Stories by Eric Lai

Microsoft invests millions in IT training effort

Microsoft has announced that it will invest more than US$30 million (NZ$48 million) in a new training programme to boost the number of certified Microsoft technologists among its channel partners and resellers.

Microsoft: Vista 'on track' despite Gartner doubts

While Microsoft has a good track record of hitting its release targets for minor operating systems, its history with large, complex overhauls such as Windows Vista is far spottier, according to Gartner, which in a Monday research note predicted a further delay in Windows Vista's release.

HP supports MySQL

Hewlett-Packard is to support open source database MySQL, via a programme aimed at smaller business customers.

Linux winning as Oracle database platform of choice

Consolidating disparate databases for easier management as well as moving to Linux to save money are among the top issues for Oracle database users, according to a recent survey of members of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG).

Sun CIO has many priorities

You might expect a leading Silicon Valley technology vendor like Sun Microsystems to spend, if not lavishly, at least more than the average company on its own internal IT.

Post-CA Ingres is thriving, says CTO

Has the momentum of open source products slowed due to the dual-licensing model implemented by the major database vendors? I really don't see that at all. Customers started experimenting with open source databases because they were successful with Linux and Apache web server. And they recognised that their licence fees weren't driving new product development. They desperately wanted the open source business model. But the open source databases are immature. They haven't gone through a 30-year maturation process like Oracle and DB2. In the long run, you may see some temporary wins [by vendors of proprietary databases distributing free editions] for those users who are making pure price decisions. But I think you're going to see more people driving towards an open-source business model, which makes it more efficient for new database features to be delivered to the market. For the leading-edge customers who still need new features, there are ways to get such features much quicker than paying licence fees to closed-source vendors. When you want a change in a closed-source product, you have to lobby the vendor like you would lobby the US Congress.

Microsoft to debut Office Live service

Microsoft will announce the free beta of its upcoming Office Live service for small businesses Wednesday and said it hopes to garner more than 100,000 beta users for it.

Database alternatives grabbing users’ attention

Oracle, IBM and Microsoft may have controlled almost 90% of the relational database market last year, but alternative products from vendors promising software that’s less costly and easier to manage are now appearing on IT radar screens.

Teen uses worm to boost popularity

Using a self-propagating worm that exploits a scripting vulnerability common to most dynamic websites, a Los Angeles teenager made himself the most popular member of community website MySpace.com earlier this month.

New Firefox beta released

The Mozilla Foundation has released a second beta of the Firefox 1.5 Web browser that, like the first version released last month, focuses on tackling nagging security issues.

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