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The article offers tips for operating the Mac Operating System X (OS X). It states that the shutdown process can be cancelled by launching an application such as a Save dialog box in any application. The shutdown process will stop as soon as it reaches the program with the open Save As dialog box. It offers tips for editing smart playlists in iTunes. It informs that all OS X folders have a built-in spring mechanism. It informs that many widgets of Mac OS X 10.4's dashboard support drag and drop.

The article presents information on some useful tips as well as a collection of the most-useful keyboard shortcuts for Apple Computer Inc.'s Safari, a computer software, and Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox. If someone wants to see those pages that have been visited last week then the person should click on the Bookmarks icon in the Bookmarks bar in Safari. Also, the users of Firefox can select View to open a drawer, to the side of the browser window, that holds a useful list of bookmarks and a search field.

The article presents nine ideas to help information technology (IT) managers negotiate with software vendors in the U.S. IT managers need to know their existing contracts, give back shelfware and understand the terms of pricing before signing a contract. They must ask vendors for concessions, determine the software contracts in place and how efficiently software was being used and ensure software maintenance. IT managers must negotiate a software deal toward the end of a vendor's financial quarter. INSET: DRIVE AHARD BARGAIN.

The article presents information on business process management (BPM) computer software. BPM starts with process modeling. Process modeling is a business-driven exercise wherein current and proposed process flows are documented in detail, linked to quantifiable performance metrics, and optimized through simulation analysis. Such optimized models automatically generate the skeleton of the information technology implementation in the process designer of a BPM suite. Process designer is a graphical development tool that incorporates human workflow, application integration, and business rules to develop an executable process solution.

The article reports on the introduction of Microsoft Office 2007 to information technology (IT) industry from Microsoft Corp. IT professionals are facing a great challenge towards their approach on weighing the benefits and features of the new user interface. According to the survey conducted, 46 percent of respondents expressed no change in productivity with the use of the application while 24 percent indicated the benefits offered by the new software. The Office provides new resources which include Office Migration Planning Manager, the IT Resource Kit, and various electronic learning features available for users. However, training should be provided to users to gain knowledge on the features offered by the application. INSET: THE LOWDOWN on Office 2007.

The article reports on the move of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to reduce the size and cost of some of their System z systems in the U.S. The company introduced System z10 Business Class mainframe, a lower-cost and smaller version of the full-size. It is the second attempt of the company to offer a lower-cost mainframe to attract customers to Big Blue's signature computer system. The mainframe system is claimed to be an attractive offer for those smaller enterprises and midmarket companies seeking to integrate Linux workloads running on multiple x86 systems.

The article reports on how content-addressed storage (CAS) systems can help information technology managers bring their organizations into compliance with regulatory mandates. CAS is an intelligent repository used to store and preserve compliance-sensitive documents such as medical records, blueprints, invoices and e-mail messages. Each piece of data that is fed into CAS are being stored using identifiers, which ensures that sensitive business content is not altered and that the paper trail is preserved within the context of a paperless environment. It also has the ability to perform high-speed searches through the repository.

Presents several letters to the editor related to the computer industry. Information on reports released by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, on the agency's inability to audit its information technology activity logs to detect unauthorized use or potential security threats; Advantages of combining software for Adobe Acrobat Reader and a Flash player; Significance of 64-bit computer systems.

The article reflects on the development of the Web 2.0 bubble that analysts fear for another technology bubble burst. The author explains that all this talk about bubbles lets him think about the classic cycles of busts. He states that same progression from pure technology to pure marketing can be seen, when past technology bubbles are analyzed. Thus, he suggests to pay attention to the progression, to be able to tell when a bubble is getting big enough for its own good and will likely burst.

The article reports on the introduction of a value-added strategy that will greatly increase the reach and accessibility of the company’s award-winning column product, "Tech Directions," by Jim Rapoza Columns Inc., a leading producer of technology opinion and analysis. Jim Rapoza will be the first vendor of technology-oriented columns to apply time-tested software extension techniques to the production of opinion column. The company is expecting that hundreds of hobbyist columnists will rush to add functionality to the Tech Directions product.

