Market Watch: Opinions

A lot more innovation is desperately needed for mobile hardware design and platforms. Are Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft up to the task?

As small businesses implement the latest technology to keep up with client demands, next-generation servers come to the forefront of the discussion. But what is a "next-gen" server exactly?

According to pundits a good percentage of IT spending is already out of IT's control and the trend calls for it to keep tipping away.

Microsoft, Apple and Google have long seen that their future is in the cloud. Now they see their present there as well.

Taking some pages out of history, the discussion on content regulation has always been contentious. Speeches, posters, publications, radio, television or more recently the internet have always evoked strong reactions. This is primarily due to the fact that content regulation is considered a violation of the basic human right of freedom of speech. This is the right on which civilizations, societies, and even governments are built and is enshrined in the basic tenets of a democracy.

The fat client desktop system has ruled computing for 30 years. Could Google Chrome OS and other cloud-based, thin-client systems dominate the next 30?

A few months ago I started writing about my saga of getting AT&T U-verse DSL service established at the new location of the Gibbs Universal Industries Secret Underground Bunker.

A flood of mobile devices into the enterprise is exhausting available licenses for mobile-device security. But there are great options available today that didn't exist two years ago.

Last year, IT budgets declined by 10 per cent to 20 per cent, depending on who you believe. Jobs were lost. And the pool of vendors is constantly shrinking, given the tsunami of bankruptcies and mergers over the past few years. (Adios, Nortel.)

Google has already achieved the enviable marketing distinction of turning its name into a verb. But its enormous popularity and global reach place an unintended burden on the search giant: When it goes down, the entire Web is shaken.

After more than a year of effort, Commander’s receivers have finally brought the company’s story to its conclusion. McGrathNicol told ARN last week it had sold-off Commander’s final business assets and was now tying up loose ends before signing off.

Nadia Cameron takes a look at the continuing impact of the economic downturn.

To Vista or not to Vista? If that’s the question, the answer is money. Microsoft would really, really like IT shops to quit waffling and start migrating to the latest version of Windows. After all, Vista has been out for years now. It’s stable. It’s secure. The new software has even been paid for already under many volume licences.

The changing face of the channel was a key theme running through the July 8th edition of ARN. Following news of one of the biggest consolidation stories to hit the integration and reseller space this year, ComputerCorp, S Central and Synergy Plus announced plans to rebrand under the Synergy Plus masthead and appoint S Central founder and BRW 2008 Young Rich list notable, Peter Mavridis, at the helm.

The high-stakes, but still under-the covers battle by IBM to take over Sun Microsystems Inc. is still in play, but IBM may be rethinking what it is willing to pay for the enterprise vendor.

A celebrity caught breaking traffic or substance-abuse laws is apt to haughtily ask the arresting officer, “Do you have any idea who I am?” It’s hard to imagine any IT professional doing the same. (A very good thing, too, since I doubt that query has ever done an offender an ounce of good.)

Microsoft cuts 5,000 jobs. That's the big news of the week. Not just because the layoffs will cut one in 20 of Microsoft's 91,000 employees. Not only because it signals just how hard Microsoft has been hurt by the failure of Vista and by shifts in the way big customers license and use software. Not even because of the grim sign it represents for the rest of the IT industry.

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time to enjoy the glow of a nice LED backlit display and huddle with the warmth that only an overclocked PC can produce. Yep, it's time to take a look at what's going to happen in technology in 2009. Here are my five predictions for the new year.

It’s been a challenging and interesting year for the Australian IT channel. Every year it seems we witness the sensational collapse of an industry stalwart and the rise of several innovative movers and shakers. And 2008 was no different, with the demise of Commander and Optima, and expansion of channel players like UXC, ASG and Data#3 through acquisitions and growth.

It’s that time of the year when we gaze into the crystal ball and try to forecast the hot technology and customer IT trends for the New Year.