- When bean counters don't know what IT does
- How to leave an IT job
- Handling illegal questions in a job interview
- Selling management on unlocked desktops
- How to succeed in the IT boys' club
- On SOA and political will
- IT's 7 dirtiest jobs
- Comic desperation in the back office
- The pros and cons of four-day workweeks in IT
- How to avoid IT job stagnation
May 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)
When bean counters don't know what IT does
It's a common story in IT, I'm afraid, though one fraught with many twists and turns.
This time, the bare-bones IT department comprised folks who wore many hats, a reality that confused one VP of Finance enough to ask why some of the IT staff was still employed.
What is it you do again?
This week's Off the Record author faced that question on multiple occasions, despite several instances in which he saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"When I handed in my letter of resignation to the CIO on Thursday, I learned that the VP of Finance had once again questioned my employment, on Wednesday morning while I was off saving the day."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on May 13, 2008 07:31 AM
April 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Because there is a glut of literature on starting new jobs, but very little on leaving them, and since New York CTO author Jon Williams is currently in the midst of doing just that, he tackles the topic.
"It's not something we think about when taking a job, and also not something discussed, its mostly taboo," Williams writes in The last 21 days.
"I do believe there are important things you should do, and not do, when leaving. I write this because if you are like me, you will have many conflicting emotions with this period of change, drama and sometimes trauma."
Obviously, leave the job smoothly.
"While there is no 'completed' status for a job like there is a project, make it is complete as possible."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 17, 2008 10:17 AM
April 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Handling illegal questions in a job interview
Every once a while they'll creep up, intended or not.
After being asked for a date of birth, year included, one reader writes into Bob Lewis wondering the best way to act in the event that an interviewer presents one with an illegal question.
"Why do you ask?" is one of the better responses, Lewis answers. "I'm going to call my lawyer, just as soon as I get him out of jail," is one of the worst.
How to handle illegal questions in a job interview.
"You have to decide what's going on and whether answering builds rapport or harms your position. Just remember, your goal is to get an offer, not to enforce the rules."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 14, 2008 09:35 AM
March 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Selling management on unlocked desktops
A reader writes into Bob Lewis agreeing with the assertion in
the feasibility of unlocked desktops but pointing that it's a really tough sell to higher-ups.
"One of the best approaches is to force people in leadership roles to lead, rather than critiquing," Lewis explains.
The challenge is assigning a business value to the preconditions that encourage individual acts of innovation, Lewis adds in this Advice Line post.
"Part of asking leaders to lead is asking them to tell you what they value, especially when the connection between good practice and business success is indirect. Some will answer the question when you ask it. Others will duck. Either response tells you something important."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 26, 2008 10:33 AM
March 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How to succeed in the IT boys' club
Recent studies indicate a dramatic downshift in the number of women entering the high-tech workforce -- as much as a 70 percent decline between 2000 and 2005.
But these five women buck that trend and do so rather successfully.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 25, 2008 05:02 AM
March 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
There’s more to being an enterprise architect than technology know-how.
“Architects have the unenviable role of meshing people, with technology, with a business. That's going to take a unique person to be successful longer term,” David Linthicum writes in Do you have the political will for SOA?
“I've seen very few people who live up to those expectations.”
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 11, 2008 11:28 AM
March 10, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The title 'legacy systems archaeologist' doesn’t exactly conjure images of Indiana Jones digging for religious relics, but in some senses at least, working with ancient artifacts, such as 30-year old COBOL code, is what the job is all about.
Legacy systems archaeologist is on our list of The 7 dirtiest jobs in IT.
Another: Interdepartmental peace negotiator.
“You think your job stinks?” editor in chief Eric Knorr asks in Dirty IT jobs: Somebody has to do ‘em. “We guarantee you'll find some nastier ones in this compilation of waking nightmares.”
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 10, 2008 04:52 AM
February 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Comic desperation in the back office
Readers weigh in on why taking your trousers off to lasso a help line 10 feet away is never a good idea -- even if you can't let go of that power button on a critical server.
Suggestions involved coins, sticky tape, shoelaces and an unlikely strategy that even the contributor admitted, "I chanced it, and it worked. It didn't power off. Something like that isn't in the tech manuals, and it doesn't work everywhere."
The comments come in reaction to last week's Off the Record, in which a young IT professional removed his pants and used them to try and reach that helpline because, had he taken his finger off of a critical server power button, he thought he'd be history.
Have your own wacky tales of IT shenanigans? Submit them -- we don't publish names, so your boss won't ever know you talked. Send to offtherecord@infoworld.com.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 26, 2008 06:33 AM
February 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
The pros and cons of four-day workweeks in IT
One reader writes into Bob Lewis with a quandary.
"As an employee I love working 4x10s. But as an IT manager it's a real headache," he explains, and then asks Lewis' advice.
Lewis returns that, "times are tight, which likely means everyone has more work without getting more pay or support. A minor perk like a 4x10 work week is worth preserving under these circumstances."
But the reader, and anyone else facing similar scheduling problems, ought to focus more on attitudes than the work week, Lewis suggests.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 26, 2008 05:14 AM
January 22, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How to avoid IT job stagnation
Careers: Many IT folks, as is the case with most fields, will concede that your workday can become rather mundane once you've settled into that first job. Facing that reality, one reader writes in to ask headhunter Nick Corcodilos the question How can I avoid stagnation? The first step, naturally, is selecting the employer. "The most important aspect of a job is the people. Make sure you have assessed them carefully, because you will have to live with them a long time." Beyond that, look for cutting-edge projects and other means to keep learning, such as mentors. "Honest, it all comes down to the people."
Columnist's corner: While predicting that 2008 will bring more of the same security problems that 2007 and years prior saw, Roger Grimes has formulated a plan he believes will make the Internet safer for every legitimate user. "All computer devices, users, and transactions must be authenticated by default," he explains. "That's it." Sounds simple enough but, Grimes writes, until we put in place mechanisms for identifying and catching criminals of the cyber variety, hackers will continue hacking, unabated. Internet security: what will work. Naturally, there's a downside. "My brilliant idea (probably already thought of by a hundred other great minds decades ago) requires a complete rebuild of every involved component: hardware, software, and user logons." That doesn't stop Grimes from hoping and dreaming that a powerful consortium will come together to make it a reality.
Storage: Word that storage titan EMC would be replacing disks with solid-state drives made a big splash last week, even on Wall Street. Mario Apicella expects such an update to be pricey for customers, perhaps even prohibitively so -- though it could, ultimately, translate into savings by requiring 98 percent less energy. But that's not yet proven, so for now, Apicella writes that "on paper, the drives look appealing." EMC's solid-state play begs for benchmarks. "It's one thing to make the performance of an array with SSD drives a major selling point; it's another to publish benchmark results and submit the arrays to independent, peer-based reviews."
