1. “HP Scandal: Dunn, 4 Others Charged in Calif.,”CIO.com, 10/5. Felony charges have been filed against Hewlett-Packard’s former Chairwoman Patricia Dunn as well as an ex-HP legal counsel and three private investigators for their roles in the company’s boardroom leak scandal, according to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. He described HP as having “lost its way” in the leak investigations and resorting to violating privacy rights and breaking state law in a “misguided effort” to identify the source of the leaks. The felony charges center on pretexting, whereby an investigator pretends to be an individual in order to gain access to that person’s phone records. Dunn intends to fight against the charges, according to her attorney. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing in her actions, claiming both that she was unaware of the practices of the investigators and that HP’s legal staff kept their efforts within the law.
Check out our CIO.com HP Spying Scandal page.
2. “Apple: CEO Steve Jobs Knew of Backdating,”CIO.com, 10/5. The other scandal that refuses to lie down and die in the IT world is the growing brouhaha over the backdating of employee stock options. This week saw Apple’s charismatic chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, having to engage in some uncharacteristic apologizing after an internal investigation revealed that he had been aware of Apple’s practices in that regard. A three-month investigation by Apple’s board of directors determined that the company had backdated option grants made on 15 dates between 1997 and 2002. Jobs said Apple is working to make sure that such behavior never reoccurs.
3. “Microsoft Windows Vista, Longhorn to Get New Antipiracy Features,”
CIO.com, 10/4. Microsoft unveiled plans for a collection of technologies known as its Software Protection Platform and due to appear in the next releases of its client and server Windows operating systems, Vista and Longhorn, respectively. The vendor is hoping the technologies will do a better job of detecting pirate versions of Windows as well as limit what features people using unlicensed copies of the operating systems can access. Microsoft’s recent track record in the area of trying to stem unauthorized use of its software hasn’t been too stellar. The vendor had to partially roll back its Windows Genuine Advantage program after it was criticized for acting like spyware.
4. “Mass. CIO Louis Gutierrez Resigns,”
Computerworld, 10/4. The state of Massachusetts will soon lose another chief information officer. After less than a year in the job, Louis Gutierrez is set to quit Nov. 3. He cited some of the same concerns that led to his predecessor Peter Quinn’s premature departure from the post late last year, notably the state Legislature’s continued lack of funding for IT projects. Under Gutierrez’s watch, Massachusetts has continued its commitment to move away from Microsoft’s digital file formats in favor of OpenDocument Format (ODF). However, he did announce back in August that the state would delay its planned Jan. 1, 2007 deadline to migrate to ODF. A spokesman for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Gutierrez’s resignation will have no effect on the state’s ODF policy.
5. “Former Philly CIO Cleared in Ethics Review of Job Switch,”
Computerworld, 10/3. In other CIO news, Dianah Neff, the former CIO of Philadelphia, was deemed not to have broken any rules relating to possible conflict of interest in taking a new position with Civitium, a consulting firm that previously carried out IT work for the city. However, the Philadelphia municipal government’s ethics advisory board did castigate Neff for her failure to alert the city well in advance of her career plans. Such a lack of early notification gave the appearance of some potential impropriety, according to the three-member board.
6. “EMC, Microsoft Expand ECM Alliance,”
CIO.com, 10/3. The two companies are deepening their existing enterprise content management (ECM) relationship to tighten the integration between EMC’s Documentum software and Microsoft’s Office, Outlook and SharePoint products. It’s the same approach Microsoft has already adopted with other applications vendors, notably SAP around the co-developed Duet product. The idea is to have Microsoft desktop applications as the front end to more complex back-end products such as Documentum. The move should benefit both companies, with EMC hopefully finding a way to increase the number of users of its ECM products, while Microsoft can offer its customers easier access to more sophisticated ECM functionality.
7. “IBM Moves to Eliminate Gaps in SOA Offerings,”
CIO.com, 10/3. Scratch any pronouncement from Big Blue these days, and chances are you’ll come across the acronym SOA (service-oriented architecture) referenced in some shape or form. However, IBM’s latest SOA news was a major push by the vendor to shore up some gaps in its product portfolio with some brand-new software and services pieces as well as plenty of enhancements to existing offerings. The shiny new product attracting the most attention was the vendor’s homegrown WebSphere Service Registry and Repository, software that allows customers to find services and related metadata and store all that data in a central place so it can be more easily managed.
8. “Ajax: Roller Skates for the Web,”
InfoWorld, 10/3. Along with SOA, another acronym constantly being referenced by many software vendors is Ajax, or asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Ajax is the collective term used to describe a group of software development tools and standards that helps Web applications try to match the speed and usability of their desktop counterparts. This week, Jesse James Garrett, the IT consultant credited with coining the Ajax term, cautioned that the technology must be used appropriately and not viewed as a panacea to solve all kinds of Web application development issues.
9. “Microsoft Bolsters Desktop Mgmt. With Acquisition,”
CIO.com, 10/2. The software giant gobbled up some technology from Portsmouth, N.H., company DesktopStandard this week as a way to beef up its group-policy desktop management offering. Microsoft is planning to integrate the DesktopStandard products into its group policy management console, which sets policies such as user access to data or applications across all of an enterprise’s desktop and laptop PCs. The new technology will help Microsoft particularly in the area of change management, the vendor said.
10. “Best Buy to Launch Apple iTunes Competitor,”
IT World, 10/5. Offering a music service was the next logical step for retailer Best Buy, which already sells plenty of music CDs in its stores, according to an executive. The company has teamed up with SanDisk and RealNetworks to provide yet another new rival to Apple’s established iTunes business. Known as Best Buy Digital Music Store, the retailer’s service is a tailored version of RealNetworks’ Rhapsody 4.0 music service and will feature exclusive artist content. As part of the offering, Best Buy will carry and promote SanDisk’s music players, which have been optimized to operate with the new music service. The move follows Microsoft’s recent announcement that it will enter the U.S. music player and service market next month with its Zune offerings.
-China Martens, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)
Related Links:
Top 10 IT News Stories of the Week (week beginning Sept. 25)
- Top 10 IT News Stories of the Week (week beginning Sept. 18)
Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.
