Microsoft begs Windows 7 testers to start from scratch

Microsoft begs Windows 7 testers to start from scratch

Microsoft is imploring millions of Windows 7 beta testers to perform a clean install of the forthcoming Release Candidate, rather than upgrade from the beta.

The company claims its telemetry shows that millions of people are running Windows 7 full time. However, it's asking those customers to go through the pain of a clean installation because it wants to test the real-world upgrade experience.

"The RC is about getting breadth coverage to validate the product in real-world scenarios," the company claims on the Engineering Windows 7 blog. "As a result, we want to encourage you to revert to a Vista image and upgrade or to do a clean install, rather than upgrade the existing Beta."

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Looks like I'm going to have to do this on my personal laptop...

Businesses use immigration loophole for cheap IT labour

Businesses use immigration loophole for cheap IT labour

Companies are using a loophole to bring people with IT skills in from outside the UK despite the high availability of UK workers, it was claimed today.

Companies are using intra-company transfers to bring in staff to the UK from outside the EU without advertising the vacancies in the UK, claim recruitment companies.

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (Apsco), which represents IT recruitment companies, has written to Phil Woolas, minister of state for borders and immigration, urging him to put a stop to the practice.

Ann Swain, CEO at Apsco, said there are enough workers available in the UK to fill the vast majority of vacancies.

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-ken

CSC to take over up to 350 IT passports staff

CSC to take over up to 350 IT passports staff

Services supplier CSC is expected to take over about 350 IT staff, and will help build new passport and ID Card systems, after winning a 10-year £385m contract this week.

CSC beat Fujitsu which had been shortlisted for the contract.

It means that CSC will later this month begin to take over the running of the Oracle-based Passport Application Support System from Siemens which has been running the technology since 1999.

Under TUPE regulations about 350 staff, most of them working for Siemens, are expected to transfer to CSC. Some were civil servants when they transferred to Siemens in 1999. As part of its deal CSC will take over the running of the passport service's desktop systems from Atos.

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-Ken

Dover harbour gives berth to ICTTech trio

Dover harbour gives berth to ICTTech trio

Three IT professionals from the UK’s Dover Harbour Board will be among the first in the world to receive the new ICTTech professional qualification, awarded by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Ben Johnston, Mark Burton, and Mike Demetriou, are all employed as systems engineers on the harbour board’s ICT systems. Established in 1606, Dover Harbour Board is responsible for the administration, maintenance, and improvement of the harbour at Dover. It operates at the heart of the UK's and Continental Europe's cross-Channel transport network, managing and piloting what has become one of today's busiest drive-on, drive-off terminals in the world.

“It’s a real achievement for Mark, Mike and Ben that they are among the first seven people in the world to achieve this brand new professional qualification,” says Roy Warden, the IET’s regional development manager for the Dover area.

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Techies happy to work for small firms despite recession

Techies happy to work for small firms despite recession

The attraction of working for a small company has not been diminished for technical staff despite the belief many hold that SMEs are suffering most in the downturn.

According to figures from the IT Job Board, 60% of technical staff think that small firms are vulnerable in the current economy, but 53% said that it had not put them off applying for roles in smaller companies.

Some are avoiding seeking work at smaller outfits but the proportion is not as high as might have been expected.

Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board, said that there was still an open mind from technical applicants which was encouraging.

"Techies certainly seem to think that small companies are suffering more in the current climate. However, it is good to see that this hasn't affected the choices many would make in the size of organisation they would work for," he said.

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Top ten questions to ask when making IT cuts

Top ten questions to ask when making IT cuts

IT bosses are being asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of company cost-cutting during the downturn, according to consultants the Birchman Group.

IT typically accounts for only 6% of an organisation's spending, but many CIOs are being asked to cut a higher proportion of their spending than other parts of the business, says Kevin Stephens, a UK Partner.

"CIOs should reflect carefully upon cost reduction initiatives in the IT function to ensure that the actions are sustainable, managemeable with limited resources, executed quickly and successfully, and do not damage the core capability of IT for the future," he says.

Read the 10 things here.

-Ken

Aviva is latest insurance firm to cut IT jobs

Aviva is latest insurance firm to cut IT jobs

IT workers will be hit by 1,100 job cuts to be made by insurance company Norwich Union Life, owned by Aviva.

Most of the job cuts are in business change and IT, with the rest spread across other areas of the company, said the UK's largest insurer. A total of 590 contract positions will also be cut.

But natural turnover and redeployment mean the number of permanent employees who will leave the company is estimated to be about 800, said Aviva.

Mark Hodges - CEO at Norwich Union Life, which is the Aviva business affected - said the company has made progress in improving its operational efficiency and is also nearing completion on a series of major change projects.

"Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable," he said.

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IT vacancies dry up twice as fast as jobs in other industries

IT vacancies dry up twice as fast as jobs in other industries

Demand for IT staff fell at twice the rate of demand for staff in all industries, according to the latest employment survey from sector skills council E-Skills UK.

Overall demand for staff in the UK fell by 5% in Q3 2008 to approximately 1.9 million vacancies, but the number of ICT positions on offer dropped 10% to 161,000 positions, E-Skills UK reported.

There was falling demand for both permanent and contract posts as vacancies shrank by 9% and 13% respectively over the quarter to 130,000 and 31,000 positions, it said.

Paradoxically, the number of firms that said it was harder to find skilled staff almost double from 17% to 31%.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

University virtualises to save £120k

University virtualises to save £120k

Lancaster University has saved over £100,000 on electricity bills and more than £20,000 on hardware procurement in less than three years after virtualising large chunks of its x86 server estate.

The organisation, which is based in north-west England and educates about 11,000 students, began a four-month pilot of EMC's VMWare technology in March 2006. Its datacentre was starting to hit capacity in terms of the amount of power being consumed to run and cool its IT infrastructure and it was running out of space.

Matthew Storey, systems technical co-ordinator for information systems services at the University, says: "We started examining virtualisation to reduce the impact of the physical issues we were facing, but we also explored other benefits that came along with that. Although the real focus was on cost savings, there's also an active desire in the university to be more 'green'. And from a management perspective,...

Recession leads to flood of IT volunteers

Recession leads to flood of IT volunteers

Hundreds of IT volunteers have pledged to help charities since the recession started, according to IT4Communities.

The organisation, which matches IT volunteers with charities that desperately need their specialist skills, says it has been flooded with people signing up since January.

Over 660 people have signed up so far this year, compared with 212 in the first three months of last year.

Charity officials say the boost is a real "upside" to the recession, with people who have been hit by redundancies signing up to help a good cause while keeping their skills up to date.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken