News


Mass. Approves Microsoft Office Document Format

In a victory for Microsoft's open source efforts, Massachusetts has decided to accept Microsoft's Office file format as sufficiently open to allow it to compete with other office productivity suites.

SOA Bangers and Mashups

It's a service-oriented architecture (SOA) world -- well, not quite for everyone yet. However, what happens when IT departments increasingly use SOA to expose data and applications as services? The next step might be to begin collecting and using those services to create something useful.

Delays Hit Next Version of Office for Macs

The next version of Microsoft Office for the Mac platform has been delayed until next year.

SourceLabs Unveils Enterprise Java OSS

SourceLabs is offering the latest version of its open source Java stack for enterprises. The company's SASH 2 software suite lets companies escape being locked into proprietary solutions by combining the popular Spring, Axis, Struts and Hibernate open source solutions. The stack works with Apache Tomcat, IBM WebSphere and BEA WebLogic servers.

Apple Releases Security Patch for IPhone

Apple Inc. has issued a software patch to fix some security holes that independent security researchers recently discovered for the company's vaunted iPhone.

Sun Shares Jump on 4Q Profit

Shares of Sun Microsystems Inc. jumped more than 4 percent Tuesday, a day after the server and software maker posted its third profitable quarter in a row and showed it has made substantial progress from its long-lasting, brutal downturn.

Government Awards $50 Billion Technology Contract

Twenty-nine companies -- including Electronic Data Systems Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and AT&T Inc. -- on Tuesday were awarded a federal computer systems contract potentially worth up to $50 billion over 10 years.

Microsoft Issues Web Access Tool for TFS

Microsoft has released a long-awaited Web interface for Team Foundation Server.

Vista Fixes Released, Then Removed

Microsoft's continuing infatuation with Windows Vista secrecy continues, with the company posting some updates on its Windows Connect site, then pulling them down.

Dell Starts Production in India

Dell Inc. said it delivered its first "Made in India" computer, with hopes that production here will lift domestic sales in a market that is growing 30 percent a year.

Build Enterprise SOA With Rich Metadata

The Object Management Group's recent BPM Think Tank conference had a lot to say about service-oriented architecture (SOA). A highlight was David S. Frankel's presentation on model-driven business process platforms. Frankel is SAP Labs' lead standards architect for model-driven systems, and he brought his expertise to bear on both the promise and the considerable obstacles involved in scaling service-oriented architectures (SOA) in the enterprise.

BPM Learns To Play With SOA

Tony Baer from OnStrategies livened up BPM Think Tank 2007 with his talk, "BPMs are from Venus -- SOAs from Mars." With that phrase, Baer  is basically saying that business process management (BPM) provides a top-down, business-side approach to enterprise application development, while service-oriented  architecture (SOA) takes a bottom-up IT approach. And they haven't met in the middle yet, so there's still a disconnect.

Adobe Releases ColdFusion 8

Adobe Systems is set to release a new version of its ColdFusion software development environment today (July 30). ColdFusion 8 provides an expanded set of tools and technologies aimed at developers building dynamic Web sites and rich Internet applications (RIAs).

EU Charges Intel With Monopoly Abuse

EU regulators said Friday they have charged Intel Corp. with monopoly abuse for blocking rival computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s access to customers.

Microsoft Reaches Out to OSS With Web Site

Microsoft: friend of open source software (OSS)? That's what a new Web site from the world's largest proprietary software company would have you believe.

Ozzie Reveals More About Live Platform Plans

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie has provided a slightly clearer look at the underlying development infrastructure set to power the company's "software-plus-services" initiative.

Microsoft: 60 Million Copies of Vista Sold

According to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, Windows Vista has outsold Apple's entire installed base in the six months that Vista has been available.

Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 Released

The much-anticipated beta 2 of Visual Studio 2008 has been released this morning by Microsoft.

Dell Expands Retail Presence to Japan

Dell Inc. is expanding its retail presence to Japan, where it will sell a variety of computers at Bic Camera stores.

New Development Tools Scheduled for Interim Releases

The second beta for Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008 is due out today or tomorrow, heading the pack of a number of development-related product in various stages of life.