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Google has solved a problem that affected the layout and functionality of the "Start" pages of its Apps hosted collaboration and communications suite.

Apps administrators who reported problems in the official Apps discussion forum described what they perceived as being an erratic Start page update designed to make it look and act more like iGoogle, the company's personalized home page service for consumers.

However, Chandra said that wasn't the case, although he understands why the administrators would interpret the incident that way, since the iGoogle logo replaced company logos in affected pages. The problem was caused by a system bug that altered Start pages layouts, broke some links and interfered with some "gadget" applications, like the one for Gmail, he said.

With a permanent fix now in place, all affected Start pages should have reverted back to their normal layout and operation without any loss of data or functionality, Chandra said. Google had prematurely declared the problem solved at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, but problem reports kept flowing in.

Google Apps is a hosted collaboration and communication suite aimed at workplace use, and its Start pages are designed as a portal main point of entry for end-users to their applications, such as Calendar and Gmail. Apps' Standard and Education versions are free, while its more sophisticated Premier edition costs $50 per user per year.

The problem was disruptive at New Hope Fellowship in Springdale, Arkansas, which uses the Apps Education edition. The church's Start page was hit intermittently by the bug between Thursday at around 2 p.m. and noon Friday.

"Our users were trained to access their mail through the Start page. Once that didn't work, they could not access e-mail, which is critical to our work. We had to send paper memos around on how to access the mail without going through the Start page. Very frustrating," said Josh Jenkins, New Hope Fellowship's media director and Apps administrator.

This wasn't the only problem New Hope Fellowship's 40 Google Apps users encountered this week. They also lost access to their e-mail due to an unrelated and prolonged Gmail outage that hit some Apps customers this week.

"Google must improve communication with business customers if they wish to be competitive in the corporate IT space. The 2-sentence 'we're working on it' blurbs posted in the [online discussion] groups are an unacceptable way to treat business clients," Jenkins said.

Susan Novotny, Apps Standard edition administrator at a national nonprofit with 30 users in Ontario, Canada, said that the occasional bugs that hit Google Apps "do shake my confidence a little."

"I guess I expect a spectacularly wealthy company to be as reliable as the average e-mail provider," she added. "But they're providing tools no other provider can."

Nelson & Co. Engineering in Birmingham, Alabama, also experienced the Start page bug, but it wasn't too disruptive for its four Apps Premier users, said Apps administrator Ryan Nelson. The company feels that, despite the hiccups, Apps provides it with a great value at $50 per user per year.

"As a Premier user I would think that these issues would not happen. In the long run, Google Apps has been the best technology move we've ever made. Little issues crop up a couple times a year for less than 24 hours: not ideal, but better than anything else we've ever used," Nelson said.

Others were more frazzled, like an Apps administrator identified as Jay in the official discussion forum, who wrote Friday morning: "I now have over 1,200 users that have no idea how to get into their e-mail. The phones are ringing off the hook. What is going on with customer service these days. This really stinks."

The problem wasn't related to a major iGoogle upgrade the company rolled out on Thursday, Chandra said.

The unrelated Gmail problem this week kept users from accessing their e-mail in some cases for more than 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday. Google declared that problem solved late on Thursday.

During Google's third-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, cofounder and Technology President Sergey Brin said that there are now more than 1 million businesses using Google Apps.

Google Apps is one of the best-known examples of a new wave of Web-hosted communication and collaboration suites that are emerging as options to Microsoft's Office and Outlook/Exchange suite.

Apps is hosted by Google in its data centers and accessed by end-users via a Web browser. The appeal of Web-hosted software like Apps is that it doesn't have to be installed by customers on their own hardware, reducing maintenance costs and complexity. Apps and others like it are also designed from the ground up for workgroup collaboration.

However, when something breaks on the vendors' datacenters, IT administrators have little or no control over how or when to remedy the problem, and are left to appease their angry end-users as best they can.

In August, Gmail had three significant outages that affected not only individual consumers of the free Webmail service but also paying Apps Premier customers. As a result, Google decided to extend a credit to all Apps Premier customers and said it would do better at notifying users of problems.

Google annoyed administrators when it made changes to Google Apps "Start" portal pages without letting them know it was updating layout and functionality of those pages. Some administrators reported at a discussion forum that they were swamped with angry calls from end-users who couldn't access Gmail accounts. On a slightly brighter note, there are some IT jobs that persevere even in the face of financial difficulty, and Apple unveiled new notebooks to much fanfare. Meanwhile, Mozilla continues work on its mobile browser, code-named Fennec, which was released in alpha this week for use on Nokia Internet tablets.

1. Recession-proof IT jobs: Believe it or not, some IT jobs are still in high demand even in this slumping economy. Unlike some other industries that have been hit hard, IT is seen as a core area that nearly every company needs. As such, there are still plenty of IT skills that can lead to new jobs — or just keep you secure in the job you have now.

