Benchmarks Last Week

Brief items about notable IT developments, both past and present.

Short Takes

Brief news items.

Help With ITIL

A look at some self-service tools, consultants and other resources that can help you with ITIL projects.

Canonical launches Ubuntu Linux developers service

Canonical today is launching a new software development collaborative service aimed at developers for Ubuntu Linux.

PC Cracks Code Before 'Colossus' Replica Can

A replica of a Colossus vacuum-tube system was no match for an amateur cryptographer's PC in cracking coded test messages similar to the ones the British deciphered during World War II.

Tech 'Safe Drivers' Deserve Discounts

John D. Halamka urges vendors to price their maintenance contracts on the basis of the steps customers take to avoid using support.

New PARC software turns a cell phone into a personal assistant

The Palo Alto Research Center is developing software that can be used to turn a cell phone into a personal assistant.

South Africa, Netherlands and Korea striding toward ODF

As Microsoft's Office Open XML format waits (and waits) for ISO standards approval, a number of countries are moving along with adoption of the alternative Open Document Format standard instead, according to an ODF advocacy group.

Informatica: The last enterprise software indie?

With mergers-and-acquisitions fever sweeping the enterprise-software space, is Informatica destined to be the last indie standing? And when does cussed independence become less appealing than the money train?

Sun advances file-sharing with Windows

The goal is to implement Common Internet File System on both the client and server sides to help with the interoperability effort, Sun says.

Microsoft wading through 3,522 comments on Open XML standards bid

The software vendor has started responding to several thousand objections and suggestions about its proposal to have the Office Open XML file format certified as an ISO standard.

Microsoft, unlike Oracle, embraces third-party virtualization platforms

While Oracle is apparently looking to push customers toward its new virtualization platform, Microsoft appears to be doing just the opposite.

Q&A: Eyeing IT spin-offs through an R&D lens

David Tennenhouse, a former research and development director at Intel and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, talks in an interview about his new job as a venture capitalist.

Benchmarks Last Week

Brief items about notable IT developments, both present and past.

Short Takes

Brief IT news items.

Oracle Claims Early Wins in Battle With Red Hat

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told an audience at the OpenWorld user conference that the company now provides Linux support to 1,500 users, a significant boost to its effort to challenge Red Hat.

Paglo unveils free IT infrastructure search engine

An IT search engine start-up said it will soon launch beta software that will allow businesses to scour and search all of the IT data from their networks, computers and security systems from a free, Web-based application.

Opinion: Preparing for XBRL Reporting and Beyond

XBRL technology has an advantage over XML in financial reporting.

Q&A: Eyeing IT spin-offs through an R&D lens

David Tennenhouse, a former research and development director at Intel and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, talks in an interview about his new job as a venture capitalist.

Benchmarks Last Week

Brief items about notable IT developments, both present and past.