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The article reports developments related to computer software industry in the U.S. Computer Sciences Corp. was reportedly going to be bought by private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. and Lockheed Martin. Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates has panned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 100 dollar lap top for the developing-world effort. Paul Kedrosky, a former Wall Street analyst and current venture capitalist, did a comparison of Google Inc.'s risk factors in its annual report on his infectious Greed blog.

This article reports on the lowered sales forecasts of computer software companies in the U.S. for the second quarter of 2004. PeopleSoft Inc., Computer Associates International Inc., Siebel Systems Inc., Veritas Software Corp., BMC Software Inc. and FileNet Corp. all said they missed their revenue targets for the quarter. These announcements followed a similar warning from Sybase Inc. on July 1, 2004. Sybase cited execution problems in its North American sales unit, and PeopleSoft pointed a finger at the fallout from the trial in which the U.S. Department of Justice is trying to block Oracle Corporation's hostile takeover bid for the company. But a common thread among all seven vendors was that expected sales did not materialize in the U.S. in June 2004. For example, Veritas said that sales of its storage management software met expectations in most of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. But the sales in those areas were offset by a late drop-off in purchases by U.S. customers. Some analysts said the widespread dip in sales is good news for users because it should increase competition and further drive down software prices. Others called it an indication that the long-awaited recovery in IT spending is already sputtering. INSET: Storage Sales Telling for Industry.