One week in IT history

When journalists are in a self-congratulatory mood (or perhaps after a few mojitos, which may be the same thing), they sometimes claim they get the first crack at writing history.

That’s certainly true for journalists who cover wars, politics, and other great events. But it’s just as valid for those who follow technology — including the very capable authors and analysts who write for InfoWorld.

I was reminded of that fact while reading this week’s issue. Nearly every article, although important in its own right, also fits into one of the grand trends that are rewriting IT history. That’s not unusual; it’s pretty much true every week. But this week, it might be interesting to list a few of those trends and also the specific articles that embody them:

The increasing tendency to deliver enterprise software as a service InfoWorld devoted an entire cover story to this subject a few weeks ago. Now Senior Contributing Editor James R. Borck sinks his teeth into the theme with a careful, comparative dissection of four top CRM solutions.

It’s no surprise that Salesforce.com, the market leader that helped create this category, fares well. But don’t write off competitors NetSuite, RightNow Technologies, and Salesnet. Borck found interesting capabilities in each of their products, and readers who need better CRM should consider all four.

The maturation of open source Free, user-supported software has always been as much a movement — for example, a matter of passion — as a trend. But this week, you’ll find interesting contrasts in the views of columnists Jon Udell and Chad Dickerson. Udell’s Strategic Developer challenges vendors to harness the power of user support for their own products. On the other hand, Dickeron’s CTO Connection ponders the practical limits of open source.

The daily moving and storing of mountains of data Here, you’ll find insight into data hub products from Ephraim Schwartz’s Reality Check as well as devices to speed and control data throughput from Senior Contributing Editor Logan Harbaugh.

There’s plenty more. But before closing, there’s one more article that resists being identified with any trend: Richard Gincel’s short but funny take on “BizSpeak for the geek.” It won’t speed your network or win you customers. But it can definitely improve communications with your CFO — and may even spare you the inconvenience of being “dehired” someday!