Category: Just for fun

Keeping Score and What’s In Store for 2014

    Jim D

Now that 2013 is done, it is time to review my predictions from January last year. For those keeping score, I had six January predictions for Technology in 2013:

6. 2013 is the year of the ‘connected house’ as standards and ‘hub’ products achieve critical mass. Score: Yes! – A half dozen hubs were introduced in 2013 including Lowe’s and AT&T’s as well as SmartThings and Nest. The sector is taking off but is not quite mainstream as there is a bit of administration and tinkering to get everything hooked in. Early market share could determine the standards and the winners here.

5. The IT job market will continue to tighten requiring companies to invest in growing talent as well as higher IT compensation. Score: Nope! – Surprisingly, while the overall job market declined from a 7.9% unemployment rate to 7.0% over 2013, the tech sector had a slight uptick from 3.3% to 3.9% in the 3rd quarter (4Q numbers not available). However, this uptick seems to be caused by more tech workers switching jobs (and thus quitting old jobs) perhaps due to more confidence and better pay elsewhere. Look for a continued tight supply of IT workers as the Labor department predicts that by 2020, another 1.4M IT workers are required and there will only be 400K IT graduates during that time!

4. Fragmentation will multiply in the mobile market, leaving significant advantage to Apple and Samsung being the only companies commanding premiums for their products. Score: Yes and no – Fragmentation did occur in Android segment, but the overall market consolidated greatly. And Samsung and Apple continued in 2013 to capture the lion’s share of all profits from mobile and smart phones. Android picked up market share (and fragment into more players), as well as Windows Phone, notably in Europe. Apple dipped some, but the greatest drop was in ‘other’ devices (Symbian, Blackberry, etc). So expect a 2014 market dominated by Android, iOS, and a distant third to Windows Phone. And Apple will be hard pressed to come out with lower cost volume phones to encourage entry into their ecosystem. Windows Phone will need to continue to increase well beyond current levels especially in the US or China in order to truly compete.

3. HP will suffer further distress in the PC market both from tablet cannibalization and aggressive performance from Lenovo and Dell. Score: Yes! – Starting with the 2nd quarter of 2013, Lenovo overtook HP as the worldwide leader in PC shipments and then widened it in the 3rd quarter. Dell continued to outperform the overall market sector and finished a respectable second in the US and third in the world. Overall PC shipments continued to slide with an 8% drop from 2012, in large part due to tablets. Windows 8 did not help shipments and there does not look like a major resurgence in the market in the near term. Interestingly, as with smart phones, there is a major consolidation occurring around the top 3 vendors in the market — again ‘other’ is the biggest loser of market share.

2. The corporate server market will continue to experience minimal increases in volume and flat or downward pressure on revenue. Score: Yes! – Server revenues declined year over year from 2012 to 2013 in the first three quarters (declines of 5.0%, 3.8%, and 2.1% respectively). Units shipped treaded water with a decline in the first quarter of .7%, an uptick in the second quarter of  4%, and a slight increase in the third quarter of 2%. I think 2014 will show more robust growth with greater business investment.

1. Microsoft will do a Coke Classic on Windows 8. Score: Yes and no – Windows 8.1 did put back the Start button, but retained much of the ‘Metro’ interface. Perhaps best cast as the ‘Great Compromise’, Windows 8.1 was a half step back to the ‘old’ interface and a half step forward to a better integrated user experience. We will see how the ‘one’ user experience across all devices works for Microsoft in 2014.

So, final score was 3 came true, 2 mostly came true, and 1 did not – for a total score of 4. Not too bad though I expected a 5 or 6 🙂 . I will do one re-check of the score when the end of year IT unemployment figures come out to see if the strengthening job market made up for the 3rd quarter dip.

As an IT manager, it is important to have strong, robust competition – it was good to see both Microsoft and HP come out swinging in 2013. Maybe they did not land many punches but it is good to have them back in the games.

Given it is the start of the year, I thought I would map out some of the topics I plan to cover this coming year in my posts. As you know, the focus of Recipe for IT  is useful best practice techniques and advice that works in the real world and enables IT managers to be more successful. In 2013, we had a very successful year with over 43,000 views from over 150 countries, (most are from the US, UK, India, and Canada). And I wish to thank the many who have contributed comments and feedback — it has really helped me craft a better product. So with that in mind, please provide your perspective on the upcoming topics, especially if there are areas you would like to see covered that are not.

