Information Technology

PC World recently released their list of the 15 biggest disappointments of 2007. Two of the items on that list didn't surprise me, but two other items were shocking to see on the list but in reflection absolutely true.

I wasn't surprised to see that both Apple's "Leopard" OS 10.5 (#8) and Microsoft's Windows Vista (#1) on the list. I've been talking about my disappointment on the state of the computer desktop for sometime now. I'm just glad to see others have noticed the problem so I don't look like Mr. Glum to everyone.

However, I was surprised to see two content management system related items that made the list.

Absolutely disappointing. Everyone is waiting to hear what the new features will be in the next version of Internet Explorer 8 will have...and still no information out in the open. Microsoft, knows it has a trust issue with its customers...yet they have yet to learn that trust is built on good communication. This is what Microsoft's IEBloggers have to say:

I felt fear, awe, and even some admiration when I read at CNET about the latest social engineering attack dreamed up by those ingenious Russian hackers.

Those entering online dating forums risk having more than their hearts stolen.

A program that can mimic online flirtation and then extract personal
information from its unsuspecting conversation partners is making the
rounds in Russian chat forums, according to security software firm PC Tools.

Baseline reports that demand continues to increase for qualified people in the information technology field.  This demand is in part due to the number of the baby boomer generation retiring within the next 10 years.  Also, the decrease in students choosing a major in computer science, engineering, or mathematics isn't helping either.

In the article, Demand for IT Admins Hits Five Year High, a survey found strong needs and increasing salaries for IT professionals for the following computer administration work:

Another Generation Y (Generation Next) in the workforce has been written.  This time the article is at Infoworld and titled, The Generation Gap Challenges IT Managers.

The gap is widening, with more workers stacked at both ends of the age spectrum. There are approximately 80 million Baby Boomers, those born roughly between the years of 1946 and 1964, and 70 million in Generation Y, born 1978 through the present, but only 60 million in the middle in Generation X, those born 1965 to 1977.

Last week, I mentioned that Mozilla is planning to give the Firefox browser a makeover.  Alex Faaborg had mentioned that they plan to integrate the look of Firefox with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Apple's Mac OS X.  The problem was Alex had failed to mention anything about the Linux operating system.  Linux users, of course, then replied by comment that they were unhappy that there was no mention of Linux in the post.

A couple days ago my jaw dropped when I read CMS Watch's article, "Do you need an ECMS, WCMS, or Portal?".   Last week, Deane Barker of Blend Interactive and Gadgetopia had mentioned how he was uncomfortable seeing enterprise content management systems and Web content management systems lumped together in the same comparison article.  I responded to him that the boundaries between the two information systems do seem to get blurrier and blurrier all the time.  In the CMS Watch

ComputerWorld has an article geared for IT professionals desiring another job.

I recently upgrade a blog of mine from Wordpress 2.2 to Wordpress 2.3.  My wife and I don't post on the blog much (looking for better ideas on how to utilize the site), but it's great to keep around to test the latest and greatest Wordpress has to offer.  In my view, the most important new feature in Wordpress 2.3 is the baseline introduction of tags (also called taxonomy or even categories in other CMS applications).

I'm always amazed how Dilbert's creator, Scott Adams, always remains tuned to the geeky side of life.  This time Adams uses the "What is Web 2.0?" question as a "powerful anti-meeting" spell.  You gotta love it.

Due to copyright laws, I can't show the Dilbert comic strip here.  However, if you click on the thumbnail in this post...you'll magically arrive to the correct page at Dilbert.com.