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Linda Musthaler

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By Linda Musthaler

Musthaler is a principal analyst at Essential Solutions Corporation. E-mail her

Exam preparation can put your career at risk
08/26/08
Would you compromise your personal integrity for $80? How about risk your IT career for $200?
Don't give this pig a pancake
06/30/08
In the past week, my PC has turned into a very hungry pig. My story is anything but a cute bedtime story for kids, but there's got to be a lesson here somewhere.
Is it time to abandon credit card payments and go back to cash?
05/13/08
About two years ago, I had a conversation with a family member about his Stone Age practice of using cash and checks for almost every purchase. He admitted to owning just one credit card and no ATM or debit card, and he didn’t even know about online banking.
Socializing with 8,000 friends a day
03/11/08
There’s an old quote attributed to baseball great Yogi Berra, referring to a popular restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.” I’m beginning to think the same is true of some of the IT applications and services we use. Or make that, used to use.
Facebook fiasco highlights privacy concerns
01/03/08
I’ve never been a fan of social networking sites. I don’t use LinkedIn, MySpace or Facebook, or other services that offer to share my information with a circle of my “online friends.” The main reason I’ve avoided these services is that I’ve always been leery of how the companies who run the services might use or otherwise fail to protect my private information. I’ve been expressing my skepticism for years, ever since I came out against Plaxo in 2004.
Employee privacy is collateral damage
11/27/07
I have a friend who works for a large company, and he’s quite a jokester. He loves to send off-color jokes to his closest friends. I recently cautioned him about doing this from work, telling him he could get himself in trouble with his employer.
IT on a shoestring
09/18/07
A few weeks ago, Howard Anderson wrote a column titled, 'The life of a CIO: It's not pretty' in which he used the example of his friend Gomez (not his real name), the CIO of a large company. If the job Gomez has is not pretty, then it must be downright ugly to be the CIO of a large nonprofit organization (NPO).
The iPhone: Just say no
07/24/07
At long last, the Apple iPhone has shipped, and more than a half-million of the hybrid phone/entertainment devices are in the wild after a sell-out first weekend of sales. More are on the way, as the invasion has begun. The question is, how long until the iPhone invades your network?
Broadband policy is vital to U.S. economic future
05/23/07
I’m a member of an elite class in America. Chances are good that you are, too. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one-third of all Americans belong to a class called “the highly wired, broadband elite.” That simply means that I have broadband Internet access in my home and I use that access for a variety of activities. Does that make me elite? Hardly. In fact, I find the moniker — and what it says about the United States — depressing.
Losing confidence in IT security
03/28/07
Worldwide stock markets recently took a dive, some losing as much as 8% of their value overnight. Experts mostly blame the drop on loss of investor confidence rather than any underlying long-term problem. Confidence plays such a huge role in business and, indeed, in the whole global economy. That's understandable, given that we're still living in the shadow of specters such as Enron, WorldCom and a host of other companies that were perched on a house of cards. People are still jittery when a problem comes to light.
The graying of the IT workforce
02/12/07
When I went to an IT technical conference recently, the first thing that struck me was how old the attendees were. Most seemed to be men and women in their 40s, 50s and even 60s. Baby boomers at their best - what I used to call "gray hairs" before I became one of them.
'Hammer and nails' approach to vendor ties
11/24/06
I just finished reading a McKinsey & Co. report that made me feel like I should be seeing rainbows and hearing choirs of angels singing. The 2005 report "Building stronger IT vendor relationships" is part of McKinsey's Innovations in IT Management series. While I agree with the concepts the report espouses, I have my doubts about real-world implementation.
How social engineering sinks security
10/09/06
The last time you went to a computer industry trade show, you probably picked up a few trinkets handed out by vendors: pens, mugs, stress balls. What if a vendor offered you a handy little 1GB thumb drive if you agreed to watch a 10-minute demo? Would you take it home and use it? Heck, yeah!
Recruiting solution: invest in U.S. workers
08/14/06
Although I didn't attend C3 Expo this year, I read that Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik gave a keynote speech in which he made some comments that have left me a little miffed. If he did make the remarks, I would hope that, because he is a leader, Szulik is willing to offer solutions to the problems he cited, rather than simply moan about the way things are.
Skilled-worker shortage: fact or fiction?
06/26/06
For several years we've been reading news stories about the impending shortage of skilled IT workers. The predictions have been fairly dire: As baby boomers retire and fewer young people join the IT workforce, hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs will go unfilled. ... Baloney!
Porn purveyors may be in the next cubicle
05/01/06
For most employees, it's enough to tell them that company policy forbids them from visiting porn Web sites at work. Other employees need to have a message saying, "This content is blocked," to remind them not to go there. A few need reprimand or dismissal if they persist, especially if the activity is illegal and not just immoral.
The Great Firewall of China
02/27/06
China is an essential business market. It seems to me that the U.S. government should be looking for ways to help foster fair trade and good business practices so that our companies can compete fairly. As for the charges of human rights violations, let's let the State Department work on those issues and leave the technology providers out of it.
Free software: It all 'ads' up
12/19/05
I can see it now: I'm in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation to a potential client. Just as I get to the part where I am explaining the true value of my proposal, up pops an advertisement for a feminine hygiene product.
Banking on two-step authentication
11/07/05
Our society is becoming more tech-savvy, and I don't think our financial institutions give us enough credit when they say we don't want solutions such as these because they're too complicated. Not only should we want two-step authentication, we should demand it or take our business elsewhere.
Reconsidering the IBM-Lenovo deal
08/29/05
I always thought the economics of this sale made sense. Now I've come around to thinking that freeing PCD from the clutches of IBM might be good for the PC market, as well as for Lenovo.
Get used to competing for jobs
07/04/05
In a country with a population of more than 1 billion, it's understandable why Indian students are intent on preparing for success in the business world. American students, I fear, don't feel that same sense of urgency.
E-mail snooping: A smart strategy
05/09/05
In a country with a population of more than 1 billion, it's understandable why Indian students are intent on preparing for success in the business world. American students, I fear, don't feel that same sense of urgency.
The IT oath: First, do no harm
03/14/05
IT professionals must make sure their business colleagues have what they need to do their jobs. It might be access to e-mail, business applications, instant messaging, Web sites or any number of other computer-based resources. Any interruption or change to these services has to be considered not only for technical merit but also for how it affects the user community. Workers cannot be left hanging.
IBM PC sale makes sense
01/24/05
Sadly, it's a sign of the times that PCs have reached commodity status, and IBM's sale of its PC business is just part of the industry life cycle. But it's better to get out now before losing another billion dollars.
IT gets down and dirty
11/08/04
Now that the 2004 elections are history, one would think the mudslinging, name-calling and negative ads would stop. Instead, it seems that businesses have been inspired by politicians to use these same tactics to scare and intimidate customers. There's a fair amount of mud and FUD being slung around the IT industry.

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