Opinion

Opinion

• PR Masterclass: the 10 phone calls every PR must make

  In the latest instalment of his PR Master Class, Gavin Bird, CEO of Condescentii Digital, reminds us that this is a people business. Journalists, bless them, couldn't function without PR. That's why they sit by their phones all day, waiting for you ...  Continue Reading

• HMRC offers firms online Olympics advice

  Small and medium-sized companies hoping to win Olympics contracts can take advantage of the results of an HMRC online advice seminar that ran at the end of July which can now be downloaded free of charge.  Continue Reading

• Where MeeGo now if Intel shifts to Android and Windows Phone 7?

  I confess to knowing very little about MeeGo apart from the fact it used to be Intel and Nokia's next generation OS for smartphones and tablets.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Mike Dowling, Scriptlogic Corporation

  Today MicroScope puts its questions to Mike Dowling, EMEA channel manager at Quest Software subsidiary ScriptLogic Corporation. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? I have received a lot of great advice from people that I ...  Continue Reading

• Social media. RIP?

  Are social media sites Research firm Gartner thinks that it could be so. In a survey of some 6,296 people in 11 developed countries, Gartner found that almost 25 per cent of respondents use their favourite social media website less than they did ...  Continue Reading

• Will you end up being the Norman Wisdom of the cloud?

  Panic can set in when a cloud service is over subscribed. In their desperation to keep the plates spinning, the staff and systems will bumble all over the place, like a team of Norman Pipkins, the comic creation of Norman Wisdom. Are you about to ...  Continue Reading

• Why is HP "pleasantly surprised" people will pay £89 for a TouchPad?

  Let's play a game of spot the link: 1) HP says it is going to discontinue making the TouchPad and slashes the price by £260 for a 16GB model from £349 to £89 and cuts the 32GB model price from £429 to £115 (a reduction ...  Continue Reading

• Businesses leave physical security to chance

  With the August riots behind us some are still wondering just what they have to do to keep their businesses safe and out of harm's way. Well according to NGS Meridian, some firms just don't pay enough attention to their security and they offer the ...  Continue Reading

• BT Tower to lose Peter Duncan's dishes

  Sad news from London, where BT is in the process of taking down the 31 dish-shaped aerials from the BT Tower, before they become unsafe and a hazard to people on the ground. The telco received approval from its local council back in March, and has ...  Continue Reading

• If you don't get cloud right first time, you're mullered

  Craig Beddis, the regional software vice president at UC4 Software, says if you don't get your cloud supplier right first time, it'll be ruinously expensive to change. Investing in cloud services is not a new thing but what's on offer is getting ...  Continue Reading

• The best (and worst) of the web? It's all there on transfer deadline day

  It's that time of year again when the (male) population gets an illuminating insight into the positive and destructive effects of the Web: transfer deadline day.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Scott Morrison, Layer 7 Technologies

  This week, MicroScope puts its questions to Scott Morrison, CTO and chief architect at API security and governance specialist Layer 7 Technologies. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? Best: having children is a leap of ...  Continue Reading

• Window shopping for clouds

  As a partner and a senior manager at Deloittes technology Consulting Practice, John Winstanley (left) and Bhavesh Morar spend all their time talking to big corporations who want advice on cloud computing.  Continue Reading

• Can unified comms save your marriage? Maybe, maybe not

  At first glance, I have to admit there's something very worrying in research from Avaya that shows a tenth of decision makers in British and German SMEs blaming overwork for the break-up of their marriages.  Continue Reading

• New Agency Worker Regulations give temps more power

  With the introduction of the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 just over a month away, the Government has now published the Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2011 which makes a few changes to the rulebook.  Continue Reading

• Is a PSG spin off the best route to HP's post-PC future?

  This morning when I went into the garage to let my dog out, my nostrils were assaulted by a terrible smell. My dog wasn't to blame, however, the culprit being another dog who has been on an extended sleepover at our house for the last few days (you ...  Continue Reading

• Quitting the premises? Don't leave the builders behind

  Apart from employees, the second largest fixed cost businesses tend to face relates to their premises. That's why it's all the more important that businesses understand and abide by break clauses that give them a valuable 'get-out' on their leased ...  Continue Reading

• Proceeds of crime? Not.

  What should employers do with staff on remand pending criminal proceedings? The employee can't work - should they be paid?  Continue Reading

• Onyx takes MicroScope's future in its hands

  It's rare that MicroScope covers a contract win, as any PR with half a brain (and some of the ones with no brain whatsoever) well knows. But when it's our own IT at stake we're more inclined to take an interest.  Continue Reading

• Reasonable Excuses?

