Michael Hickins

It’s one thing to discover vulnerabilities and report them, but to make it a contest? Research firm Gartner criticizes this very thing in a report released this week. The report, which comes after a contest to discover a vulnerability on the Mac platform, held at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, led to the public […]

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was forced to explain away a disappointing quarter. Not this year. Microsoft (Quote) announced “record profits” and revenue of $14.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, 32 percent better than the $10.90 billion performance for the same period last […]

Research In Motion (Quote) (RIM) said users of new BlackBerry devices available from Verizon (Quote) will have voice and data service outside the U.S. starting May 14. The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphone and Global BlackBerry service, both available from Verizon, will allow customers to place and receive voice calls from more than 150 countries, as well […]

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Quote) (RIM) Monday announced that it plans to let users of non-BlackBerry smartphones download its software. The wireless hardware and software vendor said that, as a first step, it will begin offering the new software application for devices running Windows Mobile 6. In the future, the company plans to offer the […]

Salesforce.com (Quote) today announced that developers can now use the Flex developer toolkit from Adobe (Quote) on its Apex platform. Apex is a programming environment that allows developers to customize applications running on AppExchange, the Salesforce.com on-demand platform. Flex, introduced by Adobe last year, is a Web programming environment the company refers to as “AJAX on steroids.” […]

Crossing the English Channel might not seem like a big deal, but it can be depending on the tools you have to make the trip. Independent software vendors (ISVs) face much the same predicament when trying to cross over from their familiar on-premise, perpetual license businesses to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Microsoft is launching the […]

Oracle (Quote) today introduced a new manufacturing execution system (MES) to help customers lower operating costs and improve their overall agility. The application, which integrates Oracle’s process manufacturing suite with standard operating procedures and shop floor execution, extends Oracle’s reach into enterprise systems, and positions it to compete with IBM (Quote), HP (Quote), BMC (Quote) and CA […]

Microsoft (Quote) announced that early sales of Windows Vista are outpacing those that XP experienced, putting it on the road to become the fastest-adopted version of Windows in the company’s history. In the first month of general availability, sales of Vista exceeded 20 million licenses, which is more than double the initial pace of sales for […]

SAP (Quote) announced yesterday that its supervisory board has accepted the resignation of chief software architect Shai Agassi, who said he is leaving in order to devote himself to environmental issues. Agassi’s resignation is effective April 1, but he will continue to serve as an outside consultant and keep an office in Palo Alto, Calif., next […]

This is no April Fool’s Day joke. Microsoft (Quote) said during its Management Summit today in San Diego that its System Center Operations Manager 2007 management application will be available this April 1. The software, which has evolved from what Microsoft used to call Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, offers intelligent network monitoring and reporting for Microsoft […]