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Presents news briefs on computer industry in the United States. Listing of the top ten contributors among computer companies for the 1997-1998 congressional election cycle; Microsoft Corporation's contributions to federal candidates and parties; Amount contributed by the International Business Machines Corporation to election campaigns in 1996; Status of the E-Privacy Act.

The article reports on the introduction of Microsoft Office 2007 to information technology (IT) industry from Microsoft Corp. IT professionals are facing a great challenge towards their approach on weighing the benefits and features of the new user interface. According to the survey conducted, 46 percent of respondents expressed no change in productivity with the use of the application while 24 percent indicated the benefits offered by the new software. The Office provides new resources which include Office Migration Planning Manager, the IT Resource Kit, and various electronic learning features available for users. However, training should be provided to users to gain knowledge on the features offered by the application. INSET: THE LOWDOWN on Office 2007.

The article reports on the effort of Microsoft Corp. in dealing with an amendment to an economic stimulus bill that had been promoted by Brian Burke, the company's government affairs director. This amendment had the potential to cease the Open Document Format (ODF) policy failed in its tracks by giving a government task force. It has been mentioned that this policy stipulated that new desktop applications acquired by state agencies feature built-in support for ODF, a standard developed and promoted by the rivals of this company such as International Business Machines Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. INSETS: Microsoft Gets Help From Both Sides of the Aisle on Lobbying;State's Snub on File Formats Caught Microsoft by Surprise.

The article reports on the negative reactions of corporate customers to U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s license checks. In 2005, the company visited about 1,200 corporate users it suspects may be not licensed properly. Microsoft is also trying to persuade corporate customers to participate in its Software Assessment Management program which it claims is not a license compliance audit. Under the program, Microsoft pays for its consulting partners to educate customers on the merit of asset management, help inventory installed software and make recommendations on policies and procedures.

This article presents news briefs related to the computer industry. Munich, Germany-based electronics giant Siemens AG has reached an agreement to acquire Myrio Corp., a Bothell, Washington-based developer of software for emerging IP television services that use the Internet to deliver video. Microsoft Corp. will issue eight security alerts with patches for Windows, Office, MSN Messenger and Exchange. Five of the security bulletins apply to Windows, and at least one of those is deemed critical. VMware Inc. will release its Workstation 5 desktop virtualization software, which will run on Windows and Linux host operating systems.

This section reports on developments regarding the computer industry. Microsoft Corp. has postponed the start of automatic distribution of Windows XP Service Pack 2 to corporate users after IT managers told the vendor that they needed more time to configure systems to block the update. Microsoft has also published a list of nearly 50 applications and games that may not work properly after users install SP2. Computer Associates said it has acquired PestPatrol Inc., a Carlisle, Pennsylvania-based developer of antispyware software, for an undisclosed price. McAfee Inc. said it's buying Foundstone Inc. for $86 million in cash. SAP AG warned users of its applications not to provide confidential IT information to people who call them claiming to work for its technical support group.

Presents news briefs concerning the computer industry in the United States as of December 17, 2001. Release by Microsoft Corp. of a software security patch for Versions 5.5 and 6.0 of its Internet Explorer Web browser; Possible appointment of Howard Schmidt as vice chairman of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board; Plan of BellSouth Corp. to lay off a number of employees.

Presents news briefs about the computer industry as of January 31, 2000. Zona Research Inc. survey on the attitudes of Americans regarding the Internet; Proposal to split Microsoft Corp. into several companies; Hacker attack on several Japanese government Web sites.

Focuses on several computer-related issues in the United States as of September 1999. Request of Sun Microsystems Inc. to reinstate an injunction on its Java lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.; Value of the contract awarded by Brazilian Postal Service to Unisys Corp.; Purpose of Microsoft Corp. in auditing its Hotmail free e-mail service.

