Thursday, November 14, 2013

Microsoft to Shutdown Windows XP Support

Microsoft on Tuesday said that there are just 100 working days to go before it stops supporting Windows XP, its 12-year-old operating system. Around 30 per cent of computers used by businesses still run Windows XP and after April 8, 2014, no anti-virus software will be able to protect these, Microsoft said.
In India, PSU banks and financial institutions face the largest risk, as many of them run Windows XP on around 40 to 70 per cent of their computers, according to a Microsoft-funded study conducted by Ascentius Consulting. According to the report, 34,115 PSU bank branches face a security threat due to their reliance on Windows XP.
Amrish Goyal, Microsoft India's general manager of Windows Business Group, said that many of the 45 Indian banks using XP have shown little intent to switch completely to Windows 7 or 8.1. "State Bank of India has around 1.35 lakh PCs still running Windows XP and they are looking to upgrade these. The good thing is that around 40 to 50 per cent of their computers are running Windows 7," Goyal told The Indian Express.
However, some banks have been proactively upgrading their computers. For instance, Goyal said, Indian Bank has completed migration to Windows 7 and Canara Bank is about to finish it soon. The banks that do not upgrade will face heavy maintenance costs. An IDC report titled 'Risks of Staying with Windows XP: The Financial and Business Imperative' says that the cost of support for Windows XP machines post the end of support deadline could be as high as $300 (Rs 19,000) per PC, as opposed to $95 (Rs 6,000) for upgrading to a newer OS. Upgrade cost is even low for PSU banks till January as Microsoft is offering around 50 per cent discounts for upgrades to Windows 7, apart from assistance with migrating vital software and hardware to support modern operating systems.
Government authorities are aware of the risk of continuing with Windows XP, as evident in a memo issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) on June 25. The advisory says, "It is recommended that users and organisations using Windows XP... should immediately plan for upgradation... and test applications well before April 2014."
Microsoft to shutdown Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Office 2003 from 14th July 2015 and 8th April 2014 respectively.


Thursday, November 14, 2013 by Unknown · 1

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

SSL Certificate Expired of President Barack Obama

One of the SSL certificates used on www.barackobama.com, the President Barack Obama's political campaign website, has expired. Your browser will warn you not to visit the site now.

Hat tip to Netcraft for reporting that an SSL certificate for barackobama.com and *.barackobama.com has expired.
barackobama.com is the political campaign web site for the President. Currently it is registered to and used by Organizing For Action, a non-profit organization that promotes the President's agenda.
The certificate was issued by GoDaddy in September 2012 for one year. As the error message below indicates, best practices state that sites with expired certificates are not generally trustworthy.
bobama
The expired certificate was issued for barackobama.com and as a wildcard for *.barackobama.com, but it's not the only certificate on the site. A Comodo certificate forwww.barackobama.com will expire at the end of October, 2013.
Netcraft also points out that several government certificates have expired, ui.tn.gov for example, and with the government shutdown they may stay expired for some time. Other sites are worse off: www.nasa.gov now redirects to notice.usa.gov.
Image Courtesy and News Source: zdnet.com

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 by Unknown · 1

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Marketplace Fairness Act for sales tax on Ecommerce Websites


US Senate approves sales tax on online retailers, IBM retail tweeted

The bill is shocking for United  States Leading E-commerce giants like ebay, amazon, jcpenney and many others.

The US Senate has passed the ‘Marketplace Fairness Act’ that would impose sales tax on online retailers by 69-27 vote. The detailed news story has been covered by fibre2fashion news desk India
 

At present, only companies with brick-and-mortar stores in the US have to pay online sales tax. However, retailers with physical presence would not immediately get “a level-playing field” with Internet retailers, as the bill would now be sent to the House of Representatives.
 
If the bill becomes a law, it would only apply to retailers who sell over US$ 1 million worth of goods online during a year.
 
If it comes into force, the new law would make online retailers like Amazon, eBay and others to pay sales tax, even in those states where they do not have offices or distribution centres.
 
The proposed legislation states that sales taxes would be collected by different states and sent to the states where the buyers live.
 
The bill co-sponsored by Senators Mike Enzi and Dick Durbin also expects states to set up a single entity to pool in Internet tax revenue.
 
“Today’s action in the Senate is a significant step for sales tax fairness and we look forward to a robust debate in the U.S. House of Representatives,” National Retail Federation (NRF) President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.
 
NRF Chairman of the Board Stephen I. Sadove said, “Retailers compete for customers on many different levels, distribution channels and fronts, including service and selection, but they cannot compete on sales tax. Congress needs to address this sales tax disparity and allow retailers to compete freely and fairly.”
 

Thursday, May 9, 2013 by Unknown · 0

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