Stories about: Surefire

Tech budgets aren't immune to the economic downturn. Market research firm IDC expects IT spending to grow just 2.6 percent worldwide and less than 1 percent in the US next year. Gartner is even more pessimistic: Its latest forecast calls for 2.3 percent growth globally in 2009.

It's official: IT budgets, once so resilient in the face of three years of worsening economic news, aren't immune to the downturn after all.

Fresh Start for Disabled Veterans

Could Microsoft be switching away from Windows?

Hardware upgrades can be a blast. Slide 2GB more RAM in your machine and everything just works faster and smoother. Updating a laptop or desktop with an SSD (solid-state drive), however, can be tricky and not so rewarding, as I am finding.

I've been getting a lot of e-mails about this...Those seeking general advice around SOA, and how to win. Here's my best shot at that.

They say market leadership has its privileges. When you're way out in front and the competition is just a distant blip in your rearview horizon, you get to take a breather. Coast a bit. Maybe focus on the big picture for a while. Yes, it's good to be the leader. All of which begs the question: What the hell is wrong with VMware?

If you Google the phrase "Microsoft's worst nightmare," the range of hits you get is entertaining for its breadth. Various pundits have proclaimed that the software giant's very worst nightmare is everything from Linux, Google and Firefox to software as a service, Cisco's digital home business and the Sony PlayStation.

Depending on the altitude from which you view them, game consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's Wii can look like anything from brilliant works of high-integration engineering to metaphoric exemplars of efficient large-scale architecture. The rare but wise IT architect or development lead willing to take lessons from video games will find insights well worth appropriating.

Today's corporate end-users are far more tech-savvy than their productivity with IT tools indicates. After all, screen-deep in IMs, widgets, and elaborate consumer Web apps, they're proving themselves well-versed in the production and distribution of content as facilitated by the consumer Web 2.0 craze. Yet to surface this hidden expertise in an enterprise setting requires a deeper understanding of what draws end-users to these technologies and how these consumer technologies are reshaping end-users' tech expectations in the workplace.

Corporate response to the influx of Web 2.0 technologies is as varied as companies themselves. Here are some tips for developing security policies and practices that best fit your company, from restrictions on social sites to rules on mini devices and instant messaging. Plus, we offer expert tips for communicating these new Web 2.0 policies to workers.