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Vantage Newsletter: June 2006 Hello and welcome to your June edition of Vantage Point, the newsletter from Vantage IT Solutions, the IT support and solutions provider. We received lots of entries into the competition to name this newsletter and we are very grateful to all who entered. Thank you for your support. Two people suggested Vantage Point and we hope you’ll agree that it conveys the superb view you receive of the IT world by reading this newsletter! Congratulations to the winners (a prize is on its way) and commiserations if you were unsuccessful. 
Big Rewards and Potential ProsecutionsPeople are now being offered a reward of up to £20,000 for reporting businesses that use unlicensed software. For the businesses, the increased risk of prosecution should be a wake up call. The reward is being offered by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The BSA's members include some of the most famous names in the computer world and it is dedicated to promoting the “legal and safe” use of software. The usual reward of £10,000 has been doubled until the end of June in a bid to promote the issue of organisations using illegal software. Research has shown that a large percentage of employees are happy to report their employer, particularly if there is the opportunity of personal gain. For employers, there is the risk of fines or even imprisonment in very serious cases. According to research house IDC, 27% of software in use in UK businesses is illegal. The BSA is advising companies to obtain an audit of all their software to ensure they are not at risk. For further information on a software audit, please contact us at Vantage IT. Wireless Clouds May Not Have Silver Linings Public wireless networks can be so easy to use - you're out and about and need to view emails or check your bank account, for example. Just hop on the nearest wireless public access point ('hotspot') and click away. But, who else is using the same network? Are they trying to access your laptop while you're working? Or worse still, are they monitoring everything you type? These risks have been known for a long time, but a new one is also emerging - there is now the fear that rogue hotspots could be set up to capture private information. All this means that users should be extremely cautious when sending data over public unencrypted connections. Vantage IT has often advised against using public wireless networks and this development is another disappointing though unsurprising reason for avoiding them. Even wireless devices in businesses are not necessarily secure. Although computer security is taken seriously by most companies, many are still leaving the back door open by not securing their wireless (wi-fi) networks. Hackers are increasingly seeing this as an easy route into a computer network, enabling them to gain access to confidential data. An IT security company that carried out research into wi-fi systems found that a high percentage of wireless networks had not been properly secured. Indeed, when Vantage IT has investigated companies' IT security, wireless networks have been discovered with very little or no security. For an analysis of your IT security, please contact Vantage IT. Alternative Energy for Your Laptop Several computer manufacturers are experimenting with the use of fuel cells as an environmentally friendly way of powering laptop computers. The cells would replace conventional batteries and work by breaking down methanol and turning it into electricity. As it is a new technology, it’s taking time to make all the components small enough to fit into a package people will accept, but before long, instead of charging your laptop from a mains socket, you could simply insert the next methanol cartridge. One of the manufacturers, Toshiba, says that one methanol charge could provide up to 10 hours of power. They are also developing the world’s smallest direct methanol fuel cell that can be integrated into a wireless mobile phone headset. They’d Tax Our Breath if They Could! A French MEP is proposing to add a tax to all emails and mobile phone text messages. The European Union is always looking for more sources of income and this is seen as a potentially vast target. The MEP, Mr Lamassoure, is quoted as saying “Perhaps it would be technically easy and even politically possible to impose a very tiny tax on these millions and billions of operations”. The Guardian web site reports him as adding "I have not met my UK counterparts so far but I had a written response from the House of Lords saying the idea was very interesting - and the House of Commons Treasury committee wrote back, saying: 'It is none of your business nor ours,'" he added with a laugh. It’s Not Just Clean Underwear You Need  The ever-reliable Swiss have come up with the idea and say it will enable you to gain prompt medical treatment as it can hold all the information necessary for doctors to treat you effectively. We’ve clearly got to hope that any doctor you meet in an emergency has access to a compatible PC, otherwise it will just be a piece of rather unattractive jewellery. The Entertaining Bit Here's something to test your mouse control and concentration! click here to play.. |
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