Save Windows XP: Sign the petition.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 22, 2008 05:11 AM
January 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)
On morality and business success
Careers: Continuing the greater good discussion, a reader thinks that Bob Lewis previously missed the mark and that the Machiavellian bottom line criteria, in which the end justifies the means, is a negative function of what we, as a society, define as success. Lewis asserts that the reality here is that businesses exist to provide value to shareholders. "If you disapprove of how most companies are run, join the club," he writes in this Advice Line entry. "It's a big club, which doesn't change my advice one bit." Part 1: Is looking out for the greater good reasonable? Part 2: A greater good discussion.
Tech Analysis: There's no shortage of reasons why Oracle plunked down $8.5 billion for BEA Systems. And while those include gaining market share, "that reasoning doesn't do justice to some glittering technology gems in BEA's portfolio," Eric Knorr explains in this Tech Watch post. There's no "mystery about which competitor Oracle is arming itself against with its new BEA arsenal. IBM has all the SOA puzzle pieces BEA and Oracle have, but unlike with BEA's integrated solution, you need IBM Global Services to put those pieces together."
Notes from the field: Robert X. Cringely knows a thing or two about when customer service goes bad. In these particular cases, a major PC maker, a security software vendor, a charity organization and the self-described biggest store on the planet are the guilty parties. "My inbox has been filling up with complaints about customers done wrong -- or just plain ignored -- by the companies they've chosen to do business with," Cringe reports. The vendors "all seem to believe the phrase 'customer support' is some kind of oxymoron."
Show of the week: Macworld 2008.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 17, 2008 04:44 AM
January 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
What business can learn from NFL playoffs
Careers: Opening with a concession that sports metaphors are all too easy to use when writing about business and they're also limited by nature, Bob Lewis nonetheless decides not to resist the temptation -- if only because his wife's cousin plays on the Green Bay Packers. What sparked Lewis was two Ryan Grant fumbles, both of which led to touchdowns by the Seattle Seahwaks. "American business wisdom says we need to hold people accountable -- that there have to be consequences for mistakes," Lewis asserts in Lessons from Lambeau. "American business wisdom is ... wait, there's a word for this and it will come to me ... oh, now I have it ... stupid." Instead of benching Grant, the Packers kept giving him the ball, to the tune of three touchdowns and more than 200 yards rushing. "Somewhere, there just might be a lesson in this for IT leaders, in spite of it being something that happened in professional sports."
Best of the blogs: There's a new way to follow the InfoWorld Test Center: our Twitter home page, which "tweets" every time a new preview, review or buyers' guide comes out.
The news beat: EMC says it will replace some disks with solid-state drives that use flash memory because they are generally faster and consume less power. Microsoft faces two new antitrust investigations by the European Commission; one concerns the interoperability of Windows, the other Microsoft's practice of bundling products in with Windows. A study conducted by the Input Executive Forum found that systems integrators are worried about SOA because the paradigm could put them out of a job. And IBM expands Jazz ALM access and touts Project Bluegrass, an effort to bring the visual, collaborative nature of virtual worlds to software development.
Save Windows XP. Sign the petition -- and, as part of our effort, we're encouraging IT pros and individuals to submit their own videos on why Microsoft should keep XP alive.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 14, 2008 10:33 AM
January 10, 2008 | Comments: (0)
An IT headhunter with integrity?
Careers: After speaking with a recruiter who declined to help him on the basis that his current employer is one of her clients, one reader is understandably paranoid. But he needn't be, Nick Corcodilos asserts. "You've met an honest headhunter," he begins this Ask the headhunter post. "A dishonest one would have recruited you." That said, Corcodilos asserts, if nervous about the whole thing, our reader could call her back and ask that she keep it quiet. Related: How to judge a headhunter.
Tech's bottom line: This week Apple and Intel, normally publicity darlings both, were a study in contrasts. "In a week when gender issues highlighted the presidential campaign, Apple garnered a basketful of good press," Bill Snyder writes in Apple shines while Intel gives itself a black eye. Intel, meanwhile, left the One Laptop Per Child playground -- and brought its $12 million ball home. "Talk about a bozo PR move. Intel already is seen in many quarters as a predatory bully. Now the giant chipmaker is taking candy from babies, as it were." That move has Snyder likening Intel and rival AMD to Microsoft and Linux.
From the Test Center: "In serious security geek circles, you may get picked on for using Core Impact because it is so simple, but then again you’re likely to have more free time to think of retorts," Victor Garza and Charles D. Herring write. They're referring to Core Impact 7.5, the network security assessment tool's latest incarnation, which brings anti-phishing features, a new UI, dashboard and improved reporting. Read the full review. "There's one shortcoming we spotted: Once a client Trojan is in place, it tries to connect to Core Impact only once; if Impact isn't available when the exploit is first executed, the potential compromise is lost." Related coverage: Core won an InfoWorld Technology of the Year Award.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 10, 2008 11:04 AM
January 09, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Corporate interests, communism, and the greater good
Careers: "The world of commerce is the world of laws, regulations, contracts and negotiations. Employees should place the greater good ahead of their own interests only to the extent that the corporation structures things so that employees who do so are more successful than those who don't," Bob Lewis responds to readers calling him out on an earlier post, criticizing Lewis for being too harsh in labeling those who help others as communists. A greater good discussion. "'Right' and 'wrong' aren't easily reconciled to capitalism. It is an intrinsically amoral system, which cares about what works and what doesn't," Lewis explains. Part 1: Is looking out for the greater good reasonable?
Notes from the field: CES is in full swing and Robert X. Cringely is there, live at the show. "Maybe I'm getting old (ok, that's a given -- I am getting old) but there's something decidedly yawnish about this year's CES," he opines. "Not that there weren't highlights." The video before Bill Gates' farewell keynote tops Cringe's list. Sure, there are the ho-hum of typicality, as in flatter-screen, faster wireless, and the ability to send YouTube videos to your TV (gulp). Of CES, Billy G., and jumping sharks. And, in Cringe's words, attendees are leaving town faster, and vendors are grumbling about being gouged by the toursim mafia. "Bottom line: CES has jumped the shark. (Note: The phrase 'jumped the shark' has also jumped the shark.) Related: Geek's Guide to CES.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 9, 2008 11:06 AM
January 02, 2008 | Comments: (0)
IT pay: The best and worst of times
Careers: As Jason Snyder found when preparing InfoWorld's 2007 Compensation Survey, "Working in IT today is a tale of two trends: the best of times, as pay climbs precipitously; and the worst of times, as morale suffers due to declining staff and longer hours." Overall IT compensation surged 8.8 percent this year, nearly doubling last year’s moderate gains. "Yet personal gains have not slowed the downward slide of morale in most organizations... as the erosion of perceived respect for the value of IT at many companies continues unabated." InfoWorld also found that "offshoring will accelerate past a symbolic tipping point by mid-2008 as more companies will rely on the controversial staffing model in the next 12 months than not." Get the full story.