  There is a general understanding that there is no excuse for ignorance of the law. HMRC know this. However, is there such a thing as a 'reasonable excuse' when appealing late payment (of tax) and filing penalties which are prescribed by the law?  Continue Reading

• What to do when the service provider says gerroff my cloud?

  Hey, hey, you, you, get off a cloud! Not my words, but the words of a service provider that decides you are surplus to their requirements, for whatever reason.  Continue Reading

• Apple has to prepare for a future without Steve Jobs

  Steve Jobs has got a lot of things right in his time at Apple (and a couple of things wrong) but it's measure of how successful he - and his company - has become, especially since his return in 1996 which brought Apple back from the dead, that the ...  Continue Reading

• Are you a director?

  There are instances of people who although not officially a director act is if they are a director. The law understands this and allows for them to be made liable for any malfeasance and a recent case - Re Mumtaz Properties Ltd; Wetton v Ahmed - ...  Continue Reading

• SMEs now have (slightly) easier access to new funds

  The Government has brought two deregulatory amendments to the EU Prospectus Directive into effect a year early which may help small businesses access equity finance more easily.  Continue Reading

• TouchPad hunters fell retail sites Lulzsec style

  Web performance firm Site Confidence has shared some insight into the impact of this week's HP TouchPad fire sale on the UK e-tail community.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs part 6 - can we get some SLAs round here?

  There's an awful lot that can go wrong with service level agreements (SLAs) on cloud-based services says Craig Beddis, Regional SVP at UC4 Software. Services in the cloud are not available when there is an outage.  Continue Reading

• Post-PC or PC Plus? The result is still the same

  Are we in a post-PC age or a PC plus age? Lots of people have been saying the golden age of the PC is over, a perception reinforced by HP's abrupt decision to get out of the PC business as soon as it can.  Continue Reading

• Sick records skipped by employers, says DWP

  According to a recent survey from the Department of Work and Pensions employee sickness at work isn't being recorded correctly, if at all. In fact some 21 per cent of employers haven't got any form of process for recording sickness absence - more so...  Continue Reading

• Capital allowances loophole ended

  The Government has bought forward the closure of a loophole which previously had allowed businesses to accelerate capital allowances claims for plant and machinery and thereby obtain advantageous early tax relief.  Continue Reading

• An Enterprising plan for growth

  Back in March, the Government announced the creation of a number of enterprise zones where businesses would get extra help. Initially, the zones were decided as sites within Liverpool, London, Manchester, Derby, Nottingham, the Black Country, the ...  Continue Reading

• If HP wants to be the new IBM, does Google want to be the new Apple?

  So I go away for two weeks and all hell breaks loose. First, Google decides to buy Motorola's mobile phone operation, then HP says it's getting out of the PC business and discontinuing WebOS products.  Continue Reading

• Why Lady Gaga's driving habits should get you worried about security

  What with riots in London and Manchester, fallout from the News International phone hacking scandal and the ongoing worldwide economic crisis, not to mention Google's acquisition of Motorola and HP's sudden bloodbath, we'd almost forgotten it's ...  Continue Reading

• iPhone users are most dangerous behind the wheel says survey

  In a survey conducted last week, this column uncovered the truth about iPhone users; they make the worst drivers. The survey was conducted on two separate occasions on the same stretch of road.  Continue Reading

• Leo higlights the split driving the industry

  The announcements that came out of Hewlett-Packard last night have rocked the IT world but perhaps shouldn't be that surprising given that the man running the vendor has a strong background in software.  Continue Reading

• Support for riot hit people and businesses

  Those businesses and communities affected by the riots can take advantage of measures that the Government has recently announced. Included in the help package is £10 million to help councils with the immediate costs of making their areas safe, ...  Continue Reading

• Dell chief counts Apple out of mobile OS race. Really, Michael?

  Has Michael Dell seriously ruled Apple out of the running? Clearly nobody has told Apple, but if comments made by the eponymous Dell boss on the firm's second quarter conference call are to be taken at face value, then it's time for Steve Jobs to ...  Continue Reading

• To advise or not to advise

  Anyone or any business seeking advice from HMRC on how legislation is interpreted is presently given an answer based on the Code of Practice 10 (Information and Advice). From 30 September this Code is being replaced with something called CAP1.  Continue Reading

• Cross border mediation

  Do you have a cross border dispute? If so, then the EU's Mediation Directive, which was recently implemented in the UK may be able to assist with disputes that arose on or after 20 May.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: John Sollars, Stinkyink.com

  This week, John Sollars, managing director of printer inked toner cartridges dealer Stinkyink.com takes to the hot seat to answer MicroScope's probing questions. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom?  Continue Reading

• PR Masterclass: how to write engaging content

  Gavin Bird is digital engagement director for Condescension PR. Like many public relations executives who've been in the business for more than six months, he's sick and tired of journalists.  Continue Reading

• When is a nuisance a nuisance?

