One of the mistakes organisations often make is using a system of ad hoc dialling; users simply pick up the remote and the video meeting begins. That works when the system belongs to the individual and it is a personal or a desktop solution. However, people usually do not wish to touch any remote controls! A single process means the video call is connected the same way each time - regardless of the type of meeting. Whether it is a point-to-point call or a multi-point call with more than two sites, the process should be the same. You don't have to purchase your own hardware or hire your own staff to run successful video meetings. Most organisations do not have this expertise as their core competency, which is why many companies choose to outsource this responsibility.

Firefox, on the other hand, is much simpler - but quite possibly too much so. JavaScript, for example, can be enabled or disabled (along with setting a half dozen or so JavaScript capabilities) for all or no sites. It's nice that turning off dangerous features like this can be quickly turned on and off. It's so simple that anyone could (and should!) experiment with it. But I want a little bit more flexibility than this. I am safer browsing in Mozilla's Firefox browser than I am in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I firmly believe this to be the case. Yes, that's right, Firefox is safer than IE. In the same vein as my series earlier this year on Windows vs. OS X vs. Linux security, let's explore how I came to this subjective opinion. Lower profile target. One of the main reasons I'm more willing to trust my data security to my OS X (Mac) system is that they have a smaller market share than Windows does. This sounds peculiar to many people who aren't familiar with security, but in the dangerous world that is the Internet, keeping a low profile can be an important aspect of staying secure. The reason for this, quite simply, is that our attackers, by and large, write their attack code to market share, for all the same reasons that legitimate software developers most often deliver their Windows products before their Mac or Linux ones.

I'm fully aware that Firefox continues to make strides in this area and is constantly gaining market share, so this argument may well eventually fail. I'm confident, though, that by then I'll have other, lower profile choices available. For now, finding a balance between unpopular and popular enough to be widely supported on the web sites I frequent is very much a security consideration. Nevertheless, the risks to the outlook are now more on the down side, given uncertainties about the global financial system, the U.S. outlook, and investors' risk appetite, including for emerging markets. Twelve-month inflation is now projected to rise through the end of this year, reflecting exogenous shocks, including a jump in global food prices, unusually cold weather conditions in Chile, and disruptions in energy supply. Given the strong growth momentum, with excess capacity in the economy gradually vanishing and unemployment at historically low levels, the Banco Centrale has appropriately raised interest rates in recent months. This should insure that inflation expectations remain well-anchored around the 3 percent target and that food and energy price shocks do not spill over into other sectors.

Looking ahead, with risks to the outlook more on the downside, the future monetary policy path will need to depend on economic and financial development in the coming months. The strong improvement in the government's financial position in recent years has allowed a moderate reduction in the target for the structural surplus rule. We support this reduction and commend the government for keeping overall spending increases consistent with macroeconomic stability, as well as for the efforts to maintain the high quality of public spending in Chile. Keeping a small positive surplus target is appropriate, as it will allow the build up of some reserves to address future liabilities such as in the context of the planned reform of the pension system. Let me perhaps elaborate on the impact of the recent global financial turbulence. This impact has been relatively mild in Chile, both compared with most other countries in the region and also with Chile's own past experience.

In our view, this is really a strong testimony to the very robust macroeconomic framework that Chile has built over the past two decades, with strong cushions against adverse shocks--a sound fiscal position, low public debt, and independent central bank, high international reserves, and a flexible exchange rate. The past few weeks have also served to underscore how resilient Chile's financial markets have become in the face of global turbulence. Threats have widened relatively little. The exchange rate has been fairly stable, and in line with fundamentals. And the interbank market has continued to function in a normal way. This resilience reflects a healthy banking system and strong corporate balance sheets, again the result of Chile's excellent economic policy framework. Therefore, assuming no further major unexpected shocks or a global downturn, we believe that growth and employment in Chile will remain relatively strong, benefiting also from Chile's diversified export structure and continued brisk commodity demand.

Today, that nod goes to Firefox for my needs. It's very rare that I can't use Firefox on sites that I care about. This is a tough one to judge. Like many Microsoft features, IE has a quite rich set of security features that can be configured to suit the user's needs. Firefox, by comparison, is more simplistic in its security configuration choices. There's a strong argument to be made for each approach. IE manages its security via "zones"-Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites, and Restricted sites. Within each zone, the user has a rich set of configuration options where authorizations can be fine-tuned. For example, Internet sites can be set to default to disallowing browser scripting, ActiveX, Flash, and other dangerous content. That's the good news.