Stories about: ISO

Last week I began to discuss a remarkable virtual-appliance-based system for network monitoring and management called Groundwork Monitor Community Edition.

The leaders of the ISO and the IEC have recommended the rejection of appeals from four countries that protested a vote approving OOXML, an XML-based document format submitted by Microsoft as an international standard.

Looking over his glasses with a librarian's stare, an executive recently told me, "You IT people love the word 'governance' but it just seems too..." His voice trailed off as he searched for a way to tactfully convey his sense that "information governance" was a linguistic wedge designed to throw open the doors of board-level access for unkempt geeks and helpdesk managers. Instead of "governance," more comfortable phrases were suggested: "information policy board," "data management" or perhaps "IT steering committee."

What really matters is not Gates, nor Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that Microsoft, like many other software companies, imposes on its customers.

The International Organization for Standardization has approved Adobe Systems' widely used PDF (Portable Document Format) as an international standard, and is now in charge of any changes made to the specification.

Microsoft on Monday unveiled projects to improve data portability between Office 2007 and other document file formats, including the design of a new translator for exchanging OOXML (Office Open XML) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) documents.

Version 3.0 of BackTrack has been released. BackTrack is a Linux-based distribution dedicated to penetration testing or hacking (depending on how you look at it). It contains more than 300 of the world's most popular open source or freely distributable hacking tools.

Computerworld is undertaking a series of investigations into the most widely-used programming languages. Previously we have spoken to Alfred v. Aho of AWK fame, S. Tucker Taft on the Ada 1995 and 2005 revisions, Microsoft about its server-side script engine ASP, and Chet Ramey about his experience maintaining Bash. We have also spoken to Charles H. Moore about Forth. In this interview, we chat to Bjarne Stroustrup of C++ fame about the design and development of C++, garbage collection and the role of facial hair in successful programming languages.

Open Source Law founder, Brendan Scott, discusses the legal implications of FOSS in Australian government and enterprise organisations.

The Open Document Format (ODF) has benefited from the two-year battle over the ratification of Microsoft's rival Open Office XML (OOXML) standard, which is native to its Office 2007 suite, Microsoft's national technology officer said Thursday during a panel discussion at the Red Hat Summit in Boston.

The ASG Group (ASX: ASZ) is promising to have a very profitable financial year, if its results for the first half are any indication.