One Signature Away From A Recovery?
AMR analysts believe a significant number of software deals are on ice, waiting for executive approval. If so, and top execs can be persuaded to sign, a recovery could be on the way.

The Street Corner: Q2 Selections Surge, but Executives Stall [AMR Research] 

---

So, Maybe the CEO Should Get a Dunce Cap?
A Hurwitz study offers some interesting conclusions about customer expectations on disclosure of security flaws - and sooner is better than later. But not for the reasons you might expect. The report revealed that two-thirds of respondents felt that the cost of incidents created by security bugs were low; they are not willing to replace their software with other, presumably more secure, offerings; and that media often overhyped security bugs. So, why the push for rapid disclosure? The report's author suggests that people believe if lousy software is outed quickly, and often, developers will eventually get embarassed and start writing better code. That certainly seems to be the driver behind "trustworthy computing."

Study: Shoddy software steams users. And their desire for revenge is strong. When it comes to how soon a security bug should be revealed, those hurt most by a vulnerability want detailed information fast. [CNET News.com] 

---

E-Mail Advertising Assuming Room Temperature?
Not much of a surprise here, but the article is worth reading for the stats. The Wall Street Journal's Vanessa O'Connell looks at a survey by researcher eMarketer that reveals an average click-through rate of only 1.8% in email advertisements. DoubleClick reports that the June average was only 0.84%. How low we've fallen from the heady days when a link in an e-mail would be clicked by 15% of the recipients - even last year's average was 3%. Why the decline? Two reasons. First, like anything, the ads were initially interesting simply as a novelty. Even if you didn't have an interest in something, you might click just to check it out. Second, the advertising community loves a good thing - and has proceeded to beat people senseless with a never ending stream of commercial messages - 430 billion e-mail advertisements this year, according to the piece. By 2006, that figure is expected to reach more than 960 billion.

Online ads, e-mail don?t click. Consumers aren?t clicking on banners, buttons and other annoying Internet ads-and now, they aren?t responding to special e-mail links either. The latest data regarding online marketing show a sharp decrease in the consumer response to e-mail advertisements and promotions, and represent yet another bout of bad news for the recession-plagued online advertising industry.. [WSJ/MSNBC] 

---

Chinese Software Market Trends
Speaking of China - nicely detailed story about the country's development efforts. Key competitive differentiation for Chinese developers is price, prompting Symantec to sell their antivirus product for half what it costs in the United States. No good news for Microsoft - the article underscores the government's devotion to Linux as the operating system of choice.

Software comes of age. A new crackdown on piracy has given Chinese companies a chance to compete effectively in the software market for the first time. [CNET News.com] 

---

Another Gartner piece in the Register, pointing to expectations that China and India will generate $27B in software and application development revenue by 2006. Maybe. But it's not all smooth sailing, as recent tensions in South Asia demonstrate. As India and Pakistan stood toe to toe and threatened war, software developers fled India. The country now finds itself trying to woo those companies back. China will face similar problems - business rules are more liberal, but political concerns remain very near the surface.

Software in China, India to top $27bn by 2006. And China to pass India, says Gartner [The Register] 

---

Perhaps it's just me, but it always seems as though the good folk at Gartner enjoy castigating Microsoft for various failings - but their recommendations to IT buyers almost never include the suggestion to vote with their feet. Long term, Microsoft's new licensing plan will almost certainly prove to be a mistake - history shows that people will put up with a lot from their IT vendors, and Microsoft is the poster child for that fact. But hit them hard in the pocket book, and even the most complacent buyer will start to look elsewhere for solutions.

MS licensing deadline looms - buy or die. Or defect... [The Register] 

---