Dale Gardner: People

Low Cost PCs Threaten Ability To Innovate

Fri, 11 Oct 2002 10:26:28 GMT

Maintaining that "someone" is subsidizing the actual cost of low-cost PCs ($199 at Wal-Mart) running the LindowsOS, Microsot's Steve Ballmer insists Microsoft won't cut costs to be competitive. Ballmer: Windows prices are firm [ZDNet Tech News]

Sell To LOB Managers

Fri, 11 Oct 2002 10:08:49 GMT

The discussion of how cost-justification duties are increasingly falling to line-of-business managers overlooks the larger trend - that LOB managers are increasingly driving all aspects of IT acquisitions. It's no longer adequate - arguably, it never was - to simply target the IT organization in sales and marketing efforts. Business units inherit more IT cost-justification duties [Computerworld]

Upside Shuts Down, Red Herring Retrenches

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 13:29:09 GMT

The NYT reports that Upside has followed Forbes ASAP into publishing oblivion by ceasing publication. Also, Red Herring has been sold to an investor and has seen staff shrink from 400 to less than 50. Data specific to Upside isn't at hand, but the entire tech publishing sector has seen ad pages - and consequently revenue - disappear. Pages for Red Herring are down nearly 70% year over year.

Hurwitz Goes Under

Tue, 08 Oct 2002 15:39:55 GMT

Computerworld and InformationWeek report that IT analyst firm Hurwitz Group Inc. closed its doors and has gone out of business.

So. Is That A Sell?

Tue, 10 Sep 2002 03:04:17 GMT

Gates Unloads $493 Million In Microsoft, Puts His Cash In Health Care Stocks [TechWeb]

Kangaroo Kourt? Or Just Klumsy Kops?

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 14:36:30 GMT

At best, this sounds like a case of incredibly inept law enforcement officials who allowed evidence to be manipulated and damaged. At worst, they're railroading this guy. News.Com: Electronic evidence anchors porn case. A Rochester, N.Y., federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former Xerox engineer accused of trafficking in child pornography to nearly four years in prison. The government's prosecution of Larry Benedict, 45, is unusual because all the evidence in the case is electronic, and all of the evidence appears to have been allegedly tampered with or otherwise altered after it was in government custody. [Tomalak's Realm]

No Correlation Between Options, Performance

Mon, 26 Aug 2002 00:00:49 GMT

The study asserts that "The relationship between executives' stock holdings and their companies' performance is so close to zero that it is zero in statistical terms." As the article notes, this means an alphabetical ranking of companies is as apt to predict their performance as a ranking based on executives' holdings." Options Do Not Raise Performance, Study Finds. Is the economic rationale for awarding managers stock to align their interests with those of shareholders as solid as it has always been? No. By David Leonhardt. [New York Times: Business]

A Little Vulture Capital To Keep The Wheels Turning?

Tue, 06 Aug 2002 13:28:11 GMT

To the extent the claims are accurate, venture capitalists are at some risk of making themselves irrelevant. Having been burned by bad investments, entrepreneurs report VC are now increasingly risk averse and seeking demanding terms. At this rate, it won't take long before entrepreneurs and other investors just take a pass. Venture Capitalists Are Taking the Gloves Off. Venture capitalists are offering the companies they bankroll increasingly hard-knuckled deals that leave little wealth for a start-up's managers or original backers. By Lynnley Browning. [New York Times: Business]

What's Good For The Goose?

Mon, 05 Aug 2002 12:43:43 GMT

A couple of interesting debates intersect. On the one hand, the argument is made that it should be ok to attack machines that are responsible for propagating worms and viruses such as Nimda. There is much to be said for this - the worms affect the entire Internet, and - especially with attacks such as Nimda - it's not like the administrators, using the term loosely, of the offending systems have not been both warned of the existence of the worm, as well as an easily applied patch to cure the problem. On the other hand, the entertainment industry wants the right to hack into computers that are exchanging files. Governmental sources interviewed for this piece seem to believe that the 'defensive' hacking is wrong and inappropriate. We'll see if the same attitude applies to the 'offensive' hacking proposed by the representative from Disneyland. Computers Under Attack Can Hack Back, Expert Says. A security researcher says people should be allowed to neutralize a computer that is unwittingly spreading destructive Internet worms like Nimda. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology]

Biometric Vendors Still Hoping To Cash In on Death and Suffering

Sun, 04 Aug 2002 03:29:26 GMT

And it's still not working. The technology that is - the effort to cash in seems to be going pretty well. Face recognition fails in Boston airport. The patriotic scam goes on [The Register]

Can we trust Microsoft's Palladium?

Sun, 04 Aug 2002 02:50:39 GMT

Open Source advocate Bruce Perens believes Palladium will spell the end for open source software, claiming "If Microsoft has its way, there just won't be any open-source software." The reason is that unsigned code won't be executed by the system. If Microsoft controls signing, then they control what runs on the system. They maintain they'll let others sign code. One imagines just like others can build browsers. They also maintain that Palladium isn't about DRM. But as the article points out, "(Microsoft's) arguments about DRM are also somewhat muddied by the fact that late last year Microsoft was quietly granted a patent for just what he says it's not building: 'The Digital Rights Management Operating System,' protected by U.S. patent numbers 6,330,670 and 6,327,652." Just coincidence, I'm sure. "Critics say Redmond's new security initiative will imprison users. But why would Bill Gates want to do that? "

CA to Ranger: Go Away

Thu, 25 Jul 2002 10:11:00 GMT

CA's payment of a $10 million ransom has prompted Ranger to decide that all is now well with the software giant. CA, Ranger end proxy fight. In about-face, Ranger says CA ready to 'deliver shareholder value' [InfoWorld: Top News]

You Want Fries With That?