  A recent ruling from the Technology and Construction court has given more guidance on the unpleasant situation of an industrial neighbour that is perceived to be causing an odour nuisance.  Continue Reading

• Celebrating the PC's 30th birthday

  The PC celebrated its 30th birthday over the weekend with some party poopers deciding that was the occasion to dismiss the technologies chances of lasting another three decades.  Continue Reading

• HMRCs systems don't help small businesses

  According to the Forum of Private Businesses, HMRCs online tax systems just can't cut the mustard and they certainly aren't helping small businesses. The FPB describes the systems as 'including complex and unwieldy online procedures' and are very ...  Continue Reading

• With Sunrise Software you'll never be embarrassed by service

  We've all suffered this.  Continue Reading

• Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder

  Staff absence costs employers a fortune every year. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, with an average salary of £25000, this amounts to some £32 billion a year. The CIPD also reckon that less than 50 per ...  Continue Reading

• Be careful with ex-gratia payments

  How often have employers found it expedient to dismiss an employee and then give them an ex-gratia payment to keep them happy (and quiet)? Well those that follow this practice should be aware of a recent case - Publicist Consultants UK Ltd v ...  Continue Reading

• Corporate hi-jacking

  According to credit reference agency, Graydon UK, there's been a huge rise in fraud attempts perpetrated against businesses.  Continue Reading

• Feeling the anger

  Cycling home from work last night the timing meant that I arrived in Peckham just as the rioters were spilling over the main street looking for trouble. My sunglasses were snatched and my back wheel buckled but luckily that's as far as it went and I...  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs, part five. Far from the Madding Cloud

  Vladimir Jirasek, non-executive director CSA UK & Ireland and member of CAMM, speaks from bitter experience about a cloud heist that went wrong. "I have had experience of migrating to Cloud and between different SaaS clouds," he laments.  Continue Reading

• Women aren't hot (potatoes)

  It appears that the Government, Europe and society wants more women to be employed at board level.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs, part four. The roar of the cloud

  Ten years ago, Winston Bogarde was a very good footballer. He must have been, because show biz club Chelsea paid him forty thousand pounds a week! That was a lot of money in them days. So he must have been pretty handy. Mind you, I never saw him ...  Continue Reading

• Worried about phone hacking? It's time for a SpinVox revival!

  I told the world about SpinVox but no-one listened. Then along came the BBC's glamorous Rory Cellan-Jones, and they all listened. I can't imagine why no one took me seriously! (Here I am, left, in a kimono) About the time when the News of the World ...  Continue Reading

• Government money laundering consultation kicks off

  The Government is consulting on proposals to revise the Money Laundering Regulations following a review.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs, part three

  It can be expensive if you have a careless cloud looking after your data. Many of these providers are more clown than cloud service providers. Your business could be found on the hard drives sold by the Cloud provider.  Continue Reading

• How the channel can help the NHS stop leaking our data and money - Safestick Review

  Why does the NHS constantly lose our personal data? Is it corruption? Is it because nobody cares? Bad management? Safe stick, a secure USB, could be the answer to our problems. It's a simple device, aimed at simpletons who are prone to heft and loss.  Continue Reading

• Wiggle-room for retirement

  Whilst it should be common knowledge that the default retirement age is being abolished from this October, it appears that the European Court of Justice has given employers a little latitude so that some employees can be compulsorily retired.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs, part two

  The cost of getting your data back when you change Cloud provider is horrendous, warns Mike Small, a member of London Chapter ISACA security advisory group. "Many contracts do not clarify who owns the data in the cloud and how you can get it back ...  Continue Reading

• Big name brands join rush for XXX adult domain names

  Web hosting specialist Easy space has today reported that the release of .XXX domains for pre-ordering has sparked a rush of interest from firms eager to protect their brands.  Continue Reading

• Google spurned offer to join Microsoft and Apple in bid for "bogus patents"

  To many people out there, the name Brad Smith might not be too familiar. He's Microsoft's general counsel and most of the time anyone would have come across his name in the past would probably have been in defending the software giant against ...  Continue Reading

• Are you reading this on your phone? In a meeting? You're in good company

  Here's something that shouldn't really be all that surprising: technology is making people ruder in social situations. Many of them just can't tear themselves away from their phones.  Continue Reading

• The Power of Nice - Review

  If you're going to be a service provider, you might as well be nice. Start with the welcome you offer people when they arrive at your company.  Continue Reading

• Fraud consultation could get tax dodgers off the hook

  According to the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the government is really keen to get tax payers, or rather those who aren't paying what they should be, 'working' more for HMRC.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing's hidden costs, part one

  What are the hidden costs of cloud computing? Let's count them. There are some awful fates awaiting you in the cloud. Take for example, the fate that befell New York publisher Curbed Network, which got kicked to the kerb when its data was suddenly ...  Continue Reading

• Which is the anonymous nation state hacker conducting cyber war against other government sites?

