Google buys word-processing firm

Google has bought Upstartle, a small private company that makes Web-based word-processing software, as it begins to flesh out its plan to move more traditional computing tasks onto the Internet, reports Mercury News.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition of Upstartle and its Writely software adds word-processing to the search and e-mail products Google already offers for the consumer desktop. Google executives have said the company`s goal is to put the Internet at the centre of the consumer experience.

They have hinted they will allow users to run their programs and store their files on Google servers rather than on their home computers alone. That direction puts Google in close competition with Microsoft, which is also moving more of its software online.

Novell has introduced the next version of its desktop Linux OS, a release the company hopes will begin a "viral" migration from Windows in the next several years, said Jeff Jaffe, Novell CTO, reports Techworld.

Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED 10) is the first version of Novell`s desktop Linux that is "good enough" for enterprises to replace Windows in more than just limited deployments, Jaffe said. He acknowledged that desktop Linux has barely made a dent in the enterprise, though a migration from Windows to Linux on enterprise desktops has been predicted for years. However, he expects enterprise pilots of SLED 10 to begin in earnest in late 2006.

Then, once companies realise how painlessly they can integrate a Linux desktop into an enterprise dominated by Windows, the trend to use Linux alongside or to replace Windows in the enterprise should catch fire by 2008, Jaffe said.

The open source browser Firefox is to get anti-phishing technology courtesy of Google. The additional security is in the form of a plug-in for Firefox, reports PC Pro.

One of the biggest selling points of Firefox has been its improved security over Internet Explorer. In the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Firefox had the highest number of new vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities with 13. Microsoft Internet Explorer had the highest number of new vulnerabilities (including both vendor confirmed and non-vendor confirmed) at 24.

The difference is that the nature of the open source methodology would mean that flaws are much more likely to be spotted by the additional number of people reviewing the code. Microsoft is beta testing its next-generation Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) and has taken some pains to ensure the new browser is more secure than its predecessor. IE 7 has its own anti-phishing protection built in.