Mari-Len De Guzman

With the Anti-Spyware Coalition's (ASC) final definitions of spyware in place, public interest advocacy groups have wasted no time in their quest to put malicious spyware distributors out of business. Two advocacy groups in Canada and the US have been particularly active in this struggle against spyware.

Think of it as your own personal Web site, containing customized Web and search services that allow you to retain your preferences and log on to an always fresh and up-to-date page. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. is calling it Windows Live, an Internet-based software service that the company claims exemplifies the seamless integration of software, hardware and services for a satisfying user experience. That's how Bill Gates positioned the offering.

If you think using pirated software could not possibly harm your business, think again. According to Symantec Corporation, besides adversely affecting the revenue of legitimate vendors, counterfeit software may contain viruses or malicious code that damage user systems.

When end-users are involved in major IT decision-making from the beginning, IT projects are bound to succeed. That is the principle that Mississauga, Ont.-based Trillium Health Centre adopted when it embarked on a seven-year, $100-million IT restructuring project dubbed, Transforming Healthcare into Integrated Networks of Knowledge (THINK).

Sun launched its newest series of Sun Fire x64 servers, which the company says provide exceptional performance, reliability and energy efficiency. Earlier this month, Sun announced the availability of the new Sun Fire x64 multi-core servers

IBM Corp. has spearheaded a consortium of storage industry players to form an open source storage community, which the company described as a "major milestone" for the storage market. But the list of members is missing the top three vendors in the storage space: EMC Corp., Symantec (formerly Veritas) and Hewlett Packard (HP).

With the launch of its new Microsoft SQL Server 2005 in November, Microsoft Corp. hopes to boost its market share and finally confront its major competitors head on, in the high-end, multi-functional database business. SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006 will officially launch on November 7.

It was an e-mail borne out of frustration, and its message could be summarized in a four-letter word: HELP. The e-mail came from Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie, head of the Toronto police force's child exploitation section, and it detailed how the Internet was being used as a tool for child exploitation, victimizing children worldwide. He asked if there was anything technology could do to help law enforcement stop these crimes against children. The e-mail was sent to Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates.