Third annual CRM survey

December 1, 2006 from CAmagazine and written by Michael Burns – “Welcome to our third annual roundup of customer relationship management systems. This year, we have 16 systems, including ACT!, Epicor, Epiphany, Exact e-Synergy, GoldMine, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite, SageCRM.com, SalesLogix, Salesforce and SAP Business One. We are fortunate that many of the leading CRM vendors are participating in our survey this year. We also interviewed Microsoft, Sage and Salesforce.com for their views on trends and what they think makes them different.

The big CRM trends this year are hosting, integration and open source. Salesforce.com and NetSuite paved the way for application service providers to become a respected method for deploying this type of software. ASPs host applications on their Internet sites, which are typically equipped with state-of-the-art technology and security. This allows organizations to avoid the costs associated with managing the computer and database that goes with it. In 2006, both Microsoft and SAP jumped on the ASP bandwagon...”

Taming Sarbanes-Oxley

November 21, 2006 from Ventana Research – “Ventana Research believes public companies are the winners in the latest set of reforms regarding interpretation and enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This not to say the act is dead, but as we noted earlier this year, it is clear that the compliance pendulum is swinging away from stringent controls. The changes that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently indicated it will make (or is seriously considering) will make compliance much less onerous for larger public companies, and it now appears likely that small public companies will be exempt from having to file.

Recently, the SEC indicated it would unveil major changes to rules governing implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Calls for tossing out or implementing a major overhaul of SOX section 404 began in 2003, not long after Congress passed the law, as companies felt its impact on their annual auditing processes and the cost associated with compliance. Predictably, as memories of the financial scandals of the early decade fade and Sarbanes-Oxley opponents continue to blare their message, pressure has been building for reform. Most larger companies have gone through two cycles of audits under the law, and they have been lobbying heavily to change how it is enforced. In particular, many firms are dissatisfied with what they see as a nitpicking approach by their auditors. There seems to be general agreement that companies should be able to use a top-down, risk-based approach that matches risks with the cost of specific controls and other mitigation techniques. However, even after the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) made it clear in its revisions to Accounting Standard 2 that auditors were to take steps to make the process less onerous, companies continue to report issues.

The SEC and PCAOB already have taken some steps to make the auditing process less time-consuming and expensive, and the issue now is how much further they will go in easing 404 compliance requirements. One mandate that appears likely to disappear is that companies periodically test and document their internal controls before their auditors examine them, a time-consuming and therefore expensive task. Another change will be explicit instructions to auditors that materiality matters. In auditing, “materiality” is the term used to describe the significance of financial statement information to decision-makers. Something is material if, through omission or misstatement, it is likely to influence or change a decision by, say, an investor or lender. A third change will be exemption of smaller companies (“non-accelerated filers” with market capitalization under $75 million) from 404 audits. Earlier this year, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox elected not to follow the advice of a committee that it should exempt these companies, but now it appears he will reverse his position.

Changes in Sarbanes-Oxley enforcement do not alter the basic requirement that companies must have well-controlled financial processes (and the IT systems to support them). However, with the emphasis shifting to a top-down, risk-based approach to controls, companies are likely to save staff time and external audit fees. In our view, the modifications also do not change the need for companies to simplify and rationalize their financial controls, to automate many of the repetitive tasks they now handle in spreadsheets and to control those that remain in use. Unfortunately, we expect most companies now will put off making many worthwhile process changes that they would have implemented if a comprehensive” audit approach had remained in force. How all of this will affect consultants and software vendors selling “Sarbanes-Oxley solutions” remains to be seen. We think those whose value proposition has been real business benefits beyond mere compliance will fare better than those perceived to be useful only for streamlining and documenting the internal audit. Sarbanes-Oxley still has life as a political football. We assert it never would have prevented fraud led by senior executives, such as occurred at Enron, Qwest and WorldCom. When the next high-level financial scandal erupts, though, we expect the current reforms will be blamed.

180 View – We said last month that “It’s about time that the auditors provided some real value in their review of internal controls.” It looks like they will soon have no choice if they expect to continue to offer this service.

What Questions do Database Auditors Ask?

This article is a plug for a product called SecureSphere, which was developed by the company providing the free article (after registration). However it does contain some useful insights

This paper presents five key questions that IT professionals must answer during a database audit to achieve compliance. These questions are as follows.