[ Video: Catch up on the week in tech news with the World Tech Update ]

2. Apple's new notebooks answer the call for innovation: As expected, Apple showed off updates to its laptop lines this week, with a new MacBook and MacBook Pro. InfoWorld's Tom Yager got a good look at them and came away with a positive impression of the updates in both technology and pricing.

3. Google Apps portal pages malfunctioning: Google Apps "Start" portal pages have become malfunction junctions for some administrators, who complained over two days this week at discussion forums that changes Google made to those pages are making their working lives miserable. The company apparently updated layout and functionality of those pages without telling admins what they were about to do, leading end-users to flood administrators with complaints and issues, including not being able to access Gmail.

4. E-voting report: Several states still vulnerable: E-voting systems will fail on Election Day, Nov. 4, somewhere in the United States, with multiple states that use such systems ill-prepared for the upcoming election, according to a report from three voting-rights advocacy groups. While the report noted that there have been improvements in e-voting systems and election preparations since the last presidential race in 2004, it also found that some states still have not taken even the most basic precautions against technical problems and fraud.

5. Mozilla offers alpha version of mobile browser for N810: An alpha version of Mozilla's mobile browser, code-named Fennec, was released for Nokia's Internet tablets, marking the first public release of the software. Mozilla hopes the release will bring in feedback leading to the next step in its browser road map, which is "optimizing for performance," according to Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's vice president for mobile.

6. Microsoft: "No interest" in pursuing Yahoo deal: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stirred things up — as he is prone to do — when he reportedly said at a Gartner conference that it still makes economic sense for shareholders of both companies for Microsoft to buy Yahoo. His company responded by issuing a statement saying it has "no interest in acquiring Yahoo." Investors responded by giving Yahoo's share price a boost.

7. FBI says Dark Market sting netted 56 arrests: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with other law enforcement agencies in the U.K., Turkey, and Germany, infiltrated online "carder" forums hosted at the now shut-down DarkMarket.ws site and seized compromised accounts and prevented about $70 million in fraud. The two-year undercover investigation also led to the arrests of 56 alleged online fraudsters.

8. Microsoft mulling "instant on" feature for Windows: Microsoft confirmed it is thinking about adding into its Windows client OS a function that would let users have limited access to the OS so that they could turn on their PCs quickly. The company surveyed users about that function and screenshots of the survey wound up on the Engadget blog. Microsoft won't yet offer specific comments about "instant on," but a good guess is that it is contemplating that addition for Windows 7, which is expected out late next year or early in 2010.

9. With eyes on Atom, AMD to detail netbook strategy next month: Advanced Micro Devices will provide its product road map for netbooks at an analyst meeting scheduled for Nov. 13. Netbooks are small, inexpensive laptops that have taken the market by storm, fueled by Intel's low-cost Atom processor. AMD hasn't been competitive with Intel in that area yet, but promises it soon will be.

10. Cybersecurity threats grow in sophistication, subtlety, and power: Malware, botnets, cyberwarfare, threats to VoIP and mobile devices, along with an "evolving cybercrime economy" mean that online threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the Georgia Tech Information Security Center said in an annual threat report. Criminals have figured out ways to make such online threats more subtle, and they continue to gain in ability to exploit changes on the Web, including increased use of social-network sites, the GTISC found.

Several U.S. states still are not doing all they can to ensure the accuracy of votes over electronic voting machines, and 10 states received inadequate grades in three of four categories of safeguards, a report from three voting security advocacy groups said.

Somewhere in the United States, voting systems will fail on Election Day Nov. 4, predicted the report, released Thursday by Common Cause, Verified Voting and the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

[ For more on how technology is reshaping the race for the U.S. presidency, see InfoWorld's special report. ]

On Election Day, "voting systems will fail somewhere in the United States in one or more jurisdictions in the country," the report said. "Unfortunately, we don't know where. For this reason, it is imperative that every state prepare for system failures."

State protections against voting fraud and e-voting machine failure have improved greatly since the last U.S. presidential election, in 2004, said Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting. But several states still refuse to take basic precautions to protect the integrity of voting systems, she said.

"There are some folks who still don't get it," Smith said.

The report details which states have not taken precautions against fraud or technical errors associated with e-voting machines and other voting systems:

– Ten states — Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia — received failing grades in three of four voting security areas.

– Of the 24 states using direct recording electronic (DRE) machines, only three — California, Indiana, and Ohio — get satisfactory grades in all four categories, the report said. Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia have no state-mandated requirement for emergency paper ballots to be available in precincts that use voting machines, in the case of voting machine failure.

– Nine states — Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia — have requirements for ballot accounting that "fall far short" of the groups' recommended best practices.

– Eighteen states, including Florida, New York, Texas, and Virginia, do not have adequate requirements in place for paper-record backups to e-voting or other nonpaper voting methods. Voter-verified paper records allow states to conduct recounts of voting machine totals, supporters say.

– Another 27 states, including New York, Michigan, Virginia, and Georgia, do not have adequate provisions in place for conducting post-election audits of voting results, the report said.

Others took issue with the report, saying states will be ready for Election Day.