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 12:47:23 GMT

Continued poor spending in the IT market leads to losses and cuts. Week of poor reports suggests IT buying still tepid. Hardware vendors hit especially hard in quarter [InfoWorld: Top News]

The Humans Writing Press Releases

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 21:54:29 GMT

Jay's been feeling a bit cynical as of late. But as they say, no matter how cynical you get, it's hard to keep up. The Devil is in the Detail. The SCREWTAPE Letters [The Register]

Yangfan v1.0 To Dash Microsoft's China Hopes?

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 12:41:57 GMT

Right from the pages of the People's Daily - China has announced plans to break the foreign monopoly over office software (that would be Microsoft) by introducing it's own software. Not at all clear what's actually happening here, but most interesting to watch. China to build own version of Windows 98. Compatible with Office 2000 and Word, says here [The Register]

Symantec Security Binge: Inspiration or Indigestion?

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:41:17 GMT

Utility vendor Symantec will need to jump numerous hurdles to pull off their aggressive acquisition and integration strategy. Odds are against the utility vendor's efforts to move upstream in the market. Analysis: Symantec rattles security landscape. Triple acquisition aims to plug holes in one broad stroke [InfoWorld: Top News]

Bye Bye BugTraq?

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:36:16 GMT

For years, individuals have contributed information to the BugTraq mailing list strictly for the good of the community - and their resumes. But, with Symantec's purchase of BugTraq creator Security Focus, the community that created the list wonders if they'll enjoy it for much longer. Symantec's SecurityFocus buyout met with pessimism. Bug trackers fear BugTraq death [The Register]

Dude - You're Getting A Pink Slip

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:18:39 GMT

Times are tough in the advertising industry. Of course, if the Dell Dude is really considered to be hip and the cutting edge of advertising, perhaps times should be tough. Tech companies change ad campaigns from hip to traditional. Technology companies spent more than $8 billion on advertising in 2000 -- a record year for advertising spending -- but industry estimates say that more than one-third of those dollars have since gone away. In fact, the technology advertising collapse was the biggest contributor to last year's historic advertising slump, which has continued into 2002. By Jim Kirk, Chicago Tribune. [siliconvalley.com]

Sincerity: If You Can Fake It, You've Got It Made

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:01:42 GMT

This shouldn't be a surprise - scientists have learned that personal email is more likely to elicit a response than mass mailings. If you're one of a crowd, it's easier to assume that someone else will respond. Experts: Personal e-mail gets best reply [CNN - Technology]

$35 Billion Drop In Market Cap Nets CEO 11% Raise

Fri, 19 Jul 2002 10:52:17 GMT

It's good to be king. What with a list of troubles as long as your arm, and a stock price that's off its highs by 80%, CA's Sanjay Kumar still eeked out a healthy raise. Raise for Computer Associates Chief. By almost any measure, the year ended March 31 was not a good one for Computer Associates. But the company's chief executive received an 11 percent raise. By Alex Berenson. [New York Times: Business]

Mac Users Cry Foul Over Upgrade Fees

Fri, 19 Jul 2002 00:57:06 GMT

It's probable that the introduction of fees for .mac services, and the expense of the upgrade to 10.2 can be justified - but the way Apple is handling the situation is annoying the daylights out of lfans. Mac users outraged at iTools, upgrade taxes. Read my lips: pony up [The Register]

NPR Misses The Boat On Security

Thu, 18 Jul 2002 15:27:18 GMT

A two part story from NPR's All Things Considered. In Part One, Larry Abrahmson reports on a government program to better secure computers and completely misses the boat. First, he talks about patches in a way that suggests they actually fight off intruders - never pointing out the pieces of code are meant to close holes in poorly written software. Then, he focuses on the tension between tight security and ease-of-use, using the Plug and Play vulnerability as an example. Again, he never seems to get that it wasn't so much the feature that caused a problem, as the error made in implementing the feature. Not a helpful report. Part Two, on Logan's failing facial recognition software trial, does a better job. Software, Facial Recognition Used to Fight Terrorism [NPR News (Audio)]

Blue Skies Are Going To Clear Up?

Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:54:25 GMT

Venture Capitalists' Spirits Are Sinking [Washington Post: Business]

The Large Print Giveth...

Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:45:10 GMT

...and the small print taketh away. Roundup of analyst's advice to customers offers insights into common software license hangups. Software deals--what's in the fine print? [ZDNet Tech News]

Cue The Firestorm of Protest

Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:18:14 GMT

A thought-provoking article slams the security industry's self-serving hackers who are alleged to generate FUD only to promote their own aims and careers. Security industry's hacker-pipming slammed. Somebody had to say it [The Register]