sony ericsson

Ice cream

2007-09-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

"Ice Cream" redirects here. For the football (soccer) player known as Ice Cream, see Osa Guobadia. For the distributed compiler software, see Icecream (software).

Cherry ice cream in a dish

Ice cream or ice-cream (originally iced cream) is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, such as cream (or substituted ingredients), combined with flavorings and sweeteners, such as sugar.

This mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming, which results in a smoothly-textured ice cream. Although the term "ice cream" is sometimes used to mean frozen desserts and snacks in general, it is usually reserved for frozen desserts and snacks made with a high percentage of milk fat. Frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, and other similar products are sometimes also called ice cream. Governments often regulate the use of these terms based on quantities of ingredients. Ice cream is generally served as a chilled product. It may also be found in dishes where the coldness of the ice cream is used as a temperature contrast, for example, as a topping on warm desserts, or even in fried ice cream. Some commercial institutions such as creameries specialize in serving ice cream and products that are related.

These ingredients, along with air incorporated during the stirring process, make up ice cream. Generally, less expensive ice creams contain lower-quality ingredients (for example, natural vanilla may be replaced by artificial vanillin), and more air is incorporated, sometimes as much as 50% of the final volume. Artisan-produced ice creams often contain very little air, although some is necessary to produce the characteristic creamy texture of the product. Generally speaking, the finest ice creams have between 3% and 15% air. Because most ice cream is sold by volume, it is economically advantageous for producers to reduce the density of the product in order to cut costs. Ice cream can also be hand-packed and sold by weight. The use of stabilizers rather than cream and the incorporation of air also decrease the fat and energy content of less expensive ice creams, making them more appealing to those on diets.

Ice cream comes in a wide variety of flavors, often with additives such as chocolate flakes or chips, ribbons of sauce such as caramel or chocolate, nuts, fruit, and small candies/sweets. Some of the most popular ice cream flavors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and Neapolitan (a combination of the three). Many people also enjoy ice cream sundaes, which often have ice cream, hot fudge, nuts, whipped cream, maraschino cherries or a variety of other toppings. Other toppings include cookie crumbs, butterscotch, sprinkles, banana sauce, marshmallows or different varieties of candy.

Production

Before the development of modern refrigeration, ice cream was a luxury item reserved for special occasions. Making ice cream was quite laborious. Ice was cut from lakes and ponds during the winter and stored in large heaps, in holes in the ground, or in wood-frame ice houses, insulated by straw. Many farmers and plantation owners, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, cut and stored ice in the winter for use in the summer. Frederic Tudor of Boston turned ice harvesting and shipping into big business, cutting ice in New England and shipping it around the world.

Ice cream was made by hand in a large bowl placed inside a tub filled with ice and salt. This was called the pot-freezer method. French confectioners refined the pot-freezer method, making ice cream in a sorbetiere (a covered pail with a handle attached to the lid). In the pot-freezer method, the temperature of the ingredients is reduced by the mixture of crushed ice and salt. The salt water is cooled by the ice, and the action of the salt on the ice causes it to (partially) melt, absorbing latent heat and bringing the mixture below the freezing point of pure water. The immersed container can also make better thermal contact with the salty water and ice mixture than it could with ice alone.

The hand-cranked churn, which also uses ice and salt for cooling, replaced the pot-freezer method. The exact origin of the hand-cranked freezer is unknown, but the first U.S. patent for one was #3254 issued to Nancy Johnson on September 9, 1843. The hand-cranked churn produced smoother ice cream than the pot freezer and did it quicker. Many inventors patented improvements on Johnson's design.

In Europe and early America, ice cream was made and sold by small businesses, mostly confectioners and caterers. Jacob Fussell of Baltimore, Maryland was the first to manufacture ice cream on a large scale. Fussell bought fresh dairy products from farmers in York County, Pennsylvania, and sold them in Baltimore. An unstable demand for his dairy products often left him with a surplus of cream, which he made into ice cream. He built his first ice-cream factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, in 1851. Two years later he moved his factory to Baltimore. Later he opened factories in several other cities and taught the business to others, who operated their own plants. Mass production reduced the cost of ice cream and added to its popularity.

An electric ice cream maker

The development of industrial refrigeration by German engineer Carl von Linde during the 1870s eliminated the need to cut and store natural ice and when the continuous-process freezer was perfected in 1926, it allowed commercial mass production of ice cream and the birth of the modern ice cream industry.

The most common method for producing ice cream at home is to use an ice cream maker, in modern times generally an electrical device that churns the ice cream mixture while cooled inside a household freezer, or using a solution of pre-frozen salt and water, which gradually melts while the ice cream freezes. Some more expensive models have an inbuilt freezing element. A newer method of making home-made ice cream is to add liquid nitrogen to the mixture while stirring it using a spoon or spatula. Some ice cream recipes call for making a custard, folding in whipped cream, and immediately freezing the mixture.

[edit] Commercial delivery

A bicycle-based ice cream vendor

Ice cream can be mass-produced and thus is widely available in developed parts of the world. Additionally, ice cream can be purchased in large vats and squrounds from supermarkets and grocery stores, in smaller quantities from ice cream shops, convenience stores, and milk bars, and in individual servings from small carts or vans at public events. In Turkey and Australia, ice cream is sometimes sold to beach-goers from small powerboats equipped with chest freezers. Some ice cream distributors sell ice cream products from traveling refrigerated vans or carts (commonly referred to in the US as "ice cream trucks"), sometimes equipped with speakers playing children's music. Traditionally ice cream vans in the United Kingdom make a music box noise rather than actual music.

[edit] History

Ancient civilizations had saved ice for cold foods for thousands of years. Mesopotamia has the earliest icehouses in existence, 4,000 years ago, beside the Euphrates River, where the wealthy stored items to keep them cold. The pharaohs of Egypt had ice shipped to them. In the fifth century BC, ancient Greeks sold snow cones mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens.^{[citation needed]} Persians, having mastered the storage of ice, ate ice cream well into summer. Roman emperor Nero (37–68) had ice brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings. Today's ice treats likely originated with these early ice delicacies.^[1]

[edit] Persia

Bastani, Persian rosewater ice cream, is typically served between wafers as an ice cream sandwich.

Many myths surround ice cream and its true origin. Many believe that it evolved from cooled wines and flavored Ices around, and might have come from Persia. These Iced wines were popular with Alexander the Great and later with Roman high society. In 62 AD, the Roman emperor Nero sent slaves to the Apennine mountains to collect snow to be flavoured with honey and nuts. The Persians mastered the technique of storing ice inside giant naturally-cooled refrigerators known as yakhchals. These structures kept ice brought in from the winter, or from nearby mountains, well into the summer. They worked by using tall windcatchers that kept the sub-level storage space at frigid temperatures.

In 400 BC, Persians invented a special chilled pudding-like dish, made of rosewater and vermicelli which was served to royalty during summers. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavors. The treat, widely made in Iran today, is called "faloodeh", and is made from starch (usually wheat), spun in a sieve-like machine which produces threads or drops of the batter, which are boiled in water. The mix is then frozen, and mixed with rosewater and lemons, before serving.[1][2]^{[verification needed]}

[edit] Arabia

Ice cream was the favourite dessert for the caliphs of Baghdad. The Arabs were the first to add sugar to ice cream, and were also the first to make ice cream commercially, having factories in the 10th century. It was sold in the markets of all Arab cities in the past.^[2] It was made of a chilled syrup or milk with fruits and some nuts. Ice cream was introduced to the west by Arabs, through Sicily.[3]

[edit] China

An ice cream vendor in Vienna, Austria, July 2005

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory serves ice cream in New York City

According to Mageulonne Toussaint-Samat in her History of Food, "the Chinese may be credited with inventing a device to make sorbets and ice cream. They poured a mixture of snow and saltpetre over the exteriors of containers filled with syrup, for, in the same way as salt raises the boiling-point of water, it lowers the freezing-point to below zero."^[3] The Chinese put sugar in the ice and sold it as food during the summer. During the Song Dynasty (宋朝) people began putting fruit juice in the water used to create the ice; milk began to be used in the Yuan Dynasty (元朝),^{[citation needed]} as the Mongols, who adopted a nomadic culture, introduced milk to China^{[citations needed]}, where milk was not widely used in cuisine at that time; milk and dairy products in general are still rare in Chinese cuisine.

[edit] India

As early as the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi where it was used in fruit sorbets.^[4] Kulfi is a type of ice cream which is very closely related to the Persian ice cream and is still sold by road side vendors and in restaurants.

[edit] The West

Popular folklore asserts that Marco Polo saw ice cream being made on his trip to China and took the recipe home to Italy with him on his return.^[5] However, in his writings Marco Polo never claimed to have introduced ice cream to the west.^[6]

The Roman emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus appreciated a sort of local ice cream during the 37-68 AD.

When Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici married the duc d’Orléans in 1533, she is said to have brought with her Italian chefs who had recipes for flavored ices or sorbets and introduced them in France.^[7] One hundred years later Charles I of England was supposedly so impressed by the "frozen snow" that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime pension in return for keeping the formula secret, so that ice cream could be a royal prerogative.^[8] There is, however, no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century.

Ice cream made with a milk mixture was first recorded in Europe in Italy.^[7] (See History of Ice Cream for more.)

The first recipe for flavored ices in French appears in 1674, in Nicholas Lemery’s Recueil de curiositéz rares et nouvelles de plus admirables effets de la nature.^[7]

Recipes for sorbetti saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latini's Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward).^[7]

Recipes for flavored ices begin to appear in François Massialot's Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits starting with the 1692 edition. Massialot's recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. However, Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the fine consistency of sugar and snow.^[7]

[edit] America

The first ice cream invented in the Americas, the sorbet, was invented by native indigenous in Ibarra, Ecuador during Incan occupation. The natives made the handmade ice cream, by taking ice from the top of Imbabura Volcano using a large bronze pan, and juices added from various fruit (eg taxo).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Modern ice cream

In the 18th century cream, milk, and egg yolks began to feature in the recipes of previously dairy-free flavored ices, resulting in ice cream in the modern sense of the word. The 1751 edition of The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse features a recipe for raspberry cream ice. 1768 saw the publication of L'Art de Bien Faire les Glaces d'Office by M. Emy, a cookbook devoted entirely to recipes for flavored ices and ice cream.^[7]

Ice cream was introduced to the United States by colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Confectioners, many of whom were Europeans, sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. Dolley Madison is also closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the United States.

Around 1832, Augustus Jackson, an African American confectioner, not only created multiple ice cream recipes, but he also invented a superior technique to manufacture ice cream. [4]

In 1843, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia was issued the first U.S. patent for a small-scale handcranked ice cream freezer. The invention of the ice cream soda gave Americans a new treat, adding to ice cream's popularity. This cold treat was probably invented by Robert Green in 1874, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove his claim.

The ice cream sundae originated in the late 19th century. Several men claimed to have created the first sundae, but there is no conclusive evidence to back up any of their stories. Some sources say that the sundae was invented to circumvent blue laws, which forbade serving sodas on Sunday. Towns claiming to be the birthplace of the sundae include Buffalo, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Ithaca, New York; and Evanston, Illinois. Both the ice cream cone and banana split became popular in the early 20th century. Several food vendors claimed to have invented the ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO, and reliable evidence proves that the ice cream cone was popularized at the fair. However, Europeans were eating cones long before 1904. [5] [6]

[edit] 20th century

The history of ice cream in the 20th century is one of great change and increases in availability and popularity. In the United States in the early 20th century, the ice cream soda was a popular treat at the soda shop, the soda fountain, and the ice cream parlor. During American Prohibition the soda fountain to some extent replaced the outlawed alcohol establishments, including bars and saloons.

Ice cream became popular throughout the world in the second half of the 20th century after cheap refrigeration became common. There was an explosion of ice cream stores and of flavors and types. Vendors often competed on the basis of variety. Howard Johnson's restaurants advertised "a world of 28 flavors." Baskin-Robbins made its 31 flavors ("one for every day of the month") the cornerstone of its marketing strategy. The company now boasts that it has developed over 1000 varieties.

George and Davis' Ice Cream Cafe on Little Clarendon Street, Oxford

One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of soft ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member)^[9]^[10] discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby reducing costs. This ice cream was also very popular amongst consumers who preferred the lighter texture, and most major ice cream brands now use this manufacturing process. It also made possible the soft ice cream machine in which a cone is filled beneath a spigot on order. In the United States, Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Tastee Freez pioneered in establishing chains of soft-serve ice cream outlets.

The 1980s saw a return of the older, thicker ice creams being sold as "premium" and "superpremium" varieties. Ben and Jerry's, Beechdean, and Häagen-Dazs fall into this category.

[edit] Other frozen desserts

Snow cones, made from balls of crushed ice topped with sweet syrup served in a paper cone, are consumed in many parts of the world. The most common places to find snow cones in the United States are at amusement parks.

A popular springtime treat in maple-growing areas is maple toffee, where maple syrup boiled to a concentrated state is poured over fresh snow congealing in a toffee-like mass, and then eaten from a wooden stick used to pick it up from the snow.

Ice creams and sorbets are frozen while being stirred or agitated, resulting in a light texture. Some ice pops are quiescently frozen — frozen at rest without stirring whilst others are frozen in an ice cream freezer (slush frozen) to give a smoother, softer texture.

[edit] Ice cream throughout the world

Italian ice cream ("gelato").

