October 17, 2008
RIM the next takeover target?
Valleywag
Owen Thomas writes why Microsoft may be interested in purchasing RIM.
“Microsoft still wants to buy RIM, say some analysts cited by Reuters. RIM’s BlackBerry is the only real competition for Apple’s iPhone. Like Apple, RIM offers not just the hardware but the software and services that run on top of it; RIM does Apple one better by also selling back-end servers that companies install to manage their workers’ email. Microsoft is in that same business, but it’s not as good as tying everything together as RIM is.”
The elephant in the room: SOA and the economy
ZD Net
Joe McKendrick writes why SOA has to be done well, right, and must serve the needs and interests of any given business.
“There are plenty of observers that say an economic downturn will put the freeze on SOA-related projects. SOA and Web services came of age during and after the tech downturn of 2001 because they were a simpler, faster, and more agile way to build powerful systems. SOA may finally prove its meddle as the way to quickly achieve agility and flexibility – to actually make the business itself more lightweight, and thus effectively navigate the changes thrown before it.”
Windows 7 will be less annoying than Vista
Webmonkey
Michael Calore provides details on Microsoft’s Windows 7, which is due out next summer.
“Windows users tired of the constantly being nagged by the operating system’s pop-ups will be getting a reprieve, Microsoft says. According to Microsoft software engineer Ben Fathi, Windows Vista’s much-reviled User Account Control (UAC) feature will be revised and scaled back for Windows 7, Microsoft’s next desktop operating system. Fathi says Microsoft is revamping UAC and reducing the number of prompts for two reasons: usability and security.”