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One question, besides personal information what else will be on this "harmless" chip? Perhaps a GPS tracking device - finally a way to put EVERY citizen of the United States under virtual house arrest. Big Brother knows where and when you go. Now that's state of the art privacy!

Sounds like a promising technology but I bet it doesn't take long to find a way around it. Why doesn't the movie industry start releasing an alternative to theatres such as a high-quality, paid download option. Look at the popularity and profitability of iTunes. Give people an opportunity to pay for a newly released movie on demand (online). Right now the only option is pay at the theatre or download a pirated copy at home. The movie industry has to start taking better advantage of technology and actually listening to what consumers want. Give consumers a legal alternative and they might surprise you!

Or they could save even more money by discontinuing Macs altogether, and going to PCs. Theres nothing you can do on a Mac that you can't on a PC. Personal preference shouldnt really matter in an educational environment. Most of the major software suites are available for both PC and Mac, such as Adobe's graphics editing software. Therefore, students can learn the software on a PC and use it on their Macs at home if they have enough money to waste on a Mac.

Sorry, but I can't agree with the comments made by Carmi Levy in your article. The risk of something going wrong due to the DST change is much higher than during Y2K. By the time Y2K came around everyone was well prepared and had upgraded their system to handle the change. DST is catching people by surprise or at least has been ignored by most until the last minute. Due to the volume of devices and software to be patched, and the need to sequence some of the patching, there is a very good chance that something will go wrong. Fortunately, the impact of these failures will be slight. As Carmi Levy states, systems will not crash and airplanes will not fall from the sky but many people will be red faced embarrassed when they are late for appointments. While this may not be more than a slight annoyance to most, I suggest you ensure your company VIPS are aware of the risks and are well taken care of as far as having patches implemented and mobile devices that can handle the change. VIPS don't take kindly to being embarrassed or missing meetings.

I am uncomfortable with the light tone of this article. I work for a large multi-national firm, that uses both Notes and Exchange. We have been working on this DST issue for over six weeks now, testing the implications in our development environment, and have recently started changes in production.

During these tests, we discovered dozens of bugs with both the Lotus and the Microsoft DST update agents. We have been in steady contact with both companies, and getting new code from them. Something as simple as a pre-scheduled recurring meeting that shows up an hour late on a server that manages room resources, will cause that resource to decline the meeting due to potential scheduling conflicts. Seems like a small issue, until you factor in the cost and time associated with the helpdesk calls to resolve these.

Then there are the pre-scheduled business to business electronic transactions. These are typically scheduled on fairly tight timelines. An hour out may cause a transaction to fail, with financial and regulatory implications on either side.

Infrastructure systems like MQ could generate errors because a message appears to reach a hub an hour after it was sent, causing a session time out. Anything written in Java, that uses timezones for lookups will give an erroneous time unless patched. This isn't a problem with the application that was written, but the underlying Java environment.

Security logs will be skewed across servers that are patched and those that are not. Again, a trivial issue unless you are running hundreds of servers and trending incidents across them.

I agree that this is no Y2K, however I also believe that there has not been enough media attention to the financial cost implications of preparing for this government policy. I'm sure the costs that individual companies have invested in resolving this issue far outweighs the pittance they will gain in energy conservation, which was, after all, the initial goal of the policy.

My concern with this software is that Microsoft basically tried to copycat Mac's OS'X system. Customers are not aware when they purchase the package that it will cost them extra for upgrades. MAC OS'X cost CDN$149 and Microsoft Vista Ultimate costs above CDN$400.

Win XP Pro was stable but still had many security flaws. Windows Vista was released before it was finished without any concern for customer security (identity theft, spam, viruses, etc.) Mac OS'X is based on Unix which is the most stable, reliable and secure on the market.

In conclusion, Microsoft is really just pulling itself away from the customers by waiting five years to release a new version that is a cheap rip-off of Mac's six-year-old operating system - which as yearly major updates.

P.S. Mac's OS'X 10.5 due for release in April '07

Rick Govt, IT Specialist

During my twenty years as a teleworker, I assisted numerous corporations in developing telework technology strategies, and building, running and managing a distributed telework-based company for over seven years.

There were two major areas the article did not cover. The first are was the human psychology profile of effective teleworkers AND telework managers. Not everyone can or will be successful in either role based on their own profile, communications style and preferred workstyles.

The second area, which is critical, particularly for IT-based organizations is the ability to effectively use ALL forms of communications, i.e. voice mail, e-mail, web conferencing, teleconferencing, etc. Often, messages are mis-understood via e-mail and particularly if you are delivering a message as a manager. We would encourage corporations to develop programs to help managers and staff to develop skills to communicate, disregarding medium, and to also identify their own profiles geared to their corporate culture, style and values.

