Scot Petersen

For the past 40 years, Moores Law has been about as reliable as Newtons Laws of Motion. The number of transistors on a chip has pretty much doubled every two years, as former Intel founder Gordon Moore predicted. But like Newtons gravitational forces, which could not account for the smaller but much more powerful quantum […]

Theres a lot going on in Microsofts reorganization announcement, which was released today, but theres more to it yet if you read between the lines. Its clear Microsoft executives know what the primary challenges are for the company: innovation and growth. Both were (perhaps not so) coincidentally highlighted in this weeks BusinessWeek cover story on […]

I think anyone who has paid any attention to the enterprise applications space over the past four or five years knew that Oracle buying Siebel was not a matter of if, but when. Siebels performance during this extended period was at best lackluster, while upstarts like Salesforce.com took away mind share, if not market share. […]

They say that the best writing is rewriting. To me, the same idea goes for reading or watching episodes of SpongeBob—but not for doing taxes. If the concept of rewriting has universal application, then Microsoft developers should be very, very good by now, because there isnt one piece of Windows, Office or other Microsoft code […]

If William Shakespeare were alive today and working as a business or technology journalist, he might feel compelled to pen the following: “Whats in a small or a midsize business? That which we call an SMB by any other name would smell as sweet.” By the same token, if Gertrude Stein had a tech blog, […]

One could argue that technology has come a long way. PCs are cheaper and faster than ever, with more memory and storage capacity than in the past. High-speed Internet and wireless access are available nearly everywhere. Even voice over IP is nearing mainstream acceptance. And, for the most part, software is getting easier to use. […]

When youre No. 2 in any business, as the saying goes, you must try harder. In the shipping and delivery business, Watkins Motor Lines Inc. isnt even close to No. 1 FedEx Corp.s $25 billion in revenue, but Watkins does try harder. And with revenues closer to $1 billion, the Lakeland, Fla., company isnt really […]

Were at the height of awards season: the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Grammys and, this past Sunday, the Oscars. Now its time for my (occasionally) annual Scotty Awards, recognizing the most notable accomplishments in the IT industry. Your host for the evening is that noted wisecracker, Sun CEO Scott McNealy. The […]

Rearden Commerce Inc. launched a new company and e-commerce software system Monday that could change the way businesses procure services online. Rearden, which has operated under stealth mode as Talaris, has been five years in the planning. What has emerged is a Web services-based Rearden Commerce Platform, along with its initial application, Rearden EBS (Employee […]

When you think of value in the computing world, what names first pop up? If youre like me, the usual suspects such as Dell, Symantec, Cisco and Apple come to mind. They meet the standard criteria: They are large corporations with solid reputations whose products are known to solve business problems without disrupting business plans. […]

OK, Im amending my New Years resolutions. Long hours being snowbound gets one to thinking. I know its still only January, but changes are needed. No, I havent broken any resolutions yet (eating better and avoiding McDonalds are still tops on my list), but I need to add a few. Buy a snowblower. I have […]

At eWEEK, we have a New Years resolution: to deliver more of the kind of information that helps you and your company deploy technology efficiently and for business advantage. You already receive our weekly blend of news, views and reviews, and were not about to change that. But in 2005, were expanding efforts to reach […]