Offshouring
The Raleigh News and Observer, 7/19/04: As work changes, we must too
By ROLAND STEPHEN
RALEIGH -- The world has changed, as we are constantly reminded. The process of "outsourcing" jobs overseas is a prime example of this kind of change, and at first glance seems threatening. But a more careful understanding of its impact will allow us identify the opportunities that come with change and develop policies to take advantage of them.
Outsourcing services to offshore suppliers is bound to create a sense of insecurity among employees not accustomed to the sensation. The fear is that this will lead to persistent unemployment among highly skilled workers, just as shifts in manufacturing left many factory workers on the unemployment line.
[more]
Federal Computer Week, 7/19/04: The outsourcing hole
BY Matthew French
It's a story that could come from a Tom Clancy book — a terrorist cell looking for an advantage against the powerful U.S. military trains a group to be software programmers, who then infiltrate companies that have sent their software development work overseas. Working for those companies, the programmers surreptitiously put vulnerabilities in software.
The concept may seem far-fetched, but so did using planes as weapons prior to Sept. 11, 2001. And given the importance of networks in the nation's day-to-day activities and in military operations, information security is even more critical now than it used to be.
As more technology work — specifically code writing — is outsourced to cheaper labor overseas, lawmakers and industry insiders are becoming increasingly concerned with what could amount to a large hole in the Defense Department's vaunted security.
[more]
IT Management
The Wall Street Journal, 7/19/04: Hospitals in 'Most Wired' Ranking Make Progress on Electronic Records
By HOPE GLASSBERG
The nation's top tech-savvy hospitals are forging ahead with the switch to electronic medical records from archaic paper files, according to a new survey to be released Monday.
The annual Hospitals & Health Networks survey of the 100 "Most Wired" hospitals in America found 90% of hospitals and health systems in the ranking maintain electronic medical records that include current observations, orders and progress notes, compared with 63.5% of all hospitals surveyed.
[more]
Security
ZDnet, 7/15/04: Service Pack 2: Patching the unpatchable
By Rupert Goodwins
COMMENTARY--Two and a half years after promising a secure Windows, Microsoft is within a month--maybe--of releasing Windows XP Service Pack 2. It will do a lot to fix viruses and Trojans, but like a tired old general always fighting the last war it won't do much for the current and most lethal security threats we face.
…
And if Windows can't so evolve, then we must change our operating system. It could be Longhorn, if Longhorn is fierce enough, it could be Linux: even the Mac OS could be ported to the PC and be presented as a fair competitor to the mess we've inherited. What we cannot do is accept the status quo or any variant thereof: Service Pack 2 is no answer.
[more]
ZDNet, , 7/19/04: Phishing Technique Works on Multiple Browsers
By Larry Seltzer
A British Web developer has revealed a new form of a cross-site scripting, or XSS, attack that facilitates phishing activities.
The attack, demonstrated by the developer on his own site, allows an attacker to execute scripts in the context of another Web site. Testing by eWEEK.com indicates that the attack works on both Internet Explorer on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Release Candidate 2) and on the Mozilla Firefox 0.9.1 browser.
[more]
Microsoft
Microsoft Watch, 7/16/04: Ballmer: "I'm going to have a real issue..."
I cringed when director of Windows Server marketing Steve Andersen told me at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner conference this week that Windows Update Services was being delayed again. Not only did Steve Ballmer make a big deal about Microsoft’s plans for improved patch management at last year’s WPC, but Bill Gates did the same a few months later in an interview with me. It doesn’t reflect well on either of the company’s top two executives when the product teams miss their ship dates—not just once, but twice—on such a key deliverable. Just read the following quote from Ballmer’s 2003 keynote on what was then called Software Updates Services 2.0:
[more]
The Milestone Group, 7/04: Interview with Brad Silverberg
Milestone: As a member of the executive team at Microsoft for most of the 1990’s, you successfully built the Windows franchise. Going forward, how does Microsoft create growth in the Windows desktop market?
Silverberg: That is a huge challenge, when you’ve got 95% plus of the market, the only way you can grow is by growing the overall market and the market is pretty well saturated. Their challenge is to induce more upgrades. I think Microsoft’s biggest competition for Windows is older versions of Windows.
[more]
Ellison On Microsoft and …
San José Mercury News, 7/19/04: The real Ellison is back
If you thought the chief executive politely testifying at the Oracle antitrust trial this month had body-snatched the take-no-prisoners Larry Ellison we all love to quote, don't worry: Larry's back.
…
Ellison went on to call Microsoft's detente with Sun a ``wartime truce lubricated by cash. This is a little bit like us and North Korea.''
Continuing the riff, Ellison said, ``Microsoft doesn't want Sun harassing them on antitrust issues, and they are willing to pay to make that happen. They came out and said this is what customers want. They should have also said this is good for America and the rest of the world. I guess they ran out of room in the press release.''
Asked about prospects for a tech recovery, Ellison remarked: ``This is the recovery. Enjoy it.''
[more]
8:54:54 AM 
|