Discusses the key issues in the computer industry in United States. Total revenue generated in the retail sales over the Internet in 1997; Provisions under the Internet Tax Freedom Act; Software industry's attempt to amend the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC); Benefits of increased competition among telephone companies; Details on the antitrust suits filed by 20 state attorneys general against Microsoft Corporation.

THE SINGLE sign-on specifications that Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. announced this month won't help John Wade, CIO at Saint Luke's Health System, a 10-hospital health care group in […]

The fifth of seven parts of a Web services security plan drawn up 15 months ago by IBM and Microsoft Corp. emerged last week. But it will have to be […]

IBM and Microsoft Corp. plan to demonstrate tomorrow the interoperability of advanced Web services running on disparate operating systems, company officials said. The companies claim that the demonstration, which will […]

The article focuses on the forecasts that U.S.-based Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system (OS) will have a future despite consumer rejection. It is noted that statistics show Windows XP was slow to catch on with users, even slower than Windows Vista. Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft Corp., asserts that the uptake of Windows XP was slower than people remember. Gartner Inc. envisions that Windows Vista will be more popular at the end of 2008 than Windows XP. Furthermore, it is projected that Microsoft Vista will be running on 49 percent of all personal computers worldwide. INSET: Same Old Story?.

The article reports on the argument concerning the plan of Microsoft Corp. to install container-based servers at its data center in the U.S. It states that the move has also encouraged other hardware companies to utilize servers mounted in container boxes which include International Business Machines (IBM) Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Co. However, industry vendors have expressed their concern concerning the challenges offered with the use of containers. These include the problem on the ability of containers to create harmonics, the possibility of all servers to fail brought by electric problems, and the larger space required for the deployment of the technology. INSET: Green May Not Be Microsoft Data Center's Best Color.

The article offers information on Microsoft Corp. and its future business prospects. It is reported that the company's bid for Yahoo! Inc. has not been successful, however, it has other options also. The company and its executives are said to be facing a tough time as it requires certain changes to continue thriving. It is mentioned that chief executive Steve Anthony Ballmer needs to move quickly to shape Microsoft's strategy for the Web against Google Inc. and other online business rivals. Some other options are also suggested to boost up the business of Microsoft. INSET: Yahoo Needs Quick Boost; 'Open Strategy' May Help.

The article reports on developments in the touch interface technology in the computer industry. According to computer science Professor Robert Jacob, touch technology is one aspect in computer research that is gaining a lot of attention, particularly in the development of a reality-based interaction. Moreover, Microsoft Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories have partnered in developing LucidTouch, a mobile device that recognizes commands form the user's fingers. Further, one aspect in computer touch technology that the industry is trying to address is the problem on what is being referred to as fat fingers, particularly on small devices.

The article reports developments related to the computer industry. The Massachusetts Bankers Association has filed a lawsuit against the TJX Cos. Inc., seeking restitution for banks that were forced to block and reissue thousands of debit cards. Oracle Corp. has acquired Lodestar Corp., a maker of data management software for the utilities industry. Sun Microsystems Inc. has reported its second consecutive quarterly profit after five quarters of losses. Microsoft Corp. plans to open labs in Dublin and Tokyo to study malicious software circulating on the Internet.

The article offers news briefs related to the computer industry in the U.S. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. stated that it plans to cut costs brought by the decline of its revenue. Microsoft Corp. announced that it has identified seven computer vulnerabilities affecting Windows and its Content Management Server. Dell Inc. has discontinued the market of its Axim laptop computer line on April 5, 2007.

The article offers news briefs related to the computer industry in the U.S. SanDisk Corp. is planning to lessen its workforce by 10 percent due to the 50 percent drop in prices of its NAND flash memory component. Microsoft Corp. has released Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005 in February 2007. Hewlett-Packard Co. ranked first in the Wall Street's expectations as its revenue increased by 11 percent in the first quarter of its 2007 fiscal year.

The article offers news briefs related to the computer industry in the U.S. Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. have announced plans to enable virtualization for each other's server operating systems. Oracle company has revealed the revision of the TimesTen in-memory relational database after it acquired in June 2005. EBay Inc. aims to increase the volume and variety of applications for its users by adding more programming tools for external developers.

