The Orwell Prize 2009: Blog Prize

I am very proud to have entered and for my submissions to be successfully accepted for The Orwell Prize 2009: Blog Prize.

The next milestone for me will be the Longlist Announcement - Wednesday 25th February 2009.

Actually, if I get that far I will be very pleased especially as the standard of entries of my peers is very high.

The shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 25th March 2009.

Microsoft job cuts: thousands of UK staff at risk

Rumours are spreading on the web that up to 3000 staff at Microsoft UK could face redundancy. Up to 30,000 jobs worldwide could be at risk, as the company battles with the economic crisis, which has led to businesses spending less on software.

Henry Blodget, a blogger on Silicon Alley Insider, responded to the rumours saying, "The only way we could see Microsoft laying off this many people is if the company decided to eliminate business units. And if Microsoft did decide to restructure its business, it would likely sell rather than shut down divisions, including MSN."

According to analyst Datamonitor's "Technology Trends: Analysing Global Enterprise IT Budgets 2008" report, half of businesses will freeze their IT budgets in 2008. This budget freeze could have a big impact on Microsoft, which relies heavily on software sales, as businesses are deferring upgrading to the latest Microsoft products.

The coming year will be important for Microsoft, as it begins a major shift in the way it makes money, away from selling software licences, towards software as a services, based around its Azure cloud computing service.

Microsoft's plans to roll out Azure in Europe could be negatively affected if the rumoured job cuts go ahead.

Source: Computer Weekly - Cliff Saran, 11:08 05 Jan 2009

High tech products set to increase by 20% on high street

It has been announced by leading Japanese companies yesterday that due to the weakening of the Pound that many imported high tech products will now face a "price increase" of up to 20%.

Could the government have known in advance when reducing the VAT rate to 15%!

Announced in BJP 5/1/09 latest news section quote:

"Nikon, Canon, Sony and Leica are all expected to raise their prices in January as the pound continues to fall in value. Nikon has confirmed to BJP that it is to implement a price increase across its range of imaging and optics products, effective on 12 January. 'The price increase is the result of volatile exchange rate conditions and will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis,' a spokeswoman says. 'All product groups will be affected by the price increase to some degree. A recommended retail price list will be available to view from 12 January online.'

Leica has also told BJP that, as of 01 January 2009, its prices would increase across the board.

Canon and Sony are also said to be looking to raise their prices in the UK and continental Europe as both the Euro and the pound have seen their values decline against the Yen. Canon is expected to increase its prices in its consumer division, which sells digital cameras and printers.

The increases could reach up to 20% for all companies, BJP understands."

See Reuters UK feed for latest

Private firm 'may run' phone log

"A private company could be asked to run a huge database containing details of everybody's telephone calls, emails and internet use, it has been reported."

"The database, which critics claim would cost up to £12bn, is not intended to record the content of communications, but only the details of internet sites visited and what emails and telephone calls have been made, to whom and at what times. "

As reported today on BBC News

This is getting perilously close to George Orwell's 1984 vision of society.

Liberal Democrat Lords challenge telephone and internet record database proposals

Mon, 17 Nov 2008

House of Lords

Liberal Democrat peers have defended a person’s right to privacy, as the Government continue with plans to compile a huge database, containing records of all telephone calls, emails and text messages.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer described the measures as a "huge step" towards "a person with a right to privacy...being treated as a suspect." She questioned how effective the costly proposals would prove, given the vast amounts of correspondence the database would contain.

"With 3 billion e-mails - that is, 35,000 every second - 18 million internet connections and 57 billion text messages a year, does he think that this is really likely to prove the most effective way of fighting terrorism, given that the estimated cost will be up to £12 billion?"

Lord Avebury supported Baroness Miller's comments, highlighting the distinction "between looking at individual accesses with a view to the detection of particular crimes...and the collection of a record of every telephone conversation, every internet access and every text message made by you and me across the board, to be kept in a government-held database for ever." He called on the Government to publish a PowerPoint presentation given to internet service providers explaining the proposal in detail.

Lord Thomas of Gresford suggested, "that the information should be available only for the solution of serious crime" to safeguard against government abuse.

Read the House of Lords debate here

List of Labour's failures to date in IT related projects:
£13 billion on an NHS record system that is a complete failure
£200 million wasted over the past five years on IT projects that were never completed