Archive

There was a time, not so long ago, when the IT department was like an island unto itself. The CIO may have had to venture into the boardroom and chat with "the suits," but many IT staff were high-tech gurus who did not need to care about the bottom line, refined communication skills or managing empl...

After flooding ISPs and universities with thousands of subpoenas targeting individual consumers, the Recording Industry Association of America has moved from threats to open warfare, filing 261 lawsuits against those whom it terms the most egregious offenders -- users caught sharing more than 1,000 ...

With the high-tech spotlight focused squarely on it as the annual OracleWorld expo kicks off, database giant Oracle is unleashing products aimed at making it easier for customers, particularly small and mid-size businesses, to take advantage of grid computing. The company, which will release its fir...

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is planning to offer file swappers a reprieve from prosecution, provided they adhere to certain conditions, according to published reports. People who have illegally downloaded copyrighted music files allegedly would be required to destroy all of ...

PeopleSoft has laid out plans to integrate newly acquired J.D. Edwards, saying it will cut about 900 workers and consolidate offices. PeopleSoft CFO Kevin Parker said the moves will save the company as much as $207 million per year going forward. The job cuts will amount to a 7 percent reduction in ...

As spammers dream up new strategies for slithering into e-mail inboxes, their counterparts, anti-spam software developers, are on the lookout for new ways to stop them cold. The latest tactic, called challenge-response, requires an e-mailer to verify his or her identity before being added to a "whit...

With many users still reeling in the wake of the Blaster worm and its offspring, Microsoft has warned that its widely used Office productivity software contains several newly discovered security holes. In a security bulletin, the company said one of the flaws warrants a "critical" rating -- its most...

In part 1 of this two-part article, the E-Commerce Times focused on Web metrics in general, and how they can boost a company's bottom line. In part two, we look at how one specific company -- Eddie Bauer, which has topped the Keynote Web performance rankings for three weeks straight -- has used Web ...

The hackers have gone too far. When they were defacing Web sites and launching denial-of-service attacks against eBay and the like, they were annoying, but the general public still gave them a grudging amount of respect. Now hacking has hit home -- literally -- as hundreds of thousands of home users...

EBay, Amazon.com and Microsoft are among a group of companies that will work together to fight online identity theft by educating the public about risks. The coalition is being shepherded into existence by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). ITAA president Harris N. Miller told...

As recently as the late 1990s, a simple counter provided the only metric most Web site operators were interested in -- how many people had visited their sites. However, as e-commerce has matured and evolved, so has Web performance measurement. With customers increasingly judging offline companies on...

Saying continued reliance on Microsoft and its Windows operating system threatens their local economies, government leaders in Japan, China and Korea may be considering a plan to develop an alternative to the world's most popular computer OS. Such a move would underscore the desire of many foreign c...

As 2003 dawned, Linux seemed poised to take off. However, in March, SCO sued IBM for allegedly using its proprietary Unix code without compensation. Industry experts have expressed skepticism about the suit, but at the same time, research firm Gartner has cautioned clients against embarking on full-...

This year has seen a lot of ink spilled over Apple's PowerBook line of computers, in particular the high-end 17-inch model. Critics drooled over the unprecedented size of the laptop's screen and the elegant and relatively lightweight case, to say nothing of the sex appeal of the polished aluminum fi...

Fueled by sales of Intel-based computers and Linux machines, IBM has reclaimed the lead in the worldwide server market, ousting Hewlett-Packard from the top spot and extending its lead over onetime leader Sun, according to new data from research firm IDC. This jockeying for position came amid a stro...