Interviews

Tell us about your role at HP.

William Scherlis is a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Institute for Software Research there. He specializes in software assurance, software evolution and technology to support software teams. He has a long association with NASA and the US Department of Defense. Scherlis spoke with Gary Anthes about progress in software development.

The Convention on Cybercrime is the work of the Council of Europe and is aimed at facilitating international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of computer crimes. Since the Convention came into being in 2001, the COE has been working to address the growing international concern over the threats posed by hacking and other computer-related crimes.

What was your first job?

What's the reseller channel organisation focused on?

My favourite book or movie ...I have not had the chance to do much reading lately so movies tend to win out. I'm a sucker for science fiction movies, as well as ones with unique plots. Some of my favourites are Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, The Game with Michael Douglas, and Entrapment with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

My favourite book or movie ... my reading tends to be mainly limited to trade and business publications, but if I pick up a book it is normally a biography or similar. On the screen one that comes to mind is Top Gun, but I am also a M.A.S.H tragic -- I love the clever combination of a serious situation with humour.

If green technology practices are to be adopted, the channel has a vital role to play in educating the market. What is Cisco doing to get that message through its channel community?

What was your first job?

My favourite book or movie ...I always have a book on the go and enjoy a night at the cinema. My favourite movie is Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni. Ever the optimist, I love the way this movie captures a sense of hope, love and laughter in adversity, while being set amidst the holocaus

As senior director of platform technology at Microsoft, Sam Ramji is positioned uniquely at the nexus of proprietary and open source development models. Here's how Ramji sees open source and proprietary development models evolving.

Since its establishment in 1970, the Palo Alto Research Center funded by Xerox has developed groundbreaking technologies, including Ethernet, the GUI (graphical user interface) and the computer mouse.

What is SpectrumData focusing on this year?

Symantec chairman and CEO John Thompson last week delivered a keynote speech to thousands of security professionals at the RSA Conference 2008 in the US. Ellen Messmer caught up with Thompson at the RSA event, where he expanded on a range of topics including vendor alliances, Symantec's competition and the importance of data-loss prevention technology.

Mike Milinkovich is the executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, a nonprofit that oversees an open source community focused on application development tools. Founded by IBM in 2001, Eclipse became independently managed in 2004 and now boasts that more than 4 million people worldwide use Eclipse and Eclipse-based products. EBay, for example, used Eclipse to build much of its online architecture. Milinkovich this week discussed the Eclipse organization and its goals with Senior Writer Jon Brodkin.