The article reports developments related to computer software industry. Sun Microsystems Inc., AMD Corp., and other companies are teaming with the Environmental Protection Agency to cook up an Energy Star rating for the server. Information technology managers will theoretically be better able to plug energy consumption into their ROI equations. The foundation of information lifecycle management is differentiating the many flavors of data at the enterprise and matching each to the proper stripe of storage.

The article reports on the results of the 2006 CIO Insight IT Spending Survey conducted by the CIO Insight that will show the increasing information technology spending. According to the spending survey, budgets are up by 5.4 percent which is a lot higher compared the last year. That is slightly larger increase than last year's 5 percent. In addition, there are more than 70 percent of respondents believe they will find more funds for their projects during the year. The factor for this spending growth is that: as the economy grows, companies want to improve revenues, not just to lower costs. Companies spending on hardware and systems are relatively flat as companies are cutting costs by replacing legacy systems, investing in virtual servers and adopting open source and voice over Internet protocols.

Reports on the financial performance of IBM Corp. for the fourth quarter of 2004. Percentage of sales gain in the company's software unit; Disappointment over corporate information technology spending; Expectation of a meaningful improvement in large enterprise spending in the middle part of 2005.

This article presents updates on IT business continuity priorities. Shift business continuity focuses on software, rather than adding more hardware for failover. Another solution is to allocate risk assessment tasks to development and operations organizations. Build in processes is also necessary for graceful degradation of service so that failures in an environment with fragile, tightly integrated applications do not cascade through the entire system. Moreover, improve management of IT configurations, software releases and changes to IT infrastructure, particularly in distributed computing environment.

The article reports on issues related to the move of companies to migrate business applications to Linux platforms in the U.S. It tackles the opposition of some companies which concluded that changing their operating system to Linux was a dubious business proposition. It cites the issue that some businesses are not satisfied with the quality of the administrative tools available for the Linux environment and that the system does not work for every application. The perspectives of executives related to the issue are presented.

The article forecasts the performance of business intelligence (BI) technology for 2006. It is predicted that BI users will increase in 2006, as corporate buyers insist that the technology extends its limited use among data analysts and specialists. However, though the number of BI users will grow, the number of vendors serving up BI systems could diminish slightly over the year as industry consolidation continues. And the big trend in 2006 will be to bring BI to the masses and to get beyond the power users. INSET: Queries for the Average Joe..

This article looks at advances in applications and middleware in the computer industry in 2005. The maturity and acceptance of Web services contributed to transition. Factors that held back adoption include the lack of standards, the competing consortia, and uncertainty on how to integrate services into enterprises. In 2005, Web services began to settle down to hard work, standards firmed up, and two critical technologies, enterprise service bus (ESB) and service oriented application, drove adoption of services. ESB performs intelligent routing and the necessary transformations of data.

This article examines the factors that caused problems in large-scale software installations in the public sector in the U.S. When it comes to troubled information technology projects, it seems that the public sector is over-represented. But some observers say that it is just that users have a more public forum in which to air their dissatisfaction than users in the private sector. In addition, governments are subject to transparency laws that affect corporations only when chief executive officers deliver quarterly earnings reports. INSET: Cheer Up.

This article features NetScout Systems Inc.'s Progressive Analytics offering, a statistical tool that learns normal network behavior over time and spots and diagnoses anomalies long before conventional tools are aware of them. Traditional products are based on simple rules, such as sounding an alarm if percentage utilization of a resource or response time rises to some predetermined level. Users are encouraged to set the thresholds high to avoid false alerts. But Protective Analytics detects anomalies by analyzing network traffic in real time and comparing it to normal patterns of behavior.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. (MC) postponed the ship date of a key component of its Visual Studio 2005 Team System. The delay in shipping Team Foundation Server set backs the entry of MC into a burgeoning market for collaborative software that can link developers in far-flung locations. Analysts said that as information technology operations use more remote developers, the need for change and configuration management tools, version control software, and even weblogging tools is growing.

