I have been working on my end of year performance appraisal to hand to the boss for signoff, a practice I've developed to ensure a better rating. However, it's forced me to reflect on what I've achieved this year and why that list is so short. Indeed, my time as a CIO has been not so much a stellar career as terrestrial - that is, one that never got off the ground. If I had the chance to do it all again, I'd correct my mistakes and be a successful CEO.
And it turns out I can because opportunity does knock twice in life thanks to Second Life.
It's good to know that even in virtual worlds, the Haves perpetuate the class system against the Have-Nots when resources are constrained
Second Life (SL) is an online world where people live virtual lives, buy land, go shopping, conduct business and virtually have affairs, but with real money. Sure, it means these people spend all their time cooped up in a room only interacting with a computer, but that pretty much describes my First Life. This was the first of many parallels I found between First Life and Second Life.
The first step in SL is to create a character (called an avatar) which means starting with a name. The surname is not a free choice, but then I didn't get a choice of my name in First Life either. I selected Troglodyte (people who lived in caves, so not dissimilar to IT people in data centres) from the list of 50 or so names on offer. I gave him the first name of Truly, a name not used in literature for over 40 years. Bonus points if you can name the book (by Ian Fleming) with a character of that name.
My character needed a password to log in. Second Life rated my password as weak in big red letters, suggesting I change it. Just like First Life, I left it weak.
For my avatar's appearance, I chose the one that looked most like a geeky computer nerd. SL calls that appearance City Chic, so perhaps in the online world, geeks are groovy now. Lastly I had to agree to the Terms of Service - all 7402 words of them. That's still 2000 words shorter than the Ts&Cs in Office 2007, and given SL is all of life, not just a single office, I suppose that's reasonable.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Data grids and service-oriented architecture
Refresh your AUP: Top tips to ensure your acceptable use policy is fit for purpose
How to improve employee productivity in small and medium businesses
IT Service Management Needs and Adoption Trends: An Analysis of a Global Survey of IT Executives
CRM your salespeople will love
The state of Middleware
Email Archiving 101—Customer Case Study
Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy
Zones provide focussed content from CIO and leading technology partners.- White PaperYour organisation may well have devised and implemented an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) some time ago in order to guard against the risks of inappropriate use of computer systems by your workers, but are you confident that your AUP remains 'fit for purpose'? Read on to discover how you can enhance the effectiveness of your AUP.
- White PaperJoin Ed Thompson, Research VP, featured analyst firm, Gartner, Inc., and Brad Wilson, General Manager CRM Microsoft Dynamics, for a new webcast, Delivering the Power of Choice with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, available now. Our panel will break down the best practices for getting the most out of CRM and you'll learn key recommendations you can implement in your organization. Additionally, you'll also hear Microsoft's vision for CRM.
- White PaperJoin Lee Benjamin, a Microsoft Exchange MVP and Ryan Shipkowski, network administrator for Matthews, to discuss the process and ROI of implementing an email archiving solution, with emphasis on a case study from Matthews International.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
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CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
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Data breaches rose sharply in 2008, says study 08 January, 2009 08:27:00
More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.More than 35 million data records were breached in 2008 in the U.S., a figure that underscores continuing difficulties in securing information, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). - +
Rogue SSL certificate exploit puts VeriSign on the spot 07 January, 2009 11:04:00
Wishes "white hat" researchers had notified VeriSign before public demo.Following the success of researchers last week in creating a false SSL certificate based on VeriSign's RapidSSL brand, the company is scrambling to explain how it happened, how it's preventing it from reoccurring, and whether its other SSL certificate-generation services are at risk. - +
With Gaza conflict, cyberattacks come too 05 January, 2009 08:03:00
Pro-Palestinian hackers have defaced thousands of sites following attacks in Gaza.The conflict raging in Gaza between Israel and Palestine has spilled over to the Internet. - +
5 ways to secure your Blackberry 18 December, 2008 12:58:00
What do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your handsWhat do Tom Cruise and the McCain campaign have in common? They have both been bitten by the loss of a Blackberry. Mobile expert Dan Hoffman gives advice on how to keep your cherished mobile device safe, even if it's out of your hands. - +
Wireless VPNs: Protecting the wireless wanderer 18 December, 2008 11:04:00
Employees sipping café Java over their wireless laptops may think a VPN makes them safe and secure. With careful configuration, there's some chance they're rightEmployees sipping café Java over their wireless laptops may think a VPN makes them safe and secure. With careful configuration, there's some chance they're right.
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Research software developer appoints Susan Dart to new Business Development Director role 08 January, 2009 09:08:00
Anyware Introduce Two Powerful PCI TV Tuner Cards with S5 Power Up and Windows Media Center Remote 07 January, 2009 17:30:00
Fortinet Cures Mobile Phone “Curse of Silence/CurseSMS” Attack 07 January, 2009 16:30:00
SEAGATE SHIPS DESKTOP HARD DRIVE WITH WORLD’S HIGHEST AREAL DENSITY – 500GB PER DISK 06 January, 2009 15:34:00
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Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Enterprise Planning
No matter how good its products or innovative its services, no organization can perform to its full potential without an adequate planning structure in place. Discover how this can be done by reading on.
