IT Management
Garter, Talking Technology, 10/03: The Future of IT, Part 1
Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, Al Lill presents Gartner’s forecast for 2004. “Today’s IT infrastructure is too fragile, complex and expensive. On the average about 70% of an IT budget is spent “keeping the lights on” and that’s too much.
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Security
eWeek, 2/2/04: Microsoft Patches Serious IE Flaw
By Dennis Fisher
Microsoft Corp. on Monday finally released a patch for a dangerous vulnerability that lets attackers trick Internet users into visiting malicious sites. The flaw has been public knowledge for some time, but Microsoft failed to include a fix for it with January's scheduled patch releases.
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Computerworld, 2/2/04: SCO moves to temporary Web site as Mydoom attack continues
The Unix vendor aims to keep its Web site online during the worm attack
Story by Todd R. Weiss
The SCO Group Inc. is fighting back against the writers of the Mydoom.A worm that caused havoc on the company's Web site this weekend by switching the company's site domain address temporarily to outsmart the attackers.
The Lindon, Utah-based Unix vendor today announced that it had moved its Web site to www.thescogroup.com instead of its normal address of www.sco.com to avoid the worm-induced distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that has been pummeling the original site since early yesterday (see story).
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Computerworld, 2/2/04: New DHS Cyber Alert System Draws Friendly Fire
Private-sector organizations say they were left out of the loop in planning
Story by Dan Verton
The leaders of the security information sharing organizations within two of the nation's critical-infrastructure sectors are criticizing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for announcing a new cyber alert system without better framing the role of the private sector.
In interviews with Computerworld last week, senior officials from the Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC) within the IT and financial services industries said they learned of the new DHS National Cyber Alert System from media reports that appeared shortly after the announcement was made last Wednesday [QuickLink 44367]. The officials said they have little or no idea what, if any, new capabilities the alert system offers, what's expected of the ISACs or how the private sector is supposed to integrate and coordinate with the DHS on the alerts.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 2/2/04: Microsoft Aims to Prevent NT Users' Shift to Linux
Q&A by Carol Sliwa
Support for Windows NT Server 4.0 is due to cease at year's end, but the many users of the aging Microsoft Corp. operating system will find plenty of options as they plot their migration strategies.
IBM two weeks ago said it would offer free migration classes and some discounts on software and services for those who opt to move from Microsoft products to IBM enterprise software running on Linux.
Not to be outmarketed, Microsoft last week promoted its improved migration tools, prescriptive guidance, discounted training, a freely available "online concierge" and other services.
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Bigger Picture
Harvard Business Review, 2/2/04: Getting IT Right
Modern information technology started four decades ago, yet in most major corporations, IT remains an expensive mess. This is partly because the relatively young and rapidly evolving practice of IT continues to be either grossly misunderstood or blindly ignored by top management. In this article, the authors say a systematic approach to understanding and executing IT can and should be implemented, and it should be organized along three interconnected principles: First, Long-Term IT Renewal Plan Linked to Corporate Strategy. Such a plan focuses the entire IT group on the company's overarching goals during a multiyear period, makes appropriate investments directed toward cutting costs in the near term, and generates a detailed blueprint for long-term systems rejuvenation and value creation. Second, Simplified, Unifying Corporate Technology Platform. Instead of relying on vertically oriented data silos that serve individual corporate units (HR, accounting, and so on), companies adopt a clean, horizontally oriented architecture designed to serve the whole organization. Third, Highly Functional, Performance-Oriented IT Organization. Instead of functioning as if it were different from the rest of the firm or as a loose confederation of tribes, the IT department works as a team and operates according to corporate performance standards.
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Harvard Business Review, 2/2/04: Breakthrough Ideas for 2004: The HBR List
HBR's editors searched for the best new ideas related to the practice of management and came up with a collection that is as diverse as it is provocative. The 2004 HBR List includes emergent concepts from biology, network science, management theory, and more. A few highlights: Richard Florida wonders why U.S. society doesn't seem to be thinking about the flow of people as the key to America's advantage in the "creative age."
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Fast Company Blog, 2/2/04: The Best Business Ideas of 2003
In his blog How to Save the World, Dave Pollard outlines what he considers to be the 10 most important business ideas of 2003. In a quick hit -- Dave expands on them in his blog -- they are:
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