SAP competitor throws in towel ... A series of unfortunate events hobble Blogger

HIGHLIGHTS

News: SAP competitor throws in towel
News: A series of unfortunate events hobble Blogger
News: Microsoft clarifies Vista licensing; users still irked
News: Another headache for Sony: falling PSP sales
Windows Tip: Managing local users and groups
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Geek Comic of the Week - EMOTICOMICS!


NEWS UPDATES

SAP competitor throws in towel
The air appears to be growing thinner for small suppliers of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software competing against industry giants SAP AG and Oracle Corp. Semiramis Software AG in Hanover, Germany, and Semiramis Software GmbH in Kirchbichl, Austria, have filed for bankruptcy protection, after failing to agree to a plan for turning around their loss-making operations, the companies said Thursday.

A series of unfortunate events hobble Blogger
Google Inc.'s Blogger has experienced availability problems in recent days, continuing a series of mishaps that began several weeks ago.

Microsoft clarifies Vista licensing; users still irked
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday finally attempted to clear up confusion over licensing of Windows Vista for power users who rebuild their PCs on a regular basis. But the answer from the software vendor did little to placate some users, who are still upset about Microsoft's one-machine transfer policy for Vista.

Another headache for Sony: falling PSP sales
As if the laptop battery recall and stumbles towards the launch of the PlayStation 3 weren't enough for it to deal with, Sony Corp. said this week that shipments of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld game device are well below expectations.

Wall Street Beat: Net, software buoys Nasdaq
Though earnings season has been a mixed bag, as usual, some encouraging trends are emerging in the Internet and software sectors. While the cost of doing business is high for companies whose business model is based on Internet search and sales, revenue has been rising for key companies.

Software, Xbox sales lift Microsoft to strong Q1
A strong quarter from its software server and entertainment divisions helped Microsoft Corp. beat Wall Street analyst expectations for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30.

Sun Microsystems narrows loss significantly
Stronger sales of its Solaris 10 operating system helped Sun Microsystems Inc. cut its losses significantly in quarterly financial results released Thursday, beating analysts estimates.


WINDOWS TIP

Managing local users and groups
By Mitch Tulloch, MTIT Enterprises

Is being able to manage local users and groups using scripts useful to enterprise administrators? Here's what Ed Wilson, author of Microsoft VBScript Step by Step, and the Microsoft Windows Scripting with WMI: Self-Paced Learning Guide has to say on the topic.

Read the full article here

PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft confirms licensing changes will hit power users ... IBM finds way to keep chips cooler ... Microsoft sees revenue rise 11 percent

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ITWHIRLED

Geek Comic of the Week: EMOTICOMICS!Simultaneously pushing the boundaries of both comics and emoticons, this series of dialogues between characters constructed out of elaborate series of punctuation marks varies from the philosophical to the absurd to the deeply juvenile. Look for special guest appearances by God and the devil (who can't be represented by images, even in emoticon form).