Microsoft announced on Thursday that it intends to buy Parlano, a Chicago-based company it has already worked closely with on enterprise communications software. 
                    
			            - By Chris  Kanaracus
 - August 30, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Although Microsoft didn't mention it in today's announcement about the upcoming release of Windows Vista SP1, the company confirmed today that one of the major changes will be to open up desktop search functionality to competition.
                    
			            - By Keith  Ward
 - August 29, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    If there's one feature in Windows Vista that's almost universally reviled, it's User Account Control, or UAC. But help may be on the way in the form of BeyondTrust Privilege Manager 3.5.
                    
			            - By Keith  Ward
 - August 28, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    IBM, following the kickoff of its IBM  Federal SOA Institute in April, has announced a new certification and training  program.
                    
			            - By Kurt  Mackie
 - August 24, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Whether it involves choice or price, freedom isn't free. This is especially true in the realm of computer software licensing, where the question isn't if one has to pay for program use and development but rather how, to whom and when.
                    
			            - By Jabulani  Leffall
 - August 24, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    WSO2 has released two new open source products for  developers of Web services applications. The company is currently offering its  Web Services Framework for C (WSF/C) 1.0 product, as well as its Web Services Framework for PHP (WSF/PHP) 1.0 product.
                    
			            - By Kurt  Mackie
 - August 23, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Levanta is offering a virtual machine version of its Linux life-cycle management product that's similar to the company's flagship physical  appliance. The product, called Intrepid VM Linux Management Appliance, is  available as a free software download.
                    
			            - By Kurt  Mackie
 - August 23, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Java programmers who like the open source Spring Framework can develop applications for Web services using the newly released Spring Web Services 1.0 stack.
                    
			            - By Kurt  Mackie
 - August 22, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Microsoft's official stance on the recent Skype outage that left millions of users without phone access for two days last week? "Hey, it's not our fault."
                    
			            - By Keith  Ward
 - August 21, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    A benchmarking report that tracks how well service-oriented architecture (SOA) fits with return on investment (ROI) found an underwhelming correlation  so far, based on a survey response. Of 106 enterprises surveyed, just 37  percent indicated a positive ROI from SOA.
                    
			            - By Kurt  Mackie
 - August 21, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    CodeGear, the  development-tools arm of Borland Software Corp., is set to release a group of specialized plug-ins for the Eclipse open  source development platform next month. Collectively called JGear, the plug-ins  are designed to address pain points faced by Java developers using Eclipse-based tools.
                    
			            - By John K. Waters
 - August 20, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    The Utah federal court judge's ruling on August 10 -- that SuSE  Linux distributor Novell does, in fact,  own the copyrights to the UNIX operating system -- signals a major legal blow  for The SCO Group. It ends a  nearly-five-year-old legal campaign that sowed fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD)  among Linux users and developers.
                    
			            - By John K. Waters
 - August 20, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    The recently launched Oracle 11g database server is now shipping but today's release announcement came with a twist: Some of the new features come at an additional cost.
                    
			            - By Jeffrey  Schwartz
 - August 14, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    The folks in Microsoft's Developer Division probably didn't mind the damp and drizzle of summer in Seattle as much this year, as they worked feverishly to polish the next iteration of the mothership.  So far, it looks like the long hours paid off. Beta 2 of Microsoft's Visual Studio (VS) 2008 IDE and .NET 3.5 landed, fully loaded, the last week in July.
                    
			            - By Kathleen  Richards
 - August 08, 2007
 
		            
		            
                
                    
                    
                    
                 
            
                
	                
                    
                                        
		            
                    Anticipated improvements to the way polices are set up and managed in one or more instances did not make it into the second CTP of SQL Server 2008.
                    
			            - By Jeffrey  Schwartz
 - August 03, 2007