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The InformationWeek January 2006 Archive « December 2005 | Main | February 2006 » |
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IE 7 Beta? It's Not Quite 'Just Click Here'
Microsoft really wants the IT pros to check out the just-released Internet Explorer beta. It's got checklists of stuff you should run through on the download site. But if you're just an average Joe Tirekicker, be prepared to jump through some hoops to get the beta up and running on your system. Not big hoops, just enough annoyance to make you think maybe you don't need to bother.
Continue reading "IE 7 Beta? It's Not Quite 'Just Click Here'..."
IE 7 Beta? It's Not Quite 'Just Click Here'
Microsoft really wants the IT pros to check out the just-released Internet Explorer beta. It's got checklists of stuff you should run through on the download site. But if you're just an average Joe Tirekicker, be prepared to jump through some hoops to get the beta up and running on your system. Not big hoops, just enough annoyance to make you think maybe you don't need to bother.
Continue reading "IE 7 Beta? It's Not Quite 'Just Click Here'..."
The Credibility Of Analysts
How much can customers of the big IT research firms trust what they read and hear? After all, analysts sometimes write reports that have been funded by technology companies, and they appear in Webcasts and at trade shows for fees. InformationWeek set out to answer the credibility question in a story we'll be publishing in our February 6 issue. We interviewed dozens of IT vendors, end users, and executives at the top analyst firms. The resulting brushstrokes from each conversation helped paint a picture of an analyst industry that's tapped into an almost desperate need that businesses have to stay on top of emerging technology and a community of IT vendors even more desperate to make the sale.
Continue reading "The Credibility Of Analysts..."
Watch Out For The Worm
A vicious worm - the My Wife/Kama Sutra/Blackworm - is getting set to rear its ugly head this Friday the 3rd when it will arrive on unprotected PCs and destroy Microsoft Office files. Though experts have been sounding alarms for a couple of weeks about the malware which infects PCs once unsuspecting users open an email attachment and Microsoft issued a security warning on the Worm earlier this week, Microsoft will not issue a fix in advance of the company's next scheduled malicious software removal tool.
Continue reading "Watch Out For The Worm..."
Watch Out For The Worm
A vicious worm - the My Wife/Kama Sutra/Blackworm - is getting set to rear its ugly head this Friday the 3rd when it will arrive on unprotected PCs and destroy Microsoft Office files. Though experts have been sounding alarms for a couple of weeks about the malware which infects PCs once unsuspecting users open an email attachment and Microsoft issued a security warning on the Worm earlier this week, Microsoft will not issue a fix in advance of the company's next scheduled malicious software removal tool.
Continue reading "Watch Out For The Worm..."
More Guidance On Regulations
We can all use a little guidance when it comes to identifying how regulations will affect our business processes and IT environments. The hard part is figuring out how compliance requirements change based on geographic variables and vertical markets.
And such guidance is starting to emerge. Two directories/guides were recently announced; both are free after registration, but only one is currently available.
The Object Management Group (OMG) and the OMG Regulatory Compliance Alliance (ORCA) have issued a call for participation for an open database project focused on global regulations called the Global Regulatory Information Database (Compliance GRID).
Continue reading "More Guidance On Regulations..."
More Guidance On Regulations
We can all use a little guidance when it comes to identifying how regulations will affect our business processes and IT environments. The hard part is figuring out how compliance requirements change based on geographic variables and vertical markets.
And such guidance is starting to emerge. Two directories/guides were recently announced; both are free after registration, but only one is currently available.
The Object Management Group (OMG) and the OMG Regulatory Compliance Alliance (ORCA) have issued a call for participation for an open database project focused on global regulations called the Global Regulatory Information Database (Compliance GRID).
Continue reading "More Guidance On Regulations..."
Daily News Podcast, Tuesday, Jan. 31
Daily News Podcast, Tuesday, Jan. 31
In today's daily news podcast, we have a security caution for enterprise users of Linux; several reports of new vulerabilities, one "extremely" critical; an update and release schedule for Vista; aupport for RIM's patents from an unlikely source- a German court; the web debut of a new, British series about a fictional team of IT workers; and an In Depth that spotlights a subject very much in the news these last two weeks - spyware, data security and privacy. My editor's note suggests why Microsoft and Google ought to agree to appear before congress' Human Rights Caucus.
Background Music "Stoic Morning" by Kevin MacLeod, Courtesy IncompeTech,
www.incompetech.com under Creative Commons License
What Bush Might Say About Health Care In Tonight's State of the Union Address
Besides the war in Iraq, another hot-button topic that President Bush is expected to give a lot of attention to tonight in his State of the Union Address, is health care, including its spiraling costs and the coverage that millions of Americans lack.
Continue reading "What Bush Might Say About Health Care In Tonight's State of the Union Address..."
WinCramped
I don't usually cover security-related news here without, of course, an Open Source angle of some sort. But so many fans of open-source software use Winamp -- and so many use it constantly, as part of their daily routines -- that today's zero-day, attack-and-exploit report could be devastating. And now that a patch is available, the best way to prevent the very real possibility that an attacker will turn your PC into a virtual Roach Motel is to get started now updating your system: http://www.winamp.com/player/.
If you're still here, it means either that you don't use Winamp or that you're the kind of person who thinks skydiving without a parachute sounds just swell. Good luck with that one.
What Are The IT Giants Afraid of?
Congressional subcommittees and caucuses are often annoying and self-important, and probably no one attends at least half of their hearings save for the panel members themselves, their staff and the people called before them to testify about whatever.
Nonetheless, in an atmosphere infused with constant references to exporting freedom, democracy and other rights, a report that several internet heavyweights - among them Microsoft and Google - are either refusing or so far ignoring a request from the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to discuss their already publicly acknowledged censorship activities in China, doesn't sit well. At the very least, it seems ill-timed.
Continue reading "What Are The IT Giants Afraid of?..."
Don't Look Now, But You're A Blogger
Studies show most Internet users don't maintain a blog, and even fewer keep an RSS feed. There has been plenty of buzz around blogging over the past two years but, as some observers have pointed out, blogging is just writing that's shared with others using software that makes it all very easy.
Continue reading "Don't Look Now, But You're A Blogger..."
Daily News Podcast, Monday, January 30
Listen to the current InformationWeek Daily Podcast. In this report: The feds levelled big fines against ChoicePoint for alleged customer privacy violations. But are they big enough? Microsoft is considering a digital player to rival the iPod, and the city of Los Angeles is suing the maker of the game "Grand Theft Auto" for hidden porn. And listen for some tips on favorite Firefox extensions.
Background Music "Space," courtesy of The Cow Exchange, under Creative Commons License.
Continue reading "Daily News Podcast, Monday, January 30..."
Anticipation - In The Apple Camp, At Least
Even if Apple has worked some magic with its new Intel-based Macs, will the enterprise take notice? In early January, the computer company said it was ready to ship the first of the new Apple computers running on the x86 platform. So what has the early buzz been from corporate IT? Judging from last week's Systems Management Pipeline poll , while it looks like Apple devotees are at the very least interested in the new systems, PC loyalists aren't about to convert to Mac shops.
Continue reading "Anticipation - In The Apple Camp, At Least..."
Anticipation - In The Apple Camp, At Least
Even if Apple has worked some magic with its new Intel-based Macs, will the enterprise take notice? In early January, the computer company said it was ready to ship the first of the new Apple computers running on the x86 platform. So what has the early buzz been from corporate IT? Judging from last week's Systems Management Pipeline poll , while it looks like Apple devotees are at the very least interested in the new systems, PC loyalists aren't about to convert to Mac shops.
Continue reading "Anticipation - In The Apple Camp, At Least..."
Sour Grapes And Cheap Whine
Last week, I discussed the growing momentum Nicholas Negroponte and the One Laptop Per Child project have built lately, especially given the United Nations' .formal endorsement of the project in Davos last Thursday. This week, the other side of the story is emerging -- and it's possible that we may yet see a Certain Unnamed, Very Large Company try to undermine the project, even though OLPC is progressing to the point where such behavior looks increasingly malicious and petty.
According to John Markoff in today's New York Times, Microsoft came closer than I thought to cutting a deal with Negroponte -- a deal Bill Gates wanted badly enough to release its Windows CE source code under an Open Source license. (Previous link requires free registration or, if you prefer, stop off at BugMeNot to pick up a username and password.
Continue reading "Sour Grapes And Cheap Whine..."
Favorite Firefox Extensions
Other people play Minesweeper or Soduku or alphabetize their Rolodexes. When I'm looking to procrastinate, I mess around with desktop productivity software. Firefox extensions, in particular, are good for endless hours of work avoidance. Here's some of the best I've found recently:
Continue reading "Favorite Firefox Extensions..."
$10 Billion To Fund IPv4 To IPv6 Transition
Alex Lightman, chief executive officer and president at IPv6 Summit Inc., has a goal. It's to push a new appropriation of $10 billion to fund the federal government's transition from Internet protocol version 4 to the next generation of Internet protocol IPv6.
Continue reading "$10 Billion To Fund IPv4 To IPv6 Transition..."
RFID Connects U.S. Outsourcing With India And China
Savi Technology Inc., a privately held company that generated revenue of approximately $90 million in 2005, is working with retail companies and ship-vessel operators to build out an international supply chain. This supply chain is enabled by radio frequency identification technology (RFID).
The goal is to gain access to real-time data transmitted from the RFID tags on containers in transit to make split-second decisions that could redirect cargo in transit. The application will become more valuable to U.S. companies as the outsourcing manufacturing trend to China and India continues.
Continue reading "RFID Connects U.S. Outsourcing With India And China..."
Extension Addendum
I've received some great feedback on my Firefox extensions article; judging from the number of people reading it, this is just as popular a topic as it has always been. Some readers have emailed asking whether these are my own favorite extensions, or actually my picks specifically for beginning Firefox users -- as I'll explain, it's more the latter. I have also have received two other questions (so far) that I figure enough people will want to see answered to discuss them right here.
Continue reading "Extension Addendum..."
Oracle's Wedding Gift: Siebel Ends On A High Note
Oh, the irony.
After three quarters of anemic earnings, Siebel Systems pulls a rabbit out of the hat just days before its shareholders are set to vote on Oracle's acquisition of the CRM software maker. Revenue through the roof. Profit up the wazoo. License sales at nearly pre-dot-com-bust levels. Larry Ellison must be feeling pretty good about himself about now.
Continue reading "Oracle's Wedding Gift: Siebel Ends On A High Note..."