The article presents news briefs related to the computer industry. Private investigator Bryan Wagner has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in connection with work he did for Hewlett-Packard. Henning Kagermann is likely to renew his contract with SAP AG as CEO. The Liberty Alliance and Microsoft are negotiating to reconcile their different protocols for securing Web transactions.

The article offers news briefs related to computer industry in the U.S. Microsoft Corp. is currently investigating the defects of the Windows ActiveX control. Mozilla Corp. announces that on April 24, 2007 the company will no longer provide security and stability fixes for Firefox 1.5 browser and recommended the users to update its browser with Firefox 1.5.0.8. A case against InkTec Co. Ltd. was filed by Hewlett-Packard Co. for violating the printer ink patents of the company.

The article reports developments related to the U.S. computer industry. The Microsoft Corp. has confirmed that the vulnerability in Visual Studio 2005 could let a computer hacker execute code on a targeted Windows machine. McAfee Inc. former senior financial officer has agreed to settle charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A court in Delaware has been asked by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to compel Intel Corp. to disclose documents about its activities outside the country.

The article offers news briefs related to various computer industry in the U.S. Hewlett-Packard Co. has extended its tender offer for all Mercury Interactive Corp. common stock. However, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer stated that its company plans to spend $7.5 billion in research and development in fiscal 2007. On the other hand, Intel Corp. has a profit of $1.3 billion in third-quarter, which beat the estimates of financial analysts that was 35 percent below of the 2005 results.

The article presents several news briefs related to the development in the information technology industry. The Microsoft Corp. has released the last version of Windows Vista software. An Illinois court threatened to shut down The Spamhaus Project Ltd. for ignoring a court ordered fines. Oracle Corp. has acquired Sunopsis SA data integration software company.

The article offers news briefs related to computer industry in the U.S. The DesktopStandard Corp. has been acquired by the Microsoft Corp. in an effort to support its desktop management software. The new version of billing and revenue management software of the Oracle Corp. has already been shipped. On the demonstration made by the hacker Micsha Spiegelmock during the conference in San Diego was meant to be a joke.

The article offers news briefs related to computer industry. Symantec Corp. reported that hackers found 47 bugs in the open-source browsers of Mozilla Corp. and 38 bugs in the Internet Explorer of Microsoft Corp. Bernard Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom Inc. began serving a 25-year sentence for his participation in the securities fraud. Oracle Corp. will soon certify its database software to run on systems built around the Itanium 2 processor.

The article offers news briefs related to computer industry in the U.S. Intel Corp. plans to decrease the number of employees worldwide in the mid-2007 by dismissing 10,500 employees in order to save expenses. Microsoft Corp. launched a price schedule of its Windows Vista operating system, following the announcement of Amazon.com Inc. of its product plan for its web site products. i2 Technologies Inc. filed charges against SAP AG in a federal court in Texas for the allegation of infringing patents.

The article offers world news briefs on mergers and acquisitions in the computer industry. A line of branch-office appliances combining Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration Server with Citrix's WANScaler network acceleration technology is planned by Microsoft Corp. and Citrix Systems Inc. WebMethods Inc. has purchased assets of Cerebra Inc. to embed the vendor's technology into future versions of Fabric. Cisco Systems Inc. has agreed to buy Arroyo Video Solutions Inc. for $92 million.

The article reports developments related to computer industry in the U.S. CA Inc. delayed the issuance of its final fourth-quarter and 2006 full-year results and restated its third-quarter results due to the impact of its new sales commission plan. Two new posts have been created by Microsoft Corp. to split the dutiers of Steven Sinofsky, head of the Windows unit. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. asked a judge in Delaware to protect the trade secrets of personal computer vendors so that they can testify in the anti-trust lawsuit filed by the company against Intel Corp.