1. Is the audit process independent from the database system being audited?
2. Does the audit trail establish user accountability?
3. Does the audit trail include appropriate detail?
4. Does the audit trail identify material variances from baseline activity?
5. Is the scope of the audit trail sufficient?

The answers to these questions vary depending upon the audit mechanism employed. Unfortunately, many database audit mechanisms were not designed to meet the requirements of regulatory auditors and therefore do not adequately address these questions. This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of alternative audit mechanisms relative to these questions. The goal is to provide the reader with information necessary to make informed choices about which audit mechanisms to deploy to satisfy regulatory compliance audits.

1) Is the Audit Independent?
To ensure audit integrity, the entire process must be independent of the database server and database administrators being audited. Since database administrators and servers are both part of the system being audited, they should not be put in a position of auditing themselves. A rogue administrator, for example, with access to audit records may easily tamper with those records to cover his tracks. Similarly, a non-administrator may exploit a database vulnerability to elevate privileges and tamper with the audit trail. The requirement for independence has three immediate implications for the design of the audit system.

2) Who is Accountable?
The database audit trail must attribute each audited database transaction to specific users. For example, a SOX compliant audit mechanism must log each change to financial reporting data along with the name of the user making the change. However, when users access the database via Web applications (such as SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, or PeopleSoft), native database software audit logs have no awareness of specific user identities. Therefore, when native audit logs reveal fraudulent database transactions, there is no link to the responsible user.

3) Do Audit Records Include Enough Detail?
To effectively reconstruct past database events, auditors require a detailed audit trail that extends to the level of the exact query and response attributes. Consider the following alternative hypothetical audit records for a call center customer service agent named “JOHN”.

• JOHN requested DATA from the CUSTOMER database and the database returned DATA
• JOHN requested FIRST NAMES, LAST NAMES, EMAIL ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, and CREDIT CARD NUMBERS for ALL customers from the CUSTOMER database and the database returned 634,577 records

Assuming that John is authorized to access individual customer records during the normal course of his work, the first less detailed audit trail (example A) does not reveal any unusual activity. However, the second more detailed audit trail (example B) makes it clear that a suspicious event has taken place. There is no reason to access the personal information (including credit card numbers) of 634,577 customers. To fully understand the transaction, the audit trail requires complete detail.

4) Does the Audit System Identify Material Variances?
It’s not enough for the audit system to simply provide a chronological listing of all database transactions. The volume of information generated in most database environments renders such a system useless as a tool for identifying fraudulent activity. An effective audit system should deliver prioritized views of events that separate material variances from legitimate or “baseline” user activity. However, most native and external audit approaches provide un-prioritized views, forcing staff into a costly manual log inspection process.

5) Is the Scope of the Audit Sufficient?
The scope of the database audit trail should be broad enough to identify any attempt to exploit vulnerability in database platform software (application, operating system, etc.) or protocol implementations. SQL Slammer, Windows RPC vulnerabilities are two examples of the many such vulnerabilities that attackers have exploited to inflict serious damage upon database infrastructure around the world. Dedicated intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and protocol validation solutions are needed to identify such attacks. Therefore, to provide auditors with a complete picture of database activity, it’s necessary to integrate data collected from these sources into the audit trail.

180 View – IT audit demands knowledge of IT General Controls including hardware, operating systems, database management systems, networking, multimedia, etc., and the environment that houses and supports them that enable the processing of applications (such as a financial application from SAP). A database is critical to any application. The database not only stores data but also manages access and logs changes independent of an application.

2006 Csi/Fbi Computer Crime and Security Survey

The Computer Crime and Security Survey is conducted by the Computer Security Institute with the participation of the San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Intrusion Squad. The survey is now in its 11th year and is, we believe, the longest running continuous survey in the information security field. This year’s survey results are based on the responses of 616 computer security practitioners in U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical institutions and universities. The 2006 survey addresses the major issues considered in earlier CSI/FBI surveys, thus allowing us to analyze important computer security trends. The long-term trends considered include:

• Unauthorized use of computer systems;
• The number of incidents from outside, as well as inside, an organization;
• Types of attacks or misuse detected, and;
• Actions taken in response to computer intrusions.

