Beat the credit crunch with a PlayStation 3
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Business, hardware, Sony on
When it comes to surviving the financial crisis facing many in the world of business at the moment, perhaps the last thing that springs to mind in terms of an economic knight in shining armour would be the Sony PlayStation 3. However unlikely, one new UK research project is proposing that the PS3 could be the ideal business tool to help survive the credit crunch.
The academics from the University of Portsmouth are planning to explore how the new PS3 ‘Home’ virtual world has the potential for use as a business environment for senior managers to collaborate on projects. Maybe using ‘Home’ to reduce office space and travel costs, as well diminish corporate carbon footprints for example.
The research has been commissioned by Advanced Workplace Associates, a workplace transition consultancy with clients including Microsoft and Merrill Lynch. Executives from these companies will act as guinea pigs during the research project.
Dr Nipan Maniar, the University of Portsmouth academic famous for developing principles of ‘in-game’ learning in computer game environments, who will lead the project says “The PS3 console being used to access a virtual world is interesting as there are strong pointers that gaming environments will increasingly be used for other purposes such as education. I think a strong current example of where we are going is Jamie Oliver’s cook book instruction being delivered via the Nintendo DS Lite. Who’s to say games publishers won’t offer titles related to business and other subject matter where a user could easily cross from a business game learning environment to a real ‘doing’ collaborative environment in a virtual world accessed by the same console? There is also the added advantage of a younger generation who are at ease with these technologies and where learning and doing things in these environments may seem more natural than, say, the classroom or the boardroom.”
Of course, the PlayStation 3 is no stranger to the world’s fastest computers, most powerful laptops or even Linux Enterprise Servers so the business connection is not that surprising.
Rated: 73.33% (3 votes)
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Is the recession over?
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Economy, Business, Blog on
It has to be either one of the greatest or most stupid press release strap-lines to hit my desktop in recent months, especially considering that we are slap bang in the middle of pretty much the worst financial crisis most of us care to remember.
Yet “Stop Press: The Recession Is Over” is what the press release says.
I guess it worked, in as far as it got my attention and, indeed, I am writing about it now. But what the heck does it mean, is there any substance to the claim beyond a clever bit of media puffery?
Well the man behind the release, CEO of management training outfit Mitchell Phoenix, Kevin Yates reckons that it all comes down to a game of chess. The argument being that the CEO today is in the middle of a game of chess and needs to be considering the endgame strategy now.
Sure, the strategy that had worked so well for the last decade has just been shot to pieces, but Yates says you can now either develop that new strategy to win (the clever money is on this one) or focus on survival and adapt your play turn by turn.
In other words, the savvy CEO should be planning on how to take advantage of the economic upturn right at the moment when most of us are slipping into the brown smelly stuff right up to our necks.
I mean, c’mon, who is really looking at the long term when the bank manager is knocking at the door and demanding that overdraft payment today?
Yates reckons “while one side concentrates on staying alive moment by moment, their opponent is executing a long-term strategy designed to win the match. Those whose aim is solely to get through the recession will get through it – but what will they find on the other side? Those with a longer-term vision will have seized the initiative.”
I guess he has a point, and it applies equally well to the IT business as it does, for example, the motor manufacturing trade. Car manufacturers are being hard hit right now, to the point where it looks increasingly likely that the government (or governments around the world, even) will step in and help shore them up short term. But Yates argues that the long-term strategic thinkers are the ones best equipped to not only survive but to build on that survival. Vauxhall are considering closing the factory for 9 months and keeping staff on 30 percent pay; Honda are closing for two months with staff on full pay.
“Both these manufacturers place staff retention above redundancy in their survival strategies.
In the past, factory closures would almost certainly have been accompanied by job losses. Then, as the market picked up manufacturers would be unable to return to full production immediately” Yates points out.
So he does have a decent point to make after all, and one that the tech business, the IT enterprise, the savvy CEO should be taking seriously.
Well, up until the point that he repeats “From the perspective of a CEO, this recession is over” and loses me again as I collapse on the floor in a heap of ROFLing jelly. Aided by the fact that I have just discovered how much the Taxman wants me to magic out of my hat by the end of January. Does sending the Inland Revenue a white rabbit count as long term strategic thinking?
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
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Women prefer the Internet to sex!
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Look, I am none too happy about the news myself, but an Intel sponsored survey has dropped the bombshell that 52 percent of women between the ages of 35 and 44 would rather go without sex for a fortnight than lose access to the Internet for that two week period. Younger women, in the 18 to 34 year old bracket, are pretty much of the same mind with the figure being a tad lower at 49 percent.
Men, predictably, are more reticent when it comes to going without a little slap and tickle. But maybe not as much as you might imagine, with a sizable 39 percent of men in the 18 to 34 range opting for online access over sex.
The survey, Internet Reliance in Today’s Economy, also revealed that 65 percent of adults just simply could not live without Internet access. Although I suspect that this is something of an overstatement to be fair. I can run with the 95 percent who said that Internet access was either important or very important. Heck, I book the family holidays these days taking Internet access into account. No WiFi in the rental cottage? No holiday I am afraid.
