Peter Galli

REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft in May unveiled the third update to its Center for Information Work, a prototype facility dedicated to exploring how future software developments could empower information workers going forward. More than 25,000 people have visited the CIW since it was first opened in 2002, with an additional 10,000 visitors expected in the coming year, […]

SANTA CLARA—Alternative business models, like that of Linux and open source and Googles advertising model, pose the greatest competitive challenge to Microsoft, CEO Steve Ballmer said May 11. Addressing an audience of several hundred members at an event jointly hosted here by the Churchill Club and the Commonwealth Club, Ballmer said the Redmond, Wash.-based software […]

Microsofts foray into the high-end clustering software market took a step forward May 8 with the availability of the release candidate for its Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 product, a 64-bit operating system for industry-standard x64 processors. And, at the other end of the software spectrum, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant also announced the release […]

Microsoft, which took a Wall Street drubbing after announcing on April 27 that its spending plans would impact future growth, ended this week on a far better note than the last one. Much of that is due to the fact that Microsoft executives have spent the past five days explaining to concerned staff and shareholders […]

The Open Document Format has been approved as an international standard by the International Standards Organization, a move that supporters say will serve as a springboard for the adoption and use of ODF around the world. The ODF allows the retrieval of information and the exchange of documents without regard to the application or platform […]

Users of Sun Microsystems supported Solaris 10 operating system will finally get the new 128-bit ZFS (zettabyte file system), which brings virtually unlimited data capacity. Sun executives will use the Network Computing event in Washington on May 2 to announce that the next company-supported version of Solaris 10, due in June, will include bug fixes […]

Linux has momentum in the financial services industry, but it still has a few more hurdles to clear before winning over Wall Street. While Linux and open-source software got a resounding endorsement from a panel of vendors and investors during a session at the Linux on Wall Street conference here on April 24 titled “The […]

Former Sun Microsystems executive Rich Green is returning to the company to take on the role of executive vice president for software. Green has always been involved in the software industry, focusing on developers, their activities and technologies. He joined Sun in 1989 to manage projects in its developer tools organization before becoming vice president […]

New Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartzs first 100 days at the helm are about to get interesting. First up: managing an internal debate over whether the company should open-source Java. According to sources inside Sun, an ongoing debate over whether to open-source Java is coming to a head with the JavaOne conference looming May 16. […]

Microsoft has released the first of two betas planned for its Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1 product. Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1 will support AMD Virtualization and Intel Virtualization Technology, giving customers better interoperability, strengthened isolation to prevent corruption of one virtual machine from affecting others on the same system, as […]

There are a number of challenges and opportunities that will affect Microsofts financial performance in the fourth quarter of 2006 as well as its 2007 fiscal year, the company said. During a media and analyst call on April 27, Chris Liddell, Microsofts chief financial officer, spent a lot of time detailing the key assumptions the […]

NEW YORK—Customers across the board are looking for systems that consume a lot less power and take up less floor space, which is creating a huge opportunity for IBM to promote its Blue gene supercomputer to a range of industries, including the financial sector on Wall Street. In an address entitled “IBM Blue Gene: ultra-scaling […]