(11 votes, average: 7.09 out of 10)
Loading ...Show me the (IT) talent
By Dan McLean
Pardon me for continuing to be a skeptic.
I recently wrote an appeal to the IT professional community to validate through their responses whether there’s strong demand for their skills. I continue to hear a whole lot about the wealth of job opportunity out there for IT professionals. And if you believe the buzz, it seems a whole lot of businesses in Canada are clamoring for IT talent. Yet beyond the published results reported in a number of recent research efforts, including our own IT Salary Survey and Job Satisfaction report, I’ve personally seen little real evidence of a general recruitment flurry.
I believe the reality is what it has always been: that if you have the right skills, then there’s a job out there for you. Duh!
But what are those skills and what sort of experience will garner you that plumb position?
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(1 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...MS looms over BI
It’s not going to happen overnight, but Microsoft could soon be dominating the business intelligence market. The company has been quietly dabbling in BI for a number of years now, but it wasn’t until its purchase last year of ProCalrity and its analysis and visualization software that the MS BI push got into high gear.
What makes the possibility seem realistic is in part related to what invariably makes Redmond a player in whatever market they choose to enter: the ubiquity of the Office platform. Many users of leading BI manufacturers’ tools today ultimately like to have their information distilled through Microsoft Excel. If Microsoft can present a set of BI tools as robust as anything else out on the market, why would any customer not want to streamline their setup and cut out another vendor?
Not to mention that BI is beginning to see solid growth in the mid-market - shops that, while often not as tech-savvy as their enterprise cousins, are certainly familiar with Microsoft Office, and in particular Excel.
It’s these thoughts that are no doubt going to keep the traditional BI players up at night. They will have to ensure that their platforms continue to be a step or two ahead of what Microsoft serves up…or else.
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(4 votes, average: 7.25 out of 10) Loading ...Spammer sees the light
By Joaquim P. Menezes -
Get a load of this: “Ed” - a ”reformed” spammer who at one time self-admittedly pulled in as much as $10,000 - $15,000 a week bombarding hapless individuals with unsolicited marketing e-mails peddling pills, porn, and sundry pleasures, is now doing the talk circuit.
Ed’s most effective tool for spewing spam - botnets.
See related video - TrendMicro CEO on fighting botnets:
According to media reports, his latest stop was London, England, where - on Wednesday - this retired spammer (who goes by pseudonyms “Ed” or “SpammerX”) waxed eloquent on the evils of his former profession.
The event was organized by IronPort Systems Inc., a security vendor now owned by Cisco Systems Inc.
Ed – we are to believe – is now a new man. Read the rest of this entry »
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(2 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Who’s looking for your IT skills?
IT World Canada’s second-annual salary and job satisfaction survey is repeating a familiar refrain. (see the calculator and report at: http://www.itworldcanada.com/salarycalculator/).
Similar to what we saw happening out in the Canadian IT marketplace last year, our results this year show that there’s heavy competition for seasoned IT pros and a looming serious shortage of talent. On the surface, that would seem to be great news for those looking for, perhaps, greener pastures and not so great for those looking to hire.
However last year, when we published a similar sort of conclusion, we heard from a whole lot of readers who suggested that the market for IT talent didn’t seem nearly as active as might be suggested. Seems it matters a whole lot what kind of skills you possess. In fact, lots of folks seemed to be looking, but couldn’t find gainful employment, let alone a better IT job.
It begs the question this year: as a seasoned IT professional do you feel a strong sense of being wanted - by both your current employer and/or perhaps by another business seeking your particular talents? What are they doing to keep you or what are other doing to lure you?When was the last time you applied for a new job and did you make the grade? Is there really a flurry of recruitment of IT talent happening out there?
We’d like to hear about it.
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(3 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...‘Rogue’ iphones causing chaos on campus?
- By Joaquim P. Menezes-
The Wi-Fi network at Duke’s University has been clogged following a volley of requests for MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, NetworkWorld is reporting.
The IT folk at the Durham, N.C. campus believe “rogue” iPhones are responsible for the problem.
They say that built-in Wi-Fi chips from several iPhones are flooding the university’s Cisco access points.
As there are apparently around 150 iPhones on campus, the impact is quite significant – as anywhere from a dozen to 30 wireless access points are being knocked out at a time.
Right now, though, the issue is more of an annoyance than a huge problem at Duke’s, as most students are on summer break outside the campus.
But, according to a senior IT official at the university, from August to May the wireless net is critical. Also, he says, if a good number of students return with iPhones this could exacerbate the problem. Read the rest of this entry »
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(2 votes, average: 5 out of 10) Loading ...Little sympathy for Sony in rootkit suit
By Joaquim P. Menezes
So Sony BMG is suing the company that developed MediaMax, the “anti-piracy” technology for CDs that got Sony into so much legal and financial trouble a couple of years ago.
In its suit against The Amergence Group – formerly known as SunnComm International – Sony alleges the anti-piracy technology delivered by Amergence “did not perform as warranted.” It accuses Amergence of negligence, unfair business practices and breaching the terms of its license agreement, and seeks to recover some $12 million in damages from the Phoenix-based company.
Amergence disputes the charges, and says the issues with the Mediamax software were caused by a competitor’s technology – XCP – and that Sony BMG had “final authority” in determining the specs for the Mediamax software. Read the rest of this entry »
