IBM's Atlas adds visualization tools to social networks at work

IBM has released a corporate social networking visualization and analysis tool designed to help people better navigate their personal and corporate social networks.

App support could be the party pooper that spoils the virtualization bash

One of the factors that could put a damper on the server virtualization market is the lack of formal commitments by software vendors to support their applications on virtual systems.

8 top tips for IE 7

If you've been holding off on upgrading to Internet Explorer 7, our list of handy tips, tricks and hacks might convince you to make the switch.

Short Takes

Brief IT news items.

Personal computing pioneer looks back at his Amiga

Adam Chowaniec, who led the team building the legendary Amiga PC, talks about the early days of the industry and shares his thoughts on the next big thing.

Cognos puts BI on Nokia and Windows Mobile phones

Cognos adds mobile BI support for Windows Mobile 6 and Nokia devices.

'Crazy Eddie' deals boost Mac Office sales nearly 250% in U.S.

Microsoft's battling Apple's revamped iWork dektop-application suite and its own upcoming Office 2008 (due in 2009) with a deep-discount strategy... and if the statistics are accurate, that strategy is working.

Recent IT disasters drive corporate archive software sale

The market for archiving software grew by 13% between the third quarter of 2006 and the same period in 2007.

Sun to offer back-end support for OpenOffice

Sun Microsystems has decided to offer support for the OpenOffice.org suite, charging $20 per user per year to companies that distribute the open-source software.

Amazon set to start testing Web database

In the next few weeks, Amazon.com plans to begin a "limited beta" of an online database called SimpleDB that is designed to enable users to run structured-data queries in real time.

Planned 'census' to help firms track open-source software

Open-source backers plan to launch a "census" project next year that would allow companies -- using a tool devised by OpenLogic -- to figure out how extensively they use open-source software.

Forrester lowers estimates on tech spending in '08

Forrester Research is scaling back its projections for IT spending growth in the first part of 2008, saying spending patterns next year could look a lot like 2007.

IBM software powers greenhouse gas meter

IBM and two other companies have developed a greenhouse gas meter that measures carbon output across various industries and devices.

Taking on VMware -- by sidestepping it

As competition for the virtualization space heats up, Parallels -- the software firm known until Wednesday as SWsoft -- sees itself as a sort of Switzerland. How does that work for a company that bases its development in Siberia?

Microsoft yanks free Vista, Office offer

Saying it had found a sufficient number of users willing to install monitoring software in exchange for a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate and Office 2007, Microsoft closed the responsible feedback program over half a month ahead of schedule.

Open-source customers' biggest worry: interoperability, survey says

A new study by the Open Solutions Alliance finds that interoperability is a top concern for open-source software users.

No download needed: OpenOffice beta available as Web app

OpenOffice.org and online application vendor Ulteo have teamed up to host OpenOffice.org 2.0 on Olteo's Online Desktop infrastructure, giving users access to the suite online.

Virtualization for consumers? Cisco sees it down the road

They're perhaps not the first name you think of in consumer electronics, but Cisco Systems has plans for that segment of the market.

Microsoft delivers Office 2007 SP1

Microsoft has released the first major update to Office 2007, a "typical service pack" that gathers together existing fixes rather than adding new features, according to company officials.

SAP will support all of its apps on VMware

SAP AG said it will support its enterprise software, including its family of ERP applications, on VMware Inc.'s virtualization platform.