Cinderella is in the boardroom Considerable efforts have been made by government, corporates and vendors to invest in `action` to address the skills gap, and to combat lack of interest in pursuing ICT careers, by increasing awareness of the diverse range of ICT roles that candidates can fulfil.

The media has done its bit by exposing the lack of transformation of many ICT companies. Some of these companies are quite vocal in their attempts to stay ahead of the pack, but others are hiding their heads in the sand and trying to figure out how to be inclusive while staying exclusive.

Not only is it a burning issue, but it`s one that will greatly assist the country to achieve its goal of creating a better life for all with the assistance of all organs of the state, as well as private sector supporters.

On the issue of women becoming an integral part of the industry, a recent release sent out by arivia.kom has put it in the front line of advocacy for equality in the workplace. The parastal announced that it now has four women in executive positions.

Recent reports on gender equity and diversified workforces have highlighted the plight of companies trying to reach arivia.kom`s heights, by looking for suitable candidates to occupy such positions in their companies. Studies, however, have shown that there has been extensive growth in the participation of women in the South African economy.

Though all sectors still have notable inner circles, it is no longer a case of `the old boys club`, but more of a rainbow of people `in the know`. I say rainbow because, let`s face it, women bring colour into any situation. Especially those that were previously inundated with grey, navy and black suits.

I salute those who are making a concerted effort towards diversified workforces, not only for their contribution towards the country`s profile, but also for their willingness to learn from the fairer sex.

Final Bytes

Definitions from the alternative real time guide to enterprise computing

BINARY: A method of counting using only 1s and 0s to represent the numbers. It`s quite workable, but it starts getting complicated if you have to count higher than one.

COMPUTER PROGRAMMER (TYPES OF): There are 10 types of computer programmer; those that can count in binary and those that can`t.

DATA WAREHOUSE: A large database into which you can pour huge amounts of money without any risk of exceeding its capacity to accept more.

DESKTOP PUBLISHING: The highly sophisticated and complex software, which can specify a page or document layout extremely precisely, but cannot in any way compensate for lack of design talent.

(TO) GOOGLE: To spend endless hours navigating through trivia in a fruitless search for knowledge.

MICROSOFT`S internal veil-lifting of Windows Vista displayed all the freaky, cheerleading qualities of its previous announcements. From looking at the speakers on the video-clip, you`d think the guys had landed on a different planet or something. Eyes misted over. Eyewitness accounts swear that the 40 000-strong audience cheered like mad. Funny thing is, the video camera glossed over them pretty quickly. With no wide-angle shots, I saw about three people cheering fairly decorously.

NIALL MOYNIHAN, an Irishman who fell in love with a South African and South Africa itself years ago, is finally SA country manager of CheckPoint and out of bleak, wintry Europe. Firewalls can get you into a lot of places. Cheers, Niall!