Benioff hatches software ecosystem

At Salesforce.com's annual user conference in San Francisco, CEO Marc Benioff announces AppExchange. Benioff says the directory, currently of 70 applications, will ultimately list thousands. Developers will be able to customize and add functionality to applications based on proprietary software and to sell these applications and components. Everything developed in the AppExchange directory requires paid subscriptions to the Salesforce.com platform. AppExchange is expected to open for business by the end of the year.