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

An ice cream van at Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Per capita, Australians and New Zealanders are among the leading ice cream consumers in the world, eating 18 litres and 20 litres each per year respectively, behind the United States of America where people eat 23 litres each per year.^[11]

[edit] Finland

The first ice cream manufacturer in Finland were the Italian Magi family, who opened the Helsingin jäätelötehdas in 1922 and Suomen Eskimo Oy. Other manufacturers soon spawned, like Pietarsaaren jäätelötehdas (1928-2002).

Finland's first ice cream bar opened at the Lasipalatsi in 1936, and at the same time another manufacturer, Maanviljelijäin Maitokeskus started their production.

Today, the two largest ice cream manufacturers are Ingman and Nestlé (who bought Valiojäätelö). Finland is also the leading consumer of ice cream in Europe, with 13.7 liters per person in 2003.^[12]

[edit] France

In 1651 Francesco dei Coltelli opened an ice cream café in Paris and the product became so popular that during the next 50 years another 250 icecafés opened in Paris. Some "French Style" ice creams are made with butter in place of cream.

[edit] Germany

Italian ice-cream parlours (Eisdielen) have been popular in Germany since the 1920s, when many Italians immigrated and set up business. As in Italy itself, ice cream is considered a traditional dessert and the ice-cream at an Eisdiele is still mostly hand-made.

[edit] Greece

Although ice cream in its modern form is a relatively new invention, ice treats have been enjoyed since ancient times. During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his ancient Greek patients to eat ice "as it livens the lifejuices and increases the well-being."^[13] In the 4th century BC, it was well known that a favorite treat of Alexander the Great was snow ice mixed with honey and nectar.^[14] In modern times Greek ice cream recipes have some unique flavors such as Pagoto Kaimaki, (Greek: Παγωτό Καϊμάκι), made from mastic-resin which gives it an almost chewy texture, and salepi, used as a thickening agent to increase resistance to melting; both give the ice cream a unique taste; Olive Oil Ice Cream with figs; Pagoto Kataifi Chocolate, (Greek: Παγωτό Καταΐφι-κακάο), made from the shredded filo dough pastry that resembles angel's hair pasta or vermicelli; and Mavrodaphne Ice Cream, (Greek: Μαυροδάφνη Παγωτό), made from a Greek dessert wine. Fruity Greek Sweets of the Spoon are usually served as toppings with Greek-inspired ice cream flavors.

[edit] Italy

Italian ice cream in Rome

Ice cream is a traditional dessert in Italy. Much is still hand-made by individual gelateria (look for the sign 'produzione propria', meaning 'our own make' in the ice cream shops). Italian ice cream or gelato is made from whole milk, eggs, sugar, and natural flavourings. Gelato typically contains 7-8% fat, less than ice cream's minimum of 10%.

Before the cone became popular for serving ice cream, in English speaking countries, Italian street vendors would serve the ice cream in a small glass dish referred to as a "penny lick" or wrapped in waxed paper and known as a hokey-pokey (possibly a corruption of the Italian "ecco un poco" - "here is a little").^[15]

Some of the most known ice cream machine makers are Italian companies Carpigiani, Crm-Telme, Corema-Telme, Technogel, Cattabriga, Matrix, Promag.

[edit] Japan

Ice cream is a popular dessert in Japan too, with almost two in five adults eating some at least once a week, according to a recent survey.^[16] Since 1999, the Japanese Ice Cream Association has been publishing the Ice Cream White Paper once a year, and the four most popular ice cream flavors in Japan has not changed (including their orders) since 1999 according the Paper.^[17] The top four flavors are vanilla, chocolate, matcha (powdered green tea) and strawberry. Other notable popular flavors are milk, caramel and azuki (Red Bean) also according the Paper.^[17] Azuki is particularly favored by people in their 50s and older.^[17] While matcha is a truly Japanese flavor favored by Japanese and well-known among non-Japanese outside of Japan, plum and ginger, tastes often presented as Japanese flavors outside of Japan, did not make the cut in the top 17 favorite flavor list in 2006.^[17] In Japan, a soft serve ice cream is called softcream which is also very popular. As a seasonal treat during the cherry blossom season, ice cream is available that is actually flavoured with cherry blossoms.

[edit] United Kingdom

Ice cream van in the UK

The first British recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in 1718. The recipe did not include a process for making the ice smooth and it must have been coarse with ice crystals.

Ice cream remained an expensive and rare treat in the UK, until large quantities of ice began to be imported from Norway and the US in the mid Victorian era. A Swiss-Italian businessman, Carlo Gatti, opened the first ice cream stall outside Charing Cross station in 1851, selling scoops of ice cream in shells for one penny. [7] The penny lick soon became popular, remaining on sale until banned in 1926,^{[citation needed]} by which time it had been replaced by the ice cream cone.

In the United Kingdom today, much of the lower-priced ice cream sold, including that from some ice cream vans, has little milk or milk solids content, being made with vegetable oil, usually hydrogenated palm kernel oil. Ice cream sold as dairy ice cream must contain milk fat, and many companies make sure that dairy is prominently displayed on their packaging or businesses.

The Ice Cream Alliance Ltd, a trade association for the UK ice-cream industry, says that: "It is necessary for a manufacturer to be aware of the compositional requirements of the country in which he intends to sell his ice cream. In the UK this is a minimum of 5% fat and a minimum of 2.5% milk protein. There is also an Italian ice cream dessert known as Tartufo. (Schedule 8, the Food Labelling Regulations 1996).^[18]

In the United Kingdom, per capita consumption of ice cream is only 6 litres per year.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ice cream cone

Strawberry ice cream in a cone.

Main article: Ice-cream cone

Mrs Marshall's Cookery Book, published in 1888, endorsed serving ice cream in cones, but the idea definitely predated that. Agnes Marshall was a celebrated cookery writer of her day and helped to popularise ice cream. She patented and manufactured an ice cream maker and was the first person to suggest using liquefied gases to freeze ice cream after seeing a demonstration at the Royal Institution.

Reliable evidence proves that ice cream cones were served in the 19th century, and their popularity increased greatly during the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. According to legend, at the World's Fair an ice cream seller had run out of the cardboard dishes used to put ice cream scoops in, so could not sell any more produce. Next door to the ice cream booth was a Syrian waffle booth, unsuccessful due to intense heat; the waffle maker offered to make cones by rolling up his waffles and the new product sold well, and was widely copied by other vendors. [8] [9]

[edit] Using liquid nitrogen

Using liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream is an old idea and has been used for many years to harden ice cream. However, the use of liquid nitrogen in the primary freezing of ice cream, that is to effect the transition from the liquid to the frozen state without the use of a conventional ice cream freezer, has only recently started to see commercialization. Some commercial innovations have been documented in the National Cryogenic Society Magazine "Cold Facts" [10]. The most noted brands are Dippin' Dots [11], Blue Sky Creamery [12] and Sub Zero Cryo Creamery [13]. The preparation results in a column of white condensed water vapor cloud, reminiscent of popular depictions of witches' cauldrons. The ice cream, dangerous to eat while still "steaming," is allowed to rest until the liquid nitrogen is completely vaporized. Sometimes ice cream is frozen to the sides of the container, and must be allowed to thaw.

Making ice cream with liquid nitrogen has advantages over conventional freezing. Due to the rapid freezing, the crystal grains are smaller, giving the ice cream a creamier texture, and allowing one to get the same texture by using less milkfat. However, such ice crystals will grow very quickly via the processes of recrystallization thus obviating the original benefits unless steps are taking to inhibit ice crystal growth.

[edit] Ice cream alternatives

The following is a partial list of ice-cream-like frozen desserts and snacks:

Raspberry sherbet.

Ice milk: less than 10% milk fat and lower sweetening content, once marketed as "ice milk" but now sold as low-fat ice cream in the United States.
Frozen custard: at least 10% milk fat and at least 1.4% egg yolk and much less air beaten into it, similar to Gelato, fairly rare. Known in Italy as Semifreddo.
Frozen yogurt: a low fat or fat free alternative made with yogurt
Mellorine: non-dairy, with vegetable fat substituted for milk fat
Gelato: an Italian frozen dessert having a lower milk fat content than ice cream and stabilized with ingredients such as eggs.
Sherbet: 1-2% milk fat and sweeter than ice cream.
Sorbet: fruit puree and no milk products
Ice pop (or lolly): frozen fruit puree, fruit juice, or flavored sugar water on a stick or in a flexible plastic sleeve.
Kulfi: Believed to have been introduced to South Asia by the Mughal conquest in the 16th century; its origins trace back to the cold snacks and desserts of Arab and Mediterranean cultures.^[19]
Dondurma: Turkish ice cream, made of salep and mastic resin
Ais kacang: a dessert in Malaysia and Singapore made from shaved ice, syrup, boiled red bean and topped with chocolate sauce and evaporated milk.

Some ice creams are made without milk; for example with soy milk or rice milk instead. A minority of non-dairy ice creams are based on nut butter. Another variation is ice cream made with coconut milk.

AVG Anti-Virus

2007-09-19T04:58:00.002-07:00

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AVG Anti-virus

The Control Center of AVG Free 7.5
Developer:	Grisoft, s.r.o.
Latest release:	7.5.485 / 31 August 2007
OS:	Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD
Genre:	Antivirus
License:	Proprietary (free and commercial)
Website:	http://www.grisoft.com/

History

AVG is produced by Grisoft, a privately held Czech company formed in 1991 by Jan Gritzbach. In early September 2005, a large stake in the company was bought by Intel.^[2] On April 19, 2006, ewido Networks became a part of the Grisoft group.^[3] On November 6, 2006, Microsoft announced that AVG Security products would be available directly from the Windows Security Center in Windows Vista.^[4] Since June 7, 2006, the AVG software has also been used as an optional component of GFI Mail Security, produced by GFI Software.^[5]

[edit] Versions for Windows clients

Grisoft provides a number of products from the AVG range, suitable for Windows 98 onwards. In addition to this, Grisoft also provides a Linux version of the software.

AVG Free Edition, a freeware program which allows home users free use and updates. It is not legal to use these commercially - they are for personal, home use only.
AVG Anti-Virus Professional Edition, this is the standalone Anti-Virus product designed primarily for home desktops or for small organizations using peer-to-peer networks. With Version 7.5, the SoHo edition has been discontinued per se, but has been replaced with the option of multiple licences for the Professional Edition. Available are 2, 3, and 5 licences.
AVG Plus Firewall Edition, adds a firewall to the Professional version. Is available in 1, 2, 3 and 5 licences.
AVG Anti-Spyware Edition, protects against spyware. Based upon the ewido engine.
AVG Anti-Malware Edition, has both anti-virus and anti-spyware facilities
AVG Internet Security Edition, contains anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and anti-spam facilities.
AVG Network Editions - With the release of AVG 7.5, there are now several Network Editions of AVG. These are AVG Anti-Virus Network Edition, AVG Anti-Malware Network Edition and AVG Internet Security Network Edition. The Network Editions allow for centralized deployment and management of the AVG products.
AVG Rescue CD - a bootable variant of AVG Anti-Malware that can be run in Windows PE. This allows you to scan and remove viruses and spyware that may be stopping a PC from booting. Other tools include a registry editor, network mapping, ping testing and IP configurator.
AVG Anti-Rootkit (Free) - a specific tool allowing to scan for and remove rootkits, but does not include realtime protection.

All commercial versions of AVG are compatible with the 64-bit edition of Windows. AVG Free is not compatible with Windows 64 bit. All editions run on Windows Vista. All standard versions of the AVG software are available on a trial basis. Each trial allows all users (including businesses and institutions) a 30-day trial period. After this time a fee is required, which yields a key that unlocks the program for continued use.

[edit] Versions for servers

Grisoft also sells AVG antivirus solutions for computer servers running both Linux and Windows:

AVG Email Server Edition - Protects both server and mailboxes against viruses and spyware, and is licenced per mailbox. Also covers sharepoint servers.
AVG File Server Edition - Protects the server, is licenced per connection to the server. This also covers web servers.

The AVG Network Editions can also be licensed to protect File Servers.

AVG Anti-Malware SBS Edition - a new licensing package, featuring a combination of the Anti-Malware Network Edition and the E-mail Server Edition.
AVG Internet Security SBS Edition - a new licensing package, featuring a combination of the Internet Security Network Edition and the E-mail Server Edition.

[edit] AVG for Linux/FreeBSD

With Version 7.5, Grisoft is providing a solution for FreeBSD for the first time. Grisoft has incorporated spam detection in addition to virus detection for Linux/FreeBSD software.

[edit] Features

AVG features most of the common functions available in modern antivirus programs, including periodic scans, scans of sent and received emails (including adding footers to the emails indicating this), the ability to "heal" some virus-infected files, and a "virus vault" in which infected files are held.

AVGADMIN, a remote administration tool, allows software to be managed centrally on networks.

[edit] AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Free Edition has spearheaded the company's growth. According to Grisoft, over 40 million users have AVG Anti-Virus protection, including users of the Free Edition.

The AVG Free Edition is similar to the Anti-Virus Professional product, but does not have all the features. It lacks the fine-grained control over how scans are conducted, and it receives lower priority (than the paid-for products) when downloading updates from Grisoft's servers. The language interface cannot be customised, and English is the only available language.

Technical Support is not available for the Free Edition, whereas support is available to users of the Professional, paid-for products.

