Outsourcing
Giga, 4/21/03: Outsourcing Trends in Japan
Robert McNeill and Bernt Ostergaard
What are the key trends in the Japanese outsourcing market?
Multinational corporations with activities in Japan should find Japanese outsourcing conditions fast approaching European and US conditions, because the recent years of economic depression have forced Japanese companies to move away from lifelong employment and “doing everything in-house.” However, service-level agreements (SLAs) are still relatively immature, since service quality is often implied rather than explicit. This is because most business relationships are based on trust, more than contractual service levels.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 4/22/03: Microsoft issues patch for Office 2000 registration bug
By TODD R. WEISS
Microsoft Corp. has posted a software patch to fix a registration glitch experienced recently by an unknown number of Office 2000 users.
The problem, detailed on a Microsoft support Web page, occurred for some users after April 15, when a pop-up message would appear as they opened Office 2000 applications. The message told the users to register their copies of Office 2000, even if they had previously been registered or didn't require registration.
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Infoworld, 4/22/03: Latest Windows XP patch can slow down PCs, Users report delays in launching applications
By Joris Evers April 22, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft's latest security patch can cause computers running Windows XP to slow down to a crawl, affected users say.
Windows XP can take up to 10 seconds to start an application after installation of the patch released last Wednesday with security bulletin MS03-013, users wrote in dozens of postings on several online discussion boards. Removing the patch brings system speed back to normal, according to these users.
Microsoft is aware of the issue and is investigating it, Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager with Microsoft's security response center in Redmond, Washington, said.
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ZDNet, 4/23/03: JetBlue flies with Windows
By Joe Wilcox
People working at airlines don't like to talk about crashes, not even those affecting their computers.
So it might seem strange to see a major airline turn to Windows, a product much maligned as crash-prone, as the only way to run a successful business. Yet for Jeff Cohen, chief information officer of JetBlue Airways, Windows is the only way to run a successful business--in fact, it's a nearly 100 percent Microsoft software operation.
Certainly, it's hard to argue with the success of JetBlue's standardization approach. The company flies only Airbus A320 aircraft, of which it has 41, with plans to add a dozen more by the end of the year. Having a single kind of plane, the company hopes, means lower costs for training, maintenance and parts, because everything is interchangeable.
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How the Mighty Have Fallen
The Wall Street Journal, 4/23/03: Star Banker Quattrone Faces Charge of Criminal Obstruction
Case Grew From Regulators' Probe
Of the IPO Practices on Wall Street
Federal prosecutors criminally charged former star technology-industry investment banker Frank Quattrone following an obstruction-of-justice probe.
The probe was based on his advice to colleagues in late 2000 that they destroy documents amid a regulatory investigation of how Wall Street doles out initial public offerings of stock.
Authorities said Mr. Quattrone was in custody and was expected to appear later in the day in court. James B. Comey, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, planned an afternoon news conference to discuss the charges.
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