Sun Scores First 'Defensive' Open-Source Success
By making Solaris open-source code, Sun Microsystems has staged the first successful defensive open-source maneuver. I call it the scorched earth approach to open source. Like a smokejumper in front of a forest fire, Sun set a backfire to consume the fuel before the conflagration could reach it.
Continue reading "Sun Scores First 'Defensive' Open-Source Success..."
Oracle’s SOA Push
The database giant Oracle wants to give its customers one-stop shopping for SOA solutions. The open question remains whether its customers are ready.
Continue reading "Oracle’s SOA Push..."
Oracle’s SOA Push
The database giant Oracle wants to give its customers one-stop shopping for SOA solutions. The open question remains whether its customers are ready.
Continue reading "Oracle’s SOA Push..."
The Next Big Things In Voice
Telecom alpha geeks, unite! From a kid who rigged a phone to respond to movement as an undergraduate to a bicycle-powered network for aid agencies working in rural areas to a camera phone application that locates people based on photos of gum spot patterns on sidewalks, there were plenty of far-out ideas at the first-ever O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference I went to this week in San Francisco. But there was also an undeniable groundswell of cooperation and consensus on the next generation of voice communication: It will be driven by applications and added services, it will be pervasive in any environment, and open source and standards will play collaborating roles as voice-over-IP matures.
Continue reading "The Next Big Things In Voice..."
Learning From The Best Of Business - And The Worst Of The Web
Seriously, is there really anything more irritating on the Web than those distracting graphical ads that rise over the Web page you are on, obscuring the text you are reading from view? Well, odd as it seems, the graphical overlay ads that drive most people crazy on the public Web turn out to be quite effective when incorporated into corporate Intranet sites, at least according Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group. The Nielsen Norman Group, a firm that offers technology design consulting to corporate clients, released its annual "Intranet Design Annual 2006: The Year's Ten Best Intranets" this week, and with that exposed some interesting trends that are working effectively.
Continue reading "Learning From The Best Of Business - And The Worst Of The Web..."
Learning From The Best Of Business - And The Worst Of The Web
Seriously, is there really anything more irritating on the Web than those distracting graphical ads that rise over the Web page you are on, obscuring the text you are reading from view? Well, odd as it seems, the graphical overlay ads that drive most people crazy on the public Web turn out to be quite effective when incorporated into corporate Intranet sites, at least according Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group. The Nielsen Norman Group, a firm that offers technology design consulting to corporate clients, released its annual "Intranet Design Annual 2006: The Year's Ten Best Intranets" this week, and with that exposed some interesting trends that are working effectively.
Continue reading "Learning From The Best Of Business - And The Worst Of The Web..."
Take A Byte Out Of Cybercrime
The following headline speaks volumes: "Cybercrime Feared Three Times More Than Physical Crime." Yikes. That's amazing on the one hand--feared more than physical crime???? How can that be, in this era of constant talk of terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq, and, not to forget, the past 12 months of seemingly one natural disaster after another? Not in recent memory has the physical world seemed so threatening, and we haven't even looked at national crime statistics yet!
Continue reading "Take A Byte Out Of Cybercrime..."
Daily News Podcast, Friday, Jan. 27
In today's daily news podcast, we have a report on the future of Unix, as well as a seemingly contrary opinion piece on the subject; an exclusive story on Sprint scrapping a major IT outsourcing deal with IBM; RIM finally provides a peek at its planned work-around if it loses its court battle; two researchers take Oracle to task over security issues; and my editor's note, which examines cybercrime phobia.
Background Music "Wild Isle," Courtesy Digital Riffs Music,
www.digitalriffs.ca under Creative Commons License.
Hands Off My Internet, Mark Cuban!
Common Cause has picked up the cudgels for "network neutrality," the idea that the Internet should be an equal-opportunity medium, not for sale to the highest bidder the way Big Telco would like to see it. And I love the way the consumer-advocacy group has gone about it -- with pictures of five telco executives in devil's horns posed against the fires of hell. That's about right. But one of those executives is Mark Cuban, the technology maverick who owns the Dallas Mavericks. Wait, this is a guy I used to respect. Say it ain't so, Mark!
Continue reading "Hands Off My Internet, Mark Cuban!..."
Hands Off My Internet, Mark Cuban!
Common Cause has picked up the cudgels for "network neutrality," the idea that the Internet should be an equal-opportunity medium, not for sale to the highest bidder the way Big Telco would like to see it. And I love the way the consumer-advocacy group has gone about it -- with pictures of five telco executives in devil's horns posed against the fires of hell. That's about right. But one of those executives is Mark Cuban, the technology maverick who owns the Dallas Mavericks. Wait, this is a guy I used to respect. Say it ain't so, Mark!
Continue reading "Hands Off My Internet, Mark Cuban!..."
Can StopBadware Save The Universe From ... 'Badware'?
It's debatable whether StopBadware.org's education campaign against deceptive adware, spyware, and other malware will provide much of a counterweight against the growth of the lucrative adware/spyware industry, given that this software is often installed without the user's knowledge and is difficult to remove. Launched this week, this group of tech industry leaders, academics, and consumer advocates certainly addresses a weak spot in security, that is, the user's tendency to open e-mails and visit Web sites where they can become infected with programs that slow computing resources and steal information. But, if you play the numbers game, it's doubtful that simply alerting users and security pros to specific dangers will reseal Pandora's Box for a meaningful number of companies. Human nature, and its susceptibility to socially engineered fraud schemes such as phishing and e-mailed worms, is often more powerful than any preventative technology yet conjured.
Continue reading "Can StopBadware Save The Universe From ... 'Badware'?..."
VIDEO: IT Muscle Keeps America Productive
The growth of labor productivity in America is slipping, but regardless of how long such a decline will continue, IT will be there to boost U.S. worker output. In a videocast, I explain how IT helps American workers remain more productive than their European counterparts. Read Productivity's Second Chance to find out more about the link between IT and labor productivity. Click here to listen to an audio version of the videocast.
Google's Long March
It is very easy to spin Google's decision to censor the search results on its new Chinese Web site as a sellout. If you haven't already heard someone crowing over Google's cold, calculating betrayal of its corporate vow to Do No Evil, don't worry -- you will.
Before you buy into this smugfest, however, consider another angle on this story -- one that proves Google still knows how to Not Be Evil, no matter how many pundits sign up for the lynch mob looking to prove otherwise.
Continue reading "Google's Long March..."
Keep The Knives Away From Storage
Will storage concerns outweigh security this year? It seems like a stretch but that's what a recent survey by Glass House Technologies indicates. According to Glass House's "2006 Storage Budget Survey", 2006 will be a year for holding down costs and that means IT will be wringing out more efficiency from storage architectures.
Now, Glass House is a provider of independent services that help organizations solve enterprise storage problems and focuses on information lifecycle management (ILM). So yes, you can read vested interest, but the company raises an interesting point. Storage budgets at most organization, large and small, continue to grow and become a natural target for cost cutting, especially after spending all that money on security in 2005.
Do I think those security concerns have diminished enough to move storage to the top of the IT agenda. Not yet; maybe not for a while. And with compliance activities intersecting the security and storage activities, both storage and security will attract major IT attention.
The survey did show some other interesting things about storage. Most companies with annual storage costs of more than $10 million treat storage as a separate budget item from other IT expenditures. And ninety percent of companies with storage expenses higher than $150 million gave storage a separate budget, and 50 to 75 percent of smaller companies did the same.
Continue reading "Keep The Knives Away From Storage..."
Keep The Knives Away From Storage
Will storage concerns outweigh security this year? It seems like a stretch but that's what a recent survey by Glass House Technologies indicates. According to Glass House's "2006 Storage Budget Survey", 2006 will be a year for holding down costs and that means IT will be wringing out more efficiency from storage architectures.
Now, Glass House is a provider of independent services that help organizations solve enterprise storage problems and focuses on information lifecycle management (ILM). So yes, you can read vested interest, but the company raises an interesting point. Storage budgets at most organization, large and small, continue to grow and become a natural target for cost cutting, especially after spending all that money on security in 2005.
Do I think those security concerns have diminished enough to move storage to the top of the IT agenda. Not yet; maybe not for a while. And with compliance activities intersecting the security and storage activities, both storage and security will attract major IT attention.
The survey did show some other interesting things about storage. Most companies with annual storage costs of more than $10 million treat storage as a separate budget item from other IT expenditures. And ninety percent of companies with storage expenses higher than $150 million gave storage a separate budget, and 50 to 75 percent of smaller companies did the same.
Continue reading "Keep The Knives Away From Storage..."
VIDEO: HP, Google Execs Bring In The Bucks
The word is out about the take-home pay for the top people at two of Silicon Valley's top companies, Hewlett-Packard and Google. Watch the video for a humorous take.
Digital Health Records Going To The Dogs
When Michael Cannon, director of health-care policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think-tank, returned with his dog from a recent trip to the veterinarian, Cannon was startled to find a message waiting for him at home from the vet's office.
Continue reading "Digital Health Records Going To The Dogs..."
Tomorrow, The World
Almost everyone who learns about Nicholas Negroponte's effort to distribute millions of laptop computers to kids in developing nations has an opinion about the plan. Surprisingly, it's often a negative opinion: If Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) ever appeared on the ballot, I would hate to have money riding on the outcome.
Fortunately, that's a non-issue. Negroponte and his colleagues have already taken OLPC from its conception at the World Economic Forum last January; through the rollout of a working prototype last November; and now into active talks with representatives from China, India, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, and other interested nations. When it comes to turning Negroponte's dream into facts on the ground, these are the opinions that really matter, just as they should be.
Continue reading "Tomorrow, The World..."
Daily News Podcast, Thursday, Jan. 26
Listen to the current daily podcast: the state of Washington and Microsoft are separately suing a company that allegedly sold bogus anti-spyware software; a medical center and an IT vendor are trying to change the way health-care supplies are purchased; some Firefox users got a surprise beta version; a survey says most IT pros want a new job and a new employer; and an analysis of Disney's Pixar acquisition asks what happens with Steve Jobs now.
Read today's editor's note or leave a comment: Microsoft Takes Baby 'Open' Steps.
This podcast is adapted from the InformationWeek Daily Newsletter.
Background music: "Plotting A Bank Job," courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca, under Creative Commons License.
Microsoft Takes Baby 'Open' Steps
Microsoft's announcement that it will be providing access to some of its source code was a bit of a shock, I must admit. If anyone had asked me 10 years ago what the chances were of this happening, I would have made reference to pigs flying and other unlikely events.
Thanks to the twin wonders of European intractability and modern science, here we are.
Continue reading "Microsoft Takes Baby 'Open' Steps..."
