Eric Lundquist

I’ve been running Ubuntu 9.04 for about a month now on an IBM ThinkPad. I consider myself technically proficient, but I’m certainly not one of those all-night code pounders. So, with those caveats, here is what I like and don’t like about open-software Ubuntu, as well as where there’s some room for improvement. Five Things […]

“What about that Bing program from Microsoft?” is the question of the week from people I speak with both in person and virtually. They want to know: Is the interface easier (than one line?), are the results better, and is Google really running as scared as The New York Post claims? In answer to those […]

Enterprise applications used to be a code word for one big yawn. You had an ERP app that was first developed in about 1963 and incrementally updated ever since. You put a Web front end on your inventory control system, called it 2.0 and off you went to happy hour. You sank so much money […]

No Pollyannas allowed in the following ten good business tech possibilities from what looks like a very grim 2009. Instead, I’ll try a dose of reality. For a fuller, more research driven look at the upside of IT see our research article. We also have a slideshow on top CIO priorities. 1. Business will recognize […]

While there are few good outcomes from a strained economy, one outcome worth considering is the reconsidering of outsourcing. Outsourcing in reality has meant offshoring or in the words of those outsourced, “Hey, I’m outta work because they shipped my job to India (or China, or Russia, take your pick). But something has changed and […]

Look, 2009 is shaping up to be a very tough economic year. Here is my list of business books that are enduring, well written and may just help you get through the current economic crunch. While some of these titles are classics, a few are new, and some are different and I have little doubt […]

Do the Big Three auto companies really need $34 Billion? What happened to all those billions poured into the banking industry? Why do those banks with all that money still feel compelled to try to throw new charges onto my account at every opportunity? Are those big car companies and big banks really too big […]

You’ve got a little over a month before the start of 2009. If you are like a lot of CIOs, you still don’t know what you have for a budget for next year. The uncertain economy is certain to mean continuing budget reviews, scrutinizing of all capital expenditures including IT costs and just a lot […]

I spent a couple days down South this week including stops in Atlanta where I moderated a series of presentations on enterprise technology and had coffee and dinner with a range of end users, systems integrators and analysts. So what did I learn while trying to avoid watching the televised spectacle of the heads of […]

What makes a vendor valuable to a CIO? This year, as in years past, we have been presenting our most valuable vendor rankings. I’d guess in 2009, the criteria whereby customers keep a valued vendor in the budget or decide to look elsewhere will be crucial to not just the vendor, but the customer’s success […]