Rick has posted a couple of posts over on the CanITPro blog that talk about events that I’m either currently delivering , or will be delivering early next month . In both cases, the topic of discussion is Linux, Open Source, and Microsoft. Check them out, and perhaps I’ll see you at one of the events. Barnaby

John Boufford, I.S.P., CIPS ’ current National Vice President and incoming President for 2006-2007 , has a compelling message that needs to be heard. John is writing and speaking on issues crucial to the profession and to businesses. His recent featured article appearing in the Financial Post Magazine is generating much needed discussion so John is blogging the article here. Moreover, John is co-presenting...

Daily Newswire Hu, Gates Expected To Get Down to Basics Seattle P-I - 4/17/2006 Experts say discussions Tuesday between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates are likely to focus on establishing a basic relationship that can lead to bigger things. Microsoft Tries To Mimic Boeing's Fortunes In China Wall Street Journal - 4/17/2006 In his first stop on a U.S. tour this...

Enough material to fill several warehouses must have been written on Management over the centuries, yes centuries; the need for and challenges of management are hardly new! Major construction feats, such as the Pyramids etc. didn't "just happen". So what's new about today? Frankly not a lot! That's not to say that we don't have a better grasp of the challenges, are better educated, etc. but we are...

I saw this notice and thought, what a great opportunity for everyone. So here's the blog: ____________ Find Out How to Build Your Business with Microsoft The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), The International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) and Microsoft Canada cordially invite you to join us May 17th at The Hyatt Hotel in Vancouver to attend an evening cocktail...

I recently had the opportunity to talk to Eric Jewett, Sr. Marketing Manager for Software Assurance about some of the announcements we have recently made around Software Assurance. Eric wrote up the following article to help IT Managers understand the value of Software Assurance. ————————————— On March 13th, Microsoft...

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Gavin Thompson, Microsoft Canada’s Director of Community Affairs. In addition to working on initiatives to help children and youth realize their potential through technology, working with community stakeholders to create initiatives that bridge the digital divide in Canada and empowering Microsoft Canada employees to be active volunteers in their...

I seen this link on one of my friend's blogs ( John Weston ) and while I haven't had a chance to see the whole thing yet, there seems to be a good conversation about it on our internal email DL's. It's a MS sponsered online show about the impact of IT on our world and lives. The site's tag line is as follows. InterFace is a television show about the impact of information technology on our world...

In my last column, I tried to show that a good Project Manager can calculate odds, and understands the importance even a ten percent increase in the success of a project. But what if the volatility of the project is greater than ten percent? For example, what if having a mediocre PM means the project has a 70% of success but a good PM can bring it up to 90%? How can you estimate the odds correctly...

There are those special industry voices that need to be heard in our forum. They provide great insights and create a wonderful context for their views. I just finished an interview with Patricia MacInnis, Editor of Computing Canada. However her recent March 17 th editorial just struck a chord with us in this forum; so we invited Patricia to guest blog it. She connects the dots giving us the big...

There's a new editorial feature, Blogged Down (BD) , in Computing Canada (CC) where editor Patricia MacInnis features an upcoming interview that appears here in the Canadian IT Managers forum (CIM) . Computing Canada (CC) is the oldest, largest, most influential bi-weekly business/technology print publication with an audience that includes more than 42,000 IT decision makers in medium-to-large enterprises...

Many factors influence the success of a company, but none so much as its employees. Of the three Ps, People, Product, and Process, which contribute to a successful project or company, it is the caliber and composition of the staff that provides the greatest predictor of success. I suspect HR professionals intrinsically appreciate this, as "people" are their currency. But in IT, "product" is our currency...

On March 23 I wrote an entry entitled " What Price Vista ". Let's face it nothing new or better comes without a price. I always intended to try and balance the scales by starting to look at what we are getting. It is unfortunate that the first thing that you notice about Vista is the "jazzy" Aero Glass interface. At times we are all guilty of judging a book by its cover! In this post I would like...

