Computerworld articles from December 2007

Computerworld archives from December 2007

Just plain unethical.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
December 3, 2007... SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, I wrote about my encounter with Frank Abagnale, the famed former con artist whose life story was depicted in the book and movie Catch Me If You Can (see related Q & A, page 22). I noted that Abagnale blamed the failure of...

Don't wait for college to introduce ethics.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 3, 2007... I agree that business ethics needs much more attention at the university level ["The Real Ethics Guru," Editor's Note, Oct. 22], and I was happy to hear the keynote speaker at my son's freshman invocation this fall at Bentley College talk...

Microsoft takes steps to prevent WGA potholes.(SOFTWARE)
December 3, 2007... THREE MONTHS after a software upgrade snafu caused Microsoft Corp.'s Windows validation system to finger legitimate users as pirates, the company is detailing a series of steps it has taken to try to prevent a repeat of the problems. In a...

DBA admits to theft of 8.5M records.(SECURITY)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... A SENIOR DATABASE administrator at a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. last week admitted that he stole about 8.5 million customer records over five years. The records were sold to data brokers for $580,000, according to...

Oracle clarifies VMware support plans--Sort of.(SOFTWARE)
December 3, 2007... ORACLE CORP. is attempting to clarify its support plan for non-Oracle virtual servers to dispel confusion caused by conflicting statements from executives during its OpenWorld user conference in San Francisco last month. After the Oracle...

The TJX Companies Inc.(Short Takes)(company agrees to settlement)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... The TJX Companies Inc. on Friday said it has agreed to pay up to $40.9 million to Visa card issuers affected by a massive data breach the retailer disclosed in January. Under the settlement, the banks must agree by Dec. 19 not to sue TJX in...

IBM.(Short Takes)(Lotus Notes has a computer bug)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Researchers at Core Security Technologies found a bug in IBM's Lotus Notes software that could be used by attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC. IBM is offering a software patch for Notes 7 users.

A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that Microsoft Corp. and Autodesk Inc. must pay $133 million to z4 Technologies Inc.(Short Takes)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that Microsoft Corp. and Autodesk Inc. must pay $133 million to z4 Technologies Inc. for infringing on patents for technology that prevents unauthorized use of software.

Google Inc. received an extension until Jan. 11 to respond to a lawsuit brought by Northeastern University.(Short Takes)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Google Inc. received an extension until Jan. 11 to respond to a lawsuit brought by Northeastern University. The suit charges that Google uses technology developed by a Northeastern professor to run its online search service.

Fired Microsoft CIO lands new job at mortage lender.(CAREERS)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Former Microsoft Corp. CIO Stuart Scott, who was fired by the software vendor early last month for violating unspecified company policies, has landed a new job--with a higher-level title--at a mortgage firm. Scott started work last Monday...

Fed CIO says she asked agencies to hold off on smart ID card rollouts.(GOVERNMENT)(interview with Karen Evans)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... In an interview last week, Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and IT at the White House Office of Management and Budget, explained why many federal agencies didn't meet an Oct. 27 deadline for issuing smart ID cards to all employees...

Between the lines.(News Digest)(Cartoon)
December 3, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Online shoppers.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Online shoppers in the U.S. set a one-day spending record on Cyber Monday, making $733 million worth of purchases, according to comScore Inc., which tracks Web user behavior.

Microsoft Corp.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)(company releases service packs for Exchange Server 2007)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Microsoft Corp. released its first service pack for Exchange Server 2007. It said SP1 fixes bugs and adds features designed to make the software more stable.

Two years ago.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)(executives took pay cuts at Fujitsu Ltd.)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Top executives at Fujitsu Ltd. took pay cuts following a computer failure at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, mirroring punishments dished out earlier to exchange officials.

U.K. to review planned database.(Global Dispatches)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... LONDON -- Ed Balls, U.K. secretary of state for children, schools and families, last week ordered an independent assessment of security for the government's planned ContactPoint database. The [pounds sterling]224 million ($462 million U.S.)...

EU still probing IBM-Telelogic deal.(Global Dispatches)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... BRUSSELS -- European Commission competition regulators have asked IBM and Telelogic AB for more information as they continue their probe into IBM's plan to buy the Malmo, Sweden-based maker of software development tools. The investigation...

Briefly noted.(Global Dispatches)(Lenovo Group Ltd. to build factory in Poland)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Lenovo Group Ltd. has announced plans to build a $20 million (U.S.) factory in Legnica, Poland, to manufacture PCs to sell in Europe and Africa. Lenovo said that it expects to begin production at the plant, which will employ 1,000 workers, late...

