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ISPs Should Help Users Disinfect Themselves

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IBM Lotus Poorly Articulates Vision

Reliance on email is now so matter-of-fact that we can forget that all communication is a two-way street — a message received usually needs a reply. In business, this is particularly true when asking questions, making project plans, or communicating with co-workers and managers.

Missing a meeting or arriving at the wrong place or at the wrong time can occur because the sender didn’t realize that his or her message was not answered. Senders need to remember that the message may have never been received, gotten lost in a big inbox, or was simply ignored. If a formal scheduling mechanism is not available to book events, one can avoid these "no reply" problems with a quick phone call or IM.

But it’s also true that in certain cases no communication still communicates something. The absence of a reply speaks louder than words ever could, and the recipient chooses a powerful response by saying nothing at all. Interpretation is everything. Depending on the context of the flow of communication, it may indeed be that the real message is I am ignoring you, your requests, or your issues for any one of a number of reasons:

• I am too busy to deal with it.
• I lost/accidentally deleted it.
• I am so put off by what you have said, I won’t answer it.
• I won’t put a response in writing for fear of going "on the record."
• My spam filter ate your message.

… Janet Asteroff (editor: Richi Jennings) 

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Building Webmail Over IMAP Can Be a Good Idea

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Fewer Spammers Forging the Sender Header

We all exaggerate numbers if they make us look good. And so it is with conferences. Here are our estimates of key statistics:

• Grand total: 5,200-5,500 attendees
• 3,700-4,000 paying, full conference registrants — of these, about 55% were IT staff, the rest were ISVs, consultants, VARs, and sponsors
• Breakdown of the IT staff:
  • 25% from organizations with more than 50,000 employees
  • 50% from organizations with 5,000 to 50,000 employees
  • 25% from organizations with less than 5,000 employees
• 750 third-party exhibitor staff
• 600 Lotus and IBM staff
• 130 journalists
• 20 analysts — of these, three or four had some level of competence

Overall sense: The numbers were up perhaps 10% over last year. Lotusphere attendence has held solid over the last several years, although it is down from pre-9/11 headcounts of 10,000 for 2000 and 2001. Obvious conclusion: The customer base is solid and continuing to invest in Notes/Domino.

… David Ferris

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Evidence of 419 Scam Targeting Using Google

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Halifax Bank in U.K. Targeted by Sustained Phishing Campaign