Knowledge Work

It’s important to remember that ITIL is NOT a standard. ITIL has no auditing criteria. Contrary to popular belief ITIL tools cannot be officially regarded as ITIL Compliant. ITIL is a framework of best practice that aims to ensure cost effective, appropriate and quality IT services are delivered. But there’s nothing in ITIL to Audit […]

We are all told from childhood on that “Patience is a virtue.” And this is largely true. True patience is a combination of disciplined action and disciplined waiting. If we can employ it to the right ends, we can achieve goals and reap rewards that initially seem impossible or unattainable.
In organizational life, however, “patience” is […]

A survey of U.S. IT executives and business managers released in June by Accenture highlighted how far up the ladder [the Geek/Suit] gap exists.
While 73 percent of responding IT executives said they believe they understand their company’s business extremely or very well, 43 percent of general business managers agreed.
Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of both […]

In his satirical new book Rome, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the First Multinational Corporation, Stanley Bing humorously makes the case that the proto-capitalistic Imperium Romanum–with its bold takeovers, power-mad CEOs, and compelling brand–was the beta version of the globe-spanning Microsofts, General Electrics, and IBMs of today. Or perhaps more accurately, the Enrons and […]

When it comes to parceling out the money, IT is the first to be fired and the last to be hired:
Organisations are not increasing their IT investment at the same rate the business is growing, according to a study by Gartner.
But IT budgets are also harder hit and more negatively affected by a fall in […]

Over at the TECHWR-L list, one of the members is getting set to deliver a talk on technical writing as a career to a group of home-schooled high school students, and asked for advice.
After answering the questions, I realized I had just written a pretty good blog post!
1. What students can learn now to […]

Brian Livingston’s “Windows Secrets” newsletter is one of the few industry publications I subscribe to; he’s a no-nonsense techie who keeps abreast of Developments You Should Know About.
Well, here’s a Development You Should Know About: Microsoft has started cramming spyware into their automatic “security” updates, and concerned users now have a great, free alternative to […]

A lot of old favorites here, like the Mac-optimized Mozilla browser Camino and the Adium chat client, but a few surprises, too.
BoydCreative » Top 10 Open Source OS X Apps!

“India is a roaring capitalist success story.” So says the latest issue of Foreign Affairs; and last week many leading business executives and politicians in India celebrated as Lakshmi Mittal, the fifth richest man in the world, finally succeeded in his hostile takeover of the Luxembourgian steel company Arcelor. India’s leading business newspaper, The Economic […]

Jerry Toomer retired from a 25-year career at Dow Chemical in 2003. But today he’s back at work, having found a consulting job through an employment network designed specifically for older adults, YourEncore.com.
‘I don’t see myself as a retiree,’ says Mr. Toomer, a 57-year-old organizational-development expert in Indianapolis. As part of his new responsibilities, ‘I […]

I haven’t used a Mac regularly since 1996, but about a month ago I found myself in a techno-trance state, in the Apple Store in SoHo, New York City, swiping my AmEx card to buy one of the new Intel-based MacBooks.

(I was driven screaming back into the arms of Apple by a hauntingly awful experience with a late public beta of Microsoft Vista. I’ve transitioned quickly in the last few weeks to using the MacBook as my primary work machine, and I haven’t looked back.)

My new MacBook 1.83Ghz (512MB RAM, 60GB HD, $1099 at the Apple Store in NYC) arrived ready to go right out of the box. It was unusually well-equipped with pre-loaded software; not just a Web browser (Safari), e-mail client (Mail) and a host of related tools, but a licensed copy of Apple’s powerful and cool iLife multimedia suite, plus 30-day trial versions of iWork and Microsoft Office 2004.

From the time I broke the seal on the box and unpacked the cute little beast, I was up and running in about ten minutes… the first clue that I was in for an experience that was very, very different from my last ten years in the Wintel Wilderness.

That being said, if you are of the geekly inclination, you’re going to want to make some additional tweaks and purchases to optimize your Mac-using experience, especially if you have to continue to collaborate with colleagues who are tethered to their Windows machines. So with that in mind, here’s what I’ve learned in the first month of owning a new Intel-based Mac and fitting it out so that I can still work with my Windows peeps.