To put it politely, the burgeoning use of e-mail is resulting in disruptive records management challenges for federal agencies.

Now that Microsoft has successfully lobbied to get its Office Open XML document format approved as an international standard by the ISO, it should put just as much effort into showing IT managers that it will offer value beyond attracting the interest of government customers.

The team has been chosen for the 2020 Summit. When Canberra plays host to 1000 participants on April 19 and 20, the ICT industry (our industry), will be represented by a mere handful of people.

A wide ranging review of Australia's national innovation system has been launched by Senator Kim Carr, the Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science, and Research. The review will be conducted by an expert panel chaired by Dr. Terry Cutler.

The Internet was defined in 1974, but, in 1995, Bill Gates wrote a book called 'The Road Ahead' and failed to mention how it would transform our lives. Similarly, Informational Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) first saw light of day in the UK in the mid 1980s. Today there is hardly a serious CIO who has not embraced this set of concepts and techniques for managing IT infrastructure, development and operations. However, it has taken a long time to gain traction and is only now gaining significant support in the US.

Microsoft quietly got its proposed Office Open XML format through two European standards bodies. A member of the Free Software Foundation Europe looks at the low-profile process that made it happen.

I'm actually beginning to picture a day when users start to ask their IT departments why they can't run Ubuntu Linux at work, the way they do at home.

These days, consumers are demanding more energy efficient household appliances. Whether it is cleaner home entertainment systems or air-conditioners that no longer resemble the energy guzzlers of yore, "green technology" is the catchphrase of the moment. Unsurprisingly, manufacturers and governments seem to be responding with initiatives such as the fridge star rating system, the phosphorescent lights campaign and by making environmentally friendly computers more readily available.

Could the about-to-be appointed chief of the federal government's Access Card project be the highest paid tech professional in the public sector?

Why are leadership books so popular? Because leadership -- great leadership -- is rare today. Sadly, this is true nowhere more than in the IT industry.

This US government CIO swore he would stay away from turnarounds - until he was offered the opportunity to revamp the way the residents of his state obtain health services. It was a challenge he couldn't resist.