Matt Berger

Ed Zander, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s president and chief operating officer, made a strong case for a future Internet where devices of all kinds will communicate with each other based on Java technology as he kicked off the JavaOne worldwide developers' conference that opened in San Francisco Monday.

Users of Microsoft Corp.'s Office 97 products can no longer take advantage of the company's free customer support service as of Friday, a result of a policy shift that analysts say was implemented to tap customers for more revenue and encourage upgrades to newly released versions of its software.

The latest buzz surrounding Microsoft Corp.'s planned debut of Office XP this week has had little to do with new features in the desktop software suite.

The hosted software industry is alive and well despite the financial pain felt by companies delivering that model, a group of industry experts said Tuesday.

Oracle Corp. will release a package of products and services Wednesday designed to offer a speedy and affordable method for outfitting enterprise customers with access to corporate e-mail and directories on wireless devices.

Six software development firms in India unveiled Friday Internet applications based on Microsoft Corp.'s anticipated Hailstorm Web services platform, one of the first signs of major support for the initiative outside the United States.

Microsoft Corp.'s free e-mail service MSN Hotmail surpassed the 100 million-user mark, while its instant messenger service maintained its top spot against competitors such as Yahoo Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc., the software maker said Monday.

Microsoft Corp. announced a number of pivotal changes in its software licensing model Thursday, including the way it sells products to grade schools, that will increase the cost most customers pay for its software.