In the news: IBM has snapped up Israeli storage startup XIV for a reported $300 million to $350 million. Big Blue will use the company's Nextra storage system to address the growing requirement for high-performance storage for digital archives, digital media, and Web 2.0 apps. U.S. federal judge has put further restrictions on the sales of certain Qualcomm wireless chip sets, saying they infringe on three patents held by rival Broadcom. A prominent anti-spyware researcher claims that a new marketing program from Sears puts invasive software on customers PCs without sufficient notification.
Posted by Caroline Craig on January 2, 2008 06:21 AM
December 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: Admit it. On a semi-regular basis, you find yourself late in the office, the only one who can get a certain task done and wondering if the relationship with your employer is worth it for you. The question at hand: Am I underpaid? Nick Corcodilos has a suggestion about figuring that out. "Put yourself on the block and see what kinds of bids you get. Seriously." But what of the recent surveys that suggest IT'ers are getting bigger raises than ever? Does it matter? Or, is that just more reason to be ticked off? "The next best way to get an idea of your value in the market is to talk to real, live people in your field. Get the information you seek straight from the horse's mouth."
First look: VMware Infrastructure 3 is a hard act to follow, Paul Venezia writes. And with that, he tears into VI3.5. "The big news for VI3.5 isn't the core functionality," Venezia writes in Preview: VMware Infrastructure builds on the base. "The larger story is in the management additions." One of the most prominent is Update Manager, an automated Windows and Linux patch manager designed specifically for virtual machines. The beta Venezia tested, however, had several problems, including fragile components and a Purple Screen of Death. Even still, he writes, "if the released code is significantly more stable than the beta, it will undoubtedly be a winner." Related: VMware, SAP inks support pact.
The news beat: Adobe is open sourcing some of its data access technologies, including remoting, messaging and the Action Message Format protocol. OpenOffice.org teamed with Ulteo to launch a beta program offering the OpenOffice 2.0 suite as a Web app, but only for the first 15,000 registrants. AMD will face tough questions at its analyst meeting, specifically regarding Barcelona shipping delays, goodwill charges related to its ATI acquisition, and speculation about the future of chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz. And BEA Systems is announcing today SmartConnect 3.0 which, it claims, connects ERP with ESB.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 13, 2007 10:30 AM
December 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: One reader confesses to being sucked into the doom and gloom of his co-workers, until his wife sat him down for a talk to point out the good things about his job. Lewis agrees that it's best to view the glass as half-full, and adds that, "the difference between 'This place stinks and we need to fix it,' and 'We can make this place even better,' is immense. Most of the time it's a matter of attitude," he writes in this Advice Line post. What's more, "if you don't see what's right, you're likely to break it in the effort of fixing what's wrong."
Columnist's corner: While Microsoft prepares Dynamics CRM 4.0, due this month, "a substantial portion of efforts around this release are focused on gaining ground on Salesforce.com," Sean Gallagher writes in Titan or Titanic? "Most likely, if Microsoft is lucky, Titan will help it hold its ground against Salesforce. But it won't even begin to address competitive issues with the larger enterprise CRM players like Oracle and SAP." Related: Salesforce.com launches data sharing and SAP puts a Web 2.0 spin on CRM.
Hardware: Forced to explore the entertainment value of learning, Tom Yager and family learned enough about real ticks and spiders to anger him. "Intel's Year of the Tick will coincide with AMD's Year of the Spider, and I couldn't look at this juxtaposition of marketing phraseology and not think of its parallels in nature," he writes in The tale of the spider and the tick. "A Spider by any other name is still an awe-inspiring creature, and no matter what you call it, you have something that is as merciless as it is beautiful. Am I stretching the metaphor too far to point out that unlike elsewhere in nature, there is never a race or a battle between spider and prey, and that the spider's limitless patience always pays off?"
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 5, 2007 11:07 AM
November 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
What IT jobs are hot right now?
Careers: The question of what jobs are most promising in today's market is legitimate, to be certain. But the asking reveals a lot about a person. "It tells me they're motivated externally rather than internally. They want what's hot, but they're not hot themselves," Nick Corcodilos writes in this Ask the headhunter post. "If you want to be hot yourself, get better at the thing you like doing. Be one of the best. Be so good that when someone needs what you do, they think of you first." To that end, the better question to ask is what 'track' in IT will make you hot, he adds, because "what's hot in the job market is ephemeral. Tomorrow it will be something else."
Notes from the field: Another Friday, another geek week in review. That's right, and this time Cringe is harping on the planet-overtaking army of robots Microsoft is currently creating, the 411 on 419, hackers attacking Al Gore's Web site and ... none other than SatLav. That's a service you text to find the nearest toilet. What can I say?
InfoWorld News Quiz: Think you're up to date on technology's current events? Prove it right here. The first question involves MoveOn.org, Facebook, sheep and Barack Obama. Another one has Microsoft in Siberia. Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer and, yes, partial credit will be given.
The news beat: Google asks for help finding malicious Web sites and posts an online form for surfers to report them. With an eye on competitor Lenovo, Dell plans to expand in China, moving beyond the 45 cities where it now has a presence -- an announcement that comes as market researcher iSuppli says that HP and Acer beat up on Dell in Q3 laptop rankings. And LG insists that the flaming cell phone battery did not kill a Korean worker but, instead, it was an industrial accident that did.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 30, 2007 10:36 AM
November 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Placing IT effectiveness on the org chart
Careers: Do any organizations have an IT Effectiveness manager and, if so, where in the org chart does that position fit? A readers asks of Bob Lewis. "Not that I know of, but ... " That hefty task, after all, is "a core responsibility of the CIO and IT management team," Lewis answers in this Advice Line post. Not that it's an altogether bad idea. ITIL, systems management efforts, and other implementation projects are often put into separate units. "I suppose you could view the project teams as temporary departments."
Hardware: "I've been reading that satellites are tracking a massive Spider riding in with a Canadian cold front, and a plot of its trajectory has it reaching my address tomorrow morning," Tom Yager begins. The spider to which he refers, of course, is that of AMD. "I am told that it's pointless to try to stop it. I must let it in and watch a horrific scene play out: Everything here with an Intel logo on it will fling itself at the invader, cocksure of victory, but will end up writhing in an impenetrable web, stunned and wrapped to be made a meal at Spider's whim." Yager claims not to be squeamish. I say we'll just see about that. AMD Spider weaves its own worldwide web. "Spider already has me in its clutches."
