OnStar Takes Voice XML for Drive

GM unit prepares for mobile content delivery.

Sliwa, Carol. ComputerWorld. Articles>User Interface>XML>Voice

The Real Value in Sarbanes-Oxley

Companies are finding unexpected business and IT benefits in compliance.

Melymuka, Kathleen. ComputerWorld (2006). Articles>Documentation>Legislation>Workplace

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: Five Lessons to Reduce Cost and Effort

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires every publicly traded company, large or small, to establish internal controls and procedures for reliable financial reporting. Although the Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the deadline for small businesses and foreign entities, these organizations need to begin planning. But as they do so, they can apply valuable lessons learned by large businesses that paved the way to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (and spent on average of $10 million to do so). Here are the top five lessons learned that will help you reduce the cost and level of effort for achieving compliance.

Nelson, Adam. ComputerWorld (2006). Articles>Documentation>Legislation>Workplace

It's Possible to Ditch Microsoft Office

Is today's OpenOffice good enough for the enterprise? For most jobs—word processing, presentations or spreadsheets—the answer is yes. Compatibility with Microsoft Office isn't a problem unless sophisticated macros are involved. Interoperability, the greatest hurdle to conquer on the way to adoption, is almost a nonissue. OpenOffice even offers features missing in Microsoft Office, like PDF or Flash data exports.

Ciurana, Eugene. ComputerWorld (2004). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Open Source

Living Free With Linux: 2 Weeks without Windows

Ubuntu's biggest Achilles heel is software installation and updating. Installing some software was simple, but installing others was so baffling as to be nearly incomprehensible. The same holds true for updates; I ultimately gave up on even trying to update OpenOffice.org.

Gralla, Preston. Computerworld (2009). Articles>Usability>Operating Systems>Linux

Six Ways to Ruin Your Résumé

If you avoid these all-too-common mistakes that can be found in résumés for all kinds of IT positions, you'll boost your chance of landing the job.

Schaffer, Greg. Computerworld (2009). Careers>Resumes>Advice

When Good Browsers Go Bad -- And They All Do

Jeffrey Zeldman must have thought he'd never live to see the day. Ten years after he co-founded the Web Standards Project, all of the major browser vendors have shown renewed commitment to supporting World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards in the last few years -- and they're following through. Those who lived through the browser wars of the '90s might think that hell has frozen over, were it not for one, small problem: Users still experience plenty of problems on the Web.

Mitchell, Robert L. Computerworld (2009). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Web Browsers

How To Get Fired

Much of today's news is bad, so much of it can adversely affect your career, and so much of it is maddeningly beyond your control. But there are things you can control, starting with your own behavior. Now more than ever, it's essential to ensure that idiosyncrasies and personal peccadillos don't undermine your career. Here are five cautionary tales of real CIOs whose tragic flaws did them in.

Pratt, Mary K. Computerworld (2009). Careers>Management>Workplace>Collaboration