InfoWorld articles from November 2002

InfoWorld archives from November 2002

BAM to speed app reports - Industry heavyweights target business process performance.(business activity monitoring)
November 4, 2002... AS BUSINESS PROCESS integration strategies march up the architectural stack, technologies are emerging to address growing concerns about how to manage application transactions running across distributed systems. Vendors, including...

Starting a supply-chain revolution with billions of lost sales on the line, CTOs in the retail supply chain are adding a collaborative planning and forecasting platform to the technologies already in use -- while they work to achieve the distant promise of open standards.
November 4, 2002... JOHN DUKER, e-business infrastructure services architect at consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, says things are moving fast these days as America's largest consumer products maker refashions its supply- chain technology to maximize its...

Technology circle.(Using Web services for partnering)
November 4, 2002... CTO of Guidance Solutions sees companies using Web services as a partnering tool GUIDANCE SOLUTIONS is a professional services firm that focuses primarily on Internet application development in both the Microsoft and Java arenas. The...

CTOs' 2003 budgets (Second in a four-part series).(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... CTOs are seeing improvement in the money flow. Overall, more are anticipating budget increases for 2003 over those CTOs holding steady with 2002 numbers. Few CTOs anticipate layoffs in 2003, reflecting renewed corporate optimism for an...

BI players tout user simplicity - Collaboration improves as interface, system designs target corporate visibility.(Brio Performance 8.0 )
November 4, 2002... BI (BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE) vendors are maneuvering to inject BI solutions with reporting tools that make analytics accessible to a broader set of users and that enable collaboration that offers a big- picture view of corporate performance. ...

Borland builds toolset - JBuilder, TogetherSoft form integrated plan to enhance Java development suite.
November 4, 2002... BORLAND SOFTWARE IS making a double play in the tools arena with an upgrade to its JBuilder Java development environment this week, a move that follows its acquisition of TogetherSoft last week. Although Borland touts the complementary...

IBM computes on demand - Sam Palmisano details drive toward next- generation infrastructure.
November 4, 2002... IBM HAS GIVEN shape and form to its grid, autonomic, utility, and integration technologies by weaving them together into a new vision dubbed "on-demand" computing. Pitching what he called a fundamental and irreversible shift in computing,...

iSCSI faces hazy future - Vendors debate the value of the long-awaited storage protocol.(at Storage Networking World)(Industry Overview)
November 4, 2002... DEPENDING ON WHOM you ask, the iSCSI protocol, expected to be finalized in the next six months, either will play a significant role in the future of storage networking or will become just another unfulfilled technology promise. The debate raged...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Economic survival lessons from fools - Those who try to sell into a recession with PR alone risk long-term damage.
November 4, 2002... RECESSIONS ARE LIKE natural forest fires: they're unpredictable, devastating, and absolutely essential for long-term growth. Wall Street commentators lampoon skittish stockholders for overreacting to minor events such as insider trading....

To the editor.
November 4, 2002... Good results, not good ideas IN REGARD TO Bob Lewis' recent Survival Guide: As an IT leader, this desire to do good may tell us a great deal about the character of a colleague presenting an idea(see "Leading by listening first," Oct. 21)....

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Spheres of influence.(Column)
November 4, 2002... AFTER REITERATING my January theory about the United States annexing Canada, I seem to have irked more than few of my spies, even those who are usually on my side. "Heck, I even live in America but don't want Canada to become part of the U.S.,"...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Preparing for change - No one knows which platform you'll use down the road, so now's the time to prepare for porting.
November 4, 2002... NOTHING IS EVER static in the computer industry. Computer trends and technologies rise and fall faster than a frog on a pogo stick. Anyone who has been in this business for a while can attest to the fact that tying your fortunes to one...

WINDOW MANAGER: Parasites in Windows - Without knowing it, you may have installed small programs that can have disastrous effects.
November 4, 2002... IMAGINE THAT an insect had bored a hole in the wall of your bank and was draining your bank account, $5 at a whack. People who run businesses on the Internet feel that way these days. They're being assaulted by "parasite" Windows programs...

SECURITY ADVISER: Root of the problem - Dentist visit keeps P.J. from getting a front-row seat at a recent DNS root server attack.
November 4, 2002... I HAD MORE important things on my mind a couple of weeks ago when the DNS (Domain Name System) root servers were being attacked. I was sitting in my dentist's chair and missed the whole thing. When the attack was revealed the next day, I...

