An irreverent and offbeat look at the lighter side of technology
We’re speaking your language...“It’s lovely to see Esperanto being taken seriously on your page, but your figure of 1,000 speakers is a bit short of the mark,” says Lynda Hill. How dare you Lynda – we sourced that from...
Computing editor Bryan Glick on the issues facing UK IT leaders and the latest in internet and business technology
What goes around, comes around (even water-cooled mainframes)In the early 1990s, I was working for ICL – the once and former poster child for UK IT – trying to sell big old mainframes running an operating system called VME (which stood for “virtual...
Forrester Research vice-president Andrew Parker discusses the latest trends
A strong rupee won’t undermine offshoringMany IT industry watchers have had a lot to say recently about the rise of the Indian Rupee against the US dollar.Despite this currency shift, leading Indian service providers like Infosys and Cognizant have sustained strong...
All changeBusiness transformation is still high on the agenda for many chief information officers (CIOs), as they seek to rebuild their IT organisations along service-oriented lines, adapt to new technologies and deliver business agility.It can be difficult,...
Your opinions on the latest IT stories in Computing, the IT newspaper
Varied skills are an essential spendLearning and training have always been discretionary spends for corporations (The demand for skills should not be demand-led, peterskyte.computing.co.uk).If the UK is not to fall behind the rest of continental Europe, never mind such countries as...
Opinion on IT skills issues from Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills UK
Virtual skills for the real world Virtual world environments such as Second Life have immense potential, providing a shared and interactive space where groups of people can meet and work together in real time, regardless of their physical location.The graphical interface and...
IT skills and employment issues from Peter Skyte, national officer of the trade union Amicus
What if you are not consulted about redundancy?Redundancy is an ever present fear even in the IT sector - and with the current so called credit crunch, probably an increasing fear just now.Under existing employment legislation, in a redundancy situation involving more than...
A light-hearted look at the latest IT news, by Computing cartoonist Matt Buck
University stacks up eco-friendly credentials Sunderland University has installed what it claims is one of the UK’s first eco-friendly supercomputers, capable of handling powerful processing tasks without the need for extra cooling.The grid computing system uses 42 Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers...
The newsdesk's views on the latest in business IT, by our reporting staff
Women in IT – why bother?I’ve been browsing the web for stories on women in IT and reading the comments posted online by readers.Unless you’re talking to the skills councils and equality groups, it’s quite difficult to have a serious conversation...
IT management insights from Sandra Smith, head of informations systems at Toshiba UK
It’s time for IT students to get down to businessWe have the most techie generation of kids ever, with many youngsters knowing how to type, plug or print before they can properly walk. Yet the numbers of students opting to study IT at school is...
Independent analysis from Richard Hackworth, KPMG consultant and former IT security chief
The role of technology in global risk monitoringAt the time of writing, the G7 finance ministers reckon total global losses due to sub-prime loans to be in the region of $400bn, according reports in The Financial Times – several times more than the...
IT industry issues from Intellect, the UK's technology trade association
The future of eHealth without frontiersAs with most of these events the title of this month’s EU ‘eHealth without frontiers’ conference in Slovenia seemed to focus more on ‘ill health without frontiers’. The UK is clearly not alone, with representatives from...
Information management issues from Denise Plumpton, the director of information at the Highways Agency
Where are all the IT skills?We keep reading about the shortage of people with IT skills in the UK and the risks that shortage might present to our standing in the world. Certainly, almost everyone I talk to is concerned about...
Innovation and entrepreneurialism in IT, from investment advisor Ariadne Capital
The new music industryBack in August 1995, Microsoft launched its long-awaited, new at that time, operating system, Windows 95, to much industry anticipation. The company had delayed all year long, and eventually Bill Gates announced it to the world...
Management and strategic issues for IT leaders, by Computing Business editor Mark Samuels
"Glamorous" PR tarred with IT nerd brush"I love Charlie Brooker, but then doesn't everyone? I also hate people," is a great way to start an email, methinks.A PR chum of mine emailed the above comment in response to my blog posting a...
Our weekly editorial leader article is published here - what do you think of our views on the latest news?
Time for green IT to show true colours It is difficult to tell if green computing is today’s hot topic, or if people are getting fed up hearing about it.A good turnout and high-profile speakers at last week’s Green IT 2008 conference in London...
IT leadership issues by Dr Sharm Manwani, Associate Professor at Henley Management College and a former CIO
The challenges for IT leadersAs I noted in an earlier blog, my scope is in three main areas: IT-enabled business change, information management and the CIO role. Recently, I have been focusing on developing knowledge, qualifications and workshops in the...
By Peter Scargill, the National IT Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses
Lights, camera, action, web siteAs IT chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) one of my favourite events of the year is our annual conference, mainly because I get involved in the technology of making this available to our...
Comment and opinion on the latest in outsourcing and offshoring by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary
Merger mania to hit IT services?Two giants of the international sourcing industry have joined forces. HP has revealed that it is to acquire EDS for $13.9bn. As EDS is the second largest IT services player in the world and HP is...
Opinion and debate on the legal issues affecting IT, by international law firm Pinsent Masons
Do you know where your data is?It is often said that technology is the problem and the solution. This is surely appropriate for data security. After all, more than 95 per cent of corporate data is held electronically.Perhaps the best approach is...