AMD gets ready for Barcelona launch

By Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) is getting ready to launch Barcelona, its first quad-core server chip.

A successful Barcelona launch, expected to happen during the third quarter, is critical for AMD, which has seen its share of the server market battered in recent quarters by Intel Corp. Those market-share losses came with a heavy price, dragging AMD's finances into the red. In April, the company announced a US$611 million loss, largely attributed to tougher competition and a price war with Intel.

To stem these losses, AMD has cut discretionary spending but executives are counting on Barcelona to restore its financial health and turn the tables on its archrival.

Kevin Knox, the vice president of AMD's commercial business, recently sat down with IDG News Service to discuss preparations for Barcelona's upcoming launch. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation.

The rise and fall of the 'enterprise' class distinction

By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

For as long as I can remember, there has been a distinction drawn in this industry between IT that is suitable for use within an enterprise and IT that is not suitable for use within an enterprise.

In my formative years learning my trade the word 'enterprise' applied to things like Cobol, mini-computers and line printers. The word 'hobbyist' or 'home' was applied to things like the Basic programming language, Apple computers and floppy disks.

Read the full article here.

Climbing The Cognitive Wall: Human barriers to progress in IT

By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

As time goes by, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the all-too-binary phrase "hardware and software". I find it much more satisfying - and more representative of reality - to use the tertiary phrase "hardware, software and wetware". The "wetware" bit provides suitably elevated recognition of the vital part that human-power (and human-weakness) plays in making all this IT stuff work (or not work) in the modern world.

Read the full article here.

Google and Privacy

By Dan Blacharski, ITworld.com

Any company that proclaims that "do no evil" in its corporate motto is just asking to be knocked off its self-appointed pedestal. As I've said before in this space, the "do no evil" motto is nothing more than a marketing slogan, and Google is no more or less prone to doing evil than any other Web company. But of course, Google's holier-than-thou motto has evoked just the results that one would expect, and Privacy International has taken a swing at the company in its recent report, "A Race to the Bottom-Privacy Ranking of Internet Service Companies." The research group ranked Google at the very bottom of its ranking of companies' privacy practices.

Read the full article here.

The Grand Unifying Theory of Enterprise Computing: 2.0

By Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

Standing here in 2007, one thing is abundantly clear. Anything worthy of attention must have a "2.0" tacked on the end of it. I hate to be left out of such trends so now is my time to make a contribution to the meme.

Read the full article here.

Automating programmers

By James Gaskin, ITworld.com

Too many companies have become software developers by accident. A program here, a program there, and HR puts an ad out for a developer. Suddenly deadlines are issued and just as quickly missed, and servers groan under multiple compilation jobs.

Before your company gets buried by disorganized groups of programmers tweaking scripts to gather modules scattered across the network for a nightly code build, get organized.

Read the full article here

Interview: The Connexions Project, Joel Thierstein, Executive Director

Joel Thierstein, Associate Provost, Rice University, and Executive Director of the Connexions Project, discusses Connexions, a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Connexions is a free resource and is currently being used by a wide assortment of people and organizations - including Teachers without Borders.

Read or listen to the interview here.

Interview: Rick Stevens, Argonne National Laboratory

Rick Stevens is an internationally recognized expert who helps drive the national agenda on computing. Here he discusses the IT technology trajectory, climate modeling, microbial pathogens and petascale computing.

Interview: Ryan North, Project Wonderful

Ryan North, creator and author of the popular web comic, Dinosaur Comics, discusses his latest passion, Project Wonderful, a new ad auction service that sells advertising based on time instead of clicks.

Read or listen to the interview here.