Opinion

Sun joins investors, businesses in call to Feds for climate change

Businesses have delivered some pretty clear messages to the government of late: We're ready to make some major investments in clean, green technology, and we want your support. First, TechNet a couple of weeks ago challenged Congress and the pr

By Ted Samson

Mar 26, 2007 4 mins

Oracle upgrades Web apps tool

Oracle on Monday plans to announce availability of Oracle Application Express Release 3.0, which is a free tool for building and managing Web application using only a browser. Users with limited programming skills are able to develop secure Web appli

By Paul Krill

Mar 26, 2007 1 min

The JPC Project is Computer Virtualization in Java

JPC is a pure Java emulation of an x86 PC with fully virtual peripherals. And it can run anywhere that has a JVM, whether x86, RISC, mobile-phone or set-top box. It has been developed since August 2005 in Oxford University's sub department of Pa

Mar 25, 2007 3 mins

Gartner Names Sentillion as “Cool Vendor”

Sentillion, Inc. was recently named one of the "Cool Vendors" in the "Cool Vendors in PC Technologies" reported by Gartner. The five vendors listed in the report provide products that "enable PC users to perform their jobs wi

Mar 25, 2007 2 mins

Sync iCal with Google Calendar (SpanningSync is great so far)

In my initial posting on Google Apps Premier I noted that sync was the one thing that it lacked for *real* enterprise adoption. The fine fellows at SpanningSync solved the problem (at least on the Mac for $25/year) and I can now say that Google Apps

Mar 24, 2007 2 mins

Small and Medium Business Software Development

Thinstall Hints at Future Plans

For months now I've been arguing that the days of the traditional, locally-installed Windows application are numbered. Its replacement: A combination of ubiquitous connectivity and streaming, application-level virtualization – two irresistible f

By Randall Kennedy

Mar 24, 2007 2 mins

InfoWorld Test Center Looks at Four Desktop Virtualization Solutions

InfoWorld's Test Center and Randall C. Kennedy recently published their findings after trying out four competing desktop virtualization solutions from Microsoft, Parallels, VMware and new comer InnoTek. Based on his testing, Randall scored the p

Mar 24, 2007 3 mins

Be Aware of the Following VMware Configuration Limits

When building out your VMware virtual infrastructure, it is important to keep in mind the maximum values and limitations of the products and components that you are working with to ensure a scalable and supported architecture. To that end, VMware has

Mar 24, 2007 1 min

Apple TV opens up a world of possibilities

The Apple TV is a curious product. On the face of it Apple TV would appear to be a very temporary technology with a life expectancy of maybe five years. Why do I say that? Simply because once your TV has Wi-Fi embedded in it, or your set top box, why

By Ephraim Schwartz

Live chat recap: Swaying CXOs to the green side

We had an interesting live chat yesterday with Roger Tipley and Colette LaForce, boardmembers of The Green Grid, about sustainable IT. Judging by the questions, it's clear that interest in this budding field runs high. That's a good sign. O

By Ted Samson

Mar 23, 2007 4 mins

E*Trade’s OSBC Keynote

Every day comes with ever better news for this year's Open Source Business Conference. I just got the title and abstract for Lee Thompson's keynote. Lee is the Chief Technologist for E*Trade. E*Trade made a decision a few years back to go c

White House demands “secure” Windows

The Register is reporting on "a White House directive to federal chief information officers issued this week that calls for all new Windows PC acquisitions, beginning 30 June, to use a common "secure configuration". Applications (such

Test Center Tracker: Compliance outsourcing, laptop security, and dead fish

Lost and found: With the increase in lost (or stolen) laptops and other devices, as well as the increasing acceptance of wireless networks and mobile computing in the enterprise, setting up a security system to protect data stored on devices is no lo

By Stephanie McLoughlin

Red Hat and the Hibernate trademark question: Much ado about…?

