IT Consulting
IDG, 4/7/03: Study: CIOs remain cold on IT consulting
By Juan Carlos Perez
Spending on IT consulting will drop "dramatically" by 4.6 percent this year from 2002, according to a recent survey of chief information officers (CIOs) done by the research department of investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co.
One reason for the drop is that CIOs are being very careful with their overall IT spending, and IT consulting specifically is very dependent on discretionary spending, which is extremely tight, the report says. "The consulting model is ill-suited for this current environment," the report reads.
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Avnet
Businesswire, 4/7/03: Jim Teter Selected as Avnet Enterprise Solutions President
TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2003--Rick Hamada, president of Avnet Computer Marketing (CM), today announced Jim Teter has been promoted to president of Avnet Enterprise Solutions, effective immediately. A division of Avnet CM, Avnet Enterprise Solutions is an IT solutions integrator serving Fortune 1000 companies across the United States. As president, Teter has responsibility for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the division, reporting directly to Hamada.
"Jim brings a strong combination of talents and skills to the new position as well as a great track record in the industry," said Hamada. "His leadership will allow Avnet Enterprise Solutions to continue to develop and deliver innovative solutions that help our customers get the most out of their IT environments and investments."
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 4/7/03: Waiting for Longhorn
By MICHAEL GARTENBERG
I just came back from Microsoft's Analyst Summit in Redmond. Together with about 150 of my colleagues, I listened to a lot of presentations, many of which referred to Longhorn, the code name for the next-generation Windows client. Despite the incessant references to the new operating system, there was almost no information about it. Still, Longhorn looms on the horizon, and IT planners need to start making preparations now.
Prior generations of Windows-client upgrades focused on issues such as unifying the code base, eliminating Windows' core DOS roots and improving stability and reliability. Although all of these were daunting objectives, most have been achieved with Windows XP.
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ZDNet, 4/8/03: Windows key leak threatens mass piracy
By Joe Wilcox
A key code for installing Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 has leaked onto the Internet, a loss that could lead to widespread piracy of the software.
A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the leak late Monday and said Microsoft was investigating the matter. The code key leak comes more than two weeks before the software's scheduled release on April 24.
The leaked code appears to be from a Microsoft corporate customer subscribing to one of the company's volume-licensing programs, the spokeswoman said. Rumors circulating on enthusiast Web sites, such as Neowin and WinBeta, identified the leak as a 3-in-1 code, meaning that it would work with three different versions of Windows Server 2003.
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ZDNet, 4/7/03: SharePoint gets MS Office label
By Joe Wilcox
Microsoft on Monday said it will fold its SharePoint business portal software into its Office System product line.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company is attempting to make Office System more attractive to larger businesses as demand for desktop application software begins to slow.
In March, Microsoft rebranded the productivity family of products as Office System, which includes Office 2003, Project and other software. Directions on Microsoft analyst Paul DeGroot described the branding as an attempt make Office a "platform" that developers and businesses can use as a base for custom applications and business processes.
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Security
IDG, 4/7/03: SETI@home contains vulnerability
Program's screen saver has hole through which attackers can run malicious code
By Paul Roberts
Providing further proof of the adage that "No good deed goes unpunished," the SETI@home screen saver contains software vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to execute malicious code on machines running the popular program, according to an advisory released by a computer science student in The Netherlands.
SETI@home is a scientific experiment that marshals the processing power of Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Participants install a free software program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.
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CSO, 4/03: Certification Uncertainty
Would I want to belong to a club that had me as a member?
As it turns out, I do. BY ANONYMOUS
I REMEMBER WHEN I first found out about the CISSP certification back in the 1990s. To be honest, I thought it was a scam—it all seemed so self-referential. Despite its highfalutin name, the CISSP certification was really just a paper credential handed out by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium—or (ISC)2—an organization created for the very purpose of approving such Certified Information Systems Security Professionals!
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Mobile
Computerworld, 4/7/03: Microsoft Adds Wireless Security Support to XP
Free software replaces less secure WEP with new Wi-Fi Protected Access specs
By Bob Brewin
Microsoft Corp. last week added support for a new set of wireless LAN security specifications to Windows XP, and WLAN hardware that uses the same specs is expected from several vendors later this month.
Microsoft said software that complies with the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security mechanisms can be downloaded from its Web site for free. WPA, which was developed by Microsoft and other vendors under the auspices of the Wi-Fi Alliance trade group, will replace the older and less secure Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security standard that XP now supports.
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Larry Ellison: Probably Just in a Bad Mood About Losing the Americas Cup
The Wall Street Journal, 4/8/03: Oracle's Larry Ellison Expects Greater Innovation From Sector
By MYLENE MANGALINDAN
Wake up, Silicon Valley. Your misspent youth is behind you.
That's the unlikely message from Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp. and a longtime captain of the valley.
Mr. Ellison disputes the popular, romanticized vision of the computer industry as always growing and reinventing itself. He says the high-tech world -- now in the throes of a devastating downturn -- might not be immune to aging.
"What's going on ... is the end of Silicon Valley as we know it," the co-founder of the world's second-biggest software company, after Microsoft Corp., told a group of Wall Street Journal editors and reporters last week. "The next big thing ain't computers." Instead, he says, it's biotechnology.
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Stuff You Don’t Need
AP, 4/8/03: Heinz Unveils New Blue Ketchup
By ALLISON SCHLESINGER, Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH - Blue cheese, blueberries and chicken cordon bleu — but blue ketchup? The H.J. Heinz Co., which has sold the condiment in red, green, purple, pink, orange and teal, is adding blue to its palette. The company unveiled Heinz EZ Squirt "Stellar Blue" on Monday, just in time for spring and summer — hot seasons for condiments.
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