IT Projects: Expert Witness, CIO, In-House Counsel & Litigation Forum

How to Avoid Intellectual Property Theft

This is an oldie (July 2006) but goodie. Most of these same recommendations go unheeded today -- needlessly exposing yourself, your company, and your country to varying degrees of risk. Perform an assessment to determine where you are weakest and do something about it! 

For those of you who have made such improvements, please share with us  what you discovered, what you did to mediate the exposure, and how well it is working to day.  Warren

By Christopher Burgess and Richard Power July 2006 (From: www.cio.com)

Today, the U.S. economy faces many threats, including spiraling energy costs, corporate governance abuses, huge federal deficits, foreign ownership of the national debt, the loss of jobs to offshore outsourcing and the impact of disasters (whether terrorist related or environmental). And of course, there is the looming possibility of a bird flu pandemic or other global health emergency that could result in the closing of borders, the interruption of business, the cessation of travel and the deaths of many thousands.

But there is another threat, difficult to quantify or even detect, one that has not yet grabbed the headlines or captured the imagination, and yet is relentlessly and efficiently looting, pillaging and plundering the U.S. and global economies of precious resources—vulnerable trade secrets.

Economic espionage is as real a threat as terrorism or global warming. But

101 Ways To Know Your Software Project Is Doomed

I thought this was a pretty good list.  I picked my favorite ten, presented below from the full list -- and that was harder to do than I first envisioned.

1. Management has renamed its Waterfall process to Agile Waterfall
2. Allocated QA time is for Q and A why your crap is broken
3. All of your requirements are written on a used cocktail napkin
4. Progress is now measured by the number of fixed bugs and not completed features
5. Every bug is prioritized as Critical (or Every Bug Is Trivial)
6. Your spouse only gets to see you on a webcam
7. The sales team decreased your estimates because they believe you can work faster
8. Budget for testing exists as “if we have time”
9. The client will only talk about the requirements after they receive a fixed estimation
10. Broken unit tests are deleted because they are obviously out of date

Taken from http://www.codesqueeze.com/101-ways-to-know-your-software-project-is-doomed/

Your part:  What favorites do you have that are not on this list or which ones on the lsit do you disagree with?   Warren (Note: Click below to see the full list.)

Ballmer's Biggest Flop to Date!

Well??  Agree? Disagree? What do you think??   Let us know!    Warren

June 16, 2008 - 11:30 A.M. from:

http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/3295272/150510368/120372/2/

by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols Cyber Cynic

No, I'm not going to say Vista. I see Vista as an organizational failure. Ballmer gets his share of the blame, but there's plenty of blame to go around. Now, Microhoo, the failed attempt to buy out Yahoo -- that heaping pile lands directly on Ballmer's doorstep.

Let me walk you through it. First, as we all know, Microsoft has been obsessed by Google. Ballmer is convinced that Google is The Enemy.

I've never quite understood this. Yes, in general terms, Google is the one technology company that Microsoft hasn't been able to beat into the ground. So what? Microsoft makes its billions from selling software. Google makes it mint from online advertising and the search engine that powers it.

Certainly, as the years have rolled by, Microsoft has tried to storm into Google's search stronghold. They've failed. It won't be the first or last time that Microsoft moved out of its comfort zone and into the twilight zone.

Google, in its turn, has advanced into Microsoft territory with Google Apps. That's a more serious threat. I think online office suites will never completely break office suites that live on PCs. After all do you really want your important report's very creation to depend entirely on your Starbucks Wi-Fi connection? I don't. Google Apps is no Microsoft Office killer.

The 100 Best Websites List

From 100bestwebsites.com :The best sites on the Web, all in one place!

This list is based on the rigorous reviews and opinions of our staff who subject each website to an exhaustive examination based on 21 criteria of excellence before inclusion. We hope you will enjoy this portal to the finest sites the Web has to offer!

While we can certainly disagree with what "best" means, I believe this is a good listing of some very good websites, especially in the literary arena.  I'm sure though that you have some favorites that are not listed here -- and some that are that you believe should not be on this list!!  Please post a comment so each reader can review it, and then decide to update his or her own list as they see fit!   

