devil's advocate in comment and analysis
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Brampton Factor: Are Google, IBM and Microsoft really rivals?
Comment silicon.com is proud to introduce a new monthly column by long-time contributor and Devil's Advocate Martin Brampton. Many of Google's sales come in just a few cents at a time. Nonetheless, those cents add up to 99 per cent of Google's huge revenues. [25 Apr 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Open source for government
Comment Despite the UK government's reluctance to embrace open source, Martin Brampton points out the many ways they're suited to each other - the least of which is cost. They are central to the Cabinet Office eGovernment Unit's strategy and also to the... [21 Feb 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Life after DRM doesn't look so bad
Comment The fear is that this will not happen because of Microsoft's market muscle. Digital rights management (DRM) is a curious area of technology. There are doubts about whether the rights holders are deserving of such generous treatment. [14 Feb 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Ethics before profit
Comment If companies truly put principles ahead of profits, you might be surprised at the number of issues that would be affected, says Martin Brampton. It is not often that I feel sympathy for the likes of Microsoft and Cisco. [07 Feb 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Customer service - an oxymoron?
Comment So finally the accounts people working for the supermarket were obliged to refund the payment in full, based on the company's own denial that we had placed an internet order and the complete absence of a genuine signature on a till receipt. [31 Jan 2006]
Devil's Advocate: The worst of both worlds
Comment Moreover, as with the banks removing services from economically disadvantaged communities, the choice of exchanges to be adopted by BT's rivals is likely to be affected by the financial clout of the population served by them. [24 Jan 2006]
Devil's Advocate: It's simple innit?
Comment How many New Year's resolutions are already dust, let alone if we wait for the summer? Finding a simple solution to a complex problem is never going to be quick or easy, says Martin Brampton. There are some perennial topics in IT and one of them is... [10 Jan 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Business ethics
Comment Two recent quotes from silicon.com's CIO Forum particularly made me wonder. So does this suggest that the Dorchester's Mellors is right to fear that innovation may have shifted to the public sector? Is the phrase 'business ethics' an oxymoron? [03 Jan 2006]
Devil's Advocate: Google goes head-to-head with Microsoft
Comment Maybe even more important is Google's high rating in public perceptions. It looks to have little option but to challenge Microsoft, which has already demonstrated its intention to take Google's market away from it. [20 Dec 2005]
Devil's Advocate: Opportunity and discrimination
Comment Discriminating against programmers and other IT workers on the basis of age doesn’t make sense, says Martin Brampton. So how might that situation change? The government is planning to outlaw age discrimination in employment. [13 Dec 2005]
Devil's Advocate: Work is overrated
Comment A chronic work avoider, Martin Brampton examines the practises that actually lead us to accomplish the most - and they don't include chaining yourself to your desk. I'm going to make a public admission this week. [06 Dec 2005]
Devil's Advocate: ID cards - another reason to protest
Comment All the same, given its craven attitude to corporate pressure on every aspect of so-called intellectual property rights, what confidence can there be that government will resist the music industry's latest requests? [29 Nov 2005]
Devil's Advocate: Conflicting messages
Comment There is a bifurcation taking place within companies clamouring over conflicting ideas of best practice. The trend towards outsourcing on the one hand, the requirement to align IT with the business on the other. [22 Nov 2005]
Devil's Advocate: Microsoft's new allies
Comment One of Microsoft's targets for its message has been pharmaceutical companies. As companies, their primary motivation is making money and that does not neatly coincide with people's desire to be healthy. [15 Nov 2005]
Devil's Advocate: Should Microsoft be paying you to use Windows?
Comment Or maybe each time anyone is dissatisfied with a bank's performance, an automatic payment of thirty pounds could be added to the account? How much money does Rupert Murdoch's News International make from a Sun reader in a year? [08 Nov 2005]
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