In a 2002 survey the Cutter Consortium performed on the state of risk management practice, we found that less than 40% of the companies we surveyed said that they are actively practicing software risk management. Worse, most that were practicing it were doing it in a pro forma manner.

In a 2002 survey the Cutter Consortium performed on the state of risk management practice, we found that less than 40% of the companies we surveyed said that they are actively practicing software risk management. Worse, most that were practicing it were doing it in a pro forma manner.

Everyone is talking about Web services, but the information on them is heavily skewed. You can find reams of instructive matter about specifications, and nearly every vendor has a thrilling tale to tell (or "sell"?). But there's a dearth of accurate data about what organizations are actually doing with Web services -- or whether they're doing anything at all.

Everyone is talking about Web services, but the information on them is heavily skewed. You can find reams of instructive matter about specifications, and nearly every vendor has a thrilling tale to tell (or "sell"?). But there's a dearth of accurate data about what organizations are actually doing with Web services -- or whether they're doing anything at all.

IT Industry

IT Industry

IT Industry

This week's Advisor is about distance learning, one of my favorite subjects and one of my favorite pursuits. Living as I do -- off the beaten track -- the ability to access information makes it possible for me to remain current on a lot of things. In my case, as with billions of other people who live off the beaten track, learning at a distance is wonderful and amazing.

This week's Advisor is about distance learning, one of my favorite subjects and one of my favorite pursuits. Living as I do -- off the beaten track -- the ability to access information makes it possible for me to remain current on a lot of things. In my case, as with billions of other people who live off the beaten track, learning at a distance is wonderful and amazing.

The year 2003 is shaping up to be the one in which companies will decide whether to embrace open source software or fail to adopt it and allow Microsoft to extend its control of desktop deep into the enterprise.

Sitting here reading a news item that reports that Oracle and SAP plan to release new analytic capabilities for their respective enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications (Oracle Financials and SAP R/3), the first question that comes to my mind is: Where have they been?