Warren

#	Website	Summary
1	Yahoo!	Yahoo is your Online Free Treasure Room! An outstanding search engine (especially for "official" websites), it also provides a cornucopia of free services: free email, maps, Yellow Pages, games, shopping, news, finance, sports, live chat -- the list just goes on and on and on! By far (in our opinion), Yahoo is the best site on the Web!
2	Google	We believe Google is simply the best tool on the Web for finding just about anything (except possibly "official" websites). It is screamingly fast, sleek, streamlined, and as comprehensive as a search tool can be.
3	Amazon.com	Amazon is nothing less than a revolution in how the world shops. It is a huge step forward in the achievement of an ideal competitive market. It is user-friendly, vast, and reliable.
4	About.com	About.com breaks up the Web into major subject areas with a volunteer human host for each of them. It helps you sift out the wheat from the chaff on an enormous range of subjects.
5	Bartleby.com	Much of the greatest literature in the history of humankind will be found in full text form (and free of charge) at this amazing site. In addition, many useful reference tools are here (also free!)
6	Google Groups	Formerly "DejaNews", Google Groups is a glorious experiment in free speech! This oceanic database of over 800 million posted "Usenet" messages from people all over the globe constitutes the largest bulletin board in the history of the world! It's fully searchable, and you can post your own messages free of charge. (Tip: don't use your primary email address in your posts! To avoid spam, use a temporary email address.)
7	Google News	A bold endeavor in online journalism, Google News provides you hundreds of news sources (typically) for each of the major stories of the day. Just find the story that interests you on the main page, and you will see something like "227 related" or "535 related" just beneath it. Click this to see the extensive range of news sources available for the story you are after! (Its database of past news is also searchable.)
8	CNN	For fast-breaking news and responsible journalism, it's hard to beat CNN. And the text content at this site is mostly free!
9	EBay	Ebay is the world's biggest, longest-running garage sale, as well as its most extensive auction house. Buy, sell, browse, bid, and be amazed at what you find at this wonderful site!
10	Download.com	If you love software treasure-hunting, Download.com is the site for you! This massive and well-rounded collection of shareware (try-before-you-buy) and freeware (totally free software) is fully searchable and sortable. And there's no wait for a package in the mail: download it NOW, install it, and take it for a test drive!

Sharing Information and Ourselves: Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg

Here's another fun interview (highlights) from the 2008 D6 conference. Enjoy!  Warren

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 by John Paczkowski. See John's original post at:   http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080528/zuckerberg_sandberg/#more-64

Because Mark Zuckerberg is barely in his mid-20s, his résumé is a bit thinner than others here. Well, except for his first job as founder and CEO of Facebook, perhaps the most explosively popular social-networking company ever and the most high-profile Web 2.0 start-up. Mr. Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004, while still an undergraduate at Harvard University, where he studied computer science. He brought the company to Silicon Valley before he had a chance to graduate from college, but managed to get a $15 billion valuation for the company anyway. 

Video: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Highlight Reel, Part Two

Even if you saw this in print in the Wall Street Journal, you'll want to share the fun with "Bill & Steve" in this video! Also see Part One of this interview on this blog.  Warren

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 originally posted at:  http://d6.allthingsd.com/category/bill-gates/

Here are a few video highlights from the second half of the D6 interview of Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, conducted by conference co-hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. (Click here for highlights from the first half of the interview.)

Video: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Highlight Reel, Part One

Even if you saw this in print in today's Wall Street Journal, watch this video. What sense do you get seeing them visually?   Warren

Here are a few video highlights from the first half of the D6 interview of Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, conducted by conference co-hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. (Click here for highlights from the second half of the interview.)

Posted at 11:22 PM PT;   Original story and video can be seen at:http://d6.allthingsd.com/category/bill-gates/

Nonprofit Directors: IRS Raises the Governance Bar

 

To our readers involved with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, I thought this post, by my good colleague, Martin J. Trupiano, Esq., might be of interest and value to you – especially if you serve on such Boards!

 Warren S. Reid

 

The IRS has raised the bar for directors of nonprofit organizations. Proceeding on the premise that good governance produces better tax compliance, it has issued a revised Form 990, the annual information return filed by most nonprofits. It includes an entirely new governance section, which in effect, seeks to assure that directors of nonprofit organizations fulfill their fiduciary duties of care and loyalty in matters related to tax law compliance. Some highlights concerning the revised form include:

Effective Date: It will be effective for tax years beginning after January 1, 2008.

Increased Length: The revised Form 990 expands the “core” form from 9 to 11 pages, and increases the number of potential schedules to 15. Organizations will determine which schedules they need to file by completing a new, 37-question checklist. The revised “core” form, schedules, and IRS background explanations can be found here and the draft instructions here.