eWeek is reporting on the recent hullabaloo over Hibernate or, rather, the trademarking thereof. Red Hat has been limiting others' rights to advertise Hibernate training, and members of the Hibernate community are crying 'Foul!' At the

Mar 23, 2007 6 mins

The soft underbelly of Microsoft? Open source email (ZDNet)

First off, let me just state for the record: if you don't subscribe to Mary Jo Foley's All about Microsoft blog, you should. It's consistently interesting and offers up gems of information. Mary Jo today cites Yankee Group's upcom

Handling a resume gap

Dear Bob … I'm facing a problem that seems pretty tough to me. Long story as short as I can make it: my career was interrupted a few years ago by my becoming involved in a disastrous relationship.Among other things, my now-ex deeply resented m

By Bob Lewis

The White Monster

Last Friday, I told you about my 13-year-old daughter's less than rhapsodic reaction to Windows Vista. I wasn't at all surprised when someone suggested that I should show her a Mac. In fact, she has not only seen current Macs, she

By Martin Heller

Oracle sues SAP for allegedly behaving like it has toward Linux

Having spent a few years in law school, I'm not a big fan of lawsuits. Or legal maneuvering, generally, that replaces head to head product competition. So it should come as no surprise that my gut reaction to Oracle's lawsuit against SAP is

Mar 23, 2007 5 mins

Is your SOA Balanced?

SOAs are in essence distributed systems, meaning that the services are running all over the place, as are the data services, and persistence layers. As such many SOAs that I'm seeing deployed have a tendency to be out-of-balance or a disproport

By Dave Linthicum

Scary Article for Small IT Companies

The Washington Post (the only national daily in which I've ever had my byline) just ran a frightening and outrageous story, written anonymously, from the chief exec of a small US IT company. Seems this person received a "National Security

SMB Tech News Today; 3/23

* Child recovery on USB. Okay, it's not really SMB, but it's a good public service announcment. The AmberAlert.com missing child recovery site announced that it's put together a Child ID Kit that fits on a USB thumbdrive. (Source: Info

Data and Information Security Databases Security

LoJack for laptops

With more data security breaches involving stolen mobile devices, it's time to seriously consider remote tracking technologies

By Roger Grimes

Mar 23, 2007 5 mins

Getting compliance out of the datacenter

New partnership between AXS-One and EDS suggests outsourcing to cope with the regulatory burden

By Mario Apicella

Data and Information Security Small and Medium Business Technology Industry

30 Days Hath September, April, June, and eMusic

The list of sneakwrap gotchas keeps getting longer. One reader was recently stuck paying for an extra month's service from eMusic because he didn't read the online music site's fine print far enough to discover it thinks every month ha

By Ed Foster

Join the INSYSTEK Virtualize IT for VMware Beta Program

INSYSTEK Inc. announced today that the company was going to open up to the public its Beta program for the new Virtualize IT for VMware. Beta program enquiries can be made, here. According to the company, using its Virtualize IT technology, customers

The CEO’s new software

Inspired by: The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson Once upon a time, there lived a vain CEO at a large software vendor. His only worry in life was to sell more software and decide between blue or red for his personal jet. He chang

By InfoWorld Anonymous

Mar 22, 2007 7 mins

Data Management

Show me the money!

Soon after I started my second job as an IT consultant in the booming late 90s, I was making 36K. Pretty decent for a single 25-year-old in the Midwest. When I joined a fast-growing consulting company, I was still in the low double-digits of the comp

By InfoWorld Anonymous

Data Management

Make it worse

I worked for one of the large insurance companies in Hartford when I was given a project to program. Actually, I was to do half the work and a fellow programmer, Joe, was to do the other half. The interface for the user allowed for several dollar and

By InfoWorld Anonymous

Data Management

Novell responds: ‘Stop fixating on the patent deal’

In case it's not abundantly clear, I despise Novell's patent pact with Microsoft. But, as Bruce Lowry wrote me today (because comments are turned off on the blog, due to a massive spike in comment spam), there may be some bright spots on th