Supercomputers bulk up on power while shedding price pounds: high-performance systems are getting larger and larger. But lower costs are broadening their appeal within IT.(HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING)
December 3, 2007... THE trade show floor at the SC07 supercomputing conference here last month had a futuristic, film noir feel, with low lights, large glowing screens and scattered towers that displayed the names of companies and national laboratories. It was a...

Pandemic threat still getting IT's attention: public interest in the avian flu has diminished. But some IT managers are continuing to prepare for an outbreak.(MANAGEMENT)
December 3, 2007... THE AVIAN FLU is following a plot line that could have come out of a Stephen King novel. It's a menacing presence but remains mysterious, striking in out-of-the-way places while threatening havoc via a global pandemic. And until this year, the...

Share Excel files SaaS style.(On the Mark)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... TO SAY, as George Langan does, that "companies run on Excel" is only a slight exaggeration. But working with Excel is generally a solitary process. If people want to share their work, they send e-mail attachments, which is not a particularly...

Autonomic for the people.(On the Mark)(autonomic management tools)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Most vendors target their autonomic management tools at the IT operations staff. That's a mistake, contends Bruce Olson, vice president of strategy and business development at Optinuity Inc. in Bethesda, Md. He says the best place to monitor...

'Rip' a searchable index from backup.(On the Mark)(Index Engines eDiscovery Appliance v2.5)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... A 2005 survey by Fulbright & Jaworski LLP estimated that the average $1 billion company had 140 lawsuits pending against it. And with the advent last year of new electronic-discovery regulations, your company's legal team has probably already...

Frank Abagnale: the con man turned crime fighter talks about stupid laws, naive companies and the lure of easy money.(THE GRILL)(Interview)
December 3, 2007... Frank W. Abagnale, former imposter and fraudster, and subject of the book and movie Catch Me If You Can, was ultimately apprehended by police and served five years in prison. He was then released on the condition that he would assist federal...

The IT ambulance is on the way.(OPINION)(Viewpoint essay)
December 3, 2007... TECHNOLOGY IS amazing. You know this, of course--it's probably why you're in the IT industry. But you might not know the latest accomplishment racked up by the multimedia blizzard of the early 21st century: We have succeeded in making the day...

Second life: is there any there there? After a week's sojourn, our virtual traveler isn't so sure.
December 3, 2007... UNTIL RECENTLY, I thought "second life" referred to one of those places the Bible says we'll go after we depart this life. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Now I know it's a virtual place, a vast collection of electrons on computers all over the...

Targeting cancer: software that precisely shapes radiation beams to attack tumors helps deliver more effective treatment.(SOFTWARE)
December 3, 2007... BACK IN the late 1980s, researchers at Varian Medical Systems Inc. had a vision for how to make radiation therapy for treating cancer more powerful, more efficient and much safer. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] They just didn't have the...

A hard choice at a tough time: with budgets cut to the bone, it's a matter of deciding which is more important--IT services or information security.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)
December 3, 2007... HERE'S A hypothetical situation to ponder. Say you're in charge of both IT operations and information security. Big budget cuts are announced. You can't afford to maintain the status quo. Worse, you don't have the staff you used to, because a...

Don't make me pull over! How to improve your project processes without inflicting pain.(IT MENTOR)
December 3, 2007... BACK IN the days before minivans and huge SUVs, road trips were painful. Our summers always included a 10-hour trip to visit our grandparents in New Hampshire. At the peak, there were eight of us: Mom, Dad, Mike, Karlyn, Richard, Chandler, Andy...

Professional excursions.(OPINION)(Viewpoint essay)
December 3, 2007... NO MATTER how much you love your job, there comes a time when you need to take a break. I'm not talking about an afternoon lunch involving a martini; I'm talking about an extended engagement with something new. I call these breaks professional...

Where the jobs will be.(Career Watch)(Table)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... Among computer-related occupations, programming jobs will see the flattest growth. PROJECTED GROWTH, 2004-2014 Network systems and data communications analysts 55% Software engineers, applications 48% Software...

Speaking the language.(Career Watch)(IT skills shortage looming for programmers)(Brief article)
December 3, 2007... FORRESTER RESEARCH INC. urges corporations to take action now to deal with "the pending legacy IT skills shortage." In a white paper of that name, the research firm reports that supply and demand are relatively balanced for Cobol programmers...