Data management: With its series of technical previews, Microsoft is baking more BI into SQL Server 2008, thereby "reducing the breathing room for tools vendors who have stayed focused on reporting," Sean Gallager explains, referring also to IBM buying Cognos, Oracle acquiring Hyperion and SAP nabbing Business Objects. "Microsoft refers to the collective BI features of SQL Server 2008 as Pervasive Insight." The forthcoming iteration will bring new tools for creating more optimized analysis cubes and cross-database aggregations, added atop a pile of potentially performance-boosting technologies that SQL Server could really use. Those and other new goodies, "just might be enough to keep [novice users] from wandering off to find something else."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 29, 2007 04:54 AM
November 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
In the throes of an outsourcing deathmarch
Careers: With the already-stated termination data of December 31st, an InfoWorld reader writes in seeking advice from Bob Lewis. He's one of the IT people being laid off and replaced with outsourcers, and management wants him to complete an application upgrade by year's end. Problem is, the last one took two weeks of 100 work hours each, and then some. This time around, there's no hope for a bonus, comp time, or any other reward. "I'm salaried, and I understand that sometimes I have to work more than forty hours in a week. But something is very off about this situation and I have no idea what to do other than buckle down and spend a few long, sleepless weeks." Not so, Lewis answers in Outsourced during a death march. "You have an obligation to be professional about how you handle your current assignment. That obligation is to yourself, not to anyone else. You'll feel better about yourself if you handle things professionally. You also have an obligation to yourself to look out for your own interests. Nobody else in this equation will do so."
The news beat: Verizon Wireless plans to open its network to outside devices, such as mobile handsets and applications, by the end of next year. Yahoo says that users will soon be able to run a structured search around specific items, which it hopes will make the Web easier to navigate. Tibco upgrades its Rendezvous messaging software with lower latency that, it claims, results in better performance for SOA or financial services environments. And Mozilla fixes a handful of security bugs in Firefox, including the widely-publicized problem in the way the browser processes files compressed in the .jar format.
Columnist's corner: In speaking with Andy Lippman, co-director of MIT's Communications Future Program, Ephraim Schwartz found that, "what I enjoyed most about our conversation is Lippman's ability to switch between the highly practical, applied science, to the way-out stuff such as telepresence and hyperconnectivity." Hyperconnectivity, Lippman explains, will enable controlling of "stuff on Mars" or surgery from 3,000 miles away. The future of communications. Lippman, it just so happens, is currently on a year of sabbatical, spending that as a fellow at Nortel's R&D group. And he's seen engineering courses change considerably. "When I went to school, a lot of what you studied was how can you do something given certain constraints," Lippman says. "Now students are asked to write a computer program where memory is free, disk space and processing cycles are unlimited ... we can challenge students to stretch their minds."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 27, 2007 11:04 AM
November 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: Despite the countless books boasting tips and tricks to use during interviews, one simple truth remains constant. Companies don't typically hire for your interview skills; they hire you because you can do the job. "This brings us to an obvious but forgotten interview strategy. Use the same skills you apply at work to win your next job. That's right. Use your work skills in the job interview," Nick Corcodilos urges in No stupid interview tricks.
Notes from the field: In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Robert X. Cringely festively kicks off a brand spankin' new tradition: The Gobbler Awards, 2007. The dubious distinction goes to those "individuals and organizations who truly need to go get stuffed," he explains, adding that, "like the holiday bird, they invariably come with side dishes -- partners in malfeasance and stupidity who share equally in the dishonor." Comcast and Cox, Star Simpson and the city of Boston, and, of course, TJX and Visa, are among the, umm, honorees.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 21, 2007 10:01 AM
November 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
On the limited value of corporate cheerleaders
Careers: Why do so many managers confuse cheerleaders with team players? One reader asks that of Bob Lewis. "I suppose one of these days I should really write an apology to all cheerleaders. Real cheerleaders are excellent athletes who work very hard at their trade. Unlike those in the corporate world to whom we apply the metaphor," Lewis explains in this Advice Line post. "Cheerleading is an important role for both leaders and team members, but it's an ancillary role, not the main event. Anyone who counts cheerleading as their most important contribution needs to gain some additional skills."
From the feature well: Google is aiming to disrupt fat client computing on the desktop. It's strategy is called Google Apps. "So is Office as we have known it for the last 20-odd years doomed?" Randall Kennedy poses in Thin vs. fat: Google's plan to kill Microsoft Office. Not so fast. "We heard similar prognostications when the Web first appeared. Netscape and its ilk were going to change the desktop-bound world -- but they didn’t. Then again, Netscape never quite managed the momentum that Google has. "Google is a tidal wave. The talent. The cash. The swagger. If anyone can make cloud computing a reality, and thus take a serious run at Microsoft, Google can." Microsoft, however, is not sitting idly by. "When it launches Workspaces as a beta release on December 10, Microsoft could even usurp its competitor's position as the cloud-computing trendsetter." Related: The sound and fury of Google vs. Microsoft.
Columnist's corner: Using the best programming tools for the job has not always been accepted by even Fortune 500 companies. Take the case of this week's Off the Record author, who found himself stuck in the virtual stone age as the company insisted on BASICA. "What they wanted was brutally simple to whip out in any real language. I happened to dabble in dBase and Clipper in my spare time and offered to bring a prototype the next day." Choosing the best code for the job. It worked, quite well in fact, and he managed in a single Clipper line what had taken four days in BASICA. "You'd think this was a story with a happy ending but unfortunately it takes a dark turn." Stodgy management went so far as to threaten legal action against the programmer, who nearly got fired. That dragged on for months, time spent living in fear of consequences. "I'm still here, but I'm keeping my bright ideas to myself."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 20, 2007 10:50 AM
November 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Magic formula for IT budgeting
Careers: Responding to a reader's question about budgeting in such a way that is quantifiable, Bob Lewis calls it by name: Functional Point Analysis. "Not for the faint of heart. I can't endorse it myself," he writes in this Advice Line post. That said, Lewis concedes that he knows practitioners who claim it allows them to estimate with high levels of precision. "My personal opinion: The best way to estimate projects is to break them into small chunks with go/no-go gates in between." There's another alternative, too.
Columnist's corner: The current writer's strike all over the media got Tom Yager reflecting about how many IT creations generate revenue long after the work is done. "I can't count the number of companies that hired me to create solutions for them, then fired me as soon as I got the solution working and documented," he writes. If Hollywood screenwriters worked in IT. Then again, Yager adds, "every IT worker who gives blood while being paid for water has also jumped jobs for a big raise. It's smart to get what you can, but for all of us, the most valuable residuals from employment are continued employment."
Notes from the field: Crying it like he sees it, once again, the indefatigable Robert X. Cringely calls out the U.S. government on its double standard for privacy. Just like a snooping relative who pours through your e-mail, Web surfing and lord knows what other online accounts when you're not looking, the Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr, "staked a claim to all of your Internet records," Cringe reports in My nosy Uncle. "My Uncle is your uncle, and his name is Sam." The counter argument? "Terrorism trumps everything. But I don't buy that. There's always an 'ism.' Before terrorism there was communism. Before communism there was anti-Americanism and generic xenophobia."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 15, 2007 05:03 AM
November 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The tech who almost shot Saddam
Columnist's corner: An IT cowboy, who once reset an entire corporate file server system granting only himself rights to all files, surfaced at our Off the Record author's company. "Bill was a Texan through and through and claimed to have served black ops for the government since he was about 15. He said he had been hand-picked by the then-President George Bush Sr. for a secret mission." That was only the beginning. Two years of tall tales, including a Purple Heart from Bill Clinton, dinner with Bill Gates, and some $6 million in the bank, resulted in a paint ball game gone wrong, replete with Saddam masks. "Our masks and his early defeat caused him to never came back to work. He e-mailed his resignation, claiming a hostile work environment."
