The itmWEB Information Technology Report

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A monthly report featuring selected IT topics and time sensitive links.

Volume 2, Number 2, February 1, 1998

Welcome to the 14th distribution of the itmWEB Information Technology Report. This month's edition is being distributed worldwide to 898 IT professionals and associates. You are receiving this report because you either requested it from one of the sites above, or you have been added to the email list as having a potential interest. itmWEB's policy is not to SPAM. The itmWEB report is a non-commercial, professional resource, and care is taken to only send the report to interested readers.

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CONTENTS:

1. The itmWEB Report
2. Product News
3. "Year 2000 Gate" by Jeff Gainer
4. IT Management Quickies
5. Interviewing (Continued)
6. Selected IT Resources

After a slow December, January has started off with a bang! First, Microsoft and the US Department of Justice announce a partial settlement of their bitter court battle. Next, Compaq and Digital announce a mega-merger. Other important technology announcements were made which will make life on the internet much easier. All of these developments are covered in this month's report.

But before we jump in, let me say thanks to Jeff Gainer who has once again come through with another column for the itmWEB Report. You can read his "Year 2000 Gate" article in section three. David Buback of the Job Board Surf Shop has also been kind enough to forward the interviewing column which has been running in both the January and February reports.

THE UP FRONT LINKS

A collection of time sensitive links covering current IT issues.

For an in-depth summary of the Microsoft - DOJ settlement, take a look at my January 23rd Mining Company feature which contains both analysis and links of this important event:

Microsoft Settles - A full Summary:

http://mis.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa012398.htm

You can also read about some of Microsoft's follow-up actions in this recent Computerworld article:

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/online9697.nsf/CWFlash/980128doj1C592

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates states that "What we have here is a lawsuit about crippled products". Read his comments in Infobeat:

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=7175444-c83

Intel, Microsoft, Compaq, and your local phone company announce the next generation modem technology which will break the Internet speed barrier. See Windows Magazine:

http://www.winmag.com/news/1998/0101/0120b.htm

Here is the big news: Compaq Computer Corporation agrees to acquire Digital Equipment Corporation for $9.6 billion in cash and stock. This puts Compaq squarely in contention with Hewlett Packard and IBM.

The Infobeat announcement:

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=7152452-ff8

Some analysis from Infoworld:

http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?sc?980126.ehcompaqdec2.htm

Jon Oltsik of Forrester Research posts his thoughts:

http://www.forrester.com/services/it/cs/compaq.htm

The Computerworld viewpoint:

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/online9697.nsf/CWFlash/980127compaqdigital1C4EA

Novell finally announces its Beta 2 release of NetWare 5! Is it too little too late? One important feature: native TCP/IP support. Computerworld highlights the announcement:

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/online9697.nsf/CWFlash/980128novell1C542

Unfortunately for Novell, Microsoft has moved into hardball mode over NDS. The company has announced its decision not to support Novell Directory Services (NDS) in NT. This could be a real problem for the Novell as well as for mixed environment IT shops:

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/online9697.nsf/CWFlash/980121users1C1E2

Lotus announces support for knowledge management principals in its Domino and Notes products. Infoworld covers the story:

http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?sc?980126.ehlotus.htm

Guess what? Gateway is entering the booming server market with its new NS-8000 line of servers:

http://www.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdnu980126002/www.winsources.com/content/0398/hw_gateway_server.html

This Month's Selected IT Topic: Year 2000

By Jeff Gainer, Arrowhead Systems Consulting, Ltd.

The American public loves a good scandal, particularly one involving sex. Which makes me wonder: is the Year 2000 software problem sexy enough? In November 1997, the United States Office of Management and Budget reported the disappointing progress that a number of federal government agencies are making with their mission-critical Year 2000 repair efforts:

http://www.cio.fed.gov/Y2Knov97.htm

A January 20th, 1998 update <http://www.cio.fed.gov/omb98-02.htm> says
"Although the most recent reports show that we are making progress, we must accelerate our schedule for completion to ensure that Federal systems will work smoothly." The report continues with the curious command: "Therefore, OMB has established a new target date of March 1999 for implementing fixes to all systems -- both mission critical and non-mission critical. OMB has also established a new date of September 1998 for completion of renovation and January 1999 for completion of validation."

Now, let’s make sure I’m clear on this: in November, the OMB acknowledged that a number of conversion efforts were behind schedule. And now, the OMB commands that the problem will be solved by increasing the project scope and compressing the schedule by moving the deadline back?

A common but utterly ludicrous way to deal with schedule slippage is schedule compression. This strategy is straight out of the Dilbert Zone <www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/>. Is the team falling behind
schedule? Well then, shorten the deadline and command everyone to work faster, a strategy which inevitably fails, but it is politically popular, because at least management appears to be taking firm, concrete action against a bunch of lazy, shiftless software engineers.

