Opinion

Opinion

• Whitehall must weigh IT danger

  Home secretary David Blunkett last week committed the government to phasing in biometric identity cards over the next five years...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Are your Windows secure?

  Companies should worry less about migrating to new operating system and concentrate more on its security, says Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Step forward and de-geek

  By giving up some of your time and volunteering, your IT skills can offer gains all round, says Simon Davey.  Continue Reading

• Your Shout! On whether IT is aware of business issues

  In response to John Harvey Jones, who urged IT management to be aware of wider business issues  Continue Reading

• Wild West tactic hides the truth

  Microsoft's offer of a £300,000 bounty for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the computer hackers responsible...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Penny for the guy?

  Why should we get a our fingers burned by persisting with do-it-yourself software, when there are specialists who can offer a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Marx was right about one thing

  Has e-government made things less efficient rather than more streamlined, asks Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Users have set security agenda

  When the IT directors of Royal Mail, BP, ICI and other FTSE 100 companies join together to call for a new universal framework for...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Sack me or back me

  IT departments should face regular votes of confidence from the rest of the business, says Colin Beveridge.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Beware utility promises

  Utility computing is on its way, but not until 2006, says Rakesh Kumar.  Continue Reading

• Public sector deals will benefit from small firms' input

  Office of Government Commerce urges SMEs to use the internet to win government contracts  Continue Reading

• Audit will prove Microsoft best for council

  Take note of total cost of ownership when comparing proprietary with open source software  Continue Reading

• UK businesses prove work/life balance policies can improve a firm's bottom line

  DTI minister Patricia Hewitt explains the benefits of flexible working practices  Continue Reading

• Open-source trial benefits all

  Emotions run high in the debate over whether to use open source or propriety software in the enterprise. Different users have...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Linux patch rate can be as prolific as Microsoft

  In response to Simon Moores, who welcomed Microsoft's decision to send out software patch updates on a monthly basis  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Goodbye 'Patch Wednesday'

  Microsoft's latest intiative to replace weekly patching with monthly patching may be more benefical to users in the battle to...  Continue Reading

• Why are you outsourcing?

  Outsourcing has moved a long way from its old one-size-fits-all origins. While the market leaders, such as IBM Global Services...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Planning a SAP project

  With a raft of new products and licensing options from SAP, how do users begin to choose the best options for their business,...  Continue Reading

• Firms must take some blame for hackers

  As Computer Weekly went to press, the attention of the IT world was focused on Aaron Caffrey, who is standing trial at Southwark...  Continue Reading

• An alternative to Microsoft?

  In a bid to promote wider competition in public sector IT, the Office of Government Commerce is sponsoring the trial of open...  Continue Reading

• Strategy clinic: is there a better alternative to tape back-up?

  While the amount of data in our organisation has spiralled and the technologies for managing data have moved on, we still back up...  Continue Reading

• Groundswell: what is the price of true partnership?

  Speakers at a supplier-centric seminar I attended last month accused the IT industry of failing to justify its products and...  Continue Reading

• How to police staff e-mail legally

  IT chiefs need to keep firms on the right side of e-mail monitoring laws  Continue Reading

• SCO is right to go after Linux users

  SCO has a duty to assert its claims over disputed open source code  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The Terminator leads the way

  Arnold Schwarzenegger's ascent to governor of California may help kick-start the IT industry, says Colin Beveridge.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Internet's backbone starts to crumble

  Satellite links in the internet backbone could hold back attempts to improve performance, believes Andrew Davies.  Continue Reading

• Guilty until proved innocent

  IT professionals responsible for overseeing the use of the internet and e-mail within their organisations will come to work today...  Continue Reading

• IT leaders must change the attitude of their own end-users

  Aligning IT with the business is a mantra of many IT directors and chief information officers. But consider this: how many chief...  Continue Reading

• Be legal with spare Wi-Fi capacity

  Wi-Fi 802.11g devices offer a potential 54mbps wireless network connection to anyone within 100 metres of an access point via a...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Break down the 'us and them' barriers

  Businesses should not abandon the idea of aligning business strategy with IT. The key to a successful alignment programme is to...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Crisis - what crisis?

  Stranded in Margate with a dead laptop, Simon Moores bemoans the instability of Windows XP  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Don't lose your best asset

  Establishing a knowledge management programme can lessen the blow of staff churn, says Dorothy Leonard. Never has this been more...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: E-mail is here to stay

  A sensible e-mail strategy in the workplace can still bring huge benefits for business, says Roger Ellis.  Continue Reading

• Is self-regulation enough for IT?

