A couple of days more to go, and we finally say goodbye to 2010.

Ten years ago, we welcomed the new millennium. And now, we are seeing the last of the new millennium’s first decade (although some would say both events happened a year earlier).

That decade was not for the faint of hearts.

Unfortunately defined by the inhuman attacks against New York’s World Trade Center twin towers and other targets in the American mainland, and by the U.S. government’s ongoing and costly reprisals against their perceived perpetrators, the past decade nevertheless saw the emergence of various technologies that today define in great part how humans think and live.
 
Attacks vs. Free Speech

A study by researchers from the Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society revealed that distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Web sites operated by human rights and media groups are a threat against online freedom of speech. The center said that of all the Web sites it surveyed, about 62% have been victims of DDoS attacks in the past year.

Also, 61% said they experienced downtimes inexplicably.

DDoS attacks, which aim to overcome the servers that host these sites with fake requests or trick servers into believing they are overwhelmed, are launched from hundreds even tens of thousands of zombie computers simultaneously.

These attacks, like those used by pro-WikiLeaks cyberactivists to attack companies that withdrew services and support from the controversial organization, usually result in target sites being knocked down or withdrawn by their owners.

Imagine what would these attacks do to Web sites that support and campaign for human rights and freedom.
 
Cloud Computing

Google’s recent Chrome OS noises are mistaken by most IT commentators and journalists as something new and revolutionary. Well, it might be or it might be not.

If I remember correctly, the notions of thin-client computing and dumb terminals were so popular during the middle of the 1990s (and even way before), especially among those who abhorred the so-called WinTel empire in the PC world. Thin-client computers are designed to function as no-frills computing platforms — much like today’s netbooks, only dumber and more processing prowess challenged. Data and most processing capabilities are stored in the server, although users can access both via the network connections.

Google’s Chrome OS-enabled laptops and computers would work (theoretically) based on this idea.

Thin-client computing failed to take off then. Today, Google’s cloud-computing concept faces exactly the same obstacles. I won’t be surprised if it would suffer the same fate.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.