Nigerian flip-flop: Linux or Windows for schools? (and Grant vs. Google)

In today's IT Blogwatch: the curious story of Nigeria's indecision about school PCs: first it was Mandriva Linux, then it was Windows XP, now it's Mandriva again! Not to mention Cary Grant vs. Google Earth...Jeremy Kirk boldly reports: [You're fired -Ed.]Microsoft Corp. may not have beaten French Linux vendor Mandriva in a large deal to supply Nigerian elementary schools with laptop computers and software after all. Mandriva had closed a deal in mid-August to provide a customized Linux operating system and support for 17,000 Intel Classmate PCs intended for Nigerian schools, but found out last week that the company deploying the computers for the government, Technology Support Center (TSC), planned to wipe the computers' disks and install Windows XP instead. Now, however, a government agency funding 11,000 of the PCs has overruled the supplier.

Whole Foods Market locks stable door after horse bolts (and woofski!)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which Mr. Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, gets new guidelines about blogging and posting, mmmkay? Not to mention Soviet dogs of the 50s...Heather Havenstein has this report:After its CEO got caught bashing competitors and talking up his company's stock in anonymous Internet forum posts, Whole Foods Market Inc. late last week changed its corporate conduct policy to ban company leaders from posting anything online about the company. John Mackey, chairman and CEO of Whole Foods, came under fire in July after eight years of anonymous posts ... Mackey said in July that he posted anonymously because it was "fun" and that he never intended any of the postings to be associated with him.

Teaching an old dog a new trick

I’m over 50 and proud of it! And more importantly, I’ve been in IT for 37 years and counting.  To make it this long I put myself through a career change a few years ago.  Like many of my peers, I had focused on the job for many years and didn’t give myself enough time to keep my skill set current.  I had become an old dog. 

Teaching an old dog a new trick

I’m over 50 and proud of it! And more importantly, I’ve been in IT for 37 years and counting.  To make it this long I put myself through a career change a few years ago.  Like many of my peers, I had focused on the job for many years and didn’t give myself enough time to keep my skill set current.  I had become an old dog. 

Are you a truly strategic exec?

Being a strategic CIO means two things: thinking long-term (even when there are urgent IT "fires" to put out); and thinking big-picture -- not just about your internal operations, but about transforming your whole collection of businesses, even your whole industry. So how are you doing? It turns out that most CIOs aren't as strategic as their CEO, but they're more strategic than CFOs, according to research by Egon Zehnder International, reported in CIO magazine (1 November 2007). The Egon Zehnder folks -- can we just call 'em EZI, for short? -- have come up with seven levels of strategic orientation (the highest being 7):

Are you a truly strategic exec?

Being a strategic CIO means two things: thinking long-term (even when there are urgent IT "fires" to put out); and thinking big-picture -- not just about your internal operations, but about transforming your whole collection of businesses, even your whole industry. So how are you doing? It turns out that most CIOs aren't as strategic as their CEO, but they're more strategic than CFOs, according to research by Egon Zehnder International, reported in CIO magazine (1 November 2007). The Egon Zehnder folks -- can we just call 'em EZI, for short? -- have come up with seven levels of strategic orientation (the highest being 7):

Matloff vs. Aron on the loss of U.S. IT jobs to non-U.S. workers

A couple of weeks ago I moderated a panel discussion at the fall meeting of the UCLA Anderson School of Management IS Associates. The topic of discussion was the future of U.S. IT professionals in a global market, and we focused on offshore outsourcing and the H-1B visa controversy. Much of the discussion took the form of a debate between Professor Norman Matloff of the University of California at Davis, a long-time vocal critic of the H-1B visa program; and Professor Ravi Aron of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, an authority on offshore outsourcing.

Matloff vs. Aron on the loss of U.S. IT jobs to non-U.S. workers

A couple of weeks ago I moderated a panel discussion at the fall meeting of the UCLA Anderson School of Management IS Associates. The topic of discussion was the future of U.S. IT professionals in a global market, and we focused on offshore outsourcing and the H-1B visa controversy. Much of the discussion took the form of a debate between Professor Norman Matloff of the University of California at Davis, a long-time vocal critic of the H-1B visa program; and Professor Ravi Aron of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, an authority on offshore outsourcing.