Hands-on preview: E-mail has never been a good way to transfer large attachments. Then again, FTP has its own set of issues. Accellion's Secure File Transfer Appliance, however, is "an effective solution that combines the use of e-mail attachments with efficient data transfers and robust monitoring and security features," Mario Apicella writes. "It may not come cheap but the Accellion Virtual Appliance solves the thorny problem of large e-mail attachments with responsive and efficient agents and well thought management tools." The hitch, if you will? Companies that can already handle such transfers via e-mail won't find it useful. "Otherwise, you should give some thoughts to reserving a virtual machine and some disk space on your VMware servers for this intriguing virtual appliance." Read the full preview.
Reality check: If you buy software every 10 years and pay 25 percent in maintenance fees then you're ultimately paying 2.5 times the original license just to maintain the app, Ephraim Schwartz reports in Stop overpaying for support. If that sounds familiar, "you are burning a big wad of cash," Schwartz asserts. There is an alternative, though, in the form of third-party support from the likes of Rimini Street and TomorrowNow. A Forrester analyst says that customers get the same or better performance from such third-parties. Schwartz offers this to consider: "Remind those vendors that when the time comes to adopt that next generation of enterprise software, your company will have a long memory of who its friends really are."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 14, 2007 04:38 AM
November 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Taking the mystery out of IT budgeting
Careers: To answer one reader's quandary about communicating with internal accountants Bob Lewis probes into the deep, chaotic and murky waters of IT budgets, personnel specifically. "Have I snorted too much coffee, resulting in total malfunction of my two remaining synapses?" the reader wonders. After addressing the snorting practice, Lewis tackles the matter at hand. The fist step "is to segment IS, because different areas of responsibility have different staffing drivers," he offers. Major projects and discretionary infrastructure are just two of those. Other areas of responsibility will depend on how your particular company is organized, but "you can apply the same sort of thinking to these as well."
The news beat: Microsoft moves Windows Live services out of the beta testing phase and into the real world, so now users can download and access several services, though two key offerings remain in beta. Symantec lays out its integration plan for Vontu, after acquiring the data-loss prevention vendor Monday. Big Blue's Rational unit deepens its ties to IBM's mainframe systems with modernization applications, the first in a series of releases to come during the next 6 months. And Senator Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who previously criticized a government contract with Sun Microsystems, says the corresponding GSA investigation is incomplete and poorly organized.
Video: Nick Barber of the IDG News Service examines Google's Android open-development platform for mobile phones, which has already gained the backing of many heavyweight handset makers, and what it all means. "Really, the question is, do the networks get fast enough to deliver a full Web browser experience without having to wait?" asks Joshua Martin, analyst with Yankee Group. "The 3G networks need to be built out." Watch it here.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 7, 2007 11:15 AM
October 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A waste of time: Teaching programming?
Careers: Two U.K. researchers claim that "programming teaching is useless for those who are bound to fail and pointless for those who are certain to succeed," Nick Corcodilos reports in Does the camel have two humps? "It seems to me this could be used to test even people who think they already are programmers. Maybe they're not, eh?"
The news beat: Apple's new OS Leopard has already been hacked to run on Windows PCs, without Apple's consent of course. A mobile phone platform by Google is due in the middle of next year, according to reports, the goal of which is to make its apps and services as accessible on phones are they are on PCs. McAfee buys ScanAlert, a Web application security company that scans sites daily in search of vulnerabilities. And Microsoft unwraps its Oslo project to create a unified platform for integrating services and modeling.
Columnist's corner: Sometimes, what's obvious to the support professional is not so clear to technology users. A national support specialist for a major equipment manufacturer learned that lesson early on, and carried it along for the rest of his career. It all started on the phone with a man and woman who said everything had been fine up until a few minutes prior to their call. "There had been no error messages or error lights on the main processor unit," our Off the Record author explains in Computer Function 101. So, he started with the basics, or so he thought. Forty-five minutes later they asked for a break. Sure, but why? "The other guy just left with the flashlight."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 30, 2007 10:45 AM
October 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Giving voice to the IT talent shortage
Careers: Today, guest writer Jerry Mahoney weighs in on the current epidemic otherwise known as the talent shortage in IT. "It's causing lots of IT problems. In fact, all of them. We've got failures galore! And if you actually still have a job in IT, you're infected, too. It's why you can't work more hours without complaining," Mahoney writes in this Ask the headhunter post. The dilemma: a 40 percent drop in new IT grads being churned out results in a 5.2 percent salary increase for current workers. "Gotta pay more to get the few of you people out there in IT to work 24X7! That's how competition works."
Columnist's corner: Nothing quite like trial by fire, particularly on one's first day at a national support desk. But that's exactly what happened to our Off the Record author, back in 1978 I ought to add. The problem was a departmental mini-computer that would come to a crawl every Monday, only to spring back 15 minutes later. "Over the course of the next several weeks, we studied every aspect of what happened on Monday mornings." The case of the very bad Monday. "I learned an important lesson from this experience. Although most support issues can be looked at in terms of 'what changed?' it does not necessarily mean that the change was directly tied to the symptom."
Open source: Here's a thought-provoking question: How vested are you in your OSS? Savio Rodrigues ponders this from a developer perspective. "I'm wondering whether a developer who has built skills with OSS product A is more, less or equally invested in the product's life than another developer who has built skills with a commercial enterprise product B," he writes. Talkback below or via the link immediately above.
The news beat: Microsoft lays out a roadmap for Dynamics and upgrades support for the business applications. Oracle ships a Windows version of its 11g database, replete with performance improvements and better integration to Microsoft's platform. Sprint-Nextel and Alcatel-Lucent introduce a mobile data card that serves as a security tool. And a new wireless public broadband plan hopes to cover Silicon Valley with Internet services but, of course, the strategy is not lacking obstacles.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 24, 2007 10:37 AM
October 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Don't beg for that job, even if you want it
Careers: While most job hunters approach employers "like a dog with a note in its mouth," Nick Corcodilos says that approach is not becoming and doesn't work. "This begging mentality is all wrong. You're not looking for a favor. You're offering to do a favor. To solve some manager's problem. So, behave accordingly," he writes in Do a favor; get a job. Start by figuring out what you can contribute. Then, time for some mental calculations before picking up the phone.
InfoWorld News Quiz: You don't know tech. Or, then again, perhaps you really do. Test your knowledge of this week's happenings right here. For starters, which company has Oracle not swallowed up? And another: which feline moniker has Apple not trademarked?
