Usually software companies have the luxury of picking their own deadlines, and typically — especially in the case of open source or free programs — those deadlines are allowed to slip or even lapse. But the European Commission gave Opera a solid opportunity to get back in the game, to be discussed once again in the same company as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari. Version 10.2 wasn’t going to do it. We saw that back in December, with performance scores that were falling below those from the stable Opera 10.1.

Although its operating system and apps are so buggy that new vulnerabilities are discovered with frightening regularity, Microsoft now wants Internet users to pony up to cover the cost of cybersecurity. The idea was put forth by Scott Charney, Redmond’s vice president for trustworthy computing, during a speech at the RSA Conference 2010 security convention earlier this week. His argument is that PC users who don’t run antivirus apps or back up their computers or patch their systems regularly are like cigarette smokers who poison other people with second-hand smoke.

TiVo has unveiled a new DVR that expands on its delivery of Web content while refining its interface for the high-def era. The new Premiere units will record up to 150 hours of high-definition programming, but what’s most significant about the boxes is the expanded array of Web content available. New selections include the music service Pandora and Frame Channel, a service that funnels news and other content to Web-connected devices.

The lawsuit Apple filed this week may target smartphone maker HTC, but Cupertino is likely shooting for much bigger prey. Specifically, Google is the real focus of Apple’s wrath, said Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile and wireless with the 451 Group. Based on the details of the lawsuit, “an argument could be made that it’s targeting HTC,” he noted. However, the numerous issues listed on Apple’s simultaneously filed complaint with the ITC are “all based on what the operating system does and how it interacts.”

You don’t have to search very hard on Apple.com to find the 2010 Supplier Responsibility Report, the company’s internal audit of how workers are treated on the assembly lines at the overseas third-party companies making its Macs, iPhones and iPods. “Read about Apple’s continuing commitment to social responsibility” says the link on the lower right-hand corner of the home page. The link might as well say, “We’ve seen how child labor scandals torpedoed Nike and Kathie Lee Gifford, and we have no intention of letting that happen to us.”

As a result of recent updates to the BBC’s Flash-based iPlayer, open source media players can no longer play its content. The updates implement SWF Verification, a copyright protection mechanism that excludes free alternatives to Flash player, such as that offered by the XBMC community, among others. The result is that such open source plugins can no longer stream iPlayer content. BBC Trust, which oversees the BBC, reportedly has no plans to investigate the decision despite widespread complaints.

Microsoft did its best Woody Harrelson impression this week and set out to bag some zombies. The zombies we’re talking about here are PCs infected with malware. The bad guys spread the malware around and then remotely control victims’ computers as part of a botnet that can do stuff like send out spam email or carry out DDoS attacks. In the real world, of course, you have to aim for the head to kill zombies, and that’s basically the new strategy Microsoft used. In order to take down Waledac, which was one really bad botnet, it was granted a temporary restraining order.

Web-based applications and cloud computing have presented new challenges for software developers. Most software makers are by no means tone-deaf to user concerns about security and usability issues, but even those software writers who are receptive to these worries must contend with hard-to-plug holes that can open up in cross-platform programs such as Web browsers. For Web app developers, the problems occur on two fronts. Not only do they have to harden the application itself, but they also have to keep up with the occasional new browser release.

At about the same time in January that Google reported its infrastructure had been hacked, someone broke into Intel’s systems. However, unlike Google, which reported the attack publicly and ended up getting the federal government involved, Intel kept relatively quiet about its intrusion. The only mention Intel made of the attack was in its SEC 10-K filing. That’s because the chipmaker didn’t believe that anything was stolen, spokesperson Chuck Molloy told TechNewsWorld. It’s not yet clear whether the attack is connected with the one on Google.

The Federal Trade Commission is getting proactive in trying to reduce the risk of data breaches due to peer-to-peer programs, notifying nearly 100 organizations of data breaches it traced back to file-sharing. The FTC did not identify the organizations, but said they ranged in size from small businesses to publicly held corporations with tens of thousands of employees. It warned all of the organizations that it was their responsibility to secure their data against theft, noting that in some cases, it was the agency’s responsibility to enforce laws mandating data security.

As communication becomes more Web-centric, text editors become more essential writing tools. Blocks of text get tweaked with HTML codes to provide a more graphical appearance. So good text editors are those with many of the same features found in word processors, only without the added formatting and graphic components. One of the best text editors for anyone who handles a heavy flow of words is the Kate Text Editor. This is one my two favorite text-writing apps. Unless I need a final copy in a polished printout, Kate is a more convenient choice than a full-fledged word processor.

Security may be the hottest topic in IT, but it’s also one of the least understood. So BriefingDirect assembled a panel to examine the need for IT security to run more like a data-driven science, rather than a mysterious art form. Rigorously applying data and metrics to security can dramatically improve IT results and reduce overall risk to the business. By employing and applying more metrics and standards to security, the protection of IT becomes better, and the known threats can become evaluated uniformly.

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