Skip to main content

Off the Shelf

CIO Magazine May 1,2004:
Two books plead the case that ignorance of the law can be either costly or self-destructive"

Make the Rules or Your Rivals Will
By G. Richard Shell
Crown Publishing Group, 2004, $27.50

WHERE WILL hard work combined with a good product and business plan get a company? Next to nowhere, unless the people in charge learn how to exploit the legal and legislative systems their business operates in. This decidedly un-Horatio Alger-like philosophy is the foundation for Wharton B-school professor G. Richard Shell's argument that skill in using the law for competitive advantage is a requirement—not an option.


Software Agreements Line by Line: A Detailed Look at Software Agreements & How to Change Them to Fit Your Needs
By Michael Overly and James R. Kalyvas
Aspatore Books, 2004, $49.95

...software licensing has long been about vendors maximizing revenue and minimizing accountability, while CIOs have stood by and even resisted taking an active role in changing that fact. This book sets out to change all that. The authors offer up a sample vendor agreement in the first chapter, then use the rest of the book to show CIOs how to tweak, edit and otherwise twist that agreement to their favor.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Cam media safe to fly with

Technocrat.net : "Recent tests found no evidence of X-ray scanner damage to digital camera media cards or to the images they hold. The tests of scanner models currently in use in the U.S. transportation industry were jointly conducted by the International Imaging Industry Association (I3A), the leading global association for the imaging industry; SanDisk Corporation, a manufacturer of digital media cards; and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). These findings mean that digital cameras and their image storage media can travel safely in either checked or carry-on bags, which will be reassuring to holiday travelers. And though they were not explicitly tested, it is likely that images on camera-phones will be safe in either situation as well. More care is needed for cameras with film, however, as the X-ray scanners for both checked and carry-on luggage can fog both developed and undeveloped film."

Artist turns animals into everyday objects

Ananova - A Chilean artist is making a name for herself with an exhibition in which stuffed animals are transformed into household objects. Artworks on display include a chick turned into a lamp, and 'sheep bag' - a lamb carcass fitted with handles. Artist Caterina Purdy says her exhibition at the Experimental Arts Centre in Santiago is intended to be humorous but also makes a serious point. She told Las Ultimas Noticias online: 'It is possible to see my work as something scary, but I find it beautiful. 'There is also irony and humour in my objects as well as a criticism of the way animals are treated by society.'"

At USDA, the Mouse Is in the House

(washingtonpost.com) : "Employees at the Department of Agriculture's main cafeteria were just sitting down to lunch on Friday when security guards ordered everyone in the huge eatery to leave. Al Qaeda? Bomb scare? No. Mouse droppings. The D.C. Department of Health closed the cafeteria for failing to pass inspection. Yes, the USDA, home to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the meat and poultry inspectors -- the agency that is part of the federal system for protecting the nation's food supply, was in violation of the D.C. Health Code. There were several citations, according to the inspection report, including: 'water leaking excessively' in the ceiling, employees not wearing hair restraints, and inadequate cleaning of the inside of ice machines, cabinets, surfaces and equipment. The biggest problem, however, seemed to be mouse droppings found everywhere -- in the dry storage room, by the salad bar, behind the ovens, near the serving line, ...