Jason Brooks

The “best” product doesnt always win since, given advantages of predatory pricing and clever marketing strategy, “good enough” is almost always good enough to carry the day. Im talking, of course, about Microsoft, its software and its business practices, and if youre a fan of BeOS, OS/2 or another innovative software product that ended up […]

The handheld computer business has seen better days. According to a recent report from Dataquest, worldwide handheld shipments fell by 9.1 percent from 2001 to 2002. Word is that slack enterprise demand for these devices is to blame. IT budgets have been tight, and most companies never quite figured out how handheld computers delivered value […]

Theres a strong argument to be made that all the pieces needed for an effective Linux desktop system for the enterprise now exist. Less clear, however, is whether a Linux vendor can collect and package those elements into something thats ready—right out of the box—for the mainstream corporate desktop. This is what SuSE Linux Inc. […]

Vendors working to parlay the server room successes of Linux into a spot on the mainstream corporate desktop (see review of SuSE Linux Office Desktop) have a powerful ally in KDE Project developers, whove been hard at work extending the performance, polish and functionality of their namesake K Desktop Environment. In the latest release—KDE 3.1, […]

Although the simplest way to get up and running with a new version of a complex piece of software such as KDE is to wait for your Linux distributor to release its official software packages, part of the fun of Linux is being able to compute on the bleeding edge. For any software package, that […]

Users of Apple Computer Inc.s Macintosh systems may treasure their Start Menu-less desktops, but theyve still had to turn to Microsoft Corp. for productivity software. Apples trying to change that, at least in part, with the release last month of Keynote 1.0, a presentation software application that competes head-on with Microsofts PowerPoint X. Keynote is […]

The drastic drop in the cost of WLAN (wireless LAN) gear, along with the great extent to which 802.11b networking is now being built into notebook and handheld computers, virtually guarantees that wireless networking will secure a spot on your agenda—whether youve placed it there or not. IT administrators would do well, then, to head […]

Since I spent two columns bemoaning the absence of “Knight Rider” from the small screen, first in criticism of broadcast TVs use of free spectrum, and second while questioning the approach of content owners toward file sharing, I feel compelled to report that the exploits of everyones favorite man who does not exist are again […]

No matter how sleek and shiny a mobile computing device may be, its the applications that separate the sought-after productivity boosters from the desk-drawer cobweb collectors. And increasingly, effective mobile applications require wireless. Even as portable memory cards stretch their storage capacities ever upward, theyll never approach the Internets wealth of data. Recently, Ive been […]

The atmosphere at the opening Macworld keynote earlier this month was reminiscent of a big-tent religious revival, complete with a keenly rapt and vigorously head-nodding congregation. I showed up for The Steves sermon with a markedly more agnostic mindset, and I must say that I was impressed anyway. Thats because rather than just trumpet speed-and-feed […]