For new readers, I have structured the site into two main areas: posts – which are short, timely essays on a particular topic and reference pages– which often take a post and provide a more structured and possibly deeper view of the topic. The pages are intended to be an ongoing reference of best practice for you leverage. You can reach the reference pages from the drop down links on the home page.

For posts, I will be continue the discussion on cloud and data centers. I will also explore flash storage and the continuing impact of mobile. Security will invariably be a topic. Some of you may have noticed some posts are placed first on InformationWeek and then subsequently here. This helps increase the exposure of Recipe for IT and also ensure good editing (!).

For the reference pages, I have recently refined and will continue to improve the production and quality areas. Look also for updates and improvements to leadership  as well as the service desk.

What other topics would you like to see explored? Please comment and provide your feedback and input.

Best, and I wish you a great start to 2014,

Jim Ditmore

Celebrate 2013 Technology or Look to 2014?

    Jim D

The year is quickly winding down and 2013 will not be remembered as a stellar year for technology. Between the NSA leaks and Orwellian revelations, the Healthcare.gov mishaps, the cloud email outages (and Yahoo’s is still lingering) and now the 40 million credit identities stolen from Target, 2013 actually was a pretty tough year for the promise of technology to better society.

While the breakneck progress of technology continued, we witnessed so many shortcomings in its implementation. Fundamental gaps in large project delivery and availability design and implementation continue to plague large and widely used systems.   It is as if the primary design lessons of ‘Galloping Gertie’ regarding resonance were never absorbed by bridge builders. The costs of such major flaws in these large systems are certainly similar to that of a failed bridge.  And as it turns out, if there is a security flaw or loophole, either the bad guys or the NSA will exploit it. I particularly like NSA’s use of ‘smiley faces’ on internal presentations when they find a major gap in someone else’s system.

So, given 2013 has shown the world we live in all too clearly, as IT leaders let’s look to 2014 and resolve to do things better. Let’s continue to up the investment in security within our walls and be more demanding of our vendors to improve their security. Better security is the number 2 focus item (behind data analytics) for most firms and the US government. And security spend will increase an out-sized amount even as total spend goes up by 5%. This is good news, but let’s ensure the money is spent well and we make greater progress in 2014. Of course, one key step is to get XP out of your environment by March since it will no longer be patched by Microsoft. For a checklist on security, here is a good start at my best practices security reference page.

As for availability, remember that quality provides the foundation to availability. Whether design, implementation or change, quality must be woven throughout these processes to enable robust availability and meet the demands of today’s 7×24 mobile consumers. Resolve to move your shop from craft to science in 2014, and make a world of a difference for your company’s interface to its customers. Again, if you are wondering how best to start this journey and make real progress, check out this primer on availability.

Now, what should you look for in 2014? As with last January, where I made 6 predictions for 2013, I will make 6 technology predictions for 2014. Here we go!

6. There will be consolidation in the public cloud market as smaller companies fail to gather enough long term revenue to survive and compete in a market with rapidly falling prices. Nirvanx was the first of many.

5. NSA will get real governance, though it will be secret governance. There is too much of a firestorm for this to continue in current form.

4. Dual SIM phones become available in major markets. This is my personal favorite wish list item and it should come true in the Android space by 4Q.

3. Microsoft’s ‘messy’ OS versions will be reduced, but Microsoft will not deliver on the ‘one’ platform. Expect Microsoft to drop RT and continue to incrementally improve Pro and Enterprise to be more like Windows 7. As for Windows Phone OS, it is a question of sustained market share and the jury is out. It should hang on for a few more years though.

2. With a new CEO, a Microsoft breakup or spinoffs are in the cards. The activist shareholders are holding fire while waiting for the new CEO, but will be applying the flame once again. Effects? How about Office on the iPad? Everyone is giving away software and charging for hardware and services, forcing an eventual change in the Microsoft business model.

1. Flash revolution in the enterprise. What looked at the start of 2013 to be 3 or more years out looks now like this year. The emergence of flash storage at prices (with de-duplication) comparable to traditional storage and 90% reductions in environmentals will become a stampede with the next generation of flash costing significantly less than disk storage.

What are your top predictions? Anything to change or add?

I look forward to your feedback and next week I will assess how my predictions from January 2013 did — we will keep score!

