Monday's online shopping: HUGE (and Brit beer spot)

500 server too busy for IT Blogwatch: in which we learn the truth behind Cyber Monday. Not to mention how the Brits advertise beer...

Here's Linda Rosencrance:

Online shopping on Cyber Monday in the U.S. could top $700 million, a new record ... those who don't want to head to the malls look to online retailers for good deals. [more]

Terrence Russell rustles this up: [You're fired -Ed.]

The economy might be on the ropes, but e-commerce appears to be alive and well ... However, just because there was an increase, doesn't mean everything went smoothly. [more]

Erick Schonfeld:

Seems like some e-tailers can’t handle the online stampede. Yahoo’s checkout system is suffering outages, and Sears’ site is down altogether. [more]

It makes sense to Seana Mulcahy:

Let’s face it — who isn’t wiped out today after being with family and friends for the holiday? Not to mention, we are all back to work. I personally avoided any retail outlet this weekend. [more]

But Brian Solis is, like, "meh":

Is it really a unique shopping day or are we merely buying into the hype? ... I don’t see anything like the deals that have made Black Friday a post holiday institution. [more]

Tracy Olson explains:

Cyber Monday ... used to be the Ron Paul of holiday-season shopping ... as relevant to real-life commerce as the Web-friendly presidential candidate is to national politics. Which is to say, not very. That's changed. [more]

Peter Cohan is spitting feathers:

I ... learned an important lesson ... which I hope does not apply to you -- if a retailer does not care about customer service, buying online will be even more frustrating than buying from a store. [more]

Ben Worthen adds:

There’s ... a good chance that the Web site where you made your purchase was slow–maybe slow enough to make you give up and abandon your transaction ... retailers are throwing away business because of Web sites that can’t accommodate all this traffic. [more]

This Anonymous Coward explains:

Either you build out enough extra capacity to handle it ... or you don't ... Tens of millions of dollars of equipment and management, all for one day. Or what most companies do - you build out enough to handle the brunt of it, make as much profit as you can, and some peaks you just don't handle because it's not worth the massive investment. [more]

And finally...

• How the Brits advertise beer

Buffer overflow:

• Todd Bishop: Excerpts: Latest filings in 'Vista Capable' lawsuit
• Google Watch: Where Social Networking Meets the Semantic Web
• John Hunt: When good software gets complicated
• Nicholas Carr: Microsoft extends data center buildout to Siberia
• Kevin Haley: A Look Ahead to Security Trends in 2008
• 4sysops: Windows XP SP3 performance boost?
• Keith Combs: Zune 80 First Impressions

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Patrick Thibodeau: How many teraflops does your PC have?
• Ian Lamont: If you think Internet advertising is irritating now ...
• Robert L. Mitchell: One Laptop per Child: Built for failure
• Preston Gralla: Facebook to users: Kiss your privacy good-bye
• Shark Tank: It's all about users
• Mark Hall: Put autonomic management in app writers' hands
• Seth Weintraub: Apple's not-so-secret branding advantage
• Douglas Schweitzer: Oops, more "lost" data
• Shark Bait: And while you're at it, restore my brain

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• WinXP SP3: seems snappier (and error'd)
• Another data breach; this time it's HUGE (and TRS-80+BT)
• German iPhone sales in trouble (and 27signs)