John Taschek

“Unbreakable” is the tag line for the newest version of the Oracle9i database. Whether the name is derived from the good but misunderstood movie about a reluctant superhero with a fear of drowning or is just a marketing term conjured up to inspire hackers to beta test Oracles security scheme, Oracle is intensely interested in […]

In the real world, passports give people the liberty to travel the world. In the computer industry, liberty alliances are formed to get people to throw away their passports. Suns Liberty Alliance was set up in direct reaction to Microsofts Passport. The main goals of the alliance and Passport are to solve authentication problems for […]

Wireless networking keeps getting better and better. 802.11a-based devices are more than fast enough for most applications. And assuming you can find them and stomach the possibility that theyll be obsolete by years end, youll be a happy camper. The newest 802.11a devices are just as polished as the 802.11b on the market. They should […]

A new year and already the hype has started over some arbitrary technology thats supposed to change the world. Its got to stop. Hype is a bad, bad thing, and yet I get a strange sense of belonging when I write about whatevers being hyped. This year, apparently, its ebXML, a series of specifications that […]

eWEEK Labs tests of some of the first 802.11a-based equipment out of the gate show that the new specification makes wireless networks better, stronger and faster—up to five times as fast as 802.11b-based systems. This increase in throughput will not only boost users productivity but will also make wireless LANs an acceptable conduit for applications […]

Surprisingly, writing this column never gets old. I tirelessly examine interesting enterprise architectures; match them to the vendors hyperbolic claims; compare them with what I believe readers actually need; and, once in a while, take potshots at unsuspecting vendors, just to break out of writers block. Well, maybe the last part is right. What I […]

Oracle is banking that release 2 of its 9i application server will erode the market share of its competitors. Oracle previously touted support of standards and performance as 9iAS main advantage over competitive offerings from BEA and IBM. Now, Oracle is focusing on caching. There are two new features in Release 2: clustering of the […]

The biggest problem with information is that people dont share it: Some people will hold back a key piece of data as if it will raise their level of importance in an organization. There are exceptions, of course. Overwhelmingly, however, Ive had a jaded opinion of collaboration software since it tries to force people into […]

At Internet World in New York, Microsoft launched its next version of Windows Media services, code-named Corona. As is typical lately, Microsoft is aiming at the consumer, promising a more TV-like experience. Demonstrations showed Microsoft has almost mastered the audio portions—even in alpha code, Corona streamed Dolby 5.1 stereo thats virtually indistinguishable from normally encoded […]

If Real Application Clusters isnt the breakthrough database technology that Larry Ellison said it is, hes going to take up sailing full time. Ellison may well be sailing more next year, when the Ellison-sponsored Oracle racing team vies for the Americas Cup. Interestingly, the focus of Oracle OpenWorld earlier this month was not on RAC […]

Who would have thought that technology that helps rip off the record companies and keeps some artists starving would be a boon to the tech world? It appears that MP3 and the peer-to-peer technologies that replaced Napster have created a surge in the need for network bandwidth management packages at universities. Those universities are struggling […]

Admirers call it patriotic. Detractors say it reeks of jingoism. Others, including myself, say its marketing. The “it” in this case is the brazen display of the American flag by computer technology companies in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. The most ostentatious display is by Siebel, which hung an 85-foot-high flag on its building […]