InfoWorld articles from September 2002

InfoWorld archives from September 2002

Keeping BPM on track - SonicXQ 1.5 adds process-management layer to reliable messaging.(from Sonic Software)(Evaluation)
September 30, 2002... IT'S EASY TO IDENTIFY a poorly planned Web services strategy: It emphasizes technical benefits over business objectives. Merely replacing CORBA, COM (Component Object Model), and EJB interfaces with SOAP accomplishes little more than the...

Raising the roof - CTOs in the construction industry are pushing wireless and collaboration features despite cultural and business constraints.
September 30, 2002... FOR JOHN VOELLER, chief knowledge and technology officer of the worldwide construction and engineering company Black & Veatch (BV), building a major chemical or power plant involves far more than the physical act of putting bricks and mortar...

Directing expansion - Netflix VP of IT operations keeps costs down as the online DVD rental company spreads out.
September 30, 2002... LATE FEES AND drop-offs are the bane of existence for movie buffs, who would prefer to catch a flick from the comfort of their own couch. Netflix understands this and has devised a simple solution: Log-on, order several titles, and wait for...

Feeling secure (Part one of a four-part series).(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... CTOs are optimistic that their networks will avoid coming under attack, despite the recent proliferation of major viruses. Meanwhile, CTOs want assurances that corporate information will be protected when sharing information about network...

Wireless LANs at the office - IT becomes an air traffic controller when managing WLANs and their users.
September 30, 2002... Although deployment of wireless LAN networks has been a roaring success off campus -- especially helpful for field force workers and in warehouse or distribution spaces, as IEEE 802.11x gets deployed on campus in the heart of the enterprise...

At the wireless edge - XML protocols, peer-to-peer nets to ease WLAN management.
September 30, 2002... AS WIRELESS LANS grow in size and complexity, and IT managers wrestle with the twin burdens of staff time and security when configuring and maintaining wireless APs (access points) across their enterprises, a previously unnecessary category...

SAP bolsters BPM agenda - Vendors forge BPM apps with Web services to unify distributed ERP silos.
September 30, 2002... RESPONDING TO DEMAND for BPM (business process management) functionality, dominant ERP vendors are rolling out technologies to bridge the gap between traditional enterprise application silos and to forge collaborative environments. ...

Liberty boosts Passport interoperability.(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... The Liberty Alliance has announced plans to support interoperability between its system and Microsoft's rival Passport system. Although Liberty is prepared to open the door to Microsoft, an official said he doubted Microsoft would be...

Palm divides brands.(business products under the Tungsten sub-brand and consumer products under the Zire sub-brand)(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... Palm will tailor the way it markets its handhelds, placing its future business products under the Tungsten sub-brand and its products for consumers under the Zire sub-brand. Tungsten products, which emphasize security and reliability, will be...

Micro Focus targets legacy data.(will announce a version of its EnterpriseLink software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 30, 2002... Micro Focus next week will announce a version of its EnterpriseLink software that uses Web services to provide Internet access to data on IBM AS/400 systems and S/390 mainframes. EnterpriseLink enables companies to establish an XML-based...

IBM rubs SOAP into MQ - Messaging platform to receive SOAP support as MQ tools seek Eclipse.
September 30, 2002... LOOKING TO MAKE Web services messaging more reliable, IBM plans to inject support for SOAP into its WebSphere MQ messaging platform. In the fourth quarter, Big Blue will release a "tech preview" of WebSphere MQ with Web services support,...

Wireless flexibility - Bluesocket gateway solves crucial wireless- network access issues.(Bluesocket WG-1000 Wireless Gateway)(Evaluation)
September 30, 2002... IN MANY COMPANIES, there is a fundamental problem with providing wireless access to both employees and guests. How do you provide secure wireless networking to your staff while also providing wireless access to the Internet and to external...

ABOVE THE NOISE: The challenges in a wireless world - Waging wireless securely and sensibly takes planning and strong management.
September 30, 2002... THE CHALLENGE WHEN rolling out a new system or technology is often not with the hardware and software itself. It's with the users. Managing a responsible and mature workforce when implementing a technology such as wireless is key. A legacy...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Unhappy people.(PeopleSoft)
September 30, 2002... ON OUR FIRST night back from vacation, Amber almost started a barroom brawl, and it wasn't even with me. At the local pub, she bumped into a mean drunk girl and spilled a drink on her. The girl tried to follow Amber into the bathroom. "All I...