The news beat: Microsoft says it is streamlining the core code of its next operating system, Windows 7, to help it fit into a broader array of devices. SAP partners with Adobe and Microsoft to give customers a better UI for its ERP software. Aruba countersues Symbol in their Wi-Fi patent fight. And the Taiwanese government aligns with Intel, NEC, Nortel and other multinationals in a WiMax pact.
Notes from the field: Friday again and so comes Robert X. Cringely's geek week in review. The Dalai Lama stars in this one, alongside President Bush, Facebook's sugar daddy, Steve Jobs and some iPhone unlocking funny business.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 19, 2007 10:43 AM
October 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
How to pick the right path: CS or IT?
Careers: There's only way to determine whether you'd prefer to be a hardcore programmer, IT guru, or a CIO. "Hang out with people who do the work, and choose," explains Nick Corcodilos in CS or IT? Two bits worth of advice. "What I've learned in all my years doing this is that a core expertise in computer science or engineering makes a stronger IT worker or manager -- and it is obviously necessary for the systems designer." Related: CS or IT? Part 1.
Columnist's corner: Dreaming of a RAID 5 array, our Off the Record author did the research, found a $60,000 solution from EMC, and wrote up a proposal for the boss. "You can guess what the VP said: 'No. Too expensive.' I pleaded my case to him and even went above his head to the owner of the company." Another no, of course. Cheapskate VP blows half a million. After an untested product was forced upon him, three failures in a month that left the company without a computer system, a call came from the owner inquiring about how to prevent any more problems. Profanities flew. "I didn't get fired, and I didn't get my RAID array for another couple of years."
Podcasts: To hear Mario Apicella tell it, IT's voracity for capacity just might spell disaster, if we don't bother to compensate for drive failure rates. Parity pioneer Panasus does just that to limit data corruption. Tune into Storage Sprawl.
Best of the blogs: Everyone dreads, though some more than others of course, when your boss tells you to terminate someone. It's even harder when said employee turned around from being "a long-term employee with stunningly inadequate performance," into someone whose performance is currently satisfactory. "Tough situation. I don't see any great answers. Which is to say, you do have to fire the employee," Bob Lewis begins. "Nobody ever promised you that you'd agree with everything you're instructed to do."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 16, 2007 10:58 AM
October 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: Re-entering the workforce, one reader pens a letter to Ask the headhunter's Nick Corcodilos, What's a mentor? "As you meet smart people in the circles you travel in, just talk to them," Corcodilos answers. "Do that a few times with a savvy person over the course of time, and then it is very easy to call on them for advice on more specific things."
The news beat: IBM targets smaller businesses with software and resources, including Rational and Tivoli tools, for managing network infrastructure. Data from the U.S. Census bureau determines that Silicon Valley is of course the highest concentration of IT professionals but the second one will undoubtedly come as a surprise to most folks, if not to the ones who live there. France kicks off a nationwide spam fight with a system it hopes will shut spammers down quickly. And Microsoft plays detective to determine how frequently Web users succumb to phishing attacks.
Notes from the field: It's Friday and, once again, that means Cringely has the geek week in review. Atop that list is the RIAA and its downright nasty lawsuit against Native American mom Jammie Thomas who was slapped with a $220,000 fine for allegedly making available some 24 songs. State Rep. Matthew Barrett, meanwhile, plugged a memory stick into a PC during his lecture to Ohio school children and up came an image of a topless woman. Barrett denied knowing where it came from and did not take responsibility for a California city's Web site that sent visitors to porn. A new Zune cameos, too.
Data management: With no list of SSIS packages this long after Yukon SP2, Sean McCown asks How long does it take? "Currently, SSIS packages are sorted by import date. I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but I have a hard time believing that I'm the only one complaining about this," McCown asserts. "Guys, give us a little patch or something and let us sort these things."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 5, 2007 10:37 AM
October 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: Telling a prospective employer that you want a higher salary than they offered is never easy. While some folks simply argue that they are worth more, Nick Corcodilos preaches a more businesslike approach. How do I ask for more money? "Prepare three bullet points that define the added value you would bring to the job. You need the kinds of bullets that justify your request for more money, even if the company declines to offer it. That is, it's got to sound good and it must make sense." Easier advised than put into practice, indeed. "You've got to articulate how the work you will do will produce more profit for the employer."
Feature well: The Web is no longer a youngster and, in Dan Tynan's words, is "old enough to ask for the car keys, but still an awkward teenager growing toward maturity." Since it's somewhere between 15 and 17 years old, this story shares the 16 greatest moments in Web history. You know, those defining instances, virtual takes on what Wordsworth called "spots in time." I'll kick the countdown off right here with the first three: Scandal in a Blue dress (not to be confused with the similar sounding Blue Screen of Death), Do you Yahoo?, and Blogging Katrina.
Podcasts: Yours truly is back with a fresh episode of Storage Sprawl, in which DataCore revs up applications and I/O the old fashioned-way: with memory caching. And not just the kind that costs a fortune, either. Tune in here.
Open Source: "Few could argue that we seem to be moving into the OSS vendor consolidation stage of the lifecycle (for most OSS markets)," Savio Rodrigues writes in OSS venture capital and M&A. "I wonder how many OSS vendors will remain 'OSS vendors' by October 2009. At the end of the day, the large OSS vendors that can acquire smaller OSS vendors number in the handful. And, Oracle could buy all the large OSS vendors in an afternoon ... sigh."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 4, 2007 04:59 AM
September 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)
More on being blacklisted in an industry
Careers: Only you can manage your reputation, and it's possible to get blacklisted in a specific industry. That "doesn't always mean being on a written list," either, Nick Corcodilos explains in Accountability. That said, everyone learns along the way -- and we all make mistakes. "I placed an engineer without getting proper confirmation of his degrees," Corcodilos shares. "Turns out he lied."
Wireless: There are 15 things Apple should fix with an iPhone 2.0. This one comes courtesy of InfoWorld sister pub Computerworld. The first and most obvious, of course, is adding 3G capabilities. Next up: GPS. Then 'turn auto-correct into auto-complete' and the list goes on. My personal favorite is third-party developer support and an iPhone SDK. "We might not even have to wait for iPhone 2.0 to see some of the items on our wish list: It's conceivable that Apple could update the current crop of iPhones via software updates. Are you listening, Apple?"
Show of the week: Presenters at DEMOfall '07 get six minutes of fame. Such contestants include Your Truman Show (Yes, like the flick), Filmaroo from Proxure, Video over UnTwisted Pair, and FixMyMovie. View the slideshow.
The news beat: Security researchers determine that AOL's AIM is vulnerable to a worm that could enable attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC. Cisco says it will roll out branch office networking gear that brings security and application-performance features. MonteVista issues a new Linux-based mobile phone OS, MobilLinux 5.0, which improves security, power management and connectivity. And Oracle gets a court date in its battle with SAP over customer support materials.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 26, 2007 10:54 AM
September 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Blacklisted for turning down a job
Careers: A reader asks if rejecting a job offer after you've accepted it can get you blacklisted in an industry. "Unless you really have developed a reputation as someone who's always changing his (or her) mind, I don't see why you'd be blacklisted," Nick Corcodilos advises in this Ask the headhunter post. But, "word might get around that you rescinded your acceptance, and if you work in a tight-knit area and the employer in question is very upset about your decision, it might affect your reputation."