Before another scandal conveniently captured the public attention, it appeared that the Year 2000 software problem was set to become the next big political football in the United States, which for the coming election year, each political party could accuse the other of dropping. Until recently, with the exception of Sen. Moynihan, politicians have been mostly silent on the issue. Now, however, the Year 2000 software crisis may become a political crisis, if not finally a public issue.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the US President appoint a "Year 2000 Czar" in late 1998. If he doesn’t do so, the political howls from the opposition will likely begin as public attention finally begins to focus on the issue. And the press is always receptive to a new scandal, particularly one that can carry the suffix "-Gate", no matter how unwieldy it might be. Not that it would make any difference this late in the game, but it would be a good opportunity for grandstanding and political finger-pointing, with all realism about software development and testing a moot issue.

Copyright 1998, Jeff Gainer, All Rights Reserved

Jeff Gainer, known is some circles as "Jeff the Evangelist," is a software management consultant and traveling IT evangelist. He has preached software development sermons at a number of organizations in both the United States and Russia. The author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, Mr. Gainer's current focus is his forthcoming process management book Lucid Code: Taming Software Development Chaos. You can visit Jeff’s company and read some of his articles on the Web at:

http://www.montana.com/asc/

As a follow-up to Jeff's article, Computerworld highlights the limited options some companies are facing now that time is running out:

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/print9497.nsf/CWFlash/SL4allied17C12

Year 2000 guru Dr. Leon Kappelman has written an open letter to the President of the United States warning of the impending crisis. His message is strong stuff:

http://www.year2000.unt.edu/kappelma/prez.htm

Some lighter links:

Here is an overview of DHTML and Cascading Style Sheets to pass on to your company webmasters. These are for use with Version 4.0 browsers:

http://www.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdnu980126007/www.winsources.com/content/0298/feat_web_splash.html

International Data Corporation surveys the Web and states that it has finally reached mass market proportions:

http://www.idcresearch.com/F/HNR/17a.htm

Internet Explorer 4 is still not bug free. Read the latest here:

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19980123S0007

If you use RegClean to keep your Win 95 Registry clean, download this new RegClean version if you use Internet Explorer 4. The old RegClean version causes problems with IE4:

http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Regcln41.exe

BUZZ ME IN! (Part 2)

Words that buzz you into a new job!

In part one we covered the resume and cover letter. Next it is time to focus on your ability to communicate verbally. You need to do the same research for the words in your "interview script" that you have done for your written credentials. I do not mean you should replace your normal vernacular with 10 letter words. I do mean that you choose and use words that best demonstrate your abilities. Let's say you responded to an opportunity that stated "problem solver" as an important characteristic. Your credentials got you the audience and now the interviewer is asking you, face to face, "Can you demonstrate a situation where you were confronted with an unanticipated problem you were able to head off?

The request for this characteristic was in the ad you responded to and even though you may not have specifically addressed this requirement in writing, you must assume something about it will be asked and you need to be prepared to demonstrate your abilities at the interview. You say "Yes, at Smithjones we were going to receive a batch of equipment that was recalled for a part replacement but we didn't really know the full measure of the problem or the timeliness or quantities coming. I got on the phone and called some of the temp agencies that could supply the technical help we might need. Eventually, I located one that said they could get us 1-20 people on short notice and at a price we could live with. He said he had done this before. I called the reference I had asked for and my counterpart at this company backed up his claim. Sure enough, we were deluged. I made the call, the agency came through, and our regular staff hardly felt the effects." Good story! Creative thinking described with words like "timeliness, good price, few negative effects. Buzz words (or buzz phrases, if you prefer).

Lastly, regardless of whether the word you are about to use is for a written or for an oral purpose, you can choose and use the correct one by reviewing the words the company selected to describe the opening. Sometimes you can use their own words to say you have what they want. A better way (in case your reader is the guy who wrote the verbiage and would recognize the phrases) is to use synonyms, but use them at the same level of meaning. "Exceptional communications skills" will not lose impact when stated as "Outstanding communications skills".

There is sort of a rule of thumb you should use when you are choosing specific words for your written or oral presentation. Words which indicate what you have done to make the company money are surefire hot spots. So are words which describe your ability to solve problems or improve performance. In short, the words you want to use are those that demonstrate your value.

Now go out and catch a buzz!

Provided by:
The JobBOARD Surf Shop
http://www.jobsurfshop.com/

Copyright 1998, Barbara Lauter, All Rights Reserved

Barbara Lauter is a career counselor and placement professional at a highly regarded school in Atlanta which offers labor intensive courses in business administration and training in software applications from introduction to advanced levels. Her skill in teaching, through lecture and practical applications, has consistently turned out employment ready people represented by creative, hard-hitting resumes, thoughtful cover letters and the ability to verbally express their skills and their potential to significantly contribute to a company's bottom line. In September, Barbara was awarded an "Excellence in Placement" award by the Metro Atlanta Private Industry Council of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Barbara does individual consulting and will apply her skills and knowledge to reviewing (and revising) your resume, cover letters and interviewing skills. Reach her at 770 640-6689.

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THIS MONTH'S PLUG:

Siva Ramanathan's Lotus Notes Site

http://www.geocities.com/~sisu/

I just recently discovered this outstanding Lotus Notes site. Obviously, the page is a labor of love for Siva. Not too many visitors yet, but the site is highly professional. Many useful links, tips, and tricks.

Please forward this newsletter to colleagues who may have an interest in these topics, or who may wish to subscribe.

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