THE OPEN SOURCE: Penguins marching in - Predictions that Linux would start to appear on the corporate desktop weren't far-fetched.
September 30, 2002... I DREW A FEW catcalls last December when I predicted that Linux would soon emerge on the corporate desktop. I received a few more when my New Year's predictions said that this would be the year when growing corporations would begin to...

WINDOW MANAGER: SP1: gangs of fun - Service Pack 1, the first major update for Windows XP, brings its own new set of joys.
September 30, 2002... I'VE REPORTED on patches OVER the past five weeks, especially the latest service packs for Windows 2000 and XP, which contain new license language. SP3 for Windows 2000 gives Microsoft the right to issue fixes "that will be automatically...

SECURITY ADVISER: Firewall stall - Requiring ISPs to provide personal firewalls is no worse than requiring automakers to install seat belts.
September 30, 2002... IT LOOKS LIKEone of my pet projects isn't going anywhere for a while. I'm speaking of a proposal being kicked around as part of the U.S. government's cybersecurity plan that would require ISPs to provide personal firewalls to their customers....

STORAGE INSIDER: Moving targets - Shooting down the problem of moving files on network shares requires finesse.(Rainfinity Rainstorage and auto-stor)
September 30, 2002... FOR THE HUNTERS out there: No, we are not talking about venison this week. The moving targets we refer to are the files your users keep on network shares -- thousands of word processing, spreadsheet, and database files, not to mention...

WIRELESS WORLD: From vision to reality - As Accenture Labs experiments with wireless and Web services, Case Western deploys 802.11a.
September 30, 2002... FROM PAGE MILL ROAD in Palo Alto, Calif., to Sophia Antipolis in France -- just a few minutes drive from Cannes in your Jag -- Accenture Labs, the giant consultancy, is busily looking beyond the current economic climate to the economic...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Nothing to lose - Sun's Jonathan Schwartz lays out a mission and message at InfoWorld's Next-Gen Web Services II Conference.
September 30, 2002... WHATEVER SUN IS paying Software Group Vice President Jonathan Schwartz, it's not enough. After just 45 minutes onstage at InfoWorld's Next- Generation Web Services II conference in Santa Clara, Calif., Schwartz yanked Sun Microsystems out of...

CTO CONNECTION: xSP expectations - When service providers don't live up to contract terms, a calm response merits better results than a tantrum.
September 30, 2002... ONE OF THE MORE difficult things in a CTO's daily life is the management of xSPs who are not living up to their SLAs. A situation in which an xSP is underperforming against a signed contract is, by its very nature, unexpected. Of course,...

: Brainstorm no-brainer - If your brainstorming sessions aren't producing great new ideas, maybe it's time to overhaul the format.
September 30, 2002... IN THE END, technique can't substitute for courage. Take, for example, brainstorming. By now, most of us in business have learned how to brainstorm properly. We sit at the table, politely waiting our turn while the facilitator asks for...

THE GRIPE LINE: Spam salesmanship - The use of bulk e-mail to sell software raises questions about shady sales tactics and the best way to combat them.
September 30, 2002... WHAT SHADE DO you get when you mix white with gray? In the spam world, it appears to be a murky, slimy green. Adding to the ever-growing spam problem is a deluge of junk e-mail advertising Symantec's Norton SystemWorks2002 Professional...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Here comes the Sun - Sun plays the client card in its strategic battle with Microsoft and others for control of the enterprise desktop.(Interview)
September 30, 2002... "THERE ARE A SERIES of dynamics in the industry that are yielding some interesting disruptive opportunities." That's what Sun software chief Jonathan Schwartz tells me backstage before his keynote at InfoWorld's Next-Gen Web Services...

IM tools expand presence - Lotus, Microsoft, AOL prepare instant messaging for enterprise.
September 30, 2002... TYPICALLY REGARDED as a consumer-oriented text chat tool, instant messaging, as well as presence-awareness technology, are making strong inroads into enterprises, emerging as critical collaboration and productivity tools. Heavyweight...

Untangled Web - Atomz Publish streamlines site content management via the Web.(Product Announcement)
September 30, 2002... ATOMZ SEARCH, THE content indexer and search engine, has long set the standard for a Web-native service: easy, automatic, and rock-solid. Atomz Publish aims to bring those same virtues to enterprise Web site management. Users of Search will...

IBM in smart-card services push.(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... IBM's Global Services unit has added asset monitoring and secure identity services to its services portfolio. IBM is using chip cards and "smart chips" that send out a radio signal for these services, the company announced this week. The...