This year’s survey also addresses several emerging security issues that were first probed only with the 2004 CSI/FBI survey. All of the following issues relate to the economic decisions organizations make regarding computer security and the way they manage the risk associated with security breaches:

• Techniques organizations use to evaluate the performance of their computer security investments;
• Security training needs of organizations;
• Organizational spending on security investments;
• The impact of outsourcing on computer security activities;
• The use of security audits and external insurance;
• The role of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 on security activities, and;
• The portion of the information technology (IT) budget organizations devote to computer security.

This year’s questionnaire also included some questions being introduced for the first time. In particular, an open-ended question about the current concerns of respondents has provided insight into the relative perceived urgency of concerns about issues such as data protection and instant messaging. Some of the key findings from the participants in this year’s survey are summarized below:

• Virus attacks continue to be the source of the greatest financial losses. Unauthorized access continues to be the second-greatest source of financial loss. Financial losses related to laptops (or mobile hardware) and theft of proprietary information (i.e., intellectual property) are third and fourth. These four categories account for more than 74 percent of financial losses.
• Unauthorized use of computer systems slightly decreased this year, according to respondents.
• The total dollar amount of financial losses resulting from security breaches had a substantial decrease this year, according to respondents. Although a large part of this drop was due to a decrease in the number of respondents able and willing to provide estimates of losses, the average amount of financial losses per respondent also decreased substantially this year.
• Despite talk of increasing outsourcing, the survey results related to outsourcing are similar to those reported in the last two years and indicate very little outsourcing of information security activities. In fact, 61 percent of the respondents indicated that their organizations do not outsource any computer security functions. Among those organizations that do outsource some computer security activities, the percentage of security activities outsourced is rather low.
• Use of cyber insurance remains low, but may be on the rise.
• The percentage of organizations reporting computer intrusions to law enforcement has reversed its multi-year decline, standing at 25 percent as compared with 20 percent in the previous two years. However, negative publicity from reporting intrusions to law enforcement is still a major concern for most organizations.
• Most organizations conduct some form of economic evaluation of their security expenditures, with 42 percent using Return on Investment (ROI), 21 percent using Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and 19 percent using Net Present Value (NPV). These percentages are all up from last year’s reported numbers. Moreover, in open-ended comments, respondents frequently identified economic and management issues such as capital budgeting and risk management as among the most critical security issues they face.
• Over 80 percent of the organizations conduct security audits.
• The impact of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act on information security continues to be substantial. In fact, in open-ended comments, respondents noted that regulatory compliance related to information security is among the most critical security issues they face.
• Once again, the vast majority of the organizations view security awareness training as important. In fact, there is a substantial increase in the respondents’ perception of the importance of security awareness training. On average, respondents from most sectors do not believe their organization invests enough in this area.

The Evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning Includes Service Industries

December 6, 2006 from Technology Evaluation Centre – “Since the late nineties, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors that originally targeted the needs of manufacturing organizations have slowly extended their functionality to service the needs of non-manufacturing industries as well. By 2000, when many of the major ERP implementations for the manufacturing industry had tapered off, tier one ERP vendors such as SAP and Oracle had refocused efforts to market their integrated solutions in the greener pastures of service-oriented vertical markets, including health care, government, higher education, banking, insurance, and other service-based businesses.

Today, ERP vendors are aggressively marketing industry-specific and project-oriented functionality to service industries. Unlike best-of breed solutions, these systems provide a fully integrated mature back-office system originally developed for manufacturing industries. Consequently, this raises the question: Is ERP for services a new category? Or is it “ERP less manufacturing?”

From a vendor’s point of view, the answer to those questions varies according to which side of the ERP fence you stand on. On one hand, ERP vendors claim that ERP for services is a well-developed software category customized for the service industries they serve. On the other hand, best-of-breed vendors for service verticals (such as professional services, health care, government, and financial services) push their industry expertise and vertical solutions built from the ground up for those respective service industries. Consequently, organizations in service industries are faced with the challenge of determining which vendors best fit their functional requirements.

The main difference in functionality between best-of breed service applications and ERP for services is the back-office component. ERP for services applications provide complete functionality for both the transactional (or operational) components, and the project-oriented components of service organizations. However, best-of breed service applications typically refer only to industry-specific functionality. Some vendors may include a back-office piece, and others may only deliver vertical functionality that communicates with other ERP systems or financial packages. As a result, there are two categories of vendors for service organizations:

Best-of-breed service vendors: Vendor solutions such as Compuware’s Changepoint and OpenAir PSA focus primarily on professional services organizations, and are typically marketed to the small to medium business (SMB) market. These offerings vary in breadth and depth, and the vendors tend to target a few key vertical markets. Depending on the vendor, their business models are diverse and can deliver software as a service (SaaS) and license models to their clients.

