Stories by Dahna McConnachie

Companies are reinvesting in technology and salaries are rising in all sectors, according to the 2006 Hays Salary survey released last week.

Corporate spending is up, salaries are rising and the local technology job market is staging a comeback, but skills shortages will continue in some areas, young ICT professionals will continue to leave our shores and employers, especially government, may find it hard to attract and retain top talent, according to recent reports.

The Department of Communication, IT and the Arts (DCITA) has put up $70,000 with the aim of kickstarting a national coalition to boost the ICT capacity of non-profit organizations.

Linux is growing along with the wheat, barley, chickpeas, and lupins in Perenjori, a small shire in Western Australia, thanks to a man named Barry Kauler.

The IT&T sector is the least proactive in attracting and retaining mature-aged workers, despite the nation's rapidly ageing workforce and growing skills shortage, according to the latest Hudson report survey.

General manager of information and knowledge services in the Attorney General's Department, Graham Fry hopes the e-Government strategy launched on Thursday by the Australian Government Information Office in Canberra will be controversial.

Former Massachusetts state government CIO, Peter Quinn believes that any technology leader, in the public or private sector, who is not supporting and implementing open standards should resign and get out of the business.

Yvonne Parle started working in the technology industry in the 1970s where she was the only female in a data centre in London. Since then, she has played various roles in the banking, insurance, petrochemical, health, resources and education sectors.

Techniques to help business and government take a strategic, rather than an ad hoc approach, to open source usage will feature at the LinuxWorld conference next month.

Even though the Australian government may have an effective IT security framework, a recent report shows that certain government agencies are not living up to it, highlighting a great concern.

The proposed changes to Australia's workplace relations risk "deprofessionalising" IT, according to the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) in its submission to the Work Choices senate inquiry.

The NSW Office of State Revenue (OSR) collects about $14 billion a year and Linux plays a key part in it.

The digital home is a concept out of reach for many people, who live on the other side of a "digital divide", Sensis has found.

Although Telstra has publicly slammed the ACCC's final recommendations on price control regulations for telecommunications services, other sectors of the industry are more welcoming.

While the offshore outsourcing model is a threat to some Australian jobs, it also has opportunities, provided the ICT industry positions itself appropriately.