"We are prepared and we continue to make preparations for the general election," said Chris Whitmire, a spokesman for the State Election Commission in South Carolina, a state that flunked three of the four voting security categories in Thursday's report. "We will be adequately prepared."

The report comes too late for changes to be made this year, added David Beirne, executive director of the Election Technology Council, a trade group representing e-voting machine vendors.

"With less than three weeks to go, the election has already begun and now is not the time for new procedures to be adopted," Beirne said. "It is also unlikely that the Department of Justice would grant approval for such changes this close to the election. While well intentioned, the report and recommendations may only drive fear for the voting public, which is not productive at this stage in the process."

The report also fails to recognize steps taken by county election officials to ensure against fraud or errors, Beirne said. "The call for procedural safeguards has been recognized by the elections community in recent years and there is little question that the state and local election officials will be prepared for Nov. 4," he added.

The report points out several shortcomings, but most states are headed in the right direction, Smith said. "Over the next couple of years, I see significant improvement," she said.

In 2004, only eight states had requirements in place for election systems to have paper backups, and a few more used paper backups during the election, Smith said.

This year, 32 states have either voter-verifiable paper ballots, or voter-verifiable paper record printers connected to voting machines statewide, the report said. Four states — Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee — have laws that take effect in 2009 or 2010 requiring voter-verified paper records.

Arkansas, Colorado, and Mississippi have paper in most counties. The District of Columbia and Florida have paper ballot systems in all counties, along with paperless DREs, and Florida will eliminate paperless systems altogether by 2012, the report said.

Mozilla plans to release on Thursday an alpha version of its mobile browser for Nokia's Internet tablets.

[ Track the latest trends in open source with InfoWorld's Open Sources blog. ]

In addition to the alpha release for the Internet tablets, Mozilla is offering a PC emulator that developers can download to their desktops to see some of the features included in the browser and to get a feel for the user interface, said Jay Sullivan, vice president of mobile for Mozilla.

"This is really for our community to be able to test and localize and build add-ons," he said, referring to both the emulator and the Internet tablet release.

Despite being made by Nokia, the Linux-based N800 devices aren't quite mobile phones. They are larger than a phone but smaller than a laptop and can connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. They don't include cellular capabilities, although users can connect a phone to the device to reach the mobile Internet. The devices are popular with developers because they use open source software, but Nokia has not revealed sales figures to indicate how many are in the market.

Mozilla hopes that this release will result in some good user feedback, Sullivan said. "The next step in the road map is to start optimizing for performance," he said.

His group has simultaneously been developing a version of Fennec for Windows Mobile phones. While Sullivan said they've been working hard on it, he wouldn't reveal a release time frame for that browser. His group has also been looking at developing the browser for LiMo phones that are based on the mobile Linux operating system and for Symbian phones, he said.

Mozilla released a video in June that offered a first look at Fennec. One unique feature to the browser is that it displays control buttons, such as back and forward, off screen. Users flick the screen to the left or right to display and click the buttons. "One of our big goals is to take advantage of the whole screen, because they are pretty small," Sullivan said. The design lets a Web page fill the whole screen.

He also thinks that Fennec will be unique because Firefox developers will be able to build add-ons for it. "We don't claim to have all the answers. We want to build a great product but make it extensible so anyone can hack on it," he said.

Mobile browsing has historically been a painful experience, and countless handset and software makers have created mobile browsers hoping to make them easier to use. While mobile browser development from the likes of Apple, Google, and Microsoft is unlikely to cease because of Fennec, other mobile browser efforts may, Sullivan said. "When our browser is ready, a lot of folks will stop building custom browsers," he said. "Carriers and OEMs are telling me they'd rather ship Firefox rather than hack together their own browser."

While he wouldn't reveal names, Sullivan said that Mozilla is talking to handset makers and operators about preloading Fennec onto phones. Traditionally, only a very small percentage of phone users load applications onto their phones, so preloading the browser could significantly help distribution.

This isn't the first time that Mozilla has begun work on a mobile browser, and most of its previous attempts have fizzled. For several years, it worked on a mobile browser it called Minimo that included a release for Windows Mobile devices. But last year Mozilla said it wouldn't continue work on that browser, instead focusing on Fennec, which is based on the latest Mozilla platform that also supports Firefox.

Mozilla also developed and later retired a project called Joey that let people save portions of Web sites while on their PC and call up those images from their mobile phones.

While Mozilla has been working on those projects, Apple released its iPhone and included a mobile version of its Safari browser. That browser has been widely praised as a significant improvement over historical mobile browsers because it displays Web pages just as they look on a computer but allows users to easily scroll around and examine the page. Next week the first phone running Google's Android software will hit the market, and it includes a browser developed by Google and based on Webkit, the same technology that fuels Safari. That browser offers a similar improved experience but one-ups Apple's Safari because it can display Flash Web sites.

Mozilla expects to make the alpha download for the Nokia tablets available on Thursday from its Mozilla.org Web site.