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! Careers