5 Companies That Dropped The Ball

Oracle Takes Heat Over Java Vulnerability

You know you're having a bad week when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raises a red flag over your security vulnerability. Oracle was forced to issue an emergency Java security update this week after an eruption of calls from security experts, tech media members and, yes, the DHS, to disable the software running in Web browsers in order to close off an exploit for malicious hacking. But the trouble didn't stop there; even after the patch, the DHS continued to recommend users disable Java. Others were less kind, recommending that users remove Java completely from their systems.

Microsoft Gets An F In Security

Microsoft has been trying for years to improve its reputation in the security community, but this week the software giant suffered an embarrassing setback. Microsoft's home and corporate antivirus suites received failing marks from well-known testing firm AV-Test, an independent IT security institute based in Germany. The firm put Microsoft's corporate Forefront Endpoint protection and its Security Essentials suite through several tests over the past four months, and both products flunked. As a result, Microsoft lost its AV-Test certification.

HP Loses Cloud Evangelist At Pivotal Juncture

Talk about bad timing: A week after launching its Converged Cloud business unit, HP's top cloud executive left the company. Zorawar "Biri" Singh, senior vice president and general manager of HP Cloud Services, left his post this week after just two years with the company. Singh was a big addition to HP's cloud team, having served as vice president of cloud computing at IBM. Singh oversaw the creation of HP's Converged Cloud platform as well as the new Converged Cloud business unit. Now the question is, how will Singh's unexpected departure affect HP's fledgling cloud business?

VMware CTO Bolts For Venture Capital Firm

More executive changes are coming to VMware as the virtualization company's CTO, Stephen Herrod (pictured,) is leaving to take a managing director position at venture capital firm General Catalyst, where he'll focus on early stage tech startups. Herrod spent 11 years at VMware and is credited with helping the company move into cloud computing and software-defined networking. No word yet on who will replace him.

Apple's Retail Revolving Door Continues

You can add another name to the growing list of executives who have left Apple recently. Jerry McDougal, vice president of retail, has left the technology giant, despite being a candidate for the open senior vice president of retail position, which has remained unfilled since former retail head John Browett was pushed out in October. Ron Johnson, former senior vice president of retail prior to Browett, left Apple to become CEO of J.C. Penney in June.