Grisoft announced that AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition version 7.1 ended in February 18, 2007. Users were required to upgrade to AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition version 7.5. Users are being encouraged to move to the commercial version of AVG, particularly the AVG Anti-Malware and AVG Internet Security products as they protect against spyware as well as viruses. In the last two years, the increase in infections has been spyware rather than viruses. AVG Anti-Virus Free (including the 7.5 edition) does not include a firewall, anti-spam nor detect spyware. However, Grisoft does provide a free version of AVG Anti-Spyware.

[edit] AVG Anti-Spyware

AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition running on Windows XP

On April 19, 2006, it was announced that Grisoft had acquired the German Anti-Malware company ewido Networks. This was a step forward for Grisoft towards providing comprehensive security. ewido Anti-Spyware was later renamed to AVG Anti-Spyware. A freeware version is available.

[edit] Memory footprint

One feature of AVG that makes it popular with its users is its conservative resource requirements and does not slow it down noticeably, unlike some other security software products. Resource use is low; the Professional Edition requires 16MB RAM and 20 MB of space on the hard drive. The Internet Security version requires 64 MB RAM. [2]

[edit] Certifications and awards

AVG Anti-Virus has won numerous awards. Certifications that the software holds include the Virus Bulletin VB100% Award - which is awarded to products, which manage to detect 100% of the viruses "In the Wild", without false alarming [3]. It is also 100% Detection Rate certified by independent ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs Checkmark Level 1 certification and TÜV Monitored Virus Protection certification. Both AVG Free 7.5.484 and AVG Professional 7.5 have received a 5/5 rating on Download.com. [4]

[edit]

History

[edit] Versions for Windows clients

Grisoft provides a number of products from the AVG range, suitable for Windows 98 onwards. In addition to this, Grisoft also provides a Linux version of the software.

AVG Free Edition, a freeware program which allows home users free use and updates. It is not legal to use these commercially - they are for personal, home use only.
AVG Anti-Virus Professional Edition, this is the standalone Anti-Virus product designed primarily for home desktops or for small organizations using peer-to-peer networks. With Version 7.5, the SoHo edition has been discontinued per se, but has been replaced with the option of multiple licences for the Professional Edition. Available are 2, 3, and 5 licences.
AVG Plus Firewall Edition, adds a firewall to the Professional version. Is available in 1, 2, 3 and 5 licences.
AVG Anti-Spyware Edition, protects against spyware. Based upon the ewido engine.
AVG Anti-Malware Edition, has both anti-virus and anti-spyware facilities
AVG Internet Security Edition, contains anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and anti-spam facilities.
AVG Network Editions - With the release of AVG 7.5, there are now several Network Editions of AVG. These are AVG Anti-Virus Network Edition, AVG Anti-Malware Network Edition and AVG Internet Security Network Edition. The Network Editions allow for centralized deployment and management of the AVG products.
AVG Rescue CD - a bootable variant of AVG Anti-Malware that can be run in Windows PE. This allows you to scan and remove viruses and spyware that may be stopping a PC from booting. Other tools include a registry editor, network mapping, ping testing and IP configurator.
AVG Anti-Rootkit (Free) - a specific tool allowing to scan for and remove rootkits, but does not include realtime protection.

[edit] Versions for servers

Grisoft also sells AVG antivirus solutions for computer servers running both Linux and Windows:

AVG Email Server Edition - Protects both server and mailboxes against viruses and spyware, and is licenced per mailbox. Also covers sharepoint servers.
AVG File Server Edition - Protects the server, is licenced per connection to the server. This also covers web servers.

The AVG Network Editions can also be licensed to protect File Servers.

AVG Anti-Malware SBS Edition - a new licensing package, featuring a combination of the Anti-Malware Network Edition and the E-mail Server Edition.
AVG Internet Security SBS Edition - a new licensing package, featuring a combination of the Internet Security Network Edition and the E-mail Server Edition.

[edit] AVG for Linux/FreeBSD

With Version 7.5, Grisoft is providing a solution for FreeBSD for the first time. Grisoft has incorporated spam detection in addition to virus detection for Linux/FreeBSD software.

[edit] Features

AVGADMIN, a remote administration tool, allows software to be managed centrally on networks.

[edit] AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Free Edition has spearheaded the company's growth. According to Grisoft, over 40 million users have AVG Anti-Virus protection, including users of the Free Edition.

Technical Support is not available for the Free Edition, whereas support is available to users of the Professional, paid-for products.

[edit] AVG Anti-Spyware

AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition running on Windows XP

[edit] Memory footprint

[edit] Certifications and awards

[edit]

Kaspersky Lab

2007-09-19T04:58:00.001-07:00

computer security company, co-founded by Natalia Kasperskaya and Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, offering antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and anti-intrusion products. Kaspersky Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Moscow, Russia with regional offices in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Korea, USA.

In 2005, Red Herring magazine listed Kaspersky among "Red Herring 100 Europe", a selection of the 100 private companies in Europe and Israel that play a leading role in innovation and technology.

According to AV-Comparatives, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly known as AntiViral Toolkit Pro) rates highly amongst virus scanners in terms of detection rates. In 2006 Kaspersky Anti-Virus was ranked second, and was the recipient of the TopTenReviews Gold Award. In addition, Kaspersky has passed all Virus Bulletin comparative tests since August 2003. According to PC World magazine, Kaspersky antivirus software provides the fastest updates for new virus and security threats in the industry.^[1]

Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also powers products or solutions by other security vendors, such as Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Sybari (now acquired by Microsoft), Netintelligence, GFI Software, F-Secure, Borderware, FrontBridge, G-Data, Netasq, AOL's Active Virus Shield, and others. Altogether, more than 120 companies are licensing technology from Kaspersky, which makes it one of the most widely used antivirus engines in the industry.

Media claims

In early 2005, Kaspersky Labs revealed that it was contacted by "a user asking how to disinfect the onboard computers of several Lexus cars... The user said that the infection occurred via a mobile phone". ^[2]

On 5 April 2007, Kaspersky Labs claimed to have found a virus that infects Apple's popular iPod music player. The press release stated: "It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod." ^[3]

[edit] Last version that supports Windows Me

Last version of KAV that supports Windows Me, namely 6.0.2.621 (trial) is officially available here, here or here.

Next version of KAV, namely 7.0.0.125 (trial) ceased to support Windows Me, and is officially available here.

[edit] Product

Kaspersky Anti-Virus, version 5.0

Kaspersky Internet Security, version 7.0 beta

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7

The current line of Kaspersky products consists of Kaspersky Internet Security 7 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7, released on August 1, 2007.

Kaspersky products are widely used in Eastern Europe and Asia, but have not been strongly marketed in North America and Western Europe. However, US-based magazine PC World recently awarded Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 the Editor's Choice in its 2007 anti-virus comparative (partnered with AV-Test.org), a move which will likely result in more widespread use in the Western Hemisphere. For example, it is now being marketed by Sam's Club in tandem with the Symantec Norton product line, which has been more popular in the USA.

The latest line of Kaspersky products is certified for Windows Vista.

[edit] Litigation

In May 2007, Adware distributor Zango filed a lawsuit against Kaspersky Lab, accusing it of trade libel for blocking the installation of Zango software. In August, the court ruled that the Communications Decency Act granted immunity to Kaspersky.^[4]

Norton AntiVirus

2007-09-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

Norton AntiVirus

Norton AntiVirus 2006 running in Windows XP
Developer:	Symantec Corporation
Latest release:	2008 or 15.0.0.58 (Windows Edition), 10.2 (Corporate Edition), 10.0 (Mac Edition) / August 29, 2007
OS:	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Genre:	Antivirus
License:	Proprietary
Website:	Symantec.com

Norton AntiVirus (NAV) is a popular product of Symantec Corporation and is one of the most widely used antivirus programs. Norton AntiVirus is sold as a standalone product and is also included as part of Norton Internet Security and Norton SystemWorks. In addition, there is also a standalone corporate edition version called Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition. It is aimed at a centrally managed corporate environment and has different features not present in the traditional retail version of the software.

[hide]

[edit] History

Since its release in 1990, over 100 million people around the world have used it. After the acqusition of Central Point Software in 1994 by Symantec, NAV was integrated with its main competitor of the era, Central Point Anti-Virus (CPAV). CPAV was also licensed to Microsoft as the Microsoft Anti-Virus utility.

[edit] Version History

[edit] Version 2006 (13.0)

On the weekend of July 28-30, 2006, Symantec released a faulty Norton AntiVirus update, in the form of Norton AntiVirus 2006. Many users of Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006 and any product that contained Norton AntiVirus 2006, such as Norton Internet Security 2006 and SystemWorks 2006, experienced difficulties due to the faulty update sent via LiveUpdate. Users reported getting an onscreen message stating that "Norton AntiVirus 2006 does not support the repair feature" and asking that they uninstall and reinstall Norton AntiVirus.

Symantec said the faulty update was downloaded to customers between 1PM and 7PM Friday, July 25. The security vendor recommended the affected users either download a workaround tool or follow steps posted on their site. Symantec said in a statement that they expected to "deliver a repair patch to affected users by the end of day, Monday, July 31, 2006." As of June 22, 2007, Symantec has not released any repair patch, or solution to fix the problem permanently.^[1]

[edit] Version 2007 (14.0)

After many years of customer complaints regarding the speed and system resource utilization of the product, Symantec responded in 2007 with a much needed rewrite of the code in an attempt to make the product lighter and faster.^[2]. However, with a PC with 2GB RAM, Intel Core Duo it took twenty minutes to uninstall the program, ten of which for windows to auto-restart after having made the nessecary registry and other changes.^[3]

Norton Antivirus 2007 automatically detects and blocks viruses, spyware, rootkits and worms. Several of its key features are Rootkit Protection which finds and removes hidden threats in the operating system, Internet Worm Protection that blocks viruses, spyware and worms without specific signatures, email and instant message scanning that detects, removes or blocks infected attachments and Full System Scan which performs a deep scan to remove existing viruses, spyware and other threats. Norton Protection Center provides a central place to easily check overall security settings. Its Live Update™ Notice alerts you to new features, product updates and threat advisories as available throughout the renewable service period.

[edit] Features

[edit] Virus definitions

Symantec's LiveUpdate provides virus definition updates, which enable Norton AntiVirus to detect viruses known to Symantec; a total of 73,660^[4] viruses as of September 6, 2007. In order to receive updates, a valid subscription is required; an initial subscription good for one year (or 90 days for OEM copies) is included with the purchase. When a user's subscription expires, the user can still receive program updates (patches) for free but will not be able to download virus definitions updates without renewing her or his subscription or purchasing a new version of the Symantec product with a year of subscription included.

The corporate edition has a client/server strategy to update virus definitions. Each of the workstations will not have LiveUpdate installed, but will be linked to a central server. The server will be the one that will actually update itself with LiveUpdate, and distribute such updates to the client/managed workstations. This is to reduce redundant updates over the organizational network (such as 100 PC's updating the same definitions).

[edit] Competition

Norton AntiVirus also attempts to remove spyware and adware, both of which are forms of malware that are not computer viruses. It competed in this capacity with the freeware Spybot - Search & Destroy (among others), although the company seems to have expressed an interest in leaving the anti-spyware/adware market.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Product activation

Beginning with Norton AntiVirus 2004, Norton AntiVirus includes an anti-copying feature called "Product Activation," which is similar to the activation process in Windows XP and Office XP. The activation process for Norton AntiVirus 2004, 2005, and 2006 can be accomplished through two methods: over the Internet or by phone.

[edit] The Mac edition

Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh (or SAM) is a discontinued edition of Norton AntiVirus for Mac OS. It was merged with the Norton line of products and is now part of the Norton Systemworks and Norton Internet Security suites. Although originally dealing with viruses on the Mac OS, its use was largely limited in later years, due to the widespread use of the freeware antivirus program Disinfectant in Mac OS Classic, to simply dealing with Windows viruses that may lie dormant while on a Mac.

Although Norton AntiVirus is compatible with Mac OS X v10.4, it is not a universal binary, and its use is generally not recommended on an Intel-based Mac. Criticism of Norton AntiVirus typically stems from its complex installation (similar to criticisms of the Windows version in that respect) as well as its relatively slow speed and high cost: competing products such as Intego's Virus Barrier X4 suite typically run faster, requires less disk space, and considered less intrusive in terms of installation.

[edit] Criticisms

Customer service:

Retail customers experience slow and indifferent service on bugs, such as the one that returns to certain users a specific error message that their valid subscriptions have expired,^[5] and refuses to allow daily updates via "Intelligent Updater."^{[citation needed]} Though the bug was reported in 2004, it was not corrected for the 2005 version, and continued unpatched during 2006.^[6] In May 2007, Norton Antivirus would reportedly remove the program file for the Pegasus e-mail client, an issue which Symantec's customer service allegedly addressed by sticking to a checklist of troubleshooting steps, showing they had no real understanding of the product.