  At a meeting with Computer Weekly last week, Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security strategist, challenged government to take...  Continue Reading

• What to do if you're worried about SCO action

  What can you do to protect yourself in case SCO is successful in its quest? Maybe the best strategy is to do nothing.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Don't get duped by the spoofers

  Spoof e-mails are on the increase and users should be made aware of how they can avoid being duped, says Pete Simpson.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Share the love, not the viruses

  Secure your broadband internet connection, or your machine could have consequences on other internet users, warns Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Mobile access: can you justify the expense?

  Study gains in staff productivity and returns before buying mobile equipment  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The jury's out on open source

  The battle between open source and Windows still appears to be a hot topic for debate, but businesses can't afford to be naive,...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Find the breaking points

  Lack of capacity planning causes online projects to fail, says Mike Lucas.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Wi-Fi is no longer sci-fi

  Falling wireless networking costs can bring broadband home, says Andrew James.  Continue Reading

• Bank pays the price of silence

  IT staff at Bank of Ireland need no longer feel disgruntled.  Continue Reading

• NEXT MOVE

  Why can't I find work after five months?  Continue Reading

• CIOs could improve outcomes - with help

  Chief information officers have largely had to manage enterprise operations without specialist analysis tools to support vital...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Placing trust in trustworthy computing

  After a summer of worms and viruses, our confidence in Windows seems to have dwindled as we question whether trustworthy...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Who can stop spam?

  If we can be in control of junk mail that comes through our letter box, can't we keep control of the spam that is overloading our...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: A fair-minded industry?

  Despite its reputation of being ageist and sexist, a recent salary survey shows that critics of the IT industry might be wrong,...  Continue Reading

• Why you must report e-crime

  This week's Security Special Report highlights the impossibility of getting a reliable picture of the true extent of e-crime and...  Continue Reading

• Status quo technology upgrades are dead

  Maintenance is one of the highest margin areas for suppliers, so they try to play the support card to move customers to their...  Continue Reading

• Groundswell: Have we been let off lightly by virus attacks?

  As we pick up the pieces after yet another virus blitz this August it is worth reflecting that so far, things have not been that...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Throw out the junk with the trash

  Keeping control of spam may be a daily grind for some, but a spam filter may help by declaring all your mail as junk, says Simon...  Continue Reading

• Virus attacks: who is to blame?

  August was possibly the busiest month in the history of computer viruses: 800 new viruses were detected. Although this is not an...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: See the bigger picture

  Don't let virus panic skew your security strategy, use the experience to ensure all your contingency plans are up to date, says...  Continue Reading

• The best places to work in IT

  In the spring of this year we asked IT managers to put their IT departments forward for Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Too hot to handle

  Instant messenging for businesses has been dismissed because of the threat to security. However, Simon Moores is keen to explore...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: IT governance - you can’t ignore it

  With Basel II coming into effect at the end of 2006, Paddy Keenan highlights the need for companies to prioritise their IT...  Continue Reading

• The state of things to come

  There are several reasons to be cheerful in this week's edition of Computer Weekly.  Continue Reading

• Can software manage employee internet use?

  The internet age has heralded unprecedented opportunities. But with great power comes great responsibility.  Continue Reading

• The curse of IT infrastructure

  In July, the US government's General Accounting Office published what could be considered a rare insight into IT spending.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Speech will drive call centres

  Despite the recent bad press, Chris Hart says that speech recognition software is the future of the call centre.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The attack of the worms

  As the number of network attacks grow, will we ever be able to combat the problem of viruses and worms without going offline,...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Making sense out of outsourcing

  Simon Moores warns that the government should think carefully about the consequences of outsourcing abroad.  Continue Reading

• Demand for Cobol skills on the rise

  At a recent gathering of IT leaders, one IT director from a well-known insurance firm confessed he was facing a team skills...  Continue Reading

• Now make the law work for you

  Eighteen months ago, Computer Weekly launched its Lock Down the Law campaign to persuade the government to review the UK's...  Continue Reading

• Don't look forward to the next big thing

  Many of those in the IT industry who have been buffeted, bounced and bumped along the bottom of the worst growth downturn we have...  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On a campaign for fair licensing agreements

