Computer Software

December 19, 2008

Oracle Hits Its Mark

During the tech industry's last big slump, software and hardware vendors were slow to cut costs as falling demand pummeled profits. This time around, Oracle (ORCL) ...

December 18, 2008

How Electronic Arts Lost Its Way

Expectations ran high almost two years ago, when John Riccitiello took the helm of video game maker Electronic Arts (ERTS). Formerly operations chief for EA, ...

December 17, 2008

Message to Yahoo: Merge with Adobe

Microsoft is no longer interested in buying Yahoo! but remains open to acquiring the company's search business, according to press reports and statements from ...

December 15, 2008

HCL's Leveraged Leap to India's Top Tech Circle

India's tech industry has emerged on the global scene with an aggressive deployment of highly trained, low-cost labor to serve Western clients. Now HCL Technologies is...

December 11, 2008

Windows Mobile: What Microsoft Needs to Fix

In September, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer spent a week traipsing across Europe and parts of the U.S. schmoozing 17 of the world's largest handset makers ...

December 10, 2008

2008: The Year of Living Cheaply

It was mid-2008, and Americans were struggling to make mortgage payments and credit-card minimums. To top it off, gas prices were surging. No wonder many would-be ...

December 9, 2008

Clouds Looming for Server Software Vendors

As cloud computing moves beyond startups and attracts enterprise users, major software vendors are being forced to reckon with a new challenge to their pricing models....

December 8, 2008

Microsoft Joins Free Security Software Push

Two years ago, Microsoft rankled computer-security software vendors by jumping into their market (BusinessWeek.com, 6/1/06). Now the company is again creating waves by...

December 1, 2008

Open Source: The Model Is Broken

For anyone who hasn't been paying attention to the software industry lately, I have some bad news. The open-source business model is broken. Companies have long hoped ...

December 1, 2008

Cost-Conscious Companies Turn to Open-Source Software

As the recession puts pressure on tech spending, many companies are turning to open-source software to handle more IT tasks.

November 30, 2008

Open Source: A Silver Lining in the Economic Slump

The economy may be a shambles, but Brian Gentile's software company, JasperSoft, is doing better than ever. JasperSoft posted record revenue for the quarter that ended...

November 21, 2008

Microsoft to Google: Get Off of My Cloud

Corporate America is increasingly leaving computing to the experts. Why go to the trouble and expense of building and managing complex systems to handle your spiraling...

November 18, 2008

Invasion of the Netbooks

As Brian Pelowski shopped for a new computer for his wife, who's working on her doctorate in developmental psychology, he wanted a machine that was lightweight and ...

November 16, 2008

The End of Instant Messaging (As We Know It)

It's the end of instant messaging as we know it. Those chat boxes once commonplace on a computer desktop amid documents, Web browsers, and spreadsheets are giving way ...

November 13, 2008

VMware's Lofty Cloud Computing Goals

As the No. 3 executive at Microsoft, Paul Maritz presided over the company's Windows juggernaut, turned aside threats from Netscape and Sun Microsystems (JAVA), and ...

November 11, 2008

Patent Office Stifles Innovation

Information Age innovators need not apply. At least that's the implied message being stretched like police tape across the door of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office ...

November 10, 2008

How Digital Technology Has Changed the Brain

Editor's note: This is the second in an eight-part series (BusinessWeek.com, 11/3/08) of Viewpoints by author Don Tapscott, who draws on the $4 million research ...

November 7, 2008

What the Market Crash Taught Me About Tech

O.K., so the market crashed, and we're in a recession. There's also some good news to go around. Warren Buffett's buying. The elections are finally over. The Phillies ...

November 4, 2008

Apple: Soon to Be a Mobile Gaming Force

I didn't expect much from games on the iPhone. I had visions of casual games, perhaps a fancy take on solitaire or a version of poker that takes advantage of the ...

November 3, 2008

Salesforce.com Leaps Into Cloud Computing

Salesforce.com Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff strides into San Francisco brunch spot Ella's, clad in workout clothes, replete with baggy shorts and a baseball ...

November 3, 2008

Microsoft: Reused PCs Need Windows, Too

Microsoft (MSFT) is working hard to ensure that Windows is the operating system of choice on the growing number of refurbished personal computers being used by ...

October 28, 2008

Azure: Can Microsoft Meld Windows with the Web?

After years of efforts by Google (GOOG) and Amazon.com (AMZN) to spin visions of a future where the Web supplants Windows, Microsoft (MSFT) struck back on Oct. 27. The...

October 27, 2008

Can Hot Techs Keep Growing?

Amid the roiling waters of the stock market and economy, which have tossed tech investors around for weeks, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs made a special guest ...

October 24, 2008

Microsoft's Earnings Don't Disappoint

As they waited for Microsoft's Oct. 23 quarterly earnings call to begin, analysts and others were treated to a rousing rendition of the theme from The Lone Ranger. ...

October 24, 2008

Sumner Redstone's Investments Face Mortal Kombat

It's sure no fun being Sumner Redstone these days. He's just filed for divorce from his wife of five years. The billionaire chairman of both Viacom (VIAB) and CBS ...