Roberta J. Fox, Director of the Canadian Telework Association and Senior Partner, FOX GROUP Telecom Consulting.

The idea that using chargeback will generate an understanding of the 'value' of IT is mistaken. It is merely a way of reallocating costs. Although critical to the operations of the company, the business ascribes zero to negative value to the provision of IT products and services. Get is right, and you're doing your job, get it wrong and you're out of here! Putting in a charge back system for a service that is ascribed zero value merely reinforces that IT is a cost. If IT wants to demonstrate its value, then it needs to show how it improves the business, competes and makes money. This is the only measure of value. And, even here, just providing a CRM system, for example, is not enough, you need to change how you go to market, serve customers and increase margins. Now you're talking value! Marketing your costs will not generate recognition of IT's value.

Blacklist Canada for what the U.S. says it is doing about piracy of software and games? I suggest that the U.S. clean out its own dirty closet before it condemns another country. Trade sanctions? What happened to the free trade we were supposed to have? The only people who benefited from the free trade agreement were the Americans. Many of us were put out of work. U.S., I say TAKE A BIG HIKE. No more bullying from you. We are not going to take it anymore.

To begin, I want to say that for the most part, this article offered some insights that are not often discussed. More specifically, about the attitudes of management towards internal users as being a security threat. Kudos for this insight. However, I must say that I strongly disagree with the statement, "The multi-function offering of UTMs might not be top of the line, but for small environments, they're the sweet spot right now."

I agree that small businesses can benefit from the installation of UTM appliances - this is certainly true. However, the wording here suggests that UTM might not be a viable option for larger, more sophisticated environments. I personally have been involved in the introduction of UTM appliances within the Canadian market and know for a fact that some of the country's largest corporations, universities and colleges, and Canadian Federal government departments are aggressively deploying and standardizing this type of technology. The benefits of this approach are significant: lessened integration requirements, less training, less management, greater co-ordination of security functionality. I believe by making a comment like this, the publication is doing a disservice to the advancement of IT Security theory and practice. Decision makers rely on advice from publications comprised of "experts" to help vet the multitude of options available.

This does not address how real people - as opposed to senior level execs - need to deal with e-mail. First, senior level execs don't have to deal with e-mail problems - their secretaries do. What others need to do is learn how to filter their e-mail appropriately, so they can deal with important stuff first, and less important e-mails later, or not at all.

Second, they need to avoid the compulsion to ANSWER all the e-mail they receive. Just because someone sends you an e-mail does not mean you need to reply. It's one thing if a potential client sends one, and quite another if your funny uncle George wants to let you in on the latest joke.

Lastly, if you're running Windows, be sure you have all the anti-virus and anti spyware software up to date. Better yet, switch to Linux or Mac.

I think that sometimes, we want a mobile phone to be just a mobile phone. Extra functionality has to be comparable in quality to other devices. For example, MP3 players and cheap digital cameras come in roughly the same quality and size as a mobile phone. However, would you really want to watch videos on a phone when you have a HDTV? I hate sending and reading e-mail through a tiny screen.

Cute ring tones? Those are about as annoying as car alarms. Just provide good service, and stop nickel and diming us to death! I think that when number portability arrives this year, we'll see some real price competition - not just bundles of gimmicks.

Many customers have accumulated many unresolved grievances, but did not change providers as they needed to keep their phone numbers. Mobile companies will be (they'd better be) working hard to retain those customers with value propositions, instead of bottom-drawer toys.

How far do we let copyright infringe on news dissemination? I can see the arguments where a work is published (book) and the author receives the profits from their work. However the public press is just that - PUBLIC. Once an article has appeared in one of the public media all copyright rights should be nul and void. Of course, attribution should always be made - no attempt should be made to plagarize, etc. But to prevent people from reading what has already been released to the public, preposterous!

One must wonder about TJX Companies Inc's corporate thinking. Understanding buying patterns is one thing, maintaining their customers' personal financial account information is quite another.

Dave Cole pointed out in the article: "It's going to happen at some point that someone will lose your data. Practice good hygiene with monitoring your financial accounts." But by maintaining detailed confidential information and perhaps worse still, in clear text, TJX opened the door to unnecessary and immitigable risk to "millions" of customers. A hacker's dream come true! Rules and penalties might have helped the unwitting customers of TJX, but perhaps some management changes and a good dose of litigation just might wake up the industry.

The group's concept of the lateral movement of the Virtual Braille device while keeping one's fingers implanted in its tactyle square is truly innovative and workable.

If the researchers are interested in working with end user testers, please feel free to have them contact me. When I joined IBM Canada Ltd. back in 1981 as a software development analyst, I was using an Optacon (optical to tactyle converter).

This device allows a user to scan a computer screen with a small hand-held camera equipped with a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) lens with one hand, while keeping the other hand's index finger implanted in a tactyle square consisting of a 12 by 12 array of tiny pins which would vibrate as characters and images were scanned.

This technology could be classified as "Virtual Print", which back in those days was wonderful to have had. Although it was slow, it was accurate.

In comparison, the STRESS2 looks promising, much less straining on one's fingers and much easier to use. Once one learns to use the STRESS2 efficiently, one can read and work with linear text, as well as with tables, boxes, charts, etc. Once the STRESS2 is perfected, it will be well received and widely acclaimed by the visually-impaired community and yes, it should open many more doors to employment.

How can we make sense of this when experienced IT workers who are laid off cannot get work? I know for a fact that there are people born and raised in Canada or the U.S. who can't find work (I won't even touch the immigrant issue)!

I think that employers are too picky! If there truly is a shortage and I had to immediately fill a position, I would take the closest qualified candidate and re-train them if necessary!

On one hand we have government telling baby boomers not to retire early. On the other, companies are telling us that our job is now gone - enjoy your layoff - while we offshore to India and Malaysia.

A shortage? More like a glut on the horizon. Offshoring isn't to make up for attrition, it's to save headcount dollars. Unfortunately, corporate knowledge doesn't show on the books. But will cost much more down the road in inefficiencies, lost productivity and potential lost data.

I think IT is unique because it hasn't always been a male-dominated field, and because it is very much a meritocracy. Men and women in IT look to technical knowledge and peer relationship skills to garner respect.

Our IT department has the best diversity numbers in the company - a wide range of people apply and we just pick the best. Our diversity was great before anybody knew what IT was, and when there were no stereotypes about the profession. Females thought it was a good career then.

But now, perceptions are such that females don't consider IT as a career, resulting in fewer graduates to hire. It's the public perception that needs to change.

This code of conduct approach should be applicable to governments as well. With no control nor access to information, the government can retain any information it wants on an individual - accurate or not. This makes a code of conduct solely for NGOs worthless.

How about just saying that's the way the software, service and devices come - the same as any other country. Gandhi said "No one is free until we all are." The move is designed to make a few people feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Before you can point fingers at others, there are lots of examples of where we have taken too much for granted to seemingly protect our own investment. A recent example is IE7 which requires proof of a valid XP license. Having been in the software business for longer than Microsoft, I can appreciate why. But I do object to the probing of a complete system to find out more than is required to validate Certificate Information.

On install, IE7 gives the local machine registry an very extensive work out - Machine Unique IDs, Session Information, System Architecture, Processor Type and Model, Logon Server, Internal Domain Name, Machine Name, TCP/IP setup and over 4,000 other registry events.

It seems to me that we need to agree to a code of conduct among ourselves before we judge others.

I sometimes find it extremely difficult to believe there is a huge labour shortage in the Canadian IT industry. I went back to school in 1999, came out with a diploma from TriOS, and five certifications: MCP, CNA, CUSA, A+, and Net+. Six months after that I found myself working for Scotiabank, and then for IBM Global Services on the WAN as an analyst. It's been 2-1/2 years since my IBM job, and I still find myself out of the industry.

During interviews, I find employers don't care for soft skills and business sense. At least the interviewer - around 25-32 years old who doesn't possess those skills - doesn't. They ask for exact technical skills, which are often acquired by doing the exact job.

I am now 52 years old. I find that in this industry, most companies are looking for young university grads whom they feel they can "mould".

I live in a town (Kitchener-Waterloo) where many IT openings are advertised, many of which go unfilled for a long time. The talent that sits in front of employers goes unnoticed.

I left a position in a company to go back to school to attain proper training in this industry. Now I wonder if I should have.

Makeover: Yes. Rethinking hiring process, changing the budget to focus on retrofit, instead of the exact fit: YES.

The best to all the guys who find themselves on the outside looking in.

Excellent article, Scott Spanbauer. Thank You. I have been in the Hi-Tech arena all my working life and am still amazed at Microsoft's lack of intutitiveness around their products. Simple "how to" instructions, such as those detailed in your article make it easier to wage the "never-ending" battle against threats from within and outside my internet-connected PC. I often wonder how ordinary people - particularly the elderly - cope.

For two out of the three problems, there is a solution you did not mention.

Get rid of Windows. I've never had a virus or other malware problem on my main surfing machine. I run a mature desktop version of Linux.

Is it an IT shortage or that people are not getting paid enough for this skill? As a contractor I've seen the rates drop over the last few years. Lower rates get less skilled people.

If there is such a shortage, why are skilled IT people in Canada unable to find jobs? Off the top of my head, I know of two highly skilled IT people that are out of work and have no future prospects.

Where are these jobs they keep talking about? Funny, most articles like this don't say that. Is it because headhunters are trying to get cheaper labour offshore? Thats just great, but do these offshore workers know about business and manufacturing, etc. or are they coders?