Intel-AMD MPU War Over, We're All Winners
It's officially time to call an end to the microprocessor war between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. War implies that there will be an ultimate victor and a vanquished, a result that's increasingly apparent will not be occurring any time this decade.
Continue reading "Intel-AMD MPU War Over, We're All Winners..."
Daily News Podcast, Wednesday, Jan. 25
Listen to the current InformationWeek Daily Podcast. In today's edition: Google's Achilles' heel, browser news about Firefox and Opera, executives bring in the big bucks in Silicon Valley, and an In Depth on Microsoft, including news about Vista, IPv6, regulatory issues in the U.S. and Euroean Union, and spam.
Background Music "Tame" by Miles Low, Courtesy The Cow Exchange, under Creative Commons License.
Continue reading "Daily News Podcast, Wednesday, Jan. 25..."
Privacy: Three Cheers For Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo For Doing The Right Thing
First of all, three cheers for Microsoft! The latest news has the company defending its decision to cooperate with the Justice Department in an anti-pornography effort.
Continue reading "Privacy: Three Cheers For Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo For Doing The Right Thing..."
Messaging Becoming The Sizzle On The Steak
Did ya happen to notice that messaging is really cool?
I'm not basing this observation on the fact that our nation's youth are walking around clicking on their cell phones like there is no tomorrow. They obviously think its cool, and so do the service providers, but the software development community must think messaging is pretty cool, too. All the recent really big, really cool software product announcements have included some form of integrated messaging.
Yes, finding unique and useful ways to integrate, e-mail, instant messaging and voice messaging into applications is becoming a key differentiator and looks to represent a major battleground for upcoming heavyweight clashes.
Just since the start of the year we've seen Microsoft, IBM, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Research In Motion all starting to move their chess pieces with greater urgency and form various alliances, all in an effort to strengthen their positions in the messaging space and bridge the enterprise and wireless worlds.
One might think Microsoft would get a little sidetracked dealing with all the security issues that its messaging technologies have wrought lately (did you catch Fox Sports personality Terry Bradshaw asking Microsoft's billionaire co-founder Paul Allen if he could help him with a little e-mail problem?), but the Redmondites seem to be keeping their eye on the ball. We saw reports that Microsoft's Office Live service will likely include a Web-based e-mail client dubbed "Office Live Mail."
Continue reading "Messaging Becoming The Sizzle On The Steak..."
Messaging Becoming The Sizzle On The Steak
Did ya happen to notice that messaging is really cool?
I'm not basing this observation on the fact that our nation's youth are walking around clicking on their cell phones like there is no tomorrow. They obviously think its cool, and so do the service providers, but the software development community must think messaging is pretty cool, too. All the recent really big, really cool software product announcements have included some form of integrated messaging.
Yes, finding unique and useful ways to integrate, e-mail, instant messaging and voice messaging into applications is becoming a key differentiator and looks to represent a major battleground for upcoming heavyweight clashes.
Just since the start of the year we've seen Microsoft, IBM, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Research In Motion all starting to move their chess pieces with greater urgency and form various alliances, all in an effort to strengthen their positions in the messaging space and bridge the enterprise and wireless worlds.
One might think Microsoft would get a little sidetracked dealing with all the security issues that its messaging technologies have wrought lately (did you catch Fox Sports personality Terry Bradshaw asking Microsoft's billionaire co-founder Paul Allen if he could help him with a little e-mail problem?), but the Redmondites seem to be keeping their eye on the ball. We saw reports that Microsoft's Office Live service will likely include a Web-based e-mail client dubbed "Office Live Mail."
Continue reading "Messaging Becoming The Sizzle On The Steak..."
Vista: Exclusivity By Design
Hoo boy. If you thought Microsoft Vista was going to be complicated to run on a PC, that looks like simplicity itself compared to writing applications to run on it. At every level from the lowliest device driver to the most complex GUI app Microsoft is putting developers through hoops and tightening its grip. If you're a developer who thought it was tough to compete with Microsoft before, get ready for a whole new relationship: Microsoft as God.
Continue reading "Vista: Exclusivity By Design..."
Vista: Exclusivity By Design
Hoo boy. If you thought Microsoft Vista was going to be complicated to run on a PC, that looks like simplicity itself compared to writing applications to run on it. At every level from the lowliest device driver to the most complex GUI app Microsoft is putting developers through hoops and tightening its grip. If you're a developer who thought it was tough to compete with Microsoft before, get ready for a whole new relationship: Microsoft as God.
Continue reading "Vista: Exclusivity By Design..."
Web Talk Show To Be Hosted By Cartoon Character
Here's something that could only happen on the Internet -- a new talk show in development that will be unveiled later this year will be hosted by a cartoon character. A British-accented baby named "Stewie" from the Fox animated series "Family Guy" is slated to host the new, online-only show.
Single Sign-On Is A Myth
The brass ring in identity management is to create one universal user identity per employee, contractor, or business partner that can be managed centrally and recognized by all applications, operating systems, and databases that a user encounters. But it's a fool's gold for companies to think that they can achieve "single sign-on" capabilities for their users, Dennis Brixius, the McGraw-Hill Cos. VP and chief security officer, said Tuesday at an identity-management seminar hosted by Oracle. Given that the average corporate IT user has as many 10 user-ID and password combinations, "take single sign-on out of your vocabulary," he said. "It'll never happen."
Continue reading "Single Sign-On Is A Myth..."
Google, The Sea Monster, And The Big Whirlpool
The headline on today's top story, "Google's Achilles' Heel," references classical mythology. Here's another classical mythology reference that's not mentioned in the story: Scylla and Charybdis.
In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster who lived on one side of the Strait of Messia. A whirlpool named Charybdis was on the other side of the strait. Ships passing through the channel had to carefully steer a course between the two hazards. If they went too wrong in one direction, the sea monster got 'em, and if they went wrong in the other direction, they went down under the whirlpool.
(Still other navigational errors would result in their being stranded on Gilligan's Island. But ancient Greek legends don't discuss that.)
Reading over "Google's Achilles' Heel," I'm struck that Google is attempting to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.
Continue reading "Google, The Sea Monster, And The Big Whirlpool..."
Behind The Times
I know a few professional designers, including some who do user-interface work. As you might expect, they're a pretty tech-savvy bunch -- and they certainly try stay abreast of the latest technology news.
And then, on the other hand, you have the developers and design-firm executives quoted in a recent story about Microsoft's new Expression Graphic Designer tools. I don't know what any of these folks do in their spare time, but I'll hazard a guess that it doesn't involve a burning interest in current events.
Continue reading "Behind The Times..."
IT Gets Strategic
IT as a profit center? Well, maybe not today, but it does appear corporate execs want technology to play a greater strategic role in the business than in the past, at least judging from the results of a recent Gartner survey of 1,400 CIOs in which the respondents said they are increasingly being expected to do much more than help reduce corporate costs and guarantee information security. The Gartner found that business execs have higher expectations for IT than in the past, putting pressure on their CIOs to make "systems more externally focused" to make the company more competitive and drive revenues.
Continue reading "IT Gets Strategic..."
IT Gets Strategic
IT as a profit center? Well, maybe not today, but it does appear corporate execs want technology to play a greater strategic role in the business than in the past, at least judging from the results of a recent Gartner survey of 1,400 CIOs in which the respondents said they are increasingly being expected to do much more than help reduce corporate costs and guarantee information security. The Gartner found that business execs have higher expectations for IT than in the past, putting pressure on their CIOs to make "systems more externally focused" to make the company more competitive and drive revenues.
Continue reading "IT Gets Strategic..."
Is Unix Dead? I Think I Hear It Laughing...
Is Unix dead? We debated that issue as we worked on this week's cover story, "What's Left Of Unix?" My answer is no, it's not dead. As a matter of fact, I think I hear it laughing on its way to the bank.
Continue reading "Is Unix Dead? I Think I Hear It Laughing......"
What Disney's Pixar Deal Means For Apple: The MoodPod
With Disney set to buy Pixar for $7 billion in stock, there will be two main beneficiaries.
The first, of course, is Steve Jobs, who stands to double his $3 billion net worth.
The second is Apple Computer.
Continue reading "What Disney's Pixar Deal Means For Apple: The MoodPod..."
If Compliance Costs Are Still Rising, Something Is Wrong
Analysts and vendors have been telling us Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs should go down each year, but in a recent reader poll, more than half of our respondents claimed they are expecting just the opposite. A third of respondents did, however, expect their compliance costs will go down this year.
That tells me one of three things is happening: Either the promised return on investment from tools already applied to the problem is not happening; or the tools have been applied too recently to yield any savings; or SOX automation tools have not been applied yet.
If you company falls into the latter group, what's up? Can you still believe that SOX is a knee-jerk reaction by overzealous legislators and that it will eventually fall by the wayside.
Continue reading "If Compliance Costs Are Still Rising, Something Is Wrong..."
If Compliance Costs Are Still Rising, Something Is Wrong
Analysts and vendors have been telling us Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs should go down each year, but in a recent reader poll, more than half of our respondents claimed they are expecting just the opposite. A third of respondents did, however, expect their compliance costs will go down this year.
That tells me one of three things is happening: Either the promised return on investment from tools already applied to the problem is not happening; or the tools have been applied too recently to yield any savings; or SOX automation tools have not been applied yet.
If you company falls into the latter group, what's up? Can you still believe that SOX is a knee-jerk reaction by overzealous legislators and that it will eventually fall by the wayside.
Continue reading "If Compliance Costs Are Still Rising, Something Is Wrong..."
Globalization, Offshoring Are Key To Ford's Turnaround
Ford Motor Co.'s plan to cut 34,000 jobs to help restore profitability is just the beginning of the automaker's campaign to ensure its competitiveness in the 21st century. And while labor unions and some media commentators will frame the move as more proof that American workers are being sold out, the truth is more complex--though not by much.
Continue reading "Globalization, Offshoring Are Key To Ford's Turnaround..."
Daily News Podcast, Jan. 24
In today's daily news podcast, we review the Supreme Court's ruling on RIM and BlackBerry, new IBM messaging tools and a Swiss Army Knife-style security appliance from Symantec.
Background Music "Walking On The Rue", Courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca under Creative Commons License.
Counterpoint: You Don't Have To Be A Busybody To Worry About Privacy
Bob Evans turns his razor-sharp pen on self-styled "privacy advocates" who object to the government subpoenaing search records in defense of the Child Online Protection Act. But you don't have to be a kook to be worried about government setting a big bucket to scoop up thousands of gallons of information about Internet searches.
Continue reading "Counterpoint: You Don't Have To Be A Busybody To Worry About Privacy..."
