Jim Rapoza

It turns out that Im a really naive person. I thought I was arguing in favor of innovation when I was writing columns attacking software patents. It seemed obvious to me that software patents served mainly to stop innovation by real developers, who have come to fear teams of lawyers arguing that the coders projects […]

Bring up the term “corporate blogging” in a group of technology workers, and theres bound to be a few snickers as images are conjured of lame and infrequent executive-level blogs or marketing campaigns disguised as blogs. Click here to read the full review of WordPress 1.5.2. 2 Bring up the term “corporate blogging” in a […]

I know Im a big nag when it comes to standards support. I often rail against vendors that dont adhere to standards or Web site developers who build sites that work on only one browser. As far as Im concerned, standards rule. But a surprising number of people respond to my missives against noncompliance with […]

Among the many ways that the Web has served as an equalizer, one of the most obvious is that the size of a company has almost no bearing on the face that it presents on the Web. In fact, when it comes to Web sites and managing the content on them, the needs of small […]

All this talk nowadays about 10-year anniversaries has got me thinking back to 1995 and those halcyon prebubble days, although Im not thinking about Windows 95 or “Start Me Up.” Nope, Im thinking about a fresh-faced young whippersnapper and the products he was reviewing then, in his sophomore year as a PC Week Labs analyst. […]

I know Im a big nag when it comes to standards support. I often rail against vendors that dont adhere to standards or Web site developers who build sites that work on only one browser. As far as Im concerned, standards rule. But a surprising number of people respond to my missives against non-compliance with […]

Heres a little test. Go to Google and type the search phrase define: reverse engineering. Youll be given a list of definitions, some of which are short and concise and some of which are long, rambling and esoteric. But, basically, these results split into two mind-sets. The first mind-set is probably best represented by the […]

Im a tech guy, and Ive always been fascinated by new technologies—from my very first Texas Instruments computer, which let me save programs to a tape recorder, to my current obsession with Apples GarageBand. However, while my enthusiasm for some technologies remains strong, my initial fascination quickly turns to apathy—if not downright hostility—for others. Two […]

One of the favorite targets of those who like to point out silly, stupid and wasteful technologies is the venerable PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint presentations have been called redundant, pointless and even downright evil. Its hard not to agree with these critics. After all, who hasnt had to sit through a long session of mind-numbing, slide-after-slide […]

While IBMs WebSphere MQ is quite possibly the ultimate under-the-hood application, companies interested in the newest version will find that almost all the changes are upfront. Click here to read the full review of IBM WebSphere MQ 6.0. 2 While IBMs WebSphere MQ is quite possibly the ultimate under-the-hood application, companies interested in the newest […]

Really more of an alpha than a beta, the version of Microsoft Corp.s Internet Explorer 7 released at the same time as Windows Vista Beta 1 provides a look at new features that, for the most part, are an attempt to play catch-up with competing Web browsers. Among the new features in the IE 7 […]

If you read this column regularly, you know a little bit about me. You should have a pretty good idea of where I stand on core technology issues, such as patents, security and software quality. If you desired, you could also figure out some other not-so-obvious things about me—like what TV shows and movies I […]