STORAGE INSIDER: Back-burner storage - Moving data to secondary resources saves money but keeps information accessible.(Quantum CX30)
November 4, 2002... GOOD COOKS instinctively know when a dish is ready to be moved to the back of the stove. By putting it on the back burner over low heat, they free both their minds and the front of the stove for preparing additional items. Storage...

WIRELESS WORLD: Coffee, black, no Wi-Fi - When you're away from the home front, wide-area air cards beat out Wi-Fi in keeping you connected.
November 4, 2002... THE HONEYMOON is over. Wi-Fi has been getting a free ride from me and most other columnists who sing the praises of wireless LAN connectivity. But for my money, 1,700 Starbucks coffee shops offering IEEE 802.11b does not qualify as ubiquitous...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: The SME standard - In a recession, buy like a small company; in times of plenty, buy like a small company.(small to midsize enterprises)
November 4, 2002... WHAT A DIFFERENCE two years makes. Back in 2000, I remember that two- thirds of the press releases crossing my desk carried a tag line resembling "XYZ software, enterprise solutions for Fortune 500 firms." Everything from product design to...

CTO CONNECTION: The art of good politics - CTOs must constantly communicate the value of IT to crucial constituents in their organizations.
November 4, 2002... IN A TYPICAL month, several books come across my desk. But like most busy CTOs, I can only find time to read the most compelling ones. Recently, a book titled Revolutionizing IT: The Art of Using Information Technology Effectively came in...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: A manager for all seasons - In lean and in prosperous times, there's value in keeping your staff happy.(information technology management)
November 4, 2002... "I HAD TO be nice to you in 1999," said the CIO in a low, ominous voice in his monthly all-hands meeting. "I had Y2K to worry about. And I had to be nice to you again in 2000," he continued, his voice rising in pitch and amplitude just a bit,...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Follow the money - When innovators with a proven track record start investing their own money in open source, it's time to pay attention.
November 4, 2002... BLOGTROLLING CONTINUES to reward. Hopefully, one day RSS (Really Slick Syndication) tools will automate information gathering, but for now we have to rely on trusted sources for the daily scoop. In the aggregate, Weblogs provide the best of...

THE GRIPE LINE: Sneakwrapping a virus - If it acts like a virus, it is a virus -- even if its creators cloak it in a EULA to legitimize their security breach.
November 4, 2002... READERS HAVE OFTEN joked that we'll really be in trouble when the viruses start coming with sneakwrap license agreements. But now that it has happened, it turns out the real joke is how many people seem to think that the existence of the...

Extending Groove - Groove Web Services will allow PDAs and Web apps to share in Groove collaboration.
November 4, 2002... HOW DO YOU PORT 5 million lines of Win32/COM code to the Pocket PC? That was the dilemma that Groove Networks faced when considering how to bring its ultrasecure peer collaboration technology to mobile devices. Jamming 10 pounds of potatoes...

Content, KM tools collaborate - iManage, Open Text leverage content management across enterprise.(iManage WorkSite MP 3.0)
November 4, 2002... IN AN EFFORT to strengthen control over collaborative content inside enterprises, content and knowledge management tools are fortifying integration with e-mail and business applications to capture content at its point of creation. ...

Red Hat tailors a snug fit - Version 8.0 of the venerable Linux OS is user-friendly, affordable, and ready for the enterprise desktop.
November 4, 2002... ARGUING THAT LINUX is not a viable desktop candidate is no longer valid. With the 8.0 release of its self-named Linux adaptation, Red Hat has proven that all the Linux desktop needs now is adoption by business-applications developers. Red...

Handset foes take sides - Microsoft aims to bump Symbian out of the handheld driver's seat.
November 4, 2002... CONVINCED THAT software will drive the next boom in handset sales and subscriber minutes, the telecom industry's chief OS rivals are fortifying opposing positions. Long after consolidating its desktop dominance, Microsoft is targeting...

.Net's missing links - Improvements to the Compact Framework notwithstanding, Microsoft's mobile strategy is still a game of wait and see.
November 4, 2002... When microsoft rolled out Pocket PC 2002 in September, it dared all of us to expect more from our PDAs and phones than appointments and address books. At the time, it was easy to believe that .Net could become the glue that binds mobile devices...

Oracle readies grid engine - Database joins grid computing race with core RAC, Linux technology.(Real Application Clusters technology)
November 11, 2002... LOOKING TO LEVERAGE growing interest in grid computing, Oracle next week will detail its grid strategy in a bid to position its technology as a foundation for distributed applications. Executives at the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company...