The article looks into the development of 64-bit computing with the emergence of 64-bit Windows servers for its growing number of users. Significantly, a 64-bit processor and software can process more data and can use larger amounts of memory than a 32-bit environment. Microsoft Corp. has released its Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. unveiled its mainstream 64-bit x86-compatible microprocessors. Several companies have planned to shift to 64-bit computing. However, experts have agreed that there is no guarantee of whether all existing 32-bit applications will work in a 64-bit operating environment. INSETS: Boost Memory First;More Room for Virtualization.

The article offers news briefs related to the computer industry in the U.S. The Scan Engine security software of Symantec Corp. was found to have three bugs by the Rapid7 LLC security firm. PassMark Security Inc. has been acquired by the RSA Security Inc. for $44 million. Microsoft Corp. has launched its Internet Explorer 7 browser, which features new security capabilities designed to overcome problems that plagued the earlier version of the web browser. The U.S. District Court has awarded $306 million to Rambus Inc. for damages incurred from an infringed patent case with Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

The article offers news briefs related to the computer industry as of April 2006. Microsoft Corp. has agreed to acquire ProClarity Corp., a maker of business analysis and visualization software. Sun Microsystems Inc. has rolled out an upgraded version of its business analytics software for storage. Compuware Corp. has agreed to acquire privately held SteelTrace for approximately 20 million dollars in cash. SAP AG is developing versions of its enterprise resource planning software to run on MySQL AB's open-source database.

The article discusses the exploitation of Microsoft Corp.'s unresolved security flaws. According to the system administrator of Uline Inc. located in Waukegan, Illinois, that Uline has no intention of using third-party patches to plug security holes regardless of its status. Determina Inc., and eEye Digital Security are the two security software that have released temporary fixes for users who did not want to wait for Microsoft's solution to the flaws. Based from the survey done in February 2006 by the PatchLink Corp., a vendor patch software, 60% of the 250 IT managers would prefer software vendors to release patches as soon as the exploit code exists.

The article reports global developments in the computer industry. Microsoft Corp. has formed a group of software developers to promote OpenXML format an international standard. Qualcomm Inc. and China Techfaith Wireless Communication Ltd. have agreed to jointly invest 35 million dollars in a new wireless application software company, Techfaith Software China Ltd. VeriSign Inc. has agreed to buy M-Cube Inc., a supplier of software and services for delivering digital content to mobile phones for about 250 million dollars.

This article discusses developments in information technology, computer industry, computer software industry, and computer service industry. VeriSign Inc. will acquire Sunnyvale, California-based broadband content provider Kontiki Inc. Kevin Weiss is promoted to McAfee Inc. president while Eric Brown is promoted to chief operating officer. Microsoft Corp.'s Business Intelligence Optimization application software was jointly developed wtih Nexvue Analytics Corp. for data analysis in midsize companies.

Evaluates three disk defragmentation products referring to PerfectDisk 7 from Raxco Software Inc., Diskeeper 9 from Diskeeper Corp., and Windows XP's defragmentation utility from Microsoft Corp.

Reports on developments involving companies in the computer industry. Release of a service pack to Microsoft Corp.'s Navision software; Financial performance of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for the third quarter of 2005; Purchase of the privately held company, ConnecTerra Inc. by BEA Systems Inc.

This article reports on the impact of the detection of a code that is capable of exploiting a critical vulnerability in Windows 2000 computer operating system. This discovery lent urgency to efforts of information technology managers to patch their systems as quickly as possible. For instance, the American Red Cross, which in August 2005 saw traffic on its networks become saturated by the Zotob worm, was already deploying Microsoft Corp.'s latest patches. The organization had also installed intrusion-prevention technology on riskier segments of its network perimeter to provide additional protection against attacks.

