they would be able to use the Internet to make phone calls without worrying that the traffic would be blocked. Without rules, ISPs are most likely to limit bandwidth hogs – gaming, streaming video - and VoIP. Many large ISPs such as AT&T and Verizon are also voice carriers, so VoIP riding the Internet is a threat to their revenue streams. The rules would have the biggest impact on what services? The flip side is that providers of VoIP services that rely on the Internet ought not to be hindered by the ISPs.