Overseas mega-acquisitions and a plethora of local senior staff movements had everyone talking last week.

For some the glass is half-empty, for others half-full, but the success or failure of the new SCO-Caldera alliance will have far-reaching implications for the IT industry.

This week: Regular backups mean less stress when disaster strikes, American Express goes disposable, watch out for Donald Duck, and Pimpshiz continues his pro-Napster hacking rampage.

Tiscali`s $5 billion acquisition of World Online, the take-over of Intermedia Comms by WorldCom and a host of local financial results made the headlines last week.

E-enabled human resource management may very well be the way of the future despite the perception that people cannot be removed from the equation without creating a cold and uninviting work environment.

This week: A Little conclusion that customers need less security, e-mail is forever, a neighbourhood watch scheme for cyberspace, and a teen attacks Ireland`s largest Internet service provider.

Last week saw a host of multi-billion takeovers stealing international headlines, while the flood of South African companies earnings dominated local IT news.

Intel`s support of peer networking left a few wondering if it has forgotten the lessons learnt from years of security and management nightmares.

This week: Bogus bad PR costs Emulex $2.5 billion, virus authors target children, the bad boys get nabbed for once, and there is no apparent end to the bizarreness of the new cyberworld.

Novell`s fate is still a hot topic of discussion, with Red Hat now being tapped as a suggested predator.

In the IT industry, where intellectual capital is treasured, it is vital that a company establishes itself as an ideal employer in order to attract and keep skilled employees.

This week: Virus writers attack mobile devices; Linux viruses are coming, soon, to a computer near you; Bloomberg is target of an audacious extortion effort; and a Christian ISP censors the Net for its clients.

Novell shares hit a 12-month low of just under $8 in May this year, and are still languishing below $12 following the announcement of a disastrous third quarter.