Now They're Giving Away Kid's GPS Cell Phone
A company in the UK is actually now giving 
away cell phones aimed at children. The phones have four preset buttons and feature GPS. The company doesn't charge for the phone or the GPS tracking, but does charge a normal rate for the phone calls.
Continue reading "Now They're Giving Away Kid's GPS Cell Phone..."
Daily News Podcast, Monday, Jan. 23
Listen to the current daily podcast: Municipal Wi-Fi projects are headed toward Philadelphia, Madison, Wis., and Anaheim, Calif., among other cities; privacy advocates and some customers are up in arms over how Microsoft monitors the health of PCs running its OneCare Live security service; things are getting nasty again in the RIM/NTP battle over BlackBerry patents; and a study from the United Kingdom says there's no risk of brain cancer from cell phones.
Read today's editor's note from Lisa Smith, InformationWeek's research director, or leave a comment: IT Careers...What Lies Ahead?
This podcast is adapted from the InformationWeek Daily Newsletter.
Background music: "Fluffy Park," courtesy The Cow Exchange, www.dillfrog.com/sponge/noise/the_cow_exchange, under Creative Commons License.
Policy Issues
Last week's Systems Management Pipeline Poll asked if your organization has the security tools and policies in place to sufficiently protect your customer, employee, and other confidential enterprise data, and unfortunately, the answer was largely no. Given the number of high-profile incidents and the expectation that pending legislation will hold more businesses responsible for compromised data, the fact that only one-third of the respondents said they have both sufficient security tools and policies in place to guard customer data is more than a little alarming. Businesses simply cannot afford to leave confidential customer data exposed.
Continue reading "Policy Issues..."
Policy Issues
Last week's Systems Management Pipeline Poll asked if your organization has the security tools and policies in place to sufficiently protect your customer, employee, and other confidential enterprise data, and unfortunately, the answer was largely no. Given the number of high-profile incidents and the expectation that pending legislation will hold more businesses responsible for compromised data, the fact that only one-third of the respondents said they have both sufficient security tools and policies in place to guard customer data is more than a little alarming. Businesses simply cannot afford to leave confidential customer data exposed.
Continue reading "Policy Issues..."
IT Careers ... What Lies Ahead?
As I read Mitch Wagner's editor's note from Wednesday regarding reader responses to our outsourcing and India coverage, I thought what a perfect time to launch the ninth annual InformationWeek National IT Salary survey. In the past nine years we've heard from more than 125,000 IT professionals about their job satisfaction, salaries, compensation, what matters most in a job, what would make them change jobs, and how they feel about the impact of IT jobs being outsourced. Now it's your turn to weigh in.
Continue reading "IT Careers ... What Lies Ahead?..."
Five Ways To Avoid Gaming Addiction
In November, we ran a poll on this site asking what kind of electronic crack you're addicted to. The results were shocking:
Video games - 9%
PC games - 14%
Online multiplayer games - 15%
Instant Messaging - 5%
Web surfing - 18%
Online pornography - 7%
E-mail - 14%
Cell phone text messaging - 3%
Mobile gaming - 2%
None -- I'm not addicted to any of the above - 13%
You'll note that somewhere between 15 and 40 percent of you are addicted to some kind of gaming, according to this poll. That's probably a little higher than the general population, but, then again, this is Personal Tech Pipeline. It's also a self-description -- we didn't list symptoms to look for.
Continue reading "Five Ways To Avoid Gaming Addiction..."
Paint Another Target On Cisco As Enterprise VoIP Grows
Cisco's revelation Wednesday of two security alerts and fixes for CallManager, the software-based call-processing component of its IP communications technology, could have washed waves of despair over the budding voice-over-IP market. That is, if it had been the first whiff of security trouble for VoIP. The ability to launch denial-of-service attacks against VoIP networks, Cisco VoIP networks in particular, is nothing new. The real concern is holding the line against damage inflicted by VoIP attacks as the technology grows into the mainstream.
Continue reading "Paint Another Target On Cisco As Enterprise VoIP Grows..."
Lower That Windows Threat Condition Level, Please
Well, darn. I was hoping Steve Gibson was right last week and Microsoft had planted a secret backdoor in the Windows Metafile format (WMF) that would let Bill Gates run mind-domination software on all our PCs and achieve his goal of taking over the universe. Yesterday Gibson said after another week of looking at it that the backdoor is definitely there, but he apologized for any implication that it might be malicious.
Continue reading "Lower That Windows Threat Condition Level, Please..."
Lower That Windows Threat Condition Level, Please
Well, darn. I was hoping Steve Gibson was right last week and Microsoft had planted a secret backdoor in the Windows Metafile format (WMF) that would let Bill Gates run mind-domination software on all our PCs and achieve his goal of taking over the universe. Yesterday Gibson said after another week of looking at it that the backdoor is definitely there, but he apologized for any implication that it might be malicious.
Continue reading "Lower That Windows Threat Condition Level, Please..."
High-Tech Obsolescence: How To Date Yourself In A Nanosecond
I'm a night owl, or, as one of my smarty-pants sisters likes to put it, a vampire. I don't require lots of sleep, and I can get so much done in the distraction-free hours of the night. That's also when I happen to listen to TV the most--usually in background for a little white noise. Every now and then, something flashing across the screen from one of the mostly boring late-night talk shows catches my attention. The other night it was the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. He did a very amusing sketch with another guy titled something like, "Words We Didn't Know 10 Years Ago." Basically, they sat down and talked about iPods and IMing each other. It was cute.
Continue reading "High-Tech Obsolescence: How To Date Yourself In A Nanosecond..."
No Cell Phone Cancer Risk Found -- Again
British researchers say in a British Medical Journal report to be published tomorrow that they have found no evidence that mobile phones cause brain cancer.
Continue reading "No Cell Phone Cancer Risk Found -- Again..."
Daily News Podcast, Thursday, Jan. 19
In today's podcast, we focus on RFID and its expected growth, a version of Firefox for Intel Macs, and Larry Greenemeier's insights on rootkits.
Background Music "Away In the Woods" Courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca under Creative Commons License.
Three New Mice-Phones Unveiled
In the dark, forbidding corners of the recent CES event in Las Vegas two weeks ago, a new, underappreciated micro-industry emerged: The desktop PC mouse that doubles as a VoIP phone. The idea is an unholy convergence between the ubiquitous mouse, and the largely non-existent PC handset for VoIP calls through Skype, Google Talk or some other service.
Continue reading "Three New Mice-Phones Unveiled..."
SPAM Is A Labor Intensive Problem For Small Businesses
I've always assumed that smaller business bore a disproportionate load of spam. It just sort of made sense that would be the case since they are not able to deploy the technology or the resources against the problem that larger enterprises are able to muster.
So when Postini said that one of its survey findings in it's upcoming Message Security & Management Annual Report for 2006 was that small businesses receive five times more spam per user/per day than larger companies when comparing smallest to largest companies, I said, "ah ha."
So then I wondered if the anti-spam tools and firewall appliances targeted specifically for small businesses were not up to the task. I didn't think that would be the case, and I didn't think that SMBs would be leaving themselves completely unprotected. Not even individual users can afford to do that anymore.
Continue reading "SPAM Is A Labor Intensive Problem For Small Businesses..."
SPAM Is A Labor Intensive Problem For Small Businesses
I've always assumed that smaller business bore a disproportionate load of spam. It just sort of made sense that would be the case since they are not able to deploy the technology or the resources against the problem that larger enterprises are able to muster.
So when Postini said that one of its survey findings in it's upcoming Message Security & Management Annual Report for 2006 was that small businesses receive five times more spam per user/per day than larger companies when comparing smallest to largest companies, I said, "ah ha."
So then I wondered if the anti-spam tools and firewall appliances targeted specifically for small businesses were not up to the task. I didn't think that would be the case, and I didn't think that SMBs would be leaving themselves completely unprotected. Not even individual users can afford to do that anymore.
Continue reading "SPAM Is A Labor Intensive Problem For Small Businesses..."
Going On The Offensive
Information security tends to rely on defensive measures, for pretty obvious reasons. A virus outbreak occurs, a patch is released. However, as many organizations are discovering the best defense is really a good offense. Enterprises need to get proactive to defend themselves effectively against threats such as bots that take over systems without the user's permission.
Continue reading "Going On The Offensive..."
Going On The Offensive
Information security tends to rely on defensive measures, for pretty obvious reasons. A virus outbreak occurs, a patch is released. However, as many organizations are discovering the best defense is really a good offense. Enterprises need to get proactive to defend themselves effectively against threats such as bots that take over systems without the user's permission.
Continue reading "Going On The Offensive..."
Daily News Podcast, Wednesday, Jan. 18
Listen to the current InformationWeek Daily Podcast. In this report: Apple cares more about your living room than your office. In our breaking news headlines, we have more reports from inside India, as well as news about Google and a new open source license. Our in-depth report today is about security--include a column on five security "musts" from Fred Langa. And in our editor's note, I'll talk about how readers are taking us to task for our India coverage.
Background Music "Tattoo" by Dilvie, courtesy under Creative Commons License.
Holy_father Delivers Rootkits To The Masses
The futility of today's model for antivirus protection is fairly obvious. Plug one hole in the dike and another will sprout. Pretty soon, you're running out of fingers and toes to hold back the flood. It gets worse. Attackers without the skill to create their own malicious hacks can outsource their dirty business to others who will write the code for them and then offer services that keep these rootkits from being detected. It's the virtual version of Spy vs. Spy, with many black hats claiming that they're giving the technology world exactly what it needs -- tough love.
Continue reading "Holy_father Delivers Rootkits To The Masses..."
Readers Take Us To Task For Outsourcing Coverage
We've received quite a bit of feedback to our recent outsourcing coverage, and two of our reporters' trips to India to write firsthand about companies there.
Jim Ball of Ball 5 Enterprises in Olney, Md., set the tone for many indignant readers, writing: "I, along with all of those now unemployed because of outsourcing to India, have absolutely no interest whatsoever in reading about all those folks that are enjoying the jobs we all once held."
Continue reading "Readers Take Us To Task For Outsourcing Coverage..."
Vendor Partnerships Mean Added Functionality
Market dynamics often mean good news for users when it comes to technology products, especially when competition drives prices down, but there are other dynamics that work to your benefit; for instance, when vendors partner to deliver more features and services to round out their offerings.
The market for compliance-related software and services is still young, and you've probably heard me warn here before not to expect these products to meet all your requirements. Not to say that all compliance applications are one-trick ponies, but most are designed to accomplish specific compliance tasks, like archiving, or monitoring, or reporting.
