IT marketers on a green bandwagon

Monday May 28th, 2007

By Stephen WITHERS

Given the amount of attention that the mainstream media have been giving to climate change over the few months, it's not surprising that the people who write IT press releases are joining the bandwagon.

Whether it's IBM's 'Project Big Green' to double the computing capacity of data centres without increasing their power consumption, Brocade claiming its SAN directors are two to three times as power efficient as competing units, Intel making its future processors 100 percent lead-free, Neoware pointing out how little electricity its thin client devices use compared with a desktop PC, or Business Objects applying its business intelligence software by the Zerofootprint project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions through targeted information, everyone seems keen to tell me about their green credentials.

I don't want to appear cynical, and I'm sure many people in the industry have been working hard to make things better by finding ways to reducing the environmental impact of IT. But just as almost every presentation I sat through in 2006 seemed to mention 'corporate governance', I have a nasty feeling that 'green' is going to be overused by IT marketers for the rest of 2007.

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Alex Ryan [Visitor];
Virgin’s Facebook sackings generate disturbing turbulance

I respectfully disagree with this opinion.

No one has a "right" to a job with any employer. All forms of human relationships should be based on the principle of mutual consent.

It is immoral to force people to participate in a relationship which they no longer wish to maintain.

Mr. Branson was within his rights to terminate a voluntary relationship with which he no longer wished to particpate in.

If I were in his position I would have done the same. The actions of these employees were disrespectful and hurtful.

People need to take responsibility for their behavior and realize that they are are consequences for their actions.

Anthony CARUANA [Member];
Virgin’s Facebook sackings generate disturbing turbulance

I've read enough employee surveys to know that there are a great many people aren't happy in their jobs. Many people even complain about their bosses, workplaces, companies, etc to friends, family, hairdressers, bartenders (or perhaps that's only on Cheers!).

I think firing someone because they complained about work in an online forum is heavy handed. Where the people warned? Given a chance to retract their statements? Why didn't Virgin, a supposedly progressive business, engage the employee and try to address their concerns.

I agree that the actions of the employee weren't particularly clever. However, perhaps if Virgin found out what the problem was rather than dismissing the employee they might find that their employee retention rates might improve and that their reputation might be enhanced rather than tarnished.

I wonder how many potentially good employees won't work for Virgin as a result of this?

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