ERP for services: These vendors are typically traditional ERP vendors that provide a fully integrated solution with complete back-office functionality. Since they provide their clients with complete operational and transactional functionality, their offerings tend to be broader in application. In addition to project-oriented functionality that vendors such as Epicor and Deltek deliver for professional services organizations, ERP for services vendors provide fully integrated operational functionality for non-project organizations, such as Lawson in the health care sector, and Unit 4 Agresso for the public sector.

180 View – We recommend that both ERP and Best-of-breed service vendors be considered in system selection projects. ERP’s advantages include integration, infrastructure/platform consistency, user interface consistency, scalable, one number to call – no finger pointing. Best of Breed’s advantages includes cost, point solution is usually less complex to implement and maintain, focus on one industry with knowledgeable resources and best practices for industry.

Who is the No. 3 enterprise software company? You may be surprised

November 21, 2006 from Baseline Magazine - “SAP and Oracle have the top two spots nailed down, but who's next? SAS Institute? CA? Sage Group? Microsoft? How about Infor Global Solutions?

If that name registered a complete blank, you would be far from alone. Infor, which is headquartered in Atlanta, claims to be the third biggest enterprise software company in the world, but it has an identity—or lack of identity—problem.

Over the past four years, the venture capital-backed private company has quietly snapped up a host of players in the enterprise software market—some with familiar names, like SSA Global, Mapics, Epiphany, Extensity, Geac, Systems Union and Formation Systems. Infor has forged a collection of primarily mid-market players into a sizable conglomerate with annual revenue of about $2.2 billion, says chief executive Jim Schaper.

180 View – We think that Infor has a lot of great products. The question is what happens to these products in the future. And just as importantly, what happens to the key developers of the software. Speaking from personal (Michael Burns) experience, software is like a baby to the people that build it. They spend countless nights working on the system, take pride when it works well and will do whatever it takes to make it better. Often in these acquisitions, the key people find themselves with a severance check or sitting in the corner with no responsibility as the new team has taken over. When this happens, the software system will not be long for this world.

The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007

November 17, 2006 from CIO Insight – The article breaks out the trends by Strategy, Management, Security/Risk and Technology. There are slides in the article showing the results of 13 surveys taken in 2006. The trends are as follows:

Strategy
1. Process improvement will be job No. 1
2. IT works on closing the sale
3. Companies make their Web sites more engaging
4. Customer service gets a tune-up
5. Companies put their mounds of data to work
6. Information governance gains momentum
7. CIOs strive to be strategic

Management
8. The division between IT and business will diminish
9. CIO compensation keeps climbing
10. IT organizations will keep growing
11. CIOs struggle to find business-savvy technologists
12. Outsourcing changes IT management
13. Outsourcing growth slows
14. Offshoring shifts from India
15. Companies invest in IT leadership
16. Demonstrating ROI will remain a struggle

Security and Risk
17. No abatement of IT security threats
18. Security concerns turn users away from Windows
19. Security morphs into risk management
20. Compliance achieves what government intended
21. Compliance spurs financial process improvement

Technology
22. The move to a new architecture marches on
23. Enterprise applications start losing their luster
24. Data quality demands attention
25. IT reluctantly embraces Web 2.0
26. IT innovation loses traction
27. Business process management services and software will frustrate users
28. For business intelligence, the best is yet to come
29. IT organizations start going green
30. Dissatisfaction with vendors is on the rise

180 View – We also share the view that process improvement will be job No. 1. It’s interesting that process improvement shows up under security and risk. This makes sense to us. Compliance reviews are deemed a bitter poison by most companies and want them done as quickly/cheaply as possible or at least to provide some suggestions to improve business process.

Vista Reviews from PC Magazine and PC World

We have attached excerpts from 2 of the better articles available about Microsoft’s new operating system.

PC Magazine

November 30, 2006 - “The first things you notice about Windows Vista are the glitzy bells and whistles, but these aren't the essentials that will woo businesses. Organizations, especially large ones, have always been Microsoft's most important customers, and Vista is full of offerings aimed at them…

What's certain about working with Vista is that it's very different from previous versions of Windows; it has perhaps the biggest interface changes since Windows 95. It will require significant retraining of users and of IT personnel.

