Microsoft: Switch to IE9, get free stuff

Microsoft on Friday launched a promotion to convince more Windows 7 users to adopt Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

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Windows 7 users who download Microsoft's newest browser, then "pin" any of seven different websites to their taskbars, receive offers that range from a free month of Hulu Plus to a $5-off Fandango movie ticket.

Some of the offers are available immediately, while others launch later this month and during December.

When people running alternate browsers such as Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox on Windows 7 visit the promotional site, they see the message, "Where's the love? ... Upgrade to Internet Explorer to pin these sites and get the free stuff."

Pinning, introduced in IE9, lets users add website shortcuts to the Windows 7 task bar for the same kind of easy access as locally-stored programs.

Users running Mac OS X who visit the free offers site see a different message: "Oh Nooooooo... You're using Mac OS which doesn't support Internet Explorer 9 and Site Pinning."

Windows XP users -- still the most widely-used version of Microsoft's operating system -- cannot upgrade to IE9. Microsoft has defended that ban even as IE's share has continued falling, calling the decade-old OS the "lowest common denominator" and not worthy of future browser development.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing IE9 as the best browser for Windows 7, and has regularly touted that edition's gains in usage share even as other versions lose ground to Chrome and Apple's Safari.

According to Web metrics company Net Applications, IE9 accounted for 22.5% of the browsers running worldwide on Windows 7 during October, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the month before. Only Microsoft's own IE8 sported a higher share.

Last month, IE overall lost the largest amount of usage share in three years, falling to 52.6%, putting Microsoft's browser in danger of slipping under the 50% mark as early as January 2012.

Microsoft Posts Gain Despite Soft PC Sales

SEATTLE — Microsoft said its net income rose 6 percent in its first fiscal quarter, but the company’s results continued to reflect weak growth in PC sales

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The PC market, especially the part representing the companies using Microsoft’s Windows operating system, has suffered lately as economic uncertainty has crimped spending on information technology. Newer types of devices like tablets and mobile phones have sapped some of the business as well.

Microsoft said net income rose to $5.74 billion, or 68 cents a share, from $5.41 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 7 percent, to $17.37 billion, from $16.2 billion a year ago.

Analysts estimated that, on average, Microsoft would earn 68 cents a share on revenue of $17.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Microsoft’s shares fell 1 percent after it released the financial results at the close of normal trading.

Microsoft said its revenue from selling Windows rose less than 2 percent during its first quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That reflects the fact that shipments of new PCs grew only 3.6 percent globally in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, according to the research firm IDC. Apple defied the trend, reporting a 26 percent increase in the number of Macs sold during the same period, the company said on Tuesday.

Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said the company’s revenue from Windows sales was weaker than he had expected. “We’ve now had a year where Windows hasn’t come in in-line with analyst expectations,” he said. “It’s less of a miss than in the past.”

The Microsoft division that includes its Office suit of applications fared better than Windows, with a revenue increase of almost 8 percent. That division — Microsoft’s largest, representing a third of total revenue — got a boost from a new version of Office released last year that continues to sell well for the company, despite competition from free and low-cost online applications from Google and others.

One problem for Microsoft is that some of the stronger sources of growth in the PC business are now in developing markets like China. While that is good news for other players in the PC business, like Intel, that make hardware components, Microsoft has a harder time in those regions because of rampant software piracy and lower average selling prices for its products.

Microsoft’s Windows business is also facing a growing challenger in the iPad. Tech industry executives are divided over the degree to which Apple’s tablet computer is eroding sales of traditional PCs.

This week, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, said he thought that the iPad was cannibalizing some sales of Macs, but that a “materially larger” number of iPad buyers were choosing the tablet device over a Windows PC. Apple sold 11.1 million iPads in its last quarter. “With cannibalization like this, I hope it continues,” Mr. Cook said.

Microsoft intends to tackle the threat from the iPad with a new version of Windows, known currently as Windows 8, that has been redesigned for the touch screens of tablet devices, but that product is not expected to appear for about a year.

Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said in an interview that the company had greater demand from businesses for Windows than it had from the consumer market, where the iPad has had a big impact on the low-end laptop computers known as netbooks.

Microsoft quarter shows continued growth

Microsoft kicked off its first quarter of fiscal 2012 with solid growth, reporting a 7 percent increase in revenue compared to a year ago, and a 6 percent increase in net income.