FBI/CIA cooperation:

Norton AntiVirus was criticized in the past because of Symantec's policy that allows spy software (keyloggers/backdoors) of US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, such as the FBI-developed Magic Lantern, to bypass Norton's malware detection.^[7]

Response to viruses:

According to an article by the Washington Post, Norton Antivirus has one of the worst average response times for providing virus definition updates based on the worst virus outbreaks of 2005, lagging behind every major competitor, including NOD32, Kaspersky, F-Secure, Sophos, Avira, Trend Micro, F-Prot, Panda, Protector Plus, AVG, avast!, ClamWin, and McAfee.^[8]

For everyday viruses, according to an article by Eweek titled Why Is Symantec So Slow with Updates?, Symantec is the only vendor that provides virus definition updates on a weekly basis, as opposed to competitors such as McAfee that provides them on a daily basis or Sophos, Kaspersky or Panda that provide them several times a day.^[9]

However, Symantec does provide frequent beta and "Intelligent Updater" definitions in the form of manually downloadable 8-10 MB packages (although impractical for daily use for even highly technical users) as well as daily updates for LiveUpdate Platinum customers such as large corporations and businesses.

Daily LiveUpdate definitions are, however, available for users of later versions of Norton AntiVirus (version 2006 or higher).^[10]

Uninstallation:

Norton AntiVirus has been criticized for refusing to uninstall cleanly. Norton has created a tool to remove its registry keys and values, along with the software available at their web site.^[11]

Effects on performances:

This software is typically regarded as making highly considerable demands on resources.^[12] In common with other Norton products, Norton AntiVirus relies on Internet Explorer's web interface, instead of using the standard GUI libraries. Besides using more resources, any problems or changes to Internet Explorer will be reflected in Norton products, commonly resulting in "Script Error" messages when the user opens or uses a Norton program.

Incompatibility with other antivirus softwares:

Norton AntiVirus 2007 advises during installation that it is incompatible with popular programs ZoneAlarm and Spy Sweeper.^[13] During installation, the purchaser receives warnings that these programs are incompatible, and should be uninstalled from the system before continuing. Since the purchaser is also advised to uninstall other antivirus programs, this would leave very little security indeed for anyone connected directly to the internet during installation. With neither firewall nor antivirus in place, the interval to infection for a Windows system directly connected to the internet has been estimated to have shrunk to an average 12 seconds^{[citation needed]}. Installation of Norton AntiVirus takes considerably longer than 12 seconds.

The incompatibility warnings have caused annoyance for Norton customers who purchased Norton AntiVirus 2007 with no warning or notice of the incompatibility ^[14] ^[15]. However, the warning as to ZoneAlarm firewall only (without ZoneAlarm antivirus or spyware installed) has been ignored during installation of Norton Antivirus 2007 without calamity.

Norton AntiVirus has on occasion identified other software incorrectly as "viruses" or "trojans" and deleted them; for instance, on 2007-05-17, Pegasus Mail was added to the NAV virus definitions list and removed from the systems of users. This restriction was quickly corrected in a subsequent virus definition update. ^[16] In July 2007, many Steam users reported that Norton AntiVirus would not allow Steam to run Counter-Strike or other games due to related files being mislabelled as trojans.^[17]

Recognition of Windows XP files as viruses:

In May 2007, some Windows XP system files were mistaken as a backdoor virus, resulting in the breakdown of millions of PCs. Norton China may face legal proceedings and huge compensations as a result.^[18]

Blocking Internet traffics:

Norton Anti-virus/Internet Security is widely known in the ISP (internet service provider) business as a complete waste of time and a great annoyance.^{[citation needed]} Based on the call records gathered in a 24 hour period to the 3rd largest Australian ISP, iiNet, 67% of calls where an active ADSL connection has been made, however no data flow is achieved, it is a result of the client having Norton Anti-virus/Internet Security, and solved by the customer disabling it (which Norton will only allow for a maximum of 4 hours).

[edit]

Gulf Air

2007-09-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

) is the national carrier for the Kingdom of Bahrain. The airline operates international scheduled services to over 38 destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Far East. Its main base is Bahrain International Airport.^[1] The company's logo features a golden falcon. The airline is not part of an airline alliance but is part of the oneworld global explorer fare. It has extensive codeshare services with other airlines and special partnerships with Jet Airways and Oman Air's Frequent Flyer

History

^{[citation needed]} In the late 1940s, Freddie Bosworth (a British pilot) began an air taxi service to Doha and Dhahran from Bahrain. Bosworth later expanded this service and on the 24 March 1950, he registered Gulf Aviation as a private share-holding company. Seven Avro Ansons and 3 De Havilland DH.86B 4-engine biplanes formed the fleet, but more modern aircraft were needed. Bosworth chose the De Havilland Dove but while preparing to introduce the type into service he was killed on a demonstration flight at Croydon on 9 June 1951.

In October 1951 British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) became a major shareholder in Gulf Aviation, holding a 22% stake.^[1] Gulf Aviation began services to London in April 1970 with a Vickers VC10 and, with the introduction of BOAC, saw a succession of updated aircraft entering the fleet.

VC-10 at London Heathrow Airport in 1977

The turning point for Gulf Aviation came in 1973 when the governments of the Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Qatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman purchased BOAC's shares in Gulf Aviation. The Foundation Treaty signed on 1 January 1974 gave each government a 25% shareholding in the re-branded Gulf Air, which became the national carrier for the four states in the Persian Gulf. Later that year, the airline's onngoing support of oil exploration resulted in the establishment of the wholly owned Gulf Helicopters subsidiary.^[1]

With leased Lockheed L-1011 Tristar and Boeing 737s joining the fleet, by 1976 Gulf Air had expanded its route network to include: Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Baghdad, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo, Colombo, Delhi, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Khartoum, Larnaca, Manila, Paris, Ras al-Khaimah and San‘a’. The fleet comprised 4 Vickers VC10s, 3 BAC One-Elevens, 2 Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 200s, and 5 Boeing 737-200s. Two years later the Tristar fleet had doubled, replacing the VC10s, and the Boeing 737s had increased to 9, resulting in the phasing out of the One-Elevens.

The 1980s saw an increase in air travel and growth for Gulf Air. In 1981 Gulf Air became an IATA member and in the following year became the first international airline to land at Riyadh. In 1988 the Boeing 767s joined the fleet and services to Frankfurt, Istanbul, Damascus, Dar es Salaam, Fujairah and Nairobi were launched, with services to Shiraz and Baghdad resumed.

Gulf Air celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1990 . The light blue and peach Balenciaga-designed uniform was introduced. Singapore, Sydney and Trivandrum were launched and Gulf Air became the first Arab airline to fly to Australia. Gulf Air added Johannesburg and Melbourne to its network (1992), becoming the first Arab airline to fly directly to these cities. The following year it opened up a Flight Simulator Centre in Qatar. The same year saw the introduction of services to Casablanca, Entebbe, Jakarta, Kilimanjaro, Madras, Rome, San'a', Zanzibar, and Zürich.

In May 1994 , Gulf Air received its first Airbus A340-300. Gulf Air introduced a no-smoking policy on flights to Singapore and Australia in 1998 which later extended throughout its whole network. In 1999 , Gulf Air also launched three new routes in North Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar. It also took delivery of two (out of six) Airbus A330-200 aircraft and a new Balmain uniform was introduced.

Gulf Air Airbus A340-300, displaying the 50th anniversary designs.

[edit] 21st century

^{[citation needed]} In 2000 the airline celebrated its 50th Anniversary and took delivery of the remaining Airbus A330-200 aircraft in June of that year, it also launched services to Milan. In May 2002 , James Hogan was announced President and CEO of Gulf Air and instigated a three year restructuring and turnaround programme, which was launched in response to a drastic fall in profits at the company and ever-increasing debt. The Gulf Air Board unanimously approved the three-year recovery plan at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 18 December. This month also saw the withdrawal of the State of Qatar from Gulf Air. In 2003 Gulf Air introduced a new Landor designed livery. June 1, 2003 saw the establishment of Gulf Traveller, a subsidiary all-economy full-service airline.

Gulf Air also announced a sponsorship deal for the Bahrain Grand Prix which will last until 2010 . This deal created the Gulfair Bahrain Grand Prix, of which the first was staged in 2004 . Gulf Air also introduced direct daily flights to Athens and Sydney on 23 November 2003.

In 2004, Gulf Air introduced direct flights between Dubai and London and Muscat and London, and a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah and showed strong growth as it carried a record 7.5 million passengers during this year. Gulf Air's sponsorship of the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix continued to prove worthehile for the airline, with a record crowd, a global TV audience as well as a record number of passengers being carried to the Kingdom by the airline.

A return to profit was announced, with the best financial performance since 1997 . Despite a BD30 million (USD80 million) cost to the business through fuel price rises during the year, Gulf Air recorded a profit of BD1.5 million (USD4.0 million) in the calendar year to December 2004, on revenues up 23.8% to BD476.3 million (USD1.26 billion) (2003: BD 384.6 million / USD1,020.2 million). The results meant the airline out-performed the targets set under Project Falcon, the three-year restructuring plan approved by the Board in December 2002.

The owner states of Gulf Air at that time - the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman - confirmed their support for further expansion of the airline, through a new three-year strategic plan which would include re-equipment of the aircraft fleet and recapitalisation of the business through private sector financing. Gulf Air was also placed on the IOSA registry following its successful completion of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

Airbus A340-300 takes off. The undercarriage is retracting

The new summer schedule commencing 28 April 2006 saw the complete withdrawal of Abu Dhabi as a hub following the decision on the 13 September 2005, by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, to withdraw from Gulf Air and establish its own airline, Etihad Airways. Gulf Air changed its operations to a dual hub basis between Bahrain and Muscat airports. The airline produced a series of adverts in local newspapers thanking Abu Dhabi for its contribution to Gulf Air. Due to the airline being the national carrier for the United Arab Emirates for over 35 years, it has a large customer base located in this country. Gulf Air endeavoured to show the continuing support for flights to Abu Dhabi from Bahrain and Muscat, connecting to the rest of the Gulf Air network via adverts placed in local newspapers.

Gulf Air has an aircraft simulator facility at its Bahrain Headquarters. The BD3.5 million facility will offer real-time, simulated on-board training to pilots on Boeing 767, Airbus A320 and A330/340 in three flight simulators.

On the 27 April 2006, the Governments of Bahrain and Thailand signed an 'Open Skies' agreement which allowed an unlimited and unrestricted number of flights between the two nations. Gulf Air operates daily flights to Bangkok from Bahrain, with four flights a week from Muscat. With this new agreement in place, Gulf Air will double its frequency to Thailand by July 2006, with 14 flights a week between Bahrain and Thailand.

James Hogan resigned his position as President and Chief Executive Officer (PCE) as of October 1, 2006, and has since taken the position of CEO at rival airline Etihad Airways. Ahmed Al Hammadi was named acting CEO until Swiss national André Dosé (former CEO of Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines) took on April 1, 2007. A few days later, he announced a BD310 million (USD825 million) restructuring plan which included: all flights originate from or arrive at Bahrain; routes to Johannesburg, Dublin, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney cancelled; withdrawal of the nine Boeing 767 from the fleet; phased withdrawal of the Airbus A340-300 from the fleet; introduction of the Airbus A321 in July 2007 and of the Airbus A330-300 in 2009 and layoffs that will not differentiate between employees' nationalities but will be solely performance-based. This led to some employees applying for jobs in other airlines, and in less than a month Gulf Air lost 500 persons from its workforce. This rapid decline of personnel required a senior official to state that "Gulf Air will not be sacking any staff under its recovery plan, but it will be weeding out those who don't do their jobs". The airline is aiming at cutting its workforce by 25 percent through people leaving naturally or accepting voluntary early retirement packages, and the company has a recruitment freeze till further notice.

Gulf Air Airbus A330-200

On May 6, 2007, the government of Bahrain claimed 100% ownership of the airline as joint-owner Oman withdrew from the loss-making carrier. André Dosé resigned on July 23, 2007.^[2]

Cabin upgrades would also be implemented as follows:

First Class Cabin Sky beds across the entire long-haul fleet/Install state-of-the art in-flight entertainment system/Implement latest soft furnishings specification to cabin interiors (Airbus A340 fleet)

Gulf Air local newspaper advert saying Thank You and Welcome to Abu Dhabi since their withdrawal in 2006.

Business Class Cabin Feature fully lie-flat seats across the entire wide-bodied fleet/Replace and improve seat pitch on the entire narrow-bodied fleet/Install state-of-the art in-flight entertainment system

Economy Class Replace economy seats with state-of-art “lighter-weight” seats across the entire fleet/Feature state-of-the art in-flight entertainment system with “seat back” personal video screens

Awards won By Gulf Air in 2007:

1st place - Best economy class food (2007)
1st place - Most Leg Space in economy class (2007)
1st place - Best Fare In The Middle East (2007)

[edit] Destinations

See full article: Gulf Air destinations

Gulf Air are planning to start service to Shanghai, Zurich and Manchester from winter 2007. Gulf Air flights from Bahrain to Dar es Salaam are expected to start next year, schedules are being finalised. [1]

[edit] Fleet

The Gulf Air fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2007:

**Gulf Air Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Passengers (First/Business/Economy)
Airbus A320-200	10	136 (0/16/120)
Airbus A330-200	6	215 (8/24/183)
Airbus A340-300	9	249 (8/24/217)
Boeing 767-300ER	2

Gulf Air has announced in May 2007 that it will reduce its fleet size to 25 by removing the Boeing 767 aircraft from the fleet as an attempt to cut down maintenance costs.^{[citation needed]} The first leased Airbus A321-200 is to join the fleet in mid-October 2007.

Gulf Air has now stored the Boeing 767's. As of The 16th of September two remain in service, with one stored in Bahrain and the rest in Dublin.