Best, and have a great holiday,

Jim Ditmore

First Quarter Technology Trends to Note

    Jim D

For those looking for the early signs of spring, crocuses and flowering quince are excellent harbingers. For those looking for signs of technology trends and shifts, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out some new ones and provide further emphasis or confirmation of a few recent ones:

1. Enterprise server needs have flattened and the cumulative effect of cloud, virtualization, SaaS, and appliances will mean the corporate server market has fully matured. The 1Q13 numbers bear this trend is continuing (as mentioned here last month). Some big vendors are even seeing revenue declines in this space. Unit declines are possible in the near future. The result will be consolidation in the enterprise server and software industry. VMWare, BMC and CA have already seen their share prices fall as investors are concerned the growth years are behind them. Make sure your contracts consider potential acquisitions or change of control.

2. Can dual SIM smartphones be just around the corner? Actually, they are now officially here. Samsung just launched a Galaxy dual SIM in China, so perhaps it will not be long for other device makers to follow suit. Dual SIM enables excellent flexibility – just what the carriers do not want. Consider when you travel overseas, you will be able to insert a local SIM into your phone and handle all local or regional calls at low rates, and will still receive your ‘home’ number calls. Or for everyone who carries two devices, one for business and one for personal, now you still can keep your business and personal numbers separate, but only have one device.

3. Further evidence has appeared of the massive compromises enterprise are experiencing due to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). Most recently, Mandiant published a report that ties the Chinese government and the PLA to a broad set of compromises of US corporations and entities over many years.  If you have not begun to move you enterprise security from a traditional perimeter model to a post-perimeter design, make the investment. You can likely bet you are compromised, you need to not only lock the doors but thwart those who have breached your perimeter. A post here late last year covers many of the measures you need to take as an IT leader.

4. Big data and decision sciences could drive major change in both software development and business analytics. It may not be of the level of change that computers had say on payroll departments and finance accountants in the 1980s, but it could be wide-ranging. Consider that perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 of all business logic now encoded in systems (by analysts and software developers) could instead be handled by data models and analytics to make business rules and decisions in real time. Perhaps all of the business analysts and software developers will then move to developing the models and  proving them out, or we could see a fundamental shift in the skills demanded in the workplace. We still have accountants of course, they just no longer do the large amount of administrative tasks. Now, perhaps applying this to legal work….

5. The explosion in mobile continues apace. Wireless data traffic is growing at 60 to 70% per year and projected to continue at this pace. The use of the mobile phone as your primary commerce device is likely to become real for most purchases in the next 5 years. So businesses are under enormous pressure to adapt and innovate in this space.  Apps that can gracefully handle poor data connections (not everywhere is 4G) and hurried consumers will be critical for businesses. Unfortunately, there are not enough of these.

Any additions you would make? Please send me a note.

Best, Jim Ditmore

 

At the Start of 2013: Topics, Updates, and Predictions

    Jim D

Given it is the start of the year, I thought I would map out some of the topics I plan to cover this coming year in my posts. I also wish to relay some of the improvements that are planned for the reference page areas. As you know, the focus of Recipe for IT  is practical, workable techniques and advice that works in the real world and enables IT managers to be more successful. In 2012, we had a very successful year with over 34,000 views from over 100 countries, though most are from the US, UK, and Canada. And I wish to thank the many who have contributed comments and feedback — it has really helped me craft a better product. So with that in mind, please provide your perspective on the upcoming topics, especially if there are areas you would like to see covered that are not.

As you know, I have structured the site into two main areas: posts – which are short, timely essays on a particular topic and pages– which often take a post and provide a more structured and possibly deeper view of the topic. The pages are intended to be an ongoing reference of best practice for you leverage.

For posts, I will be continue the discussion on cloud and data centers. I will also delve more into production practices and how to achieve high availability. Some of you may have noticed some posts are placed first on InformationWeek and then subsequently here. This helps increase the exposure of Recipe for IT and also ensure good editing (!).

For the reference pages, I have recently refined and will continue to improve the project delivery and project managements sections. Look also for updates and improvements to efficiency and cost reductions in IT and well as the service desk.

What other topics would you like to see explored? Please comment and provide your feedback and input.

And now to the fun part, six predictions for Technology in 2013:

6. 2013 is the year of the ‘connected house’ as standards and ‘hub’ products achieve critical mass.

5. The IT job market will continue to tighten requiring companies to invest in growing talent as well as higher IT compensation.

4. Fragmentation will multiply in the mobile market, leaving significant advantage to Apple and Samsung being the only companies commanding premiums for their products.

3. HP will suffer further distress in the PC market both from tablet cannibalization and aggressive performance from Lenovo and Dell.

2. The corporate server market will continue to experience minimal increases in volume and flat or downward pressure on revenue.

