Software : Mozilla and Opera will keep Windows XP alive and kicking |
| Mozilla and Opera will keep Windows XP alive and kicking Posted:  Mozilla and Opera have followed Google's lead in pledging to pump life into Windows XP's dying corpse after Microsoft stops supporting the 12-year-old platform next year. In an emailed statement to TRPro, Johnathan Nightingale, VP of Firefox, said that the company has "no plans to discontinue support" for XP after the April 8 deadline, while Opera Software told PCPro that it will support XP while the OS remains popular among its users. Unlike Google, which has already pledged to release "regular updates and security patches" for Windows XP until April 2015, neither company said how (or how long) it will support the platform. Taking risksMicrosoft has sounded multiple warnings that remaining on XP could leave businesses wide open to security and compliance risks in the absence of regular patches and updates. Despite this, the platform still remains relatively popular among both business users and consumers. According to web analytics firm NetMarketShare, 31.4% of the PC users it tracked in September were running Windows XP - the second most-used operating system tracked that month - behind leader Windows 7 (46.39%). Businesses are similarly dragging their feet. A recent study by IDC found that 28% of 750 executives and IT professionals are yet to migrate half of their application estates to Windows 7, and 3.7% haven't even started the process. The reason for that? They're too tied up with BYOD projects, apparently.
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| Facebook testing tech that can track your cursor movements on the site Posted:  It's bad enough that Facebook openly sold user photos and information to sponsors. Now a new privacy breach is potentially on its way as the company is testing technology that can track minute user activity, even down how a someone's cursor is behaving on the site. Facebook analytics chief Ken Rudin revealed the test during an interview with the Wall Street Journal, and said the social network may significantly expand the data it collects on its users. The tracking tech extends to measuring things like how long someone holds their cursor over a certain part of the Facebook website and whether a user's News Feed is visible on their desktop or mobile device. Rudin told the Journal that this information could be added to the company's data analytics warehouse, where Facebook could use it to better gauge product development (like implementing a redesign) and create more targeted advertising. Detailed privacyFacebook collects two kinds of data, demographic and behavioral, according to the Journal. Demographics documents things like where you live or went to school, while behavioral keeps tabs on your social interactions with friends and likes in real-time. Rudin said the info collection tests could generate burgeoning behavioral data for the social network. The tests are part of a larger technology testing program, and it won't be for a few more months until Facebook decides whether the data makes the cut. Naturally Facebook's plan raises issues of privacy protection, though it wouldn't be the first company to collect such small user activity info. Image repository Shuttershock uses Hadoop to analyze even the tiniest interactions, like how long a user lingers over an image before deciding to buy it. Privacy has been a controversial topic for Facebook in the past, and the company has already settled one $20 million (about £12.9m, AU$22m) settlement over the use of Facebook users' names, photos and personal info in ads without their permission. How much protection can be afforded a cursor hover isn't as cut and dry, but we'll keep an ear out for further developments. |
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