What does the industry really want? Lets get the full story. I suspect the industry wants highly skilled IT professionals for free or the lowest price possible. As they can't find that, they have to look elsewhere.

For many reasons, the IT industry has lost credibility among young people entering university: the fallout from the "dot bust", the "not cool" label that "geeks" have, the layoffs that their parents endured, and the fact their parents have been reading about all the technology jobs going "offshore" to India, China and other such places.

The answer, as I see it, is a strategic approach to staffing that includes multiple solutions. As companies will not be able to "own" huge IT departments, they will need to hire and cultivate a core group of employees to manage their IT requirements.

Outsourcing and "offshoring" will be a reality for companies that want to ensure their continued operations.

Companies may need to bring in hired help on an as-and-when-required basis. We will also see more importing of talent. The great work done by the ICTC (formerly Human resource Council of Canada) gives Canada a competitive edge with our progressive immigration policies.

I also think that the retiring baby boomers issue is a little bit of "smoke and mirrors". Will they retire? They probably will retire from their jobs and take a pension. But then they will be available for consulting and seasonal work, so that "intellectual property" will not necessarily be lost.

As a staffing professional I think the next ten years will provide a challenge for the Canadian industry but by working together with its supplier community, efficient structures can be built that will retain our competitiveness.

I have worked in the IT industry for 14 years, and have been trying to find a job in Canada for the last 5 years. So far, I have had no success. I have New York experience but no Canadian experience. I find that Canadians are very prejudiced towards non-Canadians. In the end, this prejudice will hurt their IT industry.

This article illustrates quite well that the IT industry is acting blindly, with no longterm view. They fired highly skilled workers during the Dot com bust even if they were not related to the Web. They outsourced key jobs to India and often refused to hire and invest in beginners. Now, they are going to pay the price: lose a lot of money and market share. But the worst of all is they probably will not learn from there mistakes.

Perhaps CIBC should divert some of its obscene profits from overseas, tax-free holdings into data security and customer service.

I'd suggest that Microsoft consider providing home users and developing countries free or significantly reduced operating system licenses with no reduced functionality. Their real bread and butter comes from their corporate customers who are not going to risk their business trying to nickle and dime them on Vista and Office. If microsoft really wants to combat piracy they should give the software away to the youngsters and home users who are downloading their software from P2P networks like bit torrent.

One factor that wasn't mentioned in this article is financial incentive. Highly experienced IT professionals would probably have the U.S. and Europe higher on their list of target destinations due to the apparent higher pay in those markets. This makes it hard for Canadian companies to retain IT specialists, particularly since this is a highly mobile career choice with few international boundaries. An image makeover is certainly needed but Canadian employers also need to attract qualified and post-graduate staff by: (a) Assessing whether the average IT pay rates are competitive on the international market (in real terms of course) (b) Emphasizing the (under-estimated) social and lifestyle benefits available to IT professionals in major Canadian business centres such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, etc.

One has to remember that the BSA is not an independent third party. The Business Software Alliance is a syndicate of software vendors. Their authority is invoked under the threat of potential copyright violations. They are not required to prove that you are in breach of copyright - you are "required" to prove that you are not. The BSA membership is made up of: Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CA, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Dell, Entrust, HP, IBM, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, PTC, RSA (The Security Division of EMC), SAP, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, The MathWorks, & UGS.

As a former HP Employee, I was proud to read that HP hired Carly as their CEO. She brought corporate experience from the telecommunications industry to HP, which was of value as IT and telecom converged. She also successfully helped the company navigate through the Compaq acquisition.

My team and I at FOX GROUP applaud Carly’s vision, leadership, and professionalism during her tenure at HP. As I belong to a minority group in IT and telecom - a technical woman, who has installed, managed and supported complex voice and data networks - I understand the environment within IT and telecom. Women are different and bring a different perspective to business. Our differences can be our biggest strength if we understand how to apply them within the corporate environment. We are gravely concerned about the declining enrolment of young women in IT, engineering and science programs, and actively participate in career days throughout Ontario at the public and high school level.

We believe if young girls hear from those of us who have built a successful career and personal life within ICT by leveraging our 'female' qualities, while also being able to learn and succeed within the 'male world', this will encourage them to choose this path.

Lastly, we believe it is important for both genders to provide mentorship to encourage the next generation – not just to choose the ICT industry - but also to mentor staff for future growth and career development.

Technically any word that's not in the dictionary can be copyrighted because it is not "public domain". Therefore Cisco - if it does indeed have copyright ownership of the name - is within their rights to sue anyone else who uses the same name no matter what the product is. That said, I do favour Apple in this battle, and since they have the popular 'iPod', I can understand their desire to name their phone the "iPhone". I hope Cisco appreciates this and comes to an agreeable settlement.

