spending

Apparently, even technology companies want a bail-out.

Recently, the CEOs of Google, IBM, and other technology companies converged on the White House to lobby President Obama for key measures like broadband investments to be included in the U.S. government stimulus package. It's one thing to see U.S. auto makers, perpetually inefficient and ineffective in the market, begging for government hand-outs. It's quite another to see the leaders of the world's most successful technology companies seeking the dole, as well.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt made it clear what he hoped to gain from his government intervention … Read more

Jeffrey Hammond, principal analyst at Forrester, just Twittered something that is about to hit the traditional software world like a ton of bricks:

Just got off the phone with a client who's been mandated to use [open-source software] because licensing costs are killing them.

Call it the beginning of the end, if you like, but it's coming. The last few decades of software have been an aberration, built upon the historical accident that is digitization. Or, rather, not the accident of digitization, but rather that for a relatively brief period of time, we've made believe that digital … Read more

Now that open source has become standard fare for enterprises, it's time for them to get smart about open-source implementations. Baseline magazine picks out six technologies that haven't lived up to their hype, including software-oriented architecture and software as a service, but open source, with an enterprise penetration rate of 85 percent that is rising, according to Gartner, is probably underhyped, given its ability to drive down costs and boost innovation.

But that doesn't mean that an enterprise should deploy open source without proper planning. To facilitate such planning, Baseline has identified 10 strategies for facilitating the … Read more

My official title may be "analyst," but market research is the part of my job that appeals to the geek in me. Good thing I work at ESG, where we do market research around information assurance all the time.

Given an IT security landscape highlighted by regulatory compliance, publicly-disclosed data breaches, and increasingly sophisticated threats, we often ask survey respondents whether their organization suffered a data breach in the last 12 months. ESG has probably asked this very question in several research projects over the past few years. In the past, about 30 percent of large organizations (i.… Read more

You are familiar with Zen koans like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?". They are designed to open up consciousness with paradoxical or impossible questions. Well here's one: Can we have an economy that is not so dependent on rampant consumer spending?

After 9/11, Bush's solution was to exhort consumers to spend more as the way to propel ourselves out of the downturn. Today we are hearing similar advice.

Problem is, people are saving (or at least not spending, which I don't think is quite the same thing) rather than spending.

According … Read more

Baseline is suggesting that chief information officers would do well to get "wild" deployments of open-source software under control. I'm not sure that I agree.

The magazine article characterizes the primary threat of having 85 percent of enterprises adopting open source, according to Gartner, as a potential intellectual-property landmine. I struggle to see how it's any different from purchasing proprietary solutions.

Some may argue that it's different because you get indemnification with your commercial software purchase. Please. Have you seen how limited and constrained those are, and do you really think that commercial software protects … Read more

The dam holding back U.S. federal adoption of open source just burst with the introduction of the Defense Department's Forge.mil.

Forge.mil is an open-source project repository built in the image of SourceForge.net, Federal Computer Week reported Friday.

Despite being based on SourceForge's technology, Forge.mil has one significant difference: security. As David Mihelcic, chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency, told Federal Computer Week, the Department of Defense's code repository has been "upgraded to meet DOD security requirements," with smart cards used to provide log-in credentials.

There are only … Read more

This past week, I have heard a few things from customers and competitors that tell me (as if I didn't already know) that we really, truly are in the midst of a recession.

For example, one Fortune 50 customer has been actively budgeting for a three-year deal with my company, Alfresco, but this week, it opted for a one-year deal instead, noting, "Our future as a company that far out is not yet certain."

Posturing a little to keep costs down? Sure. As John Willis noted to me through Twitter, "That's Vendor Management 101."… Read more

WASHINGTON--A Senate panel approved major portions of the Democrats' "stimulus" bill on Tuesday over objections from Republicans that debate had been squelched and not even one hearing had been held on the topic.

"The goal of this package is to find ways to stimulate the private sector through public-sector spending," said Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). "We have no interest in enlarging the federal bureaucracy."

Yet a failure to act, Inouye said, could result in economic problems for years to come.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 21 to 9 to pass the spending package … Read more