Care in the Community

I read every post made on ZDNet UK by our members, and every day it's brought home to me what a wealth of expertise there is out there among our users. Of course, it's the cornerstone of the community here--if we pool what we know, and share it, then we'll all benefit.

Now we're building on that to get some members with a shared interest into a room with a couple of ZDNet UK folks and an industry expert. We're inviting people to come have dinner and take part in a roundtable on datacentre energy efficiency, sponsored by Intel, at the Cafe des Amis in Covent Garden on 18 September. I'll be there, along with our illustrious editor Rupert Goodwins, and the special guest will be Dave Needham, head of datacentre strategy in BT's design and operate division. Here's what we'd like to talk about with you:

"Making good use of power management in the datacentre should be a simple decision, with cost savings, environmental credibility and datacentre design wins on the table. The reality is more complex. What do we need and what should we do to realise the potential of this increasingly important aspect of enterprise IT? "

We're starting small, so we've only got 12 spaces available and we're restricting it to IT Directors only. If you'd like to attend, the registration form is here.

And watch this space. We're planning a breakfast event in London on the same lines with more places and less restriction. I'll let you know more about that closer to the date. Until then, I'd like to hear from you: Are events like this a good idea?

Here's this week's highlights, with Vista again in the crosshairs and what a constabular street stop might look like if we all had to carry ID cards.

RE: Microsoft's Mojave just a desert vista
blog comment Welshtroll can’t think of anything worse than being roped into a test by Microsoft to evaluate its new OS.

IDEAS - Identify, Engage & Assessment Statement
Talkback The latest in the debate between thinkfeeldo and Andrew Meredith on the worth and viability of ID cards.

meebo - Browser based multi-system IM chat
blog J. A. Watson takes a look at Meebo, a browser-based IM chat program that works with AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk and MSN.

Is this the future for legal P2P?
blog A major ISP has come up with a twist on dealing with people who download music--but there's a big catch, David Meyer says.

Mitigating the fallout
Talkback Sun's Web services architect Gerald Beuchelt responds to our report of a DNS-related risk to the company's OpenID service.

Get your Shoes on and go dance with code
blog Rupert Goodwins taps his feet to a tool you can download and use to write an application before breakfast.

Apple plans to release a cut-down Nano edition of its iPhone 3G before the end of the year, according to a report in the Mail Online on Sunday. The phone will be offered by O2, the Daily Mail site said, quoting an unidentified "industry source".

The idea is that the Nanoesque iPhone would end up in Christmas stockings, as an alternative to the popular, recently launched 8GB and 16GB devices.

There are a couple of things still unclear, such as the specs or even why Apple and O2 would make this move. The Mail Online's source says that the iPhone 3G is "too expensive to be a realistic proposition in the pay-as-you-go market", with the implication that the new device would fill that gap. But O2 says on its site that an iPhone 3G for Pay & Go will be available later this year". And why wouldn't Apple wait for the initial 3G hullaballoo to die down fully before putting out a new version?

Here's a roundup of great posts from this week, with a street-level look at iPhone's MobileMe, a prediction of choppy waters for Microsoft's Vista charm offensive, and Linux on holiday.

Traveling Success with Linux
blog J.A. Watson fires up Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Mandriva on his laptop on a trip to Piedmont in Italy. You can guess the ending.

Will a recession impact security spending?
blog (ISC)2's John Colley on which way companies will jump when making budget decisions.

Let's get Physical ! (sorry couldn't resist...)
blog Security consultants scare ryanpothecary. Find out why.

Vista vs XP
blog Are Vista sales going as well as Microsoft reports say? ator 1940 wonders.

pjc158, your reply shows how badly you miss the point
talkback Open source provides millions of jobs and cooperative work helped lay the foundations of today's industry, 1000132644 argues.

RE:Microsoft's pre-modern message puts a new face on Vista
blog comment Xwindowsjunkie believes that Microsoft could win a lot of friends, if only it would abandon its OS strategy.

MobileMe
member review David Long says that Apple expects users to do their beta testing for them again.

Hush hush
review Remote worker Jake Rayson has some tips on protecting data on an Ubuntu system.