As a content producer and distributor, I can attest that there are many options to stream your media. However, the key is to work with a professional who has been there and done that... the cost of his or her expertise will more than offset the time, expense and potential additional costs due to losses and other factors.

As a WSI franchisee, I have to strongly disagree with Harpointer's comments about our franchisees being constrained. There are hundreds of products and services available within our private e-marketplace. If one supplier's products are sub-standard, there are many other options available to us. AIS Media does not have anything close to the services that are at our fingertips. I have been a WSI consultant for 14 months and my business is profitable and continues to flourish - and that's true of the businesses of other WSI consultants.

WSI has been ranked the number one Internet franchise in the world for many years - a claim that AIS Media certainly cannot make.

It is so satisfying to read about technology benefiting people. Thanks for publishing this article.

I like hands-free calling and use it, as suggested in the article, mostly as a backup to my cell. My wife, on the other hand, dislikes the technology. She has a high voice and the hands-free phone does not understand her commands. I have noticed this occasionally when trying to make a call and my kids are at the back of the car making noise. The device keeps saying "pardon." I don't believe my wife has ever successfully made a call with the hands free on star.

Has anyone else complained about this problem?

I was in the market for a notebook and this time around opted for a Macpro. (I've been a PC user for more than two decades).

I want a stable system that's not afflicted by viruses, security flaws, blue screen error messages and so on. The Mac OS X, I believe, has the harmony and integration I am looking for, therefore, I've finally taken the plunge. For native PC applications, I will still need my PC, but plan to integrate WIN XP via Parallel and can still have both.

My Macpro Core 2, with 2GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive should arrive soon, and I am really excited. I'm also eagerly awaiting the arrival of Leopard OS 10.5 and the integration it offers.

What a price we would all pay, if the concept of open computing were to disappear for the sake of the bottom line. The freedom to exchange ideas is of paramount importance to civilized society, even when those ideas are most readily expressed in source code.

George Goodall is wrong. Technology can never be used to "enforce" business processes; technology can only support business processes. It is the job of management to enforce business processes. There's an old saying that I think best illustrates this: "Never underestimate the ability of fools to defeat a fool-proof system."

Cache, cookies and history files are all obvious items that need to be cleaned, but doing that is not enough. Yet another file that needs to be removed is the "index.dat." It's harder to get at but contains a great deal of personal information.

Editor's note: Some free tools out there allow you to analyze and delete your Index.dat files. One of these is Index.dat Analyzer 1.6. This application prevents anyone trying to read your index.dat files to ascertain your Web surfing habits. It displays index.dat files found in your Internet Explorer cache. It also has a simple user interface and includes a filtering feature that allows you to selectively remove items, or delete all.

The article made no mention of software as a service (SaaS). This technology trend - fuelled by the likes of Google and embodied in services like Google Docs - has become a tidal wave and has Microsoft in the hot seat.

The news that there is an active virus now concerns us all who use the Skype service.

I've been hit with phishing spam from Rock Phish twice. Once posing as CitiBank and once as Wells Fargo. I traced the Wells Fargo link to the Web site of a bank, which had been hacked and a fifth level sub-directory created where a mySQL database was storing the data bank account data. I warned the ISP, the concerned bank, Wells Fargo, and Interpol but never heard from anyone, and have no idea if anything was done except that the URL was gone the next day. Which could mean Rock Phish had gathered the data and erased the evidence. With this apparent lack of concern I fear that Rock Phish will never be stopped.

Ottawa is slow to the process. The company I work for installed one of these Nortel WLAN 2300 systems at the General Motors Centre (Oshawa Generals) last month and the Montreal Canadiens are installing one too. It works very well even though the Generals are not even scratching the surface of its capabilities. The analyst is correct though in that the biggest gains will be productivity gains for the building rather than for fans.

It is good to see our tax money being put to good use in fighting criminals!

If so much could be done with $3 million, imagine what could have been accomplished with the $2 billion wasted on the firearm registry.

Seems to me our privacy commissioners need to be on top of this. They need to ensure that:

*Nothing is encoded (other than information necessary to the credit card function), without the users consent;

* Users have a way to confirm what information - other than personal information necessary to complete card transactions - is encoded on their card (perhaps, a Web portal where they can view this information would serve this purpose).

Also, if smart cards are really that secure, there is no reason why one smart card cannot be my Visa, MasterCard, Amex, driver's licence, department store credit card, debit card, health card and - if governments ever get their act together - my passport.

Maybe it can replace the 10+ cards I have to carry, which has been one of my pet peeves for more than 30 years.

I think most would agree that it takes money to run religious organizations. Hydro and heating oil aren't free. That's fair enough.

But I also observe that religious institutions are trying to reinvent themselves in the face of declining interest in traditional Western religious practice.

