Columnists’ Corner: Jon Udell calls ECMAScript the “Switzerland of development environments.” And that drives into the lingering debate concerning static and dynamic typing. Oh yes, Udell also revisits Charles Petzold’s question “Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?” VoIP: Microsoft bands together with Softbank BB and Japan Telecom to offer integrated VoIP, e-mail, IM and other groupware services to customers in Japan. Best of the blogs: An IT recruiter writes into Bob Lewis’ Advice Line with a problem: hiring the right people when the pay he has to offer is low. His particular company does not pay IT folks as much as competitors do, but there are strong points to sell to prospective employees, namely the fact that “here, a 45-hour week would be considered going the extra mile.” Therein lies an answer. Hardware: With the new year nigh, Tom Yager makes some hardware-centric prognostications about virtualization and high-performance computing. “I believe that together, these two technologies put us right on the cusp of what I call the HPC datacenter,” Yager opines. Listen now to the audio companion to this blog. InfoWorld Daily Podcast: Enterprise Technology in five minutes or less. Software Development