Gulf Air average fleet age is 11.9 years old in September 2007.^[3]

[edit] Frequent Flyer Programme

^{[citation needed]} In 2003, Gulf Air launched the Gulf Air Frequent Flyer Programme (FFP), replacing the Falcon Frequent Flyer programme. The frequent flyer programme also won four awards at the 17th Annual Freddie Awards. These awards are decided by frequent travellers.

1st Place - Best Award Redemption, Frequent Flyer Programme, Europe/Middle East/Africa
1st Place - Best Customer Service, Frequent Flyer Programme, Europe/Middle East/Africa
1st Place - Best Award, Frequent Flyer Programme, Europe/Middle East/Africa
1st Place - Best Website, Frequent Flyer Programme, Europe/Middle East/Africa

Gulf Air offers frequent flyer partnerships with the following airlines:

Gulf Air also offers frequent flyer partnerships with the following car rental agencies:

[edit] Program levels

Gulf Air FFP members are entitled to the following benefits listed below. These benefits do not apply to Family Members.

Blue Card
- 10 kg Extra Baggage Allowance
- Personal Baggage Tags

Silver Card
- Check-In at Premium Desks
- Lounge Access
- 15 kg Extra Baggage Allowance
- Priority Baggage Handling

Gold Card
- Check-In at Premium Desks
- Lounge Access + 1 Guest
- 20 kg Extra Baggage Allowance
- Priority Baggage Handling

[edit] Codeshare agreements

[edit] Subsidiaries

Gulf Cargo
Gulf Holidays

[edit] Gulf Traveller

The company's all Ecomony class airline Gulf Traveller ceased operations in April 2007, the pull out of Abu Dhabi followed by Oman and the restructuring of Gulf Air with the phasing out of its 767 fleet as well as some other types have all played part in rendering this airlines operations unfeasible according to business plans.

[edit] Sponsored events

Gulf Air sponsors many events, of which the most prestigious is the gulfair Bahrain Grand Prix. This is usually the first race of the Formula One season and is held in March or April of each year.

23-25 April 2006: 7th Omani Song Festival. This festival was aimed at spreading awareness and promoting Oman’s musical and cultural heritage. Venue: Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Oman.

[edit] Livery

[Before 2003] - Predominantly white with a smaller golden falcon at the tail on a background of red, green and maroon stripes which represented the original four owner states of the Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. [Since 2003] - Fully gold at the front portion with white after it. A large redesigned falcon at the tail completes the new look Gulf Air projects.^[4]

[edit] Fleet refurbishment

Gulf is undergoing a fleet refurbishment and considering either Boeing 787s or Airbus A350s on option, to replace its Boeing 767 aircraft which are to be phased out by 2009.

[edit] A330 Interior refurbishment

^{[citation needed]} The fleet of A330 aircraft underwent refurbishment which was completed in June 2005. All A330 aircraft now have the Gulf Air Sky Beds in First and Business Class Cabins.

The First Class cabin seating configuration is 1-2-1 and accommodates 8 passengers. It has an 80-inch pitch and 25-inch width bed with 180-degree recline. The Class 180 seat also converts to a full size bed. Individual screen size: 15-inch.

The Business Class cabin seating configuration is 2-2-2 and accommodates 24 passengers. It has an 63-inch pitch and 24-inch width bed with 163-degree recline. Individual screen size: 10.4-inch.

The Economy Class cabin seating configuration is 2-4-2 and accommodates 183 passengers. It has a 32-34-inch pitch and 18-inch seat width with 102-degree recline. Individual screen size: 6.5-inch.

[edit] A340 Interior refurbishment

^{[citation needed]} Part of the A340 fleet underwent refurbishment which was completed in August 2006. The A340-312 (Version A) aircraft still have not been refurbished although all A340-300 aircraft now have the Gulf Air Sky Beds in First and Business Class Cabins.

A340-300 Details (Version B)

The First Class cabin seating configuration is 1-2-1 and accommodates 8 passengers. It has an 80-inch pitch and 25-inch width bed with 180-degree recline. The Class 180 seat also converts to a full size bed. Individual screen size: 15-inch.

The Business Class cabin seating configuration is 2-2-2 and accommodates 24 passengers. It has an 73-inch pitch and 24-inch width bed with 169-degree recline. Individual screen size: 10.4-inch.

The Economy Class cabin seating configuration is 2-4-2 and accommodates 217 passengers. It has a 32-34-inch pitch and 18-inch seat width with 102-degree recline. Individual screen size: 6.5-inch.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

23 September 1983 ^[5]

Main article: Gulf Air Flight 771

Location: Near Mina Jebel Ali, UAE
Flight #: GF771
Route: Karachi - Abu Dhabi
Air Craft Type: Boeing 737-2P6
Registration: A40-BK
Aboard: 112 (passengers:107 crew:5)
Fatalities: 112 (passengers:107 crew:5)
Summary: The aircraft crashed into the desert after a distress message and during an emergency landing attempt. This was due to the detonation of an explosive device in the baggage compartment.

23 August 2000

Main article: Gulf Air Flight 072

Location: Coast of Manama, Bahrain
Flight #: GF072
Route: Cairo - Bahrain
Air Craft Type: Airbus A320-212
Registration: A4O-EK
Aboard: 143 (passengers:135 crew:8)
Fatalities: 143 (passengers:135 crew:8)
Summary: The aircraft crashed into the Persian Gulf while attempting to land at Bahrain International Airport. The crew decided to perform a missed approach after it was determined the aircraft was coming in too high and fast. Instructions were given for a 180 degree turn and climb to 2,500 feet. While performing the missed approach the plane suddenly descended rapidly from an altitude of 1,000 feet and crashed into the shallow waters of the gulf approximately 1 mile from the airport.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gulf Air

[edit] References

Hacker

2007-09-19T04:46:00.002-07:00

, as it relates to computers, has several common meanings. Hacker is often used by the mass media to refer to a person who engages in computer cracking and is also often used by those in computing fields to refer to a person who is a computer enthusiast. At least three major hacker subcultures, characterized by their largely distinct historical development, use the term in their jargon for self-identification.^[1] They are centered around different, but partially overlapping aspects of computers and have conflicting ideas about who may legitimately be called a hacker (see hacker definition controversy). In computer security, a hacker is someone who focuses on security mechanisms. In common use, which was popularized by the mass media, that refers to someone who illegally breaks into computer and network systems. That is, the media portrays the 'hacker' as a villain. Nevertheless, parts of the subculture see their aim in correcting security problems and use the word in a positive sense. They operate under a code of the Hacker Ethic, in which it's acknowledged that breaking into other people's computers is bad, but that discovering and exploiting security mechanisms and breaking into computers is nevertheless an interesting aspect that can be done in an ethical and legal way. This use is contrasted by the different understanding of the word as a person who follows a spirit of playful cleverness and loves programming. It is found in an originally academic movement unrelated to computer security and most visibly associated with free software and open source. It also has a hacker ethic, based on the idea that writing software and sharing the result is a good idea, but only on a voluntary basis, and that information should be free, but that it's not up to the hacker to make it free by breaking into private computer systems. Academic hackers disassociate from the mass media's pejorative use of the word 'hacker' referring to computer security, and usually prefer the term 'cracker' for that meaning. In a third meaning, the term refers to computer hobbyists who push the limits of their software or hardware.

Computer security hackers

Main article: Hacker (computer security)

In computer security, a hacker is a person who specializes in work with the security mechanisms for computer and network systems. The subculture around such hackers is termed network hacker subculture, hacker scene or computer underground. While including those who endeavor to strengthen such mechanisms, it is more often used by the mass media and popular culture to refer to those who seek access despite these security measures. Accordingly, the term bears strong connotations that may be favorable or pejorative.

The network hacker subculture initially developed in the context of phreaking during the 1960s and the microcomputer BBS scene of the 1980s. It is implicated with 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and the alt.2600 newsgroup.

By 1983, hacking in the sense of breaking computer security had already been in use as computer jargon,^[2] but there was no public awareness about such activities.^[3] However, the release of the movie WarGames that year raised the public belief that computer security hackers (especially teenagers) could be a threat to national security. This concern became real when a gang of teenage crackers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin known as The 414s broke into computer systems throughout the United States and Canada, including those of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Security Pacific Bank. The case quickly grew media attention^[4]^[5], and 17-year-old Neal Patrick emerged as the spokesman for the gang, including a cover story in Newsweek entitled "Beware: Hackers at play", with Patrick's photograph on the cover. ^[6] The Newsweek article appears to be the first use of the word hacker by the mainstream media in the pejorative sense.

As a result of news coverage, congressman Dan Glickman called for an investigation and new laws about computer hacking. ^[7] Neal Patrick testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on September 26, 1983 about the dangers of computer hacking, and six bills concerning computer crime were introduced in the House that year. ^[8] As a result of these laws against computer criminality, white hat, grey hat and black hat hackers try to distinguish themselves from each other, depending on the legality of their activities.

Computer pioneer Ken Thompson reflected on the above events during his 1983 Turing Award lecture: "I would like to criticize the press in its handling of the 'hackers,' the 414 gang, the Dalton gang, etc. The acts performed by these kids are vandalism at best and probably trespass and theft at worst. ... I have watched kids testifying before Congress. It is clear that they are completely unaware of the seriousness of their acts." ^[9]

[edit] Personalities

Loyd Blankenship (also known as The Mentor) — Former LOD member. Author of The Conscience of a Hacker (Hacker's Manifesto).

Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) — Long standing publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and founder of the H.O.P.E. conferences. He has been part of the hacker community since the late '70s.

CULT OF THE DEAD COW — A high profile hacker group that has both made news and been consulted by the media on numerous occasions.

Brian Dorsett — Reverse-engineered the NDS satellite access smartcard known as the HU card. Currently imprisoned at Miami FDC. He recorded a daily podcast from prison titled Prisoncast ^{[dead link – history]}, although this is no longer active.

Patrick K. Kroupa (also known as Lord Digital) — Former LOD member, co-founder of MindVox, author of Phantom Access programs, and MindVox: The Overture. Appears in over 20 books and hundreds of media and press articles.

Gary McKinnon (Also known as Solo) accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002.^[10]

Kevin Mitnick — A former computer criminal who now (since his release from prison in 2000) speaks, consults, and authors books about social engineering and network security.

Stuart Goldman; Known as the "Hollywood Hacker," Goldman, who was working on an expose of the tabloid industry, was arrested in 1990 for breaking into the computers of Fox Television. Goldman later returned to court with evidence that he had been set up by Fox. All charges against him were dropped and his record expunged. Goldman sold a screenplay ("Spy Vs. Spies") to Phoenix Pictures and producer Oliver Stone based upon his experience.

[edit] Academic hackers

Main article: Hacker (academia)

In the academic hacker culture, a computer hacker is a person who enjoys designing software and building programs with a sense for aesthetics and playful cleverness.

According to Eric S. Raymond,^[11] the academic hacker subculture developed in the 1960s among hackers working on early minicomputers in academic computer science environments. After 1969 it fused with the technical culture of the pioneers of the Internet. One PDP-10 machine at MIT connected to the Internet provided an early hacker meeting point. It was called AI and ran ITS. After 1980 the subculture coalesced with the culture of Unix, and after 1987 with elements of the early microcomputer hobbyists that themselves had connections to radio amateurs in the 1920s. Since the mid-1990s, it has been largely coincident with what is now called the free software and open source movement.

Many programmers have been labeled "great hackers,"^[12] but the specifics of who that label applies to is a matter of opinion. Certainly major contributors to computer science such as Edsger Dijkstra and Donald Knuth, as well as the inventors of popular software such as Linus Torvalds (Linux), and Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson (the C programming language) are likely to be included in any such list; see also List of programmers. People primarily known for their contributions to the consciousness of the academic hacker culture include Richard Stallman, the founder of the free software movement and the GNU project, president of the Free Software Foundation and author of the famous Emacs text editor as well as the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), and Eric S. Raymond, one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative and writer of the famous text The Cathedral and the Bazaar and many other essays, maintainer of the Jargon File (which was previously maintained by Guy L. Steele, Jr.).

Within the academic hacker culture, the term hacker is also used for a programmer who reaches a goal by employing a series of modifications to extend existing code or resources. In this sense, it can have a negative connotation of using kludges to accomplish programming tasks that are ugly, inelegant, and inefficient. This derogatory form of the noun "hack" is even used among users of the positive sense of "hacker" (some argue that it should not be, due to this negative meaning; others argue that some kludges can, for all their ugliness and imperfection, still have "hack value"). In a very universal sense, a hacker also means someone who makes things work beyond perceived limits in a clever way in general, for example reality hackers.^[13]

[edit] Personalities

Bruce Perens — one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He was the former Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, and is the primary author of the Open Source Definition.

Eric S. Raymond — also one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He wrote the famous text The Cathedral and the Bazaar and many other essays. He also maintains the Jargon File for the Hacker culture, which was previously maintained by Guy L. Steele, Jr..

Richard Stallman — founder of the free software movement and the GNU project, and president of the Free Software Foundation. Author of the famous Emacs text editor and the Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC).

[edit] Hobby Hackers

Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Main article: Hacker (hobbyist)

The hobby hacking subculture relates to the hobbyist home computing of the late 1970s, beginning with the availability of MITS Altair. An influential organization was the Homebrew Computer Club.

The areas that didn't fit together with the academic hacker subculture focus mainly on commercial computer and video games, software cracking and exceptional computer programming (demo scene), but also to the modification of computer hardware and other electronic devices, see modding.

