Stan Gibson

The issue of new internet sales taxes is moving slowly but steadily on a predictable trajectory that is likely to result in a completely new structure within several years. The next milestone for the issue is the probable extension of the current “moratorium on multiple and discriminatory taxes” on Internet commerce, which will expire Oct. […]

The bullet that Computer Associates International Inc.s senior management team dodged last week in a shareholders bitter proxy fight may have actually helped forge a new and more responsive CA. In an effort designed to elicit support from shareholders, CA Chairman Charles Wang and President and CEO Sanjay Kumar made several moves that many observers […]

Its a familiar scenario: Microsoft Corp. settles into an inauspicious market toehold as competitors pay no heed—only to wake a few years later to find themselves obscured by the Redmond, Wash., companys long shadow. It happened with Windows. It happened with Office. Now, the plan is to make it happen with Great Plains Software Inc.s […]

Sporting its first quarterly profit like a feather in its cap, Red Hat Inc. is marching forward with a new business plan that takes the Linux distributor far beyond its Linux-in-a-box roots. The company this week will lay out a road map for the future that is based largely on a software-by-subscription model wrapped around […]

Ive been covering this industry for a lot of years. Hell, I even remember the 80s. So, its with some chagrin that I report in my final column in this space that I have discovered what drives IT purchases and upgrades in the new millennium. Its vanity. Yup. Its the need to have something cool […]

“Spy vs. Spy” is Mad Magazines classic cartoon that pits two virtually identical characters against each other in an espionage and dirty-tricks contest that never ends. Great news: Hacking is heading straight into “Spy vs. Spy” territory as it moves into its next phase, the for-profit era. It is a natural and predictable progression. Youll […]

Sometimes the first cloud that appears in the sky is just a random cloud. Other times, it heralds a downpour soon to follow. So, events sometimes make only modest news impact at a given moment but later loom large in importance. While the nation obsessed with Floridas vote counting for more than a month, the […]

The Internet domain name chase is about to enter its next phase, when the new domain names become available. Get ready for a “name rush” that will rival the Oklahoma land rush of 1889. Back then, there were problems with squatters, now romantically called Boomers and Sooners, and the new name rush will have plenty […]

Did you go home for Thanksgiving? If you did, maybe you did some contemplating about how you got where you are and where you are going. Should you go back to school? Ask for a raise? Tell the boss to take a hike? Write a business plan? Sit tight? You should, as Dr. Laura would […]