Business meets academia.(Career Watch)
December 3, 2007... HOW U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE WORKING WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO DEVELOP TOMORROW'S IT LEADERS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SCHOOL: Florida State University College of Business, Tallahassee DOES IT HAVE AN IT ADVISORY COUNCIL?...

Never mind.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 3, 2007... It's Sunday afternoon, and this net admin pilot fish gets a call at home from a database administrator who's at work doing server updates. "She's doing the updates using a remote console from her office in a building adjacent to the building...

One sweet fix.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 3, 2007... For over a year, this user calls the help desk at least three times a week, complaining about computer problems he's having. "He always used to say that because of the computer fault, he was going to miss lunch again to catch up on his work,"...

Aha!(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 3, 2007... Users signing up for this company's online applications submit a form with full name and mother's maiden name. Then IT sends an e-mail message telling the user his initial password is his mother's maiden name. But one user just can't sign on....

Unreliable.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 3, 2007... Panicked secretary asks this pilot fish for help, and it's got to be unofficial: The secretary's brother is having a crisis, but he doesn't work for the company. "His Ph.D. thesis is on a floppy, and the floppy is corrupted," fish reports. "I...

A business problem.(FRANKLY SPEAKING)
December 3, 2007... SECURITY IS a people problem. OK, you already knew that. But last week, the SANS Institute finally recognized it too, in its list of the top 20 Internet security risks of 2007. Topping the chart of new, hard-to-defend-against risks were...

The rewards will follow.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
December 10, 2007... JUST LIKE talented, experienced people, even the best-managed and most highly regarded organizations can lose sight of priorities and goals and end up scrambling means and ends in the process. In the struggle to deal with the myriad conflicting...

IT can't do it all.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 10, 2007... As we CIOs "push back" and clearly define the services we are able to effectively provide, one trend remains persistent: Turning non-IT staffers into knowledge workers ain't happenin'! Thus, as we become more dependent upon IT-related...

Saying no, but nicely.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 10, 2007... I've been through the "just say no" program with ITers who want a black-and-white answer ["No More Mr. Nice Guy," Opinion, Oct. 29]. Why, they wondered, can't we tell the customers "no" when it's a bad thing for the organization?...

Deja vu with HP.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 10, 2007... The only operating systems that HP invented, MPE and subsequently MPE/iX for the HP 3000 platform, are also over 30 years old ["Open-VMS Still Has Road Ahead of It, HP Says," News, Nov. 5]. It is ironic that in 2001, a vice president from HP...

Facebook fiasco may lead to closer look at online privacy issues.(PRIVACY)
December 10, 2007... THE FIRESTORM of criticism that hit Facebook Inc.'s Beacon advertising service last week may, ironically, prove to be a positive development for the online privacy movement. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Palo Alto, Calif.-based social...

Microsoft, testing firm bicker over benchmark.(OPERATING SYSTEMS)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... MICROSOFT CORP. and a performance testing firm are trading barbs over the latter's claims that an upcoming update of Windows XP ran through a series of Office benchmarks about twice as fast as an early version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1...

SAP unveils Web 2.0 look for its CRM tool.(SOFTWARE)(customer relationship management software)
December 10, 2007... SAP AG, looking to reduce the complexity of its customer relationship management software, last week unveiled an upgrade that adds support for Web 2.0-style user interfaces. Bob Stutz, president and general manager of global strategy and...

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(Short Takes)
December 10, 2007... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. again delayed volume shipments of its quad-core Opteron processors after finding a bug on the chip's Level 3 memory cache that caused system problems. The chip is now slated to ship early next year, a few months...

Microsoft Corp.(Short Takes)(conference of Microsoft Corp.)(Conference news)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... Microsoft Corp. has rescheduled its postponed Professional Developers Conference to late October 2008. In May, the company canceled the October 2007 conference to allow for further development of 2008 versions of Windows Server, SQL Server and...

Duke University School of Law.(Short Takes)
December 10, 2007... About 1,400 Duke University School of Law applicants have been warned that their Social Security numbers may have been stolen after hackers gained access to data on the school's Web site. The incident was discovered early this month.

Microsoft.(Short Takes)(Microsoft Corp. to acquire WebFives)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... Microsoft has acquired Seattle start-up WebFives, a provider of Web-based file-sharing services for Internet and mobile video, photos, audio and blogs.

Moth-based robot may lead to 'hybrid' computers.(BIOTECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... A scientist who successfully connected a moth's brain to a robot predicts that "hybrid" computers running a combination of technology and living organic tissue will be available in 10 to 15 years. The move to use the moth came after...