AOL aims for enterprise.(AIM Enterprise Gateway)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... America Online last week announced the AIM Enterprise Gateway, an instant messaging product for business users. The offering manages corporate IM use behind company firewalls, acting as a proxy between users and the outside AIM network. The...

Informatica partners up.(Cap Gemini Ernst & Young contract)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Business intelligence vendor Informatica got a boost last week, announcing that Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has selected the Informatica Warehouse for Strategic Sourcing Analysis as a core component of its new Chief Procurement Officer solution....

Delivering the goods - digitally - Going totally digital has yet to arrive despite pundit promises, but some CTOs have committed to change the way they move products.
November 11, 2002... CBEYOND VICE PRESIDENT of IT Joe Oesterling oozes pride when he notes that the Atlanta-based telecom services company has never, in three years, snail-mailed a bill to its more than 4,000 customers. From day one, the paperless invoice has...

Value innovation - Nortel Networks CTO rethinks network deployment to serve customers in a down market.(Greg Mumford)
November 11, 2002... FROM POSITIONS IN ENGINEERING and product design to a position in strategic planning, Greg Mumford says he has pursued a passion for innovating new technologies during his long career at Nortel Networks. But since December 2001, when he was...

We want you -- and soon (Third in a four-part series).(more IT hires in 2003)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Forty-four percent of the CTOs in a recent survey expect new hires in 2003(see "CTOs' 2003 budgets"). The hottest skills sought in new hires? App dev and Web services. Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Outside interests - Flexibility and integration needs are making outsourcing strategic and changing outsourcers' approaches.
November 11, 2002... KNEE-DEEP IN BUDGET cuts and facing an alarming rate of graying software and hardware investments, customers are embracing outsourcing to unify disparate applications and to reinvigorate IT architectures. From niche boutiques to giant...

Turning to services - Services-oriented architectures drive outsourcing of core business processes.
November 11, 2002... UNTIL QUITE RECENTLY, outsourcing was about getting outside experts to do things your organization couldn't do -- or couldn't do efficiently - - on its own. With the advent of the Internet, the proliferation of standards-based interfaces, and...

Security outfits fortify defenses - Self-integration tactics take hold as enterprises deal with point-solution security tools.(Computer Security Institute Security Conference )
November 11, 2002... EXASPERATED BY warding off scores of diverse security attacks, enterprises are seeking to infuse their networks with more proactive security management and more intelligent perimeter defenses. Attempting to meet this demand, the Computer...

SAML 1.0 gets thumbs-up.(Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards approves Security Assertion Markup Language)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Members of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) interoperability consortium approved SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) on Wednesday as an OASIS open standard. The move paves the way for the...

Iona to launch app server upgrade.(Orbix E2A ASP 6.0)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Iona on Monday will roll out a new version of its application server platform, Orbix E2A ASP 6.0, which features a host of services to help developers create application harmony across disparate middleware and messaging technologies. The...

Ariba to launch spend management tool.(Ariba Category Management)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Ariba next week plans to unveil a spend management application designed to leverage cost savings attained in centralized procurement activities across an entire enterprise. With its Category Management application, Ariba joins a slew of vendors...

Tablet PCs seek developers - Microsoft unveils OS, hardware units in bid to establish new platform.
November 11, 2002... AFTER TWO YEARS of previews and sneak peeks, Microsoft and partners this week unveiled the Tablet PC, heralding what some observers believe is a new platform the software giant can control. Other than the tablet design, the salient feature...

Grow with the flow - McData's Sphereon 4500 switch enables port increases on the fly.(also Intrepid 6140 switch)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 11, 2002... FIBRE CHANNEL SWITCHES are the supporting structure of a SAN. Each switch carries its share of the data traffic and works together with other switches to maintain a stable and responsive environment. Removing one of the switches, even for a...

Nokia secures mobile VPN.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Nokia announced this week its mobile VPN client product, designed to allow enterprises to extend VPN connections to their mobile workers securely and efficiently. The product uses industry standard protocols between VPN clients and gateways...

Vivato touts switch.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Startup Vivato this week unveiled a wireless gigabit Ethernet switch running Linux for IEEE 802.11x. A smart antenna in the switch focuses the radio signal to clients, extending the range. The range claimed for a single switch is 1.2 miles with...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Could HSA push IT regulation? Government touts security information-sharing plan for critical industries.(Department of Homeland Security)
November 11, 2002... WITH THE SEPTEMBER release of the toothless "shoulds-and-coulds" contained in the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace draft, White House security siren Dick Clarke hit the road touting the benefits of voluntary sharing of information about...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Squirm and squabble.(Column)
November 11, 2002... I WENT TO renew the registration on my Harley last week, and while waiting in line I ended up talking and joking with a woman who has a Harley, too. I should not have told Amber about her. "What is her name, Robert? Did you get her number?"...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
November 11, 2002... Web services fade away I'M RESPONDING TO Steve Gillmor's Ahead of the Curve column(see "Not fade away"). We store a large amount of proprietary intellectual property on our network, which also directly controls our manufacturing facility....