Acknowledging this, vendors are starting to partner up in the exploding compliance market and looking to each other to add value to their respective products. And that's good news, indeed. With the continuing hot market, vendors are realising two things: Companies that buy technology to assist compliance efforts often have other needs that the product being purchased does not address; and that their can be natural synergies between products from different vendors. Nothing new among technology vendors but it is the sign of a healthy and growing market.
Continue reading "Vendor Partnerships Mean Added Functionality..."
Vendor Partnerships Mean Added Functionality
Market dynamics often mean good news for users when it comes to technology products, especially when competition drives prices down, but there are other dynamics that work to your benefit; for instance, when vendors partner to deliver more features and services to round out their offerings.
The market for compliance-related software and services is still young, and you've probably heard me warn here before not to expect these products to meet all your requirements. Not to say that all compliance applications are one-trick ponies, but most are designed to accomplish specific compliance tasks, like archiving, or monitoring, or reporting.
Acknowledging this, vendors are starting to partner up in the exploding compliance market and looking to each other to add value to their respective products. And that's good news, indeed. With the continuing hot market, vendors are realising two things: Companies that buy technology to assist compliance efforts often have other needs that the product being purchased does not address; and that their can be natural synergies between products from different vendors. Nothing new among technology vendors but it is the sign of a healthy and growing market.
Continue reading "Vendor Partnerships Mean Added Functionality..."
Daily News Podcast, Tuesday, Jan. 17
Listen to the current InformationWeek daily news podcast. In this report, Yahoo loses lawsuit over Nazi memorabilia sale, bug spotted in Linux AV, tips for blogging anonymously, states bristle over uniform ID push, five things you didn't know about Windows Vista, and cell phone trends and services. Also, an editor's note on "The Urge To Converge."
Continue reading "Daily News Podcast, Tuesday, Jan. 17..."
India Inc. Now a Source of Jobs for Westerners
While the debate rages over whether outsourcing is a positive or negative for Western economies, here's some fresh evidence that shows why the flow of capital from developed countries to emerging markets, to which offshoring contributes substantially, is not a one way street.
Continue reading "India Inc. Now a Source of Jobs for Westerners..."
Ultimate PC? I Can Dream
I confess: I have lust in my heart -- lust for the ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, for the eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX KO video card, even for the Antec Performance P160 case. I've been reading Bill O'Brien's article on The Ultimate PC For 2006. I want one just the way I have always wanted a Porsche, or Diane Lane.
Continue reading "Ultimate PC? I Can Dream..."
Ultimate PC? I Can Dream
I confess: I have lust in my heart -- lust for the ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, for the eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX KO video card, even for the Antec Performance P160 case. I've been reading Bill O'Brien's article on The Ultimate PC For 2006. I want one just the way I have always wanted a Porsche, or Diane Lane.
Continue reading "Ultimate PC? I Can Dream..."
Protecting Your Most Important Asset
Customer data is the most prized asset of business. Unfortunately, too many enterprises have not gone far enough when it comes to ensuring the protection of that information. Most companies are generally conscientious about data systems security but too many are guilty of not looking at the big picture and evaluating their full risk profile. That includes looking at physical security, and how data is handled by third-party partners including couriers. After all, a number of recent high-profile data compromises have actually taken place when a backup tape was in transit.
Continue reading "Protecting Your Most Important Asset..."
Protecting Your Most Important Asset
Customer data is the most prized asset of business. Unfortunately, too many enterprises have not gone far enough when it comes to ensuring the protection of that information. Most companies are generally conscientious about data systems security but too many are guilty of not looking at the big picture and evaluating their full risk profile. That includes looking at physical security, and how data is handled by third-party partners including couriers. After all, a number of recent high-profile data compromises have actually taken place when a backup tape was in transit.
Continue reading "Protecting Your Most Important Asset..."
Advertisers Planning To Spam Your Phone With Video Ads
It's called ad creep. As an increasing number of available spaces -- from stadiums to grocery store floors, from beach sand to people's foreheads -- become littered with advertising, marketers look hard for new places to hit you with their advertising messages. It's driving them nuts that you spend so much time looking at your cell phone, yet that phone isn't as polluted with spam as your e-mail inbox.
Continue reading "Advertisers Planning To Spam Your Phone With Video Ads..."
Smartlabs Gaming And Movie Technology
The idea came out of the Insteon technology group at Smartlabs.
Imagine the lights in your home begin to flicker as thunder and lightning affect the characters in the movie you're watching or the video game you're playing. Wouldn't that make it the ultimate movie or gaming experience? It's possble, and I'll tell you how.
Continue reading "Smartlabs Gaming And Movie Technology..."
The Urge To Converge - And Embed
Everywhere you look, convergence is the air. I'm not just talking about the much celebrated intersection of consumer and business technology, nor the newly emerged jockeying for position, as IT vendors seek to cozy up to consumer companies and their lucrative customers. It's way more than that.
Continue reading "The Urge To Converge - And Embed..."
Big Phone Company, Little Problem
For the Desktop Pipeline email newsletter this week I wrote a rant about the greedy telephone companies who charge you for access to the Internet and have decided they also want to charge Internet sites for access to you. I got several attaboys from readers, including a note from Syd Warburton, who recounted his own struggles with SBC. (SBC is the company that, under bully-boy CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. has led the charge on this perversion of the Internet.) Warburton's problem was of a more garden-variety customer-service sort.
Continue reading "Big Phone Company, Little Problem..."
Big Phone Company, Little Problem
For the Desktop Pipeline email newsletter this week I wrote a rant about the greedy telephone companies who charge you for access to the Internet and have decided they also want to charge Internet sites for access to you. I got several attaboys from readers, including a note from Syd Warburton, who recounted his own struggles with SBC. (SBC is the company that, under bully-boy CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. has led the charge on this perversion of the Internet.) Warburton's problem was of a more garden-variety customer-service sort.
Continue reading "Big Phone Company, Little Problem..."
Daily News Podcast, Friday, January 13
Listen to the current podcast. In this report: Mozilla releases Thunderbird 1.5, disagreement over whether the Firefox browser reached nearly 10% market share, Symantec denies it's using hackers tools, iTunes gets nicknamed "Spytunes," and my editors' note on whether Google is looking to take over the video and desktop software industries.
Download Thunderbird. Read more about the argument over whether Symantec is using a hackers' rootkit. Read the New Yorker article on why Microsoft isn't scary anymore.
Background Music "Jimmy Hat Instrumental", Courtesy The Cow Exchange under Creative Commons
License.
Power To The User: Do It Yourself
Making users responsible and accountable for managing their own e-mail is one way to reduce the burden on overworked IT staffs. And according to a recent Osterman Research survey, that is exactly what is starting to happen.
It's not like the technical staffs managing large corporate e-mail servers don't already have enough on their hands taking care of things like disaster recovery, legal discovery, compliance and storage management. So why not make it possible for users and compliance managers to perform their own search and discovery on current and historical messages without relying on IT administrators?
The Osterman study, commissioned by Mimosa Systems, found that those responsible for managing large MS Exchange installations were actively looking for self-service tools to help lighten the load. Now these were big Exchange shops with an average number of mailboxes of more than 9,000. So you know the burden on staff is already heavy before you throw in demands from internal compliance officers and external legal counsel.
Continue reading "Power To The User: Do It Yourself..."
Power To The User: Do It Yourself
Making users responsible and accountable for managing their own e-mail is one way to reduce the burden on overworked IT staffs. And according to a recent Osterman Research survey, that is exactly what is starting to happen.
It's not like the technical staffs managing large corporate e-mail servers don't already have enough on their hands taking care of things like disaster recovery, legal discovery, compliance and storage management. So why not make it possible for users and compliance managers to perform their own search and discovery on current and historical messages without relying on IT administrators?
The Osterman study, commissioned by Mimosa Systems, found that those responsible for managing large MS Exchange installations were actively looking for self-service tools to help lighten the load. Now these were big Exchange shops with an average number of mailboxes of more than 9,000. So you know the burden on staff is already heavy before you throw in demands from internal compliance officers and external legal counsel.
Continue reading "Power To The User: Do It Yourself..."
Google Wants To Own The Video Industry And Software Desktop
Google Video and Google Pack are intriguing hints of possible future strategic directions for Google, even though the products and services themselves are only mildly interesting.
Google is apparently looking to be the decider of what's popular in online video and software, the same way it decides what Web pages are popular and which Web pages languish in obscurity.
That is one hell of an ambition. It means the company will be taking on Microsoft for desktop software, as well as taking on Hollywood and its entire distribution infrastructure for movies, DVDs and TV.
But Google's secret motto is "Ambition 'R' Us."
Continue reading "Google Wants To Own The Video Industry And Software Desktop..."
Google Runs First-Ever Home Page 'Ad'
Google is running today its first-ever "ad" on its home page. Some users in the United States are reporting that a pitch for CSI and NBA TV shows on Google Video is showing up at the bottom of their Google home page screens. Others don't see it at all.
Continue reading "Google Runs First-Ever Home Page 'Ad'..."
In India, For India
It's a bright sunny day in Bangalore, and Microsoft has rolled out the red carpet for its research director, Rick Rashid; the government's minister of science and technology Kapil Sibal; and some of India's top academics for the one-year anniversary of the company's India research lab, which employs 30 scientists and may soon double in size. Sibal, a well-known lawyer, walks up the stairs of the Taj Residency hotel and the press photographers' flashbulbs pop. Hundreds of guests at Microsoft's symposium pack a hotel ballroom.
Continue reading "In India, For India..."
Daily News Podcast, Thursday, January 12
Listen to the current daily podcast. Today's topics: Your guide to building the ultimate PC for 2006, a Microsoft patent victory could hurt open source, Apple is updating Mac OS X and fixing some quicktime bugs, a mess of statistics on search advertising, outsourcing and mobile phones, and my editorial comment of the day about InformationWeek's upcoming special report on India.
"The Fall" by Miles Low, Courtesy The Cow Exchange, under Creative Commons License.
Continue reading "Daily News Podcast, Thursday, January 12..."
DishNetwork At CES
Last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I caught up with Jenny Zaino, executive editor of online integration at Network Computing. She had booked a meeting with EchoStar Communications Corp., Dish Network's parent company, and I tagged along to ask Mark Cicero, corporate communications manger, a few questions.
Podcast: Click or download here.
Ron In India, Days 2 & 3: Remote Infrastructure Management; Offshore Management Centers
The traffic is still unbelievable but I realized today as I examined the sheet metal around me that it was all intact—no dents, dings not so much as a bumper out of place. There are rules, just not ones that I'm use to but they do appear to work. I have no idea what they are—perhaps the constant honking is really a form of Morse Code.
