OSDL fires staff to help it focus
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CEO quits to collaborate Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has declared a change in priorities, deciding to focus less on employment and more on legal issues.â¦
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In a clear sign that last year's restructuring of Linux' principal Open Source Development Labs hasn't yet stopped, another nine of the group's 29 full-time employees were let go. Following them will be the group's CEO, Stuart Cohen, who told reporters today the purpose of his leaving is unrelated.
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TechWeb - The server system is aimed at organizations with 50 to 300 employees.
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Its goal is to reduce the time office staff spends compiling and preparing information for directors to make decisions.
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Microsoft's new reorganization splits responsibility for its online offerings between four executives, most of whom also are responsible for parts of the Windows operating system. That resembles the complex organization at Yahoo, which bred the infighting and paralysis, that many Yahoo employees blame for its ills.
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Software maker expected to make leadership changes in Windows and online services units. Two prominent outside hires are expected to be looking for new opportunities.
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com November 17, 2004, 2:22 PM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories for several months, but for many IT managers, ERP (enterprise resource planning
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Irish Ferries has commenced laying off staff as a result of today&#39;s strike by ships officers belonging to SIPTU. It is understood that all ratings have been sent home with the exception of those required for emergency cover on the boats.
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com November 29, 2004, 4:35 PM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories for several months, but for many IT managers, ERP (enterprise resource planning
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ENGINEERS were today tackling a massive computer failure which has caused chaos at the Department for Work and Pensions. Up to 80 per cent of the ministryâs systems for processing millions of pension and benefit payments collapsed on Monday.
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Several key executives in that group were fired during the quarter following a botched order-processing system migration. HP CEO Carly Fiorina said the problems with the system have been resolved.
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Internet management groups seeks comment on dealing with domain registrars after recent RegisterFly debacle.
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(InfoWorld) - Less than two years after its last major reorganization, AOLÂ  is again redrawing its internal business architecture to better align it with its new strategy toÂ focus on online advertisingÂ and retreat from the Internet access market. In an e-mail message to employees Wednesday, AOL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Miller said AOL's four business units -- Access, Audience, Digital Services and Europe -- will be replaced by "smaller, nimbler product groups with more authority and greater accountability." AOL must become a global business led fully by its products, he wrote. "We made progress breaking down the matrix, but we did not, in my opinion, go far enough. Now we will go further," reads the e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by IDG News Service. While product leaders will become general managers with wide-ranging authority over product development, the ad sales operation will remain centralized, as will the legal, human resources, finance and public relations operations. Having companywide oversight and services is important, he wrote. "The recent Search data debacle is a prime example of why, even with the best of intentions, without proper oversight, costly mistakes can be made," Miller wrote, referring to the scandal that erupted last month from AOL's release of search engine records. Although the reorganization is in flux, Miller has defined several roles. Randy Boe has been entrusted with a unit dedicated to AOL's protection of consumers, and he will soon appoint AOL's first chief privacy officer. Boe's replacement as general counsel will be announced next week. There is no mention in the e-mail about what role, if any, Tatiana Platt, AOL's senior vice president of integrity assurance and chief trust officer, will play in this unit led by Boe. Boe will report to Ted Leonsis. A high-ranking AOL veteran of 13 years, Leonsis willÂ give up his day-to-day management dutiesÂ as president of the Audience business in January, while retaining his role of vice chairman, AOL announced last week. Joe Redling will be in charge of AOL's international, mobile and customer relations businesses. AOL needs to boost its international business and will announce a new international structure "soon", Miller wrote. Mobile efforts also need strengthening, because it's an area where the company hasn't had enough focus and investment, Miller wrote. Jim Bankoff will continue in charge of AOL's programming and the AIM instant messaging service, while Kevin Conroy will oversee AOL-branded products such as the AOL.com portal, Web mail service and video offerings. Mike Kelly will continue to run the ad sales operation. These four executives will provide further organizational details about their teams in coming weeks. Last month, AOL announced its intention toÂ slash as many as 5,000 jobs worldwide, or just over a quarter of its workforce, anticipating the shrinkage of its access business.
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com December 1, 2004, 10:19 AM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been enterprise directories for several months, but for many IT managers, ERP (enterprise resource planning
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More and more open-source developers these days are employees of companies, paid to work on open-source projects, rather than independent programmers doing it for fun. The change raises issues for projects, programmers and employers alike.A number of corporations are moving into the free software arena, and this has resulted in legions of programmers, paid by companies, moving into free software communities, Simon Phipps, chief open source officer at Sun Microsystems said Friday at FOSS.IN, a conference on free and open-source software in Bangalore, India.This development has thrown up questions about how open-source developers on corporate payrolls can protect their freedom and rights from the demands of their employers, and resist corporate influences that may run counter to the free software community&#39;s interests.At the conference, an employee of an Indian government lab complained that his employment rules require him to turn in to the company any software developed by him, including what is done outside office hours.In this context, Danese Cooper, a member of the board of directors of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), who also advises Intel on its open source strategy, dedicated an entire session Friday at the FOSS.IN conference to outlining strategies employees can use to protect their autonomy from the &quot;corporate elephant&quot; that is both powerful and resistant to change.Historically, companies claimed rights to any software code written by their employees, but there are some changes, for example in California where employee agreements now allow the employee to retain the right to his work outside office hours, according to Cooper.&quot;Corporations are profit-driven, and are required to do well for their shareholders,&quot; Cooper said. To make profits, companies are going to shift their strategies quarterly, and employees may often find that projects they work on are cancelled, she said.&quot;Companies tend to like to think of their employees as interchangeable plug-ins, that can be renewed in different jobs,&quot; according to Cooper who added that this perception is slowly shifting as companies find that they are losing their employees.Companies also tend to want to manage open source projects, rather than facilitate them, to serve their business objectives, Cooper said. They demand, for example, that their staff work on open-source projects that are of interest to the company. Companies have created a pattern of working that lets them predict how much it is going to cost to do, and when it is going to get done, and though they have to change, it is taking them time to do it, she added.It is a lot harder to make money from offering support on open source software than from licensing software, according to Cooper. That is the reason employees should watch out for companies that have only halfheartedly embraced open source, she said. &quot;You see that specially in companies that throw code over the wall without any resource tree,&quot; she added.&quot;The open-source brand has become so powerful that people are trying to wear the brand, without wearing the behavior that goes with it,&quot; Phipps said.Employees are also likely to get caught up in ownership fights on contributions, on whether the contribution should be recognized on behalf of the employee, or the company. Even when employee contributions are recognized, it may be a figurehead rather than all the contributors that are recognized, Cooper said.The best path ahead for open source developers is to get more assertive when identifying the companies they would like to work with, and in negotiating agreements with companies that protect their rights.Employees should assert, for example, the right to blog and continue to participate in the projects they have been involved with, because these activities give them visibility beyond the company they work with, and also helps them if there is a dispute with an employer, Cooper said. &quot;Having a well-read blog is the best defense you can have against any problems you may encounter,&quot; she added.
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Staff at the United Kingdom's Department for Work and Pensions were unable to use their PCs this week after a routine software upgrade knocked out 80 percent of the computers in the sprawling department.
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The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux in the enterprise, today announced the creation of a Open Source Software Licensing &amp; Legal education track at its upcoming Enterprise Linux