Workgroups

How to set up password policies in OS X

Generally each account on an OS X system is protected with a password; however, the security of a system can be compromised by the use of an insecure password. For example, common passwords like "12345," "password," or "letmein," or short passwords may be easily guessed. Sometimes account holders on a multiuser system may even use a blank password, which can easily let anyone into their accounts. By default OS X will warn users of such practices and recommend strong passwords be used, but ultimately does not prevent users from setting whatever password they want.… Read more

Convofy brings Facebook-like features to business

I thought the whole "Twitter for the enterprise" concept died out after Yammer launched at the TechCrunch conference in 2008. It's an interesting tool, as is competitor SocialCast, but while products like these are achieving some early successes, the real-time, social-networking-at-work thing has not taken the business world by storm. Remember Google Wave? It's likely because businesses that already get the concept are using Notes or Sharepoint, and those that don't need to be convinced by their employees--who are dealing with their own social-network overload thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The new Convofy, which … Read more

Workgroup Manager preference settings affecting iPhoto sharing

When working on shared or managed systems, preferences for applications may not always work as expected. When attempting to share your iPhoto Library, for instance, you may find that preference is not available due to settings in Workgroup Manager.

The issue Apple Support Discussions user RabbitSF posted:

We have 17 latest Mac Minis in our school lab and I want to have one machine share its iPhoto library over the network. So I went to open the iPhoto Preferences, then Sharing tab, checked Share My Photos and Share Entire Library, but the Status still says Off.

Sharing your iPhoto Library … Read more

Novell's Linux revenue soars 22 percent, while everything else tanks

Novell reported on Thursday a 22 percent year-over-year increase in its Linux revenue, topping $40 million. That's the good news. The bad news is that overall, net revenue slumped to $216 million from $245 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2008, with every product besides Linux dropping considerably. From identity and security management (down 16 percent) to systems and resource management (down 15 percent) to workgroup (down 12 percent), Novell is in serious trouble, with at least two potential options:

Turn to the open-source community or Microsoft to fix its failing businesses.

Novell's Open Platform business, of … Read more

Novell Linux revenue soars as global server revenue plummets

The bad news is that global server revenue is down 25 percent in the last quarter, according to IDC, with Microsoft Windows server revenue down a whopping 29 percent.

The good news? Novell reported Thursday that its Linux Platform revenue climbed 25 percent year over year in the midst of one of the worst recessions in history. Talk about Linux swimming against the economic current.

Well, it's good news for some. Microsoft, of course, won't take any comfort in Novell's numbers, especially as recent Eclipse survey data suggests that Linux is eating into its Windows server and … Read more

Collanos: Free sharing tool for teams

Collanos is a new and ambitious product that's designed to keep teams up to date on the files they're working on, and to provide a repository for discussions and other resources like Web links. It's got great potential. Which is a nice way of saying it's not ready for the real world yet.

At its core, Collanos is a peer-to-peer file synchronizing utility, sort of a scrappier version of Groove, or a buttoned-down version of Tubes (review). It is a free, downloadable (45MB) application. This goes against the grain of Webware's philosophy, but we're … Read more