Gillian Law

British Telecommunications PLC's (BT) Global Services unit has launched a service to monitor and manage customer's networks, hoping to boost sales in its networking business at the same time.

The K Desktop Environment (KDE) Project announced Tuesday that the third version of its KDE3 desktop platform, called KDE 3.2, is available for Linux and Unix operating systems.

Microsoft Corp. is committed to the SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) market for CRM (customer relationship management) software, and is working with partners on hosted versions of its product to make it more accessible, chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said last week.

Virgin Group PLC is finally free to consider an initial public offering (IPO) of its mobile business, having settled a long-running legal dispute with T-Mobile UK Ltd.

Open Source Development Labs Inc. (OSDL) aims to establish a US$10 million defence fund to pay the legal fees of Linux users sued by The SCO Group Inc., plus those of OSDL employees, including Linus Torvalds, it said Monday. Torvalds is the Finnish creator of the Linux operating system.

Business information software company Business Objects SA announced a roadmap for integrating its own products with those of Crystal Decisions Inc., which it bought last July.

Microsoft Corp. is continuing efforts to sell software upgrades to the Israeli government, despite the government's recent decision to stop buying Microsoft applications in protest over the Redmond, Washington, company's sales policies.

The U.K. government on Wednesday said it plans to create a National Technology Strategy (NTS), aiming to boost innovative technologies and particularly those that can be exported from the U.K.