Stories by Elizabeth Heichler

Apotheker is out as SAP CEO

Leo Apotheker has resigned as CEO of German ERP giant SAP, the company disclosed on Sunday. The decision was by mutual agreement with SAP's supervisory board, and is effective immediately.

Money for nothing? Virtual goods market takes off

Social networking and multiplayer online games are fueling dramatic growth in hard cash earned from goods that exist only in the world of online make-believe, according to companies in that market gathered at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Google, plaintiffs submit revised book search settlement

Right up against a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement to a judge overseeing a lawsuit filed against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, the parties filed their second take near midnight on Friday. The original settlement agreement had come under fire from many parties but most notably from the U.S. Department of Justice, whose withering and broad critique of the deal led the judge to demand revisions in the proposal.

Audits and open source needed for e-voting

US jurisdictions using electronic voting systems this November would do well to implement routine post-election auditing and press for open-source software to help ensure fair votes in the future, say e-voting experts at a US conference.

Yahoo rejects MS proposal, seeks bid for entire company

Yahoo Saturday night rejected a joint proposal from Microsoft and investor Carl Icahn that had called for a restructuring and the sale of Yahoo's search business to Microsoft. The Internet company that had fought Microsoft's hostile bid for months has now suggested that the Redmond, Washington, software giant make an offer to acquire all of Yahoo.

CA to pursue co-founder Wang for fraud

A special committee at CA last Friday released a report blaming co-founder, Charles Wang, for accounting fraud at the company and recommending suing him for damages and the value of company stock he received.

Siebel buy puts Oracle in CRM top spot

Oracle stands to gain not only industry-leading CRM functionality but also additional clout as one of the handful of IT giants left standing in an increasingly consolidated industry through its planned acquisition of Siebel Systems for US$5.85 billion, analysts said. Meanwhile, Siebel customers appear to be cautiously optimistic about the impact of the news on their technology investments.

What topped IT news in 2002?

Recessionary economics, unsavoury scandals and lousy industry growth rates are just some of the reasons why many in IT might like to put 2002 behind them and hope that 2003 brings better fortune for all.

US companies fight the downturn with tech

While some US companies delay new IT initiatives in the face of the current economic downturn, American Express is using this time -- and technology -- to gain competitive advantage, the company's top executive told a group of corporate executives.

Sun CTO posits new computing era

The world of computing is currently undergoing another in a series of decade-long phase changes, according to Sun Microsystems Chief Technology Officer Greg Papadopoulos, and the new era of the "network scaled computer" will see Sun bringing new approaches to users' cost-of-ownership problems and leveraging its investment in small, highly dense microprocessor technologies.

Microsoft left a crypto back door for the Feds, says researcher

A backdoor into Microsoft's cryptography system has been identified by the chief scientist for a Canadian cryptography and security firm, who charges that it may be intended to grant access to data on any Windows user's system to the US National Security Agency.

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