H-1B cap issue gets aired in Iowa as caucuses near.(IT WORKFORCE)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... GARY SCHOLTEN, CIO at Principal Financial Group Inc. in Des Moines, has met with three of the Democratic presidential candidates who are campaigning in Iowa as the state's Jan. 3 caucus approaches. Candidates often visit Principal's offices,...

Between the lines.(News Digest)(Cartoon)
December 10, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Novell Inc.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)
December 10, 2007... Novell Inc. postponed its fourth-quarter earnings report because of a review of its accounting practices by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Novell defended itself and said it delayed the results out of "an abundance of caution."

AT & T Inc.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)
December 10, 2007... AT & T Inc. announced that it will phase out all of its public pay phones by the end of next year. The company said the growth of cell phone usage played a big role in its decision.

50 years ago.(BENCHMARKS LAST WEEK)
December 10, 2007... The first public air-to-ground telephone call was made from a commercial airliner.

IBM says Asustek violates its patents.(Global Dispatches)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... TAIPEI -- IBM has filed a trade complaint charging that Taipei-based motherboard maker Asustek Computer Inc. infringed three of its patents. IBM has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to bar Asustek and its North American...

AMD opens new Indian R & D facility.(Global Dispatches)(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... BANGALORE, INDIA -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. late last month opened a 52,000-square-foot research and development facility here. The new building replaces a three-year-old, $5 million, 38,000-square-foot facility that will now house...

Briefly noted.(Global Dispatches)(Fujitsu Ltd. to open software development center)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... Tokyo-based Fujitsu Ltd. said it will open a new software development center in Adelaide, Australia. The operation is expected to employ 200 people within two years. Sandra Rossi, Computerworld Australia

Windows, Linux servers chip away at Unix: the operating system mix in data centers is changing, and Unix revenues are dropping--but only slowly.(OPERATING SYSTEMS)
December 10, 2007... IN GARTNER INC.'S forecast for the server operating systems market, there's nothing listed under the category of emerging products. And although the market is by no means static, the pace of change inside many corporate data centers is slow....

Microsoft bows to users on OS checks: complaints by IT execs prod the vendor to kill the 'kill switch' in Vista and Windows Server 2008.(OPERATING SYSTEMS)
December 10, 2007... MICROSOFT CORP. last week said it's removing the so-called antipiracy kill switch from Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008--a decision driven by complaints from IT managers about the prospect of systems suddenly being unable to function...

Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008: they're simplifying IT and showing the business how to innovate.(Company rankings)
December 10, 2007... Toshiba, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Compaq. Name any vendor, and five years ago, Constellation Energy had its computing hardware. The same was true for software and business processes. At one point, the Baltimore-based company had at least 19...

Inside their project portfolios: the visionary efforts of this year's Premier 100 honorees showcase the leadership skills that have put them at the top.(Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008)
December 10, 2007... Hot Projects These IT leaders broke down communication and departmental barriers to get cutting-edge projects off the ground. HOW DOES an IT leader choose the most innovative IT project to take on these days? For some, the decision...

The 2008 honorees.(Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008)
December 10, 2007... Asif Ahmad, 40 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vice president of diagnostic services, CIO, associate dean of academic computing, Duke University Health System and Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Bud Albers, 43 Senior vice president,...

The ninth annual Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference.
December 10, 2007... March 9-11, 2008 Rosen Shingle Creek Resort Orlando, Florida Presenters will include: Don Tapscott Author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Douglas Merrill Chief...

How the leaders were chosen.
December 10, 2007... Each year, Computerworld evaluates nominated IT executives for inclusion as Premier 100 IT Leaders in a multistep survey process. For a detailed look at our methodology, visit Computerworld.com/08/p100. Special thanks go to our seven judges,...

The Premier agenda: the 2008 budgeting, purchasing and project plans of this year's Premier 100 IT executives.(Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008)(Statistical table)(Company rankings)
December 10, 2007... SPENDING POWER Nearly two-thirds (65%) of this year's Premier 100 IT Leaders said their IT budgets had increased in 2007, by an average of 15%. Only 14% saw a decrease (of 12%, on average) and 21% reported that their budgets remained the...

A plan's a plan.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 10, 2007... Days before the move to a new building, a 200-port network switch has yet to be delivered. "The vendor is very reliable, so I wasn't worried," says a pilot fish on-site. "The engineering supervisor in charge of the overall construction project...

