Big Blue's view different from VMware View IBM is taking on VMware's virtual desktop infrastructure with its own Linux and Lotus-based virtual desktop.… Full published article at: Read More »

C'mon, regulator - spill EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, has written an open letter to the German telecoms regulator to request information about termination rates charged by local operators - information the regulator has so far refused to share.… Full published article at: Read More »

Telco cuts off 4% of workers AT&T is laying off 12,000 staff and putting the blame on the economy and "a changing business mix".… Full published article at: Read More »

Palm to cut costs by 20% Nokia has cut expectations of the mobile-phone market for the third time in as many months, while Palm is planning to cut costs by 20 per cent following a halving of sales.… Full published article at: Read More »

Reg readers pass judgement Comment Bashing Microsoft for being closed and proprietary has been a popular pastime in the media and the IT industry for many years, and there is no doubt that much of this has been well deserved.… Full published article at: Read More »

Settles out of court over EULA dispute A Dell customer has struck an out of court settlement with the computer giant after being refused a refund apparently guaranteed under the terms of Microsoft’s Windows licensing agreement.… Full published article at: Read More »

Tom Young, Computing, Thursday 4 December 2008 at 16:34:00 Information Commissioner Richard Thomas is urging organisations to put privacy protection at the top of their procurement and development criteria A strategy to encourage businesses and public-sector bodies to build privacy guards into their IT and management systems from scratch was launched last week by the Information Commissioner. The Privacy By Design scheme aims to discourage organisations from bolting on information security as an afterthought and instead to build it in from the start. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who recently received new powers and a pay rise,...Read More »

Tom Young, Computing, Thursday 4 December 2008 at 16:32:00 GIS will now be part of Key Stage 3, GCSE and A-Level assessment The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software that allows users to create digital maps ­has become part of national GCSE and A-level curriculums. The decision was made to include the technology after the success of a hybrid GCSE course piloted in a handful of schools over the past two years that has a teacher-assessed GIS option forming 25 per cent of the final mark. From this term all schools...Read More »

Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Thursday 4 December 2008 at 10:30:00 Additional powers for Information Commissioner also on the agenda for new parliamentary year, but communications database plan is omitted Web sites promoting suicide are to be subject to criminal prosecution in changes to UK law proposed in the Queen's Speech outlining the government's plans for the coming parliamentary year. Other proposals include enhancing the power of Information Commissioner Richard Thomas to include the imposition of monetary penalties for "deliberate or reckless" loss of personal data. The proposed Coroners and Justice...Read More »

Computing staff, Computing, Thursday 4 December 2008 at 06:30:00 Companies House must improve security, say MPs The abuse of publicly accessible electronic data at Companies House is facilitating e-crime costing £50m a year, according to a House of Commons committee. MPs have urged Companies House administrators to investigate ways of improving security while maintaining efficient access to records, in a study which revealed that each successful crime using the register can net more than £100,000. The British Bankers' Association gave evidence warning that fraudsters can "hijack" firms by changing...Read More »