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Overall, Microsoft reported first-quarter revenue of US$17.37 billion, beating the consensus estimate from financial analysts of $17.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was $5.74 billion, or $0.68 per share, in line with analysts' consensus estimate.

As in quarters past, business sales dominated the growth for the company.

The Microsoft Business Division, which oversees Microsoft Office, reported $5.62 billion in revenue, an 8 percent increase from the prior year's first quarter, which itself benefitted from the release of Office 2010.

"We had another strong quarter for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, and saw growing demand for our public and private cloud services including Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, in a statement.

Sales of Microsoft's enterprise support server software -- including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange -- enjoyed double-digit growth, according to the company. Revenue from the company's Dynamics business grew 17 percent. For the back office, the Server and Tools Division generated $4.25 billion in revenue during the quarter, a 10 percent increase year on year.

Sales of Microsoft's flagship product, Windows, grew as well, although less spectacularly. The Windows and Windows Live Division revenue was $4.87 billion for the period, a 2 percent increase.

Starting next quarter, Microsoft will include financial results of Skype, whose acquisition it completed earlier this month. Because of the successful quarter and the Skype acquisition, Microsoft increased its revenue forecast for its full 2012 fiscal year, from $28.6 billion to $29.2 billion.

During a conference call after the results came out, Bill Koefoed, Microsoft general manager for investor relations, noted that consumer purchases of PCs and netbooks were flat, resulting in the sluggish Windows sales. Overall, business sales of PCs outpaced consumer sales, and sales in emerging markets outpaced those in mature markets.

Microsoft expects to see a rebound in growth with the arrival of the first generation of Intel-based ultraportable laptops, or ultrabooks, which have just started to ship. Thus far, more than 450 million copies of Windows 7 have been sold since its launch.

Another area of concern for the company is its 10-year search and advertising partnership with Yahoo, signed in 2009. The teaming has not produced the expected income for Microsoft or Yahoo, which reported its own financial results Tuesday.

"The number-one priority is to resolve the monetization challenges of the combined ad platform," said Peter Klein, Microsoft chief financial officer, adding that the company is working "very closely" with Yahoo to improve the results. Microsoft's Online Services Division generated $625 million in revenue for the quarter, up from $527 million a year ago.

Microsoft delivers Windows Intune 2.0 cloud-management service

Microsoft has made the second version of its Windows Intune cloud-management service generally available to customers on October 17, as promised.

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On October 17, Microsoft made generally available the second version of its Windows Intune cloud-management service.

Windows Intune enables businesses to manage and secure PCs. It also provides users with rights to current and future versions of Windows — similar to what they’d get if they signed up for Microsoft’s Software Assurance volume-licensing program. Microsoft also is attempting to pitch Windows Intune as a way to get customers to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 because of the current/future Windows 7 rights.

Windows Intune is a Microsoft cloud service that provides IT pros with PC management and security for $11 per seat per month. (There’s a free 30-day trial for users with up to 25 PCs available.)

Windows Intune is comprised of two components: On-premises Windows and Windows management tools, plus an online management and security service. Windows Intune evolved from a Microsoft project known as System Center Online Desktop Manager (SCODM).

The new (2.0) version of Intune supports third-party application updates and patching. It also will add the ability to perform remote IT tasks, and read-only access to the administration console and new reporting capabilities.

Update: Though many of us currently refer to the latest version as “Windows Intune 2.0″ (to differentiate it from the first release, a Microsoft spokesperson noted that, going forward, this update will be known officially either as “just Windows Intune or the Windows Intune October 2011 release.”

Current Windows Intune customers will be automatically upgraded “in the few weeks following October 17,” with no action required by customers, according to Microsoft officials. Current Intune users will see an alert displayed in the Windows Intune administration console, indicating the exact date and time when Intune will be updated. Those beta testing Intune 2.0 will see the beta close on November 17.

Microsoft released version 1.0 of Windows Intune in March 2011.

There’s still no official date from the Softies as to when the company plans to integrate Windows Intune with Office 365, though that is the plan of record. The new Windows Intune FAQ (frequently asked questions) document notes that Office 365 and Windows Intune’s portals are still separate and that the two cloud properties require separate logins.

