Stories about: Midway

Countries whose appeals were dismissed regarding the ISO/IEC's approval of Microsoft's OOXML as an international standard are questioning the judgment and relevance of the ISO/IEC and the standards they approve.

As companies look to economize in a weak economy worsened by rising energy costs, it may be more tempting than ever to consider outsourcing your IT -- whether to a cloud-based provider, to a shop in your town, or to a provider in some far-off land. Certainly, outsourcing has worked well for many companies, but it can also lead to business-damaging nightmares, says Larry Harding, founder and president of High Street Partners, a global consultancy that advises company on how to expand overseas. After all, if outsourcers fail, you're left holding the bag without the resources to fix the problem.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have given the green light to publish the Microsoft-backed Office Open XML (OOXML) specification after organization leaders rejected appeals from four countries to protest the vote that approved OOXML as a standard.

Anybody who has spent any amount of time working on the road has probably witnessed their share of notebook disasters: dropped from a hotel desk, shaken beyond repair in the trunk of a rental car or doused by a knocked-over cup of coffee. Too often, the result is a worthless chunk of plastic, glass and metal.

Last year, Michael Vu, a 40-year-old independent IT consultant, found himself in a wholly unexpected place midway through his career.

Microsoft said its $US44.6 billion offer to purchase Yahoo is "fair" and hinted that it may pursue a hostile takeover of the Internet company, according to a statement Microsoft made Monday in response to Yahoo's formal rejection of its buyout offer.

Using a Cisco TelePresence videoconferencing system to communicate live with IT leaders in other cities, CEO John Chambers kicked off Cisco's annual analyst conference this week.

National ICT Minister Helen Coonan has welcomed the Federal Court's dismissal of Telstra's legal challenge to personally sue the minister over the $938 million regional network tender awarded to the OPEL/Singtel consortium.

Federal ICT Minister, Helen Coonan, has issued a draft license requiring Telstra maintain its CDMA network until its Next G network can provide a better service.

A 25 percent drop in new contracts and a 17 percent decline in restructured contracts indicated 2007 could be a slow year for global outsourcing companies.

By the time the board of retailing giant Coles Group recommended Wesfarmers' $21.9 billion takeover bid this week, the company had been in play for over a year. During that time its executives had to steer a steady course; maintaining shareholder value and positioning the business for future growth - setting to one side the knowledge that everything being done today could be unravelled tomorrow by a new owner.