Offshoring
C|net, 6/29/04: Offshoring: A view from both shores
By Ed Frauenheim
Vivek Paul occupies a unique vantage point in the controversy roiling the technology industry over offshore outsourcing.
An American citizen, Paul also is chief executive officer of Wipro Technologies, one of India's largest IT service companies. Many American techies are increasingly bitter about the pickup in the stream of IT jobs from the United States to India, arguing that the trend threatens to erode job prospects in the nation's high-tech sector. At the same time, however, a number of economists argue that the natural flows of capital can't be artificially stopped at the borders and that outsourcing is essential to improving corporate productivity.
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Fast Company Blog, 6/28/04: Outsourcing: What's Next?
We've heard a lot about American companies farming out programming, call center or back-office work to India. But we may be less aware of the offshoring of other jobs -- such as clergymen and soldiers.
With Roman Catholic clergy in short supply in the United States, Indian priests are picking up some of their work. American, as well as Canadian and European churches are sending Mass intentions, or requests for services like those to remember deceased relatives and thanksgiving prayers, to clergy in India. Offshoring, amen.
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IT Management
Gartner, 6/10/04: Why IT Asset Management Is Important Now
An IT asset management program is a must in today’s economic and regulatory environment. Don’t delay establishing better controls over your IT assets.
The signs are there — an economic recovery is on the way. So what does that mean for enterprises? For many, the next 12 months will represent flat capital budgets and more of the relentless cost pressures we have seen during the past three years. For others, it will provide opportunities to improve the performance
of their IT asset management programs.
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 6/29/04: Windows XP update could cause support chaos
The overhauled OS is due out in the third quarter
News Story by Joris Evers
The major changes to Windows XP included in the upcoming Service Pack 2 are expected to cause support headaches, and analysts, users, PC makers and Microsoft Corp. are all expecting a spike in help desk calls.
SP2 is due out in the third quarter, so it could be available as soon as next month. The service pack, which will be downloaded automatically into many PCs through Microsoft's Windows Update service, could break current applications, disrupt networking setups and prompt nontechnical users to make PC configuration decisions that may be beyond their grasp.
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Security
Business Week, 6/29/04: Internet Explorer Is Just Too Risky
Until Microsoft proves it can fix IE's security bugs, you're better off using one of a few good alternatives as much as possible.
In late June, network security experts saw one of their worst fears realized. Attackers exploited a pair of known but unpatched flaws in Microsoft's Web server software and Internet Explorer browser to compromise seemingly safe Web sites. People who browsed there on Windows computers got infected with malicious code without downloading anything. I've been growing increasingly concerned about IE's endless security problems, and this episode has convinced me that the program is simply too dangerous for routine use.
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Hewlett Packard
C|net, 6/28/04: HP gets behind the desktop
By Ed Frauenheim
update Hewlett-Packard unveiled a set of PC-related products on Monday, including a new desktop computer with security technology.
The company also announced software for printing from wireless devices; data back-up and recovery software; and workstations, which are powerful desktop machines for uses such as creating digital content.
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