Qwest restates $950 million IN revenue.(Qwest Communications)(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... Qwest Communications will restate about $950 million in revenue that it booked in 2000 and 2001 from the exchanges of optical capacity assets, the company said in a release this week. In July, the company admitted to similar transactions,...

Boosting visibility - Metrics Builder puts business users in control of BI data -- at a price.(Brio Software's Metrics Builder 7.0)(Evaluation)
September 23, 2002... IDEALLY, BUSINESS MANAGERS should be able to analyze company performance without having to first call in a SWAT team of programmers and DBAs. After all, business requirements and objectives change frequently according to external and internal...

Fork in the road - With miles of roads and rails to monitor and thousands of details to schedule, transportation company CTOs are driving to reconfigure logistics -- the road splits on whether or not to develop logistics technologies in-house.
September 23, 2002... IN THE MIDST of intense competition for shipping customers, Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway last month formed its own logistics subsidiary to offer its partners more customized transportation management services. Kathleen Regan,...

Security controls.(TruSecure CTO Peter Tippett)(Interview)
September 23, 2002... TruSecure CTO helps companies steer a security strategy with a broad menu of subscription services to avert risks SECURITY IS ON every CTO's mind these days, but what's the best way to evaluate security threats? TruSecure, a Herndon,...

Yukon territory (Fourth in a four-part series).(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... CTOs are cautious about deploying Microsoft's Yukon and Office 11 into the corporate environment. Related Articles:CTO Pulse Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Reality checks.
September 23, 2002... Execs are turning to business intelligence, business performance management for better visibility into enterprise actions The ultimate goal is to ratchet the BI data locked in transaction- system silos up to the executive suite for daily...

Building toward BPM - Enterprisewide performance analytics face many technological hurdles.(business performance management)(Buyers Guide)
September 23, 2002... IN THE SCRAMBLE to bring accountability and profitability back to the corporate world, BPM (business performance management) is gaining momentum in the BI (business intelligence) world. The basic idea is to tie operational data from...

National cybersecurity draft, not plan, unveiled.(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... A working draft of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace was revealed by the Bush administration this week. Citing a need for more input from technology vendors, U.S. government officials decided not to institute its final version. The...

webMethods takes the wraps off Manager.(WebMethods Manager network management software)(Product Announcement)(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... webMethods next week will unveil webMethods Manager, which marries BPM (business process management) and systems management. webMethods Manager is the outcrop of the integration stalwart's partnerships with systems management vendors Computer...

Storage titans bolster admin - SRM wares to leverage standards as users wrestle with SAN complexity.
September 23, 2002... WITH THE STORAGE NETWORK INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (SNIA)-SUPPORTED SMI (Storage Management Initiative) near completion and with vendor support anticipated for next year, SRM (Storage Resource Management) vendors are working to differentiate their...

Sun unveils integrated strategy - Sun connects desktop, middleware, datacenter dots at SunNetwork.
September 23, 2002... SUN MICROSYSTEMS UNVEILED this week at its SunNetwork conference in San Francisco an initiative to stitch together several of its products in an effort to bolster the company's distributed networking initiative and to compete more fiercely...

Firewall fast track? Check Point's 'instant' SecurePlatform slowed by installation issues.(Check Point Software Technologies' SecurePlatform Media Pack)(Evaluation)
September 23, 2002... THE PROBLEM WITH security appliances is that they include hardware that you must pay for. The problem with most security software is that you must spend hours installing and configuring it, negating any savings you might get by using hardware...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Pirate adventures.
September 23, 2002... I FINALLY BROKE out of my lazy vacation daze and went snorkeling with Amber toward the end of our trip. She loved it when the captain of our ship told us about how outlaws used to roam these waters, robbing other ships by night. Can...

THE OPEN SOURCE: A tale of two markets - Despite the overlap, the Linux market and the Unix market are not one and the same.
September 23, 2002... IN AUGUST, Caldera International held a major event to declare that its new name would be The SCO Group. According to some folks in attendance, many resellers were overjoyed with the announcement. They could once again promote the SCO name in...

WINDOW MANAGER: Pick a pack of patches - There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on, and Windows users oughta know all about the latest fixes.
September 23, 2002... FRESH NEW SERVICE packs and patches are here for every version of our favorite OS, Windows. In recent weeks, I've screamed and hollered for needed fixes, so listen up now as I sort them all out. SSL doesn't protect. In a recent column, I...