Striking a domain provider, Microsoft kills off a botnet

The story, "Striking a domain provider, Microsoft kills off a botnet," posted Tuesday, incorrectly spelled the name of Microsoft's Richard Boscovich on second and third reference. The story has been corrected on the wire and the fifth and seventh paragraphs now read:

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The idea of a highly disruptive botnet that Microsoft shut down in February 2010 quietly resurfacing under a different name didn't sit too well with Microsoft's digital crimes unit. "We wanted to take it out early enough so that number one, it wouldn't grow and propagate ... but also to make the point that when a threat is down, it's going to stay down," Boscovich said. "I think we made that point pretty effectively in this particular operation."

and

"For some time now, this particular domain has had multiple issues with it in addition to Kelihos," Boscovich said. "We ultimately decided to name him as a defendant in light of some previous incidents that he's had."

Arabs, Jews Study IT Together

Orgad Lootsky heard the bombing near here that killed 20. But Lootsky, who has trained IT professionals for seven years, still believes he can forge links between Arabs (Christian and Muslim) and Jews.

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In this northern city, which has an Arab section and a Jewish one, called Nazareth Illit, high school teenagers from the Nazareth Baptist School and its Jewish counterpart come together to earn their Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) certificates in classes taught by Lootsky.
These young adults exhibit seriousness preparing for their futures, but what's compelling is how they trump the political pressures that make any mixing of Arabs and Jews potentially confrontational.
Haya Samaan, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at the Nazareth Baptist School, has been in the program for two months. "I want to make a difference," says Samaan, who considers Bill Gates a hero. "I want to fulfill my dreams," she adds, explaining her studies for the CCNA certificate. She's also excited about the connections she's making with Jewish classmates.
The program has backing from local educators such as Ousama Moalem, principal of the Nazareth Baptist School; parents; and scholarship help from Salesforce.com/foundation, individuals and Nazareth Illit-Yezreel Technological College, which hosts the sessions on its campus.
Zika Abzuk, who established the program in Nazareth and is business development manager at Cisco in Israel, said that after a suicide bombing, tensions were high, and some parents and officials were dubious about the plan. "But we felt this is time people should show there are many good things we can do together," she said.
Moalem, whose school of 1,060 makes do with 20 computers and lacks networking equipment and teaching space, agreed: "The students are excited, the atmosphere is comfortable, and I look forward to more cooperation with the Jewish school."
But as with IT projects in the business world, reality tempers enthusiastic visions. Iris Klein, general director of the Nazareth Illit-Yezreel Technological College, said on a day when people were visiting bombing victims in the hospital that she wholeheartedly supports the program and will find money to keep it alive, but that this alone will not change the enmity in the region. "This is a small program, and we would be happy to enlarge it," she said, "but we have to be realistic."
And yet the attitude of Alex Etkin, a 17-year-old 11th-grade Jewish student in the program, should encourage more optimism. "We're all here to learn," said Etkin, who has dreams of being an artist as well as an IT professional. "It doesn't matterif you are Arab or Jewish, we want to learn together."

Is an IT boot camp the way to shape up for Windows Vista?

The attractions of an accelerated tech training course are obvious. Why spend weeks or months reading boring computer books or lurching through online courseware when you can have high-energy instructors helping you to cram all that information in over a single long weekend?

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Nicknamed boot camps for their abbreviated length and grueling methods -- 12 hours in class per day, along with assigned homework at night, is not unusual -- some even have students taking certification exams by weekend’s end -- and still boast a respectable pass rate.

Unsurprisingly, a number of boot camps aimed at training both system administrators and end users in Vista and Office 2007 are starting to spring up.

The courses aren't cheap. Prices typically start at more than $1,000 for a long weekend’s course, and the costs go up rapidly from. But some experts see value in these crash courses. IT boot camps "are very helpful to get a team up to speed prior to a software deployment," said Cushing Anderson, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC.

A constellation of camps

Training Camp, the boot camp division of TechTrain, will begin offering Vista boot camps in June with a three-day course aimed at helping Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) pass the certification exam for configuring Vista.

Jeff Porch, director of educational services at Philadelphia-based Training Camp, says the $2,195 course is aimed at people who provide IT support, both in person and via call centers.

All of the instructors employed by Training Camp are Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT). Classes are limited to 10 students, allowing them to get a lot of one-on-one attention, Porch said. They are also worked hard. "The camp will run from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner," Porch said.

Training Camp is also developing courses for Office 2007 and Exchange that should be available by the end of the summer, Porch said.

Other providers include Vigilar Inc.'s Intense School, which is holding a series of five-day Vista-Office 2007 boot camps starting in August. The $2,495 course will prepare students for the Vista configuration exam. Intense School Chief Technology Officer Barry Kaufman said 97% of students in Intense’s MCSE classes pass their exams.