  McAfee has released the results of a five year study, code named Operation Shady RAT, which shows how an unnamed rogue hacker has attacked a variety of global players.  Continue Reading

• European court hikes costs of cycle to work schemes

  No sooner has the Office of Tax Simplification told the Government that the Cycle to Work Scheme should stay than the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has handed down a ruling that makes it 20% more expensive for employees.  Continue Reading

• Can we stop all this horrid hacking with an IronKey?

  I've never been to Thailand, so I found myself on Amazon recently, browsing travel books like Thailand Diaries. I was about to buy it when suddenly, a cold hand clutched at my heart. I became paralysed with fear. What if they take the order and ...  Continue Reading

• Businesses must stick to ASA's rules

  Making claims about a product or service is nothing new, nor is the making of misleading claims. And as if to prove the point, it's worth highlighting that TalkTalk has had a complaint upheld against it by the Advertising Standards Authority over an...  Continue Reading

• Suffolk's appointment at Huawei sends the right message

  The appointment of former government CIO John Suffolk to manage the cyber security strategy at Chinese comms and networking vendor Huawei is to be applauded as another step in the right direction for the company.  Continue Reading

• The evolving lifecycle of the vendor distie relationship

  Murray Pearce, sales director at Vigil Software, looks at the changing role of distribution in the overall channel relationship.  Continue Reading

• Gigaset - a hands free phone without the earache.

  I don't know about you, but I hate wearing headsets and those ghastly ear things. There must be a nice way to be handsfree. Gigaset has just released the latest handsfree home phone, the Gigaset L410.  Continue Reading

• Elegant answers - how to funk up your business phone

  There's one marketing agency I know of whose offices are like a library, normally. But, when a client visits, the old codger running the agency puts gangster rap on the sound system, in an attempt to convince the client they are young and funky. It ...  Continue Reading

• Late payment help? Yes? No? Maybe?

  The Government has announced some new measures that may or may not help businesses in their never-ending quest to beat the problem of being paid late. The measures only seem to be aimed at Government suppliers.  Continue Reading

• Jargon buster is a good idea but it misses the real target

  Earlier in the week, IT support company Barton Technology released a "jargon buster" designed to help small businesses and SMEs decipher some of the jargon in hardware, networking, software and licensing, backup, server applications and security ...  Continue Reading

• 'Hello! I'm searching my computer... on the train!'

  Simplexo claims to have invented a tool that allows you to use your mobile to search your desktop computer. So if you're crawling up the west coast main line and suddenly remember a document you need, you can scan the office computer for it with ...  Continue Reading

• GetTaxi could help firms slash their cab bills by £100m

  GetTaxi, a mobile app that helps you arrange a cab, could live up to its name... If it works successfully, its developers claim it could save Londoners a collective£100m on their taxi bills. Which is great for the customers, but it sounds like...  Continue Reading

• Sell Cell Sel

  Ever wondered why some products sell better than others? Well web entrepreneur, Charles Duncombe, the man behind the Just Say Please group, has found that just a single spelling mistake on an online shopping page can halve sales of that product.  Continue Reading

• Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day!

  To mark the 12th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day on 29 July, Nick Cavalancia, vice president of Windows management at ScriptLogic discusses the skills that a modern IT Admin needs to have these days to cope with current and future ...  Continue Reading

• Olympian Roger Black spotted in MicroScope office

  None other than Olympic silver medallist Roger Black dropped by to visit MicroScope.co.uk and our sister title ComputerWeekly.com today in our swanky West End digs.  Continue Reading

• Name and shame

  Businesses that are serious late payers are causing their suppliers unnecessary hardship and misery according to the Forum of Private Business. Many companies are afraid to speak up because they fear losing work and business.  Continue Reading

• France mourns pioneering pre-Internet Minitel service

  Sad news from across the Channel, where France Telecom has announced it will close down its pioneering Minitel network in 2012 after 30 years of service.  Continue Reading

