Inquirer.net reported yesterday that a college in Pasay City, the Southeastern College (SEC), is bringing a lawsuit against software giant, Microsoft Corp., and its in-country subsidiary, Microsoft Philippines. The case is that MS Phils. has allegedly infringed on copyright laws, in that the college’s intellectual property rights were allegedly encroached upon.

The news article elaborated that the complaint was based on SEC’s belief that MS Phils. distributed electronic copies (in the form of .pdf files and email) of the document, The SEC Microsoft Office XP Manual. This document was apparently licensed to MS Phils. for a limited number of reprints (10,000 copies, according to the report), but SEC is taking legal action to prove that MS Phils. has gone beyond the letter of their copyright license. •••Read on»

Christopher Cubos and I, ever since we got acquainted in the mid-90s, have been known to be at loggerheads when it comes to certain industry issues. For example, way back in the early days of Philippine Internet (Web 0.5?), we had a long-running argument about content vs. design.

However, we are in wholehearted agreement on one thing: community-building. On this score, we are completely on the same side. (Actually, we agree on two things: the other one is good food.) •••Read on»

Silicon Gulf is a nickname for Davao City and extends to the Davao Region, at Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The nickname refers to the growing number of Information Technology and IT Enabled Services (or ITES) companies sprouting in the area. The name was adapted from Silicon Valley, referring to the high tech cluster located in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.

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My apologies, but this post has been lost due to a server outage. Please refer to CubePixels Design Studio’s website for details on the CorelShares animation training program.

Up until this year, brownouts were rare in Davao City. Well, when I was in high school it was rather common, even expected, especially during summer. But for years, Davao has enjoyed practically zero brownouts since then.

The Davao Light & Power Co. is even an awardee for being one of the best power companies in the Philippines.

But now, in the past couple of weeks there have been 4 or 5 power outages that I’ve noticed. Just before I started writing this article there was no power in the Matina area. Electricity went dead around 2o’clock in the afternoon, and came back on almost half an hour later. What is the reason behind this? Is Davao Light upgrading their systems? Or am I being overly optimistic?

Or is it that Davao — possibly Mindanao — is experiencing a serious shortage of power supply? •••Read on»

Soon after the opening of the PhilNITS branch in Davao City, there has been positive movement within the Japanese I.T. community in the Philippines. Where before they have only paid lip service to initiatives in promoting Davao I.T. to the Japanese market, now these entities (private and government) are in fact looking towards the South as a viable investment and outsourcing destination. But more so, as a source of I.T. manpower.

PhilNITS is engaged in the development of high-tech skills. Japan is in dire need of highly-skilled skilled personnel. Hence the bullish outlook of Davao City as an I.T. center by Japanese companies and government agenices. But we must not be overly optimistic.

This renewed industrial interest in Davao City (dormant ever since the heyday of abaca plantations) is not necessarily driven by the presence of a robust I.T. industry here. It is fueled rather by Japan’s own requirements. According to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), their country is in need of 150,000 I.T. engineers annually. The inability to address this has finally allowed Asian countries with strong I.T. industries to receive offshore projects from Japan, especially China, India and Vietnam. It was published in a report that the Philippines receives less than half of what Vietnam gets in terms of outsourced projects for software development and animation. •••Read on»