Atlanta-based CED Solutions’ six-day, $2,995 course claims to go one better by preparing students for two MCTS exams on configuring and deploying Vista and Office 2007.

Meanwhile, Houston-based ETEC is, until the end of this month, letting students who register for a 14-day, $5,990 course for Microsoft Certified System Engineering (MCSE) certification also attend a three-day Vista boot camp for free.

Learn IT is offering three-day Vista deployment courses for $1,400 in San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif. Compared to Training Camp's courses, Learn IT's weekday classes run at a relatively light pace -- 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. -- and the company makes no mention of preparing students for passing certification tests.

Certifications less valuable today

One reason why not all training companies offer certification exam preparation may be because of the recent decrease in the prestige of technical certifications. The dot-com crash left many IT workers, even those with certifications and years of experience, unemployed for many years.


Some scrambled to buttress their resumes by hastily taking courses to add certifications. That led to a situation in which many workers held paper certifications but lacked much or any work experience with a given technology.

Add to that recent reports about the prevalence of cheating and pirating of certification test answers, and it’s no wonder that many employers are less impressed with certifications than they once were. "Certifications used to be the be-all, end-all for getting you a job. Now they’re a way to get you an interview," Porch said.

Still, certifications are important enough for most students that Training Camp has them taking the exam at the end of its three-day course. Porch said 80% of students pass at the time of the boot camp, and 90% pass after six months.

Moreover, Training Camp takes an approach similar to the one the Princeton Review takes in preparing high school students for the SAT. In addition to teaching the content, Training Camp instructors also teach strategies for taking the mostly multiple-choice test -- such as eliminating two answers if they are too similar, or reading the answers first on a long question, Porch said.

Porch says the company has to balance opposing needs. "We don’t want anyone to walk away feeling like they were given the answers to the test," he said. At the same time, "we try to focus on the exams because it’s 90% of what students are looking for."

Teaching to the test

While IDC’s Anderson remains a fan of IT boot camps, he takes a hard line against providers focusing purely on getting certified.

"Teaching to the test is, in my view, unethical and bogus," said Anderson, emphasizing that he was speaking generally and not singling out Training Camp. "What a manager wants is someone who knows the material. They care if you have the skill."

Anderson doesn’t buy the argument that emphasizing test-taking tactics helps those students who otherwise know the material but tend to choke or underperform during exams.

"We’re talking only about a very small minority of people there," he said. "It’s not helping the profession of IT to have certificates granted to people who three weeks later may not be able to pass the same test."

Anderson also warns that some boot camps don’t license official content from Microsoft, leaving them vulnerable to teaching out-of-date information. Potential students need to ask and make sure the courseware didn’t come from "some manual bought at Borders," he said.

How about an online course instead?

Anderson said students -- especially those who are motivated and lack a pressing deadline -- should certainly consider other options, such as self-study with books or self-paced online courses. The downside, he pointed out, is that it’s easy to procrastinate with self-guided study programs, since "life tends to get in the way."

Rubbish, said Tim Hildreth, manager of content solutions at SkillSoft PLC, a Nashua, N.H.-based provider of online IT courses. "If students aren’t motivated to begin with, they won’t be motivated sitting in a classroom, either," he said.

SkillSoft, which claims 3,000 corporate customers and more than 6 million current end users, offers four Office 2007 courses today. It is also developing an additional eight Vista courses and 50 Office 2007 courses that will start to become available in July.

Hildreth claimed that online courses are more convenient to those who can’t take whole days or weeks off to attend a boot camp. SkillSoft also sells subscriptions to its e-library of more than 12,000 technical books. Those are popular with IT administrators, who can cut-and-paste scripts and programs straight from the books, Hildreth said.

While some SkillSoft courses "are very closely aligned to a certification exam," Hildreth said, "in general, our courseware tries to be broader than that."

Another provider, Anaheim, Calif.-based New Horizons, is offering 14 Vista-related courses at the moment.

Can simulations fill the gap in 21st century ed?

While plenty of schools offer solid computer science training and certification programs, this can be resource intensive and costly in terms of both the necessary hardware instructional expertise required…can simulation software fill the gap?

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Whether students live in rural areas, are home-schooled, are exceeding what their schools can offer for coursework, or their schools simply lack technical education resources, a majority of young people struggle to find relevant courses in technology education. While plenty of schools offer solid computer science training and certification programs, this can be resource intensive and costly in terms of both the necessary hardware instructional expertise required.