THE OPEN SOURCE: Switching Offices - Microsoft is giving organizations reasons to move from Office to the OpenOffice.org suite.
November 11, 2002... IF YOUR ORGANIZATION has a number of older PCs running Microsoft Office, there are now several good reasons to seriously consider switching to the OpenOffice.org office suite. Most of these reasons have been supplied by none other than...

WINDOW MANAGER: Sites against parasites - Services are available to fix Windows malware that you might not even know you have.
November 11, 2002... LAST WEEK, I wrote that millions of Windows users unwittingly installed "parasites" when setting up music-sharing programs or other free marketing gimmicks. Some parasite programs harvest fake sales commissions from e-commerce sites. They can...

SECURITY ADVISER: The enemy within - Sketchy numbers from overseas highlight some core truths about IT security weaknesses.
November 11, 2002... WALT KELLY'S Pogo the Possum is a classic comic strip, and Kelly's greatest contribution to the language may well be the immortal line, "We have met the enemy and he is us." I find it hard to dispute that point, particularly as it applies to IT...

STORAGE INSIDER: Show us the innovation - Enough talking! Scott and Mario are looking for real action from the storage industry.(storage resource management software, standards, interoperability)
November 11, 2002... WE'RE SICK OF IT, sick of it all. Sitting at the semiannual Storage Networking World conference last month in the hellhole commonly known as Orlando, Fla., one of us (Mario was working in the lab) realized a few things -- we're sick and tired...

WIRELESS WORLD: Still a moving target - The future of Wi-Fi remains uncertain, but an innovative wireless switch from Vivato holds promise.
November 11, 2002... LAST WEEK IN writing about Wi-Fi vs. cellular data solutions, I said technology may swing in another, unanticipated direction(see "Coffee, black, no Wi-Fi"). Although I still believe Wi-Fi is a good on-campus solution, and 3G data cards...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Price of performance - What is lost when server application frameworks focus on run-time speed?
November 11, 2002... I KEEP UP with trends pretty well, but sometimes the train makes it to the next station before I realize I should be on it. When server-side scripting, VB (Visual Basic), and Java first rose to prominence in the '90s, I couldn't understand why...

CTO CONNECTION: Fix it sooner, not later - CTOs must communicate the high cost of making changes at the end of a project cycle.
November 11, 2002... IN A RECENT staff meeting, one of the engineers on my team related a story in which the business users of a product he developed were brainstorming on the product's features almost until the day it launched. As the deadline approached and the...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Keep your staff happy - It's inexpensive, it's the right thing to do, and if you are successful, there's a payoff.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... "NOSTALGIA," SAM GOLDWYN once said, "ain't what it used to be." Recently I've become nostalgic for the raft of articles we saw during the late, lamented "IT Labor Shortage" listing proven techniques managers could use to gain employee...

THE GRIPE LINE: Sharpened clause - Tough times mean tough tactics, as one software purchaser found when he tried to cancel a maintenance agreement.
November 11, 2002... WE'RE ALREADY FAMILIAR with software maintenance agreements that are designed only to maintain the software company's revenues, but this week we get to see one that can also maintain the agreement itself. The newest installment in our...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Law and order - Marrying the spirit to the letter of the law produces a victory for Microsoft customers, if not for competitors.
November 11, 2002... THE JUDGE IN THE Microsoft case split the baby last week. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did such an effective job of focusing on the narrow elements of the government's case that she left little room for further appeals. "We have taken the...

New faces for PCs - Innovative designs from Compaq and Fujitsu make tablet concept easier to swallow.(Fujitsu Stylistic ST4000, Compaq Tablet PC TPC-100)(Hardware Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 11, 2002... MICROSOFT'S LONG-PROMISED Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is officially launched. More than a dozen computer makers are producing tablet PCs, including several Taiwan-based OEMs. Major tablet PC vendors will include Toshiba, Viewsonic, Compaq,...

