Enterprise software

Wix: Come for our site builder, stay for Google Apps

The popular Web-site builder Wix has inked a deal with Google to help small business customers install branded Google Apps.

Wix, which lets individuals and businesses build sites in HTML5 via an app market and drag-and-drop editor, announced Thursday that its partnership with Google will allow small businesses to sign up for Google Apps with one click. A subsequent two-click process will set up and brand apps -- including Gmail and Google Drive -- for companies.

"Branded email has been one of our most frequently requested features, and it was this that led to our decision to integrate Google … Read more

Azure, Yammer help shape next-gen Microsoft Office

In a break from the past, Microsoft's Office team has begun working much more closely with other groups, especially the Windows Azure, SQL Server, and Windows Intune teams -- all of which are part of another business unit, Microsoft's Server and Tools Business.

"Before, we had to land in very complementary dates," explained Jeff Teper, corporate vice president of Office Servers and Services. "But now, if Azure has a new feature, we can say we'd like to do work around it." With services, "there's no magic date when a computer has … Read more

How Microsoft is shifting the Office trains into high gear

Microsoft's Office team has run like clockwork for at least the past decade. The 5,000 or so Office engineers delivered a new version of Office every two and a half to three years without fail.

But these days, two or three years between new product releases is considered an eternity. While it's all well and good for the trains to run on time, the trains need to run a lot faster. In addition, the various Office client, server, and services trains don't all need to be on the same schedule these days.

Microsoft's Office team … Read more

Salesforce.com launches self-serve social ad app

Salesforce.com is turning things up a notch for its Marketing Cloud platform with a new product styled similarly to its other cloud-based products: Social.com.

Social.com stems from Salesforce's acquisition of Buddy Media and its subsidiary, the London-based Brighter Option.

Thus, the Marketing Cloud now boils down to three core areas: social media listening (Radian6), publishing content (Buddy Media), and branding (Social.com). The new service is described as a self-serve application for use by agencies, brands, developers, retailers and advertisers in developing, automating, and managing social ad campaigns.

Touting it as the first platform that connects … Read more

Oracle preps 128 security patches; Java gets 42

Oracle will release today 128 fixes for security vulnerabilities that affect "hundreds" of its products.

The software giant and Java maker said in a pre-release announcement today that four of the patches include fixes for Oracle's flagship database product, which can be exploited remotely without the need for a username or password.

Also, 29 security fixes will arrive for Oracle Fusion Middleware, with 22 of these also for preventing attacks without the need for authentication.

Affected components include Oracle HTTP Server, JRockit, WebCenter, and WebLogic.

Both Oracle products have a common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) rating of … Read more

Icahn to limit Dell stake but can talk with other investors

Activist investor Carl Icahn has agreed to limit his stake in Dell but will be allowed to speak with other investors about a bid to buy the PC maker.

In a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dell said that its special committee has reached an agreement with Icahn. The agreement bars Icahn from buying more than 10 percent of Dell's shares or partnering with other shareholders to own more than 15 percent of Dell. However, as part of the pact, Icahn has been granted a limited waiver that allows him to "engage" with other … Read more

HP's new Project Moonshot runs on Intel's Atom -- for now

Hewlett-Packard today launched its Moonshot server line with an Intel-based Atom system -- and more chipsets planned in the future. The promise: HP will create Moonshot hyperscale, software-defined servers for custom workloads.

The bet for HP is that it can launch new Moonshot systems at three times the product cycle of traditional servers. For HP, Moonshot represents the company's ability to innovate, remain a server leader, and keep up with cloud customers, which are increasingly building their own gear.

HP CEO Meg Whitman started today's Webcast by talking "brontobytes of information" and by arguing that the … Read more

Gartner: Worldwide IT spending to hit $3.8 trillion in 2013

Worldwide spending on IT is set to grow to new highs this year and next, according to a new study from research firm Gartner.

Total IT spending last year hit $3.6 trillion, Gartner said, representing a 2.1 percent gain over the prior year. In 2013, that spending will go up to $3.8 trillion, a rise of 4.1 percent. Things will get even better for the IT sector in 2014, when spending, according to the research firm, is expected to hit $3.9 trillion.

The big growth this year will come by way of device purchases, driven … Read more

Google vows not to sue over certain patents for open source

Google today is "taking a stand on open source and patents," vowing not to sue anyone on specified patents unless first attacked.

The company, which today announced its Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, said to start with, it has identified 10 patents related to MapReduce, a model for processing large data sets. It has pledged not to sue any user, distributor, or developer of open-source software based on patents related to MapReduce.

Duane Valz, Google senior patent counsel, said in a blog post that Google wants to ensure open source software remains open:

"At Google we believe that … Read more