Chris Gonsalves

My IT guy wont tell me exactly what hes doing. Chances are, you arent telling your folks the entire story, either. In fact, when it comes to spying on employees Internet surfing behavior, perhaps the less said, the better. The very thought of someone watching me update my eBay auctions or price vacation rentals is […]

Remember when it was interference that was the reason you couldnt use your cell phone on an airplane? We were told that powering up the Samsung flip phone was sure to send the aircraft veering off course or into a tailspin. Turns out that was a lie. Planes arent controlled by cell phones, oddly enough. […]

In a refreshing bit of global discontent, those folks chanting, “Down, down, U.S.A.” in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, recently werent angry about war in the Middle East. They were upset about MCI, Nortel, Sprint, Dell and the Business Software Alliance. Not to mention rice, beans, sugar and sweatshops. While garnering little attention here at home, Congress march […]

If you follow baseball, chances are your team has had some issue related to its closing pitcher this year. Lord knows, our team here in Boston is suffering through nightly nail-biters with the guy who is supposed to take the ball and seal the deal. If you are in New York, Arizona, Atlanta, San Francisco […]

I didnt switch to voice over IP at home because it was better. I went to VOIP because it was cheap. What is it about that equation that the FCC bureaucrats cant fathom? Is it so complicated that hand-wringing columnists and legislators who cant spell “IP” just dont get it? VOIP service is barely OK. […]

Im sitting across from a security guy who is supposed to be telling me how hes making the world a safer place, and hes scaring the hell out of me. I had just owned up to requesting an authentication token from my online bank. Ive been waiting breathlessly for the thing, thinking it will make […]

Its welcome news that the State Department is now rethinking its ill-advised effort to embed RFID tags in U.S. passports, but by all indications, the government isnt backing off the idea completely and is looking instead for ways to soothe the concerns of security experts and civil libertarians. There is, however, only one right way […]

In the grand scheme of terrorism, which is more terrifying? Not knowing what the bad guys are reading or knowing for certain theyre reading your credit card statement? In a dichotomy that would be ironic anywhere on Earth except Washington, your legislators are busily deciding whether the thorniest information disclosure provisions of the USA Patriot […]

Computer Associates last week named Novells former chief technology officer, Alan Nugent, as senior vice president and general manager in charge of CAs Unicenter unit. Nugent will report to Executive Vice President of Products Russ Artzt, who called the Unicenter group “a keystone of CAs systems management capabilities and an important driver of future revenue […]

SAN FRANCISCO—As the field vying for leadership in enterprise security software narrows, key players are putting their best efforts behind broad packages of tools and services. But while vendors practice one-upmanship in the effort to be all things to all customers, many users remain cautiously wed to smaller point providers, leaving room for both growth […]

After months of uncertainty sparked by corporate scandal, Computer Associates International Inc. earlier this month embarked on a new era, naming CEO-elect John Swainson to his official post as president and chief executive. A veteran of IBMs software division, Swainson said he comes prepared to restore credibility and accountability at CA by paring offerings to […]

Dell last week opened its third Enterprise Command Center, bringing the vendors around-the-clock support for server and storage customers to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The center, in Limerick, Ireland, joins similar ECCs in the United States and China. Dell officials said the centers improve the response times of the companys services unit by […]