IT Week Insider vol 9, number 12

You might have noticed that the IT Week Insider has a very heavy emphasis on IT. That's not strictly our decision. Before our office became an unofficial branch of London Zoo, we used to write about irrigation systems, open-top buses, and the peculiarities of the Japanese. But it's hard to get out much these days when we spend all day hiding under our desks.

Anyway, this week we managed to learn about best practice in bug-zapping, gather top tips on project management, ponder the latest efforts to broaden broadband, and assess the contents of Gordon Brown's bulging bag.

Also this week, we noticed that the monkeys will point to the parts of their body that they would like to have groomed. At least we think that's why they keep pointing at us, and then at their backsides.

Anyway, some news and that…

Anger over Brown's computer U-turn
It's bad news in the Budget for drivers of 4x4s who like to smoke a lot while swigging whisky, hurtling down the M1, typing on their Home Computer Initiative-funded laptops and gabbing on two mobile phones. After years of offering incentives for firms to equip employees with home PCs, the chancellor now reckons he'd like the tax after all. And staff with secondary data devices - a BlackBerry plus a phone, say - will also face new levies. All in all a bit of a downer, then. 

Mailing lists find the most security flaws
According to a senior Red Hat engineer, members-only security mailing lists are still the best way of communicating information about security vulnerabilities in software. There are other ways, such as tying scraps of data to the legs of migratory swallows, encoding it in the coughs of the audience on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, or selling the info on eBay disguised as a 21-inch LCD monitor. But a mailing list is the best way, make no mistake.

EC urges governments to promote broadband
Meanwhile, on the European gravy train to Brussels, MEPs are calling for member states to get together and make a big noise about broadband. We reckon that most MEPs think broadband is a pop group with obese band-members - like the Mamas and the Papas; or Gary Barlow. Anyway, the lardy bureaucrats want to encourage greater broadband penetration across the EU, especially in rural areas, where citizens tend to think Wi-Fi means a wind-up gramophone. 

IT Week Podcast
This week News Editor Madeline Bennett pokes James Murray with a stick to make him talk about HP's Integrity server line, chucks hungry piranhas at Lem Bingley till he spills his guts about the gap between technologists and policy-makers, and makes Martin Veitch very sorry that he ever mentioned Sun's grid rental service.

IT makes staff struggle in isolation
James 'Woody' Woudhuysen is a wise man. For example, we never see him in the office. This week he sat in a monkey-free zone, at an uncluttered desk, in silence, thinking about how and why IT encourages staff to work in isolation. Staff that work on their own don't have monkeys to worry about, but they can suffer if they are not given some quality one-on-one time to pool ideas with their colleagues. We suspect James has one eye on Brenda in accounts when he says this.

Managed services have wide appeal
Jay Gardner is chief information officer at BMC, like many before him he popped into the office to tell Phil Muncaster all he knows about hosted services. That was two weeks ago. Phil and Jay are still in the 'breakout' meeting room, but our intrepid reporter has managed to send us out his story, written in toenail clippings and carried on the back of a rat. Good work Phil, but be careful. That must have been a really big rat - there's about six hundred words here. [Never mind the size of the rat, where did he get all those toenails? - Ed] 

User attitude can make or break projects
Ashley Braganza is a senior lecturer at Cranfield School of Management, so pay attention at the back, spit out that gum, and if you think something's funny perhaps you'd like to share it with everyone? Braganza, who may or may not have leather patches on the elbows of his corduroy suit, says that project leaders must do more to help users adapt to change. So, if you are managing a project you should hurry up and read this... Remember, it's your own time you are wasting.

Editor's blog
Since last week Lem Bingley has been told he knows nothing about biometrics, and has been accused of being a dunce by a father of five. 

IT Sneak blog
Odds and ends from the weird world of IT.
Have you got a story for Sneak? Send your mail to:itsneak@vnu.co.uk