[edit] Personalities

Steve Wozniak — Computer engineer who created the Apple I and Apple II series computers and, with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.). He is known in the hacker community as "Woz" or "The other Steve." Woz came up with some ingenious hardware hacks to bring those machines to completion. He also had a background in the network hacker subculture before this and did blue boxing.

William Henry Gates III (Bill Gates) — is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation. Although he personally demonstrated considerable personal coding skill early in his company's history ^[14]^[15], he is most widely recognizable today as one of the world's richest individuals. Formerly CEO, in June 2006 he also stepped down as chief software architect.^[16]

[edit] Overlaps and differences

The main basic difference between academic and computer security hackers is their separate historical origin and development. The Jargon File reports that although considerable overlap existed for the early phreaking at the beginning of the 1970s, it quickly started to break when people joined in the activity who did it in a less responsible way.^[17]

Academic hackers usually work openly and use their real name, while computer security hackers prefer secretive groups and identity-concealing aliases. Also, their activities in practice are largely distinct. The former focus on creating new and improving existing infrastructure (especially the software environment they work with), while the latter primarily and strongly emphasize the general act of circumvention of security measures, with the effective use of the knowledge (which can be to report and help fixing the security bugs, or exploitation for criminal purpose) being only rather secondary. The most visible difference in these views was in the design of the MIT hackers' Incompatible Timesharing System, which deliberately didn't have any security measures.

There are some subtle overlaps, however, since basic knowledge about computer security is also common within the academic hacker community. For example, Ken Thompson noted during his 1983 Turing Award lecture that it is possible to add code to the UNIX "login" command that would accept either the intended encrypted password or a particular known password, allowing a back door into the system with the latter password. He named his invention the "Trojan horse." Furthermore, Thompson argued, the C compiler itself could be modified to automatically generate the rogue code, to make detecting the modification even harder. Because the compiler is itself a program generated from a compiler, the Trojan horse could also be automatically installed in a new compiler program, without any detectable modification to the source of the new compiler.

The academic hacker community sees secondary circumvention of security mechanisms as legitimate if it is done to get practical barriers out of the way for doing actual work. In special forms, that can even be an expression of playful cleverness.^[18] However, the systematic and primary engagement in such activities is not one of the actual interests of the academic hacker subculture and it doesn't have significance in its actual activities, either.^[19] A further difference is that, historically, academic hackers were working at academic institutions and used the computing environment there. In contrast, the prototypical computer security hacker had access exclusively to a home computer and a modem.

Since the mid-1980s, there are some overlaps in ideas and members with the computer security hacking community. The most prominent case is Robert T. Morris, who was a user of MIT-AI, yet wrote the Morris worm. The Jargon File hence calls him "a true hacker who blundered".^[20] Nevertheless, members of the academic subculture have a tendency to look down on and disassociate from these overlaps. They commonly refer disparagingly to people in the computer security subculture as crackers, and refuse to accept any definition of hacker that encompasses such activities (see the Hacker definition controversy). The computer security hacking subculture on the other hand tends not to distinguish between the two subcultures as harshly, instead acknowledging that they have much in common including many members, political and social goals, and a love of learning about technology. They restrict the use of the term cracker to their categories of script kiddies and black hat hackers instead.

There is also overlap into the other direction. Since the mid-1990s, with home computers that could run Unix-like operating systems and with inexpensive internet home access being available for the first time, many people from outside of the academic world started to take part in the academic hacking subculture.

All three subcultures have relations to hardware modifications. In the early days of network hacking, phreaks were building blue boxes and various variants. The academic hacker culture has stories about several hardware hacks in its folklore, such as a mysterious 'magic' switch attached to a PDP-10 computer in MIT's AI lab, that, when turned off, crashed the computer.^[21] The early hobbyist hackers built their home computers themselves, from construction kits. However, all these activities have died out during the 1980s, when the phone network switched to digitally controlled switchboards, causing network hacking to shift to dialling remote computers with modems, when preassembled inexpensive home computers were available, and when academic institutions started to give individual mass-produced workstation computers to scientists instead of using a central timesharing system. The only kind of widespread hardware modification nowadays is case modding.

An encounter of the academic and the computer security hacker subculture occurred at the end of the 1980s, when a group of hackers, sympathizing with the Chaos Computer Club (who disclaimed any knowledge in these activities), broke into computers of American military organizations and academic institutions. They sold data from these machines to the Soviet secret service, one of them in order to fund his drug addiction. The case could be solved when scientists from the environment of the academic hacker subculture found ways to log the attacks and to trace them back. 23, a German film adaption with ficitional elements, shows the events from the attackers' perspective. Clifford Stoll, one of the system administrators who helped to catch them, described the case in his book The Cuckoo's Egg and in the TV documentary The KGB, the Computer, and Me from the other perspective.

[edit]

Computer security hackers

Main article: Hacker (computer security)

[edit] Personalities

Loyd Blankenship (also known as The Mentor) — Former LOD member. Author of The Conscience of a Hacker (Hacker's Manifesto).

Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) — Long standing publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and founder of the H.O.P.E. conferences. He has been part of the hacker community since the late '70s.

CULT OF THE DEAD COW — A high profile hacker group that has both made news and been consulted by the media on numerous occasions.

Brian Dorsett — Reverse-engineered the NDS satellite access smartcard known as the HU card. Currently imprisoned at Miami FDC. He recorded a daily podcast from prison titled Prisoncast ^{[dead link – history]}, although this is no longer active.

Patrick K. Kroupa (also known as Lord Digital) — Former LOD member, co-founder of MindVox, author of Phantom Access programs, and MindVox: The Overture. Appears in over 20 books and hundreds of media and press articles.

Gary McKinnon (Also known as Solo) accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002.^[10]

Kevin Mitnick — A former computer criminal who now (since his release from prison in 2000) speaks, consults, and authors books about social engineering and network security.

Stuart Goldman; Known as the "Hollywood Hacker," Goldman, who was working on an expose of the tabloid industry, was arrested in 1990 for breaking into the computers of Fox Television. Goldman later returned to court with evidence that he had been set up by Fox. All charges against him were dropped and his record expunged. Goldman sold a screenplay ("Spy Vs. Spies") to Phoenix Pictures and producer Oliver Stone based upon his experience.

[edit] Academic hackers

Main article: Hacker (academia)

In the academic hacker culture, a computer hacker is a person who enjoys designing software and building programs with a sense for aesthetics and playful cleverness.

[edit] Personalities

Bruce Perens — one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He was the former Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, and is the primary author of the Open Source Definition.

Eric S. Raymond — also one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He wrote the famous text The Cathedral and the Bazaar and many other essays. He also maintains the Jargon File for the Hacker culture, which was previously maintained by Guy L. Steele, Jr..

Richard Stallman — founder of the free software movement and the GNU project, and president of the Free Software Foundation. Author of the famous Emacs text editor and the Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC).

[edit] Hobby Hackers

Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Main article: Hacker (hobbyist)

The hobby hacking subculture relates to the hobbyist home computing of the late 1970s, beginning with the availability of MITS Altair. An influential organization was the Homebrew Computer Club.

[edit] Personalities

Steve Wozniak — Computer engineer who created the Apple I and Apple II series computers and, with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.). He is known in the hacker community as "Woz" or "The other Steve." Woz came up with some ingenious hardware hacks to bring those machines to completion. He also had a background in the network hacker subculture before this and did blue boxing.

William Henry Gates III (Bill Gates) — is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation. Although he personally demonstrated considerable personal coding skill early in his company's history ^[14]^[15], he is most widely recognizable today as one of the world's richest individuals. Formerly CEO, in June 2006 he also stepped down as chief software architect.^[16]

[edit] Overlaps and differences

[edit]

Hacker

2007-09-19T04:46:00.001-07:00

, as it relates to computers, has several common meanings. Hacker is often used by the mass media to refer to a person who engages in computer cracking and is also often used by those in computing fields to refer to a person who is a computer enthusiast. At least three major hacker subcultures, characterized by their largely distinct historical development, use the term in their jargon for self-identification.^[1] They are centered around different, but partially overlapping aspects of computers and have conflicting ideas about who may legitimately be called a hacker (see hacker definition controversy). In computer security, a hacker is someone who focuses on security mechanisms. In common use, which was popularized by the mass media, that refers to someone who illegally breaks into computer and network systems. That is, the media portrays the 'hacker' as a villain. Nevertheless, parts of the subculture see their aim in correcting security problems and use the word in a positive sense. They operate under a code of the Hacker Ethic, in which it's acknowledged that breaking into other people's computers is bad, but that discovering and exploiting security mechanisms and breaking into computers is nevertheless an interesting aspect that can be done in an ethical and legal way. This use is contrasted by the different understanding of the word as a person who follows a spirit of playful cleverness and loves programming. It is found in an originally academic movement unrelated to computer security and most visibly associated with free software and open source. It also has a hacker ethic, based on the idea that writing software and sharing the result is a good idea, but only on a voluntary basis, and that information should be free, but that it's not up to the hacker to make it free by breaking into private computer systems. Academic hackers disassociate from the mass media's pejorative use of the word 'hacker' referring to computer security, and usually prefer the term 'cracker' for that meaning. In a third meaning, the term refers to computer hobbyists who push the limits of their software or hardware.

Computer security hackers

Main article: Hacker (computer security)

[edit] Personalities

Loyd Blankenship (also known as The Mentor) — Former LOD member. Author of The Conscience of a Hacker (Hacker's Manifesto).

Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) — Long standing publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and founder of the H.O.P.E. conferences. He has been part of the hacker community since the late '70s.

CULT OF THE DEAD COW — A high profile hacker group that has both made news and been consulted by the media on numerous occasions.

Brian Dorsett — Reverse-engineered the NDS satellite access smartcard known as the HU card. Currently imprisoned at Miami FDC. He recorded a daily podcast from prison titled Prisoncast ^{[dead link – history]}, although this is no longer active.

Patrick K. Kroupa (also known as Lord Digital) — Former LOD member, co-founder of MindVox, author of Phantom Access programs, and MindVox: The Overture. Appears in over 20 books and hundreds of media and press articles.

Gary McKinnon (Also known as Solo) accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002.^[10]

Kevin Mitnick — A former computer criminal who now (since his release from prison in 2000) speaks, consults, and authors books about social engineering and network security.

Stuart Goldman; Known as the "Hollywood Hacker," Goldman, who was working on an expose of the tabloid industry, was arrested in 1990 for breaking into the computers of Fox Television. Goldman later returned to court with evidence that he had been set up by Fox. All charges against him were dropped and his record expunged. Goldman sold a screenplay ("Spy Vs. Spies") to Phoenix Pictures and producer Oliver Stone based upon his experience.

[edit] Academic hackers

Main article: Hacker (academia)

In the academic hacker culture, a computer hacker is a person who enjoys designing software and building programs with a sense for aesthetics and playful cleverness.

[edit] Personalities

Bruce Perens — one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He was the former Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, and is the primary author of the Open Source Definition.

Eric S. Raymond — also one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He wrote the famous text The Cathedral and the Bazaar and many other essays. He also maintains the Jargon File for the Hacker culture, which was previously maintained by Guy L. Steele, Jr..

Richard Stallman — founder of the free software movement and the GNU project, and president of the Free Software Foundation. Author of the famous Emacs text editor and the Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC).

[edit] Hobby Hackers

Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Main article: Hacker (hobbyist)

The hobby hacking subculture relates to the hobbyist home computing of the late 1970s, beginning with the availability of MITS Altair. An influential organization was the Homebrew Computer Club.

[edit] Personalities

Steve Wozniak — Computer engineer who created the Apple I and Apple II series computers and, with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.). He is known in the hacker community as "Woz" or "The other Steve." Woz came up with some ingenious hardware hacks to bring those machines to completion. He also had a background in the network hacker subculture before this and did blue boxing.

William Henry Gates III (Bill Gates) — is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation. Although he personally demonstrated considerable personal coding skill early in his company's history ^[14]^[15], he is most widely recognizable today as one of the world's richest individuals. Formerly CEO, in June 2006 he also stepped down as chief software architect.^[16]

[edit] Overlaps and differences

[edit]

Computer security hackers

Main article: Hacker (computer security)

[edit] Personalities

Loyd Blankenship (also known as The Mentor) — Former LOD member. Author of The Conscience of a Hacker (Hacker's Manifesto).

Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) — Long standing publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and founder of the H.O.P.E. conferences. He has been part of the hacker community since the late '70s.

CULT OF THE DEAD COW — A high profile hacker group that has both made news and been consulted by the media on numerous occasions.

Brian Dorsett — Reverse-engineered the NDS satellite access smartcard known as the HU card. Currently imprisoned at Miami FDC. He recorded a daily podcast from prison titled Prisoncast ^{[dead link – history]}, although this is no longer active.

Patrick K. Kroupa (also known as Lord Digital) — Former LOD member, co-founder of MindVox, author of Phantom Access programs, and MindVox: The Overture. Appears in over 20 books and hundreds of media and press articles.

Gary McKinnon (Also known as Solo) accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002.^[10]

Kevin Mitnick — A former computer criminal who now (since his release from prison in 2000) speaks, consults, and authors books about social engineering and network security.

Stuart Goldman; Known as the "Hollywood Hacker," Goldman, who was working on an expose of the tabloid industry, was arrested in 1990 for breaking into the computers of Fox Television. Goldman later returned to court with evidence that he had been set up by Fox. All charges against him were dropped and his record expunged. Goldman sold a screenplay ("Spy Vs. Spies") to Phoenix Pictures and producer Oliver Stone based upon his experience.

