Mozilla vs FireFox Browsers

For those who are unclear on the differences between the Mozilla package and Firefox / Thunderbird, here it is:

1. Mozilla is a complete package meaning it comes with email, browser, address book, newsgroup, and chat applications integrated.
2. FireFox is a stand-alone browser application. It doesn’t have email built-in. There is a chatzilla extension available.
3. Thunderbird is the stand-alone email application. It doesn’t have a browser built-in. The address book is included.
4. If you use Mozilla for email and click on a link within an email, it will open them in Mozilla not FireFox even when FireFox is the default browser.
5. The applications are similar, yet different. The look and feel is different.
6. Commands and features are not identical. For instance, Mozilla has F9 to open the sidebar with search, history, bookmarks, etc. whereas FireFox only opens Bookmarks and History in the sidepanel via Ctrl+B and Ctrl+H respectively. There are a few extensions to do more with this.
7. FireFox has fewer options because it doesn’t have other applications integrated with it, which can make it easier to modify.
8. Many people are using FF compared to Mozilla is due to the fact that many of them don't need the complete Mozilla suite they are just OK with FF browser.
9. The Netscape browser was first developed by the Mozilla people and is based on the same engine, but is severely bloated with commercial additions (shopping etc).

I never used Mozilla yet, for my personal use most of the time I use FireFox unless something didn't work properly I move to MS-IE. Recently while developing a web based application I noticed IE6 spawning two threads for one action, however I didn't notice this issue in FF. The hotmail webmail won't work properly in FF, here I had to use IE. Nowadays I am more inclined to FF but can't ignore IE completely though.

HTTPS secured Communication on WEB

To keep away from hacker spoofing PKI (Public Key infrastructure) is used. Where public keys are Digitally signed and issued in the form of Digital Certificates. Digital certificates are like Passport which typically includes Entity name (CN:), Organization(O:), Country(C:), public key, Certificate authority signature etc. in X509 format. Digital certificate are issued and signed by Trusted Certificate Authority (CA) by using its (CA) private key.

In normal encryption, two communicating parties each share a password or key, and this is used to both encrypt and decrypt messages. While this is a very simple and efficient method, it doesn't solve the problem of giving the password to someone you have not yet met or trust. This is called Symmetric cryptography.

In public key cryptography, each party has two keys, a public key and a private key. Information encrypted with a person's public key can only be decrypted with the private key and vice versa. Each user publicly tells the world what his public key is but keeps his private key for himself. This is called Asymmetric cryptography.

How SSL Works

I. Obtaining an SSL Certificate
XYZ Inc., intends to secure their customer's website www.xyz.com.
Step 1: XYZ creates a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and during this process, a private key is generated.
Step 2: XYZ goes to a trusted third party Certificate Authority, such as Verisign. Verisign takes the certificate signing request and validates XYZ in a two step process. Verisign validates that XYZ has control of the domain xyz.com and that XYZ Inc. is an official organization listed in public government records.
Step 3: When the validation process is complete, Verisign gives XYZ a new public key (certificate) encrypted with Verisign's private key.
Step 4: XYZ installs the certificate on their webserver's.

II. How Customers communicate with the Server using SSL
Step 1: A customer makes a connection to xyz.com on an SSL port, typically 443. This connection is denoted with https instead of http.
Step 2: xyz.com sends back its public key to the customer. Once customer receives it, his/her browser decides if it is alright to proceed.
* The xyz.com public key must NOT be expired.
* The xyz.com public key must be for xyz.com only.
* Client must have Verisign public key installed in their browser certificate store.
Step 3: If the customer decides to trust the certificate, then the customer will send to xyz.com his/her public key.
Step 4: xyz.com will next create a unique hash and encrypt it using both the customer's public key and xyz.com's private key, and send this back to the client.
Step 5: Customer's browser will decrypt the hash. This process shows that the xyz.com sent the hash and only the customer is able to read it.
Step 6: Customer and website can now securely exchange information.

Almost any service on the Internet can be protected with SSL. Example: WebMail, Control Panels, POP, IMAP, SMTP, FTP and more.

References:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/security/jsse/JSSERefGuide.html
http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-4.0-doc/ssl-howto.html
http://www.sslassistant.com/info.php
http://www.rajeevnet.com/crypto/ca/ca-paper.html
http://www.xramp.com/resources/how-ssl-works

RAD v6.0 Migration

This week I successfully initiated RAD6.0 migration process in our team.
At my work place all are getting new PC as part of PC Renewal process, so I thought its the best time to plunge into RAD6.0. Everyone in our team were using WSAD5.x/WAS5.0 and PVCS. The goal is to checkout the project files from PVCS and made it work in RAD6.0.

I had problem setting up my local workspace from PVCS project, the metadata files(e.g., the .project, .classpath, etc...) are bit different compared to WSAD. I have to manually setup WAS 5.0 server, tweak the classpath and had to compile the projects with 1.3 JDK to made it work. The plan is to stay with WAS5.0 until early next year before we move to WAS6.1. Below is some notes that I learned during this process.

Product positioning and relationships:
* Rational Application Developer [RAD]: J2EE development toolset
* Rational Software Modeler [RSM]: UML modeling toolset
* Rational Software Architect [RSA]: UML modeling, J2EE development, architectural analysis

* In cost, RSA <> RAD+RSM ['>' means "strictly greater than"]

WSAD v5, RAD v6.0, RAD v7.0 are based on Eclipse.
WSAD 5.0 sit on top of Eclipse 2.x.
RAD 6.0 sit on top of Eclipse 3.x.
RAD fully supports WAS v5.0.2 development.
RAD v7 will not support WAS v5.0.2.
RAD v7.0 [WAS v6.1] planned 1Q2007.

Ofcourse RAD6.0 is better than WSAD5.x. :)

For GM, outsourcing is a way of life

August 29, 2006 (InfoWorld) -- For some companies, outsourcing IT is not just a cost-cutting strategy, it's a way of life. Take General Motors, for example. GM has been contracting out its tech work since the company spun off its IT subsidiary, Electronic Data Systems, into a separate entity in June 1996.

At the time, GM inked a 10-year services agreement with EDS. Through the years, the automotive giant also engaged dozens of other major suppliers -- such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Capgemini -- as well as hundreds of subcontractors all over the globe. Managing the contractors and setting IT strategy required some 2,000 Information Services and System personnel worldwide.

When all of those contracts expired this June, GM's IS&S Group decided to do things a little differently. First, it reduced the number of primary suppliers for its $15 billion worth of contracts from 18 to about six, and made them responsible for hiring and managing their own subcontractors, says Lisa Gage, director of corporate strategy and planning for the IS&S Group.
"We are in the business of building cars and trucks," Gage says. "We shouldn't be spending tons of time trying to manage tons of IT suppliers."

To further simplify matters, each primary supplier was awarded contracts on a global basis -- so GM could rely on a single source for, say, all of its HR management applications or engineering workstations worldwide. More important, GM created standardized work processes in every region of the world.

In the past, Gage says, contractors for IBM Australia might have handled a process differently than their counterparts in IBM Germany or IBM USA. If GM wanted to move employees from one region to another, they had to learn a new way of doing things each time. Under the new regime, every GM process is the same regardless of region -- whether it's filling out a purchase order, managing network capacity, or negotiating an SLA.

Other benefits? "Speed of execution," Gage says. "When we find a better way to do something in one place, we can roll it around the globe rapidly. That helps us drive out waste."
GM also standardized all the touchpoints for every process, so all suppliers use a common interface for reporting information back to GM.

"When you grow as a company, you tend to have a lot of different groups operating independently," Gage notes. "To go to a global management structure you need to knit them all together. The more we drive standardized work, processes, and infrastructure, the less complexity we will have."

Courtesy:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9002823

My First Post:

Finally today I started my blog which I have been very eager to do so since quite long time. I want to use this space to share my ideas and views that interest to me most. First let me give a brief intro about me.

My native place is Tenkasi which is in south Tamil Nadu India, my parents, family and relatives live there. But I was born and grown up in Vijayawada city in Andhra Pradesh. I speak Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and of course English. I started my career in Chennai during 1995 and moved to Malaysia in 2000. I worked for reputed Telco companies in kaulalumpur & Singapore for 5 years before I moved to USA in 2005.

I am an IT professional designing & building applications using J2EE technology.