Network Computingwww.networkcomputing.com

Either someone up in Redmond was listening or perhaps great minds think alike, but late last week Bill Gates released a memo to his troops with a brand new game plan. Keep in mind that Gates takes what he calls "Think Weeks" where he goes off alone, reads book after book, and usually crafts a high-level memo about Microsoft strategy. This was how Bill discovered the Internet and a bit later pushed the .Net idea.

Now it seems that Bill has discovered security and privacy, about a decade too late I'd say! His goal? Initially he wants to automate security fixes. In the long run, he says his "software should be so fundamentally secure that customers never even worry about it." In addition, Gates pledges to make his software always available (a huge undertaking given Windows' track record.) And, finally, he promises the utmost privacy. This is not as much a technical challenge (which the other two initiatives clearly are), as it is a matter of morality. If Microsoft truly wants to protect our privacy, then Passport, and the various Windows registries, can easily be made to do so.

So why exactly did Bill come to his security senses? Maybe the jokes finally got to him. Take this one: Satirewire.com recently reported that Microsoft has agreed to split into two companies. One company will "make Microsoft operating systems, browsers and server software. The other, potentially larger company will make patches for Microsoft operating systems, browsers and server software."

AOL's Risky Business Move

In the old days, Novell chief Ray Noorda hated Microsoft so much he did everything in his power to stop its progress. For Ray, that meant matching Microsoft product for product. For an applications suite, Ray bought neighbor WordPerfect. And for an operating system, Ray went out and bought Unix itself. He even tried to merge with Lotus. But, alas, Novell lost focus and these acquisitions rather quickly unraveled.

I fear AOL may be making the same mistake. The company had a pretty sweet lock on online services, but that apparently wasn't enough. So AOL, along with Sun, bought Netscape and got itself a browser, a portal and some pretty darn good directory software. But AOL failed to take real advantage of any of these assets.

Now The Washington Post is claiming that AOL wants to buy Red Hat, a charge denied by sources quoted by an online news company. Red Hat is a great company, but I don't know how this benefits AOL at all. America Online needs partners in the OS space, not to be looked upon as a competitor. With Microsoft lined up against it, AOL doesn't need any more enemies.

Head Case