James Niccolai

IBM Corp. will release a plug-in next week for its WebSphere Studio development environment that will allow customers to test and deploy applications on BEA Systems Inc.'s WebLogic Server application server software, an IBM official said.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is set to release a package of software and tools for developers on Wednesday that it hopes will jumpstart their efforts at building Web services applications. The offering is a few months behind schedule but to spur interest the company will also offer a steep promotional discount, Sun officials said.

Microsoft Corp. on Monday is set to release the public beta of the next version of Microsoft Office, aiming to reach half a million users in one of its biggest programs ever to test out new software.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is gearing up to release the first public beta of the next version of StarOffice, hoping to boost the level of competition in the market for desktop productivity software.

Macromedia Inc. warned Monday of what it called a critical security flaw in the latest version of its Flash animation player and advised users to install a new version that it released on the Web to fix the problem.

Overture Services Inc. has agreed to acquire search technology company AltaVista Co. for US$140 million in cash and stock, the companies announced last week.

IBM Corp. is developing an upgrade to its WebSphere application server aimed at making it easier for companies to orchestrate transactions among groups of business applications, and to expose applications as Web services that can be used by other companies, an official said.

Microsoft Corp. has announced the official name for the next member of its Office family, formerly code named XDocs, and said a standards body for the health care industry is advocating use of the application as a way to help streamline medical records systems.