Mar 22, 2007 4 mins

REVIEW: FreshBooks Means E-Invoicing on the Web

An old colleague, Jamie Bsales, just pubbed this review on FreshBooks, a solid online invoicing system for freelancer types–like me–or small businesses. In fact, I'm sure my managing editor would love me to use FreshBooks, since I'm abou

A Bluetooth speakerphone for your mobile

A little larger than the typical cell phone or PDA, the Spracht Aura Mobile BT conference phone is a versatile little unit. You can use the Aura as a Voice over IP (VoIP) conference speakerphone for Internet phone calls with a Bluetooth enabled PC or

By Victor R. Garza

What Novell could learn from Google

There's an interesting story on Slashdot this morning about why (possibly) Google may have been spoiling for a YouTube fight, rather than hoping to avoid it. As the theory in the article goes, Google may have wanted to get sued to protect the vi

Test Center Tracker: Virtualization battle royale

Desktop virtualizers vie for position: If you haven't noticed, we're strong advocates of virtualization here at InfoWorld. Those of you hungry for some insight on the desktop virtualization space would be well served reading Randall C. Kenn

By Ted Samson

Teamprise links CodePlex, Eclipse users

Teamprise, which links Eclipse and Unix developers to Microsoft's application lifecycle management server, is offering complimentary licenses for CodePlex users to to use Teamprise Client Suite. CodePlex is Microsoft's open source community

By Paul Krill

SMB Tech News Today; 3/22

* SugarCRM update to go beta next month. I like SugarCRM–except for real estate property management CRM. For that, you go to FB2 Corp. Don't question it. Just go. But for the rest of you, SugarCRM is great and they're coming out with a new

Tips for improving your writing

<p>It is nearly impossible to overstate the benefits of being able to write well. Even more so than effective public speaking, a solid ability to communicate your ideas in writing will make or break your career from day one.</p> <p&

By John West

Mar 22, 2007 4 mins

Careers

If you can’t write well, stay home

By John West

Mar 22, 2007 3 mins

Careers

“Best Practices for Your Enterprise SOA”

Ann Bednarz did a good job with this article "Best Practices for Your Enterprise SOA" which I was interviewed for some time ago. "The benefits of the service-oriented architecture are widely touted: reduced integration costs, greater

By Dave Linthicum

Light makes right for virtual machine performance

Lightweight solutions deliver best results

By Randall Kennedy

Small and Medium Business Software Development Technology Industry

HP to buy Symantec?

A misdirected missive that, when considered, might just illuminate a worthwhile match

By David Margulius

Mar 22, 2007 3 mins

Microsoft issues bribes, Vista nixes drives

What do you do when playing the bully no longer works?

By Robert X. Cringely®

Databases Software Development Technology Industry

Detailed review of living with Linux on the desktop

Sharon Machlis over at Computerworld went for it–she made the switch to a Linux desktop and chronicled the whole thing. I've tried this a number of times in the past and found almost exactly the same issues she did–need for more drivers, photo

Novell: Nothing is wrong with Linux (Better sign with us or you may be sued over Linux)

Am I the only one who finds Novell's continued backtracking and silliness over its patent scheme with Microsoft reprehensible? Ron Hovsepian went on the defensive (again – you'd think that Novell would learn that its opprobrium from the pat

Mar 22, 2007 3 mins

Explaining Dave

From Slashdot:"The Daily Telegraph is reporting that intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented, according to research. Researchers found that, far from being a sign of delin

Symantec Internet Security Threat Report

Symantec just released the 11th edition of their security threat report. It's always a fun read and always has a few tidbits that aren't totally clear. For example, the report would lead one to believe that Windows is more secure than OSX o

XenSource Versus VMware in Performance Comparison

If you remember listening to a recent Virtualization Report Podcast earlier this month, you may well remember the back and forth "Performance Comparison" news coming out of both camps – VMware and XenSource. VMware initially offered a white

Mar 21, 2007 4 mins