Stretching middleware - Comprehensive Oracle9iAS release delivers useful enterprise integration functions while remaining cost-conscious.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 11, 2002... INTEGRATING DISSIMILAR and far-flung enterprise assets can be daunting. But IT executives can successfully address the issue by selecting midtier technologies that can act as scalable hubs. With its latest application server release, Oracle...

Integrated biz suite - NetSuite 8.0 combines front-and back-office apps, ease of use, and customizability.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 11, 2002... EVERY COMPANY, regardless of its size, must maintain good relationships with customers, suppliers, and partners; adhere to consistent and lawful accounting practices; and, typically, manage both online stores and brick-and-mortar warehouses....

Palm reaches for enterprise - A refocused Palm SG looks to IBM and BEA for back-end support.
November 18, 2002... PALM SOLUTIONS GROUP is attempting to reinvent itself as a serious participant in the enterprise. As Microsoft's rival Pocket PC platform gathers enterprise momentum, Palm is looking to entrenched enterprise players IBM and BEA Systems to...

Envisioning enterprise data - Complex business data has taken a new shape as CTOs turn to new visualization technologies to convey their corporate information in easy-to-digest graphics.
November 18, 2002... JOHN MCKINLEY, CTO of Merrill Lynch, is a busy man -- running an IT empire of thousands of employees as he configures global technology strategy for the financial services giant. But on his desktop screen for much of the day is New York-based...

Try this at home.(O'Reilly & Associates COO C.J. Rayhill )(Company Business and Marketing)
November 18, 2002... In a nutshell, O'Reilly & Associates' IT executive implements the technology her company writes about AS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER and executive vice president of technology publisher and events group O'Reilly & Associates, C.J. Rayhill has...

The changing CTO role (Fourth in a four-part series).(Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... It's all about money. CTOs will expand their efforts and focus on generating revenue in 2003. Related Articles:We want you -- and soon Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Small, fast, or Mac - New notebooks attack mobile ennui with pens, performance, and (gasp) Unix.(Industry Overview)
November 18, 2002... DURING A BRIEFING on Tablet PC, one of the Microsoft engineers copped to being outside the new platform's target market. "I really need my notebook to be a desktop," he admitted, dutifully tapping on the tiny screen with his stylus. Amen...

Switching by choice.(Apple PowerBook G4)
November 18, 2002... APPLE'S "SWITCH" AD CAMPAIGN doesn't reach me. As a business user, I can't identify with consumers who feel they must be rescued from Windows. I wasn't forced to run Windows for my job. I run Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris in my lab, and I feel as...

Mobility wires Comdex agenda - Wireless wares take spotlight as vendors defy slowdown in PDA sales.(Comdex Fall 2002 in Las Vegas)
November 18, 2002... WIRELESS MOBILITY WILL take center stage at this year's Comdex Fall 2002 in Las Vegas, with a flood of wireless technology announcements expected across the hardware and software spectrum. Despite a slowdown in handheld sales during the...

Opsware unfurls Blade Edition.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Opsware this week will unveil Opsware Blade Edition, its new datacenter automation software product designed to simplify and lower the cost of management across racks of blade servers. Due for general release in January, Opsware Blade Edition...

Oracle joins Eclipse.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Oracle has revealed a two-tiered strategy for promoting standardization in the tools space, joining the IBM-led Eclipse tools initiative and introducing a proposal for a single API to access multiple vendors' Java-based IDEs. The dual proposals...

Salesforce.com TOUTS wireless EDITION.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Salesforce.com this week will take the wraps off a wireless edition of its online CRM product designed to enable users to access customer data in real time via wireless devices. Salesforce.com Airforce Wireless Edition allows users to connect...

Intel raises DP server ante - Fresh workstation and server products unleash power trapped in dual-processor systems.
November 18, 2002... THE STEADY CLIMB of clock speeds in 32-bit processors from Intel and AMD has not translated into markedly improved application performance. A multigigahertz processor runs at its rated speed only when it's executing instructions from its...

IBM hides the keys - Embedded Security Subsystem goes beyond software- based security.
November 18, 2002... THE NAME MAY NOT be glamorous, but the IBM Embedded Security Subsystem meets a need that's long been met poorly, if at all. For many, the risk that critical data on the hard drives of PCs and laptops can be stolen or tampered with is just...