The article highlights the slow proliferation of thin-client computing serverware programs in the U.S. as of July 2004. Providing branch office access to key line-of-business applications is just one use of thin-client computing serverware, also known as server-based computing or virtual user interface software. Virtualization makes the management of desktops easier by moving applications to a back-end server. Low overhead requirements on the client allow information technology to delay personal computer upgrades or move to Windows terminals. Virtualization also improves security by keeping data centralized--only screen updates and keystroke information pass between the thin client and server. The systems have also added support for authenticated remote access and Secure Sockets Layer encryption so users can securely access applications via the Web. Those features have stoked renewed interest in thin-client technology as a way to solve specific problems. Yet most companies that use thin-client serverware deploy it across only a portion of all desktops and use it only to access a select group of applications. About 90 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have deployed thin-client applications, but most have installed it on only 10 percent to 15 percent desktops. INSET: Thin Client, Fat Computer.

The article discusses several issues related to information technology (IT) problems encountered by end-users in the computer industry. They include troubleshooting for high-end memory applied to a computer system, computer servers that need an immediate memory backup for over a hundred gigabytes, an individual that was electrocuted through the mouse caused by high voltage, and the refusal made by a former employee when he was asked by his ex-boss to work again in the company addressing troubleshooting problems.

The article presents the views of the author on how information technology (IT) departments should respond to the threat concerning the early switch of daylight-saving time (DST) in the U.S. He stresses that the application of Network Time Protocol (NTP) by system administrators can help address the synchronization of clocks in computer systems over data networks. It was inferred that compliance of computer programs to time zones and DST rules is significant to prevent failures in applications and systems. The author argues that it conducted an evaluation on all IT servers to ensure that every server was DST compliant. He asserts that the evaluation enables them to install programs that address the security of operating systems.

The article offers information on the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). DITA is an XML-based architecture used for designing, writing, managing, and delivering technical information both through print and the Web featuring information-typed modules dealing with various kinds of topics. The characteristics of the DITA include the ability to cover a wide area of topics. Further, the DITA enables users to utilize web designs and output operations. The main features of the DITA architecture that serves to organize and integrate information includes topic orientation, mapping mechanism, reuse, specialization, property-based processing, and taking advantage of existing tags and tools.

The article reports several developments in the computer industry in the U.S. Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs criticizes on Microsoft Corp.'s effort to finish development of Windows Vista computer software. On the other hand, PGP Corp. plans to ship its PGP Desktop 9.5 software for computer systems. In another news, two Silicon Valley vendors are readying security appliances designed to protect data and computer systems. Moreover, Reconnex Corp. plans to ship Version 5.0 of iGuard's embedded software, which allows multiple appliances centrally manage a single console.

The article reports that Microsoft Corp. extends deal with open-source virtualization software vendor XenSource Inc. The partners have agreed to work together to produce the next version of Windows Server interoperable with Xen-enabled Linux distributors. The two companies states that the new Windows Server will enable companies to run multiple instances of Windows and Linux on a single system which includes versions of the open source operating system that support the Xen technology. Microsoft will also give technical support for Xen installations.

The article focuses on the software patches released by Oracle Corp. The software patches designed to fix 82 security vulnerabilities affecting the company's databases, application server software, collaboration tools and E-Business Suite 11i applications. Patches also were issued for products in the PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards application portfolios. Under its Critical Patch Update program, Oracle works to develop highly integrated patches that combine fixes for multiple high-priority vulnerables.

