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| Notable software, unlocked doors and one try at canning spam |
July 14, 2003 |
By Peter Wolchak
Keep one eye on Onenote. I don’t tend to get overly excited about Microsoft software releases. The company makes good stuff but most of its news involves upgrades of mature applications; nothing to write a column about.
An exception is the recent unveiling of Microsoft Onenote. An entirely new application, Onenote records notes: users jot down thoughts using a keyboard or Tablet PC’s touch screen, draw and save doodles, amalgamate data from the Web, e-mail and other sources, record and
annotate conversations, and catalogue information in a searchable format. In appearance the application mimics a spiral-bound notepad.
“Big deal,” some readers will say, “I have Post-its and scrap paper, and note-taking software has been around for a while.”
That’s an understandable reaction, until you see Onenote in action.To see it is to realize it’s a great idea, and well executed. Look for
Onenote in the second half of this year.
To: Canadian execs. Re: you’re at risk.
Back in January I wrote in this space that Canadian corporate honchos were not taking computer security very seriously. Ipsos-Reid
surveyed medium-sized businesses and found almost half had been hit by a virus.
More than 40 per cent of CEOs said defending against attacks was only a moderate priority, and 57 per cent did not plan to initiate
ongoing security assessments.
Well, another survey just came along from the RCMP, the Branham Group and Symantec Canada. (Check out http://www.symantec.ca.) The good news is 73 per cent of surveyed C-level executives indicated investment in security is on the rise. Thank goodness for that. But when asked to rate their own company’s security risk, the average response was a low 3.75 on a one-to-10 scale.
After both surveys, the RCMP division responsible for online crime warned that the frequency and complexity of attacks is increasing. That message has not been embraced by Canadian business leaders.
Take this spam and shove it.Way to go Virginia. The U.S. state recently passed the nation’s toughest legislation aimed at unsolicited e-mail advertisers. It added fines and raised maximum penalties to five years in prison.
Sure, some say the law goes too far and others that it doesn’t go far enough, and this bill may not be the ideal solution, but governments need to get tough with spammers.
In a recent InsightExpress/Symantec poll nearly 53 per cent of Canadians said dealing with spam places a burden on their individual time.
Enough is enough.
Surfing for fun at work? Good for you. A recent study from Ipsos-Reid concluded Canadians with workplace Internet access spend 1.6 billion hours a year surfing the ’net for personal reasons, or about four and a half hours each week.These workers send personal e-mails and surf for news, banking and online shopping.
Interestingly, published reaction to these findings has been almost completely negative: these workers are stealing productive hours from their companies.
This is exactly the wrong conclusion.
Many employers talk about work/life balance even as they ask employees to work longer hours, ferry laptops home and carry cellphones and handhelds out to restaurants and grocery stores.
If companies really care about work/life balance they should actively encourage employees to use corporate ’net access to handle daily chores. They’ll get happier workers who grumble less about occasional overtime requests.
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Why record just the visual when you can capture the sounds as well.
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