SECURITY ADVISER: Parallel worlds - Intelligence failure binds facets of Pearl Harbor to impending cyberattack -- but what have we learned?(Column)(Editorial)
September 23, 2002... A FEW WEEKS AGO, in a column on the SecurityFocus Online Web site, George Smith took an indirect swipe at me. He was lambasting the media for using expressions such as "digital Armageddon" and for drawing analogies to the 1941 Pearl Harbor...

STORAGE INSIDER: CPUs hit the wall - The bandwidth increase from networked storage will drown servers' processors.
September 23, 2002... COMMON KNOWLEDGE says I/O operations are the slowest link in your performance chain. After all, CPUs are still many times faster than storage devices; hence, the average business application will likely saturate storage bandwidth resources...

WIRELESS WORLD: Device dominance - Expect the Intel-Microsoft team to be the one to beat in the race to control the intelligent-device market.
September 23, 2002... INTEL COO Paul Otellini kicked off Intel's Developer Forum earlier this month by giving the lead-off keynote address. As a point of reference, when Otellini speaks, you can be pretty sure that what he says is the "emmes" [Yiddish for...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Sense of community - Newsgroups, forums, and mailing lists can be workable substitutes for paid support.(Industry Trend or Event)(Editorial)
September 23, 2002... VENDORS PITCH SUPPORT as a port in a storm, a lifesaver that will be there just when you need it most. Provided, that is, you schedule your crises between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. When you finally do get through,...

CTO CONNECTION: Calling the shots - CTOs are making technology choices, but vendors beware: They have no patience for poor pitches.(Panel Discussion)
September 23, 2002... RECENTLY, I MODERATED a panel discussion in Silicon Valley about the IT decision-making process from the CTO/CIO perspective. The audience consisted primarily of sales and business development people, so a lot of the discussion centered on...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Dress for success - Author postulates that those with social graces will get ahead, but fails to question whether they should.
September 23, 2002... IF YOU WANT to know why practitioners of the hard sciences sometimes sneer at social scientists, look no farther than the popular book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. In it, Goleman presents a groundbreaking discovery: People who...

THE GRIPE LINE: No way to break free - Readers say they signed up for a discounted Web-hosting service that wound up costing them in the long run.
September 23, 2002... IT'S NO SHOCK these days when a "free" Internet service starts charging. What can catch the unwary by surprise is how quickly they can wind up paying more than they bargained for. In July 2001, Web-hosting firm Homestead Technologies...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Fighting the last war - It's you and me against Jack 'watch-the-puppet' Valenti and his Hollywood-on-the-Potomac flunkies.
September 23, 2002... STUDENTS OF HISTORY -- and I'm not one of them unless it's Beatle- related -- often make note of the tendency to fight the last war. So it was that the British advanced in columns while the Americans hid behind rocks and trees. Later, the...

ABOVE THE NOISE: You've got to sweat the small stuff - In this economy, metrics offer a reality check that's crucial for long-term success.(Editorial)
September 23, 2002... ONE OF THE important lessons learned from the dot-com boom and bust is how important metrics are to business, generally, and to technology, specifically. During those days of gluttony, measuring venture capital and stock options seemed to...

Finding an opening - Open-source databases are worth watching as they near the big time.
September 23, 2002... open-source databases, including MySQL and PostgreSQL, are marching into the enterprise via their inclusion in major Linux distributions, which are quickly growing in usage on middle-tier servers and back-end clusters. Beyond Linux...

IBM buys Holosofx to boost WebSphere.(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... IBM has acquired software maker Holosofx, and plans to integrate the technology into its own WebSphere Business Integration software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. IBM and Holosofx have been close partners for several years....

RLX sharpens blade attack with new server.(ServerBlade 1200i)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 23, 2002... RLX has rolled out one of its fastest servers to date: the ServerBlade 1200i based on the 1.2GHz mobile Pentium III processor from Intel. Along with the new server, the company launched Version 4.0 of its Control Tower management software and...

Sonic Software polishes integration product.(SonicXQ 1.5)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 23, 2002... Sonic Software has spruced up its Web services integration product with enhanced usability and features, plus additional platform support, company officials said. SonicXQ 1.5 is a "lightweight" integration platform that combines Web services...

IBM, MS reject MySQL - Open-source database growth draws fire from industry stalwarts.
September 23, 2002... AS INTEREST IN open-source databases builds, data management veterans IBM and Microsoft argue that alternative open-source databases such as MySQL lack the strength and functionality for enterprise deployment. Although Sun has not...