From the Test Center: When last we looked at Vontu, it was version 5 of the data leak prevention solution. Now it's Vontu 7. "There's enough solidity to make it a prime choice for financial institutions, manufacturers, technology companies, and retailers," writes Mike Heck. Centralized policy management makes for easy maintenance, and the product offers reports that expose all possible data leak pathways. "With the exception of blocking at the end point, the various modules provide thorough data leak protection." Read the full review.
Best of the blogs: The hosted ERP service SAP unveiled this week has Ephraim Schwartz wondering if it has the potential to cannibalize SAP's existing enterprise business. "Because service was typically handled by someone else -- the SI -- the packaged application vendor never felt responsible for the customer's success," he explains. SAP SaaS solution is not just about the technology. "Under the new model, if the vendor doesn't deliver success, they will probably be gone in a few months or less." Related: SAP christens its hosted ERP suite Business ByDesign.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 21, 2007 05:56 AM
September 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: Every CTO, CIO, tech employee, and other corporate divisions for that matter, face the question a reader presented: How do we get budget-minded CFOs and process-oriented COOs to understand? "The one-word answer is 'salesmanship,'" Lewis advises in Persuading the C-level. "Underneath the conversations is always the need for the strong relationships that let the conversations take place. Which is to say, persuasion is much easier when it builds on pre-existing trust."
Columnist's corner: It's no surprise that Microsoft wants you and your neighbor's grandma to step up to Vista. What's a bit more revealing is that "the company seems to be willing to shoot itself in the foot to get you to make the move," Sean Gallagher explains in Microsoft's push and pull approach to Vista migration. Example: Redmond employees practicing some form of "new math" cite a study demonstrating that instituting Vista will save you hundreds of dollars a year -- a notion Gallagher writes is insane. "There's the testing of all your supported software, the upgrades to hardware that are required, and, as Donald Rumsfeld might say, the 'unknown unknowns' that might come around to bite you in the process. Upgrading operating systems costs a lot more than just the license."
Quoteworthy: IBM's announcement of Lotus Symphony gave me a wicked '80s flashback. In my mind's eye I saw the original Lotus Symphony office suite, flickering on an amber monochrome monitor, boring me to tears as a New Order dance track thumped in the background. The new Symphony comes with a different soundtrack: the drumbeat of challengers marching on Microsoft Office. -- Eric Knorr. Microsoft's secret desktop plan? Related: It's back to the future with IBM Lotus Symphony!
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 20, 2007 04:43 AM
September 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A legal way to cook the IT books
Best of the blogs: "It's a story that plays out over and over again in corporate America: Pay it now or pay much more later. Somehow, later usually seems much more attractive," Bob Lewis begins Deferring technology costs. At stake is the constant effort to see IT projects to completion. Waiting has its bona fide advantages, as well as misperceptions, such as the thought that holding off on technology investments means product prices will come down. "Pay it later can make a lot of business sense. For the decision-maker, that is. It's a way to borrow against the future that doesn't show up on the balance sheet."
Special report: Celebrating the best enterprise-class open source software, we've got the 2007 InfoWorld Bossie Awards. Editor-in-chief Steve Fox explains: "More than anything else, the Bossies are a reflection of just how influential this software development and distribution model has become. The fortunes of open source continue to rise as its products become competitive with, or in some cases superior to, commercial products. The Bossies offer a snapshot of the state of software today and an intriguing look at where it is heading tomorrow."
Open source: IBM backed OpenOffice.org by pledging the support of 35 of its programmers, Brad Shimmin reports in this Open Sources post. And Big Blue has its own set of productivity apps that support ODF, as in Open Document Format. "IBM's timing in publicly backing ODF (while Microsoft's OOXML vs. ODF spin cycle rages on) reminds me a little of the lesson Lefty gives Johnny Depp's character in the film Donnie Brasco."
The news beat: AMD finally launches Barcelona, its quad-core server chip, on which the company is pinning hopes of taking on Intel. Vodafone details a new handset roster that will include, among others, an iPhone rival. Researchers at the University of Maryland build a desktop supercomputer prototype they claim runs 100 times faster than a plain old PC. And Skype warns users of a Windows worm spreading through its chat feature.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 10, 2007 10:58 AM
September 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: Cover letters and resumes don't get you a job, it's true, but you still need a strong one to get in the door. Even still, paying someone $300, or in at least one case $900, to write one for you does not guarantee it will attract interviews. "Tear your resume in half," Nick Corcodilos writes in this Ask the headhunter post. Then start over. "The only person who can write the best resume for you is you."
From the Test Center: "You wouldn't know it from the Apple fanboy hallelujahs and breathy press coverage, but the iPhone isn't the only game in town. In fact, as much as many InfoWorld staffers may admire the iPhone's whizzy interface (we are consumers, after all), we don't think it's a particularly good phone for hardcore business users," Steve Fox begins in Everything the iPhone isn't. Bearing that in mind, Tom Yager kicks off a series of reviews looking at other devices, ones he considers leaders in their categories, beginning with the BlackBerry 8800 and the Nokia E61i.
Columnist's corner: Not many people like the idea of being tracked by satellites, New York City cabbies among those. "I feel badly for New York City cab drivers, but I'm inclined to be philosophical about their plight," Ephraim Schwartz explains in GPS in taxis: Big Brother or boon? That question, quite naturally, leads Schwartz to another. "Where do we draw the line between our rights as individuals versus the ability of technology to strip away almost all of our freedom to behave like humans?" He also provides a sci-fi way to avoid being tracked.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 5, 2007 04:47 AM
August 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)
CIO who's not compatible with central office
Careers: A chief information officer writes to Bob Lewis because upper management does not like his style and is trying to phase him out. "Either there's an approach to running IT that works for both you and the corporate office, or there isn't," Lewis writes in this Advice Line post. Either way, the ball is in the CIOs court. "It was up to you to work with the C.O. to either figure out how to make things work or to make other arrangements for yourself." But lengthy transitions rarely make sense in the long run.
The news beat: Microsoft pushes back the release date for Longhorn from year's end to the first quarter of 2008. The One Laptop Per Child program faces a parts shortage but insists it's manageable. And Sun says that coders are the key to Solaris' rise.
Notes from the field: It's Friday and that means Cringe has the geek week in review. This time, its the human error that caused a glitch in Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage, reshuffled deck chairs on the ship Yahoo, and the dream that Apple has finally secured the Beatles catalog for iTunes.
Best of the blogs: It's a debate that harks back to middle school typing class for me. "Should everyone in IT take it upon themselves to learn to type?" Sean McCown poses in Don't be such a pecker! "Working on a computer for a living and not learning to type is like becoming a surgeon and refusing to learn to sew people up." There's this guy in his department, you see, who cannot type without looking at the keys.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 31, 2007 09:43 AM
August 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The darker side of Monster.com
Careers: Sure, it's ostensibly easier to tap a repository for jobs and employees. But not is always as it seems. "I've said it again and again, and I'll say it yet again: Monster.com is bad for you whether you're a job hunter or an employer," Nick Corcodilos explains in Monster racket. The situation is so dire that Corcodilos thinks Congress should get involved. It's not just Monster, but all the huge, unregulated databases of personal information. But when it comes to Monster, he does not mince words. "Recruiters who use it are promoting unsafe practices. Job hunters who post their resumes are danged fools."
Platforms: Often, one question leads to another. Such became the case when Oliver Rist posed Does Vista suck? What ensued, quite naturally, was the some probe into Mac OS X. I know, I know, legions of Apple's devout will be offended at the mere asking and that's alright for those in charge of themselves. Nonetheless, for enterprise-class IT professionals, it's a worthy consideration. Rist was a skeptic, but since January has found that "the Orchard does slowly assimilate you." Bearing that in mind, Mr. Rist grades Mac OS X on the same scale he used for Vista. Does Mac OS X suck? "Apple failed a category where Vista didn't, but that's a fuzzy business/marketing category, not something tangibly technical...From a business buyer's perspective, I've got to give it a C-."
Notes from the field: The sometimes-harbinger of bad news, Cringe returns to that role. "Bad news, Facebook fans. It turns out the Internet is full of spammers, scammers, and naughty naughty men. Who knew?" he jokes in Facebook faces the music. But Facebook is making some changes. "Exactly how the new, slightly less open Facebook will play out remains to be seen."
The news beat: Microsoft says that much-awaited Vista SP1 will become available early next year, and a beta will go out next month. Deutsche Telekom confirms discussions with Apple about becoming an iPhone partner. SAP pushes for settlement talks with Oracle in the case involving its subsidiary TomorrowNow allegedly illegally downloading Oracle information. And Earthlink layoffs signal a change in municipal Wi-Fi, and not for the better.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 29, 2007 11:37 AM
August 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The exit interview that came back to haunt
Careers: It can be tempting to practice brutal honesty in an exit interview but the costs almost always exceed the benefits. Take the case of one Advice Line reader who did just that, thinking it moral and reasonable, but then after applying for a position at the same company never got so much as a response. "You criticized the actions of an individual," Bob Lewis writes in Another look at exit interviews from the interviewee side. "No matter what other result came from you're doing so, you probably branded yourself a troublemaker. Now it's coming back to haunt you."
From the feature well: Spanning from application development to virtualization and nearly everything in between, like middleware, our stable of bloggers and columnists, 15 of them, each pick the next big things in IT. "Because the writers are domain experts, their predictions for tomorrow's breakthrough technologies are grounded in what's happening today," explains editor-in-chief Steve Fox. Thus, this is a near-term look, not some futuristic odyssey toward infinite possibility.
Gripe Line: When the FCC auctions off wireless spectrum come January, the question of whether the providers will lock customers into using the service's own proprietary features will be a paramount one. "It's hard to predict, but you might want to look at an interesting pattern of gripes recently being generated by one of the likely bidders for the 700-MHz spectrum -- Verizon Wireless," points out Ed Foster in Verizon locks out a spectrum of features. "To be fair, it doesn't sound like Verizon is the only wireless service locking out the features they're selling." That, of course, makes matters all the worse.
Quoteworthy: My advice to Microsoft is to really continue to be an open platform for at least the AMP part of LAMP and show that developers can use whatever mix of open and closed source that they want. Otherwise, the default assumption is that developers interested in open source should ignore the Windows platform completely, and I think that would be a mistake. -- Zack Urlocker, Input for Microsoft on Mix 2008.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 21, 2007 04:53 AM
August 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Cost of engineering degrees hits home
Careers: Calling the H-1B program, outsourcing, and discouragement of technical degrees "repeated failures of logic and common sense," Nick Corcodilos lashes out at the higher-education monopoly in America for slapping engineering students with a surcharge above what, say, English majors, pay. "The cost of a technical degree goes up; the number of students willing to pay for it will go down; the effective yield of technologists will drop; and companies will need more H-1B visas to make up the difference," he writes in this post titled PAAAYYY!, which takes its name from the board game Monopoly. "There's no logic or common sense in any of this."
Green IT: The network is becoming a beneficiary of the greening effect in enterprise IT infrastructure. Hardware such as servers, routers, and switches are becoming more efficient. "On a broader level, there's potential for the network to be a vehicle of energy efficiency effort," Ted Samson writes in The network grows greener. "And the brewing IEEE 802.3az standard, more elegantly known as the Energy Efficient Ethernet, could have a profound impact on reducing power consumption, too."
Security: TJX just reported second quarter earnings and, despite the massive data breach earlier this year, the company's core business remains hugely profitable. That means customers are not simply shopping elsewhere, as some experts predicted they would. What we're not learning from TJX. "The implicit lesson has to be that consumers are either oblivious to the whole cycle of news reports and research being produced about the nature of corporate information leakage and its relation to identity theft, or that they simply feel there's nothing they can do about it, so why change their lifestyles to deal with the issue," Matt Hines explains.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 16, 2007 10:36 AM
August 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Careers: There is a certain allure to working as contractor, despite the downsides. You're still, after all, essentially running your own business. "Don't jump into this unless you know what you're doing," advises Nick Corcodilos in this Ask the Headhunter post. "Being a contractor is a different life." You'll have to run your own marketing, watch out for gotchas, handle insurance and benefits. Oh yes, and don't forget about the ol' IRS.
The news beat: A researcher says that Windows Vista prevents users from playing high-definition video and audio, and harms system performance. Microsoft opens a beta of its Skydrive online storage service to anyone who wants to test it. And PC World's Erik Larkin offers a hands-on with Palm's not-yet-released Foleo, the handheld maker's first Linux-based device.
Notes from the field: Robert X. Cringely, once again, has the geek week in review. This time, it includes the so-called Storm worm, former Brocade CEO Greg Reyes singing the stock backdating blues, a class action suit against Microsoft for defrauding consumers with its Vista-capable marketing campaign, and more.
Gripe Line: "One reader has gotten so frustrated with the inflexible spam-blocking approach of AOL that he's wondering if the company is deliberately using it to promote its guaranteed e-mail delivery service," Ed Foster shares in AOL spam roadblock takes a toll. The volunteer admin of a Web site for car enthusiasts for the past three years has been plagued by AOL's so-called new and improved spam blocking that includes end-user-generated reports. "What do you think?" Foster asks. "Is AOL using its spam-blocking procedures to get business for its paid e-mail?"
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 10, 2007 10:38 AM
August 06, 2007 | Comments: (