Historically the tide started shifting well over a hundred years ago, but it picked up speed with the return of troops from WWI.

It's not a new phenomenon. For some it means making services more entertaining with stress on contemporary music and charasmatic speakers. For others it means marketing campaigns. For yet others it means providing daycare, sports programs, or social services.

Sometimes the new, nearly secular flavour of their mission becomes so dominant that outsiders can forget that the Young Mens' Christian Association [YMCA] or Salvation Army are primarily religious organizations.

More and more, religious organizations seem to resemble business enterprises, commercial service providers or political machines. Electronic debit is just one more step in that direction. Money starts to look like an end rather than a means.

As religious institutions reinvent themselves, society will reinvent its way of interacting with them. And I suspect we will not see their tax exempt status last for long.

One other reason that I abandon shopping carts is simply that, in order to comparison shop, I need to go through the order processing steps to get the final cost, including taxes, shipping, etc.

Once I have that number, I know whether buying online from the particular vendor is a good deal. Because I do comparison shop online, somewhat more than half of all the carts I fill are abandoned.

It is wonderful news that sanity has prevailed and the Government has decided to overrule the CRTC's decision.

VoIP will at some point flow through the Internet, which is public domain and hence should not be regulated as is done in the rest of the world. The CRTC has just lost the justificaton for its existence.

Microsoft now has a single point of control in the Linux market from which it can attack other competing Linux vendors by tying them up in court until they either concede or go bankrupt. It is a technique major corporations, including Microsoft, have used before to eliminate the competition - and I see every indication of the same attitude and approach in the statements of Microsoft in this case. Sadly Novell was either too naive or too greedy to care. In the end, it may find itself swallowed by the Microsoft leviathan.

It is unquestionably wrong for the so-called 'independent' privacy commissioner to be endorsing a specific product (i.e. Microsoft). The independence of her office is now in question. It will be interesting to see if the marketplace has been affected by her support of a specific vendor's products. Cavoukian needs to retract this endorsement and let the IT marketplace find its own solutions to problems.

What is Microsoft thinking? With its increased security measures (updates requiring authentication, possible limit of one motherboard change per license), not only is Microsoft risking increased piracy (which is more rampant now than it was for operating systems like Windows 98) they are also risking residential and commerial sales.

The article implies that COBOL is an old language that many new programmers do not wish to learn. This is probably the case. However it also suggests that COBOL executes only in a "Green" screen environment. This is not true.

I am a developer of COBOL accounting software packages. I have a complete suite of products - including Receivables, Payables, General Ledger, Order Entry, Inventory - written in a COBOL language supplied by Acucorp Inc.

These COBOL packages are written for Windows graphical screens, offering the full complement of GUI features. They are able to execute on a UNIX mainframe in the graphical world using a thin client interface; or in a "green" screen; on a Windows NT Network, on IBM AIX systems and on Linux.

They work with simple ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Methodfile) structures, or a variety of database systems, (including Oracle, Informix, Microsoft SQL, Sybase, or DB2). The ISAM files may be configured to be ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) compliant.

These applications can be deployed on a distributed TCP/IP network using file server technology. You can use COBOL to write CGI applications. You can call COBOL programs from Java to link newer technology to existing legacy code. You can also call C programs from COBOL ones, and vice-versa.

To summarize, yes I agree that there are a lot of legacy systems using COBOL, and they may be "trapped" in their "Green" screen environment. However, there are versions of COBOL available today, that allow you to move away from these dinosaur systems without too much difficulty.

This article's author Katherine Spencer Lee writes: "Unfortunately, the job seeker I mentioned previously was seeking a position as a database administrator but had no hands-on experience with the latest version of Oracle, which most of the hiring managers he met with considered essential."

Why can't she just admit the hiring managers are wrong?

Learning latest version of a product when you already have years of experience with the previous version is a relatively easy. It's knowledge of the business/application domains that's crucial.

And yet the article still emphasizes presentation skills and people skills.

Do we want to hire technology experts or salepersons/speakers?

It is evident that the powers that be have not thought through and analyzed the problem and the solutions. The cost of energy is still relatively cheap in Canada and Ontario, and I contend that Ontario Hydro as well as the local utilities are out of control.

Simple things such as co-generation, selecting proper utility voltages to reduce transformer sites and living within the means of the paying public are not business practices recognized by these Utilities. An example is the buying spree for new vehicles by Toronto Hydro when the North York and Toronto Hydro were merged.

Thousands of users will not care about smart meters because it's not worth worrying about a few dollars a year, and they are not going to change their lifestyle.

Also, the plan is not to charge the homeowner similar to industry where demand and power factor correction is rewarded, but to charge a higher rate at key points during the day/night, regardless of efficiency of use, and no reward for reduced use of energy other than having to pay for the "smart-meter".