EDI seeks plug and play - Web services supply energy to leverage existing EDI connections.
September 23, 2002... LEAVING BEHIND long-held assumptions about the technology's demise, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is undergoing a resurgence as vendors maneuver to offer enterprises hybrid EDI and Web services infrastructures. With most companies...

Wireless services well in hand - Shrunk-down marketing, CRM services debut at DemoMobile.
September 23, 2002... PRESENTERS AT LAST WEEK'S DEMOmobile 2002 conference in La Jolla, Calif., demonstrated that as mobile devices evolve, so too are mobile services. Services and service-oriented offerings unveiled at the conference ran the gamut, from a...

Room to share - eRoom raises the bar with simple setup, Web services support.(Evaluation)
September 16, 2002... COLLABORATION IMPLIES sharing, whether it's a data file or just an opinion. That's what makes it so valuable: Everyone gets something in return. Today's collaborative processes pull data from a variety of sources, and the difficult part...

The future is now - CTOs are at the forefront of grid computing technology, delivering on the promise of providing large-scale computing availability as a utility.
September 16, 2002... GRID TECHNOLOGY, ONCE just a glamorous vision for marshaling computing power to link far flung users for collaborative projects, is gaining traction. And as CTOs begin to develop these new distributed networks that offer computing power as a...

Behind the markets - Reuters' CTO leads innovative technology development and strategic partnerships.(Mike Sayers, CTO, Reuters Group)
September 16, 2002... MENTION REUTERS and most people think of news. Few will immediately think financial services and even fewer will think innovative labs or complex Beta projects. "Ninety-three percent of our revenue comes from the financial services...

.Net? No thanks (Third in a four-part series).(Microsoft.NET application development software)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Security issues continue to dog .Net's rise within the CTO community as many IT executives pursue alternative approaches. Related Articles:CTO Pulse Copyright (c) 2002 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

Web services applications - New technology promises to smooth the way for BPI, EAI, and Web-based app dev, but the work isn't done yet. Web services must now travel the last mile to the desktop.
September 16, 2002... The browser is today, and will for some time remain, the dominant way to interact with Web services on the desktop. More accurately it's a platform that supports many different modes of interaction. Cloud-based SOAP clients can reflect data...

Middleware evolution - Web services give CTOs an opportunity to rethink their portfolios of high-cost technologies.
September 16, 2002... THE FUTURE OF WEB services in the enterprise lies not in hit-and-run applications such as stock quotes, ZIP code validation, and weather updates. Rather, Web services promises to take companies to the next level of automation: Business...

Forever free services? Patented standards and proprietary implementations may turn out to be for the good of Web services.
September 16, 2002... WEB SERVICES, so the story goes, typify the best aspects of modern business software. Their foundation technologies, including XML, SOAP, and WSDL, were hewn by the sharpest minds in the IT industry and made free for the benefit of all. But...

Beyond integration - The new generation of Web services-enabled enterprise apps means smooth assimilation of homegrown tools.
September 16, 2002... NEW TECHNOLOGIES and evolving business practices guarantee that enterprise apps are never fully cooked. Right now, enterprise application vendors are feeling the heat to respond to users' demands for greater interaction among applications,...

Web services to unify apps - Siebel, Salesforce.com seek standards- based CRM integration nirvana.
September 16, 2002... AS IT EXECUTIVES wrestle with islands of disconnected enterprise apps, vendors are scurrying to offer simpler application bridges driven by XML, Web services standards, and prebuilt business processes. CRM giant Siebel is the latest...

BEA, IBM engage in fight for speed.(BEA challenges IBM in Web service development contest)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... BEA Systems has challenged IBM to build a Web service in fewer than 14 steps and has claimed that its WebLogic Workshop platform requires fewer than one-fifth the steps to build a Web service than does archrival IBM's WebSphere Studio...

Oracle seeks backing for Web services spec.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Oracle is looking to garner industry consensus on a Web services specification for choreographing interactions in business-to-business transactions, an alternative to the current plethora of proposed specifications devised to meet this aim....

Microsoft buys security software vendor.(XDegrees)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... Microsoft has acquired XDegrees, a small maker of security software, in hopes of strengthening its arsenal as it works to improve the security and reliability of its products. Microsoft has agreed to purchase all the assets of XDegrees for an...

CA unifies eTrust tools - Command center reworked in effort to alleviate security worries.(Product Announcement)
September 16, 2002... ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE enterprise integration and security concerns, Computer Associates this week will introduce its new eTrust Command Center product designed to unify CA's own and third-party security tools. The Islandia, N.Y.-based...

