Scarlet Pruitt

Microsoft Corp. is launching an initiative to deliver technologies specifically tailored to the oil and gas industry, making the second gesture in as many days that it is increasing its focus on vertical markets. The software maker's energy sector initiative, called Peak Performance, was unveiled at the Global Energy Forum in Houston on Wednesday.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and Microsoft Corp. are working together to offer governments national identity systems built on the .Net platform. The tech giants have been working on a code base that will allow them to offer a set of technology components for functions such as online and offline demographic and biometric data capture, regional verification and registration, and document lifecycle management.

Microsoft Corp. is beginning to release more details of the next generation of its productivity software, code-named Office 12, emphasizing tools for greater collaboration, information discovery and content management. Although the software isn't due out until the second half of 2006, chief software architect Bill Gates will highlight some of its features during an opening address at the company's CEO Summit on Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus.

McAfee Inc. has updated its firewall software to prevent threats from creeping into enterprise systems through insecure mobile clients, it said Monday. McAfee Desktop Firewall 8.5 allows administrators to control access for travelling and remote workers through its Connection Aware Policies feature, the company said.

Microsoft Corp. is continuing to build out its Web hosting products, offering service providers new tools to integrate Windows-based applications into their sites and help improve site management. The software maker released its Windows-based Hosting Version 3.5, aimed at providers that offer shared Web hosting.

Mass-mailer viruses like Bagle, Netsky and MyDoom are so pass

Intel Corp. has admitted it is contributing to global warming