“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” – Walt Kelly’s Pogo Computer security breaches have become so common as to seem like a force of nature we can’t stop or control, like hurricanes or epidemics. After each one, experts scramble to plug holes, rewrite security plans, and explain at length why that particular … Continue reading “Human Error: Living With the Weakest Link”
Author: Nathaniel Borenstein
Nathaniel Borenstein is chief scientist for cloud-based e-mail management company Mimecast. At Mimecast, he is responsible for driving the company’s product evolution and technological innovation. Dr. Borenstein is the co-creator of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) e-mail standard and developer of the Andrew Mail System, metamail software, and the Safe-Tcl programming language.
Previously, Dr. Borenstein worked as an IBM Distinguished Engineer, responsible for research and standards strategy for the Lotus brand, and as a faculty member at the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University. He also founded two successful Internet cloud service startups: First Virtual Holdings, the first Internet payment system; and NetPOS, the first Internet-centric point-of-sale system.
Leveling Information Silos in the Workplace
Today’s mobile device technology has made it possible for both professionals and consumers to have nearly all of the information they need right at their fingertips. Moreover, the types of information now available to them are limitless—it could be work e-mail, travel itineraries, social media updates, or even the answer to that trivia question that’s … Continue reading “Leveling Information Silos in the Workplace”
Why Business and Personal Email Are Not the Same
We all carry certain expectations about email from our private lives into a corporate setting. Some of those expectations are met, but in other ways business email is very different from consumer email. These differences can be confusing at best and, at worst, lead to major problems for organizations. The Inside and the Outside To … Continue reading “Why Business and Personal Email Are Not the Same”
The End of Personal Computers
Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about the idea that we are witnessing “the end of personal computers,” the “post-PC era,” or, as Microsoft would have it, the “PC-plus era.” The difference in terminology is telling, revealing the intense commercial competition and staggering financial stakes that underlie this transition. For those who have been in … Continue reading “The End of Personal Computers”
The Inevitability of Archiving Social Networking Data
Making A Case For Email Archiving In 1985 In 1985, I was part of a team at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) that was doing some very radical things, including deploying Internet e-mail to the entire campus. Some people were quite skeptical about the whole enterprise, fearing in particular that letting “the masses” loose on the … Continue reading “The Inevitability of Archiving Social Networking Data”
But This Internet Had Such Promise!
It wasn’t the astonishing and radical new technology of the Internet that transformed my life in graduate school and defined my career, it was the possibilities. To a callow youth with a vivid imagination, the next 50 years of my life seemed instantly visible, so I joined the growing army of people with whom I … Continue reading “But This Internet Had Such Promise!”
Paper and Airplanes: The Long Road to Obsolescence
As the years go by, I increasingly find the history of the future as interesting as the future itself. We’ve all seen lists of incredibly bad technological predictions, and of course it’s always fun to smugly reflect on how wrong a smart person can be. Grandiose predictions of the future of technology often lead to … Continue reading “Paper and Airplanes: The Long Road to Obsolescence”
Maximizing Value and Minimizing Risk with Remote Workers
For me, being able to work remotely is one of the greatest gifts of the information age. It allowed me to help raise my daughters in the ’80s and ’90s, live almost four hours from a major airport, and now I’m able to visit my granddaughters in Chicago at the drop of a hat, all … Continue reading “Maximizing Value and Minimizing Risk with Remote Workers”
Alternative Online Payments: The Dream That Refuses to Die
[Editor’s note: As a New Year’s exercise, we asked a select group of Xconomists to answer this question: “What’s the craziest idea out there that just might succeed?” ] After nearly twenty years of failed attempts, I’m still a believer in the potential transformative power of the “crazy idea” of alternative Internet payment systems, particularly … Continue reading “Alternative Online Payments: The Dream That Refuses to Die”
Steve Jobs: The Soul of an Industry
When I heard the news of Steve Jobs’s death last night, even though I was hardly surprised, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut—as if the industry in which I’ve spent my career had lost its soul. I’m rarely shy about criticizing the titans of our industry, but from the beginning Steve … Continue reading “Steve Jobs: The Soul of an Industry”