March 26, 2013

Microsoft services agreement changes: What other enterprises can learn
Google got into trouble with recent changes to its policies regarding the handling of user information, and now Microsoft seems to have caused some concern with similar changes. Should enterprises be concerned with Microsoft's new user information policies? Are there any lessons to be learned for enterprises on how to state exactly what data they collect?


Mobile's browser usage share jumps 26% in three months
Gains on the part of mobile have come at the expense of what Net Applications defines as "desktop," a category that includes both desktop and notebook PCs, primary powered by Microsoft's Windows, and Macs running Apple's OS X. Desktop browser usage dropped 3.1 percentage points in the last three months, and fell 6.3 points in the last 12.


Resolving Cobb's Paradox?
“We know why projects fail; we know how to prevent their failure – so why do they still fail?” Speaking at a recent UK conference, the UK  Government’s adviser on efficiency Sir Peter Gershon laid down a challenge to the project  management profession: “Projects and programmes should be delivered within cost, on time, delivering the anticipated benefits.”


Some practices to write better C#/.NET code
Write code for People First, Computers Second. Readable code doesn't take any longer to write than confusing code does, at least not in the long run. It’s easier to be sure your code works, if you can easily read what you wrote. That should be a sufficient reason to write readable code. But code is also read during reviews. Code is read when you or someone else fixes an error. Code is read when the code is modified.


Bruce Schneier on data privacy and Google's feudal model of security
In this video interview, Schneier, chief technology security officer with BT Counterpane, discusses the ways in which trust -- and, in turn, data privacy -- is threatened on the Internet, and explains how Google, Apple and others have adopted a feudal model of security, in which their customers have little, if any, recourse to ever reclaim data that rightfully belongs to them.


Dell and Object Management Group to launch an SDN standards body
Dell says at least 31 companies, including networking vendors, enterprises and service providers, are interested in working with the OMG on broad architectural SDN standards, particularly around programmatic interfaces, otherwise known as northbound APIs. ... No one has confirmed which consortium is handcuffing companies, but many predict that it's the Daylight project, which reportedly involves IBM, HP, Cisco, Citrix, Big Switch Networks and NEC. HP and IBM are already members of OMG.


Lawmakers introduce bill on warrantless GPS tracking
The legislation was introduced a day after the government argued before a federal appeals court that warrantless GPS tracking is an important part of the law enforcement process. The government's attorneys have argued that GPS devices can be used to "gather information to establish probable cause, which is often the most productive use of such devices." Requiring a warrant means being forced to establish probable cause before that and ultimately limit the value of GPS devices.


How Would You Build Up a City from Components?
To easily reuse components they should be designed with a loose coupling approach. To make this possible, different frameworks typically implement their event models based on the Observer pattern. This allows multiple recipients to subscribe to the same event. The Observer pattern was originally implemented in Smalltalk. Smalltalk is a user interface framework based on MVC and is now a key part of MVC frameworks.


Data Governance at Starbucks
As Starbucks takes in its own continuous streams of purchase data, and attempts to integrate new data sets from recently-acquired tea seller Teavana, data governance is a concern, he said, noting recent hacking occurrences of government data. Data governance is also about ensuring information is uniform enough to be integrated readily, and that remains a challenge.


5 q's to formulate your strategy for a business
Roger L Martin, dean, Rotman School of Business, has co-authored a book, ‘Playing to Win-How Strategy Really Works', with AG Lafley, the legendary CEO of P&G. Roger demystified the holy grail of strategy down to making the right choices. He said, "Strategy is essentially about making a finite number of choices." To win, a company must choose to do some things and not do the others. Choosing to do everything is to spread your resources thin and diffuse management focus which is a sure-shot recipe for disaster.



Quote for the day:

"It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick people whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction." -- Cameron

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