Focus On: Groupware

By digging on the vastly improved US Census Bureau site, I found that there really isn't much poverty in my small midwestern city. Can local geeks use this knowledge to close the portion of the digital divide that's due to income? My plan's designed to satisfy Conservatives, Moderates, Liberals and Greens. If it doesn't please you, let's hear yours.

The ink hadn't yet dried on IBM's announcement of Lotus Notes on Linux, before anti-Lotus partisans unleashed their venom. Few gave weight to the thought that desktop Linux has suddenly gained collaboration abilities acceptable to enterprise-level buyers. But like it or not, Lotus Notes just raised Linux to a breathtaking, Microsoft-defying, new level. Question is, how long will it take Redmond to do what needs to be done?

If you were IBM what would you do? Microsoft programmers built a piece of code to allow Microsoft email software to interoperate with IBM's Domino/Lotus combo. When the code doesn't work, IBM advises users to talk to the folks who wrote the broken code, because, after all, it's Microsoft's code. Microsoft triumphantly proclaims that, unlike IBM, it will minister to people who can't make its code work, and by the way, this proves the value of its product. Huh? Most of us would take advantage of the silliness of Microsoft's position. IBM, however, hit the mattresses.

Since Robert Scoble, Microsoft's largest living blogger, announced that he's leaving, the web has been ablaze with speculation over who Microsoft's next Scoble might be. IBM's Lotus chief Ed Brill flirted with the idea that, what Scoble did for Microsoft, he was doing for IBM, until a blogger enumerated exactly what Scoble did for Microsoft. For those in a hurry, the nutshell: Scoble did a lot, and Brill threw in the towel.

The Microsoft ISA Server Team says the firewall lets IPv6 traffic pass through the system regardless of your firewall policy settings. The only solution offered: Disable IPv6 traffic entirely. For those who require IPv6 solutions, Email Battles serves up a study list of vendors offering a broad array of IPv6-ready firewalls. Warning: Most of the current IPv6 implementations depend on Linux or BSD.