IBM consolidates storage - Ultrastar 146Z10 raises storage density, array performance.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 18, 2002... ANY PLANNING DOCUMENT coming out of IT these days is bound to make heavy use of the term "consolidate." Applied to storage, consolidation means maximizing the capacity of your most capable arrays, servers, and networked storage devices. If...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Getting a grip on the hype cycle - IT leaders need a balanced view of IBM's push for grid and autonomic computing.
November 18, 2002... From President and CEO Sam Palmisano to lead technologist Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM is making revolutionary claims for the future of grid and autonomic computing, but folks at the battlefield level speak in more evolutionary terms. ...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: It's a small world.
November 18, 2002... I RAN INTO the same woman I had been talking to in line when I went to register the Harley. This time, I was out at a local pub. The plot thickened when Amber came in, saw the two of us talking, and grew suspicious. Amber pulled me aside: "Did...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
November 18, 2002... Defining politics IN REGARD TO Chad Dickerson's CTO Connection column, what passes under the ruse of "office politics" emanates largely from deceitful, conniving, passive-aggressive, manipulative, back-room networking individuals whose...

THE OPEN SOURCE: The disaster of success - When companies fail to adapt to market demands, they lose out -- and so do their customers.(Column)
November 18, 2002... IT'S AMAZING. Businesses work so hard to become the top dog. They become the leaders in their fields. And then the unthinkable happens: In a jealous effort to guard their position, they lock themselves out of new business and technological...

WINDOW MANAGER: Crush creepy crawlers - Readers find 'parasiteware' is getting out of hand and begs for a strong dose of bug spray.(Industry Trend or Event)(Column)
November 18, 2002... MANY OF MY readers like surprises -- but they hate being surprised by "parasites." These programs quietly install themselves into Windows when you download other software. They can make your PC more crash- prone and your hair prematurely gray....

SECURITY ADVISER: Certifiably certified - Following a coursework paper trail to gain -- or judge -- security expertise is no cakewalk.(Column)
November 18, 2002... THE LACK OF a decent yardstick against which to judge the security skills of IT staff is perhaps the biggest obstacle to improving those skills. After all, how can you know what the standard is when there really isn't one? But how does the...

WIRELESS WORLD: I see dead companies - With market-dominant Microsoft eyeing the mobile arena, do competitors have a ghost of a chance?(Microsoft Pocket PC 2002)(Product Information)
November 18, 2002... IN THE MOVIE The Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis was dead, only he didn't know it. I'm beginning to wonder how many mobile and wireless companies are in the same boat. Could it be that Microsoft captured the mobile market with Pocket PC 2002 and...

STORAGE INSIDER: Cost of human error - There's plenty of room for mistakes when deploying SANs, but new tools may help.(Column)
November 18, 2002... A CORRECTION FIRST: The name of the new disk-based backup solution from Quantum is "DX30" and not CX30, as we reported in a previous issue. Also, the unit promises to be fast, but Quantum expects transfer rates in the 60MBps -- not gigabytes...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Interplanetary tango - In today's astronomy headlines, Jupiter is now moving into orbit around IBM.(Company Business and Marketing)
November 18, 2002... THE WEB SERVICES Interoperability Organization (WS-I)agenda is embodied in Jupiter, Microsoft's latest amorphous code-named initiative. Jupiter is not a product, a bundle of products, or a set of technologies. Rather, Jupiter loosely codifies...

CTO CONNECTION: Flexibility and control - Decisions, decisions: Web services come of age, offering apps that bridge the "build or buy" gap.
November 18, 2002... ONE OF THE perennial questions for IT executives considering enterprise systems is "build, buy, or outsource?" The question has become so common that it's a clichE. There are several reasons to consider building a system, the chief ones...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Understanding natural selection - Make sure your 'best practices' really fit your business needs.(Column)
November 18, 2002... MAYBE THEY WERE just tired. In the past, when I've mentioned evolutionary theory in this space, I've received mail challenging my misguided acceptance of natural selection written in the quantities and tones usually reserved for criticisms...

THE GRIPE LINE: A vote for fair play - Readers weigh in on the latest vendor registerware schemes, and the best ways to fight unfair practices.(Column)
November 18, 2002... THE ELECTIONS ARE over, but it's not too late to register -- at least not to register your gripes about registerware. My recent columns about product activation and other types of forced registration struck a nerve with many readers(see...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Reappearing Ink - IBM turns up its nose at the Tablet, a decision that may someday leave the company singing the big blues.(IBM and Dell Computer decline further Tablet PC development)(Company Business and Marketing)
November 18, 2002... COMDEX WOULDN'T be Comdex without a Tablet PC rollout -- at least for the past several years. The cab lines in Las Vegas may be shorter and the spaces between display booths wider, but the Tablet keeps slouching toward Bethlehem to be born. ...