The article reports on developments on topics related to business intelligence (BI) technology. In 2006, BI is predicted to continue to emerge from its traditional confines of historical reports used by statisticians or business analysts. Furthermore, Microsoft Corp. might capitalize on its SQL Server 2005 in the BI market. In addition, it is anticipated that more vendors will respond to user demands to link BI and business process management.

The author of this article presents four problems that he would like to be remedied in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista software. One of the author's long-standing gripes is the way Windows decides what window or application is active. He therefore suggests to the company never to change focus from the window he is working on until he explicitly command Windows to do so. Another problem occurs when a ton of files need to be deleted from a directory. Windows indicates that a file is in use and cannot be deleted. It does not give the specific application that has locked the file, and it does not ask if the user wants to delete it anyway or allow to continue deleting the next file.

The article presents Green Hills Software's Multi toolchain. The product has been integrated with the Eclipse C/C++ Development Tool. The article highlights the key features and benefits offered by the product.

This article focuses on the conflict between Microsoft Corp. (MC) and the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has decided that its official format for internal documents will be OpenDocument, an extensible markup language standard from the OASIS consortium. MC does not want to add this format to Microsoft Office. As a result, Massachusetts state agencies will soon begin to migrate from Microsoft Office to applications that support OpenDocument. And MC is complaining that it is being unfairly excluded from Massachusetts' information technology buying decisions.

Presents an interview with Mark Lewis, chief development officer of EMC Corp. (EC), about the state of the company's Invista virtualization software. Reasons for the delay in releasing the Invista virtualization technology; Approach in addressing the moves of rivals IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. to sell virtualization products for the entire data center; Integration of Rainfinity Inc.'s technology with the network-attached storage technology of EC.

Reports on developments on topics related to information technology and the computer industry. Ability of the Web-based Rearden Employee Business service to book travel plans for workers; Creation of Web database applications with little or no programming experience through the use of Alpha Five Version 7; Benefits offered by OuterBay Technologies Inc.'s two editions of OuterBay 5.0.

Reports on developments on topics related to information technology and the computer industry. Confusion over the term distributed computing; Development of Raxco Software Inc.'s PerfectDisk Live; Plan of Aventail Corp. to add secure mobile access features to its Smart SSL VPN technology.

This article reports that Salesforce.com Inc. (SI) launched a service called AppExchange, which the company described as a Web-based applications marketplace for its users. AppExchange, unveiled at the company's Dreamforce user conference, will let users shop for add-ons and complementary applications from outside developers. One hurdle SI faces in its push to become a platform provider is its tight focus on customer relationship management and its licensing model. Companies that wish to give employees access to applications running on the company's platform will need to purchase its subscriptions for each user.

Provides information on topics related to information technology (IT) and the computer industry. Survey of the satisfaction level of more than 600 IT managers in the U.S. by ForceNine Consulting; Launch of Silver Peak Systems Inc.'s Network Memory software to look at every byte being transmitted between branch offices and data center; Release of an eponymous software from Green Array Corp., which will monitor projects and programs both big and small.

This article features the Sovereign Information Integration (SII) technology of IBM Corp.'s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. The technology attempts to solve the dilemma of security versus privacy issue in encrypting data. SII enables companies to gain value from their data while complying with privacy policies and legislation. Each party is to encrypt its own data and then send it to the other party to encrypt again. If the encryption methods are commutative, meaning that one gets the same result whichever encryption is applied first, then a name or identification number appearing in both files would have the same double-encrypted value and be recognized as a match.

This article features Microsoft Research Ltd.'s Vigilante, an experimental software that can detect worms in network traffic, even new ones with no known signatures, then generates filters against them and sends alerts to other machines on the network. The process is quick enough to block worms before humans are even aware of their existence. Computers running Vigilante generate self-certifying alerts when they detect an attack and then send them to other machines, which can verify the alerts before taking defensive action.

