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Internet Security
INTERNET SECURITY by Pete Loshin Overview of Internet Security
Over the years, I've seen far too many vendor demos of new software products.
Why Don't We Do It?
In his "Risks" column in Software Engineering Notes [8], Peter Neumann recites an ever-increasing litany of visible, embarrassing software problems that are causing financial loss, injury, and even death. In our litigious culture, it is amazing that there have not been more lawsuits on account of bad software. Why is this?
"The only way for knowledge workers to maintain their skills and knowledge and be effective human capital is to engage in lifelong learning." -- Richard Crawford, In the Era of Human Capital
More and more organizations are recognizing that their most important asset is intellectual capital. Organizations must find ways to make it easier for people to achieve their maximum potential for performance. Productivity and competitive advantage rely upon people's knowledge and skills.
"So here's the question for you: if you and your colleagues are about to have massive licensing and certification restrictions imposed upon your ability to call yourself a programmer, and upon the way you carry out your trade, what things would be most important to include or exclude for such certification regulations?
The notion of licensing and certifying software professionals has been hotly debated for years, if not decades. If you're in favor of the concept, then the good news is that it's actually beginning to happen, and it's being taken seriously by at least a segment of the industry.
From time to time, it's useful to step back and ponder the imponderable, what the macro trends in the IT products and services marketplace look like. Our travels permit some insights:
We think the use of software to solve problems has been evolutionary, that initially it was nearly completely technology-driven: we were limited to what could be done with the early architectures so we defined (and redefined) problems around those constraints. As the technology matured, the range of problems to which it could be applied grew.
During a project management seminar in Toronto last week, I had a very interesting discussion with the other participants on the subject of overtime. I have the strong opinion that many of today's so-called RAD projects succeed because (a) they're relatively short, usually lasting no more than 3-6 months, and (b) they often involve interesting technology, such as client-server or Internet/Web.