  In response to Colin Beveridge, who called for a campaign to make software licensing agreements fair and easy to understand.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Make government websites more usable

  Simon Moores argues that the government should spend more time making its websites accessible and attractive.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Stop crying virus wolf

  The security industry has a duty to be more realistic, says security expert Jan Hruska.  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On making it safer to surf the internet

  Simon Moores bemoaned the government's reluctance to issue guidelines on using broadband internet connections  Continue Reading

• You cannot afford to ignore the IT unions

  After years of maintaining a low profile, unions are flexing their muscles among the IT workforce.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day:Psst! .net's far ahead of its rivals

  Analyst Gary Barnett gives his personal take on the hot issue of the day.I know I'm about to offend some people in the next 90...  Continue Reading

• Mergers and the myth of synergy

  The words synergy and consolidation are always linked with mergers or acquisitions. Public announcements promise huge cost...  Continue Reading

• Discuss the data spine dangers

  There has been too little debate around the proposed creation of a national "data spine" for NHS patients' health records. The...  Continue Reading

• Your shout: Have your say on offshore outsourcing of IT jobs

  In response to Cliff Saran who said IT managers had turned to offshore outsourcing and overseas workers because IT contractors have charged too much for their services in the past three years  Continue Reading

• Expansion ends: time for restructuring

  We are at the end of an era in which the objective for IT managers was to acquire as many IT resources as possible. From now on,...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The next upgrade

  Why do we have to endure the daily grind to work when the technology is out there for us to work from somewhere other than from...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The virtual company

  With outsourcing becoming ever more popular, the virtual company is closer to reality. But Maldwyn Palmer warns that companies...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Don't look now

  Employers need be aware of all new privacy legislation so that they can put policy into practice, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The return of the ASP

  Changing customer demand is shaping the new application service provider, says Neil Lock.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: The new pragmatism

  Post-millennium buyers have a better idea of what they want from technology, and suppliers are better placed to deliver targeted...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Myths and legends of the 20th century

  Microsoft's strategic relationship with thin-client specialist Citrix seems to have done more for sales of Windows, says Simon...  Continue Reading

• Spam: don't let your firm add to the problem

  Hold the Monty Python jokes. Spam is in the news again, and this time it's serious.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Between the devil and the deep blue sea

  Is the move to an open source community going to benefit computer software strategy, asks Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Sun is bashing the wrong enemy

  Sun Microsystems has spent the past half dozen years attacking Microsoft and launching court cases against it. But if Sun did go...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Does anyone own Linux?

  Will SCO have evidence to back its claim against IBM? asks Anthony Youngman.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: IT - thank you and goodbye

  Post Y2K, the IT industry offers few opportunities and it seems everyone is an expert in software. Is it time to say goodbye to...  Continue Reading

• Will users buy MS antivirus?

  Given Microsoft's shaky record on software security, the news that it is to acquire antivirus technology is a welcome...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Prove the medical gains

  Doctors must see benefits of electronic patient records, says Matthew Morgan.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: On outsourcing

  Brian Thomson wrote that exporting our software development overseas will only bolster the UK's competitors.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: On fighting cybercrime

  Simon Moores suggested the Home Office's plans to appoint IT professionals as special constables to fight crime on the internet...  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Memento Mori

  Isn't it time the IT industry set up an archive of past products, before they are lost forever? asks Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: All roads lead to Romania

  Microsoft's move into the antivirus market may not be all bad news for businesses, says Simon Moores.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Welcome social software

  Look beyond the hype to see the business benefits, says William Davies.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Vive la difference

  We should follow the the example of our European neighbours and embrace web services, says Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• Your shout! On Microsoft

  In response to Simon Moores, who predicted that Microsoft will dominate the IT industry for a long time to come.  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: It’s John Wayne’s World

  Will the events of the past six months make the Hollywood style approach to IT a thing of the past? asks Simon Moores  Continue Reading

• SCO has only turned the tables on itself

  Should you be worried by the dire threats SCO has made against firms using Linux?  Continue Reading

• Thought for the day: Users run out of patience

  When will the IT industry come of age? asks Jonatham Mitchell  Continue Reading

• Is it time to move to 10 Gigabit Ethernet?

  Large 24x7 organisations will find benefits, but most should wait.  Continue Reading

• Catering for a flexible workforce

  Flexible working IT is key to the success of new regulations.  Continue Reading