Programming languages, IT spending, security incidents, and more: ZDNet's research round-up
IT spending will be viewed through new lens post COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to terrible loss of life, and also to job losses, business closures, a sharp decline in discretionary spending and more debt - lots of it. Enterprises have been busy tapping credit lines to shore up balance sheets. This reality means that IT budgets are going to be squeezed and vendors like IBM and SAP are seeing deals postponed. IDC is projecting IT spending declines across multiple industries.
For more see: IT spending will be viewed through new lens as business resumes post COVID-19
Most important currencies in a digital economy: Trust, speed, and relevance
COVID-19 is forcing every company to embrace digital transformation. Digital transformation needs to be led from the top, endorsed by IT, and supported by all business units. It will take investment and every industry will be different. Clearly, some industries are on their knees, but others will be investing heavily, according to Constellation Research's post-COVID-19 playbook.
For more see: Most important currencies in a digital economy: Trust, speed, and relevance
The impact of COVID-19 on the subscription economy
Enterprise technology firm Zuora suggests that 53.3% of companies have not seen a significant impact on their subscriber acquisition rates due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, 22.5% of companies are seeing their subscription growth rate accelerate. There are big industry variations: video-streaming subscriptions grew seven times in March 2020 compared to the previous 12 months, while annual subscription growth for sports-related services fell significantly.
For more see: The impact of COVID-19 on the subscription economy
Collaboration app usage booms due to COVID-19 crisis response
Unify Square says approximately 90% of enterprises use some form of a collaboration platform for internal communications. The most preferred platforms among businesses are Microsoft Teams (31%), Microsoft Skype for Business (27%), Google Chat (21%), Cisco WebEx Teams (15%), and Zoom (13%).
For more see: Employees crave stricter rules around collaboration app usage
Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and machine learning remains high
Our special feature onmanaging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the enterprise shows that enthusiasm for both technologies remains high, as evidenced by an uptick in spending, development, and implementation of AI/ML projects across the enterprise. The management of these projects was the topic of a recent survey by ZDNet's sister site, TechRepublic Premium. According to survey respondents, 47% are applying AI/ML to business operations.
For more see: Research: AI/ML projects see growth in business operations
JavaScript attract millions of developers globally
There are now 20.4 million active software developers in the world, and more than half of them have chosen to learn JavaScript or Microsoft's JavaScript superset language, TypeScript. That's according to developer analyst SlashData, which surveyed over 17,000 developers in 159 countries between November 2019 and February 2020 for its 18th Developer Economics report. SlashData estimates that there are now 12.2 million developers worldwide using JavaScript.
For more see: Programming languages: Kotlin rises fastest but JavaScript lures millions more developers
Go programming language: Developers reveal its top missing features
The project behind Go, an open-source programming language developed within Google, has surveyed thousands of software developers to uncover what technology they're using and the pain points of using the language. The main reason Go users aren't using Go more is because they're working on a project written in another language, but a quarter of users report Go is lacking critical features and nearly 80% of them cite generics or Go's lack of generic types, while 22% said it needs better error handling, and 13% want more functional programming features.
For more see: Google-backed Go programming language: Developers reveal its top missing features
Raspberry Pi sales jump: Here's why the tiny computer's in demand
Raspberry Pi sales hit 640,000 units in March, the Raspberry Pi Foundation's second-largest month since launching in 2012. Raspberry Pi Foundation head Eben Upton reckons the bump in sales is because a lot more people are using the Raspberry Pi 4 "for inexpensive home working and learning" during the COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown. To back that up, Upton revealed that the number of unique IP addresses accessing the Raspbian Raspberry Pi OS's mirror system passed 90,000 on several days in March, up from a peak of around 58,000 in March 2019.
For more see: Raspberry Pi sales jump: Here's why the tiny computer's in demand in coronavirus crisis
Potential data breaches make up 14% of Commonwealth incidents
During the last year, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) responded to 427 cyber incidents against Commonwealth entities, 65% of which were self-reported, and the rest were picked up through ACSC investigations, reports from third parties, and analysis of a variety of classified and open-source material, according to a report from the Australian Signals Directorate. Breaking down the incidents, the report said 36% were sighting reports and indications of compromise, while 14% were classed as data exposure, theft, or leak.
For more see: Potential data breaches make up 14% of Commonwealth incidents reported to ACSC
Samsung claims top spot in granted 5G patents
Samsung Electronics has the most number of granted patents for 5G, the company said, citing a study commissioned in Germany. The South Korean tech giant has the most patents in terms of those granted by at least one of the offices in the US, Europe, or the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), numbering 1,728, according to a joint study done in January by the Technical University of Berlin and intellectual property research firm Iplytics. Nokia came in second place with 1,584 granted patents, followed by LG at 1,415, and Huawei at 1,274.
For more see: Samsung claims top spot in granted 5G patents
Huawei: Chinese government won't stand idle as US introduces more sanctions
The Chinese government likely will roll out countermeasures if the US continues to impose trade sanctions on Huawei Technologies. The networking equipment vendor revealed that its international consumer business already has taken a substantial hit as a result of the restrictions, losing in excess of $10 billion in revenue last year. Yet despite the US trade ban, its consumer business still saw 34% year-on-year growth to hit 467.3 billion ($53.1 billion) and clocked 240 million units in smartphone shipments.
For more see: Huawei: Chinese government won't stand idle as US introduces more sanctions
Microsoft benefits from a boom in cloud revenues
Microsoft's fiscal second quarter earnings highlighted commercial cloud momentum, a big Windows 7 end of life push to Windows 10, and solid results across its business units. The company reported second quarter earnings of $11.6 billion, or $1.51 a share, on revenue of $36.9 billion, up 14% from a year ago. The company said commercial cloud revenue was up 29% from a year ago to $12.5 billion. That tally puts Microsoft's commercial cloud on a $50 billion annual run rate.
For more see: Microsoft's Q2 surges, commercial cloud hits $50 billion annual run rate, Azure revenue up 62%