Maybe that is because I am a work-oholic. Maybe it is because I am an info-oholic. Maybe the truth is a combination of the two, which thankfully morph into one given my profession anyway.
The point being that I can truly understand people feeling that Internet access is more important than a digital TV subscription (39 percent), eating out (20 percent) and shopping for clothes (18 percent.) Being a geek I can totally sympathise with the 10 percent who rate getting online as more important than belonging to a gym.
But Internet access or sex? Damn, that’s a call that nobody should be forced into making.
Mind you, with the news that three quarters of a million Brits use a mobile phone while having sex one does have to wonder if there is not a compromise to be made here. Maybe someone could develop a web browser app for the iPhone that can be used while, er, otherwise occupied…
Rated: 100% (1 votes)
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Use old version of Windows instead of Linux, says teacher
By Davey Winder in Editorial
File under: what the bloody hell is that all about then? It would seem that the silly season is upon us already as we hear of a Texas teacher with her knickers in a twist over Linux in the classroom.
The founder of the HeliOS Project, Ken Starks, was on the receiving end of an irate email from the teacher after she discovered one of her students giving a demonstration of the Linux distro on his laptop. She says “After confiscating the disks I called a conference with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization” and continues “I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom.”
Why ever not, is the school sponsored by Microsoft do you think?
Possibly, but the teacher is concerned as she is “not sure what you are doing is legal.” What? A quick double-take reveals she did just say that, yes. In fact, she goes on to insist that “No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline.”
Let’s hope they do not look up to her for guidance about the legality, or otherwise, of open source software then.
It gets better once you get past the legal misconception, as the teacher really does seem to have a bee in her bonnet and her knickers in a twist, or maybe even a bee in her twisted knickers, about Linux. “I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods.”
So there you go, Linux is pants, why not just admit it. Indeed, why not do what the teacher suggests: “I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older version of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them…”
ROFL.
Perhaps she read the story about Linux being worth USD $10 billion and took it all a little too literally? Perhaps she used to work at the BBC when they lost 97200 Linux users? Perhaps she should focus on other classroom problems such as Facebook usage at school instead of getting so excited about nothing? Or maybe she should read IT Pro and learn a little more about Linux…
Rated: 86.67% (3 votes)
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Gaming really could kill your kids
By Davey Winder in Editorial
There has been plenty written about the dangers of kids playing games over the years. Who could forget the nutters suggesting that watching porn films and chugging beer was less harmful than playing GTA IV, for example? Or the shocking news that more people have been killed playing Halo 3 than are alive on the planet Earth?
Up until now, nobody has suggested that owning a games console will kill you. Although there was a story about someone who died trying to win a Wii by drinking as much water as possible without having, well you guessed it, a wee.
However, all joking apart, it now seems that one games console really could be harmful to your kids, and you for that matter, if you get one during the holiday season. Forget the whole online gaming addiction argument, this time the danger is the console itself.
It would appear that a whole bunch of fake imported Nintendo DS and DS Lite portable games consoles are out there. The HM Revenues and Customs folk in the UK have warned that hundreds have been seized coming into the UK alone during the last couple of weeks. These fake units come complete with dangerous power adaptors which could cause serious harm, even death.
So why are people buying them? Why do you think? It is holiday season, money is tight, parents do not want to disappoint the kids. A real Nintendo DS will cost around UKP
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
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IBM promises a Linux-based virtual desktop to rival Microsoft
By Davey Winder in Editorial
That’s what IBM says with the announcement of a Linux-based, security-rich desktop solution that has been developed along with Virtual Bridges and Canonical. The concept is simple enough: save money by ‘amplifying’ Lotus collaboration software and Ubuntu to a larger user base, and do it using the power of virtualisation.
Running open standards-based email, word processing, spreadsheets, unified communication, social networking and other software to any laptop, browser, or mobile device from a virtual desktop login on a Linux-based server configuration (excuse me while I come up for breath) the virtual desktop solution looks for all intents and purposes like any traditional one. However, with many virtual Linux desktops hosted on a server, looks can be deceptive.
What this solution provides is the Virtual Enterprise Desktop Environment, also known as VERDE, from Virtual Bridges. That comes with the Canonical staple Ubuntu and IBM throw in the Open Collaboration Client Solution software based on IBM Lotus Symphony, IBM Lotus Notes and Lotus applications.
“When we look back several years from now, I think we’ll see this time as an inflection point when the economic climate pushed the virtual Linux desktop from theory to practice,” said Inna Kuznetsova, director, IBM Linux Strategy. “The financial pressures on organisations are staggering and the management of PCs is unwieldy. Today’s virtual desktop is delivering superior collaborative software, an innovative delivery method, and an open-source operating system that is demanding clients’ consideration.”
Maybe. All this comes just as the server market has taken a tumble and is looking at its worse in terms of revenues since 2005. This caused by the credit crunch and a cut back in IT spending in Western Europe. Saving money is important under such circumstances, so how do the cost savings add up as far as the new IBM venture is concerned then?
Well, there is the licensing to start with, and IBM reckon this amounts to a “cost avoidance” of
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
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