Nicholas Kolakowski

Cloud computing may be increasingly vital to cost-efficient government IT, but concerns over security remain as prevalent in federal agencies’ considerations for adopting the cloud as they are in the enterprise or SMBs. A Microsoft executive, meanwhile, is claiming in a recent blog post that security in the cloud, notably in the context of the […]

Microsoft is suggesting that it could restore most, if not all, information lost after a server outage at its Danger subsidiary wiped out personal data for users of T-Mobile’s Sidekick smartphone. Initial prospects of data recovery seemed grim. In an Oct. 10 statement, soon after Sidekick users began noticing that everything from personal contacts to […]

Bill Gates announced during an Oct. 15 keynote address at the World Food Prize event in Des Moines, Iowa, that an “ideological wedge” of environmentalism was hurting the fight against hunger in Africa. The World Food Prize, according to its Website, is an international award designed to recognize “individuals who have advanced human development by […]

Microsoft has finalized the sale of its Razorfish digital-advertising subsidiary to French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA. Under the terms of the closing, announced on Oct. 14, Publicis Groupe will pay Microsoft some $286.8 million and 6.5 million shares of stock.In return, Microsoft will gain a 3.3 percent stake in Publicis Groupe. According to a […]

New photos and information about Barnes & Noble’s rumored e-reader have surfaced on tech blog Gizmodo, detailing a device seemingly tailored to match the functionality and form-factor of rival Amazon.com’s Kindle. According to Gizmodo, which obtained information and photos from what it claims is an internal source, the device will feature a 6-inch e-ink display […]

Microsoft Windows 7 is “not a major architectural release,” according to an Oct. 13 presentation by research company Gartner, but more of a polish “on top of Windows Vista’s architectural changes.” Nonetheless, expiring support for older versions of Windows will compel IT shops running the Microsoft platform to upgrade to the newest version of the […]

T-Mobile and Microsoft continued operating in full damage-control mode after a weekend server disruption wiped personal data from nearly 800,000 users’ Sidekick smartphones. The massive data failure, reportedly caused by a hardware problem on servers run by Microsoft subsidiary Danger, risks damaging the public perception of the cloud as a safe place for storing personal […]

SAP and Hewlett-Packard announced the expansion of their business intelligence collaboration, through the integration of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse with the HP Neoview enterprise data warehouse platform, on Oct. 13.The integrated product will allow users to deploy SAP NetWeaver BW and SAP’s BI-oriented analytical applications on the HP Neoview platform, which provides for sorting, managing […]

SAP and Novell announced Oct. 13 an expansion of their partnership to cover governance, risk and compliance solutions. That expansion will see a further integration between the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio and Novell security and identity products, aligned to address clients’ GRC issues. The collaboration also involves “joint go-to-market activities and alignment of strategic direction related […]

10 Features to Anticipate in Windows 7 No Title Less Memory NeededThanks to a variety of programming tweaks, including memory management that devotes resources only to open windows, Windows 7 needs less processing power to run than its predecessor. That means more multitasking ability, not to mention a faster workflow. No Title The TaskbarWindows 7’s […]

Microsoft‘s Windows 7 operating system, due for general release on Oct. 22, could spark a massive corporate upgrade cycle midway through 2010, according to an Oct. 12 analyst report from Jefferies & Co. “It looks like the Win7 inspired upgrade cycle can start in late 2010 and run through early 2013,” Katherine Egbert, the report’s […]

Microsoft‘s big news this week was the Oct. 6 release of Windows Mobile 6.5, the newest update of its mobile operating system. If recent comments by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are any indication, Mobile 6.5 is intended as a sort of placeholder, one that will potentially allow Redmond to gain a few points of market […]