Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close
Everything that matters: Exploring what's most important in IT today
And what doesn't matter See all articles See all articles

What doesn't matter in IT anymore

Enough about what matters, here's what doesn't, or won't by the time we hit 2009 -- from A to Z.
By Paul McNamara , Network World , 12/20/2007

A … Apple in the enterprise, still. A few Macs for those temperamental artists, a couple of iPhones for the suits. Done. … Also AOL, not that it ever mattered to me, but you know AOL has drifted from this mortal coil when its gossip site, TMZ.com, tries to besmirch the good name of Marie Osmond by alleging that she staged her infamous fainting spell. The nerve.


See our slideshow of what matters least.


B … Ballmer bombast about pretty much anything, but especially Google, does not matter. ... Also, blog critics, who as a group have become unbearably tedious in addition to being demonstrably wrong about the importance of these personalized soapboxes.

C … Civil liberties — on the phone, the Internet, even real life — won't matter again until Jan. 20, 2009, at the earliest, depending on what happens Nov. 4, 2008. … Also, Cuban, Mark, who's worn out his welcome as a dancer and blogger; and the compact disc, which having turned 25 in 2007 is circling the drain. 

D … Digital rights management and DSL don't matter, the former being an exercise in futility and the latter being technological fish wrapper.

E … E-cards, e-petitions and e-voting: Don't dare open the first, don't bother signing the second, and don't ever trust the third

F … Fake Steve Jobs was very funny, but he's over; the country yearns for a new fake celebrity executive

G … Green IT, at least in the tree-hugging sense; c'mon people, it's all about cutting costs, not saving the planet, so let's come up with a more honest buzzword.

H … HTTP, at least the version we've all come to know and love, as the uber-geeks at the IETF are busily plotting an upgrade if not an overthrow

I … IPv4 and IPv6. The former doesn't matter because, as everyone should know by now, address space is running dry. The latter doesn't matter because no one seems anxious to spend big bucks on it. Anyone want to rally around IPv5? … Also, ICANN, a perennial; and, the Ideal Digital Kitchen from the Internet Home Alliance, because no one needs a "recipe projection system." 

J … The Justice Department's opinion on network neutrality matters in much the same way that its take on country music would: not at all.

K … Kumar, Sanjay, one-time CA CEO, now doing time for cooking the books

L … Land lines, with a quarter of under-30s going cell only, it's only a matter of when they won't matter

M … Marketing blogs because, well, they're marketing blogs.

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed

Whitepapers

File Integrity Monitoring: Secure Your Virtual and Physical IT Environments

Discover the capabilities your file integrity monitoring solution should have to effectively secure...

Realizing the Potential of User-Generated and Social Networking

Can communication service providers (CSPs) leverage Web 2.0 services and create new service...

Digital Asset Management Strategy

The reality of Dramatically changing media landscape, has created awareness within the media and...

Webcasts

PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE Market

The standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Intelligent Mobility: BlackBerry Technical Seminar 2008

The virtual BlackBerry Technical Seminar keeps growing in popularity every year, and we want to...

Harnessing the power of communications to increase workplace performance

Due to the convergence of IT and telecommunications technologies, the business workplace has been...

Special Reports

Ethernet Services: WAN options mature

WAN Ethernet services are reliable, cost-efficient offerings that are widely available and in a...

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library. Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.