One rural high school in Walla Walla, Washington (yes, it’s really called Walla Walla, Washington; I’ve been there and it may have a funny name, but there’s nothing like a Walla Walla sweet onion), turned to simulation software to fill the gap in the courses they were able to offer and the skills they were able to impart. Using LabSim software (available both online and locally installed), the school was immediately able to begin running certification programs in A+, Network+, Security+, CCNA and MCSA.

In a town where graduation rates are low, college placement is lower, and unemployment is relatively high, relevant, rigorous vocational programs are a must. Distance learning and “virtual high school” programs, dual enrollment with local community colleges, apprenticeships, and internships can all supplement limited resources. However, LabSim does provide an interesting alternative that can address needs both at the high school, trade school, and community college/post-secondary level.

According to their website,

Learning is doing, and the only way to master a skill is through practical application. The online labs in LabSim give your students the tools they need to truly master essential skills. And learning correctly means allowing them to make mistakes; which is why we developed online labs that allow students to experience a virtual environment where they can explore all the functionality of the application they’re learning.

Course materials include instructional videos, tests and evaluations, as well as simulations ranging from virtual computer repair to sandboxed Linux OS simulations for teaching systems administration skills. As the instructors in Walla Walla found, a hybrid approach of in-class teaching and LabSim work allowed them to reduce their hardware and system needs substantially since much more of the work was simulated.

While the technology and simulations are fairly impressive (and would be a great choice for schools and students who might not otherwise have ready access to full labs or experienced instructors with IT certification backgrounds), they don’t come cheap. You can download a free trial of the Windows-only software here (most courses are now available online, as well). However, courses run on the order of $500 for a single-user license. A single user is literally a single user: once a student has completed the course, the software can’t be used for another student.

The company does offer multi-user licensing for schools including 3-year licensing deals that allow re-use of the software. They will assemble custom quotes, but even with expected savings of up to 50% with multi-user options, costs can still add up quickly.

Update as of 6:45, October 16th: The PR folks who originally contacted me about LabSim clarified pricing structures. Higher education students are eligible for up to 80% discounts over the list price on single user courseware. Thus, students in post-secondary education can access these courses for around $50 a piece, increasing the value proposition significantly. In high schools, LabSim offers site licensing that allows full classes to use the courseware. For the cost of that option, schools will need to contact the company directly. The 50% savings noted above, by the way, is the savings that organizations can realize by offering training for multiple staff members; these costs are outside of their educational pricing.

Schools will need to evaluate whether simulations can meet their needs at lower costs than certified staff and full lab implementations. I’m inclined to believe that’s the case. I’m also inclined to believe that simulations like these are useful as one-offs for students who want to explore coursework that their schools can’t support due to limited funding or interest. In the case of vocational technical schools, though, where well-qualified staff are easier to find and funding for true hands-on, experiential learning is a priority, LabSims will be a harder sell.

Based on the updated pricing above, have my thoughts on LabSims changed? A little bit. As I noted (even at the higher prices), the cost of these programs drastically undercuts staff with significant technical expertise. I also still believe that LabSims can bridge important gaps in public education and even some post-secondary settings where human and physical resources are lacking. However, in vocational-technical settings, these should probably be limited to supplemental materials used in conjunction with hands-on, lab-based learning. When they are supplements, then school IT decision-makers still need to carefully weigh their value, regardless of cost, just as they would any classroom materials they supply to students and teachers.

Cisco, Plantronics team on SMB communications bundle

First joint solution in a new program from Plantronics pairs a Cisco IP phone with a unified communications-capable headset.

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Plantronics is trying to build up its credentials with SMB customers through a series of technology alliances. One of the relationships within that program, an alliance with networking and unified communications company Cisco, has resulted in a joint solution from the two companies.

The bundled solution includes a Cisco SPA525G2 five-line IP phone with a Plantronics Voyager PRO UC Bluetooth headset. The headset can be used with IP softphone applications and it supports multidevice connectivity. What that means is this: if you are on your mobile phone, you arrive at your office and you want to switch the call over to the “office” phone, you should be able to do that. Alternatively, you should be able to wear a single headset that lets you take incoming calls from either a mobile phone, a computer or an IP phone that supports Bluetooth connections. That’s useful for those trying to pare down the gadgets in their life.

