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Spending to Remain Flat
CRM vendors arent going to have the financial industry to help them out of these tough economic times, according to a study released last week.
According to Meridien Research, spending on customer relationship management software in the financial industry should remain flat for the next two years.
The study, “CRM Spending Update: Hitting a Wall or Taking a Time-Out,” predicts that corporate financial services CRM spending, which it said is influenced mostly by commercial banks, will remain at $3 billion this year and will not grow significantly until 2004.
Limits Eased on Exports
It was just what U.S. tech companies needed: an expanded market.
Last week, President Bush eased 23-year-old restrictions on U.S. companies selling high-speed computers to Cold War opponents such as Russia, China and North Korea.
The limitations were put into place in hopes of hindering the spread of nuclear weapons. The fear was that giving these and other countries high-speed computing power would make it easier for them to build up their nuclear arsenals.
However, U.S. companies had argued that these countries were able to obtain the technology from other countries and that U.S. companies were being put at a competitive disadvantage.
Microsoft Sues Lindows.com
Microsoft is heading to court again, only this time its the one doing the suing.
Microsoft has filed suit against small startup Lindows.com, alleging the companys upcoming product, Lindows OS, infringes on the Microsoft Windows name and will confuse consumers.
Lindows CEO Michael Robertson said the suit is more about competition than infringement.
“I dont think that anyone outside of the 600 people in Microsofts legal department actually think people will be confused,” said Robertson, whose 5-month-old company is developing an operating system that will run Linux and Windows software.
Robertson said his company is preparing a legal response to the suit.