This article features the Intelligent Bricks hardware and Kybos software experimented by the research team at IBM Corp.'s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. Researchers are creating an intelligent storage system architecture that will make data easier to manage, lower maintenance costs, and reduce environmental impacts such as cooling, power, floor space, and noise. The basic unit of the scalable hardware is called a brick. Each brick contains a processor, some disks and an Ethernet switch chip. Bricks are placed next to one another and communicate with their neighbors without cables or connectors by using capacitive couplers on each brick face, forming an three-dimensional, high-speed mesh network.

This article reports that Cognos Inc. (CI) will unveil business intelligence software that integrates five products and is designed to work against any data source and simplify deployment. The new Cognos 8 includes query and reporting tools, dashboards, and analysis and event management capabilities that can be assessed through a single Web-based interface. The tool also adds the ability to report against multi-dimensional online analytical processing data. The tool integrates the ReportNet, Metric Manager, PowerPlay, DecisionStream and NoticeCast products of CI.

This article reports that Siebel Systems Inc. will bring out a new version of its hosted customer relationship management (CRM) software that adds integration with IBM Corp.'s Lotus Notes collaboration software and lets users offer the system under their own brand names. The San Mateo, California-based software vendor is expected to unveil Siebel CRM OnDemand Release 9 in the midst of its effort to gain momentum against hosted CRM sales leader Salesforce.com Inc.

This article reports that Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) announced plans to make proprietary technologies covered under 14 CA patents available to individuals and groups working on open-source projects. The action by the Islandia, New York-based software vendor comes eight months after IBM Corp. announced a similar move, opening 500 of its patents to the open-source community in January 2005. Part of the company's motivation is to be able to say that the next generation of innovation is going to come from open-source.

This article reports that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) is due to announce upgraded management and planning tools for its server virtualization technology, as well as training services that are intended to break down cultural barriers to the adoption of virtualization within companies. Among the new tools being offered as part of the Integrity Essentials product line of HP is a capacity adviser, which looks at virtual server workloads and expected growth rates and recommends a configuration that achieves maximum server utilization levels.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. (MC) plans to deliver a new server software infrastructure package for midsize companies, plus role-based business applications that will be tailored to meet the needs of businesses with 50 to 1,000 employees. But the midmarket includes a wide variety of industries with different requirements. Illustrating the challenges that MC faces in trying to package software for such as broad customer base, some users expressed keen interest in the new and upcoming offerings, while others voiced doubts that the products will meet their specific needs.

Provides updates on topics related to information technology and the computer industry. Impact of the growing popularity of open-source private branch exchange software with integrated voice over Internet protocol capabilities; Use of hyperlinks to visually connect data from disparate sources on the network in Mindjet Corp.'s MindManager software; Identification of ActivCard Corp. as among the first single sign-on vendors whose software will work with the Firefox browser.

This article focuses on the move of some information technology shops to build their own software offshore in order to eliminate software licensing problems in the U.S. Low-cost offshore development may encourage the build option, particularly if chief information officers need to customize a packaged product. It may be less expensive to build an application and pay maintenance fees to an offshore developer than it is to buy a license as well as service and support. And the build argument is becoming more viable because people are feeling very comfortable with the maturity of offshore operations. INSET: A Third Way.

This article comments on a new desktop skirmish, which refers to the release of Google Inc.'s (GI) Desktop 2, a search program for Windows PC and Google Talk. By combining those offerings with Gmail, its free electronic-mail service, GI is competing at Microsoft Corp.'s castle gate, announcing its attack upon, if not actually threatening, Redmond's long rule over the desktop. According to the author, GI is not trying to displace Windows. In fact, it is exploiting Windows to deliver higher-level services that end users desire. These are services that someday may become revenue streams for GI.

This article reports on the release of IBM Corp.'s new data-protection product that keeps a copy of files as changes are made, allowing users to dial back to recover any version of a document they want on local disks and on network servers. The software, called Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files, provides real-time data backup for laptops, portable computers and file servers by continuously protecting information from computer viruses, file corruption, accidental deletion or theft of a laptop.