Outsourcing
Wall Street Journal, 3/26/04: Kerry Targets Job Outsourcing With Corporate-Tax Overhaul
By BOB DAVIS and JOHN HARWOOD
WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry, looking to capitalize on growing discontent over job losses, is proposing a broad restructuring of the corporate tax code to prod multinational companies to invest more in the U.S.
...
Mr. Kerry's proposal, besides feeding an election-year fight over outsourcing jobs overseas, is bound to spark a debate about whether ending tax breaks for some of America's largest corporations would strengthen or weaken the U.S. economy -- even if overall tax rates are reduced. "When is the last time that you heard a Democrat propose a reduction in the corporate tax rate?" said Roger Altman, a Kerry economic adviser who was deputy Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. "We're trying to help this country get its fighting edge back."
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AMR, 3/22/04: Improve Relationship Management To Improve Outsourcing Returns
Lance Travis
Outsourcing is on the rise. The number of companies outsourcing parts of their Information Technology (IT) organization will grow 50% in the next two years, AMR Research survey data shows. However, customers are still not getting the most out of their outsourcing engagements. Our research shows that companies that enter strong partnerships with their outsourcing services that are built on shared goals benefit more than companies in outsourcing relationships focused entirely on maximizing cost savings.
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Security
eWeek, 3/26/04: Yet Another Bagle Variant Spreading Quickly
By Larry Seltzer
Yet another variant of the Bagle worm has hit the Internet. Anti-virus companies say it is spreading quickly and have given it an elevated alert status.
Bagle.U (Beagle.U in Symantec's dictionary) is a very simple worm. The e-mail message in which it arrives has no subject line or body. The attachment has a randomized file name with an .EXE extension. The user must launch the executable.
Many e-mail clients, including all recent versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook and Outlook Express strip all .EXE attachments, so those users will be protected against Bagle.U.
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Wired, 3/26/04: Virus Era Hits 5-Year Milestone
By Michelle Delio
Five years ago, lust and curiosity compelled millions of people to click on an e-mail attachment, and a computer virus spread around the world.
Back then, that was news.
Melissa, first spotted worming her way through the Internet on March 26, 1999, was one of the first major viruses to infest corporate and government agency networks, infecting a then-shocking 1 million computers in North America.
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Patch Management
Computerworld, 3/25/04: New Microsoft program: 'You patch, we pay'
The company's Patch Assurance Security Service began late last year
News Story by Paul Roberts
Under a new program, Microsoft Corp. is paying for security assessments of its customers' networks to help improve policies in areas such as software patch management and assuage fears about the security risks posed by Microsoft products.
The Microsoft Patch Assurance Security Service was started in late 2003. As part of the program, Microsoft provides free security audits to all of its enterprise customers and pays for third-party security consultants, including Internet Security Systems Inc., to do the audits, according to those involved in the program.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 3/25/04: Microsoft readies business network
The Microsoft Business Network is designed to help companies automate trading processes
News Story by Marc L. Songini
In addition to its mobile support for CRM software (see story), Microsoft Corp. is rolling out additional integration, performance and e-commerce enhancements to its lineup of business applications.
For instance, company executives detailed plans to release the Microsoft Business Network beta in the next six months, with commercial shipment planned in 2005. The network is a set of business, desktop and middleware applications that help companies automate their trading processes using Web services technology. The company currently has several customers in its early adopter program.
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Otherwise
The New York Times, 3/26/04: How to End a Career: Take a Baby to a News Conference
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
The production notes for "Jersey Girl," Kevin Smith's widowed-father-raises-spunky-moppet film, come with a warm and fuzzy director's statement in which Mr. Smith, the creator of "Clerks," "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma," baldly states that this paean to fatherhood and family ties is his most personal film.
"It's not only spun from a six-year love affair with my wife and child, but also the 33-year-long love affair I was lucky to share with my own recently deceased Dad," he declares.
Had one iota of the feeling expressed in Mr. Smith's statement made its way to the screen in his new movie, "Jersey Girl," it might have signaled his transition from a smart-aleck chronicler of trash-talking suburban slackers and idle mall rats to something more substantial. But sadly, Mr. Smith has made a movie so false and blatantly icky that it's the film equivalent of making goo-goo noises and chucking a baby under the chin for 103 minutes. At the end, all you're left with is drool and a mountain of baby powder.
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