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. Careers