Yes, you can build a secure network and secure desktops with Windows XP if you work at it and administer it properly. But with Vista, making your systems more secure is a lot easier, even as you run into new issues in the process…

The most interesting new tool in Vista is Windows Meeting Space, which seems at first glance like a version of Groove, the virtual office program Microsoft bought when it hired its author, Ray Ozzie. WMS is a pale shadow of Groove and will pose no market threat to it (Groove 2007 is currently in beta). Still, WMS will be worth evaluating for many organizations…

With WMS, you can set up a meeting and invite others (up to ten participants) either through e-mail, by sharing an invitation file, or by browsing and joining meetings on the local network. We found setup very easy. In a meeting, you can chat, share documents, and share desktop applications. Indeed, application sharing is the only apparent advantage WMS has over an instant messaging program. Vista Home Basic users cannot start a new meeting…

Vista also comes with an integrated desktop search feature. There were questions raised several times during Vista's development about what level of system search the operating system should provide, and it does provide less than what was originally planned. Nevertheless, desktop search is implemented well…

Vista will likely save your butt one day with its Previous Versions feature, borrowed from Windows Server 2003. Vista automatically creates "shadow copies" of file changes, reserving (by default) 15 percent of disk space for this purpose. If you mess up a file and need access to an earlier version, you can right-click on the file or folder and select Restore Previous Versions…

We agree with what seems to be the consensus among observers: Vista has many compelling advantages over previous versions of Windows, especially in the area of security. Security has been a focus for Microsoft over the last several years, as well one of the most headline-grabbing of all computing problems, and the new features in this area may cause many businesses to upgrade just to get them.

Windows Vista is a better business operating system, all things considered. For many organizations, this release will prove to have been worth the long wait. But businesses need to evaluate thoroughly, plan rigorously, and move carefully as they transition from older versions to Vista. In many cases, this isn't going to happen overnight, and, as always, up-front planning will make a very big difference. Expect a long adoption cycle, especially since much business software will take some time to work properly in Vista. But businesses should welcome this new OS and never look back.

PC World

November 22, 2006 – “Windows Vista is a clear winner. It's beautiful, sports much-improved security, offers superb networking capabilities...and maybe most of all, it's just plain fun to use. That's not to say it's perfect--far from it. Some may view the new interface as little more than fluff or be turned off by the intrusive User Account Control feature….

The Look
The moment Windows Vista starts, some of its biggest changes are in plain view: It is distinctive and eye-catching. Colors are subtler and the overall look less cartoonish than Windows XP's.

Dare I say it's Mac-like? In fact, it is. Microsoft has always stolen from the best. Key to a lot of what's new in Vista is the much-anticipated Aero interface--but to use it, you'll need adequate hardware and one of the pricier versions of the OS.
Within Aero, screen windows maximize and minimize with a kind of visual "swoosh." The - command for switching between open windows now invokes Windows Flip, which displays thumbnails of open windows. Flip 3D (-) ups the ante, stacking windows so that you can flip through them like playing cards.

Some may say this is mere eye candy that won't affect your real productivity. Maybe so. But it makes life at the keyboard fun again. And for my money, that's right up there with productivity.
Two other notable new interface elements are the Sidebar and Live Thumbnails. Hover your mouse over a minimized window on the taskbar, and a thumbnail pops up with its contents, plus the program and document name or Web site.

I'm particularly fond of the Sidebar gadgets, interactive applets that display information--RSS feeds, stock tickers, clocks, weather, and so on. Vista ships with about a dozen of them; there are more online. While similar to Google Desktop Gadgets or Yahoo Widgets, they're actually more like the Mac's Gadgets in that they're built directly into the operating system and so may use its underlying architecture. For example, one gadget displays RSS news feeds you've subscribed to using Internet Explorer 7's RSS Reader…

New, Annoying Virtual Nanny
User Account Control (UAC) has riled more Windows Vista testers than all other features combined. UAC prompts you to type in a password or click OK before taking certain actions--for example, turning the Windows Firewall on or off, adding or removing user accounts, or even running some applications. You sometimes get a warning: A small shield appears next to links or options that will summon the UAC prompt if clicked.

What's the point of this annoying virtual nanny? First, it protects against malware running unchecked. If your PC gets infected and the malware attempts to perform a dangerous action such as turning off your antivirus program or the firewall, UAC will stop it cold. Second, UAC can protect you against yourself, keeping you from making changes that could harm your computer.

That's all well and good, but Microsoft has gone overboard with this protection. Why should you get a UAC prompt when you try to change Windows' font size, or your PC's name? Because of UAC, using Vista can at times become a herky-jerky kind of experience, with so many annoying pop-ups coming at you that you want to scream "Stop!"

In fact, you can stop the prompts by turning off UAC entirely. Go to Control Panel, User Accounts and Family Safety, User Accounts, click the Turn User Account Control on or off link, and you'll send that nanny into the virtual ether.

Of course, if you do turn off UAC, then you have no one but yourself to blame if a piece of malware does get in and take over your system.

Networking
Up to now, Microsoft had never done a stellar job of integrating networking capabilities into Windows. Just try synchronizing Offline Folders in Windows XP, for example--I dare you.

Windows Vista, however, presents your network as a natural extension of your PC. The OS helps you configure a network, share files, manage multiple networks, and more--all with a minimum of fuss. Vista supports all the usual network technologies, including ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

The new Network and Sharing Center puts network tools and information right at hand. Click View Full Map, for example, and you'll see a diagram showing all PCs and devices on your network, including printers, switches, and gateways. Click or hover over a device icon to get more details, such as IP and MAC addresses.

Vista handles wireless network connections deftly: Simply click the network icon in the system tray, click Connect or disconnect, and you'll see a list of nearby wireless networks. Hover your cursor over any one to see details such as Wi-Fi type (802.11b or g, say) and security protocol, if any.

Vista saves settings for networks you use frequently so you can automatically connect to them when you're in range. You can even specify which take precedence if more than one is available.

Not all networking features are hunky-dory. Windows Meeting Space is supposed to let you hold virtual meetings over an ad-hoc network--but has a well-nigh worthless chat module, no voice capabilities, and no whiteboard tools. Doesn't sound like any virtual meeting I want to attend.

The Sync Center, designed to help you sync files and folders between networked PCs and devices, is a bit of a mess as well. If you want to do anything other than perform basic syncs, you may throw up your hands and walk away.

180 View – We have read that the research group Gartner claims some 58 percent of new PC shipments in 2007 will include Windows Vista, and also estimate that Vista will be running on less than 10 percent of PCs in the installed base by the end of 2007. That figure is expected to rise to 29 percent in 2008, 50 percent in 2009 and 67 percent by the end of 2010. The reason for the delayed acceptance is mostly because of the hardware requirements. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx to see the hardware requirements and to see an analysis of the differences between the 4 Vista editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate).

When a project has you stumped, just think: 'What would Yogi do?

October 23, 2006 from Computerworld – “If baseball and project management have one thing in common, it’s the direct relationship between teamwork and success. Yogi Berra, a baseball legend with a unique approach to management and life, is a particular favorite of mine, so I recently asked myself, “What if Yogi were a project manager?”

As I thought about it, I realized that Yogi has a lot to say about my line of work. Many of the most famous quotes that have been attributed to him seem to bear directly on the art and science of project management...” The article contains project management perspectives on the following quotes:

• "You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”
• “I didn’t really say everything I said.”
• “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
• “You’d better cut the pizza in four pieces, because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
• "Think? How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?”
• “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
• “I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.”
• “This is like deja vu all over again.”

180 View – You don’t need to be a project manager to appreciate Yogi’s view.

Skype 3.0 for Windows Beta

November 21, 2006 from PC Magazine – “Skype is popular, no doubt about it: Downloads of the software, available in 27 languages, average 250,000 per day, for a total of 136 million so far. The Internet voice-call provider hosts 7 million people worldwide at any given moment and expects revenue to hit $195 million in 2006, up from a mere $7 million in 2004. You'll find over 150 devices which are specifically built to work with Skype, and 3,500 developers around the globe are toiling away on additional apps. With stats like these, even the naysayers, me included, who were scratching their heads when eBay bought the service have to admit that it appears headed toward world domination. The Skype 3.0 for Windows beta could accelerate the trend by removing roadblocks to acceptance among network administrators in businesses.”

180 View – If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for? I (Michael Burns) use it all the time whether calling my daughter in Ireland, making long distance conference calls, making calls while out of town at my client’s office or hotel room…