Joris Evers

Underlining the enterprise capabilities of its free, open source JBoss Application Server, JBoss Inc. on Monday plans to announce Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) certification for the product.

Failing to deliver on promises to further simplify patching and software management, Microsoft Corp. has delayed two key patching products and also said a software management offering will not be available until the first half of 2005.

Microsoft Corp. customers have heard the vendor profess that its software allows them to "do more with less," but now it's Microsoft employees' turn: The company is cutting back on benefits.

The final witnesses were called Thursday in the U.S. government's case to block Oracle Corp.'s hostile US$7.7 billion bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc., ending a month-long trial that has revealed much about the mechanics of the enterprise software industry.

Aiming to reach a larger audience of software developers, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced slimmed-down "Express" editions of its Visual Studio developer tool for specific programming languages.

Hoping to boost the use of its Windows CE software in devices, Microsoft Corp. plans to announce on Monday that it will share more of the operating system's source code and allow device makers to make changes to that code.

One day after Oracle Corp. launched its hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc., Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates sent an e-mail to chief executive officer Steve Ballmer suggesting that Microsoft come to PeopleSoft's rescue.

If Oracle Corp.'s takeover of PeopleSoft Inc. falls through, the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based software maker may go after its second choice: Siebel Systems Inc.