It is interesting that when all the summer recreational (cottages) facilities shut down for the winter months, the very intelligent and expensive "smart-meters" will be idle with nothing to record. Thus, Hydro is going to invest and then cause the customer to repay them for the purchase of meters that are only used for 5 to 7 months a year.

There's also the issue of the infrastructure necessary to remotely monitor millions of "smart-meters" that cannot at present be connected to any radio device similar to the intranet/Internet process undertaken by Toronto Hydro.

Looks like another boondoggle to me. But I should not worry. The utility will find a way to create the necessary infrastructure for these "smart-meters" and make a few more people rich in the process.

Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to Open Source the things that are Open Source. The software folks should be able to protect what is theirs to protect. The consumers then will choose whether to accept it or not. Global in scope, Open Source is a viable option and the consumer will ultimately decide.

It is quite remarkable that the R&D academic community have been able to sustain the notion that research is essential to our prosperity. According to surveys by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and others, only six per cent of new businesses use a new technology, while another six per cent use some technology. A whopping 88 per cent of new businesses use no technology, and yet small businesses are the job creation engines of our western economies.

Andrew Rowsell-Jones hits the mark when he writes: "What [a] business really cares about is not systems, it's payoff." Recognizing that IT projects deliver business benefits is an important first step. However, it is critical for enterprises to move beyond the use of ad hoc approaches for benefits management. Instead, enterprises should use robust tools and techniques to identify:

* Required project outcomes(including intermediate outcomes, final business outcomes, and contributions towards strategic outcomes).

* Related, non-project initiatives essential to ensuring successful achievement of the desired results; and

* Assumptions and risks that could compromise the realization of the benefits.

This is an area where IT managers in Canada got in first. The world-leading methodology for benefits realization was invented in Montreal and Alberta in the early 1990s and is described in detail in "The Information Paradox" by John Thorp.

I have been a resident of Oakville Hydro for several years now and I am quite happy to see they will finally be using delivery bills over the Internet. I have also been a user of Epost, which is Canada Post's site, to pick up all of my ebills. This site is extremely good, it is simple and intuitive.

I've voted with my wallet... I no longer purchase Sony or Sony BMG products... I purchase their competitors products.

I hope people reading this article will sign our petition aimed at convincing the Canadian government to pass laws to protect us from this type of harmful malware.

Shouldn't the money collected through the proceeds of selling pirated software be given back to the un-knowing customers of his company?

It seems both the software title owner, and the customers who bought the software are the big losers, and again the government is collecting at everyone's expense.

Yeah sure! Last week I had two Dell deliveries messed up.

The one meant for Winnipeg went to Calgary. The one for Toronto came to Winnipeg.

This just goes to show that Dell is not letting its customers down.

Most of Dell's misfortunes - negative customer experiences, product recalls, the SEC probe, lagging product design and so on - have been blown out of proportion by the media.

This is Dell's re-invention, for sure. Even more than that, it's an affirmation that the best is and will always remain the best.

I experienced Dell's "extraordinary customer experience" just yesterday.

The laptop I have is 13 months old, and so far the keyboard and the battery have failed.

I called them yesterday about the battery. It's a couple of weeks past the warranty period, so the technician told me I would have to purchase a new one.

I asked him to put me through to someone in sales. He did so and also told me to give the agent a number so I wouldn't have to repeat the verification process. In sales, I got a lady and she started the verification process over again. I offered her the number given to me by tech support, but she said she knew of no such number and I would have to verify my information.

I told her all I wanted was a price on the battery. I would not be buying it now. She said I would still have to verify all the information or she couldn't help me. I asked if I could find the price of the battery on the site and she said yes.

I asked if I needed to verify anything if I found it on the site and she said no. I then tried to ask her why I needed to go through the verification process if I sought the same information on the phone. But she insisted she couldn't help me unless I answered all her questions first. So I hung up.....

I'm not going to buy from Dell (Dell Hell as the techs here refer to it as) if I don't have to now.

I find Microsoft's reaction to the sactions somewhat of an engima. Fines were imposed on Microsoft for breaking EU laws.

In July I read Microsoft asked that these fines be reduced be reduced or eliminated. On the same day another article, related how Microsoft had filed 26 new lawsuits against various companies for software piracy.

Perhaps the list of companies who Microsoft is suing -- a lot more than 26 -- should ask their fines to be reduced or eliminated too. Why should Microsoft be "let off the hook" when others are not? Isn't breaking the law an offense no matter who does it?

I have worked in IT for 10 years now. I find the legislation in BC actually hurts workers more than it helps them.

In part, the problem is that it gives employers licence to "politely ask" for workers to do overtime, but does not provide workers the right to refuse.