[edit] Academic hackers

Main article: Hacker (academia)

In the academic hacker culture, a computer hacker is a person who enjoys designing software and building programs with a sense for aesthetics and playful cleverness.

[edit] Personalities

Bruce Perens — one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He was the former Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader, and is the primary author of the Open Source Definition.

Eric S. Raymond — also one of the founders of the Open Source Initiative. He wrote the famous text The Cathedral and the Bazaar and many other essays. He also maintains the Jargon File for the Hacker culture, which was previously maintained by Guy L. Steele, Jr..

Richard Stallman — founder of the free software movement and the GNU project, and president of the Free Software Foundation. Author of the famous Emacs text editor and the Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC).

[edit] Hobby Hackers

Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
See talk page for details. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

Main article: Hacker (hobbyist)

The hobby hacking subculture relates to the hobbyist home computing of the late 1970s, beginning with the availability of MITS Altair. An influential organization was the Homebrew Computer Club.

[edit] Personalities

Steve Wozniak — Computer engineer who created the Apple I and Apple II series computers and, with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.). He is known in the hacker community as "Woz" or "The other Steve." Woz came up with some ingenious hardware hacks to bring those machines to completion. He also had a background in the network hacker subculture before this and did blue boxing.

William Henry Gates III (Bill Gates) — is the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation. Although he personally demonstrated considerable personal coding skill early in his company's history ^[14]^[15], he is most widely recognizable today as one of the world's richest individuals. Formerly CEO, in June 2006 he also stepped down as chief software architect.^[16]

[edit] Overlaps and differences

[edit]

Engineering

2007-09-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Engineering is the applied science of acquiring and applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development, also known as ECPD,^[1] (later ABET ^[2]) defines Engineering as: "The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property."^[3]^[4]^[5] One who practices engineering is called an engineer, and those licensed to do so have formal designations such as Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer or Incorporated Engineer. The broad discipline of engineering encompasses a range of specialized subdisciplines that focus on the issues associated with developing a specific kind of product, or using a specific type of technology.

Methodology

Engineers borrow from physics and mathematics to find suitable solutions to the problem at hand. They apply the scientific method in deriving their solutions. If multiple options exist, engineers weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best matches the requirements. The crucial and unique task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and interpret the constraints on a design in order to produce a successful result. It is usually not enough to build a technically successful product; it must also meet further requirements. Constraints may include available resources, physical, imaginative or technical limitations, flexibility for future modifications and additions, and other factors, such as requirements for cost, safety, marketability, producibility, and serviceability. By understanding the constraints, engineers derive specifications for the limits within which a viable object or system may be produced and operated.

[edit] Problem solving

Engineers use their knowledge of science, mathematics, and appropriate experience to find suitable solutions to a problem. Engineering is considered a branch of applied mathematics and science. Creating an appropriate mathematical model of a problem allows them to analyze it (sometimes definitively), and to test potential solutions. Usually multiple reasonable solutions exist, so engineers must evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets their requirements. Genrich Altshuller, after gathering statistics on a large number of patents, suggested that compromises are at the heart of "low-level" engineering designs, while at a higher level the best design is one which eliminates the core contradiction causing the problem.

Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale production. They use, among other things: prototypes, scale models, simulations, destructive tests, nondestructive tests, and stress tests. Testing ensures that products will perform as expected. Engineers as professionals take seriously their responsibility to produce designs that will perform as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the public at large. Engineers typically include a factor of safety in their designs to reduce the risk of unexpected failure. However, the greater the safety factor, the less efficient the design may be.

[edit] Computer use

As with all modern scientific and technological endeavors, computers and software play an increasingly important role. As well as the typical business application software there are a number of computer aided applications (CAx) specifically for engineering.

One of the most widely used tools in the profession is computer-aided design (CAD) software which enables engineers to create 3D models, 2D drawings, and schematics of their designs. CAD together with Digital mockup (DMU) and CAE software such as finite element method analysis allows engineers to create models of designs that can be analyzed without having to make expensive and time-consuming physical prototypes. These allow products and components to be checked for flaws; assess fit and assembly; study ergonomics; and to analyze static and dynamic characteristics of systems such as stresses, temperatures, electromagnetic emissions, electrical currents and voltages, digital logic levels, fluid flows, and kinematics. Access and distribution of all this information is generally organized with the use of Product Data Management software.^[6]

There are also many tools to support specific engineering tasks such as Computer-aided manufacture (CAM) software to generate CNC machining instructions; Manufacturing Process Management software for production engineering; EDA for printed circuit board (PCB) and circuit schematics for electronic engineers; MRO applications for maintenance management ; and AEC software for civil engineering.

In recent years the use of computer software to aid the development of goods has collectively come to be known as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).^[7]

[edit] History

An F-15 Eagle Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine designed by aerospace engineers.

The history of the concept of "engineering" stems from the earliest times when humans began to make clever inventions, such as the pulley, lever, or wheel, etc. The exact etymology of the word engineer, however, is a person occupationally connected with the study, design, and implementation of engines. The word "engine", derives from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning "innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention."^[8] Hence, an engineer, essentially, is someone who makes useful or practical inventions.

From another perspective, a now obsolete meaning of engineer, dating from 1325, is "a constructor of military engines".^[9] Engineering was originally divided into military engineering, which included construction of fortifications as well as military engines, and civil engineering, non-military construction of such as bridges.

The first electrical engineer is considered to be William Gilbert, with his 1600 publication of De Magnete, who was the originator of the term "electricity".^[10]

The first steam engine was built in 1698 by mechanical engineer Thomas Savery.

With the rise of engineering as a profession in the nineteenth century the term became more narrowly applied to fields in which mathematics and science were applied to these ends. Similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering.

The first PhD in engineering (technically, applied science and engineering) awarded in the United States went to Willard Gibbs at Yale University in 1863; it was also the second PhD awarded in science in the U.S.^[11]

In 1990, with the rise of computer technology, the first search engine was built by computer engineer Alan Emtage.

[edit] Engineering in a social context

Engineering is a subject that ranges from large collaborations to small individual projects. Almost all engineering projects are beholden to some sort of financing agency: a company, a set of investors, or a government. The few types of engineering that are minimally constrained by such issues are pro bono engineering and open design engineering.

By its very nature engineering is bound up with society and human behavior. Every product or construction used by modern society will have been influenced by engineering design. Engineering design is a very powerful tool to make changes to environment, society and economies, and its application brings with it a great responsibility, as represented by many of the Engineering Institutions codes of practice and ethics. Whereas medical ethics is a well-established field with considerable consensus, engineering ethics is far less developed, and engineering projects can be subject to considerable controversy. Just a few examples of this from different engineering disciplines are the development of nuclear weapons, the Three Gorges Dam, the design and use of Sports Utility Vehicles and the extraction of oil. There is a growing trend amongst western engineering companies to enact serious Corporate and Social Responsibility policies, but many companies do not have these.

Engineering is a key driver of human development.^[12] Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has a very small engineering capacity which results in many African nations being unable to develop crucial infrastructure without outside aid. The attainment of many of the Millennium Development Goals requires the achievement of sufficient engineering capacity to develop infrastructure and sustainable technological development.^[13] All overseas development and relief NGOs make considerable use of engineers to apply solutions in disaster and development scenarios. A number of charitable organizations aim to use engineering directly for the good of mankind:

[edit] Cultural presence

Engineering is a well respected profession. For example, in Canada it ranks as one of the public's most trusted professions.^[14]

Sometimes engineering has been seen as a somewhat dry, uninteresting field in popular culture, and has also been thought to be the domain of nerds. For example, the cartoon character Dilbert is an engineer. One difficulty in increasing public awareness of the profession is that average people, in the typical run of ordinary life, do not ever have any personal dealings with engineers, even though they benefit from their work every day. By contrast, it is common to visit a doctor at least once a year, the chartered accountant at tax time, and, occasionally, even a lawyer.

This has not always been so - most British school children in the 1950s were brought up with stirring tales of 'the Victorian Engineers', chief amongst whom were the Brunels, the Stephensons, Telford and their contemporaries.

In science fiction engineers are often portrayed as highly knowledgeable and respectable individuals who understand the overwhelming future technologies often portrayed in the genre. The Star Trek characters Montgomery Scott, Geordi La Forge, Miles O'Brien, B'Elanna Torres, and Charles Tucker are famous examples.

Occasionally, engineers may be recognized by the "Iron Ring"--a stainless steel or iron ring worn on the little (fourth) finger of the dominant hand. This tradition began in 1925 in Canada for the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer as a symbol of pride and obligation for the engineering profession. Some years later in 1972 this practice was adopted by several colleges in the United States. Members of the US Order of the Engineer accept this ring as a pledge to uphold the proud history of engineering. A Professional Engineer's name may be followed by the post-nominal letters PE or P.Eng in North America. In much of Europe a professional engineer is denoted by the letters IR, while in the UK and much of the Commonwealth the term Chartered Engineer applies and is denoted by the letters CEng.

[edit]

Methodology

[edit] Problem solving

[edit] Computer use

In recent years the use of computer software to aid the development of goods has collectively come to be known as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).^[7]

[edit] History

An F-15 Eagle Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine designed by aerospace engineers.

The first electrical engineer is considered to be William Gilbert, with his 1600 publication of De Magnete, who was the originator of the term "electricity".^[10]

The first steam engine was built in 1698 by mechanical engineer Thomas Savery.

In 1990, with the rise of computer technology, the first search engine was built by computer engineer Alan Emtage.

[edit] Engineering in a social context

[edit] Cultural presence

Engineering is a well respected profession. For example, in Canada it ranks as one of the public's most trusted professions.^[14]

[edit]

Nokia

2007-09-19T04:41:00.001-07:00

: NOK1V, NYSE: NOK, FWB: NOA3) is a Multi-national communications Corporation, focused on the key growth areas of wired and wireless telecommunications. Nokia is currently the world's largest manufacturer of mobile telephones, with a global device market share of approximately 38% in Q2 of 2007.^[2] Nokia produces mobile phones for every major market segment and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and W-CDMA (UMTS). The corporation also produces telecommunications network equipment for applications such as mobile and fixed-line voice telephony, ISDN, broadband access, voice over IP, and wireless LAN.

Nokia's headquarters are located in Espoo, a neighbouring city of Finland's capital Helsinki. It has R&D, manufacturing, and sales representation sites in many continents throughout the world. Nokia Research Center, the corporation's industrial research laboratories, has sites in Helsinki; Tampere; Toijala; Tokyo; Beijing; Budapest; Bochum; Palo Alto, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Major production factories are located at Salo, Finland; Beijing, China; Dongguan, China; Chennai, India; Komárom, Hungary and the Ruhr region at Germany. In March 2007, Nokia signed a memorandum with Cluj-Napoca City Council, Romania to open a new plant near the city in Jucu commune.^[3]^[4]^[5] Nokia's Design Departure has stayed at Salo.

Nokia plays a very large role in the economy of Finland. Nokia is by far the largest Finnish company, accounting for about a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX Helsinki); a unique situation for an industrialized country.^[6] It is an important employer in Finland and several small companies have grown into large ones as Nokia's subcontractors. Nokia increased Finland's GDP by more than 1.5 percent in 1999 alone. In 2004 Nokia's share of the Finland's GDP was 3.5 percent and accounted for almost a quarter of Finland's exports in 2003. In 2006, Nokia generated revenue that for the first time exceeded the state budget of Finland. This has led some to refer to Finland as "Nokialand."

Finns have ranked Nokia many times as the best Finnish brand and employer. Nokia is listed as the 5th most valuable global brand in BusinessWeek's Best Global Brands list of 2007 (1st non-US company),^[7] the 20th most admirable company worldwide in Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list of 2007 (1st in network communications, 4th non-US company),^[8] and is the world's 119th largest company in Fortune Global 500 list of 2007, up from 131 of the previous year.^[9]

History

Nokia House, Nokia's headquarters located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It is the working place of more than 1,000 Nokia employees.

[edit] Pre-telecommunications era

What is known today as Nokia (pronounced /nok-iɑ/ in IPA) was established in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by Knut Fredrik Idestam on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in south-western Finland. The company was later relocated to Nokia by the Nokianvirta river, which had better resources for hydropower production. That's where the company also got its name that is still used today. The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the old Finnish word originally meaning a dark, furry animal that was locally known as the nokia, or sable, later pine marten.

Finnish Rubber Works established its factories in the beginning of 20th century nearby and began using Nokia as its brand. Shortly after World War I Finnish Rubber Works acquired Nokia Wood Mills as well as Finnish Cable Works, a producer of telephone and telegraph cables. All these three companies were merged into the Nokia Corporation in 1967.

The Nokia Corporation that was created in the 1967 fusion was involved in many sectors, producing at one time or another paper products, bicycle and car tyres, footwear (including Wellington boots), personal computers, communications cables, televisions, electricity production, capacitors, aluminum, etc.

[edit] Telecommunications era

The seeds of the current incarnation of Nokia were planted with the founding of the electronics section of the cable division in the 1960s. In the 1967 fusion, that section was separated into its own division, and began manufacturing telecommunications equipment.