1. Microsoft will do a Coke Classic on Windows 8.

As an IT manager, it is important to have strong, robust competition – so perhaps both Microsoft and HP will sort out their issues in the consumer device/OS space and come back stronger than ever.

What would you add or change on the predictions? I look forward to your take on 2013 and technology!

Best, Jim Ditmore

 

Smartphones and 2013: What we really want

    Jim D

With CES 2013 starting this week, we will see a number of new features and product introductions particularly in the Android space. Some of the new features are questionable (Do we really want our smartphones to be projectors?).  But the further fragmentation (just within Android but also with the advent of Tizen (the Linux-based OS)) will drive feature innovation and differentiation faster. And to help with that differentiation is an updated list of features that I’d like to see in 2013!

1. Multiple Personalities: It would be great to be able to use one device for personal and for business – but seamlessly. Consider a phone where your office or business mobile number ring to your phone as well as your personal number. And when your boss calls, the appropriate ring, screen background, contacts, and everything else aligns with the number calling. You can switch back and forth between your business world and your personal world on your phone, just as you do, but with one device not two (or if you are using one device today, you get both numbers, and no mixing). Some versions of these phones are available today, but not on the best smartphones, and not in a fully finished mode.

2. Multiple SIMs: Multiple SIM phones – where two or more SIM cards are active at the same time, have been available in some form since 2000. These enables you to leverage two networks at once (or have a business phone on one network, and a personal phone on another), or more easily handle different networks when traveling (e.g., one network for domestic, one for Europe and one for Asia). When you landed in a new country, you could keep your primary SIM in your phone, purchase a low cost local SIM and voila! you would still receive calls on your primary number but could make local calls inexpensively on the local SIM. Today, there are low end phones in developing markets or China where these features are available — so why not have this in the high end smartphones in the developed world? Samsung may be cracking this barrier – there are reports of a dual SIM Samsung high end smartphone. Perhaps Apple will follow? This would be much to the dismay of the carriers as it is then easy to switch carriers (call by call) and lower your costs.

3. Better, perhaps seamless voice: Siri can be good in some situations but like all other voice apps currently on the market, the limitations are real. And the limitations are particularly evident when you most need to be hands-free — like when you are driving. With the continued improvement in processor speed and voice recognition software, we should see next generation voice recognition capability that makes it an ease to use voice rather than a chore.

4. The nano-smartphone companion: How many times have you been either exercising or on a fishing trip or out for night out or an elegant evening, and the last thing you want to do is bring along a large, potentially bulky smartphone that you might lose (or drop in the lake)? Why can’t you have a nano iPod that has the same number and contacts as your iPhone that works as a passable phone? Then you can leave the iPhone at home bring your music and a nano cell phone, and not worry all evening about losing it! Again, the manufacturers must work with the carriers to enable two devices with the same number to be on the network and for you to chose to which one the calls ring. But think of the convenience and possibilities of having multiple orchestrated devices, each tuned precisely to what and when you want to use them. Isn’t this what Apple does best?

5. Better power management: Even with the continued advances in battery life, nearly everyone encounters each month times when their use or their apps have completely drained the battery. Today’s data intensive apps can chew up battery life quickly without the user being aware. Why not alert the user to high usage (rather than wait until the battery is almost dead to alert), and enable the option for power saving mode. when this mode is selected the phone OS switches apps to low power mode unless the user overrides. This will keep power hog apps from draining the battery doing unimportant tasks. It will avoid a late afternoon or evening travail when you discover your phone is dead and yet you need it to make a call.

6. Socially and physically aware: While there are plenty of apps that create social networks and provide some physical awareness and some phone plans that enable you to know where a family member is by their device location, you still require a precise device/app/option selected that minimizes the possibility of casual interaction with your known acquaintances. Consider your linked in network and when you are traveling for business, it would be excellent to be able to chose to let your links know that you are walking through O’Hare, and for those associates that chose similarly, you would know that your colleague John is at gate B5, which you happen to be walking by, and you can stop and chat before you have to catch your flight. You can chose to be anonymous, or just aware to your friends or links, or for extroverts, publicly aware. Unfortunately, this would require a common ‘awareness’ standard and security for devices and social sites, which at this stage of the social media ‘Oklahoma land rush’, it is doubtful that cooperation required would occur.

