MANAGEMENT

Featured Freeware: Xplorer2 Lite

This slimmed-down file manager trumps Windows Explorer on many counts, but it may have too much flexibility for some users.

Xplorer2 Lite's interface is easily adapted to your preferences. Toolbars and information windows can be moved on a whim. You can browse two or more folders in one window, using program tabs and different panes. What's more, you can customize search windows and save the settings for later use. Visual filters improve crowded directory readability. You can easily rename multiple files at once, split or merge files, synchronize folders, and shred data to prevent recovery. However, Check Duplicates … Read more

Executive exodus leaves Yahoo in a pickle

Voluntarily or not, it looks like Yahoo will be getting a lot less top-heavy.

The pioneering but troubled Internet company is headed for a reorganization that, combined with an exodus of top Yahoo executives, will in all likelihood put power in dramatically fewer hands.

A lean management structure can be good for building a nimble, responsive organization. The problem with that idea at Yahoo is that the company is losing many of the executives who have control over day-to-day operations.

And in some cases, the departures spread multiple steps down the hierarchy, depriving Yahoo of talent to promote and of … Read more

Forrester calls out Alfresco and Drupal as the top-two open-source WCM systems

Forrester Research just released a great report detailing the open-source web content management market. In it, Forrester analyst Stephen Powers highlights a shift to open source for managing websites:

As organizations embark on next-generation Web content management (WCM) initiatives, they want to avoid the mistakes made in earlier, more costly WCM projects. As a result, information and knowledge management professionals increasingly show an interest in open source WCM as a way of controlling software costs and increasing their access to product-specific expertise in the marketplace.

That's great: Enterprises should move to open-source web content management offerings. But which ones?

Out of the wide pool of open-source web content management projects (There are, quite literally, hundreds), Forrester says there are two to which CIOs and CTOs need to pay particular attention:

Alfresco and Drupal (Acquia).

In answer to the question, "Why these two?" Forrester answers: Relevance. As Powers writes:… Read more

Delicious founder leaves Yahoo

Joshua Schachter, the founder of the Delicious social-bookmarking service Yahoo acquired in 2005, is joining the executive exodus from the Internet giant.

"Just time to move on, I think," Schachter said in an e-mail, but didn't share further details.

The Internet company also confirmed on Thursday evening that Schachter will leave at the end of June; TechCrunch reported it earlier.

"Joshua Schachter has contributed greatly to Delicious' success and Yahoo's success in our social search efforts...Yahoo wishes him well in his next endeavor," the company said in a statement.

He's one of … Read more

New technology could reduce power in data centers by 80 percent

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Power Assure was started a year ago by Donnie Foster and Clemens Pfeiffer, former Hewlett-Packard executives. For the last ten years, Pfeiffer--the CTO and brain behind Power Assure's patent pending Holistic Power Management technology--ran his own company, International SoftDevices, developing software for monitoring and restarting servers after they had failed.

"We realized one could use this to automate the switching on and off of servers, and we saw a business opportunity," recalled Pfeiffer, who is CTO of the start-up based here.

Power Assure's Holistic Power Management collects power usage data every minute … Read more

Three more top execs leaving Yahoo; reorg coming

The executive parade from Yahoo could well be getting a lot longer.

Three more executives are leaving the company: Qi Lu, executive vice president of engineering for search and advertising technology; Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice president of communications and community; and Vish Makhijani, senior vice president of search, TechCrunch reported Thursday.

Yahoo didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Update 12:17 p.m. PDT: Lu, who leads search and monetization work at Yahoo, can't be in an easy position. Yahoo just announced a major agreement under which Google--Yahoo's top rival--will supply its own search ads next to Yahoo's search results. … Read more

The war for talent

According to JP Rangaswami, managing director of BT Design, there is a genuine war for talent.

But the way to attract talent isn't with the most money or best perks but through openness, he said, speaking at Supernova 2008. Companies need to be open to competition, such as partnering with competitors in some areas; open to innovation in terms of creating an environment that encourages new ideas; and open to changes, Rangaswami said.

The talent pool comes from both inside and outside a firm. "Open, multisided platforms are the only way to get to the talent pool," … Read more

Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo

Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, the husband-and-wife co-founders of the Flickr photo-sharing site Yahoo acquired in 2005, are leaving the Internet giant.

Fake's last day was June 13, and Butterfield's will be July 12, Yahoo spokeswoman Terrell Karlsten said. "Obviously Stewart and Caterina have made tremendous contributions to Yahoo. We appreciate all their work and wish them well," she said.

The pair join a small but notable parade of Yahoo departures. Among others in the last week are Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of the network division; Usama Fayyad, chief data officer; and Jeremy Zawodny, a … Read more

Random Sampler: Being like Google, JBoss worth the wait, and more

So many good stories, so little time....Here are a few of the best posts today:

You might not be able to get Google-like profits, but at least you can treat your employees more like how Google treats its own employees. There's a good lesson in there.... Most of the music on the iPods of UK youth has been pilfered. Surprising? No. There are two interesting factoids in the data, however: "80% of those who admit to illegally file-sharing are prepared to engage with a legal file-sharing service, and place a considerable monetary value on it"; and The older people get, the more they pay for music. 55 percent of youth aged 14 to 17 illegally download music, jumping to 60 percent when they're aged 18 to 24, but dropping down to 39 percent when aged 25 and above. Does this mean that "old fogey" music is more likely to be monetized than Britney Spears?… Read more