Messaging and groupware is at the heart of business and applications most people use everyday. While the big names like Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and Google Apps are increasing their influence, enterprises have several viable open source options. Of course, there plenty of complaints about the quirks and complications of the bi- name groupware suites so perhaps it’s time to give the lesser-known options a try. In this installment of 5 open source things to watch, we take a look at open source groupware suites which can communicate without costing the farm.

I picked up my first Android phone at the beginning of this year — the Google Nexus One. Prior to that I had been a BlackBerry user and the IT organisations I managed all ran BES servers and only supported BlackBerry devices so the transition to the Nexus One was quite a significant one.

In 1950 Bell Labs researcher, Richard W Hamming, made a discovery that would lay an important foundation for the entire modern computing and communications industries. He had invented a code for correcting errors in communication and the Hamming code was born. CIO Blast from the Past takes a journey through 60 years of information theory and discovers how the Hamming code legacy lives on today.

In an uncharacteristically public way, Google has acknowledged modifying its search engine so it can identify businesses that provide bad service and lower their search results rankings accordingly.

Google has dived back into hardware, formally announcing its second smartphone, the Nexus S for US and UK consumers.

WikiLeaks' main website could not be accessed on Friday through its WikiLeaks.org domain name after a subsidiary of Dynamic Network Services terminated its domain name service.

If your help desk software is giving you trouble, there are some open source options available. In this part of CIO's five open source applications to watch we take a look at help desk software, which is the basis of incident response and IT service delivery.

Collecting money from customers should be the easy part of your business, but a contrary billing system can make life unnecessarily difficult for CIOs. In this edition of 5 open source products to watch, we take a look at billing systems. They’re open source, Web-based and can be extended and integrated to suit specific needs.

One of the critical factors for project success is having a well-developed project plan.

As CIOs battle the influx of tablet devices in the workplace, deliberation over enterprise adoption strategies is on the rise.

Victoria’s failed smart meter rollout has prompted a radical shift in the way that smart grids are viewed by the energy sector, according to Logica.

Business intelligence (BI) is frequently among the top prioroties for CIOs and finding the right software to do the job is always a challenge. Cloud-based software may be all the rage, but CIOs must still manage in-house information and make better use of it through analytics and reporting tools. The big four software companies have all made strategic investments in the BI space over recent years and the options have dimnished, but there are alternative tools popping up and snatching a lot of customers in the process. This installment of '5 open source things to watch' is all about BI that doesn't scar the annual report.

Don’t wait for the New Year - start looking for a new job now - is the recommendation of one recruitment agency which predicts a soft market in 2011.

Whatever the incarnation, Enterprise Resource Planning is at the heart of every business with the world’s largest software companies are all clamouring for a piece of the action. The big vendors may scoff at the idea of an open source ERP suite, but given the success rate of traditional ERP projects, CIOs could do worse than take a look at free options. In this edition of 5 open source things to watch, we take a look at ERP suites where the barrier to entry – for testing, at least – is on the small side.

WikiLeaks has asked the Web community to open mirror sites so it cannot be downed or censored and said Monday that 355 new sites are already up.

Vendors and delegates were out in force for AusCERT 2013 on the Gold Coast. Here's a roundup of some of the action.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione today issued a warning on the potential for 3D printed guns to be used in serious crimes in the state.

Strong executive desire to use iPhones led the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to start looking for solutions that would separate government from personal information.

The annual AusCERT gala awards night kicked off with fireworks as the organisation celebrated its 20th birthday. Guests enjoyed entertainment from comedian Adam Spencer while taking the chance to network.

Fireworks lit up the sky as the AusCERT organisation kicked off its 20th birthday to coincide with the annual awards night.

The ASX Group should work on its communication skills with the market during technological outages, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said in a report released today.

Amazon will officially sell its Kindle Fire HD 8.9" and Kindle Fire HD tablets in Australia from next month.

CIOs gathered at O Bar & Dining in Sydney to discuss how to benefit from cloud computing without losing control, sponsored by CSC.

Manuel Araoz, a 23-year-old developer in Argentina, has an idea for Bitcoin that doesn't focus on money.

Yahoo has acquired PlayerScale, a startup developer of infrastructure software for cross-platform gaming, adding to its string of recent acquisitions.

Reddit is not just filled with pictures of cats and silly memes. Seriously. There's a lot of good content on the popular social news aggregator for network professionals whether you're focused on security, Windows, VoIP, IPv6 or a mixed bag.

Microsoft brushed off a dubious hacker's claim on Thursday that he stole 47 million account credentials for Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service.

Intel's upcoming family of Core processors, code-named Haswell, will offer 50 percent more battery life in laptops than did their "Ivy Bridge" predecessors, Intel said on Thursday.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has turned down a request for a ban on Microsoft's Xbox after finding that the gaming device did not infringe a patent owned by Google's Motorola Mobility unit.

Google has released a beta version of Chrome that introduces what the company describes as "richer" notifications from the browser's apps and extensions.