On Tuesday Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States, during a scary economic meltdown and at a time when America questions its role in the world and its self-perception as a champion for good and progress. Among his many agenda items as president is one for technology. His incoming administration has signaled it sees technology both as an enabler of the change it seeks for the U.S. and as a worthwhile investment in its own right.
New surveys show job cuts are on the way for 2009, especially in entry-level to mid-level IT jobs. Higher-level jobs are under strong pressure to do more with less. And there are all those offshore firms who want these jobs.
The iPhone 3G and its iPhone 2 OS propelled Apple's leading-edge mobile device into serious contention as a business smartphone. And the iPhone 3G is one of the best -- if not the best -- mobile 2.0 device out there for overall use. But Apple missed when it came to business functionality, leaving a space that the RIM BlackBerry Storm, Palm Treo Pro, and Google Android-based T-Mobile G1 are all trying to fill.
It's been on the market for just six months, and already the iPhone (plus its Wi-Fi-only variant, the iPod Touch) is the most used mobile browser for Internet access in the US, according to Irish researcher StatCounter. At No. 2 is the Symbian OS used in Nokia's devices. Globally, the two positions are reversed. In either case, Windows Mobile -- in all its versions -- is just a blip.
Almost any IT department worth its salt is deploying virtualisation technology to reduce power usage, make server and OS deployments more flexible, and better use storage and systems resources. But as virtualisation technology gains in popularity, it may bring with it new risks, says Don Simard, commercial solutions director at the US National Security Agency. At the same time, virtualisation technology may bring new protections, he says.
Windows Vista is known for its much higher resource requirements than Windows XP, such as needing a minimum of 2GB of RAM, a fast processor, and a recent video card. That's why most analysts suggest that a Vista deployment be paired with a hardware refresh.
More than 75,000 people have signed InfoWorld's "Save XP" petition in the three weeks since it was launched -- many with passionate, often emotional pleas to not be forced to make a change.
InfoWorld''s petition asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP after June 30 had garnered more than 65,000 signatures as of late January, after being launched on January 14. And with those signatures have come thousands of reader comments that reveal why many IT departments are up in arms about the June 30 deadline to retire XP.
The clock is ticking: Microsoft will end OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on June 30, forcing users to shift to Vista. (System builders, meaning those who do white-box PCs, can sell XP through December 31). Don't let that happen!
Within 36 hours of the full launch of InfoWorld's petition drive asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP as planned on June 30, 12,621 people had signed the <a href="http://www.accelacomm.com/jlp/iwnews080115/13/80276783/">online petition</a>. And dozens of the site's readers added their own comments to the InfoWorld <a href="http://www.savexp.com/">Save Windows XP blog</a>. Many external sites have promoted the campaign as well. InfoWorld will deliver the petitions to Microsoft later this spring.
Without an architecture, there is no SOA. “Architecture identifies the key components of your business and how they interact with you, to give you the overall structure,” says Hong Zhang, chief architect at General Motors. With that architectural blueprint in place, both business and IT can identify, build, change and manage services that attend to the business’s big-picture needs, not just those of a specific project.
The IT staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have to be prepared to work with just about anything. The institute’s computing employees manage a delicate balancing act, promoting core IT standards for security and networking while still giving each of the institute’s departments the freedom to choose their own technology platforms and applications.
Owens Forest Products’ IT department took the traditional path of many smaller companies: a custom ERP system using tools such as Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.Net and Business Objects’ Crystal Reports.
New system "suprisingly fast" say insiders