I caught Guy’s keynote presentation at a forum for entrepreneurs seeking " Angel " funding (early stage seed capital). He kept me laughing throughout since he cuts through the hype and gives it to you straight—all the right things you should be doing if you want to get investment. You know the startups presenting [and seeking funding] after his keynote have broken Guy’s rules so you...

Just recently I was asked to distribute a survey to all of the VANTUG members. It was made clear that this survey was very important by the requester. Being a loyal and compliant :) UG leader I duly obliged, again emphasizing the importance. OK, stand up all of you who love surveys! OK, don't all stand up at once! Will nobody standup? These days, unfortunately, we get bombarded by surveys in one...

If you’ve been watching the news out of LinuxWorld in Boston this week, I’m guessing that you have taken notice of the continually changing and increasingly commercialized dialogue around Linux and Open Source technologies. Perhaps you also likely took note of Microsoft’s increased presence at this year’s event – My friend Bill Hilf is taking what I think is an industry leadership role and presenting...

In Part 1 (seen here on Tuesday April 4th), we begin our Q&A with Soma and profile his background. Soma also discusses his main current challenges and how he is solving them. In Part 2 (seen here on Wednesday April 5th), we examine Soma's views on the biggest issues facing the IT industry and business. Here's Part 3 of the Q&A series with Soma where Soma discusses future trends, AJAX/ATLAS...

In Part 1 (seen here in CIM on Tuesday April 4th), we begin our Q&A with Soma and profile his background. Soma also discusses his major current challenges and how he is solving them. Here is Part 2 of the Q&A series with Soma where he discusses the major issues facing the IT industry and businesses. I encourage you to make comments here or send me an e-mail at sibaraki@cips.ca . Discussion...

I believe there is a lot of value in getting information direct from the source and especially an acknowledged authority in software development. Here is Part 1 in the Q&A series with Soma. I encourage you to make comments here or send me an e-mail at sibaraki@cips.ca . Profile: S. "Soma" Somasegar is corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft Corporation . The Developer...

Recently I wrote about an opportunity to work with a company called JDQ and their 3Spheres of Reciprosity program ( www.jdq.com/3spheres ). After being approached by Jon Morris (JDQ President) I was able to help find 2 volunteer developers for an upcoming community IT project for the Surrey Food Bank in BC. Last Friday I attended JDQ's quarterly progress meeting (breakfast was generously supplied...

Today I had the opportunity to talk with Ron Roy, the IT Services manager for the City of Stratford . Ron and his team have recently gone through a migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003 as well as upgrading from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003. Additionally, Ron’s team have been able to use Virtual Server 2005 to consolidate some older servers and help to reduce both costs and...

Virtualisation takes a number of steps forward... In an announcement today at LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in Boston , Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition will now be available as a free download. What this means is that everyone will be able to make use of the Virtualisation platform for server consolidation, OS and application compatibility, deploying test networks and a huge number...

Margaret's March 20 th and March 28 th blogs, " Global IT Skills shortage fact, or fiction? " triggered discussions both inside and outside the CIM forum: - Most Wanted: a Multi-Specialist with Business Acumen or I.S.P. - What’s a Versatilist - Multi-IT Specialist with Business Acumen=A Versatilist . In part 3, Margaret discusses several practical solutions. I encourage CIM readers to make...

I read Graham's blog " What's a Versatilist " where he rather eloquently expresses his thoughts about the meaning of the term. This was originally going to be a comment to his post however due to it's length, I'm responding as a blog post. What we have now: IT Specialists and Generalists A "Specialist" has deep skills but their range is narrow. Their peers recognize their skills but outside of...

"Take a fling on a startup. Experience will be invaluable. If it fails, you will have gotten valuable training for your next job." Dr. Mike Stonebraker, Founder and CTO, StreamBase Systems Professor at MIT World’s foremost pioneer on RDBMS; founder of INGRES, POSTGRES, Mariposa, Illustra 2005 IEEE John Von Neumann Medal Winner Computer Reseller News Top Five Software Developers...