Overtime should be a choice, not an expectation. For some workers, it's this inability to refuse overtime that has caused them to leave the industry, and I believe studies may prove the loss of IT talent in BC a result of the legislation.

Upon hiring, workers should have the choice to negotiate their contract with or without possible overtime, and legislation should support workers who make a choice either way.

This is a very informative article. Interesting aspects of the WiFi systems are provided. How exactly will the SSID be done using a cell phone?

First class article - posesses the fundamental ingredients : Integrity, creditability and transparency. Refreshing !!!

"Offering connection speeds of potentially seven megabits per second..." Since this is the "g" flavour of 802.11, you may as well say potentially "54" mbps.

Service providers have been gulling people for years with nominal vs real-world bandwidth. I'm amazed you guys are now helping a new entrant pull the same stunt. The last thing we need is more numbers that undermine credibility.

Isn't it time to take a look at the collapse of employment in the IT industry and perhaps admit that the people directing university students away from IT careers may be right?

Enrollment in IT seems to have dropped by at least 50 per cent, which means a marked decline in IT graduates in the past several years.

The reason for this collapse is obvious: five years after the dot-com collapse, there is a surplus of IT workers, and this despite the fact that thousands have left the industry.

So what IT worker shortage are we talking about? An IT industry employment collapse is what's really happening.

Apple has released a beta of software that will allow its new Intel-based Macintosh desktops and laptops to run Microsoft's Windows XP OS natively, as well as Mac OS X....

"Boot Camp" software creates a hard drive partition for Windows XP and lets users select between the two operating systems at startup. It's available now as a free trial beta, and it will be included in the next major version of Mac OS X Version 10.5, or "Leopard," due late this year...."

Umm-- if this story had been released in March or April it would have been news. But in mid-August? Boot Camp has already released a 1.1 upgrade version (though it's still in beta). Nothing in the story is wrong, but it's several months late in being news.

I just read that AT&T is the latest e-commerce outfit to be hacked and have some 19,000 credit card numbers stolen.

Question: what sort of Mickey Mouse outfit stores credit card numbers online? It's dumb things like this that cause resistance among customers.

Good article.

I will add that the CRTC has been seriously negligent in not providing a guaranteed QoS mandate to cell and Internet users. I waited a week to have my phone service company provide the required adjustments/repairs in order to have my Internet provider re-connect my Internet connection.

I get my TV reception guaranteed but not my cell/Internet services? That's a bit backward in priorities isn't it? The Telcos point fingers at the ISPs and the ISPs point fingers at the Telcos. The cell/Internet users are literally stuck in the middle with no option but to sit and wait and fume.

Cell and Internet connections impact financial, health, emergency, and family commitments etc... Why does the CRTC guarantee TV service but not cell/Internet service? I would like them to tell me.

Your article "Teens target for creative recruitment" is confusing.

Throughout most of the article, you talk about the IT skills shortage. Then you have a paragraph that talks about the Intuit study which shows a decline in the market for IT-related jobs in Alberta.

So if the market is declining, shouldn't also the enrolment at colleges and universities?

I don't understand the correlation between the Intuit study and the article.

I find it ironic that the article about the high demand for 'combo' IT/Business people is placed near another article that profiles how overwork can kill people.

Most North American companies I've worked in are looking for 'combo' people (PM/BA, IT/Business) because they have laid off significant amounts of their workforce and are now pumping the people they do hire to deliver the results of at least two people.

In my case, my workload went up 600% after round four of layoffs at one company. After that, it was a no brainer to make an exit and find less demanding work for the sake of my health.

Although there is validity in the concept of having customer-facing techies who are smooth enough to keep customers on track, I suspect that the main motivator for a 'combo' hire is pure profit -without regard for the health and well-being of the people who are expected to over-produce on a daily basis.

If you take a percentage of the population of people who die from overwork in North America, I'll bet it is very close to the same percentage of Chinese discussed in this article.

I am a recovering workaholic. In my teens I often held as many as four jobs, sometimes sleeping in transit from one job to another, working day and night.

I really believed that the harder and longer I worked, the better a person I was. The same pattern persisted when I married and had a family, and also when - after many years in the private sector - I took a government job. There too I worked overtime, and served on multiple committees.

My health began to deteriorate and began to suffer from depression, generalized anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorders. I did, however, have the courage to listen to my doctor and face my demons. I started medication, took stress leave, and enrolled in a cognitive therapy program to realign my core values. I have had one relapse since, but knew enough to seek help and get back on track. Life is better now, but I must always be on guard not to slip back into my workaholic habits. I put my health first, then my family, then my job, then my community at large. Seems simple, but for me sometimes it is still a struggle.

I hope, as a society, we become wiser and shed our "work faster,harder,longer" mentality. Overwork, "the silent scourge", is a social and mental desease that we as humanity need to eradicate if we are to survive as a species.