The article reports on developments involving companies in the computer industry. Symantec Corp. has agreed to buy security compliance software vendor, BindView Development Corp., for 209 million dollars in cash. IBM Corp. has signed a nonexclusive agreement to license commercial releases of Globus middleware from open-source grid software start-up, Univa Corp. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has agreed to buy RLX Technologies Inc. and plans to use its technology to improve systems management capabilities on HP blade servers running Linux. Microsoft Corp.'s Office 12 will include native support for portable document format documents when it ships in 2006.

The article reports that Microsoft Corp. plans to unveil new licensing policies that will apply to Windows Server and related products installed in virtual machine environments. One change will let users who buy SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and other Microsoft server software under a per-processor model license the products according to the number of virtualized processors they actually use, instead of the number of physical processors in their boxes. And the modified licensing might provide a way to reduce hardware costs on small and nontransactional database servers.

Reports on developments involving companies in the computer industry. Review of informal complaints against Microsoft Corp. (MC) over its business practices; Acquisition of Nimcat Networks Inc. by Avaya Inc.; Purchase of Alacris Inc. by MC.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. displayed upcoming Office 12 features that it hopes will entice more developers to build applications that use the software as a front end or hook into its back-end pieces. Three key pieces that should help attract developers to Office 12 are a new open extensible markup language (XML) file format, the InfoPath tool for collecting data through dynamic, XML-based forms, and the Windows SharePoint Services infrastructure for building collaborative applications.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. (MC) postponed the ship date of a key component of its Visual Studio 2005 Team System. The delay in shipping Team Foundation Server set backs the entry of MC into a burgeoning market for collaborative software that can link developers in far-flung locations. Analysts said that as information technology operations use more remote developers, the need for change and configuration management tools, version control software, and even weblogging tools is growing.

Reports developments on the computer industry in the U.S. Plan of Intel Corp. to launch a new architecture for building its chips; Confirmation of plans of Microsoft Corp. to re-launch Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Total revenue of Dell Computer Corp.

The article reports that Microsoft Corp. last week fleshed out the details of a plan to build virtualization capabilities directly into Windows as part of its effort to catch up to virtualization software market leader VMware Inc. Microsoft plans to adopt an architecture similar to the one VMware uses. But Microsoft said vendors won't be able to differentiate themselves on virtualization alone once the technology is supported in operating systems and chips. More immediately, Microsoft plans to work with unidentified industry partners to expand the support of thirdparty guest operating systems, including versions of Linux, in the first service pack update for Virtual Server 2005. The update is due by year's end and will also include 64-hit compatibility and improved performance, Microsoft said. Performance also is expected to improve as a result of the hypervisor's support for upcoming virtualization extensions in chips from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

The article presents information related to the computer service industry. The Bureau of land Management has again shut down its Web site because of concerns about the security of its IT systems. It is reported that Microsoft Corp. announced plans to extend its Live Communications Server 2005 instant messaging and collaboration software to mobile devices, via a Windows Mobile-based client that's due for beta-testing in the second half of the year. Adobe Systems Inc. said it plans to buy San Francisco-based Macromedia Inc. in a stock-swap deal that will give Adobe control of technologies such as Rash, Dreamweaver and ColdFusion. Analysts said the acquisition will position San Jose-based Adobe to compete against Microsoft Corp. in areas such as document management and the development of rich-media applications. Lucent Technologies Inc. said that its wireless and fixed-line network equipment units are being combined into a single group. The Mozilla Foundation has updated the Firefox Web browser in an effort to plug nine security holes, three of which were rated "critical."

The article presents news concerning the computer industry as of April 18, 2005. One of the top stories of the week is the settlement of the legal issues between Microsoft Corp. and Gateway Inc. which resulted from the U.S. antitrust case against Microsoft. On the financial side, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., has reported its second consecutive quarterly net loss, blamed primarily on the growing losses from the company's Spansion flash memory business. Apple Computer Inc., on the other hand, will start shipping the firm's next-generation operating system, Mac OS X Tiger. Meanwhile, Cisco Systems Inc., has agreed to buy server networking equipment provider, Topspin Communications Inc. for $250 million in cash and options.