Since 1964 had developed VHF-radio simultaneously with Salora Oy, which later in 1971 also developed the ARP-phone. In 1979 the merger of these two companies resulted in the establishment of Mobira Oy and three years later it launched the NMT phone. Nokia bought Salora Oy in 1984 and now owning 100% of the company, changed the company's name to Nokia-Mobira Oy. In 1988 Jorma Nieminen and others started a spin-off company; Benefon Oy. One year later, Nokia Mobira Oy became Nokia Mobile Phones and in 1991 the first GSM phone was launched.

In the 1970s, Nokia became more involved in the telecommunications industry by developing the Nokia DX200, a digital switch for telephone exchanges. In 1982, a DX200 switch became the world's first digital telephone switch to be put into operational use. The DX200 became the workhorse of the network equipment division. Its modular and flexible architecture enabled it to be developed into various switching products.

For a while in the 1970s, Nokia's network equipment production was separated into Telefenno, a company jointly owned by the parent corporation and by a company owned by the Finnish state. In 1987 the state sold its shares to Nokia and in 1992 the name was changed to Nokia Telecommunications.

In the 1970s and 1980s Nokia developed the Sanomalaitejärjestelmä ("Message device system") for Finnish Defence Forces. ^[10]

In the 1980s, Nokia produced a series of personal computers called MikroMikko.^[11] However, the PC division was sold to ICL, which later became part of Fujitsu. That company later transferred its personal computer operations to Fujitsu Siemens Computers, which shut down its only factory in Finland (in the town of Espoo, where computers had been produced since the 1960s) at the end of March 2000^[12], thus ending large-scale PC manufacturing in the country.

[edit] First mobile phones

Nokia's early model Mobira Cityman 200

Nokia had been producing commercial and military mobile radio communications technology since the 1960s and later began developing mobile phones for the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) network standard that went online in the 1980s.

In 1982, Nokia (then Mobira) introduced its first car phone, the Mobira Senator for NMT 450 networks. The Mobira Talkman, launched in 1984, was the world's first transportable phone. In 1987, Nokia introduced the world's first handheld phone, the Mobira Cityman 900. When the Mobira Senator of 1982 had weighed 9.8 kg (21.6 lb), and the Talkman just under 5 kg (11 lb), the Mobira Cityman weighed only 800 g (28 oz) with the battery and had a price tag of 24,000 Finnish marks (approximately EUR 4,560).^[13] Despite the high price, the first phones were almost snatched from the sales assistants’ hands. Initially, the mobile phone was a ‘yuppie’ product and a status symbol.

NMT was the world's first mobile telephony standard that enabled international roaming, and provided valuable experience for Nokia for its close participation in developing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). It is a digital standard which came to dominate the world of mobile telephony in the 1980s and 1990s, in mid-2006 accounting for about two billion mobile telephone subscribers in the world, or about 80% percent of the total, in more than 200 countries. The world's first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by then Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone.

In the 1980s, during the era of its CEO Kari Kairamo, Nokia expanded into new fields, mostly by acquisitions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the corporation ran into serious financial problems, a major reason being its heavily loss-making television division. (These problems probably contributed to Kairamo taking his own life in 1988.) Nokia responded by streamlining its telecommunications divisions, and by divesting itself of the television and PC divisions. Jorma Ollila, who became the CEO in 1992, made a strategic decision to concentrate solely on telecommunications. Thus, during the rest of the 1990s, Nokia continued to divest itself of all of its non-telecommunications divisions.

The exploding worldwide popularity of mobile telephones, beyond even Nokia's most optimistic predictions, caused a logistics crisis in the mid-1990s. This prompted Nokia to overhaul its entire logistics operation. Logistics continues to be one of Nokia's major advantages over its rivals, along with greater economies of scale.

[edit] In the new millennium

In 2004, the troubles of the networks equipment division caused the corporation to resort to similar streamlining practices on that side, with layoffs and organizational restructuring. This, however, diminished Nokia's public image in Finland, and produced a number of court cases along with an episode of a documentary television show critical towards Nokia.^[14]

Despite these occasional crises, Nokia has been phenomenally successful in its chosen field. This growth has come mostly during the era of Jorma Ollila and his team of about half a dozen close colleagues. In June 2006, this era came to an end with Ollila leaving the CEO position to become the chairman of Shell. The new CEO of Nokia is Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

On February 2006 Nokia and Sanyo announced a MOU to create a joint venture addressing the CDMA handset business. A few months later, in June, both companies announced ending their negotiations without agreement. Nokia also stated their decision to pull out of CDMA R&D, with the intention to continue CDMA business in selected markets.^[15]

On February 10, 2006, Nokia acquired Intellisync Corporation, a provider of data and PIM synchronization software.

On June 19, 2006, Nokia and Siemens AG announced the companies are to merge their mobile and fixed-line phone network equipment businesses to create one of the world's largest network firms. Both companies will have a 50% stake in the infrastructure company, to be headquartered in the Helsinki area, and to be called Nokia Siemens Networks. The companies predict annual sales of €16 billion and cost savings of €1.5 billion a year by 2010. About 20,000 Nokia employees will be transferred to this new company.

In May 2007 Nokia announced its Nokia 1100, with over 200 million units shipped, is the best-selling mobile phone of all time and the world's top-selling consumer electronics product.^[16]

In July 2007 Nokia acquired all assets of Twango, the comprehensive media sharing solution for organizing and sharing photos, videos and other personal media.^[17]

In August 2007 Nokia launched a series of web services under the brand name Ovi that allows users to download games, maps and music directly to their phones.

[edit] Product divisions

Nokia comprises four business groups: Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Enterprise Solutions and Networks, plus various horizontal entities such as Customer and Market Operations, and Technology Platforms.

On June 20, 2007, Nokia announced that it would reorganize into three business units, effective January 1, 2008:

Devices: This division combines its existing mainline mobile phones division with the separate subdivisions manufacturing Multimedia (N-Series) and Enterprise (E-Series) class devices, headed by Kai Öistämö.

Services and Software: This combines the existing Technology Platforms division with other services monetized independently, headed by Niklas Savander.

Markets: The successor organization to Nokia's Customer and Market Operations division, represents the sales, marketing, integration and strategy functions of the company, led by Anssi Vanjoki.

[edit] Mobile Phones

Evolution of the Nokia Communicator

Nokia's Mobile Phones division provides the general public with mobile voice and data products across a wide range of mobile devices. The division aims to target primarily high-volume category sales of mobile phones and devices, with consumers being the most important customer segment. The devices are based on GSM/EDGE, 3G/WCDMA and CDMA cellular technologies.

Nokia believes that design, brand, ease of use and price are mainstream mobile phones' most important considerations to customers. Nokia's product portfolio includes camera phones with features such as megapixel cameras and MP3 players which appeal to the mass market.

In the first quarter of 2006 Nokia sold over 15 million MP3 capable mobile phones, which means that Nokia is not only the world's leading supplier of mobile phones and digital cameras (as most of Nokia's mobile telephones feature digital cameras, it is also believed that Nokia has recently overtaken Kodak in camera production making it the largest in the world), Nokia is now also the leading supplier of digital audio players (MP3 players). Nokia aims to sell 80 million music phones by the end of 2006, outpacing sales of devices such as the iPod from Apple.^[18]

[edit] Multimedia

The Nokia N93, an example of Nokia's Nseries multimedia product lineup.

The Multimedia division's purpose is to design devices and applications that bring multimedia experiences to their customers. These devices allow people to create, access and consume multimedia, as well as share their experiences with others. The devices are included with a wide range of connectivity such as GSM, 3G/WCDMA, WLAN and Bluetooth. Nokia Multimedia Nseries extensively uses Symbian OS.

The Multimedia group also works with other companies outside the telecommunications industry to make advances in the technology and bring new applications and possibilities in areas such as Internet services, optics, music synchronization and streaming media.

[edit] Loudeye

In August 2006, Nokia acquired online music distributor Loudeye Corp for $60m. The company has been developing this into an online music service in the hope of using it to generate handset sales. The service is expected to launch in late 2007 and would rival iTunes.

[edit] MOSH

In August 2007, Nokia launched their new social network, dubbed MOSH. MOSH by Nokia is the first-ever social network built by a handset manufacturer. MOSH aims to bring social, media-based networks to the mobile environment. Users can upload, download, share, and bookmark a variety of media - audio files, video files, documents, applications, games, images.^[19]

[edit] Enterprise Solutions

As the name implies, the Nokia Enterprise Solutions offers businesses, corporations and institutions a broad range of products and solutions, such as enterprise-grade mobile devices, underlying security infrastructure, software and services. Nokia also works with a range of companies to provide network security, bring mobilized corporate e-mail and extend corporate telephone systems to work with Nokia’s mobile devices.

[edit] Nokia Siemens Networks

Main article: Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks (previously Nokia Networks) provides mobile network infrastructure, communications and networks service platforms, as well as professional services to operators and service providers. Networks focuses in: GSM, EDGE, 3G/WCDMA and WiMAX radio access networks; core networks with increasing IP and multiaccess capabilities; and services.

At the end of 2005, Nokia Networks had more than 150 mobile network customers in more than 60 countries, with its systems serving in excess of 400 million subscribers.

On June 19, 2006 Nokia and Siemens AG announced the companies are to merge their mobile and fixed-line phone network equipment businesses to create one of the world's largest network firms, called Nokia Siemens Networks.

[edit] .mobi and the Mobile Internet

Nokia was the first proponent of a Top Level Domain (TLD) specifically for the mobile internet and, as a result, was instrumental in the launch of the .mobi domain name extension in September 2006 as an official backer.^[20]^[21]^[22] Since then, Nokia has launched the largest mobile portal, Nokia.mobi, which receives over 100 million visits a month.^[23] It followed that with the launch of a mobile Ad Service to cater to the growing demand for mobile advertisement.^[24]

Nokia

2007-09-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

History

Nokia House, Nokia's headquarters located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It is the working place of more than 1,000 Nokia employees.

[edit] Pre-telecommunications era

[edit] Telecommunications era

In the 1970s and 1980s Nokia developed the Sanomalaitejärjestelmä ("Message device system") for Finnish Defence Forces. ^[10]

[edit] First mobile phones

Nokia's early model Mobira Cityman 200

[edit] In the new millennium

On February 10, 2006, Nokia acquired Intellisync Corporation, a provider of data and PIM synchronization software.

In May 2007 Nokia announced its Nokia 1100, with over 200 million units shipped, is the best-selling mobile phone of all time and the world's top-selling consumer electronics product.^[16]

In July 2007 Nokia acquired all assets of Twango, the comprehensive media sharing solution for organizing and sharing photos, videos and other personal media.^[17]

In August 2007 Nokia launched a series of web services under the brand name Ovi that allows users to download games, maps and music directly to their phones.

[edit] Product divisions

Nokia comprises four business groups: Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Enterprise Solutions and Networks, plus various horizontal entities such as Customer and Market Operations, and Technology Platforms.

On June 20, 2007, Nokia announced that it would reorganize into three business units, effective January 1, 2008:

Services and Software: This combines the existing Technology Platforms division with other services monetized independently, headed by Niklas Savander.

Markets: The successor organization to Nokia's Customer and Market Operations division, represents the sales, marketing, integration and strategy functions of the company, led by Anssi Vanjoki.

[edit] Mobile Phones

Evolution of the Nokia Communicator

[edit] Multimedia

The Nokia N93, an example of Nokia's Nseries multimedia product lineup.

[edit] Loudeye

[edit] MOSH

[edit] Enterprise Solutions

[edit] Nokia Siemens Networks

Main article: Nokia Siemens Networks

At the end of 2005, Nokia Networks had more than 150 mobile network customers in more than 60 countries, with its systems serving in excess of 400 million subscribers.

sony ericsson

Ice cream

Production

[edit] Commercial delivery

[edit] History

[edit] Persia

[edit] Arabia

[edit] China

[edit] India

[edit] The West

[edit] America

[edit] Modern ice cream

[edit] 20th century

[edit] Other frozen desserts

[edit] Ice cream throughout the world

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

[edit] Finland

[edit] France

[edit] Germany

[edit] Greece

[edit] Italy

[edit] Japan

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] Ice cream cone

[edit] Using liquid nitrogen

[edit] Ice cream alternatives

AVG Anti-Virus

History

[edit] Versions for Windows clients

[edit] Versions for servers

[edit] AVG for Linux/FreeBSD

[edit] Features

[edit] AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

[edit] AVG Anti-Spyware

[edit] Memory footprint

[edit] Certifications and awards

[edit]

History

[edit] Versions for Windows clients

[edit] Versions for servers

[edit] AVG for Linux/FreeBSD

[edit] Features

[edit] AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

[edit] AVG Anti-Spyware

[edit] Memory footprint

[edit] Certifications and awards

[edit]

Kaspersky Lab

Media claims

[edit] Last version that supports Windows Me

[edit] Product

[edit] Litigation

Norton AntiVirus

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Version History

[edit] Version 2006 (13.0)

[edit] Version 2007 (14.0)

[edit] Features

[edit] Virus definitions

[edit] Competition

[edit] Product activation

[edit] The Mac edition

[edit] Criticisms

[edit]

Gulf Air

History

[edit] 21st century

[edit] Destinations

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Frequent Flyer Programme

[edit] Program levels

[edit] Codeshare agreements

[edit] Subsidiaries

[edit] Gulf Traveller

[edit] Sponsored events

[edit] Livery

[edit] Fleet refurbishment

[edit] A330 Interior refurbishment

[edit] A340 Interior refurbishment