James Niccolai

Bill Gates has backed a sweeping plan to reshape Microsoft Corp.'s development efforts to adapt to the threats and opportunities presented by the rapid growth of new Internet-based services.

Oracle Corp. plans to release a free version of its database by the end of the year in a move to compete more effectively at the low end of the market. Oracle released a beta version of the product, called Oracle Database 10g Express Edition, on Friday for 32-bit Windows and Linux systems. The software can be downloaded free for development and limited production use. It can also be distributed free with third-party products from ISVs (independent software vendors), Oracle said.

BEA Systems Inc. has stepped up its efforts to help customers deal with the mountains of data collected by RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems by agreeing to purchase privately-held RFID middleware vendor ConnecTerra Inc., BEA announced this month.

MySQL AB has released the production version of its open-source database upgrade, MySQL 5.0, the company announced. The new release adds several features that have long been standard in databases from MySQL's bigger rivals, including triggers, views and stored procedures. The company is billing it as its biggest upgrade ever, although pricing remains unchanged from the previous version.

Almost half the world

Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist at Intel Corp. whose job it is to travel the world and live among different peoples to figure out what they actually want from technology, instead of what Intel thinks they want. She reports back to the company and stops it from pursuing daft ideas like trying to create the paperless office, which a good anthropologist could have told you 10 years ago is never going to happen. People like paper, Bell said in an interview this week. "It's what anthropologists call a persistent and stubborn artifact."

The U.K.'s Inland Revenue department accidentally deleted almost 1 million taxpayer records from the years 1997 to 2000 because of an error in the way it maintained its databases, according to a report published Thursday. The error led to more than 360,000 taxpayers who can't be identified missing out on payments they are due, and a further 22,000 not paying taxes they owe, according to the report, from the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee.

Oracle Corp. is turning to the Web in an effort to sell more of its products to small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) in Europe. The company has rolled out Web portals for 17 European countries where SMBs can search for and buy products from Oracle and its ISV (independent software vendor) partners, the company announced Wednesday. It defines SMBs as companies with fewer than 500 employees.