Continue reading "Ron In India, Days 2 & 3: Remote Infrastructure Management; Offshore Management Centers..."
Clothing Makers Jump On iPod Bandwagon
Makers of everything from jeans to underwear are jumping on the Apple iPod bandwagon, hoping to boost sales by hanging on to the coat-tails of the Apple iPod juggernaut.
In the past, iPod clothing has come from little known niche manufacturers. But today, the first major international clothing maker has jumped in front of the iPod clothing parade.
Levi's announced today that the company plans to sell denim jeans
with an iPod remote-control, iPod pocket dock, and retractable earphones integrated into the fabric. The jeans go on sale for a yet-undisclosed price in the autumn and will be sold under the RedWire DLX brand.
Continue reading "Clothing Makers Jump On iPod Bandwagon..."
New Macs: If Not Now, When?
I'm dying to get my hands on one of the new Intel-based iMacs or MacBook Pro laptops, just to see what Steve Jobs' "twice as fast" would feel like. I've offered up my first-born child to the hardware loan people at Apple (I didn't tell my first-born, because if Apple turns me down it would probably hurt his feelings), but I'm not counting on hearing from them any time soon. I just called my neighborhood Apple store and . . . I'm not counting on seeing the new Macs there anytime soon either.
Continue reading "New Macs: If Not Now, When?..."
New Macs: If Not Now, When?
I'm dying to get my hands on one of the new Intel-based iMacs or MacBook Pro laptops, just to see what Steve Jobs' "twice as fast" would feel like. I've offered up my first-born child to the hardware loan people at Apple (I didn't tell my first-born, because if Apple turns me down it would probably hurt his feelings), but I'm not counting on hearing from them any time soon. I just called my neighborhood Apple store and . . . I'm not counting on seeing the new Macs there anytime soon either.
Continue reading "New Macs: If Not Now, When?..."
Daily News Podcast, Wednesday, Jan. 11
Listen to the current daily podcast: Fresh from the Macworld trade show, Apple is delivering its Intel-based computers almost six months ahead of schedule as one analyst predicts a rough transition for PowerPC users; Microsoft fixes a nasty bug in Outlook and Exchange; SCO is seeking to add Novell to its Unix patent-infringement suit; and security professionals' salaries are on the rise, according to a new study by the SANS Institute.
Read my editor's note, or leave a comment: Digital Rights Management Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better.
This podcast is adapted from the InformationWeek Daily Newsletter.
Background music: "Zombies Awake," courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca, under Creative Commons License.
HP Labs In India Tries To Connect
At Hewlett-Packard's Bangalore, India offices near the Forum, one of the new shopping malls going up around the city, fourteen researchers in a pocket of the building are trying to do something rare in this country's IT industry: develop products that can be used by ordinary Indians. Late in the day on Monday as part of a weeklong reporting trip to Bangalore and Delhi, I visited HP to see what's on those researchers' minds.
Continue reading "HP Labs In India Tries To Connect..."
Let There Be An Upside
Reading all the year-end wrap ups and 2006 projections for the messaging market, you'd think messaging and collaboration were a scourge rather than a productivity enhancing technology. All the reports I've seen talk about viruses and worms, phishing attacks, regulatory demands for retention, archiving and discovery, and warn of all the new problems we'll face when mobile messaging really takes off.
And after the past year, who can blame the pundits for painting such a dark picture? But still, there must be some good things to say about messaging. I mean, if these technologies were not so wide spread and gaining in popularity, we wouldn't be seeing all these issues, right? Sure, the security and compliance issues will probably mount in 2006, but aren't there other things going on of some import in this market.
OK, I know what the benefits of messaging and collaboration are to an organization, but we don't see much discussion of how new capabilities and new applications of the technology will move the needle in a positive direction 2006. In fact, when you read about great new integrated messaging systems, combining voice, text, and conferencing with real-time presence capabilities, the next sentence is usually about the all new ways that attackers will find to bring these systems to there knees or turn it into a cyber mule for carrying undesirable payloads.
Continue reading "Let There Be An Upside..."
Let There Be An Upside
Reading all the year-end wrap ups and 2006 projections for the messaging market, you'd think messaging and collaboration were a scourge rather than a productivity enhancing technology. All the reports I've seen talk about viruses and worms, phishing attacks, regulatory demands for retention, archiving and discovery, and warn of all the new problems we'll face when mobile messaging really takes off.
And after the past year, who can blame the pundits for painting such a dark picture? But still, there must be some good things to say about messaging. I mean, if these technologies were not so wide spread and gaining in popularity, we wouldn't be seeing all these issues, right? Sure, the security and compliance issues will probably mount in 2006, but aren't there other things going on of some import in this market.
OK, I know what the benefits of messaging and collaboration are to an organization, but we don't see much discussion of how new capabilities and new applications of the technology will move the needle in a positive direction 2006. In fact, when you read about great new integrated messaging systems, combining voice, text, and conferencing with real-time presence capabilities, the next sentence is usually about the all new ways that attackers will find to bring these systems to there knees or turn it into a cyber mule for carrying undesirable payloads.
Continue reading "Let There Be An Upside..."
Video: Mona Lisa Smile
Researchers at the University of Amsterdam analyzed the Mona Lisa using advanced emotion-recognition software and figured out why she's smiling. Watch my video commentary (1 min., 32 sec.) WARNING: May induce laughing behavior.
Digital Rights Management Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better
Fresh off the multiple scandals surrounding Sony's use of rootkit-implanting DRM technology, Google's now facing the wrath of some bloggers who are complaining about its foray into this arena.
My advice to those bloggers and others who are upset: Patience. We're just at the tip of this particular iceberg, folks, and things are going to get a lot messier before they get any simpler.
Continue reading "Digital Rights Management Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better..."
Not Digging the Mob Mentality
A whole community gave O'Reilly Media blogger and editor Steve Mallett a rude introduction to the pitfalls of social bookmarking, blogging and syndication yesterday. Popular technology news site and Slashdot heir-apparent Digg, where users control a story's prominence with their votes, promoted to the front page of that site a community member's accusation that Mallett purposefully stole Digg code to create a couple of his own Web pages. The story garnered tremendous attention and hundreds of comments from the popular site. There's only one problem: Mallett never deliberately stole anything.
Continue reading "Not Digging the Mob Mentality..."
Offshoring Is So 'Right Now,' But The Future Belongs To Automation
Here's another aspect of offshoring that's lost on Lou Dobbs, John Kerry, and other misinformed critics of the practice. If India didn't exist, much of the IT and call-center work that's taking place overseas would be automated by now. Either way, a job in the United States is still lost.
Continue reading "Offshoring Is So 'Right Now,' But The Future Belongs To Automation..."
Jobs Throws Around Big iPod Numbers At MacWorld
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and senior Apple executives tossed around some huge iPod and Apple Store numbers on stage today at MacWorld in San Francisco. Among them:
* 26 million people visited Apple stores over the holidays
* Apple stores enjoyed the group's first-ever "billion dollar quarter"
* Apple had a $5.7 billion quarter overall
* Some 26 million people visited Apple stores over the holiday season
* Apple sold 14 million iPods last quarter
Continue reading "Jobs Throws Around Big iPod Numbers At MacWorld..."
Daily News Podcast, Jan. 10
In today's news podcast, we detail the latest security concerns surrounding Windows WMF, look at IM security considerations, and the latest developments in the Sony copy protection debacle. We also analyze the potential impact of the Google Starter Kit.
Background Music "Trickeehouse", Courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca under Creative Commons License.
Infosys' Oasis
On the bottom bookshelf in the office of Nandan Nilekani, president and CEO of Infosys Technologies, India's colossus of IT outsourcing, sit copies of "The World Is Flat," author Thomas L. Friedman's bestselling take on global business. The covers face out. Nilekani was one of Friedman's key sources for the book, and he's not shy about promoting it. In the corporate library on Infosys' pristine campus are tacked newspaper clippings of Bill Gates' 2002 trip to India, when he visited the company founded by Nilekani, chairman Narayana Murthy, and four other friends 25 years ago. As part of a week-long reporting trip to India, I kicked Monday morning off in Bangalore with a trip to India's top tech company to see for myself.
Continue reading "Infosys' Oasis..."
Ron In India, Day One: Golden Arches And Machine Room Suites
I'm in India this week tagging along with a group of IT professionals from CMP Media and United Business Media (UBM) as they investigate opportunities for outsourcing.
Before I talk about our visit today with HCL, one of the largest remote-infrastructure-management firms in India, I'll say a couple of things about my travel experience. Today I was in Delhi. Right now I'm on a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Delhi to Bangalore for meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then it's back to Delhi for a final meeting Friday before heading home.
Continue reading "Ron In India, Day One: Golden Arches And Machine Room Suites..."
For Sale: Your Phone Records
Rack it up as another chink in your already scuffed and dented privacy armor. Your cell phone records can be had for a relatively small chunk of change. That's right, for $110, I can buy records of the last 100 calls made from your cell phone. I can also buy incoming calls, duration and time of call, names and addresses for unlisted numbers, and the list goes on. Somehow, it's (sort of) legal, and the government has known about it for a while. And here I thought it was bad that New York state police can get call logs without a warrant.
Continue reading "For Sale: Your Phone Records..."
The Keyboard We Really Want
In the past couple of decades, hundreds of new keyboards have come out -- most with alternatives to the clunky QWERTY layout. Unfortunately, for the companies that make these alternative input devices, the QWERTY train has left the station, and ain't comin' back. That's not to say users don't want keyboard innovation.
Continue reading "The Keyboard We Really Want..."
Washington Times Reporters Free to Blog, As Long As It's Not About The Times
It's always sruck me how the newspaper industry--ostensibly all about the free exchange of ideas and information--often seems more controlling than the Pentagon when it comes to internal or external scrutiny. It was, after all, media baron Conrad Black who said, "I shall not have the press in my home." Here's the latest example of the Fourth Estate's fear of microscopes and mirrors...
Continue reading "Washington Times Reporters Free to Blog, As Long As It's Not About The Times..."
Disaster Recovery Hot Area In IT Employment
Prepare for the worst. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina reminded corporate chieftains that they must be ready to implement a systems recovery plan when disaster strikes. The latest government payroll stats suggest business leaders are adhering to that advice.
Continue reading "Disaster Recovery Hot Area In IT Employment..."