• Has Wandisco launched a store for cloud apps? 'Appen it has

  Sheffield-based Wandisco has launched an app store for cloud applications. Sadly, they eschewed any Yorkshire themed names - Appen-It-Does was my suggestion - for a more corporate sound name befitting an enterprise IT supplier. So uberApps it is, ...  Continue Reading

• Submission omission

  Anyone who pays tax on a self-assessment basis - the rich, entrepreneurs or those with abnormal financial affairs - know that they have to pay tax on account.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing is a lot of hot air (and it can heat your house)

  There's an intriguing paper published by Microsoft in which the authors argue that it could be possible to send servers used in cloud computing data centres to houses and office buildings and use them as a primary heat source.  Continue Reading

• Did O2 and Subway borrow my Smartphone loyalty card idea?

  O2 Media has launched a scan able smartphone discount voucher campaign for the sandwich chain Subway, using O2 More's location-based texting service 'You Are Here'.  Continue Reading

• Are you becoming a bank?

  According to the recently released SME Finance Monitor, only two-thirds of small firms (that is, those with fewer than 10 employees) are getting the finance they need. A third of small firms are turned down when they apply for loans.  Continue Reading

• The next life: Netbooks report back from their new homes

  Fascinating project from MIT's SENSEable City Lab which turned used netbooks into independent "reporters" to document their 'second life' after they were sent off to be reused in developing countries.  Continue Reading

• Thoughts on HP's MPS Confessions campaign: what kind of people have 'beloved' print devices?

  In case you missed it, HP has just launched its "MPS Confessions" campaign - no, not MPs Confessions (now that might be diverting) but MPS. For those of you who have been living in a desert outpost somewhere miles away from an internet connection (...  Continue Reading

• How to keep Vince Cable occupied during the summer hols

  Summer's here, and like everyone else, we're wondering what to do to amuse our MPs. They're off work for weeks on end and they're either hanging around the house, getting under your feet, or running wild in the streets, necking cider in the park and...  Continue Reading

• Illegal workers face fair dismissal

  Over recent year's employment law has been tightened to the point that employers caught with staff who are without the right to work in the UK risk a £10,000 fine per employee caught. A serious matter.  Continue Reading

• Is there more to Microsoft than Windows?

  Only the churlish would seek to dismiss a company reporting record revenue and profits, especially when that company is Microsoft, the biggest software business in the world. As I'm not churlish by disposition, I won't, although quite a few others ...  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Darrell Polden, Altodigital

  This week MicroScope puts its questions to Darrell Polden, group service and technical director at digital print and document solutions provider Altodigital What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom?  Continue Reading

• Say a prayer?

  Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, religious or otherwise, but how far does this extend to the workplace?  Continue Reading

• How do you get end users interested in data breaches?

  Data breaching. They try to make it sound vaguely erotic don't they? The phrase conjures up images of Colin Firth, striding purposefully through a crowd of swooning bonnets, his muscular thighs throbbing through his data breaches.  Continue Reading

• Why a Trulink USB Hub could ease the pain of owning a MacBook

  There are some times when it's OK for a man to cry. One of them is when he wakes up and suddenly realises he's married to Janet Street-Porter. It's also OK to cry, I found out the other day, when you discover that your new MacBook Pro isn't as cool ...  Continue Reading

• Finding good graduates

  School's out for summer - great news for some but for others, the entry into the world of work made hard by the sheer pressure to find a job against the odds. Research from High Fliers reckons that in 2010-11 some 343000 graduates were chasing jobs,...  Continue Reading

• Will net neutrality kill off innovation?

  Three of Europe's largest telecoms operators met the EU the other week. They discussed targets to improve broadband speeds across the continent by 2020. Why is that bad news? Let Randy Fuller, director of strategic marketing officer at Tekelec, a ...  Continue Reading

• Fake reseller presents an interesting conundrum for Apple

  As China continues to advance its global economic power, we've all become familiar with the Chinese capacity to deliver uncannily accurate knock-off products, particularly when it comes to desirable consumer items such as designer handbags or iPods.  Continue Reading

• Apple may not be a computer company anymore but it's doing very nicely

  In January 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company was dropping the word "Computer" from its name to become "Apple Inc".  Continue Reading

• dhc mentioned in dispatches for its work with Army Medical Corps

  Integration specialist dhc has been nominated for the Reseller of the Year category of the Software Satisfaction Awards. The Surrey based service provider uses Access Dimensions for finance management, Microsoft Dynamics for CRM and the ...  Continue Reading

• Grasping the nettle

  The Government - no matter which party runs it - has been, and still is, perplexed as to how to reform Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. The ideal situation is an integration of both - but how?  Continue Reading