Gateways mix data types - Connected SAN, NAS boxes deliver stream of file and block data.
September 16, 2002... ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE enterprise demand for unified SAN and NAS architectures, storage vendors are forging appliances designed to funnel file and block data into a single stream. Offerings by Network Appliance, Auspex Systems, LeftHand...

ABOVE THE NOISE: Web services step into the enterprise - InfoWorld readers and analysts weigh in on Web services implementation.(Next- Generation Web Services Conference)
September 16, 2002... EIGHT MONTHS AGO, InfoWorld Media Group launched its first Next- Generation Web Services conference in San Francisco. This capped months of Web services coverage by both our Test Center analysts and our news and features team. This week marks...

NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Worries about the mail.(Column)
September 16, 2002... IN AN 11TH-HOUR attempt to make amends to Amber, I decided to reschedule the flight home so we could stay in Hawaii an extra week. Amber didn't react the way I hoped. "What, did you book on separate flights after all?" she demanded. Nope, but...

WINDOW MANAGER: Windows and HIPAA - Does Microsoft's new 'we will update you' license comply with U.S. law on health-care privacy?
September 16, 2002... I REPORTED that Windows' newest patches -- Service Pack 1 for Windows XP and SP3 for Windows 2000 -- contain new license language that gives Microsoft the right to silently revise your operating system (see "Sneaky service packs"). This...

SECURITY ADVISER: Processing onward - Packing up the InfoWorld lab means it's housekeeping time, with maintenance on the chore list.
September 16, 2002... A FEW WEEKS AGO, I was poking around the logs of a mail server in the InfoWorld Test Center lab, and noticed something amiss. Over the course of a month, it appeared that a few messages were relayed through my server to destinations in...

STORAGE INSIDER: Welcome, iSCSI - SNIA announces the arrival of a final iSCSI draft standard, all ready and raring to go.
September 16, 2002... AFTER TWO YEARS of countless meetings and animated discussions, the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) announced the completion of a final iSCSI standard draft. The last call for revisions triggered only a few minor requests for...

WINDOW MANAGER: Wireless WorldAmazing rediscoveryThe next killer app for the cell phone is already here, and Nextel was sitting on it all along.(Nextel Communications Direct Connect)
September 16, 2002... TRUTH IS, the great scientific discoveries as well as the discoveries of the great explorers are just that: discoveries of what has always been there. Neither Columbus nor the Vikings, for that matter, created the New World; they just found...

ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES: Just as good - Before leaping into unbranded hardware, make sure to consider all the pros, cons, and consequences.
September 16, 2002... MORE OFTEN THAN not, the term "no-brainer" doesn't describe a decision as much as it does the person who made it. IT is subjected to an endless parade of supposed no-brainers, from single-vendor solutions to open-source software; the latest...

CTO CONNECTION: Creative headaches - Coming up with new ideas is easy, but it takes a CTO with perseverance to turn those ideas into reality.(Column)
September 16, 2002... AT THE RISK of sounding like a shill for the Harvard Business Review (since I referenced it prominently in my last column), I feel compelled to cite it again this week. The August issue focused on the topic of innovation and featured a...

SURVIVAL GUIDE: Mission impossible - If your organization's only goal is to satisfy shareholders, you don't have a mission that will lead to success.
September 16, 2002... WHEN HEWLETT-PACKARD and Compaq first announced their plan to merge, one writer commented that both companies had spent several years searching for a strategy. Ain't that pathetic? I picture Carly Fiorina wandering around the desert,...

THE GRIPE LINE: Headed in reverse - A court decision giving a shrink- wrap agreement the weight of a contract could devastate software developers.(Bowers vs. Baystate Technologies)
September 16, 2002... SUPPOSE YOU'RE A software developer with the good habit of keeping an eye on what the competition is doing. And suppose you find a new feature in your competitor's latest release that your customers would probably like. Can you implement a...

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Empire strikes back - Al Zollar and IBM Global Services battle the Force, defending Notes against Groove ... film at 11.
September 16, 2002... I FINALLY HEARD BACK from IBM about a column I recently wrote. No, it wasn't one of the several about IBM's faux-standards Web Services Interoperability Organization scheme with Microsoft. Flushed with success at keeping Sun out of the loop...

Lotus ponders KM future - Collaboration drives upgrade path as knowledge management fades.
September 16, 2002... SEEKING TO BOLSTER its position in the deflated KM (knowledge management) segment, IBM's Lotus Software is going back to its collaboration roots. At a time when Microsoft is touting the forthcoming collaboration capabilities of .Net and...