Ed Scannell

After four long years of talking the talk, Microsoft on Wednesday gave the outside world its first official look at its next generation operating system, shipping Beta 1 Release of the recently renamed Windows Vista.

The fortunes of Open-Xchange, creator of an open source collaboration server, got a boost on Thursday when it announced a distribution deal and partner agreement with two companies that are each other's archrival: Novell and Red Hat.

Hot on the heels of its OpenView SOA Manager announcement earlier this month, Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday followed up by rolling out a suite of SOA-related consulting services along with opening several worldwide competency centers offering technical help to users.

Hewlett-Packard unwrapped two new pieces of its OpenView lineup earlier this month. The new software helps IT comply with government regulations and more effectively deliver services using an SOA.

In a move that could bring a chorus of both cheers and jeers, Microsoft Corp. recently announced its commitment to adopt XML technology as the default file format in the next version of Office, code-named Office 12, due to enter beta this fall. The inclusion of the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats will become the defaults for the versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in the upcoming version of the product.

Claiming a technology breakthrough in privacy and security, IBM on Tuesday introduced software that allows corporate users to share information with each other and government agencies without having to reveal private personal details. The technology, called DB2 Anonymous Resolution, could serve to address the range of security problems involved in handling personal information in markets such as health care, financial services and even national security.

IBM on Friday detailed an initiative intended to accelerate the business benefits of an SOA. The Business Integration Adoption Model, accompanied by new tools, workshops, and services, helps corporate users gain more flexibility by better aligning their business goals, and directly ties their business processes to underlying applications.

Black Duck Software Inc. on Monday rolled out an on-demand service that allows developers and due diligence teams to examine software projects for open source code in order to make sure their licensing obligations are being met.