The bundle is so new that I wasn’t able to find pricing on it yet. However, the suggested pricing for the headset alone is just under $200 and this phone lists for about $550 on the CDW online site.

Based on my past experience with “bundled” solutions that have a specific market focus — people tend to feel boxed in by them — I need some proof that smaller companies really want this approach. But I appreciate the fact that Cisco is realizing that hands-free talking will be an important component of unified communications and collaboration solutions.

The top 10 geek sins that will get your geek card revoked

Here are 10 of the worst transgressions for any geek. Doing any one of these will put your geek credentials at risk. Do two of them and your geek card immediately gets revoked.

TechRepublic has previously talked about some of the things you can do to increase your geek cred. Naturally, there are also some things that can hurt your geek cred. In fact, we’ve put together a list of 10 of the worst transgressions for any geek. Doing any one of these will put your geek credentials at risk. Do two of them and your geek card immediately gets revoked.

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You can view our list in two forms. You’ll find the simple list below, or you can check it out in slideshow format with the accompanying visuals.

10. Admitting that you like iTunes

Sure, it’s convenient for buying music and media in one place and syncing it to an iPod or iPhone, but iTunes has a draconian DRM system (still in place for media), makes it difficult to manage your library on multiple systems, and it started out as one of the worst pieces of bloatware ever built. And, it hasn’t gotten much better.

9. Not knowing the difference between binary and hexadecimal

Binary is the basis of all computing and is simply composed of zeros and ones. Hexadecimal is a 16-digit numeric system — based on numbers 0-9 and letters A-F — that represents binary in a more friendly way. Know the difference.

8. Not knowing what MMORPG stands for

Even if you don’t play games (or rarely play) you should know that an MMORPG is a “massively multiplayer online role-playing game,” also known as the alternate reality for geeks. The biggest one is World of Warcraft (WoW), a cultural phenomenon with over 12 million subscribers.

7. Loving your cable or telecom company

Geeks built the Internet. Geeks live on the Internet. Geeks love the Internet. However, the companies that bring us the Internet to our homes and offices — the telecoms and cable companies — are doing everything they can to wall it off, manipulate it for their own financial gain, and stop geeks from using it so much. For as long as they do that, they will remain at war with the geekosphere.

6. Not knowing the name of the book that Blade Runner was based on

Blade Runner is one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. If you’re a true geek, you’ve seen it multiple times. But, not only that, you also know that it’s based on Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” which is one of the best-titled stories in all of literature and an absolute classic in science fiction.

5. Confusing Star Wars and Star Trek

If someone mentions a Wookie and a Klingon and you’re not sure which one was part of the Star Wars universe and which one belongs to the Star Trek milieu, you are definitely not a geek.

4. Believing the “free” in open source refers to price

Repeat after me, “Open source does not mean it doesn’t cost anything.” Sure, some open source software is freely available to download at no cost. But, that’s not a requirement of open source. There is plenty of open source software that requires a fee. When open source talks about “free” software, they are referring to “free” as in “freedom.” It is freedom from overreaching licensing agreements. You’ll also hear this concept referred to as “Gratis verses Libre.”

3. Defending Facebook for its privacy transgressions

Look, Facebook is lucky the entire geekosphere hasn’t dropped it like a bad habit after all of the crap they’ve pulled in changing and violating their own lackluster privacy policies. Leo Laporte nearly led a geek revolt out of Facebook in May 2010. The only thing that prevented it was lack of a viable alternative.

2. Taking something into Geek Squad to get fixed

Best Buy’s Geek Squad has a few legitimate geeks on staff; however, too many of their technicians are completely clueless and can do more harm than good to your equipment. Besides, if you’re geek, just geek-up, open up the case, and fix it yourself. (Exception: It’s acceptable to go to the Geek Squad counter to exchange a DOA device that is still under warranty. Just don’t let us catch you asking for advice.)

1. Buying a paper computer book at Barnes & Noble

In 1999, if you wanted to quickly learn more about HTML or Exchange 5.5 or Apache or how to earn CCNA certification, you’d typically make a quick trip to your nearest book superstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders and comb through the huge selection of computer books. However, this is 2010. Any computer book you find at a bookstore is at least six months out of date. Almost everything you need to know is available on the web for free or in ebook format that you can quickly download to your laptop or tablet. Buying a dead-tree tome about a new technology is an immediate tip-off that your geek credentials are in question.

This article was originally published on TechRepublic.