High Hopes - And Lots Of Action - In 2006
With the year still young, Systems Management Pipeline readers seem to be pretty optimistic about what is coming in 2006. Thirty-seven percent of readers say better integrated management suites will be the most significant trend impacting on systems management this year. In recent conversations with IT professionals, I've have been hearing some good things about both the level of integration and the functionality of management suites. This is marked change from previous years where most suites lacked the tight integration businesses needed.
Continue reading "High Hopes - And Lots Of Action - In 2006..."
High Hopes - And Lots Of Action - In 2006
With the year still young, Systems Management Pipeline readers seem to be pretty optimistic about what is coming in 2006. Thirty-seven percent of readers say better integrated management suites will be the most significant trend impacting on systems management this year. In recent conversations with IT professionals, I've have been hearing some good things about both the level of integration and the functionality of management suites. This is marked change from previous years where most suites lacked the tight integration businesses needed.
Continue reading "High Hopes - And Lots Of Action - In 2006..."
"You Want Fries With That?"
Need some cheering up this Monday morning? Venture capitalist Rick Segal describes how he turned a three-hour flight delay at Orlando airport into an opportunity to catch up on the TV show "Rome," get a good meal at Steak-n-Shake, and a free first-class upgrade. And he did it all using mobile computing technology. The story illustrates the truth of two old adages: 1) Knowledge is power and 2) It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Daily News Podcast, Monday, January 9
Listen to the current Daily Podcast." Today's topics: Google goes into competition with Apple iTunes over video, IT services experiences strong payroll growth, Microsoft's multiple security patches, an in-depth report on consumer electronics with news from Apple, Lenovo, and Intel, and my editorial comments on the best bets for wireless and mobile technologies.
Background Music "Disco4", courtesy IncompeTech, under Creative Commons License.
Continue reading "Daily News Podcast, Monday, January 9..."
Dodging Traffic And Talking Business In Bangalore
Within a few hours in Bangalore, you can go from wending your way down a dirt road outside a 17th-Century mosque lined with trinket-sellers, barefoot urchins, and men herding sheep in the street, to drinking beer in the walled-off gardens of the old British Bangalore Club, where Winston Churchill used sup. It's not that other cities don't abut rich and poor, extravagant and destitute. But here they're in high relief. And quite literally, nearly crashing into each other.
Continue reading "Dodging Traffic And Talking Business In Bangalore..."
Which Mobile Technologies Should You Bet On In 2006?
I don't have a good track record with regard to predictions about mobile computing. This is probably because I am an immobile kind of guy. I work from a home office adjacent to my bedroom, so most days consist of getting up, going into the next room to work, staying there all day, then going to the other side of the house for supper and TV.
Unlike me, Dave Molta, of our sister Network Computing magazine, does know something about mobile technologies, and he has some predictions for which mobile technologies are likely to succeed in 2006. He likes 3G, RFID, and smartphones, thinks WiMAX and municipal Wi-Fi will be disappointing, and is ambivalent about 802.11n.
Continue reading "Which Mobile Technologies Should You Bet On In 2006?..."
A Universe Of SOX Assistance
Two years into the regulation, the issues of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, technical and otherwise, are so diverse and complex that an entire sub-industry has emerged to assist companies looking for resources, technology or just good old advice.
Most of those resources have a Web presence, so from time to time I'll point you to some of the more useful Web content. Here's three sites to check out:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Community Forum
The Forum is an membership information portal designed to encourage information exchange and includes tips, guides, and other resources. One of the more interesting resources is a downloadable Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Toolkit, which includes stuff like guides, presentations and implementation checklists.
The Site also includes a discussion forum area with topics like SOX IT issues and the most heavily visited forum: Sarbanes-Oxley Employment, which is open to both job seekers and employers.
Continue reading "A Universe Of SOX Assistance..."
A Universe Of SOX Assistance
Two years into the regulation, the issues of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, technical and otherwise, are so diverse and complex that an entire sub-industry has emerged to assist companies looking for resources, technology or just good old advice.
Most of those resources have a Web presence, so from time to time I'll point you to some of the more useful Web content. Here's three sites to check out:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Community Forum
The Forum is an membership information portal designed to encourage information exchange and includes tips, guides, and other resources. One of the more interesting resources is a downloadable Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Toolkit, which includes stuff like guides, presentations and implementation checklists.
The Site also includes a discussion forum area with topics like SOX IT issues and the most heavily visited forum: Sarbanes-Oxley Employment, which is open to both job seekers and employers.
Continue reading "A Universe Of SOX Assistance..."
Good Times For Microsoft. Bad Times For RIM?
Everyone saw a Windows Mobile-based Treo coming, and it arrived pretty much on time—just like Microsoft promised back in October. It doesn't come as a surprise to most that it will operate on Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network either. What really makes the news of the Treo intriguing is the fact that it arrives in the midst of RIM's second round of patent re-examinations.
Continue reading "Good Times For Microsoft. Bad Times For RIM?..."
A Mobile New Year
The new year kicked off with a mobile slant, not surprising since the giant Consumer Electronics Show also kicked off this week in Las Vegas.
Microsoft got things rolling quickly at the event by telling its MSN Messenger users that it isn't about to let Skype consume all of its VoIP lunch. Deals with Philips Electronics and Uniden to make VoIP phones available for use with the new Windows Live Messenger should make Microsoft's VoIP partner MCI plenty relieved, but it will have to wait until Windows Live Messenger 8.0. is released later this year.
Speaking of Skype, Skype users learned that they will soon be able to make VoIP calls without their PCs acting as the mediator. The new Skype Internet PhonePLUS from Creative Labs Inc. is said to connect directly with a router via an Ethernet cable. The phone will be available in the spring.
Continue reading "A Mobile New Year..."
A Mobile New Year
The new year kicked off with a mobile slant, not surprising since the giant Consumer Electronics Show also kicked off this week in Las Vegas.
Microsoft got things rolling quickly at the event by telling its MSN Messenger users that it isn't about to let Skype consume all of its VoIP lunch. Deals with Philips Electronics and Uniden to make VoIP phones available for use with the new Windows Live Messenger should make Microsoft's VoIP partner MCI plenty relieved, but it will have to wait until Windows Live Messenger 8.0. is released later this year.
Speaking of Skype, Skype users learned that they will soon be able to make VoIP calls without their PCs acting as the mediator. The new Skype Internet PhonePLUS from Creative Labs Inc. is said to connect directly with a router via an Ethernet cable. The phone will be available in the spring.
Continue reading "A Mobile New Year..."
It's Not The Size Of The Data Breach That Matters: All Of Your Customers Are Affected
The oft-forgotten element of the endless procession of consumer data breaches is how companies manage the aftermath. It's an undertaking that can be summed by two words: Damage control. And one company that found itself on the wrong end of a breach last month--Marriott Corp.--is only getting half of the effort right.
Continue reading "It's Not The Size Of The Data Breach That Matters: All Of Your Customers Are Affected..."
Daily News Podcast, Friday, Jan. 6
Listen to the current daily podcast: Microsoft released the patch for the zero-day Metafile vulnerability five days ahead of its previously announced schedule; some are saying that this week's scheduled re-release of the Sober worm will not be anything to write home about; the latest reports about Google's Friday announcement say the company will release a software suite; and MTV and Microsoft are teaming up on a music service that will take on Apple Computer's market leading iTunes music store.
* Read my editor's note, or leave a comment: Making Sense Of Conflicting Information.
This podcast is adapted from the InformationWeek Daily Newsletter.
Background music: "Another Continent," courtesy Digital Riffs Music, www.digitalriffs.ca, under Creative Commons License.
For CA, Only Time Will Tell
Just a little more than a year after John Swainson took the helm of scandal-laden CA, the president has already made his mark on the company - and is beginning to leave his imprint on the enterprise management market as a whole. After years of struggling to evolve from a mainframe software vendor to become a powerhouse in the distributed enterprise management market, under Swainson's leadership CA finally seems to be making the transition. Thursday's disclosure of the company's plans to buy application management vendor Wily Technology is just the latest in a string of strategic moves designed to position the once-beleagured CA as a vendor with a full portfolio of enterprise management solutions.
Continue reading "For CA, Only Time Will Tell..."
For CA, Only Time Will Tell
Just a little more than a year after John Swainson took the helm of scandal-laden CA, the president has already made his mark on the company - and is beginning to leave his imprint on the enterprise management market as a whole. After years of struggling to evolve from a mainframe software vendor to become a powerhouse in the distributed enterprise management market, under Swainson's leadership CA finally seems to be making the transition. Thursday's disclosure of the company's plans to buy application management vendor Wily Technology is just the latest in a string of strategic moves designed to position the once-beleagured CA as a vendor with a full portfolio of enterprise management solutions.
Continue reading "For CA, Only Time Will Tell..."
Making Sense Of Conflicting Information
As my colleague Patricia Keefe noted in her daily podcast yesterday, one of the more frustrating aspects about covering the technology industry is trying to make sense of often dueling information sources. Journalists aren't experts, usually; that's why we interview others for their opinions and their particular filter on the 'facts' at hand. But how to cover something when the supposed experts can't, or don't, agree?
This got me thinking. If it's hard for those of us who are merely writing about any given contentious topic, I can't imagine how tough it must be for IT-ers who have to make an actual decision based on this information.
Continue reading "Making Sense Of Conflicting Information..."
A More Unreasonable Take On HP's Laser Printer
Recently I wrote a blog entry about an HP laser printer that a user complained forced him to buy new toner cartridges even though the old ones weren't empty.
In an effort to be reasonable (and you better believe that for me it takes a real effort) I concluded that the user, not HP, was at fault. A reader, Chris Tune, wrote to disagree with me.
"Despite the fact that HP has a provision for overriding the page count method of ink replacement this issue should never have arisen, even for the least astute of HP's customers. There is really no really good reason I can think of that HP printers should default to using the page count to determine if color ink is out."
His point is that HP's printer interface design may not have been evil, but was certainly incompetent. I'd love to hear from an HP engineer on this issue and kick it around a little more, but Tune's point is, I think, a fair one. A little more unreasonableness on my part was called for -- so I'll try to redress the balance.
Continue reading "A More Unreasonable Take On HP's Laser Printer..."
A More Unreasonable Take On HP's Laser Printer
Recently I wrote a blog entry about an HP laser printer that a user complained forced him to buy new toner cartridges even though the old ones weren't empty.
In an effort to be reasonable (and you better believe that for me it takes a real effort) I concluded that the user, not HP, was at fault. A reader, Chris Tune, wrote to disagree with me.
"Despite the fact that HP has a provision for overriding the page count method of ink replacement this issue should never have arisen, even for the least astute of HP's customers. There is really no really good reason I can think of that HP printers should default to using the page count to determine if color ink is out."