7. Better ‘offline’ capabilities: Far too many apps today still require a constant internet connection to work. Even for those apps where it is used when offline mode is likely, many apps still require an internet connection – translation apps and London tube apps come to mind. Why can’t you download 90% of the translation requirements to your app while on your home wi-fi, and then, when in Paris, bring up the app to suffice for faster translation offline instead of using international data rates? (At which point a paid translator would be cheaper and much faster). Again, I wonder how much collusion (or lack of common sense) goes on to encourage nonsensical data usage versus designing ‘data-lite’ apps.

These are the seven features I would like to see in 2013. And while I am sure that there are phones or apps that do some of the features, I think it would be an advance to have the features mainstreamed on the latest and best smartphones. (Though I am still looking for a great translation app with good ‘offline’ capability, if you know of one, please recommend it!). What features would you like to see in the next generation of smartphones in 2013?

Best, Jim Ditmore

Just about Time for Spring Break

    Jim D

It is just about time for spring break and given the significant number of new readers, I thought I would touch again on the key goals for this site and also touch on some posts and additions you may have missed.

I would also like to thank Steve Wignall for his contributions in the Service Desk arena. We now have 5 solid pages relating to all aspects of Service Desk and we are typically ranked in the top 20 searches in Google for a number of searches related to service desk (e.g., ‘service desk best practices’, etc). While I am quite pleased for us to achieve this in a matter of a few months, what is most important is that the content is useful and relevant and meaningful to IT leaders.

As many of you know, delivering IT today, with all of the cost reduction demands, the rapidly changing technology, the impact of IT consumerization, and security and risk demands, is, simply put, tough work. It is complicated and hard to get the complex IT mechanism, with all the usual legacy systems issues, to perform as well as the business requires. RecipesforIT has been built to help those IT leaders out, to provide recipes and ideas on how to tackle the tough but solvable problems they face. And in addition to providing best practices, we will give you a solid and sensible perspective on the latest trends and technologies.

And note we will continue to build out the best practices areas and not necessarily post the material. For example, we have added Build an Outstanding Customer Interface, Service Desk Leadership and Service Desk Metrics pages to the appropriate best practice areas. So don’t forget to leverage these areas for material when you are faced with issues or challenges.

As promised in January, we have really covered the service desk area with the help of Steve Wignall and Bob Barnes. And we covered innovation (and Kodak). There was also a request to cover how to effectively consolidate an IT organization and that was covered in  the post Building IT Synergy. 

So what is upcoming? I will continue to touch on current topics (hopefully you liked the Australian pilot and low PDI post) but I will also divert time to cover leadership and high performance teams. I have also received a request to cover production operations and best practices in that area that I hope to complete. Steve will also cover another page on service desk for us. And I will continue with incremental but hopefully material improvements to the site pages that will provide further details on best practices in a comprehensive manner.

I continue to receive strong feedback from many of you on the usefulness and actionability of the material. I will definitely work to ensure we maintain that relevance.

One last note: don’t forget you can subscribe to the site so you get an email when there’s a new post (subscribing is on the rightmost bar, halfway down the page). And feel free to provide comments or suggestions — the feedback really helps!

If you are new to the site, I recommend a few posts for relevance and fundamentals:

So, expect plenty more and enjoy your break and the warm weather!

Best, Jim Ditmore

Your Year End IT Leadership Checklist

    Jim D

I think we can all feel the holiday and yearend swooping in and things winding down where we work. The Christmas parties are in full swing and everyone is focused on making sure they get everything on their Christmas gift list. Next week is certain to be quiet in the office. For senior IT managers, here is a quick list of things to do as the year-end approaches:

1. Vacation overlaps: Re-check that you and your senior team are not all out on vacation and no one is left to mind the shop. If there’s a gap, given the timing, you need to be the one to fill it (besides, this way you’ll have an excuse when your spouse asks you to go to the store with return items).

2. Batch Cycles: With the upsurge in retail sales and other peaks this time of year, ask the production batch team to re-calibrate the peak processing time for batch runs in December, month-end and year end. It’s better to find out now you need to address capacity than at 3 am Sunday morning in the New Year and your company can’t close the books on time.

3. Feedback for your team: Spend some of your vacation time writing thoughtful performance reviews for your team. Start with your best and worst performers, they will get the biggest positive impact from a better writeup this year. For outstanding insight on competencies and how to coach, check out FYI: For Your Improvement by Lombardo and Eichinger.

4. Gain new insights: Spend another part of your vacation time reading a good management or IT book. The new perspectives experienced will help your fresh thinking in the new year. If you are looking for ideas then perhaps Magical Mathematics or The Rare Find or perhaps Great by Choice.