Facebook vs. OpenSocial: seconds out, round one (and 1989 razor cheese)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the OpenSocial partnership squares up against Facebook. Not to mention the cheesiest Gillette spot ever...Here's Heather Havenstein, hotfoot:MySpace and Google Inc. announced Thursday that they have joined forces to launch a new social platform complete with a set of APIs for developers to build social applications. The launch of OpenSocial by Google was expected,  but the partnership with MySpace put added weight behind Google's plans ... The OpenSocial standards are designed to evolve through contributions from the open-source community and from partners like Friendster, LinkedIn, Ning, Six Apart, Plaxo and Salesforce.com.

Facebook vs. OpenSocial: seconds out, round one (and 1989 razor cheese)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the OpenSocial partnership squares up against Facebook. Not to mention the cheesiest Gillette spot ever...Here's Heather Havenstein, hotfoot:MySpace and Google Inc. announced Thursday that they have joined forces to launch a new social platform complete with a set of APIs for developers to build social applications. The launch of OpenSocial by Google was expected,  but the partnership with MySpace put added weight behind Google's plans ... The OpenSocial standards are designed to evolve through contributions from the open-source community and from partners like Friendster, LinkedIn, Ning, Six Apart, Plaxo and Salesforce.com.

H-1B scam targets Indian visa seekers

Most of the attention regarding the H-1B visa program is on the impact it has on U.S. workers, but Indian workers face their own perils in deciding to seek a visa, as described by one blogger. The writer, Brijesh, at the blog Uyarangalilekku (Scaling New Heights),  who is from India and is working in Arizona, says H-1B seekers in India can be charged exhorbitant fees by consultants who promise to deliver an H-1B visa but don't.  See:  To All H1B Seekers – Beware of Hidden Traps.

H-1B scam targets Indian visa seekers

Most of the attention regarding the H-1B visa program is on the impact it has on U.S. workers, but Indian workers face their own perils in deciding to seek a visa, as described by one blogger. The writer, Brijesh, at the blog Uyarangalilekku (Scaling New Heights),  who is from India and is working in Arizona, says H-1B seekers in India can be charged exhorbitant fees by consultants who promise to deliver an H-1B visa but don't.  See:  To All H1B Seekers – Beware of Hidden Traps.

H-1B scam targets Indian visa seekers

Most of the attention regarding the H-1B visa program is on the impact it has on U.S. workers, but Indian workers face their own perils in deciding to seek a visa, as described by one blogger. The writer, Brijesh, at the blog Uyarangalilekku (Scaling New Heights),  who is from India and is working in Arizona, says H-1B seekers in India can be charged exhorbitant fees by consultants who promise to deliver an H-1B visa but don't.  See:  To All H1B Seekers – Beware of Hidden Traps.

The disconnect: Thousands of IT-savvy professionals laid off, but CIOs can't find any to hire?

EDS recently announced an early-retirement program in the U.S., and Keane Inc. recently announced U.S. layoffs -- two moves that could put as many as 10,000 IT-related people out on the streets, estimates Gartner Inc. analyst Diane Morello in a research brief. Yet, at the same time, CIOs say they're unable to find qualified IT talent. Say what? These are exactly the sort of IT/business hybrids that CIOs say they're looking for. Morello suggests the problem is that CIOs' ability to lure these folks with exciting jobs has "atrophied." She hints that jobs in corporate IT shops just aren't that appealing anymore -- and CIOs better fix the situation fast.

The disconnect: Thousands of IT-savvy professionals laid off, but CIOs can't find any to hire?

EDS recently announced an early-retirement program in the U.S., and Keane Inc. recently announced U.S. layoffs -- two moves that could put as many as 10,000 IT-related people out on the streets, estimates Gartner Inc. analyst Diane Morello in a research brief. Yet, at the same time, CIOs say they're unable to find qualified IT talent. Say what? These are exactly the sort of IT/business hybrids that CIOs say they're looking for. Morello suggests the problem is that CIOs' ability to lure these folks with exciting jobs has "atrophied." She hints that jobs in corporate IT shops just aren't that appealing anymore -- and CIOs better fix the situation fast.

