IT Directions
ZDNet, 10/21/02: IT's buying "utility" computing
By Larry Dignan
Tech visionaries have long imagined a future in which companies buy information technology services as they would electricity. Their idea: Ditch the server racks and replace them with a wall jack connected to unlimited, on-demand computing horsepower.
Until recently, however, most big companies didn't have a good economic reason for considering so-called "utility" computing services. Now, given the slender IT budgets and cost-cutting at many of those same companies, proponents say the concept is getting renewed attention.
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Wireless
TechWeb, 10/21/02: WLANs: Unsafe At Any Speed?
By Scot Finnie
Don't be fooled by reports of tighter 802.11b wireless security: Big advances are fewer and farther between than you might think. In fact, what's on the upswing are the numbers and types of attacks that hackers are attempting against wireless installations.
Microsoft has released hardware for securing home networks, but it offers nothing more than what savvy IT managers might do in an enterprise setting. Several vendors, including IBM, have released proprietary WLAN security features or products. And there are 802.11x standards that do a better job at security. But most WLANs are built on 802.11b, which has both performance and security issues. And wireless LAN growth is slowing.
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Microsoft
San Jose Mercury News, 10/20/02: More ommph for Office
MICROSOFT VP IS MASTERMIND BEHIND AMBITIOUS PLAN TO REVAMP SOFTWARE PACKAGE
By Kristi Heim
REDMOND, Wash. - Jeff Raikes, a soft-spoken former Nebraska farm boy, masterminded Microsoft's $10 billion cash cow -- its Office productivity software. The cow has been looking a bit feeble recently, but Raikes has an ambitious plan to enliven it.
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Coming Innovations
San Jose Mercury News, 10/20/02: Software idea may be just crazy enough to work
By Dan Gillmor
Mitch Kapor smiles at the half-serious question: ``Are you crazy to try something like this?''
Kapor, a pioneering developer of personal-computer software, is definitely not nuts. And it's no surprise to see the founder of Lotus Development now leading an unorthodox project that could have an outsized impact.
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