Some events comment on themselves.
Security is the dominant theme of the news this week. The authors of a new report warned that investors would shy away from companies that failed to get their act together. Microsoft put its weight behind a proposed security standard for XML, just as several leading US banks declared themselves broadly satisfied that XML provides a viable platform for ebusiness. Yet another survey proclaimed that consumers' fears about credit card security were exaggerated. Finally, as if to demonstrate that the gap between theory and reality is as wide as ever, Network Associates fell into it with a loud plop.