Charles Whaley

Articles By Charles Whaley

TechCrunch shows how the blogosphere can help us keep up on innovation

TechCrunch shows how the blogosphere can help us keep up on innovation

I'm not unique in that respect. If you're a software developer, you'll want to know about the latest and greatest programming languages and whether they're significant enough that you should take a course

Published on: March 23rd, 2007 Charles Whaley
Office 2007’s added features may not justify the cost of upgrading

Office 2007’s added features may not justify the cost of upgrading

The office productivity apps - word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software - are so much a core part of the enterprise that it seems difficult to imagine what we ever did without them.And,

Published on: January 12th, 2007 Charles Whaley
Have your cake and eat it, too: Adopt open source software

Have your cake and eat it, too: Adopt open source software

Take a quick look around SourceForge.net and you'll see that the open source movement in software development is alive and well. With more than a million registered users and 100,000-plus-projects, this is no

Published on: December 18th, 2006 Charles Whaley
Technology is growing at an exponential rate, Kurzweil says

Technology is growing at an exponential rate, Kurzweil says

As an IT professional or executive, have you ever felt that technological advances are coming faster than you can keep up with? Apparently, you're not alone.According to the Business Performance Management Institute, just

Published on: December 12th, 2006 Charles Whaley
Not much value can be found in the CIO Value Matrix

Not much value can be found in the CIO Value Matrix

I'm bound to get some criticism over this, but I really believe that IT professionals have some of the worst communication skills I've encountered anywhere. So, when I see any attempts from consultants

Published on: October 6th, 2006 Charles Whaley
Americans get a crash course on selling to Canadians

Americans get a crash course on selling to Canadians

It's well known that the Canadian dollar has been in the US$0.90 range for quite some time now. Manufacturers (including those in our own IT sector) are naturally bewailing this, since it makes

Published on: July 13th, 2006 Charles Whaley
The concept of the paperless office still lives on at Microsoft

The concept of the paperless office still lives on at Microsoft

Is it still part of the IT department's mission to create the paperless office? I thought people acknowledged the futility of that objective years ago. Apparently, not - at least not at Microsoft.I

Published on: June 2nd, 2006 Charles Whaley
Behind the eight ball of productivity in the enterprise

Behind the eight ball of productivity in the enterprise

I came across an interesting quote in a U.S.-based computer magazine recently: “The enterprise is always the last to adopt new technology.” It came from Greg Raleigh, CEO of Airgo Networks. Raleigh invented

Published on: May 30th, 2006 Charles Whaley
Apple gets its groove on with tunes and a new bag of chip tricks

Apple gets its groove on with tunes and a new bag of chip tricks

I have to wonder what Michael Dell thinks, when he flips on his TV and sees the Intel ad, announcing the chipmaker's foray into the Apple market:“The Intel chip. For years it's been

Published on: March 22nd, 2006 Charles Whaley
Taking stock of the Canadian IT industry – and it’s not pretty

Taking stock of the Canadian IT industry – and it’s not pretty

Let's launch my first column of 2006 on a sour note - with hope that things can only get sweeter from here.Conventional investing wisdom suggests that you should have an advantage by investing

Published on: February 20th, 2006 Charles Whaley
The Google mystique: An exploration of the modern Cracker Jack box

The Google mystique: An exploration of the modern Cracker Jack box

Try this experiment: Go to Google (www.google.com), type in “failure” in the search box, then click “I’m Feeling Lucky” instead of the “Google Search” button. The page that comes up for me as

Published on: December 7th, 2005 Charles Whaley
Don’t believe the hype — even if it comes straight from my keyboard

Don’t believe the hype — even if it comes straight from my keyboard

I have a confession to make. I’ve been over-hyping a number of Web-based technologies that I think have amazing potential — specifically blogs and podcasting. I was about to add RSS feeds to

Published on: October 20th, 2005 Charles Whaley
Security companies might be messing with IT managers’ minds

Security companies might be messing with IT managers’ minds

Psychology is defined quite simply as ""the science of human behaviour."" It's the study of the causes of what we do in everyday life. Recently I was asked to don my ""behavioral scientist""

Published on: January 19th, 2005 Charles Whaley
A numbers game: Analysing the health of the Canadian IT sector

A numbers game: Analysing the health of the Canadian IT sector

Let me share some of the confusing statistics surrounding the health of the Canadian IT sector that make it difficult to effectively diagnose the patient. First, in a report issued in September, Industry

Published on: November 22nd, 2004 Charles Whaley
Product Development 101: Functionality before fluff

Product Development 101: Functionality before fluff

I've been writing off and on about the apparent flattening or decline in IT spending by corporations for at least five years. That's well beyond what might be called a cyclical downturn. It's

Published on: September 30th, 2004 Charles Whaley