5. Start out proactively: Book time in January with your planning team to ensure you have the IT goals for 2012 clearly defined and map out the steps you will be taking to communicate it broadly. Otherwise you can get caught up on the first assignments that come in the door in 2012 and remain reactive the entire year.

6. Allocate the time for your customers: Ask your admin to ensure you have regular meetings scheduled every month with all of your business partners. You may already be doing this, but regular sessions are key to keeping in touch and providing great service.

7. Thank the team: Take your team out for a drink and thank them for the accomplishments for the year. Keep the evening clear of any assignments or negatives on missed deliveries. Everyone needs to be thanked and appreciated, and you’re likely to do enough ‘coaching’ of them the rest of the time.

8. Thank your admin: Your admin is the primary interface by which most people interact with you. If she or he has done well, make sure you thank them. And a nice gift is very reasonable — and ensure they do not get you one either. This would be on top of any formal bonus.

9. Thank your sponsors: Spend some quality time with your boss and whatever the challenges for the year have been, thank them for their support and the opportunities they have given you. Let them know you will be refreshed and ready to go for the new year.

10. Take time for yourself and your family: Make sure you take the time to decompress and reflect. Do whatever you need to do to relax and recharge. Focus on your family. Think about what went well and not so well. Identify the key things about you that you want to change in the new year. Save the how for another reflecting session. Make sure you walk into January with renewed strength and vigor and a focus and game plan on the new you.

For some of you, you have already either completed or will knock off all 10 items. For others, perhaps you have nearly all of them, but there is one or two items you can add to your list. If you are doing less than 5 of them, you need to make sure you do #10 so that you personally are ready for next year.

I hope your year has been successful and rewarding. And I trust that this blog has provided some insight for the last part of the year. Next year, I plan to make to continue to provide the regular posts and insights but have the best practices sections well-developed to enable a quick reference guide for IT management for you and your team.

All the best, and have a great holiday, Jim

 

Two Months In

    Jim D

Given that it has been about two months since I started this blog, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a quick check of how’s it gone and map out things I hope to accomplish in the upcoming few months. First, I am surprised and pleased at how comfortable and accessible the IT management content is in this format. And, so that you can ensure I stay on pace, I should be able to produce 1 to 3 good, solid posts every week touching on a key facet of IT management. Even better, I have several collaboration efforts just underway and I am excited that we will be able to get this additional authorship and content posted over the next two to three months.

My other mid-term goal (four to six months) is to fill out the dedicated pages on key areas (like high performance teams). I hope to offer greater structure, techniques and templates on these pages that you can then reference and apply. So look for the first of these in the January timeframe. And if you have any suggestions or would like to assist, send me a comment, I would welcome your involvement.

Enjoy the upcoming holidays and know that you will see plenty more here on Recipes for IT.

Best, Jim

10 Things to be Thankful for in IT

    Jim D

I was quite thankful for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, both for the family time and the downtime. The downtime was especially appreciated as I had a cold from which to recover. Of course, being thankful while being miserable from a cold does not come easily, I thought it would be worthwhile and fun to list out the things in IT we should be thankful for this year:

10. Having far better cell coverage and Wi Fi connectivity in public places, unless you really need it…

9. For our legal teams, having Oracle continue to acquire companies so we can then have our lawyers keep busy and pore over those contracts and figure out how Oracle is going to take advantage

8. Still in 2011, at the typical company, that most colleagues tend to avoid using the low quality video chat screens now proliferating so they don’t wonder if we had just rolled out of bed

7. That HP’s board and CEO have avoided any more bone-headed moves the past few months

6. That we can deliver cool devices to our long suffering business colleagues through BYOD (bring your own device) and ‘sandbox’ approaches like GOOD Technology software

5. That the worst hack of the year impacted a gaming network (Sony’s playstation) rather than financial or life and death systems — though it still impacted over 70 million users and cost Sony nearly $200M

4. That Apple re-introduced simple elegance as a prominent technology feature to marketing and product teams everywhere, thus reducing the number of absurd Swiss Army knife systems requests

3. The internet for once again ensuring everyone on the planets knows all about critical news like Charlie Sheen and tiger’s blood or Premier League footballers and their girlfriends!

2. While the national unemployment rate hovers at 9% all year, that the unemployment rate for IT professionals has dropped below 4% – thank goodness we can still get a job!

1. That all those social media technologies we thought were really only for teenagers, helped usher in the Arab Spring!

Add yours to the list! I look forward to your comments.

Best, Jim