To pay so much attention to Bill Gates' retirement is missing the point. What really matters is not Gates, nor Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that Microsoft, like many other software companies, imposes on its customers.
VeriSign, which runs the master database for the .com and .net domains, has replaced its CEO and president, who resigned suddenly earlier this week.
Purple Labs, an increasingly prominent mobile Linux firm and a member of the LiMo Foundation, has bought the browser and messaging side of Openwave's business.
In what the telco likens to a B-grade movie, Telstra says its rivals have forgotten about the goals of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and are instead using it and the government to gain market advantage and tear the incumbent apart.
Dismissing privacy concerns, a US judge overseeing a US$1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the online video sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is trying to fix two "annoying" features that clients face when they attempt to call for advice when its staff are too busy — a persistent busy tone or being "chopped off" the line without an explanation.
The federal government is to conduct a full review of the security of public and private sector information and communications networks.
A changeover error transferring beep tag customer accounts to E-way systems has caused some people, who thought they had closed their toll accounts, to be falsely charged AU$100.
Mobile-device users find they have the same usability problems that some disabled users encounter with PCs, according to researchers from the University of Manchester.
Tourist industries in most states have collaborated to create a national tourism accreditation portal which eases the process of tourist businesses becoming certified.
Nobody, least of all Yahoo and Google, doubted that the two companies' search-advertising deal would escape any antitrust scrutiny.
Reality has been cruel to virtual worlds, with most failing to live up to expectations, especially in business environments. Did analysts get that right or are they also guilty of second-degree Second Life hyping?
Given the hype around anything with a single-letter prefix — m-commerce, e-learning, iPhone — last year's speculation over a Google "gPhone" sent the blogosphere into overdrive. The Android mobile phone platform that Google actually launched, however, took things in quite a different direction.
Established in 1996, alphaWorks is a web community for developers to preview and collaborate on emerging technology from IBM's research labs and turn them into commercial products. The IT giant claims much of alphaWorks's activity is aimed at developing new software types and standards -- particularly around open source principles.
The current buzz around virtualisation may sound familiar to anyone with experience of high-end computing's origins — so what makes today's scenario so different?
The Australian Computer Museum Society is still without a permanent home for its collection.
Lee Siegel is a cultural critic who has written for The New York Times, Slate and The Nation. However, he is perhaps best known for what happened in 2006 when writing for The New Republic.
Voice over IP has reached some major milestones in 2008 — in both the enterprise and consumer ends of the market — but how long can traditional telcos continue to fight against this disruptive technology?
Multicore processors have been around since 2005, when Intel shipped its first dual-core processor and the advantages of many cores have been widely touted, but a working model for costing software to work with them is still on its way.
Ahead of the election, with promises for nationwide broadband networks and digital revolutions in schools, the ICT industry could hope the government was on their side. But now the glamour of a sparkling new government has worn off, how ICT-friendly is the Rudd government really?
The BlackBerry 8707g is reasonably zippy and easy-to-use, but lacks many common smartphone features like Wi-Fi and microSD memory expansion.
Universal Imaging Utility is an excellent utility that could prove invaluable to larger businesses looking to reduce the time required for image creation and deployment. However, the software has limitations, including lack of support for Windows Server installations.
Zoho Invoice is a useful but limited online tool that allows small teams to manage and track invoices. It's easy to use and customise, and the management interface is intuitive and clearly laid out.
Lenovo's bright red foray into the ultraportable consumer space is for the most part a successful one, despite a few missteps.
This is a handsome and very usable Tablet PC, thanks to its excellent screen and keyboard. Battery life and performance are both a little disappointing, though, and the price becomes steep as you add in the options.
Toshiba, who built one of the world’s first notebooks, clearly has a head start in the race to put a laptop on every desk. The AU$1,210 Satellite M300 is a step in the right direction, being a modest, yet high quality desktop replacement at a reasonable price.
It's a step back in the style stakes, but there's still plenty to like about Lexmark's latest small office wireless printer.
Toshiba’s Portege M700 is a tablet with a premium price tag sporting premium features and performance. If you’re a mobile professional willing to pay a whole pile of cash for a highly featured tablet, this little companion might be the friend for you.
The old adage “good things come in small packages” certainly applies to the QNAP TS-409, a silver and black cube whose small dimensions sport a raft of features.
At AU$2199, the XD520U DLP projector sits at the top end of Mitsubishi Electric's new "Leo" range of DLP business projectors. The XD520U performs a little bit better than its specifications might suggest, but you do pay a noise penalty in return.
Celebrity comes with its perks — free alcohol, better-looking partners, lots of holiday time — and disadvantages — constant media intrusions, being forced to appear in films with Eddie Murphy for the long-term good of your career, and having to do mindless radio interviews with angry men who've been awake since 4am.
Sometimes, a well-placed and well-timed letter can make all the difference. Other times, it can make no difference at all — and even hurt your case. This week's missive by the Competitive Carriers' Coalition, I would suggest, falls into the latter category.
There's an argument against the usage of USB sticks which has been discussed many times in this column: they're a potentially massive security risk. But there's another case you could make against having your business life stored in 4GB or so of flash memory — it's a total support nightmare.
Being able to build a data warehouse right from the beginning of a company's life can eliminate some of the pitfalls typically associated with the project, but doesn't necessarily eliminate the most obvious one: uncontrolled data from multiple sources.
I'm standing in a room with roughly a quarter of a million backup tapes. No, this isn't where the FuelWatch guys hid the evidence, it's the Perth storage area for Spectrum Data, which specialises in storing ageing backup media and helping companies retrieve data from long-forgotten archives.
While there's not much that's more fun than stirring up Linux and Windows zealots into a frenzy of spite against each other, we thankfully finally seem to be approaching a more measured universe in which technology choices can be made based on suitability rather than preconception.
And the Guinness World Record for the largest data warehouse goes to…
I was interested to read that Telstra had the good sense to finally hand over its network designs to the Federal government last week.
What a week it's been for mobiles.
If Australia is going to take information security seriously, we need more people like the ATO's CIO, Bill Gibson.
Telstra mobile code reader
It may look like a 3-D image but it's in fact a barcode designed to direct your phone's web browser to a relev… Watch it now
In the second part of his interview, Defence CIO Greg Farr talks about outsourcing, the skills crisis and reveals his most urgent IT priority.
HP & Intel Business Technology Power Center
I'm a celebrity, don't back me up
Lies, damned lies and telco stupidity 
Dear carriers: More walking, less talking
iPhone Launch Centre
The ZDNet.com.au iPhone resource guide contains everything you need to know about Apple's highly anticipated mobile device.
Click here for more.
Who guards the guards: Storage
Making predictions about the storage market isn't difficult. Suggest that capacities will go up and costs will go down and you shouldn't go too far wrong.
Click here for more.
The best mobile processor is...
Our comprehensive review benchmarks 19 of the latest mobile processors, giving you an insight into the best chips on the market.
Click here to find out more.