The disconnect: Thousands of IT-savvy professionals laid off, but CIOs can't find any to hire?

EDS recently announced an early-retirement program in the U.S., and Keane Inc. recently announced U.S. layoffs -- two moves that could put as many as 10,000 IT-related people out on the streets, estimates Gartner Inc. analyst Diane Morello in a research brief. Yet, at the same time, CIOs say they're unable to find qualified IT talent. Say what? These are exactly the sort of IT/business hybrids that CIOs say they're looking for. Morello suggests the problem is that CIOs' ability to lure these folks with exciting jobs has "atrophied." She hints that jobs in corporate IT shops just aren't that appealing anymore -- and CIOs better fix the situation fast.

Email privacy SNAFU @ House Judiciary Committee (and IPv6 please)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the House Judiciary Committee makes a basic email error, violating whistleblowers' privacy. Not to mention a stark warning of the dangers of sticking with IPv4...Paul Kiel calls it, "a whoops with a capital W":This summer the House Judiciary Committee launched an effort to collect tips from would-be whistleblowers in the Justice Department ... it would not accept anonymous tips, [but] it assured those who came forward that their identity would be held in the "strictest confidence" ... But in an email sent out today, the committee inadvertently sent the email addresses of all the would-be whistleblowers to everyone who had written in to the tipline ... included in the "to:" field -- instead of concealing those addresses with a so-called blind carbon copy or "bcc:" ... [including] vice_president@whitehouse.gov ... [so] the email addresses of all the whistleblowers who had written in to the committee tipline was sent to [Dick] Cheney.

Email privacy SNAFU @ House Judiciary Committee (and IPv6 please)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the House Judiciary Committee makes a basic email error, violating whistleblowers' privacy. Not to mention a stark warning of the dangers of sticking with IPv4...Paul Kiel calls it, "a whoops with a capital W":This summer the House Judiciary Committee launched an effort to collect tips from would-be whistleblowers in the Justice Department ... it would not accept anonymous tips, [but] it assured those who came forward that their identity would be held in the "strictest confidence" ... But in an email sent out today, the committee inadvertently sent the email addresses of all the would-be whistleblowers to everyone who had written in to the tipline ... included in the "to:" field -- instead of concealing those addresses with a so-called blind carbon copy or "bcc:" ... [including] vice_president@whitehouse.gov ... [so] the email addresses of all the whistleblowers who had written in to the committee tipline was sent to [Dick] Cheney.

Email privacy SNAFU @ House Judiciary Committee (and IPv6 please)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the House Judiciary Committee makes a basic email error, violating whistleblowers' privacy. Not to mention a stark warning of the dangers of sticking with IPv4...Paul Kiel calls it, "a whoops with a capital W":This summer the House Judiciary Committee launched an effort to collect tips from would-be whistleblowers in the Justice Department ... it would not accept anonymous tips, [but] it assured those who came forward that their identity would be held in the "strictest confidence" ... But in an email sent out today, the committee inadvertently sent the email addresses of all the would-be whistleblowers to everyone who had written in to the tipline ... included in the "to:" field -- instead of concealing those addresses with a so-called blind carbon copy or "bcc:" ... [including] vice_president@whitehouse.gov ... [so] the email addresses of all the whistleblowers who had written in to the committee tipline was sent to [Dick] Cheney.

Get even, get fired!

I've had my share of bad bosses, but I believe I've always had enough of a positive self-image to stop any ill feelings from showing up in my work. I've seen co-workers slack off and even intentionally sabotage production because they felt they'd get one over on a lousy supervisor/boss. I certainly agree with a particular point in this blog; in the long run the employee is usually the one to suffer the consequences - by being fired. This study mentions that some employees "hid" from their bosses - I'm really not sure what that means - how exactly is it possible to hide from one's boss for any lengthy amount of time? Can it be they just don't want to avoid confrontation as opposed to hashing out their grievances? In any case, I don't see how hiding would solve anything.