Elizabeth Montalbano

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison is considering the release of Oracle's own version of Linux after realizing the purchase of one of the two major Linux vendors was not cost-effective, according to a story Monday in the Financial Times.

Bridging the gap between application developers and Web designers has always been a problem for companies building high-impact Web sites. Now Microsoft Corp. thinks it has the answer through its use of an XML-based language called XAML.

Microsoft Corp. is quietly adding services to its Windows Live portfolio to compete with services Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. already have in place.

Microsoft Corp. is working with partners to come up with a directory of add-on applications for Office Live that will be ready when the full version of the service goes live later this year.

Microsoft Corp. said it has agreed to acquire ProClarity Corp. as a way to continue to develop its portfolio of business intelligence (BI) software. The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in early May, are not being disclosed.

Microsoft Corp. has fully subsumed services it acquired from FrontBridge Technologies last year, rebranding and pricing the company's e-mail managed services and setting out a road map for them.

In a move some think has the potential to stall the adoption of OpenDocument Format (ODF) as an international standard, Microsoft Corp. has joined a group that takes part in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voting process to standardize ODF.

Bridging the gap between application developers and Web designers has always been a problem for companies building high-impact Web sites. Now Microsoft Corp. thinks it has the answer through its use of an XML-based language called XAML.