During the last decade or so, as software engineers were required to master more complex technologies, our typical response was to know less and less about the business we supported.

During the last decade or so, as software engineers were required to master more complex technologies, our typical response was to know less and less about the business we supported.

As everyone knows by now, US District Judge Thomas Jackson has ruled that "Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by anticompetitive means and attempted to monopolize the Web browser market ... (thereby violating) ...

Model-based approaches have long been premised on the fact that it is an order of magnitude cheaper to change an exploratory diagram at feasibility than it is to make the same change to the production code, as evidenced by studies carried out in the early 1980s. E-business reinforces the impact of this message by raising the bar for high-quality software. No longer is software designed for single, known individual users; it is designed for vast numbers of anonymous users.

Model-based approaches have long been premised on the fact that it is an order of magnitude cheaper to change an exploratory diagram at feasibility than it is to make the same change to the production code,

Model-based approaches have long been premised on the fact that it is an order of magnitude cheaper to change an exploratory diagram at feasibility than it is to make the same change to the production code,

Traditional project management tools have been around for many years and have amassed a wide array of capabilities. They run the gamut from desktop products (Microsoft Project) to enterprise-wide multiproject products (Artemis).

In the minds of some, the debate still rages: is e-business merely another overblown trend, or is it (as many analysts claim) a monumental change on the order of the industrial revolution? If one focuses strictly on technology, the first argument has some merit. After all, how many technological "revolutions" have passed through IT organizations over the past 30 years? The Internet may be here to stay, but there will always be another new technology to capture the minds of IT professionals.

The accompanying Executive Report discusses the important topic of business-IT alignment in the e-business realm. It examines the Internet's unsurpassed ability to exchange information as well as its deconstructive effect on business as we know it. The Executive Report also explores how these same forces affect IT organizations and the paths by which IT can reconstruct itself.

The accompanying Executive Report discusses the important topic of business-IT alignment in the e-business realm. It examines the Internet's unsurpassed ability to exchange information as well as its deconstructive effect on business as we know it. The Executive Report also explores how these same forces affect IT organizations and the paths by which IT can reconstruct itself.

It is hard to overemphasize the importance of communication to business-IT alignment. Without communication -- good communication -- all is lost. Business will follow its path, IT will follow its path, and ne'er the twain shall meet. With communication, the exchange of goals and ideas leads to mutual understanding, which provides the basis for coordinated business-IT plans. Since business-IT alignment can't even get off the ground without this step, there is no question that the importance of communication is of the highest order.

Paul Harmon, Editor

Centralizing a corporation was once considered an

Centralizing a corporation was once consider

Everyone involved in software development knows the labor market is very tight. It's hard to find good people for almost any important task. In the past few months, the Cutter Consortium conducted a survey to determine what the demand was for developers of distributed, component-based systems.