Stories by: Julia King

You might not realize it, but two out of every 10 of your co-workers might be using pirated software, according to industry statistics. You might be, too, for that matter, particularly if you work in manufacturing or at a small or midsize company with 100 to 500 PCs. You just might not know it.

Just when you thought you had a grip on your techie acronyms, along comes another one that experts predict spells the future of software development. The good news is that this one has the potential to build new business opportunities, too.

CPS Energy, the largest municipality-owned gas and electric company in America, needed to get a better grip on its budget and its budgeting process. Since CPS Energy was an enterprise SAP user, more SAP AG software was the obvious and lowest-risk way for CIO Christopher Barron to go.

It doesn't take a US$250 visit to a psychotherapist to confirm what you feel in your gut each morning when you wake up -- it's depressing out there. Market volatility, economic instability, pink slips and the ongoing threat of yet another round of IT layoffs -- no wonder you feel like diving back under the covers.

A senior corporate executive leaves the company, taking with him his framed family photographs, his prized gold pen-and-pencil set -- and the passwords of several hundred employees.

As companies continue to cut costs, consolidate staffs and eviscerate executive salaries, more and more senior-level IT professionals are eyeing corporate exits -- or being shown them against their will.

Vint Cerf is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of the TCP/IP protocols and the basic architecture of the Internet. In 2005, he and Kahn received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Two independent business-to-business exchanges, Promedix and Chemdex, were quietly axed by their parent company this week.

While manufacturers and retailers in other industries duke it out to win their fair share of cybershoppers, HomePoint is getting players in the $US75 billion home furnishings market to play nicely together in the snake pit of online sales. Since January, the South Carolina startup has gotten more than 200 furniture makers and dealers to buy in to its Web-based supply-chain strategy. Under this model, manufacturers, retailers and HomePoint all earn a profit from online sales executed via HomePoint's Advantage Network.

Plenty of Internet shoppers may click on your online advertisement, but less than 15 per cent of those ad clicks result in purchases or customer registrations, according to a new study by AdKnowledge, a Californian marketing services company.