John Taschek

The web services “war” has largely been a series of battles between Microsoft and Sun. The Sun ONE initiative attempts to indoctrinate all Java programmers into the Web services model. Meanwhile, Microsoft is attempting to preach openness with .Net and, if nothing else, is doing a good job giving a multitude of programming languages new […]

Evergreen Technologies spectra and performa processor upgrades add new life to old PCs without a lot of pain—either installationwise or out of pocket. Evergreen has been doing this for years, but now that Windows XP is out and cost cutting abounds, the Evergreen chips look pretty good. The Performa line replaces Slot 1 processors, and […]

Does a sour economy lead vendors to lower costs? In the enterprise space, theres a good chance it does, although theres little proof until its time to sign a contract. Take CRM, for instance. Every CRM vendor is hurting badly. Back in April, Tom Siebel called the economic situation a complete “global economic recession,” and […]

Siebel, the uncontested but lately battered leader of the CRM market, finally entered the 21st century. It did so with the launch of Siebel 7, a revamping of the application suite that helped Siebel earn nearly $1 billion a year. The release signifies the end of one trend and the beginning of another. The ending […]

Theres never been a worse time to implement CRM packages. Theres also never been a better time. Customer relationship management has been hit by a double whammy: Bad economic times have forced companies into a major spending retrenchment, compelling them to put projects that dont have an immediate and obvious return on investment on the […]

With all the hype over wireless and the 802.11b WiFi standard, one might think weve evolved beyond the numerous implementation problems with the first rounds of the products. Alas, theres still work to be done. Take Dlinks DP-313 wireless print server (more on why theres a need for such a device later). Dlinks products are […]

It shouldnt take troubling times to put security at the top of everyones mind. Security is supposed to be thought of as a long-term process, not a series of reactions to specific events that eventually lead to a contraction of interest and an increase in laxness. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may change this and […]

Two powerful companies locked in a seemingly tiny skirmish may knock the bottom out of the NAS industry, and theres nothing we can do about it. It all started with Microsofts SMB (Server Message Block), a file system that Microsoft spearheaded to enable the propagation of Windows into Unix shops. It worked spectacularly, and Windows […]

Almost every year, the same myopic visionaries pop out of the woodwork to announce that processors dont need to be faster. Theyre probably of the same genetic ilk as those who thought rail transportation exceeding the 10-mph theoretical “human speed limit” would threaten our health. Some of these confused souls attempt to draw parallels between […]

Light breaks on what I think will be a typical first day of a computer conference—NetWorld+Interop in Atlanta, to be exact. After eating breakfast, I head back to my hotel room and flip on the television. One of the towers of the World Trade Center is burning. A plane hits the second tower, a scene […]