Outsourcing
eWeek, 1/27/04: EDS Moves into Business-Process Outsourcing
Electronic Data Systems Corp., which has long specialized in running other companies' computer systems, hopes to break from a deep slump by offering more sweeping advice to clients.
Chairman and chief executive Michael H. Jordan said Tuesday that in a "fundamental shift," EDS will help clients "transform" their businesses, in part by providing more consulting help.
Since its founding by H. Ross Perot in 1962, EDS has made the bulk of its money by promising to help other companies with their technology needs.
"Before, we would be 'Your mess for less,' but we wouldn't change the mess very much," Jordan said. "Now we definitely have plans to change the mess —to help our clients become more productive and help their economics long-term."
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Wired, February 2004: The Indian Machine
Computers threatened our jobs, but ultimately made us stronger. So will outsourcing.
by Chris Anderson
Worried about India's practically infinite pool of smart, educated, English-speaking people eager to work for the equivalent of your latte budget? Get used to it. Today's Indian call centers, programming shops, and help desks are just the beginning. Tomorrow it will be financial analysis, research, design, graphics - potentially any job that does not require physical proximity. The American cubicle farm is the new textile mill, just another sunset industry.
…
It's not hard to see how outsourcing to India could lead to the next great era in American enterprise. Today, even innovative firms spend too much money maintaining products: fixing bugs and rolling out nearly identical 2.0 versions. Less than 30 percent of R&D spending at mature software firms goes to true innovation, according to the consulting firm Tech Strategy Partners. Send the maintenance to India and, even after costs, 20 percent of the budget is freed up to come up with the next breakthrough app. The result: more workers focused on real innovation. What comes after services? Creativity.
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Utility Computing
Computerworld, 1/27/04: PeopleSoft aims hosting services at midmarket
Story by Gillian Law
PeopleSoft Inc. said Monday it has created a new portfolio of hosting and application management services for midmarket customers, companies with annual revenue under $1 billion.
The new hosting service, initially only available in the U.S., will give customers who license PeopleSoft's software access to storage, database and hardware at a lower cost than its traditional hosted services aimed at large enterprises, said PeopleSoft of Pleasanton, Calif. However, the company denied published reports that the new offering represented a significant cut in its prices for hosting services, because the new services are markedly different from its existing enterprise services which remain unchanged in price and configuration.
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IT Management
C|net, 1/27/04: Microsoft patches latest Word
By David Becker
Microsoft released a patch on Tuesday for flaws that can cause the latest version of its widely used Word software to crash in certain circumstances.
The update, available for download now, primarily corrects a flaw that can cause Word 2003 to freeze or crash when trying to print or save a document that includes an object based on Object Linking and Embedding. OLE is Microsoft technology for creating complex documents that contain a combination of text, sound, video and other elements. The documentation on the flaw includes a temporary workaround for the problem.
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C|net, 1/28/04: Watch your backup
By Jon Oltsik
When thinking about technology principles, one tends to ponder the bold profundities of Moore's Law. But if you work in an IT department, you are more apt to relate to Murphy's Law, because what can go wrong usually will go wrong.
Certainly, this is true with information security. Even if you do everything right--configure the firewall, update antivirus signatures, patch servers--one little mistake can mean an infected server and a full system restore. But can't information technology always restore the system from tape? After all, we might assume, we've been backing up to tape for dozens of years, so backup/restore processes and technology must be rock solid.
Bad assumption. Backup/restore still remains far from a sure thing.
We recently surveyed more than 200 IT staffers, and the results are certainly cause for concern. For example, while most respondents are confident that their backups work, one-fourth said backups fail about 20 percent of the time. I hate to think that my bank, mortgage company or health insurance provider is among that group. Even when backup jobs are completed, 37 percent of the respondents say they had no confidence that the backups were indeed successful. I guess these guys have been burned a few times in the past.
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Security
Infoworld, 1/27/04: XP hole could compromise system
Vulnerability described as 'moderately critical'
By Kieren McCarthy
A hole has been discovered in Windows XP Professional and Home Edition that could compromise a network and be used to get into protected areas.
XP hole could compromise system.
Reported by bug-finder 'http-equiv' of Malware.com -- who has found several critical holes in Microsoft software previously -- the vulnerability has been described as “moderately critical," which means you can still get a cup of tea before you fix it but don’t have a long lunch.
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Bigger Picture
Fast Company, 1/27/04: A Call to Action
In her new column, this noted author and Harvard B-School professor says the 20th century model of capitalism is dead.
By: Shoshana Zuboff
My parents trusted corporate America, embracing its newfangled products: processed food, backyard mosquito foggers, and pension plans. Still reeling from the sacrifices of war, they kept faith with the companies that bolstered their standard of living and enriched their lives with an unprecedented cornucopia of affordable goods. They never imagined that the processed food might clog their arteries, the mosquito fogger poison them, or the pension plan go bust.
Now, that faith has turned into dark mistrust. I spend $600 a month on my family's health insurance but put in hours arguing over legitimate claims. I sign up for a cheaper long-distance plan but find I am charged more. In each case, my complex needs are invisible to the company, overshadowed by its simplistic logic of efficiency and cost control. We now take such experiences for granted, but the price is high.
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