His point is that HP's printer interface design may not have been evil, but was certainly incompetent. I'd love to hear from an HP engineer on this issue and kick it around a little more, but Tune's point is, I think, a fair one. A little more unreasonableness on my part was called for -- so I'll try to redress the balance.
Continue reading "A More Unreasonable Take On HP's Laser Printer..."
HP to Buy CSC? That Could Really Hurd
Wednesday's edition of The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hewlett-Packard and private equity firm Blackstone Group are in talks to acquire defense IT specialist Computer Sciences Corp. This follows reports that private capital is also behind a possible buyout of Affiliated Computer Services. These deals could happen, but...
Continue reading "HP to Buy CSC? That Could Really Hurd..."
Daily News Podcast, Thursday, Jan. 5
Listen to the current InformationWeek daily news podcast. In this report, Linux and Windows vulnerabilities, the latest Windows Vista beta, the buzz surrounding Google, Happy IT workers, 10 Ways To Juice Up Your Network, and this week's CES show. Also, today's editor's note addresses the need to Master Your IT Domain.
Background Music "Juniper" by Kevin MacLeod, Courtesy IncompeTech, www.incompetech.com under Creative Commons License.
Master Your IT Domain
It's a new year, and you know what that means - once more into the breach! Your budget may be set, your staffing approved, and key projects scheduled throughout the months, but you want to make sure that all the political in-fighting, PowerPoint presentations and number crunching pays off. And it won't, if you let IT basics get away from you.
Continue reading "Master Your IT Domain..."
"Hey! You Can't Take Pictures In Here!"
USA Today has an interesting article for people who found digital cameras under their Christmas Trees; it's a guide to the laws about taking and publishing photos. It comes down to: If you can see it without a telephoto lens (and usually even with a telephoto lens), you can photograph it and publish it. Mostly.
Continue reading ""Hey! You Can't Take Pictures In Here!"..."
Why The U.S. Needs Offshore Workers: Other Voices
This blog often extols the virtues of offshore outsourcing. We think it's good for the economy, corporate profits, domestic employment and even international relations. But we're not the only ones who believe this.
Continue reading "Why The U.S. Needs Offshore Workers: Other Voices..."
Net Entrepreneur Covers All The Angles
Ever wonder what goes on inside the mind of an Internet entrepreneur? James Haft, CFO of upstart U.S. Condominium Exchange, explains in a revealing video interview how the Web serves as a business platform that can take a relatively one-dimensional business--real estate brokerage, for instance--and truly make it a multi-industry enterprise. USCondex, as Haft says, is neither a realty nor technology business but a digital and media business.
And, it's those kinds of businesses [see this week's InformationWeek story, Capital Ideas From The Internet] that attract funding from venture capitalists and angel investors.
Click here to listen to an audio version of the Haft interview.
It's Time For Another Look At IM Federation
With all the year-end and New Year IM network attacks and threats of attacks, perhaps it is time for another look at instant messaging federation, especially if your users are becoming avid IM hounds while you are trying to discourage internal use of consumer IM services on your network.
While secure, real-time collaboration and presence are valued capabilities, you've learned the hard way through your experience with corporate e-mail systems that company communications need to be be authorized, and based on trusted relationships. At the same time, you can't make verification so onerous to users that it defeats the simple, real-time nature of IM.
That is were federation comes in and Maxime Seguineau, CEO and chairman of Antepo Inc.
provided a detailed look at federation, its benefits and its alternatives. In this week's feature story,
Setting A Course Toward Instant Messaging Federation, Seguinea explains the various federation models for enterprise IM, from closed, VPN-like networks to third-party
clearinghouses.
Continue reading "It's Time For Another Look At IM Federation..."
It's Time For Another Look At IM Federation
With all the year-end and New Year IM network attacks and threats of attacks, perhaps it is time for another look at instant messaging federation, especially if your users are becoming avid IM hounds while you are trying to discourage internal use of consumer IM services on your network.
While secure, real-time collaboration and presence are valued capabilities, you've learned the hard way through your experience with corporate e-mail systems that company communications need to be be authorized, and based on trusted relationships. At the same time, you can't make verification so onerous to users that it defeats the simple, real-time nature of IM.
That is were federation comes in and Maxime Seguineau, CEO and chairman of Antepo Inc.
provided a detailed look at federation, its benefits and its alternatives. In this week's feature story,
Setting A Course Toward Instant Messaging Federation, Seguinea explains the various federation models for enterprise IM, from closed, VPN-like networks to third-party
clearinghouses.
Continue reading "It's Time For Another Look At IM Federation..."
Daily News Podcast, Jan. 4
In today's podcast we evaluate potentially positive career developments for security professionals, analyze the White House cookie controversy and also evaluate the latest IM security issues.
Background Music "Fresh Snow in the Valley" by Derek K. Miller, www.penmachine.com, under Creative Commons License.
Is 37signals The New Google?
Is 37signals the new Google?
What am I, a psychic? How the heck should I know?
I don't know whether 37signals will grow from the plucky little startup it is today to become a multi-billion-dollar world-shaking powerhouse. But 37signals does have the zesty, refreshing, flavor of a little company called Google, ca. 1998. 37signals demonstrates its spunkiness in its application suite available on the company home page, and further described in this podcast interview with co-founder Jason Fried.
Continue reading "Is 37signals The New Google?..."
Off With A Bang
If you were betting on 2006 to be the year of the acquisition, the odds just might be in your favor. The calendar page is barely flipped to the new year and our first acquisition of the 2006 is already in the works. Just a day after the instant messaging management company IMlogic touted its strong 2005, thanks in large part to the surge in attacks using IM as a vehicle, security vendor Symantec disclosed plans to acquire the company as a way to strengthen its own IM management security.
Continue reading "Off With A Bang..."
Off With A Bang
If you were betting on 2006 to be the year of the acquisition, the odds just might be in your favor. The calendar page is barely flipped to the new year and our first acquisition of the 2006 is already in the works. Just a day after the instant messaging management company IMlogic touted its strong 2005, thanks in large part to the surge in attacks using IM as a vehicle, security vendor Symantec disclosed plans to acquire the company as a way to strengthen its own IM management security.
Continue reading "Off With A Bang..."
Searching For Conscience In The Tech Industry
It's not every day that an employee publicly condemns his company as a tool of state-sponsored thuggery and gets to remain employed.
On Tuesday morning, Robert Scoble, technical evangelist at Microsoft and the company's most noted blogger, weighed in about a report posted by blogger and former CNN reporter Rebecca MacKinnon that MSN Spaces on New Year's Eve shut down a blog written by Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti, a blogger apparently not well loved by Chinese authorities.
"It’s one thing to pull a list of words out of blogs using an algorithm," Scoble wrote. "It’s another thing to become an agent of a government and censor an entire blogger’s work. Yes, I know the consequences. Yes, there are thousands of jobs at stake. Billions of dollars. But, the behavior of my company in this instance is not right."
Continue reading "Searching For Conscience In The Tech Industry..."
Product Design And Development Is Outsourcing's Next Big Thing
Software development, customer service, back office work--the offshoring of these business activities is now pretty much commonplace. So what's "the next big thing" headed overseas? It could well be new product design and development.
Continue reading "Product Design And Development Is Outsourcing's Next Big Thing..."
Are Google PC And Operating System On The Near Horizon?
Once again, the Internet is rife with speculation that Google is embarking on a grand new voyage. This week, it's all about the PC (and a Google operating system!). Or something like a PC. Or maybe something PC-esque. Or a networky box that connects with your PC. Oh well, that's the nature of speculation. It's speculative. Regardless, outside of the type of box, there are at least some reported details that make my ears perk up like a curious doggie.
Continue reading "Are Google PC And Operating System On The Near Horizon?..."
CES Watch: Samsung's New Nano Killer
Samsung plans to unveil this week at CES an iPod-Nano competitor MP3 player called the YP-Z5. The gadget offers storage between 2 and 4 GB, has a 1.8-inch screen and boasts great 3D sound. It also reportedly gets about 38 hours of battery life. (The photo below is of the YP-Z5.)
Another Korean company, called Mannetel, will roll out their EXQ at CES. The EXQ is Yet Another MP3 Player, but features a useful gimmick: The headset can be left in your ears and used to take calls from your cell phone via Bluetooth.
Personally, I don't think any company has a chance in hell of unseating any of the iPod models. Apple is perfectly unstoppable for now -- especially in the wake of an unbelievably successful holiday season -- but that's not going to stop Korean and Chinese companies from unveiling a huge variety of MP3 players at CES -- with every single one of them designed to steal market share from Apple.
Cheap Laptop? Sure!
The Consumer Electronics Show, which starts Tuesday in Las Vegas, will probably be the most important technology tradeshow on the planet this year. Which says as much about the current sad, sorry state of corporate IT as anything else. After a decade when the innovation -- and the big bucks -- were to be found in corporate computing, the center of gravity has shifted to the consumer.
Part of the reason may well be buyer fatigue: the big companies have cut up their IT departments' credit cards. Part of it may also be technology saturation: businesses are as computerized as they want to get. They've already got a desktop PC on every desk, a laptop in every briefcase, and a BlackBerry in every pocket. Enough, already.
But a big part of it is the experience curve. The consumer market is hot because products are hitting price points consumers are willing to meet.
Continue reading "Cheap Laptop? Sure!..."
Cheap Laptop? Sure!
The Consumer Electronics Show, which starts Tuesday in Las Vegas, will probably be the most important technology tradeshow on the planet this year. Which says as much about the current sad, sorry state of corporate IT as anything else. After a decade when the innovation -- and the big bucks -- were to be found in corporate computing, the center of gravity has shifted to the consumer.
Part of the reason may well be buyer fatigue: the big companies have cut up their IT departments' credit cards. Part of it may also be technology saturation: businesses are as computerized as they want to get. They've already got a desktop PC on every desk, a laptop in every briefcase, and a BlackBerry in every pocket. Enough, already.
But a big part of it is the experience curve. The consumer market is hot because products are hitting price points consumers are willing to meet.
Continue reading "Cheap Laptop? Sure!..."
Daily News Podcast, Tuesday, Jan. 3
Listen to the current daily podcast. Today's stories include several items about doing business on the Internet, including the tale of a college student who's earned $1 million with a unique site (read the article, visit The Million Dollar Homepage. In breaking news, Microsoft and Nissan put an Xbox in a car. And my editorial comments today are about why spam still matters--read the full text or leave a comment here.
This podcast is adapted from the InformationWeek Daily Newsletter.
Background Music "Species" courtesy The Cow Exchange under Creative Commons License.
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