James Niccolai

Microsoft is partnering with managed hosting companies to set up "incubation centres" that will offer services to ISVs (independent software vendors) to help them adapt their applications and business models to the software-as-a-service (SAAS) model.

Microsoft Corp. released the final version of its Windows Defender antispyware tool, while security rivals squabbled about whether the company has given them sufficient access to Windows Vista to build competing products.

The recording industry group has filed 8,000 new lawsuits in 17 countries, bringing the total number of suits it has filed outside the U.S. to 13,000. The most recent lawsuits are against those suspected of uploading large numbers of music files to peer-to-peer networks.

The next Linux distribution that IBM Corp. throws its weight behind is likely to be China's Red Flag Linux, suggesting that for businesses elsewhere in the world the Linux market will remain a two-horse race for the time being.

Researchers from Intel Corp. and the University of California at Santa Barbara have found a way to build low-cost "laser chips" that could eventually shuttle data around PCs at much higher speeds than today's copper wire interconnects.

Hewlett-Packard Co. has extended the deadline for Mercury Interactive Corp. shareholders to tender their shares in favour of the companies' proposed US$4.5 billion merger.

IBM Corp. has started selling the first computer based on its multicore Cell processor, targeting organizations that run compute-intensive tasks like medical imaging or oil exploration.

Business Objects SA is stepping up its efforts in the area of corporate performance management software with an acquisition and the integration of some existing applications with its business intelligence suite.