Precisely.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 10, 2007... Boss decrees that all users in the office will install a particular piece of software on their PCs, and this old-school pilot fish isn't impressed. "It was some half-baked, homegrown tracking program that most people said didn't work," fish...

That darned complex IT jargon!(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 10, 2007... This transportation company uses GPS to track where everything things is. "Information from a mobile GPS location-tracking system is radioed back to a base station where a modem connection talks to servers," explains a pilot fish working with...

Admit nothing.(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 10, 2007... Telecom manager at this company has never admitted to any problems on his network, says a pilot fish on the scene--at least until the day he lets down his guard and he reports the following: "We have not had any network faults, but the work we...

Like there's any other option?(TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE)
December 10, 2007... Pilot fish reports the following message that flashes on the screen as a high-end CAD program begins installation: "Please wait if computer freezes during extraction." * Sharky's trying not to freeze while I wait for your true tale of IT...

It's simply politics.(FRANKLY SPEAKING)
December 10, 2007... SIMPLIFY TO INNOVATE. If you walk away from this year's Premier 100 issue of Computerworld with one idea, make it this one: We can rethink everything we do in IT to make it simpler and then leverage that simplicity to make both IT and users...

'They were like us'.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Editorial)
December 17, 2007... WHEN Computerworld's Patrick Thibodeau broke the story on Dec. 6 about an Iranian research center's success in acquiring enough AMD Opteron processors to build a supercomputer (see story, page 14), we knew that a spotlight was being shined...

View of EMC seemed to be free of facts.(Letter to the editor)
December 17, 2007... The view that Don Tennant provides of EMC in his Nov. 19 Editor's Note ["One View of EMC"] is one that has been deliberately constructed by talented marketing professionals. As such, it is nothing more than hearsay. Because Tennant knows a...

Analytics can let great ideas slip away.(Letter to the editor)
December 17, 2007... The article on using text analytics ["Travelocity.com Dives Into Text Analytics to Boost Customer Service," Computerworld.com, Nov. 14] blithely ignored a serious failing when it focused on trends and "big picture" issues: the highly innovative...

CIOs share IT worries over emerging tech.(MANAGEMENT)(information technology)(Discussion)
December 17, 2007... THE SPREAD of Web 2.0 and new mobile technologies throughout the workplace is forcing IT executives to quickly examine how best to maintain control of such systems. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CIOs participating in a panel at Cisco Systems...

Ohio breach prompts public data encryption.(SECURITY)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... STILL REELING from the theft of a backup tape that held personal data on thousands of state workers and residents, Ohio officials last week announced plans to distribute encryption software to most public agencies and schools. ...

NYSE places buy on Linux, hold on Unix.(OPERATING SYSTEMS)(New York Stock Exchange)
December 17, 2007... THE New York Stock Exchange is investing heavily in x86-based Linux servers as it continues to build out the hardware architecture for its NYSE Hybrid Market trading system, which it launched last year. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lowering...

SAP AG.(Short Takes)(VMware Inc.)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... SAP AG last week agreed to begin supporting its enterprise software, including its family of ERP applications, on VMware Inc.'s virtual servers. Parag Patel, vice president of alliances, said the company is working on a similar support pact...

Microsoft Corp.(Short Takes)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... Microsoft Corp. last week released its monthly set of security patches, fixing critical flaws in Internet Explorer, DirectX and the Windows Media Format technology. The IE patch fixes four bugs, including one that has been exploited in attacks....

Typhoon Touch Technologies Inc.(Short Takes)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... Typhoon Touch Technologies Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against PC maker Dell Inc. and tablet computer developer Motion Computing Inc.

IBM.(Short Takes)(International Business Machines Corp.)
December 17, 2007... IBM last week unveiled Version 5.0 of its Tivoli Identity Manager software, the product's first major upgrade in two and a half years. The new version of the tool, which manages user access rights and passwords, can be deployed more quickly.

Rackspace goes shopping for new data center space.(DATA CENTERS)(Rackspace Managed Hosting)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... RACKSPACE US INC. is converting an abandoned shopping mall near San Antonio into an office and data center complex that the managed hosting services firm hopes will win recognition for its "green" features. For instance, John Engates,...

Adam Chowaniec: personal computing pioneer looks back at his Amiga.(Q & A)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 17, 2007... Long before geeks were cool--and rich--a group of engineers had to build the machines that would ignite the PC revolution and ultimately change how people communicate, play and do business. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In an interview with...